A rating measure of ADHD-related neuropsychological impairment in children and adolescents: Data from the Cognition and Motivation in Everyday Life (CAMEL) Scale from population and clinical samples

A new parent-completed questionnaire, the Cognition and Motivation in Everyday Life (CAMEL) scale, was developed to provide a comprehensive assessment of neuropsychological impairment in children related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across diverse cognitive, motivational and energetic domains. Its psychometric properties were investigated. A total of 60 items were generated to cover a wide range of putative ADHD-related neuropsychological processes. A clinical (n = 142) and community (n = 810) sample of parents with children between 6 and 16 years of age completed the questionnaire. Data on ADHD symptoms were also collected with a commonly-used, validated parent rating scale to explore the associations between CAMEL scores and dimensional measures of child ADHD and conduct problems. Factor analysis identified six factors which we labeled (i) Cognition, (ii) Self-Direction and Organization, (iii) Effort Engagement, (iv) Arousal Regulation, (v) Motivational Responsiveness, and (vi) Cautiousness. Self-Direction and Organization and Arousal Regulation were the strongest predictors for ADHD symptomatology. Self-Direction and Organization was strongly associated with inattention and Arousal Regulation with hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms. Parents distinguished between broad neuropsychological domains in reliable and plausible ways, making distinctions between key aspects of functioning. However, the boundaries between these domains did not map directly onto the distinctions drawn within traditional models of ADHD deficits. Further research is required to examine the predictive validity and cost-effectiveness of the CAMEL scale compared to direct objective testing using laboratory measures in predicting prognosis and treatment outcome.     

Neuropsychological profile of children with cryptogenic localization related epilepsy.

Up to one third of the epilepsy population consists of children with cryptogenic localization related epilepsy (CLRE). Unfortunately, the effect of CLRE on the development is still unclear. Behavioral and academic problems have been reported, but no conclusive study concerning the impact of CLRE on neuropsychological functioning is yet published. This study was a systematic cross-sectional open clinical and nonrandomized investigation, which included 68 children with CLRE. Several neuropsychological tests were analyzed and age-related normative values were used as reference. Differences between CLRE and reference values were tested with Paired-Samples t-tests. Z scores were computed to compare the different neuropsychological tests and to inspect whether a characteristic neuropsychological profile exists for CLRE. The Independent-Samples t-test was used to explore which epilepsy factors (seizure type, seizure frequency, age at onset, duration of epilepsy, and drug load) were influencing the cognitive profile of CLRE. There seems to be a characteristic cognitive profile for children with CLRE; children with CLRE experience cognitive difficulties on a wide range of areas-in particular, alertness, mental speed, and memory. Seizure type, seizure frequency, duration of epilepsy, and drug load do not influence this neuropsychological profile. Age at onset was an important risk factor; the earlier the age at onset, the worse the cognitive performance. In spite of the influence of age at onset, the revealed profile can be seen as a stable, independent of temporary factors, neuropsychological profile for children with CLRE.     

Coherence and specificity of information-processing biases in depression and social phobia

Research has not resolved whether depression is associated with a distinct information-processing bias, whether the content of the information-processing bias in depression is specific to themes of loss and sadness, or whether biases are consistent across the tasks most commonly used to assess attention and memory processing. In the present study, participants diagnosed with major depression, social phobia, or no Axis I disorder, completed several information-processing tasks assessing attention and memory for sad, socially threatening, physically threatening, and positive stimuli. As predicted, depressed participants exhibited specific biases for stimuli connoting sadness; social phobic participants did not evidence such specificity for threat stimuli. It is important to note that the different measures of bias in memory and attention were not systematically intercorrelated. Implications for the study of cognitive bias in depression, and for cognitive theory more broadly, are discussed.     

Hot and Cool Aspects of Cognitive Control in Children with ADHD: Decision-Making and Inhibition

This study investigated hot and cool aspects of cognitive control in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study aimed to: (1) replicate the postulated response inhibition deficit of children with ADHD; (2) explore whether children with ADHD choose disadvantageously in a decision-making task and to explore the mechanisms underlying the expected response pattern; and (3) study whether performance on a combination of hot and cool executive control measures has predictive value for an ADHD diagnosis. The sample consisted of 20 children with ADHD and 22 normal developing children (NC, 8 to 12 years) matched on age, FSIQ, and gender. Two paradigms have been applied: (1) the stop signal paradigm, and (2) the adapted children's version of the IOWA Gambling task. There were no group differences for both paradigms. Both groups chose in a reward-oriented manner and seemed to develop the ability to take future consequences into account in making decisions. Moreover, feedback resulted in direct behavioral changes. Children with ADHD did not have a specific response inhibition deficit or a decision-making deficit.     

Different selves have different effects: self-activation and defensive social comparison

Three studies show that different forms of self-activation have differential influences on the processing of social comparison information. Activating neutral self-conceptions results in defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 1). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison negatively. Activating positive self-conceptions results in non-defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 2). Participants endorse negative self-evaluations following upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison positively. Activating negative self-conceptions maximizes defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 3). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate both upward and downward targets of comparison negatively. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for strategies to maintain self-esteem in the face of threatening comparisons.     

A revaluation of the adaptiveness of avoidant and vigilant coping with surgery

Abstract

It has been assumed that an avoidant coping style is less adaptive in patients coping with surgery than a vigilant coping style. Empirical evidence, however, has indicated the contrary. This article, therefore, revaluated the adaptiveness of these coping styles. A review of the literature yielded three conditions of the situation that determine the adaptiveness of coping: controllability of the situation, time-reference and interpretational set. Problem-focused coping, vigilance, active coping and monitoring seem to be more adaptive in controllable situations; emotion-focused coping, avoidance, blunting and passive coping more adaptive when little control is possible. For short-term adaptation, avoidance seems the more adaptive strategy, whereas in the long run vigilance is a better strategy. Regarding interpretational set, avoidance seems more adaptive when patients have to cope with the emotional value of the event; vigilance seems more adaptive when coping with sensory elements of the event. Implications of the situational conditions for the adaptiveness of coping with surgical stress and consequences for future research are discussed.     

Racial/Ethnic Identity and Subjective Physical and Mental Health of Latino Americans: An Asset Within?

Social Identity Theory indicates that ethnic identity could benefit minority members in a society because of its promotion of a sense of belonging, or of its buffering of the damage of discrimination. Despite growing investigation about Latinos’ overall health, few studies have simultaneously examined the influence of multiple cultural strength factors, especially racial/ethnic identity, social support, and religious attendance, on these outcomes. Using the National Latino and Asian American Study, we examine the potential predictive value of these cultural strength factors on Latinos’ Self-Rated Mental and Physical Health (SRMH and SRPH). Two separate two-step regression models revealed significant positive effects of racial/ethnic identity on both mental and physical health of Latinos, above and beyond the effect of known demographic and acculturation factors, such as discrimination. Religious attendance had a positive effect on SRMH but not on SRPH. The deteriorating roles of discrimination, in mental health only, and that of Length in the US in both outcomes, however, was primarily not altered by entry of these cultural strength factors. The independent direct effect of racial/ethnic identity among Latinos nationwide may suggest that this cultural strength is an internalized protective asset. Longitudinal data is needed to explore its underlying mechanism and long-term impact.     

A sharp image or a sharp knife: norms for the modality-exclusivity of 774 concept-property items

According to recent embodied cognition theories, mental concepts are represented by modality-specific sensory-motor systems. Much of the evidence for modality-specificity in conceptual processing comes from the property-verification task. When applying this and other tasks, it is important to select items based on their modality-exclusivity. We collected modality ratings for a set of 387 properties, each of which was paired with two different concepts, yielding a total of 774 concept-property items. For each item, participants rated the degree to which the property could be experienced through five perceptual modalities (vision, audition, touch, smell, and taste). Based on these ratings, we computed a measure of modality exclusivity, the degree to which a property is perceived exclusively through one sensory modality. In this paper, we briefly sketch the theoretical background of conceptual knowledge, discuss the use of the property-verification task in cognitive research, provide our norms and statistics, and validate the norms in a memory experiment. We conclude that our norms are important for researchers studying modality-specific effects in conceptual processing.