Sensitivity of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (64-Card Version) versus the Tower of London (Drexel Version) for detecting executive dysfunction in children with epilepsy

Executive function deficits are common in children and adolescents with epilepsy. Though the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) is often considered the “gold standard” for executive function assessment, its sensitivity—particularly in the case of the 64-card version (WCST-64)—is insufficiently established in pediatric samples, including children and adolescents with epilepsy. The present investigation assesses the sensitivity of the WCST-64 in children and adolescents with epilepsy in comparison to another measure: the Tower of London – Drexel Version (TOL-DX). A total of 88 consecutively referred children and adolescents with epilepsy were administered both the WCST-64 and TOL-DX as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. The sensitivity of WCST-64 and TOL-DX variables were established and relations with epilepsy severity measures and other executive function measures were assessed. Of the WCST-64 variables, Perseverative Responses is the most sensitive, but detected executive function impairment in only 19% of this clinically referred sample; in contrast, the TOL-DX Rule Violations detected executive function impairment in half of the sample. Further, TOL-DX performances are more strongly related to epilepsy severity variables and other executive function measures in comparison to the WCST-64. Despite its popularity amongst clinicians, the WCST-64 is not as sensitive to executive dysfunction in comparison to other measures of comparable administration time, such as the TOL-DX.     

Chaplaincy,Cancer, Aged Care and COVID-19

Journal of Religion and Health - Four key topics are explored in this second issue of the Journal of Religion and Health for 2022. Following a condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, (1)...     

Recognition and retrieval of proper names: Age differences in the fan effect

Abstract

A spreading activation model was applied, to explain. some aspects of retrieval failure for proper names. The fact that retrieval failures occur more frequently for well-known names than for unfamiliar names, and the increased incidence of name blocking in the elderly, are both interpreted in terms of the fan effect. Fanning is created when multiple far are known about a single person and results in slower and more error-prone retrieval, but the fan effect can be counteracted if the facts form an integrated set. Three groups of subjects—young, middle-aged, and elderly—learned sets of name-attribute statements in three conditions. In the no-fan condition, each name was uniquely paired with a single attribute; in the fan condition, each name was linked with three different attributes; in the crossed-fan condition, different names shared some of the same attributes. Verification RTs and cued recall responses showed that all subjects found the crossed-fan condition most difficult, but, when name-attribute links were not crossed, young and middle-aged subjects were able to counteract the fan effect by integrating the facts into a unified representation. Elderly subjects were less able to integrate effectively and were more susceptible to the fan effect.     

On the control of automatic processes: a parallel distributed processing account of the Stroop effect

Traditional views of automaticity are in need of revision. For example, automaticity often has been treated as an all-or-none phenomenon, and traditional theories have held that automatic processes are independent of attention. Yet recent empirical data suggest that automatic processes are continuous, and furthermore are subject to attentional control. A model of attention is presented to address these issues. Within a parallel distributed processing framework, it is proposed that the attributes of automaticity depend on the strength of a processing pathway and that strength increases with training. With the Stroop effect as an example, automatic processes are shown to be continuous and to emerge gradually with practice. Specifically, a computational model of the Stroop task simulates the time course of processing as well as the effects of learning. This was accomplished by combining the cascade mechanism described by McClelland (1979) with the backpropagation learning algorithm (Rumelhart, Hinton, & Williams, 1986). The model can simulate performance in the standard Stroop task, as well as aspects of performance in variants of this task that manipulate stimulus-onset asynchrony, response set, and degree of practice. The model presented is contrasted against other models, and its relation to many of the central issues in the literature on attention, automaticity, and interference is discussed.     

Communitarianism 'Social Constitution,' and Autonomy

Communitarians defend what we may call the 'social constitution thesis,' that participation in society makes us what we are. This claim, however, is ambiguous. In an attempt to shed some light on it and to better understand the impact its truth would have on our beliefs regarding autonomy, I offer four possible ways it could be understood and four corresponding senses of individual independence and autonomy. I also indicate what senses liberals can accept that we are socially constituted and in what sense I take communitarians to argue we are socially constituted.