Psychometric Evaluation of Romanian Translations of the Behavior Problems Inventory-01 and the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form

Psychometric properties of Romanian translations of the Behavior Problems Inventory-01 (BPI-01; Rojahn, Matson, Lott, Esbensen, & Smalls, 2001 Rojahn, J., Matson, J. L., Lott, D., Esbensen, A. J. and Smalls, Y. 2001. The Behavior Problems Inventory: An instrument for the assessment of self-injury, stereotyped behavior, and aggression/destruction in individuals with developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31: 577–588. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF; Aman, Tassé, Rojahn, & Hammer, 1996 Aman, M. G., Tassé, M. J., Rojahn, J. and Hammer, D. 1996. The Nisonger CBRF: A child behavior rating form for children with developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 17: 41–57. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) were explored. Respondents completed the instruments for 115 children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Internal consistency of both instruments' total scales was good to excellent (Cronbach's α ranging from .88 to .95) and the subscale internal consistencies were fair to excellent (with α ranging from .74 to .94). The results based on bivariate Spearman correlations and multiple regression analyses provided strong convergent and discriminant validity of both instruments. Overall, the Romanian versions of the behavior rating scales had very good reliability (internal consistencies) and convergent and discriminant validity. It is hoped that this study will be a catalyst for Romanian clinicians and researchers as well as for transcultural researchers working with Romanian individuals with intellectual disabilities to continue the exploration of the utility and psychometric quality not only of the BPI-01 and the NCBRF but also of other English language psychopathology assessment instruments.     

Psychometric Evaluation of the Behavior Problems Inventory-01 and the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form with Children and Adolescents

This study was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of 2 assessment instruments, the Behavior Problems Inventory-01 (BPI-01; Rojahn, Matson, Lott, Esbensen, & Smalls, 2001 Rojahn, J., Matson, J. L., Lott, D., Esbensen, A. J. and Smalls, Y. 2001. The Behavior Problems Inventory: An instrument for the assessment of self-injury, stereotyped behavior, and aggressive/destructive behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31: 577–588. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF; Aman, Tassé, Rojahn, & Hammer, 1996 Aman, M. G., Tassé, M. J., Rojahn, J. and Hammer, D. 1996. The Nisonger CBRF: A child behavior rating form for children with developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 17: 41–57. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The sample consisted of 237 ethnically diverse children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities who ranged in age from 4 to 22 years. Reliability parameters included internal consistency, interteacher agreement, teacher-parent agreement, and test-retest reliability. Factorial validity was assessed first by bivariate Spearman rank (ρ) correlations and then by examining the factor structure fit via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Convergent and discriminant validity was assessed by multiple regression analyses across the 2 instruments. Reliability coefficients (internal consistency, interteacher agreement, and test-retest reliability) of the BPI-01 and of the NCBRF subscales ranged from fair to excellent and from poor to excellent, respectively. The CFA suggested a poor fit between the present and the original BPI-01 and NCBRF factor structures, although item-total correlations were reasonable. Convergent and discriminant validity between the BPI-01 and the NCBRF, however, was strong. Limitations of the study are discussed and recommendations for future studies are presented.     

Methodological Problems in the Neuropsychological Assessment of Effects of Exposure to Welding Fumes and Manganese

Recently, Kaiser (2003) Kaiser, J. 2003. Manganese: A high-octane dispute. Science, 300: 926–928.  [Google Scholar] raised concerns over the increase in brain damage claims reportedly due to exposure to welding fumes. In the present article, we discuss methodological problems in conducting neuropsychological research on the effects of welding exposure, using a recent paper by Bowler et al. (2003) Bowler, R. M., Gysens, S., Diamond, E., Booty, A., Hartney, C. and Roels, H. A. 2003. Neuropsychological sequelae of exposure to welding fumes in a group of occupationally exposed men. International Journal of Hygiene & Environmental Health, 206: 517–529. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] as an example to illustrate problems common in the neurotoxicity literature. Our analysis highlights difficulties in conducting such quasi-experimental investigations, including subject selection bias, litigation effects on symptom report and neuropsychological test performance, response bias, and scientifically inadequate casual reasoning.     

(Morpho)syntactic comprehension in agrammatic aphasia: Evidence from Greek

Background: A number of hypotheses have been formulated to account for comprehension data in agrammatic aphasia. They explain deficits in comprehending specific structures, such as semantically reversible non-canonical sentences, for example, Trace Deletion Hypothesis (TDH, Grodzinsky, 1986 Grodzinsky, Y. 1986. Language deficit and the theory of syntax. Brain and Language, 27: 135–159. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(86)90009-X[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1990 Grodzinsky, Y. 1990. Theoretical perspectives on language deficits, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1995 Grodzinsky, Y. 1995. A restrictive theory of agrammatic comprehension. Brain and Language, 51: 26–51. doi:10.1006/brln.1995.1039[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), or functional categories, for example, Tree Pruning Hypothesis (TPH, e.g., Friedmann, 2006 Friedmann, N. 2006. Generalizations on variations in comprehension and production: A further source of variation and a possible account. Brain and Language, 96: 151–153. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2005.06.002[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); Tense Underspecification Hypothesis (TUH, Wenzlaff & Clahsen, 2004 Wenzlaff, M. and Clahsen, H. 2004. Tense and agreement in German agrammatism. Brain and Language, 89: 57–68. doi:10.1016/S0093-934X(03)00298-0[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2005 Wenzlaff, M. and Clahsen, H. 2005. Finiteness and verb-second in German agrammatism. Brain and Language, 92: 33–44. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2004.05.006[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]); Interpretable Features’ Impairment Hypothesis (IFIH; e.g., Varlokosta et al., 2006 Varlokosta, S., Valeonti, N., Kakavoulia, M., Lazaridou, M., Economou, A. and Protopapas, A. 2006. The breakdown of functional categories in Greek aphasia: Evidence from agreement, tense, and aspect. Aphasiology, 20: 723–743. doi:10.1080/02687030500513703[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Several studies, however, report evidence contradicting these theories (e.g., Caramazza, Capasso, Capitani, & Miceli, 2005 Caramazza, A., Capasso, R., Capitani, E. and Miceli, G. 2005. Patterns of comprehension performance in agrammatic Broca's aphasia: A test of the Trace Deletion Hypothesis. Brain and Language, 94: 43–53. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2004.11.006[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Dickey, Milman, & Thompson, 2008 Dickey, M. W., Milman, L. H. and Thompson, C. K. 2008. Judgment of functional morphology in agrammatic aphasia. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21: 35–65. doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2007.08.001[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and propose new accounts to explain the comprehension deficits in agrammatic aphasia, for example, Distributed Morphology Account (DMA, Dickey et al., 2008 Dickey, M. W., Milman, L. H. and Thompson, C. K. 2008. Judgment of functional morphology in agrammatic aphasia. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21: 35–65. doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2007.08.001[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).

Aims: Against the background above, this study investigates the ability of three Greek-speaking agrammatic individuals to comprehend a wide range of structures and functional categories: semantically reversible (canonical) active and (non-canonical) passive sentences, Complementizer Phrase, subject-verb Agreement, Tense, and Aspect.

Methods & Procedures: We administered: (a) two sentence-picture matching tasks to test comprehension of reversible active and passive sentences, and Tense; (b) a sentence grammaticality judgement task to test judgement of Tense, Aspect, and subject-verb Agreement; and (c) a picture-pointing task to test comprehension of Complementizer Phrase.

Outcomes & Results: (a) Two of the three agrammatic participants performed at chance on reversible passive sentences and above chance on active sentences. The third participant performed equally high on the two sentence types. Two participants performed at chance on Tense comprehension and one above chance. (b) The three participants were selectively or across-the-board impaired in judgement of Agreement, Tense, and Aspect. One of the two selectively affected participants had chance performance on Aspect and above chance performance on Agreement and Tense. The other one performed at chance on Aspect and Tense, and above chance on Agreement. The third participant's performance was equally poor on all three categories. (c) All three agrammatic participants performed above chance on the comprehension of Complementizer Phrase.

Conclusions: In comprehension/judgement, canonical and non-canonical sentences do not dissociate in all agrammatic speakers, while functional categories associated with the verb morphology may be compromised in the face of relatively well-preserved categories that are located higher in the syntactic hierarchy. All three agrammatic participants support the DMA, and two of them support the TDH. Instead, none of them provided support to the TPH, TUH, and IFIH.     

Chance in agrammatic sentence comprehension: What does it really mean? Evidence from eye movements of German agrammatic aphasic patients

Background: In addition to the canonical subject-verb-object (SVO) word order, German also allows for non-canonical order (OVS), and the case-marking system supports thematic role interpretation. Previous eye-tracking studies (Kamide et al., 2003 Kamide, Y., Scheepers, C. and Altmann, G. M. 2003. Integration of syntactic and semantic information in predictive processing: Cross-linguistic evidence from German and English. Journal of Psycholinguistics Research, 32: 37–54. doi: 10.1023/A:1021933015362 [Google Scholar]; Knoeferle, 2007 Knoeferle, P. 2007. “Comparing the time-course of processing initially ambiguous and unambiguous German SVO/OVS sentences in depicted events”. In Eye movement research. A window on mind and brain, Edited by: van Gompel, R., Fischer, M., Murray, W. and Hill, R. 517–531. Oxford, , UK/Amsterdam: Elsevier.  [Google Scholar]) have shown that unambiguous case information in non-canonical sentences is processed incrementally. For individuals with agrammatic aphasia, comprehension of non-canonical sentences is at chance level (Burchert et al., 2003 Burchert, F., De Bleser, R. and Sonntag, K. 2003. Does morphology make the difference? Agrammatic sentence comprehension in German. Brain and Language, 87: 323–342. doi: 10.1016/S0093-934X(03)00132-9[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The trace deletion hypothesis (Grodzinsky 1995 Grodzinsky, Y. 1995. A restrictive theory of agrammatic comprehension. Brain and Language, 50: 27–51. doi: 10.1006/brln.1995.1039[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2000 Grodzinsky, Y. 2000. The neurology of syntax: Language use without Broca's area. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23: 1–71. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X00002399[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) claims that this is due to structural impairments in syntactic representations, which force the individual with aphasia (IWA) to apply a guessing strategy. However, recent studies investigating online sentence processing in aphasia (Caplan et al., 2007 Caplan, D., Waters, G., DeDe, G., Michaud, J. and Reddy, A. 2007. A study of syntactic processing in aphasia I: Behavioral (psycholinguistic) aspects. Brain and Language, 101: 103–150. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2006.06.225[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Dickey et al., 2007 Dickey, M. W., Choy, J. J. and Thompson, C. K. 2007. Real-time comprehension of Wh-movement in aphasia: Evidence from eyetracking while listening. Brain and Language, 100: 1–22. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2006.06.004[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) found that divergences exist in IWAs' sentence-processing routines depending on whether they comprehended non-canonical sentences correctly or not, pointing rather to a processing deficit explanation.

Aims: The aim of the current study was to investigate agrammatic IWAs' online and offline sentence comprehension simultaneously in order to reveal what online sentence-processing strategies they rely on and how these differ from controls' processing routines. We further asked whether IWAs' offline chance performance for non-canonical sentences does indeed result from guessing.

Methods & Procedures: We used the visual-world paradigm and measured eye movements (as an index of online sentence processing) of controls (N?=?8) and individuals with aphasia (N?=?7) during a sentence–picture matching task. Additional offline measures were accuracy and reaction times.

Outcomes & Results: While the offline accuracy results corresponded to the pattern predicted by the TDH, IWAs' eye movements revealed systematic differences depending on the response accuracy.

Conclusions: These findings constitute evidence against attributing IWAs' chance performance for non-canonical structures to mere guessing. Instead, our results support processing deficit explanations and characterise the agrammatic parser as deterministic and inefficient: it is slowed down, affected by intermittent deficiencies in performing syntactic operations, and fails to compute reanalysis even when one is detected.     

A case of semantic variant primary progressive aphasia with severe insular atrophy

Insular degeneration has been linked to symptoms of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Presented in this case is a patient exhibiting semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, behavioral disturbance. Upon autopsy, he was found to have severe insular atrophy. In addition, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were ineffective in reducing symptoms of obsessive–compulsive behaviors or emotional blunting. This case suggests that Seeley et al.'s (2007 Seeley, W. W., Allman, J. M., Carlin, D. A. and et al. 2007. Divergent social functioning in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer disease: Reciprocal networks and neuronal evolution. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 21: S50–S57. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 21, S50) hypothesis that von Economo neurons and fork cell-rich brain regions, particularly in the insula, are targeted in additional subtypes of FTD beyond the behavioral variant.     

Connectionist diagnosis of lexical disorders in aphasia

Background: In the cognitive neurolinguistic approach to lexical deficits in aphasia, impaired levels of processing are localised in a cognitive model. Model-oriented treatment may target these impaired components. Thus a precise assessment of the disorder is crucial. Connectionist models add to this by using computer simulation to specify the details of the functioning of these components. The connectionist semantic-phonological model of lexical access (Dell, Martin, & Schwartz, 2007 Dell, G. S., Martin, N. and Schwartz, M. F. 2007. A case-series test of the interactive two-step model of lexical access: Predicting word repetition from picture naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 56: 490–520. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Schwartz, Dell, Martin, Gahl, & Sobel, 2006 Schwartz, M. F., Dell, G. S., Martin, N., Gahl, S. and Sobel, P. 2006. A case-series test of the interactive two-step model of lexical access: Evidence from picture naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 54: 223–264.  [Google Scholar]) explores the impairment by simulating error patterns in naming and repetition.

Aims: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the model's range of application as a diagnostic tool, and to derive recommendations for the model's use in clinical settings.

Methods & Procedures: We demonstrate how we adapted the error analysis to 15 German-speaking patients with aphasia, analysed the model's accuracy in assessing naming and repetition disorders, and explained deviations between the error pattern produced by each patient and the one produced by the model's simulation by appealing to an extended version of the model.

Outcomes & Results: Overall, the model yielded good fits of the patients' error patterns. Larger model–patient deviations could be explained by the model's limited set of lesionable components.

Conclusions: The “connectionist diagnosis” of naming and repetition disorders in the semantic-phonological model is a reasonable tool in model-oriented assessment. However, the diagnosis needs to be complemented by further language tests.     

Extracting variant and invariant information from faces: The neural substrates of gaze detection and sex categorization

Abstract

Guided by influential models of face processing, efforts have been expended to uncover the neural substrates subserving the many facets of face perception. Extending this work, the present study used functional brain imaging (fMRI) to explore the relationship between the operations supporting the explicit extraction of sex and gaze-related information from faces. The brain imaging data showed the right superior temporal sulcus to be preferentially involved during assessments of gaze direction and a region of the left fusiform gyrus to be involved during sex categorization. These results provide support for the distributed face-processing model advanced by Haxby and colleagues (2000 Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A. and Gobbini, I. M. 2000. The distributed human neural system for face perception. Trends in Cognitive Science, 4: 223–233. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

Indirect versus direct feedback in computer-based Prism Adaptation Therapy

Prism Adaptation Therapy (PAT) is an intervention method in the treatment of the attention disorder neglect (Frassinetti, Angeli, Meneghello, Avanzi, & Ladavas, 2002 Frassinetti, F., Angeli, V., Meneghello, F., Avanzi, S. and Ladavas, E. 2002. Long-lasting amelioration of visuospatial neglect by prism adaptation. Brain, 125: 608–623. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Rossetti et al., 1998 Rossetti, Y., Rode, G., Pisella, L., Farne, A., Li, L.Boisson, D. 1998. Prism adaptation to a rightward optical deviation rehabilitates left hemispatial neglect. Nature, 395(6698): 166–169. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The aim of this study was to investigate whether one session of PAT using a computer-attached touchscreen would produce similar after-effects to the conventional box normally used in PAT.

In four experiments, 81 healthy subjects and 7 brain-injured patients diagnosed with neglect were subjected to a single session of PAT under two conditions: (1) using the original box, and (2) using a computer-based implementation of PAT. The session of PAT included a pre-exposure step involving pointing at 30 targets without feedback; an exposure step involving pointing at 90 targets with prism goggles and feedback; and a post-exposure step involving pointing at 60 targets, with no goggles and no feedback.

The results indicate that the expected similarity in the after-effect produced by the two conditions seems to occur only if subjects receive feedback on pointing precision by seeing their fingertip during the exposure step. Attempts to provide feedback indirectly via icons on the computer screen failed to produce the expected size in the after-effect. The findings have direct implications for computer-based treatment of visuospatial disorders in the future and computer-assisted rehabilitation in general.     

Depression as a Function of Eating Disorder Diagnostic Status and Gender

The purpose of the present study was to examine depressive symptoms as a function of eating disorder (ED) diagnostic status and gender. A demographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996 Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A. and Brown, G. K. 1996. Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory, 2nd, San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.  [Google Scholar]), and the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnoses (Q-EDD; Mintz, O'Halloran, Mulholland & Schneider, 1997 Mintz, L. B., O'Halloran, M. S, Mulholland, A. M. and Schneider, P. A. 1997. Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnoses: Reliability and validity of operationalizing DSM–IV criteria into a self-report format: Correction. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44: 63–79. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) were administered to a nonclinical sample of college-aged men (n = 115) and women (n = 136). Contrast tests revealed significant differences in mean BDI-II scores as a function of Q-EDD diagnostic status. This effect did not differ as a function of gender and the pattern was the same for both cognitive and somatic-affective depressive symptoms. The nature of the comorbid relationship between ED and depressive symptoms appears markedly similar across both genders.     

How justice can affect jury: Training abstract words promotes generalisation to concrete words in patients with aphasia

Developing language treatments that not only improve trained items but also promote generalisation to untrained items is a major focus in aphasia research. This study is a replication and extension of previous work which found that training abstract words in a particular context-category promotes generalisation to concrete words but not vice versa (Kiran, Sandberg, & Abbott, 2009 Kiran, S., Sandberg, C., & Abbott, K. (2009). Treatment for lexical retrieval using abstract and concrete words in persons with aphasia: Effect of complexity. Aphasiology, 23, 835–853. doi: 10.1080/02687030802588866[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Twelve persons with aphasia (five female) with varying types and degrees of severity participated in a generative naming treatment based on the Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy (CATE; Thompson, Shapiro, Kiran, & Sobecks, 2003 Thompson, C., Shapiro, L., Kiran, S., & Sobecks, J. (2003). The role of syntactic complexity in treatment of sentence deficits in agrammatic aphasia: The Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy (CATE). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 591–607. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2003/047)[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). All participants were trained to generate abstract words in a particular context-category by analysing the semantic features of the target words. Two other context-categories were used as controls. Ten of the twelve participants improved on the trained abstract words in the trained context-category. Eight of the ten participants who responded to treatment also generalised to concrete words in the same context-category. These results suggest that this treatment is both efficacious and efficient. We discuss possible mechanisms of training and generalisation effects.     

Service Utilization Patterns in Parents of Youth and Adults With Intellectual Disability Who Experienced Behavioral Crisis

Family caregivers play an important role in supporting people with intellectual disability (ID) and mental health problems or serious challenging behaviors across the life span. Relevant services for parents of people with ID may vary depending on the age of the child and the severity of mental health problems. Often, individuals with ID experience behavioral crisis, and the purpose of this study is to understand parents' service utilization patterns. Forty mothers of youth and adults with mild ID shared their experiences of crisis and commented on service needs, receipt, and effectiveness as well as on the barriers to service access using an adapted version of the Need for Help Questionnaire (Douma, Dekker, & Koot, 2006 Douma, J. C. H., Dekker, M. C. and Koot, H. M. 2006. Supporting parents of youths with intellectual disabilities and psychopathology. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50: 570–581. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). All parents had high levels of service need. Although most parents noted that they received services, many found that service effectiveness was limited. A greater proportion of parents of youth rated the information and mental health care for their child as effective compared with parents of adults. Barriers to service access for parents of youth centered around perceptions of their child's problem behavior, whereas parents of adults focused on perceptions of the service system. Input from caregivers can help identify deficiencies in the system that lead them to crisis and help tailor services to meet their needs. Research is needed to further elucidate different ways of engaging parents of youth and of adults to help them promote mental health in people with ID and prevent behavioral crises from occurring.     

The production and comprehension of verbs with alternating transitivity by patients with non-fluent aphasia

Background: Recent studies revealed that aphasic speakers have difficulties with the production of the intransitive (unaccusative) variant of verbs entering transitivity alternations. A key point of the current interpretations of these difficulties concerns the movement operations taking place at surface syntax, namely, the A-movement operation (Bastiaanse & van Zonneveld, 2005 Bastiaanse, R. and van Zonneveld, R. 2005. Sentence production with verbs of alternating transitivity in agrammatic Broca's aphasia. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 18: 57–66. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Bastiaanse, 2008 Bastiaanse, R. 2008. Production of verbs in base position by Dutch agrammatic speakers: Inflection versus finiteness. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21: 104–119. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Thompson, 2003 Thompson, C. K. 2003. Unaccusative verb production in agrammatic aphasia: The argument structure complexity hypothesis. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 16(2–3): 151–167. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]).

Aim: The present study revisits the issue of processing verbs with alternating transitivity in non-fluent aphasia in Greek, a language with rich morphology and relatively free word order, which lacks A-movement. In addition, in Greek, unaccusative verbs appear with different voice morphology: One class of intransitive variants of alternating verbs bears active morphology, another one non-active morphology and a third one can surface with both. The presence of non-active voice has been argued to correspond to the presence of a voice projection in syntax of these variants, while the variants that bear active morphology are not associated with a voice projection at the level of syntax. This study investigates the ability of non-fluent aphasic speakers to produce and comprehend verbs entering transitivity alterations and explores the role of active vs. non-active morphology and word order in the performance of aphasic speakers.

Methods & Procedures: We tested five non-fluent patients and fifteen control participants. We used two tasks supported by pictures: an elicited production task and a comprehension task. The experimental material consisted of fifteen transitive and fifteen unaccusative verbs (marked for active, and/or non-active voice morphology) in sentence contexts.

Outcomes & Results: The results indicated that (i) the aphasic speakers performed better on the production and comprehension of transitives than of unaccusatives, (ii) they showed significantly lower performance on the comprehension of unaccusatives with active morphology than on unaccusatives with non-active morphology, and finally (iii) they produced transitive (S)VO structures instead of the unaccusative ones.

Conclusion: We suggest, in agreement with other researchers (for example, Schwartz, Linebarger, Saffran, & Pate, 1987 Schwartz, M. F., Linebarger, M. C., Saffran, E. M. and Pate, D. S. 1987. Syntactic transparency and sentence interpretation in aphasia. Language and Cognitive Processes, 2: 85–113. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) that aphasic individuals overuse a mapping strategy that associates the theta roles of agent and theme with syntactic subject and object respectively, as they produce transitive (S)VO structures, to a large extent, instead of unaccusatives. In addition, as they had difficulties with unaccusative verbs marked for active voice, we suggest that they could not successfully interpret unaccusative verbs with active voice morphology as non-agentive structures.     

Development of the citizens measure into a tool to guide clinical practice and its utility for case managers

ABSTRACT

A measure of citizenship was developed and validated by Rowe and colleagues (O’Connell, Clayton, & Rowe, 2017 O’Connell, M. J., Clayton, A., & Rowe, M. (2017). Reliability and validity of a newly developed measure of citizenship among persons with mental illnesses. Community Mental Health Journal, 53(3), 367–374. doi:10.1007/s10597-016-0054-y[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The items clustered around the 5 Rs of citizenship as defined by Rowe et al.: relationships, rights, resources, roles, and rights, and a sense of belonging. Although a measure has its utility in clinical settings, to address time constraints and other administrative burdens expressed by providers in their day-to-day practice, a citizens tool was developed as a practical way that providers can enhance dialogue between providers and clients on citizenship for clients served in mental health and criminal justice reentry settings. This article describes the development of the tool, testing of the tool’s utility with case managers, and implications for practice.     

Modified ACT and CART in severe aphasia

Background: Anagram and Copy Treatment (ACT) and Copy and Recall Treatment (CART) have been shown to improve written communication for those with severe aphasia (Beeson, 1999 Beeson, P. M. 1999. Treating acquired writing impairment: Strengthening graphemic representations. Aphasiology, 13: 767–785. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Beeson, Hirsch, & Rewega, 2002 Beeson, P. M., Hirsch, F. M. and Rewega, M. A. 2002. Successful single-word writing treatment: Experimental analysis of four cases. Aphasiology, 16: 473–491. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Beeson, Rising, & Volk, 2003 Beeson, P. M., Rising, K. and Volk, J. 2003. Writing treatment for severe aphasia: Who benefits?. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46: 1038–1060. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). More recently, the addition of a spoken repetition component to the CART programme has been suggested to enhance oral naming in moderate aphasia (Beeson & Egnor, 2006 Beeson, P. M. and Egnor, H. 2006. Combining treatment for written and spoken naming. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12: 816–827. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Wright, Marshall, Wilson, & Page, 2008 Wright, H. H., Marshall, R. C., Wilson, K. B. and Page, J. L. 2008. Using a written cueing hierarchy to improve verbal naming in aphasia. Aphasiology, 22: 522–536. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and in cases with co-existing apraxia of speech (AOS) (de Riesthal, 2007 de Riesthal, M. Changes in written and spoken naming with a modified CART programme. Paper presented at the American Speech and Hearing Association. Boston, MA [Google Scholar]). No studies have investigated the use of a modified ACT and CART with spoken repetition in individuals with severe aphasia and AOS.

Aims: The purpose of the study was to examine ACT and CART modified with spoken naming repetition, using visual and auditory stimuli in the ACT sessions and home practice videos in the CART sessions, for individuals with severe aphasia.

Methods & Procedures: Three individuals, RC, AC, and MJ, with severe aphasia and coexisting AOS post left middle cerebral artery strokes participated in a 3-month programme. Participants were enrolled in modified ACT and CART with spoken repetition of the target word. For the CART programme a video was created for each word in a treatment set to facilitate repetition in the home practice programme. Probes of spoken and written performance were obtained at the onset of each session, and during baseline, treatment, and follow-up maintenance

Outcomes & Results: All participants improved in their ability to write the treatment stimuli. A 5-point scoring system (Helm-Estabrooks & Albert, 2003 Helm-Estabrooks, N. and Albert, M. L. 2003. Manual of Aphasia and Aphasia Therapy, Austin, TX: Pro-.  [Google Scholar]) was a more sensitive tool than the traditional binary scoring. None of the participants improved in the spoken naming condition with task stimuli. Mild improvement was noted in comparing pre- and post-test naming for MJ.

Conclusions: Our study supports evidence that ACT and CART may improve written naming skills in persons with severe aphasia. The inclusion of spoken repetition in the home practice CART programme may not be appropriate for cases with severe aphasia with AOS. However, further research using the technique with moderate aphasia with AOS may reveal that the technique of practice with auditory and visual stimuli is beneficial. The ease of using digital video tools with computer or augmentative devices has exciting and practical clinical application.     

Verbal and non-verbal working memory in aphasia: What three n-back tasks reveal

Background: Researchers have found that many individuals with aphasia (IWA) present with cognitive deficits that may impact their communication, and perhaps underlie their language-processing deficits (e.g., Erickson et al., 1996 Erickson, E., Goldinger and LaPointe, L. 1996. Auditory vigilance in aphasic individuals: Detecting non-linguistic stimuli with full or divided attention. Brain and Cognition, 30: 244–253. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Murray et al., 1997 Murray, L.L., Holland, A.L. and Beeson, P.M. 1997. Accuracy monitoring and task demand evaluation in aphasia. Aphasiology, 11: 401–414. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Wright et al., 2003 Wright, H. H., Newhoff, M., Downey, R. and Austerman, S. 2003. Additional data on working memory in aphasia. Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 9: 302 [Google Scholar]). However, many investigations of cognitive ability in aphasia have included measures that may be considered “language heavy”; they require overt lexical, semantic, and/or phonological processing to follow the task instructions and/or formulate a response. Few have considered the amount of linguistic processing required to perform the task. Subsequently, it is not clear if poorer performance by IWA on cognitive tasks compared to neurologically intact (NI) participants is due to a deficit in the respective cognitive domain or due to the inability of IWA to perform the task because of their language difficulties.

Aims: The purpose of the current study was to explore the effect of varying linguistic processing demands in the context of a dynamic working memory task—an n-back task for participants with and without aphasia.

Method & Procedures: This study compared differences on three different n-back tasks within and across groups for individuals with aphasia and NI matched peers. Participants completed three different n-back tasks; stimuli for the tasks varied in “linguistic load”. For each n-back task participants completed two levels of difficulty: 1-back and 2-back.

Outcomes & Results: The aphasia group performed significantly worse than the NI participants across the n-back tasks. All participants performed significantly better with the stimuli that carried a higher linguistic load (i.e., the fruit), than with the fribbles (semi-linguistic) and blocks (non-linguistic). All participants performed significantly better on the 1-back than the 2-back working memory task. Unlike the NI participants, IWA performed equally poorly with the fribbles and the blocks in the 2-back task.

Conclusions: Overall, the performance of individuals with aphasia on working memory tasks that varied in their linguistic load was similar to the control group but reduced. However, unlike the NI participants, IWA were less skilled at rapidly utilising linguistic knowledge to increase performance on the fribbles, demonstrating the further decrement in working memory that results from a decreased ability to utilise a linguistic strategy to increase performance on verbal working memory tasks. The results of this study indicate that language ability has a significant influence on performance on working memory tasks and should be considered when discussing cognitive deficits in aphasia.     

An Examination of the Frequency of Invalid Forgetting on the Test of Memory Malingering

The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) is the most used performance validity test in neuropsychology, but does not measure response consistency, which is central in the measurement of credible presentation. Gunner, Miele, Lynch, and McCaffrey (2012 Gunner, J. H., Miele, A. S., Lynch, J. K., & McCaffrey, R. J. (2012). The Albany Consistency Index for the Test of Memory Malingering. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 27(1), 1–9. doi:10.1093/arclin/acr089.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) developed the Albany Consistency Index (ACI) to address this need. The ACI consistency measurement, however, may penalize examinees, resulting in suboptimal accuracy. The Invalid Forgetting Frequency Index (IFFI), created for the present study, utilizes an algorithm to identify and differentiate learning and inconsistent response patterns across TOMM trials. The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the ACI and IFFI against a reference test (Malingered Neurocognitive Dysfunction criteria), and to compare both to the standard TOMM indexes. This retrospective case-control study used 59 forensic cases from an outpatient clinic in Southern Kansas. Results indicated that sensitivity, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of the IFFI were superior to both the TOMM indexes and ACI. Logistic regression odds ratios were similar for TOMM Trial 2, Retention, and IFFI (1.25, 1.24, 1.25, respectively), with the ACI somewhat lower (1.18). The IFFI had the highest rate of group membership predictions (79.7%). Implications and limitations of the present study are discussed.     

Apparent Effect of Type of Compensation Seeking (Disability Versus Litigation) on Performance Validity Test Scores may be due to Other Factors

Neuropsychologists use performance validity tests (PVTs; Larrabee, 2012 Larrabee, G. J. (2012). Performance validity and symptom validity in neuropsychological assessment. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 18, 1–7.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to ensure that results of testing are reflective of the test taker’s true neurocognitive ability, and their use is recommended in all compensation-seeking settings. However, whether the type of compensation context (e.g., personal injury litigation versus disability seeking) impacts the nature and extent of neurocognitive symptom feigning has not been adequately investigated. PVT performance was compared in an archival data set of noncredible individuals in either a personal injury litigation (n = 163) or a disability-seeking context (n = 201). Individuals were deemed noncredible based on meeting Slick, Sherman, and Iverson’s (1999 Slick, D. J., Sherman, E. M. S., & Iverson, G. L. (1999). Diagnostic criteria for malingered neurocognitive dysfunction: Proposed standards for clinical practice and research. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 13, 545–561.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) criteria including failure on at least two PVTs and a lack of congruency between their low cognitive scores and normal function in activities of daily living (ADLs). In general, disability seekers tended to perform in a less sophisticated manner than did litigants (i.e., they failed more indicators and did so more extensively). Upon further investigation, these differences were in part accounted for by type of diagnoses feigned; those seeking compensation for mental health diagnoses were more likely to feign or exaggerate a wide variety of cognitive deficits, whereas those with claimed medical diagnoses (i.e., traumatic brain injury) were more targeted in their attempts to feign and/or exaggerate neurocognitive compromise.     

The Walking Corsi Test (WalCT): A Normative Study of Topographical Working Memory in a Sample of 4- to 11-Year-Olds

We report normative data on topographical working memory collected through the Walking Corsi Test (WalCT; Piccardi et al., 2008 Piccardi, L. , Iaria, G. , Ricci, M. , Bianchini, F. , Zompanti, L. , & Guariglia, C. (2008). Walking in the Corsi test: Which type of memory do you need? Neuroscience Letters , 432 , 127–131.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) for developing a standard administration procedure to be used in clinical and educational practice. A total of 268 typically developing Italian children aged 4–11 years performed both WalCT and Corsi Block-Tapping Test (CBT; Corsi, 1972 Corsi, P. M. (1972). Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain . McGill University, Montreal: Unpublished doctoral dissertation. [Google Scholar]) a well-known visuo-spatial memory test. WalCT has already been validated in adults, demonstrating sensitivity in detecting topographical memory deficits even in individuals who have no other memory impairments. Our results showed that age, but not sex, affected performances. Both girls and boys had a larger span on the CBT than the WalCT. The youngest group did not differ in performing WalCT and CBT, but from 5.6 years of age children performed better on CBT than WalCT, suggesting that memory in reaching space develops before topographical memory. Only after 5 years of age do children learn to process specifically topographical stimuli, suggesting that this happens when their environmental knowledge becomes operational and they increase environmental independence. We also discuss the importance to introduce WalCT in the clinical assessment.