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Background: Neuropsychological assessment traditionally requires physical meetings where patients meet psychologists on site at a clinic. This procedure may pose logistical challenges, for instance when patients are less mobile, or in sparsely populated areas where the distance to healthcare facilities may be considerable. Digital tests for remotely assessing cognitive functions may provide invaluable tools in these situations but need to be validated.

Objective: We aim to investigate to what degree the tests in a remote digital neuropsychological test-battery (Mindmore Remote) correspond to traditional neuropsychological tests.

Method: Fifty-two healthy participants between ages 19 and 89 years underwent both traditional neuropsychological testing procedures on site and remote testing on a computer at home. To avoid sequence effects, the order of testing (traditional / digital) was randomized. The tests examined (1) processing speed, (2) visual-scanning and attention, (3) visual short-term and working memory, (4) verbal learning, (5) episodic memory, (6) verbal production, (7) inhibition, and (8) cognitive flexibility. Associations between traditional and digital versions were assessed by correlations.

Results: Significant positive correlations were found for all tests. The strength of the relationship between the remote and traditional tests ranged from r = .36 to r = .83 in the following order: visual working memory (r = .36), visual short-term memory (r = .40), visual scanning (r = .45), visuomotor speed (r = .59), inhibition (r = .62), visual attention and processing speed (r = .65), cognitive flexibility (r = .71), verbal learning (r = .71), verbal production (r = .78) and episodic memory (r = .81-.83).

Conclusion: Several of the remote digital tests have the potential to be used in neuropsychological assessment. However, relatively weak relationships between tests that requires motor responses warrants further investigations before clinical implementation.