Acceso usuarios
Maximiliano Urso
, Federico Giovannetti, Matías López Rosenfeld
La prueba de Bloques de Corsi es utilizada en Psicología y ciencias cognitivas para evaluar la memoria de trabajo visoespacial. La versión original era administrada por un/a investigador/a manualmente, lo cual podía facilitar la comisión de errores de evaluación, así como generar dificultades para reproducir la experiencia de manera precisa. A partir de ello, se desarrollaron diversas versiones digitales que usaban computadoras o tabletas, lo cual generó debates respecto de las posibles diferencias diagnósticas entre dichas versiones digitales y las mismas pruebas en versiones manuales. En este trabajo, se presenta el desarrollo del CorsiBot, una versión manual y automatizada que permite estudiar el desempeño y las estrategias de resolución de la prueba Bloques de Corsi. El trabajo tuvo como objetivo la comparación del desempeño de participantes adultos en una versión digital de la tarea de Corsi y el CorsiBot, así como comparar la experiencia subjetiva de los/as participantes al utilizar cada versión. El dispositivo se ha probado en una muestra de personas adultas con quienes se pudieron verificar similitudes y diferencias con una versión digital. En particular, los participantes obtuvieron una proporción similar de ensayos correctos en cada versión de Corsi, pero mostraron diferencias en los tipos de errores cometidos.
Nowadays some debates exist within psychological and neuropsychological assessment fields respecting differences between traditional testing (with pencil and paper) and the same tasks implemented via computer or Tablet programs. In this context, the Mode Effect is defined as the effect by which the same tasks, tested with different devices, may show different results. In addition, the Mode Effect might be associated with higher cognitive load, higher attentional requirements, fatigue and stress among others. The Corsi block-tapping test is widely used in psychology and cognitive sciences to assess visuospatial working memory. Originally, the stimuli sequence was manually set by a researcher which could entail a constraint to run the test accurately. Today, there are many digital versions available for computers or tablets and, although this meant a significant cut on manual steps, there are discussions on the impact these digital versions could have on working memory as opposed to traditional ones. This work focuses on the development of the CorsiBot: a new physical and automated version that enables researchers to assess performance and resolution strategies for the Corsi block-tapping test while combining the benefits of both tangible and digital versions. In addition, this work aimed to compare the performance of a sample of adults between a digital version of Corsi and our CorsiBot. Thirty adults where assessed with both devices with different protocols. After each assessment, participants completed the NASA-TLX questionnaire in order to explore the cognitive load required by each device. Results showed similarities and differences between each device. Specifically, participants showed a similar proportion of correct trials, while showing different types of errors for each version of Corsi. Such differences were related to path errors, where response sequence contains the correct blocks but pressed in an incorrect order. Analyses showed that SoftCorsi was more sensitive to those kind of errors. With respect to cognitive load, participants reported that CorsiBot elicited larger mental exigency than SoftCorsi. The present work aims make a relevant contribution to research and clinical teams interested in the assessment of spatial working memory. This work contributes theoretically with evidence on the behavior of memory under different processing contexts. In addition, it has practical implications related to diagnostic issues on the identification of individual differences under distinct assessment modes. Finally, the device showed effectiveness in the assessment and record of responses that permitted exporting, analyzing and visualizing the results. Schemes and source codes of the devices are openly available for free use for any interested research group or institution.
