Your phone will see you now: Researchers say on-screen quizzes are a much better way to conduct cognitive tests
- Researchers say digital tests capture subtle information such as the way someone’s finger moves on a touch screen that is impossible on a traditional test
- Smartphones and tablets also allow the test to be done in a natural environment like a home as opposed to a lab
- Scientists say it would allow for neuropsychological services to be expanded to rural or low-income populations
- They admit challenges include user familiarity with digital devices and matters of privacy and security
Smartphones and tablets could be the new way doctors give cognitive tests to patients, a new paper says.
Researchers from McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School say the tests done on digital platforms could capture subtle information that would be impossible on a traditional pencil-and-paper test.
‘You can measure moment-to-moment changes as a person moves their finger across the touch screen,’ said lead researcher Dr Laura Germine, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
‘If that movement is not smooth, if there’s jerkiness, we can get all that. We can record certain dynamics or “micro behaviors” with digital assessment. It’s amazing.’
A new paper from McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School says tests done on digital platforms could capture subtle information that would be impossible on a traditional pencil-and-paper test (file image)
Over the last 10 years, the researchers have been trying to find a way to use digital tools in cognitive testing.
Their first breakthrough came with TestMyBrain.org in 2008, a website that tests cognitive speed, analysis and concentration.
‘[The site] is now being used across more than 150 research and education sites internationally, and more than two million people have completed tests on the site,’ said Dr Germine.
But digital tests performed on mobile devices allow neuropsychological tests to be performed in a patient’s natural environment – such as their home – as opposed to a lab or class setting.
‘Much of neuropsychological testing is getting at someone’s optimal performance, determining how well could they do if you structured everything right,’ said Dr Germine.
‘[Digital testing] lets you ask the question of how well they actually do in their everyday environments.’
She adds that it could also expand neuropsychological services where they are less available, particularly among rural or low-income populations.
Despite the great progress that has been made, the team says clinicians and researchers need to be skeptical and careful as they continue to explore innovation.
‘Variations in devices, hardware, and software and how we interact with them could be in some ways greater than with paper and pencil, and taking a test on a laptop as opposed to a smartphone could yield different results,’ said Dr Germine.
The researchers admit there are some challenges that come with administering tests digitally.
One example they give is a test that requires users to connect a set of circles iwht numbers in ascending order.
They say how quickly someone moves a mouse on a desktop computer and the invariability of a smartphone screen size could translate to worse scores.
They also add that how familiar users are with digital devices – be it the device itself or the software – could lead to wide variations in test scores.
There is also the matter of privacy and security, particularly as tech companies such as Google and Amazon have experienced recent privacy breaches.
Currently, the authors are working to develop a nationwide infrastructure that would allow neuropsychological tests to be performed on smartphones.
‘We’re bringing together the brightest minds and innovators to create a standard set of tools for mobile devices that will help move the needle in our understanding of brain health and how neuropsychological functioning contributes to physical and mental disorders,’ said Dr Germine.
The paper builds upon research that says smartphones could even be used to prevent and treat teenage depression.
Although smartphones have been linked to worsening teen mental health, Dr Thomas Insel, former head of the National Institute of Mental Health, says there might be as many as 1,000 smartphone ‘biomarkers’ for depression.
Preliminary studies show these biomarkers include changes in typing speed, voice tone and word choice.
‘[People with mental illness] get help when they’re in crisis and very late in the course of an illness. We want to have a method to identify the earliest signs,’ Dr Insel told The Associated Press.