Differential Item Functioning Analysis on the NIH Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Test on Black and White Participants

Psychological Sciences

Cultural background not only shapes our experience but can contribute to differences in test performance (Manley, 2008). This study focused specifically on performance on neuropsychological measures. These measures are primarily used for diagnostic and treatment purposes, so it is important that they are continuously validated across cultures. The ARMADA (Advancing Reliable Measurement in Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Aging) study is committed to validating the NIH Toolbox for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function (NIHTB) for use in cognitive aging research across diverse samples. The current study sampled from individuals enrolled in ARMADA. Vocabulary comprehension was the domain of focus. Previous literature found vocabulary performance to be moderated by the experience of an individual, which is influenced by cultural background (Gershon et al., 2014). We aimed to see if White respondents had a differing probability of getting an item correct in comparison to Black respondents on the NIH Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Test (TPVT). A Differential Item Functioning analysis was conducted, and eight of the forty-four items selected were flagged for DIF. Of these, three favored Black respondents and five favored White respondents. We plan to look further into the flagged items to find potential patterns in items that favored White participants in comparison to items that favored Black participants.