Behavioral Measures of Neurotoxicity (1990) / Chapter Skim
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Computerized Performance Testing in Neurotoxicology: Why, What, How, and Whereto?
Computerized Performance Testing in Neurotoxicology: Why, What, How, and Whereto?
Pages 359-394
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From page 359... ...
During the last 15 to 20 years, however, performance tests have been applied with increasing frequency to assess functional changes in the central nervous system (CNS) induced by exposure to unfavorable work environmental conditions.
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From page 360... ...
Behavioral tests are also used to an ever-increasing extent to study the effects of work environmental conditions other than exposure to neurotoxic substances. Thus, unfavorable effects on performance of environmental factors such as noise, vibration, cold, heat, electric and magnetic fields, and physical work load have been demonstrated in laboratory experiments as well as in field studies.
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From page 361... ...
the need to refer to this WHO list of tests as a rationale for their test implementations (Cassito, 1985; Letz and Baker, 1986~. It is obvious that such a strategy leads to inadequate utilization of the possibilities offered by computerized testing.
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KJELLBERG (1985) investigated the effects of various response modes on the results in a computerized Digit Span test.
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It has also been suggested that automation of the testing procedure would render the testing situation less threatening. Fully computerized testing procedures provide some additional possibilities as well: · Computers are flexible, and one system can be used to administer a variety of tests, as well as to perform other routine tasks in the laboratory or clinic.
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From page 364... ...
One of the memory tests available with our system, a version of the Digit Span test, functions in an adaptive way. Until today, most efforts at the implementation of performance tests on computers have used visual stimuli, because the administration of auditory or tactile stimuli, for example, requires the use of rather complicated (probably custom-made)
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From page 365... ...
Several recent reviews have treated various aspects of computerized testing, and the reader is recommended those by Bartram and Bayliss (1984) , McArthur and Choppin (1984)
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For the first time, fully automated testing could be performed, with administration of instructions and test items, as well as response registration with precise timing of response latencies and data storing. New demands were made on our performance assessment methods bv the acquisition of an exposure chamber, which required a fully automated procedure in the solvent inhalation studies.
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. Furthermore, new tests were developed for use with this computer, e.g., a Complex Reaction Time task using color words as stimuli.
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; Search and Memory Test; Symbol Digit; Digit Span; Logical Reasoning; Additions; Finger Tapping (two tests) ; Vocabulary; Digit Classification; and Digit Addition.
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240 10 Verbal Reasoning 11 Vocabulary 12:1 Finger Tapping Speed 24 (3 + 1) 12:2 Finger Tapping Endurance 369 Approximate ~~ ~me (min)
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371 Go ~ lo ~ ~ ~ d4 I en 0 ~ ~ ~ ° 0° _ _ _ ~ _ _ _ _ _ _ O ~ ~ ~ O ~ O di O di cat Us Go Cat Cat ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ it., .
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were used as a complement to traditional tests for diagnosing occupational illness due to the chronic effects of long-term exposure to organic solvents (Iregren et al., 1987~. A total of 148 cases with suspected solventinduced illness were tested at four Swedish clinics of occupational medicine over 15 months.
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Mean response times in Choice RT, Color Test Vigilance, Additions, and Simple RT all proved to be highly reliable. The test-retest coefficients of Search and Memory, Symbol Digit, Digit Span and Reasoning were all below 0.80.
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374 __ Lo 11 cn ._ V, U)
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Response times in Symbol Digit and Additions and the number of errors in Reasoning were successively lowered with higher educational level. Other Individual Differences No performance differences were obtained between groups who were more or less experienced with work on computers or between subjects who had or had not participated in experiments using computerized tests.
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Surprisingly, response times in Symbol Digit were prolonged in the second session. Factor Analysis of Response Time A factor analysis was performed on response latency data from all the tests except Digit Span.
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Other Data on the Stability of Performance Measures The stability of performance on the tests can also be evaluated by analyses of data from the experiments by using repeated measurement designs. Table 5 shows the correlation coefficients between successive measurements using Simple RT, Choice RT, and Color Test Vigilance in an experimental study with exposure to toluene in combination with ethanol ingestion (Iregren et al., 1986~.
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are presented in Table 7, from which it can be seen that there are effects of learning as well as of time of day. In this study, Simple RT, Color Word Vigilance, Symbol Digit, and Digit Span were administered in the morning and in the afternoon of two consecutive days to a sample of 24 workers in the electrical industry.
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From page 379... ...
. TABLE 8 Pearson Correlation Coefficients for the Correspondence Between Successive Measurements Using Four SPES Tests in a Field Study of Acute Effects of Exposure to Electric and Magnetic Fields (decimal points are omitted)
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From page 380... ...
Furthermore, the correlations presented in Table 5 are also lowered by the effects of ethanol in the study. If these facts are considered, the presented data are impressive, and especially for Simple RT, Choice RT, and Symbol Digit they indicate suitability for use with repeated measurements designs.
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The discriminatory power of the indices was evaluated with respect to age, time of day, and occupational exposure to solvents. In tests of the effects of age and time of day, only data from the unexposed group were used.
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Mean differences between three age groups in different parts of the reaction time distribution in SPES1 and the significance level for these differences. The lower curve shows the difference between the youngest group (-35 years, N = 129)
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in different parts of the reaction time distribution in SPES1; t-values for the differences are shown in the figure on the right. SOURCE: Data from Soderman et al.
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Furthermore, results indicated that computerized tests predicted the diagnosis slightly better than traditional tests.
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Fairly low though they are, these correlations are still slightly higher than those obtained between traditional tests and diagnosis. CLINICAL TRIAL WITH SPESL Table 10 shows performance on the Simple Reaction Time test for the four diagnostic subgroups and the control group.
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IREGREN, AND A KIELLBERG TABLE 10 Mean and Standard Deviation for Performance on the Simple Reaction Time Test, Group Size and Age for Various Groups in Clinical Try-out of SPES1 Reation Time Age Mean Diagnosed Group Mean (SD)
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A total of 144 stimuli are presented at the same intervals as in SRT SPESl, and the first two minutes are excluded as practice trials. Color Word Vigilance SPES3:1 is a Choice Reaction Time task in which response selection is based on a more complex signal characteristic than in SPES2.
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Symbol Digit SPES5 is a revised version of a traditional test of perceptual speed. In one row, a key to this coding task is given by the pairing of symbols with the randomly arranged digits 1 to 9.
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From page 389... ...
Finger Tapping Speed SPES12:1 measures the maximum rate of repetitive movement. The task is to tap as rapidly as possible on a key at the keyboard with the index finger.
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The role of human performance assessment. Arbete Halsa National Board Occupational Safety Health 21:1-59.
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1980. Exposure to organic solvents: A cross-sectional epidemiologic investigation on occupationally exposed ear and industrial spray painters with special reference to the nervous system.
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Studies of behavioral effects in man. Arbete Halsa National Board Occupational Safety Health 11:1-60.
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. Arbete Halsa National Board Occupational Safety Health 13:1-37.
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1982. Standardization of a simple reaction time test for use in behavioral toxicology.
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