The Index Predicting Power and Feedback Processing Characteristics in the WCST

Abstract

Based on the performance of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), participants can be divided into high and low cognitive flexibility groups. The cognitive differences between the two groups need further study. However, studies have grouped participants according to different criteria of the WCST. Based on the classical WCST, the present study investigated two issues in college students: (1) the power of indexes for predicting performance, and (2) the feedback processing characteristics of high and low cognitive flexibility participants. The regression analysis showed TCF (trials to complete the first classification) and PR% (the percentage of perseverative response) were powerful predictors. We further divided participants into high and low cognitive flexibility groups according to the regression equation. Regarding the feedback processing characteristics, we classified all trials in rule-search phase as one of four types: correct-correct (coCO), correct-error (coER), error-error (erER), and error-correct (erCO), which were based on the relationship between the former feedback and the current response. The results revealed that compared with the low cognitive flexibility group, the high cognitive flexibility group could learn effectively from feedback. Differences in the feedback processing ability may be one of the reasons for the differential performance of college students on the WCST task.