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Hardware The program is w r i t t e n in PASCAL for a ~gK APPLE II w i t h Language Card, Symtec L i g h t Pen, Mountain Hardware Clock/Calendar, and the a p p r o p r i a t e colour card. It could of course be run w i t h o u t the l i g ht pen option being selected, and references to the clock, which are not essential, might easily be removed. With these provisos, the program should be p o r t a b l e to any UCSD PASCAL system with TURTLEGRAPHICS available.

Availability A program l i s t i n g may be obtained from Dr 3.G. Beaumont, Department of Psychology, The U n i v e r s i t y , L e i c e s t e r LEI 7RH, UK. The t e x t and code files for the APPLE system may be obtained on submitting a mini floppy disc.

Acknowledgement This program was w r i t t e n under the support of the Department of Health and Social Security of the British Government.

References Beaumont, J.G. (1981). Microcomputer aided assessment using standard psychometric procedures. Behavior Research Methods and Instrumentation (in press). Berg, E . A . ( l g # g ) . A simple objective technique for measuring f l e x i b i l i t y in t h i n k i n g . 3ournal of General Psychology, 39, 15-22. Drewe, E . A . (I97/~). The e f f e c t of type and area of brain lesion on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test p e r f o r m a n c e . Cortex, 10, 139-170. Grant, D . A . & Berg, E . A . (19~8). A behavioural analysis o f degree of r e i n f o r c e m e n t and ease of s h i f t i n g to new responses in a Weigl-type card-sorting problem. 3ournal of E x p e r i m e n t a l Psychology, 38, 404-411. Shneiderman, B. (1980). Software Psychology. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Winthrop. Smith, H.T. & Green, T . R . G . (eds) (1950). Human I n t e r a c t i o n with Computers. London: Academic Press.

3. GRAHAM BEAUMONT

A PASCAL Program t o administer a Digit Span Test The manual procedure by which a d i g i t span is r o u t i n e l y established is a simple, standardized method which is ideally stilted to a d m i n i s t r a t i o n by microcomputer. As the human examiner may have d i f f i c u l t y in a c c u r a t e l y c o n t r o l l i n g presentation r a t e and other stimulus parameters, providing a convenient mode of response for the subject can be established, an automated version would appear to have several advantages. The general advantages of this form of cognitive assessment, and

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p r o b l e m s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h the c o m p u t e r - t e s t s u b j e c t i n t e r f a c e , have r e c e n t l y been r e v i e w e d ( S h n e i d e r m a n , 1980; Smith & G r e e n , 1980; B e a u m o n t , 1981). P a r t i c u l a r l y w h e r e r e p e a t e d assessments a r e to be m a d e , p e r h a p s in t h e d a i l y m o n i t o r i n g of p h a r m a c o t h e r a p y , t h i s f o r m o f a d m i n i s t r a t i o n is p a r t i c u l a r l y a t t r a c t i v e . The p r e s e n t p r o g r a m , w r i t t e n in PASCAL f o r t h e A p p l e It, b u t w i t h good p o r t a b i l i t y , a d m i n i s t e r s t h e d i g i t span p r o c e d u r e f o r d i g i t s f o r w a r d s and b a c k w a r d s , and a l l o w s t h e t e s t s u b j e c t to respond e i t h e r by a s t a n d a r d k e y b o a r d or by a l i g h t p e n . The p r o g r a m is c a r e f u l l y d e s i g n e d to be ' f r i e n d l y ' t o t h e t e s t s u b j e c t , and is e n t i r e l y ' b o m b - p r o o f ' , t h a t is, no u n e x p e c t e d or i r r a t i o n a l a c t i o n on t h e p a r t o f t h e t e s t s u b j e c t can cause the p r o g r a m to f a i l , and a p p r o p r i a t e messages are p r o v i d e d to g u i d e t h e s u b j e c t . The p r o c e d u r e opens w i t h d i r e c t i v e s to the t e s t a d m i n i s t r a t o r , who e n t e r s a s i x - c h a r a c t e r p a s s w o r d . On c o m p l e t i o n o f the t e s t , i f t h e same p a s s w o r d is n o t e n t e r e d , t h e r e s u l t s o f t h e t e s t a r e n o t a c c e s s i b l e . The e x a m i n e r may t h e r e f o r e keep t h e r e s u l t s p r i v a t e i f t h i s is d e s i r e d . General i n s t r u c t i o n s , d i s p l a y e d on t h e VDU, f o l l o w for t h e s u b j e c t . D e p e n d i n g on t h e e a r l i e r s e l e c t i o n by t h e e x a m i n e r , these a r e r e l e v a n t to response by e i t h e r t h e k e y b o a r d or t h e l i g h t p e n . In t h e k e y b o a r d v e r s i o n , t h e s t a n d a r d k e y b o a r d is r e t a i n e d , b u t is ' s o f t w a r e l o c k e d ' ' t h a t ks, w h e n e v e r a response is f e t c h e d f r o m t h e k e y b o a r d , i f the c h a r a c t e r is not in t h e s e t o f e x p e c t e d c h a r a c t e r s , then t h e b e l l is s o u n d e d , and t h e p r o g r a m loops u n t i l an e x p e c t e d k e y is p r e s s e d . With the e x c e p t i o n o f t h e r e s e t ( b r e a k ) k e y , w h i c h may be m e c h a n i c a l l y s h i e l d e d , no key press can cause t h e p r o g r a m to f a i l . In t h e l i g h t pen v e r s i o n , 'menu boxes' are d i s p l a y e d on t h e s c r e e n , t h e r e f o r e r e s t r i c t i n g the responses w h i c h may be m a d e , and t h e pen must be d i r e c t e d a t one of t h e s e and t h e c a p a c i t a n c e ring t o u c h e d b e f o r e any response is e n t e r e d . D u r i n g t h e i n i t i a l i n s t r u c t i o n a l sequence ( w h i c h i n c l u d e s i n s t r u c t i o n in t h e use of the l i g h t pen when a p p r o p r i a t e ) , p a g i n g is p a c e d by the s u b j e c t . An e x a m p l e of t h e d i g i t s as t h e y a p p e a r in t h e d i s p l a y is i n c l u d e d , as w e l l as a f u l l e x a m p l e to w h i c h t h e s u b j e c t must respond c o r r e c t l y . The f u l l e x a m p l e s w i l l be r e p e a t e d w i t h f e e d b a c k and i n s t r u c t i o n u n t i l one is c o r r e c t . The d i g i t s e m p l o y e d are 3~ x 26 screen p o i n t s in size ( a p p r o x i m a t e l y o n e - f i f t h screen h e i g h t ) , and a r e s t o r e d as an a r r a y o f p a c k e d B o o l e a n a r r a y s , i n i t i a l l y in a d a t a f i l e , b u t held in c o r e t h r o u g h t h e main s e c t i o n of t h e p r o g r a m . The p a c k e d Boolean a r r a y s a r e w r i t t e n to t h e screen by D R A W B L O C K , w h i c h is q u i t e r a p i d e n o u g h f o r t h i s a p p l i c a t i o n . The s t i m u l u s s e q u e n c e is i n i t i a t e d by t h e s u b j e c t w h e n r e a d y . F o l l o w i n g t h e e n d o f t h e s t i m u l u s t r a i n , t h e s u b j e c t r e s p o n d s by e n t e r i n g t h e s e q u e n c e e i t h e r f o r w a r d s or b a c k w a r d s a s a p p r o p r i a t e . With e i t h e r k e y b o a r d or l i g h t p e n , t h e d i g i t s 0 t o 9 a r e ' a v a i l a b l e ' a n d t h e r e is a l s o a k e y / b o x tO a l l o w t h e l a s t d i g i t e n t e r e d to b e deleted, or t h e r e s p o n s e s e q u e n c e t o b e s t a r t e d a g a i n f r o m t h e b e g i n n i n g . The s e q u e n c e w h i c h is e n t e r e d in r e s p o n s e is d i s p l a y e d t o t h e s u b j e c t . When f i n i s h e d , t h e s u b j e c t p r e s s e s )F' or t h e a p p r o p r i a t e m e n u b o x . T h e t e s t is c o n c l u d e d by t w o e r r o r r e s p o n s e s a t a g i v e n s p a n l e n g t h a n d o n e c o r r e c t r e s p o n s e i n c r e a s e s t h e l e n g t h of t h e s t i m u l u s t r a i n p r e s e n t e d . The b a c k w a r d s a s s e s s m e n t f o l l o w s t h e f o r w a r d s t e s t , w i t h i n s t r u c t i o n s a n d e x a m p l e s in b e t w e e n . On completion of both sections, providing the examiner enters the correct password, a f u l l r e c o r d o f t h e t e s t is d i s p l a y e d w i t h t h e s e q u e n c e o f p r e s e n t a t i o n s and a s t a t e m e n t o f w h e t h e r t h e r e s p o n s e w a s c o r r e c t or i n c o r r e c t . The m a x i m u m d i g i t s p a n w h i c h c a n b e m e a s u r e d is 3 0 .

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Hardware The p r o g r a m was w r i t t e n for a 48K APPLE II with L a n g u a g e C a r d . It also r e q u i r e s a Symtec Light Pen if this option is to be e x e r c i s e d . It s h o u l d , h o w e v e r , ( a p a r t from possible c h a n g e s a s s o c i a t e d with t h e light pen) be d i r e c t l y t r a n s p o r t a b l e to any system r u n n in g UCSD PASCAL with TURTLEGRAPHICS a v a i l a b l e .

Availability A program l i s ti n g may be obtained from Dr 3.G. Beaumont, Department of Psychology, U n i v e r s i t y of L e i c e s t e r , L e i c e s t e r LE1 7RH, UK. The t e x t and c o d e f i l e s for the APPLE s y s t e m may be o b t a i n e d on s u b m i t t i n g a mini floppy d i s c .

Acknow ledgement This program was w r i t t e n under the support of the Department of Health and Social Security of the British Government.

References B e a u m o n t , 3 . G . (1951). M i c r o c o m p u t e r aided a s s e s s m e n t using s t a n d a r d p s y c h o m e t r i c p r o c e d u r e s . Behavior R e s e a r c h Methods and I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n (in p r e s s ) . S h n e i d e r m a n , B. (1980). S o f t w a r e P s y c h o l o g y . C a m b r i d g e , M a s s a c h u s e t t s ' - W i n t h r o p . Smith, H . T . & G r e e n , T . R . G . (eds) (1980). Human I n t e r a c t i o n w i t h C o m p u t e r s . London: Academic Press.

3.

GRAHAM

BEAUMONT