Working memory (WM) span tasks—and in particular, counting span, operation span, and reading span tasks—are widely used measures of WM capacity. Despite their popularity, however, there has never been a comprehensive analysis of the merits of WM span tasks as measurement tools. Here, we review the genesis of these tasks and discuss how and why they came to be so influential. In so doing, we address the reliability and validity of the tasks, and we consider more technical aspects of the tasks, such as optimal administration and scoring procedures. Finally, we discuss statistical and methodological techniques that have commonly been used in conjunction with WM span tasks, such as latent variable analysis and extreme-groups designs.

/pdf/working-memory-span-tasks-a-methodological-review-and-user-s-3jxqvl9j5s.pdf

Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and user’s guide

Summary Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive disease of the CNS that is characterised by widespread lesions in the brain and spinal cord. MS results in motor, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, all of which can occur independently of one another. The common cognitive symptoms include deficits in complex attention, efficiency of information processing, executive functioning, processing speed, and long-term memory. These deficits detrimentally affect many aspects of daily life, such as the ability to run a household, participate fully in society, and maintain employment—factors that can all affect the overall quality of life of the patient. The increased use of neuroimaging techniques in patients with MS has advanced our understanding of structural and functional changes in the brain that are characteristic of this disease, although much remains to be learned. Moreover, examination of efforts to treat the cognitive deficits in MS is still in the early stages.

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laneur/PIIS1474-4422(08)70259-X.pdf

Cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the nature of working memory capacity (WMC), and addresses the nature of WMC limitations, their effects on higher order cognitive tasks, their relationship to attention control and general fluid intelligence, and their neurological substrates. Much of work explores these issues in the context of individual differences in WMC and the cause of those individual differences. Measures of WMC are highly reliable and highly valid indicators of some construct of clear relevance to feral cognition. Macroanalytic studies have demonstrated that the construct reflected by WMC tasks has a strong relationship with gF above and beyond what these tasks share with simple span tasks. The conflict might also arise from stimulus representations of competing strength. This two-factor model fits with current thinking about the role of two brain structures: the prefrontal cortex as important to the maintenance of information in an active and easily accessible state and the anterior cingulate as important to the detection and resolution of conflict.

Executive Attention, Working Memory Capacity, and a Two-Factor Theory of Cognitive Control.

Several studies have reported high rates of depression in multiple sclerosis (MS) with a lifetime prevalence of ∼50% and an annual prevalence of 20% not uncommon. Concern about the potential of new drug treatments to exacerbate or precipitate depression in MS has led to increased interest in the relation between MS and depression. This review on MS and depression identifies the following key issues: How common is depression in people with MS? Is depression in MS associated with lesions in specific regions of the central nervous system? Is there an increased risk of suicide in MS? Is there a higher than expected incidence of anxiety disorders in MS? Are fatigue and depressed mood related in MS? Is there a relation between depression and cognitive impairment in MS? Which psychosocial variables affect the development of depression in MS? Does treatment with interferon increase the risk of depression? How effective are treatments for MS patients with depression? Each of these issues is briefly reviewed with critical commentary, and some priorities for future research are suggested.

https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/jnnp/76/4/469.full.pdf

Depression in multiple sclerosis: a review

Cognitive impairment is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), yet patients seen in MS clinics and neurologic practices are not routinely assessed neuropsychologically. In part, poor utilization of NP services may be attributed to a lack of consensus among neuropsychologists regarding the optimal approach for evaluating MS patients. An expert panel composed of neuropsychologists and psychologists from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia was convened by the Consortium of MS Centers (CMSC) in April, 2001. Our objectives were to: (a) propose a minimal neuropsychological (NP) examination for clinical monitoring of MS patients and research, and (b) identify strategies for improving NP assessment of MS patients in the future. The panel reviewed pertinent literature on MS-related cognitive dysfunction, considered psychometric factors relevant to NP assessment, defined the purpose and optimal characteristics of a minimal NP examination in MS, and rated the psychometric and practical properties of 36 candidate NP measures based on available literature. A 90-minute NP battery, the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in MS (MACFIMS), emerged from this discussion. The MACFIMS is composed of seven neuropsychological tests, covering five cognitive domains commonly impaired in MS (processing speed/working memory, learning and memory, executive function, visual-spatial processing, and word retrieval). It is supplemented by a measure of estimated premorbid cognitive ability. Recommendations for assessing other factors that may potentially confound interpretation of NP data (e.g., visual/sensory/motor impairment, fatigue, and depression) are offered, as well as strategies for improving NP assessment of MS patients in the future.

Minimal neuropsychological assessment of MS patients: a consensus approach.

Because it is theorized that depression results in reduced available attentional capacity that, in turn, can explain the impaired performance on capacity-demanding tasks in depressed individuals, the authors predicted that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with depressed mood would have difficulty with these types of tasks. Twenty depressed mood MS participants were compared with 41 nondepressed mood MS participants and 8 nondepressed mood controls on 5 attentional capacity-demanding clinical memory and attentional tasks and 3 tasks with minimal capacity demands. Depressed mood MS patients performed significantly worse than both nondepressed mood groups on the 3 speeded capacity-demanding attentional measures but not on any of the tasks requiring few capacity demands, supporting the authors' predictions. The possibility that the impaired performance of depressed mood MS patients on speeded attentional tasks was mediated by reduced verbal working memory capacity, impaired deployment of executive strategies that access working memory capacity, or psychomotor slowing is explored.

Depressed mood in multiple sclerosis: relationship to capacity-demanding memory and attentional functioning.

Recent research has shown that depression in multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with deficits on cognitively demanding tasks. One explanation for this relationship is that depressed MS patients may have reduced working memory capacity. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis. Depressed MS patients were compared with nondepressed MS patients and nondepressed healthy controls on a task of working memory capacity (reading span) and a short-term memory task not taxing working memory capacity (word span). In support of the capacity-reduction model, compared with the nondepressed groups, depressed MS patients performed significantly worse on reading span (p<.001) but not on word span. Additionally, reading span was significantly correlated with capacity-demanding tasks shown to be impaired in depressed MS patients in previous reports. Results suggest that depressed MS patients are characterized by limited working memory capacity and that the central executive component of the working memory system may be most affected.

Depression in multiple sclerosis: relationship to working memory capacity.

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Depressed mood in multiple sclerosis: relationship to capacity-demanding memory and attentional functioning.

Depression in multiple sclerosis: relationship to working memory capacity.