Validity of the Virtual Reality Stroop Task (VRST) in active duty military

Abstract

Virtual environments provide the ability to systematically deliver test stimuli in simulated contexts relevant to real world behavior. The current study evaluated the validity of the Virtual Reality Stroop Task (VRST), which presents test stimuli during a virtual reality military convoy with simulated combat threats. Active duty Army personnel (N = 49) took the VRST, a customized version of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM)–Fourth Edition TBI Battery (2007) that included the addition of the ANAM Stroop and Tower tests, and traditional neuropsychological measures, including the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System version of the Color–Word Interference Test. Preliminary convergent and discriminant validity was established, and performance on the VRST was significantly associated with computerized and traditional tests of attention and executive functioning. Valid virtual reality cognitive assessments open new lines of inquiry into the impact of environmental stimuli on performance and offer promise for the future of neuropsychological assessments used with military personnel.

Keywords:

• Stroop test
• Executive functioning
• Virtual reality
• Validity, Active duty military

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Lisa Thomas and Emily Fantelli for their support in this project. We would also like to acknowledge Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), which funded a portion of this research. Thomas D. Parsons changed positions and is now at Clinical Neuropsychology and Simulation Lab, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA. The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.