Instrumentation and Software Reports

A PASCAL Program to administer the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test The microcomputer is a n o b v i o u s t o o l f o r t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of a n u m b e r of p r o c e d u r e s w h i c h a r e r o u t i n e l y u s e d in c o g n i t i v e a s s e s s m e n t ( B e a u m o n t , 1 9 8 1 ) . W h e r e a p r o c e d u r e m u s t b e c a r e f u l l y " p r e s e n t e d in a s t a n d a r d i z e d f a s h i o n , a n d w h e r e a h i g h d e g r e e of a t t e n t i o n t o s i m p l e p r o c e d u r e s in a d m i n i s t r a t i o n is d e m a n d e d o f t h e examiner, there are obvious benefits to be gained from automated administration. Providing careful attention is p a i d t o t h e d e s i g n o f t h e d i s p l a y s a n d d i a l o g u e s e m p l o y e d , a n d t h e f o r m of t h e r e s p o n s e d e m a n d e d ( s e e S h n e i d e r m a n , 1980; S m i t h & Green, 1950), then there appears to be great potential in the use of microcomputers in t h i s f i e l d . T h e W i s c o n s i n C a r d S o r t i n g T e s t (WCST) ( B e r g , 19~$l G r a n t & B e r g ) 19~$; D r e w e , 1974) is a n o b v i o u s c a n d i d a t e f o r a u t o m a t e d a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . It m a y t a k e q u i t e a l o n g t i m e t o a d m i n i s t e r ) a n d t h e p r o v i s i o n o f f e e d b a c k t o t h e s u b j e c t can b e e x a c t i n g a n d tedious. This PASCAL p r o g r a m s e e k s t o m i m i c t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n n o r m a l l y u n d e r t a k e n by a n examiner, a s c l o s e l y a s is f e a s i b l e . It also s e e k s t o b e ' f r i e n d l y t t o t h e t e s t s u b j e c t , a n d t o b e e n t i r e l y ' b o m b - p r o o f ' , t h a t i s , n o u n e x p e c t e d a c t i o n on t h e p a r t of t h e t e s t s u b j e c t m a y c a u s e t h e p r o g r a m t o f a i l , a n d if u n e x p e c t e d a c t i o n a c c u r s , f e e d b a c k is g i v e n t o t h e s u b j e c t . R e s p o n s e may b e e i t h e r b y t h e s t a n d a r d k e y b o a r d or by l i g h t p e n . T h e i n i t i a l s e c t i o n o f t h e p r o g r a m is d i r e c t e d t o t h e e x a m i n e r , w h o is a s k e d t o e n t e r 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 of t h e t e s t , t h i s p a s s w o r d m u s t a g a i n b e e n t e r e d by t h e e x a m i n e r if a c c e s s is t o b e g a i n e d t o t h e r e s u l t s o f t h e t e s t . By t h i s m e a n s , t h e e x a m i n e r m a y c o n t r o l t h e s u b j e c t ' s a c c e s s t o t h e r e s u l t s of t h e t e s t . T h e e x a m i n e r a l s o s e l e c t s w h e t h e r r e s p o n s e w i l l b e by l i g h t p e n or by t h e s t a n d a r d k e y b o a r d . In t h i s , as in l a t e r s e c t i o n s , t h e k e y b o a r d is ' s o f t w a r e l o c k e d ' , t h a t i s , w h e n e v e r a r e s p o n s e is f e t c h e d f r o m t h e k e y b o a r d , a s e t of a c c e p t a b l e characters is s p e c i f i e d . If t h e c h a r a c t e r r e c e i v e d i s n o t in t h a t s e t , t h e b e l l is r u n g , a n d t h i s l o o p s u n t i l a n a c c e p t a b l e c h a r a c t e r is r e c e i v e d . By t h i s m e a n s t h e

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p r o g r a m is s e c u r e f r o m responses w h i c h w o u l d lead t o i n c o r r e c t a c t i o n s b e i n g t a k e n , and f r o m responses w h i c h would cause t h e s y s t e m to ' b l o w up' o r ' c r a s h ' . In t h i s program t h e r e is no a c t i o n which can be t a k e n a t t h e k e y b o a r d ( w i t h t h e e x c e p t i o n o f p r e s s i n g the r e s e t ( b r e a k ) key, w h i c h may be m e c h a n i c a l l y p r o t e c t e d ) w h i c h does n o t r e s u l t in proper c o n t r o l being m a i n t a i n e d w i t h i n t h e program. The WCST is a c o n c e p t a t t a i n m e n t t e s t in w h i c h c a r d s from a p a c k o f 64, w i t h one to f o u r shapes o f one of four t y p e s , in one o f f o u r c o l o u r s , a r e t o be s o r t e d u n d e r four s a m p l e c a r d s a c c o r d i n g to some p r i n c i p l e w h i c h has to be deduced f r o m t h e f e e d b a c k g i v e n a f t e r each card is p l a c e d . Once t h e p r i n c i p l e of s o r t i n g has been a t t a i n e d , and t e n c o n s e c u t i v e c o r r e c t responses g i v e n , t h e p r i n c i p l e is c h a n g e d , u n b e k n o w n t o t h e s u b j e c t , who must a d a p t and d i s c o v e r t h e new p r i n c i p l e . In t h e s t a n d a r d f o r m t h i s is r e p e a t e d u n t i l t h e p r i n c i p l e has been a t t a i n e d six t i m e s . The 'cards' a r e g e n e r a t e d w i t h i n t h e p r o g r a m in a series o f procedures w h i c h e s t a b l i s h p a c k e d B o o l e a n a r r a y s w i t h t h e required number o f shapes o f t h e appropriate t y p e as r e q u i r e d . These can t h e n be p l a c e d upon t h e g r a p h i c s s c r e e n by DRAWBLOCK i n T U R T L E G R A P H I C S . F o r c l a r i t y o f d i s l a y , t h e s h a p e s t h e m s e l v e s do n o t a p p e a r in c o l o u r , b u t t h e c a r d b a c k g r o u n d is c o l o u r e d ) a n d t h e s h a p e s a r e b l a c k a g a i n s t i t . T h e c a r d is t h e r e f o r e c r e a t e d a s a b l o c k o f c o l o u r a t t h e r e q u i r e d l o c a t i o n ) a n d t h e f e a t u r e s i n s e r t e d f r o m t h e B o o l e a n a r r a y by s e l e c t i v e l y r e m o v i n g points from the block of colour. This m e t h o d is s u f f i c i e n t l y rapid for this application) and once the Boolean array has been created to represent the current ' c a r d ' ) t h e n i t c a n b e m o v e d a r o u n d o n t h e s c r e e n r a p i d l y a n d e a s i l y by r e p e a t e d r e d r a w i n g by D R A W B L O C K . A d i f f e r e n t s e q u e n c e o f c a r d s is e s t a b l i s h e d f o r e a c h o c c a s i o n o f t e s t i n g ; ' r e s h u f f l i n g ' is c a r r i e d o u t b y c r e a t i n g a n e w s e q u e n c e a f t e r the cards have all been presented once. T h e g e n e r a l d i s p l a y is for t h e f o u r ' s t i m u l u s ) c a r d s t o a p p e a r in f r a m e s a c r o s s t h e t o p o f t h e s c r e e n ( a n d in t h e k e y b o a r d r e s p o n s e v e r s i o n l a b e l l e d 'A', 'B') 'C *, ' D ' ) . E a c h c a r d t o b e s o r t e d is d r a w n a t t h e b o t t o m c e n t r e o f t h e s c r e e n ) a n d t h e f o u r p i l e s on t o w h i c h c a r d s a r e s o r t e d a r e d i s p l a y e d b e l o w t h e s t i m u l u s b o x e s ) across the central portion of the screen. A prompt instruction appears at the bottom r i g h t o f t h e s c r e e n . F o l l o w i n g e a c h r e s p o n s e ) t h e d i s p l a y is u p d a t e d so t h e c a r d n o w a p p e a r s o n t h e t o p o f t h e r e l e v a n t p i l e , a u d i t o r y f e e d b a c k is g i v e n , a n d a p r i n t e d feedback message is w r i t t e n t o t h e b o t t o m l e f t o f t h e s c r e e n . After a short i n t e r v a l ) a n o t h e r c a r d is ' d e a l t ) t o t h e b o t t o m p o s i t i o n o f t h e s c r e e n . In t h e k e y b o a r d v e r s i o n ) o n l y t h e k e y s 'A' t o 'D' a r e a v a i l a b l e t o t h e s u b j e c t ) by w h i c h t h e r e s p o n s e is t o b e m a d e . In t h e l i g h t p e n v e r s i o n , t h e s u b j e c t p o i n t s t o o n e o f t h e s t i m u l u s b o x e s a t t h e t o p o f t h e s c r e e n , u n d e r w h i c h t h e c a r d is t o b e s o r t e d , a n d t o u c h e s t h e c a p a c i t a n c e r i n g to e n t e r t h e r e s p o n s e . T h e p r o g r a m k e e p s track of the responses and changes the principle of correct sorting as appropriate) u n t i l t h e p r i n c i p l e h a s b e e n a t t a i n e d six t i m e s . It is p o s s i b l e f o r t h e e x a m i n e r t o terminate testing by a ' h i d d e n ' r e s p o n s e , and to preserve the data on test p e r f o r m a n c e up t o t h a t p o i n t , b u t t h e s u b j e c t is n o t a w a r e o f a n o p t i o n t o t e r m i n a t e the test. The test trials are preceded by full instructions) which are paged under the p a c i n g o f t h e s u b j e c t , by i n s t r u c t i o n in t h e u s e o f t h e l i g h t p e n w h e r e a p p r o p r i a t e , and by examples which must receive a correct response before the test can proceed. At t h e e n d o f t h e t e s t ) w h i c h is t i m e d ) the program 'signs off' to the test subject.The e x a m i n e r is t h e n i n v i t e d t o s u p p l y t h e p a s s w o r d ~ w h i c h ) if c o r r e c t , leads to a display of the number of categories deduced, the number of cards c o r r e c t l y p l a c e d , t h e n u m b e r of c a r d s d e a l t a n d t h e t i m e s p e n t on t h e t e s t .

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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