There continues to be debate about the long-term neuropsychological impact of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). A meta-analysis of the relevant literature was conducted to determine the impact of MTBI across nine cognitive domains. The analysis was based on 39 studies involving 1463 cases of MTBI and 1191 control cases. The overall effect of MTBI on neuropsychological functioning was moderate (d = .54). However, findings were moderated by cognitive domain, time since injury, patient characteristics, and sampling methods. Acute effects (less than 3 months postinjury) of MTBI were greatest for delayed memory and fluency (d = 1.03 and .89, respectively). In unselected or prospective samples, the overall analysis revealed no residual neuropsychological impairment by 3 months postinjury (d = .04). In contrast, clinic-based samples and samples including participants in litigation were associated with greater cognitive sequelae of MTBI (d = .74 and .78, respectively at 3 months or greater). Indeed, litigation was associated with stable or worsening of cognitive functioning over time. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed. (JINS, 2005, 11, 215–227.)

Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is common, yet few studies have examined neuropsychological outcomes more than 1 year postinjury. Studies of nonreferred individuals with MTBI or studies with appropriate control groups are lacking, but necessary to draw conclusions regarding natural recovery from MTBI. We examined the long-term neuropsychological outcomes of a self-reported MTBI an average of 8 years postinjury in a nonreferred community-dwelling sample of male veterans. This was a cross-sectional cohort study derived from the Vietnam Experience Study. Three groups matched on premorbid cognitive ability were examined, those who (1) had not been injured in a MVA nor had a head injury (Normal Control; n = 3214), (2) had been injured in a motor vehicle accident (MVA) but did not have a head injury (MVA Control; n = 539), and (3) had a head injury with altered consciousness (MTBI; n = 254). A MANOVA found no group differences on a standard neuropsychological test battery of 15 measures. Across 15 measures, the average neuropsychological effect size of MTBI compared with either control group was −.03. Subtle aspects of attention and working memory also were examined by comparing groups on Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) continuation rate and California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) proactive interference (PI). Compared with normal controls, the MTBI group evidenced attention problems in their lower rate of continuation to completion on the PASAT (odds ratio = 1.32, CI = 1.0–1.73) and in excessive PI (odds ratio = 1.66, CI = 1.11–2.47). Unique to the MTBI group, PASAT continuation problems were associated with left-sided visual imperceptions and excessive PI was associated with impaired tandem gait. These results show that MTBI can have adverse long-term neuropsychological outcomes on subtle aspects of complex attention and working memory. (JINS, 2005, 11, 228–236.)

Thirty unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) subjects (15 right and 15 left) and 15 controls were presented a multitrial learning task in which unfamiliar faces were paired with biographical information (occupation, city location, and a person's name). Face recognition hits were similar between groups, but the right ATL group committed more false-positive errors to face foils. Both left and right ATL groups were impaired relative to controls in acquiring biographical information, but the deficit was more pronounced for the left ATL group. Recall levels also varied for the different types of biographical information; occupation was most commonly recalled followed by city name and person name. In addition, city and person name recall was more likely when occupation was also recalled. Overall, recall of biographical information was positively correlated with clinical measures of anterograde episodic memory. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of the temporal lobe and associative learning ability in the successful acquisition of new face semantic (biographical) representations. (JINS, 2005, 11, 237–248.)

Arithmetic skills and their cognitive correlates were studied in 24 children with myelomeningocele and shunted hydrocephalus (MM), 27 children with severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and 26 children with orthopedic injuries (OI). Their average age was 11.56 years (SD = 2.36). They completed the WRAT–3 Arithmetic subtest and a subtraction task consisting of 20 problems of varying difficulty, as well as measures of working memory, declarative memory, processing speed, planning skills, and visuospatial abilities. The MM group performed more poorly on the WRAT–3 Arithmetic subtest and the subtraction task than the other two groups, which did not differ from each other on either measure. The groups did not differ in the number of math fact errors or visual-spatial errors on the subtraction task, but the MM group made more procedural errors than the OI group. The five cognitive abilities explained substantial variance in performance on both arithmetic tests; processing speed, working memory, declarative memory, and planning accounted for unique variance. Exploratory analyses showed that the cognitive correlates of arithmetic skills varied across groups and ages. Congenital and acquired brain disorders are associated with distinct patterns of arithmetic skills, which are related to specific cognitive abilities. (JINS, 2005, 11, 249–262.)

The present study examines differences in functional cerebral asymmetries modulated by gonadal steroid hormones during the menstrual cycle in women. Twenty-one right-handed women with regular menstrual cycles performed a double-stream rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task, with one stream in each visual field, during the low steroid menses and the high steroid midluteal phase. They were required to detect a target item, and then a probe item, each of which could appear in either stream. If the probe item appeared 200 ms after the target, detection of the probe was impaired—a phenomenon known as the “attentional blink.” This occurred in both streams in the midluteal phase, but only in the right visual field during menses. Thus low steroid levels appeared to restrict the attentional blink to the left hemisphere, while high levels of estradiol and progesterone in the midluteal phase appeared to reduce functional asymmetries by selectively increasing the attentional blink in the right hemisphere. This effect appears to be mediated by estradiol rather than progesterone, and it is compatible with the assumption of a hormone-related suppression of right hemisphere functions during the midluteal phase. (JINS, 2005, 11, 263–272.)

Schizophrenia patients are known to exhibit episodic verbal memory deficits. Although their neural origin is debated, they have often been compared to the memory problems found in temporal lobe amnesia or frontal lobe dysfunction. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent such deficits arise at either memory encoding or retrieval. We addressed the issue of retrieval deficits in schizophrenia in a part-list cuing experiment, testing the effect of the presentation of a subset of previously learned material on the retrieval of the remaining items. The part-list cuing procedure generally impairs retrieval but previous work showed that the detrimental effects are more pronounced in amnesic participants than in healthy people, indicating a retrieval deficit under part-list cuing conditions in amnesia. In the present study, schizophrenia patients did not exhibit increased susceptibility to part-list cuing effects and thus showed no increased retrieval inhibition from part-list cuing. Moreover, in part-list cuing, schizophrenia patients did not mirror the pattern found in amnesia, demonstrating a dissociation between amnesia and schizophrenia patients with respect to this particular memory effect. Implications for the neural basis of the part-list cuing effect and of memory disturbances in schizophrenia are discussed. (JINS, 2005, 11, 273–280.)

Twenty participants with self-reported long-term benzodiazepine use (mean 108 months) who had previously withdrawn from medication (mean 42 months) were administered a battery of neuropsychological tests. Each long-term user was case matched for age, sex, and education to two control participants who reported never taking benzodiazepines (those with and those without anxiety). The results indicated that long-term benzodiazepine use may lead to impairments in the areas of verbal memory, motor control/performance, and nonverbal memory but not visuospatial skills and attention/concentration. The length of abstinence (> 6 months) indicates that these impairments persist well beyond cessation of benzodiazepine use. However, observed impairments in the area of nonverbal memory were not solely attributable to benzodiazepine use and may be influenced by the elevated anxiety levels present in both the case and the anxious control group. (JINS, 2005, 11, 281–289.)

The Verbal Learning Test (VLT; Rey, 1958) evaluates the declarative memory. Despite its extensive use, it has been difficult to establish normative data because test administration has not been uniform. The purpose of the present study was to gather normative data for the VLT for a large number (N = 1855) of healthy participants aged 24–81 years, using a procedure in which the words to be learned were presented either verbally or visually. The results showed that VLT performance decreased in an age-dependent manner from an early age. The learning capacity of younger versus older adults differed quantitatively rather than qualitatively. Females and higher educated participants outperformed males and lower educated participants over the entire age range tested. Presentation mode affected VLT performance differently: auditory presentation resulted in a better recall on Trial 1 (a short-term or working memory measure), whereas visual presentation yielded a better performance on Trial 3, Trial 4, and Delta (a learning measure). (JINS, 2005, 11, 290–302.)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients perform worse on category than letter fluency tasks, while Huntington's disease (HD) patients show the reverse pattern or comparable impairment on both tasks. We developed a random word generation task to further investigate these deficits. Twenty AD and 16 HD patients and 20 elderly and 16 middle-aged controls guessed which of three pictures (hat, cat, or dog) landed on a die's top face sixty times. Three consecutive response pairings were possible: semantic (cat–dog), phonemic (hat–cat), and neutral (hat–dog). Since healthy individuals avoid repeating meaningful associates (“repetition avoidance”), an increased pairing frequency reflects processing deficits. AD patients produced more semantic and HD patients more phonemic pairings compared to their respective control groups, indicating selective semantic and phonemic processing deficits in AD and HD patients, respectively. (JINS, 2005, 11, 303–310.)

Three hypotheses for cognitive deficits among psychopaths were tested: Response modulation, left hemisphere activation, and an interaction between the 2. Twenty-six psychopathic and 32 nonpsychopathic criminal offenders identified with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised were randomly assigned to left- and right-hemisphere activation groups. An auditory processing task was administered, such that the ability to classify nonverbal auditory signals and the ability to manage subgoals were assessed under left- and right-hemisphere activation conditions. The results showed that psychopaths' information processing in general, including response modulation, was deleteriously affected by left-hemisphere activation, supporting 2 of the 3 hypotheses tested. These results offer an explanation for inconsistent findings of executive deficits among psychopaths. (JINS, 2005, 11, 311–321.)

This study delineated patterns of alcohol use 1 year after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a large, population-based, epidemiological, nonclinical sample, and identified predictors of heavy alcohol use in these individuals. Participants were 1,606 adults identified by review of a South Carolina statewide hospital discharge data set, on the basis of satisfying the Centers for Disease Control case definition of TBI, and were interviewed by telephone 1 year after TBI-related discharge. Alcohol use in the month prior to interview was classified according to categories from the Quantity–Frequency–Variability Index; heavy drinking was defined as nearly daily use with ≥ 5 drinks at least occasionally, or at least three occasions with ≥ 5 drinks. A polychotomous logistic regression with 3 response levels (heavy, moderate, and abstinent/infrequent/light drinking) was used to identify predictors of heavy drinking. Heavy drinking in the month prior to interview was reported by 15.4% of participants, while 14.3% reported moderate drinking and 70.3% reported abstinence or light/infrequent drinking. Risk factors for heavy drinking included male gender, younger age, history of substance abuse prior to TBI, diagnosis of depression since TBI, fair/moderate mental health, and better physical functioning. There was no association between drinking patterns and TBI severity. (JINS, 2005, 11, 322–330.)

Human exposure to naturally occurring marine toxins has been associated with a range of neurobehavioral abnormalities. The toxins are produced by harmful algal blooms (HABs) and are typically contracted through seafood consumption. The primary target of many of the HAB toxins is the neurologic system, and the neurobehavioral symptoms associated with the HAB illnesses have influenced public health policy. The HAB-related illnesses most frequently linked to neuropsychological disturbance are Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, Ciguatera Fish Poisoning, and Possible Estuarine Associated Syndrome, which is associated with exposure to the Pfiesteria piscicida organism. Although the neurophysiologic mechanisms underlying many of the HAB illnesses have been well delineated, the literature examining the neuropsychological impairments is unclear and needs to be defined. This review is intended to introduce an emerging area of study linking HAB illnesses with neuropsychological changes. (JINS, 2005, 11, 331–338.)

The Essential Handbook of Memory Disorders for Clinicians. Alan D. Baddeley, Michael D. Kopelman, and Barbara A. Wilson (Eds.). (2004). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. 381 pp., $45.00, £26.99/€40.50 (PB).

In the preface to this book, the editors reflect that the original Handbook of Memory Disorders (Baddeley et al., 1995) was aimed at a clinically oriented readership. Following publication of the original text, it was noted that neuroscientists expressed enthusiasm for the work, thus the second edition of the handbook (Baddeley et al., 2002) expanded significantly on scientific issues that were perhaps of less immediate clinical relevance. The current text, which the editors have titled The Essential Handbook of Memory Disorders for Clinicians is composed of a series of chapters from the 2002 text. Similar to the 1995 first edition, the goal of this new book is to provide an accessible text aimed at clinicians. Core clinical issues of assessment, nomenclature, phenomenology, etiology, and management are examined as they relate to disorders of memory and associated underlying diseases.

Neurology of Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders. Orrin Devinsky and Mark D'Esposito. 2004. New York: Oxford University Press. 451 pp., $99.95 (HB).

A problem with many behavioral neurology texts is the tendency to minimize the connection between behavior and integrated neuroscience theory. Often the illustrative neurological principles are not grounded in behavioral neuroscience, but, instead, present unusual conditions in a type of “Gee whiz” display. The relationship of these conditions to neuroscience is often lost. In Neurology of Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders, the relationship of neurologic condition to neuroscientific principles is clearly explicated. This is perhaps the greatest strength of this addition to the Oxford University Press Contemporary Neurology Series.

Avaliação Neuropsicológica, Psychologica, No. 34. Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação de Coimbra. Coimbra: Gráfica de Coimbra Ltda., 300 pp., $12.

Psychologica journal is published every four months. Generally written in Portuguese, its contents are organized by the Departments of Psychology and Education at Coimbra University, Portugal. Its aim is to divulge scientific work in psychology and education, emphasizing the interaction between theory, research, and practice.