Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Verbal Learning”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,783 records · Page 99Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Effect of olanzapine treatment on cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia].

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess whether olanzapine treatment results in an improvement of cognitive functions that became impaired by the schizophrenic process. METHOD: The correlation of the intensity of schizophrenic symptoms and duration of the disease with the level of cognitive functions were also examined. The schizophrenic patients were examined in three steps: before beginning of olanzapine treatment, after 6 weeks of treatment, and after approximately 12 months since the beginning of the olanzapine treatment, 36 patients were examined (9 female, 27 male) aged 20-53 (X = 25.4). The following tests were applied: Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale--PANSS, Squire's Memory Questionnaire, sub-scales: Digit span and Similarities of the Wechsler's Intelligence Scale, Long-term memory sub-test of the Choynowski's Memory Scale, Diagnosis of Brain Damages, Clock Completion Test, Decroly's Box. RESULTS: The olanzapine treatment of schizophrenia was characterised by significant antipsychotic efficacy including both positive and negative symptoms. The positive symptoms were associated with the attention range, the planning process context and the immediate memory with the tendency towards loosing remembrance in the process of non-verbal learning. The negative symptoms were associated with concrete conceptual thinking. Improvement of cognitive functions was noted for almost all of the examined functions. The effect of olanzapine therapy in schizophrenic patients may be regarded as personality integrating.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Homocysteine: a marker for cognitive performance? A longitudinal follow-up study.

The present prospective study investigated whether elevated total serum homocysteine concentration is a risk factor for cognitive decline. The outcomes were compared to the possible relation between cognition and vitamin B12 or folic acid. Cognitive performance of 144 normal aging individuals (aged 30-80 years) was tested at baseline and after six years of follow-up. Domains of cognitive function addressed were cognitive speed (Letter-Digit Coding test), attention and information processing (Stroop test) and verbal learning and memory (Word Learning Test Total; Delayed Recall). Serum concentrations of homocysteine, folic acid and vitamin B12 were determined. Serum concentrations of homocysteine correlated negatively with cognitive performance on the Word Learning tests at baseline, independent of age, sex, education level or folic acid concentration. Homocysteine concentration at baseline correlated negatively with cognitive performance on the Stroop and Word Learning tests during the whole six-year follow-up period. The folic acid concentration correlated to the Delayed Recall test at baseline only and no correlations were observed for vitamin B12. Thus, while a relation between vitamin B12 or folic acid and cognition was almost absent, elevated homocysteine concentrations were associated with prolonged lower cognitive performance in this normal aging population.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A long-term-care setting pilot study evaluating predictors of success in medication self-administration.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether any specific patient variables or a short battery of neuropsychological tests of cognition and memory predict success in medication self-administration. DESIGN: A prospective, single-blinded design. SETTING: An extended care center of a university-affiliated VA Medical Center. PATIENTS: Thirty predominately male, older veteran patients, mean age 70 +/- 4 years with a range of 63 to 79 years. INTERVENTIONS: Neuropsychological testing [Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Delayed Word Recall Test (DWRT), Shipley Institute of Living Scale (SILS), Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT)], twice a week unannounced bedside medication counts and medication administration record inspections, and educational instruction, if needed, by nurses and pharmacists. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient characteristics such as age, number of medications, presence of a disorder that can alter cognitive or memory function, years of education, and results from the above listed neuropsychological tests. The dependent variable was successful or not successful as defined by whether the patient required a re-education intervention. RESULTS: Fifteen patients required one or more re-education intervention(s) as a result of meeting the criteria for not being successful. The absence of major depression, stroke, or anxiety disorder did tend to predict success (P = 0.0716) in medication self-administration. The other patient specific characteristics did not predict success. Among the neuropsychological tests administered, only the Judgment Subtest of the NCSE tended to predict success (P = 0.098). The MMSE, DWRT, SILS,HVLT tests did not predict successful performance in the self-medication program. CONCLUSIONS: Although the presence of a diagnosis that could potentially alter cognitive and memory function tended to predict success, no patient characteristics were found that predicted success independently. Among the neuropsychological tests, only the Judgment subtest of the NCSE tended to predict success in medication self-administration. We conclude that the NCSE and characterization of patient-specific factors, including diseases that may affect cognitive and memory function, seem to be the best predictors of success in medication self-administration in a long-term-care setting.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Postural Stability and Neuropsychological Deficits After Concussion in Collegiate Athletes.

OBJECTIVE: Postural stability and neuropsychological testing are gradually becoming integral parts of postconcussion assessment in athletes. Clinicians, however, sometimes question the viability of instituting preseason baseline testing and the value of these results in making return-to-play decisions. Our purpose was to examine the course of recovery on various postural stability and neuropsychological measures after sport-related concussion. A secondary goal was to determine if loss of consciousness and amnesia, both of which are heavily weighted in most of the concussion classification systems, affect the rate of recovery. DESIGN AND SETTING: All subjects underwent a battery of baseline postural stability and neuropsychological tests before the start of their respective seasons. Any athletes subsequently injured were followed up at postinjury days 1, 3, and 5. Matched control subjects were assessed using the same test battery at the same time intervals. SUBJECTS: We studied 36 Division I collegiate athletes who sustained a concussion and 36 matched control subjects. MEASUREMENTS: We assessed postural stability using the Sensory Organization Test on the NeuroCom Smart Balance Master System and the Balance Error Scoring System. Neurocognitive functioning was measured with several neuropsychological tests: Trail-Making Test, Wechsler Digit Span Test, Stroop Color Word Test, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test. RESULTS: Injured subjects demonstrated postural stability deficits, as measured on both the Sensory Organization Test and Balance Error Scoring System. These deficits were significantly worse than both preseason scores and matched control subjects' scores on postinjury day 1. Only the results on the Trail-Making Test B and Wechsler Digit Span Test Backward resulted in a logical recovery curve that could explain lowered neuropsychological performance due to concussive injury. Significant differences were revealed between the control and injured groups at day 1 postinjury, but a significant decline between baseline and postinjury scores was not demonstrated. Loss of consciousness and amnesia were not associated with increased deficits or slowed recovery on measures of postural stability or neurocognitive functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Athletes with cerebral concussion demonstrated acute balance deficits, which are likely the result of not using information from the vestibular and visual systems effectively. Neurocognitive deficits are more difficult to identify in the acute stages of concussion, although concentration, working memory, immediate memory recall, and rapid visual processing appear to be mildly affected. More research is necessary to determine the best neuropsychological test battery for assessing sport-related concussion.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Important aspects in management of allergic rhinitis: compliance, cost, and quality of life.

Allergic rhinitis is a highly prevalent, chronic condition. Physicians trained in the care of patients with allergic rhinitis focus on the main management points, which include environmental control, appropriate pharmacologic treatment, and allergen immunotherapy. There are other important aspects in caring for patients with allergic rhinitis that are equally important in achieving the best outcomes for sufferers of allergic rhinitis. Compliance is essential in getting optimal medical management. Issues such as failure to take and improper use of medications as prescribed can lead to dissatisfaction in controlling symptoms. Cost issues must be addressed in management. This condition extracts a high indirect cost due to work absenteeism and school absence. Cost-effective management is fundamental in the proper care of allergic rhinitis. Last, quality of life issues should be considered in the care of the patient with allergic rhinitis. In allergy-specific questionnaires, subjects with allergic rhinitis consistently report lower quality of life than nonallergic controls. Untreated patients are embarrassed and frustrated by their allergy symptoms. Atopic individuals consistently exhibit significant declines in cognitive processing, psychomotor speed, verbal learning, and memory during allergy season. Physicians should consider compliance, cost, and quality of life issues in each and every patient with allergic rhinitis.

Health Care Costs↗
PubMed1997

Neuropsychological profiles of children diagnosed as specific language impaired with and without hyperlexia.

This study compared the neuropsychological profiles of 46 children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and 16 children with SLI and Hyperlexia (SLI + H). The results indicated that the essential feature of Hyperlexia is Specific Language Impairment and not reading disability. Thus, Hyperlexia would be best conceptualized as a subgroup of Developmental Language Disorder rather than as a subgroup of Developmental Dyslexia. Further, the SLI + H group exhibited significantly better developed visual/spatial memory which, along with average visual perceptual skills, appears to be the major contributing factor to their elevated word recognition and spelling ability. Finally, it should be noted that both groups of children exhibited decreasing performance on tasks of immediate auditory/verbal memory as the language/semantic demands of the memory task increased. This finding appears to be the result of a limited capacity for immediate verbal processing and not the result of a deficit in verbal learning and recall.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

Dementia associated with periventricular and deep white matter alterations: a subtype of subcortical dementia.

This research examined the neuropsychological functioning of demented patients with periventricular and deep white matter alterations. Thirty-three outpatients with NINCDS-ADRDA probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 27 outpatients with probable/ possible ischaemic vascular dementia (IVD, Chui et al., 1992) associated with periventricular and deep white matter alterations matched for age, education, level of dementia, and functional disability were studied. White matter alterations were measured using a 40-point scale previously described by Junque et al. (1990). Subjects with cortical CVAs were excluded. On executive control tests, IVD subjects made more preservations on tests of mental control and response set, and produced fewer responses on phonemic controlled oral word association tests (letters: F,A,S). IVD subjects also made more preservations and graphomotor errors on clock drawings. On the California Verbal Learning Test the IVD group performed better than AD subjects on the short delay free recall test condition, the recognition discriminability index, and made fewer intrusion errors on both free and cued recall conditions. We conclude that neuropsychological assessment can differentiate AD from IVD associated with white matter alterations, and that the neuropsychological profile of demented subjects with significant periventricular and deep white matter alterations is similar to other subcortical dementing illnesses.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

Practice effects with the NIMH AIDS abbreviated neuropsychological battery.

The degree of practice effects with the Brief NIMH Neuropsychological Battery for HIV Infection and AIDS is reported using a 7-10 day test-retest interval. The patient groups were asymptomatic and symptomatic of HIV while the control group was made up of "at risk" volunteers. Statistically significant practice effects were obtained on the California Verbal Learning Test, the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task and the Visual Search Test among the infected individuals. The controls subjects demonstrated statistically significant practice effects on all of the neuropsychological tests. The implications of these findings in prospective studies are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1990

Alternate forms of the AVLT: a procedure and test of form equivalency.

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test is frequently used in neuropsychological evaluation and research. However, its utility in the measurement of progressive change is limited by the availability of alternate and equivalent forms. Criteria were developed for word selection to generate new lists. Two alternate forms generated according to these criteria, as well as the original Key AVLT and alternate form, were administered to elderly Medical Center patients and undergraduate volunteers. All four AVLT forms yielded comparable mean recall scores, and alternate form reliability coefficients for each trial varied from.67 to.90. Conclusions from this study, though, must be made with caution as the sample size used was small.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

The experience of grief in the head-injured adult.

The current study attempted to assess the grief process in head-injured adults and to compare this with the grief process of individuals bereaved due to the death of a loved one. In addition, because grief often produces difficulty with cognitive processes, it was hypothesized that bereaved individuals would demonstrate impaired performance on neuropsychological tests of memory, attention, and reasoning ability. Significant differences between head-injured and bereaved individuals were found on only one clinical scale of the Grief Experience Inventory largely supporting the idea that grief among these individuals is similar. While a trend suggestive of the second hypothesis was found on tests of cognition, the head-injured and bereaved subjects differed significantly on all such tests with the exception of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and specific subtests of the California Verbal Learning Test.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1992

Quantitative and qualitative aspects of memory performance after minor head injury.

Neuropsychological investigation of minor head injury (MHI) has consistently corroborated patient subjective complaints of memory loss. An experimental group of 11 minor head-injured patients and a control group of age-matched normal volunteers were compared on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and on the Rey-Osterreith complex figure. Minor head-injured subjects were found to be impaired on measures of short-term and delayed free recall as well as on measures of organizational-semantic strategy in the retrieval phase. These findings are consistent with subjective reports from the patients and may in part explain reduced psychosocial and vocational adaptation following minor head injury.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

Evaluation of two new neuropsychological tests designed to minimize cultural bias in the assessment of HIV-1 seropositive persons: a WHO study.

In the course of the preparatory work for the WHO cross-cultural study on the neuropsychiatric aspects of HIV-I infection, two new neuropsychological tests (the WHO/UCLA Auditory Verbal Learning Test and the Color Trails 1 & 2) were developed. The evaluation of these tests was performed at four sites, two in developed and two in developing countries. The data obtained suggest that the tests are more culture fair than others currently used to assess the same functional domains, that they are sensitive to HIV-1-associated cognitive impairment, and that this sensitivity "holds" across different cultures.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Malingering on the RAVLT: Part II. Detection strategies.

In this study two potential indices of malingering derived from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) were evaluated as a means of detecting malingering. These were indices based on discrepancies between recognition-recall scores and differences in the serial position effect (SPE). Sixty undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: malingerers, malingerers-with-warning, warning-only, and control. Incentives were offered to participants in all conditions to encourage faking in a believable manner (malingering conditions), or to encourage optimal performance (nonmalingering conditions). Two predictions were made. First, it was predicted that the serial position curve for subjects in malingering conditions would show suppression of primacy effects relative to nonmalingerers. Second, it was predicted that recall would be better than recognition for subjects in malingering conditions compared to nonmalingering conditions. The utility of these indices was also explored in the context of providing subjects' with warnings regarding use of methods to detect malingering. Results indicated that both indices failed to reliably differentiate between malingerers and nonmalingerers, and warnings failed to modify participants' behaviour.

Clinical Trial↗
PubMed2002

The effects of depression and anxiety on memory performance.

The effects of depression and anxiety, as assessed by MMPI D and Pt scales, on memory performance was examined in 3999 veterans who completed the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Depressive symptoms (without anxiety) had an adverse effect on immediate recall of new information and the total amount (but not rate) of acquisition; however, retrieval and retention were unaffected. On the other hand, high levels of anxiety did not have significant detrimental effects on any aspect of memory functioning assessed including immediate recall, total amount acquired, retention, and retrieval of novel information. However, when depression was compounded by anxiety, there was not only an adverse effect on immediate recall and amount (but not rate) of acquisition, but also on the retrieval of newly learned information. We conclude that the presence of comorbid anxiety may, in part, account for the variability in previous research findings regarding the effects of depression on memory functioning.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Malingering on the RAVLT. Part I. Deterrence strategies.

The effect of warning regarding detection of malingering on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) was examined in this study. Sixty undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: malingerers, malingerers-with-warnings, warning-only, and control. An incentive that appeared differential, but was an actual constant reward, was offered to participants who could fake in a believable manner (for those in malingering conditions), or to those who performed to the best of their ability (non-malingering conditions). It was predicted that warning participants about the possibility that faking could be detected would modify the behaviour of malingerers, but not those instructed to perform to the best of their ability. Warning had no effect on behaviour in either condition, which was consistent with expectations for the warning-only group, but not for the malingering group. Results are discussed in terms of the ethical and legal issues associated with malingering in neuropsychological practice.

Clinical Trial↗
PubMed2001

Serial neuropsychological assessment with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) AIDS Abbreviated Neuropsychological Battery.

The effect of repeated administration of the (NIMH) AIDS Abbreviated Neuropsychological Battery was evaluated in a group of "at risk" individuals who served as control subjects in a larger research project. Subjects' performance across five assessment points was evaluated by repeated measures analysis. Statistically significant trends were obtained on the California Verbal Learning Test, the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task, and the State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. No discernable trends were detected on the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, total time or errors on the Visual Search Task, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, or the Trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The implications of these findings in both clinical and research settings are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

The effects of coaching on the sensitivity and specificity of malingering measures.

This study sought to identify patterns of performance indicative of malingering on the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Participants were randomly assigned to perform normally, simulate head injury, or simulate head injury with warning that there might be attempts to detect malingering. Participants completed an expanded AVLT and a forced-choice task, in addition to several other memory tests. The warned simulators performed worse than normals on the forced-choice task, but better than those simulating head injury without a warning, suggesting that the warned subjects recognized forced choice as a malingering test. A combination of AVLT indices was able to predict group status for both nai;ve and warned malingerers (73.6% for nai;ve malingerers, 84.8% for warned, no false positives). The forced-choice measure detected only 31.6% of the nai;ve malingerers when specificity was maximized, and detected only 6.5% of the warned malingerers, a significant drop in detection rate. Findings suggest that pattern of performance indices are useful in detecting malingering, even when subjects are aware of attempts to detect malingering.

Clinical Trial↗