Applied Neuropsychology

Critical factors affecting traumatic brain injury (TBI) outcome in children and adolescents are explored with an emphasis on an examination of age at injury as a predictor of memory functioning. Age at injury and other injury-related and demographic predictors (i.e., severity, time postinjury, gender, and socioeconomic status [SES]) of memory and achievement outcome were examined in 65 children and adolescents post-TBI compared to 65 age-matched noninjured controls. Although robust findings have been found for age at injury as a general predictor of outcome, age was not found to be a significant predictor of memory functioning following pediatric TBI...

In an effort to identify four-subtest Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) short forms valid for estimating Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) among individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), seven tetrad versions of the WAIS-III were evaluated in a convenience sample of patients referred for neuropsychological assessment (n = 176). Estimated FSIQ scores were compared to actual FSIQ scores via correlation analyses, repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and frequency analyses. All short form-estimated FSIQ scores correlated highly with actual scores (all rs > ...

The current investigation sought to replicate and extend the findings of Green ( in press ), which demonstrated superior sensitivity of the Nonverbal Medical Symptom Validity Test (NV-MSVT) relative to the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) in the detection of suboptimal effort during neuropsychological assessment. Nearly twice as many examinees failed the NV-MSVT than the TOMM. Profile analyses of the NV-MSVT demonstrated patterns suggestive of inconsistent effort in those who failed the NV-MSVT but passed the TOMM...

In a population of inpatients, individuals were observed to continually score in the impaired range on the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) without exhibiting other signs of frontal-lobe damage. Investigations were undertaken to determine if the subtest structure, demographic factors, or general cognitive functioning may be responsible for patients' poor performance on the FAB overall. Participants were inpatients at the Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital who were administered a standard neuropsychological screening battery...

The aim of this study was to track the evolution of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients 1 year after baseline testing. Thirty-three PD patients, divided according to three previously determined subgroups based on their initial cognitive performance, and a healthy comparison group were reassessed after a 1-year interval. Participants were assessed in the following five domains: Executive Function, Problem Solving, Working Memory/Attention, Memory, and Visuospatial Ability. The PD groups differed on the domains of Executive Function, Problem Solving, and Working Memory, with the most severe deficits being evident for the group that had previously shown the greatest level of impairment...

A repeated observation during memory assessment with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is that patients who spontaneously employ a memory rehearsal strategy by repeating the word list more than once achieve better scores than patients who only repeat the word list once. This observation led to concern about the ability of the standard test procedure of RAVLT and similar tests in eliciting the best possible recall scores. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that a rehearsal recall strategy of repeating the word list more than once would result in improved scores of recall on the RAVLT...

Clinical differentiation between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and depression is often difficult due to symptom overlap and similar clinical presentation. Concise and accurate diagnostic tests have been of interest for many years. Furthermore, with the continued growth of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory, there has been an emergence of measures such as the Woodcock-Johnson-III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III COG), which are being more commonly used in clinical practice yet have not been fully evaluated in terms of their efficacy in various domains of clinical practice...

The Clock-Drawing Test (CDT) is widely used in clinical practice for the screening of dementia. However, neural activity during real clock drawing has not been investigated due to motion artifacts. In the present study, we examined brain activity during real clock drawing using multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). We measured hemoglobin concentration changes in the prefrontal and temporal surface areas during clock drawing using 52-channel NIRS. Data obtained from 37 right-handed healthy volunteers were analyzed...

Neuropsychological studies have shown cognitive impairment in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), particularly in information-processing speed. The aim of this study was to examine the evolution of cognitive impairment in CFS. The evolution is one of the most disabling aspects of the CFS, and it has received little attention in the literature. Fifty-six women with CFS were assessed with neuropsychological tests. Patients were divided into three groups based on the duration of the disease. There were no differences between groups in terms of cognitive function...

Evidence suggests that the Hooper Visual Organization Test (HVOT) has naming and executive components that vary in size depending on neurological diagnosis. The current study used a sample of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) to demonstrate for the first time that an executive measure can be the best predictor of HVOT performance. Forty-eight nondemented and nondepressed individuals with idiopathic PD completed the HVOT and other measures of visuoperception, executive function, and visual confrontation naming...

As part of a comprehensive league-wide study of concussion, the National Football League's Committee on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury sponsored a neuropsychological testing program from 1996 through 2001. Nearly 1,000 athletes participated voluntarily in the study. Traditional paper-and-pencil neuropsychological tests were used for baseline assessment. Neuropsychological tests used in the study included the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, Trail-Making Tests (Parts A and B), and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test...

In the present study, verbal and visual memory functioning in a group of recurrent major depressive disorder patients were investigated. The study included 48 participants: 24 patients and 24 control subjects. Verbal and visual memory were investigated using the California Verbal Learning Test and the Rey Complex Figure Test. The results show that the depressed patients performed significantly worse compared with the controls on the very first trial in the verbal memory test. On all other conditions, the patients showed intact verbal memory, while visual memory was impaired...

The aim of this study was to compare the performances of patients with mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) on the Clock Drawing Test (CDT), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and neuropsychological measures as well as to correlate these measures with outcome assessed by the Extended Glasgow Outcome Score. This study was conducted in an acute care early rehabilitation setting on 102 patients with mild, 30 with moderate, and 30 with severe TBI. Patients with moderate and severe TBI showed more impairment on the CDT compared with those with mild TBI...

The objective of the present study was to examine and compare the subtest, index, and factor scores of the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL), using receiver-operating characteristic curves, to investigate their sensitivity and specificity to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and adolescents. One hundred and fifty participants who had sustained TBI were compared to 150 controls matched on age and gender from the TOMAL's standardization sample. Results indicated that the greatest area under the curve (AUC) was for the Object Recall (OR) subtest score, the Composite Memory Index (CMI), and the attention factor score...

The experience of cognitive decline can be a potent source of anxiety and concern for many people. While an IQ consistent with estimated optimal levels or previously recorded scores may indicate no significant change in cognitive function, the patient may be accurately reporting a normal age-related deterioration in actual ability. The aim of this article is to chart the age-related changes in intellectual abilities evident on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). The norms from the WAIS-IV manual were examined to plot the age-related changes in Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and composite scores across the adult life span, while holding actual ability level constant across the age groups...

The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (Morris et al., 1989) neuropsychological battery, including its 10-word list-learning task, remains in clinical and research use. The present study examined learning characteristics of this word list in a clinical series of elderly military veterans referred for neuropsychological evaluation of suspected dementia. Findings are presented establishing specific normative data by age, education, race, and diagnosis on learning outcomes including total new learning, delayed recall, and recognition memory...

The term "malingered neurocognitive dysfunction by proxy" was discussed by Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999) as part of the differential for defining malingering when a patient is responding to directions or pressure from others. In Chafetz (2008), rates of symptom validity failure in children whose parents are seeking Social Security Disability (SSD) on their behalf were presented and showed 20% to 26% symptom validity test failure rates at chance or below-chance levels. The objective of the current case study was to determine whether the requirements of malingering were met in a 9-year-old whose parent was seeking SSD on his behalf...

The Flynn effect refers to the rise in IQ throughout the 20th century. This study examined whether the Flynn effect has also elevated performance on neuropsychological tests. A search of published norms revealed five tests with appropriate normative data available for comparison. These tests were the Trail-Making Test (TMT), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Boston Naming Test, Finger Tapping, and Grooved Pegboard. Results indicated a strong Flynn effect for Parts A and B of the TMT and a probable Flynn effect for the oral SDMT...

The present study aims to gain insight into the clinical presentation (viz., self-reported complaints and neuropsychological functioning) of adults referred for an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis. The investigation evaluated group differences between an ADHD and a non-ADHD sample (n = 30 and n = 42, respectively), all of which had been clinically referred for multidisciplinary assessment of ADHD. Forty-two percent of all referred patients were diagnosed with adult ADHD. Adults with ADHD made significantly more errors on a verbal learning task than the non-ADHD control group, which could indicate an impairment of the self-monitoring function in adult ADHD...

This study compared participation following a stroke according to the presence of specific cognitive deficits. Participation is defined as the involvement of a person in daily activities and social roles. Three weeks after being discharged home, 197 older adults (aged 65 years and older) who had a stroke were evaluated using the Assessment of Life Habits, which includes 12 domains of daily activities and social roles. The presence of a cognitive deficit was determined by the scores obtained on tests assessing memory, visual perception, language, unilateral attention, and the inhibition component of executive functions...