Memory abilities of typical children and adults retrieving picture communication symbols (PCSs) : an investigation of object-location memory

摘要

Many children who use visual-graphic displays for communication have difficulty identifying, locating. and sequencing symbols. Some of these difficulties could be attributed to developmental differences in binding features of objects, locations, and sequences. This study investigated developmental feature binding in children and adults using Picture Communication Symbols (PCSs ') with grid displays. Method: Nineteen typical children from the third-grade and nineteen typical adults from college were asked to recreate a 4 x 4 display using PCSs during a picture memory span task. Results: Participants' abilities to identify, locate, sequence, and bind these features were used for data analyses. Conclusion: The results revealed that both third-grade and college-aged participants had significant difficulty recalling PCSs bound to their locations and sequences on a fixed grid display. Although college-aged participants were able to bind more PCSs, locations, and sequences compared to the third-grade participants, data suggests that this task is very challenging for both children and adults.