Sex differences in lateralization of semantic verbal fluency in temporal lobe epilepsy.

When differences exist, women tend to outperform men on measures of verbal fluency, possibly due to greater bilateral language representation. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) have a higher rate of atypical cortical language representation than the general population, making them a population of interest for the study of language. For the current study, 78 TLE patients (51% male, 51% left temporal focus) underwent pre-surgical neuropsychological evaluations.

Clinical utility of the Wechsler Memory Scale--Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in predicting laterality of temporal lobe epilepsy among surgical candidates.

This study evaluated the accuracy of the Wechsler Memory Scale--Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in identifying functional cognitive deficits associated with seizure laterality in localization-related temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) relative to a previously established measure, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Emerging WMS-IV studies have highlighted psychometric improvements that may enhance its ability to identify lateralized memory deficits. Data from 57 patients with video-EEG-confirmed unilateral TLE who were administered the WMS-IV and RAVLT as part of a comprehensive presurgical neuropsychological evaluation for temporal resection were retrospectively reviewed.

Sensitivity of Green's Word Memory Test genuine memory impairment profile to temporal pathology: a study in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Performance validity tests (PVTs) such as Green's Word Memory Test (WMT) are designed to have face validity as memory tests while individuals with neurologically based memory deficits can score adequately provided there is sufficient task engagement. Some patients with severe memory loss have performed poorly on the WMT, raising questions about false positive errors. This study compared performances of 43 patients with left, right, or bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy on the WMT to a test known to be sensitive to temporal lobe pathology, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT).

Verbal fluency patterns in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

Background/aims: Verbal fluency patterns can assist in differential diagnosis during neuropsychological assessment and identify individuals at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). While evidence suggests that subjects with AD perform worse on category fluency than letter fluency tasks, the pattern in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is less well known.

Methods: Performance on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) and Animal fluency was compared in control, amnestic MCI, non-amnestic MCI, and AD groups.

A less conservative method to adjust for familywise error rate in neuropsychological research: the Holm's sequential Bonferroni procedure.

Background: The traditional Bonferroni method is a commonly used post hoc hypothesis test to adjust for familywise error rate inflation; however, a less well-known derivative of this test, the Holm's sequential procedure, provides an alternative method for familywise error rate correction. This less conservative approach is particularly relevant to studies investigating neuropsychological functioning because of the extent to which neuropsychological datasets tend to include interrelated outcome measures, reducing the relevance of the universal null hypothesis assumption, on which the traditional Bonferroni method relies.

Methods: Mathematical illustrations demonstrating how to compute the two adjustments are provided.