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Use of a genetic algorithm approach for improving precision and efficiency of tests for estimating premorbid cognitive ability Peter Bright (16695954) Lewis Horsman (16664259) Ian van der Linde (15476366) Clinical neuropsychology premorbid ability neuropsychological testing National Adult Reading Test (NART) genetic algorithm Spot-the-word Test Origin:Poster presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, USA, 23–26 April 2022.Abstract:The 50-item National Adult Reading Test (NART; Nelson, 1982; NART–R; Nelson & Willison, 1991), first published in the UK in 1982, remains a widely used method for estimating premorbid intelligence in neurological patients.We recently restandardised the NART against the most recent revision of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV; Bright et al., 2018) and have confirmed the utility of the NART and other tests based on oral reading in the estimation of premorbid full-scale IQ (FSIQ) in a range of neurological conditions (Bright et al., 2002; Bright et al., 2020). Nevertheless, such tests may contain words that provide little or no diagnostic power (i.e., can be eliminated without negatively affecting prediction accuracy). We recently proposed a genetic algorithm (GA)-based method (see Box 1) that tackles the computationally intractable problem of identifying optimal subsets of words from premorbid IQ word-reading tests.Using this method we identified a subset of 17 of the original 50 NART words that predict FSIQ as accurately as the entire test (van der Linde & Bright, 2018). Abbreviated tests have multiple benefits: they reduce the burden on patients and clinicians, help to ameliorate fatigue effects, reduce anxiety and embarrassment for low-scoring participants and potentially reduce the exposure of patients to clinicians at a time of increased caution due to Covid-19.In Study 1 we:1. Ran a confirmatory analysis on predictive precision of the 17-item NART subset using a new cohort of participants and compared predictive accuracy of the NART to Spot-the-Word 2 (STW-2; Baddeley & Crawford, 2012)2. Applied our GA procedure to the STW-2 to determine whether an abbreviated version of this test might similarly offer equivalent or enhanced precision in the estimation of WAIS-IV full-scale IQ.In Study 2 we:3. Identified an optimal subset of TOPF stimuli using our GA method and ran a confirmatory analysis in an independent cohort of participants.References:Baddeley, A., & Crawford, J. (2012). Spot the word (2nd ed.). Pearson.Bright, P., Hale, E., Gooch, V. J., Myhill, T., & van der Linde, I. (2018). The National Adult Reading Test: Restandardisation against the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth edition. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 28(6), 1019–1027. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2016.1231121" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2016.1231121</a>Bright, P., & van der Linde, I. (2020). Comparison of methods for estimating premorbid intelligence. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 30(1), 1–14. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2018.1445650" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2018.1445650</a>Nelson, H. E. (1982). National Adult Reading Test (NART): For the assessment of premorbid intelligence in patients with dementia: Test manual. NFER-Nelson.Nelson, H. E., & Willison, J. (1991). National Adult Reading Test (NART). NFER-Nelson.van der Linde, I., & Bright, P. (2018). A genetic algorithm to find optimal reading test word subsets for estimating full-scale IQ. PLOS ONE, 13(10), e0205754. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205754" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205754</a>van der Linde, I., Horsman, L., & Bright, P. (2022). The validity of abbreviated forms of the National Adult Reading Test and Spot-the-Word 2 for estimating full-scale IQ. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 32(10), 2534–2543. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2021.1958874" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2021.1958874</a>Wechsler, D. (2008). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (4th ed.). Pearson Assessment.Wechsler, D. (2011). Test of Premorbid Functioning: UK version (TOPF-UK). Pearson Assessment. 2026-10-10T20:28:18Z Image Poster 10.6084/m9.figshare.34048689.v2 https://figshare.com/articles/poster/Use_of_a_genetic_algorithm_approach_for_improving_precision_and_efficiency_of_tests_for_estimating_premorbid_cognitive_ability/34048689 CC BY 4.0