Digit-span tasks
Immediate serial recall tasks with different demands in forward, backward and sequencing versions.
Performance task The format describes how observations are obtained, not an evidence rating.
What it measures
Immediate retention and, in some variants, reordering of verbal information.
What people do
A participant repeats or transforms a spoken digit sequence. Rate, list length, stopping rules and scoring belong to a particular protocol.
What the scores mean
Maximum span, trials correct and age-normed subtest scores are different quantities. Do not borrow a conversion table from another edition or treat “seven digits” as a universal capacity.
This explains the logic of a score. It does not supply a test form, individual result or administration manual.
Development and versions
Digit recall has a longer experimental history than any one test battery. Wechsler batteries standardized particular variants; the 2024 WAIS-5 changes how these enter its indexes.
Evidence: (Pearson: WAIS-IV and WAIS-5 Comparison, n.d.); (Spielman et al., 2020)
Reliability and validity evidence
Publisher comparisons establish edition-specific task organization. No technical reliability coefficients for a digit-span edition were independently inspected here. A research span task does not inherit a battery’s norms.
Evidence belongs to a version, sample and interpretation. Read the source notes for what was actually inspected.
Evidence: (Pearson: WAIS-IV and WAIS-5 Comparison, n.d.); (Spielman et al., 2020)
Where it is used
Memory research and standardized cognitive assessment when the required protocol and norms are used.
Limits and common misreadings
- Hearing, language, presentation rate and rehearsal strategies can matter.
- Backward recall adds demands beyond forward recall.
- One low subtest score is insufficient to infer a disorder.
Read an example
Original teaching example
A fictional report states a raw span of six without specifying forward or backward recall. Before interpreting it, a reader needs the protocol, age reference and scoring definition. The number alone does not answer those questions.
Constructed for learning; this is not a result from the instrument’s validation study.
Access and permission
Commercial digit-span materials, norms and administration instructions require their publisher’s terms. No protected digit lists or conversion tables are reproduced.
Textbook connection
Related contextPsychology 2e: 8.1 How Memory Functions
Conceptual context; the instrument-specific sources in this profile provide the primary evidence.
Related measures
Read a measure critically · Explore score examples · Review research methods
Sources and inspection notes
Checked October 22, 2026. An inspection date is not a publication date. Publisher information is not presented as independent validation; abstract-only and indexed-excerpt access are identified below.
- Pearson: WAIS-IV and WAIS-5 comparison. (n.d.). https://www.pearsonclinical.co.uk/content/dam/school/global/clinical/uk-clinical/assets/wais-5-us-version/wais-5-comparison-flyer.pdfPublisher document: indexed comparison text
Edition-specific subtest changes and 2024 US version inspected through the indexed text. No test items, scoring tables or normative conversions reproduced.
- Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/8-1-how-memory-functionsTextbook: conceptual context
Conceptual context; the instrument-specific sources in this profile provide the primary evidence.