Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41064183›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025

cpCST: a new continuous performance test for high-precision assessment of attention across the lifespan.

Anna MacKay-Brandt, Daniel Garcia-Barnett, Kai Xuan Gan, Olivia Ripley, Elaine Gazes, Michael Milham, Stan Colcombe

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Anna MacKay-BrandtBrain Aging and Mental Health Laboratory, Clinical Research, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.
Daniel Garcia-BarnettDesign Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.
Kai Xuan GanDesign Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.
Olivia RipleyDesign Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.
Elaine GazesDesign Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.
Michael MilhamDesign Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.
Stan ColcombeDesign Acquisition and Neuromodulation Laboratories, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States.

Funding

The NKI Rockland Sample II: An Open Resource of Multimodal Brain, Physiology & Behavior Data from a Community Lifespan SampleR01MH124045 · NIMH · NATHAN S. KLINE INSTITUTE FOR PSYCH RES · PI COLCOMBE, STAN J, MILHAM, MICHAEL PETER · 2021 to 2025
$3.7M
NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH124045
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Assessing sustained attention presents methodological challenges, particularly when spanning diverse populations whose baseline sensorimotor functioning may vary significantly. Methods: This study introduces the Continuous Performance Critical Stability Task (cpCST), a novel paradigm combining high-density sampling of behavior (30 Hz), individualized calibration, and fixed-difficulty assessment to measure attentional control. In a sample of 166 adults (ages 18-76), we evaluated the psychometric properties of the cpCST's instantaneous reaction time (iRT) metric derived through dynamic time warping. Results: The cpCST demonstrated exceptional reliability (bootstrap split-half r = 0.999) and predictive validity for cognitive performance (flanker and Woodcock-Johnson) and cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2submax). The task achieved high temporal efficiency, with just 2 min of data correlating at r = 0.94 with full-task performance, outperforming a standard arrow-based flanker task. The cpCST's individualized calibration effectively isolated attentional control processes from baseline sensorimotor function, eliminating age-related slowing effects typically observed in reaction time tasks. Discussion: This approach offers methodological advantages for lifespan studies, clinical populations, integration with neurophysiological measures, and computational modeling approaches while addressing limitations of existing attention assessment paradigms.

Indexed as

adaptive testingbehavioral assessmentindividual differenceslifespan developmentreaction timesensorimotor integrationsustained attentiontask reliability

Identifiers

PMID41064183
PMCPMC12502003

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.