The Role of Strategies in the Development of Memory Span Assessed by Running Probes

Abstract
The running memory span task and the fixed memory span task were administered to children aged 7 to 13 years under conditions which made them directly comparable. A probe task, consisting of a short string of digits embedded in a block of longer strings, was also used. The running probe task was argued to be a better measure of strategy-free span than the standard running task. The probe task showed age differences as great as with the fixed span task, and span was reduced by only about half an item over all ages. It is therefore concluded that strategies are not responsible for memory span development over this age range.