The Neuropsychology of Heading and Head Trauma in Association Football (Soccer): A Review

Association Football (soccer) is the most popular and widespread sport in the world. A significant proportion of the injuries suffered in football are head injuries involving trauma to the brain. In normal play, head trauma frequently arises from collisions, but some researchers have claimed that it also may arise as a consequence of heading the ball. Although assessments based on biomechanical analyses are equivocal on the potential for brain injury due to football heading, a growing literature seems to support the claim that neuropsychological impairment results from general football play and football heading in particular. However, this review suggests a distinction is required between the neuropsychological effects of concussive and subconcussive head trauma and that all of the neuropsychological studies conducted so far suffer from methodological problems. At best, a few of these studies may be regarded as exploratory. The review concludes that presently, although there is exploratory evidence of subclinical neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of football-related concussions, there is no reliable and certainly no definitive evidence that such impairment occurs as a result of general football play or normal football heading. The neuropsychological consequences of football-related subconcussive effects await confirmatory investigation.     

Neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of football (soccer) play and football heading: a preliminary analysis and report on school students (13-16 years).

Footballers run the risk of incurring mild head injury from a variety of sources, including the intentional use of the head to play the ball, known as heading. This paper presents a preliminary exploratory analysis of data collected to examine whether cumulative incidence of mild head injury, or cumulative heading frequency, are related to neuropsychological functioning in male adolescent footballers. In a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design, neuropsychological test scores of school team footballers were compared with those of similarly aged rugby players and noncontact sport players. Cumulative mild head injury incidence was estimated using self-reports, and cumulative heading was estimated using a combination of observation and self-reports. No participants had sustained a head injury within 3 months of testing. There was no relationship between head injury and neuropsychological performance, and there were no decrements in either the footballers or the rugby players in comparison with the noncontact sport players. Within the footballers, cumulative heading did not predict any of the neuropsychological test scores. These findings indicate the absence of neuropsychological impairment arising due to cumulative mild head injury incidence, or cumulative heading. Although these null findings may be reassuring to players, parents, and football organizers, we stress that they are preliminary. Further data is being collected from the same populations to provide more reliable effect estimates.     

Neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of football (soccer) play and football heading: A preliminary analysis and report on school students (13–16 years)

Footballers run the risk of incurring mild head injury from a variety of sources, including the intentional use of the head to play the ball, known as heading. This paper presents a preliminary exploratory analysis of data collected to examine whether cumulative incidence of mild head injury, or cumulative heading frequency, are related to neuropsychological functioning in male adolescent footballers. In a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design, neuropsychological test scores of school team footballers were compared with those of similarly aged rugby players and noncontact sport players. Cumulative mild head injury incidence was estimated using self-reports, and cumulative heading was estimated using a combination of observation and self-reports. No participants had sustained a head injury within 3 months of testing. There was no relationship between head injury and neuropsychological performance, and there were no decrements in either the footballers or the rugby players in comparison with the noncontact sport players. Within the footballers, cumulative heading did not predict any of the neuropsychological test scores. These findings indicate the absence of neuropsychological impairment arising due to cumulative mild head injury incidence, or cumulative heading. Although these null findings may be reassuring to players, parents, and football organizers, we stress that they are preliminary. Further data is being collected from the same populations to provide more reliable effect estimates.     

Neuropsychological performance and suicidal behavior in adult psychiatric inpatients.

Although various studies have shown that suicidal persons exhibit greater cognitive deficiencies than both normals and other psychiatric patients, researchers as yet have been unable to account for the source(s) of the differences. Some of these differences (e.g., cognitive rigidity and impaired problem solving) hint of possible organic involvement. This study explored the relationship of neuropsychological functioning to suicidal behavior by comparing 20 suicidal and 27 nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients on several tests of neuropsychological functioning. Although results showed no significant differences between the two groups on most measures, both groups showed evidence of notably high levels of cortical dysfunction relative to test norms. Thirty-five percent of suicidal patients and 44% of nonsuicidal patients scored in the impaired range. Implications of this high frequency of impairment for the treatment of suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatric patients are discussed.     

Norms of subjective frequency of use and imagery for a sample of 1,916 French nouns.

Norms of rated subjective frequency of use and imagery on seven-point scales are reported for 1,916 French nouns. Subjective frequency was defined as the rated frequency of occurrence of words in spoken French, and imagery was defined as the rated case with which a word aroused a mental image. The mean, standard deviation, and percentile rank of the frequency and imagery ratings for each item are presented in the Appendix together with their objective frequency of occurrence in Baudot's (1992) dictionary. Interjudge reliability was assessed by calculating the correlation between the mean ratings of items repeated in the booklet, between the mean ratings obtained from odd-numbered and even-numbered respondents, and by computing the Cronbach alpha statistic for each page of the booklet. These reliability estimates were equal to or greater than .92 for frequency and for imagery, confirming the high level of interjudge consistency. Although the estimates provided by female and male participants were highly correlated (r = .97), the former gave a slightly higher frequency rating to the word sample but a slightly lower imagery rating than the latter did. Moreover, female respondents gave slightly more extreme ratings on the frequency and imagery scales. An analysis of the absolute difference between female and male ratings revealed a discrepancy of one half point or more on 20% of the word sample for frequency and 13% for imagery. On both scales, the mean absolute difference between male and female ratings was larger than that obtained by chance alone. This finding highlights the possibility that some words may not be equally familiar to women and men or may not evoke imagery with the same ease in these groups. Validity estimates for the frequency and imagery ratings were derived from correlations with scale values drawn from other normative studies. These correlation coefficients were equal to or greater than .78 for frequency and .86 for imagery, confirming the high level of consistency between this and other studies. An analysis of the relationship between subjective frequency and imagery ratings indicated that these variables are generally uncorrelated but exceptions occur. In the present study the coefficient of the correlation between subjective frequency and imagery was .24. However, when items with extreme mean frequency were excluded from the calculation, the correlation coefficient dropped to .04 and was no longer significant. Imagery ratings from five independent studies were all positively and significantly correlated with Vikis-Freibergs's (1974) frequency estimates, which were obtained from a free-association task. This finding suggests that word association, as a form of cued recall, may be influenced by several stimulus attributes including prior frequency of association and imagery-evoking value. The pattern of correlation between imagery ratings and text-based frequency estimates is not coherent. It reveals significant correlations only in select cases and no consistent polarity of linear relationship. The main contribution of this research is to provide reliable estimates of subjective frequency and imagery value for a word sample that is larger than those included in previous studies. A close examination of the linear relationship among the various sources of frequency and imagery data underscores the risk of confounding these variables in the selection of lexical stimuli for research.     

Adults' estimates of pre-school children's verbal and motor abilities compared with those children's scores on an individual developmental test

Forty-seven mothers estimated their pre-school children's development on a psychometrically constructed multidomain mothers' inventory. Similar data were obtained for the same children from 13 pre-school teachers. The mothers' and pre-school teachers' estimates were compared to the children's scores on McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA). The mothers' inventory responses yielded convergent–divergent correlations with the MSCA results; in two domains out of seven, their standardized estimations were significantly lower than standardized MSCA scores, and in no case higher. Teachers' estimates deviated more than mothers' estimates from MSCA verbal and motor development scores, though in the latter case the difference between teachers and mothers were less marked. Both mothers' and teachers' difference scores (i.e. deviation of their estimates from MSCA scores) were highly correlated with the respective MSCA scores. However, when the difference scores are adjusted for shared error variance, the correlations shrink and are in most cases non-significant.     

Sex and culture differences in perceptions of estimated multiple intelligence for self and family: A Macanese1Portuguese comparison

Differences in sex and culture between Macanese and Portuguese university students in self and parental estimations of IQ were examined using Gardner's ( 1999 ) list of 10 multiple intelligences. A total of 197 Macanese (90 male and 107 female) and 331 Portuguese (139 male and 192 female) students participated in the investigation. The following hypotheses were tested: it was anticipated that there would be sex differences in self‐rated mathematical and spatial intelligence, with men giving higher self‐estimates than women; it was predicted that there would be cultural differences between Macanese and Portuguese, with the former awarding themselves and their parents significantly lower scores than the latter; participants would rate their fathers as more intelligent overall than their mothers; the best predictors of overall (g) IQ would be logical/mathematical, spatial, and verbal intelligence. In contrast to previous results (Furnham, 2001 ), when examined separately, gender differences in both self‐estimates and parents estimates did not occur in the Macanese sample. There were, however, consistent and clear culture differences. Portuguese gave higher self and family ratings than Macanese, as expected. Portuguese rated their verbal, body kinetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligence higher than did Macanese. Portuguese rated verbal, mathematical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, existential, and naturalistic father's intelligence higher than did Macanese. Portuguese rated verbal, mathematical, spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, existential, spiritual, and naturalistic mother's intelligence higher than did Macanese. Participants of both cultures rated overall intelligence of their father higher than that of their mother. This was also to be expected as previous studies have shown this to be the case in terms of gender stereotyping. In both cultures verbal and interpersonal intelligences predict overall intelligence. However, in Macao, body‐kinetic and intrapersonal intelligences, and in Portugal logical and naturalistic intelligences, also predict overall intelligence. Implications of these results for education and self‐presentations are considered.     

Neuropsychological Assessment of HIV-Infected Populations in International Settings

Resource-limited regions of the world represent the areas most affected by the global HIV epidemic. Currently, there are insufficient data on the neurocognitive effects of HIV in these areas and neuropsychological studies that have been carried out thus far are marked by inconsistent methods, test batteries, and rating systems for levels of cognitive impairment. These differences in methods, along with genetic variability of both virus and host, differences in co-infections and other co-morbidities, differences in language and culture, and infrastructural deficiencies in many international settings create challenges to the assessment of neurocognitive functioning and interpretation of neuropsychological data. Identifying neurocognitive impairment directly attributable to HIV, exploring relationships between HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment, disease variables, and everyday functioning, evaluating differences in HIV-1 subtype associated neuropathology, and determining implications for treatment remain complicated and challenging goals. Endeavors to establish a more standardized approach to neurocognitive assessments across international studies in addition to accumulating appropriate normative data that will allow more accurate rating of neuropsychological test performance will be crucial to future efforts attempting to achieve these goals.     

Likelihood judgment based on previously observed outcomes: the alternative-outcomes effect in a learning paradigm

Previous research has demonstrated that intuitive perceptions of certainty regarding a focal outcome are sensitive to variations in how evidence supporting nonfocal alternatives is distributed, even when such variations have no bearing on objective probability. We investigated this alternative-outcomes effect in a learning paradigm in which participants made likelihood judgments on the basis of their memory for past observations of relevant outcomes. In Experiment 1, a manipulation of evidence (observed frequencies) across alternative outcomes influenced not only intuitive certainty estimates about a focal outcome but also numeric subjective probabilities. Experiment 2 ruled out the possibility that these effects were attributable to the influence of information loss on frequency estimations. The findings were consistent with the heuristic comparison account, which suggests that the judged likelihood of a focal outcome will be disproportionately influenced by the strength (frequency) of the strongest alternative outcome.     

Nishida on God,Barth and Christianity1

Despite the central role that the concept of God played in Kitarō Nishida's philosophy—and more broadly, within the Kyoto School which formed around Nishida—Anglophone studies of the religious philosophy of modern Japan have not seriously considered the nature and role of God in Nishida's thought. Indeed, relevant Anglophone studies even strongly suggest that where the concept of God does appear in Nishida's writings, such a concept is to be dismissed as a ‘subjective fiction’, a ‘penultimate designation’, or a peripheral Western intrusion with no genuine relationship to the core of Nishida's thought. However, a careful study of Nishida's own writings reveals that for Nishida, in his own words, God is ‘that which is indispensable and decisive’. For the first time in English, this present study reveals Nishida's view of God, especially examining Nishida's debt to the theologian Karl Barth and Christianity.     

Investigating the Relationships Between Mobility Behaviours and Indicators of Subjective Well-Being Using Smartphone-Based Experience Sampling and GPS Tracking

People interact with their physical environments every day by visiting different places and moving between them. Such mobility behaviours likely influence and are influenced by people's subjective well-being. However, past research examining the links between mobility behaviours and well-being has been inconclusive. Here, we provide a comprehensive investigation of these relationships by examining individual differences in two types of mobility behaviours (movement patterns and places visited) and their relationship to six indicators of subjective well-being (depression, loneliness, anxiety, stress, affect, and energy) at two different temporal levels of analysis (two-week tendencies and daily level). Using data from a large smartphone-based longitudinal study (N = 1765), we show that (i) movement patterns assessed via GPS data (distance travelled, entropy, and irregularity) and (ii) places visited assessed via experience sampling reports (home, work, and social places) are associated with subjective well-being at the between and within person levels. Our findings suggest that distance travelled is related to anxiety, affect, and stress, irregularity is related to depression and loneliness, and spending time in social places is negatively associated with loneliness. We discuss the implications of our work and highlight directions for future research on the generalizability to other populations as well as the characteristics of places. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Is Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Related to Neuropsychological Function in Healthy Older Adults? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have identified cognitive deficits in adults with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). However, quantitative analysis of the association between OSA and neuropsychological performance has not been conducted specifically in older adults, for whom there is a greater risk of cognitive decline. We searched Medline, Embase and PsycINFO through August 2016 for studies describing associations between OSA and neuropsychological outcomes in people aged>50 years. Meta-analyses were performed on these studies for overall cognition and within cognitive domains. Subgroup analyses were performed taking into account risk of bias and moderating differences in study design. 13 studies met eligibility criteria for analysis. A small negative association was found between OSA and all neuropsychological outcomes combined, g=0.18(95% CI 0.04–0.32), and in memory and processing speed domains. Small case-control studies from sleep clinic populations observed the greatest associations, while larger cohort studies from community samples illustrated no association. Analysis accounting for publication bias resulted in a null overall association, g=0.02 (95%CI -0.12 to 0.16). Associations between OSA and cognition in later life are highly variable and the findings differ based on the type and setting of study. It appears some older adults may be at risk of cognitive impairments attributable to OSA; however, the risk of bias renders the evidence inconclusive. High quality research is warranted in clinically diagnosed OSA patients as well as those already experiencing neuropsychological impairment and who may be regarded at higher risk of further cognitive decline.     

Personality and gender differences in global perspective

Men's and women's personalities appear to differ in several respects. Social role theories of development assume gender differences result primarily from perceived gender roles, gender socialization and sociostructural power differentials. As a consequence, social role theorists expect gender differences in personality to be smaller in cultures with more gender egalitarianism. Several large cross‐cultural studies have generated sufficient data for evaluating these global personality predictions. Empirically, evidence suggests gender differences in most aspects of personality—Big Five traits, Dark Triad traits, self‐esteem, subjective well‐being, depression and values—are conspicuously larger in cultures with more egalitarian gender roles, gender socialization and sociopolitical gender equity. Similar patterns are evident when examining objectively measured attributes such as tested cognitive abilities and physical traits such as height and blood pressure. Social role theory appears inadequate for explaining some of the observed cultural variations in men's and women's personalities. Evolutionary theories regarding ecologically‐evoked gender differences are described that may prove more useful in explaining global variation in human personality.     

Cluster analysis reveals distinct patterns of saccade impairment and their relation to cognitive profiles in Parkinson's disease

Saccade performance has been reported to be altered in Parkinson's disease (PD), however, with a large variability between studies as both motor and cognitive impairment interfere with oculomotor control. The aim of this study was to identify different patterns in saccade alterations in PD using a data-driven approach and to explore their relationship with cognitive phenotypes. Sixty-one participants with PD and 25 controls performed eye-tracking (horizontal and vertical prosaccades, antisaccades) and neuropsychological testing. Hierarchical cluster analysis was applied to the eye-tracking data to subsequently compare the clusters based on demographical, clinical and cognitive characteristics. The three identified clusters of saccade alterations differed in cognitive profiles from healthy controls, but not in PD-related motor symptoms or demographics. The rate of directive errors in the antisaccade task was increased in clusters 1 and 2. Further, cluster 1 was defined by a general disinhibition of reflexive saccades and executive dysfunction in the neuropsychological evaluation. In cluster 2, prolonged saccade latencies and hypometria were accompanied by multidomain cognitive impairment. The cluster 3 showed increased antisaccade latency and vertical hypometria despite lack of evidence for cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that there may be at least two opposing patterns of saccade alterations associated with cognitive impairment in PD, which may explain some of the contradictory results of previous studies.     

A nonparametric item analysis of a selected item subset of the Learning Process Questionnaire

Background: Although there have been numerous studies conducted on the psychometric properties of Biggs' Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ), these have involved the use of traditional omnibus measures of scale quality such as corrected item total correlations, internal consistency estimates of reliability, and factor analysis. However, these omnibus measures of scale quality are sample dependent and fail to model item responses as a function of trait level. And since the item trait relationship is typically nonlinear, traditional factor analytic methods are inappropriate. Aims: The purpose of this study was to identify a unidimensional subset of LPQ items and examine the effectiveness of these items and their options in discriminating between changes in the underlying trait level. In addition to assessing item quality, we were interested in assessing overall scale quality with non‐sample dependent measures. Method: The sample was split into two nearly equal halves, and a undimensional subset of items was identified in one of these samples and cross‐validated in the other. The nonlinear relationship between the probability of endorsing an item option and the underlying trait level was modelled using a nonparametric latent trait technique known as kernel smoothing and implemented with the program TestGraf. After item and scale quality were established, maximum likelihood estimates of participants' trait level were obtained and used to examine grade and gender differences. Results: A undimensional subset of 16 deep and achieving items was identified. Slightly more than half of these items needed some of their options combined so that the probability of endorsing an item option as a function of increasing trait level corresponded to the ideal rank ordering of the item options. With this adjustment, scale quality as measured by the information function and standard error function was found to be good. However, no statistically significant gender differences were observed and, although statistically significant grade differences were observed, they were not substantively meaningful. Conclusions: The use of nonparametric kernel‐smoothing techniques is advocated over parametric latent trait methods for the analysis of attitudinal and psychological measures involving polychotomous ordered‐response categories. It is also suggested that latent trait methods are more appropriate than traditional test‐based measures for studying differential item functioning both within and between cultures. Nonparametric kernel‐smoothing techniques hold particular promise in identifying and understanding cross‐cultural differences in student approaches to learning at both the item and scale level.     

Neurocognitive Functioning in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

This paper reviews the literature on performance on standard neuropsychological tests among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Of 19 studies, 16 reported impairment of attention or immediate memory (or both); however, most of these studies included PTSD patients with significant psychiatric comorbidity, so that the extent to which the observed deficits are specifically attributable to PTSD remains unclear. Other potential confounds, including medical illness, substance abuse, and motivational factors, further preclude definitive conclusions at present. Results of structural and functional neuroimaging studies of PTSD are also summarized. Two studies have reported correlations between hippocampal volume and cognitive findings in PTSD patients; functional studies have indicated specific findings in limbic regions, although the relationship of these results to neuropsychological performance remains to be explored.     

Sex differences in the estimated intelligence of school children

This study investigated sex differences in estimated general and multiple intelligence in school children, their parents, and their teachers. There were three groups of participants: 285 (149 female, 136 male) pupils of a mixed government‐run comprehensive school, between the ages of 13 and 16 years; 93 mothers and 58 fathers of the pupils; and five female and eight male teachers. Children estimated their own and their parents' IQ, whilst the parents estimated their own and their children's IQ; the teachers estimated only the children's intelligence. The aims of this study were firstly to assess whether perceptions of male intellectual superiority were observable in school age children and school teachers, and to make direct comparisons between the children's self‐estimations and those of the parents and the teachers. Secondly, this study aimed to replicate previous literature on adult self‐estimations of overall and multiple intelligences, and to compare these to estimations by children of these adults (their parents). Fewer sex differences were observed than expected. Teachers' estimations did not follow conceptions of male superiority. The patterns of sex differences in mother and teacher estimations of children were similar to each other, as were those of fathers and children. Verbal and numerical abilities were found to be most closely related to estimations of overall IQ in all three groups. Most striking was the lack of correlation between father and daughter estimations of each other. Reasons why this study failed to replicate findings on adult samples are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Worries in expectant parents: Its relation with perinatal well‐being and relationship satisfaction

Although much has been written about the impact of pregnancy on expectant parents, less is known about the worries couples experience during pregnancy. Sex differences in worries and the link between self and coparent worries on perinatal well‐being and relationship satisfaction in 104 primiparous couples were examined. It was found not only do expectant mothers and fathers worry about different things, but also type of worry is related to different outcomes. Moreover, using structural equation modeling, childbirth worries and worry frequency indirectly predict lower relationship satisfaction through worse well‐being. However, coparent's worries did not significantly relate to their partner's perinatal well‐being or relationship satisfaction. This study suggests the importance of examining perinatal worries in parents, as well as the dyadic interaction between coparents.     

Verbal Fluency in Focal Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Testing of verbal fluency is currently part of standard presurgical neuropsychological assessment for patients with focal epilepsy. However, to date no systematic review has been conducted on semantic (SVF) and phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) in this patient group. The present review compares verbal fluency between healthy control subjects and subgroups of adult presurgical patients with focal epilepsy according to lateralisation and localisation of the dysfunction. PubMed was searched with a comprehensive search string. Abstracts of all studies and full-texts of potentially relevant studies were screened. Study quality was assessed by independent raters according to predefined criteria. 39 studies were included. Meta-analyses were performed to compare SVF and PVF across groups of patients with temporal (TLE) and frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) as well as healthy controls (HC). Both patients with left- and right sided TLE were impaired on SVF and PVF compared to HC. Patients with left-sided TLE were slightly more impaired than patients with right-sided TLE. Patients with FLE showed a larger impairment in PVF than patients with TLE, whereas on SVF there was no difference between FLE and TLE. For TLE comparisons the study pool seems to have been sufficient, whereas more studies are needed to verify results for FLE. Semantic verbal fluency might not differentiate between FLE and TLE. While verbal fluency impairment was anticipated, especially in left-sided TLE and FLE patients, the impairment in patients with right-sided TLE was larger than expected. Results are discussed with regard to neuropsychological theory and practice.     

Eye movements,word familiarity,and vocabulary acquisition

Two experiments examined the effects of word familiarity on word recognition and text comprehension during silent reading. Readers' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing words that varied in familiarity as assessed by printed estimates of word frequency, subjective ratings of familiarity, and a multiple‐choice test of meaning knowledge. Effects of word frequency were unaffected by differences in subjective familiarity rating for high frequency words. Differential effects of familiarity rating were observed in low frequency conditions. In addition, processing time on high and low frequency words did not differ when familiarity was held constant for moderately familiar words. Readers spent more initial processing time on novel words than familiar words. Performance on a vocabulary test administered after the reading session demonstrated that readers successfully acquired and retained new word meanings. Finally, reanalysis of word processing time as a function of vocabulary test performance demonstrated a systematic relationship between online processing patterns and memory for novel word meaning.