ArticlePloS one2022
The negative impact of COVID-19 on working memory revealed using a rapid online quiz.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gamification and Cognitive Factors: Research Hotspots, Knowledge Structure, and Future Directions Based on Bibliometric Analysis.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Neurological impairment in long COVID: implications for neurodegenerative disease.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Cognition and Long COVID: a Review.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026Review
- Long COVID affects working memory: assessment using a single rapid online test.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Long-term cognitive and autonomic effects of COVID-19 in young adults: a cross-sectional study at 28 months.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Story Retelling and Verbal Working Memory in Young Adults With a History of COVID-19: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- Insights on the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying hippocampus-dependent memory impairment in COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cognitive Slowing, Dysfunction in Verbal Working Memory, Divided Attention and Response Inhibition in Post COVID-19 Condition in Young Adults.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Long-term consequences of COVID-19 on sleep, mental health, fatigue, and cognition: a preliminary study.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- Neurological, psychological, psychosocial complications of long-COVID and their management.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Review
- A randomised controlled pilot trial protocol for patient led cognitive gamified training during haemodialysis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Review
- COVID-19 related cognitive, structural and functional brain changes among Italian adolescents and young adults: a multimodal longitudinal case-control study.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Long COVID in Brain Health Research: A Call to Action.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Neurofilament light chain and glial fibrillary acid protein levels are elevated in post-mild COVID-19 or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 cases.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Effects of COVID-19 on cognition and brain health.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2023Review
- Developing research skills in medical students online using an active research study.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Importance of Magnesium Status in COVID-19.Biology · 2023Review
- Cognitive impairment after long COVID-19: current evidence and perspectives.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the respiratory system, it can also have neurological consequences leading to cognitive deficits such as memory problems. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on working memory function. We developed and implemented an online anonymous survey with a working memory quiz incorporating aspects of gamification to engage participants. 5428 participants successfully completed the survey and memory quiz between 8th December 2020 and 5th July 2021 (68.6% non-COVID-19 and 31.4% COVID-19). Most participants (93.3%) completed the survey and memory quiz relatively rapidly (mean time of 8.84 minutes). Categorical regression was used to assess the contribution of COVID status, age, time post-COVID (number of months elapsed since having had COVID), symptoms, ongoing symptoms and gender, followed by non-parametric statistics. A principal component analysis explored the relationship between subjective ratings and objective memory scores. The objective memory scores were significantly correlated with participants' own assessment of their cognitive function. The factors significantly affecting memory scores were COVID status, age, time post-COVID and ongoing symptoms. Our main finding was a significant reduction in memory scores in all COVID groups (self-reported, positive-tested and hospitalized) compared to the non-COVID group. Memory scores for all COVID groups combined were significantly reduced compared to the non-COVID group in every age category 25 years and over, but not for the youngest age category (18-24 years old). We found that memory scores gradually increased over a period of 17 months post-COVID-19. However, those with ongoing COVID-19 symptoms continued to show a reduction in memory scores. Our findings demonstrate that COVID-19 negatively impacts working memory function, but only in adults aged 25 years and over. Moreover, our results suggest that working memory deficits with COVID-19 can recover over time, although impairments may persist in those with ongoing symptoms.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.