| The present thesis study evaluated the influence that processing speed has on adolescent working memory performance, using the operation span (OSPAN; Turley-Ames & Whitfield, 2003) and sections of the D-KEFS (Fine & Delis, 2011). It was hypothesized that processing speed would mediate a relationship between age and OSPAN performance. Due to the psychometric properties of the task, processing speed wouldact as a confound, preventing an accurate assessment of working memory. The results of the study found that those who had slower processing speedsand were younger in age did indeed have lower OSPAN scores. However, younger adolescents were not found to collectively have slower processing speeds. Therefore, processing speed was not found to mediate the relationship between age and OSPAN performance. The findings are discussed in regard to future use of the OSPAN with adolescent populations and whether processing speed may still act as a confound in some situations. Key Words: working memory, processing speed, operation span, adolescent assessment, Turley-Ames and Whitfield (2003), D-KEFS. |