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Neuropsychological aspects are of relevance to a variety of psychological concerns, especially in assessments. But is this trend represented in journals which do not explicitly refer to neuropsychologists? To investigate this question, publications in 2008 and 2009 editions of representative German journals on child psychology and psychiatry were bibliometrically analyzed. Main topics of neuropsychological publications were attention disorders and diagnostic issues. Neuropsychological findings support the development of assessment instruments and interventions and help improve the basic understanding of disorders and treatment limitations. For example, reduced attention or memory resources are possible hindrances for individual progress in cognitive behavioral intervention. An intensified dialogue of the disciplines is essential for developing advanced guidelines for diagnostics and therapy.

The persistance of addiction-associated cognitions and behavior is caused, in least part, by long-lasting drug-associated memories. Relapses, triggered by exposure to drug-associated cues, contribute considerably to the maintenance of addiction and are, even after drug-free periods for years, a major challenge in the treatment of addiction. An important advance in understanding the underlying pathophysiology derives from recent research results showing similarities between the process of drug addiction and physiological neural plasticity in learning and memory. In the focus of attention are basic mechanisms involving dopamine, glutamate, and their cellular and molecular targets leading to drug-induced synaptic alterations in the mesolimbic reward system. There is growing evidence from preclinical and clinical studies that specific treatments such as extinction training and cue-exposure therapy are effective. The challenge of future research is to determine which drug-induced adaptations are relevant to the pathophysiology of addiction and to generate more efficient therapies for extinction of addiction-associated cognitions and behavior.

Objective: Deficits in concentration, specific developmental disorders, and behaviour problems often impair the educational abilities of children and adolescents with epilepsy, even if the subjects are seizure-free. The impact of subclinical epileptiform discharges that persist despite adequate antiepileptic treatment is not yet understood. Some studies suggest that these lead to simultaneous transitory cognitive impairment, thereby affecting short-term memory functions. This study examines the impact of subclinical discharges on memory functions., Method: 40 seizure-free children (10.3 +/- 3.5 years) with subclinical epileptiform discharges were examined by means of computerized EEG-coupled tests focussing on visuo-spatial and verbal short-term memory, in order to assess the temporal relation between discharges and test performance., Results: No significant differences in cognitive performance were detected in phases with and without epileptiform discharges; neither discharges > 1.5 sec, nor multiple discharges within a test impaired performance. Moreover, performance was independent of the localisation of discharges and of the time of their occurrence during the test., Conclusions: The present study showed no association between subclinical epileptiform discharges and error rates as indicators of transient cognitive impairment in visuo-spatial and verbal short-term memory. Hence, other mechanisms have to be taken into account to explain the known cognitive deficits in patients with epilepsy.

Introduction: Rolandic epilepsy is the most frequent epileptic syndrome in childhood, electroencephalographically characterized by focal sharp waves, so called rolandic spikes (benign epileptiform discharges of childhood). These discharges occur in about 1.5 to 2.4% of children; only 10% of them suffer from epileptic seizures., Methods: This paper reviews genetic, epidemiological, radiological, neurophysiologic, metabolic and neuropsychological findings in children with rolandic discharges., Results: The epileptologic course is favorable, seizures and EEG features usually resolve completely at puberty. In contrast to former assumptions, symptoms range from infrequent seizures to neuropsychological deficits and behavior problems, even in children without overt seizures. The impact of rolandic spikes on the development of affected children and their behavior is unclear. Two models try to elucidate the relation between EEG discharges and neuropsychological disorders. The first regards neuropsychological disturbances as transient cognitive impairment due to epileptiform discharges; the second model strengthens the role of a hereditary impairment of brain maturation., Conclusions: The benefit of pharmacotherapy for treating neuropsychiatric symptoms in children with rolandic spikes but without overt seizures remains to be clarified.

Objectives: Do dyslexic children exhibit a general automatizational deficit as well as a phonological deficit?, Methods: In 16 children aged 9-11 years the reaction time, the number of mistakes and EEG (19 scalp electrodes) were measured in three experiments (verbal and nonverbal). The EEG data was baseline-corrected and after a fast fourier transformation, analyzed with the coherence tool of the Brainvision Software., Results: The dyslexic group made more mistakes than the control group on all tasks but their reaction times were significantly longer only on the verbal tasks. There were no coherence differences on the nonverbal task. On the language-dependent tasks the dyslexics showed higher total-frontal and lower left-frontal coherences only in the theta-frequency range, while in the alpha and beta frequency ranges coherences did not differ., Conclusions: A language-dependent cognitive automatizational deficit in the dyslexic group is assumed that is depicted by the higher synchronization of total-frontal coherences (involvement of the central executive) and is based on the less established functional coupling of cortical subsystems for language processing.

Objective: The present article provides an overview of the main approaches in the current literature on the neurobiological correlates of developmental dyslexia., Methods: Approximately 120 articles, published mainly within the past six years, were analyzed., Results: Three topics are of focal interest: first, the point of unusual asymmetries of the temporal plana and deviations of the corpus callosum; second, the analysis of abnormal patterns of activation of the left hemispherical frontal and temporal lobes. In this context, a dysfunction of the angular gyrus is discussed. The third approach postulates that global deficits of subcortical systems concerning the temporal procession of acoustic and visual information play a major role in the cause of dyslexia., Conclusions: The first approach is not specific enough with regard to negative results, whereas the second and third seem particularly promising.

Objective: Subjective organization (SO) of verbal memory and learning was investigated for 44 adolescent patients., Method: The patients were subdivided into four clinical groups according to localization of lesion: right hemisphere (RH), left hemisphere (LH), frontal (FL), and brain stem (SL)., Results: As expected RH patients performed best on this verbal learning task, whereas FL and SL patients demonstrated very poor SO, indicating their failure in categorize memory input. LH patients increased SO, following successive trials, which suggests an active learning strategy., Conclusions: It is argued that the use SO analysis in neuropsychology will stimulate the course of further research towards attaining a better understanding of memory and learning impairments and their remission in brain-damaged patient.

Diagnostic audiological tests performed in ten children from 1985 to 1991 showed remarkable differences between the results of behavioral audiometry (free field or pure tone audiometry) and those of auditory evoked response audiometry. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) was absent in seven children with sensory neural hearing loss. Neuropsychological evaluation was performed on four children, neuropsychological observation was performed on two children, pediatric examination was performed on three children and one child showed signs of neuropediatric disorder. The results of neuropsychological evaluation showed moderate to severe learning disabilities (sensory integration disorders, learning disorders) in all four children tested. Available neuropsychological observation also indicated the presence of sensory integration disorders in two children. Two children had multiple handicaps with cerebral abnormalities, two further children were diagnosed as suffering from "minimal cerebral dysfunction," one of which was mentally retarded. The fact that ABRs were absent in seven children indicates that a response desynchronisation in the auditory pathway may exist in these disorders. Thus, ABR might not be a reliable method for audiological testing in children with learning disabilities or other cerebral dysfunctions, but serves as an adjunct to conventional testing methods.

Writing and spelling are conceived as concerted actions comprising cognitive planning, motor action and an expressive content. In literate societies the individual use of alphabetic systems is acquired immediately after speech as a "cultural technique". As such these systems demand specific cognitive and motor skills which have been analysed primarily on the basis of neurological and psychiatric syndromes. We distinguish primary developmental disturbances and secondarily acquired disturbances of writing and spelling, categorizing the latter into four essential disturbance areas: linguistic command, motor execution, automatism control and dynamic tonus regulation. The clinical significance of writing and spelling is not confined to its possible disturbances. In pathologically induced restrictions of cognitive functions or of social skills the fact is rather that the written language frequently contributes to the development of individual coping strategies. From the psychodynamic aspect, written communication is characterized principally by its proximity-regulating function.

262 severely hard-off hearing and deaf 10-13 years old children were screened by a short, standardised neurological examination consisting of 7 items. The results showed a high rate of socalled soft signs especially in form of associated movements. It seemed remarkable that the rate of soft signs did not diminish over the age range examined. Statistical relations of these results to other variables of the whole study (gross motor coordination, hyperkinetic behaviour, global psychiatric ratings) support the hypothesis that soft signs are predictors of psychiatric morbidity in general.

EEG correlation analyses were conducted with children with and without specific learning weaknesses. Reduced left parietal correlation was found in children with dyslectic problems, and in children with adjustment and concentration problems, reduced bioelectric correlation. The frequent evidence of brain injury criteria suggests a link with general affectations of correlation but not specifically with cerebral correlation affections. It would appear to be appropriate to employ computer-assisted EEG correlation analysis, together with frequency analysis and the examination of evoked potentials in objective neurometric diagnosis where children with learning weaknesses are involved.

Memory and learning in man depend on complex cognitive systems, and thus on efficient associative information stores in different neocortical areas of our brain. In addition, phylogenetically older, "limbic" brain structures are needed, in order to manage these huge accociative stores in our telencephalon. This "operating system" manages memory and learning capabilities considering the "milieu interne", and especially biological and individual priorities. Our contribution attempts to sketch the anatomical outlines of this limbic operating system. Two interdependent neuronal networks may be of pivotal importance: 1. a medial limbic loop with Papez circuit as the main structure, and 2. a basolateral limbic loop including the amygdala, the subcallosal area (and the septum verum?) as well as the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus. Based on the anatomical evidence of (largely) selective, i.e. focal brain lesions the likelihood for all these relay stations as memory-related structures is discussed. Our working hypothesis assumes that combined, bilateral lesions of both limbic neuronal networks make severe, global and lasting deficits in memory and learning performance fairly likely. The lesion of only one of these limbic loops seems to cause modality-specific deficits. Unilateral lesions of the retrocommissural hippocampal formation may also account for lasting amnesia.