Cognitive Assessment using Mobile Phones

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Report on everyday life assessment just published [more...]

Test of memory, attention and reaction time are used for many purposes, including clinical assessment of patients with brain injury, stroke or cognitive impairment, and assessment of impairment due to alcohol, drugs, or lack of sleep. These tests can be done in the lab, usually using a computer, or in the field, sometimes user paper-based tests or and sometimes with portable computers or other electronic devices

Electronic devices don't get much more portable than mobile phones, and we have been using them as platforms for cognitive assessments for a few years now. There are several advantages to this:

• Assessments can be made in an everyday life setting - home or work - and the unfamiliar and artificial surroundings of the lab avoided.
• Assessments can be made frequently, and at different times during the day, and a profile of the person's performance built up
• Links between different aspects of a person's life can be studied. If you miss breakfast does it have an effect on your memory and concentration later in the day? What about if you are stressed, or didn't sleep well last night. Or maybe you have had a few drinks. How much does that really affect you?
• Data can be transmitted over the network after each assessment, so that data are promptly available for review, 

This approach to cognitive assessment is similar to the use of Ecological Momentary Assessment to measure subjective experiences

On this site, you can find details of a range of portable cognitive assessments. As well as everyday life assessments, where users carry the mobile phone around with them, portable assessments can be used in other ways. We have taken tests into pubs, and asked drinkers to carry out tests, as well as giving us a breathalyser reading so that we can correlate performance with blood alcohol. Tests can be taken into a hospital ward or workplace, used at the roadside to asses fitness to drive, and even used in the laboratory!

We also use other platforms, in particular tablets. These are not so suitable for everyday life assessment, but are great for field studies, for example a researcher taking an assessment device into a pub, club, workplace or hospital ward. We have a system developed that is suitable for 7" Android tablets. We also have experience with testing over the web, and using with a digital pen

To get a free download of the mobile phone testing system, click here.

To find out more about the recent evaluation study on everyday assessment using mobile phones, click here.

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