Spot-the-Word: a measure for estimating premorbid intellectual functioning.
The present study investigates the validity of a recently developed measure for estimating premorbid cognitive abilities. The Spot-the-Word Test involves presenting participants with pairs of items comprised of one word and one nonword, and requiring the subject to identify the word. Participants were 61 community-residing healthy older adults ranging in age from 60 to 91 years. Results indicated that education had a small but significant effect on Spot-the-Word performance. However, gender and age did not. Significant correlations were observed between Spot-the-Word scores and scores on other measures used to estimate premorbid abilities, suggesting adequate convergent validity. Furthermore, small and nonsignificant correlations were observed between Spot-the-Word scores and sensitive neuropsychological variables suggesting adequate discriminant validity. Recommendations for future research are discussed.
Department of Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858-4353, USA. yuspehr@mail.edu.edu
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Vanderploeg