Unilateral brain lesions in childhood: performance on the Revised Token Test

Comprehension of connected language as assessed by the Revised Token Test (RTT) was studied in 17 children with left hemisphere lesions (LL) and 11 with right hemisphere lesions (RL). LL children's significantly lower performance on several subtests than left controls (LC) matched by age, sex, race, and social class appeared to be related to the memory demands of these subtests rather than the limited syntactic elements assessed by the RTT. LL subjects requested significantly more command repetitions than control or RL subjects and when a repetition was not requested LL subjects often responded with immediacy. Although RL children tended to perform lower than right matched controls (RC), these differences were not significant nor readily related to either the memory or specific linguistic structures assessed. RL subjects required fewer command repetitions than LL subjects and exhibited a significantly greater frequency of immediate responses than controls or LL subjects. While based on few children, a trend for LL children with retrorolandic lesions to perform more poorly than those with left prerolandic lesions was suggested. No systematic difference in performance was apparent for children with left cortical vs. left subcortical lesions or among discrete sites of lesions within the right hemisphere. Children with left lesions prior to 1 year of age performed no better and, in several instances, significantly poorer than LL patients sustaining lesions after 1 year of age. Among RL subjects, those sustaining lesions after 1 year of age had greater difficulty than those with lesion onset before 1 year of age, especially on linguistic elements which seemed to be dependent upon visual spatial properties. Further studies are needed to evaluate the comprehension of more complex linguistic structures among children with unilateral brain lesions as well as to study the role of more basic factors such as memory and attention in explaining the present findings.     

Selective learning in children after traumatic brain injury: a preliminary study.

Selective learning (SL) is the ability to select items to learn from among other items. It requires the use of the executive processes of metacognitive control and working memory, which are considered to be mediated by the frontal cortex and its circuitry. We studied the efficiency with which verbal items of greater value are selectively learned from among items varying in value in 14 children ages 8-15 years who had sustained severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in 39 typically developing age-matched children. We hypothesized that children with TBI would be disproportionately compromised in selective learning efficiency in contrast to memory span when compared to normally developing children. The results supported our hypothesis, as children with TBI performed significantly worse than controls on a measure of selective learning efficiency, but the two groups performed similarly on a measure of word recall within the same task. Furthermore, the effect of TBI on performance was demonstrated to take place at the time of encoding, rather than at retrieval.     

MMPI correlates of performance on a behavior therapy ward.

In a behavioral treatment program for acute psychiatric patients, points were earned for adaptive behavior (e.g. self-care, attending ward activities) and lost for maladaptive behavior (e.g. assaults, verbal abuse). Points earned could be spent for a variety of goods and services (e.g. passes, extra staff time). Statistically significant correlations were found between MMPI scale scores and point-earning behavior. High scores on the F, 5, 6 and 8 scales were associated with low point gain for adaptive behavior, high point loss for maladaptive behavior, a high proportion of points spent to points earned, and a low overall net point earnings. Low score on F scale in combination with high score on 2 scale best predicted point-gain behavior, whereas high score on 8 scale in combination with low score on 1 scale best predicted point-loss behavior. Overall net points were best predicted by low score on F scale in combination with high scores on 0 and 9 scales. When subjects were grouped into common psychiatric profile types, differences were found in point-gain behaviors for items related to personal care and attending ward activities. At least some of these differences could be attributed to two factors: high scores on the 2, 3 and 7 scales were associated with higher than average point earnings, while high scores on the 8 scale were associated with lower than average point earnings.     

Short-duration, high-intensity exercise and performance of a sports-specific skill: a preliminary study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of one bout and three intermittent bouts of short-duration, high-intensity running on the performance of a sports-specific psychomotor skill. Participants (N=13) were male soccer players (M age 20.5 yr., SD=2.0) who had been playing semi-professionally for M=2.1 years, SD=1.11 and trained twice a week. They undertook a soccer-passing test in three conditions: following rest, following a 100-m sprint and following 3 x 100-m sprints, with 30-sec. rest intervals between sprints. Passing accuracy showed a significant linear deterioration, while number of passes showed a significant quadratic effect. Low to moderate linear regression correlations were found between posttest heart rate and absolute and variable errors on the test. It was concluded that short-duration, high-intensity exercise has a negative effect on accuracy in a sports-specific task that requires both perceptual judgment and motor control.     

MMPI validity measures: a comparative study of original with alternative indices.

A comparison was made of the original MMPI validity scales (L,F,K,F - K) with validity scales devised subsequently (TR, Ca, Ds, Mp, Ws - Wo) to determine which scales, the older or newer, were better, either alone or combined, in detecting fake-good, fake-bad, and careless responding. This was accomplished by having groups of subjects answer the MMPI first under standard conditions and then, 1 week later, under one of the falsifying conditions. A group of 40 psychiatric patients responded under standard and then fake-good conditions; a group of 40 university students responded under standard and then fake-bad conditions; and a group of 20 students responded under standard and then fake-careless conditions. Results indicate that both the traditional and newer validity indices were equally good at detecting fake-good responding. None of the indices was adequate in detecting careless responses. We conclude, as a consequence of this study, that the newer scales perform a clinically useful function when faking good is suspected on the MMPI.     

Learning volleyball serves: a preliminary study of the effects of knowledge of performance and of results.

Recently, doubts have begun to surface about the emphasis that for years has been given to the variable knowledge of results in motor learning, and a view has been expressed that information on how an action has been made (knowledge of performance) may be of more use. This study compared the two types of information in learning a volleyball serve by eight subjects, who were given the two kinds of feedback at various points in the process. Analysis seems to show that knowledge of performance tends to be more effective for learning and that there may be interference across information if knowledge of results is provided after knowledge of performance.     

The signer effect on MMPI performance of deaf respondents.

In order to determine the existence of a signer effect, two videotapes of the same 38 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) critical items, translated into American Sign Language (ASL) and signed by different signers, were administered to 35 deaf adults. Results of this study demonstrate an insignificant signer effect and underscore the potential utility and practicality of future ASL translations of self-report tests for use with deaf individuals. Caveats for future translations include the necessity for constant attention to translation refinements and for utilizing native ASL users with appropriate training in psychology as signers.     

Conscientiousness, perceived risk, and risk-reduction behaviors: a preliminary study.

Participants (N = 343) from an Oregon community completed surveys at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months to assess personality, the perceived health risk of radon in combination with smoking, and changes in smoking behavior. Conscientiousness predicted instituting a more restrictive household smoking rule (p < .01), and perceived risk predicted reduction in cigarettes smoked per day for men (p < .001). Perceived risk predicted a reduction in the proportion of cigarettes smoked in the home for those who had high (p < .05) but not low or moderate levels of Conscientiousness, a dimension in one personality model. The results demonstrate the importance of Conscientiousness in the prediction of health behavior, particularly behavior that affects others as well as oneself.     

Rich deontic logic: a preliminary study

This paper begins the development of new types of deontic operators, particularly ones whose semantic characterization is based on models with forward-branching time. In such models, supplemented by a choice function to model human agency, and an obligation function to introduce normative features, it is possible to develop a rich language with a variety of obligation operators, differing from one another in how they relate to time, and to the causal conditions, the causal consequences, and the logical consequences of actions. We approach these concepts making extensive use of the notion of a transition, as introduced in [M. Xu, Synthese 112 (1997) 137].     

Maximizing internal and external validity in MMPI malingering research: a study of a military population

The authors investigated the effectiveness of various commonly used Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) indices of exaggeration and malingering in detecting suspected malingering in a military sample of 121 enlisted men. To maximize external validity, only men undergoing psychological evaluation were used as participants. Forty-one participants were identified as suspected malingerers through multiple criteria and were contrasted with schizophrenic-spectrum and clinic outpatient groups. To improve internal validity, the 41 suspected malingering participants were asked to retake the test without exaggerating. Results revealed that there were many false positives and fewer, but nonetheless many, false negatives with standard malingering indices. It appeared that the Gough Dissimulation scale (Gough, 1947) might hold the most promise as a measure of malingering, but other scales are also useful. Individual comparisons between different samples and implications for MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 1989) are presented.