Using Automated Speech Processing for Repeated Measurements in a Clinical Setting of the Behavioral Variability in the Stroop Task.

The Stroop interference task is indispensable to current neuropsychological practice. Despite this, it is limited in its potential for repeated administration, its sensitivity and its demands on professionals and their clients. We evaluated a digital Stroop deployed using a smart device.

A Dynamic Method, Analysis, and Model of Short-Term Memory for Serial Order with Clinical Applications.

This study examined the robustness of a traditional memory task when moved out of controlled traditional settings. A letter recall task was designed to be self-administered via a smart-device which assessed recall by participants' writing their responses on the device. This enabled collection of both the letter recalled and the timing of this recall such that the temporal dynamics could be examined.

Applying speech technologies to assess verbal memory in patients with serious mental illness.

Verbal memory deficits are some of the most profound neurocognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia and serious mental illness in general. As yet, their measurement in clinical settings is limited to traditional tests that allow for limited administrations and require substantial resources to deploy and score. Therefore, we developed a digital ambulatory verbal memory test with automated scoring, and repeated self-administration via smart devices.

Psychiatric Risk Assessment from the Clinician's Perspective: Lessons for the Future.

Accurate prediction of risk-states in Serious Mental Illnesses (SMIs) is critical for reducing their massive societal burden. Risk-state assessments are notably inaccurate. Recent innovations, including widely available and inexpensive mobile technologies for ambulatory "biobehavioral" data, can reshape risk assessment.

Moving psychological assessment out of the controlled laboratory setting: Practical challenges.

Behavioral assessment using smart devices affords novel methods, notably remote self-administration by the individuals themselves. However, this new approach requires navigating complex legal and technical terrain. Given the limited empirical data that currently exists, we provide and discuss anecdotes of the methodological, technical, legal, and cultural issues associated with an implementation in both U.

Ambulatory vocal acoustics, temporal dynamics, and serious mental illness.

Acoustic analysis of vocal expression offers a potentially inexpensive, unobtrusive, and highly sensitive biobehavioral measure of serious mental illness (SMI)-related issues. Despite literature documenting its use for understanding SMI, prior studies have largely ignored that vocal expression is highly dynamic within individuals over time. We employed ambulatory vocal assessment from SMI outpatients to understand links between vocal expression, SMI symptoms, and affective states.

Updated U.S. Congressional Budget Office data reveal unprecedented increase in inequality.

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office recently updated its authoritative data series on household incomes, 1979-2005.