Assessment and Evaluation Issues Regarding Native American Elderly Adults

This paper will detail assessment and evaluation issues with Native American elderly adults. Recommendations and implications of such assessment and evaluation follow and include areas such as general background factors, cultural and family issues that impact assessment, problems to overcome, and finally a look into neuropsychological assessment. These issues will converge on the notion that mental health and neuropsychological assessment issues are relevant to Native American elderly, not because of the paucity of research in this area, but because Native American elderly are a fast-growing population, most in need of such vital services.     

Remarks of the In-Coming Editor

A digit memory task and a delayed visual aiming task were used in a test of resource capacity theories. These tasks were run either singly, with short- or long-retention intervals, or in pairs. In the dual-task conditions, the short version of one was inserted into the longer version of the other. Delay by itself had no effect on retention, but the dual-task combinations showed asymmetrical interference: Inserting verbal memory into the visual-motor delay had little effect on either task, but inserting the motor task into the verbal retention interval disrupted both. These results thus support neither single nor multiple resource models, but can be explained with reference to component processes in working memory.     

Cognitive Slowing in Closed-Head Injury

Mean response times (RTs) from a sample of 13 simple- and choice-reaction time studies (which included 353 Closed-Head Injury (CHI) subjects at various stages of injury and 329 Control, non-CHI, subjects; mean age of both groups, approximately 28 years) were analyzed using Brinley Plot/multiple regression analysis techniques to provide support for the observation that CHI results in a slowing of basic cognitive information processing. Across 101 experimental conditions, the best-fit equation that resulted from regressing the CHI data onto the Control data for matched conditions was Y (CHI) = 1.54 X (Control) − 59, and this specific regression equation accounted for approximately 89% of the variance (based on R²). These results suggest that the basic cognition processes involved in simple- and choice-reaction time performance were approximately 1.54 times slower in CHI individuals in this sample as compared to non-CHI individuals. This pattern of performance substantiates the observation the CHI results in a slowing of even very basic cognition information processes.     

Tommaso Greco: La legge della fiducia. Alle radici del diritto

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice -     

Gender differences in false memory production

The present study investigated differences in false memory production between men and women, using the Deese/Roedgier McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Five word lists were used (MAN, GIRL, BREAD, BLACK, HIGH) and it was predicted that males would produce more false memories for the MAN word list while females will produce more false memories for the GIRL word list. Results did not confirm our predictions. Gender was neither a significant main effect, nor did it interact with any factors. Test and List x Test were the only significant main or interaction effects, respectively. Results are discussed as they relate to gender differences in cognitive processing.     

Effects of Induced Emotional State on Lexical Processing in Younger and Older Adults

The authors investigated the effects of an induced emotional mood state on lexical decision task (LDT) performance in 50 young adults and 25 older adults. Participants were randomly assigned to either happy or sad mood induction conditions. An emotional mood state was induced by having the participants listen to 8 min of classical music previously rated to induce happy or sad moods. Results replicated previous studies with young adults (i.e., sad-induced individuals responded faster to sad words and happy-induced individuals responded faster to happy words) and extended this pattern to older adults. Results are discussed with regard to information processing, aging, and emotion.     

Associations Between Impulsivity and Body Dissatisfaction in Females at Risk for Developing Eating Disorders

Sixty-one women (40 at-risk for an eating disorder based on the Screening Instrument for Identifying Individuals at Risk for Developing Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa, SCANS) completed a self-report packet of questionnaires concerning executive function, impulsive behavior, mood, anxiety, delayed discounting and measures of body image dissatisfaction. Results revealed that the at-risk group were more depressed, had lower motivation, displayed more empathy, were more anxious (state and trait) and had a greater impulse behavior of urgency.