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Technical paper | Open Access

Computerizing Trail Making Test for long-term cognitive self-assessment

Zhiwei Zeng1( )Chunyan Miao2Cyril Leung3Zhiqi Shen2
Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore and Interdisciplinary Graduate School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore and School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to adapt and computerize the Trail Making Test (TMT) to support long-term self-assessment of cognitive abilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose a divide-and-combine (DAC) approach for generating different instances of TMT that can be used in repeated assessments with nearly no discernible practice effects. In the DAC approach, partial trails are generated separately in different layers and then combined to form a complete TMT trail.

Findings

The proposed approach was implemented in a computerized test application called iTMT. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate iTMT. The results show that the instances of TMT generated by the DAC approach had an adequate level of difficulty. iTMT also achieved a stronger construct validity, higher test–retest reliability and significantly reduced practice effects than existing computerized tests.

Originality/value

The preliminary results suggest that iTMT is suitable for long-term monitoring of cognitive abilities. By supporting self-assessment, iTMT also can help to crowdsource the assessment processes, which need to be administered by healthcare professionals conventionally, to the patients themselves.

References

 
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International Journal of Crowd Science
Pages 83-99
Cite this article:
Zeng Z, Miao C, Leung C, et al. Computerizing Trail Making Test for long-term cognitive self-assessment. International Journal of Crowd Science, 2017, 1(1): 83-99. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCS-12-2016-0002

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Received: 23 October 2016
Revised: 11 January 2017
Accepted: 15 January 2017
Published: 06 March 2017
© The author(s)

Zhiwei Zeng, Chunyan Miao, Cyril Leung and Zhiqi Shen. Published in International Journal of Crowd Science. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

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