Shortened complex span tasks can reliably measure working memory capacity

Jeffrey L. Foster, Zach Shipstead, Tyler L. Harrison, Kenny L. Hicks, Thomas S. Redick, Randall W. Engle

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    230 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Measures of working memory capacity (WMC), such as complex span tasks (e.g., operation span), have become some of the most frequently used tasks in cognitive psychology. However, due to the length of time it takes to complete these tasks many researchers trying to draw conclusions about WMC forgo properly administering multiple tasks. But can the complex span tasks be shortened to take less administration time? We address this question by splitting the tasks into three blocks of trials, and analyzing each block’s contribution to measuring WMC and predicting fluid intelligence (Gf). We found that all three blocks of trials contributed similarly to the tasks’ ability to measure WMC and Gf, and the tasks can therefore be substantially shortened without changing what they measure. In addition, we found that cutting the number of trials by 67 % in a battery of these tasks still accounted for 90 % of the variance in their measurement of Gf. We discuss our findings in light of administering the complex span tasks in a method that can maximize their accuracy in measuring WMC, while minimizing the time taken to administer.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)226-236
    Number of pages11
    JournalMemory and Cognition
    Volume43
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Keywords

    • individual differences
    • intelligence
    • memory
    • short, term memory

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Shortened complex span tasks can reliably measure working memory capacity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this