Spot-the-Word: A Measure for Estimating Premorbid Intellectual Functioning

The present study investigates the validity of a recently developed measure for estimating premorbid cognitive abilities. The Spot-the-Word Test involves presenting participants with pairs of items comprised of one word and one nonword, and requiring the subject to identify the word. Participants were 61 community-residing healthy older adults ranging in age from 60 to 91 years. Results indicated that education had a small but significant effect on Spot-the-Word performance. However, gender and age did not. Significant correlations were observed between Spot-the-Word scores and scores on other measures used to estimate premorbid abilities, suggesting adequate convergent validity. Furthermore, small and nonsignificant correlations were observed between Spot-the-Word scores and sensitive neuropsychological variables suggesting adequate discriminant validity. Recommendations for future research are discussed.