The SFS Test Solution "Brief Neurocognitive Assessment" can be applied in clinical psychology and neuropsychology in order to assess possible impairments of neurocognitive function. According to the ICD-11 (WHO, 2022), determining the level of neurocognitive functioning is required for the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders, such as dementia, amnesia or delirium. Even in disorders where neurocognitive impairment is not a core diagnostic symptom, neurocognitive testing can substantially support diagnostics, prognosis and monitoring, for example in Parkinson’s disease (Pourzinal et al., 2025), multiple sclerosis (Meca-Lallana et al., 2021), stroke (Quinn et al., 2018), cranio-cerebral trauma (Halalmeh et al., 2024), epilepsy (Vogt et al., 2017), bipolar disorder (Tsitsipa et al., 2015), post-traumatic stress disorder (Scott et al., 2015), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Snyder et al., 2014), and autism spectrum disorder (Velikonja et al., 2019).
The basis of the "Brief Neurocognitive Assessment" is the DSM-V-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2022), which defines six neurocognitive domains, attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, psychomotor function, and social cognition. Both the DSM-V-TR and the ICD-11 describe the testing of neuropsychological basic functions as an important pillar of neuropsychological and clinical psychological assessment, whereby cognitive profiles can differ substantially both between different neurological or psychiatric disorders and between individuals with the same diagnosis. The clinical cognitive short assessment is intended to enable a time-efficient assessment of neurocognitive functions, thereby supporting clinical diagnostics and follow-up assessment.
The selection of tests is based on the diagnostic standards mentioned above, the guidelines for diagnostics and treatment of the German Society for Neurology for memory impairments (Thöne-Otto et al., 2020), attention disorders (Fimm et al., 2023) and executive dysfunction (Müller et al., 2019), as well as current findings from the scientific literature. Regarding the factor structure of cognitive domains, a meta-analysis including 11,881 individuals concluded that the relationships between domains are best described by the CHC model of intelligence (Cattell-Horn-Carroll model; Schneider & McGrew, 2018) (Agelink van Rentergem et al., 2020). In particular, the construct of executive function shows similarities to fluid intelligence (van Aken et al., 2015), which has also been confirmed in lesion studies (Barbey et al., 2012). For example, a high correlation between the Tower of London test of planning ability and Raven’s matrices test of fluid intelligence of r = .55 was found in a sample of n = 830 (D’Antuono et al., 2016), which can be interpreted as evidence for convergent validity of the constructs. Based on these findings, it was decided to integrate a matrices test developed for clinical practice (BMT; SCHUHFRIED, 2024c) into the executive function domain of the "Brief Neurocognitive Assessment". The neurocognitive domains language, psychomotor function, long-term memory and social cognition are currently not covered. The following domains are assessed:
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Attention
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Processing speed (TMT-S, Part A)
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Ability to concentrate (TACO)
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Executive Function
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Cognitive flexibility (TMT-S, Part B)
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Verbal working memory (SPAN, Digit span backward)
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Learning and memory
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Verbal short-term memory (SPAN, Digit span forward)
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Logical reasoning (BMT)
Depending on the assessment objective, additional tests outside the SCHUHFRIED Selection can be added to the test battery, for example Theory of Mind (TOM; Brüne, 2018) in cases of (suspected) autism spectrum disorder, or tests of figural long-term memory (FGT; Vetter et al., 2024) and verbal long-term memory and learning ability (AWLT; Heßler & Jahn, 2023) in cases of (suspected) dementia. It should be noted that when configuring the test sequence and adding tests that are not part of the SCHUHFRIED Selection, this joint results overview is no longer automatically available (see Notes on evaluation and interpretation).
The administration of the clinical cognitive short assessment takes approximately 40 minutes without additional tests.
References can be found here: Literature