A-160 Understanding the Validity of the Digit Span Sequencing Task: A Least Executive Demand Model

Abstract Objective This study aimed to explore the patterns of Longest Digit Span from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V), including understanding the newest sequencing condition. While there is a large body of research discriminating the cognitive demands of the forward and backward conditions, there is less literature devoted to the cognitive underpinnings of the sequencing task, and no studies looking at the applicability of this task with children. Patterns observed clinically on these conditions have suggested that the sequencing condition may involve less executive demand than the backwards condition (Least Executive Demand model). Therefore, it was predicted that Longest Digit Span Backwards (LDSB) would predict the most amount of variance in Working Memory scores on the Comprehensive Executive Functioning Inventory (CEFI). Method Hierarchal multiple regression analysis controlling for FSIQ was completed utilizing an archival database (n = 38) of children and adolescences (ages 6–15) referred to a university-based neuropsychological assessment clinic. Results Longest digit span scores were not significant predictors of Working Memory scores on the CEFI [F (4, 27) =1.746, p = .169]. However, digit span capacity was weakly predictive of CEFI Attention scores [F (4, 27) = 2.818, p < .05; R2 = .295]; with sequencing capacity as the only significant predictor (beta = .62, p < .05). Conclusions While there was no evidence that working memory capacity predicts real world working memory skills, there was evidence that digit sequencing capacity is predictive of parent reported attentional difficulties. Poor performance on DSS in children may be due to difficulties concentrating, sustaining attention or with avoiding distractions.

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Sex differences in mental arithmetic, digit span, and g defined as working memory capacity

Intelligence ◽

10.1016/j.intell.2007.06.002 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 226-235 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Richard Lynn ◽

Paul Irwing

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity

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Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728908003416 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 261-271 ◽

Cited By ~ 110

Author(s):

JUDIT KORMOS ◽

ANNA SÁFÁR

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Language Learning ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Digit Span Test ◽

Span Test

In our research we addressed the question what the relationship is between phonological short-term and working memory capacity and performance in an end-of-year reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English test. The participants of our study were 121 secondary school students aged 15–16 in the first intensive language training year of a bilingual education program in Hungary. The participants performed a non-word repetition test and took a Cambridge First Certificate Exam. Fifty students were also tested with a backward digit span test, measuring their working memory capacity. Our study indicates that phonological short-term memory capacity plays a different role in the case of beginners and pre-intermediate students in intensive language learning. The backward digit span test correlated very highly with the overall English language competence, as well as with reading, listening, speaking and use of English (vocabulary and grammar) test scores.

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The Digit Span Backwards Task

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759/a000223 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 174-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Sven Hilbert ◽

Tristan T. Nakagawa ◽

Patricia Puci ◽

Alexandra Zech ◽

Markus Bühner

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Cognitive Strategies ◽

Span Task ◽

Presentation Modality ◽

Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

Complex Span ◽

Dual Task Condition ◽

Complex Span Task

Abstract. The “digit span backwards” (DSB) is the most commonly used test in clinical neuropsychology to assess working memory capacity. Yet, it remains unclear how the task is solved cognitively. The present study was conducted to examine the use of visual and verbal cognitive strategies in the DSB. Further, the relationship between the DSB and a complex span task, based on the Simultaneous Storage and Processing task ( Oberauer et al., 2003 ), was investigated. Visualizers performed better than verbalizers in the dual task condition (rPB = .23) only when the relevant digits were presented optically. Performance in the DSB correlated only weakly with the complex span task in all conditions (all τ ≤ .21). The results indicate that the processing modality is determined by the preference for a cognitive strategy rather than the presentation modality and suggest that the DSB measures different working aspects than commonly used experimental working memory tasks.

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Detection of Malingering Using Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV for Psychiatric Patients

Psychiatry Investigation ◽

10.30773/pi.2019.0330 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 526-532

Author(s):

An Kook On ◽

Kyu-Sic Hwang ◽

Seung-Ho Jang ◽

Hye-Jin Lee ◽

Min-Jung Soh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Military Service ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

Digit Span ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Adult Intelligence Scale ◽

Intelligence Scale ◽

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale ◽

Adult Intelligence ◽

Wechsler Adult Intelligence ◽

Group 1

Objective Psychiatric patients sometimes show poor performance or exaggerated symptoms as malingering for secondary gain. The aim of this study was to introduce cut-off scores for detecting poor performance using Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) in psychiatric patients.Methods Participants were 261 in- and out-patients who visited psychiatry department. They were classified into 4 group- 1) military service, 2) traumatic brain injury (TBI), 3) psychosis, 4) neurosis. A Digit Span subtest (called as Reliable Digit Span, RDS) of WAIS was used to detect malingering. This study considered a score of 10% base rate as RDS cut-off score.Results The RDS cut-off score was shown at 7 pts for military service group, at 3 pts for TBI group, at 6 pts for psychosis group, and at 6 pts for neurosis group.Conclusion This study first introduced RDS cut-off scores for malingering psychiatric patients in South Korea. In clinical practice, clinicians may be able to utilize the RDS cut-off scores for malingering-suspected patients. In particular, for patients with military service issues, 7 or less pts of RDS can be used for detecting and inferring their malingering.

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Investigating the presumed cognitive advantage of aspiring interpreters

Interpreting ◽

10.1075/intp.00022.ros ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 115-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Alexandra Rosiers ◽

Evy Woumans ◽

Wouter Duyck ◽

June Eyckmans

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Executive Control ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Training Data ◽

Control Functions ◽

Study Results

Abstract In complex tasks such as interpreting, the importance of a well-functioning working memory can hardly be overestimated. However, empirical studies have failed to produce consistent results with regard to an interpreter advantage in working memory. Recent studies tend to focus on the executive component of working memory. To our knowledge, no such study has compared the possible cognitive advantage of aspiring interpreters relative to other multilinguals before training takes place, in spite of the fact that excellent cognitive abilities are considered important in many interpreter selection procedures. In this study, we compared the working memory capacity and executive functions of a group of 20 student interpreters with two other groups of advanced language users who were all at the start of their Master’s training. Data were collected on three executive control functions: inhibition, shifting and updating. A forward and a backward digit span task for measuring the participants’ working memory capacity was also included in this study. Results revealed only negligible differences between the three groups at onset of training. The presumed cognitive advantage of aspiring interpreters with regard to executive control was not found.

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Foreign Language Proficiency and Working Memory Capacity

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040.11.4.289 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 289-296 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Maurits W.M.L. van den Noort ◽

Peggy Bosch ◽

Kenneth Hugdahl

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Second Language ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Language Studies ◽

Foreign Language Proficiency ◽

Linguistic Groups

In this study, the hypothesis that working memory capacity interacts with (foreign) language proficiency was tested on multilinguals, who were native (L1) Dutch speakers, were fluent in their second (L2) language, German, and had recently started the acquisition of their third (L3) language, Norwegian. So far, the results of second-language studies on simple and complex working-memory tasks are mixed. In previous second-language studies, however, languages that belong to different linguistic groups were used. The question arises whether the interaction between working memory capacity and language proficiency is language-specific. In our multilingualism study we, therefore, controlled for this. Both simple (digit-span) and complex working-memory tasks (reading-span task and letter-number ordering) were used. The general results show that differences in performance between L1, L2, and L3 can be found on both simple and complex working-memory tasks, supporting the working memory capacity interaction hypothesis.

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The Contribution of Attentional Lapses to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00811 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (8) ◽

pp. 1601-1616 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Kirsten C. S. Adam ◽

Irida Mance ◽

Keisuke Fukuda ◽

Edward K. Vogel

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Attentional Control ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Task ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Attentional Engagement ◽

Low Performance ◽

Attentional Lapses

Attentional control and working memory capacity are important cognitive abilities that substantially vary between individuals. Although much is known about how attentional control and working memory capacity relate to each other and to constructs like fluid intelligence, little is known about how trial-by-trial fluctuations in attentional engagement impact trial-by-trial working memory performance. Here, we employ a novel whole-report memory task that allowed us to distinguish between varying levels of attentional engagement in humans performing a working memory task. By characterizing low-performance trials, we can distinguish between models in which working memory performance failures are caused by either (1) complete lapses of attention or (2) variations in attentional control. We found that performance failures increase with set-size and strongly predict working memory capacity. Performance variability was best modeled by an attentional control model of attention, not a lapse model. We examined neural signatures of performance failures by measuring EEG activity while participants performed the whole-report task. The number of items correctly recalled in the memory task was predicted by frontal theta power, with decreased frontal theta power associated with poor performance on the task. In addition, we found that poor performance was not explained by failures of sensory encoding; the P1/N1 response and ocular artifact rates were equivalent for high- and low-performance trials. In all, we propose that attentional lapses alone cannot explain individual differences in working memory performance. Instead, we find that graded fluctuations in attentional control better explain the trial-by-trial differences in working memory that we observe.

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Performance-Evaluation Threat Does Not Adversely Affect Verbal Working Memory in High Test-Anxious Persons

Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology ◽

10.1891/1945-8959.13.1.120 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 120-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

David W. Putwain ◽

Jawad Shah ◽

Rebecca Lewis

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Performance Evaluation ◽

Effortful Control ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Span Task ◽

High Threat ◽

High Test

In two studies, we set out to examine whether the verbal working memory of high and low test-anxious students differed under performance-evaluative threat. In Study 1, 84 schoolchildren completed a backward digit span task under threat or no-threat conditions. In Study 2, 71 schoolchildren completed a backward digit span task in both threat and no-threat conditions. Results showed that the verbal working memory capacity of highly test-anxious students in Study 1 did not change under low or high threat conditions. In Study 2, the verbal working memory capacity of highly test-anxious students decreased under performance-evaluative threat when this condition was taken first but increased when this condition was taken second. To account for the effects of performance-evaluative threat, it is necessary to consider how increased effortful control may compensate for anxiety-induced reduced efficiency when tasks are not timed.

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Verbal working memory deficits in abstinent heroin abusers

Acta Neuropsychiatrica ◽

10.1111/j.1601-5215.2008.00293.x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 265-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Zhao-Xin Wang ◽

Zhuang-Wei Xiao ◽

Da-Ren Zhang ◽

Chun-Yu Liang ◽

John X. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Digit Span ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Heroin Abusers ◽

Back Task

Background:A prevailing belief is that opioids tend not to impair cognitive performance in opioid-dependent users. However, the impact of heroin abuse on verbal memory, especially on working memory, is not well studied and the results available are inconsistent.Objective:This study was carried out to test the hypothesis that abstinent heroin abusers have intact working memory capacity.Methods:N-back task and backward digit span task were used to measure the verbal working memory capacity in 28 abstinent heroin abusers and 25 controls matched for age, education level and gender. Forward digit span task was used as a control task to measure short-term memory capacity.Results:Compared with the control subjects, heroin abusers showed normal backward/forward digit spans but significant performance impairment in the n-back task.Conclusion:Abstinent heroin abusers have intact short-term memory capacity but impaired verbal working memory capacity.

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