Title: digit symbol substitution test
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - digit symbol substitution test
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.11718
Status: current

Definition
Neuropsychological assessment in which the top two rows of a test sheet function as a key, displaying numbers 1–9 (upper row) matched to "non-sense" symbols (lower row). There follow pairs of rows where the numbers 1–9 appear in irregular sequence and the test subject must match the correct symbol from the key to each number, as quickly as possible.

Notes
1) The test is used to assess brain damage, dementia and depression.
2) It is a subtest of some intelligence tests.

Related Terms
- brain: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11647
- dementia: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11704
- depression: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11711
- intelligence quotient: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11835
- neurobehavior core test battery: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11925

Source
- PAC, 2015, 87, 841. 'IUPAC Glossary of terms used in neurotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2015)' on page 862 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0103)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11718/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11718/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11718/xml

Citation: Citation: 'digit symbol substitution test' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.11718
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-28T18:05:25+00:00