Cognitive Performance Testing

Attention

This test measures the ability to pay attention, select a pattern or process in your environment and follow it over time. This is a fundamental skill that any individual must learn in order to locate and identify resources and information that can be used immediately or in the future in order to meet various bio-psycho-social needs in order to remain safe, secure, and thrive.

Short Term Memory

This test measures the capacity for holding a small amount of visual information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. This ability is crucial to every aspect of social performance. It includes the ability to remember phone numbers, addresses, new rules in a math exercise or aspects of a new task, or what was just said in a conversation. Individuals with problems in this area may notice especially that they have difficulty following conversations and instructions.

Auditory Short Term Memory

This test measures the capacity for holding a small amount of auditory information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. This ability is crucial to every aspect of social performance. It includes the ability to remember phone numbers, addresses, new rules a math exercise or aspects of a new task, or what was just said in a conversation. Individuals with problems in this area may notice especially that they have difficulty following conversations and instructions

Working Memory

This test measures the ability to hold and maintain visual items in a readily accessible manner and manipulate them during thinking. This is especially critical for analytical and mathematical thinking. Individuals must maintain many different facts in short term memory as they work to synthesize or order them in some sequence. Individuals with working memory problems have difficulty especially in areas of math performance and the completion of complex job tasks.

Auditory Working Memory

This test measures the ability to hold and maintain auditory items in a readily accessible manner and manipulate them during thinking. This is especially critical for analytical and mathematical thinking. Individuals must maintain many different facts in short term memory as they work to synthesize or order them in some sequence. Individuals with working memory problems have difficulty especially in areas of math performance and the completion of complex job tasks.

Sequential Memory

This test measures the ability to remember and recall sequences related to information such as instructions and recall where items are located or placed in order. This is a crucial academic skill required to understand and follow directions to complete a given task. The tonal or auditory version of this is related to the ability to remember musical tones but can be an important part of remembering spoken tones related to the conversation.

List Acquisition

This test measures an aspect of working memory central to academic performance in both verbal and mathematical realms of learning. List acquisition determines how well an individual can learn and maintain a list of words or mathematical terms in working memory and repeat them back. This aspect of working memory helps individuals recall given items and rules and then execute them.

Filtering

This test helps determine how well an individual can sort through information and filter out what is not immediately important and focus attention on crucial key features of a task. The ability to adequately filter and process perceptual information is crucial for aggregating information in a usable form for purposes of object recognition, evaluation, planning, and decision making as well as the physical execution of any task.

Episodic Memory

This test measures the ability of an individual to hear a story or the recounting of an event and retain key features of the event for future use in solving problems. Episodic memory is crucial for recalling important facts regarding what was read or heard regarding a given narrative. It is an especially important aspect of reading comprehension.

Executive Function

This test measures general executive functions which include goal-directed behavior, organizing, planning and decision-making, shifting sets or categorization, and impulse modulation. These skills combine in a wide variety of interactions with other important major networks such as attention and working memory. Executive planning is a crucial aspect of understanding social situations and forming behavioral strategies to effectively negotiate them.

Spatial Sorting

This test measures the ability to observe objects and patterns, retain them in working memory, and then recall them shortly afterward. It includes the capacities of figure memory, short-term visual memory, and visual working memory. This is an important skill for the retention and manipulation of mathematical terms and geometric images as well as manipulating images in working visual memory.