Abstract
The psychometric properties of several commonly used verbal working memory measures were assessed. One hundred thirty-nine individuals in five age groups (18–30, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and 80+ years) were tested twice (Time I and Time II) on seven working memory span measures (alphabet span, backward digit span, missing digit span, subtract 2 span, running item span, and sentence span for syntactically simple and complex sentences), with an interval of approximately 6 weeks between testing. There were significant effects of age on all but two of the tasks. All the measures had adequate internal consistency. Correlations between performances at Time I and Time II were significant for all the tasks, other than the missing digit span task. The magnitude of the correlations was similar across the age groups and ranged from .52 to .81. Classification of subjects into discrete memory span groups on the basis of a single measure was highly inconsistent across testing sessions and tasks. Classification into upper and lower quartiles was more stable than using a cutoff score for group membership or than classification into high-, medium-, and low-span groups. Correlational analyses showed that there was a moderate relationship between performances on many of the span tasks. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that six of the seven tasks reflected a common factor. Both test—retest reliability and stability of classification improved when a composite measure reflecting performance on several tasks was used.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anastasi, A. (1982).Psychological testing (5th ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Baddeley, A. D., &Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G. A. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York: Academic Press.
Bentler, P. M. (1989).EQS structural equations program manual. Los Angeles: BMDP Statistical Software.
Botwinick, J., &Storandt, M. (1974).Memory, related functions and age. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Cantor, J., Engle, R. W., &Hamilton, G. (1991). Short-term memory, working memory, and verbal abilities: How do they relate?Intelligence,15, 229–246.
Caplan, D., &Hildebrandt, N. (1988).Disorders of syntactic comprehension. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Bradford Books.
Craik, F. I. M. (1986). A functional account of age differences in memory. In F. Klix & H. Hagendorf (Eds.),Human memory and cognitive capabilities (pp. 409–421). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Craik, F. I. M., Morris, R. G., &Gick, M. L. (1990). Adult age differences in working memory. In G. Vallar & T. Shallice (Eds.),Neuropsychological impairments of short-term memory (pp. 247–267). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Daneman, M., &Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,19, 450–466.
Dobbs, A. R., &Rule, B. G. (1989). Adult age differences in working memory.Psychology & Aging,4, 500–503.
Engle, R. W., Tuholski, S. W., Laughlin, J. E., &Conway, A. R. A. (1999). Working memory, short-term memory and general fluid intelligence: A latent variable approach.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,128, 309–331.
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., &McHugh, P. R. (1975). “Mini-Mental State”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician.Journal of Psychiatric Research,12, 189–198.
Fozard, J. L., Nuttall, R. L., &Waugh, N. C. (1972). Age-related differences in mental performance.Aging & Human Development,3, 19–43.
Gathercole, S., &Baddeley, A. (1990). The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning new names.British Journal of Psychology,81, 439–454.
Gick, M. L., Craik, F. I. M., &Morris, R. G. (1988). Task complexity and age differences in working memory.Memory & Cognition,16, 353–361.
Goodglass, H., &Kaplan, E. (1972).Assessment of aphasia and related disorders. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.
Hartley, J. T. (1986). Reader and text variables as determinants of discourse memory in adulthood.Psychology & Aging,1, 150–158.
Hayslip, B., &Kennelly, K. J. (1982). Short-term memory and crystallized-fluid intelligence in adulthood.Research on Aging,4, 314–332.
Hooper, F. H., Hooper, J. O., &Colbert, K. C. (1984).Personality and memory correlates of intellectual functioning: Young adulthood to old age. Basel: Karger.
Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., &Dixon, R. A. (1990). Ability correlates of memory performance in adulthood and aging.Psychology & Aging,5, 356–368.
Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., Small, B. J., &Dixon, R. A. (1999). Use it or lose it: Engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging?Psychology & Aging,14, 245–263.
Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., Small, B. J., McDonald-Miszczak, L., &Dixon, R. A. (1992). Short-term longitudinal change in cognitive performance in later life.Psychology & Aging,7, 571–584.
Just, M. A., &Carpenter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory.Psychological Review,99, 122–149.
Klein, K., &Fiss, W. H. (1999). The reliability and stability of the Turner and Engle working memory task.Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers,31, 429–432.
Light, L. L., &Anderson, P. A. (1985). Working memory capacity, age and memory for discourse.Journal of Gerontology,40, 737–747.
MacDonald, M. C., Almor, A., Henderson, V. W., Kempler, D., &Andersen, E. S. (2001). Assessing working memory and language comprehension in Alzheimer’s disease.Brain & Language,78, 17–42.
MacDonald, M. C., Just, M. A., &Carpenter, P. A. (1992). Working memory constraints on the processing of syntactic ambiguity.Cognitive Psychology,24, 56–98.
Miyake, A., Carpenter, P., &Just, M. (1994). A capacity approach to syntactic comprehension disorders: Making normal adults perform like aphasic patients.Cognitive Neuropsychology,11, 671–717.
Miyake, A., Emerson, M. J., &Friedman, N. P. (1999). Good interactions are hard to find.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,22, 108–109.
Nelson, M. J., &Denny, E. C. (1960).The Nelson—Denny Reading Test. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Nunnally, J. (1978).Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Park, D. C., Lautenschlager, G., Hedden, T., Davidson, N. S., Smith, A. D., &Smith, P. K. (2002). Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span.Psychology & Aging,17, 299–320.
Park, D. C., Smith, A. D., Lautenschlager, G., Earles, J. L., Frieske, D., Zwahr, M., &Gaines, C. L. (1996). Mediators of long-term memory performance across the life span.Psychology & Aging,11, 621–637.
Parkinson, S. R. (1980). Aging and amnesia: A running span analysis.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,15, 215–217.
Salthouse, T. A. (1988a). Resource-reduction interpretations of cognitive aging.Developmental Review,8, 238–272.
Salthouse, T. A. (1988b). The role of processing resources in cognitive aging. In M. L. Howe & C. J. Brainerd (Eds.),Cognitive development in adulthood (pp. 185–239). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Salthouse, T. A. (1990). Working memory as a processing resource in cognitive aging.Developmental Review,10, 101–124.
Salthouse, T. A., &Babcock, R. L. (1991). Decomposing adult age differences in working memory.Developmental Psycholog y,27, 763–776.
Stine, E. A. L., &Wingfield, A. (1987). Process and strategy in memory for speech among younger and older adults.Psychology & Aging,2, 272–279.
Talland, G. A. (1965). Three estimates of word span and their stability over the adult years.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,17, 301–307.
Talland, G. A. (1968). Age and the span of immediate recall. In G. A. Talland (Ed.),Human aging and behavior (pp. 93–129). New York: Academic Press.
Tirre, W. C., &Pe, A. C. M. (1992). Investigation of functional working memory in the Reading Span Test.Journal of Educational Psychology,84, 462–472.
Tompkins, C. A., Bloise, C. G., Timko, M. L., &Baumgaertner, A. (1994). Working memory and inference revision in brain-damaged and normally aging adults.Journal of Speech & Hearing Research,37, 896–912.
Turner, M. L., &Engle, R. W. (1989). Is working memory capacity task dependent?Journal of Memory & Language,28, 127–154.
Waters, G. S., &Caplan, D. (1996). The measurement of verbal working memory capacity and its relation to reading comprehension.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,49A, 51–74.
Waters, G. S., &Caplan, D. (1997). Working memory and on-line sentence comprehension in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.Journal of Psycholinguistic Research,26, 377–400.
Waters, G. S., &Caplan, D. (2002). Working memory and on-line syntactic processing in Alzheimer’s disease: Studies with auditory moving windows presentation.Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences,57B, 1–14.
Waters, G. S., Caplan, D., &Hildebrandt, N. (1987). Working memory and written sentence comprehension. In M. Coltheart (Ed.),Attention and performance XII: The psychology of reading (pp. 531–555). Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Wechsler, D. (1981).The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
Wechsler, D. (1987).The Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
Welford, A. T. (1958).Aging and human skill. London: Oxford University Press.
Wingfield, A., Stine, E. A. L., Lahar, C. J., &Aberdeen, J. S. (1988). Does the capacity of working memory change with age?Experimental Aging Research,14, 103–107.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported by Grant AG00966 from the National Institute on Aging.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Waters, G.S., Caplan, D. The reliability and stability of verbal working memory measures. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 35, 550–564 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195534
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195534