Computerized testing of cognitive functions

Transcription

1 Computerized teting of cognitive function PhDr. Jiri Kloe Head of the Central edical Pychology Department Central ilitary Hopital Prague Prague, Czech Republic Doc. PhDr. ilan Brichcin, CSc. Senior Reearch Scientit Central edical Pychology Department Central ilitary Hopital Prague Prague, Czech Republic Summary In the paper author refer about new developed pychological method which i ued in pychological aement of military pecialit in the Army of the Czech Republic. Statitical data about the method and norm for individual categorie in which the tet enitively ditinguih (for example military driver, military guard, member of foreign miion) are hown. The tet i modern, contructed a a tool which give reult in complex. It meaure both the level of the efficiency of cognitive operation under tre condition and alo make poible to obtain ome information about elected peronality characteritic for example motivation, elf-regulation, the trategy of olution procedure. Statitic correlation to intellect and to ome elected clinical factor (for example neurotical ymptom) are alo hown. The tet i contructed a a viual earching CAT with the changing organization of experimental condition. The human reource of all organization are the mot important and valuable becaue it depend on them how the other reource will be ued. ilitarie are the organization where the ue of the human potential ha long tradition. However, a the time goe the demand on different profeion have changed and increaed alo in the potmodern time. The right election of proper people for important dutie and the prediction of their individual ucce epecially in treful ituation became the crucial thing. In uch defined problem the ucce of it effective olving i connected mainly with the quality of elective method. By the way, the develop of the right pychological diagnotic method(tool) that repect all demand of preent and future, i very difficult. We know that generally known trouble of the pychological diagnotic reult from the character of mental event: the direct obervation i impoible and they are alo very variable (not only in inter-individual but alo in intra-individual difference). There are only two characteritic in the field of mental event that can be directly meaured: the frequency of appearance and the duration of thee event. The other quantitative ign (grade, degree, extent, intenity level) can be meaured only by non-direct meaurement of external appearance of

2 mental procee and condition (Brichcin,., 1999). Beide of that: all pycho-diagnotic tet are ued for practical uage, but they put the proband into artificial ituation. That i why the new theoretical knowledge how to control and regulate human activitie i ued, earching intermediary relation between ituational demand and concrete mental procee. It i not about the imulation external ituation, but about influence the pecific demand on internal factor and function, that are the object of the diagnotic work (Brichcin,., 1999). In our report we want to how one particular approach to the tak that military pychologit face in their everyday praxi. We preent the new tet that meaure cognitive procee under tre condition. Thi tet wa developed in the Central medical pychology department in the Central ilitary Hopital Prague. The tet will be in thee day offered on pychological market by mean of the firm Tetcentrum, the Czech branch of Han Huber and Hogrefe Verlag. During the procedure of develop new diagnotic tool we ued both modern knowledge of the tet contruction and very accurate decription of demand which i laid to armie in the new millenium. Concern new tet, we knew that we have to make identification of the important condition of mental efficiency in the tre ituation. Simultaneouly our main aim wa to develop modern adaptive tet which repect progre in the field of pychometric methodology. Principle of the cognitive pychology and new experience with elf-directedne regulation of mental procee were the theoretical tarting point. Duration of time period between preentation of timulu and announcement of found target i influenced not only by promptne, perception and attention function, but alo hort-time (operational) memory, learning ability, will and intellect (the earching trategy). In addition to we tried to afflict more oberved factor in one tet. That i why we were not concentrated only on global pychological factor, but alo on pecial function: firt of all on operational memory, elf-regulation, tre reitance, adaptability, flexibility, ability to produce the heuritic procedure of tak olving. In the field of demand on up to date military we went from many trategic tudie, that on the threhold of the 21 t century define the baic viion of militarie of the new millennium; creating the tet we repected then the pecific demand on the oldier profeional, a they were formulated in thee tudie. It i obviou the oldier of the 21 t century will face new demand. Thee demand are baed on the fact that the character of the miion will be changed and on very demanding operating with new, ophiticated military technology. Speaking about the miion, it i expected that the oldier will be deployed in the region where different ethnic group are and the culture conflict can occur. Thee miion will demand high level of flexibility, integrity and hardine of the whole taff. The new technologie will be baed epecially on baal widepread of computerization of many activitie, on the development of ophiticated device and preponderance of digitalization of informational environment. The eential break point will manifet in the field of information: epecially in coding and decoding of the ign. Thee information will in their diverification, the level of encumbrance and

3 changeablene in time mean new complexity of tak which quantity an importance will rie exponencionally (Rumey G, 1999). Firt rate ability to manage thee and other order in rapidly changing military environment will be from the pychological point of view connected with level and quality of many inner factor. Some of thee factor can be emphaized. Getting on that the duty of modern oldier will be more complex, le proceduralized we can come to prompt and quality judgement connected with irrevocable deciion, very often nontandard. It i obviou that the mot important element will be cognitive level, analytic intelligence and mental operation, tability and reliability of general mental performance under tre condition, ability to generate trategie of problem olving, the deciion procee, aim- focued-motivation and dicipline. Development of the tet wa made in the Central edical Pychology Department of the Central ilitary Hopital Prague. The tet followed on the reult of individual pychological examination of peron (N =700) that wa made by method Numeric Square. Thi method belong to category of earching tak. The method i baed on earching for pecific ign (number). The tet i divided in to five ub-tet. Sub-tet 1,3,5 have no time limit: proband earche for the pecific ing until he i ucceful. Sub-tet 2 and 4 evoke the tre ituation becaue they have time limit. The proband have to find a target in certain time and if he i not ucceful he obtain a new ign. The ub-tet lat the ame time 6 min., o the whole tet take 35-40min. The CAT ytem i ued to adminitration and evaluation of the tet. For the collection of reearch data 2000 in age-homogenic group of men from different military platoon of the Army of Czech Republic were teted. From the military profeion were choen: military driver, military guard, and oldier which were applying for participation in miion. We can mention only ome reult we dicovered by teting. Firt at all it wa approved that the procee of Viual Scanning were intentionally regulated. It mean that imple behavioural explanation of thee procee hould not be adequate. The olution of Searching Tak i quite difficult mental activity that cannot be imply decribed a a human reaction on preented timuli. For the interpretation of Viual Scanning procee have to be ued the new knowledge of Cognitive Pychology. It wa approved again that we could not interpret the parameter of performance during the earching tak only in relation to the function of perception and attention. Only the complex cognitive operation and learned intellectual kill are ued during the earching for certain object that are in covered viual field. During the analyi of time duration of earching for the target in the tructure of the numeral quare we found out that the individual - diregarding their individual difference - had found the target localized in the upper left part ide of the quare much fater (in horter time) than the object ituated in oppoite part of the quare (Fig. 1a). We alo found out another even

4 impactiver fact: the longet time duration took to find number that repreent the highet value. It mean it lated much longer to find the number that began with 9 than the number that began with 1. (Fig. 1b) We explain thi fact thi way: if a man have to find ome object or ymbol in unknown viual field he uually tart to can the field according to hi Reading Habit and along with thi he put the emantic meaning to ign he percept. We can expect that people regulate their cognitive activitie in different occupational or life ituation analogouly a in Viual Scanning. Thi dicovery hould be ued during the contruction and uage of the imulator. On the other ide if the peron doe not earch the object according to ome ytem we can expect that thi peron ha low effective cognitive function or that he uffer from ome neuropychological diorder. The main information we acquired from the average number of found target. Thee object were found or were not found in 5 ub-tet (Fig. 2). Firt and foremot it wa approved that if the ub-tet had been repeated the number of found object had rien up. On the other hand if the period of target preentation wa limited (while the time duration of the ub-tet wa table) the number of found object decreaed. Thee change were congruou in all teted group. The difference were only in dimenion of dicovered change. Very good reult were een by SFOR oldier: they found mot of the object when the period of target preentation wa no limited, they have the lowet core in not found object (in period with limit) and the lowet difference between the individual performance. When the ub-tet were repeated the group of driver made the bet improvement. Group of Guarding Service made the mallet improvement. The average time that wa needed for earching of the object i another important indicator of change in cognitive procee Viual Scanning which were teted by thi method (Fig. 3). The difference between group in average time of earching for object were 15,4%. But if the condition during the tet were changed the difference were 36,0%. We have to emphaize that if the mental load increaed the number of found object wa maller; but on the other hand the peed of earching of the object wa fater. Thi apparently paradoxical tatement prove: in ituation with higher mental demand the majority of teted individual were able to increae their motivation, to make their cognitive procee more effective. It i intereting the SFOR group had the hortet time of finding object both in the ub-tet without limit and in the ub-tet with limit. Thank to the computer we could record the time parameter of every ingle peron. That i why we could evaluate the variability of individual time parameter in every ub-tet (Fig. 4). Thi poibility i important becaue the parameter of the variability of time fluctuation i an objective indicator of the dynamic of pychological (emotional) tate. About the enibility of thi method refer the fact the method dicloed the difference of average value of timeparameter between the group. People from the SFOR group were according to the variability of thi indicator on the firt place (in the tet without limit) and econd (in the tet with limit). It meant that their emotional tate wa much le variable in comparion to another group of men. The lowet emotional tability wa found by Guarding Service and the Catle Guard manpower. The difference between guard group and SFOR were 19,7% and 19,1%.

5 Interpretation and analyi of the tet are baed on - except of two rough core - 16 quantitative record (Fig. 5). From the point of view of the pychological diagnotic of the individual are the difference between group obviouly not o important a the difference between the individual within one group. The dicriminative power of the method we can evaluate according to the range of minimal and maximal value and the ize of tandard deviation of individual parameter (Fig. 6). We compared our method with another, in frame of correlation tudie. The bigget correlation coefficient wa found with tet of intelligence - Raven, WT and OTIS and with the tet of operational memory and attention (TOPP) (Fig. 7). The low correlation wa found in quetionnaire method - TCI, SCL, PPP. The tet of cognitive procee in treful ituation we found a a very ueful and reliable method; it i enible for diagnoi and analytic evaluation of effort during the treful ituation of an individual. The tet can be ued by profeional, who elect the oldier for the military profeion. If we compare the reult we got from the tet with the group of neuropychological patient we will obtain a new approval of our hypothee that it i poible to diagnoe organic diorder.

6 Fig. 1a The equence of found target according to average earching time /</ N = a b c d. i. j. y. z. The equence of numerical ymbol according to the ordinal number of the found target (ee above) average in row: average in column: a.=16,6 b.=16,8 c.=21,3 d.=26,6 i.=13,6 j.=14,6 y.=24,7 z.=29,5

7 Fig. 1b The equence of found target according to average earching time average target equence according numerical ymbol earching time average time found 7, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

8 Fig.2 Number of found and not-found target Group Parameter ign (ee Abbreviation) (N) DG 1 DG 2 DG 3 DG % DG 4 DG 7 1. Catle Guard N = Guarding duty N = SFOR N = Driver (concript) N = Driver N = Other bodie A = ,51 6,59 27,75 6,22 30,89 5,51 28,16 5,67 28,02 5,99 30,96 6,12 25,09 7,84 25,78 7,76 27,99 6,72 25,73 6,85 25,23 7,34 29,24 7,49 2,79 3,88 2,29 4,32 3,22 3,78 2,73 4,13 3,09 3,60 1,98 4,28 10,14 4,17 5,57 8,25 3,57 5,28 10,42 4,17 6,02 9,69 4,48 5,28 11,03 3,89 3,60 6,40 4,25 5,04 21,50 7,90 20,81 7,92 19,29 6,90 20,87 7,05 22,67 8,22 17,39 7,18 Abbreviation: DG 1 : number of found target in ub-tet WITHOUT limit DG 2 : number of found target in ub-tet WITH limit DG 3 : umarization of individual change: DG 1 minu DG 2 DG % : percentual formularization of change DG 3 (100%=DG 1) DG 4 : difference in number of target found in V. ub-tet minu DG 7 : number of not-found target in ub-tet WITH limit N : number of people in group; : average value I. ub-tet : tandard deviation

9 Fig. 3 Time of target earching Group Parameter ign (ee. Abbreviation) (N) DG 8 DG 9 DG 10 DG % 1. Catle Guard A = Guarding duty A = SFOR A = Driver (concript) A = Driver A = Other bodie A = ,8 32,0 132,3 33,8 118,4 21,0 130,1 27,4 131,8 29,6 117,9 23,3 85,7 12,0 85,8 11,1 82,7 7,3 84,3 8,3 84,3 7,1 83,8 10,4 48,0 27,0 46,5 29,3 35,6 18,3 45,8 24,5 47,5 21,1 34,1 20,3 35,95 35,15 30,07 35,20 36,04 28,92 Abbreviation: DG 8 : target earching time in ub-tet WITHOUT limit DG 9 : target earching time in ub-tet WITH limit DG10 : umarization of individual change: DG 8 minu DG 9 DG % : percentual formularization of change DG10 (100%=DG 8) N : number of individual in group; : average value : tandard deviation

10 Fig. 4 Variability of earching time DG 11 DG Catle Guard 2. Guarding duty 3. SFOR 4. Driver (concript) 5. Driver (other) 6. Other bodie 66,6 22,0 66,9 24,5 55,9 15,2 65,3 20,9 64,0 21,0 56,5 18,0 26,0 9,9 26,5 8,0 24,7 4,6 25,4 5,1 24,3 4,0 25,8 6,6 Abbreviation: DG11 : variability of time in ub-tet WITHOUT limit DG12 : variability of time in ub-tet WITH limit : average value : tandard deviation

11 Fig. 5 Kvantitative reult of individual aement by T Z D K O method election of 16 indicator 1 DG 1 - number of found target in ub-tet WITHOUT limit 2 DG 2 - number of found target in ub-tet WITH limit 3 DG 3 - umarization of individual change: DG 1 minu DG 2 4 DG 4 - difference of occurrence in two ub-tet V-I 5 DG 5 - total number of fault in ub-tet WITHOUT limit 6 DG 6 - total number of fault in ub-tet WITH limit 7 DG 7 - number of not-found target in both ub-tet WITH limit 8 DG 8 - average target earching time in ub-tet WITHOUT limit 9 DG 9 - average target earching time in ub-tet WITH limit 10 DG10 difference of average time DG8-DG9 11 DG11 average variability of time in ub-tet WITHOUT limit 12 DG12 - average variability of time in ub-tet WITH limit 13 DG13-1-difference in target occurrence in ub-tet II-IV 14 DG16-1-difference in average earching time in ub-tet II-IV 15 DG17-1-difference in variability of time in ub-tet II-IV 16 DG30 liting of elf-evaluation

12 Fig. 6 Decriptive tatitic of the whole ample N = 2155 ean edian Std. Deviation inimum aximum DG 1 28, , DG 2 25, , DG 3 2, , DG 4 4, , DG 5 0, , DG 6 0, , DG 7 20, , DG , , DG 9 846, , DG10 450, , DG11 646, , DG12 256, , DG131-2, , DG161 73, , DG171 26, ,

13 Fig. 7 Some correlation of T Z D K O method N = 2155 TOPP VT OTIS RAVEN TZDKO occurrence of found target SUB-TEST I 0,48 0,30 0,29 0,34 SUB-TEST II 0,46 0,21 0,27 0,38 SUB-TEST III 0,46 0,27 0,25 0,38 SUB-TEST IV 0,48 0,24 0,23 0,25 SUB-TEST V 0,46 0,26 0,17 0,32 DG 11-0, DG 12-0, DG 7-0, Abbreviation: DG 11: variability of time in ub-tet WITHOUT limit DG 12: variability of time in ub-tet WITH limit DG 7: total number of not-found target in both ub-tet