Psychometric - Future Employee Mind and Strategy Testing.
Psychometric tests are a standard and scientific method used to measure individuals' mental capabilities and behavioural style. Psychometric tests are designed to measure candidates' suitability for a role based on the required personality characteristics and aptitude (or cognitive abilities). They identify the extent to which candidates' personality and cognitive abilities match those required to perform the role. Employers use the information collected from the psychometric test to identify the hidden aspects of candidates that are difficult to extract from a face-to-face interview.
Once the Human Resources manager, or person/s in charge of hiring, ascertains that you have fulfilled the initial requirements for the position by reviewing your résumé , they will then send out a letter with specific instructions for sitting the psychometric test. The prime objective of this is to identify at an early stage those job applicants who are unlikely to fill the requirements of the position on offer and consequently narrow the applications further.
Some job applicants believe that the psychometric test is not a good measure to assess their real abilities, personality traits, and suitability for the job. However, the psychometric tests are statistically examined, and are constructed to be objective and unbiased.
This is done by using standard methods of assessment so that everyone is presented with the same questions and instructions for completing them. Our experience shows that psychometric tests are very reliable in predicting candidates' performance, and in most cases the test report provides an accurate evaluation of the applicant. However, this doesn't say that with a good preparation you can't improve your suitability for a job. It's proven that an effective preparation which highlights your relevant strengths and improves your weaknesses increases your chances to win the job you wish to get.
Types of Psychometric Tests:
Most psychometric tests can be grouped into two. The first group of psychometric tests is measuring your cognitive or aptitude abilities. These psychometric tests are based on timers and the idea behind them is that in order to separate between people’s cognitive abilities, we need to use ask them to complete a list of questions in a very limited time. Those better at the cognitive ability measured will be able to get more questions solved correctly than those who are less strong in the ability measured.
This group of psychometric tests includes tests such as abstract tests, numerical tests, verbal tests, mechanical tests and emotional intelligence tests.
Abstract type Psychometric tests:
This psychometric test measures your ability to solve problems, think strategically and think on your feet. The typical test question styles used in the abstract psychometric test are two - the first style is offering a group of shapes and you need to decide what is a missing shape, or what is the next shape or which is the odd-one-out shape.
The concept behind this style of test questions is that you need to identify the logical rules that apply to the group of shapes and use them to identify the missing shape.
The second style of test questions is offering you a group on initial shapes then there are some processes applied on the shapes to transform them to the final shapes. Your task is to find what each process does. Then use this knowledge to identify how a group of initial shapes will transform to final shapes. The abstract type of psychometric test has a timer either for the entire test or per test question.
Let’s review some example of the abstract type of psychometric tests:
The following example psychometric test question demonstrates one style of abstract type psychometric test questions in which you have a horizontal list of shapes and your task is to identify the patterns or logical rules for the set of shapes to be able to predict the next or missing shape.
What is the next shape?
To answer this psychometric test question, we need to first identify the patterns and logical rules among the group of shapes in the test question. In this set of shapes, we can identify two logical rules or patterns moving left to right. The first is that all the inner shapes move one place anticlockwise each step.
The second rule is that, at every step, the triangle alternates with a black square. At step five, there is a triangle at the top – therefore, at the next step, it will move anticlockwise into the left place and become a black square.
Let's review another style of an abstract type psychometric test question. In this style you need to find what specific buttons do to a group of original shapes based on several example lines in the Base Screen box. Once you find what the buttons do your then can find what the correct final figure is in the question line. Let's examine the following psychometric test example:
Verbal type psychometric tests:
This type of psychometric test measures your ability to process information in a logical manner to make a decision. It also measures your ability to identify and focus on the critical information rather than on all the information provided. The verbal psychometric test has several different test question styles.
Let’s review some examples of verbal psychometric test questions.
The first style of verbal psychometric test questions is one in which you are presented with a list of facts and a conclusion. Your task is to quickly identify which facts lead to the conclusion being correct.
Let's review the following test example:
Which two statements together prove that Tim has a red car?
A. Gil likes Tim's car colour
B. Tim likes fast cars
C. Gil has a fast car
D. Gil likes only red cars
E. Tim's car is not silver
To answer this verbal psychometric test question, we need to first examine what each statement says. If we take statement A ‘Gil likes Tim’s car colour’ and combine it with statement D ‘Gil likes only red cars’ then those alone prove that Tim has a red car. The logic is that if Gil likes only red cars (D) and he likes Tim’s car colour (A) then Tim’s car must be red.
A second style of verbal psychometric test questions is test questions in which you have a passage to read and a set of 3 questions to answer. However, in this style the test questions are not only offering 3 answer options - true, false and can't say but they offer a list of statements as answer options.
Let's review the following verbal psychometric test example questions:
In epistemology, the Munchausen trilemma is a thought experiment used to demonstrate the impossibility of proving any truth, even in the fields of logic and mathematics. If it is asked how any knowledge is known to be true, proof may be provided. Yet that same question can be asked of the proof, and any subsequent proof.
The Munchausen trilemma is that there are only three options when providing proof in this situation: (a) the circular argument, in which theory and proof support each other; (b) the regressive argument, in which each proof requires a further proof, ad infinitum; and (c) the axiomatic argument, which rests on accepted precepts. The trilemma, then, is the decision among the three equally unsatisfying options.
The name Munchausen Trilemma was coined in 1968 by the German philosopher Hans Albert in reference to a trilemma of “dogmatism versus infinite regress versus psychologism” used by Karl Popper. It is a reference to the problem of ‘bootstrapping’, based on the story of Baron Munchausen pulling himself and the horse on which he was sitting out of a mire by his own hair.
Based on the passage, wwhich one of the following does NOT follow based on the content of the text?
a. Karl Popper was a German philosopher.
b. There are three argument options when providing proof of whether any knowledge is true.
c. The axiomatic argument is one which rests on accepted precepts.
d. When each proof requires further proof ad infinitum, it is called a regressive argument.
e. Baron Munchausen rode a horse.
To answer this style of verbal psychometric test questions you need to read the passage to find the correct answer. Nowhere in the text does it mention Karl Popper’s origins. The text only says that Hans Albert was a German philosopher. Therefore, the correct answer is that Karl Popper was a German philosopher.
Numerical type of psychometric tests:
This type of psychometric test measures your ability to process numerical information in a logical manner to make decisions. Same as with verbal psychometric tests, it also measures your ability to identify and focus on the critical information rather than on all the information provided. The numerical psychometric test has several different test question styles.
Let’s review some examples of numerical psychometric test questions.
The first style of numerical psychometric test questions is questions which present numerical information in tables and/or graphs. Then you are asked a question based on the information presented. Let's check the following example psychometric test question:
What is the ratio of the differences in actual sales to target sales in Thailand and Italy during the fourth quarter?
To answer this numerical psychometric test question, we need to review the information provided in the table. According to the table, Thailand’s fourth-quarter sales target was 550, but actual sales were: 205 + 105 + 260 = 570. This is a difference of 20 (570 – 550). Italy’s target was 600 sales, but actual sales were: 125 + 250 + 240 = 615. The difference here was 15 (615 – 600). Therefore, the Thailand to Italy ratio of differences is 20:15 = 4:3.
A second styl of numerical psychometric test question is questions in which you are given a list of numbers displayed in triangles or long grids. Your task is to find what are the two missing numbers. Let's check the following example.
Psychometric test question:
To answer this psychometric test question you need to find the patterns or number sequences in this example. If we examine the numbers in the top line: 4, 12, 36... we can see that each consecutive number is product of multiplying the previous number by 3. For example, 4 x 3 = 12 and 12 x 3 = 36. Based on this the next number will be 36 x 3 = 108. The numbers at the bottom are created by subtracting 3 from the numbers above. For example, 4 - 3 = 1, 12 - 3 = 9, 36 - 3 = 33 and 108 - 3 = 105. The missing number at the bottom will be 108 x 3 = 324 then 324 - 3 = 321. So the missing numbers are 108 and 321.
A third style of numerical psychometric test question is a question on which you are given a list of numbers and a missing number. Your task is to find what is the value of the missing number
Let's review the following example psychometric test question::
1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, ?
What's the next number in this series?
This number series is based on the following sequence of numbers 1 squared, 2 squared, 3 squared, 4 squared, 5 squared, 6 squared. The next number is 7 squared (i.e. 49).
A forth style of numerical psychometric test question is a test question in which you are given a list of numbers in a 3 by 3 table with one missing number. Your task is to find what is the value of the missing number.
Let's check the following example psychometric test question::
What is the missing number that should replace the question mark?
To solve this style of psychometric test questions, you will need to analyse and find patterns in the numbers. In the horizontal rows, the pattern is for the numbers to increase by 2 going left to right. Therefore, the missing number to replace the question mark is: 17 – 2 = 15. Alternatively, you can look at the pattern in the vertical columns. Here, the numbers increase by 6 going top to bottom. Therefore, the missing number to replace question mark is: 9 + 6 = 15.
A fifth style of numerical psychometric test questions is a question in which you are given information and your task is to represent the information in numerical format to find to solve the problem.
Let's check the following example psychometric test question:
Steve has to figure out the number of animals to be placed in each of the small zoo's cages. He decided that the number of animals to be placed in each of the 6 cages will depend on the size of the cage in comparison to the other cages. One cage is four times the size of two of the zoo's cages and equal to the three other cages. What is the minimum number of animals in each cage?
This is a question that that requires you to represent verbal information in numerical format. Based on the information in the question, if X represents the number of animals in a small cage then 2X represents the number of animals in the bigger cage. Based on the information in the question, we can conclude that there are 4 big cages and 2 small ones.
To find the smallest number of animals in each cage is 1 in the small cage and 2 in the bigger cage. The smallest number of animals in all 6 cages is 2+2+2+2+1+1= 10.
Personality type Psychometric tests:
The second group of psychometric tests is measuring your personality profile. There are many types of personality psychometric tests. Each test measures a different set of personality traits. Each test, also measures your personality traits using a different style of psychometric test questions.
This group of psychometric tests is not using a timer and you are allowed to complete the tests at your own pace. This group of psychometric tests does not measure if you are better than others. It measures whether you trigger a risk to the employer hiring or promoting you based on your personality profile. In many cases, it is sufficient for one risk to be identified for employers to reject your application.
Let’s review some example of personality type psychometric tests:
In the first style of personality tests, you receive a list of statements and you need to state the extent to which you agree about each statement. Let's review an example personality test question for this style:
To what extent do you agree with the following statement:
People often turn out not be as nice as they seem.
• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
A second style of personality psychometric tests is one that each test question has 2-3 short personality statements. Your task is to decide which is most and which is least like you. This style of personality test question can get fairly challenging when you have equally desirable stamens in one question and you need to select which is the least like you or when you have not desirable statements and you need to decide which is the most like you. Let's review an example personality test question for this style:
Which is the least like you:
I am generous
I am confident
I like to be active
Emotional Intelligence type psychometric tests:
Emotional intelligence psychometric tests measure your ability to understand emotions, identify emotions and predict emotional responses. This type of psychometric tests use facial images, work-related or general scenarios to measure your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence psychometric tests are typically a part of the personality group of tests. However, some tests regard emotional intelligence to be an ability and therefore they add a timer to this type of psychometric test.
Let’s review some example of emotional intelligence type psychometric tests:
The first style of emotional intelligence test questions is using a scenario to measure your emotional intelligence. Please check the following example:
Joan felt stressed, and became a bit anxious when she thought about all the work she needed to do. When her manager brought her an additional project, she felt ____. (Select the best choice.)
a) Overwhelmed
b) Depressed
c) Ashamed
d) Self-conscious
e) Jittery
The correct answer is overwhelmed. Joan felt stressed before her manager brought her more work. The additional work given to her when she already was feeling under stress only increased the feeling and made her overwhelmed.
Another style of emotional intelligence psychometric test questions is questions in which you are shown photos of either scenery or faces. Let's check the following emotional intelligence psychometric test examples:
Types of psychometric tests:
You evaluate:
• Identify the people best suited to a particular job.
• See if you are a good fit for their company culture.
• Screen a lot of applicants without having to interview everyone.
Some employers are developing tests that you do through online games or apps. Tests are standardised and often timed. To perform well you need both speed and accuracy.
Tests used in application screening generally measure:
• Ability – your knowledge and skills.
• Aptitude – your natural ability to do something.
• Personality – things like your typical ways of thinking, motivations, interests, values and beliefs.
You’ll see tests of things like:
• Verbal reasoning – your ability to understand written information.
• Numerical reasoning – how you think using numbers.
• Abstract or spatial reasoning – your ability to understand patterns, logical rules or work with shapes.
• Personality - questions about how you behave, to predict how you might act in a work situation (there are no right or wrong answers).
• Situational judgement tests - set a scene and ask what you would do in that situation.
Psychometric testing for disabled people.
• Being able to use screen reading software
• Having extra time to complete the test.
Get in touch with the employer as soon as they ask you to take a test, to make sure these adjustments are made.
(Lezak 1976).
Throughout this document, these tests are purposely referred to as “neurodevelopmental” and are used in the life-span sense of development/neurodevelopment.
While the term “developmental” is often understood to refer to health and functioning in the prenatal and childhood periods, changes in brain structure, function, and organization begin at conception and continue across the life span.
Thus, this document uses a life-span developmental psychology approach to characterize brain health and function from conception through death. Indeed, this approach aligns with the approach adopted by many epidemiological studies that were established to study the effect of early life neurotoxicant exposures on neurodevelopment from infancy through childhood and adolescence and into adulthood.
Thus, tests are included and discussed in this document that assess adult function, as the administration of childhood tests would be inappropriate at older ages. This approach is consistent with the principle that very early exposures can affect brain structure, organization, and function across the life span and possibly in different ways at different points in the life span.
Psychometric test development began in the early 20th century when psychologists introduced the theory ofgor general intelligence, a term for an individual’s overall level of cognitive skills that affects their intellectual functioning. Early tests from Piaget, Binet, and Wechsler were developed to measureg. Although primitive compared with the sophisticated tests used contemporaneously, they included many features still used in contemporaneous tests, including several subtests; standardized instructions and test materials; scoring rules, and basic norms allowing for comparisons of performance among examinees of the same age, including child and adult populations.
These tests (especially Stanford-Binet and Wechsler) gave rise to the concept of IQ as an entity, generally quantified as a standard score of 100 as average, with a standard deviation (SD) of 15 or 16, depending on the test. It should be noted that such scores are not meant to serve as the sole measures of an individual’s aptitude or potential for future success given that they are influenced by a variety of factors (Spreen and Strauss 1991).
Systematic differences in test performance may exist if individuals come from a population that is distinct from the test’s target population or population used to design the test in terms of race/ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, etc. Thus, the scores are a kind of benchmark but are not a concrete entity.
Tests of academic achievement (reading, writing, mathematical skills) also began to appear in the educational psychology literature as school psychologists and personnel required means of assessing whether students were progressing at the expected rate in academic knowledge for age and grade level. These tests also grew in sophistication and became standardized over time.
Other tests that attempted to assess child development/neurodevelopment also began to appear that would allow pediatricians and other clinicians to determine if a child was on a normal neurodevelopmental trajectory or was behind or ahead for his/her age. Tests were also developed to determine if children had typical patterns of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, psychiatric, or personality traits (Spreen and Strauss 1991).
Around the mid-20th century, the field of clinical neuropsychology emerged and grew dramatically for several decades. In this field, psychometric tests are used to assess brain function to determine if it is normal or abnormal. If abnormalities are noted, the neuropsychologist may opine on the specific brain structures or systems that are dysfunctional or their likely neurological cause.
It had been known since the 1800s that some parts of the brain were responsible for specific kinds of behavior. Discoveries of these relationships stemmed from brain autopsy findings from symptomatic patients. For example, patients with lesions in certain parts of the frontal lobes developed the inability to speak (expressive aphasia), while patients with lesions in posterior portions of the temporal lobes could speak but could not comprehend the speech of others (receptive aphasia).
As more associations between specific brain regions and behavioral and cognitive functions became apparent, the notion of structure-function relationships within the brain became more prominent. An impetus for this field was the absence of neuroimaging techniques that are now available by which clinicians could visualize brain tumors, strokes, and other kinds of lesions related to neurological illnesses (e.g., multiple sclerosis plaques, effects of traumatic brain injury).
When patients presented to physicians with new acute neurological symptoms, it was important to diagnose how the brain was malfunctioning and which parts of the brain might be affected in order to determine whether a neurosurgical intervention might help or cure the patient (White 1992).
Although neurologists and other clinicians could assess behaviors to try to localize structural damage in the brain, the techniques were generally specific to individual clinicians and not systematically quantified or comparable among clinicians. Individual neuropsychologists and the field of neuropsychology applied standardized psychometric methods to the evaluation of specific aspects of brain function in attempts to determine whether a neurological condition might be present and associated with abnormal test scores, where the lesions/abnormalities in the brain might be located, and possible underlying diagnoses (e.g., dementias, seizure disorders). In fact, neurosurgeons sometimes relied on the lesion location diagnoses of neuropsychologists to treat patients. Some neuropsychologists approached this work by developing new tests designed to assess specific aspects of brain function.
For example, the Halstead-Reitan group developed a battery of 10 tests that assessed motor function on both sides of the body, conceptual reasoning skills, working memory, and other skills. Other neuropsychological groups developed their own tests of brain function but also drew from existing psychometric tests that had already been developed, standardized, and normed to determine if these instruments could aid in assessing the functional integrity of the brain and locating lesions in specific brain areas or systems.
Thus, the existing IQ tests and their subtests became included in this clinical and research endeavor. As time has passed, an extensive literature has developed describing what these various kinds of tests demonstrate about specific types of brain damage and neurological disorders, validating the tests applied as measures of CNS function and, in fact, as specific indicators of certain kinds of disordered (or functional) brain-behavior relationships. This knowledge continues to evolve given the capacity to “watch” the brain and its systems function as participants undergo tests and carry out behaviors through methods like functional brain imaging (White and Reuben In Press).
Initially, the field of neuropsychology was focused heavily on adults. This probably arose from the greater number of adult patients with neurological disorders. It also could be related, however, to the fact that localized lesions with predictable behavioral anomalies are more common in adults. When a lesion or disorder appears in the developed adult brain, structure-function relationships are well established, and it is often clear where the problem might be.
Neurodevelopment is more complicated. During child development, the brain is more plastic with regard to how specific structures mediate behaviors, is capable of compensating when a structure or brain area is diseased (or even absent), can be influenced by acute or chronic exposures during susceptible periods, and develops and expresses behavior in a dynamic fashion given the circumstances occurring at any stage of development.
Because of all these considerations, structure-function relationships in early brain development are more diffuse and less “focal” than in adults, and insults to the developing brain—both toxicants and other neurological conditions—may have different effects than would insults on the mature brain.
Given these circumstances, neurodevelopmental assessments have used a combination of existing tests for children (e.g., IQ, developmental, academic); adaptations of adult tests for children; and specialized tests that have been developed, standardized, normed, and validated in clinical populations (e.g., Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Behavior Assessment System for Children, Child Behavior Checklist, tests that assess clinical conditions in children) (White 2004).
Almost all psychometric tests provide raw scores that can be converted into standard or scaled scores (mean = 10, SD = 3), T-scores (mean = 50, SD = 10), standard scores (mean = 100, SD = 15), and corresponding percentiles using normative or reference data. This practice allows participants’ scores to be compared with one another after removing the effects of age, sex, or other characteristics on each participant’s raw score. For instance, even within narrow age intervals, older children have higher average raw scores on tests of mental and psychomotor development than younger children.
By using standard scores, the traits of participants who are different ages (or other characteristics) can be compared. Moreover, an individual’s performance over time can be examined in relation to reference or normative data. Such comparisons between groups or within individuals over time are often made in terms of number of points or in units of SDs away from the average score.
Note that normative data are not required for comparison of scores between individuals when appropriate measures are taken to validly analyze raw scores; however, normative data are necessary and routinely used when making decisions about an individual’s health care, clinical diagnosis, vocational services, education, legal status, etc. In addition, when appropriate normative data are available, they can be used as the outcome in statistical models.
There is a longstanding tension regarding the interpretation of results from population-based studies that examine neurodevelopmental toxicity. Generally, this friction arises from the lack of consensus regarding the “clinical significance” of effects observed in epidemiological studies. In clinical situations, it is appropriate to refer to “abnormalities” or “deficits” in a functional area when an examinee performs poorly on a test (usually 1–2 SDs away from the average score). In epidemiological studies, effect sizes often fall short of being clinically significant in that they occur within the “normal range” of test performance and are typically less than half of an SD away from the average score. However, subtle shifts in a continuous trait can have profound impacts on the tails of a distribution in a population
(Needleman 1990;Rose 1985;2001;Weiss 2000). For instance, a 5-point decrease in a population’s IQ would nearly double the number of people classified as intellectually disabled (Braun 2017). Finally, it is important to refer to subclinical or preclinical findings of lower scores in these situations as “decrements” in performance or “diminished” performance, rather than “deficits” or “impairments” (White and Reuben In Press).
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Test Domains:
In the fields of neurodevelopmental psychometric tests and neuropsychology, psychologists often talk about “domains” of behavior. These domains are generally highly functional in nature—that is, they focus on a particular kind of activity such as attention. They are helpful in some ways simply because they allow investigators to group tests into meaningful categories. However, some other issues about the domains are important to consider, which are discussed below.
While these descriptions of neurodevelopment traits are presented as if they are isolated attributes, it is acknowledged that they are dimensional traits that interact with other domains in determining behavior. Indeed, this type of framework (e.g., Research Domain Criteria) has been adopted by the National Institute of Mental Health to complement the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual approach to characterizing mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders (Morris and Cuthbert 2012).
First, domains roughly map onto the functioning of specific brain regions, but there is generally not a one-to-one correspondence between a domain and a brain region. For instance, while the capacity to pay attention and to monitor or inhibit behaviors is strongly related to functioning of the frontal lobe, other brain regions (e.g., striatum) may also be involved in these behaviors. Similarly, learning and memory functions are mediated by the limbic system, especially the hippocampus and related structures, although other brain structures play a role. Second, many psychometric instruments that are applied in the fields of neurodevelopment, neuropsychological assessment, and developmental neurotoxicity are omnibus tests for which performance is determined by many different kinds of behavioral processes at the same time and do not fit neatly into a functional domain.
Related, some individual tests require highly complex integration of many kinds of functions, and even tests or subtests considered to be domain-focused often rely on several brain regions for successful performance. These kinds of tests may better fit under a category such as “multi-determined tests,” but this is difficult to do because all tests rely on more than one type of ability (i.e., no test is a pure measure of the trait). Interestingly, the tests with many functional demands are often sensitive to an insult such as a neurotoxicant exposure, although they generally do not reveal very much about what portions of the brain the insult has affected.
For example, coding tests require respondents to look at a code that pairs symbols with digits and to write in the appropriate digit in a blank space below the symbol according to the code. This task requires an examinee to recognize visual symbols, write quickly and accurately, scan visual arrays quickly, form associations to remember pairs of symbols, inhibit interference from outside stimuli, follow rows and columns, and so on. These multiple determinants of response quality affect the ultimate score—a deficit in any one of them can reduce the score. This is less true of tests that require only paying attention, or writing quickly, or remembering data.
Finally, there are subdomains associated with each domain. For example, “attention” can include the ability to recognize stimuli, capacity to ignore irrelevant stimuli, speed of responding to stimuli, ability to repeat back numbers in order, and so on. Verbal tests can include the ability to provide abstract definitions of vocabulary words, comprehension of spoken language, and/or comprehension of written language. Toxicant-related decrements in performance within each of these subdomains can have different implications for the effects of the exposure on specific structures or systems within the brain during neurodevelopment.
The domains defined here refer to those that were used to evaluate the psychometric outcomes included in the neurodevelopmental research under discussion.Appendix Acontains a list of the domains and the tests categorized within each domain (White 2004).
Omnibus Tests
General intelligence/IQ: Tests measuring general intelligence purport to assess the examinee’s overall level of cognitive or intellectual abilities, usually by applying a variety of types of intellectual challenges.
Academic achievement: Tests in this domain evaluate the child’s ability to carry out academic skills such as reading, spelling, vocabulary, arithmetic, and more complex abilities.
Developmental: These tests assess how successfully an infant or child is acquiring age-appropriate verbal, motor, and social skills.
Neuropsychological assessment batteries: These tests assess a variety of the domain-specific functions described below and may or may not include an overall test score (usually they do not).
Clinical Assessment Instruments
Clinical conditions: These tests assess a specific diagnostic outcome or set of outcomes (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit disorder, anxiety disorders, neuropsychiatric conditions) to produce a criterion-based clinical diagnosis.
Mental status: Mental status examinations are screening tools used to determine whether an individual’s cognitive function is within expected limits for age.
Domain-specific Tests;
Attention: This domain includes evaluation of capacity to monitor incoming stimuli, inhibit responses to irrelevant stimuli, hold small bits of information for immediate use (“pre-memory”), and listen to instructions and communications. The prefrontal cortex prominently mediates performance on these tasks.
Executive function: Executive function refers to the capacity to manipulate complex stimuli, reason abstractly, develop effective strategies for task completion, and problem solve. It is broadly defined by three subdomains: working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition. Working memory refers to the capacity to hold and simultaneously manipulate information and data from stimuli for task completion.
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adjust behavior in the face of changing demands and goals. Inhibition includes both the ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli or suppress a triggered behavior to sustain efforts to complete a goal. Relevant brain structures include the prefrontal cortex and subcortical white matter connections.
Motor function: Fine motor control, speed, accuracy, and coordination are the key components of motor function. This domain is usually assessed using the hand (manual motor skills). Relevant brain structures that support completion of these tasks include the motor cortex of the frontal lobes, the cerebellum, and the extrapyramidal system (e.g., basal ganglia).
Learning and memory: Learning and memory comprise several processes that include coding visual or verbal information into short-term memory stores, retaining information longer term, recalling newly learned information spontaneously, and recognizing newly learned information that may or may not be recalled spontaneously. Retrograde memory refers to the ability to recall information learned in the more distant past. Brain structures related to learning and memory include the limbic system, specifically the hippocampus, and frontal cortex.
Social-emotional: This domain encompasses expressions of affect or mood (temporary or chronic), including anxiety, depression, and irritability; ability to control strong emotions or reactions to events or people; communication patterns; traits such as tendency to externalize (often associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] diagnosis) or internalize (often associated with diagnosis of depression); reciprocal social behaviors, repetitive and restricted behaviors (often associated with autism spectrum disorder [ASD]); and personality traits. Relevant brain structures include the prefrontal cortex and limbic system.
Verbal/language: Verbal skills include recognition of word meanings, ability to define vocabulary words abstractly, and comprehension of verbalizations. This domain is sometimes subdivided into verbal and language, with language skills referring more directly to skills associated with aphasia, such as confrontation naming, repetition, simple comprehension, and simple writing and reading. Most aspects of language/verbal function are mediated by the dominant cerebral hemisphere (usually left hemisphere, though aspects of complex interpretation of verbal information and appreciation of verbally expressed humor often involve the nondominant hemisphere).
Visuospatial function: This domain includes the ability to evaluate pictures and drawings with missing details, appreciate and replicate visual designs and drawings, recognize gestalts, detect embedded figures, understand maps and navigate directions, perform facial and abstract design recognition, and complete puzzle and block design assembly. (Tests within this domain sometimes have a significant motor component.) Relevant brain structures include the parietal and occipital lobes, the cerebellum, the extrapyramidal system, and subcortical white matter connections.
Processing speed: Time to complete tasks is assessed by this domain, which in recent years has been added to IQ and other omnibus tests. No parent tests assessing processing speed were identified in the epidemiological studies from the in-progress EPA IRIS toxicological review of MeHg, resulting in no evaluation table for this domain inAppendix B. Subtests belonging to omnibus tests that assess processing speed have been identified and listed for this domain. Relevant brain structures include the frontal and prefrontal cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia, and the white matter connections within the brain.
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