Individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and having cognitive impairment have been described as having slow mentation. Data supporting this proposition come from a variety of sources, including Sternberg's (1966) item recognition memory task. The procedure nominally provides an index of speed of mental operations, independent from input/output demands. However, since the original use of this procedure in the 1960s, advances in cognitive psychology have revealed many of its limitations. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric characteristics of this task. Each participant performed the Sternberg item recognition task twice, 6 mo apart. The stability of the estimate of the slope of regression equations and for zero intercept ranged from excellent (r = .87) to poor (r = .30), and the data from many individual subjects could not be reliably modelled using multiple linear regression techniques. These data, as well as those from previous research, demonstrate the limited practical use of this task in clinical samples. Furthermore, as cognitive psychological theory has advanced in the past 30 yr, the conceptual underpinnings of the procedure have essentially evaporated. (JINS, 1995, 1, 3–9).

The effect of bilingualism on qualitative aspects of verbal learning and memory was investigated. Equivalent list learning tests in English and Spanish were carefully constructed, and compared across two bilingual Hispanic groups of Mexican origin that differed in their level of English proficiency (“balanced” and “nonbalanced” bilinguals) and a group of monolingual English-speaking non-Hispanic subjects. Groups were matched for age, education, and gender composition. Nonbalanced bilinguals assessed in English utilized semantic clustering to the same extent as monolinguals, but learned fewer words overall, and demonstrated lower retention scores compared to monolinguals. Comparisons of groups assessed in their dominant languages, however, revealed no significant differences on any of the learning and memory indices examined. In addition to comparisons with standard clinical memory indices, assessment issues concerning bilingual individuals are addressed. (JINS, 1995, I, 10–16.)

Morphometric analysis of magnetic resonance (MR) scans in 88 traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients demonstrated significantly larger ventricle-to-brain ratios (VBR) and temporal horn volumes, and significantly smaller fornix-to-brain ratios (FBR) and corpus callosum (CC) area measurements, compared to 73 controls. Additionally, TBI patients were grouped according to Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) for a within-TBI sample comparison so that severity of injury on brain morphology could be examined. The severe TBI group (GCS = 3–6) differed from the mild and moderate injury groups on measures of the internal capsule, VBR, temporal horn volume, and CC. In a separate analysis wherein the TBI subjects were grouped by degree of fornix atrophy, the group with the smallest fornix size demonstrated the lowest memory performance. Furthermore, anatomic measures correlated with severity of injury, and tests of memory and motor function. Results demonstrate the diffuse nature of degeneration in TBI with more severe injury, and that quantified MR identified morphologic changes relate to neuropsychological outcome. (JINS, 1995, 1, 17–28.)

The purpose of this study was to compare a mnemonic strategy based on concept-driven processing and explicit memory (i.e., verbal elaboration and imagery) to one based on data-driven processing and implicit memory (the method of vanishing cues) in a names and faces learning task. A third training condition that used video presentation was also included. Six American and six German patients with memory impairment attributable to brain injuries of different etiologies attempted to learn the associations between names and faces in each of the three conditions. The mnemonic strategy proved to be the most effective. Discussion focuses on the characteristics of the training procedures and on the nature of the to-be-learned materials as critical determinants of the effectiveness of different training techniques. (JINS, 1995, 1, 29–38.)

Several studies of semantic abilities in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (DAT) suggest that their semantic disorders may affect specific categories of knowledge. In particular, the existence of a category-specific semantic impairment affecting, selectively, living things has frequently been reported in association with DAT. We report here results from two naming tasks of 25 DAT patients and two subgroups within this population. The first naming task used 48 black and white line drawings from Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) which controlled the visual complexity of stimuli from living and nonliving categories. The second task used 44 colored pictures (to assess the influence of word frequency in living vs. nonliving categories). Within the set of black and white pictures, both DAT patients and controls obtained significantly lower scores on high visual complexity stimuli than on stimuli of low visual complexity. A clear effect of semantic category emerged for DAT patients and controls, with a lower performance on the living category. Within the colored set, pictures corresponding to high frequency words gave rise to significantly higher scores than pictures corresponding to low frequency words. No significant difference emerged between living versus nonliving categories, either in DAT patients or in controls. In the two tasks, the two subgroups of DAT patients presented a different profile of performance and error type. As color constitutes the main difference between the two sets of pictures, our results point to the relevance of this cue in the processing of semantic information, with visual complexity and frequency also being very relevant. (JINS, 1995, I, 39–48.)

It has been postulated that rehearsal rate is the primary determinant of working memory capacity for verbal material (Baddeley et al., 1975). A previous study of normal control children and children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (SDCP) suggested that covert rather than overt rehearsal rate determines working memory capacity (White et al., 1994). In the current study, a subset of SDCP children who received a surgical treatment to relieve spasticity were retested on measures of articulation rate and memory span. A subset of control children from the original study were also retested. The SDCP group showed improvements in articulation rate at follow-up, though memory span did not change and was again equivalent to that of controls. These findings indicate that increases in articulation rate are not necessarily accompanied by improvements in memory span, and provide additional evidence that working memory capacity may be determined by covert rather than overt articulatory rehearsal. (JINS, 1995, I, 49–55.)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by progressive decline in memory, language and other cognitive functions. Deficits in attentional processes have also been suggested. A simple reaction time (RT) task was used to assess global attention in AD. The length and consistency of a warning signal given prior to the response stimulus were manipulated to determine if patients with AD and age-matched controls benefit from predictability in RT tasks. Overall reaction time was slower in the AD group than in the and control group. Both groups demonstrated significant improvement in RT with long warning signals compared to short warning signals, but only the control group benefited from the consistency of the warning. (JINS, 1995, I, 56–61.)

Humans learn skilled acts in order to effectively interact with their environment. A loss of the ability to perform skilled acts is termed apraxia. Apraxia has been thought to be of theoretical interest, but the ecological implications of apraxia are controversial and have not been fully studied. We examined ten patients with unilateral left hemisphere cerebral infarctions (eight of whom were apraxic) and compared their mealtime eating behavior to a group of neurologically normal, age-matched controls. The stroke patients were less efficient in completing the meal. They made more action errors and were less organized in the sequencing of mealtime activities. Because the patients made more errors while using tools than when performing nontool actions, their deficit could not be accounted for by an elemental motor deficit. A positive relationship was found between mealtime action errors and the severity of apraxia. These findings suggest that limb apraxia may adversely influence activities of daily living. (JINS, 1995, I, 62–66.)

Psychosocial outcome at one year post-injury was examined prospectively in 466 hospitalized head-injured subjects, 124 trauma controls, and 88 friend controls. The results indicate that head injury is associated with persistent psychosocial limitations. However, the presence and extent of limitations are related to the demographics of the population injured, to other system injuries sustained in the same accident, and particularly to the severity of the head injury. More severe head injuries are associated with limitations implying greater dependence on others including poorer Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) ratings, dependent living, unemployment, low income, and reliance on family and social subsidy systems. Head injury severity is more closely related to more objective indices of psychosocial outcome (e.g., employment) than to self-perceived psychosocial limitations, such as measured by the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP). (JINS, 1995, I, 67–77.)

In this study, verbal learning and memory following pediatric closed-head injuries (CHI) using the children's version of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Participants included 47 children, ages 5–16 yr, with a history of CHI, and 47 matched, noninjured controls. Children with CHI performed more poorly than controls on the CVLT, although their deficits varied qualitatively as a function of injury severity. Those with mild/moderate injuries performed as well as controls on learning trials, but they recalled proportionally fewer words after a delay (although their recognition was intact). Severely injured children demonstrated deficits in learning, delayed recall, and recognition, compared to controls. The groups did not differ in learning characteristics, but children with severe CHI exhibited more intrusions than controls. Pediatric CHI are associated with specific disturbances in verbal learning and memory similar to those of adults with CHI but different from those of children with other developmental and neurological disorders. JINS, 1995, I, 78–87.)

The California Verbal Learning Test was used to characterize the learning and memory impairment in schizophrenia (SC) and to evaluate potential clinical and demographic factors associated with this impairment. SC patients (n = 175) performed worse than normal comparison (NC) subjects (n = 229) on all learning, recall, and recognition memory measures. The most important clinical correlates of these impairments were earlier age of onset, more negative symptoms, and greater anticholinergic medication dosage. SC patients showed a prominent retrieval deficit as indicated by disproportionate improvement when tested in a recognition, rather than a free recall, format. A residual impairment seen with recognition testing suggests a mild encoding deficit as well. In contrast, the relative absence of a storage deficit is suggested by the lack of rapid forgetting. Using a discriminant function analysis that differentiates cortical dementia [i.e., Alzheimer's disease (AD)], subcortical dementia [i.e., Huntington's disease (HD)], and normals, it was found that 5070 of the SC patients were classified as having a subcortical memory profile and 35% were classified as having a normal profile, whereas only 15% were classified as having a cortical memory profile. Although these findings reflect the clinical heterogeneity often found in SC, results suggest that most SC patients demonstrate a pattern of learning and memory impairments that resembles the pattern seen in patients with primary subcortical (specifically striatal) pathology. (JINS, 1995, I, 88–99.)

Despite some well-documented differences, normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) share a number of common neuropathological and neuropsychological features. Many of the reported differences are largely quantitative in nature and there is often overlap between the respective distributions of these populations. To assess the issue of overlap and distinguishing features in memory functions between these groups, and to minimize aging effects per se, samples of older individuals in good health (ages 75–95 yr) and younger patients in the early stages of AD (age < 75 yr) were selected to be similar in global cognitive functioning. Despite comparable language and visuospatial scores, these preliminary results suggest important qualitative differences in episodic memory functions between these conditions, even when “low-functioning” or “at-risk” controls are compared with early AD patients. These findings furthermore highlight some of the challenges in defining “normality” among the oldest segment of our population. (JINS, 1995, I, 100–103.)

We document the unexpected dissociation of preserved reading skills in a patient with severely impaired semantic memory. The common co-occurrence between impairment of word meaning and surface dyslexia has not been observed. The patient (hereafter called DRN) had marked naming and word comprehension difficulties. A strong word frequency effect was observed on tests of word comprehension but was absent in a test of word reading. DRN's ability to read both regular and exception words that he failed to comprehend was remarkably well preserved. We will argue that these findings provide further support for the independence of semantic and phonological processing. (JINS, 1995, I, 104–110.)