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

<b>Background:</b> 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). <b>Purpose:</b> 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 (<i>n</i> = 229), because chess is an intellectually taxing domain where SAT is quite likely to occur and age and skill are important determinants of performance. <b>Methods:</b> 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. <b>Results:</b> As expected, age and skill related with the BIS in large infrequent chess positions compared with other size × type combinations. <b>Conclusion:</b> The BIS is useful to evaluate the combination of speed and accuracy as it relates in the expected directions with age and skill.