✓/✗ Validity - Though digit span experiments do measure the phonological loop capacity, we don’t usually use our short-term memory to recall sequences of numbers in real life. We rather tend to use our phonological loop to hold words to comprehend sentences and read complex information. This decreases the mundane realism/task validity as it's unrepresentative of how we use our phonological loop in the real world. However, there is high ecological validity since the study was carried out in the children's schools during their break time. It was their natural environment where they learned things and so reflective of how they used their phonological loop usually. Additionally, by excluding participants with learning, reading, writing or hearing impairments that may have diminished digit span and affected the results, increases validity. This is because the researchers were measuring what they intended to which was 'normal' digit span.