Therese Händel Waggestad

• Waggestad, Therese Händel; Kirsebom, Bjørn-Eivind; Strobel, Carsten; Gjøra, Linda; Selbæk, Geir & Bekkhus-Wetterberg, Peter [Vis alle 7 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2026). New regression-based norms for letter and semantic fluency tests on Norwegian older adults. The Clinical Neuropsychologist. ISSN 1385-4046. s. 1–26. doi: 10.1080/13854046.2026.2701151. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Objective: This study presents updated regression-based norms for verbal fluency tests: "FAS," "Animals," and "Supermarket" in older Norwegian adults. By examining the potential modulating effects and putative interaction effects of age, education, and sex, we aim to investigate cognitive aging and the effects of education. Method: The study includes 449 healthy participants, aged 70-92 years, from the NorFAST (n = 254) and HUNT (n = 195) studies. Regression-based norms for all three verbal fluency tasks were produced. Models were assessed for pertinent linear, curvilinear, or interaction effects of age, education, and sex. We compared our norms to previously published norms. Results: The task "FAS" was predicted by education (b = 0.773, partial R2 = 0.117, p < .001) and sex (b = 1.110, partial R2 = 0.037, p < .001), and the task "Animals" was predicted by education (b = 0.313, partial R2 = 0.021, p < .01) and age (b = -0.123, partial R2 = 0.045, p < .001). Higher education and being female were associated with better performance, whereas older age was associated with poorer performance. Finally, for the task "Supermarket," we found an interaction effect between age and education (b = -0.063, partial R2 = 0.034, p < .01), but the major predictor was sex (b = 1.446, partial R2 = 0.068, p < .001). Conclusions: The norms were adjusted for the demographic variables that predicted the individual tasks. The illustrative norm comparison estimated similar mean performance but larger differences between the "exceptionally low" scores. The results also indicate that only processing speed declines with age, and that higher education has minimal effect on test-performance.

• Waggestad, Therese Händel; Kirsebom, Bjørn-Eivind Seljelid; Strobel, Carsten; Gjøra, Linda; Selbæk, Geir & Wetterberg, Peter [Vis alle 8 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2025). New regression-based norms for the Trail Making Test on Norwegian older adults: Understanding the effect of education. The Clinical Neuropsychologist. ISSN 1385-4046. doi: 10.1080/13854046.2025.2469940. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Waggestad, Therese Händel; Kirsebom, Bjørn-Eivind; Strobel, Carsten; Wallin, Anders; Eckerström, Marie & Fladby, Tormod [Vis alle 7 forfattere av denne artikkelen] (2023). Improving validity of the trail making test with alphabet support. Frontiers in Psychology. 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1227578. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Objective: The Trail Making Test (TMT) is commonly used worldwide to evaluate cognitive decline and car driving ability. However, it has received critique for its dependence on the Latin alphabet and thus, the risk of misclassifying some participants. Alphabet support potentially increases test validity by avoiding misclassification of executive dysfunction in participants with dyslexia and those with insufficient automatization of the Latin alphabet. However, Alphabet support might render the test less sensitive to set-shifting, thus compromising the validity of the test. This study compares two versions of the TMT: with and without alphabet support. Methods: We compared the TMT-A, TMT-B, and TMT-B:A ratios in two independent normative samples with (n = 220) and without (n = 64) alphabet support using multiple regression analysis adjusted for age and education. The sample comprised Scandinavians aged 70–84 years. Alphabet support was included by adding the Latin alphabet A–L on top of the page on the TMT-B. We hypothesized that alphabet support would not change the TMT-B:A ratio. Results: After adjusting for age and years of education, there were no significant differences between the two samples in the TMT-A, TMT-B, or the ratio score (TMT-B:A). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the inclusion of alphabet support does not alter TMT’s ability to measure set-shifting in a sample of older Scandinavian adults.

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