Measuring Working Memory Is All Fun and Games: A Four-Dimensional Spatial Game Predicts Cognitive Task Performance
Abstract
We developed a novel four-dimensional spatial task called Shapebuilder and used it to predict performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks. In six experiments, we illustrate that Shapebuilder: (1) Loads on a common factor with complex working memory (WM) span tasks and that it predicts performance on quantitative reasoning tasks and Ravens Progressive Matrices (Experiment 1), (2) Correlates well with traditional complex WM span tasks (Experiment 2), predicts performance on the conditional go/no go task (Experiment 3) and N-back (Experiment 4), and showed weak or nonsignificant correlations with the Attention Networks Task (Experiment 5), and task switching (Experiment 6). Shapebuilder shows that it exhibits minimal skew and kurtosis, and shows good reliability. We argue that Shapebuilder has many advantages over existing measures of WM, including the fact that it is largely language independent, is not prone to ceiling effects, and take less than 6 min to complete on average.
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Wii Tests, Shapebuilder, The Great Brain Experiment, BAM-COG, and Tap the Hedgehog produced output measures/scores that correlated fairly well with their non-gamelike counterparts.
“Wii Tests [21], Shapebuilder [37], The Great Brain Experiment [32,39], BAM-COG [28], and Tap the Hedgehog [27] were all found to produce output measures/scores that correlated fairly well with their non–gamelike counterparts”
From Gamification of Cognitive Assessment and Cognitive Training: A Systematic Review of Applications and Efficacy (2016) · cites this paper as [37]
Sample correlations from some simpler validation studies suggest intertask correlations of 0.45-0.60.
“However, sample correlations from some of the simpler validation studies suggest intertask correlations of 0.45-0.60 [28,37,39,63].”
From Gamification of Cognitive Assessment and Cognitive Training: A Systematic Review of Applications and Efficacy (2016) · cites this paper as [37]
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- Authors
- Atkins, S. M., Sprenger, A. M., Colflesh, G. J. H., Briner, T. L., Buchanan, J. B., Chavis, S. E., Chen, S.-Y., Iannuzzi, G. L., Kashtelyan, V., Dowling, E., Harbison, J. I., Bolger, D. J., Bunting, M. F., & Dougherty, M. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Venue
- Experimental Psychology
- Publisher
- Hogrefe Publishing Group
- Published
- 2014-01-01
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 417-438
- ISSN
- 0949-3964 (ISSN-L)
- 1618-3169
- 2190-5142
- OpenAlex
- W2106522860
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 3.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Keywords
- working memory, spatial tasks, cognitive ability prediction, Raven's Progressive Matrices, quantitative reasoning, N-back, task switching, attentional networks, language independence, ceiling effect
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Task Performance and Analysis, Reproducibility of Results, Young Adult, Stroop Test
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