Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 71, Issue 10 , Pages 517-522, October 2008

Adult Normative Data of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Taiwan

  • Ian-Kai Shan

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Ying-Sheue Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Ying-Chiao Lee

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Tung-Ping Su

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Tung-Ping Su, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 14 February 2008; accepted 16 September 2008.

Article Outline

Background

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a widely used neuropsychological test for assessing executive functions. However, the lack of culture-specific norms has often limited clinical interpretation of performance on the WCST. The aims of this study were to establish adult norms for the WCST in Taiwan, and to understand the development of performance on the WCST among age groups.

Methods

A total of 475 participants (233 males, 242 females) aged from 20 to 89 years were divided into 10 age groups. All of the participants completed the WCST, and 6 indices of WCST were calculated, including percent errors (PE), percent perseverative responses (PPR), percent perseverative errors (PPE), percent non-perseverative errors (PNPE), percent conceptual-level responses (PCLR), and categories completed (CC).

Results

There were several findings. First, our data showed that there was no evidence of a significant difference between manual card and computerized card presentation versions of WCST on the PE, PPR, PPE, PNPE, PCLR, and CC indices. Second, no education and gender effects on WCST performance were found. Third, although WCST indices were significantly different among age groups, no remarkable differences among the groups after 30 years of age were found. Finally, compared with Heaton's USA norms, WCST performance in Taiwanese was poorer than the USA sample in most age groups.

Conclusions

The WCST is not sensitive enough to detect aging-related cognitive changes in the Taiwanese population, and there are different performances on WCST between Taiwanese and USA people. The adult norms for WCST in Taiwan will provide an important reference for future research and clinical practice.

Key Words:  executive functions , neuropsychology , Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

No full text is available. To read the body of this article, please view the PDF online.

 

Back to Article Outline

References 

  1. Heaton RK , Chelune GJ , Talley JL , Kay GG , Curtiss G . Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Manual . Psychological Assessment Resources; 1993;
  2. Giovagnoli AR . Relation of sorting impairment to hippocampal damage in temporal lobe epilepsy . Neuropsychologia . 2001;39:140–150
  3. Tsuchiya E , Oli J , Yahara N , Fujieda K . Computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in children with high-functioning autistic disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder . Brain Dev . 2005;27:233–236
  4. Ilonen T, Leinonen K, Wallenius E, Karlsson H, Taiminen T, Salokangas R, et al  Impaired Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in first-episode severe depression . Nord J Psychiatry . 2000;54:275–280
  5. Everett J , Lavoie K , Gagnon JF , Gosselin N . Performance of patients with schizophrenia on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) . J Psychiatry Neurosci . 2001;26:123–130
  6. Kohli A , Kaur M . Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: normative data and experience . Indian J Psychiatry . 2006;48:181–184
  7. Coffey DM , Marmol L , Schock L , Adams W . The influence of acculturation on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test by Mexican Americans . Arc Clin Neuropsychol . 2005;20:795–803
  8. Shu BC , Tien AY , Lung FW , Chang YY . Norms for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in 6- to 11-year-old children in Taiwan . Clin Neuropsychol . 2000;14:275–286
  9. Lin CH , Chen WJ , Yang HJ , Hsiao CK , Tien AY . Performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test among adolescents in Taiwan: norms, factorial structure, and relation to schizotypy . J Clin Exp Neuropsychol . 2000;22:69–79
  10. Tien AY , Spevak TV , Jones DW , Pearlson GD , Schlaepfer TE , Strauss ME . Comparison of manual and computer versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test . Kaohsiung J Med Sci . 1996;12:479–485
  11. Feldstein SN , Keller FR , Portman RE , Durham RL , Klebe KJ , Davis HP . A comparison of computerized and standard versions of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test . Clin Neuropsychol . 1999;13:303–313
  12. Baartzokis G , Beckson M , Lu PH , Nuechterlein KH , Edwards N , Mintz J . Age-related changes in frontal and temporal lobe volumes in men: a magnetic resonance imaging study . Arch Gen Psychiatry . 2001;58:461–465

PII: S1726-4901(08)70160-6

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(08)70160-6

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 71, Issue 10 , Pages 517-522, October 2008

Article Tools