THE USE OF NEUROSMG:FOT APPLICATION FOR CARRYING OUT TAPPING TEST

• Published in: Vestnik Vitebskogo gosudarstvennogo medit︠s︡inkogo universiteta Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 69 - 77
• Main Authors: Usialionak, G.O., Kirpichenka, A.A., Martynova, E.V., Martsinkevich, A.F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 11.10.2021
• ISSN: 1607-9906; 2312-4156
• DOI: 10.22263/2312-4156.2021.5.69

The application of objective, high-precision and instrumental methods for diagnosing human psyche continues to be a pressing problem in modern psychiatry, narcology and other sciences. The rapid development of modern technology, including mobile phones, tablets and computers, makes it possible to port classical neuropsychological methods to mobile devices, thus simplifying the process of diagnosis and analysis of its results. The tapping test is a simple and easy-to-reproduce method of rapid diagnosing of nervous system properties by psychomotor indices. The classical method of the tapping test is the estimation of the number of marks given to the subjects on the selected piece of paper in the allotted time by the right and left hand. The given test has proved itself well, and later more sophisticated touch tracking devices appeared, including mechanical and electronic ones, which allow registering not only the number of touches, but also their duration, speed and strength. At the same time, despite the increased analytical significance, the carrying out of the automated tapping test is associated with significant difficulties, justified, first of all, by low portability, high cost, and low prevalence of the said equipment. This article describes the development of an application of E.P. Ilyin tapping test for the Android operating system. Tapping test is a classic technique for diagnosing the properties of the nervous system by psychomotor indicators, which determines the strength of the subject’s nervous system. In the course of the application work, in addition to determining the coefficient of strength of the nervous system, a number of psychomotor characteristics are additionally investigated: the coefficient of functional asymmetry in terms of the working capacity of the left and right hands, the interval between touches in milliseconds, the duration of the touch, the speed of the touch, the number of touches per second, the cumulative sum of touches per second , the density of touches during the tapping test. The functionality of the application and the testing methodology are also described.