Interested in learning more about the EXAMINER project or gaining access to assessment materials?

• Request the EXAMINER battery and data
• EXAMINER User Manual
• NIH Toolbox

Domain: Working Memory

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External Advisory Committee meetings:

• April 24, 2006
• November 1, 2007
• June 24, 2009
• February 9, 2011

Introduction

The primary aim of this NINDS-initiated project is to develop a test battery that reliably and validly assesses executive function for clinical investigations and clinical trials that is adaptable across a wide range of ages and disorders.

Ten nationwide sites completed the field tests:

• The Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco
  (PI: Joel Kramer, PsyD)
• Boston Children’s Hospital Department of Neurology
  (PI: Celiane Rey-Casserly, PhD)
• Case Western Reserve University Rainbow Hospital
  (PI: H. Gerry Taylor, PhD)
• The Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  (PI: Kimberly Espy, PhD)
• The Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
  (PI: Glenn Smith, PhD)

A central goal of the EXAMINER project was to develop a battery that could reliably and validly assess executive functions across a wide range of ages and disorders. Data collection targets were established with this goal in mind by the EXAMINER advisory panel, NINDS focus groups, NINDS Project Officer, and the UCSF team. Piloting and ongoing data collection were conducted utilizing the large research infrastructure at UCSF and in collaboration with nine remote sites to represent a full range of geographic regions, ethnic groups, age groups, and diagnostic disorders.

EXAMINER was developed in two general phases.

Phase One

The overall goal of this 5-year project was to develop a neuropsychological test battery to reliably and validly assess domains of executive function (often defined as the ability to engage in goal-oriented behavior) for clinical investigations and clinical trials that is adaptable across a wide range of ages and disorders. Our battery of executive tests was modeled to encompass the attributes described below:

Executive functioning is defined as the ability to engage in goal-oriented behavior. The relevance of executive functioning for problem solving, social behavior, successful adaptation, and carrying out of instrumental activities of daily living cannot be underestimated. Executive deficits can have a more devastating effect than poor memory on patients’ level of functioning.

Health care educators can request video clips of behavior from the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC) to use for professional education. These clips have been reviewed and characterized by the neurologists in our team, and the patients have consented to allow the clips to be used for educational purposes. Prior to submitting your request, please consult with the Clinical Core leader, Dr. Bruce Miller or Rosalie Gearhart at (415) 476-5570.

Subject Identity