Patent Application
20080306349
The present invention generally relates to neuropsychological assessments, and, in particular, to systems and methods for assessing spatial working memory.
Working memory is defined here as the capacity to “hold” and mentally “manipulate” information in conscious awareness. The purpose of working memory is to enable a person to operate on a stimulus to solve a particular problem and then to forget that information. Examples of working memory include the ability to remember a telephone number, perform math in the mind, and write something down while listening (i.e., multi-tasking).
Auditory working memory measures are known in the art; however, it has been more problematic to assess the visual working memory system. In part, the difficulty lies in finding visual information that cannot be codified by the verbal memory system in a way that facilitates recall and to find a visual test that requires mental manipulation. Mental manipulation is considered an essential component of working memory.
It has also been difficult to create a non-computerized assessment of visual working memory owing to the need to present items visually with no auditory content within the limitations of a paper or stimulus book format.
Prior known assessments can be difficult to track and score if motor manipulation is required of the examinee.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a visual working memory assessment and method of creating and administering same. It would also be desirable to provide such an assessment that is easier for examiners to track and score.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a neuropsychological assessment of visual working memory. The assessment requires mental manipulation of visual information using a resequencing paradigm common to auditory working memory tasks. The assessment enables clinicians to evaluate visual resquencing without relying on highly symbolic (i.e., verbally encodable numbers or letters) information.
The neuropsychological assessment of visual working memory comprises a first display that comprises a first set of distinct abstract elements positioned in a first order. A second display comprises a second set of distinct abstract symbols positioned in a second order. The second set includes all the abstract elements of the first set plus at least one additional distinct abstract element not present in the first set.
Means are provided for displaying the first display to an examinee. Means are also provided for asking the examinee to view the first display and to note the abstract elements in the first set and the first order thereof. Means are further provided for instructing the examinee to view the second display and to indicate, with reference to the second set, a location of each of the abstract elements present in the first set, in the first order.
The features that characterize the invention, both as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following description used in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. It is to be expressly understood that the drawing is for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. These and other objects attained, and advantages offered, by the present invention will become more fully apparent as the description that now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.
A description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be presented with reference to
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a neuropsychological assessment and methods for delivering and scoring same. The method, using the assessment of the present invention, will first be described with a particular example illustrated in
The examinee is asked to view the first display 11 (block 102) and to remember the abstract elements in the first set and the first order thereof (block 103).
A second display 14 (
The examinee is instructed to view the second display (block 105). The examinee is also asked to indicate, with reference to the second set 14, a location of each of the abstract elements present in the first set 11, in the first order, here elements 18,16 (block 106). The examinee can be instructed to indicate the location of each of the abstract elements by indicating the indicia 19 associated with the abstract elements, here, “D” and “B.” The examinee can also be asked to point at the elements from the first set 11.
The examinee indications can be tracked (block 107) and scored (block 108), for example, by awarding points based upon the examinee's answers. No points are awarded if the examinee chooses incorrect symbols or does not respond (block 109). One point is awarded if the correct symbols are chosen, but in the wrong order (block 110). Two points are awarded if the correct symbols are chosen, and in the correct order (block 111).
Three additional examples of items are illustrated in
The first display 40 of
The first display 60 of
It will be understood by one of skill in the art that the invention can be practiced in a number of ways, including with the use of a stimulus book such as known in the art, other types of hard-copy displays, and computer displays with or without an interactive feature such as a touch screen.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clarity, and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such words are used for description purposes herein and are intended to be broadly construed. Moreover, the embodiments of the assessment illustrated and described herein are by way of example, and the scope of the invention is not limited to the exact details.
Having now described the invention, the operation and use of preferred embodiments thereof, and the advantageous new and useful results obtained thereby, the new and useful constructions, and reasonable equivalents thereof obvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the appended claims.
