B – 128 A Comparison of High Performance on Remote vs. In-Person Self-Administered Neuropsychological Measures

Abstract Objective We investigated the role of setting (remote vs. in-person) on performance across four self-administered smartphone-based neuropsychological measures. Method Participants self-administered four cognitive tasks (Executive Function, Face Memory, Picture Memory, and Working Memory) on smartphones either in a laboratory setting (n = 292) or a remote setting (n = 799). In both settings, tasks were either self-administered via the Mobile Toolbox or MyCog Mobile platforms. Robust regression analyses with bootstrapped standard errors examined performance differences while controlling for test version, age, and education. Results Remote participants showed significantly higher scores on the Executive Function task (β = 0.079, p = 0.032) and Picture Memory Trial 1 (β = 0.933, p = 0.019), with marginally higher scores on Trial 2 (β = 0.849, p = 0.058), although effect sizes were negligible (all η2 ≤ 0.006). Remote samples had higher rates of perfect scores on the three memory tasks, though these differences were not statistically significant after controlling for covariates. Scores did not significantly differ based on setting for Working Memory or Face Memory. Conclusion Participants performed modestly better on certain tasks when tested remotely compared to in-person, though the effect size of this difference was minimal. Results support the performance validity of remote cognitive assessment while highlighting the importance of task design to mitigate potential artificial enhancement strategies in unsupervised settings.