Rate of forgetting in dementia and depression.

Patients with mild dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), patients with major depression, and normal control subjects were examined for rate of forgetting line drawings of common objects after the groups had been equated for acquisition by the variation of stimulus exposure time. Depressed and DAT patients demonstrated learning impairments, but only the DAT group showed rapid forgetting in the first 10 min after learning to criterion. This finding suggests that some form of deficient consolidation contributes to memory loss in DAT but not in depression and implicates the disruption of different psychobiological mechanisms in these disorders. The rate of forgetting paradigm may be clinically useful for distinguishing patients with early DAT from elderly depressed patients with memory deficits. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variations in the reported age of a patient: A source of bias in the diagnosis of depression and dementia.

The presence of bias in assessing organic vs depressive pathology in the elderly psychiatric population has been clinically observed in the apparent tendency to overattribute cognitive deficits to senile dementia. In the present study, 21 male and 15 female 26–49 yr old clinical psychologists were presented with a taped interview in which the age of a 64-yr-old male with depressive pseudodementia was varied (either 55 or 75 yrs). It was assumed that the ambiguity involved in determining the etiology of the patient's cognitive deficits would elicit a social or diagnostic bias related to his age. Results show the presence of a bias, with a greater attribution of organic symptoms reflective of senile dementia and fewer judgments of depression when the patient was described as elderly rather than middle-aged. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective reminding procedure in depression and dementia.

Patients with mild dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), patients with major depression, and normal elderly control subjects were administered a verbal learning task using the selective reminding procedure. Depressed patients were impaired on total recall and the proportion of items retained from one trial to the next without reminding and did not benefit from imagery in retaining items over consecutive trials. The DAT patients were impaired on all measures derived from the test, including storage and recognition memory. With the exception of the ability to benefit from imagery, all of the measures distinguished depressed and mild DAT patients. These findings are consistent with deficient encoding in DAT and performance deficits as a function of effortful cognitive processing in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Digit symbol performance in mild dementia and depression.

Patients with mild dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), patients with major depression, and normal control subjects completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Digit Symbol test and a measure of incidental memory for the digit-symbol pairs. Mild DAT and depressed patients had equivalent deficits in psychomotor speed, but DAT patients recalled fewer digit-symbol items. Although the standard administration of the Digit Symbol test has limited utility in differential diagnosis, the addition of a brief measure of incidental memory may be clinically useful as part of the battery of neuropsychological tests used to distinguish early dementia from depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for multidimensional source information.

Source memory may comprise recollection of multiple features of the encoding episode. To analyze the simultaneous representation and retrieval of those multiple features, a multinomial memory model is presented that measures memory for crossed dimensions of source information. The first experiment investigated the validity of the new model. The model showed an excellent statistical fit to empirical data, and the parameters of multidimensional source memory were sensitive to manipulations of source similarity on distinct dimensions. The second experiment used the model to test the hypothesis that source memory for individual context attributes is stochastically related in the case of conscious recollection but independent in the case of familiarity-based recognition judgments. The prediction was supported by the introduction of a "remember"-"know" distinction in a multidimensional source memory test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence-based assessment of depression in adults.

From diverse perspectives, there is little doubt that depressive symptoms cohere to form a valid and distinct syndrome. Research indicates that an evidence-based assessment of depression would include (a) measures with adequate psychometric properties; (b) adequate coverage of symptoms; (c) adequate coverage of depressed mood, anhedonia, and suicidality; (d) an approach to suicidality that distinguishes between resolved plans and preparations and desire and ideation; (e) assessment of the atypical, seasonal, and melancholic subtypes; (f) parameters of course and chronicity; and (g) comorbidity and bipolarity. These complexities need to be accounted for when certain assessment approaches are preferred, and when ambiguity exists regarding the categorical versus dimensional nature of depression, and whether and when clinician ratings outperform self-report. The authors conclude that no one extant procedure is ideal and suggest that the combination of certain interviews and self-report scales represents the state of the art for evidence-based assessment of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of a content methodology process to enhance feeding abilities threatened by ideational apraxia in people with Alzheimer's-type dementia

Self-feeding behavior is often the first of a chain of self-maintenance skills to deteriorate in people with Alzheimer's-type dementia and is a major determinant of institutionalization. Moreover, nurses working in geriatric settings report the feeding of patients as a most difficult management problem. Of the various features of Alzheimer's-type dementia that can affect a person's ability to feed him- or herself, ideational apraxia can explain the loss of ability to conceptualize, plan, and execute the complex sequence of motor actions involving the use of tools or objects necessary for feeding. In this article, a systematic process is used to review the research literature to develop substantive content for nurses caring for people with feeding problems related to ideational apraxia. Ideational apraxia is a condition in which an individual is unable to plan movement related to an object because he or she has lost the perception of the object's purpose. The specific abilities necessary for feeding that are threatened by ideational apraxia are identified. A tool to assess these abilities is described, and nursing interventions aimed at enhancing or preserving existing abilities, preventing excess disability, or compensating for lost abilities are presented.     

Subliminal processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression.

Investigated selective processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression using a modified Stroop color naming task. 19 anxious, 18 depressed, and 18 normal control Ss were required to name the background colors of anxiety-related, depression-related, positive, categorized, and uncategorized neutral words. Half of the words were presented supraliminally, half subliminally. Anxious Ss, compared with depressed and normal Ss, showed relatively slower color naming for both supraliminal and subliminal negative words. The results suggest a preattentive processing bias for negative information in anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological considerations in the assessment of depression in alcoholics.

Depression in 185 male (mean age 38.8 yrs) and 65 female (mean age 37.4 yrs) alcoholics was diagnosed by the DSM-III, the MMPI D scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The number of Ss diagnosed as depressed varied considerably according to the method used. The MMPI D scale classified the largest number of alcoholics as depressed (62%), followed by the BDI (54%), and the DSM-III (27%). The MMPI and the BDI were highly correlated, but both showed only a modest relationship with the DSM-III. (24 ref) (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)     

The effects of information on the assessment of attitudes by authoritarians and nonauthoritarians.

"This study was concerned with the effects of differentially relevant information on social judgments of authoritarians and nonauthoritarians. After listening to standard recorded interviews, the content of which was derived from the theoretical clusters of the F scale, Ss made judgments about the respondent's F scale attitudes and his values. It was hypothesized that Ss low in F are better able to use information for making accurate judgments. On the whole, results confirmed the hypothesis, although there was some evidence that Ss low in F, as well as those high in F, tended toward stereotyped thinking." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and depression: Effects on mood and biased processing of self-relevant information.

Alcohol's effects on mood and processing of self-relevant information were studied in a sample of 57 college students (39 men and 18 women). Participants were blocked on level of depression and were randomly assigned to alcohol or placebo conditions. After beverage consumption, participants processed trait adjectives under self-relevant and semantic-processing instructions. Results showed that biased processing of depressed content adjectives by depressed participants under placebo conditions was reversed after consuming alcohol. Further, reduced recall of depressed-content, self-relevant information after alcohol consumption was significantly related to alcohol-enhanced mood in depressed participants. Results are discussed in relation to mechanisms of reinforcement that may link the coexistence of alcohol abuse and affective disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Content-free speech as a source of information about the speaker.

3groups of 10 Ss each were selected on the basis of their scores on a blood pressure recording and on the basis of a personality score related to high blood pressure. All voice samples were judged on scales labelled "aggressive" and "pleasant." The judgments for all types of information significantly differentiated the voices of the 30 Ss. The group with high blood pressure scores showed a lack of significant verbal-vocal congruence. Judgments of content-free information were related to both the blood pressure measure and the personality measure related to high blood pressure. Judgments of normal information were related only to the personality measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of psychodiagnostic labels, depression severity, and instructions on assessment.

Previous research suggests that the accuracy with which clinicians assess normal behavior may be impaired by inaccurate clinical labels. We examined the impact of a psychodiagnostic label on the accuracy of assessment of normal behavior and abnormal behavior that were either consistent or inconsistent with the label. Practicing psychologists observed three videotapes depicting intake interviews with three "clients" and provided DSM-III diagnoses and observational data after each videotape. We provided half of the subjects with traditional diagnostic instructions and the other half with behavioral assessment instructions. The label had either a neutral or negative effect, depending on its relation to the behaviors portrayed; the presence of the label decreased diagnostic accuracy for the normal client. Moreover, for the normal client, the diagnostic data were more susceptible to bias than were the behavioral assessment data. We suggest that a focus on specific behaviors, as opposed to global diagnostic impressions, helps clinicians to minimize potential biasing effects of inaccurate labels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in memory for item and source information.

Investigated the effects of normal aging on source amnesia in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 31 young adults (mean age 19.4 yrs) and 30 older adults (mean age 69.2 yrs) were taught real facts about Canada. One week later they were asked to recall the facts and remember where they had learned them. Findings show that the older people exhibited greater amounts of forgetting of the source of their knowledge. Exp II, which used 24 young adults (mean age 23.3 yrs) and 24 older adults (mean age 69.7 yrs), confirmed the findings of Exp I using made up facts. It is suggested that the finding of source amnesia in older, normal people has implications for theories of amnesia and, possibly, for theories of frontal lobe functions. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison information and judgments about depression and seeking counseling.

Examined the effects of social comparison information, and the interaction of this information with symptom severity and sex, on 40 male and 40 female undergraduates' evaluations of depression symptoms and their willingness to seek counseling. Ss were administered the Depression Adjective Checklist—Form E (DACL—E) and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help Scale, as well as ratings of willingness to seek counseling and manipulation checks. A significant main effect was found on DACL—E scores for social comparison information. Ss who received serious social comparison information reported the highest depression scores. In addition, a significant interaction was found between social comparison information and sex of S in DACL—E scores. A significant main effect was also found on Ss' ratings of willingness to seek counseling for social comparison information and sex of S. Ss were more willing to seek counseling help when the social comparison information was serious. Also, female Ss were more willing to seek counseling than were male Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of recollection and partial information in source monitoring.

Two experiments were conducted to assess the degree to which source monitoring required recollective details or could be based on vaguer partial information. Source judgments were followed by remember-know judgments during testing. On the authors' assumption that remember judgments are highly correlated with the presence of recollective details, the results showed that accurate source monitoring did not necessarily require such recollective details. Rather, the high proportion of correct source judgments that were associated with know responses suggests that source-monitoring processes can successfully use the partial information that is recorded in vaguer memories. Consequently, source monitoring can be based on recollection but can also effectively use qualitative characteristics that lack clarity and sufficient amounts of details to give rise to the subjective feeling of remembering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The research readership and information source reliance of clinical psychologists.

Conducted a mail survey of 95 clinical psychologists employed in VA hospitals, medical schools, state mental hospitals, and federally funded community mental health centers to determine the extent to which clinicians read research articles and/or rely on other sources of information for their professional work activities. Results indicate that academic clinicians and medical school psychologists read slightly more than 4 research articles each month, while the other psychologists read slightly more than 2 articles each month. Furthermore, the groups of psychologists differentially relied on such information sources as nonresearch articles and workshops. Findings are discussed in the context of mental health research utilization and mental health innovation diffusion. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of clinical information systems on nursing practice. Nurses' perspectives

This article adds to the literature on the impact of computerized clinical information systems by asking nurses important questions about their nursing practices. A research tool was developed from collaborative work with clinicians who have used computers in their daily practice for more than two decades. A statewide study then was conducted on how nurses believed computer technology impacted their practice. This study also examined the different views that computer users and nonusers held. Questions were posed relating to resource consumption, nursing work practices, and professional and patient outcomes. It was found that nurses, whether computer naive or knowledgeable, clearly do not expect the technology to have negative impact on practice. The two groups differed mostly in the strength of their beliefs. One startling outcome, that slow computer response time delayed care, was identified within the computer-user group and direct action was taken as a result.