Children’s higher order cognitive abilities and the development of secondary memory

The relations between higher cognitive abilities and immediate and delayed recall were studied in 57 children (6–16 years of age). The participants were tested repeatedly on free recall of a supraspan list (Children’s Memory Scale), and their fluid ability was also assessed (Woodcock—Johnson III Spatial Relations). Consistent with Unsworth and Engle’s (2007) account of the relation between memory and higher order cognition, the children’s fluid ability was significantly correlated with retrieval from secondary memory, regardless of whether it was measured using immediate or delayed recall. Multiple regression analyses provided further support for this view, revealing that measures of immediate and delayed retrieval from secondary memory accounted for the same variance in the children’s fluid ability.