CheckCog

CheckCog

The CheckCog app was developed by Drs Antoinette Poulton and Gezelle Dali in collaboration with Ant Development Studios. It is available as a native application for both Android and iOS devices. CheckCog enables researchers to monitor executive function in real-time, assessing inhibitory control through a Stop-Signal Task (SST) and working memory via an n-Back task.

The CheckCog n-Back was adapted from Jaeggi et al. (2010) and incorporates adaptive increment and decrement parameters, making the task respon­sive to individual performance. Depending on how participants perform, they complete blocks of 1-Back, 2-Back or 3-Back trials. Across all trials, 35% of stimuli are targets and 65% are non-target stimuli and distractors. The task takes approximately five and a half minutes to complete.

The CheckCog SST is based on a validated online full-length version of the task (Poulton et al., 2022). A stop signal, presented as a visual cue, occurs on 25% of randomly selected trials. The stop-signal delay is initially set at 250 ms and adjusts dynamically across blocks as a function of participant performance. The task takes around 5 min to complete.

Both tasks include an optional practice block (20 trials) followed by four experimental blocks (20 trials each).

Research

CheckCog has been the subject of methodological investigations:

More recently, CheckCog has been integral to research showing how real-time fluctuations in executive function (response inhibition and working memory) predict drinking – measured via the Alcohol Capture app.