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Updated: Jun 21, 2026
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Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
Published on: June 12, 2017
Complex span versus updating tasks of working memory: the gap is not that deep
Florian Schmiedek1, Andrea Hildebrandt1, Martin Lövdén1
1Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development.
Summary
Updating tasks and complex span tasks equally measure working memory capacity. Both task types effectively predict fluid intelligence, suggesting a shared underlying cognitive ability for reasoning and memory updating.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Measuring working memory capacity is debated.
- Complex span tasks and updating tasks are two main paradigms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of complex span and updating tasks in measuring working memory.
- To investigate the relationship between these tasks and fluid intelligence.
Main Methods:
- Latent variable analysis was used with 96 participants.
- Content-heterogeneous operationalizations of both complex span and updating tasks were employed.
Main Results:
- A high latent correlation (r = .96) was found between complex span and updating factors.
- Both factors equally predicted fluid intelligence (reasoning).
Conclusions:
- Updating tasks are as effective as complex span tasks for measuring working memory.
- A common working memory ability underlies performance across reasoning, complex span, and updating tasks.
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