Updating Tasks
Keep Track Task
Description: Participants are shown a list of words from different categories (e.g., animals, colors, countries). They must remember the last word presented from each target category.
Example study: Dahlin et al. (2008) used the Keep Track task in their working memory training intervention targeting older adults. They found that training on this task led to improvements in performance and transfer to a similar updating task.
Letter Memory Task
Description: Participants are presented with a series of letters and must continuously rehearse and recall the last n letters (typically the last 3 or 4).
Example study: Sandberg et al. (2014) employed the Letter Memory task in their working memory training study. They investigated the effects of working memory training on older adults and found improvements in both near and far transfer tasks.
Running Memory Span
Description: Participants are presented with a list of items (e.g., digits, letters) of unknown length. When the list ends, they must recall a specific number of items from the end of the list.
Example study: Bäckman and Nyberg (2013) included the Running Memory Span task in their review of working memory training studies. They discussed how this task has been used to assess updating processes in working memory and its potential for training interventions.
These updating tasks are crucial in working memory research as they specifically target the ability to continuously update and manipulate information in working memory. They are often used in training studies to improve executive functions and assess near-transfer effects to other updating tasks.
References
Bäckman, L., & Nyberg, L. (2013). Dopamine and training-related working-memory improvement. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(9), 2209-2219.
Dahlin, E., Neely, A. S., Larsson, A., Bäckman, L., & Nyberg, L. (2008). Transfer of learning after updating training mediated by the striatum. Science, 320(5882), 1510-1512.
Sandberg, P., Rönnlund, M., Nyberg, L., & Stigsdotter Neely, A. (2014). Executive process training in young and old adults. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 21(5), 577-605.