Browsing by Author "Enholm, Lea"

Objectives: The Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS) is a tool for assessing the copying accuracy in the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) test and its qualitative features, which have been proposed to measure executive functions. The goals of this study were to examine 1) whether the qualitative properties of the ROCF copy condition predict the copying accuracy, 2) whether the copying accuracy correlate with test performance in other neuropsychological tests measuring executive functions, and 3) whether various executive tests differentiate adults who had prenatal risk factors from adults who had none. Methods: The study is part of the Finnish Longitudinal Study of Cognition, in which adults with and without prenatal risk factors born between 1971 and 1974 have been followed since their birth. In this study, of the 483 participants 390 adults were in the risk group and 93 in the control group. The average age was 42 years. The analysis of this study was done with ordinal and logistic regression analyses. Results and conclusions: All the qualitative scores of produced ROCF, namely fragmentation, planning, organization, neatness, and perseveration, correlated with the copying accuracy of the ROCF assessed by BQSS. Additionally, all the qualitative scores except for fragmentation correlated with the copying accuracy assessed by the Osterrieth scoring method. Planning, organization, neatness, and perseveration explained 1–3 % of the variance of various executive test scores. Furthermore, the copying accuracy assessed by BQSS correlated with the category fluency, Stroop task, WAIS Digit Span test, errors in TMT B, and with the BRIEF-A metacognition index. In contrast, when assessed by the Osterrieth scoring method, the copying accuracy correlated only with the letter fluency test. Fragmentation, planning, organization, and the time difference between different TMT tasks differentiated adults with prenatal risk factors from adults who had none. Finally, the increased amount of prenatal risk factors correlated with poorer performance in multiple executive tests. This study suggests that the ROCF is applicable as a part of the assessment of executive functions and that the qualitative features should be taken into account during the assessment. In addition, prenatal risks especially when accumulated, increase the probability of poorer executive functions in adulthood.