Clinical neuropsychology and brain injury rehabilitation in Israel: A twenty-year perspective

The development of the field of neuropsychology in Israel is primarily the result of the development of rehabilitation services for traumatic brain-injured patients. The responsibility to care for and help disabled veterans has always been an important motivation for the establishment of rehabilitation services. Israel is probably one of the first countries in the world to develop community-based services specifically designed to address the needs of young patients with severe traumatic brain injury. The fairly extensive therapeutic and community services available today for both military and civilian brain-injured persons in Israel are the result of initiatives and funding by the Israel Ministry of Defense's Department of Rehabilitation. There are two principles that characterize most of the programs in Israel: (1) multidimensional remedial intervention and (2) life-time commitment to provide support. The accessibility of patients in a small country enables professionals to conduct follow-up studies in order to evaluate the long-term effects of brain injury. Current developments in neuropsychology are in three directions. First, formal training programs in neuropsychology are being set up. Second, the involvement of neuropsychologists is being extended beyond the treatment of young patients suffering from traumatic brain injury to include the treatment of different brain pathologies in children and the elderly. Third, sophisticated neuroimaging techniques are being applied to studies in cognitive neuropsychology.     

The dual effect of context on memory of related and unrelated themes: Discrimination at encoding and cue at retrieval

The influence of contextual factors on encoding and retrieval in recognition memory was investigated using a retroactive interference paradigm. Participants were randomly assigned to four context conditions constructed by manipulating types of presentation modality (pictures vs words) for study, interference, and test stages, respectively (ABA, ABB, AAA, & AAB). In Experiment 1 we presented unrelated items in the study and interference stages, while in Experiment 2 each stage contained items from the same semantic category. The results demonstrate a dual role for context in memory processes-at encoding as well as at retrieval. In Experiment 1 there is a hierarchical order between the four context conditions, depending on both target-test and target-interference contextual similarity. Adding a categorical context in Experiment 2 helped to specify each list and therefore better distinguish between target and interferer information, and in some conditions compensated for their perceptual similarity.     

Conceptual processes involved in words and scenes context effect in face recognition

ABSTRACT

Several studies have established the impact of conceptually similar context on the emergence of “Context-Effect” (CE). None of these studies included the Re-pair/rearrange condition at the test, which prevented them from being conclusive about the exact process (binding/ensemble or familiarity) that was affected by the conceptually similar context. To this end, in the present study faces (target to be remembered) were presented in the context of either words (W) or picture (P) scenes, and at test Re-pair was added as one of the context conditions. At test two groups were presented with the same context as in study (consistent condition) (WW & PP), and two groups with the inconsistent condition (WP & PW). Results showed no familiarity effect when only the conceptual match was preserved (i.e., inconsistent condition) and both effects of binding and familiarity when both conceptual and perceptual match were present (i.e., consistent condition). Thus, the semantic association between a face and context could serve as recognition cues even when modality has been changed, but the label remained constant.     

Verbal learning and memory as measured by the Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test: ADHD with and without learning disabilities

The primary purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of attention deficits, learning disability, and the combined effects of both on the learning and memory processes, as measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Thirty children (age range 12–17) diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 18 children (age range 11–17) diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD), and 64 children (age range 12–17) diagnosed with ADHD as well as with LD, and 28, 18, and 62 matched controls, respectively, participated in this study. It was found that the children diagnosed with ADHD did not differ in any of the verbal learning and memory measures derived from the Rey AVLT. The group with LD was impaired in the overall number of words recalled across the learning phase. Performance of the children diagnosed with ADHD +LD showed a similar impairment as the group with LD (i.e., overall amount of words learned) and, in addition, their retrieval efficiency was also impaired. In conclusion, this study indicates that verbal memory is preserved in children with ADHD if they have no LD and their intelligence is in the normal range or above. LD by itself leads to difficulties in acquisition, but the combination of ADHD+LD leads to additional impairment in retrieval processes.     

Characterization of memory impairment following closed-head injury in children using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT).

Memory impairment following closed-head injury (CHI) in children is well documented. Characterization of the memory deficits of children with CHI could contribute to the prediction of academic performance and rehabilitation of these children. Twenty-five children who sustained closed-head injury and 25 matched controls were administered the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). The advantage of this memory test is that a number of memory components are measured simultaneously, thus enabling us to study the relations between different aspects of memory within the same patient sample. The findings indicate that the Rey AVLT is a good test for characterization of impaired verbal memory in children following CHI. Transformation of scores derived from the Rey AVLT to Z-scores enables us to determine the relative effect of CHI in children on different memory scores. Raw scores were more vulnerable than relational ones, derived as the difference between two raw scores (e.g., learning, Trial 5 - 1), to closed-head injury in children, and scores reflecting word span were the least vulnerable. The results are discussed in terms of the possible contribution of the frontal lobes, which are frequently affected in closed-head injuries, to memory performance.     

Forgotten but not gone: context effects on recognition do not require explicit memory for context

Context effects on recognition memory provide an important indirect assay of associative learning and source memory. Neuropsychological studies have indicated that such context effects may obtain even if the contexts themselves are not remembered--for example, in individuals impaired on direct tests of memory for contextual information. In contrast, a recent study indicated that the effects of temporal context reinstatement on visual recognition obtain only when the contextual information itself was explicitly recollected. Here we report that the effects of reinstatement of spatial-simultaneous context on visual object recognition memory obtain irrespective of whether those context stimuli are explicitly recognized. We suggest that spatial-simultaneous context effects might be based on ensemble unitization of target and context stimuli at encoding, whereas temporal context effects may require recollective processes.     

Verbal learning and memory as measured by the Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test: ADHD with and without learning disabilities

The primary purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of attention deficits, learning disability, and the combined effects of both on the learning and memory processes, as measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Thirty children (age range 12-17) diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 18 children (age range 11-17) diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD), and 64 children (age range 12-17) diagnosed with ADHD as well as with LD, and 28, 18, and 62 matched controls, respectively, participated in this study. It was found that the children diagnosed with ADHD did not differ in any of the verbal learning and memory measures derived from the Rey AVLT. The group with LD was impaired in the overall number of words recalled across the learning phase. Performance of the children diagnosed with ADHD +LD showed a similar impairment as the group with LD (i.e., overall amount of words learned) and, in addition, their retrieval efficiency was also impaired. In conclusion, this study indicates that verbal memory is preserved in children with ADHD if they have no LD and their intelligence is in the normal range or above. LD by itself leads to difficulties in acquisition, but the combination of ADHD+LD leads to additional impairment in retrieval processes.     

A shift in task routines during the learning of a motor skill: group-averaged data may mask critical phases in the individuals' acquisition of skilled performance

The authors describe a transient phase during training on a movement sequence wherein, after an initial improvement in speed and decrease in variability, individual participants' performance showed a significant increase in variability without change in mean performance speed. Subsequent to this phase, as practice continued, variability again decreased, performance significantly exceeded the gains predicted by extrapolation of the initial learning curve, the type of errors committed changed, and performance became more coherent. The transient phase of increased variability may reflect a mixture of 2 (or more) performance routines before the more effective one is set and mastered, presumably the setting up of a sequence-specific representation. Both group and individual analyses indicated a departure from the single process (e.g., power-law) model of learning. However, although similar phases appeared in the mean group data, there was little correspondence to individual participants' time courses, and the individuals' gains in the second low-variability phase were masked.     

Multifactorial context effects on visual recognition memory

While effects of contextual change or constancy on memory are widely found when tested by free and cued recall, there is greater inconsistency in context effects on recognition. This study employed a paradigm maximizing target-context interactivity and specificity to reveal three levels of context effects on successful retrieval, as well as context effects on the generation of false alarms, thereby revealing separable contributions of target-context binding, additive familiarity, and configural constancy. The separability of these factors enables the use of memory context effects as tools for investigating associative memory.     

The Counterintuitive Relationship between Conceptual and Perceptual Similarities and Eyewitness Suggestibility

The tendency to confuse witnessed and suggested information can result in inaccurate eyewitness testimonies and convictions of innocent people. Studies that tested how similarities between witnessed and suggested information affect the tendency to confuse them reached inconsistent results. Here, we claim that there is a more complex and not necessarily linear relationship between similarity and memory distortions. Participants (164) viewed two subsequent stories, which varied in the conceptual and perceptual similarities between them. We found a significant interaction between conceptual and perceptual similarities. When we presented two conceptually different stories, perceptual similarity increased the suggestibility effect compared with perceptual dissimilarity. Conversely, when we presented two conceptually similar stories, perceptual similarity decreased suggestibility compared with perceptual dissimilarity. Accordingly, we suggest that similarity between two events may increase the suggestibility effect. However, counter‐intuitively, once similarity reaches a certain threshold, the coherence level between the events reduces the tendency to confuse them. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.