The rate with which perceptual information becomes available was manipulated in 2 word naming experiments. Word priming effects, in terms of reduced naming latencies for repeated items, and recognition memory measures were obtained with matched groups of amnesic patients and control participants. In both experiments, the amnesic patients evidenced significantly reduced priming effects compared to control participants under difficult task conditions. Under easy task conditions the baseline naming latencies of the amnesics were significantly longer than those of controls, but the difference in priming effects failed to reach significance. The findings are consistent with the Information Availability model of priming positing that both priming and explicit memory are mediated by episodic information from a study or information processing episode. It is argued that word priming does not represent a memory function that is spared in amnesia. (JINS, 1999, 5, 175–190.)

The current investigation compared neuropsychological test performance among nondemented literate and illiterate elders. The sample included participants in an epidemiological study of normal aging and dementia in the Northern Manhattan community. All participants were diagnosed as nondemented by a neurologist, and did not have history of Parkinson's disease, stroke, or head injury. Literacy level was determined by self-report. MANOVAs revealed a significant overall effect for literacy status (literate vs. illiterate) on neuropsychological test performance when groups were matched on years of education. The overall effect of literacy status remained significant after restricting the analyses to elders with no formal education, and after controlling for the effects of language of test administration. Specifically, illiterates obtained lower scores on measures of naming, comprehension, verbal abstraction, orientation, and figure matching and recognition. However, tests of verbal list delayed recall, nonverbal abstraction, and category fluency were unaffected by literacy status, suggesting that these measures can be used to accurately detect cognitive decline among illiterate elders in this sample. Differences in organization of visuospatial information, lack of previous exposure to stimuli, and difficulties with interpretation of the logical functions of language are possible factors that contribute to our findings. (JINS, 1999, 5, 191–202.)

Reports of low-concentration nerve gas exposures during the Persian Gulf War have spurred concern about possible health consequences and refocused interest on the symptoms reported by many returning military veterans. The Portland Environmental Hazards Research Center is studying veterans from the Northwest USA who report persistent, unexplained “Persian Gulf” symptoms (cases) or who do not report those symptoms (controls). Of the first 101 veterans studied, cases differed substantially from controls on a broad range of psychological tests indicative of increased distress. A subgroup of cases was identified with objective deficits on neurobehavioral tests of memory, attention, and response speed. (JINS, 1999, 5, 203–212.)

The aim of this study was to investigate numerical difficulties in 50 patients with left hemispheric lesions. Aphasic patients were grouped according to their type of aphasia diagnosed by the Aachener Aphasia Test. The overall error rate in various transcoding and calculation tasks was clearly correlated with the severity of the language deficit, global aphasics being the most impaired patients. Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics scored similarly at the quantitative level, and amnesic aphasics were less impaired. Interestingly, qualitative analysis of the errors indicated that each group presented with specific difficulties, partially reflecting the nature of the language problems. In simple calculation, multiplication was found to be the most impaired operation, in particular in Broca's aphasics. This result supports the hypothesis that the retrieval of multiplication facts is preferentially mediated by verbal processing. Calculation procedures were mainly impaired in Wernicke's and global aphasics. (JINS, 1999, 5, 213–221.)

ADHD adults (N = 26) were compared to normal controls (N = 26) on 6 neuropsychological measures believed sensitive to frontal lobe–executive functioning. MANOVA analyses and subsequent univariate tests indicated that most of the neuropsychological measures discriminated between the two groups. To address clinical significance, diagnostic classification rates were also generated for each measure individually, and for the battery as a whole. Levels of positive predictive power (PPP) for each of the 6 measures (83–100%) indicated that abnormal scores on these tests were good predictors of ADHD. However, estimates of negative predictive power (NPP) suggested that normal scores poorly predicted the absence of ADHD. When classification rates were calculated for the overall battery classification accuracy improved substantially. Thus, neuropsychological tests can differentiate adults suffering from ADHD from adults without ADHD, while also providing good classification accuracy. Finally, the pattern of neurobehavioral impairments exemplified through the Summary Index scores was interpreted as consistent with conceptualizations of ADHD depicting mild neurologic dysfunction in networks associated with the frontal lobes. (JINS, 1999, 5, 222–233.)

To explore how age and length of abstinence affects neuropsychological (NP) recovery in chronic male alcoholics, we examined 97 recently detoxified alcoholics (RDA) who were abstinent a mean of 29.7 (SD = 9.4) days at their first evaluation, and again 2 years later, at which time 62 had resumed drinking (RES) and 35 had maintained interim abstinence (ITA). To separate practice effects from NP recovery, the NP performance of the RES and ITA groups were compared to age- and education-matched 29 long-term abstinent (LTA) alcoholics, abstinent a mean of 4.3 (SD = 3.5) years at initial testing, and 49 nonalcoholic controls (NAC). Sample mean age and education was 48.7 (SD = 8.8) and 13.9 (SD = 2.7) years, respectively. The RDA and LTA groups were also matched on years of alcoholic drinking [i.e., 17.2 (SD = 9.3) and 15.6 (SD = 8.7) years, respectively]. Results of 14 NP tests were reduced to 6 NP abilities (i.e., attention, learning, memory (recall), abstraction–cognitive flexibility, complex perceptual–motor integration and simple motor skills) that formed dependent variables in 4 groups × 2 ages (median split at 51.4 years classified participants as young and old) repeated measures MANOVA. Results: (1) the ITA group improved on abstracting ability more than other groups (p = .009); (2) the RES group deteriorated on motor tests (p = .03); (3) all younger alcoholics exceeded practice effects on abstracting ability, while older RES participants deteriorated relative to ITA group (3-way interaction, p = .03); and (4) the LTA group was comparable in NP performance to the NAC group. In conclusion, the extent and features of NP recovery among alcoholics are related to age, length of abstinence, and interim drinking. (JINS, 1999, 5, 234–246.)

Judgment of neuropsychological decline is typically made by comparing a patient's current cognitive performance to data from demographically similar normal individuals. Even within narrowly defined demographic categories, however, there is variability in level of performance, approximating the normal curve. The present study explored the degree to which oral reading scores on the American National Adult Reading Test (ANART) could more accurately predict a person's test performance relative to other demographically similar individuals. In a sample of 141 neurologically healthy participants, the ANART added modestly to the precision of WAIS–R Verbal and Full Scale IQ and Learning score predictions, beyond that achieved by demographics alone; however, ANART score did not significantly improve estimation of Performance IQ, Average Impairment Rating, or Memory score. Use of the ANART tended to improve demographic predictions primarily with “outlier” participants whose oral reading skills were relatively poor. For Verbal IQ, ANART helped with participants who had both poor ANART and relatively high education. Oral reading can be useful for estimating premorbid verbal intelligence and learning in combination with demographic variables, but it does not appear to improve estimates of other neurocognitive abilities. (JINS, 1999, 5, 247–254.)

Information on the clinical utility of neuropsychological tests in non-North-American samples is limited. We examined the diagnostic efficacy of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) neuropsychological battery in Jamaican men and women age 65 and older. A total of 72 elders were diagnosed as normal and 12 were demented based on history, physical, and neurological examination. Independent of this medical examination, participants were tested with the CERAD battery. Normal controls scored significantly better than dementia patients on all tests in the CERAD battery. A discriminant function found that a combination of Word List Learning Sum Recall and Boston Naming Test correctly classified a total of 81% of the cases (83% of the dements and 81% of the normal controls). This study is the first to demonstrate the clinical utility of the CERAD neuropsychological battery in the differential diagnosis of memory disorders of the aged in a non-North-American sample. (JINS, 1999, 5, 255–259.)

Citicoline is an investigational new drug in this country that was provided on a compassionate use basis in two cases of traumatic brain injury after horseback riding accidents. While this report is primarily anecdotal, the behavioral observations in both cases suggested atypical patterns of improvement and perhaps greater recovery than might otherwise have been predicted. The side effect profile of this drug is negligible and previous experimental research has yielded positive findings for treatment after stroke and head trauma, as well as memory loss in aging. Consequently, Citicoline may potentially be very helpful for patients suffering traumatic brain injuries and should, in our opinion, be made available and studied further in this clinical population. (JINS, 1999, 5, 260–264.)

The Handbook of Clinical Child Neuropsychology (2nd ed.), as is obvious from the title, is an updated edition of the editors' first book, originally published in 1989. At that time the subspecialty of child neuropsychology was just beginning to unfold its wings, and little was available in terms of a broad and encompassing handbook resource.

The book Biological and Neuropsychological Mechanisms: Life-Span Developmental Psychology is an example of how the above problems can be manifested even with a good attempt at execution. The chapters in this book cover a wide range of topics within developmental neuropsychology, including a developmental theory of behavior, mathematical modeling, electrophysiology, lateralization, and adolescent substance abuse.

“The asymmetry of the mammalian brain,” goes the first sentence in this book, “took hundreds of years to discover.” This is not a promising beginning. Hundreds of years from when? And do the authors really mean the mammalian brain? We are indeed beginning to discover all kinds of asymmetries in the brains of mammals, from mice to chimpanzees, but the only mammal that features in the book is Homo sapiens. Cerebral asymmetry in humans is scarcely news, having been discovered by Dax as early as 1836, and a great many volumes have been produced on the subject.

The editors of this book state in the Preface that “this volume is not a ‘how to guidebook.’ ” While this is certainly true, the chapters explaining legal issues (e.g., rules of evidence) offer what is essentially an advanced primer on evidentiary law as it relates to psychological testimony in civil and criminal trials. It is in this regard that the work has its greatest value.

Neuropsychological Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders was originally published in 1986, and in 1996 was selected one of the “essential books and journals in North American Clinical Neuropsychology” in a survey of ABPP Diplomats. The Second Edition promises to maintain this position. As was the case in the original, the editors aimed to (1) present leading approaches to neuropsychological assessment in neuropsychiatric populations; and (2) evaluate current understanding of the neuropsychology of more important or problematic disorders. Organization of this edition follows that of the First Edition. The first section covers methods of neuropsychological assessment and the second section covers targeted neuropsychiatric disorders. This edition also adds a third section on psychosocial consequences and moderating factors in neuropsychological impairment, particularly as illustrated in people with head injury and chronic pulmonary disease. Two-thirds of the original authors, as well as 25 new authors, contributed. More often than not these contributors are leading authorities in their respective topic.

This collection of generally well written reviews is sure to elicit a variety of reactions from readers interested in the field of clinical neuropsychology. Many, particularly those new to neuropsychology will likely appreciate this well organized and clearly written compilation of chapters edited by Gerald Goldstein and Theresa M. Incagnoli. The 12 chapters written by some of clinical neuropsychology's plenipotentiaries cover the main assessment systems currently employed in the United States. There are also chapters concerned with the evaluation of such special populations as severely demented older adults and children. In addition there are introductory chapters covering longstanding debates that still occupy some quarters of the neuropsychological community. To this group of readers Contemporary Approaches to Neuropsychological Assessment will serve as an intellectual “county fair” where experts have proudly displayed the best of their “wares”: the test systems and ideas with which they have long been associated. However, there will also be readers who will find this compilation disconcerting. From the perspective of many clinicians who are more familiar with the field, including those who must make a living in the real world of managed care and the increasing disillusionment of traditional medical allies of clinical neuropsychology (e.g., behavioral neurology, the court system, etc.), this volume will appear overly optimistic and in some cases anachronistic.