The National Adult Reading Test (NART) is a widely accepted and commonly used method in clinical settings for estimating

premorbid Premorbidity refers to the state of functionality prior to the onset of a disease or illness. It is most often used in relation to psychological function (e.g. premorbid personality or premorbid intelligence), but can also be used in relation to ot ...

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

levels of (initially) English-speaking patients with

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

neuropsychological Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

and practice. Such tests are called hold tests as these abilities are thought to be spared, or "held" following neurological injury or decline. The NART was developed by Hazel Nelson in the 1980s in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

and published in 1982. The test comprises 50 written words in

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

which all have irregular spellings (e.g. "aisle"), so as to test the participant's vocabulary rather than their ability to apply regular pronunciation rules. The manual includes equations for converting NART scores to predicted IQ scores on the

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. For children between the ages of 6 and 16, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is com ...

. The NART is widely used in research settings because a measure of premorbid

is rarely available. However, the Lothian Birth Cohort Study has such data. Researchers from this study demonstrated that the

correlation In statistics, correlation or dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. Although in the broadest sense, "correlation" may indicate any type of association, in statistics ...

between NART scores and age 11 IQ was moderately high at 0.60. This suggests that the NART can be used as a hold test, as a proxy for premorbid intelligence. Other work has suggested that NART offers greater predictive validity than using demographic data alone, or use of the best performing IQ sub-test score.

Revisions

The British NART was re-standardized in 1991 to enable calculation of predicted IQ on the newer

WAIS-R The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. For children between the ages of 6 and 16, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is commo ...

and again in 2016 to provide premorbid estimates on the most recent WAIS-IV. There are two versions of the NART devised for use in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

; both feature a modified word list and re-standardization of predicted IQ. The NART-R, published in 1989, was designed for use in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. NART-R comprises an extended list of 61 words chosen to have irregular pronunciations in

North American English North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar ...

. The AMNART was developed independently in 1987 but unpublished until 1991 and comprises 50 words selected to be familiar to speakers of

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

(for example ''gaoled'' and ''drachm'' were removed). There is also a New Zealand version called NZART, an Australian version called AUSNART, a Swedish version called NART-SWE, a Polish version called PART, a Korean version called KART, a French version called fNART, a Japanese version called JART, and a Danish called DART. Norwegian and Dutch versions have also been proposed. A number of abbreviated versions have also been proposed, along with a variant that presents test words in semantic and syntactic context. The validity prediction limits of many of the international and abbreviated variants have been evaluated, indicating good performance for a broad range of IQ scores but with a reduced capability to accurately assess patients of very high or very low premorbid ability.

Revisions

References

Further reading