General Ability Level Research Articles

Bilateral Proxy Federated Domain Generalization for Privacy-preserving Medical Image Diagnosis.

Contemporary domain generalization methods have demonstrated effectiveness in aiding the generalized diagnosis of medical images with multi-source data by joint optimization. However, the centralized training paradigm employed by these approaches becomes infeasible when data are non-shared across domains due to the high privacy of medical data. Despite attempts by existing federated domain generalization methods to address this issue, the simultaneous attainment of strict privacy protection and a satisfactory level of generalization ability on out-of-distribution data remains a persistent challenge. In this paper, to tackle this challenging problem, we propose a novel approach called the Bilateral Proxy Framework (BPF). The BPF leverages the client-side proxies to facilitate the strict privacy-preserving communications with the server and ensure smoother and more stable convergences of local models through mutual distillation. Meanwhile, the server-side proxy adopts a distance-based strategy and a parameter moving average scheme, which enhances the stability and robustness of the global model, particularly by averting abrupt parameter changes that could result in fluctuations or overfitting. Through these advancements, our framework strives to enhance the generalization capability of the global model, enabling more accurate and reliable medical image diagnosis in federated settings. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated with superior performance over state-of-the-arts on both simulated and real-world distribution medical image diagnosis tasks.

Do Cognitive-Achievement Relations Vary by General Ability Level?

Cognitive-achievement relations research has been instrumental in understanding the development of academic skills and learning difficulties. Most cognitive-achievement relations research has been conducted with large samples and represent average relations across the ability spectrum. A notable gap in the literature is whether these relations vary by cognitive ability levels (IQ). This study examined cognitive-achievement relations across different general ability levels (Low, Average, and High) to fill this gap. Based on Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns, it would be expected that general intelligence would be a stronger predictor of academic skills at lower levels of IQ, and more specific abilities would be stronger predictors of academic skills at higher levels of IQ. To test this, multi-group path analysis and structural equation modeling were used to examine whether integrated models of cognitive-reading relations are differentiated by IQ levels in the Woodcock-Johnson III and Woodcock-Johnson IV standardization samples. Global and broad cognitive abilities were used as predictors of basic reading skills and reading comprehension for elementary and secondary school students. The magnitude of prediction differed across ability groups in some cases, but not all. Importantly, the variance explained in basic reading skills and reading comprehension tended to be larger for the Low group compared to the Average and High groups. When variance accounted for by general intelligence was removed from the broad abilities, the effects of the broad abilities were similar across ability groups, but the indirect effects of g were higher for the Low group. Additionally, g had stronger relative effects on reading in the Low group, and broad abilities had stronger relative effects on reading in the Average and High groups. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

FORMATION OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF 5–6-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN IN THE CONTEXT OF MENTAL EDUCATION OF PRESCHOOLERS

The article examines the results of an empirical study of the development of cognitive abilities in five- to six-year-old children. The development of general abilities of older preschoolers was assessed according to certain criteria: orientation of preschoolers to knowledge of the world; independence in the implementation of cognitive actions and operations; assessment of the achieved result, and cognitive, affective and behavioral were the structural components of cognitive abilities of older preschoolers. The authors of the article emphasize the general indicators of the cognitive abilities of children aged 5–6 years, which were the focus of preschoolers’ interest in cognitive activities, children’s satisfaction with the achieved results in learning. The study of the peculiarities of the formation of cognitive abilities of older preschoolers took place on the basis of the methodology developed by the authors, which consisted of the following methods: conversations with children; observation of children’s plays; survey of educators and parents. It was recorded that a significant number of older preschool children (30 %) are characterized by a low level of development of cognitive abilities, which are manifested in their cognitive activity, 50 % of older preschoolers have an average level of general abilities. Five-six-year-old preschoolers (20 %) who have a high level of expressiveness of cognitive abilities were found to be the least. In general, 80% of children of the older group of SEN are characterized by an insufficient degree of development of general abilities. Studying educational influences on the development of cognitive abilities revealed that educators do not sufficiently assess the cognitive potential of older preschoolers and use a limited arsenal of means of mental education in the educational process to improve it. The vast majority of teachers only sporadically help five- to six-yearold children master significant cognitive actions and operations, forming the mental abilities of preschoolers, and very few educators cooperate in this regard with children’s parents. Only a small part of teachers interacts with the families of pupils of the older group in this context. Also, not all educators correctly understand the essence of a child’s cognitive abilities: they emphasize their importance in learning about the world, but they are not sufficiently aware of how they need to be supported. The educational influence of parents on the cognitive abilities of 5–6-year-old children cannot be called purposeful. The vast majority of them are not interested in the development of children’s cognitive sphere: only half of adults show interest in expanding the cognitive means of their son or daughter; a small number of parents are willing to cooperate with teachers of special education in this area of mental education.

Robust visual odometry using sparse optical flow network

Deep learning-based visual odometry (VO) has recently attracted much attention. In performing computer vision tasks, deep models are often more robust than manually extracted features. Deep models, however, have limited reliability and generalization ability which constrain their application in the VO systems. The existing approaches to address these issues are often based on creating more realistic datasets or employing strategies such as unsupervised learning and online fine-tuning. In contrast to the previous research, here we tackle these issues from the model structure standpoint. We present a simple yet robust VO (namely SF-VO) based on an especially designed sparse optical flow network. We then show that this network becomes suitable for VO applications by decomposing the global optimization problem into a single-point optimization. Combining the network with a consistency verification module and a Perspective-n-Point (PnP) solver, we then form a frame-to-frame VO system using the traditional pose estimation pipeline. Extensive experiments show that the proposed VO system effectively generalizes to real scenes while only synthetic datasets are used in the training process. It is also shown that the proposed model also outperforms other deep learning-based methods with a model size of only 1.69 M. Comparisons with the state-of-art optical flow models and performing expansion experiments further confirm that the designed network demonstrates a higher level of generalization ability and is capable of being trained based on limited datasets.

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) learn the constitutive law of viscoelasticity

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have demonstrated very impressive performances in learning sequential data, such as in language translation and music generation. Here, we show that the intrinsic computational aspect of RNNs is very similar to that of classical stress update algorithms in modeling history-dependent materials with an emphasis on viscoelasticity. Several numerical examples are designed, including 1-dimensional and 3-dimensional cases, which testify the ability of RNN model to compute the viscoelastic response when predicting on unseen test data. Additionally, it is found that the RNN model trained only on linear and step strain inputs can perform very well on prediction of completely different quadratic strain inputs, demonstrating certain level of generalization ability in extrapolation. Moreover, it is observed that the extrapolation ability depends on the types of strain inputs. The performance is better for continuous strain inputs than that for jump strain inputs. The differences in the generalization ability of RNN models in viscoelasticity and other history-dependent materials are discussed. It suggests that RNN data-driven modeling can be an alternative to the conventional viscoelasticity models.

Incremental validity of specific cognitive abilities beyond general intelligence for the explanation of students’ school achievement

ABSTRACT The incremental validity of specific cognitive abilities beyond general intelligence has been investigated in studies using hierarchical multiple regression analyzes (HMR). In the present study, we investigated whether the incremental validity of specific cognitive abilities (i.e., verbal, figural, and numerical ability) for the explanation of school grades varied as a function of students’ general ability level. Data comprised the standardization sample (N = 1371, ages 12.5–16.5) of the Berlin structure-of-intelligence test (BIS-HB; Jäger et al., 2006). Results of HMR analyses revealed that the specific cognitive abilities had little incremental validity in the low- and mid-IQ group. However, they provided significant benefit for the explanation of school grades in the high-IQ group. The results suggest that the interpretation of intelligence tests may benefit from a differential weighting of different test information, depending on general ability of the tested individual.

ФЕНОМЕН НАУКОВОГО ТАЛАНТУ В.І. ВЕРНАДСЬКОГО

The article reveals the psychobiographical aspect of the scientific achievements of the Ukrainian scientist Volodymyr Vernadsky. Purpose. The main purpose of this scientific work is to investigate the scientific talent V.I. Vernadsky in relation to the main stages of his biography. Methods. The article uses theoretical and biographical methods. Attention has been paid to the creation and development of a biographical method in science, in particular in the Ukrainian psychological sphere. The prerequisites for the formation and the conditions for the development of his scientific talent have been identified. The research focus has been aimed at the writer’s environments. Attention has been paid to the micro-environment of Volodymyr, as the intellectual network of the Vernadsky family. Results. The connections between the significant periods of Volodymyr Ivanovych’s life and the scientific works created by him have been traced. A personality stands in as the system-forming factor in the problem of abilities development. A personality’s search for one’s own integrity can be a factor in the ability to make scientific discoveries. The factors affecting the formation of scientific talent in V.I. Vernadsky’s ordinary life conditions are being investigated. The article identifies the main factors that influenced the development of V.I. Vernadsky’s abilities. They included the following: a high level of general abilities which manifested themselves in learning abilities; the positive influence of the microenvironment, communication among highly intellectual people, and “gymnasium life” significantly influenced the development of autonomy of decision-making and solving life problems. Conclusions. So, micro- and macroenvironments are a specific reality, in the conditions of which the development of the individual’s creative abilities takes place. The formation of the scientific talent of the personality is influenced by the family and other systems of the macroenvironment, namely: society, the socio-political and economic system of the country in which the personality is formed.

LEGAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY HEAD OF THE SECURITY POLICE

The article is devoted to the issue of defining and generalizing the legal and psychological aspects of the professional activity of heads of territorial police units in the context of the exercise of their powers in the administrative sphere. It is stated that the head of the territorial unit of the security police should know at a high level the legislative and normative documents regulating the activity of the security police, as well as interaction with the state authorities and local self-government bodies; departmental and international normative documents regulating the observance of human rights; organizational structure and peculiarities of activity of units of the National Police of Ukraine, types and forms of reporting, basic legal provisions for the storage of information with restricted access, registration of relevant official documents, etc. In addition, police officer should have information about the operational situation and the places of the most likely crime. The profession of the head of the territorial unit of the security police places certain requirements on the level of psychomotor properties of the psyche and the sensory-perceptual sphere. It should have a sufficient level of functional brain activity, a developed vestibular apparatus, and a sufficiently high rate of simple reaction and reaction to a moving object. Police officer also needs to have advanced cognitive processes (attention, memory, thinking), and speech functions. The profession of the head of the territorial security police force sets certain requirements for the general and special professional abilities of employees (high and medium level of verbal intelligence, higher than average speed of divergent thinking, formed mental operations of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction). The Police leader must be able to persuade, influence the interlocutor, be responsible for their actions and orders, give an objective assessment of their own actions and actions of others, optimally combine business and personal contacts, attract attention and interest of people, and arouse their feelings of trust. Organizational and managerial capabilities are also significant for the professional activity of the head of the territorial police unit. The results of the empirical study revealed a list of necessary competencies that the head of the territorial police unit must possess: strong or medium-strong type of nervous system, high or average level of general abilities, a high level of development of special professional abilities, high or average level of communicative abilities, high psychotic skills properties, character traits and emotional-volitional qualities, a sufficient level of development of cognitive processes.

Intracortical Posterior Cingulate Myelin Content Relates to Error Processing: Results fromT1- andT2-Weighted MRI Myelin Mapping and Electrophysiology in Healthy Adults

Myelin content of the cerebral cortex likely impacts cognitive functioning, but this notion has scarcely been investigated in vivo in humans. Here we tested for a relationship between intracortical myelin and a direct measure of neural activity in the form of the electrophysiological response error-related negativity (ERN). Using magnetic resonance imaging, myelin mapping was performed in 81 healthy adults aged 40-60 years by means of a T1- and T2-weighted (T1w/T2w) signal intensity ratio approach. Error trials on a version of the Eriksen flanker task triggered the ERN, a negative deflection of the event-related potential reflecting performance monitoring. Compelling evidence from neuroimaging, lesion, and source localization studies indicates that the ERN stems from the cingulate cortex. Vertex-wise analyses across the cingulate demonstrated that increased amplitude of the ERN was related to higher levels of intracortical myelin in the left posterior cingulate cortex. The association was independent of general ability level and subjacent white matter myelin. The results fit the notion that degree of myelin within the posterior cingulate cortex as measured by T1w/T2w signal intensity plays a role in error processing and cognitive control through the relationship with neural activity as measured by ERN amplitude, potentially by facilitating local neural synchronization.

Cognitive-Style Approach to Psychological Support of the Gifted Pupils Mountain Schools of the Ukrainian Carpathians

The differential-cognitological point of view, giftedness is “a systemic quality of apersonality that develops throughout life and determines their abilities to achieve exceptionallyhigh results in one or more activities compared to those of other people”. Herewith, it is thefundamental concept of general aptitude, under which “the level of general abilities developmentthat determines the range of activities in which a person can achieve great success” is understood.Within the structure of general aptitude intellectual giftedness is singled out as the level ofdevelopment, as well as the type of organization of individual mental experience, which ensure anopportunity of creative intellectual activity, i. e. an activity, related to the creation of subjectivelyand objectively new ideas, to the use of innovative approaches to solving problems and opennessto controversial aspects of the situation and so on. In order to identify talented children and adultsthe value of intellectual quotient (IQ) is still most commonly used. Psychometric approach (themeasurement of psychic phenomena with the help of standardized IQ tests) to the diagnosis ofintellectual giftedness, which is dominant in psychological diagnostics today, by definition, cannot“measure” the phenomena of an individual psyche, since the modern level of psychological sciencedoes not allow to proceed to psychological diagnosis, let alone prediction of a certain person`sbehavior, on the basis of individual results in performing a psychological test (psychometric test ofintelligence, personality questionnaire, projective methods etc).In our opinion, many problems in psychological and pedagogical support of gifted childrencould be avoided by making use of cognitive-style approach to diagnosis of intellectual giftedness,creative abilities, propensities and peculiar mental traits of a separate individuality. Objectivity ofsuch an approach is corroborated by the results of individual cognitive styles (hereinafter CS)diagnostics, carried out by means of experimental techniques. In contrast to standardized tests,such techniques allow to perform diagnostic tests individually and reveal the peculiarities of thearrangement and functioning of an individual mind.Obviously, nowadays we are faced with the need for providing theoretical, methodological andempirical grounds for the development of a conceptual model that would consider giftedness as anintegral psychological system, all aspects of which could be understood in the context of agedynamics and mental experience of an individual. CS approach to interpreting and diagnosis ofgiftedness provides a reliable theoretical basis for working out a systematic methodology ofpsychological diagnostics of the general aptitude, as it meets the basic principles of humanizationof the educational environment in Ukraine. CS approach is child-centered, therefore, it brings infocus individual uniqueness and originality of each child.

Interpreting the g loadings of intelligence test composite scores in light of Spearman's law of diminishing returns.

The linear loadings of intelligence test composite scores on a general factor (g) have been investigated recently in factor analytic studies. Spearman's law of diminishing returns (SLODR), however, implies that the g loadings of test scores likely decrease in magnitude as g increases, or they are nonlinear. The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate whether the g loadings of composite scores from the Differential Ability Scales (2nd ed.) (DAS-II, C. D. Elliott, 2007a, Differential Ability Scales (2nd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Pearson) were nonlinear and (b) if they were nonlinear, to compare them with linear g loadings to demonstrate how SLODR alters the interpretation of these loadings. Linear and nonlinear confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models were used to model Nonverbal Reasoning, Verbal Ability, Visual Spatial Ability, Working Memory, and Processing Speed composite scores in four age groups (5-6, 7-8, 9-13, and 14-17) from the DAS-II norming sample. The nonlinear CFA models provided better fit to the data than did the linear models. In support of SLODR, estimates obtained from the nonlinear CFAs indicated that g loadings decreased as g level increased. The nonlinear portion for the nonverbal reasoning loading, however, was not statistically significant across the age groups. Knowledge of general ability level informs composite score interpretation because g is less likely to produce differences, or is measured less, in those scores at higher g levels. One implication is that it may be more important to examine the pattern of specific abilities at higher general ability levels.

Recognition Memory for High and Low Associative Stimuli in Autistic Individuals with Outstanding Memory Skill.

Individuals with autism exhibit typical recognition memory performance, but they show a reduced use of context and relational processing in more complex memory tasks. It is unclear whether the same is true for autistic individuals with exceptional memory skill for whom superior rote memory skill has been assumed. In this study, we investigated recognition memory for high and low associative stimuli in autistic memory experts. In accord with the rote memory notion, we expected an equal recognition performance for high and low associative stimuli and superior memorizing of nonsense material compared to control participants. Seven autistic memory experts and seven typically developed control subjects, matched according to age, sex, handedness, and full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ), were examined on a continuous old-new recognition paradigm, including high or low associative pseudowords and shapes. Memory expertise was characterized as a currently present outstanding memory skill above the subject's general level of ability and above the general population and was validated through direct clinical observation or some form of credible evidence. Our hypotheses were partially corroborated with autistic memory experts recognizing high and low associative shapes equally well in contrast to control participants who showed superior recognition of high associative shapes. However, memory experts did not outperform control participants in the recognition of low associative shapes. There were no differences for the recognition of pseudowords. Findings do not indicate enhanced memory for nonsense material, but a failure to make use of semantic features of abstract stimuli as assumed for autism as a whole.

Personality Assessment of Rural and Urban Adolescent Boys from Disorganized Families

The present investigation was an attempt to study personalities of rural and urban adolescents from disor ganized families. The study was conducted in purposively selected Hisar district of Haryana state. Lists of students of disor ganized families, within the age group of 13-18 years were prepared and 45 rural and 45 urban respondents were selected randomly . Multidimensional Assessment of Personality Series (MAP Series Form-T) for Teens was used to assess the personality. Results showed that rural adolescents were significantly higher in their boldness, leadership, sensitivity and social warmth. Significant results were also found in the level of general ability , guilt proneness, mental health, self -suf ficiency and tension.

Exploring When Maternal Interest is Sufficient for High Attainment in Mathematics: A Configurational Analysis Using Longitudinal Data

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a case-based method, developed by Ragin (1987, 2000), to analyse mediumand large-n datasets. It uses Boolean algebra to show which configurations of factors in a model are either necessary and/or sufficient for a specified outcome. In the social world, we rarely see perfect necessity and sufficiency but we can use QCA to assess the degree of necessity or sufficiency to find configurations which are quasi-necessary or quasisufficient. In this paper, I use crisp-set QCA on data from the 1970 Birth Cohort Study (BCS70) to investigate which configurations of sex, maternal interest, social class and, later, ability are quasi-sufficient for various levels of attainment in maths. Firstly, I explain how to conduct QCA, through the use of examples, before using a set-theoretic measure of consistency to explore the relationship between sex, social class, maternal interest and, what I term, above-average attainment in mathematics. To this model, I then introduce an additional factor of general ability (operationalised as several dichotomous factors, each indicating a certain level of ability) leading to instances of configurations having strong subset relations but containing very few cases. These rows, called remainders, cannot be included in a solution without theoretical justification (Ragin, 2008). For the final stage of the analysis, I create, for two different general ability levels, a „most-complex solution‟ (which excludes all remainder rows) and a parsimonious solution (which includes any remainder row contributing to parsimony). These act as boundaries for the „intermediate solution‟ which contains only those remainders which can, theoretically, be thought to obtain the outcome. I then discuss each intermediate solution and note that, in one case, it is the same as the relevant most-complex version.

Intersubtest Discrepancies on the RBANS: Results from the OKLAHOMA Study

The present study provides supplemental data for the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (Randolph, 1998) by reporting base rate data on discrepancies between subtests of this measure. These discrepancies are organized by general level of ability and include both age and education corrections. The data come from the Oklahoma Longitudinal Assessment of Health Outcomes in Mature Adults study and include cognitive performances of 718 community-dwelling older adults. These findings offer the possibility of increased sensitivity at detecting clinically significant differences that might not be identified when relying on base rate data from a greater age range. Similarly, these data highlight the mediating effects of the global level of cognitive functioning on discrepancy scores.

Evaluation of Educational Abilities in Children with Mild Intellectual Disabilities, First Grade Students, from Special Primary Schols

Abstract Educational process for children with mild intellectual disability in special primary schools in the Republic of Macedonia is realized by special Curriculum for students with difficulties in psychological development, prepared by the Bureau for Development of Education from the Ministry of Education and Science. These programs are developmental, and specially adapted to the abilities and capabilities of students with intellectual disabilities. The special educator observing the individual characteristics of his students should maximally respond to their specific needs and aspirations. The aim of the research was to determine the educational abilities of first-grade students with mild intellectual disability for following the teaching contents of the subjects Macedonian language, Math and Introduction to environment, provided by the Curriculum. Educational abilities of the examinees were especially weak in Math, while in the Introduction to environment they had average abilities and a little better ability they showed in the area of the Macedonian language. Regarding the variables gender and age, educational abilities of the examinees did not differ, while regarding the variable level of general abilities there were significant differences in their educational abilities. Special educators said that most of the examinees were completely or partially able to follow the Curriculum. Curriculum for the first grade students with intellectual disabilities generally corresponds to the educational abilities of these children. Key words: educational abilities, children with mild intellectual disability, first grade students, special primary schools. (ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.) Introduction The development of children with intellectual disabilities is following the same rules that exist for children from general population. However, going through the developmental phases is a slower and limited process depending on the level of intellectual disability. These children have some specifics that reflect on the duration of each developmental phase, which distinguish them from children without disabilities (1). Because of the limited biological bases in children with intellectual disabilities disproportion in the quantity and quality of the development is often expressed, which is especially present in the field of cognition, motorics, communication and socialization (2). Concerning the cognitive aspects in these children tiredness of attention is primarily noticed, they cannot be focused on doing the aimed activities for a longer period especially those activities that require thinking (3). Unfulfilled selectivity of attention is very characteristic, which affects the knowledge acquisition and the successful learning process (4). One can notice easy tiredness during realization of rational intellectual activities, frigidness of thinking process, and inability for generalization of gained experiences (5). The memory ability is deficient, the greater intellectual deficit, the greater the difficulties in memory will be (6). The memory is selective and emotionally coloured. The child remembers very slowly over many repetitions. Furthermore, the child quickly forgets the remembered contents and what he remembers, and he can reproduce it with great difficulty and in false manner and cannot make a systematization of knowledge. Thinking is superficial and concrete. The thoughts are deprived of depth, and these children are unable to get beyond what is in their sight. Children may not reveal the mutual relationships between objects and phenomena (7). They have serious difficulties in classification and serrations and are unable to adopt conzervation, which means that their operational thinking is on a low level. Abstract thinking is reduced to minimum (3). Children with mild intellectual disabilities in school age have slow progress from preoperational stage to concrete operational stage with a delay of 3 to 4 years (6). …

A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Functioning in Williams Syndrome

Event Abstract Back to Event A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Functioning in Williams Syndrome M. A. Porter1* and H. Dodd2 1 Macquarie University, Psychology Department and Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Australia 2 Macquarie University, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Australia Our research represents the first longitudinal study of cognitive functioning in Williams syndrome using the same cognitive test battery at time 1 and time 2, and the same cognitive test battery for all individuals, regardless of age or ability level. The aim of this study was to explore whether cognitive abilities remain stable over time in individuals with Williams syndrome. Twenty-seven individuals with Williams syndrome participated; all had tested positive for the elastin gene deletion (FISH test), and were aged between 5 and 43 years at initial assessment. There were 14 females and 13 males in the study. The participants were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Ability – Revised (WJ-R COG, Woodcock & Johnson, 1989, 1990) at time 1, and again at time 2, during follow up approximately five years later. The WJ-R COG assesses seven broad cognitive domains: Long-term Retrieval; Short-term Memory; Processing Speed; Fluid Reasoning; Comprehensionknowledge, Visual Processing and Auditory Processing. The test publishes norms for typically developing individuals aged 2 to 95 years. Results showed that the gap in ability levels between Williams syndrome individuals and the normal population had not changed significantly in the five year period from time 1 to time 2, neither had their individual patterns of cognitive strength and weakness. Discussion: These results suggest that cognitive functions remain stable in individuals with Williams syndrome, both in terms of their general level of ability and their personal profiles of strength and weakness, at least on the cognitive domains assessed using the WJ-R COG. The fact that cognitive functions did not change significantly substantiates continued research efforts into exploring the relationship between heterogeneous cognitive and genetic abnormalities in Williams syndrome and related chromosome 7 disorders. Conference: 12th International Professional Conference on Williams Syndrome, Garden Grove,CA, United States, 13 Jul - 14 Jul, 2008. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: SESSION 6: Updates on Cognition in Williams Syndrome Citation: Porter MA and Dodd H (2009). A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Functioning in Williams Syndrome. Conference Abstract: 12th International Professional Conference on Williams Syndrome. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.07.019 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Apr 2009; Published Online: 30 Apr 2009. * Correspondence: M. A Porter, Macquarie University, Psychology Department and Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Sydney, Australia, melanie.porter@psy.mq.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers M. A Porter H. Dodd Google M. A Porter H. Dodd Google Scholar M. A Porter H. Dodd PubMed M. A Porter H. Dodd Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Measurement of Recovery after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Cognitive-Neuropsychological Comparison of the WAIS-R with the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) in a Single Case of Atypical Language Lateralization

A 20-year-old preferentially left-handed male suffered an extensive right, focal, medial, prefrontal hematoma and contusion with associated swelling, and an initially undetected progressive loss of consciousness following trauma to the forehead. Performance on the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) at 1 and 6 months after traumatic brain injury was compared with performance on the WAIS-R at 6 months post-injury. The patient demonstrated significant residualized impairment on selected subtests of the CAS at 6 months post-injury (all ps < 0.05). The patient was also significantly impaired on the Information, Vocabulary, Arithmetic and Comprehension verbal subtests of the WAIS-R. The magnitude of these WAIS-R subtest discrepancies occurred with a low base rate (< 1%) in the WAIS-R standardization sample. In addition there was a significant VIQ versus PIQ discrepancy favouring PIQ of a magnitude occurring in less than 5% of the WAIS-R standardization sample. These findings could not be explained on the basis of any prior learning disability, poor educational opportunities, medication use, response bias, confabulation, or low level of general ability. The low scores on the verbal subtests of the WAIS-R in conjunction with the impairment on the CAS subtests are highly suggestive of lasting frontal-executive dysfunction in this patient. Incidental findings of persisting anomia, impaired processing of proverbs, acalculia, and fluctuating verbal attention, as well as impaired retrieval of verbal information in the context of intact PIQ and superior constructional praxis suggest some degree of bilateral representation of linguistic functions. The differential assessment of cognitive domains by these two instruments as well as theoretical concordance in the pattern of results is also addressed.

Parietal function in good and poor readers

BackgroundWhile there are many psychophysical reports of impaired magnocellular pathway function in developmental dyslexia (DD), few have investigated parietal function, the major projection of this pathway, in good and poor readers closely matched for nonverbal intelligence. In view of new feedforward-feedback theories of visual processing, impaired magnocellular function raises the question of whether all visually-driven functions or only those associated with parietal cortex functions are equally impaired and if so, whether parietal performance is more closely related to general ability levels than reading ability.MethodsReading accuracy and performance on psychophysical tasks purported to selectively activate parietal cortex such as motion sensitivity, attentional tracking, and spatial localization was compared in 17 children with DD, 16 younger reading-age matched (RA) control children, and 46 good readers of similar chronological-age (CA) divided into CA-HighIQ and a CA-LowIQ matched to DD group nonverbal IQ.ResultsIn the age-matched groups no significant differences were found between DD and CA controls on any of the tasks relating to parietal function, although performance of the DD group and their nonverbal IQ scores was always lower. As expected, CA and RA group comparisons indicated purported parietal functioning improves with age. No difference in performance was seen on any of the parietally driven tasks between the DD and age-nonverbal IQ matched groups, whereas performance differentiated the DD group from the age-matched, higher nonverbal IQ group on several such tasks. An unexpected statistical difference in performance between lower reading age (DD and RA children) and all higher reading age (CA) children was seen on a test of chromatic sensitivity, whereas when high and low nonverbal IQ normal readers were compared performance was not differentConclusionThe results indicate that performance on purported parietal functions improves with age and may be more associated with nonverbal mentation than reading accuracy. Performance on a cognitively demanding task, traditionally considered to rely on ventral stream functions, was more related to reading accuracy.

RBANS index discrepancies: Base rates for older adults

The present study expands upon the data available in the manual of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status [Randolph, C. (1998). Repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation], by providing base rate data on Index discrepancies that are organized by general level of ability and include both age and education corrections. The data presented are based on the performances of a sample of 718 community dwelling older adults. These findings offer the possibility of increased sensitivity at detecting clinically significant differences that might not be identified when relying on base rate data from a greater age range. Similarly, these data highlight the mediating effects of the global level of cognitive functioning on discrepancy scores.