International Shopping List Task (ISLT)

Background

The International Shopping List Task (ISLT) is a specific instance of a verbal List Learning Task specifically developed to assess verbal list learning and memory in people from different language and cultural backgrounds. A disadvantage of many of the conventional verbal list learning tasks such as the RAVLT is that they were standardized using words meaningful in Western European and/or North American cultures. The ISLT circumvents this issue by using lists of items that participants could obtain from their local shops. Otherwise, the ISLT runs the same basic list learning procedure including encoding, retention, and retrieval phases as other verbal list learning tasks.

The ISLT was originally developed by Paul Maruff and colleagues in 2009 as part of Cogstate, a technology company specializing in digital cognitive assessments. It has since become a highly successful standardized memory assessment tool used in clinical and international pharmaceutical research worldwide.

The setup of the Millisecond ISLT implementation allows test administrators/researchers to easily edit the shopping list items as well as the verbal instructions provided to participants. Millisecond's ISLT is intended for one-on-one testing. It is not suitable for unsupervised online testing projects. It requires a test administrator to read the items to their participants but presents a convenient recall screen to collect participants responses.

Task Procedure

At the beginning of a testing session with the Millisecond ISLT, the test administrator is instructed to ensure that the testing screen is not visible to the participant. Then, the instructions to be read to the participant appear on screen for the test administrator to read. Each of the 12 words are presented visually on screen, one-by-one, at a rate of 2seconds per word. The test administrator should read each word to the participant as they are flashed onto the screen. The order of the items is initially randomized but stays fixed for each of the three learning rounds. After the last word presented, participants are asked to recall as many of the words as they can. The script provides the test administrator with a recall screen that lists each of the 12 items in alphabetical order. Each time the participant names a specific item, the test administrator needs to press the button associated with the recalled items (even if it was already recalled). Additional buttons allow the test administrator to cancel previous input or collect falsely recalled words ('intruders').

After the immediate learning/retrieval phase, an optional delay can be run followed by a delayed recall test.

What it Measures

The International Shopping List Task (ISLT) is a verbal memory assessment too sensitive to patients' cultural backgrounds

Psychological domains

• Episodic Memory: Type of declarative long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific event instances or episodes
• Short-term Memory: Temporary storage of information (limited)
• Acquisition: The ability to absorb new information over repeated exposures
• Long-term Memory: Long-term storage of information
• Encoding: Ability to organize and store information in long-term memory
• Retrieval: Ability to retrieve information from long-term memory
• Retention: Ability to hold on information in long-term memory

Main Performance Metrics

• Immediate/Delayed Recall Scores: The sum of words correctly recalled during the immediate recall trials and the delayed recall trial
• Weighted Immediate/Delayed Recall Score: The sum of words correctly recalled during the immediate recall trials, weighted by their list position
• Number of Intrusions: Number of items not on the original shopping list
• Number of Repetitions: Number of repeated items

Psychiatric Conditions

List Learning tasks are typically used in research and in clinics. List Learning performance is generally impaired in the following patient groups

• Alzheimer Disease (AD)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Depression
• Schizophrenia

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit International Shopping List Task (ISLT).

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Thompson, T.A.C., Wilson, P.H., Snyder, P.J., Pietrzak, R.H., David Darby, D., Maruff, P. & Herman Buschke, H. (2011). Sensitivity and Test–Retest Reliability of the International Shopping List Test in Assessing Verbal Learning and Memory in Mild Alzheimer’s Disease. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 26, 412–424.

Rahimi-Golkhandan, S., Maruff, P., Darby, D., & Wilson, P. (January 01, 2012). Barriers to repeated assessment of verbal learning and memory: a comparison of international shopping list task and rey auditory verbal learning test on build-up of proactive interference. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology : the Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists, 27, 7, 790-5.

Hammers, D. B., Jung, M., Pressler, S. J., Sullivan, B. J., Koelling, T., & Giordani, B. (January 01, 2013). Clinical utility of auditory memory testing in a heart failure population. The Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 28, 5.)

Davis, S. R., Jane, F., Robinson, P. J., Davison, S. L., Worsley, R., Maruff, P., & Bell, R. J. (January 01, 2014). Transdermal testosterone improves verbal learning and memory in postmenopausal women not on oestrogen therapy. Clinical Endocrinology, 81, 4, 621-8.