Poor Concordance Between Remote Neurocognitive Testing and Face-to-Face Testing of Verbal Memory Processes in Young Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

Purpose: Recently published studies indicate increased interest in remote health services that have expanded greatly with digitalization and whether they can be implemented into neuropsychological testing. Remote neurocognitive testing has become a frequently used approach today. The current study examines the concordance between the face-to-face and remote Oktem Verbal Memory Processes Test results of healthy young participants.
 Method: 45 healthy young participants with a mean age of 23.41 were invited to participate in the study. Participants were 42.2% of male and 57.8% female. The Öktem Verbal Memory Processes Test was administered to participants. There was at least one week between face-to-face and remote testing. The results were compared with paired t-tests and Lin's Concordance Correlation analysis. Reliability was analyzed by examining the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient.
 Results: For immediate memory score, ICC was 0.286 (95% CI: 0.016-0.524).. ICC of total learning score was calculated as 0.665 (95% CI: 0.465 -0.801). The highest learning score had an ICC of 0.868 (95% CI: 0.773 -0.926). ICC of the total inconsistency score was 0.639 (95% CI: 0.414 -0.79). Finally, the score for reaching the criterion displayed an ICC of 0.253 (95% CI: 0.079 -0.535).
 Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that there is poor concordance between the results obtained with remote and face-to-face application of the Öktem Verbal Memory Process Test. As a result, using it remotely is not recommended at this stage.