Rotation Span Task
Background
The Rotation Span Task is a computerized measure of visuo-spatial working memory. It was developed by Priti Shah and Akira Miyake in 1996. As with all span task, the task requires people to simultaneously process new information and store specific items for later recall. Specifically the Rotation Span Task requires people to make fast judgments of rotated Latin letters as 'normal' or 'mirrored' versions while also trying to recall a sequence of rotated long and short arrows.
The Inquisit implementation of the task is using a similar setup as the span tasks described by Conway et al (2005), such as Automated Operation Span (OSPAN) Task, the Automated Reading Span (RSPAN) Task as well as the Automated Symmetry Span (SYMMSPAN) Task.
Task Procedure
The Rotation Span Task combines an arrow-span task (participants recall a sequence of rotated long and short arrows) with a rotation evaluation task (participants judge whether the rotated letters F,G, or R are 'normal' letters or mirrored version). Participants first solve a letter rotation problem before they receive an arrow to memorize. This sequence is repeated until all arrows of the current span length have been presented at which point the arrow recall screen is presented. The arrow span lengths tested are randomly selected from 2 to 5 and each span length is tested three times for a total of 12 test trials.
Arrow Span Task
In the arrow-span task, participants are shown, one at a time, a series of rotated long and short arrows randomly drawn from 16 possible ones: Each of the long and short arrow is rotated by eight angles (0º,45º,90º,135º,180º,225º,270º and 315º). The sequence is followed by recall screen that shows all 16 arrows. Participants must the recall the sequence by selecting each arrow in the order presented. The recalled sequence is presented on screen and participants can correct their answer if needed. Feedback is provided indicating the number of positions correctly recalled, with positions recalled in the wrong order treated as incorrect.
Rotation Task
In the rotation task, participants are shown Roman letters (F,G, and R) as 'normal' letters or as mirrored versions. Each letter can be rotated by eight angles (0º,45º,90º,135º,180º,225º,270º and 315º) resulting in a total of 48 different stimuli. Participants are instructed to click the mouse button once they've determined whether the letter is normal (or not). A new screen appears with the question "Is this letter normal?" and two response buttons labeled "YES" and "NO", which participants must click to indicate whether they agree that the image was normal (Yes) or mirrored (No). During practice, participants receive error feedback. A timeout of 5000 is imposed during practice. The timeout is adjusted up or down for the test phase depending on practice performance.
While the main measure taken by the test is recall performance, participants are instructed to work at a high performance level (at least 85% correct) on the rotation evaluation task.
What it Measures
The Rotation Span Task is a measure of (visuo-spatial) working memory capacity.
Psychological domains
- Executive Functioning
- Working Memory: Working memory maintenance during active processing of distracting information
Main Performance Metrics
- Rotation SPAN Score: Total number of correct arrows recalled in the correct order in perfectly recalled sets
- Partial-credit unit (PCU): Total number of arrows recalled relative to the total arrows presented
Psychiatric Conditions
Rotation Span Task performance tends to be impaired in patients with the following psychiatric conditions:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Schizophrenia
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
- Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
The Rotation Span Task is a measure of spatial working memory, originally developed by Shah & Miyake (1996). The Inquisit implementation is based on the procedural description by Kane et al (2004) and uses a similar setup as the span tasks described by Conway et al (2005), such as the Automated OSPAN task.
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Rotation Span Task.
Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 4–27.
Kane MJ, Hambrick DZ, Tuholski SW, Wilhelm O, Payne TW, Engle RW (2004). The generality of working memory capacity: a latent-variable approach to verbal and visuospatial memory span and reasoning. J Exp Psychol Gen, 133(2):189-217. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.133.2.189. PMID: 15149250.