Assessment of neurocognitive function and social cognition with computerized batteries: Psychometric properties of the Portuguese PennCNB in healthy controls

The Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PennCNB) is a measure of performance in 5 broader neurocognitive domains linked to specific brain systems. The current study aims to provide the psychometric properties of the Portuguese translation of the test battery, by presenting a confirmatory factor analysis and data on the test sensitivity to gender, effects of age and education in healthy individuals. The Portuguese PennCNB was administered to a sample of 152 healthy participants from the general population. We aimed to confirm the PennCNB latent structure of the Efficiency Scores (Accuracy and Speed combined) according to a 4-factor behavioral trait model. Gender differences and the effect of age and education on test performance were analyzed. The 4-factor model presented a good fit. Males and females showed different trends in performance on specific tests, although differences in efficiency scores were non-significant. Education and age showed a weak effect on efficiency scores, affecting participants’ performance differently across domains. Findings indicate that PennCNB test scores were related to their target domains, maintained their integrity in comparison to similar studies, and thus, constitutes an effective and versatile tool for clinical and multi-site research studies.