Neuropsychological test
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Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. They usually involve the systematic administration of clearly defined procedures in a formal environment. Neuropsychological tests are typically administered to a single person working with an examiner in a quiet office environment, free from distractions. As such, it can be argued that neuropsychological tests at times offer an estimate of a person's peak level of cognitive performance. Neuropsychological tests are a core component of the process of conducting neuropsychological assessment.
Most neuropsychological tests in current use are based on traditional psychometric theory. In this model, a person's raw score on a test is compared to a large general population normative sample, that should ideally be drawn from a comparable population to the person being examined. Normative studies frequently provide data stratified by age, level of education, and/or ethnicity, where such factors have been shown by research to affect performance on a particular test. This allows for a person's performance to be compared to a suitable control group, and thus provide a fair assessment of their current cognitive functioning.
One popular test battery is the Halstead-Reitan Test Battery. The following list includes tests from it, and other commonly-used tests.
List of neuropsychological tests
- Memory Assessment Scales (MAS)
- California Verbal Learning Test
- Controlled word association task (COWAT or FAS)
- Continuous Performance Task (CPT)
- Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)
- Hayling and Brixton tests
- Iowa gambling task
- Lexical decision task
- MCI Screen
- Mini mental state examination (MMSE)
- Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)
- Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure
- Stanford-Binet IQ test
- Stroop task
- Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA®)
- Tower of London Test
- Trail-Making Test (TMT) or Trails A & B
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS IQ test)
- Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)
- Wisconsin card sorting task (WCST)