AWARD: An Adaptive Web Based-Tool Prototype for Neurocognitive Individualized Assessment and Training - Foundations on Natural and Artificial Computation - page 541

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the
application domain of the proposed tool. In Section 3 explains briefly adaptive
web concept and details the most important aspects of our proposal adaptive
architecture. Section 4 presents the AWARD prime tool and shows the basic
functionally using some practical examples. And finally, in Section 5, we discuss
the main conclusions and future work arising from this proposal.
2 Application Domain
This work is defined on the domain application known as Computer-assisted
Neurocognitive Assessment and Rehabilitation in neurologic patients, belonging
to the area of Cognitive Neuroscience. Much of work done in this field of applica-
tion consist of design specific programs for assessing and rehabilitating cognitive
functions that may be altered or lost after brain injury or a result of the onset
of illness neurodegenerative.
One of the neurocognitive functions that are frequently affected in these pa-
tients are those related to working memory ( WM ). WM is a theoretical cons-
truct that refers to the mechanism or system underlying the maintenance and
processing of task-relevant information during the performance of a cognitive
task. WM allows several pieces of information to be held in mind simultaneously
and interrelatedly. It is essential for complex cognitive processes, such as spoken
and written language comprehension, mental arithmetic, reasoning, and problem
solving [3]. WM is also a subcomponent of the overall memory system, allowing
the temporary storage and manipulation of information necessary for complex
tasks. In contrast to the overall system, WM is, however, limited in both its
storage and processing capacity. WM and attention are closely related; WM is a
prerequisite for the selection of relevant information to attend to and the filter-
ing out of irrelevant information. Stroke-induced deficits in WM and attention
are often severe and result in impairments to vocational performance and so-
cial functioning. The degree of WM impairment, for tasks that require WM, is
crucial for predicting recovery from stroke [10] and predicting the probability of
returning to work [2]. Because WM capacity is a fundamental cognitive ability
upon which rehabilitation of other functions depend [3][5], deficits in WM are
crucial to the treatment approach. All the above justifies the need to provide
tasks to assessment the functioning of this type of memory, as well as specific
tasks for its rehabilitation or training.
Nowadays is increasingly that the programs for neurocognitive assessment and
rehabilitation/training are implemented using computer support [11]. In general
terms, computerized neurocognitive tasks measureresponsetimemoreprecisely,
require less administration time, include alternate forms, and are ideal for rapid
screening/triage. However, as describes above, the target population is extremely
heterogeneous, even with these standard computerized neuropsychological tasks,
it is dicult to measure accurately cognitive functioning in patients with brain
injury, specially because these patients often show a slow-down in speed of in-
formation processing (“cognitive slowing”).