Thoughts of Death Modulate Psychophysical and Cortical Responses to Threatening Stimuli

Existential social psychology studies show that awareness of one's eventual death profoundly influences human cognition and behaviour by inducing defensive reactions against end-of-life related anxiety. Much less is known about the impact of reminders of mortality on brain activity. Therefore we explored whether reminders of mortality influence subjective ratings of intensity and threat of auditory and painful thermal stimuli and the associated electroencephalographic activity. Moreover, we explored whether personality and demographics modulate psychophysical and neural changes related to mortality salience (MS). Following MS induction, a specific increase in ratings of intensity and threat was found for both nociceptive and auditory stimuli. While MS did not have any specific effect on nociceptive and auditory evoked potentials, larger amplitude of theta oscillatory activity related to thermal nociceptive activity was found after thoughts of death were induced. MS thus exerted a top-down modulation on theta electroencephalographic oscillatory amplitude, specifically for brain activity triggered by painful thermal stimuli. This effect was higher in participants reporting higher threat perception, suggesting that inducing a death-related mind-set may have an influence on body-defence related somatosensory representations

Psychosocial Responses to Spinal Cord Injury as Predictors of Pressure Sores

Pressure sores are a preventable, but common, secondary complication of a spinal cord injury (SCI). Research is limited concerning the influence of psychological factors in the development of pressure sores. The purpose of our ex post facto study was to examine the role that emotional responses and coping strategies play in moderating the relationships between demographic and SCI-related medical variables and the frequency and severity of pressure sores. Ninety-five individuals, who sustained a sudden-onset SCI, completed a self-report questionnaire sent to the population of patients that received post-injury rehabilitation services at a rehabilitation center in the southern U.S. Multiple regression analyses indicated that depression significantly predicted pressure sore severity, whereas disengagement-coping significantly predicted pressure sore occurrence (although in the opposite direction than expected). An interaction of time since injury and depression influenced both pressure sore occurrence and severity. These results have important implications for rehabilitation professionals in the clinical evaluation and treatment of persons with SCI

Neuropsychology within the inpatient rehabilitation environments

Neuropsychology is a specialized area within the larger field of psychology, emerging from the pioneering work of early comparative and physiological psychologists interested in the central nervous system mechanisms underlying behavior. Although often described simply as the study of brain-behavior relationships, neuropsychology is far more complex than suggested by this basic definition. At minimum, a thorough understanding of neuropsychology rests upon a requisite foundation in anatomy, biology, chemistry, physiology, and, of course, psychology. Furthermore, technological advances during the past few decades, and especially the past few years, that now permit more direct and precise investigations of brain structure and function through neuroimaging procedures have served to increase the neuropsychological literature dramatically, thereby necessitating the acquisition by neuropsychologists of a basic knowledge in engineering and physics that allows for appropriate comprehension and evaluation of the published literature in this relatively new domain.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facbooks/1051/thumbnail.jp

Neuropsychological Factors in Violence and Aggression

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facbooks/1304/thumbnail.jp

Frequency of Occurrence of Four- and Five-Factor WAIS-IV Profiles

Interpretive strategies for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) include Wechsler\u27s four-factor structure and the five-factor Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model. The frequency of profile occurrence and the contribution of demographic- and ability-related variables to their incidence are unknown. Current participants were 291 referrals (males = 134; female = 157) for neuropsychological evaluation with mean years for age and education of 34.94 (SD = 13.53) and 12.74 (SD = 2.46), respectively. Lichtenberger and Kaufman\u27s guidelines for selecting each model were applied. Of the total, 67.3% were four-factor and 32.6% were five-factor profiles. The same pattern emerged when participants were subdivided by gender, education, ethnicity, IQ, and diagnosis. A noteworthy association between IQ and profile type emerged. When IQ increased, four-factor profiles declined and five-factors increased. A logistic regression, using demographics, IQ, and diagnosis as predictors, correctly classified 64.8% of participants. The average subtest intercorrelations and g saturations in the four-factor group were substantially larger than those for five-factor participants. These findings were consistent with Spearman\u27s differentiation by ability hypothesis

Relative Subtest Scatter on the WAIS-IV in a Clinical Sample Referred for Outpatient Neuropsychological Evaluation

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to examine relative inter-subtest variability, or scatter, on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) in a clinical sample of patients referred for neuropsychological evaluation and compare the findings to corresponding data from the scale\u27s standardization sample. METHOD: Participants were 638 individuals diagnosed primarily with neurological, psychiatric, or neurodevelopmental disorders who completed the 10 core subtests of the WAIS-IV as part of a comprehensive assessment battery. RESULTS: Mean participant scores on the WAIS-IV Full Scale IQ and all index composites were within the average range, overall, but were significantly below those of the standardization sample. The correlation between scatter range and highest subtest scaled score was significant, CONCLUSIONS: Subtest scatter on the WAIS-IV is common among both healthy individuals and clinical patients. Although somewhat higher in this investigation\u27s clinical sample, the significance of this finding generally appears to be of nominal value during interpretation of individual cases but may have some utility in formulating hypotheses when considered in conjunction with reliability data and other approaches for analyzing test scores. High scatter is not pathognomonic of abnormality, and at least some degree of caution is warranted when interpreting subtest scaled score differences on the WAIS-IV

Does High Scatter on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition General Ability Index Reduce Validity in Predicting Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition indexes?

We examined whether significant scatter in WAIS-IV GAI will reduce its validity to predict performance on WMS-IV indexes. Participants were 330 individuals with neurological, psychiatric, or neurodevelopmental disorders and 59 referrals who were found to be free of a diagnosable disorder. For VCI \u3e PRI, 59.32% were significant at p \u3c .05 and 12.29% were \u3e22 points. For VCI \u3c PRI, 48.37% were significant at p \u3c .05 and 7.19% were \u3e22 points. Inter-subtest scatter across GAI subtests indicated 82.26% of individuals had a significant scatter range and 13.88% had an unusually large range (≥8). For the VCI, 49.10% had significant scatter (≥3) and 12.08% had an unusually large scatter range (≥5). On the PRI, 43.19% had a significant scatter range (≥4) and 12.85% had an unusually large degree of scatter (≥6). Moderation analyses revealed GAI was a significant predictor of each WMS-IV index. The interaction term of GAI with GAI scatter was not significant for any indexes, indicating that regression equations for predicting WMS-IV scores from GAI did not vary significantly across levels of scatter. Estimation of WMS-IV indexes from the GAI is justified even when significant VCI-PRI discrepancies are present and there is unusual variability across the GAI subtests