On the historical and conceptual background of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

Full Abstract

In this paper, we describe the development of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We trace the history of sorting tasks from the studies of Narziss Ach on the psychology of thinking, via the work of Kurt Goldstein and Adhémar Gelb on brain lesioned patients around 1920 and subsequent developments, up to the actual design of the WCST by Harry Harlow, David Grant, and their student Esther Berg. The WCST thus seems to originate from the psychology of thinking ('Denkpsychologie'), but the test, as it is used in clinical neuropsychological practice, was designed by experimenters working within the behaviorist tradition. We also note recent developments suggesting that, contrary to the general impression, implicit learning may play a role in WCST-like discrimination learning tasks.

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Author information

Author/s: Eling, Paul (P); Derckx, Kristianne (K); Maes, Roald (R);

Affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, Nici, Biological Psychology, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. p.eling(-atsign-)nici.ru.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Historical Article; Journal Article

Journal: Brain and cognition (Brain Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Aug; vol 67 (issue 3) : pp 247-53

Dates: Created 2008/06/30; Completed 2008/07/28;

PMID: 18328609, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Behavior - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; physiopathology; psychology
Discrimination Learning - physiology
Frontal Lobe - physiology
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
Humans

Humans
Memory - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests - history; standards
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Problem Solving - physiology
Psychological Tests - history; standards
Thinking - physiology

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