Correction Scores Research Articles

Normative data for the letter-cancellation task in school children

Aims:To establish the norms for the letter-cancellation task—a psychomotor performance task.Materials and Methods:Eight hundred nineteen school students were selected in the present study in an age range between nine and 16 years (M = 12.14; SD = 1.78 years). Subjects were assessed once for the cancellation task.Results:Both age and sex influenced performance on the SLCT; therefore, correction scores were obtained on the basis of these factors.Conclusions:The availability of Indian normative data for the SLCT will allow wider application of this test in clinical practice.

DSM‐IV‐TR “Pain Disorder Associated with Psychological Factors” as a Nonhysterical Form of Somatization

Elevated Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores on the hysteria (Hy) scale are reported in several forms of pain. Previous results were possibly biased by diagnostic heterogeneity (psychogenic, somatic and mixed pain syndromes included in the same index sample) or Hy heterogeneity (failure to differentiate Hy scores into clinically meaningful subscales, such as admission of symptoms [Ad] and denial of symptoms [Dn]). To overcome this drawback, 48 patients diagnosed as having a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) diagnosis of "pain disorder associated with psychological factors" were compared with 48 patients experiencing somatic pain excluding psychological factors, and 42 somatic controls without pain. MMPI Hy and hypochondriasis (Hs) scores were significantly higher in the pain disorder group than in control groups, who scored similarly. MMPI correction (K) scores and Dn scores were similar in the three groups, whereas Ad was significantly higher in the pain disorder group and lower and similar in the two control groups, respectively. In the pain disorder group, Ad and Dn were negatively correlated, whereas in control groups they were unrelated. These findings suggest that whereas a pattern of high Hs and Hy scores together with a normal K score might characterize patients with a pain disorder associated with psychological factors, elevated Hy scores per se do not indicate hysterical traits. In the pain disorder group, elevated Hy scores reflected the Ad subscale alone, indicating a strikingly high frequency of distressing somatic symptoms. They tend not to repress or deny the emotional malaise linked to symptoms, as the hysterical construct expects. The pain disorder designation should be considered a nonhysterical form of somatization.

A total score for the CERAD neuropsychological battery

To develop a total or composite score for the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) neuropsychological battery. CERAD total scores were obtained by summing scores from the individual CERAD subtests (excluding the Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]) into a total composite (maximum score = 100). The method of tabulating the total score was constructed using normal controls (NCs; n = 424) and patients with AD (n = 835) from the CERAD registry database. The utility of the total score was further tested in independent samples of mild AD (n = 95), mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 60), and NC (n = 95) subjects. The CERAD total score was highly accurate in differentiating NC and AD subjects in the CERAD registry. Age, gender, and education effects were observed, and demographic correction scores were derived through multiple regression analysis. Demographically corrected CERAD total scores showed excellent test-retest reliability across samples (r = 0.95) and were highly correlated with the MMSE (r = 0.89) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (r = -0.83) in mixed AD and NC samples and with the Blessed Dementia Rating Scale in an AD sample (r = -0.40). The CERAD total score was highly accurate in differentiating independent samples of NC, MCI, and AD subjects. Results provide support for the validity of a Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) total score that can be used along with the normative data to provide an index of overall level of cognitive functioning from the CERAD neuropsychological battery.

Neural and cognitive bases of upper limb apraxia in corticobasal degeneration.

To investigate the neural and cognitive bases of upper limb apraxia in corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Eighteen patients with CBD underwent a cognitive neuropsychological assessment of apraxia and resting [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose PET scanning. Two complementary measures of apraxia were computed for each modality of gesture production. First, a performance score measured error frequency during gesture execution. Second, as a more stringent test of the integrity of the praxis system, the correction score measured the patient's ability to correct his or her errors on a second attempt. For each measure type, a cut-off score for the presence of apraxia was defined with regard to healthy controls. Using each cut-off score, the regional cerebral glucose metabolism of patients with CBD with apraxia (i.e., performing below cut-off score) was compared with that of patients with CBD without apraxia. Mean performance scores were below normal values in all modalities. Anterior cingulate hypometabolism predominated in patients with CBD who performed below the cut-off performance score. At variance, mean correction scores were below normal values for gesture imitation only. Hypometabolism in superior parietal lobule and supplementary motor area characterized patients with CBD who were unable to correct their errors at the same rate as control subjects did. Distinct neural networks underlie distinct aspects of the upper limb apraxic deficits in CBD. Extending previous findings of gesture production deficits in CBD, the use of complementary measures of apraxic behavior discloses a visuoimitative upper limb apraxia in CBD, underlain by a metabolic decrease in a parietofrontal neural network.

A preliminary analysis of the validity of gravity correction procedures applied in trunk dynamometry

The validity of gravity correction procedures was examined using a KinCom trunk testing dynamometer. Gravity correction measures were expressed as a percentage of the anthropometric estimate of head, arms and trunk weight at 25° of trunk flexion and extension. Polynomial regression was used to describe gravity correction scores across range and compared to cosine curves generated by the supplier's gravity correction software (GCS) at 25°. The GCS method least reflected the percentage body weight estimate although none of the gravity correction methods closely matched the anthropometric estimate. Eccentric passive force curves and isometric curves were highest in both trunk flexion and trunk extension directions. Trunk extension curves for all gravity correction modes were consistently lower than trunk flexion curves and scores were higher for both directions between 5 and 20°. Cosine curves were different from real curves for all modes. Attenuation of forces may have occurred in the spinal structures for both extension and flexion. These preliminary results suggest caution in the use of gravity correction in trunk testing. Methods which represent all passive forces acting on the force pad throughout range of motion should he employed to validate actions being tested.

Wada difference a day makes: interpretive cautions regarding same-day injections.

To determine whether memory scores after second intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) injections are affected by the time between the first and second injections. Sixty-two patients received their second IAP injection on the day after the first injection. Forty-three other patients received the second injection on the same day as the first injection. Both groups underwent similar IAP protocols and memory assessments, except for the timing of the second injection. The second IAP memory scores in the two-day group were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those in the one-day group. Timing of second injection was a significant correlate of second memory scores, but amobarbital dosage, first IAP memory score, and pre-IAP measures of memory and intelligence were not significant correlates. One-day and two-day IAP protocols do not result in similar memory scores after the second injection. Nineteen percent of a subset of patients in the one-day protocol were misclassified, in terms of IAP memory ratings, because of the deleterious effect of having both injections on the same day. It is recommended that correction scores be considered, for some patients who receive two IAP injections on one day, to approximate what the second IAP memory score would have been had the second injection occurred on a second day.

Detection of deception on the millon clinical multiaxial inventory (MCMI)

Subjects from a correctional inmate (94 incarcerated males with no history of psychiatric treatment) and a forensic inpatient (144 males and 7 females) setting were divided into distorted and nondistorted groups based on "fake bad" instructions and concurrent MMPI profiles. All subjects also were administered the MCMI. Significant differences were found between groups for MCMI profile validity, weight factor scores, and total profile correction scores. MCMI profiles were consistent with expected symptomatology, test design, and previous research. Results suggest that MCMI weight factor scores may be valuable indicators of symptom distortion in otherwise valid profiles in forensic settings. Results also indicated that the diagnostic accuracy of MCMI reports may vary greatly in relation to clinical population, symptom prevalence, and diagnostic category.

The detection of faking on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI).

This study investigated the effects of a variety of faking strategies on the Weight Factor correction scores (designed to detect malingering) of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, a relatively new personality questionnaire. Subjects (both psychiatric patients [N = 95] and general medical/surgical controls [N = 90]) were asked to take the MCMI according to one of the following instructional sets: traditional faking-good; traditional faking-bad; role faking-positive; role faking-negative; role faking-neutral; and honest. The results indicated that neutral social role faking resulted in no significant differences in weight factor correction from subjects in the honest condition and that directionally role faked profiles did not differ in correction from those in the traditional "best" and "worst" conditions. Finally, only the Weight Factor corrections in the protocols from the fake bad conditions (whether in traditional "worst" or negative social role conditions) differed significantly from those in the honest conditions for both subject groups. Implications for the practicing clinician are discussed.

Schrijfvaardigheid in een Vreemde Taal

At university level, many modern language courses continue to use translation in their training and testing program of writing proficiency. In this article we report on an empirical investigation intended to trace differences between translations and short essays of third year students of French. Two groups of about 30 students translated a text of 300 words and wrote an essay of the same length; the topics of both texts were somewhat controversial: a-the relative value of the study of Latin .and Greek; b-the moral problem of the transplantation of the heart of a monkey in a human baby. Group I translated the text on topic a and wrote an essay on topic b; group II did the reverse. The products of each group were rated on one aspect, correctness of language, by three raters who worked independently. First, they rated the texts according to the impressionistic method as is usually done for essays; in order to improve reliability, they divided each writing product in four paragraphs of approxi-mately equal length, and scored each paragraph separately. A month later, they rated the same texts; this time, they marked and counted errors: this corresponds to the usual way of rating translations. The mean scores for the translations were somewhat lower than the mean scores for the essays: quality of language thus seems to be superior in the latter. Correlations between translation and essay scores of the same rater were about .64; this does not seem to differ much from what is known about correlations between the scores for two essays of one student on different topics. Correlations between the impression scores and the error-count scores of the same raters were about .75 : it is evident that the two rating methods didn't yield very different scores. Counting errors with or without the comparison of the translations with the original text resulted almost in the same scores: correlations were about .90. The error-count method yielded a higher rater reliability (of about .80) than the impressionistic method, but this rating too was relatively reliable (about .70). The analysis of a small number of translations and essays didn't show any remarkable and systematic differences between three stylistic characteristics of these two kinds of written products; the characteristics we analysed were: type/token ratio, mean T-unit length, syntactic complexity. No systematic relation between these characteristics and quality of language, i.e. the two kinds of correction scores, was found.

Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis.

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> To determine whether memory scores after second intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) injections are affected by the time between the first and second injections. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Sixty-two patients received their second IAP injection on the day after the first injection. Forty-three other patients received the second injection on the same day as the first injection. Both groups underwent similar IAP protocols and memory assessments, except for the timing of the second injection. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The second IAP memory scores in the two-day group were significantly higher (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) than those in the one-day group. Timing of second injection was a significant correlate of second memory scores, but amobarbital dosage, first IAP memory score, and pre-IAP measures of memory and intelligence were not significant correlates. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> One-day and two-day IAP protocols do not result in similar memory scores after the second injection. Nineteen percent of a subset of patients in the one-day protocol were misclassified, in terms of IAP memory ratings, because of the deleterious effect of having both injections on the same day. It is recommended that correction scores be considered, for some patients who receive two IAP injections on one day, to approximate what the second IAP memory score would have been had the second injection occurred on a second day.