Mental Attributes Profiling System: Difference between revisions

       |acronym=MAPS             

       |logo=MAPS Blue Logo.jpg

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       |partners=[[Cyprus Dyslexia Association]]

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The '''Mental Attributes Profiling System''' (MAPS) is a language independent screening test, i.e., relies on cognitive rather than language-based measures, capable of predicting children at risk (possible dyslexics) and equipping teachers with a profile of their mental abilities so as to design personalized remediation programs.

        

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The MAPS (Mental Attributes Profiling System) cognitive test is a battery of more than 12 validated computer-based video-game-like tests that assess the learning abilities of pre-elementary and elementary age school children. The non-verbal group consists of language-independent tests. Snap shots of three tests are shown in the figures below.  

==Categorization==

# An animal (or fish) to be placed in one of three possible environments: sea, sky, or open fields;

# Objects usually found in a home environment, to be “placed” in one of three rooms of a house (office, kitchen, or bathroom), i.e., as in the example snapshot shown in the illustration. The software measured the time to response and whether the move was correct or false. For this study we used only the average response time (i.e., the cumulative response time of each test divided by 5: (ctt1+ctt2+...ctt5)/5 in Table 1), as it has been shown previously to have a higher correlation than the Correct/False values.

==Orientation: “Left-Right Game” Lateral awareness Test==

[[File:Laterization.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1|alt=Logo.|Ability to orientate: Left/Right]]

This test provides two types of measures. One, it evaluates the child’s ability to make left-right discriminations on his own body. During the first part, the test shows a child “sitting” in the same orientation as the subject (i.e., the subject sees on the screen the back of the child) in front of two objects, one on his/her upper left and the other on his/her upper right visual field. The computer asks the subject to “grab” the left or right object using his/her left or right hand. What is measured is (1) the time taken to select an arm (by clicking at the shoulder), and (2) whether the selected arm was correct or wrong. The same procedure is repeated during the second part of the test, in which the orientation of the child on the screen is reversed, i.e., the child on the screen is facing the subject. The second type of measures are derived from Piaget’s (19) tests to evaluate awareness of right-left relations outside our own body, i.e., in the environment. To evaluate this ability, the test measures (1) the time taken by the subject to decide which object to “grab” and (2) the number of correct/wrong decisions.  

==Navigation==

The Navigation test consists of an 8x8 matrix of small pieces of cheese and a mouse. The computer instructs the subject to move the mouse in one of eight possible directions to “eat” the corresponding piece of cheese: Up, Right-up, Right, Right-Down, Down, Left-down, Left, and Left-up. The instructions are given both visually (with the aid of a small arrow) and/or orally. For the tests reported here the instructions were given only orally. The software measured the total number of correct responses and the total number of correct responses divided by total number of trials.

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==Sequencing==

[[File:Sequencg2.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|alt=Logo.|Sequencing of 'broken' events]]

This test was inspired by the “connect the puzzle” games. Different objects or animals appear in two-, three-, four-, or five pieces and the subject is requested to “drag” the pieces and place them in the right order to complete the picture. The second part of the test presents pictures, which represent different stages of a temporal process. The subject is expected to put them in the correct chronological order. The test measured the total time required to complete each sub-section of the test (the test was comprised of six different types of exercises divided by six (i.e., (stt1+stt2+...stt6)/6 in Tabl.1).

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==Auditory memory==

* AMTc: Total number of correct responses

* AMTcw: weighted number of correct digits (i.e., all correctly types digits even when the sequence was wrong) were used as measures of auditory digit span.

==Auditory discrimination test==

# γ-γγ/γκ

# ξ-κς.  

In additional sets, the test also evaluates the ability of the child to differentiate between the same letter combinations when they are embedded in non-sense words. The test kept record of the time and correctness of each instance. In Tabl.1 adtt(1), adtt(2),...adtt(n) are used to denote the time taken to respond to each card presented.

==Visual discrimination==

Modeled using the popular “Find the differences” game, this test presents three pictures very similar to one another and one that must be matched. The exercise is repeated four times with four different pictures. The total number of correct responses is used as an index of visual discrimination.  

* Haddad, C. and Laouris, Y. (2011). The ability of children with mild learning disabilities to encode emotions through facial expressions. In Towards Autonomous, adaptive and context-aware multimodal interfaces: Theoretical and Practical Issues. A. Esposito, Esposito, A.M., Martone, R., Müller, V.C., Scarpetta, G  (Eds.): COST 2102 Int. Training School 2010, Lecture Notes In Artificial Intelligence Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 6456, 387-402.

* Laouris, Y., Makris, P., Papadopoulos, T. (2011). Validation of MAPS in 16 schools: Computer-based battery of 8 mental attributes tests (in preparation; draft available).

==MAPS presented in International Conferences==

* Loredana Mihalca, L., Laouris, Y., Miclea, M. (2007). Children’s school readiness: predicting school competence in first grade. Proc. EARLI Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 26-31 Aug. 2007.  

* Laouris, Y., & Makris, P. (2007). An interactive ICT demonstration of MAPS (Mental Attributes Profiling System). Proc. EARLI Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 26-31 Aug. 2007.

# [[Chris Singletton]], University of Hull

# [[Costas Apostolides]], [[Cyprus Dyslexia Association]]

# [[Petroula Petrou]]

# [[Mira Ioannou]]

# [[Maria Mavromichali]]

[[Category:Future Worlds Center Projects]]