Development and validation of a novel visuospatial memory test
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development and validation of a novel visuospatial memory test for adults and children
IRAS ID
155332
Contact name
Gail Seymour
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North Bristol NHS Trust
Research summary
A number of visuo-spatial memory tasks are currently available for both adults and children. However, many of these tasks are compromised by either being too difficult or trivially easy and therefore insensitive. The development of a new "mirror" recognition task offers the opportunity to resolve these issues. The task is based around the recognition of an image the participant has seen previously, which has to be chosen when presented alongside a reversed version of the same image. Pilot data suggests that this test has the appropriate qualities to detect a wider range of memory performance and levels of difficulty can be adjusted progressively. This study aims to establish convergent validity for this novel test with existing visuo-spatial memory tests by attaining normative data from a wide age range. This will enable us to see if our novel test scores correlate with the scores of other established memory tests in each participant, so that we know our test is measuring the visuo-spatial memory construct we want it to. The study also aims to obtain data from patients likely to have memory impairments, in this case individuals with epilepsy, to see if the test is capable of providing an accurate reflection of the memory problems that these individuals face in their daily lives. We also wish to see if patient's memory difficulties correspond to their known pathology (e.g. areas of damage to the hippocampus known to cause spatial memory deficits) and to see if the novel test can be sensitive to this type of damage compared to damage in other areas. Testing within different age ranges and within a population with memory impairment will also allow us to see that aspects such as test difficulty and length do not impact on using the test in diverse populations.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SW/1048
Date of REC Opinion
25 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion