# Creating an adaptive screening tool for detecting neurocognitive deficits and psychopathology across the lifespan

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2022 · $677,565

## Abstract

Efforts to include behavioral measures in large-scale studies as envisioned by precision medicine are
hampered by the time and expertise required. Paper-and-pencil tests currently dominating clinical assessment
and neuropsychological testing are plainly unfeasible. The NIH Toolbox contains many computerized tests and
clinical assessment tools varying in feasibility. Unique in the Toolbox is the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive
Battery (CNB), which contains 14 tests that take one hour to administer. CNB has been validated with
functional neuroimaging and in multiple normative and clinical populations across the lifespan worldwide, and
is freely available for research. Clinical assessment tools are usually devoted to specific disorders, and scales
vary in their concentration on symptoms that are disorder specific. We have developed a broad assessment
tool (GOASSESS), which currently takes about one hour to administer. These instruments were constructed,
optimized and validated with classical psychometric test theory (CTT), and are efficient as CTT allows.
However, genomic studies require even more time-efficient tools that can be applied massively.
 Novel approaches, based on item response theory (IRT) can vastly enhance efficiency of testing and
clinical assessment. IRT shifts the emphasis from the test to the items composing it by estimating item
parameters such as “difficulty” and “discrimination” within ranges of general trait levels. IRT helps shorten the
length of administration without compromising data quality, and for many domains leads to computer adaptive
testing (CAT) that further optimizes tests to individual abilities. We propose to develop and validate adaptive
versions of the CNB and GOASSESS, resulting in a neurocognitive and clinical screener that, using machine
learning tools, will be continually optimized, becoming shorter and more precise as it is deployed. The tool will
be in the Toolbox available in the public domain. We have item-level information to perform IRT analyses on
existing data and use this information to develop CAT implementations and generate item pools for adaptive
testing. Our Specific Aims are: 1. Use available itemwise data on the Penn CNB and the GOASSESS and add
new tests and items to generate item pools for extending scope while abbreviating tests using IRT-CAT and
other methods. The current item pool will be augmented to allow large selection of items during CAT
administration and add clinical items to GOASSESS. New items will be calibrated through crowdsourcing. 2.
Produce a modular CAT version of a neurocognitive and clinical assessment battery that covers major RDoC
domains and a full range of psychiatric symptoms. We have implemented this procedure on some CNB tests
and clinical scales and will apply similar procedures to remaining and new tests as appropriate. 3. Validate the
CAT version in 100 individuals with psychosis spectrum disorders (PS), 100 with depression/anxiety disorders
(DA), and 100 he...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10356829
- **Project number:** 5R01MH117014-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ruben C. Gur
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $677,565
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10356829

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10356829, Creating an adaptive screening tool for detecting neurocognitive deficits and psychopathology across the lifespan (5R01MH117014-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10356829. Licensed CC0.

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