Theoretical background of schuhfried`s neurological tests:

Theoretical Background of Following Neurological Tests
1. Reaction test RT
The reaction test registers reaction time with extreme precision which is relevant for many psychological examinations. Apart from experimental psychology, reaction time measurements are conducted primarily in the fields of traffic-, sport-, and pharmaco-psychology. In recent years such measurements have also been implemented increasingly in neurology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and traffic psychology. Kuhlmann, J.; Berger, W.; Podzuweit, H.; Schmidt, U. (1999). The influence of valerian treatment on "reaction time, alertness, and concentration" in volunteers. Pharmacopsychiatry, 32: 235-241 A randomized, controlled, double-blind trial was performed on 102 healthy Ss to determine whether reaction time (RT), alertness, and concentration might be impaired by treatment with a native valerian root extract (VRE). The effect was first examined the morning after a single evening dose of VRE (600 mg LI 156) vs flunitrazepam (1 mg) and placebo (PL; trial section A), and then after 2 wks of evening administration of VRE vs PL (trial section B). The primary criterion was the median of reaction time (MRT) measured with the Vienna Determination Test (VDT). Secondary criteria were cognitrones (alertness test), tracking test (2-handed co-ordination), sleep quality (VIS-A, Vis-M), further VDT parameters, and safety criteria. Results show that the single administration of LI 156 did not impair the reaction abilities, concentration and co-ordination. After 14 days of treatment, the equivalence of VRE and PL was proven by confirmative analysis concerning the improvement of MRT. Evaluation of the secondary criteria were consistent with the results of the primary criterion. It is concluded that neither single nor repeated evening administrations of 600 mg of VRE have a relevant negative impact on RT, alertness, and concentration the morning after intake. Schreiber, H., Stolz-Born, G., Heinrich, H.; Kornhuber, H.-H., & Born, J. (1992). Attention, cognition, and motor perseveration in adolescents at genetic risk for schizophrenia and control subjects. Psychiatry Research, 44 (2), 125-140. Examines aspects of attention, cognition, and motor perseveration among 23 adolescents with genetic schizophrenic risk and 61 adolescent controls. Data were assessed using simple reaction times (RTs), warned RTs in a monomodal and cross-modal design, the Aufmerksamkeits-Belastungs-Test d2, a motor perseveration test by Mittenecker, and an intelligence test (the German version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale). The results were validated in a second analysis in which a subgroup of the control subjects were matched to the high-risk subjects for age, gender, education, and environmental background. Significant deficits were found in the high-risk group in tests that required sustained attention and information processing under high perceptual load (RT measures and motor perseveration test). Deficits were particularly prominent for the processing of visual stimuli; sensory incongruence might also have been a contributor to this deficit. The attentional dysfunction of high-risk subjects might explain their tendency to show less structured behavior and distractibility as reflected by their higher entropy scores in a motor perseveration test. Cognitive evaluation showed a significant deficit in the high-risk group, primarily as reflected in the verbal intelligence score. 2. Motor Performance Series MLS
Hamster, W. (1980). Die Motorische Leistungsserie - MLS. Handanweisung. Mödling: Dr. G. Schuhfried. Hamster (1980) subdivided a contusion sample (n=114) into patients with and without neurological central motor symptoms and found significant differences in their mean scores on MLS tasks. Hamster also found highly significant performance differences in a comparison of patients with central motor symptoms and a control group of similar age and occupations. Hamster (1980, p. 40) interpreted these findings as follows: ". the MLS yields a more differentiated assessment of fine motor impairments than can be established objectively by a "regular neurological examination". He therefore recommended use of the procedure as a "psychological method for the diagnosis of brain lesions" (ibidem). Hamster (1980) found only minor correlations between performance on the MLS and intelligence and personality. In a group of patients with the diagnosis "cerebral contusion" Hamster (1980) studied the correlations between the MLS variables and the variable "Sum of correct reactions" (R) of the D-Unit (action mode). The portion of variation mutually explained lies in a range of only 10 to 30%. The common variation of MLS variables and the "Reaction time" variable on the R Unit is between 10 and 40%. This means that the MLS on the one hand and "Action Mode" on the D or R Unit on the other hand measure different things. Additional studies would need to be done to clarify whether these findings can be generalized to apply to healthy respondents. Sturm. W. & Buessing, A. (1985). Additional norm data and retest reliability coefficients for the "MLS" by Schoppe. Diagnostica, 31 (3), 234-245 Obtained norm values for four subtests of the "Motorische Leistungsserie" (MLS), a motoric achievement test series by Schoppe, by examining a German sample of 200 nonneurological patients (for age groups up to 72 years). Also, retest reliability was determined. 3. Vigilance VIGIL
The practical need for the Test VIGILANCE is caused by the necessity to determine the psycho-physical performance as is the case in neuropsychology. Sturm, W. & Buessing, A. (1990). Standardization and reliability tests of Quatember and Maly's "Vigilanzgeraet". Diagnostica, 36 (1), 50-59. Reports on the standardization of Quatember and Maly's "Vigilanzgerät", an apparatus for assessing vigilance, in a West German sample of 200 healthy subjects representing different age groups from 20 to 75 years of age and three types of secondary school (Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium). The developmental course of hit and error rates across four time intervals was also compared for different age groups. Reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) were high for hit rate (rtt > 0.80) and very high for error rate (rtt > 0.90). Confidence intervals for the reliability coefficients were calculated so that the instrument can be used in single case analysis. In a group of eight patients with damage to the right brain hemisphere there were high correlations between performance on the vigilance apparatus and other tests of attention. Wada, Y.; Kato, T. (2001). Functional hemispheric asymmetry in sustained attention. Japanese Journal of Psychology, 72: 104-112 Examined the existence of functional hemispheric asymmetry in visual sustained attention in a dual-task setting. Ss were 9 male and 1 female right-handed adults with normal vision (mean age 24.3 yrs) in Japan. A circular arrangement of Gabor patches (GPs; J. S. Joseph et al, 1997) was successively presented in the periphery during a 40-min vigil. The primary task was successive discrimination of digit type (Exp 1) or tone frequency (Exp 2). The secondary task was oddball orientation detection, requiring Ss to determine whether all of GPs were the same or whether there was an odd one in the upper left, upper right, lower left, or lower right visual fields. The results show that the perceptual sensitivity (A') for the detection task was higher in the left visual field than in the right visual field; visual field differences in the vigilance decrement (the decline in (A' over time) were observed when the primary task involved auditory discrimination. The implications for the functional lateral asymmetry in human sustained attention are discussed. Tomporowski, P.D.; Tinsley, V. (1994). Effects of target probability and memory demands on the vigilance of adults with and without mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 98: 688-703 Compared the vigilance of young adults (aged 15-23 yrs) with mild mental retardation and without mental retardation in 2 experiments in which observers performed 2 memory demanding, cognitively based, 60-min tests. In Exp 1, detection by 20 Ss with mental retardation declined more rapidly than did that of 20 Ss without mental retardation in both target probability conditions; further, their response criterion became increasingly more conservative. In Exp 2, 20 observers with mental retardation (10 of whom had participated in Exp 1) detected fewer targets under both target probability conditions. Ss' response criterion differed as a function of level of intelligence from the onset of the vigil and did not change with time on task. Intelligence-related differences in vigilance are explained in terms of Ss' information-processing abilities. Markowitsch, H.-J., Calabrese, P., Haupts, M., Durwen, H.-F., Liess, J., & Gehlen, W. (1993). Searching for the anatomical basis of retrograde amnesia. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 15 (6), 947-967 Investigated the neuroanatomical basis of profound retrograde and minor anterograde amnesia in a 45-year-old male patient. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed cortical damage to both temporal lobes and to the lateroventral portion of the right prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychological tests of the patient revealed normal or near-normal scores on intelligence, attention, short-term memory, and learning indices. Although semantic memory was also intact, the patient exhibited clear deficits in episodic memory. The findings suggest that the anterior temporal regions and surrounding neural tissue play an important role in episodic memory. Since anterograde amnesia is associated with medial temporal lobe damage, these findings support the claim that retrograde and anterograde amnestic syndromes are dissociable. 4. Cognitrone COG
The COG can be called useful, since the assessment of attention or perception is of general interest for certain topics. Furthermore, almost no other test can measure this characteristic in an adequate form. Cale, M. (1992). Minimal brain dysfunction and road accidents. Israel: Driver Institute Cale (1992) was able to prove that the Cognitrone test results can be used to predict driver typologies. (N=246). From a sample of N=72 drivers, who were involved in an accident more than once within a short time, Cale was able to identify significant correlations between test results and accident frequency. Bukasa B., Wenninger U. & Brandstätter C. (1990). Validierung Verkehrspsychologischer Testverfahren. Wien: Literas Universitätsverlag A study conducted with a previous version of the test (Bukasa, Wenninger & Brandstätter, 1990) indicated test validity. The examination was conducted on a group of N=248 voluntary drivers. The Cognitrone separates adapted and not adapted drivers (referring to driver‟s adherence to the traffic regulations). The respondents can be classified into driver typologies up to 83% based on their test results. A second group of N=120 respondents with increased risk taken from driving qualification diagnostics were examined as well. Test results are closely connected to the mistakes in driving behavior and conflicts measured during driving behavior observation. An extreme group comparison concerning driving behavior categories (the sample was divided into 40% of the best and 40% of the worst) again resulted in a significant difference of performance in this test procedure. Karner; T. (2000). Sind verkehrspsychologische Testverfahren geeignete Instrumente, um mögliche Leistungsminderungen alkoholauffälliger Kraftfahrer aufzuzeigen?. Report Psychologie (zur Veröffentlichung angenommen). A study by Karner (2000) shows significant differences between drivers who are known to drink too much and the norm group in the Cognitrone. Test results of the drivers with an alcohol problem were significantly worse than those of the norm population, which leads us to the conclusion, that this test is sensitive towards alcohol related degradation processes. Neuwirth, W. & Dorfer, M. (2000). Extremgruppenvalidierung verkehrspsychologischer Testverfahren anhand von Zuweisungsgruppen. (Zur Publikation eingereicht) Neuwirth (2000) was able to demonstrate in a study that the Cognitrone distinguishes between psychiatric and neurological respondents or respondents who abuse alcohol and the norm group. This validation study was conducted on a cohort sample for respondents coming from driving qualification diagnostics of a research institution in South Tyrol. 5. Corsi-Block-Tapping-Test CORSI
The Corsi test is considered useful since its registration of the visuospatial memory span is of principal interest with respect to certain questions. Furthermore, there are scarcely other tests which measure those dispositions adequately. Areas of application: If we consider the short-term memory to be the working memory which memorizes and processes information on a short-term basis, it becomes clear that the system plays a fundamental role in our way of thinking. Until recently, experts examined, above all, the memory span for figures, i.e. the verbal component of the short-term memory. In order to investigate the non-verbal, i.e. the visuospatial memory span analogue to the memory span for figures, the Block-Tapping-Test has already been applied in various fields of psychology. Apart from experimental psychology, this test is mainly used in the fields of neuropsychology, rehabilitation, psychiatry, as well as pharmaco-psychology and psychology related to the ability to work. Schellig D. & Hättig H. (1993). Die Bestimmung der visuellen Merkspanne mit dem Block-Board. Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie, 4, 104-112. Ross E.D. (1980). Sensory-specific and fractional disorders of recent memory in man. Isolated loss of visual recent memory. Arch. of Neurology, 37, 193-200. Farah M.J., Hammond H.M., Levine D.N. & Calvoni R. (1988). Visual and spatial mental imagery :dissoziable systems of representation. Cogn. Psychol., 20, 439-462. Hanley J.R., Young A.W. & Pearson N.A. (1991). Impairment of the visuo-spatial sketch pad. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Experimental Psychology, 43, 101-125. De Renzi E. &Michelli P. (1975). Verbal and non-verbal short term memory impairment fol-lowing hemispheric damage. Cortex, 11, 341-353. A clinical neuro-psychological validation study with the Block-Tapping-Test showed that more than 40% of the patients with visuospatial memory span deficiencies are not recorded if the examination of the short-term memory only involves the memory span for figures (Schellig & Hättig, 1993). This fact also corresponds to individual case studies in literature which often mention that patients with visuospatial short-term memory deficiencies do not show any difficulties with respect to the verbal memory span (Ross, 1980: Farah et al., 1988; Hanley et al., 1990). De Renzi and Michelli (1975) described two patients who reached a score of 2 to 3 in the Block-Tapping-Test, while reaching a score of 6.5 to 7.5 when they had to repeat figures. Another of Schellig‟s individual cases from hospitals should be mentioned here, since it seems to be typical for aphasic patients with left-hemispheric brain damage. Mr. C.L., a twenty-year-old patient, has been suffering from a severe Broca-aphasy since the left side of his brain was injured in a car accident two years ago. He reached a figure memory span of two since he could only repeat half of the sequences of two figures correctly. In the Block-Tapping-Test he reached visuospatial memory-span of seven. This means that the patient had great difficulties in memorizing verbal tasks while the visuospatial memory span seemed to be affected. Patients with Alzheimer‟s disease Baddeley A.D. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255, 556 - 559. Cantone G., Orsini A., Grossi D. & De Michele G. (1978). Verbal and spatial memory span in dementia. Acta Neurol. Napoli, 33, 175-183. Neuro-psychological examinations proved that patients with Alzheimer‟s disease showed deficiencies in tasks explicitly involving the central executive system of the working memory (Baddeley, 1992) as well as when the two sub-systems had been examined. It seems that the verbal working memory is always much more affected than the visual one (Cantone et al., 1978), although there is also information about patients with Alzheimer„s disease who seem to have a normal verbal working memory while showing clear visuospatial deficiencies (Baddeley et al., 1991). Patients with Korsakow syndrome Haxby J.V., Lundgren S.L. & Morley G.K. (1983). Short-term retention of verbal, visual shape and visuospatial location information in normal and amnesic subjects. Neuropsycho-logia, 21, 23-33. Baddeley A.D. (1990). Human memory: theorie and practice. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum As-sociates. Patients with Korsakow amnesia caused by alcohol consumption do not show any deficiencies regarding the visuospatial memory span operationalized by the Block-Tapping-Test (Haxby et al., 1983). Most characteristic for Korsakow amnesia is a sub-cortical lesion (see Baddeley, 1990, p.427; Haxley et al., 1983). This means that amnesia caused by a sub-cortical lesion does usually not imply a limited block span. De Renzi E., Faglioni P. & Previdi P (1977). Spatial memory and hemispheric locus of lesion. Cortex, 13, 424-433. Renzi and his colleagues (1977) postponed the questioning (9 or 16 seconds) in the Block-Tapping-Test (sequences of three). They discovered a strong reduction of the memory span of healthy respondents and patients even if they did not have to tackle another task during the memorization phase. If they did have to handle another task during this phase (Peterson and Peterson technique), the memory span was even shorter. Corresponding to these examinations it may be that the rehearsal possibilities of the visuospatial sub-system are much more limited compared to the verbal sub-system, however, they seem to exist. It is not only possible to memorize visuospatial material but also to modify it. Sala S.D. & Logie R.H. (1993). When working memory does not work: the role of working memory in neuropsychology. In: F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of Neuropsycho-logy, Vol 8. (pp. 1 - 62) Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers. Logie R. (1995). Visuo-spatial working memory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Vilkki J. & Holst P. (1989). Deficient programming in spatial learning after frontal lobe da-mage. Neuropsychologia, 27, 971-976. The evidence for the latter assumption has been accumulating (Farah et al., 1988; Sala & Logie, 1993; Logie, 1995). Spatial functions seem to be prevailing in the Block-Tapping Test. A group of patients with brain damage proved our hypothesis (Schellig & Hättig, 1993), that the difficulties of a tapping sequence does not depend on the number of dice. Schellig, D. & Haettig, H. A. (1993). Assessment of visual memory span with the Block Board. Zeitschrift-fuer-Neuropsychologie, 4 (2), 104-112. Offers recommendations from the German Neurological Society concerning the design and tapping sequences for the Block Board, a widely used test of immediate visual memory span. Until now, the procedure has not been sufficiently explored with respect to its psychometric properties. The use of several differently designed block boards and the administration of different tapping sequences made an objective assessment of immediate visual memory span impossible. A norm-oriented study of 74 healthy controls suggested a cut-off value of five for the correct immediate reproduction of sequences. Only two of the healthy controls failed at this stage, whereas out of an unselected sample of 95 brain-damaged patients, 24 did not reach this critical value. A further study of item difficulty revealed that the difficulty of a tapping sequence (of certain length) is essentially determined by the figural complexity of the tapping path. Fischer, M.-H. (2000). Probing spatial working memory with the Corsi Blocks Task. Brain and Cognition, 45 (2), 143-154. Examined methodological shortcomings in using the Corsi Blocks Task (CBT) to measure spatial working memory (SWM). Experiment 1 gave the standard CBT to 10 college students to obtain a reference data set and also compared the effects on span estimate of ascending versus descending order of item difficulty. Experiment 2 studied the effects of extended coding time in 12 college students; Experiment 3, that of extended maintenance interval in 12 college students; and Experiment 4, reduced response uncertainty in a further 12 college students. Results showed a decrease of correct localizations with increasing sequence length in all experiments. Prolonged encoding time improved localization performance significantly, suggesting an encoding bottleneck for SWM. Increasing the maintenance interval and having to select responses only among relevant elements also improved performance significantly. Changing the order of item difficulty had no reliable effects. It is concluded that small changes in application parameters influence performance on the CBT. Sammer, G. (1999). Working memory load and EEG-dynamics as revealed by point correlation dimension analysis. International-Journal-of-Psychophysiology, 34, 89-101. Studied whether quasi-time series can be used to analyze the dynamic structure of brain activity as indicated by ongoing electroencephalography (EEG). EEG was recorded in 6 college students (mean age 22.7 years) while working on a computerized version of the Corsi block-tapping task to induce a working memory load vs a baseline task with no working memory load. EEG was filtered digitally, and EEG subepochs were linked together to form EEG time series that were then subjected to point correlation dimension analysis. Results showed decreased dimensional complexity during working memory load. There was a load-specific change of brain dynamics that was strongest over frontal areas of the cortex. It is concluded that the point correlation dimension may help uncover transitions in brain states, particularly when EEG epochs are of short duration. Nakao, T.; Nakagawa, A. (2002). Cognitive function of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Seishin Igaku Clinical Psychiatry, 44: 1044-1054 Discusses the latest viewpoint of correlation between cognitive function of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and OC symptom, neuroimaging, neuropsychology, and frontal lobe function. Explains the executive function (M. D. Lezak, 1982), and introduces the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Object Alternation Test, Tower of Hanoi Test, Stroop Test, Fluency Test, Degraded Stimulus Continuous Performance Test for assessing executive function, the Cube Copying Test, Stylus Maze Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test for assessing spatial cognition, and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, Benton Visual Retention Test, Corsi Block-Tapping Test, and California Verbal Learning Test for assessing nonverbal memory. Explains computed tomography, MRI, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, and PET for image study of OCD in the 1980s and 1990s, and introduces the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) for the current brain functional image study. Laws, G. (2002). Working memory in children and adolescents with Down syndrome: Evidence from a colour memory experiment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 43: 353-364 This paper reports information on the visual and verbal short-term memory of individuals (aged 7-17 yrs old) with Down syndrome. Color memory in 16 children and adolescents with Down syndrome was compared with that of 16 typically developing children matched for receptive vocabulary. It was suggested that focal colors should be remembered more successfully than non-focal colors on the basis that the former could be remembered using a verbal recoding strategy. However, children with Down syndrome, for whom a deficit in verbal short-term memory makes the use of such a strategy unlikely, should remember focal and non-focal colors equally well. More importantly, if individuals with Down syndrome have more developed visual memory abilities than control children, they should outperform them in recognizing non-focal colors. Although the group with Down syndrome demonstrated significantly better Corsi blocks performance than controls, and displayed similar levels of color knowledge, no advantage for color memory was found. Pasquier, F.; Grymonprez, L.; Lebert, F.; Van der Linden, M. (2001). Memory impairment differs in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Neurocase, 7: 161-171 Assessed short-term and long-term explicit memory and implicit memory in frontotemporal dementia (FTD; frontal variant) and compared FTD and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with similar severity of dementia. 15 FTD patients (mean age 68 yrs), 30 probable AD patients (mean age 72 yrs) and 12 healthy Ss participated in the study. The three groups were comparable in terms of gender and educational level. Short-term memory was assessed with the digit span and Corsi block-tapping tests. Explicit verbal memory was assessed with the Grober and Buschke test, and implicit memory with a verbal priming task and a fragmented picture test. FTD patients demonstrated a genuine memory deficit with impaired digit span, encoding deficit and retrieval strategy difficulties, but preserved implicit verbal and visual priming. Memory patterns differed in AD and FTD: short-term memory and free recall were similarly decreased in FTD and AD but cues provided more benefit to FTD than to AD; encoding was more impaired and the forgetting rate was faster in AD than in FTD; priming was lower in AD than in FTD. AD patients with clinical and imaging frontal lobe dysfunction tended to have lower memory performance and to differ even more from FTD patients than AD patients without frontal lobe dysfunction. Salame, P.; Danion, J.M.; Peretti, S.; Cuervo, C. (1998). The state of functioning of working memory in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 30: 11-29 Examined working memory in schizophrenic patients using A. D. Baddeley's (1986) model. Exp 1 included 27 male and female patients (mean age 33.18 yrs) with schizophrenia and controls (mean age 32.11 yrs) matched for age and level of education. 20 patients and controls also participated in a 2nd experiment. Digit span, reading rate, and immediate serial recall assessed the functioning of the phonological loop. Corsi and pattern span tasks assessed the capacity of visuospatial memory. The central executive's ability to monitor 2 concurrent tasks was evaluated in a dual task paradigm, and its capacity to control action was assessed in a random generation task. Preliminary analyses showed that patients' performances were reduced in all tasks except digit span. This initial pattern changed consistently after controlling for reading rate. While comparable in demographic and clinical criteria, slow reading patients showed impaired performance in all tasks, whereas fast reading patients exhibited reduced performance in visuospatial tasks and in the random generation task. It is concluded that the state of functioning of working memory in schizophrenia appears to vary consistently among the components of Baddeley's model, and is markedly impaired in slow reading patients. Helmstaedter, C., Kemper, B., & Elger, C. E. (1996). Neuropsychological aspects of frontal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia. 1996, 34 (5), 399-406. Investigated patterns of cognitive impairment and lateralization effects in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) vs temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). 23 FLE and 38 TLE patients completed a neuropsychological test battery assessing vocabulary (Mehrfachwahl Wortschatz Test, MWT-B), verbal and nonverbal memory span (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS, subtest Digit Span; Corsi Block Test, CORSI), visuomotor speed and selective attention (Aufmerksamkeits-Belastungs-Test, d2), perceptual speed and response inhibition (Stroop test), verbal and figural fluency (subtest of the Leistungspruefsystem, LPS; 5-Point test), concept formation and concept shift (Visual-Verbal Test, VVT), anticipation and planning (Labyrinthtest), and motor coordination and sequencing (Luria's motor sequences). FLE was associated with significantly poorer results than TLE in most tests. Factor analysis revealed four distinct subfunctions: speed, short-term memory, motor coordination, and response maintenance and inhibition, of which the last two differentiated significantly between FLE and TLE patients. 6. Continuous Attention DAUF

CONTINUOUS ATTENTION test is useful if it is used in those cases in which the practical necessity just cited exists. It can be assumed that the cognitive ability underlying the psychological construct of continuous attention becomes weaker with age due to natural degenerative processes. In our own studies we discovered that in a population of older people in a Viennese retired-person‟s home (N=66, the age of 80 was used as a 50% splitting criterion), the test scores of the variables "Sum correct", "Sum omitted", "Mean value correct over the partial intervals" and "Mean value omitted over partial intervals" differ significantly in the direction expected. The "Distribution incorrect " is also significantly greater for the older respondents ( =5%). 7. Continuous Visual Recognition Task FVW

Markowitsch, H. J. & Pritzel, M. (1985). The neuropathology of amnesia. Progress in Schonfield, D. & Stones, M. J. (1979). Remembering and aging. In: Kihlstrom J.F. & Evans F. J. (Eds), Functional disorders of memory. (103-139) Hillsdale, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Miller, E. & Lewis, P. (1977). Recognition memory in elderly patients with depression and dementia: a signal detection analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 84-86. Botwinick, J. & Storandt, M. (1974). Memory related functions and age. Springfield, IL: Memory impairments may in fact be sensitive indicators of impaired brain functions (Markowitsch & Pritzel, 1985) and are the sign reported most frequently after brain damage. In dementia occurring at an advanced age, memory impairments are considered inevitable (DSM-III-R); Even in healthy respondents the faculty of memory decays in different degrees as age progresses (Botwinik & Strorandt, 1974; Schonfield & Stones, 1979). There have been several studies showing that it is primarily free recall that is found impaired on memory tests with progressing age, whereas the faculty of recognition is maintained for a much longer time. In patients with dementia, impaired performance on both recall and recognition tests is observed at a very early stage. Scores on recognition tasks are thus a very sensitive indicator of pathological aging processes (Branconnier et al., 1982; Miller & Lewis, 1977). 8. Raven`s Standard Progressive Matrices SPM
The SPM measures precisely the feature relevant for many psychological questions concerning “General Intelligence”. Cocchi, R. (1999). Alcoholics scoring 20 at Raven's Coloured Matrices: The analysis of wrong answers. Italian Journal of Intellective Impairment, 12: 41-47 Provides an analysis of wrong answers given by alcoholic patients scoring 20 on Raven's Coloured Matrices (RCM), carried out according to criterion used by R. Cocchi (1993). 20 30-74 yr old alcohol dependent patients who were under detoxification were given the RCM. The analysis showed 89 nonrandom grouped answers which were split into the categories of identity, contiguity, opposition, and confabulation. The results confirm that the analysis of wrong answers given to the RCM can be used to elicit the neuro-psychic levels and cognitive processes of alcohol dependent patients in a problem solving task. Andrade, C.; Mukundan, C.R. (1996). Social Drinking: I: Neuropsychological changes in social drinkers. NIMHANS-Journal, 14: 15-21 Examined whether differences exist between social drinkers and teetotalers in cognitive processing. 26 male social drinkers and equal number of male teetotalers were tested on a neuropsychological battery of tests including Visual and Verbal Learning and Memory Functions, Digit-Symbol Substitution Test, Trail Making Test, and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. Results indicate a significant disadvantage in the social drinkers compared to the teetotallers on some of the functions involving immediate memory, psychomotor performance, and abstract reasoning. No significant association emerged between test scores and drinking variables except trends in regard to correlation between quantity of alcohol consumed in the most recent past and test performance. 9. Signal Detection SIGNAL

The SIGNAL-DETECTION-TEST as an indicator for neglect-syndrome: Pronounced neglect is characterized by various symptoms, of which the contra-lateral occurrence of visual neglect phenomena in one side of the body and a representation disorder with the frequently simultaneous appearance of agnosia are particularly important. For a differential diagnosis, it is a cerebral visual defect in form of hemianopsia or hemiamblyopia, which especially has to be taken into account as an essential "basic deficiency" possibly causing such unilateral disorders in the field of visual exploration. This cerebral visual defect often occurs together with pronounced cerebral strokes in the area of the brain which is supplied by the central or rear part of the cerebral artery. However, there are also other organic cerebral illnesses or damages, which may cause similar dysfunctions. When a pronounced neglect gradually disappears, one can often observe that the anosognosia and the dysfunctional internal and external representations disappear faster than the existing neglect phenomena which may still be proven even several years later. Säring, W. zitiert in Cramon, D. von & Zihl, J. (1988). Neuropsychologische Rehabilitation. S. 105 - 131. Berlin: Springer. "By means of various technical examination procedures, it is possible to show that such a dysfunction obviously exists especially when stimuli are presented simultaneously in the examined half-fields and under time pressure, even if the respondent does not seem to have a limited visual exploration capacity for activities in everyday life. Such examinations are important e.g. in order to assess if a patient is able to resume driving a motor vehicle in public." (W. Säring, quoted in D. von Cramon & J. Zihl, 1988). This means that the SIGNAL-DETECTION-TEST can prove the long-lasting symptoms of visual dysfunction in one side of the body even if they cannot be observed (anymore) in usual activities. The quick changes in the presentation of stimuli require the ability to switch one‟s visual fixation continuously from one side of the screen to the other. Similar to the bilateral presentation of stimuli, this shows clearly if the respondent omits or delays a reaction to crucial stimuli significantly on one side of the screen. 10. Raven`s Coloured Progressive Matrices CPM

The CPM precisely measures the feature relevant for many psychological questions
concerning "General Intelligence". All factor-analytic studies report very high loadings in
Spearman‟s g-factor for the Raven Matrices Test, whereas differences exist depending on the
composition of the (test) battery. Intercorrelations of school performance tests are generally
lower than intercorrelations between school performance and knowledge tests.
Caceres, A.; Maurtua, N. (1968). On intelligence tests and aphasia. Revista de Neuro
Psiquiatria, 31: 111-121
16-67 yr. old male and female in- and outpatients diagnosed as expressive, global, and mixed
aphasias (88% from low socioeconomic levels and 84% with little education) were given
several nonverbal tests: (1) the Human Figure test, in which 36% of the Ss produced adequate
representations; (2) the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test in which 28% of the Ss revealed
motor conservation tendencies; and (3) Raven's Progressive Matrices, in which 48% of Ss
were considered mentally deficient. The need to account for other factors (etiology of illness,
duration of development, retraining methods, socioeconomic antecedents, etc.) was stressed.
11. Flicker-Fusion-Frequency FLIM
Bobon, D. P., Ott, H. & H. Holmberg (Eds.), Critical Flicker-Fusion Frequency in Man.
Pharmacopsychiatria, 15.
Wöllersdorfer, E. & Barolin, G.S. (1980). Flimmerverschmelzungsfrequenz-Analyse in der
Differtialdiagnostik hirnorganischer Syndrome. Therapie Woche, 30, 8080-8088.
Wurzer, W. & Scherzer, E. (1991). Sozialpsychologische Aspekte der Rehabilitation. In:
Neuropsychologie und Neurorehabilitation. Schlußbericht der Jahrestagung der Österr. Ges.
f. Neurorehabilitation (S.131-137).
It is widely agreed that the method fulfills the criteria required to operationalize the construct
of activation of the central nervous system and the Organic Psycho Syndrome (OPS) (v.
Bobon, Ott & Holmberg, 1982 b and Bracken, 1951; Ambrozi & Quatember, 1969; Wittling,
1983; Wöllersdorfer & Barolin, 1980; Wurzer, 1992).
After viewing a total of 33 studies dealing with the pharmacosensitivity of the flicker fusion
frequency, Smith and Misiak (1976) come to the conclusion that pharmaceuticals which have
an activating effect on the central nervous system generally lead to an increase in arousal,
while pharmaceuticals which have a sedating effect on the central nervous system lead to a
decrease in arousal.
Langecker, M.; Linzmayer, L.; Semlitsch, H.V. (2001). Possible influences on flicker
frequency and fusion frequency: response criterion, current well-being, speed of cognitive
information processing. Zeitschrift fuer Experimentelle Psychologie, 48: 317-326
Investigated the influence of response criterion, current well-being, and speed of cognitive
processing on fusion and flicker frequency measured by the method of limits, in 65 healthy
20-30 yr olds. The findings demonstrate that fusion and flicker frequency could not be
measured exactly. Evaluation of the reliability of the results was not possible, mainly because
the necessary basic psychological variables could not be recorded using the method.
Davranche, K.; Audiffren, M. (2002). Effects of a low dose of transdermal nicotine on
information processing. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 4: 275-285
The objective of this research was to assess the effect of a low dose of nicotine, administered
through a transdermal device, on the cognitive processes of subjects who were slightly
dependent smokers. Sixteen smokers were chosen as subjects using a French version of
Fagerstrom's Test of Nicotine Dependence. Under suboptimal alertness conditions the
subjects were faced with a choice reaction time (CRT) task. Two conditions of signal quality
(intact or degraded) and two conditions of fore period (FP) (short or long) were used during
two different experimental sessions (nicotine or placebo). At the same time, the subjects filled
in a mood questionnaire and took part in a critical flicker fusion (CFF) determination test. The
results obtained suggest that nicotine improves the subjective state of alertness of the subjects
and enables them, despite the suboptimal state, to maintain a constant performance level
during a CRT task. Neither an effect of nicotine on the CFF nor any interaction between the
nicotine, the signal quality or the duration of the FP were observed. The conclusion drawn is
that nicotine has an enabling effect, but the results do not allow the determination of the
precise site of this effect among the different stages of information processing.
12. Perseveration Test PERSEV

Schulter, G. (1987). Funktionale Asymmetrien der Großhirnhemisphären als Determinanten
der Perseverationstendenz, 77-96. In: Perspektiven psychologischer Forschung. Verlag Franz Deuticke. Schulter (1987) attributes the appearance of stereotypical behavior patterns to the limited capacity of memory and attention and functional asymmetries of the two cerebral hemispheres. In various studies on patients with different cerebro-organic injuries an increase in perseveration tendency was found to result from a decrease in energy potential. Mittenecker, E. (1958). Die Analyse "zufälliger" Reaktionsfolgen. Zeitschrift für experi- mentelle und angewandte Psychologie, 5, 45-60. Trappl, R. (1971). Die informationstheoretisch-statistische Behandlung sogenannter Zu- fallsfolgen in der Medizin. Zeitschrift für Nervenheilkunde, 29, 143-176. Remschmidt, H. (1968). Das Anpassungsverhalten der Epileptiker. Unveröff. Diss., Uni- Breidt, R. (1973). Lassen sich Perseverationen durch Hirnschädigung erklären? Zeitschrift Hackl, H. (1962). Über Starrheit und Veränderungsfähigkeit im Verhalten Schizophrener. Zeitschrift für psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, 8, 27-31. Mitteneckers pointing experiment was presented to various respondent groups (see Mittenecker, 1958, Remschmidt, 1968, 1970, Breidt, 1969, Breidt, 1973, Trappl, 1971). In most of these studies an age-dependent perseveration tendency was determined which agreed with the theories. The results of the studies can be summarized as follows:  Healthy people on average show a lower measure of perseveration in the experiment groups described. However, groups of persons without cerebro-organic or functional damage are also not capable of tapping the circles completely randomly and unsystematically.  In most experiments there appeared no interpretable differences in redundancy of the first degree (R1) between healthy and various clinical groups with the exception of the group of schizophrenic patients.  Systematic differences can be found in redundancy of the second degree (R2). What stands out are the higher scores of the two schizophrenic patient groups. This result agrees well with other studies on patients with the same illness (see also Hackl, 1962, Horkovic & Kovac, 1966). The higher tendency – determined by neurologists and psychopathologists - toward verbal and motor perseveration in patients with cranial-cerebral damage can be used as an outer criterion for validity studies. This patient group appeals, as opposed to groups with endogenic ailments, mainly due to the objectively determinable type and extent of damage. Breidt (1973) used several different tests to examine perseveration, stereotyping and rigidity of patients with cerebral damage due to cerebral injuries as determined by a medical specialist. In most cases he was able to prove suspected higher perseveration tendency in the patient groups using several groups of experiments. It should however also be mentioned that in Breidts experiment groups, 14% of the persons with brain damage exhibited no such repetitions and some persons of the normal group exhibited noticeably many. These results were confirmed by a study with the available computer-aided test release on a patient group with cranial-cerebral damage (BD="cerebral damage") carried out by Stark (1993). The best differentiation between the two examination groups was achieved by the redundancy measure of the second degree in Mittenecker‟s pointing experiment. The author thus reached the following conclusion: "This objective, difficult to figure out, precisely measureable, reliable, and, in its results, clear test provided the greatest differences between the two groups, whereby a significant amount of persons with cerebral damage persevered less than did many persons in the healthy comparison group". Nitrini,R. (1987). Elementary motor perseveration in early diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy. Arquivos de Neuro Psiquiatria, 45: 29-32 Discusses 3 cases of patients with progressive supranuclear palsy, with different onset symptoms before the appearance of the distinctive features of the illness. When initially examined, the female S was 62 yrs old and the 2 males were each 59 yrs old. All Ss presented intense perseverations that caused dysdiadokokinesia and impaired the reproduction of rhythmic structures. These elementary motor perseverations may prove to be an important sign for early diagnosis and an element for the clinical characterization of progressive supranuclear palsy. 13. Stroop Interference Test STROOP

Bäumler, G.(1985) Farb-Wort-Interfernztest (FWIT) nach J.R. Stroop. Göttingen: Hogrefe. Color/word interference tests are applied in various fields. Bäumler (1985) writes in his manual on the CWIT (Color/Word Interference Test): Especially clinical and preclinical psychological diagnoses of functionality are the diagnostic application areas of the CWIT (brain organic disturbance, psychosis, degeneration due to old age, legasteny, general psychic situation etc., development diagnosis and career suitability diagnosis with its various forms of applications (i.e., personnel selection for professions, which requires cognitive-psychic fitness, such as operators, pilots, air traffic controllers, officers and managers etc.). Lamberti, G. (1983). Untersuchungen zur Farb-Wort-Interference bei schizophrenics Erkrankungen. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, 4, 141-149. Different symptoms of schizophrenia like disturbance of central information processing or disturbance of reasoning led to the assumption that the interference effect could be of interest for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia. In 1983 Lamberti conducted a test on a norm sample of schizophrenic patients and an additional comparative sample consisting of alcoholics and neurotics. He determined averagely increased interference tendency in the norm sample compared with the control norm sample. The Stroop variables however badly discriminate between the two groups, since distributions are strongly overlapping. Vailtl, P., Bäumler, G. & Bender, W. (1995). Die Leistungen Schizophrenics im Farbe-Wort-Interference test (Stroop-Test). Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie, 24 (1), 57-64. A new examination (Vaitl, Bäumler & Bender, 1995), based on the data of a norm sample of Schizophrenics and Alcoholics determined that, compared to the norm values of the total population, alcoholics showed average results or results slightly above the average in all three FWIT subtests (Bäumler 1985). Tempo performance of schizophrenics is reduced considerably. The authors attribute this result to a general deficit in information processing of schizophrenics. Compared with the norm values of the total population the norm sample shows in average a decreased interference tendency; the authors attribute this to an increased rigidity, tendency to persevere as well as reduced ability to adapt. Perret, E. (1974). The left frontal lobe of man and the suppression of habitual response in verbal categorial behavior. Neuropsychologia, 12, 323-330. Using the Stroop Test in diagnosis of cerebral damages they hoped to gain diagnostically relevant information. An early examination by Perret (1974) was able to prove frontal-lobe specific interference effects. Several groups of cerebrally damaged patients showed signs of increased interference tendency compared with the normal population in a study by Eder (1995); however, a general decrease in cognitive performance speed was determined with a lot of patients. Koss, L., Ober, B.A.& Delis, D.C. (1984). The Stroop color-word test: indicator of dementia severity. Intern. J. Neuroscience, 24, 53-61. Verleger, R., Kömpf, D. & Neukäter, W.(1992). Event-related EEG potentialis in mild dementia of the Alzheimer type. Electroencephalography and clinical Neurophysiology, 84, 332-343. Koss (1984) and Verleger et.al. (1992) report a successful introduction of a Stroop-procedure in the research of dementia. This procedure became increasingly important in that field (Koss, 1984; Verleger, 1992). Kivircik, B.B.; Yener, G.G.; Alptekin, K.; Aydin, H. (2003). Event-related potentials and neuropsychological Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 27: 601-606 Objective: Previous studies have provided evidence from event-related potentials (ERPs) and neuropsychological testing of abnormal cognitive processing in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of this study was to further characterize the cognitive functions of the patients with OCD by utilizing ERPs and neuropsychological tests. Methods: ERPs were recorded in a group of 31 drug-free OCD patients without depression and 30 normal controls following verbal auditory stimuli using an oddball paradigm. The specific neuropsychological tests administered to assess cognitive functions in all participants were the Stroop Test, Trail Making Test, Design Fluency Test, Controlled Word Association Test (Verbal Fluency test). Results: The patient group showed shorter P300 duration compared to normal controls. In neuropsychological tests, no significant differences were found between the two groups. Negative correlations between Stroop duration and P300 amplitudes in occipital, parietal, and temporal anterior regions were observed. Conclusion: Shorter P300 duration may indicate an acceleration in the P300 process, and speeding of cognitive processing, dysfunction of cortico-subcortical circuits, or some combination of all of the above. Xu, X.; Domino, E.F. (2000). Effects of tobacco smoking on topographic EEG and Stroop test in smoking deprived smokers. Progress in Neuro Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 24: 535-546 Quantitative EEG was used to measure human brain electrical changes produced by tobacco deprivation and smoking. 16 scalp cortical recording sites monitored regional changes in brain activity. The quantitative EEG was subdivided into delta, theta, alpha-sub-1, alpha-sub-2, beta-sub-1, and beta-sub-2 bands for topographic mapping. A demanding version of the Stroop test was used to determine tobacco smoking effects on attention. The version used was more difficult than that used in previously reported studies. Healthy drug and substance free adult male and female volunteers were divided into 7 nonsmokers and 7 smokers. Ss were instructed to abstain from tobacco products for at least 12 hrs overnight before the next morning's experiment. EEG was recorded before and after smoking either a fake placebo cigarette for nonsmokers or the cigarette of their choice for smokers. Ss were also asked to perform the Stroop test before and after smoking the placebo or tobacco cigarette. Tobacco smoking significantly depressed delta and increased alpha-sub-2 and beta-sub-1 activity and slightly increased the Stroop effect. Although smoking 1 cigarette stimulated brain electrical activity of smoking deprived smokers, it did not improve performance on a difficult Stroop test. Leite, J.R.; Seabra, M.V.; Sartori, V.A.; Andreatini, R. (1999). The video-recorded Stroop Color-Word Test as a new model of experimentally-induced anxiety. Progress in Neuro Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 23: 809-822 The use of the Stroop Color-Word Test as a model of experimentally induced anxiety was evaluated. First, the authors examined the influence of trait anxiety and the type of instructions on the anxiety state level. 92 healthy volunteers (18-45 yrs old) participated in the study. Subjects with high trait anxiety (above 50 on State-Trait Anxiety Scale--STAI) showed a significant increase in anxiety state only with limited time (2 minutes) and error signal (with a ringing bell) procedures. This increase was blocked by diazepam (DZP) 5.0 mg po both on pre- and post-test measures, but it was not changed by placebo administration. The public performance simulation (with a video-camera) was effective to raise the anxiety state on normal volunteers with mean trait anxiety (between 30 and 50 on STAI). This raise was prevented with diazepam 5.0 mg po but it was not prevented with placebo administration. As a whole, these data suggest that the video-recorded Stroop Color-Word Test is an effective anxiety provoking test, able to detect the effect of standard anxiolytic drug, and stress the importance of trait anxiety level and the instructions on tests that induce anxiety experimentally. Kaiser, J.; Barker, R.; Haenschel, C.; Baldeweg, T.; Gruzelier, J.H. (1997). Hypnosis and event-related potential correlates of error processing in a Stroop-type paradigm: A test of the frontal hypothesis. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 27: 215-222 A model of frontal inhibition in hypnosis was elucidated by examining with cortical evoked potentials error negativity and positivity in 23 low vs medium/high hypotnizables during a perceptual task that included trials with conflicting stimulus information. In susceptible Ss the number of correct responses was found to be smaller for trials with incongruent stimulus information with hypnosis when compared with baseline. While the early negative wave to incorrect responses tended to be higher in susceptible Ss, this wave was no longer followed by a late positivity, positive to reflect of failure to process further the error-related information. Results with hypnosis are interpreted as a failure of context updating without a global deficit in supervisory attention. Foster, H.G.; Hillbrand, M.; Silverstein, M. (1993). Neuropsychological deficit and aggressive behavior: A prospective study. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 17: 939-946 Used the performance of 23 violent forensic patients on selected neuropsychological measures (including the Stroop Color Word Test, Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) to predict their overt aggressive behavior during 1 yr as rated on the Overt Aggression Scale (S. C. Yudofsky et al; see record 1986-13476-001). The most common diagnosis was schizophrenia. Scores on 3 tests accounted for 57% of the variance of aggression scores. Frequency of aggression, but not severity of aggression, can be predicted using these scores. Bittencourt, P.R.; Mader, M.J.; Bigarella, M.M.; Doro, M.P. (1992). Cognitive functions, epileptic syndromes and antiepileptic drugs. Arquivos de Neuro Psiquiatria, 50: 24-30 Examined cognitive function in patients on therapy specific to their epileptic syndrome. Ss were 7 patients (aged 17-56 yrs) with symptomatic localized epilepsies (SLEs) on phenytoin, 8 patients (aged 12-53 yrs) with idiopathic generalized epilepsies on sodium valproate, 16 patients (aged 11-46 yrs) with SLEs on carbamazepine, and 35 healthy controls, (aged 17-62 yrs). Tests included immediate recall and recognition for pictures, the Stroop Color and Word Test, and delayed recall and recognition of pictures. Ss on phenytoin performed significantly worse than controls on immediate recall. Ss on carbamazepine performed significantly worse than controls on the Stroop test. Results indicate that phenobarbitone, frequent tonic clonic or complex partial seizures, and perhaps neuronal damage associated with longstanding epilepsy have definite effects on cognition. (Portuguese abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved) Bigarella, M.M.; Maeder, M.J.; Doro, M.P.; Gorz, A.M. (1991). Cognitive functions of epileptic patients on monotherapy with phenobarbitone and healthy controls. Arquivos de Neuro Psiquiatria, 49: 136-141 20 patients (aged 17-52 yrs) with symptomatic localized epilepsy were compared to age and socially matched healthy controls on measures of cognitive functioning: (1) immediate and late recall and recognition of pictures, (2) auditory selection, and (3) the Stroop Color and Word Test. Patients were on therapeutic serum concentrations of phenobarbitone and had active epilepsy, with a mean of 1.94 generalized tonic-clonic, 0.85 simple partial, and 6.28 complex partial seizures monthly. Patients performed worse than controls on all tests, indicating a generalized cognitive deficit related to seizures and/or barbiturate therapy. Helmstaedter, C., Kemper, B., & Elger, C. E. (1996). Neuropsychological aspects of frontal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia. 1996, 34 (5), 399-406. Investigated patterns of cognitive impairment and lateralization effects in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) vs temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). 23 FLE and 38 TLE patients completed a neuropsychological test battery assessing vocabulary (Mehrfachwahl Wortschatz Test, MWT-B), verbal and nonverbal memory span (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS, subtest Digit Span; Corsi Block Test, CORSI), visuomotor speed and selective attention (Aufmerksamkeits-Belastungs-Test, d2), perceptual speed and response inhibition (Stroop test), verbal and figural fluency (subtest of the Leistungspruefsystem, LPS; 5-Point test), concept formation and concept shift (Visual-Verbal Test, VVT), anticipation and planning (Labyrinthtest), and motor coordination and sequencing (Luria's motor sequences). FLE was associated with significantly poorer results than TLE in most tests. Factor analysis revealed four distinct subfunctions: speed, short-term memory, motor coordination, and response maintenance and inhibition, of which the last two differentiated significantly between FLE and TLE patients. 14. Determination Test DT
Karner, T. (2000). Sind verkehrspsychologische Testverfahren geeignete Instrumente, um mögliche Leistungsminderungen alkoholauffälliger Kraftfahrer aufzuzeigen? (Zur Publikation eingereicht) A study conducted by Karner (2000) indicates clear differences between drivers with evident alcohol problems and the norm group of the Determination Test. The results of the drivers with evident alcohol problems were much lower than those of the norm group, which shows that this test procedure measures precisely the delayed reaction speed caused by alcohol consumption Neuwirth, W., Dorfer, M. (2000). Extremgruppenvalidierung verkehrspsychologischer Testverfahren anhand von Zuweisungsgruppen. (Zur Publikation eingereicht) A study implemented by Neuwirth & Dorfer (2000) showed that the Determination Test differentiates between the various groups of respondents (psychiatric and neurological respondents, and respondents after alcohol abuse) and the norm group. The study was implemented with a cohort sample of respondents from an investigation facility for driving qualification diagnostics in South Tyrol, Italy. Specka, M., Finkbeiner, T., Lodemann, E., Leifert, K., Kluwig, J. & Gastpar, M. (2000). Cognitive-motor performance of methadone-maintained patients. European Addiction Research, 6 (1), 8-19. Investigated the perceptual-motor performance of patients undergoing methadone maintenance therapy in comparison to healthy control subjects. 35 male and 19 female methadone patients (aged 19-44 years) were recruited for the study, as were 54 controls, matched for gender, age, and educational attainment level. The following five cognitive-motor tests were administered according: (1) Labyrinth of Lines to Measure Visual Structuring Performance, (2) Simple-Choice Reaction, (3) Attention under Monotonous Circumstances, (5) Tachistoscopic Perception and Visual Orientation, and (6) Multiple-Choice Reaction under Reactive Stress. Overall, the results indicate that methadone patients do not necessarily show greater perceptual-motor deficits than healthy subjects. Although methadone patients demonstrated impairments in visual orientation, hand-eye coordination, and especially attention, it is concluded that these performance deficits could easily be associated with sociodemographic factors. The implications of the results for the future assessment of methadone patients' fitness for particular jobs/occupations are considered.

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