Six-test repeated-measures cognitive battery (UFOV, SOPT, IT, TSP, SART, TMT)

Design · All designs
Evidence · 6 claims (5 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description

A battery of six widely used psychometric tests administered in a fixed order (UFOV, SOPT, IT, TSP, SART, TMT) at four time-points, chosen because each measures a process previously shown to be alcohol-sensitive, each is well-known and easily accessible, and each is "suitable for repeated measures designs". The battery could be completed in 40-50 minutes, minimizing variability from rising and falling BACs. TMT forms were symmetrically transformed to remove learning effects across presentations.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Tasks must be free of strategies producing abrupt outcome changes, or alterable to achieve this, for repeated administration

Constraints

• The battery requires approximately 40-50 minutes per test-run, which the authors note constrains testing within a stable BAC window

Target Learners

• adults aged 18-45 years

Learning Goals

• measuring dose-related changes across processing speed, working memory, strategic optimization, vigilance, response inhibition, cognitive flexibility and psychomotor function

Claims

• Acute alcohol produces a significant main effect on performance on most cognitive tasks, with partial eta-squared effect sizes from 0.07 to 0.37, but not on TSP or SART-OM [+W]
• Baseline intercorrelations among the six tests were small, suggesting the battery covered relatively independent cognitive processes [+W]
• Only SOPT, IT and SART-CO showed significant impairment at the lowest blood alcohol concentration of 0.048%, with large effect sizes (d = 0.76, 0.65 and 1.06) [+W]
• TSP (complex spatial problem solving) and SART-OM (vigilance for frequent events) showed no significant alcohol effects, an outcome the authors report as unexpected [~W]
• The authors conclude Inspection Time has strong potential as a single marker test sensitive to the time course of alcohol intoxication [+W]
• SART-CO errors rose sharply at BAC 0.048% but changed little thereafter across the 0.048% to 0.10% range, with a suspected ceiling effect [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Dry MJ, Burns NR, Nettelbeck T, Farquharson AL, White JM (2012) Dose-Related Effects of Alcohol on Cognitive Functioning. PLoS ONE 7(11): e50977. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050977

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	six-test-repeated-measures-cognitive-battery
title	Six-test repeated-measures cognitive battery (UFOV, SOPT, IT, TSP, SART, TMT)
description	A battery of six widely used psychometric tests administered in a fixed order (UFOV, SOPT, IT, TSP, SART, TMT) at four time-points, chosen because each measures a process previously shown to be alcohol-sensitive, each...
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-17
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — dry-mj-2012

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