An empirically derived short form of the Boston Naming Test

The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is one of the most commonly used tests of conf rontation naming. The length of the test, particularly when administered to impaired patients, has prompted the derivation of several abbreviated form s. Short forms of the BNT have typically been equated in terms of difficult y, but not empirically derived for discriminating between normals and anemi c patients. Furthermore, most reports to date have been limited in sample s ize and generalizability. The present study examined BNT data from a total of 1,044 subjects, including 719 normals and 325 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Scores were calculated for the entire 60-item version as well as for eight previously reported short forms. The scares were examined for the effects of age, education, and gender, as well as for the ability of e ach,form to discriminate between AD patients and normals. There was a signi ficant effect of age, education, and gender on all previously published for ms, and the short forms varied in their ability to discriminate between pat ients and controls. A stepwise discriminant analysis was conducted to empir ically derive a new, gender-neutral short form with discriminability compar able to the full 60-item test. Norms from this sample on the empirically de rived short form are reported. (C) 1999 National Academy of Neuropsychology . Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.