title: Modified Card Sorting Test: normative data.
abstract: The Modified Card Sorting Test (MCST), a shortened version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, proposed by Nelson in 1976 is a neuropsychological test that is widely used in clinical settings for the evaluation of executive functions in patients with focal, traumatic and degenerative brain diseases. Despite its frequent use, normative data for the MCST are scant. The aim of this study was to collect normative data for the MCST on a sample including 248 healthy individuals ranging from 20 to 90 years of age and equally distributed for education level and sex (124 males and 124 females). Performance on the MCST was scored by computing the number of categories achieved by a participant, and the number of perseverative errors. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant effect of age and education on the number of categories and perseverative errors but no effect of sex. Cut-off scores were then determined and equivalent scores computed for both the number of categories and the perseverative errors. The availability of normative data for the MCST will be very valuable in clinical settings for testing patients with focal, traumatic and degenerative brain diseases. The use of reference norms will permit a better characterisation of a patient's impaired and spared abilities.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Neurologia, Universita' degli Studi di Parma, Italy. caffarra@unipr.it
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caffarra
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vezzadini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dieci
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zonato
authors.forename: Annalena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venneri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003210:Concept Formation; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors