Steven G. Goldstein

Neuropsychological effects of electroconvulsive therapy.

Although ECT as the treatment of choice for psychotic depression has been in use for many years, little is known about the neocortical residual of such treatments inferred from behavioral measures. The major portion of the literature has been concerned with inferred or observed changes in affective state. The present study compared pre- and posttreatment performances on the Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological battery of 20 patients who were receiving ECT from two different machines. Most Ss gave indicators of cerebral impairment prior to treatment when performance of one side of the body was contrasted with performance of the other side. After treatment, there was an increased number of Ss who evidenced signs consistent with damage to the right cerebral hemisphere. Some concern was raised that a large number of patients who eventually are subject ot ECT because of depression behave in this way because of an undiagnosed neocortical dysfunction. There is some suggestion that the effect of the procedure is to either create or intensify a right hemisphere focus as inferred from behavioral measures.

Neuropsychological Changes Associated with Carotid Endarterectomy

Summary A long held belief that carotid endarterectomy was prophylactic in nature rather than offering any restoration of function was evaluated by the use of an extensive neuropsychological battery of tests. Six patients admitted to a neurosurgery service for carotid endarterectomy were evaluated just prior to surgery and approximately three months following surgery. All patients had presented complaints of transient ischemic episodes lasting seconds to minutes and then clearing totally. Analysis of the results indicated changes in all patients in the direction of improved performance. It was felt that increases in intelligence test scores were most probably a function of practice and/or prior exposure. Improvement in performance on other measures was too great to be explained as practice effect, however, and the general impression was one of restoration of measured neuropsychological ability as a function of the surgical procedure. It was pointed out that the performance of all subjects postsurgery was still similar to persons with cerebrovascular difficulties.

Book Review: The General InquirerStonePhilip J., DunphyDexter C., SmithMarshall S. and OgilvieDaniel M.. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M. I. T. Press, 1966. Pp. xx + 651.

value of this volume is its appendices. Contained in these last 40 pages are the methodological approaches that brought forth the effort. The attempts in these pages to quantify information integration and the esamples of the derived scoring system are excellent and well worth the time of anyone who is attempting to deal meaningfully with quantified verbal material. I n summary, this reviewer has divided feelings about the book. As a theoretical approach to the basic problem in the behavioral sciences of optimal levels of stimulus input and associated performance, i t adds nothing new to an already burgeoning field. However, as an extension of the general hypothesis and a heuristic contribution there is much contained which could add to the utility of future research in this area.

Book Review: Human Information Processing

The author’s forte is social psychology. He has been Chief of the Social-Clinical Psychology Research Unit a t the Veterans Hospital in Palo Alto since 1957. Examples from his own first hand experience are clear and helpful to the reader; when the author moves into other areas such as public education he is on less firm ground. The reader must decide for himself whethcr or not the author’s thesis is applicable to all social systems. I n Chapter 14, the author proposes that training and experimental centers be established across our nation. Specific institutions to be involved are universities, industrial institutions, governmental agencies, and private agencies. According to Fairweather, these agencies would themselves be a new subsystem which would act as a mechanism for social change. Such agencies would make possible the solution of social problcms by reforms before crises emerged. Social scientists mould be more concerned with the solving of socia1 problems than their particdm discipline’s biases, according to the author. I n short, the controvcrsial thesis of the author demands our attention-especially in the light of present day attacks by large social organizations on social problems such as poverty and the culturally disadvantaged. Although the book deals with the field of education mainly by inference rather than direct attention, the implications for education are important.