Evaluating the appropriateness of neuropsychological measures among young adults

Background

Language measures in particular do not have updated normative data that reflect modern language usage, as the original norms were developed many years ago and language changes with time. Therefore, it is important to update this normative data so clinicians can accurately identify any impairments among younger adults.

Research Questions / Hypotheses

How do young people perform on potentially out-dated measures of cognitive function, in particular those assessing language? The aim of this research project is to provide updated normative data among young adults for tasks of neuropsychological function.

Participants

78 completed, 12 excluded insufficient English

Methods

Participants are required to complete some pencil-and-paper tests which will involve testing attention, speed of information processing memory, and language. They are also asked to complete a brief questionnaire about different feelings and emotions. Other tasks include samples of language output.

Results

Main analyses relate to extracting new normative data for this young adult sample (mean, SD, range) especially for language tasks, with other aspects of cognitive function used as covariates. Extracting proportion of correct responses for each item level data.

Implications

Planned for write up of honours thesis and subsequent publication in language-specific journal.