Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics, or ANAM, is a library of computer-based assessments of cognitive domains including attention, concentration, reaction time, memory, processing speed, and decision-making. ANAM has been administered over a million times in a variety of applications and settings. ANAM provides clinicians and researchers with data to evaluate an individual’s neurocognitive

Neurocognitive

Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain substrate layers of neurological matrix at the cellular molecular level...

 status at a point-in-time and changes in cognitive status over time. Initially developed, tested and implemented in the Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

, the U.S. Army Technology Transfer program exclusively licensed the technology to Vista LifeSciences (www.vistalifesciences.com). ANAM’s current software version, Version 4, has built upon information from research and development from previous versions of ANAM developed by the Department of Defense, and has been further refined into a reliable, repeatable tool that includes:

• select batteries of cognitive assessments from the ANAM library,

• a data extraction and presentation tool for custom analysis and data management,

• a performance report tool for reporting on individual neurocognitive performance with comparisons to previous assessment sessions and relevant reference groups.

Assessment Tests and Tools

ANAM4 includes 22 assessment tests and tools that are highly sensitive to cognitive change in:

• Attention

• Concentration

• Reaction time

• Memory

• Processing speed

• Decision-making

• Executive function

ANAM assessment batteries have been used in research and clinical use associated with injury (e.g., trauma, blast) illness (e.g., degenerative disease), exposure (e.g., toxin), risk factors (e.g., heat/cold, sleep loss, fatigue), and intervention (e.g., medication, rehabilitation).
ANAM assessment tests and tools include:

• Symptoms Scale

• 2-Choice Reaction Time

• Code Substitution (Learning, Immediate, and Delayed)

• Effort Measure

• Go/No-Go (Executive Function)

• Logical Relations- Symbolic

• Manikin

• Matching Grids

• Matching to Sample

• Mathematical Processing

• Memory Search

• Mood Scale II –Revised

• Procedural Reaction Time

• Pursuit Tracking

• Running Memory- Continuous Performance Task

• Simple Reaction Time

• Sleepiness Scale

• Spatial Processing – Sequential and Simultaneous

• Stroop

• Switching

• Finger Tapping

• Tower Puzzle

• Demographics Collection Module

Uses for ANAM

Currently, ANAM assessments are being used by researchers and clinicians for cognitive research, assessment, and management in a broad range of military, athlete fitness, clinical, and drug research applications. Assessments can be built into standardized or customized batteries. Scientists working in varied fields of healthcare and human factors

Human factors

Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...

 research have identified ANAM4 batteries most useful in their topic-specific research.
ANAM is in more than 300 peer-reviewed independent research studies, and has been used by some of the world’s most prestigious research institutions such as NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 and the Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 (FAA). ANAM has a long and continuous history of research in the Department of Defense, including sports concussion studies at West Point and Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...

(TBI) assessment during Ft. Bragg Paratrooper training. Through these and other programs, nearly one million ANAM assessments have been collected. ANAM has the most comprehensive military research and clinical application of any cognitive assessment technology.
The Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, published a special edition of its journal focused exclusively on ANAM in 2007.