Neuropsychological test

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.

Additional recommended knowledge

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

Safe Weighing Range Ensures Accurate Results

How to ensure accurate weighing results every day?

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

• 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
• Memory Assessment Scales (MAS)
• Mini mental state examination (MMSE)
• Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB)
• 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)

See also

• Clinical neuropsychology
• Neurocognitive
• Neuroimaging
• Psychological testing