title: Reliability and Validity of Ambulatory Cognitive Assessments.
abstract: Mobile technologies are increasingly used to measure cognitive function outside of traditional clinic and laboratory settings. Although ambulatory assessments of cognitive function conducted in people's natural environments offer potential advantages over traditional assessment approaches, the psychometrics of cognitive assessment procedures have been understudied. We evaluated the reliability and construct validity of ambulatory assessments of working memory and perceptual speed administered via smartphones as part of an ecological momentary assessment protocol in a diverse adult sample ( N = 219). Results indicated excellent between-person reliability (≥0.97) for average scores, and evidence of reliable within-person variability across measurement occasions (0.41-0.53). The ambulatory tasks also exhibited construct validity, as evidence by their loadings on working memory and perceptual speed factors defined by the in-lab assessments. Our findings demonstrate that averaging across brief cognitive assessments made in uncontrolled naturalistic settings provide measurements that are comparable in reliability to assessments made in controlled laboratory environments.
authors.affiliation: 1 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sliwinski
authors.affiliation: 1 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jacqueline A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mogle
authors.affiliation: 1 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jinshil
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hyun
authors.affiliation: 1 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Munoz
authors.affiliation: 1 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.affiliation: 2 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Lipton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003071:Cognition; D004463:Ecology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D009519:New York City; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000068997:Smartphone; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: ambulatory assessment; cognition; ecological validity; smartphone