Working memory capacity and its relationship to cognitive abilities.

Working memory capacity is often measured using a color change detection task (A). In this type of task, participants are asked to remember as many colored squares as possible over a brief delay. At test, one colored square reappears, and they have to determine whether the original square in that location was the same color as the newly presented square. People are very good at remembering up to three colored squares (B). However, performance begins to rapidly decline thereafter [4]. These results have been taken to suggest that typical working memory capacity is only about three to four objects. Additionally, there is substantial variability in the amount of information that individuals can hold in working memory. This variability in storage capacity is significantly correlated with cognitive abilities (C), as measured by the T score from the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery [1].