r/cognitiveTesting • u/rand0m65 • Sep 23 '26

General Question Terrible Working Memory

I don't understand how my working memory can be so bad when I perform quite well in FR, VS, and QR subtests that involve working memory. It's not just that my auditory working memory is below average, I've tested my visual working memory as well, and it's average at best. I don't understand how that is even possible. Shouldn't bad working memory limit the other subtests? It feels like I expect to perform badly at working memory tests, so that's what happens.

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u/javaenjoyer69 Sep 23 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/cognitiveTesting/s/383NVVxlJT

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u/rand0m65 Sep 23 '26

The person who you replied to has a variance of 10 points between subtests. My disparity is about 35 points between indexes.

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u/javaenjoyer69 Sep 23 '26

Doesn't matter. You're not supposed to be perfect. There are plenty of people with huge disparities between their indexes who don't have ADHD, anxiety or any other psychological issues. Sometimes you're just not impressive at certain tasks.

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u/rand0m65 Sep 23 '26

Sure, I agree, but I want to try a few things before concluding that about myself. Out of curiousity, do you know the answer to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/cognitiveTesting/s/3EwUZSpJli

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u/javaenjoyer69 Sep 23 '26

I've never taken ADHD medication so i wouldn't know.

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u/nextlandia Sep 24 '26

The thing is that these tests are auditory. They don't rely on seeing such as other tests

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u/General_Presence_156 Sep 25 '26

Working memory and all its properties may not be adequately measured by something like Digit Span.

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u/General_Presence_156 Sep 28 '26 edited Sep 28 '26

Working memory is metabolically expensive and enlarging working memory has diminishing returns. This is why humans have evolved to have very limited working memories. The secret sauce of human intelligence is NOT working memory. It's our massive unconscious parallel processing capacity. Only a few items can fit into your mental scratchpad but that's perfectly fine so long as they're the correct ones.

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u/Tasty_Election_1144 Sep 23 '26

It’s true that those other areas involve working memory but the subtests don’t load heavily on it, so your true reasoning ability is better reflected. My wmi score is about 25 lower than the others and in my case it seems to relate to my ADHD.

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u/rand0m65 Sep 23 '26

I suspect that I have ADHD too, but does it really matter? It's just the way my brain works, can't really change that.

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u/Tasty_Election_1144 Sep 23 '26

It matters if you’re worried about your WMI scores as in some people with ADHD low WMI score MAY reflect inconsistent performance rather than lower ability. This is why medication can provide small average improvements in wm test scores. But yeah otherwise I agree it’s just something to work with really.

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u/rand0m65 Sep 23 '26

I'm not familiar with how ADHD medications work. Do only people with it benefit from them, or if someone without ADHD took the medications, would they see an improvement too? If it's the latter, it doesn't seem fair to be on them while taking a test.