The effect of simultaneous and sequential arrays coding on the consolidation of working and long-term visual memory in children: the approach of the specific encoding principle in memory representation

Abstract

Background: Arrays are items that are presented in an orderly manner for encoding into memory, and delivering visual arrays simultaneously or sequentially has a different effect on the amount of memory encoding and consolidation. Objectives: The research aims to investigate the effect of coding simultaneous and sequential arrays on the consolidation of working and long-term visual memory in children, and understand the principle of specific memory coding.Methods: This semi-experimental research was conducted in the field with a practical purpose. Forty students aged 10 to 12 from three cities in Tehran, studying in schools in the second half of 1401 - 1402, were divided into two experimental groups: one with simultaneous array presentation (20 people) and the other with sequential array presentation (20 people). A visual-spatial task was used to measure the memory of simultaneous and sequential arrays (Carti et al., 2015). The research included coding steps (147 attempts executed in three blocks of 49 attempts for each group) and memory tests. The first test involved performing 49 attempts simultaneously, while the second test involved performing 49 attempts consecutively. Results: The analysis of variance with repeated measures in the coding phase showed that simultaneous array presentation led to better memory retention and greater working memory consolidation compared to sequential array presentation. Additionally, in the memorization stages, the groups that coded simultaneously performed better on the simultaneous array test, while the groups that coded sequentially performed better on the sequential array test.Conclusion: Children's visual working memory is consoled by practice in the encoding stage, but the degree of consolidation of simultaneous and sequential arrays is different. Also, visual array recall is more effective when the encoding conditions are similar to the recall conditions. These findings support the principle of memory-specific encoding.