Auditory vs Visual Working Memory: Different Weak Spots

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-07

What remembering pictures better cannot tell you

Your child may seem to remember pictures better than words. That is a pattern you notice. It does not tell you why.

Nothing on this page rules anything in or out, and we are not able to.

Our rule is to describe patterns on these pages. We do not put a name on a child.

Some children seem to lose spoken words. In our view, a hearing check is worth doing early. Ask your child's doctor whether hearing has been checked recently.

Two parts of working memory

On our pages, working memory means holding something in mind while you use it.

Some of what a child holds is words and sounds. Some is pictures and positions.

Where you might say auditory, we say verbal. Verbal means words and sounds. Visual-spatial means pictures and positions.

Different weak spots?

The studies on this page are about groups of children. They do not show a weak spot in any one child.

Alloway and colleagues (2006) tested working memory in a group of children. They could tell verbal and visual-spatial working memory apart. We could read only the study's summary.

In our reading, verbal and visual-spatial working memory are separate in groups of children. The two parts are also linked.

Studies of children with reading difficulty

Some studies looked at children with reading difficulty. They disagree about which part is weaker. These studies split memory into more than two parts. Gathercole and colleagues (2006) studied 46 children with reading difficulty. The children were weak in visual-spatial short-term memory, among other parts. Masoura and colleagues (2021) studied 13 children with reading difficulty. The children did worse than typical readers in every part but one. That part was visual-spatial short-term memory.

These are findings about groups of children. They are not a checklist for one child.

We could read only the summaries.

Not a learning style

In our view, verbal and visual-spatial working memory are not learning styles. We do not sort children into learning styles.

Showing material in more than one form is fine for every child.

Our page on the learning styles myth has more.

If your child has had a memory test

Has your child had a memory test? Ask the person who tested your child what the score means.

Our page on working memory scores has more.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.