Wisconsin card sorting test performance in healthy, older adults: Relationship to age, sex, education, and IQ

We obtained Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) scores on 91 (35 male and 56 female) healthy, well‐educated individuals aged 45 to 83. Women scored better than men on six WCST scores (categories, errors, perseverative responses, To perseverative errors, To conceptual level responses, and trials to first category), while subjects with more than 16 years of education outscored those limited to high school education on four measures (perseverative responses, errors, To perseverative errors, Vo conceptual level responses). Individuals older than 70 years of age scored less well than younger subjects on only two indices (errors, Yo conceptual level responses). Full Scale 1Q was not related to WCST scores. Our findings suggest that WCST scores should be interpreted within the context of patient gender, education, and age.