TBI and Nonverbal Executive Functioning: Examination of a Modified Design Fluency Test's Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Focal Frontal Injury

• Published in: Applied neuropsychology. Adult Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 257 - 262
• Main Authors: Soble, Jason R., Donnell, Alison J., Belanger, Heather G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA Taylor & Francis Group 01-01-2013; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive ability; design fluency; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Medical sciences; neuropsychological assessment; nonverbal executive functioning; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; traumatic brain injury; Human; Nervous system diseases; Executive function; Frontal lobe; neuropsychological assessment; Fluence; Central nervous system; Neuropsychological test; traumatic brain injury; Psychometrics; Cognition; Test reliability; Encephalon; Test validation; nonverbal executive functioning; Head trauma; design fluency; psychometrics
• ISSN: 2327-9095; 2327-9109
• DOI: 10.1080/09084282.2012.713056

The purpose of this study was to investigate a modified version of the Design Fluency Test (DFT; Jones-Gotman & Milner,
1977
) to establish its psychometric properties and clinical sensitivity to frontal traumatic brain injury (TBI). Twenty-five participants with moderate-to-severe TBI and focal frontal injury confirmed on magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography, and 25 participants with TBI and nonfrontal focal injury were administered a modified fixed version of the DFT (Russell & Starkey,
1993
). Analyses revealed that this modified DFT demonstrated excellent interrater agreement and consistency. This measure also demonstrated modest convergent validity with established measures of executive function abilities and discriminant validity with measures of other cognitive domains. Lastly, participants with frontal TBI generated significantly fewer novel designs compared with participants with nonfrontal focal injury. However, no significant differences were detected with regard to the total number of errors committed. Collectively, these results suggest that this fixed version of the DFT is a reliable measure of nonverbal executive functioning sensitive to frontal TBI.