Search

The role of attention in the processing of pictures and words was investigated for a group of normally achieving children and for groups of learning disability sub-types that were defined by deficient performance on tests of reading and spelling (Group RS) and of arithmetic (Group A). An event-related potential (ERP) recording paradigm was employed in which the children were required to attend to and name either pictures or words that were presented individually or in superimposed picture-word arrays that varied in degree of semantic relation. For Group RS, the ERP waves to words, both presented individually or attended in the superimposed array, exhibited reduced N450 amplitude relative to controls, whereas their ERP waves to pictures were normal. This suggests that the word-naming deficiency for Group RS is not a selective attention deficit but rather a specific linguistic deficit that develops at a later stage of processing. In contrast to Group RS and controls, Group A did not exhibit reliable early frontal negative waves (N280) to the super-imposed pictures and words, an effect that may reflect a selective attention deficit for these children that develops at an early stage of visuo-spatial processing. These early processing differences were also evident in smaller amplitude N450 waves for Group A when naming either pictures or words in the superimposed arrays.

Epilepsie is een verzamelnaam voor symptomen die duiden op een functiestoornis van de hersenen. Tijdens een epileptische aanval is er sprake van plotselinge overmatige ontlading van een groep zenuwcellen. Afhankelijk van de plaats in de hersenen treden verschillende verschijnselen op. Dit kan een kortdurende absence zijn waarbij de ogen wegdraaien, maar ook een spectaculaire aanval met krampachtige bewegingen. Soms kan de patient achteraf wel iets vertellen over wat hij of zij tijdens de aanval heeft ervaren, maar vaak herinnert de patient zich niets. In dit artikel zal nader worden ingegaan op de relatie tussen epilepsie en geheugenverlies.

The effect of white matter abnormalities on neurobehavioral dysfunction was investigated in 58 children with symptomatic HIV-1 disease, 28 with CT white matter abnormalities and 30 matched (for age, gender, route of infection, and stage of disease) control patients with comparable levels of cortical atrophy, but no white matter abnormalities. Children with white matter abnormalities were more impaired on measures of general level of mental functioning (standard scores of 70.3 vs. 86.1; p < .05). They also scored lower than the group without white matter abnormalities on activities of daily living (76.9 vs. 87.4; p < .05), particularly those requiring self-help skills, and in socialization (79.5 vs. 89.3; p < .05). Furthermore, patients with white matter abnormalities exhibited higher levels of attention deficit/hyperactive behaviors (p < .05) and more severe autistic symptoms (p < .05). White matter abnormalities by themselves were, thus, associated with deficits in cognitive function and socio-e...

The current status of research on learning disabilities (LD) and intelligence in children using event‐related potential (ERP) methods is outlined. Consistent with behavioral and psychophysical assessments of sensory capabilities, exogenous sensory ERPs do not show compelling evidence of a relation to measures of either intelligence or LD. With normal adult samples, there is some evidence that higher mental ability is associated with shorter ERP latency on sensory and elementary cognitive discrimination tasks that elicit an endogenous, late positive (P3) ERP wave. Children with reading disabilities (RD) exhibit longer P3 latency and smaller P3 amplitude than normal controls to linguistic target stimuli, but individuals with RD are not differentiated from normal controls on simple sensory discrimination ERP paradigms. The importance of classifying subtypes of LD was evident in several studies. In particular, a fronto‐central negative wave at 450 ms was successful in distinguishing LD subtypes in several par...

Item does not contain fulltext Previous studies, examining short-term recognition memory in patients with partial seizures as a consequence of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) have reported inconsistent findings. Dependent on the paradigms used for measuring recognition memory, some studies have demonstrated that the mesial temporal structures are not critically involved in short-term recognition memory. In addition, other studies found a lateralization effect that is consistent with the generally accepted association between left temporal lobe lesions and verbal memory deficits, and right temporal lobe lesions and non-verbal memory impairments. In the present study verbal and non-verbal recognition memory was tested in 41 patients with left or right temporal lobe epilepsy with MTS (22 left; 19 right) versus 44 patients with left or right temporal lobe epilepsy but without MTS (28 left; 16 right). Verbal and non-verbal recognition tasks were presented in both a serial and simultaneous condition to test a hypothesized local/global paradigm. Multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA) showed that unilateral MTS has no marked effects on verbal or non-verbal recognition memory of patients with seizures. An interaction effect between MTS and the lateralization of epileptic activity was found on memory performance: MTS only leads to deficits in recognition memory in patients with right-sided epileptiform activity. As hypothesized, patients with left temporal lobe abnormalities, have specific deficits with recognizing serially presented information.

Children who suffer from the ADHD syndrome have problems regulating their behavior due to an imbalance between their excitatory and their inhibitory systems. Because of that they are unable to function optimally. In order to perform better the imbalance can be corrected by means of chemical treatment (medication) or by means of effort (behavior modification programs).

The present paper has two objectives: (1) a critical review of dichotic listening studies in children, and (2) an investigation of developmental parameters of the ear asymmetry, based on factors revealed in the review. A dichotic listening task was administered to approximately 20 boys and 20 girls at each of five ages (5,6,7,9 and 11). The results were as follows: (1) significant ear asymmetry was not found in children younger than nine years of age; (2) the magnitude of the differences between ears, while not significant until age nine, continued to increase with age until eleven at which time the slope functions for each ear plateaued; and (3) ear asymmetry was independent of sex. An attempt is made to explain the present results, and those of previous research, within a developmental framework.

This report describes a technique for the analysis of eye-movement recordings. The recordings themselves are described first; this is followed by a description of our methods of analysis. Throughout, an attempt is made to focus on the features of this technique and the analytic methods that can be used with it, as these relate to studies of a clinical neuropsychological nature that can be carried out with adults as well as with children.

The longitudinal development of ear asymmetry has been investigated in two samples of kindergarten and primary school children over an age range of six years. Ear preference in a dichotic digit test, administered four times, did not appear to be affected by age and sex: right ear advantage was predominant at all times. Individual comparison showed the development of ear advantage to depend on initial preference. Initially left eared subjects when changing ear advantage do so from left to right at early and from right to left at later school ages. The left-right shift may be due to the school teaching of linguistic skills which could selectively activate the left cerebral hemisphere. This explanation is supported by the finding that initially right eared subjects tended to conserve that preference at early school ages. Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Mr. P. Borgman and his staff of the Johannesschool in Amsterdam as well as their pupils who did not protest despite being examined year after year. The cooperation of the Free University Audio-Visual Center (Mr. Fred Van Hilst) is kindly acknowledged. Finally we would like to thank Dr. Paul Harris who was willing to read the English text critically and all others who assisted in the completion of this research.

Dichotic listening research with children has continued to be prevalent although numerous authors have described both theoretical and methodological limitations with traditional dichotic listening free-recall paradigms. The present research adds to this growing skepticism by reanalyzing two major longitudinal studies of children's ear asymmetries. These two studies, based in different countries (United States, Holland), utilized highly similar paradigms (free-recall digits), subjects (males), and age levels (kindergarten and second and fifth grade). The questions of ear advantage development, patterns of ear advantages, and the relationship between dichotic listening performance and reading skills are addressed from the multiple statistical methodologies represented in the literature. From these analyses, support for all of the major hypotheses regarding the developmental patterns of dichotic listening performances could be obtained from the same data samples. The use of traditional free-recall dichotic listening paradigms are not recommended for use with children. The implications for future research are discussed.

Two, three and four pair dichotic digit tests were presented twice to 250 normal kindergarten and primary school children. Test-retest as well as inter-test reliability and consistency coefficients were calculated. Their values were shown to match similar indices found in normal adults.

The present paper presents a test of a model which attempts to account for the raised incidence of manifest left-handedness (MLH) in epileptic and mentally retarded populations. The results, based on four cross-cultural studies, provides additional support for the model which predicts that this raised incidence of MLH is due largely to unilateral (left) rather than bilateral hemispheric dysfunction.

Research in developmental neuropsychology has emphasized empirical methods and differences in methodology have probably restricted broader conceptual understanding. Moreover, attention has too often been focused on isolated tests purporting to measure left-right discrimination, form perception, writing, and calculation. This state of affairs has generated a plethora of studies into specific developmental disorders, but these are often based on unrepresentative cases, inadequate design, and isolated behaviors. Theory development has been slow, thus preventing the conceptual integration of findings which appear unrelated or discrepant with specific hypotheses.