DOI:10.6129/CJP.202209_64(3).0002
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2022, Vol.64, No.3, 279-310
Development of a Tablet-Based Task Battery for Executive Function Assessment
Yei-Yu Yeh(Department of Psychology, Natinal Taiwan University); Ting-Yu Lin(Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University); Tsung-Ren Huang(Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University); Chun-Yu Kuo(Department of Adult and Continuing Education, National Taiwan Normal University)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to develop a theory-driven, tablet-based battery of executive function tasks that is free of charge. According to a theoretical framework, three levels of executive function can be identified. The basic level consists of working memory and inhibitory control, the second level focuses on cognitive flexibility, and the third level includes reasoning, planning, and problem solving. Given that the functions at the third level require effective processing at the first two levels, this battery measured individual abilities on executing the latter functions. Additional functions included executive controls that have been suggested to be important. The battery consisted of 17 tasks assorted into six categories: processing speed, information maintenance, inhibition, updating, switching and resource allocation. Processing speed was measured by the speed in simple and choice reaction times. Information maintenance included maintenance of single items and paired associates. Three types of representations were used for single items: spatial information, symbols that are difficult to name, and objects that can be interfaced with the representations in long-term memory. A delayed matching-to-sample task and a delayed response task were also adopted to assess the information maintenance ability. The former task evaluated maintenance over 5 and 10 seconds compared with perceptual matching; the latter examined the effects of encoding and retrieving one or four items. Inhibition functions were assessed by three tasks: the reverse Stroop task, stop signal task, and anti-saccade task. Updating functions were also evaluated by three tasks: running memory of spatial information, running memory of symbols, and running memory of objects. The trail-making test, a figure task, and a hearts-and-flowers task were used to measure the ability to switch for cognitive flexibility. These three tasks differ in the dimensions for switching: between color and digits, between task rules, and between color and shapes. A rotation span task was adopted to assess the ability to allocate cognitive resources. In the battery, 10 tasks adopted accuracy and reaction time as the measures, and 7 adopted a 1-up-1-down staircase method to measure the span of information maintenance, updating, and resource allocation. Two hundred and eight college students participated in the study across two or three sessions of approximately 50 minutes each, with a rest between tasks. The pattern of results was in agreement with the findings in the literature, supporting the use of a tablet-based battery that employed a staircase method for measuring working memory span. Given the limitations in the current version, a recommendation of the context for using this battery is provided in the discussion. Future studies could consider measuring the abilities of processing linguistic information, evaluating each executive function with a broader range of tasks, and using an accuracy-based battery. More importantly, future studies should examine the reliability and validity of this battery while developing norms for different age levels.
Keywords: executive function, tablet-based battery
