What a Special Operations Cognitive Assessment Should Look Like.

Special Operations organizations have recently demonstrated their commitment to enhanced cognitive functioning and improving brain health through the development of a Cognitive Domain. However, as this new enterprise becomes supported by more resources and personnel, a critical question involves what cognitive assessments should be conducted to evaluate cognitive functions. The assessment itself forms a crux in the Cognitive Domain that could mislead cognitive practitioners if not properly applied.

The social behaviors and peer expectation of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and comparison girls.

Investigated self-described social goals, self-generated actions, and perceived peer responses to hypothetical vignettes, as well as observed social behavior and peer sociometric status, in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 49) and comparison girls (n = 30). Although we found no differences between the social goals of girls with ADHD and comparison participants, girls with ADHD generated higher rates of aggressive responses to the hypothetical vignettes than did comparison girls, whereas comparison girls generated a larger number of negotiating behaviors than did the ADHD sample. The ADHD participants anticipated negative peer responses, whereas comparison girls predicted positive reactions from peers.

Covert antisocial behavior in boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: external validation and effects of methylphenidate.

Covert antisocial behaviors such as stealing, destroying property, and cheating carry high risk for delinquency. An individual laboratory setting was devised in which youngsters could take desired objects and use answer keys to assist with worksheets. Twenty-two boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 22 comparison boys were observed on two occasions, with the ADHD Ss receiving a methylphenidate-placebo crossover.

Messages of medication: effects of actual versus informed medication status on hyperactive boys' expectancies and self-evaluations.

After 15 boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were informed that they had taken either medication or placebo, they completed computer tasks, self-assessments, and causal judgments. The boys predicted better performance when told they were on medication versus placebo. For self-evaluations, medication status and information interacted, with boys actually taking placebo rating themselves more positively when told they had taken medication versus placebo.