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Bachelor's Thesis
Author of thesis: Bc. Daniel Sehnoutek
Acad. year: 2025/2026
Supervisor: prof. Aamir Saeed Malik, Ph.D.
Reviewer: Ing. Tomáš Szabó
This thesis focuses on measuring executive functions and their subdomains, which represent a key domain of human neurocognitive abilities. The main objective is to design and develop a mobile application providing a digital gamification of selected neuropsychological tests. The application includes the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test for assessing responding to feedback and cognitive flexibility, the Tower of London task for evaluating decision making and planning, and the Knox’s Cube Test for measuring working memory and inhibition. These functions are essential in everyday life, including problem solving, learning, as well as goal formation and execution. The resulting tool provides a practical and efficient way to assess executive functions and has the potential to support both research and clinical practice. It can assist clinical practitioners in identifying patterns of cognitive strengths and weaknesses, contributing to more effective assessment and diagnosis. User testing with 15 participants was used to evaluate the system. Results suggest that it provides consistent and meaningful assessment outcomes that capture differences in user performance. Feedback from participants indicated that the application is intuitive and easy to use, with clear instructions and understandable results.
Executive functions, Digitalization of psychological tests, Cognitive assessment, Mobile application, React Native, Expo.
Date of defence
15.06.2026
Result of the defence
Defended (thesis was successfully defended)
Grading
A
Process of defence
Student nejprve prezentoval výsledky, kterých dosáhl v rámci své práce. Komise se poté seznámila s hodnocením vedoucího a posudkem oponenta práce. Student následně odpověděl na otázky oponenta a na další otázky přítomných. Komise se na základě posudku oponenta, hodnocení vedoucího, přednesené prezentace a odpovědí studenta na položené otázky rozhodla práci hodnotit stupněm A.
Topics for thesis defence
Language of thesis
English
Faculty
Fakulta informačních technologií
Department
Department of Computer Systems
Study programme
Information Technology (BIT)
Composition of Committee
doc. RNDr. Milan Češka, Ph.D. (předseda) doc. Ing. Jan Kořenek, Ph.D. (místopředseda) Ing. Zdeněk Materna, Ph.D. (člen) Ing. Miloš Musil, Ph.D. (člen) Ing. Martin Hrubý, Ph.D. (člen)
Supervisor’s reportprof. Aamir Saeed Malik, Ph.D.
The student has successfully completed the development of digital assessment of human executive functions and met all the objectives specified in the project description. The method not only assesses the cognitive skill with its sub-domains but it also provides a user interface for visualization through database integration at the backend on the cloud. In addition, the student collected data from a number of subjects and provided user feedback in his thesis.
The thesis is related to the development of digital assessment method for human executive functions which is one of the six cognitive skills defined in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-V) by American Psychiatric Association (APA). The assessment is done for various sub-domains of the executive functions, namely, planning, decision making, working memory, responding to feedback, inhibition, and flexibility. The work was challenging because it not only involved the development skills but also required understanding of cognitive skills from the perspective of human psychology. The student developed games to assess the various sub-domains of the executive functions and the resulting outputs are satisfactory and all the requirements of the thesis are met.
The student reviewed many existing methods as well as the literature to understand the various sub-domains of the executive functions, namely, planning, decision making, working memory, responding to feedback, inhibition, and flexibility. Chapter 2 reviews the brain anatomy in section 2.1, the six cognitive skills in section 2.2, and provides details of the human executive functions with its sub-domains in section 2.3. Section 2.4 discusses the existing methods to measure each one of them and provides the summary of the various batteries for the assessment of executive functions. The chapter is concluded by providing details of the gaps and the corresponding way forward.
The student had a very positive attitude and started working on the topic in the winter semester of 2025. Though officially it was winter semester but he even started working on the topic from July 2025. I had weekly meetings with the student and he regularly came for the meetings. He was very active, focused on his project, worked diligently and with dedication. He came well prepared for the meetings.
The work was challenging because the development included backend database development on the cloud, frontend user interface development, and the visualization of the results. In addition, the student also proposes evaluation methods for the results (as can be seen on page 27 of the thesis). The student worked hard to complete all the development in time and he was able to submit the thesis before the deadline. He regularly consulted me before the submission of the thesis.
The student developed many games with database on the cloud serving as the backend of the games, with a frontend user app, and with detailed visualization section. In addition, statistical analysis of the results is also provided. The work can be published in a conference.
Grade proposed by supervisor: A
Reviewer’s reportIng. Tomáš Szabó
From a technical standpoint, the work is executed excellently. Completing the basic requirements, the author implemented and refined the application through multiple rounds of user testing. The application was demonstrated to me and is fully functional. The invented scoring system represents a significant improvement over the existing methodology. But the implications should be discussed with experts.
On the other hand, the final written report feels redundant in places. Notable shortcomings include a lack of figure cross-referencing, formal errors in academic English, and an absence of an extended abstract.
Given the considerable effort invested into the project and its findings, an A is an adequate grade.
Evaluation level: moderately difficult assignment
The thesis covers a broad spectrum of disciplines—medicine, neuroscience, IT, and UX—that the author had to learn, understand, and synthesise. The objective was not to invent something entirely new, but rather to apply existing techniques to aid in diagnosis. Within the scope of the thesis, the author familiarised themselves with the brain, its anatomical parts, and the functioning of executive functions. These functions can be measured using the discussed tests, for which the author designed and implemented an application complete with a database and a production pipeline.
The author adheres to the recommended structure, and the subsection hierarchy (x.x.x) is logical in most cases. The length of each chapter is adequate. The research into various test types and the selection of three specific tests to represent the broader set of cognitive functions are commendable.
However, introductory text in chapters or sections are either missing or insufficient. There is a tendency to repeat already established knowledge, which fatigues the reader. There is an insufficient number of illustrations. Extended abstract is missing.
The text is written in standard English. Contractions (e.g., "it's" instead of "it is") are used repeatedly. The author inappropriately mixes future and past tenses in the proposal chapter. In some cases, the table content passes the page margins. There are issues with indentation. The author fails to cross-reference figures and most tables within the text. There is also an incorrect application of hyphens and dashes.
The delivered software solution is well-structured, logically divided into Frontend and Backend components, and can be successfully deployed using the instructions in the root README.md file. The author detailed the structure thoroughly in the thesis and utilised modern routing practices. Network communication and unexpected errors are adequately handled. The utilised libraries are properly cited within the work. Moreover, the solution's intuitiveness and simplicity were validated through public user testing, resulting in actionable improvements to the user experience. One of the breakthroughs of the implementation is the scoring system for the tests, which tracks the difficulty of the individual task. It was developed by the author.
The implementation could be more commented as the React code tends to be longer.
The work successfully transitions existing physical tests into a digital environment compatible with both Android and iOS devices. These tests cover a broad spectrum of human cognitive skills and can serve as long-term indicators of cognitive trends, or act as a supplementary tool for specialist diagnostics. Additionally, the application could serve as a source of clinical data for future studies on cognitive functions. A fundamental contribution of this work is the author's custom scoring system, which accounts for the varying difficulty of subtasks within the tests. This is not covered by physical tests and should be discussed with professionals in the field.
Evaluation level: assignment fulfilled
The author successfully met the assignment requirements. Initially, they acquired in-depth knowledge regarding human executive functions, cognitive tests, and their gamification. Literature Review chapter detailed various techniques, tests, and their respective limitations. Ultimately, the author proposed and developed a custom mobile application to measure the brain's executive functions. Following implementation, human experiments were conducted to evaluate the application's quality, yielding questionnaire data from participants for subsequent analysis and application refinement.
Evaluation level: is within the usual extent
The length of the report meets standard expectations.
The author utilized relevant sources to grasp the established domain knowledge. Borrowed figures are properly cited, and the citation formatting is correct.
Grade proposed by reviewer: A
Responsibility: Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Odstrčilová