Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Tidigare forskning har visat att Alzheimers sjukdom tidigt kan påverka visuospatial och exekutiv funktion. Ökad kunskap om hur dessa funktioner påverkas kan bidra till tidig upptäckt. Kopieringsuppgiften av Rey-Osterrieth komplexa figur bedömdes explorativt och kvalitativt i syfte att utforska skillnader i organisation hos tre grupper: Alzheimers, Lindrig kognitiv störning (MCI) och kontroller. Resultaten indikerade att antal felplacerade delfigurer baserat på kriterier i Rey Complex Figure Test skulle kunna vara en tidig markör för nedsatt visuospatial konstruktionsförmåga. Resultat från bedömning med Boston Qualitative Scoring System var i linje med tidigare forskning. AD-gruppen organiserade sin kopiering signifikant sämre än kontroller. Även MCI-gruppen visade tecken på nedsatt exekutiv funktion.

The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Task (ROCFT) has been a standard in neuropsychological assessment for six decades. Many researchers have contributed administration procedures, additional scoring systems and normative data to improve its utility. Despite the abundance of research, the original 36-point scoring system still reigns among clinicians despite documented problems with ceiling and floor effects and poor discrimination between levels of impairment. This study is an attempt to provide a new method based upon item response theory that will allow clinicians to better describe the impairment levels of their patients. Through estimation of item characteristic curves, underlying traits can be estimated while taking into account varying levels of difficulty and discrimination within the set of individual items. The ultimate goal of the current research is identification of a subset of ROCFT items that can be examined in addition to total scores to provide an extra level of information for clinicians, particularly when they are faced with a need to discriminate severely and mildly impaired patients.

The thesis is focused on the use of the test Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure at eight years old children. The theoretical part contains a description of the development of cognitive functions. Further presentation of Rey-Osterrieth and Taylor Complex Figures, the possibility of administration, scoring and interpretation. A significant part presents Developmental Scoring System (DSS - ROCF). Empirical part introduces new tentative standards for children aged eight years, comparison of Rey-Osterrieth and Taylor complex figure, analysis of each phase of the test and elements, and comparison of Osterrieth's scoring system with Developmental Scoring System (DSS - ROCF). Our study revealed the following findings. Flynn effect has not been demonstrated in the Rey- Osterrieth complex figure, while the opposite trend was observed. There were found significant differences between Rey-Osterrieth and Taylor Complex Figures at eight years old children in recall trial, in copy trial can be both figures regarded as equivalent. Analysis of the various phases of the test gives guide for interpretation. A comparison of the two approaches provides an overview of the Development scoring system (DSS - ROCF). KEY WORDS Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, Taylor Complex Figure, Flynn effect, Developmental Scoring Systém for the...

The aim of this study was to establish preliminary normative indications for Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test administered in English on a non-clinical population of Xhosa, unskilled workers (N = 33). The population has a history of relatively poor quality education and has received no tertiary education. The sample was stratified into two age grouping (18 – 29 and 30 – 40 years). Both sex and level of education were equally distributed within these age groupings. Within-sample statistical comparisons indicated no significant sex effect was present for any of the trials (Copy, IR or DR). Similarly, no significant age effect was present in the Copy trial. Significant age effects were observed for both recall trials (IR and DR). The local sample’s mean performance was descriptively and statistically compared to demographically equivalent nonlocal normative studies. Excluding an illiterate Columbian sample’s performance, the local sample performed significantly lower than all other available normative populations. Lastly, the local sample performed significantly lower than scores derived from a meta-analysis of normative indications in respect of educationally advantaged westernized groups for all three trials (p = .000 in all instances). These results assert the indispensable need for, and use of, culturally appropriate normative datasets in contemporary South African psychological assessments. Equally, these findings serve to highlight the significant influence of quality of education on cognitive test performance, being a critical socio-cultural variable that needs to be taken into consideration for norming purposes.

Learner’s processing styles may play a vital role in their approach to learning, more specifically; the ability to make inferences plays an important role in all areas of language and learning and may contribute to difficulties learners are experiencing at school. It is therefore that the research was directed at investigating a possible relationship between the left hemispheric analytical and right hemispheric holistic processing styles and the types of errors inferential versus literal, made in reading comprehension tasks. The hemispheric processing styles were operationalised as the approach taken to the Rey- Osterreith Complex Figure (ROCF) and the types of errors made on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) across two levels of educational development. The sample consisted of grade 4 and grade 10 model C learners from the same schooling district. The data obtained from both assessments were subjected to correlation analyses, chi squared tests, analyses of variances (ANOVAs) and logistic regressions. Finally the results and associative conclusions indicated that there were only modest positive relationships between the predominant hemispheric processing styles and the error types on reading comprehension tasks and the demographics of the learners were the main contributors and accounted for the results discovered in the study as opposed to general hemispheric processing. Thus there is a need to understand the unique dynamics within the country and to explore alternatives to teaching practices to account for the variations evident in the classrooms.

The thesis discusses the psychological test called Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF) and focuses on the possibilities of its use in ten-year-old children. The objective of this study was to describe how ten-year-old children process TKF in all its parts (copy, recall, delayed recall) in quantitative and qualitative terms. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part and an empirical part. Theoretical part consists of the psychological characteristics of the developmental period of ten-year-old child giving emphasis to cognitive development, then the test TKF and its utilization in children. Utilization of ROCF in children with specific learning disabilities is also an important component of the theoretical part. In the empirical part itself is presented, which is based on the research process TKF with ten children. Due to the nature of the data obtained were selected quantitative processing. They were designed to approximate the standard for this age group, extended test administration in children and the results were compared with a group of children with specific learning disabilities and psychological test called the Trail Making Test.

Previous studies have found that poor effort can significantly impact psychometric performance by Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients. So far, this impact has been relatively well studied in attention and memory. However, this is not the case for visual perception functions. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine to what extent TBI severity affect visual perception after controlling for effort. Results showed that mild TBI good effort group did not differ from a demographically matched control group. In contrast, a mild TBI poor effort group, a moderate-severe TBI group and a right hemisphere cerebro-vascular (CVA) group performed worse than the mild TBI good effort group and the control group. The results suggest a dose response relationship between injury severity and visual perception performance. After controlling for effort, results indicated that moderate-severe TBI, but not mild TBI, has long lasting effects on visual perception. Clinical implications are discussed.

This Master thesis focuses on the neuropsychological test called Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test and its diagnostic value in the clinical assesment of schizophrenic patients. Deficiency of cognitive functioning is a dominating feature in the clinical picture of schizophrenic patients. Attention is brought especially to the specific aspects of the ROCF performance in the clinical group of schizophrenic patients. Theoretical part is based on the realized investigative studies focused on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test and its value in cognitive assesment in psychodiagnostic praxis. The diagnostic method ROCF is presented in its complexity, the way of administration, assesment and interpretation are described and attention is also brought to the specific features of ROCF performance in healthy, neurological and psychiatric patients with focus on schizophrenic individuals. Empirical part of the thesis in the first section compares the ROCF performance of Czech healthy individuals and schizophrenic patients. The influence of demografic and other factors on the ROCF performance was analyzed and isolated elements of the figure and their difficultness was evaluated in both surveyed groups. Outcomes of this master thesis could contribute to the present knowledge of the diagnostic possibilities of...

Les psychologues rencontrant de plus en plus de patients d’origines culturelles variées, cette thèse propose une contribution à l’amélioration des pratiques de bilan psychologique en situation transculturelle.Sont d’abord analysés les enjeux que soulève la thématique : la question de l’universalité des structures psychiques et celle de la définition de la culture d’une part, les difficultés d’utilisation de tests étalonnés et les recherches entreprises pour adapter les outils et les pratiques cliniques d’autre part. Puis nous évoquons la méthodologie complémentariste et les problématiques psychiques liées à la migration. La deuxième partie est divisée en deux études. Elle traite d’abord de la question des biais culturels dans les tests non-verbaux, avec une étude comparative de réalisations à la Figure Complexe de Rey et d’Osterrieth, recueillies grâce à une méthode électronique. Sont comparées des productions d’enfants français (N=914), burkinabés (N=76) et iraniens (N=45) ainsi que celles d’enfants d’origines culturelles différentes au sein du recueil français. Les résultats mettent à jour un impact de la culture, ainsi que de la culture transmise en situation migratoire, sur la structuration perceptive des figures. Une deuxième partie concerne l’ELAL d’Avicenne, un test de langage pour enfants baignant dans un contexte langagier bilingue, qui a été crée par le Centre du Langage d’Avicenne(APHP) et que nous sommes en train de valider au sein d’une équipe pluridisciplinaire. Nous montrons d’abord pourquoi ce test est nécessaire en situation transculturelle, puis décrivons les étapes de création et de validation du test. Après avoir effectué 18 passations dont 4 en arabe, 8 en tamoul et 6 en soninké, nous donnons nos premières remarques de terrain. Enfin, la discussion générale tire les conséquences de ces recherches et propose des pistes d’amélioration des bilans concernant tant l’adaptation des pratiques cliniques que les axes de recherche nécessaires. Elle ouvre sur la nécessité d’un travail pluridisciplinaire associant recherche et clinique, et l’importance de développer une pensée nuancée et pragmatique. / This dissertation seeks to contribute to improving the practice of psychological assessment in a transcultural setting, in a context where psychologists see ever increasing numbers of patients of diverse cultural origins. We first frame our investigation by linking it to such broad issues as the universality of psychic structures, the definition of culture, the challenges related to calibrated tests and the research around adapting clinical tools and practices. We then discuss the complemetarist methodology as well as the psychic dimension of migration. The second part is made up of two studies. We first deal with the issue of cultural biases in nonverbal tests, with a comparative study of samples of the Rey and Osterrieth figures collected electronically. We compare productions by children in France (N=914), Burkina Faso (N=76) and Iran (N=45) but also by children of various cultural origins within the French sample. Results reveal an impact of culture on the perceptive structure, which also holds across migrants of various origins living in a same area. A second part presentsAvicenne’s ELAL, a language test specially created for children immersed in a bilingual environment by theCentre du Langaged’Avicenne (APHP), which is undergoing a validation process by our multidisciplinary team.We explain why this test is necessary in a transcultural setting before describing the steps leading to creating and validating it. After administering it 18 times including 4 times in Arabic, 8 in Tamil and 6 in Soninke, we offer initial field remarks. Finally, a general discussion draws lessons from those different pieces of research and suggests possible improvements for assessments, both on the adaptation of clinical practices and on necessary avenues for further research. This leads us to emphasize the need for multidisciplinary works bringing together research and clinic and for a nuanced and pragmatic approach of these matters.