NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

WISCONSIN CARD SORTING TEST (WCST)

PRESENTED BY:

HEIDY JUBELLY BAHAMÓN TAFUR ID: 544185

VALENTINA FIERRO MONTENEGRO ID: 649549

MARÍA ALEJANDRA RAMIREZ ID: 553031

DAVID CERQUERA ID: 511211

TO THE TEACHER: DIANA CAROLINA CHAVARRO BARRERA

UNIVERSITY CORPORATION GOD'S MINUTE

FACULTY OF HUMAN SCIENCES

UNDERGRADUATE IN PSYCHOLOGY

NEIVA HUILA
 2018

INTRODUCTION

When talking about executive functions, references are made to a concept specific to the field of

neuropsychology that encompasses a wide range of cognitive abilities and are associated with the frontal

lobe.

The WCST or Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was devised by Grant and Berg to evaluate the ability to

abstract, form concepts, and change cognitive strategies in response to changes in environmental

contingencies. In other words, the Wisconsin test (Grant and Berg, 1948; Heaton, 1981) has traditionally

been used as a test to generate changes in the response set. Subsequently, Milner (1963) contributed to

establishing this task as essential in the evaluation of alterations in the executive control of attention

resulting from lesions in the frontal lobe (Cepeda, 2000; Stuss, 2002).

The WCST which will be described in the course of this work; allows the measurement of some

executive functions such as flexibility, task switching or inhibition; which are associated with the frontal

lobe.

This test has a clinical and psychological value since it allows, through its development, to determine

possible damage to the brain region, belonging to the frontal lobe.

(Admin, 2018)
 AIM

• Complete the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) data sheet.

• Identify the executive functions assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

(WCST)
 WISCONSIN CARD SORTING TEST (WCST)

This is a neuropsychological test used to measure executive functions such as flexibility, task switching,

or inhibition.

Since 1948, this test has been used by neuropsychology and clinical psychologists in patients with

acquired brain damage, neurodegenerative disease or mental illness such as schizophrenia.

This test is used to measure frontal lobe dysfunction, as it allows the clinician to speculate about the

functions it controls.

DATA SHEET

Original Name: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Name: WCST- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Author: DA Grant and EA Berg (1948).

Manual Authors: Robert K. Heaton, Gordon J. Chelune, Jack L. Talley, Gary G. Kay and Glenn

Curtiss

Spanish adaptation: María Victoria de la Cruz (Dept. R&D of TEA Ediciones)

Application: single

Age of application: children, adolescents and adults between the ages of 6 and a half and 89 years.

Duration: variable
Scopes of application: clinical, educational and research

Purpose: serves to measure executive function that requires planning strategies, organized inquiries and

use of environmental feedback to change patterns. Given its possible sensitivity to the effects of frontal

lobe lesions, it is frequently mentioned as a measure of frontal or prefrontal functioning.

Scale: typical scores by age for each of the test variables Material:

• The manual

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q=test+de+classificación+de+cards+wisconsin&prmd=inv&source=ln
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q=test+de+classificación+de+cards+wisconsin&prmd=inv&source=ln
ms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLgbDR3uzhAhWy1lkKHTAQBboQ_AUoAXoECA0QAQ#img

rc=SlAKn2Y6YstFPM&imgdii=r2Sedhy7eURV7M

Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?

q=test+de+classificacion+de+cards+wisconsin&prmd=inv&source=ln

ms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLgbDR3uzhAhWy1lkKHTAQBboQ_AUoAXoECA0QAQ#img
rc=EOsReACmQMZA8M

• 4 stimulus cards
• Two sets or blocks of response cards with 64 cards each

• Annotation sheet.

General description of the test:

The WCST is made up of four stimulus cards and 128 response cards that contain figures of various

shapes (cross, circle, triangle or star), colors (red, blue, yellow or green) and number of figures (one, two,

three or four). The most common way to apply this test is to place the four stimulus cards in front of the

subject, ordering them from left to right.

The Wisconsin consists of two games of 64 cards (in its manual version) each; The cards are composed

by the combination of three kinds of attributes: the shape (triangle, star, cross and circle), the color (red,

blue, green and yellow) and the number (one, two, three or four elements).

The task is to deal the cards according to a criterion, for example, color. When the subject makes ten

consecutive correct answers, he or she gets a category, and from the last one the classification criteria are

changed without prior warning. If you continue classifying the cards with the criteria of the previous

category, you will score in perseverative errors. (Ulysses, 2012)

Application: this must be carried out in a quiet room, with good lighting, you need a table, which must

be wide to place the cards (no materials unrelated to the test should be present) and two chairs. The

examiner must hold the test sheet in such a way that the subject cannot see what is written down.

Five aspects stand out in the WCST:

 • It does not always discriminate between patients with frontal lesions of normal people or those with

lesions in other regions.

• The role of working memory seems to be important in this test.

• The problem of solving norms to achieve the goal must be extracted and changed during the

execution of the test, without the subject being aware of it. Subjects have to sort cards under three

principles reinforced by feedback.

• There is the computerized version, which differs from the traditional one, and autistic children tend

to perform the computerized version better than the traditional one. (Admin, 2018)

Below is the image that corresponds to the implementation of the computerized version :

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ms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLgbDR3uzhAhWy1lkKHTAQBboQ_AUoAXoECA0QAQ#img

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Clinical use

This psychometric test measures the following functions:

• Ability to conceptually solve problems.

• Use of feedback.

• Ability to modify incorrect strategies.

• Flexibility.

• Inhibition of arrogant but incorrect responses.

(Admin, 2018)

Likewise, this test (WCST) has also been used to measure an individual's competence in abstract

reasoning , and the ability to change problem-solving strategies when necessary.

WCST scores and dimensions that are assessed:

Each of the subject's responses must be considered as if it occurred in three dimensions, separately and

likewise, evaluated in each of them.

Correct incorrect

Ambiguous- unambiguous
Perseverative-non-perseverative

CONCLUSION

This work was done in order to publicize the importance of the Wisconsin Card Rating Test for

neuropsychology since it allows the measurement of executive functions such as flexibility, task

switching, or inhibition.

It is also used for the evaluation of abstract thinking, attention deficit flexibility and lesions of mental,
the frontal and prefrontal lobe, mental and degenerative diseases.
 REFERENCES

• Administrator. (February 8, 2018). Wisconsin test. Evaluation of higher functions. Obtained from

Stimulus: https://stimuluspro.com/blog/test-de-wisconsin-evaluacion-de-las-

higher-functions.

• American Psychiatric Association. (2002). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders. DSM-IV-TR. Barcelona: Masson.

Recovered from: https://201915.aulasuniminuto.edu.co/mod/folder/view.php?id=252319

• L. Losada, V. Fierro, and D. Chavarro. (2018). Wisconsin Card Grading Test. (WCST).

Colombia