Assessment Tools
Naturalistic Action Test (NAT)
The NAT is a clinical assessment of learned, sequential, object-oriented behavior in the service of everyday goals (i.e., multi-step or naturalistic action). Participants perform three tasks (make toast and coffee; gift-wrap a present; pack a child's lunchbox and schoolbag) under controlled laboratory conditions, and their performance is scored for accuracy and a variety of error types. The NAT, and its predecessor, the Multi-level Action Test (MLAT), have been used to characterize how naturalistic action is impacted by neurological conditions such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), and left and right hemisphere stroke. The data obtained from the NAT has entered into theoretical debates on the cognitive requirements of routine action, the nature of semantic memory for objects, and the meaning of ideational apraxia.
Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT)
The PNT is a 175-item picture naming test developed for the psycholinguistic exploration of lexical access in nonaphasic and aphasic speakers. The PNT features in numerous publications, including studies that fit aphasic naming data to the interactive two-step model of naming. It was developed in the Language and Aphasia Lab of MRRI under the direction of Myrna Schwartz, Ph.D.
Moss Attention Rating Scale (MARS)
The MARS was designed as an observational rating scale to provide a reliable, quantitative and ecologically valid measure of attention-related behavior after TBI. It was developed by John Whyte, MD, PhD, Tessa Hart, PhD, and colleagues at the Moss TBI Model System at MossRehab Hospital and Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute. Collaborators from other TBI Model System centers were also instrumental in testing the reliability of the MARS.