Applied Neuropsychology

The assessment of sensory-motor functions is a key component of pediatric neuropsychological evaluations following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sensory-motor processes have recently been shown to be related to larger neural structures and functions, rather than a secondary role played in the past. Recent research has shown sensory-motor functioning serves as a marker for the integrity of the central nervous system. Children's behavior following a TBI has greater variation than seen in adults, which may well relate to greater natural variation and maturational effects...

The maturational course of the development of executive functioning abilities is dependent on the functional capacity of the human brain. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of standardized functional assessments of executive functioning abilities for children. The present article describes neurodevelopment of executive functioning and several recent measures of executive functioning that have been developed to assess maturational periods of specific executive functions. Clinical implications of these results for traumatically brain-injured children are described...

The purpose of this article is to provide a current review of language functioning and deficits following traumatic brain injury (TBI), specifically among the pediatric population. This paper will: (a) outline the manner in which these deficits may impede functioning across environments; (b) review methods of assessing language functioning within this population; and (c) discuss empirically supported interventions to address noted language deficits as they present in pediatric TBI.

This article reviews empirically supported assessment methods to examine impairments in memory and learning following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Critical factors affecting outcome are explored with an emphasis on an examination of age at injury. The article closes with discussion of current evidence-based interventions for deficits in memory and learning following pediatric TBI.

The current article serves as an introduction to this special issue on the assessment and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and adolescents. The article provides a brief review of the importance of this topic to neuropsychology while stressing the importance of evaluating factors related to assessment and treatment not only from an injury severity and developmental perspective but also the importance of familial and social functioning. Neuropsychologists' knowledge and professional skills involving psychological skills and neurocognitive principles make them most adept at treating children with TBI and their families for a variety of issues addressed in the special issue...

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare cerebral vasculopathy with limited information on the associated cognitive and emotional sequelae, particularly presenting in a psychiatric setting. We present the case of a 25-year-old female with a history of MMD and depressive disorder. She underwent revascularization surgery following an ischemic stroke at age 15 years. Magnetic resonance imaging at the time of the current assessment revealed markedly abnormal appearance in the anterior cerebral circulation with extensive periventricular collateral vasculature involvement...

This study investigated test-retest stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition, in 43 elementary/middle school students tested on two occasions approximately 11 months apart. Subtest stability coefficients ranged from .26 (Picture Concepts) to .84 (Vocabulary [VC]). Composite stabilities ranged from .54 (Processing Speed Index) to .88 (Full Scale Intelligence Quotient [FSIQ]). On 11 subtests and three indexes, the standardization sample stability coefficients were significantly larger than those of the present sample, with only the VC subtest and FSIQ having high levels of test-retest stability...

The concept that obsolescence or being "out of date" makes a test or procedure invalid ("inaccurate," "inappropriate," "not useful," "creating wrong interpretations," etc.) has been widely accepted in psychology and neuropsychology. Such obsolescence, produced by publishing a new version of a test, has produced an extensive nullification of research effort (probably 10,000 Wechsler studies). The arguments, attempting to justify obsolescence, include the Flynn Effect, the creation of a new version of a test or simply time...

The current study examined Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT) performance in U.S. veterans referred for evaluation of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) after scoring positive on the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) TBI screening measures. Fifty-eight percent of the sample scored below the MSVT cut scores on subtests more sensitive to effort than to neurological insult. There were no differences among those who did and those who did not pass the MSVT as a function of gender, age, education, ethnicity, previous posttraumatic stress disorder or substance use disorder diagnoses, or Personality Assessment Inventory validity scales designed to measure negative impression management...

The purpose of this study was to assess, in relation to metabolic control, the cognitive, depressive, and anxiety symptoms among 40 adult patients (age: 18-60 years) with either type 1 (n = 28) or type 2 (n = 12) diabetes mellitus (DM1, DM2). Nineteen healthy subjects matched for age, gender, and education served as the control group. For most cognitive domains, no significant performance differences were found between subjects from the diabetic groups and control subjects. However, diabetes patients demonstrated reduced information processing accuracy along with impaired visual and verbal working memory performance...

Depression in children and adolescents can negatively impact cognitive functioning, social development, and academic performance. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a computerized battery of neuropsychological tests could detect neurocognitive difficulties in children and adolescents with depression. Participants included 30 children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 years (M = 14.6, SD = 2.1) with a clinical diagnosis of depression. Healthy control participants were individually matched on age, education, sex, race, primary language, handedness, and self-reported computer familiarity...

The Screening module from the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB-SM; Stern & White, 2003) is a comprehensive cognitive screening measure that assesses five domains (Attention, Language, Memory, Spatial, and Executive Functions). The construct validity of the NAB-SM in comparison to established neuropsychological (NP) measures in individuals with moderate-to-severe brain injury has yet to be investigated. Participants were 42 individuals with acquired brain injury admitted to a post-acute residential rehabilitation program...

This preliminary study investigates the effectiveness of a treatment program in which neuropsychological interventions are supplemented by psychotherapeutic interventions to foster the adjustment process. Eleven patients who had an adjustment disorder following an acquired brain injury were recruited for the treatment group. Measures were assessed at the beginning and end using the Structured Clinical Interview, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Goal Attainment Scaling procedure, and the Trier Coping Scales...

The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS; Randolph, 1998) is a popular neuropsychological assessment instrument with research supporting its clinical utility. However, the index structure of the RBANS was derived theoretically and was not based on factor analysis. The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure in a large heterogeneous sample of patients referred for a dementia evaluation, using exploratory factor analysis. Results suggest a two-factor solution, the first factor defined predominantly as a memory factor and the second as predominantly a visuospatial factor...

Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a controversial constellation of cognitive, emotional, and physical symptoms that some patients experience following a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion. PCS-like symptoms are commonly found in individuals with depression, pain, and stress, as well as healthy individuals. This study investigated the base rate of PCS symptoms in a healthy sample of 96 participants and examined the relationship between these symptoms, depression, and sample demographics. PCS symptoms were assessed using the British-Columbia Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Virtual reality (VR) was used to create an ecologically valid spatial-navigation task in hand with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to articulate the neural basis of planning behavior. A virtual version of a traditional planning measure, the Tower of London, was also developed to ascertain convergent and divergent validity in terms of planning behavior and functional neuroanatomy. This VR-fMRI case study experiment was performed at 3.0 Tesla on a young healthy male subject. The obtained image data suggest both convergent and divergent specificity between the two conditions in terms of location and overall intensity of activation...

This study examined the predictive validity of widely utilized neuropsychological tests, the Cognitive Behavioral Driving Inventory (CBDI) and the Useful Field of View (UFOV), to predict driving abilities in a community-dwelling older adult population. Thirty-nine older adults were given the test battery and an on-the-road driving test. Results indicated that while performance on both the CBDI and UFOV was significantly predictive of driving performance, neuropsychological tests of executive function, memory, and visual perception were more predictive of on-the-road driving ability...

This study compared the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Tower Test to the Tower of London (TOL)(DX) in assessing executive functioning (EF) during a psycho-educational assessment by examining students' performances on both tests. Forty-two university students were administered both tests in a counterbalanced order. Findings indicate that students did not perform significantly differently on the D-KEFS Tower Test than on the TOL(DX), but that the tests only shared 22% of their variance. Although the moderate correlation found between overall achievement scores indicates that the D-KEFS Tower Test assesses some similar EF abilities as the TOL(DX), the different problem spaces between these tests may be tapping into different constructs and may account for the non-shared variance...

Recent studies of autism and schizophrenia examining the factor structure of the subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised have identified a factor that is thought to assess social cognitive (SC) processes or social context. The objective of the current study was to determine whether a similar factor could be identified using confirmatory factor analysis of the 14 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) subtests in the standardization sample. A five-factor model that included an SC factor along with verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed factors provided the best fit of the data...