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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

The A-B neuropsychological assessment schedule (ABNAS): the relationship between patient-perceived drug related cognitive impairment and results of neuropsychological tests.

Our intention was to evaluate the relationships between the A-B neuropsychological assessment schedule (ABNAS) as a measure of patient-perceived cognitive effects of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and the results of neuropsychological tests. The measure was developed specifically to assess patient-perceived cognitive effects of AED treatment. Evidence of its reliability and validity has been previously documented. In this study 96 patients were included using stratified inclusion-criteria to guarantee variability of performance: 55 patients were included from a 'low risk condition' with respect to possible cognitive effect (i.e. monotherapy carbamazepine within a dose range of 600-1200 mg/day) and 41 patients were included from a 'high risk condition' (i.e. polytherapy of three or two AEDs including either phenytoin, phenobarbitone or a benzodiazepine; treatment with topiramate with a titration speed using 50 mg or higher increments per week and within the first 6 months of treatment). All patients were prospectively assessed using the ABNAS and five neuropsychological tests (all part of the FePsy test system) with proven sensitivity of cognitive effects of antiepileptics: three tasks using reaction-time to measure speed ('simple (visual) reaction-time measurement', 'the binary choice reaction test' and 'the computerized visual searching task'); one test measuring motor speed ('the finger tapping task'); and a memory test ('recognition of words'). The three reaction-time tasks and the finger tapping test were significantly correlated with the ABNAS-score with correlations ranging from 0.22 to 0.35. The highest correlation was with 'simple (visual) reaction-time measurement' (0.35). Discriminant analysis showed that with the neuropsychological tests 61.5% of the patients were correctly identified as having high/low ABNAS-scores. The ABNAS underestimated impairment in 17.8% of the patients ( = low ABNAS-score but impairment on the neuropsychological tests). The present study contributes to the already existing evidence of validity of the ABNAS as a screening instrument for clinical practice as the relationship between the ABNAS-score and results of neuropsychological tests can help to identify who is at risk and needs further referral for neuropsychological assessment. Moreover the correlation between ABNAS-score and those neuropsychological tests that are sensitive for drug-effects may provide a sensitive instrument in early drug-development phases while keeping the burden on financial and time resources to a minimum.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Neuropsychological detection of dementia: an overview of the neuropsychological component of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging.

As part of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), a battery of neuropsychological measures was administered to 1879 participants. Participants who received neuropsychological evaluations were selected from an age-stratified random sample on the basis of scores on a cognitive screening tool, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS). Seventy-five percent of the sample seen for neuropsychological evaluation scored between 50 and 77 on the 3MS and 25% of the sample scored 78 or over. This paper provides a descriptive summary of the methodological basis of the neuropsychological component of the CSHA. The findings indicated that differences existed between participants administered the battery in English or French in terms of refusal rates and diagnoses of dementia. Cursory examination of the utility of the battery indicated that the battery was tolerated well by both the participants and the psychologists involved with the study and that measures of memory functioning were central to diagnostic decision-making. The relations between neuropsychological, preliminary medical and consensus diagnoses were examined and indicated that neuropsychological information influenced diagnostic decision-making. The neuropsychology component of the CSHA is a rich source of information on persons aged 65 years and older in Canada.

Aged↗
PubMed1977

Neuropsychological deficit in polydrug users. A preliminary report of the findings of the collaborative neuropsychological study of polydrug users.

The Collaborative Neuropsychological Study of Polydrug Users performed extensive neuropsychological assessments on 15 polydrug users 3 weeks after their enrollment in each of eight polydrug demonstration programs. Fifty-six (37%) of these subjects exhibited neuropsychological deficit. This deficit was partially related to increasing age, poor education and premorbid medical risk factors. The deficit was also associated with extensive and intensive use of two classes of drugs: sedatives (sleeping pills and minor tranquilizers) and opiates (heroin and other narcotic drugs). Seventeen (26%) of a comparison group of 66 psychiatric in-patients and day patients also demonstrated age- and education-correlated neuropsychological deficit. For these patients impairment was also related to lifetime experience with antipsychotic drugs and (perhaps) with clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia. Although both polydrug users and psychiatric patients revealed serious psychopathology as measured by the MMPI, the pattern of the neuropsychological test findings suggested that psychopathology alone did not account for impairment. The 3 month follow-up which is in progress should delineate further the time course and enduring features of neuropsychological deficit among polydrug users, and may establish more clearly the relationship of sedative and opiate use to such impairment. Changes in psychopathological status of both polydrug users and psychiatric patients should also help to clarify the influence of this variable on neuropsychological findings.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

The relationship between neuropsychological performance and daily functioning in individuals with Alzheimer's disease: ecological validity of neuropsychological tests.

The current study examined the relationship between neuropsychological test performance and functional status in 42 individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. A comprehensive battery of cognitive tests was employed in order to assess a wide range of neuropsychological abilities. Functional status was measured through the use of both a performance-based scale of activities of daily living (an expanded version of the Direct Assessment of Functional Status; DAFS, Loewenstein et al., 1989), and by a caregiver/informant-based rating scale (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living; IADL, Lawton & Brody, 1969). Findings suggest that neuropsychological functioning is moderately predictive of functional status. Using multiple regression analyses, neuropsychological variables accounted for 25% of the variance in the IADL and 50% of the variance in the DAFS. Individual domains of both functional measures were also significantly predicted by the neuropsychological variables. The findings provide evidence of a relationship between neuropsychological test performance and ADLs in an Alzheimer disease patient population.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2006

A motion to exclude and the 'fixed' versus 'flexible' battery in 'forensic' neuropsychology: challenges to the practice of clinical neuropsychology.

Two recent publications in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology (ACN) have been used by defense attorneys as the centerpiece for an argument that only a 'fixed' battery approach, exemplified by the Halstead-Reitan battery (HRB), satisfies the Daubert criteria for admissibility; and therefore, the HRB represents the only method of forensic neuropsychological assessment that should be admitted into evidence. Since this case has important implications for the practice of clinical neuropsychology in the United States, this 'Motion to Exclude' and its rationale are presented, which demonstrates how the legal profession uses neuropsychological literature. The critical issues of this argument for clinical neuropsychological practice are reviewed.

Criminal Law↗
PubMed1989

Children as informants of neuropsychological symptomology: the child neuropsychological symptom inventory.

Despite the rapid growth in child neuropsychology, there remains a paucity of measures which examine neuropsychological symptomology in children. In keeping with the need to understand the history and dimensions of children's presenting problems, the present investigation assessed the utility of a self-report neuropsychological symptom inventory with children. Study I examined the internal consistency of the Child Neuropsychological Symptom Inventory (CNSI) while Study II examined the stability of children's responses over a two week delay. Results indicate that the CNSI is a relatively stable instrument for assessing children's self-report of neuropsychological symptomology. The data were interpreted as lending support for having children act as self-informants.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Cerebral ventricular size and neuropsychological impairment in young chronic schizophrenics. Measurement by the standardized Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery.

The relationship between size of cerebral ventricles in chronic schizophrenics and performance on a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, the Standardized Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, was investigated. Ventricular size was determined by using a planimeter to measure the size of the lateral ventricles and the ventricular body, if present, on the computerized tomographic (CT) scan image that showed the largest lateral ventricles. This number was divided by the size of the brain as a whole on the same image of the CT scan to yield a ventricular brain ratio. This ratio was then correlated with the scores on the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery. Eight of the 14 scales of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery correlated significantly at the .05 level with the ventricular brain ratio in a sample of 42 chronic schizophrenics with an average age of 32.3 years. Overall, there was a multiple correlation of .72 between the ventricular brain ratio and Luria scores. The overall ventricular brain ratio for the schizophrenics was significantly above that found in normal populations. Changes in the size of the ventricles in schizophrenics appear to have significant correlates with measures of neuropsychological performance.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Independent and court-ordered forensic neuropsychological examinations: official statement of the National Academy of Neuropsychology.

Independent forensic neuropsychological examinations are performed by neuropsychologists who are hired as independent contractors by third parties to make determinations regarding neuropsychological functioning. The responsibilities of neuropsychologists when performing independent or court-ordered forensic examinations differ from those of clinical examinations. Because neuropsychological training typically occurs in clinical contexts, the transition to forensic contexts may result in uncertainty about how to negotiate the unique responsibilities of the forensic examiner role. Neuropsychologists are responsible for maintaining the highest standards of professional practice when performing independent and court-ordered forensic examinations. To reach and maintain the highest standards of practice, neuropsychologists must understand the unique relationships with retaining parties and examinees and strive to maintain true independence and objectivity. Although a true neuropsychologist-patient relationship is not considered to exist within the context of a forensic neuropsychological evaluation, neuropsychologists have ethical responsibilities to both the retaining party and the examinee.

Confidentiality↗
PubMed1987

Lateralizing brain damage with the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery: diagnostic effectiveness as compared to the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery.

This investigation examined the ability of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) to lateralize brain damage, since substantial statistical and methodological issues have been raised regarding the initial LNNB lateralization validation study. A comparison was then made of the ability of the LNNB and the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery to lateralize brain damage. Both neuropsychological batteries were administered to 30 predominantly left- or right-hemisphere-damaged subjects (15 in each group) with discriminant analysis classification procedures demonstrating similar, above chance, accuracy in lateralizing cerebral dysfunction. Cross-validation of objective clinical rules designed to aid in LNNB test interpretation resulted in classification of brain damage and lateralization at levels below reported values from the test developer's laboratory. The limited role such simplistic rules have in assessment is discussed, as is the need to evaluate dimensions of test usefulness other than those related to gross diagnostic decisions (e.g., presence or laterality of brain damage) in determining the instrument of choice for clinical neuropsychological practice. More research is recommended to fully define the limits of the clinical utility of the LNNB.

Brain↗
PubMed2003

Practitioner review: computerized assessment of neuropsychological function in children: clinical and research applications of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB).

BACKGROUND: Computers have been used for a number of years in neuropsychological assessment to facilitate the scoring, interpretation, and administration of a variety of commonly used tests. There has been recent interest in applying computerized technology to pediatric neuropsychological assessment, which poses unique demands based on the need to interpret performance relative to the child's developmental level. FINDINGS: However, pediatric neuropsychologists have tended to implement computers in the scoring, but not administration, of tests. This trend is changing based on the work of experimental neuropsychologists who frequently combine data obtained from test batteries with lesion or neuroimaging data allowing descriptions of brain-behavior relations to be made with increasing confidence. One such battery is the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB), and current studies in which the CANTAB has been used to measure executive functions in children are reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: Computerized batteries of this type can record aspects of performance that are difficult for psychometrists to achieve, and these may reflect activity in developing neural networks with more sensitivity than can be achieved with traditional tests. However, before computerized test administration becomes a routine part of pediatric neuropsychological assessment, several obstacles must be overcome. Despite these limitations, it is concluded that computerized assessment can improve the field by facilitating the collection of normative and clinical data.

Child↗
PubMed1996

National Academy of Neuropsychology Distinguished Neuropsychologists Award address. Slouching toward the milennium: some survival prescriptions for neuropsychology.

The following address was given as the Distinguished Neuropsychologist Award Presentation and Acceptance Speech at the 15th annual conference of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, San Francisco, November 2, 1995. Substantive issues discussed include: (a) the threatened loss of the clinical in clinical neuropsychology; (b) post-doctoral training and job market dilemmas in 1995; (c) proficiency versus specialty status for neuropsychology; (d) the Battle of the Boards (ABCN, APBN); and (e) forensic neuropsychology, a cautionary note.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Test/re-test reliability of the CANTAB and ISPOCD neuropsychological batteries: theoretical and practical issues. Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. International Study of Post-Operative Cognitive Dysfunction.

Neuropsychological test batteries are repeatedly administered to evaluate changes over time or the effects of clinical interventions. Relationships between scores on different tests within batteries are also examined to test models for associations between functional deficits. These comparisons may be misleading unless Test/Re-test reliability for individual tests is satisfactory. Interpretations of repeated measurements also depend on the extent to which improvement with practice varies between tasks and between more and less able individuals. Test/Re-test correlations and practice effects for two neuropsychological test batteries (CANTAB, ISPOCD) and from laboratory tasks commonly used in cognitive assessments of older people were obtained from large groups of healthy elderly. Tests in neuropsychological batteries varied markedly in test/re-test reliability which, in some cases, fell below levels considered methodologically acceptable. Putative measures of 'frontal' or 'executive' function, in which performance may be markedly improved by abrupt discovery of an appropriate strategy, were especially likely to show low reliability. Most tests showed significant practice effects, and on some these are substantial enough to compromise comparisons on repeated testing. On a minority of tests practice effects were counter-intuitive, in that less able showed significantly more gains than more able individuals.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Neuropsychological change in young people at high risk for schizophrenia: results from the first two neuropsychological assessments of the Edinburgh High Risk Study.

BACKGROUND: Studies of groups of individuals who have a genetically high risk of developing schizophrenia, have found neuropsychological impairments that highlight likely trait markers of the schizophrenic genotype. This paper describes the change in neuropsychological function and associations with psychiatric state of high risk participants during the first two assessments of the Edinburgh High Risk Study. METHODS: Seventy-eight high risk participants and 22 normal controls, age and sex matched completed two neuropsychological assessments 18 months to 2 years apart. The areas of function assessed include intellectual function, executive function, learning and memory, and verbal ability and language. RESULTS: The high risk participants performed significantly worse on particular tests of verbal memory and executive function over the two assessments than matched controls. Those high risk participants who experienced psychotic symptoms were found to exhibit a decline in IQ and perform worse on tests of verbal memory and executive function than those without symptoms. An increase in psychotic symptoms between the two assessments in the high risk group was found to be associated with an apparent decline in IQ and memory. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the development of psychotic symptoms is preceded by a decline in IQ and memory. This may reflect a general and a more specific disease process respectively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology special presentation: The American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology (ABCN), 2000 update.

This paper updates neuropsychologists on the process of obtaining board certification in clinical neuropsychology through the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology (ABCN), a specialty board operating under the auspices of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). At this time, the ABPP and ABCN have certified 406 clinical neuropsychologists, which makes it the largest board-certification organization in clinical neuropsychology. This article details the advantages of board certification through the ABCN and the four steps which must be passed in order to obtain board certification. These steps are: credential review, written examination, work sample, and oral examination.

Certification↗
PubMed2001

Münchhausen by proxy syndrome in clinical child neuropsychology: a case presenting with neuropsychological symptoms.

Münchhausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS) is a rare but dramatic variant of child abuse. In MBPS adults, mostly the mother, invent, manipulate, or produce the child's illness, and as a consequence the child has to undergo numerous diagnostic or treatment procedures. Typically, valid information about the etiology of the child's illness is withheld by the parents, and reversible symptoms vanish, when the child and the responsible adults are separated. Although valid statistical data about the epidemiology of MBPS are not available, MBPS should be considered more often than normally recognized. Neurological and neuropsychological presentations including developmental delays and learning problems appear to be common among MBPS cases so that clinical child neuropsychologists should be aware of this problem and consider MBPS at least in some of the mysterious cases that come to their attention. The present study describes a case of MBPS in which neurological and neuropsychological symptoms predominate. It presents a MBPS variant that is characterized by developmental delays and learning problems induced by unnecessary isolation at home, hospitalization, and treatment procedures. In the present case MBPS was at first suspected following neuropsychological assessment, since some of the main features of non-authenticity of symptom presentation gave cause for suspecting deceptive behavior on the mother's (and possibly also on the maternal grandmother's) side.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Neuropsychological test performance and the attention deficit disorders: clinical utility of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery-Children's Revision.

The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery-Children's Revision (LNNB-CR) was administered to 54 clinic-referred children aged 8-12 years. Children reliably diagnosed as attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity were compared with children diagnosed as attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity and with a clinic control group diagnosed with internalizing disorders. Both attention deficit disorder groups were lower than the control group in verbal and Full Scale IQ scores but did not differ from one another. The groups did not differ significantly on any of the LNNB-CR clinical scales, on the right or left hemisphere scores, or on the pathognomonic score using analyses of variance or analyses of covariance with both Full Scale IQ and age as covariates. These findings failed to support the hypothesis that attention deficit disorder, either with or without hyperactivity, is associated with neuropsychological dysfunction as measured by the LNNB-CR.

Attention↗
PubMed1979

Sex differences on the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery and on other neuropsychological measures.

Evaluated differences in performance between adult males and females with respect to Halstead's Neuropsychological Battery, additional tests employed by Reitan (Trail Making Test, Aphasia Screening Test, Perceptual Examination, dynamometer), and other neuropsychological measures (Seashore Tonal Memory Test, Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction portions of the Wechsler Memory Scale). In evaluating differences, 47 matched pairs of non-neurologic males and females were employed, as well as 47 pairs of neurologic patients. A small number of statistically significant differences were found, all of which favored males. Some of these differences occurred with respect to tasks that have very strong motor components, and these differences were shown to be related to hand size. Others pertained to tasks that have strong visual-spatial components. In general, the differences were less prominent with the neurologic than the non-neurologic samples. The question was raised as to possible over-representation of male-superior components in these tests.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Characterizing the neuropsychological functioning of persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, Part II. Neuropsychological functioning of persons at different stages of HIV infection.

Neuropsychological impairment has been reported to occur in persons at all stages of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, the findings of studies to characterize the incidence and pattern of impairment have been limited by inconsistent definitions of impairment and the failure to control for confounding variables, such as hematological abnormalities, history of head injury, or substance abuse. In the present study, neuropsychological tests were administered to 141 persons at four stages of HIV infection. Significant differences were found in the percentage of persons who showed impairment at each stage of infection. Further, participants' performance on the tests tended to decline across progressive stages of infection. These findings may help psychiatric nurses identify and manage the changes associated with HIV infection.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗