Validation of a new scoring system for the Weigl Color Form Sorting Test in a memory disorders clinic sample.

The Bristol Memory Disorders Clinic uses the Weigl Color Form Sorting Test (CFST) to appraise abstraction and the ability to shift set. The original scoring system for the CFST (Grewal & Haward, 1984), developed on the premise that sorting to form is more difficult than sorting to color, had no score for an individual able to sort to form and subsequently unable to shift to color with a cue. Clinical experience suggested that the performance of some individuals required such a score. A new scoring system was developed and validated in a memory-disorders-clinic sample. The validation showed the new score to be necessary and gave support to the original premise that people with organic brain damage show a preference for sorting to color.