a Department of Psychology , York University , Toronto , ON , Canada.
b Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud , Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública , Mexico City , Mexico.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2019 Apr;41(3):246-256. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2018.1529229. Epub 2018 Oct 18.
The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) is a computerized tool used to measure cognitive function in diverse populations and is sensitive for assessing developmental changes in children. Although CANTAB has been used in several countries, its applicability in a Mexican child population is unknown. This study examined developmental trends on CANTAB in a large sample of urban Mexico City youth and tested the hypothesis that their performance would be similar to a large US normative sample.
As part of a birth cohort, Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants, 826 children, ages 5-15 years, completed CANTAB. Subtests measured planning (Stockings of Cambridge; SOC), short-term memory (Delayed Matching to Sample; DMS), sustained attention (Rapid Visual Information Processing; RVP), ability to match visual stimuli (Match to Sample Visual Search; MTS), flexibility (Intra-extra Dimensional Set Shift; IED), and response inhibition (Stop Signal Task; SST). Determinants of performance on the CANTAB, including age, maternal/child IQ, and sex, were analyzed using Spearman correlation and Welch t tests. Equivalence testing compared performance with existing norms.
Performance improved with age on all measures. Child IQ was mildly associated with measures of memory and attention but not executive functioning, consistent with US norms. Maternal IQ was not associated with any outcomes, and males performed better on IED. Mexican norms were comparable to US norms on almost all outcomes, with the exception of a short-term visual recognition memory task (DMS).
This study provides the largest normative data for CANTAB performance in a community sample of Mexican youth. Findings demonstrate the expected maturational effects of executive function, specifically in cognitive shifting and inhibition. Levels of executive function performance demonstrated by a Mexican sample were consistent with normative values reported in US youth. These findings, as well as expected associations with child IQ, indicate high applicability of CANTAB for Mexican youth in neurobehavioral studies.
剑桥神经心理测试自动化电池 (CANTAB) 是一种用于测量不同人群认知功能的计算机化工具，能够敏感地评估儿童的发育变化。尽管 CANTAB 已在多个国家使用，但在墨西哥儿童人群中的适用性尚不清楚。本研究在墨西哥城的一大群城市青年中检查了 CANTAB 的发育趋势，并检验了他们的表现与美国大样本相似的假设。
作为出生队列的一部分，墨西哥环境毒物的早期生活暴露，826 名 5-15 岁的儿童完成了 CANTAB。子测试测量了计划（剑桥袜子；SOC）、短期记忆（延迟匹配样本；DMS）、持续注意力（快速视觉信息处理；RVP）、匹配视觉刺激的能力（匹配样本视觉搜索；MTS）、灵活性（内外维度集转换；IED）和反应抑制（停止信号任务；SST）。使用 Spearman 相关和 Welch t 检验分析了影响 CANTAB 表现的决定因素，包括年龄、母婴/儿童智商和性别。等效性测试比较了与现有规范的表现。
所有指标的表现均随年龄增长而提高。儿童智商与记忆和注意力测量值轻度相关，但与执行功能不相关，与美国规范一致。母亲智商与任何结果均无关，男性在 IED 上的表现更好。墨西哥规范在几乎所有结果上与美国规范相当，除了短期视觉识别记忆任务（DMS）外。
本研究提供了墨西哥青年社区样本中 CANTAB 表现的最大规范数据。研究结果表明了执行功能的预期成熟效应，特别是在认知转换和抑制方面。墨西哥样本的执行功能表现水平与美国青年报告的规范值一致。这些发现以及与儿童智商的预期关联表明，CANTAB 非常适用于墨西哥青年的神经行为研究。
