Last Updated on July 6, 2026 by Dr. Alan Jacobson, Psy.D., MBA
Neuropsychological tests are the individual standardized instruments that make up an evaluation — each one a validated measure of a specific cognitive ability, with your performance compared against normative data for your age and background. This guide covers the tests themselves: what each one measures, what it’s like to take, and which can be administered virtually.
Looking for the bigger picture? If you want to understand the evaluation process — when testing helps, what it can diagnose, and how virtual evaluations work — start with our guide to neuropsychological testing and evaluation. This page is the companion reference on the instruments used within that process.
How Neuropsychological Tests Are Organized
No single test measures “how your brain works.” Instead, instruments are grouped by cognitive domain, and a psychologist selects several from each relevant domain to build a battery tailored to your referral question. Below are the measures most commonly used in our evaluations, organized by what they assess.
VIRTUAL validated for remote administration HYBRID remote-adapted versions or substitutes available IN-PERSON requires physical materials
Attention & Processing Speed
Digit Span VIRTUAL
You repeat increasingly long strings of numbers — forward, backward, and in sequence. A core measure of attention span and working memory, and one of the most naturally tele-adapted tasks since it’s entirely verbal.
Trail Making Test, Part A HYBRID
You connect numbered circles in order as quickly as possible, measuring visual scanning and processing speed. Traditionally paper-and-pencil; validated digital adaptations allow remote administration.
Continuous Performance Tests VIRTUAL
Computerized measures of sustained attention and impulsivity — you respond to targets and withhold responses to non-targets over many minutes. Frequently central to ADHD referral questions and fully computer-delivered by design.
Coding & Symbol Search HYBRID
Timed symbol-matching subtests from the Wechsler scales that index processing speed. Digital administration platforms have brought these into the virtual toolkit.
Executive Functioning
Trail Making Test, Part B HYBRID
Like Part A, but alternating between numbers and letters (1-A-2-B…). The switching demand makes it a classic measure of cognitive flexibility.
Stroop Color-Word Test VIRTUAL
You name the ink color of color words that don’t match (the word “RED” printed in blue), measuring inhibitory control — the ability to suppress an automatic response. Screen-presented versions administer well remotely.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) VIRTUAL
You sort cards by rules you must deduce from feedback — and the rules change without warning. Measures abstract reasoning, set-shifting, and how you respond when strategies stop working. The computerized version is standard.
Verbal Fluency (FAS / Category) VIRTUAL
You generate as many words as possible beginning with a given letter, or belonging to a category, in one minute. A quick, sensitive index of retrieval efficiency and executive strategy — entirely verbal, fully remote-ready.
Learning & Memory
California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) VIRTUAL
You learn a word list across repeated trials, then recall it after delays and interference. Distinguishes problems with encoding, storage, and retrieval — a distinction that matters enormously, since retrieval problems point to attention and mood while storage problems point elsewhere.
Logical Memory (WMS) VIRTUAL
You listen to short stories and retell them immediately and after a delay, measuring memory for contextual, meaningful material — closer to how memory works in daily life than word lists.
Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure — Recall IN-PERSON
After copying an intricate abstract figure, you redraw it from memory after a delay. The gold-standard measure of visual memory; the drawing component keeps it in the in-person column.
Language
Boston Naming Test VIRTUAL
You name line drawings of objects ranging from common to rare, assessing word retrieval. Stimuli present cleanly over screen sharing.
Vocabulary & Similarities VIRTUAL
Wechsler verbal subtests measuring word knowledge and verbal abstract reasoning — defining words and explaining how two concepts are alike. Fully verbal, fully remote-ready.
Visuospatial Abilities
Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure — Copy IN-PERSON
The copy phase of the complex figure measures visuospatial organization and planning: not just whether you reproduce the figure, but the strategy you use to approach it.
Block Design IN-PERSON
You recreate printed patterns using colored blocks under time pressure — a core measure of visuospatial construction that requires physical manipulatives, though matrix-based reasoning tasks provide remote-friendly coverage of related abilities.
Matrix Reasoning VIRTUAL
You complete visual patterns by selecting the missing piece — nonverbal fluid reasoning with no drawing or manipulatives, making it the standard visuospatial reasoning measure in virtual batteries.
Emotional & Personality Functioning
Self-Report Inventories (MMPI, PAI, Beck scales) VIRTUAL
Standardized questionnaires assessing mood, anxiety, and personality patterns. Because cognition and emotion are inseparable — depression alone can depress memory scores — these measures are integrated into nearly every battery, and secure online administration is well established.
How a Battery Is Assembled
Test selection is driven by the referral question, not a fixed menu. Consider an adult wondering whether her focus problems reflect ADHD or anxiety. That question dictates the architecture of the battery: continuous performance and Digit Span to characterize the attention system directly; Stroop, WCST, and verbal fluency to map executive functioning, where ADHD leaves a distinct signature; CVLT to test whether “forgetfulness” is a true memory problem or an attention problem wearing a memory costume; Wechsler reasoning subtests to establish the ability baseline her attention scores should be judged against; and mood and personality inventories, because anxiety can mimic nearly everything above. Each instrument is chosen to make the competing explanations distinguishable — that’s the logic of battery construction, and it’s why two people’s evaluations rarely contain identical tests.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most common neuropsychological tests?
Frequently used instruments include the Wechsler intelligence scales (WAIS, WISC), Trail Making Test, Stroop Color-Word Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, California Verbal Learning Test, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, Boston Naming Test, verbal fluency tasks, continuous performance tests, and self-report inventories such as the MMPI and Beck scales. Which ones appear in your battery depends entirely on your referral question.
Can neuropsychological tests be taken online?
Many can. Verbal measures, computerized tasks, and screen-presented instruments administer reliably over secure video with a psychologist guiding the session in real time. A smaller set — mainly drawing and block-manipulation tasks — still requires in-person administration, and remote-validated substitutes cover most of the same abilities when a fully virtual battery is needed.
Is there a single test for ADHD, autism, or a learning disorder?
No. No individual instrument diagnoses any condition. Diagnosis comes from the pattern across an entire battery, integrated with your history and clinical interview. Be cautious of any service offering a diagnosis from one questionnaire or one computerized task.
How are neuropsychological tests scored?
Your raw performance is converted to standardized scores using normative data — comparisons against people of your age, and for some measures your education level. This is what makes results meaningful: the question is never simply how many items you got right, but how your performance compares to what’s expected for someone like you, and how your scores pattern across domains.
Can I practice or study for neuropsychological tests?
You shouldn’t — and it would work against you. The tests are only interpretable when they capture your typical functioning; prior exposure to test materials invalidates the norms and can make results unusable. The best preparation is ordinary: sleep, food, and following your psychologist’s guidance about medication on testing day.
What do the tests actually feel like to take?
Most people describe them as a series of puzzles, memory games, and questions — some easy, some deliberately hard. Every test is designed to include items beyond anyone’s ceiling, so struggling on some portions is expected and built into the norms. Sessions include breaks, and the psychologist paces the battery to keep fatigue from affecting your scores.
The Right Tests Start With the Right Question
A free consultation is where battery design begins — tell us what you’re trying to understand, and we’ll tell you exactly how testing can answer it, virtually or in person.
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