Memória de trabalho em crianças avaliada pela Tarefa de Brown-Peterson**** Working memory in children assessed by the Brown-Peterson Task

Background: the working memory is a cognitive skill that contributes to adequate development of language and to the acquisition of reading and writing. A consistent evaluation of the working memory in pre-school and basic school children demonstrates to be important for the early identification of possible learning impairments. Aim: to evaluate the development of working memory along the first school grades of basic education and to verify the applicability of the Brown-Peterson Task in the assessment of this function in children. Method: 103 children, 63 males, with the mean age of 9.75, recruited from 1st to 6th grades of basic school participated in the study. The children were assessed with the BrownPeterson Task, the Digit Span forward and the Digit Span Backward. The results were compared for the variables of gender, age and grade. Results: the score on the Brown-Peterson Task increased along the school grades and age groups. A linear decrease in scoring was observed in longer interference intervals. A positive correlation was found between the Brown-Peterson Task and the Digit Span, yet the BrownPeterson Task proved to better differentiate school grades. Conclusion: the study confirmed that working memory development continues during the basic education years, indicating late maturation of related brain areas. The Brown-Peterson Task proved to be an adequate tool for the assessment of working memory in children.