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Penn Neurocognitive Battery (CNB)
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penncnb.md

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Penn Neurocognitive Battery (CNB)

The CNB is a computerized neurocognitive test battery developed by Dr. Ruben C. Gur and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania. The web-based Penn CNB is made available to administer online [https://webcnp.med.upenn.edu/]. The CNB is comprised of a series of tests that have been applied in neuroimaging studies and can be used either in a scanner as part of a functional neuroimaging study or outside a scanner for measuring individual differences in performance. Tests measure accuracy and speed of performance in major domains of cognition, including executive-control functions (abstraction, attention, working memory), episodic memory (verbal, facial, spatial), complex cognitive processing (language reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, spatial processing), social cognition (emotion identification, emotion intensity differentiation, age differentiation) and sensorimotor and motor speed. The CNB has been translated to over 25 languages and can be customized based on the age of the participant (child or adult), available test-taking time and the testing environment.

Tests Adminsistered in the CNB by Domain

Executive-Control Domain

  1. Abstraction, Inhibition and Working Memory Test (AIM):The Penn Abstraction, Inhibition and Working Memory Task or AIM is a measure of abstraction and concept- formation, with and without working memory (Gur et al., 2001, Glahn et al., 2000). The participant first sees two pairs of stimuli on the top of the screen and one stimulus on the mid-bottom of the screen and needs to decide with which pair the stimulus on the bottom best belongs. Feedback is provided. In the second question type, the bottom stimulus flashes for less than a second and then the two pairs of stimuli appear on the top after a delay to isolate effects of working memory capacity.
  2. Penn Conditional Exclusion Test (PCET):The PCET measures the ability to discover principles by hypothesis testing, where the principle shifts after its discovery is established. Subjects decide which of 4 objects does not belong with the other 3 based on one of three sorting principles (e.g., shape, size, line thickness). Sorting principles change after 10 successive correct responses, and feedback is used to guide discovery of the principle and indicate its change.
  3. Penn Continuous Performance Test (PCPT): The Penn Continuous Performance Test (PCPT; Kurtz et al., 2001) uses a standard CPT paradigm. The participant responds to a set of 7-segment displays presented 1/sec., whenever they form a digit (NUMBERS, initial 3 min) or letter (LETTERS, next 3 min). The number of true positive responses is recorded as the accuracy score and the median response time for true positive responses is the measure of attention speed.
  4. Letter/Fractal N-back (LNB/FNB):The Letter N-Back (LNB; Ragland et al., 2002) presents letters for 500ms, and the participant has an additional 2000ms to respond by pressing the spacebar. There are three conditions: 0-Back - press the spacebar when the letter presented is an "X"; 1-Back - press when the letter presented is the same as the previous letter; 2-Back – press when the letter presented is the same as the one just before the previous letter. Following a training period, the test presents three blocks of each condition in a pre-determined order, for a total of 135 trials. The number of correct responses is recorded as the measure of accuracy and median response times for correct responses as a measure of speed.
  5. Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST): The DSST presents a reference set of digit-symbol pairs and a target digit-symbol pair.Participants are instructed to quickly indicate if the target pair matches one of the digit-symbol pairs in the reference set.
  6. Go-No-Go Test (GNG): The GNG is a measure of impulse control that requires participants to respond to a series of targets (an ‘X’ in the upper half of the screen) and inhibit responding to low-frequency non-targets (‘X’ in the lower half of the screen or a ‘Y’ anywhere). The test induces participants to develop a response tendency and then interrupts that tendency with intermittent non-targets to which participants have to inhibit responding.

Episodic Memory Domain

  1. Penn Word Memory Test (PWMT): The Penn Word Memory Test (PWMT; Gur et al., 1997) presents 20 target words that are then mixed with 20 distractors equated for frequency, length, concreteness and low imageability. The participant’s score reflects the number of correctly recognized targets and correctly rejected foils. Median response times for correct responses serves as a measure of speed. A 20 min delayed recall procedure is also administered.
  2. Penn Face Memory Test (PFMT): The Penn Face Memory Test (PFMT; Gur et al., 1997) presents 20 digitized faces that are then mixed with 20 distractors equated for age, gender and ethnicity. The participant’s score reflects the number of correctly recognized targets and correctly rejected foils, and median response times for correct responses serves as a measure of speed. The procedure is repeated at 20 min delay.
  3. Visual Object Learning Test (VOLT): The Visual Object Learning Test (VOLT; Glahn et al., 1997) uses Euclidean shapes as stimuli with the same paradigm as the word and face. The participant’s score reflects the number of correctly recognized targets and correctly rejected foils, and again median response times for correct responses serves as a measure of speed. The procedure is repeated at 20 min delay.

Complex Cognition Domain

  1. Penn Verbal Reasoning Test (PVRT): Penn Verbal Reasoning Test consists of 8 verbal analogy problems from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) factor- referenced test kit. The number of correct responses is entered as the accuracy score. Language and Analogical Reasoning The Children’s version of the Penn Verbal Reasoning Test consists of verbal analogy problems with simplified instructions and vocabulary (Gur et al., 1982, 2001, 2010).
  2. Penn Line Orientation Test (PLOT):The Penn Line Orientation Test (PLOT) measures the complex reasoning domain of spatial ability. The participant is shown two lines on the computer screen that differ in length and orientation, and must press a button to rotate one of the lines until its orientation (angle relative to a horizontal line) is the same as the other (non-rotating) line.
  3. Penn Matrix Reasoning Test (PMAT): A measure of abstraction and mental flexibility. It is a multiple choice task in which the participant must conceptualize spatial, design and numerical relations that range in difficulty from very easy to increasingly complex

Social Cognition Domain

  1. Penn Emotion Identification Test (PEID): This test measures the ability to decode and correctly identify facial expressions of emotion. The Penn Emotion Identification Test displays faces expressing one of 4 emotions (Happy, Sad, Anger, Fear) and Neutral faces, 8 each. The faces are presented one at a time, and the participant is asked to identify the emotion displayed from the set of four listed. The facial stimuli are balanced for sex, age, and ethnicity (Carter et al., 2008; Gur et al., 2002; RE Gur et al., 2006; Mathersul et al., 2008).
  2. Penn Emotion Differentiation Test (PMEDF): The Penn Emotion Differentiation Test presents pairs of emotional expressions, each pair obtained from the same individual expressing the same emotion, one more intense than the other or of equal intensity. Gradations of intensity were obtained by morphing a neutral to an emotionally intense expression and the difference between pairs of stimuli ranged between 10–60% of mixture. The task is to click on the face that displays the more intense expression or indicate that they have equal intensity. The same emotions are used as for the Emotion Identification test but the faces are different.
  3. The Penn Age Differentiation Test (PADT): The Penn Age Differentiation Test requires the participant to select which of two presented faces appears older, or if they are the same age. The stimuli were generated by morphing a young person’s face with that of an older person who has similar facial features. The stimuli vary by percent of difference in age (calculated based on the percentage contributed by the older face) and are balanced for sex and ethnicity.

Sensorimotor Speed

  1. Motor Praxis Test (MPRACT): The Mouse Practice task (MP; Gur et al., 2001a) requires moving the mouse and clicking as quickly as possible on a green square that disappears after the click. The square gets increasingly small. Since it is rare for participants to miss a target, no accuracy score is calculated and the median response time is used as the main dependent measure.
  2. Computerized Finger Tapping Test (CTAP): The Computerized Finger Tapping Test (CTAP; Coleman et al., 1997; Almasy et al., 2008) measures how quickly the participant can press the spacebar using only the index finger. After a practice trial with each hand, the test presents five trials for the dominant hand alternating with five trials for the non-dominant hand. In each, the participant is asked to tap the spacebar repeatedly for 10s when the green "GO" screen is presented. The computer records the number of taps.