The influence of acculturation on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test by Mexican Americans

Abstract

This study examined the speculation that the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) might be a relatively culture-free neuropsychological test. The relationship between level of acculturation and performance on the Spanish version of the WCST was investigated, using a sample of Mexican American adults (N=52). When the sample was divided into two groups based on level of acculturation as measured by the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans--2nd Edition, within-group contrasts demonstrated that higher levels of acculturation significantly improved performance on the WCST. The performance of this sample was compared to select Spanish norms, finding no clinically significant differences. Contrasts with English norms for the WCST yielded significant differences on a majority of the WCST measures, demonstrating that the English norms are inappropriate for use with this population. This study concludes that the WCST is not a culture-free neuropsychological test.

Construct validity and reliability of the rivermead behavioural memory test in the Turkish population

“…It is well documented that cultural differences affect cognitive testing [23][24][25]. It is common practice to adapt a standardized, commonly used test when no such test is available for a given culture [26].…”

The Multidimensional Influence of Acculturation on Digit Symbol-Coding and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Hispanics

“…Given the clear impact of education on neuropsychological functioning (e.g., (Boone et al, 2007;Coffey et al, 2005;Manly et al, 2004;Manly, Miller, et al, 1998;Mehta et al, 2004;Schwartz et al, 2004)), education was used as a covariate in group comparisons and within-Hispanic group analyses.…”

“…Use of mainstream tests with culturally diverse persons often hampers accurate assessment and can lead to over-diagnosis of impairment in these groups (Pontón et al, 1996). African-Americans, Hispanics, and other ethnic minority groups are frequently documented as performing well below that of their Caucasian counterparts on a wide range of neuropsychological tasks (Arnold, Montgomery, Castañeda, & Longoria, 1994;Boone, Victor, Wen, Razani, & Ponton, 2007;Byrd, Touradji, Tang, & Manly, 2004;Coffey, Marmol, Schock, & Adams, 2005;Demsky, Mittenberg, Quintar, Katell, & Golden, 1998;Manly, Byrd, Touradji, & Stern, 2004;Norman, Evans, Miller, & Heaton, 2000;Ogden, Cooper, & Dudley, 2003;Patton et al, 2003;Razani, Murcia, Tabares, & Wong, 2006;Schwartz et al, 2004;Whitfield et al, 2000). One approach to addressing these discrepancies, specifically for Hispanics and African-Americans, has been through the development of tailored racial and ethnic norms.…”

“…In Spanish speakers with epilepsy, acculturation was consistently associated with nonverbal neuropsychological functioning (Saez et al, 2014). In more homogeneous samples of healthy Mexicans, acculturation was related to performance on some nonverbal measures (e.g., category test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)) but not others (e.g., Trail Making Test), and on some verbal measures (e.g., verbal fluency and list learning), but not others (e.g., story learning, digit span) (Arnold et al, 1994;Artiola i Fortuny et al, 1998;Coffey et al, 2005). Although methodologies varied in language, country of origin, and neurologic etiology, they also varied in the means of evaluating acculturation.…”

“…(The term "nonverbal neuropsychological test" is operationally defined here as a measure that does not require expressive language). For example, some studies have found a significant relationship between acculturation and executive tasks, such as planning, reasoning, problem-solving, and set-shifting (Arnold et al, 1994;Coffey et al, 2005;Manly, Miller, et al, 1998;Razani et al, 2007;Saez et al, 2014;Touradji, Manly, Jacobs, & Stern, 2001), whereas other studies have found no relationship with these same executive functions (Arentoft et al, 2012;Boone et al, 2007;Kennepohl et al, 2004;Razani et al, 2006). Within the language domain, acculturation has been found to affect naming, repetition, fluency, and receptive and expressive vocabulary (Arnold & Orozco, 1989;Artiola i Fortuny et al, 1998;Manly, Jacobs, et al, 1998;Manly, Miller, et al, 1998) in some studies; however, other studies have found acculturation to be unrelated to some of the same measures (Boone et al, 2007;Kennepohl et al, 2004;Manly, Miller, et al, 1998;Touradji et al, 2001).…”