A SYSTEM FOR PSYCHOMOTOR EVALUATION - DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND PRACTICE EFFECTS IN VOLUNTEERS

This paper describes the design, implementation and assessment of Psyc hE, a psychomotor evaluation system. Six standard tests are included: numeric vigilance, a dual task, probed memory recall, simple reaction time, choice reaction time and semantic long-term memory. The test pre sentations are described in detail. Practice effects were assessed in 10 healthy volunteers and were only evident in the performance measure s for the simple reaction time test. For the remaining five tests, sta ble performance was reached within a single test session. The voluntee rs were healthy and most were regular users of computers. Therefore, t he lack of practice effects cannot be assumed for the general populati on. A control group is essential for all studies using these tests. Th e system is implemented on an IBM-compatible personal computer and inc ludes a database shell for the convenient collection, storage and anal ysis of performance data.