A-82 Neuropsychological Assessment in the Age of Technology: Comparing Traditional Paper versus Electronic Administration

Abstract

Abstract Objective As society becomes more interconnected with technology, it is important to examine how traditional “paper and pencil” administered neuropsychological tests can be utilized in digital electronic forms (e.g., computers, touch screen tablets, and smartphones). Literature has shown somewhat mixed outcomes for the validity of computerized tests. Gathering data electronically has been found to reduce human error in both test administration and in data collection itself. Digitizing carries benefits in the research field where electronic administration may make it possible to gather data on a larger scale numerically and geographically. However, in some conversions to digital versions of a task, changes may be made to the stimuli and procedure that might seemingly be benign, but could activate different cognitive responses, potentially compromising construct validity. This study examined the comparability of paper and electronic forms of the Stroop task, which is used widely and has been previously validated in paper form. Method Electronic Stroop tests were examined for concurrent validity with a paper version. Two touch-screen based apps were examined: BrainBaseline for the iPad and EncephalApp for smartphone. Young and older adults (n = 58) completed paper and an electronic version of the Stroop. Results Correlation analyses revealed a significant, but modest relationship between paper Stroop and the BrainBaseline version (r = .54; p = .001), while the EncephalApp correlation was non-significant (r = .44; p = .18). Conclusions These results need to be verified in a larger sample, but the implication is that some paper and electronic versions of cognitive tests are not necessarily interchangeable, and caution should be used.