Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Pathology, 2004? / Includes list of articles published or accepted for publication during the period of PhD candidature. "July, 2004" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-293).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 16, 2009). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-130).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-251) and index.

Neuropsychologists are becoming increasingly aware that there is a complex interplay of cognitive, personality, and sociocultural factors that affect an individual's performance on neuropsychological tests. The current study investigated the effect of one aspect of the sociocultural environment, that is, quality of education, on performance on neuropsychological tests of executive function. The sample included 40 high school learners: Group A comprised learners with a high quality of education and Group B comprised learners with a low quality of education. Four tests of executive function were administered: the Verbal Fluency Test, the Design Fluency Test, the Stroop Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Results indicated that quality of education significantly affected the participants' performance with Group A performing significantly better than Group B on all the tests of executive function. These findings have implications for the interpretation of neuropsychological test performance in cross-cultural research and practice. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

The present study aimed at investigating the neuropsychological sequelae of transient ischaemic attacks. Transient ischaemic attacks are defined as those neurological disorders in which there is complete resolution of neurological symptoms within twenty·four hours. Transient ischaemic attacks may or may not reveal evidence of brain infarcts on imaging studies. In the present study, the neuropsychological sequelae of transient ischaemic attacks in the carotid circulation were investigated since, within the perspective of cognitive neuropsychology, it was assumed that localized changes in cognitive functions could be demonstrated.Since several psychological, medical and neurological factors are known to influence scores·on neuropsychological tests, regression analyses were performed to determine which factors contributed significantly to the variance of scores on neuropsychological tests in the transient ischaemic attack and control groups. Two transient ischaemic attack groups, each comprising forty left and forty right hemisphere involvement patients, were then compared with each other and with a control group of forty general medical patients. Stenosis of the carotid artery formed a significant predictor of test scores in the combined transient ischaemic attack group. When the groups were·analyzed independently, in the left transient ischaemic attack group stenosis predicted performance on the same tests reaching significance for the combined group, and for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Perseverative Score). In the right transient ischaemic attack group, stenosis significantly predicted performance on Digits Forward, Backward and Total, the PASAT (2.4 seconds) and Trails B. On the other hand, education formed a significant predictor of performance on Digits Forward, Digits Backward and Digits Total and the PASAT (all levels) in the control group. Multivariate comparisons revealed that the left and right transient ischaemic attack groups performed worse than the controls on tests of attention, concentration and conceptual flexibi1ity. The left transient ischaemic attack group performed worse than the right transient ischaemic attack group on all tests of attention and concentration, but there was a significantly better performance of the former group on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (Trial 1), Block Designs and Verbal Fluency. The findings on the PASAT that left transient ischaemic attack patients performed significantly worse than the right hemisphere group ·were considered to be relatively unreported previously in the literature on transient ischaemic attacks. The findings obtained are discussed from a neurocognitive perspective of neuropsychological functioning in transient ischaemic attacks. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)

Pathological gambling is a maladaptive behaviour associated with diminished self-control over persistent compulsive gambling behaviour despite negative consequences. A significant revision to the clinical perspective of pathological gambling is underway, and the disorder will likely be recognized as a behavioural addiction in the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, the neurobiological, cognitive and behavioural processes that drive a ‘behavioural addiction’ are unclear. A series of five studies were conducted to investigate cognitive mechanisms associated with neural and behavioural substrates of addictive processes in disordered gambling. Studies 1 through 3 investigated neurobiological correlates of addiction in individuals with pathological gambling as compared to individuals with cocaine dependence, and as compared to non-addicted healthy controls. Study 1 investigated brain activity associated with anticipatory and consummatory reward processing during slot-machine gambling. Study 2 investigated executive control processes by examining functional brain networks associated with loss-chasing behaviour. Study 3 employed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to explore alterations in grey-matter volumes in individuals with addictive disorders. Studies 4 and 5 investigated the behavioural substrates of addiction in regular gamblers utilizing emerging and novel research techniques. Study 4 examined continuous hand motion trajectories to explore approach biases and implicit processing. Study 5 employed an adaptive testing methodology to explore the influence of gaming machine preferences on cognitive processes and gambling behaviour. Research identified neurobiological and behavioural substrates of gambling-related beliefs and biases that indicate significant contributions of cognitive mechanisms to the development and persistence of a behavioural addiction. Results suggest addictive disorders may share some common features of anticipatory reward processing and brain structure (Studies 1 and 3), while neural signals associated losing outcomes and decision-making during gambling may be specific to disordered gambling (Studies 1 and 2). Furthermore, cognitive distortions in regular gamblers may influence reinforcement and executive control processes (Study 4), and individual preferences for gaming speed may influence cognitions and behaviour during machine gambling. As additional psychological disorders are being considered for classification as behavioural addictions, and clinicians will be faced with the challenges of treating individuals with these non-substance-related addictive disorders, a better understanding of behavioural addictions, through the study of disordered gambling, will be essential under the new diagnostic framework.

Includes list of articles published or accepted for publication during the period of PhD candidature. / "July, 2004" / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-293) / xxviii, 293 leaves : ill., plates (col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Pathology, 2004?

Knowledge of the literature pertaining to patterns of performance in normal individuals is essential if we are to understand intraindividual variability in neurocognitive test performance in neuropsychiatric disorders. Twenty-five healthy individuals with a high-level of education were evaluated on a short neuropsychological battery which spanned several cognitive domains. ---Results indicated that cognitive abilities are not equally distributed within a sample of healthy, high-level functioning individuals. This may be of interest to neuropsychologists who might base clinical inference about the presence of cerebral dysfunction, at least in part, on marked variation in a patient’s level of cognitive test performance. The practice of deductive reasoning in clinical neuropsychology may be prone to false-positive conclusions about cognitive functioning in neuropsychiatric disorders where base-rates of cognitive impairments are low and pre-existing educational achievements are high.

Knowledge of the literature pertaining to patterns of performance in normal individuals is essential if we are to understand intraindividual variability in neurocognitive test performance in neuropsychiatric disorders. Twenty-five healthy individuals with a high-level of education were evaluated on a short neuropsychological battery which spanned several cognitive domains. ---Results indicated that cognitive abilities are not equally distributed within a sample of healthy, high-level functioning individuals. This may be of interest to neuropsychologists who might base clinical inference about the presence of cerebral dysfunction, at least in part, on marked variation in a patient’s level of cognitive test performance. The practice of deductive reasoning in clinical neuropsychology may be prone to false-positive conclusions about cognitive functioning in neuropsychiatric disorders where base-rates of cognitive impairments are low and pre-existing educational achievements are high.

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