Client:  
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, with funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

The aim of this project was to build a web application that will help researchers learn about changes in thinking skills, decision making and health behaviour during adulthood.  We built an application that can be installed on both Android and Apple tablets and phones from a website hosted at the university (see Online Wisdom Lab). The application includes 10 different surveys on lifestyle, personality and experiences and 12 games on thinking style, making decisions and thinking about people. Each test records data on a variety of measures, some using adaptive algorithms to adjust test parameters based on the participant’s performance.  Other tests require tight control over the presentation of stimuli on the screen.  Feedback on performance is provided within the application in various ways, including graphical representations of survey results and a scoreboard of each participant’s scores on completed tests.  The tests can be run while off-line, and the data are stored locally on the tablet or phone until the device is connected to the Internet.

Key Application Features:

• A cross-platform and installable web application that is fully responsive and adapts to both smartphones and tablets.
• The application runs in both on-line and off-line modes.
• Tests that adapt based on the participant’s performance.
• Performance is optimised to enable rapid presentation of stimuli.
• Maximises the capabilities of touch-screens to track finger movements on the screen and to present movement-specific feedback to the participants.
• An administrative website that allows the researchers to upload task parameters and download results.