Development and initial validation of an Arabic version of the Expanded Trail Making Test: implications for...

Area of Science:

• Neuropsychology
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Cognitive assessment

Background:

• Neuropsychological tests are crucial for diagnosing brain damage.
• Standardized tests may not be culturally equivalent across diverse populations.
• Ethnocultural factors can influence cognitive test performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Arabic version of the Expanded Trail Making Test.
• To compare neuropsychological performance between Sudanese and U.S. populations.
• To identify potential ethnocultural biases in cognitive assessments.

Main Methods:

• Administered the Arabic Expanded Trail Making Test to Sudanese normal and brain-damaged subjects.
• Compared their performance to U.S. normal and brain-damaged subjects using the standard English version.
• Assessed preliminary psychometric properties of the Arabic test version.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in test performance were observed between the groups.
• Sudanese normal subjects performed similarly to U.S. brain-damaged subjects.
• Preliminary psychometric properties of the Arabic version were established.

Conclusions:

• Ethnocultural factors significantly impact performance on the Expanded Trail Making Test.
• Results highlight the need to consider cultural context in neuropsychological diagnostics.
• Findings suggest potential for reducing diagnostic errors by accounting for ethnocultural variations.