Computerized versus manual versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Implications with typically developing and ADHD children

ARÁN FILIPPETTI, VANESSA; KRUMM, GABRIELA L.; RAIMONDI, WALDINA

Applied Neuropsychology: Child

Taylor & Francis

Año: 2020 p. 230 - 245

2162-2965

The aims of study1 (S1) were (i) to compare the task performance of 361 typically developing (TD)children aged 7 to 12 years, according to the mode of WCST administration(manual vs. computerized), and ii) to examine the contributions of executivefunctions (EFs) (i.e., working memory (WM), shifting and inhibition) to eachWCST version. The objectives of study 2 (S2) were (i) to study thecomparability of the results obtained from the manual version to the resultsfrom the computer version in 44 children with ADHD and (ii) to compare taskperformance on both versions between children with ADHD and TD children. Theeffect of age was only significant for the manual WCST. Regression analysesrevealed that WM and shifting contributed to manual WCST performance, whereasWM and inhibition contributed to the performance on the computer version. Weobserved differences depending on the WCST mode of administration, as highervalues for the manual version were recorded for both TD children and childrenwith ADHD, despite similar performance on tasks involving other EFs. Additionally,children with ADHD performed worse than TD children on both versions. Our findingssuggest that verbal face-to-face interactions wouldplay a significant role in supporting children?s abilities to solve novelsituations characterized by uncertainty.