- Elkhonon Goldberg, Ph.D., ABPP, cognitive neuroscientist and clinical neuropsychologist.edit
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Neuropsychology, like most other subspecialties in psychology, has undergone extensive and rapid changes and development over the past few decades. This has been particularly the case for neuropsychology within the past several years, as... more
Neuropsychology, like most other subspecialties in psychology, has undergone extensive and rapid changes and development over the past few decades. This has been particularly the case for neuropsychology within the past several years, as the 1990s were designated as the decade of the brain. Neuropsychology has been shaped by both economic pressures and changes and technological developments. These alterations in the field have lead to the development of new clinical avenues, technological progress, clinical and theoretical breakthroughs, and fundamental changes in the practice and teaching of neuropsychology. This chapter will explore these changes and developments focusing on both clinical and experimental areas, as well as offer some insight and advice regarding how these changes are affecting the field today. The chapter starts with a brief historical perspective, and then discusses the exciting and popular new clinical areas of sports-related concussion and forensic neuropsychology. This is followed by a discussion of recent developments and issues in neuropsychological assessment and how advances in psychometric properties have improved neuropsychological assessment techniques. The final section discusses recent advances in experimental neuropsychology, mainly its role in fMRI research and transcranial magnetic stimulation, followed by an overview and ideas about the future direction of neuropsychology. Keywords: assessment; fMRI; forensics; neuropsychology; predictive power; reliability of change; sports-related concussion
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ABSTRACT
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ABSTRACT A. R. Luria higher cortical functions in man. Second edition. new york: Basic books, 1980.
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COVID-19 has infected millions of people and upended the lives of most humans on the planet. Researchers from across the psychological sciences have sought to document and investigate the impact of COVID-19 in myriad ways, causing an... more
COVID-19 has infected millions of people and upended the lives of most humans on the planet. Researchers from across the psychological sciences have sought to document and investigate the impact of COVID-19 in myriad ways, causing an explosion of research that is broad in scope, varied in methods, and challenging to consolidate. Because policy and practice aimed at helping people live healthier and happier lives requires insight from robust patterns of evidence, this article provides a rapid and thorough summary of high-quality studies available through early 2021 examining the mental-health consequences of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Our review of the evidence indicates that anxiety, depression, and distress increased in the early months of the pandemic. Meanwhile, suicide rates, life satisfaction, and loneliness remained largely stable throughout the first year of the pandemic. In response to these insights, we present seven recommendations (one urgent, two short-term, a...
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This study explores the possibility that the more favourable clinical prognosis in females with schizophrenia may be associated with their greater network interconnectedness, which is possibly reflected in enhanced... more
This study explores the possibility that the more favourable clinical prognosis in females with schizophrenia may be associated with their greater network interconnectedness, which is possibly reflected in enhanced "Gamma" (40 Hz) electrical brain activity. An auditory "oddball" task was administered to 35 patients with schizophrenia and 35 age and sex matched controls (25 males and 10 females). Peak Gamma amplitude (from a time series of Gamma activity averaged for 40 target stimuli, as well as the immediately preceding 40 background tones) was examined across 19 sites. Peak Gamma activity occurred 250 to 450 ms in targets and 350 to 550 ms in backgrounds. Multiple within and between group MANOVAs were undertaken analysing both Peak Gamma amplitude (microvolts) and latency (milliseconds). Within-group, the control males showed a pattern of earlier Gamma latency in the right compared with the left hemisphere (F(1, 33)=3.70, p<.06), while control females exhibited delayed latency frontally compared with the posterior region (F(1, 33)=6.25, p<.04). This male lateralization finding and the anterior/posterior gradient in females is consistent with Goldberg's model. The patient group however, failed to show this male lateralized and female frontal-posterior pattern of Gamma activity, suggesting suboptimal network integration in the patient group, in both males and females.
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Novelty and routinization-related information processing disturbances were examined in adolescent males with ADHD using an oddball paradigm and electrophysiological measurement of theta (4-7Hz) activity. Fifty-four unmedicated adolescent... more
Novelty and routinization-related information processing disturbances were examined in adolescent males with ADHD using an oddball paradigm and electrophysiological measurement of theta (4-7Hz) activity. Fifty-four unmedicated adolescent males (12-18years) with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and matched controls performed an auditory oddball task. Theta activity was sub-averaged, and Fourier Integrals with simultaneous measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) was used to index response to stimulus novelty and routinization. ADHD participants showed an overall increase in theta activity to both novel and routine stimuli relative to controls. While controls showed increased theta activity in response to novel compared to routine targets across the brain, ADHD participants did not show this novelty-related increase in theta activity in the right anterior/frontal brain. The findings of this study are consistent with disturbances in theta activity and the brain substrates of novelty relative to routinization-related processing in ADHD. These findings show that there are distinct alterations in theta activity related to stimulus novelty and routinization during an auditory oddball task in ADHD, and they highlight the value of using an event-related approach to elucidate the neural substrates of stimulus processing in ADHD.
Research Interests: Engineering, Neuroscience, Electrophysiology, Attention, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Information Processing, Brain Mapping, Humans, Child, Cerebral Cortex, Galvanic Skin Response, Clinical, Male, Clinical Neurophysiology, Analysis of Variance, Auditory evoked Potentials, Acoustic Stimulation, Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests: Engineering, Neuroscience, Audiology, Attention, Laterality, and 15 moreElectroencephalography, Medicine, Information Processing, Humans, Female, Clinical, Male, Mental processes, Clinical Neurophysiology, Arousal, Adult, Auditory evoked Potentials, Left Hemisphere, Functional Laterality, and Medical and Health Sciences
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Neuropsychology in the USSR is one of the branches of psychology which has for a long time attracted the attention and curiosity of Western psychologists. To a large degree it is due to the stature of A. R. Luria, who has been an... more
Neuropsychology in the USSR is one of the branches of psychology which has for a long time attracted the attention and curiosity of Western psychologists. To a large degree it is due to the stature of A. R. Luria, who has been an acknowledged leader in this area of research in the USSR for several decades. The trend-setting institutions for neuropsychologic research in the USSR are A. R. Luria’s laboratories at the Department of Psychology, Moscow State University, and the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery, Moscow.
Resumen Much of human cognition is “agent-centered,” subjective, and in that sense relative, directed at deciding, “What is best for me”. This is very different from “veridical” cognition, directed at finding an objectively correct... more
Resumen Much of human cognition is “agent-centered,” subjective, and in that sense relative, directed at deciding, “What is best for me”. This is very different from “veridical” cognition, directed at finding an objectively correct solution inherent in the task and independent of the agent. The frontal lobes in particular are central to agent-centered decision making. Yet very little is available in the arsenal of cognitive paradigms used in the cognitive neuroscience research and in clinical neuropsychology test design to examine “agent-centered” decision making. Current paradigms and tests used to measure decision making clinically and experimentally are veridical in nature and as such miss the essence of “agent-centered” cognition. The dearth of “agent-centered” cognitive paradigms severely limits our ability to understand fully the function and dysfunction of the frontal lobes. The Cognitive Bias Task (CBT) is an agent-centered paradigm designed to fill this gap. CBT has been us...
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Examination of neuropsychological syndromes suggests strong congruence between neuroanatomical and functional neocortical metrics. Two cortical syndromes disrupt cognitively close functions if and only if their neuroanatomical territories... more
Examination of neuropsychological syndromes suggests strong congruence between neuroanatomical and functional neocortical metrics. Two cortical syndromes disrupt cognitively close functions if and only if their neuroanatomical territories are close. To capture this relationship, the concept of a cognitive gradient is introduced as a basic unit of macroscopic neocortical brain-behavioral analysis. A cognitive gradient is a continuous distribution of related functions along an axis defined at its extremes by a pair of sensory projection or motor areas. Cortical gradiental structure is viewed as a fundamental symmetric organization on which hemispheric elaborations are superimposed. The gradiental structure of the left hemisphere is presented in detail as an illustration of the concept. It is presumed that a similar set of elaborations can be uncovered for the right hemisphere. The gradiental model implies that at least from the macroscopic standpoint, functional neocortical organization is to a substantial degree continuous, interactive, and emergent, as opposed to mosaic, modular, and prededicated. It is proposed that a shift from latter to former properties signified a major development in the evolution of the brain. Thalamo-cortical integration may represent coexistence of evolutionally early and recent principles of cerebral organization.
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Associative agnosias are traditionally regarded as perceptual, and ideational apraxia as motor, deficits, but they can be understood as amnesias for generic knowledge, caused by bilateral or unilateral left-hemispheric cortical lesions.... more
Associative agnosias are traditionally regarded as perceptual, and ideational apraxia as motor, deficits, but they can be understood as amnesias for generic knowledge, caused by bilateral or unilateral left-hemispheric cortical lesions. Current theories of hemispheric specialization explain these syndromes' mandatory link with left-hemispheric damage, and are validated by this link. This link reflects the multiple nature of generic, categorical representational systems, not all reducible to natural language, and the left hemisphere's principal role as their substrate, regardless of their dependence on language. The distinction between processing novel information, and processing based on well-established, routinized representations, captures a fundamental difference between the functions of the right and left hemispheres. The complementary link of apperceptive agnosias with right-and associative agnosias with left-hemisphere lesions is an expression of this general principle in the posterior cortex. Future studies of the neuroanatomy of agnosias in animals may offer insights into the evolutionary continuities of hemispheric specialization.
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The Cognitive Bias Task (CBT) is a multiple-choice response selection paradigm characterized by inherent ambiguity. All items offer a range from extremely context-dependent to extremely context-invariant responses. Lateralized prefrontal... more
The Cognitive Bias Task (CBT) is a multiple-choice response selection paradigm characterized by inherent ambiguity. All items offer a range from extremely context-dependent to extremely context-invariant responses. Lateralized prefrontal lesions produce extreme, and opposite, response biases on CBT in right-handed males. Healthy control subjects perform in the middle range. Findings suggest a dynamic balance between two synergistic decision-making systems in the frontal lobes: context-dependent in the left hemisphere and context-invariant in the right. The robust lateralized effects, which are dependent on task ambiguity, are sensitive and specific to frontal dysfunction. CBT is discussed in comparison with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test as a potential cognitive activation task for functional neuroimaging of the frontal lobes.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Decision Making, Attention, and 15 moreMedicine, Prefrontal Cortex, Color Perception, Brain Mapping, Humans, Neuropsychiatry, Male, Size Perception, Clinical Sciences, Middle Aged, Adult, Neurosciences, Choice Behavior, Functional Laterality, and Neuropsychological Tests
We test the emerging hypothesis that prefrontal cortical mechanisms involved in non-veridical decision making do not overlap with those of veridical decision making. Healthy female subjects performed an experimental task assessing free... more
We test the emerging hypothesis that prefrontal cortical mechanisms involved in non-veridical decision making do not overlap with those of veridical decision making. Healthy female subjects performed an experimental task assessing free choice, agent-centered decision making (The Cognitive Bias Task) and a veridical control task related to visuospatial working memory (the Moving Spot Task). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using 1 Hz and 10 Hz (intermittent) rTMS and sham protocols. Both 1 Hz and 10 Hz stimulation of the DLPFC triggered a shift towards a more context-independent, internal representations driven non-veridical selection bias. A significantly reduced preference for choosing objects based on similarity was detected, following both 1 Hz and 10 Hz treatment of the right as well as 1 Hz rTMS of the left DLPFC. 1 Hz rTMS treatment of the right DLPFC also triggered a significant improvement in vis...
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ABSTRACT 1. české vyd. Přeloženo z angličtiny
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The combined effects or orally administered physostigmine and lecithin were assessed in a double-blind study of a single patient with posttraumatic amnesia. Treatment improved verbal recall but not verbal recognition, visual memory, or... more
The combined effects or orally administered physostigmine and lecithin were assessed in a double-blind study of a single patient with posttraumatic amnesia. Treatment improved verbal recall but not verbal recognition, visual memory, or conceptual reasoning. Both storage and retrieval of words in verbal memory were facilitated. Greater improvement in learning of longer or semantically homogeneous word lists than shorter or semantically mixed lists may indicate that treatment reduced the effects of interstimulus interference. Greater divergence of recognition response biases for semantically homogeneous vs. mixed lists was observed under treatment, reflecting some enhancement of semantic appreciation. Absence of a treatment effect on visual nonverbal memory may be due in part to lateralization of the mesencephalic lesion to the left in this patient. Lack of improvement of encoding capacity, d', or conceptual reasoning may reflect a greater dependence of basal forebrain structures on catecholaminergic than cholinergic mechanisms.
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Given the pervasive nature of executive deficit, assessment of executive functions is of crucial importance in neuropsychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and other related areas. A number of neuropsychologic... more
Given the pervasive nature of executive deficit, assessment of executive functions is of crucial importance in neuropsychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and other related areas. A number of neuropsychologic tests of executive function commonly are used in assessing several clinical disorders, including but not limited to traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, depression, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dementia. Because the concept of executive control in its current form constitutes an over arching construct, a construct that is based on the cognitive symptoms of the frontal lobe disorder caused by many disparate underlying conditions, no single measure of executive function can adequately tap the construct in its entirety.Therefore, it is necessary to administer several tests of executive function,each assessing a particular aspect of the executive function. An appropriate combination of such neuropsychologic t...
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The Role of the Hippocampus in Learning and Memory The hippocampus is commonly viewed as the brain structure most involved in the processes of learning and memory. The presumed role of this structure has undergone a number of transformations over the past 100 years. Interest in a hippocampal mode...more
ABSTRACT Vyd. české 1. Přeloženo z angličtiny
... Barbara L. Malamut, Department of Clinical Psychology, Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... With respect to the effect of health status on tests of executive functions, Boone, Miller, Lesser, Hill, and... more
... Barbara L. Malamut, Department of Clinical Psychology, Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... With respect to the effect of health status on tests of executive functions, Boone, Miller, Lesser, Hill, and D'Elia (1990) and Willis, Yeo, Thomas, and Garry (1988 ...
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Remote memory performance was assessed in a carefully matched sample of temporal lobectomy subjects and normal controls. Left temporal lobectomy subjects exhibited a consistent pattern of remote memory disturbance. Right temporal... more
Remote memory performance was assessed in a carefully matched sample of temporal lobectomy subjects and normal controls. Left temporal lobectomy subjects exhibited a consistent pattern of remote memory disturbance. Right temporal lobectomy subjects performed at the same level as normal controls. The pattern of impairment observed in left temporal lobectomy subjects was characterized by deficits in recall of chronological information from the past decade and extended to deficits in recall in some aspects of factual knowledge. The disorder could not be attributed solely to language deficits and was at least as severe as accompanying deficits in recent memory. These findings suggest that the left medial temporal region may play a significant role in recall of remote information in addition to its role in recent memory functions.
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Evolution, Medicine, Temporal Lobe, and 15 moreComplication, Humans, Female, Amnesia, Male, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Follow-up studies, Retrograde Amnesia, Middle Aged, Adult, Neuropsychologia, Psychosurgery, Neurosciences, Postoperative Complications, and Neuropsychological Tests
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Drug addiction is associated with impaired judgment in unstructured situations in which success depends on self-regulation of behavior according to internal goals (adaptive decision-making). However most executive measures are aimed at... more
Drug addiction is associated with impaired judgment in unstructured situations in which success depends on self-regulation of behavior according to internal goals (adaptive decision-making). However most executive measures are aimed at assessing decision-making in structured scenarios, in which success is determined by external criteria inherent to the situation (veridical decision-making). The aim of this study was to examine the performance of Substance Abusers (SA, n = 97) and Healthy Comparison participants (HC, n = 81) in two behavioral tasks that mimic the uncertainty inherent in real-life decision-making: the Cognitive Bias Task (CB) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) (administered only to SA). A related goal was to study the interdependence between performances on both tasks. We conducted univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to contrast the decision-making performance of both groups; and used correlation analyses to study the relationship between both tasks. SA showed a ma...