[Cognitive evaluation in illiterate persons]

Abstract

Introduction: Approximately a third of the world population is illiterate. The analysis of illiterate patients' performance in cognitive tasks is an important part of neuropsychology.

Objective: To show that cognitive evaluation tests, both psychological and neuropsychological, are extremely sensitive to the educational level of the subject.

Development and conclusions: It has been suggested that schooling may in some way modify the cerebral organization of cognitive activity. Although education does not alter the hemisphere dominance of language and other cognitive functions, there does seem to be increased lateralization of these functions in literate people. In neuropsychological testing, schooling is an even more significant variable than age. However, education does have a lineal effect on the scores obtained in neuropsychological tests. More precisely, the relationship between schooling and performance of neuropsychological tests shows an negatively accelerated curve.