Cognitive Labs Science: Research Notes

Background: Detection of preclinical cognitive deficits is important for identifying those at greatest risk for such disorders as Alzheimer's disease. However, available neuropsychological measures may not be sufficiently sensitive to preclinical cognitive impairment, particularly in high functioning and younger older adults. This study utilizes a battery of computerized cognitive tests (Cognometer) designed to provide a more sensitive measure of age-related cognitive performance by incorporating speed of processing components. The Cognometer was employed to compare the performance of individuals with and without the E4 allele, a genetic risk factor for the development of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's Disease.

individuals. To test this hypothesis, we hosted a LAN party at E3 in Los Angeles. Twenty two gamers aged between 22 and 35 were conducted to a secure facility and immediately entered into competition using Halo2 as a stimulus. After appoximately 90 minutes of competition, the play was suspended and the player rankings were logged. At the same workstations, user experience was immediately toggled over to the Cognitive Labs working memory and recall games featuring speed of processing measures. The top quartile scored at or above the 99.9th percentile compared to 'norms' for all users. The second quartile scored above the 97th percentile, The third above 95th and the fourth above 93. Data from four respondents who became distracted was not included. The results suggest that gamers are indeed faster. Other studies posit an age-adjusted differential of up to 100 milliseconds in response time. Some researchers such as Ryutu Kawashima (Nintendo BrainAge) in his writings in Japanese suggest that violent action games excessively stimulate the frontal lobe, though there is no empirical data to support this. The data shows that intense workouts can improve cognitive speed at any age, which is a measure that links very closely to life expectancy in several independent studies, notably those of Ian Drury. Those with the fastest brains live longest.

Note: The author received a doctorate in information systems, not psychology. Therefore the study should be considered as 'suggestive' of what further research might indicate.

The Cognometer is a commercially available reaction time testing suite that runs on PCs and Macs. Consisting of ten cognitive tasks, it promises to be an easy-to-use and easy-to-score measure of cognitive speed and ability. Given that it measures responses wholly by keyboard, it promises to be of tremendous importance to remote-testing situations, and in settings where external response consoles are not available or practical. It is important, however, to examine this reaction time measure in conjunction with other established reaction time measures. Furthermore, it's potential for use in clinical settings makes an examination of its correlations with clinical measures of cognitive speed and memory of interest. The present study discusses the psychometric characteristics of the 10 Cognometer tests, and presents comparisons with a battery of previously validated reaction time measures that use an external response console and timing device. In addition to this, correlations are computed between the Cognometer test subscales/subtests and the Wechsler Memory Scale, to determine whether it measures similar constructs to this well-respected memory test. Finally, the factor structure of Cognometer tests is evaluated, and a maximally weighted composite of its subscales is compared with the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices - a measure that is widely considered to be one of the better measures of general intelligence (g). Results suggested that the Cognometer tests are stable across time in both a short-term test-re-test scenario, and in a repeated practice scenario. Furthermore, the Cognometer tests demonstrated significant correlations to the scales of the Wechsler Memory Scale, and to the previously validated reaction time measures. These results suggest that test batteries such as the Cognometer may represent a potential resource for researchers and clinicians.

Reaction Time but not Performance on Cognitive Tasks Identifies Individuals At Risk for Alzheimer's Disease: A Preliminary Report

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Objective: To compare the performance of individuals with and without the e4 allele on a battery of cognitive tests designed to detect subtle differences in cognitive performance.

Design: Performance on a computerized battery of cognitive tests (the Cognometer), and standard neuropsychological tests, of 10 older adults with the e3/e4 genotype was compared to that of 17 older adults with the e3/e3 genotype.

Participants: 27 community-dwelling older adults were recruited from a pool of 120 individuals who already had participated four to five years earlier in a memory training study and a five-year, follow-up study. These individuals were originally recruited through newspaper advertisements and contacts with local senior centers. The 27 subjects who agreed to participate in this investigation were between 62 and 85 years of age.

Measurements: Subjects were administered a computerized battery of cognitive tasks, the Cognometer tests, which measure verbal and spatial memory, working memory, attention, speed-of-processing, and visuo-spatial abilities. Additionally, subjects were administered a subset of neuropsychological tests which had been administered at baseline and at the five-year follow-up testing. APOE genotype had been determined at the previous follow-up.

Results: Demographically, there were no differences between the e3/e4 and e3/e3 subjects. The two groups did not differ significantly on any of the neuropsychological measures. With respect to performance on the Cognometer battery of tasks, the two groups did not differ in terms of their physical reflex reaction time. Additionally, with respect to accuracy, the two groups did not differ significantly except on the measure of immediate memory, with the e3/e4 group exhibiting higher numbers of errors. However, the subjects positive for the e4 allele were significantly slower in performing all of the Cognometer memory and working memory tasks.

Conclusion: Reaction time performance on the memory tests of the Cognometer battery was able to differentiate the performance of subjects positive for the e4 allele from those without the e4 allele. This study suggests that reaction time performance on the Cognometer test battery may be able to detect subtle cognitive deficits in older adults. Implications of the use of such measures for the identification of early cognitive decline in older adults are discussed.

The early detection of cognitive impairments is essential as the aged population increases. A computerized test battery, the Cognometer, was used to assess 26 volunteers, 47 years of age or older for perceptual ability, memory and response speed. Results were compared to standardized tests for memory, language, visual-spatial, frontal lobe and global cognitive function. In general, the number of errors and variability on the Cognometer increased with reaction time. Age alone was not a significant factor. The highest correlations were between the Cognometer tests and Logical Memory, which is sensitive to age-related cognitive change and dementia. High correlations were observed between Cognometer perceptual/spatial tasks with WAIS III Block Design and Similarities, and may be sensitive to parietal and frontal lobe function. Memory and spatial ability are closely associated with hippocampal function, a structure often compromised early in dementia such as Alzheimer's disease. This study provides an estimate of the utility for the Cognometer to detect early cognitive changes in excess of normal age-related changes or associated with the onset of dementia.