Abstract
Assessment of neurocognitive functioning is a critical task in many clinical, educational, service, and industrial settings. We report on descriptive and validation data of a new, World-Wide-Web-based, comprehensive battery of neurocognitive functioning, WebNeuro, that can be used in both applied and research contexts. Fifty healthy control participants completed both WebNeuro, and an established non-Internet-based computerized cognitive assessment battery, IntegNeuro, that uses a touchscreen platform. Results indicated comparability across the two batteries, in terms of critical single test scores, factor analysis derived indices, overall performance scores, and sex differences. These results support the validity of WebNeuro as a neurocognitive assessment measure. Advantages of its use in applied and research settings are discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychological Association (1986).Guidelines for computer-based tests and interpretations. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Baddeley, A. D., Emslie, H., &Nimmo-Smith, I. (1993). The Spotthe-Word test: A robust estimate of verbal intelligence based on lexical decision.British Journal of Clinical Psychology,32, 55–65.
Baker, E. L., Letz, R. E., Fidler, A. T., Shalat, S., Plantamura, D., &Lyndon, M. A. (1985). Computer-based neurobehavioral evaluation system for occupational and environmental epidemiology: Methodology and validation studies.Neurobehavioral Toxicology & Teratology,7, 369–377.
Bobholz, J. A., &Rao, S. M. (2003). Cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis: A review of recent developments.Current Opinion in Neurology,16, 283–288.
Braff, D. L., &Saccuzzo, D. P. (1982). Effect of antipsychotic medication on speed of information processing in schizophrenic patients.American Journal of Psychiatry,139, 1127–1130.
Brandt, J., Shpritz, B., Codori, A. M., Margolis, R., &Rosenblatt, A. (2002). Neuropsychological manifestations of the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease in presymptomatic individuals.Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society,8, 918–924.
Calev, A., Korin, Y., Kugelmass, S., &Lerer, B. (1987). Performance of chronic schizophrenics on matched word and design recall tasks.Biological Psychiatry,22, 699–709.
Chan, R. C., Chen, E. Y., Cheung, E. F., Chen, R. Y., &Cheung, H. K. (2004). Problem-solving ability in chronic schizophrenia. A comparison study of patients with traumatic brain injury.European Archives for Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience,254, 236–241.
Cohen, J. D., Barch, D. M., Carter, C., &Servan-Schreiber, D. (1999). Context-processing deficits in schizophrenia: Converging evidence from three theoretically motivated cognitive tasks.Journal of Abnormal Psychology,108, 120–133.
Cohen, J. D., &Servan-Schreiber, D. (1992). Context, cortex, and dopamine: A connectionist approach to behavior and biology in schizophrenia.Psychological Review,99, 45–777.
Cysique, L. A., Maruff, P., Darby, D., &Brew, B. J. (2006). The assessment of cognitive function in advanced HIV-1 infection and AIDS dementia complex using a new computerised cognitive test battery.Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology,21, 185–194.
Devivo, K., Rothland, J., Price, L., &Fein, G. (1999). Computerized assessment of arithmetic computation skills with MicroCog.Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society,3, 199–200.
Docherty, N. M., Hawkins, K. A., Hoffman, R. E., Quinlan, D., Rakfeldt, J., &Sledge, W. H. (1996). Working memory, attention, and communication disturbances in schizophrenia.Journal of Abnormal Psychology,105, 212–219.
Elwood, R. W. (2001). MicroCog: Assessment of cognitive functioning.Neuropsychology Review,11, 89–100.
Gold, J. M., Queern, C., Iannone, V. N., &Buchanan, R. W. (1999). Repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status as a screening test in schizophrenia. I: Sensitivity, reliability, and validity.American Journal of Psychiatry,156, 1944–1950.
Goldberg, T. E., Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F., Pliskin, N. H., &Podd, M. H. (1987). Further evidence for dementia of the prefrontal type in schizophrenia? A controlled study of teaching the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.Archives of General Psychiatry,44, 1008–1014.
Golden, C. J. (1978).Stroop color and word test: A manual for clinical and experimental uses. Wood Dale, IL: Stoelting.
Gordon, E. (2003). Integrative neuroscience.Neuropsychopharmacology,28(Suppl. 1), 2–8.
Gordon, E., Cooper, N., Rennie, C., Hermens, D., &Williams, L. M. (2005). Integrative neuroscience: The role of a standardized database.Clinical EEG & Neuroscience,36, 64–75.
Green, M. F. (1998).Schizophrenia from a neurocognitive perspective. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Green, M. F. (2006). Cognitive impairment and functional outcome in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,67 (Suppl. 9), 3–8.
Green M. F., &Nuechterlein, K. H. (2004). The MATRICS initiative: Developing a consensus cognitive battery for clinical trials.Schizophrenia Research,72, 1–3.
Green, M. F., Olivier, B., Crawley, J., Penn, D., &Silverstein, S. (2005). Social cognition in schizophrenia: Recommendations from the MATRICS New Approaches Conference.Schizophrenia Bulletin,31, 882–887.
Hobart, M. P., Goldberg, R., Bartko, J. J., &Gold, J. M. (1999). Repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status as a screening test in schizophrenia. II: Convergent/discriminant validity and diagnostic group comparisons.American Journal of Psychiatry,156, 1951–1957.
Keefe, R. S., Goldberg, T. E., Harvey, P. D., Gold, J. M., Poe, M. P., &Coughenour, L. (2004). The Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia: Reliability, sensitivity, and comparison with a standard neurocognitive battery.Schizophrenia Research,68, 283–297.
Kane, R. L., &Kay, G. G. (1992). Computerized assessment in neuropsychology: A review of tests and test batteries.Neuropsychology Review,3, 1–117.
Knight, R. A., &Silverstein, S. M. (1998). The role of cognitive psychology in guiding research on cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. In M. F. Lenzenweger & R. H. Dworkin (Eds.),Origins and development of schizophrenia: Advances in experimental psychopathology (pp. 247–295). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kozma-Wiebe, P., Silverstein, S. M., Fehér, Á., Kovács, I., Ulhaas, P., &Wilkniss, S. (2006). Development of a World-Wide Web based contour integration test: Reliability and validity.Computers in Human Behavior,22, 971–980.
Krantz, J. H., &Dalal, R. (2000). Validity of Web-based psychological research. In M. H. Birnbaum (Ed.),Psychological experiments on the Internet (pp. 35–60). San Diego: Academic Press.
Lovibond, P. F., &Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories.Behaviour Research & Therapy,33, 335–343.
Luce, K. H., Winzelberg, A. J., Das, S., Osborne, M. I., Bryson, S. W., &Taylor, C. B. (2007). Reliability of self-report: Paper versus online administration.Computers in Human Behavior,23, 1384–1389.
Mindt, M. R., Cherner, M., Marcotte, T. D., Moore, D. J., Bentley, H., Esquivel, M. M., et al. (2003). The functional impact of HIV-associated neuropsychological impairment in Spanish-speaking adults: A pilot study.,Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology,25, 122–132.
Morice, R., &Delehunty, A. (1996). Frontal/executive impairments in schizophrenia.Schizophrenia Bulletin,22, 125–137.
Morris, R. G., Evenden, J. L., Sahakian, B. J., &Robbins, T. W. (1986). Computer-aided assessment of dementia: Comparative studies of neuropsychological deficits in Alzheimer-type dementia and Parkinson’s disease. In. S. M. Stahl, S. D. Iversen, & E. C. Goodman (Eds.),Cognitive neurochemistry (pp. 21–36). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nuechterlein, K. H. (1991). Vigilance in schizophrenia and related disorders. In S. R. Steinhauer, J. H. Gruzelier, & J. Zubin (Eds.),Handbook of schizophrenia: Neuropsychology, psychophysiology, and information processing (Vol 5, pp. 393–433). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Palmer, B. W., Heaton, R. H., Paulsen, J. S., Kuck, J., Braff, D., &Harris, M. J. (1997). Is it possible to be schizophrenic yet europsychologically ormal?Neuropsychology,11, 437–446.
Park, S., &Holzman, P. S. (1992). Schizophrenics show spatial working memory deficits.Archives of General Psychiatry,49, 975–981.
Paul, R. H., Lawrence, J., Williams, L. M., Richard, C. C., Cooper, N., &Gordon, E. (2005). Preliminary validity of “Integ-Neuro”: a new computerized battery of neurocognitive tests.International Journal of Neuroscience,115, 1549–1567.
Reitan, R. (1958). Validity of the Trail Making Test as an indicator of organic brain damage.Perceptual & Motor Skills,8, 271–276.
Silverstein, S. M. (1997). Information processing, social cognition, and psychiatric rehabilitation of schizophrenia.Psychiatry,60, 327–340.
Silverstein, S. M., Light, G. A., &Palumbo, D. R. (1998). The Sustained Attention Test: A measure of cognitive dysfunction.Computers in Human Behavior,14, 463–475.
Silverstein, S. M., Matteson, S., &Knight, R. A. (1996). Reduced top-down influence in auditory perceptual organization in schizophrenia.Journal of Abnormal Psychology,105, 663–667.
Silverstein, S. M., Osborn, L. M., &Palumbo, D. R. (1998). Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test performance in acute, chronic, and remitted schizophrenia patients.Journal of Clinical Psychology,54, 985–994.
Silverstein, S. M., &Wilkniss, S. M. (2004). The future of cognitive rehabilitation of schizophrenia.Schizophrenia Bulletin,30, 679–692.
Walsh, K. W. (1985).Understanding brain damage: A primer of neuropsychological evaluation. Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill Livingstone.
Wechsler, D. (1997).Wechsler Memory Scale (3rd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Assessment.
Williams, L. M., Simms E., Clark, C. R., Paul, R. H., Rowe, D., &Gordon, E. (2005). The test-retest reliability of a standardized neurocognitive and neurophysiological test battery: “Neuromarker”.International Journal of Neuroscience,115, 1605–1630.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Silverstein, S.M., Berten, S., Olson, P. et al. Development and validation of a World-Wide-Web-based neurocognitive assessment battery: WebNeuro. Behavior Research Methods 39, 940–949 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192989
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192989