Age-related performance on the wisconsin card sorting, similarities, and controlled oral word association tests

Abstract

Clinical psychologists and neuropsychologists are frequently called upon to assist other health professionals in distinguishing normal age-related cognitive changes from abnormal neurocognitive changes likely to be associated with pathological processes of the aging brain. Such distinctions are made more difficult in the absence of normative data from clinical tests considered sensitive to normal age-related changes. Three tests of conceptualization skills, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Similarities from the WAIS-R (WAIS-R-SML), and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), were given to 80 healthy independently living individuals, ages 50 through 89 years, grouped into four age decades. Results revealed a progressive age-related decline in performance on these tasks. Changes in these executive functioning skills were found to be unrelated to intellectual competence, educational experience, or the general health status of the participants.