22 - Neurodevelopmental assessment of cognitive function using CANTAB: validation and future goals

Summary

Introduction

Despite the existence of test batteries designed to assess general levels of intellectual ability (e.g., the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)), well-validated assessments for the study of brain-behavior relations in children are lacking. The establishment of such relations has proven difficult, because it has not been feasible to establish links between brain functioning and overt behavior without the use of invasive strategies that cannot typically be justified for use in healthy children. The discipline of developmental neuropsychology has entered a new era with the advent of brain imaging techniques that are increasingly less invasive from a methodologic standpoint and aimed at elucidating specific structure-function relations (Casey et al., 1995). It is now possible not only to examine the development of specific cognitive behaviors but also to do so within a framework that allows direct observation of brain activity in the course of behavior. What is needed within this context is a battery of tests that reliably reflects localized patterns of neural activity in individuals throughout the lifespan. While instruments have been developed for use with age-specific populations, there are few, if any, instruments that can be used without changes in task presentation, items, or format to test individuals across a broad range of ages. Hence, comparability of findings across age groups is questionable, and the ability to identify developmentally driven changes in functional brain development using such instruments has not been methodologically feasible.