An evaluation of the required number of training sessions of neuropsychological assessments on portable mobile devices

  • Jim Jansen

    Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Aurora JAE van de Loo orcid

    Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Johan Garssen orcid

    Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Danone Global Research & Innovation Center, Uppsalalaan 12, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Andrew Scholey orcid

    School of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK

    Nutrition Dietetics and Food, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia

    Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
  • Brian Tiplady orcid

    Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4SA, UK
  • Joris C. Verster orcid

    Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia

    Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Article ID: 2345
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59400/apr2345
Keywords: validation, mobile phone, android tablet, neuropsychological function, psychomotor, attention, memory

Abstract

In some research, it is important to conduct cognitive assessments in an everyday setting. Both tablet PCs and mobile phones have been used in this context. The purpose of this study was to examine whether a mobile test battery yields similar results on a mobile phone (screen size 6 cm diagonal) and a tablet (18 cm). Thirty-nine healthy volunteers (aged 18–30) completed five training sessions and one final “test” session per device. The 18-minute test battery consisted of six tests, measuring attention (Number Pairs Test, NP and Arrow Flankers Test, AF), psychomotor functioning (Arrow reaction time test, AR), working memory (Memory scanning test, MS), paired associate learning (Shape pairs, SP), and comprehension (Serial sevens, SS). Outcome measures were mean reaction time (RT) and the percentage of errors. RT scores over the practice runs indicated that AR and AF required only a single familiarization run, while other tests needed 3–4 runs to achieve stable performance. No difference was seen in practice effects between the platforms. Test scores were similar for the platforms with minimal differences between phone and tablet scores (effect sizes < 0.25). Correlations between phone and tablet scores were in the range 0.53–0.82, except one measure, SP errors, where the correlation was much lower. Taken together, these results indicate that there is generally good agreement between data obtained from phones and tablets with very different screen sizes. Phones with small screens are suitable for assessing cognition in an everyday setting. Training on the tests is recommended to achieve stable performance before the start of experimental sessions.

Published
2025-08-21
How to Cite
Jansen, J., van de Loo, A. J., Garssen, J., Scholey, A., Tiplady, B., & Verster, J. C. (2025). An evaluation of the required number of training sessions of neuropsychological assessments on portable mobile devices. Applied Psychology Research, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.59400/apr2345
Issue
Vol. 4 No. 2 (2025)
Section
Article

Copyright (c) 2025 Jim Jansen, Aurora JAE van de Loo, Johan Garssen, Andrew Scholey, Brian Tiplady, Joris C. Verster

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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