Increasing the Ecological Validity of Traditional Neuropsychological Assessments

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to create a version of a traditional neuropsychological assessment, the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT-R), that is ecologically valid by adding an audio distraction to the standardized test setting. Additionally, a subjective memory questionnaire (SMQ) was given to determine if the participants’ views about their own memory may be related to the difference in scores on the HVLT-R. Forty-eight healthy college-aged individuals were given the HVLT-R with and without an audio distraction, in addition to other standardized assessments and questionnaires. The participants were predicted to perform worse on average on the version of the HVLT-R with the audio distraction. Overall, the difference in scores from the HVLT-R without audio to the audio distraction condition was not significant. Also, scores on the SMQ were not shown to be related to the difference scores of the HVLT-R with and without an audio distraction.