Short-term memory processes in children with reading and arithmetic learning disabilities.

Examined the role of phonemic coding in short-term memory in 45 children with a reading disability, 38 children with a specific arithmetic disability, and 89 normal children, as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test. Ss, aged 7–13 yrs, were administered a series of tasks that involved the visual or auditory presentation of rhyming and nonrhyming letters and either an oral or a written response. Younger Ss (7–8 yrs) with a reading disability did not show any difference between the recall of nonrhyming and rhyming letters, whereas normal Ss of the same age did. Older reading-disabled Ss (aged 9–23 yrs), like their normal counterparts, had significantly poorer recall of rhyming as opposed to nonrhyming letters. However, their overall levels of performance were significantly lower than normals. The same pattern was found with Ss with arithmetic disabilities for the visual presentation of stimuli. For the auditory presentation of stimuli, the performance of Ss with arithmetic disabilities resembled that of normals, except at the youngest ages. Whereas a deficiency in phonological coding may characterize younger children with learning disabilities, older children with learning disabilities appear to use a phonemic code but have a more general deficit in short-term memory. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive functioning of older people in relation to social and personality variables.

Examined age differences in performance on memory measures and in subjective ratings of memory adequacy in the context of 12 social, personality, adjustment, and lifestyle measures. Ss were 285 men and women (aged 65–93 yrs) of middle- and working-class backgrounds. Cognitive measures included digit span, word recall, and memory and elaborative processing of a prose passage. Multivariate and univariate analyses revealed that a large proportion of the age differences and virtually all of the social-class differences on memory measures could be accounted for by contextual variables. Education; Intellectual activity; and Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Lie scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory all accounted for more of the variance in memory performance than did age. Self-rated memory adequacy was not correlated with performance, and although the expected finding of lower ratings by older Ss was obtained with the working-class group, the opposite was true for the middle-class group. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning rate equivalency of two narcotic gases.

Two groups of US Navy divers were tested for (a) digit span forward and backward and (b) simple and difficult paired-associate learning while breathing normal air or a narcotic gas (nitrous oxide or hyperbaric nitrogen). The 1st group of 21 divers (mean age 30.3 yrs) breathed 30% nitrous oxide (N?O), and the 2nd groups of 11 divers (mean age 30.0 yrs) breathed hyperbaric nitrogen (Hyper N?) at a simulated ocean depth of 65 m. The 2 forms of the digit span and paired-associate measures were from the Wechsler Memory Scale and were administered in a counterbalanced fashion between normal and narcotic conditions. Forward and backward digit span remained normal during N?O and Hyper N? narcosis, whereas simple and difficult paired-associate learning was impaired uniformly and significantly by both of the narcotic gases. Results indicate that the long-term memory effects of these 2 narcotic gases are similar and that the narcotic properties of both gases may be equivalent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Visual Reproduction subtest: Standardization and clinical validation of a delayed recall procedure.

Provided a normative database for a delayed recall procedure using the Visual Reproduction subtest from Form I of the Wechsler Memory Scale and examined the test's clinical sensitivity in 4 groups of patients. Normative data were based on 255 neurologically normal adults (aged 18–91 yrs). Clinical groups included 103 patients with severe head trauma, left hemisphere cerebrovascular accident (CVA), right hemisphere CVA, and Alzheimer's disease (mean ages 28.85, 63.46, 64.21, and 64.85 yrs, respectively). Normative data revealed significant age-related differences, with older Ss performing lower on both immediate and delayed recall tasks. Ss in all 4 clinical groups performed significantly below age-matched controls. Visual Reproduction scores correlated positively with measures of visual-spatial ability, verbal memory, and visual memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Learning and Memory Battery (LAMB): Development and standardization.

A new clinical test for assessing learning and memory abilities, the LAMB, is described. The LAMB was developed within an information-processing framework, and its normative sample contained 480 Ss (aged 18–79 yrs) stratified over 8 age groups. The LAMB contains 3 verbal, 2 visual, and 2 numerical subtests. Specific features include multiple learning trials, delayed-retention tests, a continuum of retrieval cues ranging from free recall through cued recall to recognition, and both visual and verbal material that have a sufficient range of difficulty enabling examination of Ss differing widely in abilities. Interrater reliability estimates and measures of internal consistency strongly support the reliability of the LAMB. Factor analysis supports the validity of the LAMB by showing that it measures 2 independent processes: visual and verbal memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological impairment, depression, and Parkinson's disease.

Examined the nature of cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) and its relation to depression in 89 nondemented (mean age 69.35 yrs) and 19 demented (mean age 79.94 yrs) PD patients and 64 control Ss (mean age 66.44 yrs). PD Ss were significantly more depressed than controls on the Beck Depression Inventory and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). There were significant, negative associations between scores on the GDS and performance on 8 neuropsychological test variables. Both PD groups were significantly impaired on 7 neuropsychologial test variables, including measures of visuomotor, memory, and executive functions. The demented PD group was more impaired than the nondemented PD and control groups on 9 neuropsychological test variables. Cognitive impairments in the nondemented PD group were relatively subtle and not apparent on the Mini-Mental State Examination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Echoic memory processes in good and poor readers.

Conducted 4 experiments to determine whether echoic memory plays a role in differences between good and poor readers. In Exp I, with 9 poor (mean age 11.05 yrs) and 9 good (mean age 10.9 yrs) readers, and Exp II, with 12 poor (mean age 10.85 yrs) and 12 good (mean age 10.7 yrs) readers, a suffix procedure was used in which the S was read a list of digits with either a tone control or the word go appended to the list. For lists that exceeded the length of the Ss' memory span by 1 digit (i.e., that avoided ceiling effects), poor readers showed a larger decrement in the suffix condition than did good readers. In Exp III, with 14 poor (mean age 10.64 yrs) and 14 good (mean age 10.83 yrs) readers, Ss shadowed words presented to 1 ear at a rate determined to give 75–85% shadowing accuracy. The item presented to the nonattended ear were words and an occasional digit. At various intervals after the presentation of the digit, a light signaled that the S was to cease shadowing and attempt to recall any digit that had occurred in the nonattended ear recently. Whereas good and poor readers recalled the digit equally if tested immediately after presentation, poor readers showed a faster decline in recall of the digit as retention interval increased. In Exp IV, using Ss from Exp II, bursts of white noise were separated by 9–400 msec of silence, and the S was to say whether there were 1 or 2 sounds presented. There were no differences in detectability functions for good and poor readers. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do ability-performance relationships differentiate age and practice effects in visual search?

Investigated relationships between abilities and performance in visual search for 70 young (aged 17–31 yrs) and 70 old adults (aged 65–80 yrs). Ss received extensive practice on a category search task. A consistent version allowed development of an automatic attention response; a varied version allowed general performance improvements. Transfer conditions assessed learning. General ability, induction, semantic knowledge, working memory, perceptual speed, semantic memory access, and psychomotor speed were assessed. LISREL models revealed that general ability and semantic memory access predicted initial performance for both age groups. Improvements on both the consistent and the varied tasks were predicted by perceptual speed. Ability–performance relationships indexed performance changes but were not predictive of learning (i.e., automatic process vs general efficiency). Qualitative differences in the ability-transfer models suggest age differences in learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early neuropsychological change in HIV infection.

The neuropsychological and psychosocial functioning of 15 Ss infected with HIV+ was examined. Performance by the HIV+ Ss was compared with that of 15 at-risk HIV– Ss. Relative to the HIV– Ss, the HIV+ Ss were impaired on measures of attention, verbal fluency, and visual memory. The pattern of deficit exhibited by the HIV+ Ss was suggestive of a subcortical dysfunction. Despite this, the HIV+ Ss did not exhibit greater levels of psychosocial impairment. There was no relationship between depression and neuropsychological test performance for the HIV+ Ss. The development of specific criteria for defining impairment when assessing the neuropsychological consequences of HIV infection is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual discrimination and reversal learning in the aged monkey (Macaca mulatta).

Visual discrimination and reversal learning were assessed in young adult (10–12 yrs old, n?=?4) and aged (23–27 yrs old, n?=?5) female rhesus monkeys. Performance was comparable across age groups in many tasks, suggesting that the acquisition of stimulus–reward associations remains largely intact in the aged monkey. Most older Ss, however, required more training than any young animal to learn an initial pattern discrimination. In combination with previous findings (P. R. Rapp and D. G. Amaral; 1989) from the same groups of monkeys, these data suggest that deficits in attending to the relevant stimulus features in novel testing procedures may contribute to poor performance in aged Ss across a variety of learning and memory tasks. In addition, preliminary findings from a discrimination probe procedure raise the possibility that aged Ss may adopt alternate testing strategies that compensate for some aspects of age-dependent cognitive dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SPECT cerebral blood flow, MR imaging, and neuropsychological findings in traumatic head injury.

Investigated 16 patients with diffuse or contusional brain damage and 8 patients with focal lesions 5–22 mo postinjury, using single proton emission computed tomography (SPECT) cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements and neuropsychological examination. All Ss were aged 16–64 yrs. Compared with 16 controls, the diffuse group showed significant differences on 13 of 24 measures after correction for premorbid differences, whereas the focal group was significantly impaired on only 3 tests after correction. SPECT apparently identified abnormalities not demonstrated on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and vice versa. Abnormal regional CBF seemed to be related to neuropsychological defects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading, memory, and metacognition.

Investigated relations among reading skills, metareading (knowledge about reading), memory, and metamemory (knowledge about memory) as they relate to reading ability (good vs poor readers), operativity, and grade level. 40 2nd graders (aged 7.25–9.83 yrs) and 40 4th graders (aged 9.42–22.00 yrs) were interviewed to assess the reading–memory variables. Significant but low correlations were obtained between metareading and reading, metamemory and memory, metareading and metamemory, and reading and memory. Significant effects of operativity were revealed on all dependent measures. Operative Ss had higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks, read at higher levels, and remembered more items on the memory tasks than did nonoperative Ss. Effects of grade level were revealed on most dependent measures. Fourth-grade Ss received higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks and read at higher levels than did 2nd-grade Ss. An interaction between operativity and grade level revealed that operative 2nd-grade and both groups of 4th-grade Ss made fewer total reading errors than did nonoperative 2nd-grade Ss. The effects of operativity, experience, and metacognition on reading and memory skills are discussed. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensibilité et diagnosticité de la mesure de la charge mentale par la tache secondaire de frappe cadencée.

Studied the sensitivity of finger tapping performance as a measure of the mental workload produced by a concurrent memory task. Ss were 8 normal male and female adults (aged 22–39 yrs). Over 4 experimental sessions, Ss were asked to complete 240 series of 13 finger taps at a rate of 1 tap every 2 sec. The concurrent primary task required Ss to search for a target item (presented after each tap) in a 3-digit set memorized before each series of taps. Processing load was varied by including letter targets among positive and negative digit targets. Intertap intervals for letter targets, positive digit targets, and negative digit targets were compared. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiating dementia from "pseudodementia" early in the clinical course: Utility of neuropsychological tests.

Performed neurological evaluations of 37 patients (aged 45+ yrs) with early and subtle changes in memory to investigate the utility of several neuropsychological tests in the distinction between dementia and pseudodementia. All Ss were re-evaluated at least 6 mo later. There were significant associations between defective temporal orientation, visuoconstruction, and visual memory at Time 1, and the subsequent development of dementia. There were significant correlations between clinical outcome and Time 1 performances on a temporal orientation questionnaire, the Revised Visual Retention Test, and the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R). Appropriate weighting of these measures in neuropsychological judgment may assist in the differential diagnosis of dementia vs pseudodementia. Novelty and the multidimensional nature of the discriminating tasks may account for this effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Seashore Tonal Memory Test as a neuropsychological measure.

Evaluated the sensitivity of the Seashore Tonal Memory Test to impaired brain function and compared it with that of the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery and the Trail Making Test. Neurologic Ss consisted of 102 individuals (mean age 26.45 yrs) with histories of head trauma or epilepsy, and control Ss consisted of 68 individuals (mean age 27.22 yrs) without histories of neurological problems. In general, the Tonal Memory Test differentiated the normal and neurologic Ss on either an S-by-S or group-by-group basis as well as did the other neuropsychological measures, and without excessive overlap with them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory interference effects and aging: Findings from a test of frontal lobe function.

Performance on behavioral measures of self-ordered pointing and 2-choice recognition memory was evaluated in young adults (aged 18–23 yrs) and 2 groups of older adults (aged 61–70 yrs and 71–80 yrs). The self-ordered pointing test involves working memory and has been used as an index of frontal lobe dysfunction; to perform well, Ss must organize stimulus information and monitor responses. Both groups of older adults exhibited impairment on the pointing test, but the pattern of impairment was different for the 2 groups. Individuals in their 60s exhibited impairment on a 2nd block of trials but not on the 1st block. Individuals in their 70s exhibited deficits on both blocks of trials. On the recognition test, only individuals in their 70s exhibited impairment. The findings suggest that age-related impairments occur in both working memory and recognition memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical tests of memory in dementia, depression, and healthy aging.

In Study 1, 20 elderly adults (mean age 72.7 yrs) with primary degenerative dementia or major depression were compared to 10 healthy aged controls on 3 tests of learning and memory: the Benton Visual Retention Test; a paired-associate learning test; and the object–memory evaluation (OME) developed by P. A. Fuld (1981). The sharpest distinction in performance among the groups was observed on the OME, and discriminant equations based on this test correctly classified at least 90% of the Ss. Study 2 applied the classification rules derived in the 1st investigation to an unselected series of 25 63–86 yr old geropsychiatry inpatients referred for neuropsychological evaluation. There was agreement between memory test classification and general categories of clinical discharge diagnosis (organic vs functional) for 21 of the Ss and with status at follow-up approximately 18 mo later. Predictive value computations suggested that the OME is more accurate in confirming true dementia than in detecting dementia syndromes associated with functional disorders. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological and neuroradiological distinctions between Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.

Examined neuropsychological and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) differences among 23 Ss (mean age 70 yrs) with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 9 Ss (mean age 49.2 yrs) with Huntington's disease (HD), and 13 normal controls (mean age 71.7 yrs). Neuropsychological results show that HD Ss' episodic and semantic memory deficits were attributable to retrieval deficiencies, whereas AD Ss' impairments reflected a lack of storage and a breakdown in the structure of semantic knowledge. MRI results show that these cognitive changes were mirrored by significant group differences in striatal and cortical degeneration. AD Ss evidenced more widespread cortical damage, and HD Ss showed more striatal destruction. Both groups evidenced significant deterioration in medial temporal lobe and diencephalic structures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of recursive awareness of intention.

24 Ss (aged 3–9 yrs) played a card game against an adult opponent that required strategic actions indicating recursive awareness of intention. Behavioral measures of success indicated that recursive strategies were used by Ss aged 5 yrs and older but not by 3-yr-olds. Verbal indicators of recursion showed a developmental lag relative to the behavioral measures. Ss appeared to be better at retaliating against deceptive strategies than at initiating them. First-level awareness of the opponent's visual processes appeared at younger ages than did recursive awareness of intention. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative analysis of attentional deficits in hyperactive and learning-disabled children.

Compared 14 boys (aged 7–9 yrs) with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH), 12 with learning disability (LD), 12 with ADDH-LD, and 13 normal boys on measures of sustained attention, selective attention, and span of apprehension. Unique patterns of attentional deficits were associated with each of the diagnostic groups. The ADDH Ss with and without learning disabilities exhibited sustained attention deficits. The LD Ss evidenced selective attention deficits on a speeded classification task. The LD and ADDH-LD Ss evidenced recall difficulties on a paired-associate task, regardless of distractor presence. The 3 clinical groups performed more poorly than did the normal group on the span of apprehension measure. Although attentional deficits were most pervasive in the ADDH-LD group, multivariate composites of attentional variables were sensitive to the ADDH and LD dimensions. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)