What is Digit Span?
Digit Span is the most widely used subtest in the WAIS-IV battery (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) for assessing working memory. The examiner presents a series of digits at a rate of one per second, and the participant must repeat them — either in the same order (forward) or in reverse order (backward). Span = maximum length achieved.
Forward tests passive short-term storage capacity; backward tests the additional active manipulation of information (you must mentally reverse the sequence). Backward declines more rapidly with age and is more sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction.