Test of Information Processing Skills (TIPS)

TIPS assesses how a person (age 6 to 90+) processes information that is either seen or heard, how much information is retained (immediate and delayed recall), how it is retained (in the sequence presented or in a scrambled order), the effects of interference on recall, semantic fluency.

The TIPS provides clinicians with quick and reliable measures of how well a person processes information (letter strings) presented visually and auditorally. Short-term, working memory and delayed recall tasks show differences between sequenced and non-sequenced retention (a hallmark of those with learning disabilities). Error analyses (Proactive Inhibition and Auditory Intrusion) document the extent to which new information is lost or its retention is inhibited. TIPS had its genesis in the Learning Efficiency Test (Webster, 1981-98), but features new items, new subtests (Delayed Recall and Word Fluency), new scoring procedures and new norms.

The test results should have particular usefulness to special education, school psychology, neuropsychology, speech-language, occupational therapy, and rehabilitation professionals. TIPS findings will be useful to educators when developing instructional and learning strategies for atypical learners. It can also be used to determine the effects of traumatic brain injury on memory and information processing, and with the adult population to assess dementia.

Administration and Scoring

The TIPS can be administered in about 30 minutes. Processing is assessed in two modalities (Visual and Auditory) and three recall conditions using strings of two to nine non-rhyming letters. Sequential and non-sequential scores are obtained; standard scores and percentile ranks are provided.

The Scoring Tutorial

(Provided in the Manual) Walks the new user through the scoring procedures and includes a Practice Exercise with an Annotated Key.

TIPS Subtests

Visual and Auditory Modality

• Letter Strings are presented and the letters are recalled immediately, then recalled after an interference task (counting), then recalled again after a longer interference task (repeating a sentence)
• Scores differentiate sequenced vs non-sequenced recall (letters recalled in the exact sequence as presented vs letters recalled out of sequence);
• Error analysis provide measures of Acoustic Intrusion and Proactive Interference effects.

Delayed Recall Subtest

• animal or fruits from the interference sentences are recalled;

Semantic Fluency Subtest

• word lists are generated orally within one-minute spans,
• word lists are written within one-minute spans.

The TIPS Protocol

Provides a detailed summary of how one processes new information presented visually or auditorily. An easy-to-use format facilitates score calculations.