Frank Spellacy

Victoria symptom validity test: Efficiency for detecting feigned memory impairment and relationship to neuropsychological tests and MMPI-2 validity scales

Error scores and response times from a computer-administered, forced-choice recognition test of symptom validity were evaluated for efficiency in detecting feigned memory deficits. Participants included controls (n = 95), experimental malingerers (n = 43), compensation-seeking patients (n = 206), and patients not seeking financial compensation (n = 32). Adopting a three-level cut-score system that classified participant performance as malingered, questionable, or valid greatly improved sensitivity with relatively little impact on specificity. For error scores, convergent validity was found to be adequate and divergent validity was found to be excellent. Although response times showed promise for assisting in the detection of feigned impairment, divergent and convergent validity were weaker, suggesting somewhat less utility than error scores.

The effect of interstimulus interval and intensity on ear asymmetry for nonverbal stimuli in dichotic listening

Abstract This study investigated the question of ear asymmetry for musical and pitch pattern stimuli with one second interstimulus intervals. The results were compared with those obtained in another study using five and twelve second interstimulus intervals. In addition, the effect of intensity on ear asymmetry was examined. The results confirmed previous findings of a left ear superiority for musical stimuli. The size of the difference between ears for music and tonal pattern decreases with increasing length of the interstimulus interval. Overall performance level showed a monotonic decrease with increasing length of the interstimulus interval. No significant effect of intensity level (50 and 70 db) was obtained. The results were discussed in relation to a temporary storage model and a perceptual model.

A Short Form of the Token Test

Summary The Token Test was given to 67 aphasic Ss and 36 brain-damaged non-aphasic Ss. Two methods of scoring the test were employed, a weighted score in which items presumed to be more difficult were differentially weighted, and a pass-fail score with all items receiving equal weight. Both scoring methods showed high reliability and power to discriminate between subject samples. By eliminating redundant items from the original test a shortened 16-item version with adequate discriminating power and reliability was constructed. It is suggested that the short version of the Token Test is approximately as useful as the original version and that a differential weight scoring system does not add significantly to the discriminating power and reliability of the test.

Neuropsychological differences between violent and nonviolent adolescents

Administered the MMPI and elements of a neuropsychological assessment battery to 40 violent and 40 nonviolent adolescent males (M = 14.6 years). Multivariate analysis showed significant differences between groups on neuropsychological tests, but not on the MMPI. Discriminant function analysis indicated that the neuropsychological assessment had greater power to predict group membership of violent and nonviolent Ss than did the MMPI. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that organic impairment contributes to the impulse dyscontrol and associated violent behavior seen in some delinquent adolescents.

Neuropsychological discriminaiton between violent and nonviolent men

Compared 40 violent and 40 nonviolent male prisoners on a 31-variable neuropsychological test battery and the MMPI. The two groups differed significantly in their responses to both neuropsychological tests and the MMPI. Ss could be classified correctly as violent or nonviolent with 95% accuracy by use of the neuropsychological test battery alone. The MMPI alone correctly classed 79%. The relative behavioral impairment seen on neuropsychological tests is interpreted as part of a general pattern of poor intellectual integration cortical inhibition associated with the presumed greater prevalence of brain dysfunction in samples of violent persons. Simple and rather specific perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor tests such as found in neuropsychological assessment batteries add significantly to the identification of potentially violent persons and appear more powerful for this purpose than personality inventories.

Validity of the paced auditory serial addition test (pasat) in adults referred for neuropsychological assessment after head injury

Abstract The goal of this study was to evaluate the construct and criterion-related validity of the PASAT in 441 adults referred for evaluation of possible closed-head injury (mean age of 32.7 years, SD = 12.4). Convergent evidence for the construct validity of the PASAT as an attention test was stronger than divergent evidence. Although the PASAT correlated with several measures of attention, tests tapping mathematical knowledge accounted for a substantial amount of variance in PASAT scores. Further, other tests measuring conceptually unrelated abilities, such as verbal ability, academic achievement, verbal memory, and complex motor skills were also moderately correlated with PASAT performance. The slower PASAT presentation rate was also related to one test of visual memory and to one test of visual-spatial ability. These results suggest that PASAT performance is related to several cognitive abilities other than attention and processing speed. PASAT scores were not related to criterion-related indices of...

Dyscalculia and Elements of the Developmental Gerstmann Syndrome in School Children

Fourteen (14) dyscalculic school children were drawn from a larger population of learning-disabled children. The subjects were divided into two groups, those with normal-or-better reading ability and those with dyslexia equal in degree to their dyscalculia. Both groups showed a variety of behavioral deficits in addition to those comprising Gerstmanns syndrome and were notably poor in auditory and visual discrimination and motor coordination. Good readers showed severely-impaired ability to make right-left discriminations, while the poor readers were average in this ability. Poor readers showed marked impairment of word fluency and hand writing, while good readers were average in this regard. The dyscalculia and reading deficits reported here appear unrelated to central-language impairment. Subjects with all four elements of the developmental Gerstmanns syndrome did not constitute an homogeneous behavioral group and were found among samples of both good and poor readers. The pattern of behavioral deficits shown by these subjects suggests cerebral impairment rather than slow maturation as a probable etiology. While the DGS is not useful as a behavioral description, its value as a possible localizing neurological sign cannot yet be ruled out.

Monaural reaction time asymmetries for speech and non-speech sounds.

Summary When Ss are uncertain as to site of stimulation, they show a right ear superiority for both complex (speech) and simple (pure tone) sounds. This is true in the absence of stimulus competition and in the absence of any imposed requirement for linguistic encoding. When language encoding is required the ear preference remains the same but the efficiency of stimulus processing (speed of response) is reduced. It is concluded that there is a right ear and presumably left hemisphere advantage in auditory signal detection that is best conceptualized as due to attentional processes rather than to language dominance.

Effect of depression on neuropsychological functioning in head injury: measurable but minimal.

The goals of the study were to determine how neuropsychological functioning is related to depressive status in persons with head injury, and to quantify this relationship from a clinically relevant standpoint. Participants were 175 adults involved in litigation, referred for evaluation of suspected head injury. Depression status was measured using the Depression Content (Dep) scale of the MMPI-2. Depression status was related to measures of visual attention and psychomotor skills, but not to other neuropsychological domains such as verbal ability, visual-spatial reasoning, or encoding/organization. However, differences between low Dep and high Dep groups were minimal from a clinical standpoint. Depression appeared to contribute to an increased risk of impaired neuropsychological performance across domains, but only in persons not severely compromised by neuropsychological deficits. Overall, the results indicated a small effect of depression on neuropsychological functioning that is likely only detectable in persons whose neuropsychological compromise is relatively minimal.The goals of the study were to determine how neuropsychological functioning is related to depressive status in persons with head injury, and to quantify this relationship from a clinically relevant standpoint. Participants were 175 adults involved in litigation, referred for evaluation of suspected head injury. Depression status was measured using the Depression Content (Dep) scale of the MMPI-2. Depression status was related to measures of visual attention and psychomotor skills, but not to other neuropsychological domains such as verbal ability, visual-spatial reasoning, or encoding/organization. However, differences between low Dep and high Dep groups were minimal from a clinical standpoint. Depression appeared to contribute to an increased risk of impaired neuropsychological performance across domains, but only in persons not severely compromised by neuropsychological deficits. Overall, the results indicated a small effect of depression on neuropsychological functioning that is likely only detectable in persons whose neuropsychological compromise is relatively minimal.

Validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 correction factors for use with patients with suspected head injury

Abstract The clinical scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) are thought to be artificially inflated in patients with closed head injury (CHI). Correction factors have been proposed (e.g., Alfano, Paniak, & Finlayson, 1993; Artzy, 1994; Gass, 1991b) by comparing item endorsement of various populations and selecting items unique to the CHI population. The present study assessed the validity of the correction factors by relating these to indices of head- injury seventy and to scores on standard neuropsychological measures. Results revealed no significant associations between the correction factors and duration of loss of consciousness (LOC) and posttraumatic amnesia (PTA). In addition, no significant associations were found between correction factors and performance on neuropsychological tests. Significant correlations were found, however, between correction factors and the MMPI-2 depression content scale. These results suggest that the correction factors proposed for interpret...