A comparison of computerized and standard versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

The manual version of the Wisconsin Card sorting Test (WCST) is the most fr equently used neuropsychological instrument for differentiating normal from populations with frontal-lobe impairments. A number of computerized versio ns have become available, and their ability to accurately detect frontal-lo be dysfunction is based an the assumption of equivalence with the standard manual version. Accordingly, comparisons of the distribution properties of central tendency, variability, and shape between the manual version with fo ur computerized versions of the WCST were performed (n = 22 per condition). None of the computerized versions were found to be equivalent to the manua l version on all assessment measures. Given the discrepancies between the m anual and computerized versions, it is concluded that the norms provided fo r the standard manual presentation method should not be used for the comput erized versions, and for continued use of the computerized versions, new no rms for computer versions need to be established. Thus, clinicians and expe rimenters must use caution when basing conclusions on scores from computer versions of the WCST.