The Continuous Matching Task (CMT) – real-time procedural stimulus generation for adaptive testing of attention

Abstract

The Continuous Matching Task (CMT) is a novel paradigm designed to measure sustained attention and alertness. It is a special type of Continuous Performance Task (CPT) that utilizes truly continuous stimulus material. Stimuli are generated in real-time by a procedural algorithm which also enables adaptive testing. The task is highly flexible and can be used in either single or dual-task configurations that also allow for task mixing. The functionality of the algorithm and applications are presented. The viability of the CMT is tested and results are compared with similar tasks, i.e. Stroop-Task and Conner’s CPT (CCPT), as well as self-reports of ADHD in adults in a Multi-Trait-Multi-Method approach in a sample of N = 122 participants. Self-reports and measurements of heart rate variability during testing are analyzed to infer and compare mental workload during tasks. Overall, variants of the CMT induce a higher mental workload than the other tasks, and employing the dual-task CMT with adaptive difficulty resulted in the highest reliability and validity. Results indicate that the CMT is primarily a measure of alertness and processing speed and benefits from adaptive testing.

Keywords:

• Alertness
• Attention
• computer applications
• continuous performance tasks
• test construction

Ethical approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the [Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg]. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the OSF repository, [https://osf.io/7ewcn/?view_only=585d86aba2de41be9d7db583ca4bd47f].