Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary Research Articles

Comparison of Logarithmic Reading Charts for Visual Assessment in Normally Sighted Participants.

Logarithmic reading charts provide standardized measures of reading performance. Here we show that existing charts provide equivalent assessments of visual aspects of reading that are in good agreement with traditional measures of visual acuity and seem uninfluenced by cognitive (linguistic) factors. The aims of this study were to (1) determine the equivalence of logarithmic charts of sentence and word reading, (2) evaluate the relationship between reading chart performance and more traditional measures of visual assessment, and (3) establish the influence of linguistic factors on reading chart performance. In a sample of 82 normally sighted participants, we determined performance on the reading measures (e.g., reading acuity, reading speed, critical print size) of the following logarithmic charts of sentence and word reading: The Colenbrander English Continuous Text Near Vision Card, Radner Reading Chart, Minnesota Reading Acuity Chart, and Smith-Kettlewell Reading Chart. In doing so, we compared performance on reading measures between charts and with performance on more traditional measures of visual assessment (uncrowded and crowded letter acuity, stereoacuity, accommodation) and cognitive measures of word knowledge and ability (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary Subtest, National Adult Reading Test). Factor analysis confirmed that performance on the reading measures (reading acuity, reading speed, critical print size) was equivalent across charts. Reading test performance was also related to more traditional measures of vision, the most consistent of which were significant associations between reading acuity and acuity for single-letter optotypes. There were no significant associations between reading chart performance and cognitive measures of word knowledge and ability. The findings presented here suggest that logarithmic charts composed of sentences and words represent an alternative to traditional letter acuity testing. This is particularly the case for measures of reading acuity.

Evidence for independent peripheral and central age-related hearing impairment.

Deleterious age-related changes in the central auditory nervous system have been referred to as central age-related hearing impairment (ARHI) or central presbycusis. Central ARHI is often assumed to be the consequence of peripheral ARHI. However, it is possible that certain aspects of central ARHI are independent from peripheral ARHI. A confirmation of this possibility could lead to significant improvements in current rehabilitation practices. The major difficulty in addressing this issue arises from confounding factors, such as other age-related changes in both the cochlea and central non-auditory brain structures. Because gap detection is a common measure of central auditory temporal processing, and gap detection thresholds are less influenced by changes in other brain functions such as learning and memory, we investigated the potential relationship between age-related peripheral hearing loss (i.e., audiograms) and age-related changes in gap detection. Consistent with previous studies, a significant difference was found for gap detection thresholds between young and older adults. However, among older adults, no significant associations were observed between gap detection ability and several other independent variables including the pure tone audiogram average, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Vocabulary score, gender, and age. Statistical analyses showed little or no contributions from these independent variables to gap detection thresholds. Thus, our data indicate that age-related decline in central temporal processing is largely independent of peripheral ARHI.

An index of decline or recovery following nonimpact and impact mTBI

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the degree to which litigants/insurance claimants sustaining Nonimpact mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in motor vehicle accidents differed from compensation-seeking motor vehicle accident victims that suffered Impact mTBI in terms of neuropsychological decline/recovery, using as a control litigants/insurance claimants that did not experience mTBI in motor vehicle accidents. A clinical index (C-Voc) was employed as the dependent measure for decline/recovery, consisting of T-score algebraic differences between a highly sensitive neurocognitive measure (Category Test) and a relatively insensitive “hold” measure (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary subtest). Nonimpact mTBI subjects showed significantly greater neurocognitive decline than Impact mTBI participants and, interestingly, Impact mTBI individuals did not differ significantly from individuals with no diagnosis of mTBI. These findings suggest that Nonimpact subjects may experience significantly greater persistent neurocognitive residua of mTBI than Impact participants.

The comparison of executive functions, social cognition and plasma oxytocin level between mothers of schizophrenia patients and healthy control: Searching for a new endophenotype

Objective: Previous studies documented that there were a variety of endophenotypes that helped to diagnose as well as to predict functionality and treatment response. There is little, if any research that focused on investigating biochemical endophenotypes. Besides, the studies that include executive functions and social cognition, which were accepted as endophenotypes, have different results. In studies involving schizophrenia patients, the deficiency of oxytocin was found to be the most important hormone that would affect the treatment process. However, there have been no endophenotype studies that investigated the role of oxytocin hormone in the treatment process of schizophrenia patients. The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to detect new endophenotypes, and (b) to test endophenotypes that were previously found by focusing on the schizophrenia patients’ mothers. Methods: The participants were the healthy mothers of schizophrenia patients and healthy control group. They took the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale vocabulary subtest, respectively. In addition, participants’ blood samples were collected to include the level of plasma oxytocin as a biochemical in the data analyses. Results: Results revealed that there was a significant difference in plasma oxytocin levels for the healthy mothers of schizophrenia patients and the healthy control group. Low level of plasma oxytocin level was found to be the only significant factor that differentiates the patients’ mothers and the healthy control group. When the results of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test that measures executive functions, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test that measures social cognition were analyzed, no significant differences were found between the groups. Discussion: Our findings showed that oxytocin hormone could be a new endophenotype for schizophrenia. However, there is still a need for studies that focus on the investigation of detecting new endophenotypes.

Cognitive Reserve, Age, and Neuropsychological Performance in Healthy Participants

The first aim of this study was to explore the relation between cognitive reserve, age, and neuropsychological functioning in a healthy sample; and second, to determine the risk of showing cognitive deficits as a function of cognitive reserve. One hundred forty-six healthy participants between the ages of 20 and 79 were submitted to neuropsychological assessment, focusing on attention, memory, visuo-construction, conceptualization and reasoning. Premorbid IQ as measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary subtest was used as a proxy of cognitive reserve. Multivariate regression analysis with age and premorbid IQ as explanatory factors revealed a significant effect in all neuropsychological tests. Logistic regression revealed that participants with low cognitive reserve were more likely to obtain deficient scores (≤1.5 SD below the mean) in the cognitive domains of attention (odds ratio [OR], 3.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05–9.29), memory (OR, 6.17; 95% CI, 1.69–22.61) and global functioning (OR, 6.44; 95% CI, 2.56–16.22) than participants with high cognitive reserve. Results suggest that cognitive reserve acts as a protective factor against the expression of cognitive decline related to age in healthy individuals.

Visual memory predicts Alzheimer's disease more than a decade before diagnosis.

Recent studies have suggested that AD may reflect a chronic process that begins many years before the clinical expression of dementia. The current study examines premorbid Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-vocabulary (WAIS-voc) test scores in order to determine whether long-term deficits in these tests can predict the development of AD decades later in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). Participants are volunteers from the BLSA, a multidisciplinary study of normal aging conducted by the National Institute on Aging. A total of 1,425 BLSA participants who were older than 60 years were included in the analyses. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the relative risk of developing AD associated with BVRT and WAIS-voc scores at different time periods up to 20 years before the diagnosis of AD. The relative risks for 6 or more BVRT errors vs less than 6 errors at 1 to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 10, and 10 to 15 years before the diagnosis of AD were 5.69, 2.11, 1.76, and 1.83 (p < 0.05). The relative risk for 15 or more years before diagnosis was not significant (p > 0.10). WAIS-voc scores were not significantly associated with the risk of AD in any time period. A greater number of errors on the BVRT is associated with an increased risk of AD up to 15 years later. Poor visual memory performance may represent an early expression of AD years before diagnosis. This result suggests the need to continue to revise views on the natural history of AD and the possibility of an increased window of opportunity for preventive treatment before definitive diagnosis.

Neuropsychological performance in schizotypal personality disorder: evidence regarding diagnostic specificity

Background Individuals with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) share cognitive deficits with schizophrenic patients, suggesting that these deficits represent a core feature of the schizophrenia spectrum. We investigated the neuropsychological profile in SPD patients compared with two comparison groups: healthy volunteers (HV) and patients who met criteria for another non-schizophrenia spectrum personality disorder (NSS). Methods We tested 48 DSM-III-R SPD patients, 22 NSS and 32 HV on a neuropsychologic battery that included the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Trail Making A and B, the DOT test of working memory, the Stroop Color–Word Interference, the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), the Wechsler Memory Scale Visual Reproduction Test (WMSV–R), and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale vocabulary and block design. Results Normative standards for performance were created using the HV group. SPD patients performed significantly worse compared with HVs; specifically, SPD patients demonstrated impaired performance on the PASAT and the WMSV–R immediate and delayed recall compared to HV. Moreover, SPD patients were impaired in the PASAT and the WMSV–R immediate condition compared with the NSS group. The NSS patients did not differ from HV on any of the cognitive tasks. The interpersonal factor of the schizotypal symptoms inversely correlated with the PASAT score ( r = −.32, p < .006). Conclusions Compared with HVs, SPD patients demonstrate modest cognitive impairment. These differences reached statistical significance for the PASAT (an auditory working memory task), and the WMSV–R immediate and delayed recall (a learning–recall test). In contrast, performance of NSS patients did not differ from that of HVs. The types of deficits observed in SPD patients are qualitatively similar to but milder than those seen in patients with schizophrenia.

Adult life span changes in immediate visual memory and verbal intelligence.

A sample of 558 women and 1,163 men 17 to 102 years old, screened for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease, was administered tests of immediate visual memory (Benton Visual Retention Test) and crystallized intelligence (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary subtest) from 1 to 5 times over 27.7 years. Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence led to the conclusion that the 65-74-year decade was a watershed for decremental changes in immediate visual memory and verbal intelligence. Age accounted for considerably less variance in vocabulary than in immediate memory. The proportion of individuals whose longitudinal trajectories were contrary to group trends decreased substantially with increased age; observed age changes remained when analyses were restricted to individuals who had perfect or near-perfect mental status scores. Selected neuronal loss and slower reproduction times were considered as possible causes.

Adult life span changes in immediate visual memory and verbal intelligence.

A sample of 558 women and 1,163 men 17 to 102 years old, screened for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease, was administered tests of immediate visual memory (Benton Visual Retention Test) and crystallized intelligence (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary subtest) from 1 to 5 times over 27.7 years. Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence led to the conclusion that the 65-74-year decade was a watershed for decremental changes in immediate visual memory and verbal intelligence. Age accounted for considerably less variance in vocabulary than in immediate memory. The proportion of individuals whose longitudinal trajectories were contrary to group trends decreased substantially with increased age; observed age changes remained when analyses were restricted to individuals who had perfect or near-perfect mental status scores. Selected neuronal loss and slower reproduction times were considered as possible causes.

The incidence of minor physical anomalies in adult male schizophrenics.

The Waldrop anomaly score was used to assess the incidence of minor physical anomalies among 40 adult male Caucasian schizophrenics. This sample had a higher group mean anomaly score than that reported for the normal population (p less than .001). Those with higher anomaly scores evidenced poorer premorbid adjustment (p less than .05). A significant relationship also existed between anomaly scores and the subset of premorbid adjustment, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary scores, and the Neurological Impairment Index (p less than .05). These results suggest that first trimester developmental abnormalities, as reflected by the high incidence of anomalies, may parallel some form of central nervous system disturbance which may, in some cases, predispose toward the eventual development of schizophrenia. Implications of these findings, along with suggestions for further research, are considered.

Effects of child rearing by schizophrenic mothers: A follow-up

Two groups of offspring born to schizophrenic mothers, one group mother-reared, the other reared-apart, were evaluated for pathology 9 yr after an initial evaluation. The assessment techniques were: Current and Past Psychopathology Scales, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Vocabulary subtest, Kent-Rosanoff Word Association Test, Memory-For- Designs test, Embedded Figures Test, Titchener Circles Illusion, Felt Figure Technique, avoidance learning, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, an adjective check list. There was no evidence that rearing by a schizophrenic mother contributes to psychopathology.

Relationship of scores on the full-range picture vocabulary test and the Wechsler adult intelligence scale in a vocational rehabilitation setting.

The relationship between IQ scores on the Full-Range Picture Vocabulary Test (FRPV) of Amnions and Amnions and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) was investigated using a random sample of clients at a hospital-based vocational rehabilitation center. As predicted, correlations of FRPV and WAIS were significant, but decreased in magnitude for WAIS Vocabulary subtest, Verbal IQ, Full-scale IQ, and Performance IQ scores. These data extend previous research in applying the FRPV to different populations and suggest that it can be usefully applied as a quick screening measure of intelligence with a heterogeneous rehabilitation clientele.