Working Memory Assessment: Construct Validity of the Brown-Peterson Test

The classical Brown-Peterson task is generally supposed to assess working memory capacities. To date, however, the construct validity of the task remains mostly unexamined. In this context, the aim of the present study was to demonstrate the convergent and the divergent validity as well as the clinical and the developmental sensitivity of a computerized version of the Brown-Peterson test. A group of 726 French-speaking participants aged from 18 to 86 years and 47 patients who had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) were administered the Brown-Peterson task and various other cognitive tasks assessing executive functioning, verbal and visual memory, or processing speed. The correlation analyses revealed the good convergent of the task, which was shown to be able to distinguish between participants with TBI and control participants. We found an effect of age and education level on the different scores recorded for the Brown-Peterson test. Normative data taking into account the influence of the latter variables were thus provided. On the whole, these findings seem to confirm the validity of the Brown-Peterson task as a tool to assess working memory abilities.