Performance validity of the Dot Counting Test in a dementia clinic setting.

Objective: This study examined the utility of a performance validity test (PVT), the Dot Counting Test (DCT), in individuals undergoing neuropsychological evaluations for dementia. We investigated specificity rates of the DCT Effort Index score (E-Score) and various individual DCT scores (based on completion time/errors) to further establish appropriate cutoff scores.

Method: This cross-sectional study included 56 non-litigating, validly performing older adults with no/minimal, mild, or major cognitive impairment.

A Forced Choice Performance Validity Test for the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status.

Objective: We aimed to assess the utility of a novel and easy-to-administer performance validity test (PVT), the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Forced Choice recognition trial (RFC), compared with previously developed RBANS PVTs.

Method: We compared the RFC with the RBANS Effort Index (EI) and Effort Scale (ES) in a sample of 62 non-litigating older adults (mean age = 74 years, 52% female) with varying levels of cognitive impairment.

Results: A significantly greater proportion of the sample met EI criteria for non-credible performance (EI > 2; 31%) compared with RFC criteria (RFC < 9; 15%).

Neuropsychological comparison of Alzheimer's disease and dementia with lewy bodies.

Background/aims: The present study examined the patterns of memory and cognitive performance associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Methods: A battery of standardized neuropsychological tests was administered to individuals with these disorders as well as to a group of cognitively intact controls. The battery included measures of memory (learning, recall and recognition), language, visuospatial ability, psychomotor speed, executive functioning and mood.

Beneficial effect of cholinesterase inhibitor medications on recognition memory performance in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease: preliminary findings.

Cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) medications (ie, donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine) have been useful in slowing the progression of the mild to moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Findings supporting this have largely relied on a global error score from the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale and have not described the nature of the memory problems. We examined this issue by comparing learning, recall, and recognition scores among 2 groups of mild to moderately demented AD patients.

The cyclooxygenase 2 -765 C promoter allele is a protective factor for Alzheimer's disease.

The cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme (COX-2) is of particular importance in the inflammatory response and recent findings have demonstrated a considerable role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. In order to assess the possible putative role of a COX-2 polymorphism (765G/C) in AD, we examined its distribution in 161 community-based controls and 168 AD clinic-based cases previously recruited from memory disorder clinics in Tampa and Miami, Florida. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age/age of onset or gender.

Elderly norms for the Spot-the-Word test.

This study provides population-based normative data for healthy, community-dwelling American elderly on the Spot-the-Word test (STW). The effects of age, education, and gender on STW performance are also investigated. Given previously limited normative data for the elderly, the current norms expand the clinical utility of STW as an estimate of premorbid intelligence.

Executive and nonexecutive neuropsychological functioning in antisocial personality disorder.

Objective: To examine the relationships between antisocial personality disorder and executive abilities as well as antisocial personality disorder with other domains of cognitive functioning.

Background: Previous research has suggested that antisocial personality disorder is associated with impaired executive functioning. However, methodological limitations of past research have resulted in inconsistent findings.

Neuropsychological findings in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

Previous research investigating whether combat-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is associated with impaired neuropsychological functioning has yielded inconsistent findings. The present study addressed many methodological limitations of previous research. Neuropsychological measures of intellectual ability, learning, memory, attention, visuospatial ability, executive functioning, language, and psychomotor speed were compared in four groups of early middle-aged community dwelling veterans.

The Key Behaviors Change Inventory and executive functioning in an elderly clinic sample.

The Key Behaviors Change Inventory (KBCI) was developed to assess executive, behavioral, and emotional functioning following brain insults and to track the course of recovery. The purpose of this study was to investigate, in an elderly memory disorder clinic sample, the convergent and discriminant validity of the KBCI by examining the relationships between various measures of executive functioning and the KBCI scales that theoretically relate to executive functions. The KBCI was administered to the caregivers of 97 consecutive patients who came to a memory disorders clinic seeking services.

Differences in executive functioning between Alzheimer's disease and subcortical ischemic vascular dementia.

The present study examined the performance of 114 individuals (62 males, 52 females) on a variety of tests purported to measure executive abilities. Participants were diagnosed with possible or probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SVaD), or were normal controls (NoDx). Groups were matched for age and education, and clinical groups were matched for severity of dementia.