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Objective: The present study aims to analyze the psychometric characteristics of the TeLPI (Irregular Words Reading Test), a Portuguese premorbid intelligence test, using the Rasch model for dichotomous items. Results: The results reveal an overall adequacy and a good fit of values regarding both items and persons. A high variability of cognitive performance level and a good quality of the measurements were also found. The TeLPI has proved to be a unidimensional measure with reduced DIF effects. Conclusions: The present findings contribute to overcome an important gap in the psychometric validity of this instrument and provide good evidence of the overall psychometric validity of TeLPI results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the effects of age, education, gender, computer experience, institutionalization time, and psychotropic drug use on performance on four tests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) which are recommended for the assessment of dementia (Rapid Visual Information Processing [RVP], Paired Associates Learning [PAL], Spatial Working Memory [SWM], and Reaction Time [RTI]), and to provide norms for Portuguese older persons without neuropsychiatric diagnoses who are living in retirement homes. Method: The normative sample included 128 adults aged 69-96 years who had no neuropsychiatric diagnosis and who had lived in retirement homes for 3-232 months. The CANTAB was administered, at the latest, one week after a screening session that comprised an interview and the administration of pencil-and-paper tests. Results: The simultaneous multiple linear regression models were significant (p < .05) for all tests except the RTI five-choice movement time measure. The total variance explained by the socio-demographic variables was smaller for the CANTAB measures (4-14%) than for the pencil-and-paper tests (10-33%). Significant effects involving age or gender were observed for RVP, PAL, and SWM. A marginally significant computer experience effect was found for the RTI simple movement time measure. We additionally observed significant effects of education, age, gender, and computer experience on several pencil-and-paper tests. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that different socio-demographic variables influence distinct tests and measures of the same test, and that the associations between computer experience and several pencil-andpaper tests may be mediated by possible cognitive skills developed through computer use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study we analyzed the psychometric characteristics of the MoCA (Portuguese version) using the Rasch model for dichotomous items. The total sample comprised of 897 participants distributed between two main subgroups: (I) healthy group that was comprised of 650 cognitively healthy community dwellers and (II) clinical group that was comprised of 90 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, 90 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, 33 patients with frontotemporal dementia, and 34 patients with vascular dementia recruited at a reference dementia clinic. All patients were investigated through a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment, laboratory tests essential to exclude a reversible form of dementia, imaging studies (CT or MRI and SPECT or FDG-PET), Apolipoprotein E allele genotyping and CSF biomarker (A?42,Tau, and P-tau) analyses. The clinical diagnosis was established through the consensus of a multidisciplinary team, based on international criteria. The results demonstrated an overall good fit of both items and the person’s values, a high variability on cognitive performance level, and a good quality of the measurements. The MoCA scores also demonstrated adequate discriminant validity, with high diagnostic value. DIF analyses indicated the generalized validity of the MoCA scores. In conclusion, the results of this study show the overall psychometric adequacy of the MoCA and verify the discriminant and generalized validity of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]