Objective

The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) is a neuropsychological tool largely used to assess executive functions. Prior studies found a marked ceiling effect for the prehension behavior subtest (PBT) in healthy and clinical populations. Aims of the present study were (i) to examine the psychometric properties of the FAB without the contribution of PBT and (ii) to provide normative data for a revised version of the FAB after exclusion of PBT (FAB15).

Methods

The normative sample included 1,187 healthy participants. PBT had near-zero variance, poor content validity, and no discrimination power. Internal consistency increased when PBT was excluded. We assessed the FAB15 factorial structure, interrater, and test–retest reliabilities. Normative data for the FAB15 were extracted through a regression-based procedure according to sex, age, and education.

Results

The principal component analysis revealed a single “executive factor” or alternatively a bifactorial solution reflecting the different degree of discriminative capability vs. difficulty of the subtests. The FAB15 demonstrated excellent interrater and test–retest reliabilities. Regression analysis showed that sex (lowly educated women < lowly educated men), higher age, and lower education affected FAB15 score. Accordingly, three grids for adjustment of raw scores (men, women, and both) were constructed. The cut-off was fixed at the non-parametric outer tolerance limit on the fifth centile (9.36, 95% CI).

Conclusion

The observation of a ceiling effect in healthy subjects makes PBT not suitable for inclusion in a neuropsychological battery. The FAB15 may successfully replace the conventional FAB as a more severe and valid short screening tool to assess executive functioning.

中文翻译：

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20 年后的正面评估电池：缩短版本的规范数据 (FAB15)

客观的

正面评估电池 (FAB) 是一种神经心理学工具，主要用于评估执行功能。先前的研究发现，在健康和临床人群中，抓握行为分测验 (PBT) 具有显着的天花板效应。本研究的目的是 (i) 在没有 PBT 贡献的情况下检查 FAB 的心理测量特性，以及 (ii) 为排除 PBT (FAB15) 后的 FAB 修订版提供规范数据。

方法

规范样本包括 1,187 名健康参与者。PBT 的方差接近于零，内容效度差，并且没有辨别力。当排除 PBT 时，内部一致性增加。我们评估了 FAB15 因子结构、评价者和重测信度。FAB15 的规范数据是根据性别、年龄和教育通过基于回归的程序提取的。

结果

主成分分析揭示了单个“执行因素”或双因素解决方案，反映了不同程度的区分能力与子测试的难度。FAB15 表现出出色的评价者和重测可靠性。回归分析表明，性别（受教育程度低的女性<受教育程度低的男性）、较高的年龄和较低的教育程度会影响 FAB15 得分。因此，构建了三个用于调整原始分数（男性、女性和两者）的网格。截止值固定在第五个百分位数的非参数外部公差极限 (9.36, 95% CI)。

结论

在健康受试者中观察到天花板效应使得 PBT 不适合纳入神经心理学电池组。FAB15 可以成功地取代传统的 FAB，成为一种更严格和有效的短期筛选工具，用于评估执行功能。