VERBAL ABSTRACTION DEFICIT IN MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

To reexamine the status of verbal reasoning in comparison to nonverbal reasoning in multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers administered the Sh ipley institute of Living Scale (SILS), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Tes t (WCST), and a shortened version of the Free Sorting part of the Cali fornia Card Sorting Test (CCST) to 100 MS patients and 32 age- and edu cation-equated controls. Patients achieved fewer categories on the WCS T, fewer correct sorts on the CCST, and lower scores on the Abstractio n scale from the SILS than did controls. Patients also scored lower on the Vocabulary Scale from the SILS, but because they also attained lo wer Conceptual and Abstraction Quotients, their poorer performance on verbal abstraction cannot be attributed solely to lower verbal ability . Conceptual impairments occurred for MS patients, regardless of wheth er they also exhibited increased perseverative responding.