FEATURED PUBLICATIONS


Singh, S., Strong, R. W., Jung, L., Li, F. H., Grinspoon, L., Scheuer, L. S., ... & Germine, L. (2021). The TestMyBrain Digital Neuropsychology Toolkit: Development and Psychometric Characteristics. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 43(8), 786-795.

“To allow continued administration of neuropsychological evaluations remotely during the pandemic, tests from the not-for-profit platform, TestMyBrain.org (TMB), were used to develop the TMB Digital Neuropsychology Toolkit (DNT). This study details the psychometric characteristics of the DNT, as well as the infrastructure and development of the DNT.”

 

Chaytor, N. S., Barbosa-Leiker, C., Germine, L. T., Fonseca, L. M., McPherson, S. M., & Tuttle, K. R. (2021). Construct validity, ecological validity and acceptance of self-administered online neuropsychological assessment in adults. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 35(1), 148-164.

“The goal of this project was to explore the initial psychometric properties (construct and ecological validity) of self-administered online (SAO) neuropsychological assessment (using the www.testmybrain.org platform), compared to traditional testing, in a clinical sample, as well as to evaluate participant acceptance. SAO assessment has the potential to expand the reach of in-person neuropsychological assessment approaches.”

 

Treviño, M., Zhu, X., Lu, Y. Y., Scheuer, L. S., Passell, E., Huang, G. C., ... & Horowitz, T. S. (2021). How do we measure attention? Using factor analysis to establish construct validity of neuropsychological tests. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6(1), 1-26.

“We investigated whether standardized neuropsychological tests and experimental cognitive paradigms measure the same cognitive faculties. Specifically, do neuropsychological tests commonly used to assess attention measure the same construct as attention paradigms used in cognitive psychology and neuroscience? We built on the “general attention factor”, comprising several widely used experimental paradigms (Huang et al., 2012). Participants (n = 636) completed an on-line battery (TestMyBrain.org) of six experimental tests [Multiple Object Tracking, Flanker Interference, Visual Working Memory, Approximate Number Sense, Spatial Configuration Visual Search, and Gradual Onset Continuous Performance Task (Grad CPT)] and eight neuropsychological tests [Trail Making Test versions A & B (TMT-A, TMT-B), Digit Symbol Coding, Forward and Backward Digit Span, Letter Cancellation, Spatial Span, and Arithmetic].”

 

Dodell-Feder, D., Saxena, A,. Rutter, L.A., & Germine, L. (2019). The network structure of schizotypal personality traits in a populated-based sampleSchizophrenia Research, 208, 258-267.

“Outcomes for people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSDs) are generally poor, making it important to understand risk states and illness transition. Here, we present a network analysis of schizotypal personality traits using an international sample. We analyzed data from 9505 participants between the ages of 14–70 who completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief on TestMyBrain.org. […] Together, these findings demonstrate the utility of using network approaches to understand SSD risk states as well as the replicability of network findings on schizotypal personality traits and related SSD risk concepts.”

 

Germine, L., Reinecke, K., & Chaytor, N.S. (2019). Digital neuropsychology: Challenges and opportunities at the intersection of science and softwareThe Clinical Neuropsychologist.

This article “identifies three major barriers associated with digital neuropsychology, which affect both the interpretation of test scores and test norms: (1) variability in the perceptual, motor and cognitive demands of the same test across digital device classes (e.g. personal computer, tablet and smartphone); (2) hardware and software variability between devices within the same class that affect stimulus presentation and measurement and (3) rapid changes over time in hardware, software and device ownership, which can lead to rapid obsolescence of particular tests and test norms. We offer specific recommendations to address these barriers and outline new opportunities to understand and measure neuropsychological functioning over time and in everyday environments.”

 

“Understanding how and when cognitive change occurs over the life span is a prerequisite for understanding normal and abnormal development and aging. Most studies of cognitive change are constrained, however, in their ability to detect subtle, but theoretically informative life-span changes, as they rely on either comparing broad age groups or sparse sampling across the age range. Here, we present convergent evidence from 48,537 online participants and a comprehensive analysis of normative data from standardized IQ and memory tests. Our results reveal considerable heterogeneity in when cognitive abilities peak [...] These findings motivate a nuanced theory of maturation and age-related decline, in which multiple, dissociable factors differentially affect different domains of cognition.”

 

ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS


  1. Rutter, L. A., Dodell-Feder, D., Vahia, I. V., Forester, B. P., Ressler, K. J., Wilmer, J. B., & Germine, L. (2019). Emotion sensitivity across the lifespan: Mapping clinical risk periods to sensitivity to facial emotion intensity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(11), 1993. 

  2. Chaytor, N., Barbosa-Leiker, C., Ryan, C., Germine, L., Hirsch, I., & Weinstock, R. (2019). Clinically significant cognitive impairment in older adults with Type 1 Diabetes.  Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications. 33(1):91-97. 

  3. Dodell-Feder, D., & Germine, L. (2018). Common social cognitive impairments do not mean common causes: A commentary on Cotter et al. (2018).  Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.  92 : 150-151.                      

  4. Rothlein, D., DeGutis, J., Germine, L., Wilmer, J., McGlinchey, R., & Esterman, M. (2018). Sensitivity to stimulus similarity is associated with greater sustained attention ability.  Attention, Perception & Psychophysics80 (6): 1390-1408.

  5. Becker, K.R., Plessow, F., Coniglio, K.A., Tabri, N., Franko, D.L., Zayas, L.V., Germine, L., Thomas, J.J., & Eddy, K.T. (2017).  Global/local processing style: Explaining the relationship between trait anxiety and binge eating.  International Journal of Eating Disorders50(11):1264-1272.                               

  6. Macdonald, K., Germine, L., Anderson, A., Christodoulou, J., & McGrath, L.M. (2017).  Dispelling the myth: Training in education or neuroscience decreases but does not eliminate beliefs in Neuromyths.  Frontiers in Psychology, 8,:1314.

  7. Riley, E., Okabe, H., Germine, L., Wilmer, J., Esterman, M., & DeGutis, J. (2016). Gender differences in sustained attentional control relate to gender inequality across countries. PLoS ONE, 11(11): e0165100.                                  

  8. Germine, L., Robinson, E., Smoller, J.W., Calkins, M.E., Moore, T.M., Hakonarson, H., Daly, M., Lee, P.H., Holmes, A.J., Buckner, R.L., Gur, R.C., & Gur, R.E. (2016).  Association between polygenic risk for schizophrenia, neurocognition, and social cognition across development.  Translational Psychiatry, 6: e294. 

  9. Hartshorne, J., & Germine, L. (2015) When does cognitive functioning peak? The asynchronous rise and fall of different cognitive abilities across the lifespan. Psychological Science, 26(4): 433-443.                                                             

  10. Germine, L., Russell, R., Bronstad, P.M., Blokland, G.A.M., Smoller, J.W., Kwok, H., Anthony, S.E., Nakayama, K., Rhodes, G., & Wilmer, J.B. (2015). Individual aesthetic preferences for faces are shaped mostly by environments, not genes. Current Biology, 25(20): 2684-2689.