Measuring Verbal Working Memory Online in Research: Feasibility, Reliability, and Validity of two Implementations

• Federico M. Gonzalez ^[1] ; Jonathan Marrujo ^[1] ; Magalí Martínez ^[1] ; Juan Pablo Barreyro ^[2] ; Débora Burin ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Buenos Aires

     Universidad de Buenos Aires

     Argentina

     
  2. [2] Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina
• Localización: Psicológica: Revista de metodología y psicología experimental, ISSN-e 1576-8597, ISSN 0211-2159, Vol. 45, Nº 2, 2024
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Working memory (WM) tasks have been extensively studied with laboratory paper and pencil or computerized tasks; few studies have assessed the feasibility and psychometric properties of WM online tests for low-stakes research purposes.We analyzed two different remote online testing implementations of two verbal WM tasks, Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS) and Running Span (RS).LNS was tested in a supervised, online video conference setting in small groups (n = 115), and RS in an unsupervised, asynchronous, remote assessment (n = 289). Both had adequate reliability. However, in LNS, following criteria for minimum performance and “gaming the test” behavior, around 25% participants had to be discarded; scores for set size 2 did not follow the set size effect; and performance was significantly better for the more difficult set sizes as compared to an in-person similar assessment. Conversely, the remote online RS task showed an expected set size effect, and performance was generally equivalent to a similar in-person assessment. Our results put into question the synchronous video conference implementation of the Letter Number Sequence and favor the asynchronous Running Span task.