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Color-Word Interference Test Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)
Availability
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Classification
Supplemental: Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
 
Exploratory: Sport-Related Concussion (SRC) and Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH)
Short Description of Instrument
Examinee names color patches (Condition 1); reads words that denote colors printed in black ink (Condition 2); names the ink color in which color words are printed (Condition 3); switches back and forth between naming dissonant ink colors and reading the conflicting words (Condition 4).
 
This is a subtest of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) which is the first nationally standardized set of tests to evaluate higher level cognitive functions in both children and adults.
 
Comments/Special Instructions

N/A
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: There are 24 items on each of the 3 tasks. Number of errors and time to perform the task is recorded for each trial. Researchers typically relied on a difference score between time/error on the interference task (e.g., part "C") versus the control task (part "D").
 
Scoring is expressed in terms of the number of seconds required to complete each of the 4 conditions. Total uncorrected and total self-corrected errors are also recorded for each condition.
 
Trained technician can administer. Neuropsychologist needs to interpret. Administration time is 7 – 10 minutes.
Rationale/Justification
Strengths/Weaknesses: The battery provides an updated normative sample for a number of classic neuropsychological tests of executive function and has been widely employed in research and clinical use.
 
Tests like the Color Word Interference Test (i.e., "Stroop" tests) have been used frequently in a wide range of patient groups thought to have executive function deficits.
 
Advantages over other versions: 1) It is more brief, which has been shown to be ideal in detecting participants who have difficulty completing this task because you don't get extended practice; 2) It includes an additional training task (i.e., naming the colors of neutral words) over the original task that helps examinees establish the appropriate response set (i.e., color naming) without exposure to the interference condition; 3) it is in the public domain, and users can make up their own stimuli.
References
Delis DC, Kramer JH, Kaplan E, Holdnack J. Reliability and validity of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System: an update. J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2004;10(2):301-303.
 
McGee CL, Delis DC, Holdnack JA. Cognitive discrepancies in children at the ends of the bell curve: a note of caution for clinical interpretation. Clin Neuropsychol. 2009;23(7):1160-1172.
 
Parmenter BA, Zivadinov R, Kerenyi L, Gavett R, Weinstock-Guttman B, Dwyer MG, Garg N, Munschauer F, Benedict RH. Validity of the Wisconsin Card Sorting and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS) Sorting Tests in multiple sclerosis. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2007;29(2):215-223.
 
Spreen O, Strauss E. A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 1998: 477-490.
 
Sprouse C, King J, Helman G, Pacheco-Colón I, Shattuck K, Breeden A, Seltzer R, VanMeter JW, Gropman AL. Investigating neurological deficits in carriers and affected patients with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. Mol Genet Metab. 2014;113(1-2):136-141.
 
Troyer AK, Leach L, Strauss E. Aging and response inhibition: Normative data for the Victoria Stroop Test. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2006;13(1):20-35.

 

Document last updated April 2020