2.3 Neuropsychological assessment
The Chinese version of the MATRICSTM Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) has been adapted to assess seven distinct cognitive domains(Shi et al., 2015). The test includes the following items: (1) information processing speed (IPS), measured by the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-RevisedTM, (2) verbal learning (VL), measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition: spatial span, and (3) working memory (WM), measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition: spatial span, and (4) reasoning skill (RS), measured by the Neuropsychological Assessment. Battery: mazes; (5) the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-RevisedTM to measure visual memory (VM); (6) the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test to measure social cognition (SC); and (7) the Continuous Performance Test—Identical Pairs to measure attention. All subjects’ initial findings were finally translated to the standard score.
Two trained research assistants, unaware of subject grouping, rated the NSS and neuropsychological tests independently. The evaluation of CNI and MCCB has also been overseen by a single psychiatrist. CNI’s inter-rater reliability was between 0.86 and 0.91. (from the total CNI score to every single subscale). EBP participants had taken all other prescribed medications as normal but had abstained from benzodiazepines and antihistamines for eight hours before cognitive evaluations.