Biomedical subjects

J S Caroselli

Publications and source records attributed to J S Caroselli.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Self-concept and quality of life following acquired brain injury: a pilot investigation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate through pilot exploration the relationships between depression, self-concept and perceived quality of life (QoL) in post-acute patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). METHODS: Nineteen patients with ABI were administered the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the Quality of Life Inventory, along with the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale-2 and the Head Injury Semantic Differential Scale, measures of self-concept. The relationships between these measures were explored using correlational analyses. RESULTS: Ratings of self-concept were correlated with perceived QoL, suggesting that poorer view of self was associated with lower subjective QoL. Additionally, depressive symptoms were associated with lower QoL ratings, consistent with previous research. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that intra-personal variables, such as self-concept and depression, impact the perceived QoL of the ABI survivor. Future research exploring the mediating effects of these variables on QoL may clarify this relationship and may aid in developing more effective interventions for these individuals.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Performance on paced serial addition tasks indicates an associative network for calculation.

Although paced serial addition (PSA) tasks are considered to be tests of general information-processing capacity, recent work suggests that performance on such tasks is influenced by arithmetic-specific variables. We designed two visual PSA experiments to determine whether the performance of normal adults would support predictions derived from the cognitive psychology of calculation. Experiment 1 showed that mixing familiar (Arabic numeral) and less familiar (Roman numeral) stimulus formats reduced scores below the averaged scores for pure Arabic and Roman lists. The Roman-Arabic order of addends was more difficult than the Arabic-Roman order. Experiment 2, which involved only Arabic numerals as addends, showed that performance could be impaired by constraining the trial-to-trial variability of sums. The results of both experiments confirm the importance of arithmetic-specific variables in PSA and provide support for an associative network model of calculation. In addition, the findings implicate interference from extraneous addends and responses as the performance-limiting factor.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Predictive validity of the Neurobehavioural Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE) in a post-acute rehabilitation setting.

Within the context of a post-acute rehabilitation setting, association and agreement between results from the Neurobehavioural Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE) and from the neuropsychological (NP) evaluation are examined. All participants (n = 48) had sustained a severe traumatic brain injury and NCSE testing preceded NP testing by an average of 1 month. A significant relationship and fair classification agreement (i.e. presence or absence of cognitive impairment) was found between the overall results from NCSE and NP evaluation. Significant relationships were also observed between most NCSE subtests and paired NP tests thought to be assessing the same cognitive domains. However, the classification agreement (i.e. the presence or absence of deficient performance) between most NCSE subtests and paired NP tests was poor. The findings are discussed from the standpoint of individual treatment planning.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Neuropsychological assessment and the Disability Rating Scale (DRS): a concurrent validity study.

Assessment of current level of functioning among clients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often guides the establishment of realistic outcome goals for post-acute rehabilitation. Further, data generated from neuropsychological testing provide a clinician with a better understanding of a client's pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses. The Disability Rating Scale (DRS) is commonly used by TBI rehabilitation facilities to assess a client's general level of functioning in terms of impairment, disability, and handicap. Previous studies have used clients' neuropsychological test results to predict future level of functioning. These studies have shown mixed results regarding the predictive validity of the test findings; however, they usually employ only a limited number of tests for prediction representing a limited number of cognitive domains. Using a concurrent validity design, the present study investigated the bivariate associations between various neuropsychological testing domains (i.e. intellectual, academic, language, visuoperceptual, memory, and executive functioning) and level of functioning as indexed by the DRS. Participants were administered the DRS and the neuropsychological evaluation during the initial part of post-acute rehabilitation. Composite scores were derived for each of the neuropsychological domains. Most participants were categorized as sustaining a severe TBI. The mean age and education of this predominately male sample was 28.84 years (SD = 9.13) and 11.83 years (SD = 1.7), respectively. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between performances in intellectual, executive, academic, and visuoperceptual domains and level of functioning.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Interhemispheric transfer of visual, auditory, tactile, and visuomotor information in children with hydrocephalus and partial agenesis of the corpus callosum.

Interhemispheric transfer was examined in 13 normal controls and in 13 children with hydrocephalus and partial agenesis of the corpus callosum involving a missing splenium associated with spina bifida meningomyelocele and aqueductal stenosis. Children with hydrocephalus demonstrated greater left visual-field superiority for forms indicative of difficulty in interhemispheric transfer of visual information. Interhemispheric transfer time (ITT) was somewhat longer in the children with hydrocephalus, but neither the ITT task nor the dichotic listening and tactile naming tasks provided clear evidence of difficulties in callosal transfer. Sensory and perceptual control tasks revealed similar visual acuity and monotic word perception but larger 2-point discrimination thresholds and poorer tactile matching.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

PubMed1998

Paced serial addition: modality-specific and arithmetic-specific factors.

Tests of paced serial addition are used to detect diminished information-processing capacity. Nonetheless, performance might be influenced by modality-specific interference or by variables that specifically affect numerical processing. In a series of three experiments with normal adults, we manipulated, respectively, the modality in which addends were presented, the modality in which responses were produced, and the format in which visual addends were displayed. Performance was enhanced when stimuli were presented visually and when responses were made manually. When visual addends were used, Arabic numerals were processed more effectively than number words. Thus, performance was influenced by modality-specific interference and by presentation format. We conclude that paced serial addition tasks may not provide a pure measure of general information-processing capacity.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed1997

Asymmetric interference between concurrent tasks: an evaluation of competing explanatory models.

According to Kinsbourne's functional cerebral distance model, asymmetric interference between concurrent cognitive and manual tasks reflects the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres. However, alternative explanations include initial-values artifact (statistical bias model), motor asymmetry (manual dominance model), and a combination of functional cerebral distance and manual dominance (two-factor model). We evaluated the competing models in four experiments with right- and left-handed university students for whom manual dominance was in effect reversed by requiring the dominant hand to perform the more difficult manual task. The cognitive load of the nonmanual task was varied within each experiment. The results did not support any of the models but, instead, reflected only tradeoffs between manual and nonmanual performance. The primary implications for future research are that performance on both tasks must be measured, and each task must be sensitive to interference from the other task, if observed asymmetries are to be interpretable.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Webster's scattergram method: usefulness for assessing the asymmetry of interference between concurrent tasks.

Webster (1988) described a means of using scattergrams to represent the manual and nonmanual data from dual-task laterality experiments in a composite analysis. We used Webster's method and the conventional approach (i.e., separate analyses) to analyze the results of an experiment in which 40 right-handed adults performed a verbal and a manual task concurrently. Whereas separate analyses yielded dissimilar outcomes for the two tasks, the scattergram analysis showed that overall interference was greater when the right hand performed the manual task than when the left hand performed the manual task. Advantages of the scattergram method for analyzing dual-task data are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Adaptive and maladaptive utilization of color cues by patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

The ability to utilize color information was investigated in 12 patients with mild to moderate probable Alzheimer's Disease (DAT) and in 12 age- and gender-matched control subjects. All subjects underwent testing of visual acuity and color vision before being tested with a cognitive task consisting of four conditions (no color, color as attention enhancer, color as valid cue, color as distracter). Although the groups did not differ in visual acuity or color vision, patients with DAT were less accurate than controls in all four conditions of the cognitive task. Both groups performed best with color as a valid cue and worst with color as distracter, but condition had a significantly stronger effect on patients than on controls. It is concluded that color is a potent stimulus attribute for patients with DAT.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1990

Effects of medical and surgical treatment on cerebral perfusion and cognition in patients with chronic cerebral ischemia.

The effects of medical treatment with and without cerebral revascularization procedures on cognition and cerebral blood flow were compared among 36 patients with extracranial occlusive cerebrovascular disease and cognitive impairments. Three comparable groups were studied. The first group (N = 18) received only medical treatment by control of risk factors for stroke (including hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia) and antiplatelet aggregant medication. The second group (N = 10) had the same medical treatment plus superficial temporal-to-middle cerebral artery bypass, and the third group had the same medical treatment plus carotid endarterectomy. Regional cerebral blood flow and cognition were monitored in all three treatment groups over a 3-year interval. All groups showed stabilization without expected rates of decline for both cerebral blood flow and cognition, but no statistically significant differences emerged among the treatment groups.

Aged↗