Exploration of standardized neurocognitive test battery for personnel in military isolated and confined environments / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

A standardized neurocognitive test battery is needed to study the effects of military isolated and confined environments on the cognitive functions of personnel. The cognitive tests currently in use have the following problems inconsistency among different studies, no clear psychological processes, the presence of practice effect, absence of related normative data, and insufficiency in sensitivity, difficulty, and comprehensiveness. Therefore it is proposed that the neurocognitive tests for military isolated and confined environments should meet the following requirements (1) easy to carry and easy to carry out the test; (2) the test time should be as short as possible (≤30 min); (3) suitable for repeated measuring, and the subjects can reach a stable level quickly; (4) preferably a complete set of test, the cognitive function should be comprehensively and should be closely related to specific tasks; (5) the test should be based on the norm of military isolated and confined environments and the changing curve with time, which can be used as controls; (6) the reliability and validity of the cognitive test should have been tested; (7) with high sensitivity and appropriate test difficulty; (8) the psychological process involved in the cognitive test is clear and simple, making it easy for result interpretation; and (9) the brain areas activated by cognitive test should be clear, which is convenient for further neuropsychological research. Cognition, American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) neurocognitive test battery for spaceflight, almost perfectly fits the above nine requirements. In the future when our army develops the neurocognitive test tools based on NASA Cognition, we should emphasize the following four focuses improving the portability of the cognitive test device, developing computerized adaptive cognitive tests, clarifying the inclusion criteria of cognitive tests, and developing parallel tests with consistent psychometrics characteristics.