Factor structure of the CNS Vital Signs computerized cognitive battery in youth with neurological diagnoses

ABSTRACT

Computerized cognitive batteries, such as CNS Vital Signs (CNSVS), can provide valuable information in clinical and research settings. However, psychometric properties, especially in children and adolescents, remain relatively understudied. The aim of this study was to investigate the factor structure of CNSVS in children and adolescents with neurological diagnoses.

Participants with neurological diagnoses (N = 280) age 7–19 years were assessed as part of their clinical care at a tertiary hospital. All participants received the full CNSVS computerized cognitive battery, which contains seven subtests designed to measure attention, executive functioning, psychomotor speed, and memory. Principal components analyses were used to examine factor structure.

Scores from CNSVS subtests loaded onto a three-component solution and accounted for 46% of the variance. The three components were deemed to best represent (1) speed, (2) memory, and (3) inhibition, with subtest scores loading differently than the original 11 primary and secondary domain scores would have suggested.

Although the CNSVS program generates numerous primary and secondary domain scores, a three-component solution represents a more parsimonious approach to interpreting performance on the CNSVS in youth with neurological diagnoses. Confirmation of this factor solution in other samples is warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychometrics
• computer test
• children
• factor structure
• neurology

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all of those who helped collect, enter, and maintain these data in the BrainChild database, including (alphabetically by last name) Kalina Askin, Christina Bigras, Dominique Bonneville, Shauna Bulman, Dr. Helen Carlson, Claire David, Hussain Daya, Andrea Jubinville, Christianne Laliberté-Durish, Shelby MacPhail, Lonna Mitchell, Carlie Montpetit, Alysha Rajaram, Jasmine Santos, Payton Sayers, Emily Tam, Shane Virani, and Nikola Zivanovic. Thanks to the families who agreed to participate in our research.

Disclosure statement

Brian Brooks and Elisabeth Sherman are coauthors of the Child and Adolescent Memory Profile (ChAMP, Sherman and Brooks, 2015, PAR Inc.), Memory Validity Profile (MVP; Sherman and Brooks, 2015, PAR Inc.), and Multidimensional Everyday Memory Ratings for Youth (MEMRY, Sherman and Brooks, 2017, PAR Inc.), and they receive royalties for the sales of these tests. Brian Brooks and Elisabeth Sherman are coeditors of the Pediatric Forensic Neuropsychology textbook (2012, Oxford University Press) and receive royalties for the sales of this book. Elisabeth Sherman is coauthor of the Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests (2006, Oxford University Press) and receives royalties for the sales of this book. Brian Brooks has previously been provided with free test credits from CNS Vital Signs as an in-kind support for his research program. The other authors (Plourde, Fay-McClymont, and MacAllister) do not report a conflict of interest. None of the authors has a financial interest in the CNS Vital Signs.

Additional information

Funding

The BrainChild database, which is the centralized digital storage system for all data collected in neuropsychological assessments, was supported by funding from the Kinsmen Chair of Pediatric Neurosciences, the ACHRI Neurotrauma Fund, and the ACH Neurosciences Program (Conny Betuzzi). Brian Brooks acknowledges salary funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Embedded Clinician Researcher Salary Award.