Minimal Gender Differences on the CNS Vital Signs Computerized Neurocognitive Battery

Abstract

Normative test scores often are corrected for demographic variables that can have an impact on neurocognitive abilities (e.g., gender, age, education, and ethnicity). The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are gender differences on the CNS Vital Signs computerized neurocognitive test battery. Participants, selected from a large normative database, were 100 healthy adults aged 18 to 68 years old (M(age) = 35.8 years, SD = 13.6) with 15.5 years of education (SD = 2.2). Men (n = 50) and women (n = 50) were individually and precisely matched on age, education, ethnicity, computer use, occupation, and handedness. This battery of seven tests yields 23 test scores, 5 domain scores (Memory, Psychomotor Speed, Reaction Time, Complex Attention, and Cognitive Flexibility), and a total score. Men had significantly better scores than did women on the Finger-Tapping Test for the right hand (p = .006, Cohen's d = 0.57). No other scores were significantly different, although there were small-medium effect sizes in favor of women on Symbol-Digit Coding (d = .39) and Verbal Memory (d = .37). The trends toward gender differences in word-list recognition memory and processing speed are consistent with the literature, but because they were nonsignificant and the effect sizes were modest, the clinician likely does not need to factor this into test interpretation.

Analyzing Factors Affecting Cognitive Function in the Elderly using Computerized Neurocognitive Tests

“…In this study, there was no significant gender difference in cognitive function and the response rate. Although this result is consistent with the previous research where cognitive function was measured using CNSVS as in this study [23] and with the preceding study which reported that assessment of the cognitive function of the elderly living at home in the community by MMSE showed no statistically significant gender differences with 24.41±3.62 points for men and 23.64±4.08 for women (p =.171) [5], it is in contrast to results of previous studies that reported that females showed lower cognitive functions than males [3][4][5]. There are gender differences in the mental health of the elderly, and dementia and depression are common risk factors especially for the elderly women [8].…”

Inflammatory markers are associated with decreased psychomotor speed in patients with major depressive disorder

“…Men were also significantly faster than women on the SRT task. Sex differences have been shown previously in motor tasks, with men showing faster performance on the FTT (Heaton, 2004; Iverson et al, 2014). Unfortunately, due to the small number of women and especially men in our sample, it is difficult to interpret differential relationships between inflammatory markers and psychomotor performance as a function of sex.…”

Evaluation of Normative Data of a Widely Used Computerized Neuropsychological Battery: Applicability and Effects of Sociodemographic Variables in a Dutch Sample

“…As would be expected, sex did not play a large role, except for the verbal memory domain favoring women, and the psychomotor speed domain favoring men. These findings are consistent with literature on sex differences in performance on other (computerized) tests (Gur et al, 2001;Iverson et al, 2014;Lezak, Howieson, Loring, Hannay, & Fischer, 2004;Silverstein et al, 2007), and reported by Gualtieri (n.d.) who examined sex differences in a subset of participants who completed the CNS VS battery during its standardization study.…”