Beardsall L, Huppert F A
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, UK.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 1994 Apr;16(2):232-42. doi: 10.1080/01688639408402634.
A test that assesses ability to pronounce correctly a list of irregular words (NART) has become widely used to estimate IQ particularly in elderly and demented subjects. This estimate relies on the assumption that words that are not pronounced correctly were not previously in the subject's vocabulary. This assumption was questioned by the results of a community study showing that older adults commonly mispronounced even simple NART words that were almost certainly in their vocabulary. The present study investigated the extent to which putting NART words into sentences facilitated correct pronunciation. Both normal and demented subjects substantially improved their performance when the words were seen in context. The improvement was most marked for demented subjects and for poor or average readers as compared with skilled readers. Since irregular words can only be pronounced correctly if they are in the individual's vocabulary, it appears that the NART underestimates reading ability and, hence, underestimates premorbid IQ in certain groups. We conclude that the Cambridge Contextual Reading Test (CCRT) provides a more accurate estimate of reading ability and IQ in elderly and demented subjects.
一种评估正确读出一系列不规则单词能力的测试（国家成人阅读测验，NART）已被广泛用于估计智商，尤其是在老年人和痴呆患者中。这种估计基于这样一种假设，即发音不正确的单词以前不在受试者的词汇表中。一项社区研究的结果对这一假设提出了质疑，该研究表明，老年人即使对几乎肯定在其词汇表中的简单NART单词也经常发音错误。本研究调查了将NART单词放入句子中在多大程度上有助于正确发音。当单词出现在语境中时，正常受试者和痴呆患者的表现都有显著提高。与熟练读者相比，痴呆患者以及阅读能力较差或中等的读者的提高最为明显。由于不规则单词只有在个人词汇表中时才能正确发音，因此NART似乎低估了阅读能力，进而低估了某些群体病前的智商。我们得出结论，剑桥语境阅读测试（CCRT）能更准确地估计老年人和痴呆患者的阅读能力和智商。
