Development and simulation testing of a computerized adaptive version of the Philadelphia Naming Test

摘要

Impairment of naming ability is ubiquitous in aphasia and assessment of naming is central to clinical assessment (Nickels, 2002). One prominent naming test is the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT) (Roach et al., 1996), which has favorable psychometric properties and has been used in many investigations of the theoretical nature of aphasic naming deficits (e.g., Dell et al., 1997; Schwartz et al, 2006). However, the PNT is a long test, limiting its usefulness in clinical settings. Recently, Walker & Schwartz (2012) published two 30-item PNT short forms (PNT30-A, PNT30-B) along with data supporting their reliability and validity. These short forms were developed using classical test theory methods, with attention to items’ lexical characteristics, their overall difficulty, and error type distributions.