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This study presents evidence of validity and reliability of the results obtained with the Cognitive Screening (TRIACOG) to evaluate post-stroke adults. The TRIACOG assesses orientation memory, language, arithmetic, praxis, information processing speed, and executive functions. A total of 126 post-stroke adults (M = 63.50; SD = 13.28 years old) and 126 neurologically healthy adults (M = 61.97; SD = 11.48 years old) participated in the study. Performance on the TRIACOG was positively correlated with scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MoCA-B), schooling, and reading and writing habits, and negatively correlated with the NIHSS and Rankin scales. Post-stroke adults scored lower and took longer to complete the instrument than neurologically healthy adults. Inter-rater agreement was achieved in scoring the TRIACOG. The TRIACOG presents evidence of validity based on its relationships to other variables (criterion and convergent) and on response processes, in addition to presenting reliability evidence established by inter-rater agreement. We expect that the TRIACOG will be employed by health workers in hospital settings, health units, and medical offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preschool is an important time for linguistic skills consolidation, so, it is essential to comprehend which skills promote Emergent Literacy (EL) development and, consequently, allow children to read and write proficiently. In Brazil, there is a lack of standardized tools to evaluate these skills. The aim of this study is to present the development of an EL battery for Brazilian preschoolers (Pre-ALFA). The development process was followed by 4 steps: 1) Integrative review of EL assessment and Pre-ALFA tasks' design; 2) Expert's analysis; 3-4) Pilot studies with 4-6-year-old children (N=20). The last three steps were examined through frequency analysis. Integrative review pointed out fundamental abilities to be evaluated in this age range: emergent writing and reading; alphabet knowledge; vocabulary; phonological awareness. A preliminary structure of the battery was designed and used as a reference for the next steps. The results of both experts' analysis and pilot studies showed that the items were relevant to preschoolers' evaluation (>75% agreement achieved; no significant floor/ceiling effect), although a few adjustments were needed. Pre-ALFA seems to be promising to give an outlook on children's EL skills development and might be helpful in educational and clinical environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the performance of 4th and 6th grade students in the Task of Spelling Words and Pseudowords (TEPP). It was analyzed validity evidence based on the relationship with criteria (correlation with age, and comparison of groups by year of schooling and gender), as well as convergent validity through correlations among TEPP with the Balanced Dictation instrument and the Child Neuropsychological Assessment Instrument NEUPSILIN-Inf. In addition, it is presented normative data for students of 4th and 6th grades of Elementary School. It included 181 students from public schools, being 55.8% girls, with aged between 9 and 12 years old. Higher scores were identified for older and more educated students; in addition higher scores were found for girls in some TEPP measures, reinforcing the criterion validity of the instrument. The TEPP instrument has been related to spelling, attention, memory, executive functions, language and arithmetic skills, showing evidence of convergent validity. The normative data of TEPP are presented, considering the two school years of the participants, contributing to the professionals who use this instrument in clinical practice and also in the educational setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preliminary psychometric properties of the Brief Neuropsycholinguistic Assessment Instrument NEUPSILIN-L were analyzed in patients with and without expressive aphasia. This study included 94 adults: 11 with brain damage in the right hemisphere (RHD), 38 with brain damage in the left hemisphere (LHD), and 45 neurologically healthy. The group with LHD presented lower scores than the other groups, mainly in the language tasks, as well as the sample with aphasia. Clinical groups performed better on the NEUPSILIN-L in tasks with motor response options, about oral responses. The NEUPSILIN-L items had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.931 and McDonald omega of 0.950. The results of the groups in the NEUPSILIN-L showed that the instrument presents evidence of validity based on the relationship with criteria and high internal consistency. Future studies intend to expand the evidence of validity of the instrument and provide normative data for the Brazilian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preliminaries psychometric properties of the Brief Neuropsycholinguistic Assessment Instrument [NEUPSILIN-L] were analyzed in patients with and without expressive aphasia. This study included 94 adults: 11 with brain damage in the right hemisphere (RHD), 38 with brain damage in the left hemisphere (LHD) and 45 neurologically healthy. The group with LHD presented lower scores than the other groups, mainly in the language tasks, as well as the sample with aphasia. Clinical groups performed better on the NEUPSILIN-L in tasks with motor response options, in relation to oral responses. The NEUPSILIN-L items had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.931 and McDonald omega of 0.950. The results of the groups in the NEUPSILIN-L showed that the instrument presents evidence of validity based on the relationship with criteria and high internal consistency. Future studies intend to expand the evidence of validity of the instrument and provide normative data for the Brazilian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructive praxis evaluation, although traditional, has been insufficiently explored in the neurocognitive examination. The objective of this study was to verify the effect of age and schooling, as well as interaction between the items of constructive praxis in the Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Instrument (NEUPSILIN), obtaining performance benchmarks. A total of 613 adults and elderly between 19 and 90 years of age participated. There were four tasks: three copying (square, daisy and cube) and one spontaneous production (clock). MANCOVA was conducted to evaluate effects of age and schooling in the groups; post hoc Bonferroni for standards in drawings. Age had an effect on the drawings of the square and the clock, schooling had an effect on the drawings of the clock. There was interaction between age and schooling in the cube and daisy drawings, in which performance increased in the groups with higher schooling and decreased with increasing age. We can see the influence of age and schooling as relevant variables for normative performance data in constructive praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive deficits are common among post-stroke patients. Cognitive impairments of this sort are mediated by age and education. In Brazil, the only specific cognitive screening tool designed for post-stroke patients is the Cognitive Screening Test (Triagem Cognitiva -- TRIACOG). The goal of this study was to investigate validity evidence related to external variables for the TRIACOG. Our sample included 153 adults and elderly people (M = 60.08, SD = 9.61) from Porto Alegre and metropolitan area, comprising 87 post-stroke patients and 66 healthy individuals. Three-way ANOVAs were used to assess main effects and interactions between the variables group (clinical/control), age and education. An influence of group and age on scores in the TRIACOG was found. We emphasize the relevance of these results to the selection of cut-off points for the tasks and cognitive functions assessed by the instrument, considering education and age, so as to allow more accurate identification of deficits in post-stroke patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to investigate if the selection of external information for storage in visual working memory requires control by the central executive when the categorization of targets is guided by instructions. The design was experimental 3 (concurrent task) x 2 (instruction). Forty-eight university students saw eight colored shapes, four of them surrounded by square outlines. Memory was assessed using a recognition task. Targets varied with instructions: targets were presented within squares in the first block and outside squares in the second block. There were three concurrent tasks: no task, articulatory suppression, and backward counting. Performance was measured by hits, false alarms, corrected recognition, and sensitivity (A'), compared using within-subject ANOVAs. Results showed a main effect only for concurrent task, with lower performance in the backward counting condition for all measures. These results suggest that the central executive does not control the perceptual filter, corroborating earlier results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of motivation to learn is a relevant aspect in educational contexts as motivation can influence student engagement, learning, and performance in academic tasks. The aim of this study was to propose a brief version of the Motivation Scale for Learning in University Students (EMAPRE-U Brief). The EMAPRE-U is a 28-item scale that assesses three motivational dimensions: the learning goal, the performance-approach goal, and the performance-avoidance goal. The study included 525 first-year undergraduate students at a public university. Through exploratory factor analysis and item content analysis, a 15-item version was developed. Confirmatory factor analysis and correlation with theoretically related constructs provided evidence of validity for the brief measure and indicated a good fit of the data to the three-factor model. The results suggest that the instrument has the potential to contribute to the assessment of motivation for learning in higher education, although improvements could be made in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, arranged along a continuum, are commonly associated with neuropsychological and academic deficits, even in the general population. The aim of this study is to analyze how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms are associated with the performance in neuropsychological and academic abilities (phonological processing, processing speed/automatic attention, executive functions, reading, and spelling) in school-age children. The sample consisted of 216 children from 3rd and 4th grades (M = 8.94 years old, SD =.71) from public elementary schools of two Brazilian capitals. Pearson correlation and Multiple Linear Regression analysis were performed. Inattention symptoms were the only predictors of performance in phonological processing (phoneme suppression and rapid automatized naming of letters), processing speed/automatic attention, executive functions, such as inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, and reading fluency. Beta values ranged from.14 to.27, and the largest value was related to an inhibitory control task. Inattention, and not hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, seems to affect neuropsychological functions even in non-clinical diagnosed children. Contributions and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence for construct validity of the Visual Retention Test of Benton (BVRT) in patients after stroke was investigated. Participants were 42 adults and elderly, 21 with stroke (11 with Left Hemisphere Injury - LHE, 10 with Right Hemisphere Injury - LHD), and 21 neurologically healthy controls, paired to patients by sex, age and years of study. BVRT and tasks of visual perception, working memory, visual memory and constructive praxis were applied. The clinical groups (LHE and LHD) presented inferior performance in the Administration C (Copy) of the BVRT. In the case series analysis, three cases with LHD and three cases with LHE demonstrated dissociations between Administration A (Memory) and Administration C (Copy) of the test. The results showed that some post-stroke patients, even in the chronic phase, may present visuoconstructive skills deficits and lighter visual memory deficits. Therefore, evidence of validity for BVRT was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the performance of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Reading Disabilites (RD) in the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrix Test (RCPM). A total of 70 children and adolescents aged 7 to 14 years, with ASD (n=16), with RD (n=19) and with typical development (TD, n=35) participated. Controlling the effect of age, the results indicated superior performance of the ASD group. The DL group presented inferior performance than the other groups in Part A and in the total test score when compared to the DT group. The performance of the TEA group was discussed from the Theory of Weak Central Coherence, while the performance of the DL group, based on the hypothesis of multiple deficits in dyslexia and considering the impact of less access to written materials in visuospatial skills. Studies of this nature may help in the cognitive characterization of children/adolescents with ASD and DL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyze the use of NEUPSILIN-Inf in a model of brief neuropsychological assessment for children attending a helthcare service. The steps followed in the brief neuropsychological assessment model are waiting room, children's group, and individual assessment. The analysis of this model's efficacy in detecting cognitive deficits through NEUPSILIN-Inf was conducted by comparing the performance of 171 children with possible developmental disorders to 358 children from the normative sample of NEUPSILIN-Inf. The clinical group showed lower performance in all NEUPSILIN-Inf 's tasks. The set of data derived from the evaluation model can underlie diagnostic hypotheses, such as intellectual disabilities, learning disorders or specific language impairment. Taking into account the restrictive public care for children with possible developmental disorders, this model can be considered a cost-effective possibility to be accomplished by health centers in different Brazilian regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to verify which components of the working memory (WM) model (phonological, visuospatial and central executive) predict the performance in fluid intelligence (FI), considering age, schooling and school type. The participants were 419 children aged between six and 12 years old, from the first year to the sixth grade of Primary School from public and private schools of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The WM subtests of the NEUPSILIN-Inf – Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery – for children – were administered, and Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices Test served as FI measure. In the linear regression analysis, the executive component primarily explained the relationship between WM and FI in children, rather than phonological component. When sociodemographic variables were included, age, school type and the executive component explained 47% of FI variance, but the predictive power of the executive component was reduced. The results reinforce the primary relationship between executive processing of WM and FI, as well as the importance of taking into account sociodemographic variables, so the relationship between these constructs are not overestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: The aim of the present study was to test the ability of adolescents with a current anxiety diagnosis to recognize facial affective expressions, compared to those without an anxiety disorder. Methods: Forty cases and 27 controls were selected from a larger cross sectional community sample of adolescents, aged from 10 to 17 years old. Adolescent’s facial recognition of six human emotions (sadness, anger, disgust, happy, surprise and fear) and neutral faces was assessed through a facial labeling test using Ekman’s Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA). Results: Adolescents with anxiety disorders had a higher mean number of errors in angry faces as compared to controls: 3.1 (SD=1.13) vs. 2.5 (SD=2.5), OR=1.72 (CI95% 1.02 to 2.89; p =0.040). However, they named neutral faces more accurately than adolescents without anxiety diagnosis: 15% of cases vs. 37.1% of controls presented at least one error in neutral faces, OR=3.46 (CI95% 1.02 to 11.7; p =0.047). No differences were found considering other human emotions or on the distribution of errors in each emotional face between the groups. Conclusion: Our findings support an anxiety-mediated influence on the recognition of facial expressions in adolescence. These difficulty in recognizing angry faces and more accuracy in naming neutral faces may lead to misinterpretation of social clues and can explain some aspects of the impairment in social interactions in adolescents with anxiety disorders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]