Implementing full body movements in a verbal memory task: Searching for benefits but finding mainly costs

We investigated such effects in a verbal memory task across age. In study 1, children, adolescents, and young adults (N = 148) were tested in group-sessions and reproduced number series of increasing length.

In the "embodied" condition, subjects walked to numbered gymnastic mats. In the "sitting" condition, the numbers were presented visually. All age groups, except the youngest, showed a deterioration of verbal memory performance in the embodied condition compared to sitting.