title: Demographically adjusted normative standards for new indices of performance on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT).
abstract: The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) is a complex cognitive test sensitive to neuropsychological disorders. Its traditional Total Correct score seemingly reflects multiple cognitive abilities, including attention, working memory, and processing speed. Snyder, Aniskiewicz, and Snyder (1993) modified scoring guidelines for the PASAT to give credit only for "dyads." This method emphasizes working memory operations and has been found superior to Total Correct scores at detecting cognitive impairments in several investigations. To date, normative standards are not available for the "dyad" scoring method, thus limiting its utility in clinical and research settings. The current investigation provides demographically adjusted normative data based on a sample of 500 healthy adults of varied age, education, sex, and race (African American and Caucasian) for various indices of performance on the PASAT, including "Total Dyads" obtained across the four PASAT trials. In addition, we describe and present normative data on four other indices designed to quantify various aspects of performance on the PASAT: invalid responding, effects of varied information processing speed demands, and tendency to omit responses and to make arithmetic errors.
authors.affiliation: HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA. rgonzalez@psych.uic.edu
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: S Walden
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Schweinsburg
authors.forename: Catherine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Carey
authors.forename: Steven Paul
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: Julie D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rippeth
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Heaton
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American