Measuring narrative identity: rater coding versus questionnaire-based approaches.

Narrative identity - how individuals narrate their lived and remembered past - is usually assessed via independent rater coding, but new methods relying on self-report have been introduced. To test the assumption that different methods assess aspects of the same underlying construct, studies measuring similar components of narrative identity with different methods are needed. However, such studies are surprisingly rare.

Narrative identity does not predict well-being when controlling for emotional valence.

Narrative identity refers to a person's internalized and evolving life story. It is a rapidly growing research field, motivated by studies showing a unique association with well-being. Here we show that this association disappears when controlling for the emotional valence of the stories told and individuals' general experience of autobiographical memory.

The reconstructive nature of involuntary autobiographical memories.

Influential clinical theories propose that parts of traumatic or stressful events are stored in an unprocessed, purely perceptual form, which is inaccessible for voluntary retrieval but may spontaneously return to consciousness involuntarily in response to matching cues. This leads to perceptually vivid, and largely veridical involuntary memories of the traumatic scene, remembered with the original emotions and from the same vantage point as during the event. Several lines of evidence contradict this position.

Differentiating depression and ADHD without depression in adults with processing-speed measures.

Objective: We evaluated processing-speed and shift-cost measures in adults with depression or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and monitored the effects of treatment. We hypothesised that cognitive-speed and shift-cost measures might differentiate diagnostic groups.

Methods: Colour, form, and colour-form stimuli were used to measure naming times.

Through the gateway of the senses: investigating the influence of sensory modality-specific retrieval cues on involuntary episodic memory.

Involuntary memories are memories of past events that come to mind with no preceding attempts of retrieval. They typically arise in response to situational cues, but little is known as to how such cues modulate involuntary memories. Here, we examined how the sensory modality of the cues affects involuntary memory frequency and content.

Methylphenidate effects on processing speed in a clinical sample of adults with ADHD and substance use disorder: a pilot study.

Background: Substance use disorders (SUDs) are common comorbidities of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The most commonly prescribed medication for ADHD is methylphenidate. The clinical response to methylphenidate may be monitored against DSM-5 symptomatology, rating scales or interviews.

Processing speed can monitor stimulant-medication effects in adults with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity.

Background: Treatment responses to methylphenidate by adults with ADHD are generally monitored against DSM-IV/DSM-V symptomatology, rating scales or interviews during reviews.

Aims: To evaluate the use of single- and dual-dimension processing-speed and efficiency measures to monitor the effects of pharmacological treatment with methylphenidate after a short period off medication.

Methods: A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) monitored the effects of immediate-release methylphenidate in 40 previously diagnosed and medicated adults with ADHD.

Spontaneous or intentional? Involuntary versus voluntary episodic memories in older and younger adults.

Involuntary episodic memories are memories of past events that come to mind with no preceding attempt of retrieval. Such memories have received little attention in relation to aging compared with voluntary episodic memories (i.e.

Electrical activity of the diaphragm during progressive cycling exercise in endurance-trained men.

The study aimed to investigate diaphragm respiratory drive modulation through electrical activity of the diaphragm (EADi) during progressive cycling in endurance-trained men (N=7) and to test day-to-day measurement reliability. Normalized EADi increased at exercise intensities from 40% workload (WL) to 70% and 85%WL but plateaued from 70% to 85% (p<0.05).

The effect of pH on fatigue during submaximal isometric contractions of the human calf muscle.

Purpose: This study examined whether changes in pH throughout the physiologic range would have a differential effect on central and peripheral factors associated with fatigue and force production during submaximal lower limb isometric exercise to task failure.

Methods: Eight males completed three experimental trials [0.2 g kg(-1) ammonia chloride (ACD); 0.

A quick test of cognitive speed for comparing processing speed to differentiate adult psychiatric referrals with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders.

Objective: This retrospective study used A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) to compare processing speed and efficiency measures by adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or non-ADHD psychiatric disorders and healthy controls.

Method: Color, form, and color-form combination naming tests were administered to 104 adults, ages 17-55 years, referred for psychiatric evaluation of possible ADHD. Thirty healthy adults were controls.

Validation of the AQT color-form additive model for screening and monitoring pharmacological treatment of ADHD.

Objective: This retrospective study used a quick test of cognitive speed (AQT) processing-speed and efficiency measures for evaluating sensitivity and monitoring effects during pharmacological treatment of adults with ADHD.

Method: Color (C), form (F), and color-form (CF) combination naming were administered to 69 adults during outpatient evaluation, and pre- and posttreatment results were compared for 64 adults.

Results: At intake without medication, naming times (s) were significantly longer and overhead, CF - (C + F), larger than after stabilization of ADHD symptoms.

AQT cognitive speed and processing efficiency differentiate adults with and without ADHD: a preliminary study.

Objective: We evaluated the hypotheses that A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) single- and dual-dimension naming speed measures would differentiate normal adults and adults with ADHD before medication and that there would be no differences between groups after stabilization with medication.

Methods: Thirty adults with ADHD, aged 18-43, were evaluated with the AQT color (C), form (F) and color-form combination (CF) naming tests before and after medication with methylphenidate. Thirty age- and sex-matched normal adults served as controls.

A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed: patterns of age groups 15 to 95 years.

A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed color, form, and color-form naming were administered to 300 normal participants (ages 15-95 years) to explore the effects of age on perceptual (single-dimension naming) and cognitive speed (dual-dimension naming). Naming time means (sec.) were consistent with previous findings.

Associations between AQT processing speed and neuropsychological tests in neuropsychiatric patients.

Associations between A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) perceptual and cognitive speed and neuropsychological tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the Trail Making Test (TMT), were evaluated in 41 neuropsychiatric patients. Neuropsychological and neurological tests, including CT scan, were administered to all of the patients. AQT was also administered to 75 controls.

Alzheimer's Quick Test cognitive screening criteria for West African speakers of Krio.

Objectives: To obtain normative data for Alzheimer's Quick Test (AQT) measures of perceptual and cognitive speed from West African speakers of Krio.

Subjects: Normal adults, who were functionally independent, from Sierra Leone (n = 164) aged 25-79 years.

Methods: Perceptual and cognitive speed were measured with AQT single- and dual-dimension colour-number (C-N) and colour-animal (C-A) naming tasks.

Clinical utility of color-form naming in Alzheimer's disease: preliminary evidence.

Performances on Alzheimer's Quick Test color-form naming and Mini-Mental State Examination were compared for 38 adults with Alzheimer's disease and 38 age- and sex-matched normal controls. Group means differed significantly and indicated longer naming times by adults with Alzheimer's disease. The specificity for AQT color-form naming was 97% and sensitivity 97%, i.

Multiple rapid automatic naming measures of cognition: normal performance and effects of aging.

Rapid automatic naming tasks are clinical tools for probing brain functions that underlie normal cognition. To compare performance for various stimuli in normal subjects and assess the effect of aging, we administered six single-dimension stimuli (color, form, number, letter, animal, and object) and five dual-dimension stimuli (color-form, color-number, color-letter, color-animal, and color-object) to 144 normal volunteers who ranged in age from 15 to 85 years. Rapid automatic naming times for letters and numbers were significantly less than for forms, animals, and objects.