Acceptability and feasibility of a visual working memory task in an ecological momentary assessment paradigm

Neuropsychological performance has historically been measured in laboratory settings using standardized assessments. However, these methods may be inherently limited in generalizability. This concern may be mitigated with paradigms such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA). We evaluated the initial feasibility and acceptability of administering a visual working memory (VWM) task on handheld computers across 1 EMA study week among adolescents/young adults (N = 39). Participants also completed standardized laboratory neurocognitive measures to determine the extent to which EMA VWM performance mapped onto scores obtained in traditional testing environments. Compliance with the EMA protocol was high as participants responded to 87% of random prompts across the study week. As expected, EMA VWM performance was positively associated with laboratory measures of auditory and VWM, and these relationships persisted after adjusting for predicted intelligence. Further, discriminant validity tests showed that EMA VWM was not linked with laboratory scores of verbal abilities and processing speed. These data provide initial evidence on the convergent and discriminant validity of interpretations from this novel, ecologically valid neurocognitive approach. Future studies will aim to further establish the psychometric properties of this (and similar) tasks and investigate how momentary fluctuations in VWM correspond with contextual influences (e.g., substance use, mood) and clinical outcomes.