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.