Convergent validity of executive organization measures on cancellation

Authors: Woods, Adam¹; Mark, Victor²

Source: Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (Neuropsychology, Developm, Volume 29, Number 7, October 2007 , pp. 719-723(5)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

Cancellation tests have traditionally been used to measure visuospatial neglect. Recently, such tests have also been viewed as potential measures of executive function. Mark and colleagues (2004; Disorganized search on cancellation is not a consequence of neglect. Neurology, 63, 78-84) developed three objective measures of organization based on reconstructing target-marking pathways from one form of a cancellation test: mean inter-target distance, path intersection rate, and a quantification of overall path uniformity (i.e., predominantly radial versus horizontal cancellation progress) that they termed "best r". However, the validity of these measures with respect to a subjective judgment of organization was not assessed. In the present study, 50 observers rated the overall organization of 50 reconstructed pathways from stroke patients and non-brain-injured adults to allow evaluating the convergent validity of the three proposed executive organization measures. Inter-target distance (r = .86), intersection rate (r = .87), and best r (r = -.69) were all found to be highly correlated with observer ratings. These results indicate good convergent validity for all three executive organization measures on a form of the cancellation test.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13825580600954264

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA 2: Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

Publication date: 2007-10-01