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Slaves of One Master: Globalization and Slavery in Arabia in the Age of Empire. By Matthew S. Hopper. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015. 328 pp. $85.00 (hardcover). Buying Time: [...]

Few studies have summarized the literature relevant to the incremental validity of tools and procedures for the assessment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The current project reviewed such studies published in the prior 18 years. Results from studies on the incremental validity of measures used in the assessment of ADHD were reviewed. Measures included symptom reports, clinical interviews, behavioral observation, continuous performance and other psychomotor tasks, intelligence tests, and measures of executive function. Twenty-nine published studies and two reviews were identified from 2004 to 2022. Incremental validity was determined using various statistics including R 2, classification metrics, odds ratios, and post-test probabilities. Findings suggest that symptom reports from a collateral source and continuous performance test measures have incremental validity over self-reports and clinical interviews. Measures of intellectual and executive functioning did not show incremental validity in the diagnosis of ADHD. Findings are relevant to the practitioner, as they bear on the optimization of both the cost-effectiveness and the diagnostic accuracy of combined procedures in the assessment of ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt was made to modify the Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA), which was proposed to identify four possible contingencies maintaining the respondent's gambling behavior. However, previous research found that it only identified two contingencies (i.e., positive vs. negative reinforcement), with some items cross-loading on both contingencies and one not loading at all. A total of 1,060 undergraduate students completed a revised version of the GFA containing 22 items. Exploratory factor analyses conducted on a random selection of half of the participants led to a two-factor solution (positive and negative reinforcement) for 16 of the items that strongly loaded on the two factors. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted using structural equation modeling on the data from the other half of the sample confirmed the two-factor model. The GFA-Revised consists of 16 items, 8 each measuring positive and negative reinforcement contingencies. Although this revised measure cleanly parses the two contingencies, the data indicate that gambling maintained by positive reinforcement is more frequent than gambling maintained by negative reinforcement. This outcome will make directly comparing the two contingencies difficult, especially given that evidence suggests that gambling maintained by negative reinforcement is more strongly associated with pathology than gambling maintained by positive reinforcement. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Learning effects were assessed for the block design (BD) task, on the basis of variation in 2 stimulus parameters: perceptual cohesiveness (PC) and set size uncertainty (U). Thirty-one nonclinical undergraduate students (19 female) each completed 3 designs for each of 4 varied sets of the stimulus parameters (high-PC/high-U, high-PC/low-U, low-PC/high-U, and low-PC/low-U), ordered randomly within a larger set of designs with mixed stimulus characteristics. Regression analyses revealed significant, although modest, learning effects in all conditions. Negative-logarithmic learning slopes (growth factors) were greatest for high-U/high-PC designs and smallest for low-U/low-PC designs. Comparison of these slopes with known Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3rd ed.; D. Wechsler, 1997; and 4th ed.; D. Wechsler, 2008) BD subtest gain scores demonstrated that presenting novel test items matched on stimulus parameters in multiple administrations reduced learning effects compared with the repeated use of the same test items. The results suggest that repeated administration of novel test items of the BD subtest, matched for PC and U, would result in more accurate assessments of changes in examinees' abilities over time than would the use of the same items. Difficulties inherent in implementing this method are also discussed. (Contains 3 footnotes, 3 tables, and 4 figures.)

The Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA; Dixon & Johnson, 2007) is a 20-item self-report inventory identifying four potential consequences maintaining gambling behavior. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are performed for two large, nonclinical samples of university undergraduates. For the exploratory analysis, the optimal model yields two factors: Positive Reinforcement (correlated with GFA Sensory, Attention, and Tangible scores) and Negative Reinforcement (correlated with GFA Escape scores). One GFA item fails to load on either factor adequately. Factor loadings are confirmed using structural equation modeling for the second sample. The resulting model yields a mix of adequate and suboptimal fit indicators. Although the 2-factor model of the GFA has great theoretical utility and shows significant promise, confirmation within clinical samples of gamblers will be necessary to further validate the model. GFA Escape scores are uniquely distributed in the two samples and may represent functions most likely to maintain pathological gambling. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)

Three-dimensional haptic matrices were pilot-tested as a nonvisual measure of cognitive ability. The results indicated that they correlated with convergent measures, with emphasis on spatial processing and that the participants who described items "visually" completed them more quickly and accurately and tended to have become visually impaired more recently than the other participants. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.)