Battery guide
At-Home Memory Battery guide
Four untimed tests of verbal learning, story memory, category fluency and memory span, for memory research with participants taking part at home.
- Guide version
- 1.2.0
- Battery version
- 1.0.0
What it measures
Who it is for: At-home memory research.
It measures Word list learning and recall, Story memory, Semantic fluency and Verbal working memory span.
Episodic memory: Learning material and later recalling or recognizing it.
Working memory: Holding and updating information for a few seconds.
Scores describe how a person performs on these tasks. Research use only.
Tests in order
The tests run in this order. A study started from the battery keeps the order and the settings.
1. Verbal Learning. Measures list-learning across repeated study and recall trials, followed by recognition questions in the participant language.
2. Short Story Recall. Measures verbal episodic memory with a brief narrative, free recall, and recognition questions in the participant language.
3. Category Fluency. Measures semantic category fluency. Participants type as many animals, and then fruits and vegetables, as they can, with 60 seconds per category by default.
4. Digit Span Test. Measures verbal working memory capacity by asking participants to recall sequences of digits in forward and backward order.
| Order | Test | Domain | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verbal Learning | Episodic memory | 6 to 8 minutes |
| 2 | Short Story Recall | Episodic memory | 4 to 6 minutes |
| 3 | Category Fluency | Episodic memory | 3 to 5 minutes |
| 4 | Digit Span Test | Working memory | 5 to 7 minutes |
Time and devices
Allow about 26 minutes for the whole battery. The table gives each test's time.
Participants can use a desktop or laptop, tablet or phone.
On a desktop or laptop the screen must be at least 1024 by 700 pixels.
A tablet or phone needs a screen of at least 360 by 640 pixels.
On phones and tablets, each test is compared only with sessions on the same kind of device. A test shows a percentile there once that reference group holds 50 valid sessions in the participant's age band; until then the report shows raw scores and says so.
Participants need Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
| Test | Timing | Devices |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Learning | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Short Story Recall | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Category Fluency | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Digit Span Test | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
Languages
Runs in all eight participant languages.
How to give it
Start a study from the battery in the app. The tests, their order and their settings are already set and stay fixed. If you change, reorder or customize a test, the study becomes a custom study and no longer carries the battery.
Each test opens with its instructions. Participants see these:
Verbal Learning: Study a word list across several learning trials, type the words you remember after each trial, then answer recognition questions.
Short Story Recall: Read a short story carefully, then type everything you remember and answer brief recognition questions.
Category Fluency: Type as many words as you can that belong to each category, pressing Enter after each word. Any kind counts.
Digit Span Test: You will see a sequence of digits shown one at a time. After the sequence, type the digits in the order you saw them (forward) or in reverse order (backward).
| Step | Before you invite participants |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ask participants to take the battery in one quiet sitting, without help. |
| 2 | Tell participants not to write down the words or the story. |
| 3 | Pilot the battery yourself on the kind of device your participants will use. |
How each test is scored
The server scores each test when the participant finishes it. The primary score is the one the app compares with a norm. The other scores are reported with it.
Every result records its scoring version. For this battery they are Verbal Learning 1.0.0, Short Story Recall 1.0.0, Category Fluency 2.0.0 and Digit Span Test 1.0.0.
| Test | Score | What it is | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Learning | Total Correct Recall (primary) | Sum of correctly recalled target words across learning trials. | Higher is better |
| Verbal Learning | Final Trial Recall | Correct target words recalled on the last learning trial. | Higher is better |
| Verbal Learning | Learning Slope | Final-trial recall minus first-trial recall. | Higher is better |
| Verbal Learning | Intrusion Count | Unique recalled words that do not match the target word list. | Lower is better |
| Verbal Learning | Recognition Accuracy (proportion) | Proportion of recognition questions answered correctly. | Higher is better |
| Short Story Recall | Free Recall Word Count | Number of normalized words typed during free recall. | Informational |
| Short Story Recall | Unique Recall Words | Number of unique normalized words in the free recall response. | Informational |
| Short Story Recall | Recall Character Count | Length of the typed free recall response. | Informational |
| Short Story Recall | Recognition Accuracy (proportion, primary) | Proportion of recognition questions answered correctly. | Higher is better |
| Short Story Recall | Recognition Correct | Number of recognition questions answered correctly. | Higher is better |
| Category Fluency | Unique Valid Words (primary) | Words that fit the category, without repeats. Includes words flagged for review. | Higher is better |
| Category Fluency | Verified Words | Words confirmed by the category word list. | Higher is better |
| Category Fluency | Words for Review | Words the category list does not recognize. They count and are flagged for review. | Informational |
| Category Fluency | Repetitions | Repeats of an earlier word in the same category, including simple plurals. | Lower is better |
| Category Fluency | Out of Category | Words found only in the other category's list, such as apple for animals. | Lower is better |
| Category Fluency | Rule Violations | Out-of-category words, numbers and non-words. | Lower is better |
| Category Fluency | Requires Review | 1 when any entry needs researcher review. | Informational |
| Category Fluency | Total Entries | All entries, including repetitions and rule violations. | Informational |
| Digit Span Test | Forward Span (primary) | Longest digit sequence correctly recalled in forward order. Primary capacity measure. | Higher is better |
| Digit Span Test | Backward Span | Longest digit sequence correctly recalled in reverse order. Null if backward phase not included. | Higher is better |
| Digit Span Test | Total Score | Forward span + backward span. Composite working memory measure. | Higher is better |
| Digit Span Test | Longest Forward | Same as forward span. Maximum sequence length achieved. | Higher is better |
| Digit Span Test | Longest Backward | Same as backward span. Maximum reverse sequence length achieved. | Higher is better |
Session quality rules
The app checks every session when it scores it and records one of four states.
An Invalid session stays in the study's results, labelled with its reason, and does not count toward norms.
A session can carry warnings and still be valid. The results list the warnings next to the scores.
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Norm-ready | The session passed every check and a norm exists for it, so the app can show a percentile. |
| Raw-only | The scores are usable, but the app shows no percentile. Typical reasons are no norm for the test, changed settings, or a warning that makes a comparison unfair, such as a restart or a screen too short for the display. |
| Invalid technical | The setup broke the timing or the task. Examples are leaving full screen, a browser tab that lost focus during a timed test, and long pauses. |
| Invalid behavioral | The responses suggest the task was not done as asked. Examples are a failed attention check, repeated switching away from the task, and accuracy at or below chance on a choice task. |
Published norms used
No published norm is used for any test in this battery.
ConductCognition also builds norms from its own participants. An age band of a test uses them once it holds at least 50 valid sessions on the same device and input type, run with standard settings and scored with the current scoring version. Sessions from paying customers' studies and from clinical or patient samples do not count.
A report shows a percentile only when the app has stored one for that session. Otherwise it shows the raw scores.
Every reference group covers ages 18 and over. No reference group covers a participant under 18, so their report shows raw scores only, and their sessions do not count toward norms.
How to cite
ConductScience, Inc. At-Home Memory Battery guide, version 1.2.0. ConductCognition. https://conductcognition.com/batteries/remote-memory/guide
Cite the guide version you used. Name the battery version (1.0.0) and the scoring versions listed in this guide.