A Dutch, computerized, and group administrable adaptation of the operation Span test

Abstract

One of the most popular tests to measure Working Memory (WM) capacity is the operation span task (OSPAN) by Turner and Engle (1989). We present a Dutch, computerized, and group administrable adaptation (GOSPAN) of this test. The GOSPAN requires no active intervention of the experimenter and allows testing large groups at the same time. Participants received sets of operation-word strings (e.g., "IS 4/2 - 1 = 5 ? BALL") on the computer screen. Participants first read the operation silently and pressed a key to indicate whether the answer was correct or not. The number of correct responses and mean response latencies were recorded. After the participant typed down the response, the corresponding word (e.g., "BALL") from the operation-word string was presented shortly (800 ms). We tested 424 first year psychology students with the GOSPAN. Forty-six participants were individually retested with the standard OSPAN task. The alpha coefficient for the GOSPAN was .74 and the correlation with the standard OSPAN reached .50 (.70 when corrected for attenuation). The study provides researchers with a time saving, reliable, and valid adaptation of the OSPAN task.