Alpha span: A measure of working memory

In the alpha span test, short lists of words are presented and the participant's task is to mentally reorder the words and give them back in correct alphabetical order. Alpha span is the longest list of words correctly recalled; the article also describes a scoring method in which credit is given for partially correct answers. Alpha span provides a quick and easily completed measure of verbal-numerical working memory (WM), and evidence is presented to show that it is also a valid and reliable measure. One purpose of the article is to present data on age-related differences in WM in participants 17 to 87 years of age. These data show that alpha span is highest in people in their 20s and then declines systematically from the 20s to the 80s. A 2nd purpose is to report data on the reliability of the alpha span measure and explore its relationships with other cognitive measures. The article concludes with some comments on the nature of WM as illustrated by alpha span; specifically, we suggest that WM reflects both domain-general executive functions and specific abilities in the domain tapped by the task in question. (PsycINFO Database Record