The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Ecological Validity of Neuropsychological Tests: A Review of the Literature on Everyday Cognitive Skills
Abstract
Evaluating the ecological validity of neuropsychological tests has become an increasingly important topic over the past decade. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the research on the ecological validity of neuropsychological tests, as it pertains to everyday cognitive skills. This review is presented in the context of several theoretical issues facing ecological validity research. Overall, the research suggests that many neuropsychological tests have a moderate level of ecological validity when predicting everyday cognitive functioning. The strongest relationships were noted when the outcome measure corresponded to the cognitive domain assessed by the neuropsychological tests. Several other factors that may moderate the degree of ecological validity established for neuropsychological tests are in need of further exploration. These factors include the effects of the population being tested, the approach utilized (verisimilitude vs. veridicality), the person completing the outcome measure (significant other vs. clinician), illness severity, and time from injury until evaluation. In addition, a standard measurement of outcome for each cognitive domain is greatly needed to allow for comparison across studies.
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“Traditionally, neuropsychological tests are associated with moderate degree of ecological validity (31)”
From Neuropsychological Research in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions (2021) · cites this paper as [31]
In the citing paper
“individuals may display intact performance on a task in a quiet room but may show significant difficulties in everyday settings due to the marked impact of psychopathological symptoms on cognitive functions (31)”
From Neuropsychological Research in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions (2021) · cites this paper as [31]
In the citing paper
“The ‘task impurity problem’ in neuropsychology is a longstanding issue inherent to cognitive testing, where a several interrelated but distinct cognitive demands are reflected in a single test score (31)”
From Neuropsychological Research in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions (2021) · cites this paper as [31]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Chaytor, N., & Schmitter-Edgecombe, M.
- Affiliations
- Washington State University (US)
- ORCID
- Chaytor, Naomi
- Venue
- Neuropsychology Review
- Published
- 2003-12
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 181-197
- ISSN
- 1040-7308 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6660
- OpenAlex
- W1971466676
- Cited by
- 1,055
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 66 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 66 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 66 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 63 · 2015: 64 · 2014: 63 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 13.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuropsychology Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Washington State University
- 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 Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- ecological validity, neuropsychological assessment, functional outcome measures, verisimilitude, veridicality, outcome measure validity, cognitive domain, injury severity, time since injury
- MeSH terms
- Cognition Disorders, Environment, Humans, Neuropsychological Tests, Time Factors, Reproducibility of Results
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