Repeated performance on the WCST and an alternate card sorting task

One hundred forty undergraduate university students, randomly assigned to one of four groups, completed two administrations of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and either the WCST (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) and/or an alternate card sorting task, 7-11 days apart. Although the Alternate Card Sorting Task (AST) appeared more difficult than the WCST, subjects demonstrated a significant improvement in performance on all card-sorting measures during the second testing session regardless of which test they completed in the first session. This improvement most likely indicates that the two tasks have similar conceptual demands that support generalization between them. Closed head injury subjects did not significantly differ from non-head-injured subjects on card sorting measures. High depression scale scores correlated significantly with diminished card sorting performance on the WCST but not the AST. We suggest that the AST may serve as an alternate form of the WCST in certain situations and that it may be a more appropriate instrument to assess neuropsychological function when depression may confound WCST performance.