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Introduction: Although the growth of digital tools for cognitive health assessment, there’s a lack of known reference values and clinical implications for these digital methods. This study aims to establish reference values for digital neuropsychological measures obtained through the smartphone-based cognitive assessment application, Defense Automated Neurocognitive Assessment (DANA), and to identify clinical risk factors associated with these measures. Methods: The sample included 932 cognitively intact participants from the Framingham Heart Study, who completed at least one DANA task. Participants were stratified into subgroups based on sex and three age groups. Reference values were established for digital cognitive assessments within each age group, divided by sex, at the 2.5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 97.5th percentile thresholds. To validate these values, 57 cognitively intact participants from Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center were included. Associations between 19 clinical risk factors and these digital neuropsychological measures were examined by a backward elimination strategy. Results: Age- and sex-specific reference values were generated for three DANA tasks. Participants below 60 had median response times for the Go-No-Go task of 796 ms (men) and 823 ms (women), with age-related increases in both sexes. Validation cohort results mostly aligned with these references. Different tasks showed unique clinical correlations. For instance, response time in the Code Substitution task correlated positively with total cholesterol and diabetes, but negatively with high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and triglycerides. Discussion: This study established and validated reference values for digital neuropsychological measures of DANA in cognitively intact white participants, potentially improving their use in future clinical studies and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Multiple transitions occur during the early career stage of a psychologist, perhaps to a higher extent and with more potent ramifications than subsequent career stages. However, limited information exists on the various expectations, concerns, and challenges experienced by early career psychologists (ECPs) broadly, and more specifically in clinical neuropsychology. Therefore, the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN)/Division 40's Early Career Neuropsychologist Committee developed a Needs Assessment Survey with the primary goal of identifying various training and professional development issues encountered by ECPs in clinical neuropsychology. Method: A comprehensive survey was distributed electronically via listserv announcements and SCN communication tools (Newsletters and Neuroblasts). Data collection occurred from 29 May, 2020 to 02 August, 2020. The total sample comprised of 89 respondents (85% aged 31–40 years; 83% female; 82% Caucasian, followed by 18% Asian; 3% of Hispanic ethnicity). Results: Majority of the respondents graduated from APA-accredited doctoral programs and from postdoctoral programs that adhered to Houston Conference Guidelines. About 7% took >2 years to complete their residency and about 10%–15% of ECPs expressed clear dissatisfaction with at least some aspect of their residency training. Becoming board certified in neuropsychology was the highest ranked career goal for ECPs in neuropsychology (45%), whereas 72% indicated difficulty understanding billing and insurance-related issues as the most frequently encountered professional challenge. About 57% of ECPs were concerned about maintaining work/life balance. Conclusions: Specific ways to aid and strengthen trainees and ECPs' professional needs are discussed with a focus on activities that can be undertaken at individual-, department-, profession-, and higher legislative-specific levels. IMPACT STATEMENT: Question: Using survey data, this study aimed to characterize early career psychologists (ECPs) training history and their current work settings, identify their needs, and understand their perspectives about challenges and expectations. Findings: Results reveal that the workforce comprising of ECPs is getting increasingly diverse, and their needs are typically focused on obtaining board certification. ECPs identified areas for improvement in their training, such as increasing their knowledge of billing and insurance, and expressed concerns about maintaining work/life balance. Importance: The Minnesota 2022 Update Conference seems like a promising platform for addressing several of the needs identified by the survey and providing updated guidelines for ECPs. Next Steps: Based on the findings, general guidelines have been proposed for state and local level organizations along with call for action to higher-level legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prevailing scientific literature aggregates Asians living in America into one omnibus category and thus can problematically result in a subpar and at times inaccurate understanding of health, social and cultural factors necessary for competent and informed medical care. Method: A literature search was conducted by cultural experts familiar with Asian Indian culture with a focus on immigrants from this community living in the US. Database using search engines was sought in the following domains: immigration patterns, prevalence for key medical and neurological conditions commonly associated with cognitive dysfunction, psychiatric/psychological needs in the community, some preliminary neuropsychological testing considerations while working with this community, and treatment considerations that could affect adherence and efficacy of outcomes. Articles were selected from 2000 to the most recent date, with emphasis on compiling information from review papers and meta-analysis from the past decade. Conclusions: Asian Indians living in the US are distinct from the larger Asian American community. Immigration trends underscore that Asian Indians have a bimodal distribution of wealth. Regarding medical conditions, a key and highly concerning finding is the higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, especially in young males. The lack of non-existent cognitive data in this community is glaring and should serve as an impetus for conducting high-priority research in this community. Preliminary neuropsychological testing considerations are discussed from a practical perspective with emphasis on multilingualism and region of origin. Finally, treatment considerations include understanding attitudes and beliefs regarding traditional medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Traditional paper and pencil approaches measure cognitive performance at one time point. Early indications of cognitive impairment often appear irregularly, suggesting diagnoses derived from a single session can fail to characterize normal fluctuations and lead to inaccurate conclusions. Mobile applications enable brief cognitive assessments to be completed frequently and remotely. However, the feasibility of older adults adhering to a schedule of repeated self‐administered cognitive assessments is unclear. We tested the repeated use of a mobile assessment among older adults as a potential method for collecting cognitive performance data to detect early signs of cognitive impairment. Method: The current study included 33 participants (n = 23 cognitively unimpaired, n = 10 cognitively impaired) recruited from the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center. A remote practice session using the Digital Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA) mobile application was completed prior to beginning an assessment schedule consisting of three assessments within the first week (segment 1) and one assessment per week during the following three weeks (segment 2). Feasibility was measured via schedule adherence across segments, stratified by age and cognitive status. Cognitive efficiency, a derived measure of speed and accuracy, was compared for the Procedural Reaction Time (PRT) task at the first assessment and longitudinally across segments 1 and 2. Demographics including age, sex, race, education, and mobile device type were also collected (Table 1). Result: Across all segments, 90.9% of participants adhered to the assessment schedule with a ±1 day grace period applied. Adherence was similar between each segment, and by cognitive status and age group (Table 2). No significant differences in cognitive efficiency were observed on the PRT task between cognitive groups (Figures 1‐2, Table 3). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that older adults, including those with cognitive impairment, are capable of completing self‐administered remote smartphone assessments at a high‐frequency. Traditional analytic methods failed to differentiate cognitive groups based on mean cognitive performance; however, between‐group comparisons could mask within‐person fluctuations characteristic of cognitive impairment. Therefore, further study with a longer longitudinal assessment period and larger sample size will be required to determine whether more advanced analyses can distinguish impairment status based on cognitive performance patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a corrigendum for an article titled "Digital neuropsychological measures by defense automated neurocognitive assessment: reference values and clinical correlates." The corrigendum acknowledges an error in the funding statement of the original article, where a grant from the National Institute on Aging was not included. The correct funding statement is provided in the corrigendum. The authors apologize for the error and state that it does not affect the scientific conclusions of the article. [Extracted from the article]

Financial literacy is linked to financial well-being and decision making. While financial literacy and numeracy skills are strongly related, the relevance of different aspects of numeracy (mental arithmetic, math achievement, and numerical reasoning) for financial literacy has not yet been examined. Data were collected from 88 cognitively healthy adults, mean age = 50 years (SD = 15); mean education = 15 years (SD = 2); 61% females; with 56% Caucasian, 36% Black, and 90% non-Hispanic. Financial literacy was measured with the widely used Big Three scale, and numeracy was measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, Arithmetic subtest; the Wide Range Achievement Test-IV, Math Computation subtest; and the Weller's Abbreviated Numeracy Scale (WANS). Regressions analyses were conducted with financial literacy as the outcome variable and each numeracy measure along with demographics (age, sex, and education) as the predictors. In all the models, only the numeracy measures were significant as individual predictors, with numerical reasoning holding the strongest association with financial literacy, followed by mental arithmetic and math achievement. The current study supports the existing literature that numeracy is important for financial literacy, and provides empirical evidence for the specific contributions of individual numeracy measures that clinicians may use to garner impressions about financial skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]