Luria Nebraska

Neuropsychological test
battery
Group members: Samra Abbas
Faiza Awan
Bakhtawar khan
Maira khan
 Introduction
O The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological
Battery (LNNB) is a standardized test that
identifies neuropsychological deficiencies by
measuring functioning on fourteen scales. It
evaluates learning, experience, and cognitive
skills. The test was created by Charles Golden
in 1981 and based on previous work by
Alexander Luria that emphasizes a qualitative
instead of quantitative approach.
 Alexander Luria
O Alexander Luria (born in July 3, 1902- died in
1977) was a Russian neuropsychologist, often
credited as a father of modern
neuropsychological assessment.
O Developed an extensive and original battery of
neuropsychological tests during his clinical
work with brain-injured victims of World War
II.
 Purpose
O The LNNB was developed in an attempt to
combine the qualitative techniques of some
neuropsychological tests with the quantitative
techniques of others. However, the scoring
system that most clinicians use is primarily
quantitative.
O The battery is used by clinicians as a screening
tool to determine whether a
significant brain injury is present or to learn
more about known brain injuries. . It is also
used to determine what the patient is or is not
able to do with regard to neuropsychological
functioning.
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O For example, the LNNB may be used to
determine which intellectual or cognitive tasks
a patient may or may not be able to complete.
The battery can also be used to arrive at
underlying causes of a patient's behavior.
More specifically, information regarding the
location and nature of the brain injury or
dysfunction causing a patient's problems is
collected.
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O The LNNB is also used to help distinguish
between brain damage and functional mental
disorders such as schizophrenia . Also, within
the category of schizophrenia, the battery can
be used to help distinguish between patients
with normal neuropsychological functioning
and those with clear deficits.
 Precautions
O Because of the length of the test and
complexity in interpretation, the examiner
must be competent and properly trained. Also,
the fact that many patients are, indeed, brain
damaged can make test administration difficult
or frustrating.
 Versions
There are two versions of LNNB:
O Adult version:
The original, adult version is for use with
ages fifteen and over.
O Children version:
The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological
Battery for Children (LNNB-C) can be used with
ages eight to twelve both tests take two to three
hours to administer.
Scales
 What it measures?
O The test is graded on scales that are correlated
to regions of the brain to help identify which
region may be damaged.
O The Luria-Nebraska has been found to be
reliable and valid it is comparable in this sense
to other neuropsychological tests in its ability
to differentiate between brain damage and
mental illness.
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The battery measures specific neuropsychological
functioning in several areas including motor skills,
language abilities, intellectual abilities, nonverbal
auditory skills, and visual-spatial skills.

The test is used to diagnose and determine:

O The nature of cognitive impairment.
O The location of the brain damage.
O To understand the patient's brain structure and
abilities.
O To pinpoint causes of behavior
O To help plan treatment.
 History
O Luria's original method, released in 1966, was
revised by Christensen in 1975 to describe the
procedure more in-depth. This revision made
possible a version that combined the
qualitative and quantitative aspects of the
procedures.
 1997 version
O In 1977 Charles Golden presented the Luria-
South Dakota, a new version of the battery
created at the University of South Dakota that
combined Luria and Christensen’s works.
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O To develop this version and ensure it covered
everything from both Luria and Christensen
Golden first created an exam that took
approximately 18 hours to administer and
contained nearly 2,000 procedures. From this
base items were selectively removed if they
were found to lack reliability or validity, be
repetitive, be too long, or fail to accurately
discriminate a brain injury.
 1980 version
O Western Psychological Services created the
current revision, the Luria-Nebraska
Neuropsychological Battery. It was published
in 1980 in the Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology and the International
Journal of Neuroscience.
Administration and scoring
O For the adult version of this standardized test,
used with ages 15 and above, there are 269
items that are scored from 0 to 2.
O On this continuum a score of 0 represents a
normal non-damaged brain and a higher score
near 2 depicts brain damage.
O None of these items measures exactly the
same thing, although each of them may have
alternative ways of measuring the same
behavior.
 Time of administration
O The time it takes to administer the task is
about 2 to 3 hours.
O The reason for the long length of time is the
several items that need to be tested, and this is
also why the test cannot be administered to
very young children.
O By testing the limits of patients' performance,
it is then able to make correlations between a
normal and damaged brain.
 Reliability and validity
O Studies have show that the LNNB is stable
over time.
O A study has shown that the lowest test re-test
reliability of the LNNB is a .77 and this is
within the limitations of clinical tests.
O Studies have combined the Luria-Nebraska
Battery with existing tests in psychology,
speech, and education to look at the reliability
of the battery.
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O This version of the test had 14 scales and by
comparing non-brain-injured control groups to
brain-injured patients it was found that the test
is very effective at discriminating between
normal and brain-injured subjects.
O Studies have shown that the LNNB has
yielded an 86% correct hit rate for identifying
patients correctly.
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O When looking at the left and right hemisphere
scales, the test is based on the assumption that
the left hemisphere is verbally dominant and
composed of the motor and tactile scales that
represent right-hand sensory/motor
performance
O The right hemisphere consists of items
representing left-hand sensory/ motor
performance.
O When looking at lateralization reports of the
test, it yields an average hit rate of 78% on
comparison of left and right scales with the
highest hit rate being 92%.
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O When looking at localization of chronic
hospitalized patients with injuries in the
frontal, sensorimotor, temporal, and parietal-
occipital areas, the test was 88% effective in
localizing the brain damage, but the limit to
this report was a small sample size of 60
patients.
 Application
O Applications of the LNNB are generally seen
in clinical settings such as hospitals,
counseling, and research.
O Research has shown its shorter testing time,
cost to administer, and effectiveness allow for
cost-efficient and reliable results.
O The LNNB has been used to determine brain
functions after trauma to the brain occurs and
to pin-point what mental disorder is present.
O Through its development and revision, the
battery has also been shown to aid in
presenting other underlying ailments that
could not be detected by other sources.
 Criticism
The Luria-Nebraska has been the subject
of some debate that has split the
neuropsychology field. It faced criticism for its
O Combination of quantitative and qualitative
methods.
O The wide variety of its fourteen scales.
O The possibility that it did not include enough
different neuropsychological skills or did not
distinguish brain dysfunction adequately.
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O Large empirical studies have suggested these
criticisms are largely unfounded and based on
misinformation or lack of understanding of
how the test is interpreted.
O However, these concerns resulted in a
decrease in use of the battery, and some
negative views of it still persist despite
evidence of its reliability and validity.
 References
O Golden, C. J. (2004). The Adult Luria-
Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery. In G.
Goldstein, S. R. Beers, & M. Hersen (Eds.),
Comprehensive handbook of psychological
assessment, Vol. 1: Intellectual and
neuropsychological assessment (pp. 133-146).
Hoboken, NJ, US: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
O Purisch, A. D. (2001). Misconceptions about
the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological
Battery. Neurorehabilitation, 16(4), 275-280.
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O Golden, C. J., Ariel, R. N., Wilkening, G. N.,
Moses, J. J., McKay, S. E., & MacInnes, W. D.
(1982). Analytic techniques in the
interpretation of the Luria-Nebraska
Neuropsychological Battery. Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50(1),
40-48. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.50.1.