Specificity of the 21-Item Test in two elderly samples

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to measure the specificity of the 21-Item Test for detecting malingering in an elderly sample. The 21-Item Test was administered to 20 community-dwelling elderly individuals with means for age, education, and Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) error scores of 76.25 years (SD?=?7.19), 14.30 years (SD?=?3.89), and 0.30 (SD?=?4.70). None of these healthy elderly participants were cognitively impaired. A second group of 53 nursing home residents had means for age, education, and SPMSQ error scores of 82.79 years (SD?=?8.56), 11.14 years (SD = 2.46), and 3.17 (SD?=?2.46). Approximately 60% of the nursing home participants had cognitive impairment based on the SPMSQ. The cut offs provided by Iverson (1998 , 21 Item Test Research Manual) for interpretation of the forced-choice component of the 21-Item Test were insensitive to age and relatively insensitive to cognitive deficits. Specificity was 100% since no elderly participant from either group scored in the range indicative of sub-optimal effort or biased responding.     

Construction and validation of an ecological version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test applied to an elderly population

ABSTRACT

The goal of this project was to construct and validate an ecological version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) aimed at the elderly. This was accomplished by replacing the geometric stimuli of the traditional version with stimuli belonging to the semantic category of transport vehicles, and by elimination of the color yellow. The results showed the ecological WCST version was preferred over the traditional version and older people felt less tired during test performance. In the two independent normal elderly groups, all pairs of scores that can be derived from the WCST correlated significantly with each other. Six of 11 outcome measures of the traditional WCST-128 (long) version were significantly influenced by age. By contrast, in the WCST-64 (short) version and in the ecological WCST-54 version only one measure was affected by the age variable. No significant effect of education level or gender emerged from the results in any WCST version. Again, the subjects with cognitive deterioration had lower performance in the ecological WCST-54 version than in the two traditional WCST versions. It seems reasonable to assume that the ecological version of WCST is more discriminating and has more advantages than the traditional versions. Further research on individual differences in the performance on this task will increase understanding of the components of the test, and of the variety of factors and possible deficits that could lead to an impaired performance of the test.     

Test of memory malingering with children: The utility of Trial 1 and TOMMe10 as screeners of test validity

There is a growing body of research suggesting that the shorter versions of the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) may provide an accurate assessment of effort in children. During neuropsychological evaluations, some circumstances result in only one completed trial of the TOMM or partial completion of a trial. Research suggests that a cut-score of 40 or 41 on Trial1 is highly predictive of passing the TOMM overall. In the current study, 194 school-age children with academic and/or behavioral problems were used to compare the accuracy of TOMM1 and TOMMe10 (errors on the first 10 items of TOMM1) in predicting passing/failing of TOMM2. For the children in this sample, a score of < 40 items correct (≥ 10 errors) on TOMM1 was highly accurate in predicting a passing performance on the TOMM2 (sensitivity = .80, specificity = .91) with a Negative Predictive Value = .98 at the malingering base rate of 7% (TOMM2 failure in our sample). A score of 2 errors (8 items correct) on the TOMMe10 was slightly less sensitive than that of the TOMM1 (specificity = .96, sensitivity = .53) but with a similar Negative Predictive Value (.96). Consistent with the research from adult populations, TOMM1 and TOMMe10 appear to be quite accurate in predicting performance on the standard administration of the TOMM and may be useful screeners. However, compared to that found in adult samples, slight differences in suggested cutoffs for TOMM1 and TOMMe10 may be warranted for children.     

Confirming the Factor Structure of the 41-Item Version of the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale

The main aim of this study was to investigate the factor structure of the 41-item version of the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale within a South African nursing environment. An availability non-probability sample (N =290) of nurses from hospitals in the North-West and Gauteng Provinces of South Africa were taken. Participants completed the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS). The data were analysed by employing Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) via AMOS. The data fitted the original model of Emotional Intelligence of Salovey and Mayer (1990), best explaining 58.52% of the variance. The results supported a five-factor structure of the SEIS. The five factors were named: Emotion Utilisation; Emotion Management; Emotion Awareness; Emotion Perceiving and Emotion Integration.     

Specificity in autobiographical memory narratives correlates with performance on the Autobiographical Memory Test and prospectively predicts depressive symptoms

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) is an important cognitive marker in depression that is typically measured with the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams & Broadbent, 1986). The AMT is widely used, but the over-reliance on a single methodology for assessing AMS is a limitation in the field. The current study investigated memory narratives as an alternative measure of AMS in an undergraduate student sample selected for being high or low on a measure of depressive symptoms (N=55). We employed a multi-method design to compare narrative- and AMT-based measures of AMS. Participants generated personally significant self-defining memory narratives, and also completed two versions of the AMT (with and without instructions to retrieve specific memories). Greater AMS in self-defining memory narratives correlated with greater AMS in performance on both versions of the AMT in the full sample, and the patterns of relationships between the different AMS measures were generally similar in low and high dysphoric participants. Furthermore, AMS in self-defining memory narratives was prospectively associated with depressive symptom levels. Specifically, greater AMS in self-defining memory narratives predicted fewer depressive symptoms at a 10-week follow-up over and above baseline symptom levels. Implications for future research and clinical applications are discussed.     

Performance on the Test of Memory Malingering in children with neurological conditions

Despite increasing interest in the use of performance validity tests with youth, relatively little is known about how children and adolescents with neurological diagnoses perform on these measures. The purpose of this study was to examine performance on the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) in a general pediatric neurologic sample. Data were obtained from 266 consecutive patients (mean age = 13.0, SD = 3.7, range = 5–18) referred for a neuropsychological assessment in a tertiary care pediatric hospital. As part of a broader neuropsychological battery, patients were administered the TOMM. In this sample, 94% of children passed the TOMM. Pass rate was 87% for 5–7 year-olds but was ≥ 90% for all other ages. Children with a history of stroke had the lowest pass rate (86%), with other diagnostic groups scoring ≥ 90%, including epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and hydrocephalus. Lower TOMM performance was related to slower processing speed and weaker memory performance. The results support using the TOMM with children and adolescents who have neurological diagnoses. Caution may still be warranted when interpreting scores in those who are younger and/or who have more significant cognitive difficulty.     

A Cross‐Cultural Study of Task Specificity in Creativity

This study provides new evidence concerning task specificity in creativity—examining through a cross‐cultural perspective the extent to which performance in graphic versus verbal creativity tasks (domain specificity) and in divergent versus convergent creativity tasks (process specificity) are correlated. The relations between different creativity tasks in monocultural and multicultural samples of Chinese and French children were compared. Electronic versions of the Wallach and Kogan Creativity Test (WKCT , W allach & K ogan, 1965; L au & C heung, 2010) and the Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EP oC; L ubart, B esançon, & B arbot, 2011; B arbot, B esançon, & L ubart, 2011) were used. Both measures showed satisfactory psychometric properties and cross‐cultural structural validity. The results showed that culture has an impact on the structure of creative ability: It appeared that correlation patterns were different across Chinese and French groups and across monocultural and multicultural groups. Such results show that it is crucial to take task specificity into account when investigating the effect of culture on creativity. Indeed, our study implies that cultural differences that are found using one specific creativity task might not be automatically generalizable to all sorts of creativity tasks. Limitations are discussed and perspectives for future research on culture and task specificity in creativity are proposed.     

Performances on Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Rey Complex Figure Test in a healthy, elderly Danish sample--reference data and validity issues

This study presents Danish data for Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT) from 100 subjects aged 60-87 years. Education and estimated verbal intelligence (DART score) had a significant impact on the RAVLT trial 1-5 score but not on other RAVLT measures. The RCFT copy score was significantly related to age and the DART score. On RCFT recall a highly significant difference was found between persons who could make a faultless copy and persons with incomplete copy performance. Thus, this study presents separate data for RCFT recall scores according to the subjects' copying performance (in separate tables for age and education groups). For all measures on both RAVLT and RCFT wide distributions of scores were found and the impact of this broad score range on the tests' discriminative validity is discussed. RAVLT performances for elderly were similar to previous published meta-norms, but the included sample of elderly Danes performed better on RCFT (copy and recall) than elderly from the United States.     

Stress and coping in the elderly

Changing demographics indicate a significant increase in the number of surviving elderly, a decrease in the number of children in each family, and an increase in the number of surviving generations. Four guidelines are offered for minimizing the stress and maximizing the coping strategies of the elderly and their families: a) aging must be viewed as a life-span developmental experience, b) aging is a biopsychosocial phenomenon, c) supportive others can occupy critical positive or negative roles in the adaptation process, and d) the elderly and their families must develop proactive, anticipatory strategies for coping with the exigencies of age. These guidelines are offered to help the elderly face the challenge of aging successfully.     

Dental anxiety in the elderly

Abstract

This review of the literature shows that dental anxiety in the elderly has been estimated at a much lower level than that found in the general population. However, it is thought that the problem may have been underestimated because older persons may have masked their feelings by minimizing their needs for dental treatment. It is suggested that dentists need to address the special needs of the older dental patients if they wish to have them utilize their services. Older persons' needs can be met only with a greater understanding and tolerance of ageing processes than has been shown in the past. The decrease of dental anxiety with age found in cross-sectional studies needs to be confirmed by longitudinal studies.     

The effect of embodying the elderly on time perception

The present study investigated the perception of stimulus durations represented by elderly faces or by young faces. In a temporal bisection task, participants classified intermediate durations as more similar to a short or a long reference duration. The results showed that the durations represented by elderly faces were less often classified as “long” than the durations represented by young faces. According to internal clock models of time perception, this shortening effect is due to a slowing down of the speed of the internal clock during the perception of elderly faces. Analyses also revealed an interaction between sex of face and sex of participant such that this shortening effect occurred only when the participants share the same sex than the stimulus faces. As discussed, this finding is quite consistent with embodied cognition approaches to information processing, but alternatives accounts are also considered.     

The measurement of cognitive impulsiveness: Psychometric properties of two automated adult versions of the Matching Familiar Figures Test

An automated version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) was administered to undergraduates, along with a parallel from. The latency-errors correlation (–0.61) was higher than that reported for most studies in children and weakly supports the view that the correlation increases with age. Repeated exposure resulted in improved performance, which was faster, more accurate, and more efficient, but there was no effect on impulsiveness. Reliability and internal consistency of both forms were acceptably high and the forms were comparable. Use of the univariate measures (impulsiveness-reflectiveness and efficiency-inefficiency) is superior to other scoring methods.Supported in part by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation, England.     

Development of a Short Form of the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI)

The Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) is widely used in research and practical settings and has particular application to the assessment and treatment of test anxiety in student populations. However, there are a number of instances in which a short version of the TAI would be more appropriate, especially when time constraints preclude the use of the full form. Similar short forms have been developed for other measures such as the State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; T. M. Marteau & H. Bekker, 1992). The authors of the present study aimed to develop a short form of the TAI. The TAI was completed by 333 undergraduate psychology students. Item–remainder correlations were used to compare short forms with varying numbers of items. Internal consistency and concurrent and construct validity were assessed in hypothetical and actual examination conditions. A 5-item short form produced optimal reliability and validity, and a balance of items from the Worry and Emotionality subscales of the TAI. Further research is needed to replicate these results, but the 5-item short form of the TAI shows promise, particularly for contexts in which time demands preclude the use of longer versions.     

IAT效应的心理机制研究述评

介绍了IAT效应的心理机制的主要理论,包括概念联结提取模型、刺激-反应匹配理论、随机游动模型、任务集切换代价理论和图形-背景不对称性理论,并提出除概念联结提取模型外,其他理论关注另外可能的因素对IAT效应的作用,从而间接否定IAT效应和概念联结的对应联系,消解了IAT作为内隐测量方法的有效性。最后分析了这些理论的不足,认为IAT研究需要深入探讨个体在IAT反应中的心理活动过程。     

Minimizing the influence of recoding in the Implicit Association Test: The Recoding-Free Implicit Association Test (IAT-RF)

Recoding processes can influence the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) in a way that impedes an unequivocal interpretation of the resulting compatibility effects. We present a modified version of the IAT that aims to eliminate recoding, the IAT-RF (short for “IAT–recoding free”). In the IAT-RF, compatible and incompatible assignments of categories to responses switch randomly between trials within a single experimental block. Abandoning an extended sequence of consistent category–response mappings undermines recoding processes in the IAT-RF. Two experiments reveal that the IAT-RF is capable of assessing compatibility effects between the nominally defined categories of the task and effectively prevents recoding. By enforcing a processing of the stimuli in terms of their task-relevant category membership, the IAT-RF eliminates the confounding of compatibility effects with task switch costs and becomes immune against biased selections of stimuli.     

Assessing individual differences in achievement motivation with the Implicit Association Test

The authors examined the validity of an Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) for assessing individual differences in achievement tendencies. Eighty-eight students completed an IAT and explicit self-ratings of achievement orientation, and were then administered a mental concentration test that they performed either in the presence or in the absence of achievement-related feedback. Implicit and explicit measures of achievement orientation were uncorrelated. Under feedback, the IAT uniquely predicted students’ test performance but failed to predict their self-reported task enjoyment. Conversely, explicit self-ratings were unrelated to test performance but uniquely related to subjective accounts of task enjoyment. Without feedback, individual differences in both performance and enjoyment were independent of differences in either of the two achievement orientation measures.     

A new objectively scored version of the Defence Mechanism Test

Kragh's Defence Mechanism Test has proved its worth in a number of applied settings but has hitherto required skilled time-consuming interpretation. Two studies are reported which validate an "objectively scored" version of the test developed using G-analysis. In the first, it was found that this version of the test could successfully predict the performance of trainee pilots. The second study examined the construct validity of this version of the test. It was found that the predictive factor from Study I re-emerged within a sample of students, where it correlated positively with scores on a test of perceptual defence and the Shrewdness (N) scale of the 16PF, and negatively with two of the identification scales of the Defence Mechanism Test. This factor was tentatively identified as one of general defensiveness. It is concluded that this form of the test deserves consideration when selecting individuals for stressful occupations.     

Post-traumatic stress disorder in a Danish population of elderly bereaved

The objectives of this study were to examine psychological sequalae of loss of a spouse in late life especially the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and possible predictors of PTSD and symptom development. Fifty-four bereaved Danes (mean age 75 years) from five geographically different areas were studied by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC), and the Crisis Support Scale (CSS). One month after the loss, 27% of the subjects had PTSD. Six months after the loss, this number decreased to 17%; if the A2 criterion was dismissed, the number increased to 24%. Lack of expressive ability, numbing, fear of death or illness, and helplessness in relation to the loss predicted 73% of the variance of the HTQ-total scores. The study concluded that for a considerable number of elderly, losing a spouse in late life appeared to be a traumatic experience. Pre- and peritraumatic factors together with numbing were important predictors of traumatization. Research implications are discussed.     

The Shattered Microcosm: Imperatives for Improved Family Therapy in Africa in the 21st Century

This paper provides an in-depth socio-political analysis of the basis for the limits of family therapy in Africa in the last 40 years. The goal is to make more visible the economic, social, political, and cultural factors that have combined to complicate and frustrate our macro-environments of practice. The conclusion is that family therapy in Africa cannot achieve any meaningful progress in the present millenium unless the structures of underdevelopment under which we live and work are dismantled and in their place the important preconditions for successful practice of modern family therapy are entrenched. The list of imperatives to be addressed is offered to suggest the direction along which we must move if we are to effect this adaptation.