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Biomedical subjects

W Mittenberg

Publications and source records attributed to W Mittenberg.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Symptoms following mild head injury: expectation as aetiology.

An affective, somatic, and memory check-list of symptoms was administered to subjects who had no personal experience or knowledge of head injury. Subjects indicated their current experiences of symptoms, then imagined having sustained a mild head injury in a motor vehicle accident, and endorsed symptoms they expected to experience six months after the injury. The checklist of symptoms was also administered to a group of patients with head injuries for comparison. Imaginary concussion reliably showed expectations in controls of a coherent cluster of symptoms virtually identical to the postconcussion syndrome reported by patients with head trauma. Patients consistently underestimated the premorbid prevalence of these symptoms compared with the base rate in controls. Symptom expectations appear to share as much variance with postconcussion syndrome as head injury itself. An aetiological role is suggested.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Intellectual loss in Alzheimer's dementia and WAIS-R intrasubtest scatter.

Patterns of intrasubtest scatter in the WAIS-R protocols of patients (n = 32) with Alzheimer's disease were compared to those of normal elderly controls (n = 32). The Alzheimer's patients showed more randomly dispersed item failures on some subtests, but normal controls showed more intrasubtest variability on other measures. Rates of correct diagnostic classification based on scatter measures were only slightly better than chance despite the presence of prominent anomia, memory impairment, construction apraxia, and significant decline from premorbid intellectual level in demented patients. In contrast, demographically based estimates of intellectual loss produced accurate diagnostic classification in 81% of the cases. The incremental validity of qualitative scatter analysis in the evaluation of suspected Alzheimer's disease appears to be minimal.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Neuropsychological test findings in subjects with leukoaraiosis.

Focal periventricular white-matter changes (leukoaraiosis) have been identified incidentally on brain imaging in normal healthy individuals and more commonly in the elderly and in hypertensive individuals. It has been suggested that leukoaraiosis represents the early stages of Binswanger's leukoencephalopathy, a dementing process thought to be related to hypertensive cerebrovascular disease. To test this hypothesis, extensive neuropsychological tests were administered to 50 consecutive normotensive, middle-aged, healthy volunteers. Ten subjects (20%) had white-matter changes on magnetic resonance scans; 40 subjects (80%) had normal scans. The differences observed on neuropsychological testing between subjects with and without leukoaraiosis were not significant. While this study argues against a link between leukoaraiosis and dementia, prospective longitudinal studies are needed to determine the value of leukoaraiosis in predicting future cognitive decline.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Changes in cerebral functioning associated with normal aging.

It has been suggested that the normal aging process is characterized by a pattern of neuropsychological performance decline that implies relatively greater vulnerability of right-hemisphere functions. This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 68 volunteers aged 20-75 who were free of systemic and neurologic illness. Neuropsychologic measures of lateralized and focal function were specifically selected to eliminate systematic procedural differences among tests (e.g., timed vs. untimed, overlearned vs. unfamiliar). Inferences about the localizing significance of each measure were based on previously demonstrated double dissociation of function in lesion studies. Results suggested that declines in cerebral efficiency are not differentially lateralized. Age correlated performance changes implied bilateral reduction that was significantly more pronounced on operations associated with frontal-lobe function. Anatomic and theoretical explanations for this pattern were discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Validity of the Luria-Nebraska language scales in aphasia.

The language scales of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) were administered to patients classified as either Broca's (n = 7) or Wernicke's (n = 7) aphasics. Group comparisons were made on the standard scales (e.g., Receptive Speech, Expressive Speech, Reading & Writing) and on 13 factor-analytically derived subscales (McKay & Golden, 1981). Results indicated that the standard T-score profile failed to discriminate the distinctively different language syndromes. Only two of the 13 factor scales differentiated the groups. Although Wernicke's patients were more impaired than Broca's patients on factor-analytically derived measures of basic language comprehension, it was concluded that the subscales added little to the standard profile in terms of aphasia syndrome identification. Distinctively different profiles of impaired and retained language abilities did not emerge on the LNNB factor scales. The battery cannot be recommended for use with aphasic patients.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Executive and compensatory memory retraining in traumatic brain injury.

A controlled treatment outcome study was conducted comparing the efficacy of memory remediation treatment with no treatment on traumatic brain-injury patients. The memory remediation treatment consisted of both compensatory and executive training skills and was delivered 6 hours weekly over a 2 1/2-week period. Six subjects in the treatment group and 6 subjects in the control group were matched on WAIS-R FSIQ scores, pre-test memory scores and age. Pre- and post-test measures were obtained for both groups on a paragraph memory task. A significant difference was demonstrated between the treatment and control post-test memory scores. The experimental group significantly improved memory scores beyond that of the control group, suggesting that memory remediation is effective for head-injury patients with memory deficits. Discussion of findings and suggestions for further investigation are presented.

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