Abstract

The study presents a new task, a double task, to measure Verbal Working Memory. The new task comprises lists of words linked each other by different semantic relationships (categorical/taxonomic, thematic/schematic) and unrelated (arbitrary). Psychometric properties are presented, obtained on a sample of 239 children of Primary school (from first to fifth grade), as internal and concurrent validity as well as preliminary data, for the total score and for each type of semantic relation. A comparison between cells shows an effect of age with increasing performance with grade and an effect of the type of semantic relation, showing an advantage of categorical link for words recall. The task may be used with a single child or groups to assess either verbal WM efficiency or verify memory system sensitivity to semantic advantage for categorical association. Such effect should appear with a typical development of memory and language.