National Adult Reading Test

Last updated
National Adult Reading Test
Purposeestimating premorbid intelligence

The National Adult Reading Test (NART) is a widely accepted and commonly used method in clinical settings for estimating premorbid intelligence levels of (initially) English-speaking patients with dementia in neuropsychological research and practice. [1] Such tests are called hold tests as these abilities are thought to be spared, or "held" following neurological injury or decline. The NART was developed by Hazel Nelson in the 1980s in Britain and published in 1982. [2] The test comprises 50 written words in British English which all have irregular spellings (e.g. "aisle"), so as to test the participant's vocabulary rather than their ability to apply regular pronunciation rules. The manual includes equations for converting NART scores to predicted IQ scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.

Contents

The NART is widely used in research settings because a measure of premorbid intelligence is rarely available. However, the Lothian Birth Cohort Study has such data. Researchers from this study demonstrated that the correlation between NART scores and age 11 IQ was moderately high at 0.60. This suggests that the NART can be used as a hold test, as a proxy for premorbid intelligence. [1] Other work has suggested that NART offers greater predictive validity than using demographic data alone, or use of the best performing IQ sub-test score. [3]

Revisions

The British NART was re-standardized in 1991 to enable calculation of predicted IQ on the newer WAIS-R [4] and again in 2016 to provide premorbid estimates on the most recent WAIS-IV. [5] There are two versions of the NART devised for use in North America; both feature a modified word list and re-standardization of predicted IQ. The NART-R, published in 1989, was designed for use in the United States and Canada. [6] [7] NART-R comprises an extended list of 61 words chosen to have irregular pronunciations in North American English. The AMNART was developed independently in 1987 but unpublished until 1991 and comprises 50 words selected to be familiar to speakers of American English (for example gaoled and drachm were removed). [8] There is also a New Zealand version called NZART, an Australian version called AUSNART, a Swedish version called NART-SWE, a Polish version called PART, a Korean version called KART, a French version called fNART, a Japanese version called JART, and a Danish called DART. Norwegian and Dutch versions have also been proposed. A number of abbreviated versions have also been proposed [9] [10] [11] [12] , along with a variant that presents test words in semantic and syntactic context [13] . The validity prediction limits of many of the international and abbreviated variants have been evaluated, indicating good performance for a broad range of IQ scores but with a reduced capability to accurately assess patients of very high or very low premorbid ability [14] [15] .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flynn effect</span> 20th-century rise in intelligence test scores

The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century, named after researcher James Flynn (1934–2020). When intelligence quotient (IQ) tests are initially standardized using a sample of test-takers, by convention the average of the test results is set to 100 and their standard deviation is set to 15 or 16 IQ points. When IQ tests are revised, they are again standardized using a new sample of test-takers, usually born more recently than the first; the average result is set to 100. When the new test subjects take the older tests, in almost every case their average scores are significantly above 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligence quotient</span> Score from a test designed to assess intelligence

An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardised tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term Intelligenzquotient, his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests at University of Breslau he advocated in a 1912 book. Many of the proponents of intelligence tests and IQ scores were eugenicists who used pseudoscience to push now-debunked views of racial hierarchy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuropsychological test</span> Assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors and brain damage

Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks that are used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. Tests are used for research into brain function and in a clinical setting for the diagnosis of deficits. 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, along with personal, interpersonal and contextual factors.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. For children between the ages of 6 and 16, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is commonly used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisconsin Card Sorting Test</span> Neuropsychological test

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a neuropsychological test of set-shifting, which is the capability to show flexibility when exposed to changes in reinforcement. The WCST was written by David A. Grant and Esta A. Berg. The Professional Manual for the WCST was written by Robert K. Heaton, Gordon J. Chelune, Jack L. Talley, Gary G. Kay, and Glenn Curtiss.

Cognitive tests are assessments of the cognitive capabilities of humans and other animals. Tests administered to humans include various forms of IQ tests; those administered to animals include the mirror test and the T maze test. Such testing is used in psychology and psychometrics, as well as other fields studying human and animal intelligence.

Edith F. Kaplan was an American psychologist. She was a pioneer of neuropsychological tests and did most of her work at the Boston VA Hospital. Kaplan is known for her promotion of clinical neuropsychology as a specialty area in psychology. She examined brain-behavioral relationships in aphasia, apraxia, developmental issues in clinical neuropsychology, as well as normal and abnormal aging. Kaplan helped develop a new method of assessing brain function with neuropsychological assessment, called "The Boston Process Approach."

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) is a clinical instrument for assessing cognitive development. Its construction incorporates several recent developments in both psychological theory and statistical methodology. The test was developed by Alan S. Kaufman and Nadeen L. Kaufman in 1983 and revised in 2004. The test has been translated and adopted for many countries, such as the Japanese version of the K-ABC by the Japanese psychologists Tatsuya Matsubara, Kazuhiro Fujita, Hisao Maekawa, and Toshinori Ishikuma.

The Hayling and Brixton tests are neuropsychological tests of executive function created by psychologists Paul W. Burgess and Tim Shallice. It is composed of two tests, the Hayling Sentence Completion Test and the Brixton Spatial Awareness Test.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IQ classification</span> Categorisation of peoples intelligence based on IQ

IQ classification is the practice of categorizing human intelligence, as measured by intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, into categories such as "superior" and "average".

Ammons Quick Test (QT) is an intelligence test that was designed in 1962 by Robert B. Ammons and his wife Carol H. Ammons. This test has been used for many years to help assess premorbid intelligence. It is a passive response picture-vocabulary test.

A verbal fluency test is a kind of psychological test in which a participant is asked to produce as many words as possible from a category in a given time. This category can be semantic, including objects such as animals or fruits, or phonemic, including words beginning with a specified letter, such as p, for example. The semantic fluency test is sometimes described as the category fluency test or simply as "freelisting", while letter fluency is also referred to as phonemic test fluency. The Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) is the most employed phonemic variant. Although the most common performance measure is the total number of words, other analyses such as number of repetitions, number and length of clusters of words from the same semantic or phonemic subcategory, or number of switches to other categories can be carried out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trail Making Test</span> Neuropsychological test

The Trail Making Test is a neuropsychological test of visual attention and task switching. It has two parts, in which the subject is instructed to connect a set of 25 dots as quickly as possible while maintaining accuracy. The test can provide information about visual search speed, scanning, speed of processing, mental flexibility, and executive functioning. It is sensitive to cognitive impairment associated with dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

Cognitive epidemiology is a field of research that examines the associations between intelligence test scores and health, more specifically morbidity and mortality. Typically, test scores are obtained at an early age, and compared to later morbidity and mortality. In addition to exploring and establishing these associations, cognitive epidemiology seeks to understand causal relationships between intelligence and health outcomes. Researchers in the field argue that intelligence measured at an early age is an important predictor of later health and mortality differences.

The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is a neuropsychological test designed to measure different memory functions in a person. Anyone ages 16 to 90 is eligible to take this test. The current version is the fourth edition (WMS-IV) which was published in 2009 and which was designed to be used with the WAIS-IV. A person's performance is reported as five Index Scores: Auditory Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Working Memory, Immediate Memory, and Delayed Memory. The WMS-IV also incorporates an optional cognitive exam that helps to assess global cognitive functioning in people with suspected memory deficits or those who have been diagnosed with a various neural, psychiatric and/or developmental disorders. This may include conditions such as dementias or mild learning difficulties.

The Thurstone Word Fluency Test, also known as the Chicago Word Fluency Test (CWFT), was developed by Louis Thurstone in 1938. This test became the first word fluency psychometrically measured test available to patients with brain damage. The test is a used to measure an individual's symbolic verbal fluency. The test asks the subject to write as many words as possible beginning with the letter 'S' within a 5-minute limit, then as many words as possible beginning with letter 'C' within 4 minute limit. The total number of 'S' and 'C' words produced, minus the number of rule-breaking and perseverative responses, yield the patients' measure of verbal fluency.

Hold tests are neuropsychological tests which measure abilities which are thought to be largely resistant to cognitive decline following neurological damage. As a result, these tests are widely used for estimating premorbid intelligence in conditions such as dementia, traumatic brain injury, and stroke.

The Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR) is a neuropsychological assessment tool used to provide a measure of premorbid intelligence, the degree of Intellectual function prior to the onset of illness or disease.


The Boston Process Approach is a neurological assessment tool developed by Edith Kaplan and her colleagues, Harold Goodglass, Nelson Butters, Laird Cermak, and Norman Geschwind at the Boston Veterans Medical Center. The main purpose of the Boston Process Approach is to assess brain damage as well as cognitive impairments in patients through a series of tests that are related to memory, attention, intelligence, and other aspects of information processing. This approach is one of the more flexible and qualitative neurological assessments because it emphasizes how a patient performs a task instead of whether they succeeded or failed at it.

Alice M. Theadom is an English-born New Zealand psychologist and academic. As of 2020 she is a full professor and Rutherford Discovery Fellow at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

References

  1. 1 2 McGurn, B; Starr, JM; Topfer, JA; Pattie, A; Whiteman, MC; Lemmon, HA; Whalley, LJ; Deary, IJ (2004). "Pronunciation of irregular words is preserved in dementia, validating premorbid IQ estimation". Neurology. 62 (7): 1184–1186. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000103169.80910.8b. PMID   15079021. S2CID   18106116.
  2. ↑ Nelson, Hazel E. (1982). The National Adult Reading Test (NART): test manual. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.
  3. ↑ Bright, Peter; van der Linde, Ian (2020-01-02). "Comparison of methods for estimating premorbid intelligence". Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 30 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1080/09602011.2018.1445650. ISSN   0960-2011. PMID   29526134.
  4. ↑ Nelson, Hazel E. & Willison, Jonathan (1991). The National Adult Reading Test (NART). Windsor: NFER-Nelson.
  5. ↑ Bright, Peter; Hale, Emily; Gooch, Vikki Jayne; Myhill, Thomas; van der Linde, Ian (2018). "The National Adult Reading Test: restandardisation against the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth edition". Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 28 (6): 1019–1027. doi: 10.1080/09602011.2016.1231121 . ISSN   0960-2011. PMID   27624393.
  6. ↑ Blair, Jennifer R. & Spreen, Otfried (1989). "Predicting Premorbid IQ: A Revision of the National Adult Reading Test". The Clinical Neuropsychologist. 3 (2): 129–136. doi:10.1080/13854048908403285.
  7. ↑ Spreen, O & Strauss, E. (1998). A compendium of neuropsychological tests: Administration, norms and commentary. Oxford University Press.
  8. ↑ Grober, Ellen & Sliwinski, Martin (1991). "Development and Validation of a Model for Estimating Premorbid Verbal Intelligence in the Elderly". Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. 13 (6): 933–949. doi:10.1080/01688639108405109. PMID   1779032.
  9. ↑ van der Linde, Ian; Bright, Peter (2018-10-18). Forloni, Gianluigi (ed.). "A genetic algorithm to find optimal reading test word subsets for estimating full-scale IQ". PLOS ONE. 13 (10): e0205754. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205754 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   6193671 . PMID   30335801.
  10. ↑ McGrory, Sarah; Austin, Elizabeth J.; Shenkin, Susan D.; Starr, John M.; Deary, Ian J. (September 2015). "From "aisle" to "labile": A hierarchical National Adult Reading Test scale revealed by Mokken scaling". Psychological Assessment. 27 (3): 932–943. doi:10.1037/pas0000091. ISSN   1939-134X. PMC   4547520 . PMID   26302224.
  11. ↑ Beardsall, Lynn; Brayne, Carol (February 1990). "Estimation of verbal intelligence in an elderly community: A prediction analysis using a shortened NART". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 29 (1): 83–90. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1990.tb00851.x. ISSN   0144-6657. PMID   2310873.
  12. ↑ Uttl, Bob (December 2002). "North American Adult Reading Test: Age Norms, Reliability, and Validity". Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. 24 (8): 1123–1137. doi:10.1076/jcen.24.8.1123.8375. ISSN   1380-3395. PMID   12650237.
  13. ↑ Beardsall, Lynn (May 1998). "Development of the Cambridge Contextual Reading Test for improving the estimation of premorbid verbal intelligence in older persons with dementia". British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 37 (2): 229–240. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1998.tb01297.x. ISSN   0144-6657. PMID   9631210.
  14. ↑ van der Linde, Ian; Bright, Peter (2024-09-19). "The prediction limits of the National Adult Reading Test and its abbreviated and international variants". Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society: 1–7. doi:10.1017/S1355617724000420. ISSN   1355-6177.
  15. ↑ van der Linde, Ian; Horsman, Lewis; Bright, Peter (2022-11-26). "The validity of abbreviated forms of the National Adult Reading Test and Spot-the-Word 2 for estimating full-scale IQ". Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 32 (10): 2534–2543. doi:10.1080/09602011.2021.1958874. ISSN   0960-2011. PMID   34323664.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.