Functional Simulated Technology Task

The Functional Simulated Technology Tasks (FSTT) assess executive function by having a person carry out a realistic online task — paying a bill or shopping — on a purpose-built simulated website. The point is that these are novel and complex enough to expose the planning, sequencing, and problem-solving that a familiar routine would hide.

Scoring rates four areas: outcome (did the task get done), quality, process, and independence, with a record of how much assistance was needed. Because the environment is simulated rather than live, a person can attempt a real-world task without real financial consequences, which is what makes it usable as an assessment.

Licensing Notes: Free at otiadl.net, with instructions and score sheets available for each activity. Scoring follows the PASS format (Rogers & Holm), so the PASS Guidelines are needed for scoring details and are a separate purchase.

Learn More: The evidence base is early. One published construct validity study (Cardell, Swain & Burnett, 2013) found the online bill-pay version distinguished people with and without cognitive impairment on the MoCA, with good to excellent correlations across all four score areas. Two activities are currently available — online shopping and online bill pay — with a movie ticket task listed as coming.