Abstract
Limitation of working memory capacity is presumably one of the factors that affects young children's comprehension of stories. The present study investigated whether story comprehension by children with limited working memory capacity would be improved if they were provided with information about the intentions of the character in the story. Participants in the study (40 boys and 31 girls, average age 5; 3 years, range 4; 5-6; 5 years) were divided into 2 groups: limited or large working memory capacity. Children in both groups were assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: with information or without information. In the with-information condition, prior to being exposed to the story, the children were provided with information about the character's intentions. In the without-information condition, no information was provided. The results showed that the children with limited working memory capacity performed more poorly than the children with large capacity. However, if, prior to exposure to the story, the children were provided with information about the character's intentions, the children with limited working memory capacity performed on the story comprehension task as well as those with large capacity. It was suggested that understanding the character's intentions plays a key role in comprehending the structure of stories, even in young children.
