Cognitive Assessment Midterm Flashcards
WAIS-IV
- Scale measuring adult intelligence
- For ages 16-69
- Contains 10 main sub-tests and 5 supplementary tests
What are the 4 index scales being measured in the WAIS-IV?
- Verbal Comprehension Index
- Perceptual Reasoning Index
- Working Memory Index
- Processing Speed Index
What tests are included in the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) ?
- Similarities
- Vocabulary
- Information
- Comprehension (supplementary test)
Which tests are included in the Perceptual Reasoning Index? (PRI)
- Block Design
- Matrix Reasoning
- Visual Puzzles
- Figure Weights (supplementary test)
- Picture Completion (supplementary test)
Which tests are included in the Working Memory Index? (WMI)
- Digit Span
- Arithmetic
- Letter-Number Sequencing (supplementary test)
Which tests are included in the Processing Speed Index? (PSI)
- Symbol Search
- Coding
- Cancellation (supplementary test)
Similarities
- part of the VCI
- Verbal tests testing verbal-abstract/categorical reasoning
Tests Abstraction, involving
o previous learning (long-term memory, crystallized intelligence)
o verbal comprehension
o associative thinking
o ability to perceive and verbalize similarities that are more abstract than surface dissimilarities
o May reflect cultural/educational bias
Vocabuary
- Part of the VCI
- Verbal test; testing verbal skills through word definitions. (educational purpose)
Tests the following:
o Crystallized Intelligence
o Number of words known, not elegance of language
o The best single measure of intelligence
o Reflects learning ability (via past learning), fund of general information, general range of ideas
Information
- Part of the VCI
- Crystallized Intelligence
- Testing semantic memory/factual knowledge
- testing general information (education/societal exposure)
Questions regarding o general information o contemporary affairs o cultural information o scientific information and numerical information
Comprension
- Supplementary test of the VCI
- Verbal test; testing moral reasoning and different concepts
- socially constructed ideas
o Practical judgment (Using own information to make decision)
o Discerning and articulating rationales for various cultural practices, conventions, or principles—also require information
o Proverbs
Block Design
- Part of the PRI
- Testing visual-spatial construction and motor skills
- non-verbal test
o Visual Processing
o To succeed must Perceive accurately, Analyze, Synthesize, Reproduce
Matrix Reasoning
- Part of the PRI
- non-verbal abstract reasoning
- Pattern completion test
o Assesses fluid reasoning
o “ability to perform mental operations, such as manipulation of abstract symbols”
o Shows greatest Flynn effect
o Visual-spatial
Figure Weights
- Supplementary test in PRI
- Abstract non-verbal reasoning
- Visual-conceptual task
o fluid reasoning
o Visual perception, quantitative reasoning: inductive and deductive.
Picture-completion
- Supplementary test in PRI
- Visual-perceptual task
- Attention task
o Nonverbal “fund of information”, ability to distinguish essential from nonessential detail
o Requires attention to detail and concentration
Digit-Span
- Part of WMI
- testing working memory
- auditory working memory
- Attention span
- short-term memory
o Memory task, good test of general intelligence at lower levels
o Requires good “mental control”
o Short term memory
Arithmetic
- Part of WMI
- testing working memory
- math memory
- language understanding
o Simplest operations required
o Effective performance depends on ability to concentrate on the problem, memory, logical problem-solving, not advanced mathematical training
o High demand for concentration and memory, times,
Letter-number sequencing
- Supplementary test in WMI
- working memory
- Taps into executive functioning
- A little more complex
- Short term memory
Symbol Search
- Part of PSI
- testing processing speed
- Visual Scanning & matching within a particular time limit
o Uses abstract symbols that are not numbers
o Less demand for motor coordination
o Visual analysis
Coding
- part of PSI
- testing visual processing speed
- matching number and symbols
- test is also timed
o Processing Speed
o Sustained concentration, working under time pressure, forming set quickly
o Impaired by:
o Poor concentration, psychomotor retardation, difficulty in quickly acquiring a set
Cancellation
- Supplementary test if PSI
- Processing speed
visually based processing - cancelling out shapes and colors in a particular order.
- timed test
o Visual recognition and speed of visual processing
o Simpler motor response than coding
What is intelligence?
- According to Weschler “ global or aggregate ability to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment”
What is the Full Scale IQ? (FSIQ)
- forms the basis for the interpretation of all other tests on WAIS
- estimates client’s standing compared to the general population.
- does not really tell us anything about any issues with the underlying dimensions
o Composite index of general intelligence or cognitive ability
o Most reliable and valid of indices
o Estimates examinee’s standing in the general population
o Does not tell us underlying dimension on which individuals vary
o Dimension of human variability reflects genetic and social and biological environmental influences
What is General Intelligence
- average level of all he independent components that contribute to such tasks
o Individual difference variable in their ability to understand complex ideas to adapt effectively to their environment to learn from experience to engage in various forms of reasoning to overcome obstacles by taking thought
What is “g”?
- single ability common to all tasks
- test scores on very different cognitive tasks show a “positive manifold”
General factor of intelligence
Psychometric g
- This is what the WAIS is considered to be
- g is a factor that can be extracted from any set of a cognitive test data
Abstract g
- Any complex task requires a number of basic abilities
Concrete g
- single ability common to all complex task performance
- grounded by biology
- individual differences are the source of differences in measured intelligence
General strategy for Interpreting the WAIS
- first look if it statistically significant, and then look if it is clinically significant
Statistical Significnace
- Is there a real difference?
- This would be looking at critical values
- if it is higher than the critical value, then it would be statistically significant
Clinical Significance
- How rare is this score?
- How much does this happen in the sample population?
- This would be the base rate
Step 0
- Consider
- Client behavior
- Referral context
- Testing Environment
- Appropriateness of test and norms
- Ask
- Do the behaviors of the client raise any doubts about results?
- Report
- list any cautions you may have due to testing
Which tests are timed and require a stop watch?
Block Design (time limit per item, bonus) Arithmetic (time limit per item) Symbol Search (time limit for subtest) Visual Puzzles (time limit per item) Coding (time limit for subtest) Figure Weights (time limit per item) Cancellation (time limit for subtest) Picture Completion (time limit per item)
What type of scoring errors are the most serious?
Mechanical rather than judgmental (adding incorrectly, looking at the wrong table or line)
Without knowledge of the actual reliability estimates of the following measures, which should you expect to have the higher reliability, the WAIS-IV Verbal Comprehension Index score or the Vocabulary subtest score?
VCI score, because longer tests are generally more reliable reliability
In general, we can be more confident that the Full Scale IQ score obtained by an individual more accurately reflects what it is supposed to measure, compared to other WAIS-IV scores, because
It has a smaller standard error of measurement than the other scores.
The higher the reliability, the lower the standard error of measurement
What does the VCI test?
Measure of acquired knowledge and verbal reasoning
What does the WMI test?
o Shows developmental course, neuropsychologically important, interaction with processing speed
o Requires attention to verbal information, briefly retaining and processing information, formulating a response
o Verbal and visual-spatial functioning
o Short term memory, attention, concentration
What does the PSI test?
o Speed of performance in visual motor tasks , speed of processing
What does the PRI test?
Measure of nonverbal, fluid reasoning attention to detail, and visual-motor integration
Visual Puzzles
o Visual Processing
o Measure of spatial, visual-perceptual reasoning.
What is the Flynn Effect?
o Gains in test performance from one generation to the next cross developed and under-developed nations
o Not a “true” increase in “g” but an increase in “modernity”
o Lower SES under-represented, reducing range of environmental effects
o Increase in test performance over time must be due to environmental influence
o Corrleation between environment and IQ
Which is the most valid and reliable of the Wechler indices?
o VCI first
o WAIS follows closely behind
What are limitations of diagnosis alone?
o Documents distress/disability
o Justifies intervention
o Limited treatment utility
o Empirically supported treatments established for limited number of diagnoses
o Specific diagnoses are of questionable validity
o Heterogeneity of diagnostic groups
What role can formal assessment play in diagnostic formulation?
o Provides a timely and accurate formulation
o Broad bandwidth instruments assess a wide range of client characteristics in a time-efficient and cost-effective way
What role can Assessment play in active treatment?
o Empathy and rapport o Feedback and self-understanding o Establishing baselines & monitoring process o Provide summary and future direction o Shows clinician’s progress
Assessment & the Guiding Conception
o Provides information unbiased by clinician’s information processing heuristics
o Data can surprise
What is the difference between assessment and psychological testing?
Testing
o Measurement
o Client compared to group
o Technical Skills
Assessment
o Problem-Solving
o Client in problem situation
o Greater knowledge base and integrative skills
Assessment is a multi-step process of formulating and testing hypotheses related to a referral question
o Problem clarification
o Data collection
o Interpretation
What are the general targets of assessment?
o Problem areas
o Strengths and potentials
o Causal variables
o Predisposing
o Precipitating
o Maintaining
o Mediating/moderating variablesWhat are some advantages of tests?
o Standardized
o Variance in the test scores reflects individual differences rather than differences in test administration
o Quantitative
o Allows Precision
o Provides Objectivity
o Economical and efficient
o Best and sometimes only feasible way of collecting certain types of data
What ethics and social responsibilities are involved in the WAIS
o Beneficence and Nonmaleficence o Fidelity and Responsibility o Integrity o Justice o Respect for people’s rights and dignity
Areas of ethical concern
o Appropriateness of training
o Acceptance of professional responsibility
o Test selection, administration, scoring and norms
o Test interpretation
o Reporting to clients
o Administrative/organizational policy issues
What is fluid ability?
o “Raw” ability o Problem solving o Adaptation and flexibility o Unfamiliar stimuli o Matrix Reasoning as prototypical test o Figure Weights an additional Gf test
What is crystallized ability?
o “Learned” ability o Involved in tasks that utilize o Previous training o Education o Acculturation o Vocabulary as prototypical test
What does the GAI tell us compared to the FSIQ
o Contains subtests with highest “g”
o Measures “higher” cognition
What does the CPI tell us?
o Proficiency of processing certain types of cognitive information
o Reduced “cognitive load”
o Frees up resources for higher level skills
o Facilitates fluid reasoning, learning, problem solving
o Most meaningful used with GAI
Briefly compare and contrast psychometric testing and psychological assessment
Psychometric Testing
i. Usually only used to gather data
ii. More empirical in practice
iii. Relating to a person’s performance to a target group (evaluating if this is clinically significant)
iv. Requires technical competencies
v. Standardized
Psychological Assessment
i. More about problem solving, or answering the question
ii. There are many ways to gather data (quantitative or qualitative)
iii. Require knowledge base and integrative skills
What are the major advantages of psychological testing over other available alternatives?
i. Standardized
1. Variance in the test scores reflects individual differences rather than differences in test administration
ii. Quantitative
1. Allows precision
2. Provides objectivity
iii. Economical and Efficient
1. Best based on the time you may have with a client. You may not have time to do several assessments and a clinical interview.
iv. Best and sometimes only feasible way of collecting certain types of data
An individual’s WAIS-IV results include the following data. Explain what each of the following mean in a way that would be understandable to someone not familiar with the test or psychometrics
a. Full Scale, b. Sum of scaled scores = 96, c. FSIQ = 97, d. 42% percentile rank, e. 95% confidence interval = 93-101
i. Full Scale: Performance of an individual on all tasks
ii. Sum of scaled scores = 96: once they have been converted to go to a similar and standardized measure. Based on comparison to a person’s age pers. This person would be considered average compared to their peers.
iii. FSIQ=97: More of a general score, compared to a person’s age peers and the general population. Person would most likely be considered as average.
iv. 42 percentile rank: 42% of the population get a score of this size or less. OR 58% get a higher score.
v. 95% confidence interval: 93-101: 95% of people who are at this ability level will get in the range of 93-101
What are some variables, other than a genuine decline in verbal ability, that might lead to a lower VCI score, when the client is tested a second time the WAIS-IV?
a. Strove may cause a decline in the score
b. If the test go renormed after the took it the first time
c. Testing conditions may change. Were there any distractions the second time around?
d. They get older, and fall into a new age range. Think about a person who is 16 who could still take the WISC, but are given the WAIS-IV instead. May change their score.
e. Typically we see an increase in performance as people get older, so a lower score may be odd for a particular person based on their age.
Describe the process of determining which WAIS-IV composite index, if any, should be used to characterize an individual’s overall level of intellectual functioning.
a. This process would involve examining the FSIG, GAI and CPI.
b. The FSIQ would be looked at first, and based on their score you would then look at each of the indices. If you see large differences in the indices, then you would look at the GAI ad CPI to possibly determine the level of intellectual functioning for an individual.
c. The GAI is used to summarize a person’s performance of the VCI and PRI. This score contains the most highly loaded “g” of the subtests. If the VCI and PRI are similar & have a base rate greater than 9%, while the other base rates are lower than 9% then the GAI would not be used. If you see lower base rate percentages in the VCI and PRI, then the GAI (the combination of the 2) may be better to report. This could possibly show issues with comprehension for a person. The GAI should only be used if there are large discrepancies with the WMI and PSI scores; meaning that the CPI would be much lower for an individual. The CPI is a combination of the WMI and PSI scores. This index measures the efficiency of an individual. In some cases, if the WMI and PSI are much lower that the VCI and PRI scores, but are still similar to each other then it may be good to report the GAI and CPI separately in order characterize an individual’s overall intellectual functioning.
