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Twenty years after Spinnler and Tognoni: new instruments in the Italian neuropsychologist’s toolbox

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Abstract

The aim of this article is to review neuropsychological normative studies which — after Spinnler and Tognoni’s monograph of 1987 — were done on healthy Italian adult subjects, and which either wholly or partially used the Equivalent Scores (ES) methodology proposed by Capitani et al. The independent norms settled for the same tests have been compared in order to point out their agreement, measured by Cohen’s Kappa, which in most cases resulted either excellent or good (>0.7). Available tests have been classified and arranged to facilitate the most suitable choice for different clinical purposes. Moreover, a simple software program has been set up which adjusts and transforms raw scores into ES. As well as saving time and avoiding errors, this simple aid is likely to improve the quality and clarity of the communication of neuropsychological results.

Sommario

Lo scopo di questo lavoro è di passare in rassegna gli studi che — dopo la monografia di Spinnler e Tognoni del 1987 — hanno proposto nuove tarature di test neuropsicologici su campioni di soggetti sani italiani. Sono stati inclusi sia gli studi che hanno utilizzato integralmente il metodo di standardizzazione basato sui punteggi equivalenti (PE), sia gli studi che — pur utilizzandolo altri metodi — tuttavia possono essere agevolmente ricondotti a tale metodo, mantenendo livelli di accettabilità psicometrica del tutto soddisfacenti. Sono stati confrontati i risultati degli studi che in modo indipendente hanno tarato lo stesso test, al fine di evidenziarne il grado di concordanza, che si è rivelato, nella maggior parte dei casi, buono o eccellente. Per tutti i test passati in rassegna è stato messo a punto un comodo programma di calcolo automatizzato dei PE. Ci auguriamo che l’adozione di tale ausilio possa contribuire al miglioramento della comunicazione dei risultati dei test neuropsicologici tra professionisti di varie discipline.

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  1. Department of Mental Health, Via G. Monaco 13, 52100, Arezzo, Italy

    Angelo Bianchi & Mirko Dai Prà

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  1. Angelo Bianchi
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  2. Mirko Dai Prà
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Correspondence to Angelo Bianchi.

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Bianchi, A., Dai Prà, M. Twenty years after Spinnler and Tognoni: new instruments in the Italian neuropsychologist’s toolbox. Neurol Sci 29, 209–217 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-008-0970-x

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