Temporal Variations and Interrelationship of Planning Ability and Working Memory in College Students
-
Nafiseh Nasirzadeh
,
Yahya Rasoulzadeh
,
Vahid Mirzai
,
Hossein Ostadhasanloo
,
Aylar Nazari
,
Nahid Sani
Abstract
Background: Executive cognitive functions are essential for functioning in dynamic environments. Moreover, they are directly influenced by work schedules and tend to decline over the course of a shift, resulting in an increased number of errors. Given that educational activities typically commence at fixed times, this study aimed to evaluate planning ability and working memory (WM) with temporal variations in college students.
Methods: Forty-three participants were randomly selected from the occupational health and ergonomics students. WM and planning ability were assessed using the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and Tower of London (TOL) test, respectively. The data were evaluated using SPSS version 16.0.
Results: The mean scores of the TOL index were 31.46 and 31.42 in the morning and afternoon, respectively. The auditory working memory index was 7.54 and 7.7, whereas the visual working memory (VWM) index was 9.12 and 9.0 in the morning and afternoon, respectively. Planning ability and VWM were higher in the morning than in the afternoon. There was a relatively good correlation between median thinking times/the WMS index and the time of tests (p ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: Interestingly, the results showed no correlation between planning ability and WMS. Additionally, based on the findings, it is recommended to add courses requiring problem-solving and high-level focus to the morning curriculum.
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5. Blakemore SJ, Choudhury S. Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(3-4):296-312.
6. Lo J, Groeger J, Santhi N, Arbon E, Lazar A, Hasan S, et al. Effects of partial and acute total sleep deprivation on performance across cognitive domains, individuals and circadian phase. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e45987.
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8. Roenneberg T, Kuehnle T, Juda M, Kantermann T, Allebrandt K, Gordijn M, et al. Epidemiology of the human circadian clock. Sleep Med Rev. 2007;11(6):429-38.
9. David G, Constanze H, Lynn H, Ursula W, David ZP. Time of day, intellectual performance, and behavioral problems in morning versus evening type adolescents: Is there a synchrony effect? Pers Individ Differ. 2007;42(3):431-40.
10. Chang Y, Chu I, Chen F, Wang C. Dose-Response Effect of Acute Resistance Exercise on Tower of London in Middle-Aged Adults. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2011;33:866-83.
11. Kaller CP, Unterrainer JM, Rahm B, Halsband U. The impact of problem structure on planning: Insights from the Tower of London task. Cogn Brain Res. 2004;20(3):462-72.
12. Kaller CP, Unterrainer JM, Kaiser S, Weisbrod M, Aschenbrenner S. Tower of London - Freiburg Version. Mödling, Austria: Schuhfried; 2011.
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14. Hoffman B, Schraw G. The influence of self-efficacy and working memory capacity on problem-solving efficiency. Learn Individ Differ. 2009;19:91–100.
15. Gabriela V, Gonzalez K, Bouwmeester S, Boonstra AM. Understanding Planning Ability Measured by the Tower of London: An Evaluation of Its Internal Structure by Latent Variable Modeling. Psychol Assess. 2010;22:923–34.
16. Adam C, Jan J. Insight problem solving is strongly related to working memory capacity and reasoning ability. J Exp Psychol. 2018;147(2):257-81.
17. Kim S, Kim MS. Deficits in verbal working memory among college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder traits: an event-related potential study. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2016;14(1):64-73.
18. Li L, Men WW, Chang YK, Fan MX, Ji L, Wei GX. Acute aerobic exercise increases cortical activity during working memory: a functional MRI study in female college students. PLoS One. 2014;9(6):e99262.
19. Cornoldi C, Carretti B, Drusi S, Tencati C. Improving problem solving in primary school students: the effect of a training programme focusing on metacognition and working memory. Br J Educ Psychol. 2015;85:424-39.
20. Melby-Lervåg M, Hulme C. Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Dev Psychol. 2012;49(2):270-91.
21. Wahlstrom K, Dretzke B, Gordon M, Peterson K, Edwards K, Gdula J. Examining the impact of later high school start times on the health and academic performance of high school students: a multi-site study. St Paul, MN: Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. 2014.
22. Baysari M, Caponecchia C, McIntosh A, Wilson J. Classification of errors contributing to rail incidents and accidents: a comparison of two human error identification techniques. Saf Sci. 2009;47(7):948-57.
23. Zoer I, Sluiter JK, Frings-Dresen MH. Psychological work characteristics, psychological workload and associated psychological and cognitive requirements of train drivers. Ergonomics. 2014;57(10):1473-87.
24. Evans M, Kelley P, Kelley J. Identifying the best times for cognitive functioning using new methods: matching university times to undergraduate chronotypes. Front Hum Neurosci. 2017;11:188.
25. Chang YK, Tsai CL, Hung TM, So EC, Chen FT, Etnier JL. Effects of acute exercise on executive function: a study with a Tower of London task. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2011;33(6):847-65.
26. Funke J. Complex problem solving: a case for complex cognition? Cogn Process. 2010;11(2):133-42.
27. Berg WK, Byrd DL. The Tower of London spatial problem-solving task: enhancing clinical and research implementation. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2002;24(5):586-604.
28. Kaller CP, Debelak R, Köstering L, Egle J, Rahm B, Wild PS, et al. Assessing planning ability across the adult life span: population-representative and age-adjusted reliability estimates for the Tower of London (TOL-F). Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2016;31(2):148-64.
29. Sullivan JR, Riccio CA, Castillo CL. Concurrent validity of the tower tasks as measures of executive function in adults: a meta-analysis. Appl Neuropsychol. 2009;16(1):62-75.
30. Etesami MS, Saboury N, Mohraz M, SeyedAlinaghi S, Jones DL, Vance DE, et al. Immediate and long-term effects of a computerized cognitive rehabilitation therapy on cognitive function in people living with HIV in Iran: a single-blind two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2022;33(5):505-22.
31. Bouman Z, Elhorst D, Hendriks MH, Kessels RPC, Aldenkamp AP. Clinical utility of the Wechsler Memory Scale—Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2016;55:178-82.
32. Kent P. The evolution of the Wechsler Memory Scale: a selective review. Appl Neuropsychol Adult. 2013;20(4):277-91.
33. Jones-Gotman M. Localization of lesions by neuropsychological testing. Epilepsia. 1991;32(Suppl 5):S41-52.
34. Wechsler D. Wechsler Memory Scale—Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) administration and scoring manual. 4th ed. San Antonio, TX: Pearson; 2009.
35. Zimmer P, Binnebößel I, Bloch W, Hübner S, Schenk A, Predel HG, et al. Exhaustive exercise alters thinking times in a Tower of London task in a time-dependent manner. Front Physiol. 2017;8:694.
36. Fletcher A, Dawson D. Field-based validations of a work-related fatigue model based on hours of work. Traffic Psychol Behav. 2001;4(1):75-88.
37. Jay SM, Dawson D, Ferguson SA, Lamond N. Driver fatigue during extended rail operations. Appl Ergon. 2008;39(5):623-9.
38. Johnson R. The Effect of Visual and Auditory Reaction and Memorization Based Tasks on Temporal Judgement. J Psychol. 2016;28(4).
39. Sharma R, Sharma M. Comparative Study of Visual & Auditory Memory between Psychology & Non-Psychology Students: Testing a Stream Hypothesis. J Indian Psychol. 2017;4(2):86.
40. McCabe D, Roediger H, McDaniel M, Balota D, Hambrick D. The Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity and Executive Functioning: Evidence for a Common Executive Attention Construct. Neuropsychology. 2010;24(2):222–43.
41. Swanson HL, Moran A, Lussier C, Fung W. The Effect of Explicit and Direct Generative Strategy Training and Working Memory on Word Problem-Solving Accuracy in Children at Risk for Math Difficulties. J Learn Disabil. 2014;37(2):111–23.
42. Albert D, Steinberg L. Age differences in strategic planning as indexed by the Tower of London. Child Dev. 2011;82(5):1501-17.
43. Chang YK, Etnier JL. Exploring the dose-response relationship between resistance exercise intensity and cognitive function. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2009;31(5):640–56.
44. Pontifex MB, Hillman CH, Fernhall B, Thompson KM, Valentini TA. The Effect of acute aerobic and resistance exercise on working memory. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41:927–34.
45. Rahmani K, Djazayery A, Habibi MI, Heidari H. Effects of daily milk supplementation on improving the physical and mental function as well as school performance among children: results from a school feeding program. J Res Med Sci. 2011;16(4):469-76.
46. Tyngleong I, Moghadam S, Hashim HA. Aggregated effects of combining daily milk consumption and aerobic exercise on short-term memory and sustained attention among female students. Percept Mot Skills. 2015;120(1):57-66.
47. Wheaton AG, Ferro GA, Croft JB. School start times for middle school and high school students—United States, 2011–12 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64(30):809.
48. Pediatrics AAo. Adolescent Sleep Working Group: school start times for adolescents. Pediatrics. 2014;134:642-9.
49. Joyce J, Graydon J, McMorris T, Davranche K. The time course effect of moderate intensity exercise on response execution and response inhibition. Brain Cogn. 2009;71(1).
50. Barella LA, Etnier JL, Chang YK. The immediate and delayed effects of an acute bout of exercise on cognitive performance of healthy older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2010;18(1):87–98.
2. Giraldo-Chica M, Rogers BP, Damon SM, Landman BA, Woodward ND. Prefrontal-thalamic anatomical connectivity and executive cognitive function in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry. 2018;83(6):509-17.
3. Balash Y, Mordechovich M, Shabtai H, Giladi N, Gurevich T, Korczyn AD. Subjective memory complaints in elders: Depression, anxiety, or cognitive decline? Acta Neurol Scand. 2013;127:344–50.
4. Unterrainer J, Domschke K, Rahm B, Wiltink J, Schulz A, Pfeiffer N, et al. Subclinical levels of anxiety but not depression are associated with planning performance in a large population-based sample. Psychol Med. 2018;48(1):168-74.
5. Blakemore SJ, Choudhury S. Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47(3-4):296-312.
6. Lo J, Groeger J, Santhi N, Arbon E, Lazar A, Hasan S, et al. Effects of partial and acute total sleep deprivation on performance across cognitive domains, individuals and circadian phase. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e45987.
7. Kelley P, Lockley SW, Foster RG, Kelley J. Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’. Learn Media Technol. 2015;40(2):210-26.
8. Roenneberg T, Kuehnle T, Juda M, Kantermann T, Allebrandt K, Gordijn M, et al. Epidemiology of the human circadian clock. Sleep Med Rev. 2007;11(6):429-38.
9. David G, Constanze H, Lynn H, Ursula W, David ZP. Time of day, intellectual performance, and behavioral problems in morning versus evening type adolescents: Is there a synchrony effect? Pers Individ Differ. 2007;42(3):431-40.
10. Chang Y, Chu I, Chen F, Wang C. Dose-Response Effect of Acute Resistance Exercise on Tower of London in Middle-Aged Adults. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2011;33:866-83.
11. Kaller CP, Unterrainer JM, Rahm B, Halsband U. The impact of problem structure on planning: Insights from the Tower of London task. Cogn Brain Res. 2004;20(3):462-72.
12. Kaller CP, Unterrainer JM, Kaiser S, Weisbrod M, Aschenbrenner S. Tower of London - Freiburg Version. Mödling, Austria: Schuhfried; 2011.
13. Rainville C, Lepage E, Gauthier S, Kergoat M, Belleville S. Executive function deficits in persons with mild cognitive impairment: A study with a Tower of London task. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2012;34(3):306–24.
14. Hoffman B, Schraw G. The influence of self-efficacy and working memory capacity on problem-solving efficiency. Learn Individ Differ. 2009;19:91–100.
15. Gabriela V, Gonzalez K, Bouwmeester S, Boonstra AM. Understanding Planning Ability Measured by the Tower of London: An Evaluation of Its Internal Structure by Latent Variable Modeling. Psychol Assess. 2010;22:923–34.
16. Adam C, Jan J. Insight problem solving is strongly related to working memory capacity and reasoning ability. J Exp Psychol. 2018;147(2):257-81.
17. Kim S, Kim MS. Deficits in verbal working memory among college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder traits: an event-related potential study. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2016;14(1):64-73.
18. Li L, Men WW, Chang YK, Fan MX, Ji L, Wei GX. Acute aerobic exercise increases cortical activity during working memory: a functional MRI study in female college students. PLoS One. 2014;9(6):e99262.
19. Cornoldi C, Carretti B, Drusi S, Tencati C. Improving problem solving in primary school students: the effect of a training programme focusing on metacognition and working memory. Br J Educ Psychol. 2015;85:424-39.
20. Melby-Lervåg M, Hulme C. Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Dev Psychol. 2012;49(2):270-91.
21. Wahlstrom K, Dretzke B, Gordon M, Peterson K, Edwards K, Gdula J. Examining the impact of later high school start times on the health and academic performance of high school students: a multi-site study. St Paul, MN: Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. 2014.
22. Baysari M, Caponecchia C, McIntosh A, Wilson J. Classification of errors contributing to rail incidents and accidents: a comparison of two human error identification techniques. Saf Sci. 2009;47(7):948-57.
23. Zoer I, Sluiter JK, Frings-Dresen MH. Psychological work characteristics, psychological workload and associated psychological and cognitive requirements of train drivers. Ergonomics. 2014;57(10):1473-87.
24. Evans M, Kelley P, Kelley J. Identifying the best times for cognitive functioning using new methods: matching university times to undergraduate chronotypes. Front Hum Neurosci. 2017;11:188.
25. Chang YK, Tsai CL, Hung TM, So EC, Chen FT, Etnier JL. Effects of acute exercise on executive function: a study with a Tower of London task. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2011;33(6):847-65.
26. Funke J. Complex problem solving: a case for complex cognition? Cogn Process. 2010;11(2):133-42.
27. Berg WK, Byrd DL. The Tower of London spatial problem-solving task: enhancing clinical and research implementation. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2002;24(5):586-604.
28. Kaller CP, Debelak R, Köstering L, Egle J, Rahm B, Wild PS, et al. Assessing planning ability across the adult life span: population-representative and age-adjusted reliability estimates for the Tower of London (TOL-F). Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2016;31(2):148-64.
29. Sullivan JR, Riccio CA, Castillo CL. Concurrent validity of the tower tasks as measures of executive function in adults: a meta-analysis. Appl Neuropsychol. 2009;16(1):62-75.
30. Etesami MS, Saboury N, Mohraz M, SeyedAlinaghi S, Jones DL, Vance DE, et al. Immediate and long-term effects of a computerized cognitive rehabilitation therapy on cognitive function in people living with HIV in Iran: a single-blind two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2022;33(5):505-22.
31. Bouman Z, Elhorst D, Hendriks MH, Kessels RPC, Aldenkamp AP. Clinical utility of the Wechsler Memory Scale—Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2016;55:178-82.
32. Kent P. The evolution of the Wechsler Memory Scale: a selective review. Appl Neuropsychol Adult. 2013;20(4):277-91.
33. Jones-Gotman M. Localization of lesions by neuropsychological testing. Epilepsia. 1991;32(Suppl 5):S41-52.
34. Wechsler D. Wechsler Memory Scale—Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) administration and scoring manual. 4th ed. San Antonio, TX: Pearson; 2009.
35. Zimmer P, Binnebößel I, Bloch W, Hübner S, Schenk A, Predel HG, et al. Exhaustive exercise alters thinking times in a Tower of London task in a time-dependent manner. Front Physiol. 2017;8:694.
36. Fletcher A, Dawson D. Field-based validations of a work-related fatigue model based on hours of work. Traffic Psychol Behav. 2001;4(1):75-88.
37. Jay SM, Dawson D, Ferguson SA, Lamond N. Driver fatigue during extended rail operations. Appl Ergon. 2008;39(5):623-9.
38. Johnson R. The Effect of Visual and Auditory Reaction and Memorization Based Tasks on Temporal Judgement. J Psychol. 2016;28(4).
39. Sharma R, Sharma M. Comparative Study of Visual & Auditory Memory between Psychology & Non-Psychology Students: Testing a Stream Hypothesis. J Indian Psychol. 2017;4(2):86.
40. McCabe D, Roediger H, McDaniel M, Balota D, Hambrick D. The Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity and Executive Functioning: Evidence for a Common Executive Attention Construct. Neuropsychology. 2010;24(2):222–43.
41. Swanson HL, Moran A, Lussier C, Fung W. The Effect of Explicit and Direct Generative Strategy Training and Working Memory on Word Problem-Solving Accuracy in Children at Risk for Math Difficulties. J Learn Disabil. 2014;37(2):111–23.
42. Albert D, Steinberg L. Age differences in strategic planning as indexed by the Tower of London. Child Dev. 2011;82(5):1501-17.
43. Chang YK, Etnier JL. Exploring the dose-response relationship between resistance exercise intensity and cognitive function. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2009;31(5):640–56.
44. Pontifex MB, Hillman CH, Fernhall B, Thompson KM, Valentini TA. The Effect of acute aerobic and resistance exercise on working memory. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41:927–34.
45. Rahmani K, Djazayery A, Habibi MI, Heidari H. Effects of daily milk supplementation on improving the physical and mental function as well as school performance among children: results from a school feeding program. J Res Med Sci. 2011;16(4):469-76.
46. Tyngleong I, Moghadam S, Hashim HA. Aggregated effects of combining daily milk consumption and aerobic exercise on short-term memory and sustained attention among female students. Percept Mot Skills. 2015;120(1):57-66.
47. Wheaton AG, Ferro GA, Croft JB. School start times for middle school and high school students—United States, 2011–12 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64(30):809.
48. Pediatrics AAo. Adolescent Sleep Working Group: school start times for adolescents. Pediatrics. 2014;134:642-9.
49. Joyce J, Graydon J, McMorris T, Davranche K. The time course effect of moderate intensity exercise on response execution and response inhibition. Brain Cogn. 2009;71(1).
50. Barella LA, Etnier JL, Chang YK. The immediate and delayed effects of an acute bout of exercise on cognitive performance of healthy older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2010;18(1):87–98.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 14 No 3 (2022) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Published | 2025-08-30 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Planning ability Tower of London Working memory Wechsler memory College students Training program | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Nasirzadeh N, Rasoulzadeh Y, Mirzai V, Ostadhasanloo H, Nazari A, Sani N. Temporal Variations and Interrelationship of Planning Ability and Working Memory in College Students. Int J Occup Hyg. 2025;14(3):171-179.
