Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology最新文献

Objective: The main goal of this study was to produce linear multiple regression-based normative data of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised for the Chilean elderly population.

Method: The study included 229 individuals aged 60-87 years (M = 71.75, SD = 6.64) of both sex (male N = 66, mean age = 72.09 SD = 6.87; female N = 163, mean age = 71.61 SD = 6.57) and educational level (N0-12 years = 68 [29.7%]; N13+ years = 161 [70,3%]).

Results: Age, education, and sex were significantly associated with HVLT-R performance. These demographic variables accounted for 9.4% of the variance in HVLT-R total recall, 11.2% in HVLT-R delayed recall, 8.9% in HVLT-R delayed recognition discrimination index. This study also provides user-friendly percentile rank norms derived from the results of the regression models.

Conclusions: The normative data are presented as regression-based procedures to obtain both direct and derived test scores considering age, education, and sex as predictor variables. This study complies with the guidelines proposed by the Chilean Ministry of Health in its National Plan for Dementias and those of the program for Explicit Health Guarantees by promoting the standardization of instruments that contribute to early diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders in the elderly.

Establishing the effect of limited English proficiency (LEP) on cognitive performance within linguistically diverse populations is central to cross-cultural neuropsychological assessments. The present study was designed to replicate previous research on cognitive profiles in Romanian-English bilinguals. Seventy-six participants (54 women, MAge = 23.16, SDAge = 5.91; MEducation = 14.49, SDEducation = 1.57) completed a neuropsychological battery in English. The Digit Span, Animal and Emotion Fluency, and several symptom-report scales were also administered in Romanian. Performance patterns were similar to previous findings: verbal fluency, auditory verbal learning, and picture and speeded color naming were highly sensitive to LEP. In contrast, visuomotor processing speed and mental flexibility were robust to LEP. Participants performed better when ability tests were administered in their native language; there was no difference on symptom inventories. Test performance was related to the degree of LEP, operationalized as performance on the Boston Naming Test-Short Form. Level of verbal mediation and LEP are independent predictors of cognitive performance. Administering tests in the native language may provide a more accurate measure of cognitive functioning in examinees with LEP (especially at the low end of English proficiency). Developing population-specific norms is a necessary safeguard against the multiple confounding factors in the neuropsychological assessment of individuals with LEP.

Objective: Anomia is defined by difficulty in retrieving content words like nouns and verbs from long-term memory, independent of any impairments related to articulatory movements or motor speech execution. The tools for measuring picture naming, the conventional method for assessing anomia, are very limited in Turkey. The aim of this study was to adapt the Test de Dénomination de Québec-60 images/Quebec picture-naming test-60 pictures (TDQ-60), a color picture-naming test for adults and the elderly into Turkish, establish its validity, and develop normative data adapted to the Turkish population to address this gap.

Method: We conducted three separate studies. The objective of Study 1 was to culturally adapt the Test de Dénomination de Québec-60 images. In Study 2, we developed normative data for the TDQ-60 Tr adapted to the adult and elderly population in Turkey based on the performance of 414 community residents aged 18 years and older. In Study 3, the known-group validity, the convergent validity, and the test-retest validity of the TDQ-60 Tr were determined.

Results: The results show that the TDQ-60 Tr is reliable in distinguishing participants with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment from healthy participants. The TDQ-60 Tr measures the same cognitive construct as the Boston Naming Test and also has a high test-retest reliability.

Conclusions: In summary, the TDQ-60 Tr is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing naming abilities in adults and the elderly. The results of this study have significant implications for the assessment of naming ability in Turkish-speaking patients. Our work serves as a crucial connection to address the lack of tools for diagnosing anomia in Turkey.

Objective: Executive impairments are frequent and may concern a large spectrum of health conditions throughout life. Given the complexity of the executive functions, their assessment requires the administration of multiple tests. There is only one source of French-language normative data for seven traditional executive tests for adults under age 50. The aim of the present study was to establish demographically adjusted normative data of four executive tests commonly used during the neuropsychological assessment in France for adults aged 18-65.

Method: The following tools were administered to 518 community adults aged from 18 to 65: Digit Span, Trail Making Test, Color Word Interference Test, and Verbal Fluency Test. An Overall Test Battery Mean was computed. Multiple regressions were computed for normally distributed scores and percentiles were established for non-normally distributed scores.

Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that younger age and higher education were both associated with better performance. Age did not predict the number of correct responses on the Verbal Fluency Test. Gender did not have any effect on executive performances. Regression equations to calculate Z-scores are presented. Percentiles are presented for the number of recorded errors on the Trail Making Test, Color Word Interference Test, and Verbal Fluency Test.

Conclusions: We provide reliable and updated norms for four executive tests that are among the most used by clinical neuropsychologists in France. Our work represents a valuable addition to the limited norms currently available for the assessment of executive functions in French young and middle-aged adults.

How is it that practicing forensic neuropsychologists occasionally see substandard work from other colleagues, or more fundamentally, have such disparate opinions on the same case? One answer might be that in every profession, competence varies. Another possibility has little to do with competence, but professional conduct. In this paper we discuss the process by which retainer bias may occur. Retainer bias is a form of confirmatory bias, i.e., in assessment, the tendency to seek, favor, and interpret data and make judgments and decisions that support a predetermined expectation or hypothesis, ignoring or dismissing data that challenge that hypothesis ( Nickerson, 1998). The tendency to interpret data in support of the retaining attorney's position of advocacy may be intentional - that is, within conscious awareness and explicit, or it may be unintentional, outside of one's awareness, representing implicit bias. While some practitioners accept referrals from both sides in litigation, numerous uncontrollable factors converge in such a manner that one's practice may nevertheless become associated with one side. Such imbalance is not a reliable index of bias. With brief hypothetical scenarios, in this paper we discuss contextual factors that increase risk for retainer bias and problematic practice approaches that may be used to support one side in litigation, violating ethical principles, codes of conduct and guidelines for engaging in forensic work. We also discuss debiasing techniques recommended within the empirical literature and call on the subspecialty field of forensic neuropsychology to conduct research into retainer bias and other sources of opinion variability.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the most common claimed personal injury condition for which neuropsychologists are retained as forensic experts in litigation. Therefore, it is critical that experts have accurate information when testifying as to neurocognitive outcome from concussion. Systematic reviews and six meta-analyses from 1997 to 2011 regarding objective neurocognitive outcome from mTBI provide no evidence that concussed individuals do not return to baseline by weeks to months post-injury. In the current manuscript, a critical review was conducted of 21 research studies published since the last meta-analysis in 2011 that have claimed to demonstrate long-term (i.e., ≥12 months post-injury) neurocognitive abnormalities in adults with mTBI. Using seven proposed methodological criteria for research investigating neurocognitive outcome from mTBI, no studies were found to be scientifically adequate. In particular, more than 50% of the 21 studies reporting cognitive dysfunction did not appropriately diagnose mTBI, employ prospective research designs, use standard neuropsychological tests, include appropriate control groups, provide information on motive to feign or use PVTs, or exclude, or adequately consider the impact of, comorbid conditions known to impact neurocognitive scores. We additionally analyzed 15 studies published during the same period that documented no longer term mTBI-related cognitive abnormalities, and demonstrate that they were generally more methodologically robust than the studies purporting to document cognitive dysfunction. The original meta-analytic conclusions remain the most empirically-sound evidence informing our current understanding of favorable outcomes following mTBI.

Objective: Research has demonstrated that over-reporting and under-reporting, when detected by the MMPI-2/-RF Validity Scales, generalize to responses to other self-report measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the same is true for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) Validity Scales. We examined the generalizability of over-reporting and under-reporting detected by MMPI-3 Validity Scales to extra-test self-report, performance-based, and performance validity measures.

Method: The sample included 665 majority White, male disability claimants who, in addition to the MMPI-3, were administered several self-report measures, some with embedded symptom validity tests (SVTs), performance-based measures, and performance validity tests (PVTs). Three groups were identified based on MMPI-3 Validity Scale scores as over-reporting (n = 276), under-reporting (n = 100), or scoring within normal limits (WNL; n = 289).

Results: Over-reporting on the MMPI-3 generalized to symptom over-reporting on concurrently administered self-report measures of psychopathology and was associated with evidence of over-reporting from other embedded SVTs. It was also associated with poorer performance on concurrently administered measures of cognitive functioning and PVTs. Under-reporting on the MMPI-3 generalized to symptom minimization on collateral measures of psychopathology. On measures of cognitive functioning, we found no differences between the under-reporting and WNL groups, except for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64 Card Version and Wide Range Achievement Test-Fifth Edition (each with negligible effect sizes).

Conclusions: MMPI-3 Validity Scales can identify possible over- and under-reporting on concurrently administered measures. This can be of particular value when such measures lack validity indicators.

Objective: To provide a narrative overview of the development of forensic neuropsychology (FN) in the last 40-plus years.

Methods: Personal history description, highlighted by key data-based publications.

Results: Anecdotal and relevant data-based findings converge to present a perspective of a wealth of FN resources currently available to the well-documented growing numbers of practitioners.

Conclusion: The de facto subspecialty of FN is now a visible and prominent part of the landscape of clinical neuropsychology.

Objective: Research demonstrates reduced cognitive flexibility and weak central coherence during acute illness and following recovery from anorexia nervosa (AN). This systematic review investigated if these impairments are present in first-degree relatives of individuals with AN, representing a possible neuropsychological risk profile.

Methods: A systematic review of electronic databases was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The search ended on July 14, 2023. Established search terms and inclusion criteria identified relevant research. Risk of bias was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. The review was registered with Prospero international prospective register of systematic reviews (No. CRD42023401268). Study selection, descriptive data, critical appraisal, and risk of bias are presented in tables and figures.

Results: The search yielded 10 studies. The included studies conducted neuropsychological assessments of discordant AN relatives and lifetime longitudinal study participants. Most studies found cognitive flexibility and central coherence to be significantly reduced in participants with AN and their relatives compared with controls. One study found decision making to be significantly impaired in AN participants and relatives. Effect sizes were moderate to large.

Discussion: Reduced cognitive flexibility and weak central coherence appear to be endophenotypes of AN. Further research is required with relatives concordant for AN to establish whether these biomarkers co-segregate with AN within families. These findings suggest a possibility of developing screeners to identify individuals at risk of AN allowing for early intervention.