The assessment of imagery and visuo-spatialworking memory functions in childrenand adults

Experimental evidence has shown the involvement of visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) in a large number of every-day tasks, such as generation, maintenance and transformation of visual mental images (Kosslyn 1980), processing of visual and spatial coordinates (Hanley, Young & Pearson 1991), map learning and navigation (Denis, Daniel, Fontaine & Pazzaglia 2001; Garden, Cornoldi & Logie 2002), drawing and memory for the positioning of objects (Postma & De Haan 1996; Zimmer, Speiser, & Seidler 2003). In Baddeley’s (1986) original model the system responsible for the storage and processing of non-verbal information was the visuo-spatial sketchpad, or, following the naming used in more recent models (Logie 1995; Cornoldi & Vecchi 2003), visuospatial working memory (VSWM). Although there is converging evidence supporting the multi-componential nature of the VSWM, so far there is no agreement on the number and identity of its components.