ABSTRACT
OBJETIVO: Considerando-se que as habilidades de memória de trabalho fonológica se estendem até certa idade e que podem regredir com o envelhecimento, este estudo teve por objetivo verificar o desempenho de indivíduos de diferentes faixas etárias sem alterações de linguagem em provas que avaliam a memória de trabalho fonológica (não-palavras e dígitos). MÉTODOS: O estudo envolveu 90 sujeitos normais, sendo 30 crianças (entre 6 e 8 anos), 30 adultos (entre 19 e 35 anos) e 30 idosos (idade igual ou superior a 60 anos). Os sujeitos que atenderam aos critérios de inclusão foram submetidos à avaliação de memória de trabalho por meio da prova de não-palavras, que consiste na repetição de 40 palavras inventadas (de duas a cinco sílabas) e prova de dígitos (repetidos em ordem direta e ordem inversa). Os resultados foram analisados estatisticamente. RESULTADOS: Na pontuação total da prova de não-palavras, houve diferença entre os grupos de crianças, adultos e idosos (idosos < crianças < adultos). Na prova de dígitos, a diferença ocorreu em todos os grupos em ordem direta, ordem inversa e na pontuação total (crianças < idosos < adultos). CONCLUSÃO: Idosos apresentam pior desempenho em provas de memória de trabalho fonológica, sugerindo que esta habilidade sofre declínio com o processo de envelhecimento. Já os adultos apresentam melhor desempenho, evidenciando que eles têm melhor capacidade de armazenagem de material verbal.
PURPOSE: Considering phonological working memory abilities extend until a certain age and can decline with aging, this study had the aim to verify the performance of individuals without language deficits at different ages in tasks that assess the phonological working memory (non-words and digits). METHODS: The study involved 90 normal individuals: 30 children (with ages between 6 and 8 years), 30 adults (ages between 19 and 35 years), and 30 elderly (60 years old or older). The selected subjects were submitted to a phonological working memory assessment that included a task of non-words repetition, consisting of the repetition of 40 invented two- to five-syllable words, and a task of repetition of digits, which should be repeated in direct and reverse order. The results were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: There were differences between the groups of children, adults and elderly (elderly < children < adults) in the total score of the non-words repetition task. In the digits repetition task, the difference occurred in all groups in the direct order, in the reverse order, and in the total score (children < elderly < adults). CONCLUSION: The elderly have worse performance in phonological working memory tasks, suggesting that this ability declines with the aging process. The adults present better performance, evidencing that they have better abilities to store verbal material.
Subject(s)
Adult , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Young Adult , Aging/physiology , Language Tests , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Age Factors , Articulation Disorders , Cognition , Neuropsychological Tests , PhoneticsABSTRACT
Evaluation of the phonological working memory (PWM) through repetition of nonwords can provide important information on the linguistic abilities of children, thus differentiating those with and without communication disorders. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to obtain reference values in the Nonword Repetition Test (NWRT) in order to investigate the performance of children without language disorders concerning this type of memory. Material and METHODS: The study was conducted on 480 normal children of both genders aged 4 years to 8 years and 11 months, attending preschool and elementary school. The NWRT consisted of repeating 20 (children up to 4 years) or 40 (for children aged 5 years or more) invented words with 2 to 5 syllables. The results were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Comparison between ages and between the number of syllables in nonwords was performed by the Tukey's multiple-comparison test and one-way analysis of variance, at a significance value of p<0.05. RESULTS: There was statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in performance between children of different age groups, except between 7- and 8-year-olds. The analysis also showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in the number of syllables between the different age groups. CONCLUSIONS: The reference values obtained indicated an improvement in performance with the increase of age of children, indicating an improvement in the storage of verbal material in the PWM. The performance was worsened with the increase in the number of syllables in words, demonstrating that the greater the number of syllables, the greater is the difficulty in storing verbal material.