Open Science Tools / Pavlovia
6 minutes
The N-Back Task Loads Working Memory Updating
In the n-back task a stream of items is presented and the participant indicates whether each item matches the one presented n positions earlier. Performance declines sharply from one-back to three-back because each new item must be encoded while older items are maintained, compared and discarded. The task loads working-memory updating and is widely used in training studies, where transfer to other abilities has been small and contested.