Practice effects and the use of alternate forms in serial neuropsychological testing
Abstract
Accurate understanding of practice characteristics, performance stability, and error on neuropsychological tests is essential to both valid clinical assessment and maximization of signal detection for clinical trials of cognitive enhancing drugs. We examined practice effects in 28 healthy adults. As part of a larger study using donepezil and simulating a Phase I trial, participants were randomized into: placebo, no-treatment and donepezil. Donepezil results are presented elsewhere. Neuropsychological tests were administered in a fixed order for 6 weeks, with alternate forms available for most tests. Despite alternate forms, ANOVAs revealed significant improvements for the pooled control group (placebo and no-treatment) on all tests except Letter Number Sequencing and Trails B. Learning occurred principally in the first three to four sessions. PASAT and Stroop interference showed the greatest learning. Thus, serial assessment with alternate forms may attenuate retest effects on some tests, but continued learning occurs on novel tests or those in which an advantageous test-taking strategy can be identified. Alternate forms and baseline practice sessions may help control early, rapid improvements in clinical trials.
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Re-administration of measures over time tends to result in artificially improved performance.
“The re-administration of measures over time tends to result in artificially improved performance”
From Neurocognitive effects of theta burst stimulation for treatment-resistant depression in adults: A systematic review and recommendations for future research (2025) · cites this paper as Beglinger et al., 2005
When alternate forms are used and/or reliable change indices are employed, practice effects may be reduced and better understood.
“however, when alternate forms are used and or reliable change indices are employed, these practice effects may be reduced and better understood (Beglinger et al., 2005;Benedict and Zgaljardic, 1998).”
From Neurocognitive effects of theta burst stimulation for treatment-resistant depression in adults: A systematic review and recommendations for future research (2025) · cites this paper as Beglinger et al., 2005
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References 36 · Cited by 362
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- Authors
- BEGLINGER, L., GAYDOS, B., TANGPHAODANIELS, O., DUFF, K., KAREKEN, D., CRAWFORD, J., FASTENAU, P., & SIEMERS, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Iowa (US)
- Eli Lilly (United States) (US)
- Indiana University School of Medicine (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (US)
- Corresponding author
- BEGLINGER, L
- Venue
- Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2005-06
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 517-529
- ISSN
- 0887-6177 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2058804611
- Cited by
- 362
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 14.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical and Modern Theater Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- practice effects, alternate test forms, retest effects, performance stability, test-taking strategies, donepezil, nootropic drugs, signal detection, clinical trials, Stroop interference, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, letter-number sequencing
- MeSH terms
- Donepezil, Adult, Double-Blind Method, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Indans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Piperidines, Practice, Psychological, Reference Values, Time Factors, Reproducibility of Results, Signal Detection, Psychological, Nootropic Agents
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