CheckCog

CheckCog

CheckCog is a progressive web app (PWA) designed to help researchers monitor executive function in real time during ambulatory assessment. Originally developed as a native app by Drs Antoinette Poulton and Gezelle Dali in collaboration with Ant Development Studios, it has recently been updated and converted to a PWA by CPB Solutions.

Through a secure researcher dashboard, users can schedule the ambulatory assessment time period, select tasks, track participant compliance, and send reminders to complete tasks.

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. An optional practice block (20 trials) is followed by four experimental blocks (20 trials each). The task takes around 5 minutes to complete.

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-, 2-, 3-, or 4-back trials. Across all trials, 35% of stimuli are targets and 65% are non-target stimuli and distractors. An optional practice block (20 trials) is followed by four experimental blocks (20 trials each). The task takes approximately 5-6 minutes to complete.

The CheckCog Digit Span task is a standard version with forward, backward, and ascending span conditions. For each condition, there are optional practice questions containing 2 items at span length 2 and one item at span length 3. The task continues until there are two consecutive errors on a span length.

The CheckCog MCQ is the standard version and asks participants to make hypothetical choices between 27 smaller, immediately available monetary rewards and larger ones obtainable only after some delay (Kirby et al., 1999). The questionnaire takes 1-2 minutes to complete.

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.