It is well-established that schizophrenia is associated with a deficit in working memory (Lee & Park, 2005), and is regarded as a cardinal cognitive symptom. The N-Back task requires participants to monitor a series of stimuli and to respond whenever a stimulus is presented that is the same as the one presented N trials previously, where N is a pre-specified integer, usually 1, 2, or 3. The task requires online monitoring, updating, and manipulation of remembered information and therefore places demands on key processes within working memory. Across studies, many different types of stimuli have been used via various input modalities (visuospatial, auditory, and olfactory) making demands on different processing systems.
