Test for the assessment of short-term visuo-spatial memory. Participants are required to mimic the test leader as he taps a sequenceof maximally nine identical spatially separated blocks. Task difficultyincreases during the task (i.e., starting with a sequence of two blocks, untilfailure of the participant). For humans, performance on the taskdeteriorates after 5 blocks, and the outcome referred to as the Cortispan. Developmentally, Corsi span improves until 14 years-of-age after which it asymptotes, declining in old age. Despite assessing spatial abilities, no sex difference have been reported. Brain scans indicate the involvement of the ventrolateralprefrontal cortex. The task is not without its critics, both in termsof theory and methodology. The backward version of the task (a measure ofworking memory) requires participants to mimic the order of blocks inreverse order. It is more challenging than the forward version, and appears to assess more specific spatial processes. The test was devised by Michael P. Corsi in 1972 as part of hisPhD thesis at McGill University supervised by Brenda Milner.
See Memory, Phonological loop, Prefrontal cortex (PFC), Sensory, short-term (STM) and long-term memory (LTM), Working memory
Corsi, P. M.(1972). Human memory and the medial temporal regionof the brain. Dissertation Abstracts International, 34, 819B.