Listening Span Task (LSPAN)
Background
The classic Listening Span Task (LSPAN), developed by Meredyth Daneman and Patricia Carpenter in 1980 as an auditory counterpart to the Reading Span Task, is a cognitive test used to measure working memory capacity. The LST belongs to the 'complex' span tests that force the brain to process new information while simultaneously holding other data in mind.
In the classic LSPAN ('word recall' version), participants hear sets of 2-6 sentences, one sentence at a time. For each sentence, they decide whether the sentence makes semantic sense while at the same time trying to retain the last word from each sentence for a later recall test. The procedure implemented by Millisecond is based on a publication by Rendong Cai and colleagues from 2015 who used the LSPAN to study the influence of working memory on the development of consecutive translation competency.
Millisecond also offers an alternative LSPAN that is the analog to the Automated Reading Span (RSPAN) task developed by Randy Engle and colleagues in 2005. This LSPAN simply presents the sentences from the RSPAN verbally instead of visually. However, it is not part of the official complex span test battery developed by Engle et al.
Task Procedure
After a short practice session, Participants work through 15 test trials that present 2-6 statements (five span levels, 60 statements total), one at a time. Each span level is tested three times and the order of the levels is randomly determined. Half the statements make sense, half are nonsensical. Participants are instructed to retain the last word of each statement. After each statement is played, participants must answer as quickly as possible whether the presented statement makes sense by pressing the 'E' ('makes sense') or 'I' ('makes no sense') on their keyboards. Once the last statement is evaluated, the recall screen is presented and participants are asked to enter each last word (order is not important).
The program automatically scores the participant's input and compares it to the correct input for the current set of sentences. Specifically, the computer checks for each correct last word if it is contained in the participant's input. Automatic scoring works only if no spelling mistakes are made. Participants receive performance feedback after each trial sequence and can request a manual re-scoring to account for spelling errors.
What it Measures
The LSPAN is a measure of (verbal) working memory capacity.
Psychological domains
- Executive Functioning
- Working Memory: Working memory maintenance during active processing of distracting information
- Fluid Intelligence: Strongly correlated (.45 - .55) with Gf
- Reading Comprehension: Ability to deduce meaning from written text
Main Performance Metrics
- Listening Span Score: overall number of correctly recalled words (Max = 60)
Psychiatric Conditions
LSPAN performance tends to be impaired in patients with the following psychiatric conditions:
- Aphasia
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Schizophrenia
- Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCI)
Test Variations
Then auditory version of the Reading Span Task developed by Daneman & Carpenter (1980).
A Listening Span Task with Word Recall as described in Cai et al (2015).
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Listening Span Task (LSPAN).
Daneman, M. & Carpenter, P.A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450-466.
Pichora-Fuller, M.K., Scheider, B.A., & Daneman, M. (1995). How young and old adults listen to and remember speech in noise. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97(1), 593 – 608.
Cai, R., Dong, Y., Zhao, N., & Lin, J. (2015). Factors contributing to individual differences in the development of consecutive interpreting competence for beginner student interpreters. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 1-17.