Despite the concern that has been expressed about potential method biases, and the pervasiveness of research settings with the potential to produce them, there is disagreement about whether they really are a problem for researchers in the behavioral sciences. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to explore the current state of knowledge about method biases. First, we explore the meaning of the terms “method” and “method bias” and then we examine whether method biases influence all measures equally. Next, we review the evidence of the effects that method biases have on individual measures and on the covariation between different constructs. Following this, we evaluate the procedural and statistical remedies that have been used to control method biases and provide recommendations for minimizing method bias.

Sources of Method Bias in Social Science Research and Recommendations on How to Control It

https://www.fafich.ufmg.br/cogvila/discexp3/wmebuff.pdf

The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?

Part I. Experimental Studies: 2. Experiment in psychology 3. Experiments on perceiving III Experiments on imaging 4-8. Experiments on remembering: (a) The method of description (b) The method of repeated reproduction (c) The method of picture writing (d) The method of serial reproduction (e) The method of serial reproduction picture material 9. Perceiving, recognizing, remembering 10. A theory of remembering 11. Images and their functions 12. Meaning Part II. Remembering as a Study in Social Psychology: 13. Social psychology 14. Social psychology and the matter of recall 15. Social psychology and the manner of recall 16. Conventionalism 17. The notion of a collective unconscious 18. The basis of social recall 19. A summary and some conclusions.

Remembering. A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, Cambridge (University Press) 1964.

Miller (1956) summarized evidence that people can remember about seven chunks in short-term memory (STM) tasks. How- ever, that number was meant more as a rough estimate and a rhetorical device than as a real capacity limit. Others have since suggested that there is a more precise capacity limit, but that it is only three to five chunks. The present target article brings together a wide vari- ety of data on capacity limits suggesting that the smaller capacity limit is real. Capacity limits will be useful in analyses of information processing only if the boundary conditions for observing them can be carefully described. Four basic conditions in which chunks can be identified and capacity limits can accordingly be observed are: (1) when information overload limits chunks to individual stimulus items, (2) when other steps are taken specifically to block the recoding of stimulus items into larger chunks, (3) in performance discontinuities caused by the capacity limit, and (4) in various indirect effects of the capacity limit. Under these conditions, rehearsal and long-term memory cannot be used to combine stimulus items into chunks of an unknown size; nor can storage mechanisms that are not capacity- limited, such as sensory memory, allow the capacity-limited storage mechanism to be refilled during recall. A single, central capacity limit averaging about four chunks is implicated along with other, noncapacity-limited sources. The pure STM capacity limit expressed in chunks is distinguished from compound STM limits obtained when the number of separately held chunks is unclear. Reasons why pure capacity estimates fall within a narrow range are discussed and a capacity limit for the focus of attention is proposed.

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The magical number 4 in short-term memory: a reconsideration of mental storage capacity.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

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From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development

What Is Working Memory? Working Memory in Childhood Working Memory and Learning Children with Working Memory Impairments Children with Short-Term Memory Impairments Working Memory in Children with Developmental Disorders Assessing Working Memory Supporting Learning in Memory-Impaired Children

Working Memory and Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers

A study of 4-and 5-year-old children investigated whether measures of phonological memory and rhyme awareness reflect a common phonological processing skill or differentiable phonological abilities. Tests of phonological memory, rhyme oddity detection, reading, vocabulary and non-verbal intelligence were given to the children in each age group. Factor analyses performed on the measures showed that phonological memory and rhyme awareness measures did indeed share a common phonological processing component, but other analyses established that the two types of phonological processing task were nonetheless differentially linked with reading and vocabulary development. The two phonological memory measures taken in the study–non-word repetition and digit span–were significantly related to vocabulary knowledge in both the ages 4 and 5 groups, and to reading achievement at age 5, but not age 4. These findings replicate and extend our earlier findings. In contrast, rhyme awareness scores were not significantly associated with vocabulary knowledge at either age, but were strongly related to scores on one of the reading tests, a multiple-choice measure, at both ages 4 and 5. The pattern of findings indicates that, although there appears to be a common phonological processing component underpinning phonological memory and phonological awareness tasks, the tasks also reflect separate cognitive skills which make differential contributions to reading and vocabulary development.

Differentiating phonological memory and awareness of rhyme: Reading and vocabulary development in children

The concept of working memory, A. Baddeley covert processes and their development in short-term memory, N. Cowan, R. Kail a connectionist model of STM for serial order, N. Burgess, G.J. Hitch interactive processes in phonological memory, S.E. Gathercole, A.J. Martin the representation of words and nonwords in short-term memory - serial order and syllable structure, G. Houghton et al nonword repetition, STM, and word age-of-acquisition - a computational model, G.D.A. Brown, C. Hulme associations and disassociations between language impairment and list recall - implications for models of STM, R.C. Martin, M.F. Lesch auditory short-term memory and the perception of speech, C. Frankish the object-oriented episodic record model, D.M. Jones et al item, associative, and serial-order information in TODAM, B. Murdock how many words can working memory hold? - a model and a method, R. Schweickert et al.

Models Of Short-Term Memory

This study investigated links between short-term memory skills and children’s abilities to learn the vocabulary of a foreign language taught in school. Forty-® ve Greek children who were learning English as a foreign language were assessed on their short-term memory in both languages, and on their knowledge of both native and foreign vocabulary. Knowledge of native and foreign vocabulary shared highly signi® cant associations with the phonological short-term memory measures. However, vocabulary scores in the two languages shared a close relationship that could not be explained exclusively in terms of phonological loop capacity. Implications of these ® ndings for theoretical accounts of how words are learned in the native and foreign language are considered. Cette eÂ tude explore les liens entre les habileteÂ s de meÂ moire aA court terme et la capaciteÂ des enfants aA apprendre le vocabulaire d’une langue eÂ trangeA re. Quarante-cinq enfants grecs ont eÂ teÂ eÂ valueÂ s au plan de leur meÂ moire aA court terme et de leur connaissance du vocabulaire dans les deux langues (grec et anglais). La connaissance du vocabulaire dans les deux langues est fortement associeÂ e aux mesures de meÂ moire a court terme phonologique. Cependant, meA me si la relation entre les deux scores de connaissance du vocabulaire est treA s forte, celle-ci ne peut eA tre expliqueÂ e exclusivement en terme de capaciteÂ de la boucle phonologique. La discussion porte sur les implications de ces reÂ sultats pour des hypotheA ses theÂ oriques expliquant l’apprentissage des mots dans une langue maternelle et dans une langue eÂ trangeA re.

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Phonological Short-term Memory and Foreign Language Learning

By Gathercole, Susan E.; Adams, Anne-Marie Developmental Psychology. Vol 29(4), Jul 1993, 770-778. Abstract This study was designed to establish whether phonological working memory skills could be assessed in children below 4 yrs of age. A group of 2- and 3-yr-old children were tested on 3 phonological memory measures (digit span, nonword repetition, and word repetition) and were also given tasks that tapped other cognitive skills. Scores on the 3 phonological memory tasks were closely related. In addition, repetition performance was linked with both vocabulary knowledge and articulation rate. Results indicate that phonological memory skills can be reliably assessed in very young children by using conventional serial span and repetition procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)

Susan E. Gathercole

Papers

Working Memory and Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers

Differentiating phonological memory and awareness of rhyme: Reading and vocabulary development in children

Models Of Short-Term Memory

Phonological Short-term Memory and Foreign Language Learning

Phonological working memory in very young children