Subtypes of working memory performance were examined in a cohort of 50 HIV-infected adults and 23 uninfected controls using an n-back paradigm (2-back) in which alphabetic stimuli were quasi-randomly presented to a quadrant of a computer monitor. In the verbal working memory condition, participants determined whether each successive letter matched the letter that appeared two previously in the series, regardless of spatial location. In the spatial working memory condition, participants determined whether each letter matched the spatial location of the letter that had appeared two previously, regardless of letter identity. The dependent variable was percent accuracy in each condition. Results of mixed model ANOVA revealed that the HIV-infected participants performed significantly worse than controls on both the verbal and spatial working memory tasks. A significant main effect for working memory condition was also present with both participant groups performing better on the spatial working memory task. These results, the first study of HIV-infected adults to directly compare verbal versus spatial working memory performance using the identical test stimuli across task conditions, suggests that HIV infection is associated with a decrement in working memory efficiency that is equally apparent for both verbal and spatial processing. These findings implicate central executive dysfunction as a likely substrate and provide the basis for hypothesizing that decline in working memory may contribute to other HIV-associated neuropsychological deficits. (JINS, 2002, 8, 532–538.)

Numerous studies have suggested that frontal cortex plays a strategic, rather than an absolute, role in memory performance. Typically, frontal patients are reported to have impaired recall but normal recognition memory. A recent meta-analysis, however, has questioned this conclusion. To further investigate the role of frontal cortex in long-term memory, patients with focal frontal lesions and age- and education-matched controls were tested on a new version of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT–II). Frontal patients exhibited a number of deficits on this test, including overall poorer recall, an increased tendency to make intrusions, reduced semantic clustering, and impaired yes/no recognition performance. Further analysis of the error rates in the yes/no recognition task revealed that frontal patients were most likely to mistakenly endorse 2 types of distractors: semantically related words and words from an interference list. These findings are discussed with respect to the role of frontal dysfunction in false recollections and poor source memory, as well as the distinction between the roles of frontal and temporal cortex in long-term memory. (JINS, 2002, 8, 539–546.)

The Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT; Warrington, 2000) is a new measure of verbal fluency that has been demonstrated to be sensitive to the presence of anterior lesions. In the present study we used the HMGT healthy standardization sample (N = 170) and demonstrate that scores on the HMGT do not differ significantly from a normal distribution and that the test has adequate reliability (α = .82). A table for obtaining confidence limits on an individual's score is presented. A regression equation for the estimation of premorbid HMGT performance was constructed using the National Adult Reading Test as the predictor variable. In a sample of 36 cases with anterior lesions estimated premorbid scores were significantly higher than obtained scores (p < .001). Premorbid ability acted to suppress group differences on the HMGT; the partial correlation between neurological status (healthy vs. anterior lesion) and HMGT performance controlling for premorbid ability (.53) was significantly higher than the raw correlation (.44). In addition, hierarchical discriminant function analysis demonstrated that the inclusion of premorbid ability improved classification over that achieved by HMGT scores alone. These results support both the underlying rationale and the clinical utility of controlling for premorbid performance when interpreting verbal fluency scores. (JINS, 2002, 8, 547–554.)

This study examined the interrater reliability of neuropsychological diagnoses produced by clinical neuropsychologists across 4 medical centers. These diagnoses were based on evaluations using a comprehensive battery of commonly used neuropsychological test instruments, interview, history and medical chart review. The diagnoses of individual neuropsychologists were compared to those made by members of an external review panel for each patient evaluated. Patients were first diagnosed as showing cognitive impairment versus no cognitive impairment. If a patient was diagnosed as impaired, a specific neuropsychological diagnosis was assigned. The diagnostic classification for cognitive impairment was moderately reliable [κ = .48 ± s.e.(κ) = .062]. The interrater reliability for specific diagnoses was in the fair to good range [κ = .44 ± s.e.(κ) = .029]. These levels of reliability are comparable to those found for other psychiatric and neurologic specialties and for medical diagnoses made by other health care disciplines. (JINS, 2002, 8, 555–565.)

This review summarizes the clinical, imaging, and pathological features of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Clinicians have become increasingly sensitive to FTD in the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Clinical subgroups of FTD patients have been recognized, including patients with progressive non-fluent aphasia, semantic dementia, and behavioral disorder with executive difficulty. The clinical, neuroimaging and neuropathological profiles associated with these clinically defined subgroups are examined. (JINS, 2002, 8, 566–583.)

The present study examined the serial position effect in 2 subgroups of individuals with vascular dementia (VaD). Nineteen individuals with mild VaD and 17 individuals with moderate VaD were administered the California Verbal Learning Test. Both groups were impaired on a general memory measure, and the moderately impaired group demonstrated significantly poorer recall than the mildly impaired group on the first learning trial and on total learning across trials. In addition, individuals with mild dementia demonstrated an intact primacy and recency effect, whereas individuals with moderate dementia demonstrated neither primacy nor recency effects. The latter findings are consistent with studies examining the serial position effect in other dementia populations, and suggests that the absence of primacy and recency effects in more advanced dementia may occur regardless of dementia type. (JINS, 2002, 8, 584–587.)

There is little longitudinal data examining outcome of pediatric near-drowning. Most literature tracks status 5 years or less post insult, focusing primarily on gross neurologic status as opposed to more subtle neurocognitive deficits. The present case tracks the neuropsychological profile of a child who was submerged for 66 min, the longest time documented. Acute medical support was aggressive, and recovery was dramatic, being featured in multiple media reports. Although an article published 6 years after the near-drowning described the child as “recovering completely,” the longitudinal profile indicates a pronounced pattern of broad cognitive difficulties, particularly notable for global memory impairment. Neuropsychological test results were significant despite the fact that the patient's recent MRI and MEG were within normal limits. This case demonstrates the need for long-term neuropsychological follow-up of pediatric patients with histories of neurologic injury, as gross neurological examination and MRI and MEG scans may not reveal underlying brain dysfunction. (JINS, 2002, 8, 588–595.)

Alzheimer's disease—occurring upward of 15% of individuals age 65 and older—is the most prevalent age-related dementia. Since the late 1970s, neuropsychologists have been instrumental in identifying patterns of sparing and impairment of cognitive, sensory, and motor functions and rates of declines in selective functions. Anyone who has engaged in longitudinal study of AD and anyone of that large segment of the population with relatives suffering with AD has witnessed first-hand the relentless, irreversible demise of function and ultimate loss of dignity characteristic of AD's course. The approach of Scinto and Daffner's edited book, Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, avoids rehashing the already established descriptions of AD and provides firm, scientific rationale for the meaningfulness of early and accurate diagnosis of AD despite its current dire prognosis and lack of effective medical treatment.

The aim of this very ambitious volume is to provide information about “the pragmatics of test selection, interpretation, and report writing,” “a practitioner's guide to actual test interpretation and integration,” and “a comprehensive guide to neuropsychological assessment.” Groth-Marnat decries the absence of such “a book,” as if he expected that the broad base of neuropsychological knowledge was to be found in a single volume. There was the tacit assumption that the knowledge required for neuropsychological assessment could be adequately and sufficiently obtained from “a book” of this type. This expectation appears quite unrealistic, naïve, and simple-minded. Based on current guidelines in the profession (à la the Houston Conference), it should be expected that most of the knowledge Groth-Marnat seeks in one book can be acquired only with an extended, specialized course of study followed by intense, supervised experience. That is where one should obtain information about test selection, interpretation and integration so that the end product is “a clear, coherent description of the impact that brain dysfunction has had on a person's cognitions, personality, emotions, interpersonal relationships.” That type of knowledge, and report-writing skill, is not to be had by reading “a book.” Integrating the complexities of test data, and writing effectively, are both exceedingly difficult to teach even in an apprentice situation, and more so through a single volume. This objection thus ventilated, now on to the meat of the book.

The Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines a handbook as “a book containing concise information on a particular subject: a guidebook.” Handbooks come in all shapes and sizes. Often they run into volumes, but occasionally—as in this case—they take the form of a single book. We already have an Encyclopedia of Memory and Learning (Squire, 1992), a Handbook of Memory Disorders (Baddeley et al., 1995), a Handbook of Emotion and Memory (Christianson, 1992), and at least one volume on memory within the Handbook of Neuropsychology (Cermak, 2001), but this would appear to be the first dedicated handbook devoted to the cognitive science of memory. When this handbook landed on my desk it struck me as being the “mother of all handbooks,” encompassing 700 pages!

Books are landmarks in the history of sciences. Some reflect the views of influential opinion leaders in a certain period—as it was common in the past. Some reflect the state of the art on a particular field reviewed by multiple authors—as became frequent nowadays. Some still reflect a combination of both tendencies collecting the opinion of several authors under the general framework of the leading opinion of an Editor. In this last case the Editor is also an active writer of seminal chapters. This was the case of the first edition of Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology, edited by M.-Marsel Mesulam.

In the latter half of the 18th century, Samuel Johnson noted that, “there is a wicked inclination in most people to suppose an old man decayed in his intellect. If a young or middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect where he laid is hat, it is nothing; but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, people will shrug their shoulders and say ‘His memory is going.

First erratum: The following is a correction for an error that occurred in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Vol. 8, No. 2. An abstract titled “Parkinson's Disease Affects the Attentional Control of Unpracticed Movements,” by M. Lévesque, S. Lemay, S. Chouinard, P. Blanchet, M.-A. Bédard, and F. Richer, was accidently left out. This abstract was supposed to appear on p. 230 after C. Boulet et al., in the Executive Function subsection of Poster 4, which was a part of the Friday Morning, February 16, group of sessions.

Second erratum: The following is a correction for an error that occurred in Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8:2. On page 276, the abstract at the bottom of the left column has a laterality error, and “right” was supposed to appear instead of “left.”

Third erratum: The following is a correction for an error that occurred in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Vol. 8, No. 3. The error occurred in the article titled “Reading level attenuates differences in neuropsychological tests performance between African American and White Elders,” pp. 341–348, by Manly et al. On page 343, under the subheading “Reading Level,” the last line in the paragraph should state the age range as 65–74 and not 70–75 years.

Cambridge University Press and the authors regret the inconvenience that these inadvertent errors may have caused.