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Computerized Assessment (computerized + assessment)
Selected AbstractsPractitioner Review: Computerized assessment of neuropsychological function in children: clinical and research applications of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB)THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 5 2003Monica Luciana Background: Computers have been used for a number of years in neuropsychological assessment to facilitate the scoring, interpretation, and administration of a variety of commonly used tests. There has been recent interest in applying computerized technology to pediatric neuropsychological assessment, which poses unique demands based on the need to interpret performance relative to the child's developmental level. Findings: However, pediatric neuropsychologists have tended to implement computers in the scoring, but not administration, of tests. This trend is changing based on the work of experimental neuropsychologists who frequently combine data obtained from test batteries with lesion or neuroimaging data allowing descriptions of brain,behavior relations to be made with increasing confidence. One such battery is the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB), and current studies in which the CANTAB has been used to measure executive functions in children are reviewed. Conclusions: Computerized batteries of this type can record aspects of performance that are difficult for psychometrists to achieve, and these may reflect activity in developing neural networks with more sensitivity than can be achieved with traditional tests. However, before computerized test administration becomes a routine part of pediatric neuropsychological assessment, several obstacles must be overcome. Despite these limitations, it is concluded that computerized assessment can improve the field by facilitating the collection of normative and clinical data. [source] Subtle deficits of attention after surgery: quantifying indicators of sub syndrome deliriumINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 10 2010David Peter Lowery Abstract Objective To determine whether attentional impairments are reliable neuropsychological markers of sub syndrome delirium. Method A prospective cohort study with repeated assessment beginning pre-operatively and continuing through the first post-operative week. Computerized assessments of attention and the Mini-Mental State Examination were administered with one hundred patients admitted for elective orthopedic surgery, 70 years and over and free of dementia. Acute change of cognitive status was used to identify cases of sub syndrome delirium. Results There were significant differences of post-surgical performance between the ,no delirium' and ,sub-syndrome delirium' groups of reaction time, global cognition, accuracy and greater variability of reaction time (p,<,0.041). There were significant within subject main effects on reaction time (p,=,0.001), variability of reaction time (p,=,0.022) and MMSE (p,=,0.000) across the cohort; but no significant interaction effect of ,diagnosis' * ,time' on the computerized measures of attention (p,>,0.195). Conclusion The distinction between people with sub syndrome delirium and no delirium is difficult to quantify but computerized measures of attention might provide a sensitive indicator. Sub syndrome delirium is an observable marker of a clinical abnormality that should be exploited to improve care management for vulnerable patients. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Development of a computerized assessment for visual maskingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002Michael Foster Green Abstract Visual masking provides a highly informative means of assessing the earliest stages of visual processing. This procedure is frequently used in psychopathology research, most commonly in the study of schizophrenia. Deficits in visual masking tasks appear to reflect vulnerability factors in schizophrenia, as opposed to the symptoms of the illness. Visual masking procedures are typically conducted on a tachistoscope, which limits standardization across sites, as well as the number of variables that can be examined in a testing session. Although visual masking can be administered on a computer, most methods used so far have had poor temporal resolution and yielded a limited range of variables. We describe the development of a computerized visual masking battery. This battery includes a staircase procedure to establish an individual's threshold for target detection, and a relatively dense sampling of masking intervals. It includes both forward and backward masking trials for three different masking conditions that have been used previously in experimental psychopathology (target location, target identification with high-energy mask, and target identification with low-energy mask). Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Computerized psychological test usage in APA-accredited training programsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001Kenneth R. Olson Despite the advantages of computerized psychological assessment and the proliferation of assessment software, many psychologists still do not use computerized assessment, and its utilization has not increased during the past decade. Two-hundred-fifty-one APA-accredited training programs in clinical and counseling psychology were surveyed concerning their use of computerized psychological assessment. Directors reported a median of only three computerized tests used in their training programs. Twenty-five percent of the respondents reported no computerized psychological tests in their training programs. The computerized tests most-often used in psychology programs were compared to results of surveys of psychological tests most-often used in clinical practice. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 727,736, 2001. [source] Attentional dysfunction of chronic schizophrenia: No association with long-term institutionalizationPSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 4 2002LUIGI CREMASCO MD Abstract Attentional processes play a central role in information selection, which is impaired in schizophrenic patients. In the present study, we attempted to characterize the attentional performance of chronic schizophrenics using a computerized assessment of the multiple components of attentional function. Two comparable samples, consisting, respectively, of out-patients and in-patients, were tested in order to assess the effect of chronic institutionalization. Twenty-four subjects (half in-patients and half out-patients) fulfillling DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were examined with a standard computerized battery for the assessment of attention, namely Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprufung (TAP). Both groups were impaired on all measures of attentional processing (in terms of both reaction times and number of errors). There were no significant differences in attentional performance between in- and out-patients. In conclusion, the present findings confirm the presence of pervasive attentional dysfunction in chronic schizophrenia; the lack of significant differences in performance between in- and out-patients supports the hypothesis that the cognitive deficits are inherently associated with the illness and cannot be attributed to environmental/social factors. [source] Validity Issues in Computer-Based TestingEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2001Kristen L. Huff Advances in technology are stimulating the development of complex, computerized assessments. The prevailing rationales for developing computer-based assessments are improved measurement and increased efficiency. In the midst of this measurement revolution, test developers and evaluators must revisit the notion of validity. In this article, we discuss the potential positive and negative effects computer-based testing could have on validity, review the literature regarding validation perspectives in computer-based testing, and provide suggestions regarding how to evaluate the contributions of computer-based testing to more valid measurement practices. We conclude that computer-based testing shows great promise for enhancing validity, but at this juncture, it remains equivocal whether technological innovations in assessment have led to more valid measurement. [source] | |||||||||||||