Tablet-Based Working Memory Assessment in Children and Adolescents

Working memory (WM) is a key predictor of academic success. Therefore, standardized tools for measuring WM are of critical importance. So far, WM tests in the German-speaking research community require one-to-one instruction, making WM assessment time- and resource-consuming. To ease assessment of WM, a tablet-based, group-administrable application for German-speaking children and adolescents was developed. The aim of the current study was to investigate the applicability, reliability, and validity of the word span, Corsi block, and word span backward tasks of the newly designed application for use with primary and secondary school children. The results indicated good internal consistency and satisfactory test-retest reliability for all three tasks. In addition, the results provide some indication of content and concurrent validity. We conclude that the application is a promising tool for the assessment of WM and has the potential for resource-saving collection of developmental data in large-scale studies.