The Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) for Comprehensive Neuropsychological Assessment

Abstract

The Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) is known as a representative comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation tool in Korea since its first standardization in 2003. It was the main neuropsychological evaluation tool in the Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea, a large-scale multi-center cohort study in Korea that was started in 2005. Since then, it has been widely used by dementia clinicians, and further solidified its status as a representative dementia evaluation tool in Korea. Many research results related to the SNSB have been used as a basis for the diagnosis and evaluation of patients in various clinical settings, especially, in many areas of cognitive assessment, including dementia evaluation. The SNSB version that was updated in 2012 provides psychometrically improved norms and indicators through a model-based standardization procedure based on a theoretical probability distribution in the norm’s development. By providing a score for each cognitive domain, it is easier to compare cognitive abilities between domains and to identify changes in cognitive domain functions over time. Through the development of the SNSB-Core, a short form composed of core tests, which also give a composite score was provided. The SNSB is a useful test battery that provides key information on the evaluation of early cognitive decline, analysis of cognitive decline patterns, judging the severity of dementia, and differential diagnosis of dementia. This review will provide a broad understanding of the SNSB by describing the test composition, contents of individual subtests, characteristics of standardization, analysis of the changed standard score, and related studies.

Striatal dopamine transporter uptake, parkinsonism and cognition in Alzheimer's disease

“…All participants completed the standardized Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) [12], which is described in our previous study (Supplementary Material, Data S1) [13].…”

Differential Implications of Cerebral Hypoperfusion and Hyperperfusion in Parkinson's Disease

“…At baseline, 261 (66.2%) patients with PD underwent a standardized neuropsychological battery test called the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, which contains tests that assess attention/working memory, language, visuospatial function, verbal and visual memory, and frontal/executive function 15 . Standardized z scores were available for all scorable tests based on age‐ and education‐matched norms.…”

“…At baseline, 261 (66.2%) patients with PD underwent a standardized neuropsychological battery test called the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, which contains tests that assess attention/ working memory, language, visuospatial function, verbal and visual memory, and frontal/executive function. 15 Standardized z scores were available for all scorable tests based on age-and education-matched norms. We included the following tests to calculate the cognitive composite scores: the digit span forward and backward for the attention domain; the Korean version of the Boston Naming Test for the language domain; copying item of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test…”

Hippocampal Perfusion Affects Motor and Cognitive Functions in Parkinson Disease: An Early Phase 18F‐FP‐CIT Positron Emission Tomography Study

“…At the initial assessment, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III (UPDRS‐III) was used to assess the severity of parkinsonian motor deficits. All patients underwent a detailed neuropsychological battery test (Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery [SNSB] 22 ) to assess the baseline cognitive performance level. The time interval between assessments was <3 months.…”

“…Additionally, the patients with PD underwent serial cognitive assessments using the K‐MMSE and Clock Drawing Test annually (Level I tests) 28 . For patients with cognitive decline or activities of daily living (ADL) impairments (Level I), a comprehensive neuropsychological battery (SNSB 22 ) was subsequently conducted to examine the pattern of cognitive deficits and diagnose PDD at Level II, if applicable 28 . The diagnosis of PDD was established through a consensus between 2 neurologists and a neuropsychologist, based on the clinical diagnostic criteria proposed by the Movement Disorder Society Task Force 29 .…”