Neurocognitive assessment on a tablet device: Test-retest reliability and practice effects of ANAM Mobile.

New technology has allowed for the transition of computerized neurocognitive assessments to increasingly user-friendly mobile platforms. While this increased portability facilitates neurocognitive assessment in a wider variety of settings, this transition necessitates further examination of the psychometric properties of tests that have been previously validated on alternate platforms. The present study evaluated the test-retest reliability and practice effects for a new version of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM), ANAM Mobile, designed to be administered on a tablet computer. A total of 108 undergraduate students completed ANAM Mobile and returned after one week for repeated testing. Observed test-retest reliabilities were consistent with previously established estimates across similar time intervals and ranged from .55 (Simple Response Time) to .87 (Matching to Sample). Modest practice effects were observed. Base rates of reliable decline were low and suggested that declines on two or more tests are uncommon among healthy college students. The present study demonstrates that ANAM Mobile subtests have good-to-excellent reliability across a 7-day retest interval with minimal practice effects. Future research should explore within-subject reliability across repeated ANAM administrations on a tablet device and further examine retest reliabilities over varying time courses and in more diverse samples.

Understanding cognitive performance during exercise in Reserve Officers' Training Corps: establishing the executive function-exercise intensity relationship.

Military performance depends on high-level cognition, specifically executive function (EF), while simultaneously performing strenuous exercise. However, most studies examine cognitive performance following, not during, exercise. Therefore, our aim was to examine the relationship between EF and exercise intensity. Following familiarization, 13 Reserve Officers' Training Corp cadets (age = 19.6 ± 2 yr, five women) completed a graded exercise test (GxT) and two executive function exercise tests (EFETs) separated by a duration of ≥24 h. The EFET was a combined iPad-based EF test (Cedar Operator Workload Assessment Tool) and GxT. Heart rate (HR) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation [near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)] were continuously recorded. The EF score was analyzed for accuracy of responses (%hit rate). Heart rate reserve was calculated to normalize exercise intensity (%HRR). For PFC oxygenation recordings, NIRS variables were used to calculate the tissue saturation index (%TSI). Data from EFET trials were averaged into a singular response. The %hit rate declined at heart rate reserves (HRRs) of ≥80%, reaching nadir at 100% HRR (74.09 ± 10.63%, P < 0.01). The tissue saturation index (TSI) followed a similar pattern, declining at ≥70% of HRR and at a greater rate during EFET compared with during GxT (P < 0.01), reaching a nadir in both conditions at 100% HRR (60.39 ± 2.94 vs. 63.13 ± 3.16%, P < 0.01). Therefore, EF decline is dependent on exercise intensity, as is %TSI. These data suggest that reductions in EF during high-intensity exercise are at least in part related to attenuated PFC oxygenation. Thus, interventions that improve PFC oxygenation may improve combined exercise and EF performance.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The executive functioning aspect of cognition was evaluated during graded exercise in Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets. Executive function declined at exercise intensities of ≥80% of heart rate reserve. The decline in executive function was coupled with declines in the oxygenation of the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for executive functioning. These data define the executive function-exercise intensity relationship and provide evidence supporting the reticular activation hypofrontality theory as a model of cognitive change.