APA Dictionary of Psychology

a neuropsychological assessment instrument used to measure cognitive status in adults with cognitive impairments due to brain pathologies. It comprises 36 tasks of varying difficulty (e.g., repeating a series of numbers, naming objects present in the immediate environment, copying designs from stimulus cards onto blank pieces of paper) that are presented to participants in a fixed order. The scale evaluates performance on five subscales: attention, initiation–perseveration, construction, conceptualization, and memory. Originally developed in 1973 by U.S. neuropsychologist Steven Mattis and published commercially in 1988, the DRS subsequently was revised in 2001 (DRS–2).