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. 2020 Oct 12;36(5):815–830. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acaa083

Table 2.

Recommendations from all Delphi rounds for research in each cognitive domain

Social cognition Language Executive functioning Mental speed Attention Visuospatial Memory Working Memory Orientation Other
Suggestions regarding tests Emotion recognition Good naming test suitable for various minorities, with adequate normative data, brief, efficient, sufficiently sensitive and specific, with little need of explanations in administration Tests of planning, mental flexibility, inhibition and other (sub)functions of executive functioning Tests less influenced by education and literacy Tests less influenced by education and literacy Perhaps use a “format that everyone comes across in life, e.g., a broken cup?” Tests for episodic memory Intelligence tests measuring aspects similar to reasoning or matrices scales
Test capturing social norms and moral/social dilemmas A test for the evaluation of speech, such as a complex picture description Tests less influenced by education and literacy Tests less influenced by education and literacy Verbal and nonverbal Test for suboptimal performance (malingering)
Theory of mind More tests for very low educated populations More alternatives Normative data for other minorities, e.g., Eastern Europeans, and for higher educated patients Test for motor coordination
Other comments Needs more research in general “Will be hard to assess” Variation between cultures and between individuals Cultural norms and expectations influence test results, i.e., speed is a cultural norm “Lack of alternatives to current tests […] Not sure which ones are best for different ethnic groups.” “There are various options for working memory tests, but they have not been validated yet” Move beyond MMSE orientation questions
“Seriously lacking”; “huge need to develop them” “Some language barriers are unbridgeable for an assessor that does not speak the participant’s language” Need to understand how education modulates executive functioning in healthy population before examining culture “I think we need to develop tests other than drawings or figure copy that require past school learning of geometry” “We need to come up with a new testing paradigm with better ecological validity that does not rely on numbers”
Should (also) be studied with more qualitative methods “Most apparent barrier”
Highly dependent on culture