Age, Skill, and the Speed-Accuracy Trade-off With a Recall Task in Chess

Background: A balanced integration score (BIS) has been suggested as a more efficient combination of speed and accuracy compared with other measures of the speed – accuracy trade-off (SAT). Purpose: Nonetheless, little is known about the BIS when associated with age and skill, two central factors involved in the SAT. This study evaluated the BIS in a chess memory task ( n = 229), because chess is an intellectually taxing domain where SAT is quite likely to occur and age and skill are important determinants of performance. Methods: A chess paradigm considering the combination of size (small and large) and type of chess positions (random, typical, and infrequent) was used to evaluate the BIS associated with age and skill. Results: As expected, age and skill related with the BIS in large infrequent chess positions compared with other size × type combinations. Conclusion: The BIS is useful to evaluate the combination of speed and accuracy as it relates in the expected directions with age and skill.