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Differences in Conceptual Flexibility with Age as Measured by a Modified Version of the Visual Verbal Test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Barbara Collins  and
Andrée Tellier
Barbara Collins
Affiliation:
Ottawa General Hospital
Andrée Tellier
Affiliation:
Ottawa General Hospital
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Abstract

Age-related changes in the capacity for cognitive flexibility should be considered in social planning for the expanding elderly population and in the functional assessment of the individual geriatric patient. Current means for assessing conceptual flexibility are not particularly appropriate for use with the elderly. In the current study, a briefer and more tolerable measure of conceptual flexibility was derived from the Visual Verbal Test (VVT). This index correlated significantly with the number of perseverative errors but not the number of nonperseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), attesting to its validity as a specific measure of the ability to shift mental set. A significant relationship between age and both this VVT measure of conceptual shift and the number of perseverative errors on the WCST was observed in a sample of 60 healthy elderly volunteers between the ages of 55 and 84, suggesting that cognitive flexibility is indeed negatively associated with age.

Résumé

Afin de planifier adéquatement Pour les besoins sociaux de la population gériatrique sans cesse croissante et l'évaluation fonctionnelle des personnes âgées, l'on se doit de considérer les changements d'âge observés au niveau de la flexibilité cognitive. Les mesures existantes pour l'évaluation de la flexibilité conceptuelle ne s'avèrent pas particulièrement appropriées pour la personne du troisième âge. Un index de flexibilité cognitive plus bref et plus tolerable fut extrait du Visual-Verbal Test (VVT). Une corrélation significative fut obtenue entre cette mesure et le nombre d'erreurs persévératives du Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) mais non pas avec le nombre d'erreurs non-persévératives du WCST, attestant de la validité de l'index du VVT comme mesure de flexibilité conceptuelle. Les résultats démontrèrent également que l'index du VVT et le nombre d'erreurs persévératives du WCST sont reliés de façon significative avec l'âge dans un échantillon de 60 volontaires du troisième âge (55–84 ans), suggérant qu'il y a effectivement une association négative entre la flexibilité cognitive et l'âge.

Keywords

Cognitive FlexibilityConceptual ShiftAgingFrontal LobesVisual Verbal TestSouplesse cognitiveretournement conceptuelvieillissementlobes frontalestest visuo-verbal
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , Automne/Fall 1994 , pp. 368 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1994

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