Frequently Asked Questions

Neurostat is a library of computer-based tests of cognitive domains including attention, concentration, reaction time, memory, processing speed, and decision-making. Neurostat provides clinicians and researchers with data to evaluate an individual’s change in cognitive status over time. Neurostat is available exclusively from Vista LifeSciences.

Neurostat includes all research and development from previous versions, including initial development in the 1980s and 1990s through the Department of Defense who patented it. It was licensed exclusively through U.S. Army Technology Transfer for further development into a reliable, repeatable and broadly-available assessment technology.

Neurostat now includes 22 tests that can be grouped into flexible or standardized batteries that are highly sensitive to cognitive change. Scientists working in varied fields of healthcare and human factors research have identified test batteries most useful to their topic-specific research areas, including injury (e.g., trauma, blast), illness (e.g., degenerative disease), exposure (e.g., toxin), risk factors (e.g., heat/cold, sleep loss, fatigue) and interventions (e.g., medication, rehabilitation).

In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers and scientists began to use personal computers to automate cognitive tests previously presented by clinicians using electromechanical devices, or by paper and pencil and a stopwatch. When carefully programmed, personal computers can measure an individual’s responses with sub-second accuracy. The Department of Defense, FAA and NASA were among the earliest government agencies to use automated assessments, including ours.

The ability of computers to present traditional neuropsychological test stimuli and measure response with subsecond accuracy provides valuable information to clinicians.

Our performance reporting tool reports tests results and compares them to previous test results and various reference/norm groups.

Our software also includes a data extraction and presentation tool which provides clinicians and researchers with the ability to easily select, organize, and display test data in spreadsheets and/or transfer test data to common statistical and graphics software.

The interpretation of cognitive assessment results should be conducted by qualified medical professionals, such as clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists or physicians with training in psychological testing principles, test administration procedures, and clinical test interpretation.

Our tests are not diagnostics. They provide information to the clinician regarding neurocognitive functioning that should be considered, along with other clinically-relevant information, to assist in medical decision-making.

Clinicians in many fields of medicine and human performance measurement use baseline and follow-up tests as one measure in an overall assessment of health or performance status. Baseline tests may prove valuable as a comparison to subsequent testing sessions to identify cognitive changes over time.

The length of the test battery depends on the number of tests included. For example, the standard battery used by the U.S. Department of Defense takes approximately 20-25 minutes to administer to 95% of the test takers.

Recommended administration procedures follow the general guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA) for distribution and administration of psychological tests. Our tests can be administered by trained proctors under the supervision of qualified professionals who have training in psychological testing principles and test administration procedures. Training for test proctors is offered through Vista LifeSciences. Test results should be interpreted by qualified professionals.

No specialized equipment is required to administer our cognitive tests, which can be administered on tablets, mobile devices, or laptop/desktop computers, with a browser version coming soon.

“Practice effect” is the change in assessment performance that occurs when an assessment is repeated multiple times in succession. Clinical and research protocols for cognitive testing, especially automated testing, differ in their management of “practice effect.”  Researchers often repeat a test many times to achieve “asymptotic” performance levels on the test prior to administering treatment and post-treatment test trials. Asymptotic performance is typically defined as performance absent most learning effects. This protocol provides a good method for assessing very subtle changes in function.

Typically, clinicians do not seek “asymptotic” performance levels. They attempt to obtain a baseline that represents a good estimation of “first time exposure” to a test. The baseline represents a “comparative assessment point.” The assumption is that the post-injury/post-illness/post-exposure assessment will probably not be repeated for period of time so the post-injury assessment will be more like a “first time exposure.” While almost any performance-based test will exhibit some “practice effect,” the development of our tests designed to minimize “practice effect.” Test software provides randomized stimuli across test sessions, creating an almost limitless number of alternative forms and combinations to facilitate repeated-measures testing.

During his tenure in the 1980s as Director of the Office of Military Performance Assessment Technology (OMPAT), and Director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program, Dr. Fred Hegge recognized the importance of cognitive health and the need for a consistent and well-developed approach to cognitive assessment. He and his team worked with a diverse set of neuropsychological testing tools, including the Walter Reed Performance Assessment Battery, to develop a standardized set of cognitive assessment tools that could be used effectively in diverse conditions including varied climates, altitudes and toxic conditions. Dozens of the finest neuropsychological and human performance researchers and scientists contributed to our technology during decades of laboratory and clinical research. Our tests are referenced in more than 500 peer-reviewed independent research studies and technical reports. They have been used by some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including NASA and the FAA.

In addition, Vista technology has a long and continuous history of research use in the Department of Defense, including sports concussion studies at West Point and TBI assessment during Ft. Bragg Paratrooper training. Our tests have the most comprehensive military research and clinical use of any cognitive assessment technology. 

Research using our technology continues in the U.S. and globally. Independent clinical research using our tests, funded by public and private sector organizations, continues under the direction of scientists studying cognitive change related to aging, injury, illness, exposure, treatment and interventions.