title: Two Novel Psychomotor Tasks in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is a neurological disorder presenting with gait, cognitive, and bladder symptoms in the context of ventricular enlargement. Although gait is the primary indicator for treatment candidacy and outcome, additional monitoring tools are needed. Line Tracing Test (LTT) and Serial Dotting Test (SDT), two psychomotor tasks, have been introduced as potential outcome measures but have not been widely studied. This preliminary study examined whether LTT and SDT are sensitive to motor dysfunction in INPH and determined if accuracy and time are important aspects of performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-four INPH subjects and 36 healthy older adults were administered LTT and SDT. Novel error scoring procedures were developed to make scoring practical and efficient; interclass correlation showed good reliability of scoring procedures for both tasks (0.997; p<.001).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The INPH group demonstrated slower performance on SDT (p<.001) and made a greater number of errors on both tasks (p<.001). Combined Time/Error scores revealed poorer performance in the INPH group for original-LTT (p<.001), modified-LTT (p ≤ .001) and SDT (p<.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate LTT and SDT may prove useful for monitoring psychomotor skills in INPH. While completion time reflects impaired processing speed, reduced accuracy may suggest planning and self-monitoring difficulties, aspects of executive functioning known to be compromised in INPH. This is the first study to underscore the importance of performance accuracy in INPH and introduce practical/reliable error scoring for these tasks. Future work will establish reliability and validity of these measures and determine their utility as outcome tools.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,University of Miami,Coral Gables,Florida.
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Piryatinsky
authors.affiliation: 4Department of Psychology,Eastern Illinois University,Charleston,Illinois.
authors.forename: Fayeza S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Petra M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Klinge
authors.affiliation: 5Department of Neurology,Weill Cornell Medical College,New York,New York.
authors.forename: Norman R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Relkin
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salloway
authors.affiliation: 5Department of Neurology,Weill Cornell Medical College,New York,New York.
authors.forename: Lisa D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Ravdin
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Einat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Malloy
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,University of Miami,Coral Gables,Florida.
authors.forename: Bonnie E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Broggi
authors.affiliation: 3Memory and Aging Program,Brown University,Providence,Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gavett
authors.affiliation: 5Department of Neurology,Weill Cornell Medical College,New York,New York.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Maniscalco
authors.affiliation: 6Department of Neurology,University of Miami Miller School of Medicine,Miami,Florida.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Katzen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006850:Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
keywords: Cognition; Dementia; Neuropsychology; Normal pressure hydrocephalus; Psychomotor speed; Speed of processing