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Administered Kimura's Recurring-Figures-Test to 427 normal subjects from Germany. A Kuder-Richardson test reliability was obtained. T-scale norms are given for two subgroups of different educational levels. Results indicated that the RFT is a valid instrument for the assessment of nonverbal memory function, and has a high test reliability. (Author)

Introduction: Patients with major depression report on severe cognitive deficits but objective neuropsychological test results indicate rather mild problems. In the present study we aimed at investigating neuropsychological performance, subjective complaints, and observer ratings of cognitive abilities in everyday life., Methods: Fifteen patients with major depression were studied in the acute state of illness and after remission. Fifteen healthy control subjects were investigated, too. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery, questionnaires for self and observer rating of cognitive abilities, and clinical questionnaires were administered., Results: As expected problems reported in self and observer ratings exceeded neuropsychological deficits in tests. Neuropsychological test results tended to be improved at the second test session, with patients showing a more pronounced improvement in flexibility., Conclusions: The data support the hypothesis that cognitive problems in everyday life indeed exceed results in standardised tests. However, it seems also likely from our data that results are additionally influenced by patients negative self perception.

The emotional Stroop task is a widely used method for investigating attentional bias towards stimuli due to mood or affect. In general, standardized stimuli are used, which might not be appropriate when investigating individual contextual frameworks. It was investigated whether words chosen to be related to individuals' personal life events would produce more pronounced Stroop interference (as an indicator of attentional bias) than stimuli without any personal relevance. Twenty-six nonclinical subjects, 20 female and 6 male, participated in the study. Mean age was 36.1 yr. (SD = 18.1). All were recruited by means of local advertising. Stimulus material consisted of four word types: personal words related to negative life events with and without current personal relevance, and negative and neutral words without any personal relevance. Words were presented in three blocks. Analysis of variance showed main effects for word type and blocks, with slower reactions in the personally relevant conditions than in the negative, or neutral conditions, and in response to the first blocks as opposed to the last. These findings indicate that regardless of the word valence, personally relevant stimuli evoke more pronounced Stroop interference than do stimuli without personal relevance.

The Wada test is at present the method of choice for preoperative assessment of patients who require surgery close to cortical language areas. It is, however, an invasive test with an attached morbidity risk. By now, an alternative to the Wada test is to combine a lexical word generation paradigm with non-invasive imaging techniques. However, results of this approach are still not in complete agreement with the findings of the Wada test (r = .92; Knecht, Deppe, Ebner et al., 1998). We attempted to obtain a more distinct language lateralization with the development of a phonological rhyme generation paradigm based on pseudoword stimuli. To examine the predictive value of both paradigms we performed simultaneous bilateral functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography on 19 right-handed male native German subjects. The rhyme generation condition produced a significantly stronger lateralization to the supposed hemisphere of language dominance than the classical word generation condition. The observed differences suggest that the rhyme generation paradigm is more robust in detecting hemispheric language dominance than other neuropsychological paradigms and might be most valuable for preoperative assessment of cortical language areas.

The Block Suppression Paradigm developed by Beblo, Klaver, Grubich, Wachowius, and Herrmann (1999) is based on the Corsi Block tapping test and requires that a subject reproduces every 2nd block in a given sequence. Results from two studies of a standardized version, the Block Suppression Test (BST), are presented here. In Study 1 the BST was administered to 48 healthy subjects along with a battery of comprehensive neuropsychological tests. The reliability of the BST proved satisfactory under psychometric analysis, while Principal Component Analysis (PCA) confirmed its validity. In Study 2 the BST was administered to a clinical sample of 31 brain-damaged patients to demonstrate its clinical practicability.

The magnification of visual field asymmetry observed with bilateral compared to unilateral tachistoscopic presentation of homologous stimuli (bilateral effect) can be explained by two hypothetical processes: homologous activation with subsequent inhibition of callosal information transfer or intrahemispheric competition for processing resources. A lexical decision task with unilateral and bilateral stimulation and response with the right or left hand was used in an attempt to decide between these hypotheses. Analysis of response time data revealed a bilateral effect, superimposed on a right visual field advantage, and no interaction between visual field and response hand. Results are consistent with the hypothesis of intrahemispheric competition in the left hemisphere., (Copyright 2001 Academic Press.)

Although the majority of studies on musical processing in musicians observed a left hemisphere dominance which has usually been explained by a proficient analytical strategy used by these subjects, the findings are still inconsistent. Changes in hemispheric activity induced by listening to music (J. S. Bach fugues) and by recognizing the repetitions of the fugue theme were examined, using the technique of bilateral transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) of the left and right middle cerebral artery (MCA). Subjects were 32 right-handed musicians, half of whom were members of an orchestra or members of a choir. The fugues were presented in two versions: a-cappella and instrumental. During passive listening to the a-cappella version, a weak left-dominant asymmetry of blood flow acceleration was observed, while there was no hemispheric asymmetry during listening to the instrumental version. During the task of fugue theme recognition, a highly significant asymmetry in favour of the right MCA was observed with both versions. It is concluded that when the processing of complex musical material has to be based on the analysis of melodic contour features and calls for working memory capacities a right hemisphere dominance is observed even in musically sophisticated subjects.

In this study 27 patients with right hemisphere lesions, 25 patients with left hemisphere lesions and 26 normal control subjects were investigated for unimodal and simultaneous multimodal recognition of emotional attitude. All subjects were shown 330 videotaped items of 4 seconds duration, each of which was to be judged in terms of facial expression, emotional prosody and the emotional meaning of the underlying spoken sentence. In a preceding experiment comparable unimodal emotional stimuli were applied. The results suggest (a) right hemisphere superiority for recognition of emotions conveyed by facial and prosodic information, (b) a right hemisphere dominance for the recognition of fear and (c) no significant enhancement of right hemisphere superiority under multimodal presentation of emotional stimuli.

Changes in arterial blood flow velocity induced by cognitive activity were measured by simultaneous bilateral transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) of the posterior and the middle cerebral artery. The finding of a robust left hemisphere dominance for verbal tasks but of an inconsistent right hemisphere dominance for visuospatial tasks obtained in an earlier study [13], in which TCD measurement had been restricted to the middle cerebral arteries, was confirmed. At the same time, it could be demonstrated that the failure to find the expected right hemisphere dominance for tasks of spatial visualization and mental rotation extended to the TCD measurement of the posterior cerebral arteries.

Sensorimotor learning ability in patients with ideomotor apraxia was investigated, using as subjects, eight patients with ideomotor apraxia, 8 with aphasia without ideomotor apraxia, and 8 normal controls. The aphasia, apraxia, and normal control groups were matched for age, sex, and education. The aphasia and apraxia groups were chosen to control for lesion size and scores on Kimura's recurring figure test, the Token test, and intelligence. The mirror-aiming test was performed and the learning effect in terms of decreases in total time, the number of errors, and the times for errors were examined. There was no statistically significant difference between the learning effect of the apraxic group and that of the aphasic group for total time, the number of errors, and the times for errors; however, there were group differences on each trial for number of errors and the times for errors. These results suggest that patients with ideomotor apraxia have some difficulties in motor performance rather than disturbance of learning.

The efficacy of electromyographic (EMG) feedback for the treatment of chronic upper extremity hemiparesis was quantitatively assessed through a series of objective and standardized tests of motor skills given to 12 stroke patients before and after treatment. In addition to standardized tests, video recordings of patient performance during simple motor tasks were made before and after EMG feedback training to permit subjective ratings of patient performance. Only six patients were able to perform the standardized tests of motor skills in a way permitting meaningful evaluation of results, and their test scores showed no significant improvement after treatment. Ratings of the video records by 37 independent physical therapists showed that some improvement of gross motor performance could be observed at the level of subjective global evaluation.

It was examined whether the performance of right hemisphere patients in the comprehension of cartoons is predominantly influenced by disturbed processing of affective material or by cognitive deficits. Cartoons differing in their cognitive demand were presented to groups of right hemisphere patients, aphasics and normal controls. Subjects were required to identify the cartoon in a multiple choice set of four pictures. Additionally, subjects were asked to rate the funniness on a three-point scale. The results indicate that the impairment of right hemisphere patients is caused by a combination of visuo-perceptive and cognitive deficits rather than by an inability to identify the affective component of cartoons.