To view all CANTAB tests, click here [open/close]   Induction Visual memory Executive function Attention Semantic/Verbal memory Decision making and response control Motor Screening (MOT) Delayed Matching to Sample (DMS) Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IED) Choice Reaction Time (CRT) Graded Naming Test (GNT) Affective Go/No-go (AGN) Big/Little Circle (BLC) Paired Associates Learning (PAL) One Touch Stockings of Cambridge (OTS) Match to Sample Visual Search (MTS) Verbal Recognition Memory (VRM) Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT)       Pattern Recognition Memory (PRM) Stockings of Cambridge (SOC) Reaction Time (RTI)   Information Sampling Task (IST)       Spatial Recognition Memory (SRM) Spatial Span (SSP) Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP)   Stop Signal Task (SST)             Spatial Working Memory (SWM) Simple Reaction Time (SRT)

 

AGN (Affective Go/No-go)
Overview This test assesses information processing biases for positive and negative stimuli. Affective cognitive functions are thought to be related to the ventral and medial-prefrontal cortex areas of the brain because of the limbic connections with this region. As such, the Affective Go/No-go test represents a powerful research assessment tool for current studies on the neural substrates of depression, bipolar disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and many other affective conditions. Murphy et al, 1999 , found that manic patients had a clear bias for positive words (because they showed less inhibition in moving from negative words as targets to positive words as targets) while those in the depressed state had a bias for negative words. Making a decision about the emotional valence of a wor d is associated with the cingulate gyrus (Elliott et al, 2000) .
	Administration time Around 10 minutes, depending on level of impairment. Task The test consists of several blocks, each of which presents a series of words from two of three different Affective categories: Positive (for example, joyful), Negative (for example, hopeless), and Neutral (for example, element). The subject is given a target category, and is asked to press the press pad when they see a word matching this category. Test modes Six modes, four using positive and negative stimuli only, and two using positive, negative and neutral stimuli.
Outcome measures Twelve outcome measures covering latency and errors of commission and omission. Note Currently available in English only

 

CGT (Cambridge Gambling Task)
Overview The Cambridge Gambling Task was developed to assess decision-making and risk-taking behaviour outside a learning context. Relevant information is presented to the subjects 'up-front' and there is no need to learn or retrieve information over consecutive trials. Unlike other 'Gambling' tasks, CGT dissociates risk taking from impulsivity, because in the ascending bet condition the subject who wants to make a risky bet has to wait patiently for it to appear. (Manes et al, 2002) The likely neural substrate for this task is the orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex. Traumatic Brain Injury, Alcoholism and Drug abuse are all conditions sensitive to this test.
click for an interactive demonstration	Administration time Up to 30 minutes. Task On each trial, the subject is presented with a row of ten boxes across the top of the screen, some of which are red and some of which are blue. At the bottom of the screen are rectangles containing the words ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’. The subject must guess whether a yellow token is hidden in a red box or a blue box. In the gambling stages, subjects start with a number of points, displayed on the screen, and can select a proportion of these points, displayed in either rising or falling order, in a second box on the screen, to gamble on their confidence in this judgement. A stake box on the screen displays the current amount of the bet. The subject must try to accumulate as many points as possible. Test modes Ascending first (where stakes are displayed in ascending order for two stages, then in descending order for two stages) and Descending first (where stakes are displayed in descending order for two stages, then in ascending order for two stages).
Outcome measures The six CGT outcome measures cover risk taking, quality of decision making, deliberation time, risk adjustment, delay aversion and overall proportion bet.

 

IST (Information Sampling Task)
Overview The Information Sampling Task (IST) tests impulsivity and decision making.
click for an interactive demonstration	Administration time Up to 15 minutes Task The subject is presented with a 5x5 array of grey boxes on the screen, and two larger coloured panels below these boxes. The subject is instructed that they are playing a game for points, which they can win by making a correct decision about which colour is in the majority under the grey boxes. They must touch the grey boxes one at a time, which open up to reveal one of the two colours shown at the bottom of the screen. Once a box has been touched, it remains open. When the subject has made their decision about which colour is in the majority, they must touch the panel of that colour at the bottom of the screen to indicate their choice. After the subject has indicated their choice, all the remaining grey boxes on the screen reveal their colours and a message is displayed to inform the subject whether or not they were correct. The colours change from trial to trial. There are two conditions – the fixed win condition, in which the subject is awarded 100 points for a correct decision regardless of the number of boxes opened, and the decreasing win condition, in which the number of points that can be won for a correct decision starts at 250 and decreases by 10 points for every box touched. In either condition an incorrect decision costs 100 points. Test modes IST has two modes: Fixed win-decreasing win (after practice trials, the fixed win stage precedes the decreasing win stage) Decreasing win-fixed win (after practice trials, the decreasing win stage precedes the fixed win stage)
Outcome measures The eight IST outcome measures cover errors, latency, total correct trials, mean number of boxes opened per trial, and probability of the subject's decision being correct based on the available evidence at the time of the decision

 

SST (Stop Signal Task)
Overview SST is a classic stop signal response inhibition test, which uses staircase functions to generate an estimate of stop signal reaction time. This test gives a measure of an individual’s ability to inhibit a prepotent response.
click for an interactive demonstration	Administration time Up to 20 minutes Task This test consists of two parts. In the first part, the subject is introduced to the press pad, and told to press the left hand button when they see a left-pointing arrow, and the right hand button when they see a right-pointing arrow. There is one block of 16 trials for the subject to practice this. In the second part, the subject is told to continue pressing the buttons on the press pad when they see the arrows, as before, but, if they hear an auditory signal (a beep), they should withhold their response and not press the button. Test modes SST has one mode: clinical.
Outcome measures SST has 5 outcome measures, each of which can have various options applied to it. The SST measures cover direction errors, proportion of successful stops, RT on GO trials, SSD (50%), SSRT