Comparing the Classic Paired Associates Learning Task with a new Smartphone‐Based Version of the Task

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPAL is a well‐known and trusted task with good sensitivity to deficiencies in memory capabilities as has been shown in hundreds of studies over the past two decades. There has been considerable interest in a smartphone version of PAL that can be used remotely, and Cambridge Cognition has now completed work on the first production version of this task. Here, we show how the task compares with classic PAL, in an online within‐subjects study. PAL may be used in repeated assessments, and one notable feature is that performance tends to improve most strongly between a first and second attempt at the task. We therefore included a first smartphone ‘Familiarisation’ session on Day One, before the Days Two and Three web and smartphone sessions.MethodWe obtained PAL scores from 76 adults (43m, 33f) aged 50+ (M = 56.3, SD = 5.46) using the Prolific online cognitive testing platform for this three‐day crossover‐design study. Participants were divided into two groups. In a first ‘Familiarisation’ session, all participants used their smartphones to complete a PAL assessment, then on Day Two, one group used the web‐based assessment, and the other used smartphone assessment, and on the last day each group changed device from the previous day’s session, as well as a questionnaire about their experience and comparison of the task in different devices.ResultWe found that test‐retest reliability between the tasks was very good (Pearson’s r > .7) between the first (‘Familiarisation’) session and Day Two, and then excellent (Pearson’s r > .8) between mobile and web devices on Day Two and Day Three of the study. Next, when comparing performance across the two groups (web‐first, and smartphone‐first), bias was not significant and numerically a very small 0.2 adjusted error points. A significant improvement was seen between Familiarisation and Day Two, but not second and third, supporting the value of a familiarisation session.ConclusionWe found that the new smartphone version is highly comparable to the classic version of the task, and that familiarisation using PAL on smartphone is effective, generalising across both task versions.