PEBL Hub — IRB Fact Sheet — 2026-08-23
Digit Span
Category:Memory
Duration:~10 minutes
Parameters:15 configurable parameters available
Version:1.0
Input:Keyboard
Description
A test of verbal working memory where participants recall sequences of digits in forward and backward order. See spanvariants for an improved more flexible test
This is the 'classic' digit span test from PEBL, but an improved version is available in the spanvariants task which includes running a series of letter/number/mixed span in forward/backward and ordered recall. dspan/digitspan allows running a single forward or backward span task, under a number of settings/parameters. These include auditory stimuli, procedure (staircase, small-to-large, and largest-to-smallest, control over presentation timing, and success criteria.
Key Parameters
| direction | Direction of recall. Use either forward or backward (default: forward) |
| input | Input method. Use either keyboard, keypad, or mouse (default: keyboard) |
| UseAudio | Whether to use audio recordings of numbers. 1=on, 0 = off (default: 1) |
| AllowBackspace | Allow users to backspace over responses? 1=yes,0=no (default: 1) |
| AllowSkip | Allow users to skip over cells? 1=yes, 0=no (default: 1) |
| version | Type of test. 1 indicates traditional low-to-high; 2 indicates high-to-low; 3 indicates a staircase. (default: 1) |
| endearly | Whether a list length should end when the criterion is met. I.e., if you get 1 correct, skip to the next length. (default: 0) |
| upperbound | The longest list length (default: 10) |
| lowerbound | The shortest list length (default: 3) |
| perlength | The number of trials at each length (default: 2) |
| criterion | The number that must be correct to proceed (default: 1) |
| staircasestart | starting point for staircasestart. (default: 4) |
| staircasetrials | Number of staircase trials. (default: 16) |
| ISI | Inter-stimulus interval in ms (default: 1000) |
| iti | inter-trial interval, in ms (default: 1500) |
References
Croschere, J., Dupey, L., Hilliard, M., Koehn, H., & Mayra, K. (2012). The effects of time of day and practice on cognitive abilities: Forward and backward Corsi block test and digit span. PEBL Technical Report Series [On-line], #2012-03.