A study of working memory functioning in the context of media usage and executive control

Abstract

The research is a study of working memory functioning. Working memory is involved in high level cognitive tasks. The two groups of working memory high and low performance is seen under two task execution conditions i.e. Task filtering and Task switching. A sample of 300 girls was taken from government schools of Chandigarh which were randomly selected for the purpose. The sample was divided into two groups High and Low working memory groups which were separately studied under two task execution conditions Task filtering and Task switching. OSPAN was used to measure working memory and Media multitasking questionnaire was use to assess levels of media usage Further, the groups were also divided on media use level and their performance was studies under working memory, task filtering and task switching. The results suggested that the overall performance of high working memory group was better under both task execution conditions as compared to low working memory group. A significant difference in means was found between two groups .Levels of media use was also seen under task execution conditions and working memory. Light media users were found to perform better on all these task conditions. newline