medical Definition of Wada test
:a procedure for identifying which hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language and memory function and that typically involves anesthetizing one hemisphere at a time (as by the injection of amobarbital into the internal carotid artery) and having the patient perform several cognitive tasks (such as identifying words or pictures or counting backwards)
- … a Wada test, is performed before neurosurgery to protect important brain processing centers from disturbance.
- —Jamie Talan, Newsday, 29 Jan. 2002
