TESTS OF ATTENTION AND MEMORY IN INDIVIDUALS WITH INTELLECTUAL LIMITATIONS

描述(由申请人提供)：临床医生和研究人员都依赖于许多领域的注意力和记忆力测试--其中包括心理学、神经学、精神病学、儿科学、老年学和流行病学。然而，在这些评估工作中，有一部分人口被忽略了：言语交流能力有限的个人，包括智力低下者，神经损伤患者(例如，创伤性脑损伤和痴呆症)，以及典型的发育迟缓的儿童。虽然一些行为评估(例如，对智力、成就和社会行为的评估)已经被应用于智力受限的群体，但神经心理学中大多数标准的记忆和注意力测试都不适用于这一群体。这很可能是因为这些人通常需要(1)如何执行这些任务的额外非语言指导，(2)为他们指定的简化呈现形式，以及(3)建立和维持刺激控制的手段。我们的目标是直接满足这些需求，首次创建一个广泛的、用户友好的软件电池，为言语能力有限的个人开发任务。为了建立这个单元--为智力受限的个人设计的注意力和记忆力测试()--我们确定了符合科学审查的范例，并利用神经认知框架，从这里开始评估额叶功能。我们的方法是采用在基础和临床实验室环境中已经确立的特定范例，我们在施莱弗中心的行为技术小组在其30年的历史中进行了专门的研究。这一倡议是我们与Praxis，Inc.合作的长期行为分析研究和软件工程项目的顶峰。在这个STR快速通道项目的第一阶段，我们将开始为正式开发软件。该电池包括用于评估持续注意力、注意力转移、延迟与样本的不匹配以及延迟识别跨度的模块，这些模块连接到一个公共平台。这一开发阶段的一个主要重点是创建和评估用户界面模块。最终产品将提供临床使用的测试方案，以及满足严格实验分析标准的设计灵活性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Clinicians and investigators alike rely on tests of attention and memory in a host of fields--among them psychology, neurology, psychiatry, pediatrics, gerontology, and epidemiology. Yet 1 segment of the population has been passed by in these assessment efforts: individuals who have limited verbal communication abilities, a group that includes persons with mental retardation, patients with neurologic damage (e.g., traumatic brain injury and dementia), and typically-developing children who are preverbal. Though some behavioral evaluations (e.g., of intelligence, achievement, and social behavior) have been administered to groups with intellectual limitations, most standard tests of memory and attention in neuropsychology do not exist for this group. This is most likely attributable to the fact that these persons often require (1) additional non-verbal instruction in how to perform these tasks, (2) simplified formats of presentation earmarked for them, and (3) the means of establishing and maintaining stimulus control. Our objective is to directly address these requirements, creating for the first time an extensive, user-friendly software battery of tasks developed for individuals with limited verbal abilities. In order to create this battery --Tests of Attention and Memory (TAM) for Individuals with Intellectual Limitations --we have identified paradigms that meet scientific scrutiny and utilize a neurocognitive framework, starting here with assessments of frontal lobe function. Our approach has been to adopt specific paradigms that have been well-established in basic and clinical laboratory settings, and in which our Behavioral Technology Group at the Shriver Center has specialized over its 30-year history. This initiative is the culmination of our longstanding program on behavior analytic research and software engineering in collaboration with Praxis, Inc. In Phase I of this STTR fast-track project, we will begin formal development of software for the TAM. This battery includes modules for the assessment of sustained attention, attentional shifting, delayed non- matching to sample, and delayed recognition span, linked to a common platform. A major focus of this phase of development is the creation and evaluation of User-Interface modules. The end product is slated to provide testing protocols for clinical use, along with design flexibility that meets rigorous experimental analytic standards.