The Pair Test: A computerised measure of learning and memory

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the assessment of learning and memory in typically developing children as well as in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, neuropsychological assessments have been hampered by the dearth of standardised tests that enable direct comparison between distinct memory processes or between types of stimulus materials. We developed a tablet-based paired-associate learning paradigm, the Pair Test, based on neurocognitive models of learning and memory. The aims are to (i) establish the utility of this novel memory tool for use with children across a wide age range, and (ii) examine test validity, reliability and reproducibility of the construct. The convergent validity of the test was found to be adequate, and higher test reliability was shown for the Pair Test compared to standardised measures. Moderate test–retest reproducibility was shown, despite a long time interval between sessions (14 months). Moreover, the Pair Test is able to capture developmental changes in memory, and can therefore chart the developmental trajectory of memory and learning functions across childhood and adolescence. Finally, we used this novel instrument to acquire normative data from 130 typically developing children, aged 8–18 years. Age-stratified normative data are provided for learning, delayed recall and delayed recognition, for measures of verbal and non-verbal memory. The Pair Test thus provides measures of learning and memory accounting for encoding, consolidation and retrieval processes. As such, the standardised test results can be used to determine the status of learning and memory in healthy children, and also to identify deficits in paediatric patients at risk of damage to the neural network underlying mnemonic functions.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Neurofeedback Training of Theta Activity on Working Memory and Episodic Memory in Healthy Population

“…WM was defined as the structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information [ 26 ]. EM involved the ability to encode, consolidate, and retrieve past events along with their contextual details [ 27 ].…”

Cognitive outcome and its neural correlates after cardiorespiratory arrest in childhood

“…For dimensionality reduction, we ran principal component analyses (PCAs) on the behavioural scores of the different tests (following Corbetta et al., 2015; Ramsey et al., 2017; Salvalaggio et al., 2020) for the entire sample (patients and control participants combined). We ran three independent PCAs based on a priori theoretical grouping of the administered subtests into three domains: (i) Memory (Sunderland, CMS/WMS verbal delayed score, RBMT and ERRNI Forgetting); CMS/WMS visual delayed scores were not included as previous studies (Alonso et al., 2023; Buck et al., 2021) suggested that this score is not sensitive enough to small variability in delayed memory abilities because memory load in this test is low; and in line with an adult study, showing that verbal long term memory was more affected than visual long term memory (Grubb et al., 1996); (ii) Language (ERRNI scores other than Forgetting); and, (iii) Attainment (WIAT subtests). In order to maximize the use of the data, we eliminated the WIAT reading comprehension scores from the final PCA, as 12 participants did not complete this subtest.…”

When the brain, but not the person, remembers: Cortical reinstatement is modulated by retrieval goal in developmental amnesia

“…Patients were asked to identify the associated word-pair from a list of three words (one correctly paired word, one familiar foil that was associated with another word-pair, and one novel word). In this study, patients with DA were able to recognise the associated word-pair with 78% accuracy over the delay period but were unable to retrieve the paired-associates using cued recall; 10% accuracy (Buck et al, personal communication, see also Buck et al, 2020 ). These data indicate that, under some conditions, associations may be encoded and retained in patients with DA and made available for recognition but not for recall.…”