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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 24, 2026

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Published on: June 12, 2017

Shortened complex span tasks can reliably measure working memory capacity.

Jeffrey L Foster¹, Zach Shipstead, Tyler L Harrison

¹Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, 654 Cherry St., Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA, Jeff.Foster@gatech.edu.

Memory & Cognition

|September 14, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Complex span tasks, used to measure working memory capacity (WMC), can be shortened. Shorter tasks still accurately measure WMC and predict fluid intelligence (Gf), saving valuable research time.

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Last Updated: Apr 24, 2026

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

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Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach

Published on: February 14, 2014

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Psychometrics

Background:

Complex span tasks are frequently used to measure working memory capacity (WMC).
Task length often limits the number of WMC measures researchers can administer.
This necessitates exploring methods to shorten administration time without compromising validity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if complex span tasks can be shortened while maintaining their ability to measure WMC.
To determine the impact of shortened tasks on predicting fluid intelligence (Gf).

Main Methods:

Complex span tasks were divided into three blocks.
The contribution of each block to WMC measurement and Gf prediction was analyzed.
The variance in Gf accounted for by a 67% reduced trial set was calculated.

Main Results:

All three blocks of trials contributed similarly to WMC measurement and Gf prediction.
Substantially shortening complex span tasks did not alter their measurement properties.
A 67% reduction in trials still captured 90% of the variance in Gf measurement.

Conclusions:

Complex span tasks can be significantly shortened for efficient WMC assessment.
Optimized administration maximizes WMC measurement accuracy while minimizing time.
These findings support more feasible WMC and Gf research protocols.