The Embree/Butler scoring system served as criterion for ascertaining brain dysfunction on the protocols of 100 subjects--50 had been diagnosed by health professionals as having brain dysfunction, and 50 had been diagnosed as having no brain dysfunction. In comparing the hospital's diagnoses with those of the Embree/Butler method, the data strongly supported the hypothesis that the Embree/Butler scoring system did effectively discriminate (chi square of 77.99 < .01) between those with organic brain syndrome (or cerebral dysfunction) and those with psychiatric classification. A point-biserial correlation was used to distinguish the relationship between diagnosis and the score. A cutoff score of above 14 produced the least false-negative or false-positive evaluations.

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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The usefulness of frontal lobe (FL) dysfunction as a conceptual model for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was investigated. Twenty-four ADHD and 24 normal control (NC) children were tested using tasks sensitive to FL deficits in motor control and problem solving skills and memory tasks sensitive to temporal lobe (TL) dysfunction. ADHD children differed significantly from NCs on measures of FL function, but not on tests of TL functions. Wherever norms were available for normal children on the same FL tests, ADHD subjects performed like 6 to 7 year olds, in spite of their mean age of 10 years and minimum age of 8 years. The differential performance of ADHD children on tasks sensitive to FL and TL damage supports the conceptualization of ADHD deficits as analogous to FL dysfunction and implies that deficits are not explained by reference to generalized impairment.

A prospective study was conducted on a group of 160 students from 9 to 14 years of age with learning disabilities to predict neuropsychological outcome using perinatal information as predictors. Perinatal information was obtained from the Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS) (Dean & Gray, 1985). Subjects' neuropsychological functioning was assessed by the Short Neuropsychological Screening Device (SNSD) (Reitan & Herring, 1985). Information concerning subjects' intelligence was obtained from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) administered within the past two years. Hollingshead's Four Factor Index of Social Status was employed to determine subjects' socioeconomic status. A stepwise multiple regression analysis yielded a regression model that contained a subset of 7 perinatal risk factors, involving: (1) Obstetric History; (2) Gestational Age; (3) Psychosocial Events; (4) Delivery; (5) Intrauterine Stress; (6) Teratogenic Stress; and (7) Fetal Oxygenation. A hierarchical regression analysis was further performed to examine if adding socioeconomic and intellectual information to the regression model could increase the prediction of neuropsychological outcome. Results showed that up to 82% of the variability in the neuropsychological outcome was explained by the linear composite of the 7 risk factors. When socioeconomic and intellectual information were added to the regression model, the prediction of neuropsychological outcome was significantly improved. About 201 of the students with learning disabilities in the present study were found to display symptoms similar to minimal brain damage (MBD) relating to poor visual-motor integration, underdeveloped language skills, and aphasic conditions. The results support the theory of a "continuum of reproductive casualty" proposed by Pasamanick et al. (1956). The importance of detecting early indicators of neuropsychological deficits in at risk children was further suggested by the present study. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of parallel-forms of the Comprehensive Neuropsychological Screening Device (CNS). Forty-five subjects ranging in age from 16 to 69 were administered Form A and Form B of the CNS at two week intervals. Results indicated that the CNS has adequate test-retest reliability. The results suggest the applicability of using the CNS as a screening device for brain dysfunction.

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. (Psychology) / Attention deficit disorder, or its theoretical antecedent minimal brain dysfunction, has been the subject of numerous investigations as to the nature and cause of this disturbance that so often affects children. Although the findings of these studies appear to be equivocal as regards the precise cause of the condition, there are numerous indications in the literature that there might indeed be a neurological, albeit a "soft" neurological basis or cause, for this disturbance. A study was performed to test the hypothesis that minimal brain dysfunction indeed has its basis in higher cortical dysfunctions as assessed within the context of neuropsychological investigations. In order to perform the study, two measures of neuropsychological functioning, the Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological investigation for children and the Majovski determination of higher cortical functions in children and adolescents were subjected to a determination of its validity within the South African context. Subsequently these tests were applied to two groups of children with organic brain damage, a group of children diagnosed as having minimal brain dysfunction, a group of children with emotional disturbance, and a group of normal children. The two groups of organically brain damaged children consisted of a group of children with predominantly left hemispheric brain damage and a group of children with predominantly right hemispheric brain damage. It was postulated that children with minimal brain dysfunction would show less higher cortical dysfunction than the two groups of children with organic brain damage, but more higher cortical dysfunction than the normal children, and the children with emotional disturbance. The validation procedure indicated that both measures of neuropsychological functioning have adequate validity in terms...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-160).

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Near-death experiences (NDEs) are altered state of consciousness with mystic and transcendent content most commonly occurring in life-threatening situations. Explanatory hypotheses for near-death experience have ranged from brain dysfunctions and psychological reactions to mind-brain independence. The central issue is whether NDE can be fully explained by the brain activity or alternative mechanisms need to be considered. The present Master s Dissertation examines a literature review of NDE which concludes proposing that the mind-brain independence hypothesis is needed for the investigation of NDE given the experiential and physiological features of the phenomenon and speculative status of the available hypotheses. / Experiências de quase morte (EQMs) são estados alterados de consciência com conteúdo transcendente e místico normalmente ocorrendo em situações de risco de morte. Hipóteses explicativas para experiência de quase morte abrangem de disfunções cerebrais e reações psicológicas à independência mente-cérebro. A questão central é se EQM pode ser explicada completamente pela atividade cerebral ou mecanismos alternativos precisam ser considerados. A presente dissertação examina uma revisão de literatura de experiência de quase morte propondo que a hipótese de independência mente-cérebro é necessária para a investigação da EQM dada as características fisiológicas e experienciais do fenômeno e o estatuto especulativo das hipóteses disponíveis.