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Proactive interference and vulnerability to distraction in multiple sclerosis
382
Abstracts of 15th Annual Meeting
relationships: Function, Visible Physical Attribute, Inferred Physical Attribute, Location and Category, that is, 10 questions per picture. The Semantic Probe Test was used as a naming test. For each ADS, five items that were failed were paired with five successfully named which were matched in difficulty. The 10 pictures then were presented one at a time to the subject and 5 of the 10 yes/no probe questions were asked about the pictured item, in a predetermined random order. The sequence of 10 pictures was presented a second time so that the remaining five probe questions could be asked about each one. Normal controls were given the entire Semantic Probe Test in order to determine if any items were incorrectly interpreted by normals. Number of naming failures differed significantly between Controls (1.07) and AD subjects (5.1). Nine of the 310 probes were missed by five or more Controls and were deleted. AD subjects produced 10.5% errors to semantic problems on pictures they had named correctly; but 7.5% errors on those they had failed to name, confirming that impaired semantic memory is associated with failure to retrieve names. Probe questions on the semantic features Location, Superordinate, and Inferred Sensory Feature were more vulnerable to error than problems concerning Function and Visible physical feature. This order of difficulty differs substantially from previous reports. Nine (32%) AD subjects correctly named one or more objects on which they had answered probe questions randomly. The results support the view that object names may be retrieved in response to pictures without semantic mediation.
Denney, R. L., & Scully, B. M. Exaggeration of Neuropsychological Impairment in Pick's Disease: A Case Study. Subject is a 52-year-old individual with an extensive education in the medical field. Neuropsychological consultation was sought in conjunction with an inpatient evaluation of competency to stand trial and legal sanity. Prior records suggested strong possibility subject suffered from Pick's Disease. MRI studies revealed mild diffuse atrophy and marked prefrontal and anterior temporal atrophy. Subject was charged with multiple federal offenses that arguably could have resulted from insufficient judgement and problem solving secondary to Pick's Disease. Collateral information revealed personality changes consistent with Pick's Disease prior to subject's arrest. Test taking mannerisms included apathy toward failure and occasional confabulation. Patient's memory was intact although below an expected premorbid ability. Striking neuropsychological results included 164 errors on the Booklet Category Test (BCT) and 126 perseverative responses on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Patient claimed spontaneous color blindness near the end of the evaluation. The binomial theorem was applied to the BCT results with below random level of performance (p < .0001). Symptom Validity Testing for color results were also below random (p < .00001). Comparisons of current test results to those from a 6-month prior assessment revealed generally mild to moderate decrease in performance with the exception of consistent intellect and memory results. Diagnostic questions are discussed given the atypical test results in a situation with motivation to malinger and probable presence of cognitive compromise secondary to Pick's Disease. Diamond, B. J., DeLuca, J., Kim, H., & Lee, T. Proactive Interference and Vulnerability to Distraction in Multiple Sclerosis. A variety of studies have shown that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) subjects exhibit memory and information processing impairments. Some studies also report that MS subjects are disproportionately susceptible to interference (e.g., Brown-Peterson Consonant Trigram Test), while attention and concentration are generally intact. In this study, a visually presented Proactive Interference (PI) task (i.e., successive presentation of semantically-related word
Abstracts of 15th Annual Meeting
383
lists); and a visually presented variant of the Brown-Peterson paradigm (i.e., graded distractors tested over two durations) were administered to MS and healthy control subjects. Twenty clinically definite MS (mean EDSS = 5.8, SD = 1.3) and 18 healthy control subjects, matched with respect to age (mean = 45, SD = 7.1 and mean = 42, SD = 14), education (mean = 14 years, SD = 2.2 and mean = 16, SD = 2.0) and intelligence (mean = 112, SD = 9.3 and mean = 112, SD = 10), respectively, served as subjects. Three principal findings emerged: (a) The MS group was significantly less vulnerable to PI than controls. However, a subset of MS subjects matched with respect to recall on the first PI list showed levels of PI that did not differ from that of controls; (b) The MS group showed a normal release from PI; (c) On the BP task, the MS group showed a disproportionate vulnerability to distraction as a function of increases distractor complexity and longer distractor durations (i.e., 5 vs. 15 seconds). This vulnerability resulted in significantly poorer recall on the distractor conditions but preserved recall on the 5 and 15 second conditions without distractions; (d) The MS group recalled significantly fewer words from the PI word lists than controls while displaying significantly lower recency scores. The results of the PI task suggest that initial levels of acquisition can interact with the expression of PI effects. The findings from the BP task may suggest that the MS group's performance results from an impairment in the ability to generate frontally-mediated strategic planning, presumably under the control of a central executive (which would allow a subject to rapidly alternate between two tasks). The finding of lower recency scores in the PI recall task among MS subjects may be due to impairments in the input, storage, or output from limited capacity passive visual/phonological memory.
Dickson, A. L., McLarnan, K. W., & Hensley, F. R. Case Study: Amusia. We describe a case of a 41-year-old, le•handed (family history of left-handedness) male with acquired amusia. He suffered a thrombotic stroke involving branches of the right Middle Cerebral Artery in 1994. The initial C.T. revealed a wedge-shaped configuration involving both gray and white matter in the right temporal-parietal region. A follow-up MRI revealed predominantly right temporal perisylvian ischemic infarction involving both gray and white matter with extension into the insular cortex. On follow-up evaluation, he indicated that he was unable to distinguish musical sounds (e.g., piano from a guitar). A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment revealed intact olfactory, executive, language, learning and memory, and somatosensory functioning. He recognized 12 of 13 sounds. His ability to discriminate the length of tones was at the 92nd percentile. His ability to discriminate timbre was at the 25th percentile. Discrimination of loudness, rhythm, and pitch were at the 8th, 6th, and 1st percentiles, respectively. These findings are consistent with others that suggest that Amusia is not a unitary function, but rather a combination of abilities.
Dinkens, H., & DeFilippis, N. A. The Effects of ~me of Exposure on Tactual Performance Test Memory and Location Scores. This study investigated the effects of length of exposure on Tactual Performance Test (TPT) Memory and Location scores. The study attempted to determine if patients who take a very long time to complete the TPT should be expected to have a better memory for the form-board. Forty-five normal 18-45-year-old subjects were administered the TPT. These subjects were all volunteers and they completed a demographic questionnaire as well. The subjects were grouped into three categories depending on the length of time taken to complete the TPT. One-way ANOVAs were completed to test differences between groups on the independent variable of time. Time to completion was also correlated with Memory and Location scores. Results indicated a significant TPT time effect. The group completing the
Abstracts of 15th Annual Meeting
relationships: Function, Visible Physical Attribute, Inferred Physical Attribute, Location and Category, that is, 10 questions per picture. The Semantic Probe Test was used as a naming test. For each ADS, five items that were failed were paired with five successfully named which were matched in difficulty. The 10 pictures then were presented one at a time to the subject and 5 of the 10 yes/no probe questions were asked about the pictured item, in a predetermined random order. The sequence of 10 pictures was presented a second time so that the remaining five probe questions could be asked about each one. Normal controls were given the entire Semantic Probe Test in order to determine if any items were incorrectly interpreted by normals. Number of naming failures differed significantly between Controls (1.07) and AD subjects (5.1). Nine of the 310 probes were missed by five or more Controls and were deleted. AD subjects produced 10.5% errors to semantic problems on pictures they had named correctly; but 7.5% errors on those they had failed to name, confirming that impaired semantic memory is associated with failure to retrieve names. Probe questions on the semantic features Location, Superordinate, and Inferred Sensory Feature were more vulnerable to error than problems concerning Function and Visible physical feature. This order of difficulty differs substantially from previous reports. Nine (32%) AD subjects correctly named one or more objects on which they had answered probe questions randomly. The results support the view that object names may be retrieved in response to pictures without semantic mediation.
Denney, R. L., & Scully, B. M. Exaggeration of Neuropsychological Impairment in Pick's Disease: A Case Study. Subject is a 52-year-old individual with an extensive education in the medical field. Neuropsychological consultation was sought in conjunction with an inpatient evaluation of competency to stand trial and legal sanity. Prior records suggested strong possibility subject suffered from Pick's Disease. MRI studies revealed mild diffuse atrophy and marked prefrontal and anterior temporal atrophy. Subject was charged with multiple federal offenses that arguably could have resulted from insufficient judgement and problem solving secondary to Pick's Disease. Collateral information revealed personality changes consistent with Pick's Disease prior to subject's arrest. Test taking mannerisms included apathy toward failure and occasional confabulation. Patient's memory was intact although below an expected premorbid ability. Striking neuropsychological results included 164 errors on the Booklet Category Test (BCT) and 126 perseverative responses on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Patient claimed spontaneous color blindness near the end of the evaluation. The binomial theorem was applied to the BCT results with below random level of performance (p < .0001). Symptom Validity Testing for color results were also below random (p < .00001). Comparisons of current test results to those from a 6-month prior assessment revealed generally mild to moderate decrease in performance with the exception of consistent intellect and memory results. Diagnostic questions are discussed given the atypical test results in a situation with motivation to malinger and probable presence of cognitive compromise secondary to Pick's Disease. Diamond, B. J., DeLuca, J., Kim, H., & Lee, T. Proactive Interference and Vulnerability to Distraction in Multiple Sclerosis. A variety of studies have shown that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) subjects exhibit memory and information processing impairments. Some studies also report that MS subjects are disproportionately susceptible to interference (e.g., Brown-Peterson Consonant Trigram Test), while attention and concentration are generally intact. In this study, a visually presented Proactive Interference (PI) task (i.e., successive presentation of semantically-related word
Abstracts of 15th Annual Meeting
383
lists); and a visually presented variant of the Brown-Peterson paradigm (i.e., graded distractors tested over two durations) were administered to MS and healthy control subjects. Twenty clinically definite MS (mean EDSS = 5.8, SD = 1.3) and 18 healthy control subjects, matched with respect to age (mean = 45, SD = 7.1 and mean = 42, SD = 14), education (mean = 14 years, SD = 2.2 and mean = 16, SD = 2.0) and intelligence (mean = 112, SD = 9.3 and mean = 112, SD = 10), respectively, served as subjects. Three principal findings emerged: (a) The MS group was significantly less vulnerable to PI than controls. However, a subset of MS subjects matched with respect to recall on the first PI list showed levels of PI that did not differ from that of controls; (b) The MS group showed a normal release from PI; (c) On the BP task, the MS group showed a disproportionate vulnerability to distraction as a function of increases distractor complexity and longer distractor durations (i.e., 5 vs. 15 seconds). This vulnerability resulted in significantly poorer recall on the distractor conditions but preserved recall on the 5 and 15 second conditions without distractions; (d) The MS group recalled significantly fewer words from the PI word lists than controls while displaying significantly lower recency scores. The results of the PI task suggest that initial levels of acquisition can interact with the expression of PI effects. The findings from the BP task may suggest that the MS group's performance results from an impairment in the ability to generate frontally-mediated strategic planning, presumably under the control of a central executive (which would allow a subject to rapidly alternate between two tasks). The finding of lower recency scores in the PI recall task among MS subjects may be due to impairments in the input, storage, or output from limited capacity passive visual/phonological memory.
Dickson, A. L., McLarnan, K. W., & Hensley, F. R. Case Study: Amusia. We describe a case of a 41-year-old, le•handed (family history of left-handedness) male with acquired amusia. He suffered a thrombotic stroke involving branches of the right Middle Cerebral Artery in 1994. The initial C.T. revealed a wedge-shaped configuration involving both gray and white matter in the right temporal-parietal region. A follow-up MRI revealed predominantly right temporal perisylvian ischemic infarction involving both gray and white matter with extension into the insular cortex. On follow-up evaluation, he indicated that he was unable to distinguish musical sounds (e.g., piano from a guitar). A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment revealed intact olfactory, executive, language, learning and memory, and somatosensory functioning. He recognized 12 of 13 sounds. His ability to discriminate the length of tones was at the 92nd percentile. His ability to discriminate timbre was at the 25th percentile. Discrimination of loudness, rhythm, and pitch were at the 8th, 6th, and 1st percentiles, respectively. These findings are consistent with others that suggest that Amusia is not a unitary function, but rather a combination of abilities.
Dinkens, H., & DeFilippis, N. A. The Effects of ~me of Exposure on Tactual Performance Test Memory and Location Scores. This study investigated the effects of length of exposure on Tactual Performance Test (TPT) Memory and Location scores. The study attempted to determine if patients who take a very long time to complete the TPT should be expected to have a better memory for the form-board. Forty-five normal 18-45-year-old subjects were administered the TPT. These subjects were all volunteers and they completed a demographic questionnaire as well. The subjects were grouped into three categories depending on the length of time taken to complete the TPT. One-way ANOVAs were completed to test differences between groups on the independent variable of time. Time to completion was also correlated with Memory and Location scores. Results indicated a significant TPT time effect. The group completing the