TY - JOUR
T1 - Validation of the Attention, Memory, and Frontal Abilities Screening Test (AMFAST)
AU - Freilich, Bryan M.
AU - Feirsen, Nicole
AU - Welton, Elise I.
AU - Mowrey, Wenzhu B.
AU - Rubinstein, Tamar B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/10/1
Y1 - 2020/10/1
N2 - The aim of this study is to validate the Attention, Memory, and Frontal Abilities Screening Test (AMFAST), a novel, 10-minute, paper-and-pencil measure developed to identify attention, processing speed, memory, and executive functioning deficits in children and adults with various conditions characterized by frontal-subcortical dysfunction. We administered the AMFAST to 186 English-speaking healthy control participants (aged 8-88 years) without reported cognitive impairment. The AMFAST was also administered to a mixed clinical sample that included 114 English-speaking individuals (aged 8-84 years) who also received comprehensive neuropsychological testing. Results indicated that total AMFAST scores in the healthy control sample were not significantly affected by education or gender. There was, however, a significant effect of age, as the 8- to 10-year-old group scored significantly lower than other age groups. Thus, only participants 11+ years were included in further analyses. The AMFAST demonstrated high test–retest and interrater reliabilities, good construct validity, and the identified optimal cutoff score of 70 had excellent sensitivity and specificity for differentiating between cognitively intact and cognitively impaired individuals. These findings demonstrate that the AMFAST is a highly effective screening test that can be used to identify attention, memory, processing speed, and executive functioning deficits in individuals from middle childhood through older adulthood.
AB - The aim of this study is to validate the Attention, Memory, and Frontal Abilities Screening Test (AMFAST), a novel, 10-minute, paper-and-pencil measure developed to identify attention, processing speed, memory, and executive functioning deficits in children and adults with various conditions characterized by frontal-subcortical dysfunction. We administered the AMFAST to 186 English-speaking healthy control participants (aged 8-88 years) without reported cognitive impairment. The AMFAST was also administered to a mixed clinical sample that included 114 English-speaking individuals (aged 8-84 years) who also received comprehensive neuropsychological testing. Results indicated that total AMFAST scores in the healthy control sample were not significantly affected by education or gender. There was, however, a significant effect of age, as the 8- to 10-year-old group scored significantly lower than other age groups. Thus, only participants 11+ years were included in further analyses. The AMFAST demonstrated high test–retest and interrater reliabilities, good construct validity, and the identified optimal cutoff score of 70 had excellent sensitivity and specificity for differentiating between cognitively intact and cognitively impaired individuals. These findings demonstrate that the AMFAST is a highly effective screening test that can be used to identify attention, memory, processing speed, and executive functioning deficits in individuals from middle childhood through older adulthood.
KW - attention
KW - cognitive assessment
KW - cognitive screening
KW - executive functioning
KW - memory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059903346&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/1073191118822734
DO - 10.1177/1073191118822734
M3 - Article
C2 - 30623672
AN - SCOPUS:85059903346
SN - 1073-1911
VL - 27
SP - 1502
EP - 1514
JO - Assessment
JF - Assessment
IS - 7
ER -