Frequently Asked Questions
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What does the keep-track task measure?
Working-memory updating: you monitor a stream of words from several categories and must recall only the most recent example from each category.
Why is updating hard?
You must bind each new word to its category and discard the previous one — a continuous juggling act that is more about control than storage.
How does it relate to intelligence measures?
Updating tasks correlate with fluid reasoning in the working-memory literature, though the correlations are moderate rather than decisive.
What strategy helps?
Actively rehearsing the current exemplar of each category — "animal: horse, tool: hammer" — is the standard effective approach.
References
- Yntema, D. B. (1963). Keeping track of several things at once. Human Factors, 5(1), 7-17. 10.1177/001872086300500102
- Sochat, V. V., Eisenberg, I. W., Enkavi, A. Z., Li, J., Bissett, P. G., & Poldrack, R. A. (2016). The Experiment Factory: Standardizing behavioral experiments. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 610. 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00610
- Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "frontal lobe" tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49-100. 10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
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About This Experiment
This experiment is an educational adaptation for demonstration purposes. It is not a clinical diagnostic tool. Results reflect your performance in this specific session and should not be interpreted as an assessment of your cognitive abilities.
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