Cognitive Assessment and the WAIS-5

Vocabulary flashcards covering cognitive testing fundamentals, historical foundations, WAIS-5 index domains, specific subtests, and Cross-Battery Assessment (XBA).

Cognitive tests

Performance-based assessment instruments composed of a series of tasks of increasing difficulty with correct and incorrect responses, designed to measure maximal performance.

Processing speed

The cognitive ability to perform simple, repetitive tasks quickly and fluently with speed and accuracy.

Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale (1905)

The first successful intelligence test, which removed subjectivity by utilizing tasks of increasing difficulty administered under experimental conditions to elicit maximal performance.

Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI)

A WAIS-5 index designed to evaluate a person's ability to demonstrate acquired knowledge and verbal skills using language.

Visual Spatial Index (VSI)

A WAIS-5 index assessing the ability to understand spatial relationships, mentally rotate objects, and solve visual problems physically or mentally.

Fluid Reasoning Index (FRI)

A WAIS-5 index measuring the capacity to think, reason logically, and solve novel problems without relying on language.

Working Memory Index (WMI)

A WAIS-5 index measuring the ability to hold information in immediate memory and mentally manipulate or work with it.

Processing Speed Index (PSI)

A WAIS-5 index measuring the ability to complete simple, repetitive cognitive tasks rapidly and accurately.

Similarities (WAIS-5)

A primary VCI subtest where the participant is asked to identify and explain what feature two given words share or how they are alike.

Vocabulary (WAIS-5)

A primary VCI subtest where the participant is asked to orally define the meaning of presented words.

Block Design (WAIS-5)

A primary VSI subtest in which the participant uses three-dimensional blocks to reproduce a model or printed visual design within a time frame.

Visual Puzzles (WAIS-5)

A primary VSI subtest where the participant views a completed puzzle and selects three options that fit together to form it.

Matrix Reasoning (WAIS-5)

A primary FRI subtest where the participant examines an incomplete matrix or pattern and selects the missing part from five choices.

Figure Weights (WAIS-5)

A primary FRI subtest where the participant chooses from five options the weight that will balance a two-sided scale.

Digit Sequencing (WAIS-5)

A primary WMI subtest where the participant listens to a series of numbers and repeats them resequenced in order from smallest to largest.

Digit Span Forwards

A secondary subtest administered before Digit Sequencing in which the client repeats numbers in the exact sequence presented.

Running Digits (WAIS-5)

A primary WMI subtest where the examiner recites an unpredictable length of digits and the client is required to recall and repeat the final digits spoken once stopped.

Coding (WAIS-5)

A primary PSI subtest requiring the participant to transcribe symbols paired with numbers using a key under strict time limits.

Symbol Search (WAIS-5)

A primary PSI subtest requiring the participant to visually scan an array within a time limit to determine whether target symbols are present or absent.

Picture Span (WISC-V)

A subtest where a child views one or more stimulus images for three seconds and then points to them in the correct sequential order from an array of distractors.

Cross-Battery Assessment (XBA)

An assessment approach where practitioners administer subtests from more than one test battery to evaluate a comprehensive range of broad abilities that single batteries fail to capture.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory

A contemporary theoretical framework of human cognitive abilities with which Cross-Battery Assessment (XBA) aligns.