Normative data on the n-back task for children and young adolescents

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• The n-back task is a key measure of working memory (WM).
• Its adoption has expanded beyond cognitive neuroscience.
• Normative data in children and adolescents are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish normative data for the verbal n-back task in a large sample of Spanish children and adolescents.
• To investigate age-related changes in working memory performance.
• To examine gender differences in n-back task performance.

Main Methods:

• A computerized verbal n-back task (1-back, 2-back, 3-back) was administered.
• The sample comprised 3722 Spanish school children aged 7–13 years.

Main Results:

• Performance on the n-back task increased with age across all difficulty levels.
• Age-related trends were less pronounced at the 1-back level compared to the 2-back level for hits.
• Girls generally outperformed boys, but responded more slowly.

Conclusions:

• The study provides valuable normative data for the n-back task, stratified by age and gender.
• Findings highlight developmental trajectories of working memory in children and adolescents.
• Observed gender differences warrant further investigation into cognitive processing and response strategies.