The Neuropsychological Assessment of Cognitive Deficits Considering Measures of Performance Variability

Tanner-Eggen, Céline; Balzer, Christian; Perrig, Walter J.; Gutbrod, Klemens (2015). The Neuropsychological Assessment of Cognitive Deficits Considering Measures of Performance Variability. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 30(3), pp. 217-227. Oxford University Press 10.1093/arclin/acv008

Preview

Text acv008.pdf - Published Version Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (229kB) | Preview

Neuropsychologists often face interpretational difficulties when assessing cognitive deficits, particularly in cases of unclear cerebral etiology. How can we be sure whether a single test score below the population average is indicative of a pathological brain condition or normal? In the past few years, the topic of intra-individual performance variability has gained great interest. On the basis of a large normative sample, two measures of performance variability and their importance for neuropsychological interpretation will be presented in this paper: the number of low scores and the level of dispersion. We conclude that low scores are common in healthy individuals. On the other hand, the level of dispersion is relatively small. Here, base rate information about abnormally low scores and abnormally high dispersion across cognitive abilities are provided to improve the awareness of normal variability and to serve clinicians as additional interpretive measures in the diagnostic process.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

167 since deposited on 05 Aug 2015
43 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item