A comparison of computerized and standard versions of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

The manual version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is the most frequently used neuropsychological instrument for differentiating normal from populations with frontal-lobe impairments. A number of computerized versions have become available, and their ability to accurately detect frontal-lobe dysfunction is based on the assumption of equivalence with the standard manual version. Accordingly, comparisons of the distribution properties of central tendency, variability, and shape between the manual version with four computerized versions of the WCST were performed (n = 22 per condition). None of the computerized versions were found to be equivalent to the manual version on all assessment measures. Given the discrepancies between the manual and computerized versions, it is concluded that the norms provided for the standard manual presentation method should not be used for the computerized versions, and for continued use of the computerized versions, new norms for computer versions need to be established. Thus, clinicians and experimenters must use caution when basing conclusions on scores from computer versions of the WCST.