Computerized cognitive testing norms in active-duty military personnel: Potential for contamination by psychologically unhealthy individuals.

Normative reference data used for clinical interpretation of neuropsychological testing results are only valid to the extent that the sample they are based on is composed of "normal" individuals. Accordingly, efforts are made to exclude individuals with histories and/or diagnoses that might bias test performance. In this report, we focus on these features in active-duty military personnel because published data on computerized neurocognitive testing norms for this population have not explicitly considered the consequences of neurobehavioral disorders (e.g., PTSD, depression), which are prevalent in this population and known to affect performance on some cognitive assessments. We administered DANA, a mobile, neurocognitive assessment tool, to a large sample of active-duty military personnel and found that scores on self-administered psychological assessments negatively impacted a number of neurocognitive tests. These results suggest that neurobehavioral disorders that are relatively common in this population should be controlled for when establishing normative datasets for neurocognitive outcomes.