Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The field of clinical neuropsychology has been slow to update its assessment tools. Traditional paper and pencil tests continue to be used to assess various domains of cognitive function, such as attention, memory, executive function, language, and visuospatial abilities. However, these paper and pencil tests can only obtain crude measurements such as number of correct responses and completion time. Advancements in technology have led to the creation of digital versions of traditional paper and pencil neuropsychological tests which could provide more accurate and clinically meaningful information. Digital tests could improve our understanding of disorders and diseases that impact cognition and thus better inform treatment methods. Further, digital assessment tools could increase standardization, reduce administration and scoring errors, and offset costs by reducing time spent preparing materials and hand-scoring. This study aims to 1) complete a large-scale validation that would compare these new digital measures to their traditional paper and pencil counterparts, and 2) to investigate the brain regions that are functionally linked to the new assessment measures using magnetic resonance imaging. Linking newly developed and validated neuropsychological assessment tools with neuroimaging could significantly advance the field of neuropsychology. Findings from this study will direct future research in the application of advanced assessment tools into clinical practice.