title: Computerized neuropsychological assessment in aging: testing efficacy and clinical ecology of different interfaces.
abstract: Digital technologies have opened new opportunities for psychological testing, allowing new computerized testing tools to be developed and/or paper and pencil testing tools to be translated to new computerized devices. The question that rises is whether these implementations may introduce some technology-specific effects to be considered in neuropsychological evaluations. Two core aspects have been investigated in this work: the efficacy of tests and the clinical ecology of their administration (the ability to measure real-world test performance), specifically (1) the testing efficacy of a computerized test when response to stimuli is measured using a touch-screen compared to a conventional mouse-control response device; (2) the testing efficacy of a computerized test with respect to different input modalities (visual versus verbal); and (3) the ecology of two computerized assessment modalities (touch-screen and mouse-control), including preference measurements of participants. Our results suggest that (1) touch-screen devices are suitable for administering experimental tasks requiring precise timings for detection, (2) intrinsic nature of neuropsychological tests should always be respected in terms of stimuli presentation when translated to new digitalized environment, and (3) touch-screen devices result in ecological instruments being proposed for the computerized administration of neuropsychological tests with a high level of preference from elderly people.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Segrate, 20090 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9601-1534
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canini
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Segrate, 20090 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Petronilla
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3120-1214
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Battista
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Segrate, 20090 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale Anthony
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Della Rosa
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuropsychology, The Foundation of the Carlo Besta Neurological Institute, IRCSS, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Catricalà
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Segrate, 20090 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9312-4675
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salvatore
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Segrate, 20090 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Carla
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7392-471X
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gilardi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Segrate, 20090 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Castiglioni
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface