Effects of age and education on the luria-nebraska neuropsychological battery performance of selected populations

A number of studies have reported effects of age and education on neuropsychological test performance, finding these effects to different degrees on different tasks. The present study examines effects of age and education on Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery performance. Forty normal, 38 schizophrenic, and 38 nonpsychotic psychiatric subjects and 40 brain-damaged subjects in groups matched for age, education and sex were tested. Performance on each Luria-Nebraska scale was correlated with age and education in each diagnostic group and correlations were also calculated using scores adjusted for the age and education of individual subjects. Normal subjects showed significant education effects on all scales, with age-declines on "fluid" but not on "crystallized" functions. Schizophrenics showed education effects only on "crystallized" academic skills and showed age declines consistently on sensory functions. The brain-damaged and nonpsychotic psychiatric groups generally showed little age or education effect on test performance. The significance of these findings and methodological issues are discussed.