The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery: results from a large normative developmental sample (PING).
OBJECTIVE
The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NTCB) was designed to provide a brief, efficient computerized test of key neuropsychological functions appropriate for use in children as young as 3 years of age. This report describes the performance of a large group of typically developing children and adolescents and examines the impact of age and sociocultural variables on test performance.


METHODS
The NTCB was administered to a sample of 1,020 typically developing males and females ranging in age from 3 to 20 years, diverse in terms of socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnicity, as part of the new publicly accessible Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (PING) data resource, at 9 sites across the United States.


RESULTS
General additive models of nonlinear age-functions were estimated from age-differences in test performance on the 8 NTCB subtests while controlling for family SES and genetic ancestry factors (GAFs). Age accounted for the majority of the variance across all NTCB scores, with additional significant contributions of gender on some measures, and of SES and race/ethnicity (GAFs) on all. After adjusting for age and gender, SES and GAFs explained a substantial proportion of the remaining unexplained variance in Picture Vocabulary scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The results highlight the sensitivity to developmental effects and efficiency of this new computerized assessment battery for neurodevelopmental research. Limitations are observed in the form of some ceiling effects in older children, some floor effects, particularly on executive function tests in the youngest participants, and evidence for variable measurement sensitivity to cultural/socioeconomic factors.
Department of Psychiatry and Center for Human Development, University of California-San Diego.
Natacha
N
Akshoomoff
Department of Psychiatry and Center for Human Development, University of California-San Diego.
Erik
E
Newman
Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego.
Wesley K
WK
Thompson
Center for Human Development, University of California-San Diego.
Connor
C
McCabe
Scripps Genomic Medicine, Scripps Translational Science Institute and Scripps Health.
Cinnamon S
CS
Bloss
Department of Medicine, University of Hawaii.
Linda
L
Chang
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California.
David G
DG
Amaral
Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weil Cornell Medical College.
B J
BJ
Casey
Department of Medicine, University of Hawaii.
Thomas M
TM
Ernst
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Jean A
JA
Frazier
Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine.
Jeffrey R
JR
Gruen
Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Walter E
WE
Kaufmann
Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Tal
T
Kenet
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School.
David N
DN
Kennedy
Scripps Genomic Medicine, Scripps Translational Science Institute, and Scripps Health.
Ondrej
O
Libiger
Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Stewart
S
Mostofsky
Scripps Genomic Medicine, Scripps Translational Science Institute, and Scripps Health.
Sarah S
SS
Murray
Department of Pediatrics, University of Southern California.
Elizabeth R
ER
Sowell
Scripps Genomic Medicine, Scripps Translational Science Institute, and Scripps Health.
Nicholas
N
Schork
Department of Neurosciences, University of California-San Diego.
Anders M
AM
Dale
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California-San Diego.
Terry L
TL
Jernigan
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult