Relationship between intelligence quotient measures and computerized neurocognitive performance in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Intelligence quotient (IQ) testing is standard for evaluating cognitive abilities in genomic studies but requires professional expertise in administration and interpretation, and IQ scores do not translate into insights on implicated brain systems that can link genes to behavior. Individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) often undergo IQ testing to address special needs, but access to testing in resource-limited settings is challenging. The brief Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (CNB) provides measures of cognitive abilities related to brain systems and can screen for cognitive dysfunction. To examine the relation between CNB measures and IQ, we evaluated participants with the 22q11.2DS from Philadelphia and Tel Aviv (N = 117; 52 females; mean age 18.8) who performed both an IQ test and the CNB with a maximum of 5 years between administrations and a subsample (n = 24) who had both IQ and CNB assessments at two time points. We estimated domain-level CNB scores using exploratory factor analysis (including bifactor for overall scores) and related those scores (intraclass correlations (ICCs)) to the IQ scores. We found that the overall CNB accuracy score showed similar correlations between time 1 and time 2 as IQ (0.775 for IQ and 0.721 for CNB accuracy), correlated well with the IQ scores (ICC = 0.565 and 0.593 for time 1 and time 2, respectively), and correlated similarly with adaptive functioning (0.165 and 0.172 for IQ and CNB, respectively). We provide a crosswalk (from linear equating) between standardized CNB and IQ scores. Results suggest that one can substitute the CNB for IQ testing in future genetic studies that aim to probe specific domains of brain-behavior relations beyond IQ.