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Methods Inf Med 2015; 54(02): 122-126
DOI: 10.3414/ME14-01-0003
Focus Theme - Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH

Virtual Kitchen Test

Assessing Frontal Lobe Functions in Patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome
P. Gamito
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
2   COPELABS – Cognition and People-centric Computing Laboratories – Lisbon, Portugal
,
J. Oliveira
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
2   COPELABS – Cognition and People-centric Computing Laboratories – Lisbon, Portugal
,
C. Caires
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
,
D. Morais
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
2   COPELABS – Cognition and People-centric Computing Laboratories – Lisbon, Portugal
,
R. Brito
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
2   COPELABS – Cognition and People-centric Computing Laboratories – Lisbon, Portugal
,
P. Lopes
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
2   COPELABS – Cognition and People-centric Computing Laboratories – Lisbon, Portugal
,
T. Saraiva
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
2   COPELABS – Cognition and People-centric Computing Laboratories – Lisbon, Portugal
,
F. Soares
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
,
C. Sottomayor
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
,
F. Barata
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
,
F. Picareli
1   School of Psychology and Life Sciences – Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal
,
M. Prates
3   Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Centre, Lisbon, Portugal
,
C. Santos
3   Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Centre, Lisbon, Portugal
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received: 14 January 2014

accepted: 30 June 2014

Publication Date:
22 January 2018 (online)

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Summary

Introduction: This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on “New Methodologies for Patients Rehabilitation”.

Background: The ecological validity of paper-and-pencil neuropsychological tests is currently a matter of debate. Arguments in favor of alternatives indicate that paper-and-pencil forms are unable to account for both mental and functional aspects of cognitive functioning.

Objectives: In this study we developed a new neuropsychological evaluation test – the Virtual Kitchen Test (VKT) – devised to evaluate frontal brain functioning in cognitively impaired individuals. We designed this test according to the rationale of the Trail Making Test (TMT), in order to capture frontal lobe abilities during a more ecologically valid task.

Methods: Forty-nine participants, 25 from a clinical sample of patients diagnosed with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome, plus 24 healthy participants.

Results: Execution errors and task completion time were significantly higher in the clinical sample. Also, scores on the new VKT showed moderate to high positive correlations with scores on the TMT. Furthermore, the overall discriminant performance of the VKT was high for both of its indicators.

Conclusions: Overall results support the ability of the VKT to evaluate frontal lobe functions. The best cut-off scores based on this sample are discussed.

Keywords

Frontal functions - cognitive assessment - mHealth - alcohol dependence syndrome