Development and validation of an experimental verbal Episodic Memory task in Spanish

To develop and validate an experimental verbal episodic memory task in Spanish.

Six encoding blocks were elaborated, three deep and three superficial, each one with different demands of cognitive effort. The blocks were reviewed by four expert judges and tested in a pilot application. The agreement was assessed on whether the task allowed combined processing level and cognitive effort to be manipulated during incidental encoding of words, as well as clarity of instructions, examples, and workflow.

Variables such as lexical availability, metrics, and strength of association were useful to differentiate the cognitive effort between each block. The judges agreed that the processing blocks allowed a combined manipulation of the level of processing and cognitive effort and that the instructions are precise. After the pilot, the participants agreed that the instructions, examples, and way of working were easy to understand and perform.

The results provide evidence of validity related to the content for the proposed experimental task, thus becoming a viable alternative to consider in research aimed at identifying environmental factors that contribute to compensating the defects shown by episodic memory with age.