Thursday, September 17, 2009

FYI: NERONORMA Project: Spanish norms for common neuropsychological tests



Today, during my weekly literature search, I ran across a series of articles providing results from the NERONORMA project (Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies).  The project is described in a free on-line copy of an article available in the Archives of Clinical Psychology.  The abstract for the article is below.  Psychologists who engage in forensic testing related to Atkins cases may find this information informative.  I have not read the series of articles in depth yet. 
This paper describes the methods and sample characteristics of a series of Spanish normative studies (The NEURONORMA project). The primary objective of our research was to collect normative and psychometric information on a sample of people aged over 49 years. The normative information was based on a series of selected, but commonly used, neuropsychological tests covering attention, language, visuo-perceptual abilities, constructional tasks, memory, and executive functions. A sample of 356 community dwelling individuals was studied. Demographics, socio-cultural, and medical data were collected. Cognitive normality was validated via informants and a cognitive screening test. Norms were calculated for midpoint age groups. Effects of age, education, and sex were determined. The use of these norms should improve neuropsychological diagnostic accuracy in older Spanish subjects. These data may also be of considerable use for comparisons with other normative studies. Limitations of these normative data are also commented
Other articles published in the series are listed below:

  • PenaCasanova, J., Blesa, R., Aguilar, M., GramuntFombuena, N., GomezAnson, B., Oliva, R., Molinuevo, J. L.,Robles, A., Barquero, M. S., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Fernandez, M., Alfonso, V., & Sol, J. M. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Methods and Sample Characteristics. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 307-319.
  • PenaCasanova, J., GramuntFombuena, N., QuinonesUbeda, S., SanchezBenavides, G., Aguilar, M., Badenes, D., Molinuevo, J. L., Robles, A., Barquero, M. S., Payno, M., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Fernandez, M., Alfonso, V., Solk, J. M., & Blesa, R. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (Copy and Memory), and Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 371-393.
  • PenaCasanova, J., QuinonesUbeda, S., GramuntFombuena, N., Aguilar, M., Casas, L., Molinuevo, J. L., Robles, A., Rodriguez, D., Barquero, M. S., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Fernandez, M., Molano, A., Alfonso, V., Sol, J. M., & Blesa, R. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for Boston Naming Test and Token Test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 343-354.
  • PenaCasanova, J., QuinonesUbeda, S., GramuntFombuena, N., Quintana, M., Aguilar, M., Molinuevo, J. L., Serradell, M., Robles, A., Barquero, M. S., Payno, M., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Fernandez, M., Alfonso, V., Sol, J. M., & Blesa, R. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies
  • (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test and the Tower of London-Drexel. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 413-429.
  • PenaCasanova, J., QuinonesUbeda, S., GramuntFombuena, N., QuintanaAparicio, M., Aguilar, M., Badenes, D., Cerulla, N., Molinuevo, J. L., Ruiz, E., Robles, A., Barquero, M. S., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Fernandez, M., Alfonso, V., Sol, J. M., & Blesa, R. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for Verbal Fluency Tests. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 395-411.
  • PenaCasanova, J., QuinonesUbeda, S., QuintanaAparicio, M., Aguilar, M., Badenes, D., Molinuevo, J. L., Torner, L., Robles, A., Barquero, M. S., Villanueva, C., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Sanz, A., Fernandez, M., Alfonso, V., Sol, J. M., & Blesa, R. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for Verbal Span, Visuospatial Span, Letter and Number Sequencing, Trail Making Test, and Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 321-341.
  • PenaCasanova, J., QuintanaAparicio, M., QuinonesUbeda, S., Aguilar, M., Molinuevo, J. L., Serradell, M., Robles, A., Barquero, M. S., Villanueva, C., Antunez, C., MartinezParra, C., FrankGarcia, A., Aguilar, M. D., Fernandez, M., Alfonso, V., Sol, J. M., & Blesa, R. (2009). Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for the Visual Object and Space Perception Battery-Abbreviated, and Judgment of Line Orientation. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24(4), 355-370.