A neuropsychological technique designed to assess abstract thinking and verbal reasoning. During the test, the subjects are presented with well-known proverbs or sayings (for example, “Better late than never”) and asked to explain their meaning. The ability to interpret proverbs is a measure of cognitive flexibility and the ability to think abstractly, which is important for problem-solving and reasoning. Impaired task performance may be indicative of deficits in executive function, especially in conditions such as dementia, frontal lobe lesions, or other cognitive disorders.