OBJECTIVE It is increasingly recognized that cognitive assessments, unlike symptom ratings, provide a reliable predictor of functional outcome in schizophrenia. This study evaluated the utility of the 'IntegNeuro' computerized test battery for assessing cognition in first episode schizophrenia. We determined the presence of separable factors of general and social cognition, their equivalence to...

BACKGROUND CogState is a widely used computer-based cognitive test whose validity has not been addressed in resource poor settings. We examined the construct, concurrent and convergent validity of CogState, test-retest reliability and the effect of sociodemographic variables on CogState outcomes in school age children. METHODS Two hundred and thirty Ugandan children (54% male) with mean age 6...

Objective To describe the frequency of pragmatic and executive deficits in right brain damaged (RBD) and in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients, and to verify possible dissociations between pragmatic and executive functions in these two groups. Methods The sample comprised 7 cases of TBI and 7 cases of RBD. All participants were assessed by means of tasks from the Montreal Communication Eva...

The influence of mood on working memory capacity has been investigated in adults, albeit with conflicting results, but remains relatively unexplored in children. The present study examined the effect of a mood induction procedure on phonological working memory capacity in fourth and fifth graders. An initial working memory span test was followed first by a collective mood induction procedure, t...

BACKGROUND Children with learning disabilities are identified by their severe learning problems and their deficient school achievement. On the other hand, children with sub-average school achievement and sub-average intellectual development are thought to suffer from a general intellectual delay rather than from specific learning disabilities. The open question is whether these two groups are c...

Forty-eight children (aged 9 to 15 years) with tonic-clonic seizures were administered a neuropsychological test battery. The children with seizures of early onset (before age 5) were significantly impaired relative to the children with later onset on 8 of the 14 measures in the battery. The deficits were seen on tasks whose requirements included the repetition of a simple motor act, attention ...

OBJECTIVE To compare cognitive function in adolescents with chronic fatigue with cognitive function in healthy controls (HC). STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Paediatric department at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. PARTICIPANTS 120 adolescents with chronic fatigue (average age 15.4 years; range 12-18) and 39 HC (average age 15.2 years; range 12-18). METHODS The adolescents...

OBJECTIVE Exploration of the variable effect of the degree of smoking dependence on psychomotor performance and working memory capacity. METHODS This is a randomized, controlled, prospective study conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq from 15 January 2011 to 25 February 2011. After third stage male medical students complete...

The potential impact of test anxiety on cognitive testing was examined in a sample of 300 predominantly male veteran referrals who were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Exclusionary criteria included failure on effort testing (n= 14). Level of test anxiety was significantly related to performance on the WAIS-III Working Memory Index (r = -.343, p < .001) but not to ...