Wisconsin card sorting test performance in healthy, older adults: Relationship to age, sex, education, and IQ

• Published in: Journal of clinical psychology Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 54 - 60
• Main Authors: Boone, Kyle Brauer, Ghaffarian, Shireen, Lesser, Ira M., Hill-Gutierrez, Elizabeth, G. Berman, Nancy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brandon Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.01.1993; Wiley; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Adult. Elderly; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - psychology; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Demographics; Developmental psychology; Discrimination Learning; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Intelligence; Interpretation; Male; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Psychological tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Reference Values; Scores; Set (Psychology); Sex Factors; Social research; Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; Human; Senescence; Sex; Neuropsychological test; Psychometrics; Cognition; Intellectual deterioration; Intellectual flexibility; Test validation; Study level; Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; Adult; Diagnosis; Performance; Categorization; Elderly; Age; Intelligence quotient
• ISSN: 0021-9762; 1097-4679
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(199301)49:1<54::AID-JCLP2270490108>3.0.CO;2-6

We obtained Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) scores on 91 (35 male and 56 female) healthy, well‐educated individuals aged 45 to 83. Women scored better than men on six WCST scores (categories, errors, perseverative responses, To perseverative errors, To conceptual level responses, and trials to first category), while subjects with more than 16 years of education outscored those limited to high school education on four measures (perseverative responses, errors, To perseverative errors, Vo conceptual level responses). Individuals older than 70 years of age scored less well than younger subjects on only two indices (errors, Yo conceptual level responses). Full Scale 1Q was not related to WCST scores. Our findings suggest that WCST scores should be interpreted within the context of patient gender, education, and age.