PSY 448 Clinical Neuropsychology	Last revised: Sept 30. 2021
Neuropsychological Assessment: Commonly Used Tests

The list below illustrates some of the more popular assessment instruments which are regularly used by neuropsychologists in assessing individuals with suspected or demonstrated injury to the nervous system.

Note that almost all of these assessment instruments are individually administered by a trained clinician as pen-and-pencil tests or using various physical materials (blocks, printed cards, etc.). Few have made the transition to online or computerized forms of administration (although there are many digital scoring programs that are used to compute patient responses). Parsons & Duffield (2020) found only about 6% of neuropsychological testing currently uses digital technology.  However as Loring et al. (2021) outline, the National Institute of Mental Health is funding an initiative called the National Neuropsychology Network for five years (2019-2024) involving four major clinical research sites and Pearson Clinical Assessment, the major publisher of neuropsychological tests. The project seeks to collect data from thousands of participants on 47 different tests to help adapt assessment to "strategies that will be more efficient, more precise, and more sensitive to clinical contexts and individual/cultural differences" (Abstract). It would appear, then, that the decade ahead may well see the emergence of new assessment instruments which would make greater use of digital technologies. 

General

Intelligence/General Cognitive Functioning

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd Edition or 4th Edition (WAIS-III® [1993] or WAIS-IV® [2008]) (these are cited by Lezak et al., 2012, collectively as WIS-A, i.e., Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Adults). WAIS-V was scheduled for publication in 2019, but has not yet been published.
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd, 4th & 5th Editions (WISC-III [1991], WISC-IV [2003], WISC-V [2014])
• Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) • Screening for general cognitive function

Personality

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2nd Edition (MMPI-2, 1989; original MMPI from late 1930s-early 1940s)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF, 2008)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3rd Edition (MMPI-3, 2020)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Adolescent Form (MMPI-A, 1992)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF, 2016)
• Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) & 2nd Edition (BDI-II, 1996)
• Personality Assessment Inventory & 2nd Edition (PAI, 1991; PAI-2, 2007)

Educational Achievement

• Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children-II (2nd ed.; KABC-II, 2004)
• Weschler Individual Achievement Test® 3rd ed. (WIAT-III, 2009); 4th ed. (WIAT-IV, 2020)
• Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised, 4th  & 5th ed. (WRAT-4, 2006; WRAT-5 [2017])

"Test Batteries"

• Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery (HRNTB)
• Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB, 2003)
• Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Test Battery (LNNTB) *Not widely researched
• NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function (NIHT) *emerging
• Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status® & Update (RBANS, 1998; RBANS Update, 2012)
• Developmental Neurospychological Assessment (NEPSY, 1998) & 2nd Edition (2007) *for use with children 3-16 yo
• Differential Abilities Scales® - 2nd Edition (DAS-II, 2006) *evaluating children's learning abilities

Specific

Attention

• Digit Span (WAIS): Forward & Backward
• Letter Cancellation
• Corsi Block-tapping Test
• Sentence Repetition
• Trails-A
• Digit Symbol (WAIS)

Memory

• Wechsler Memory Scale, 3rd or 4th ed. (WMS-III [1997], WMS-IV [2009])
• California Verbal Learning Test (2nd  & 3rd ed.) (CVLT [1987], CVLT-II [2000], CVLT-III [2017])
• Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT)

Language

• Boston Naming Test
• Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE)
• Reitan-Indiana Aphasia Screening Test
• Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT, 1994) * measure of verbal fluency with letters C, F, & L
• Verbal Fluency (F-A-S Test)

Visualspatial Abilities

• Rey Osterrieth Complex Figures Test (ROCFT)
• Block Design (WAIS)
• Taylor Complex Figure Test
• Bender-Gestalt Test

Sensory-Perceptual Abilities

• Reitan-Klove Sensory Perceptual Exam
• Speech-Sounds Perception Test (HRNTB)
• Seashore Rhythm Test (HRNTB)

Motor Speed

• Finger Tapping (Oscillation) Test
• Grooved Pegboard

Executive Function

• Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS, 2001)
• Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT, 1973)
• Stroop Test
• Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST)
• Category Test (HRNTB)
• Trails-B

References

American Academy of Neurology. (1996). Assessment: Neuropsychological testing of adults. Neurology, 47, 592-599.

Gershon, R. C., Wagster, M. V., Hendrie, H. C., Fox, N. A., Cook, K. F., & Nowinski, C. J. (2013) NIH Toolbox for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function. Neurology, 80(11 Supplement 3), 52-56.

Lees-Haley, P. R. (1996). Forensic neuropsychological test usage: An empirical survey. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 11(1), 45-51.

Lezak, M. D. ((1995). Neuropsychological assessment (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Lezak, M. D., et al. (2012). Neuropsychological assessment (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Loring, D. W., Bauer, R. M., Cavanagh, L., et al. (2021). Rationale and design of the National Neuropsychology Network. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355617721000199

Parsons, T., & Duffield, T. (2020). Paradigm shift toward digital neuropsychology and high-dimensional neuropsychological assessments: Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(12), e23777. https://dx.doi.org//10.2196/23777

Rabin, L. A., Paolillo, E., & Barr, W. B. (2016). Stability in test-usage practices of clinical neuropsychologists in the United States and Canada over a 10-year period: A follow-up survey of INS and NAN members. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 31, 206-230. doi:10.1093/arclin/acw007

Reitan, R. M., & Wolfson, D. (1993). The Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological test battery: Theory and clinical interpretation (2nd ed.). South Tucson, AZ: Neuropsychology Press.