Cognitive processes in children’s password practice

Objectives: This research investigated the cognitive processes underpinning children’s password practice. This will inform practitioner guidance and resources to scaffold children’s learning and practice of passwords to meet the current Scottish Curriculum for excellence benchmarks.
Design: The study was a correlation within subject's design. The data gathered assessed the associations between cognitive processes and password practice with 147 children aged 7- to 12-years-old.
Methods: Cognitive measures included problem solving and working memory from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Intelligence (WISC-V), and selective attention from the test of everyday attention for children (TEA-Ch). Children’s password practice was assessed by asking children to authenticate a given password and to create and input a password with guidance. Password measures included password strength, authentication attempts and latency, and coding password errors.
Results: Problem solving scores positively predicted creating stronger passwords (B=0.123, SE (0.54), Wald =5.15, p =.02). Working memory predicted authentication attempts (B=-0.22, SE= 0.09, Wald =5.96, p=.02). Working memory and problem-solving significantly predicted participants latency on inputting a created password into the device (r2=.12, F (3,138) =6.21, p<.001).
Conclusions: Password creation and authentication is a cognitively complex task that relies on working memory and problem-solving capabilities. Overall children across all ages did not create strong passwords even after accounting for their digital experience. Children require additional educational support through embedding resources within the curriculum, developed by empirical evidence related to children's development of memory and problem solving.

Next Steps: Assess the effectiveness of a resource developed to aid children’s password creation using mnemonic strategies to help children with password remembering.