Comparative Study Between North American and Brazilian Children in the Computerized and Manual Versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Abstract

The WCST has shown to be useful in detecting frontal-lobe dysfunctions in patients with ADHD, schizophrenic patients, Parkinson's disease. The computerized version of the WCST is based on the same normative data developed previously for the standard (manual) 128-card version. However, the equivalence of the measures of both versions has not yet been investigated.The present study investigated the performance of a sample of Brazilian children aged 6-10 years, using the computerized version of the WCST. The results were compared to those of Brazilian and American children which used the manual version.The Brazilian sample in the present study was composed of 400 children. The comparison between groups was carried out by age-group using t student test.Results showed significant differences of North American children (manual version) in almost all measures in the age groups, where the Brazilian children presented a poorer performance. The comparison between the Brazilian samples (manual and computerized version) showed differences only in some measures; however, children of the present study obtained higher scores than those which used the manual version.In conclusion, the differences between computerized and manual versions in both Brazilian samples indicate that the norms provided for the manual version should not be used for the computerized version. The comparison between American and Brazilian samples also indicates that regional normative data must be provided for computerized WCST adaptations.