Nicosia naming test: a validation study

Abstract

The Nicosia Naming Test (NNT) is a new confrontational naming test developed in Cyprus for Greek-speaking Cypriots. The validity of this test has already been examined with cognitively healthy adults. The current project’s primary purpose was to conduct a preliminary investigation of NNT’s psychometric properties in neurologically healthy adults and individuals diagnosed with aphasia after a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI), and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants who met the criteria received a series of cognitive-linguistic tests, including the NNT. Investigation of this new tool’s internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and the predictors of better naming performance was investigated. The correlation between subjective complaints and objective performance on neuropsychological testing was also investigated through a new Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) Questionnaire and a very initial preliminary investigation of its psychometric properties. Results indicate good internal consistency and divergent and convergent validity of NNT. The clinical population noted a significant difference in the naming performance compared to cognitively healthy people as expected to be in confrontational naming task with people with naming deficits. Age and years of education seem to be good predictors of naming performance. Moreover, the SCD Questionnaire negatively correlated with the total performance on the objective cognitive screening test, which makes it an essential component in the early detection of cognitive decline. Overall, NNT seems to be a valuable and promising tool for Cyprus that could be used by clinical neuropsychologists and speech and language pathologists for better language assessment of the Cypriot population, and so does the input of the new SCD questionnaire for early detection of cognitive decline. Further research for both tools is necessary to strengthen their validity and reliability.