Criterion validity of five open-source app-based cognitive and sensory tasks in an Australian adult life course...

With recent technical advances, many cognitive and sensory tasks have been adapted for smartphone testing. This study aimed to assess the criterion validity of a subset of self-administered, open-source app-based cognitive and sensory tasks by comparing test performance to lab-based alternatives. An in-person baseline was completed by 43 participants (aged 21 to 82) from the larger Labs without Walls project (Brady et al., 2023) to compare the self-administered, app-based tasks with researcher-administered equivalents. 4 preset tasks sourced from Apple's ResearchKit (Spatial Memory, Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, and dBHL Tone Audiometry) and 1 custom-built task (Ishihara Color Deficiency Test) were compared. All tasks except the Spatial Memory task demonstrated high comparability to the researcher-administered version. Specifically, the Trail Making Tests were strongly correlated (.77 and .78 for parts A and B, respectively), Stroop correlations ranged from .77 to .89 and the Ishihara tasks were moderately correlated (r = .69). ICCs for the Audiometry task ranged from .56 to .96 (Moderate to Excellent) with 83% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Bland-Altman plots revealed a mean bias between -5.35 to 9.67 dB for each ear and frequency with an overall bias of 3.02 and 1.98 for the left and right ears, respectively, within the minimum testing interval. Furthermore, all app-based tasks were significantly correlated with age. These results offer preliminary evidence of the validity of four open-source cognitive and sensory tasks with implications for effective remote testing in non-lab settings.