Estimation of Premorbid Intelligence: The Word Accentuation Test - Buenos Aires Version

Abstract

We have sought to adapt and validate a NART-like Spanish test, the Word Accentuation Test (WAT: Del Ser, Montalvo, Espinosa, Villapalos, & Bermejo, 1997) to estimate acquired intelligence in local normal older adults. The test requires examinees to read aloud infrequent, irregularly stressed Spanish words, a situation that presumably requires lexical knowledge. Results in a sample of 74 participants show that the revised WAT (i.e., the WAT for Buenos Aires) has good concurrent validity with the WAIS Vocabulary subtest and number of years of formal education, as well as high internal consistency. Performance on this test was dissociated from age, memory, or frontal/executive measures.