Assessing executive functions in older adults: A comparison between the manual and the computer-based versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are a group of high-level cognitive processes that control and direct lower-level abilities in order to produce goal-directed behavior. Because these functions are a multidimensional entity, they can be assessed using different tests. One of the tests often used to evaluate EF is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The WCST is a task that involves hypothesis testing, identification of concepts, resistance to interference, switching categories, and inhibition. Two versions of the task have been used in neuropsychological testing, but little is known about their equivalence. In this study, we investigated the performance of two groups of elderly people in two versions of the task: manual (cards) and computer-based. Fifty-four healthy elderly participants took part in this study; half of the sample was assessed with the computer-based version of the WCST, while the other half performed the manual version. There were no differences between the two versions of the task in our sample of elderly participants (total number correct, perseverative errors, percent conceptual level responses, and number of categories completed). In this sense, the results provide evidence for the equivalence of both versions in the assessment of EF in healthy elderly participants.

Learning effect of computerized cognitive tests in older adults

“…Several researchers had the objective of verifying the equivalence between traditional and computerized tests. Studies by Collerton et al ( 6 ) and Wagner and Trentini ( 7 ) observed the equivalence between the two methods; whereas the studies by Feldstein et al ( 8 ) and Steinmetz et al ( 9 ) showed a difference in the results suggesting that skills to use computers might favor a better performance of the person assessed. The study done by McDonald et al ( 10 ) showed a yet greater difference in the elderly population.…”

Patient perspectives of the experience of a computerized cognitive assessment in a clinical setting

“…Computerized adaptations of existing tests may not have the same psychometric properties as pencil‐and‐paper versions, and thus, require their own validation studies. In addition, few studies have found substantive evidence to support the equivalence between the experience of computer and noncomputer methods of test administration from the patient perspective [2,7]. Finally, computerized assessments raise issues related to the impersonal nature of testing, in particular at a time when end‐users may feel vulnerable.…”

Executive Dysfunction in Non-Psychotic Unipolar Depressed Patients: Assessement by the Wisconsin (Berg) Card Sorting Test

“…Despite this fact, the main manuals of neuropsychology caution against using WCST results isolatedly as a marker of damage in the frontal lobe, hence recommending convergent measures of assessment (Lezak, Howieson, & Loring, 2004;Strauss, Sherman, & Spreen, 2006). specific population, such as elderly (Beckert, Irigaray, & Trentini, 2012;Wagner & Trentini, 2009) and murderers (Del Pino & Werlang, 2008).…”