Rapid Visual Information Processing neuropsychological test for remote cognitive assessment in multiple sclerosis: A preliminary study

Daniele Lozzi

Accepted April 28, 2023

First published April 28, 2023

https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.2023.00005

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease that causes many neuro-cognitive deficits. The
test batteries used for clinical evaluation are not always able to detect the slight variations since they do not always
consider the subject’s baseline but only the reference value computed on the population. Furthermore, the low frequency of assessment, also due to the sparse distribution of MS centres makes the test unable to detect slight fluctuations that could indicate the onset of new deficits. Remote neuropsychological evaluation performed with a high frequency, can provide useful information on the subject’s baseline, going beyond the limits of population normative values, and become enough sensitive to measure significant variations on a single subject. In line with the European Union (EU) directives on telemedicine, this work aims to evaluate the usefulness of the remote Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVIP) test to assess the Information Speed Processing (IPS) which is impaired in 40% of MS patients. The other already validated tests used in this work were the Depression Anxiety Stress Short Scale (DASS-21) tests for depression, anxiety and stress, the Cognitive Failure Questionnaire (CFQ) and the Multiple Sclerosis Neuropsychological Questionnaire (MSNQ) both for cognitive failures. Data from 44 subjects (12 with MS and 32 healthy) were acquired. The results show that the True Positive Rate (TPR) of the RVIP is lower in the MS group compared to the Healthy Group. The logistic regression model can classify the subjects into two groups with good specificity. This quickly and non-invasive neuropsychological test performed in remotely, allow us to estimate of the most reliable true parameter of IPS and increase the signal-to-noise ratio performing repeated measures with a high frequency. The present work shows that a remote evaluation of some specific neuropsychological domains is possible and together with a traditional assessment, it can support the clinician in adjusting the therapy, reducing costs and the impact on the individual, and improving the outcome.

References

BARCELLOS, L.F., BELLESIS, K.H., SHEN, L., SHAO, X., CHINN,T., FRNDAK, S., DRAKE, A., BAKSHI, N., MARCUS, J.,SCHAEFER, C. et al. (2018). Remote assessment of verbalmemory in ms patients using the california verbal learning test.Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 24 (3), 354–357.
BARCELLOS, L.F., HORTON, M., SHAO, X., BELLESIS, K.H.,CHINN, T., WAUBANT, E., BAKSHI, N., MARCUS, J.,BENEDICT, R.H. & SCHAEFER, C. (2021). A validation studyfor remote testing of cognitive function in multiple sclerosis.Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 27 (5), 795–798.
BECK, A.T., EPSTEIN, N., BROWN, G. & STEER, R. (1993). Beckanxiety inventory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
BECK, A.T., STEER, R.A. & BROWN, G. (1996). Beck DepressionInventory – II. Psychological assessment.
BENEDICT, R.H. (1997). Brief visuospatial memory test – revised.
BENEDICT, R.H., AMATO, M.P., BORINGA, J., BROCHET, B.,FOLEY, F., FREDRIKSON, S., HAMALAINEN, P., HARTUNG,H., KRUPP, L., PENNER, I. et al. (2012). Brief internationalcognitive assessment for ms (bicams): International standardsfor validation. BMC Neurology, 12 (1), 1–7.
BENEDICT, R.H., COOKFAIR, D., GAVETT, R., GUNTHER, M.,MUNSCHAUER,F.,GARG,N.&WEINSTOCK-GUTTMAN,B.(2006). Validity of the minimal assessment of cognitive functionin multiple sclerosis (macfims). Journal of the InternationalNeuropsychological Society, 12 (4), 549–558.
BENEDICT, R.H., MUNSCHAUER, F., LINN, R., MILLER, C.,MURPHY, E., FOLEY, F. & JACOBS, L. (2003). Screening formultiplesclerosiscognitiveimpairmentusingaself-administered15-item questionnaire. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 9 (1), 95–101.
BOTTESI, G., GHISI, G., MARTA, CONFORTI, E., MELLI, G. &SICA, C. (2015). The Italian version of the Depression AnxietyStress Scales – 21: Factor structure and psychometric propertieson community and clinical samples. Comprehensive Psychiatry,60, 170–181.
BROADBENT, D.E., COOPER, P.F., FITZGERALD, P. & PARKES,K.R. (1982). The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) andits correlates. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21 (1), 1–16.
BROWNLEE, W.J., HARDY, T A., FAZEKAS, F. & MILLER, D.H.(2017). Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis: Progress and challenges.The Lancet, 389 (10076), 1336–1346.
CANTAB, C.C. (2016). Cognitive assessment software. CambridgeCognition: Cambridge, UK.
CHIARAVALLOTI, N.D. & DeLUCA, J. (2008). Cognitive impairmentin multiple sclerosis. The Lancet Neurology, 7 (12), 1139–1151.
COMPSTON, A. & COLES, A. (2008). Multiple sclerosis. The Lancet,(372), 1502–1517.
DELIS, D.C., KRAMER, J.H., KAPLAN, E. & OBER, B.A. (1987).California Verbal Learning Test. Assessment.
DONDERS, F.C. (1969). On the speed of mental processes. ActaPsychologica, 30, 412–431.
ECKERT, M.A., KEREN, N.I., ROBERTS, D.R., CALHOUN, V.D.& HARRIS, K.C. (2010). Age-related changes in processingspeed: Unique contributions of cerebellar and prefrontal cortex.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10.
HAUSER, S.L. & OKSENBERG, J.R. (2006). The neurobiologyof multiple sclerosis: Genes, inflammation, and neu-rodegeneration. Neuron, 52 (1), 61–76.
HENRY, J.D. & CRAWFORD, J.R. (2005). The short-form versionof the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21): Constructvalidity and normative data in a large non- clinical sample.British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44 (2), 227–239.
JAMOVI PROJECT, T. (2021). Jamovi (version 1.6). ComputerSoftware.
JONES,G.,SAHAKIAN,B.,LEVY,R.,WARBURTON,D.M.&GRAY,J. (1992). Effects of acute subcutaneous nicotine on attention,information processing and short-term memory in Alzheimer’sdisease. Psychopharmacology, 108 (4), 485–494.
KURTZKE, J.F. (1983). Rating neurologic impairment in multiplesclerosis:An Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).Neurology,33 (11), 1444–1444.
LANGDON, D., AMATO, M., BORINGA, J., BROCHET, B., FOLEY,F., FREDRIKSON, S., HÄMÄLÄINEN, P., HARTUNG, H.,KRUPP, L., PENNER, I. et al. (2012). Recommendations for abrief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis(bicams). Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 18 (6), 891–898.
LASSMANN, H. (2018). Multiple sclerosis pathology. Cold SpringHarbor Perspectives in Medicine, 8 (3), a028936.
LOVIBOND, P.F. & LOVIBOND, S.H. (1995). The structure ofnegativeemotionalstates:ComparisonoftheDepressionAnxietyStress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and AnxietyInventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33 (3), 335–343.
MACIAS ISLAS, M.A. & CIAMPI, E. (2019). Assessment and impactof cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: An overview.Biomedicines, 7 (1), 22.
MIGLIORE, S., LANDI, D., PROIETTI, F., D’AURIZIO, G.,SQUITIERI,F.,MATALUNI,G.,NICOLETTI,C.G.,CURCIO,G.& MARFIA, G.A. (2021). Validity of the Italian multiple sclerosisneuropsychological screening questionnaire. NeurologicalSciences, 42 (11), 4583–4589.
O’BRIEN, A., GAUDINO-GOERING, E., SHAWARYN, M.,KOMAROFF, E., MOORE, N.B., & DeLUCA, J. (2007).Relationship of the Multiple Sclerosis NeuropsychologicalQuestionnaire (MSNQ) to functional, emotional, andneuropsychological outcomes. Archives of ClinicalNeuropsychology, 22 (8), 933–948.
PLACIDI, G., CINQUE, L., POLSINELLI, M., SPLENDIANI, A. &TOMMASINO, E. (2019). Automatic framework for multiplesclerosis follow-up by magnetic resonance imaging for reducingcontrast agents. International Conference on Image Analysis andProcessing, 367–378.
RAO, S.M., LEO, G.J., BERNARDIN, L. & UNVERZAGT, F. (1991).Cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis.: I. frequency,patterns, and prediction. Neurology, 41(5), 685–691.
REEVES, D.L., WINTER, K.P., BLEIBERG, J. & KANE, R.L. (2007).Anam® genogram: Historical perspectives, description, andcurrent endeavors. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 22(Suppl 1), S15–S37.
REITAN, R.M. & WOLFSON, D. (1992). Neuropsychologicalevaluation of older children. Neuropsychology Press.
ROGERS, F., BANE, E., DWYER, C.P., ALVAREZ-IGLESIAS, A.,JOYCE, R.A. & HYNES, S.M. (2022). Remote administrationof bicams measures and the trail-making test to assesscognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis. NeuropsychologicalRehabilitation, 1–24.
ROIVAINEN, E. (2011). Gender differences in processing speed: Areview of recent research. Learning and Individual differences, 21(2), 145–149.
SCHOENBERG, M., LANGE, R., MARSH, P., SAKLOFSKE, D.,KREUTZER, J., DELUCA, J. & CAPLAN, B. (2011). Premorbidintelligence. Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology,2004–2010.
SETTLE, J.R., ROBINSON, S.A., KANE, R., MALONI, H.W. &WALLIN, M.T. (2015). Remote cognitive assessments forpatients with multiple sclerosis: A feasibility study. MultipleSclerosis Journal, 21 (8), 1072–1079.
SMITH, A. (1973). Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Los Angeles:Western Psychological Services.
SMITH, A. (1982). Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT). Manual(revised). Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
STOET, G. (2010). Psytoolkit: A software package for programmingpsychological experiments using linux. Behavior ResearchMethods, 42 (4), 1096–1104.
STOET, G. (2017). Psytoolkit: A novel web-based method for runningonline questionnaires and reaction-time experiments. Teachingof Psychology, 44 (1), 24–31.
STRATTA, P., RINALDI, O., DANELUZZO, E. & ROSSI, A.(2006). The use of the Italian version of the Cognitive FailuresQuestionnaire (CFQ) in a sample of undergraduate students: Avalidation study. Rivista di Psichiatria, 41 (4), 260.
TALLAND, G.A. (1966). Effects of alcohol on performance incontinuous attention tasks. Psychosomatic Medicine, 28 (4),596–604.
TOMBAUGH, T.N. & McINTYRE, N.J. (1992). The mini-mentalstate examination: A comprehensive review. Journal of theAmerican Geriatrics Society, 40 (9), 922–935.
TOSCANO, S., PATTI, F., CHISARI, C.G., ARENA, S.,FINOCCHIARO, C., SCHILLACI, C.E. & ZAPPIA, M. (2022).Reliability of televisits for patients with mild relapsing–remittingmultiple sclerosis in the covid-19 era. Neurological Sciences, 43(4), 2253–2261.
VANROSSUM,G.&DRAKEJr,F.L.(1995).Pythonreferencemanual.Amsterdam: Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica.
WOJCIK, C.M., BEIER, M., COSTELLO, K., DELUCA, J.,FEINSTEIN, A., GOVEROVER, Y., GUDESBLATT, M.,JAWORSKI III, M., KALB, R., KOSTICH, L. et al. (2019).Computerized neuropsychological assessment devices inmultiple sclerosis: A systematic review. Multiple Sclerosis Journal,25 (14), 1848–1869.
ZIEMSSEN, T., DE STEFANO, N., SORMANI, M.P., VANWIJMEERSCH, B., WIENDL, H. & KIESEIER, B.C. (2015).Optimizing therapy early in multiple sclerosis: An evidence-basedview.Multiplesclerosisandrelateddisorders,4(5),460–469.

SHOW ALL REFERENCES (47)HIDE REFERENCES

DOWNLOAD PDF

Issue:

Issue 296

Keywords:

Views:

841

Downloads:

Cite the article:

Lozzi Daniele . Rapid Visual Information Processing neuropsychological test for remote cognitive assessment in multiple sclerosis: A preliminary study. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2023;296(1):25-39. doi:10.26387/bpa.296.1.

CITE THE ARTICLE

7682

Rapid Visual Information Processing neuropsychological test for remote cognitive assessment in multiple sclerosis: A preliminary study

Abstract

References

Article info

Issue:

Keywords:

Views:

Downloads:

Cite the article:

BPA - BULLETIN OF APPLIED PSYHOLOGY

MANAGEMENT AND EDITORIAL OFFICE

ABOUT US

Citation tool

How to cite this article