Halstead-Reitan Test Battery: A Problem of Differential Diagnosis

1980 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 611-630
Author(s):  
Irmingard I. Lenzer
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Construct Validation ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Summary Score ◽  
Test Battery ◽  
Medical Patients ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Limited Applicability ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients

The Halstead-Reitan Test Battery is one of the most widely recognized neuropsychological test batteries. Many claims have been made as to its validity. Despite these claims, doubts persist. A critical review of the literature shows that the battery can separate brain-damaged patients from normal patients, general medical patients, and patients with certain psychiatric disorders. However, the battery cannot separate brain-damaged patients as a group from schizophrenics as a group, though in individual cases there may exist pathognomonic signs indicating brain damage. The impairment index, as a summary score of the basic tests, as well as other “methods of inference,” fail at this point. Four alternatives are discussed. First, brain-damaged patients differ from schizophrenic patients not in test performance but in test-taking behavior. Second, the battery is a valid measure of brain damage but has limited applicability. Third, the battery is a measure not of brain damage but of degree of degradation of psychological processes. And fourth, schizophrenics perform poorly on the battery because they have undetected brain damage. Only the third and fourth alternatives appear viable. Both question the validity of the traditional criteria of brain damage. It is argued that future validation studies of the battery should be of construct validation type and not of the criterion-oriented type, as these are defined by Cronbach and Meehl (1955). Possible procedures for construct validation are briefly discussed.

scholarly journals Effects of Illiteracy on the European Cross-Cultural Neuropsychological Test Battery (CNTB)

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 713-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Rune Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Test Battery ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Neuropsychological Test Battery ◽  
Turkish Immigrants ◽  
Participant Characteristics ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Objectives Test performances of illiterate and literate immigrants were compared to investigate the effects of illiteracy on the European Cross-cultural Neuropsychological Test Battery (CNTB), and associations between test performance and participant characteristics were examined. Method Participants were 20 illiterate and 21 literate middle-aged and older Turkish immigrants (50–85 years) matched by age and gender that completed the CNTB as well as a number of demographic and medical questionnaires. Results No significant group differences or correlations between education, acculturation or health characteristics and test performances were found on 10 of 16 measures. Illiteracy status and participant characteristics affected measures of mental processing speed, executive function, and visuoconstruction. Conclusions The preliminary findings suggest that several of the measures in the CNTB may be valid for assessment of cognitive functioning in people who are illiterate when applied using available normative data. However, these findings need to be replicated in larger samples.

Neuropsychological Test Performance and Employment Status in Patients Referred for Assessment

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (3-1) ◽  
pp. 899-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Walter Heinrichs
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Neuropsychological Assessment ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
The Other ◽  
Neuropsychological Impairment ◽  
T Score ◽  
Summary Index ◽  
Explained Variance

A summary index of neuropsychological impairment (mean Luria-Nebraska T score), along with age, education, and presence/absence of confirmed brain disease, was used to predict employment status (working/not working). Subjects were 50 patients referred for neuropsychological assessment of confirmed or suspected brain damage. The Luria-Nebraska index contributed about 8% of explained variance independently of the other predictors. The joint validity was about 29% of criterion variance. This is related to issues in the use of neuropsychological data to predict functional variables.

Eye movements and neurocognitive function in treatment resistant schizophrenia: a pilot study

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Thampi ◽  
Clarke Campbell ◽  
Mary Clarke ◽  
Suzanne Barrett ◽  
David J King
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Lobe ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Treatment Resistance ◽  
Treatment Resistant ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Resistant Group ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Neuropsychological Impairments

AbstractObjectives: It is increasingly important to develop predictors of treatment response and outcome in schizophrenia. Neuropsychological impairments, particularly those reflecting frontal lobe function, appear to predict poor outcome. Eye movement abnormalities probably also reflect frontal lobe deficits. We wished to see if these two aspects of schizophrenia were correlated and whether they could distinguish a treatment resistant from a treatment responsive group.Methods: Ten treatment resistant schizophrenic patients were compared with ten treatment responsive patients on three eye movement paradigms (reflexive saccades, antisaccades and smooth pursuit), clinical psychopathology (BPRS, SANS and CGI) and a neuropsychological test battery designed to detect frontal lobe dysfunction. Ten aged-matched controls also carried out the eye movement tasks.Results: Both treatment responsive (p = 0.038) and treatment resistant (p = 0.007) patients differed significantly from controls on the antisaccade task. The treatment resistant group had a higher error rate than the treatment responsive group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Similar poor neuropsychological test performance was found in both groups.Conclusions: To demonstrate the biological differences characteristic of treatment resistance, larger sample sizes and wider differences in outcome between the two groups are necessary.

The General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale and Halstead Impairment Index: Comparison of Severity

1994 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 888-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Macneill, Horton ◽  
Steven A. Sobelman
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Test Battery ◽  
Neuropsychological Deficit ◽  
Neuropsychological Test Battery ◽  
Hit Rates ◽  
Index Comparison

To examine how the severity of brain damage is evaluated by a summary neuropsychological measure, the General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale, 25 brain-damaged patients completed the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery. From the test scores, both the General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale and the Halstead Impairment Index were calculated for each patient. Hit rates for agreement on severity were 60%, i.e., 15/25. Examination of the data suggested the General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale better reflects severity of brain damage at greater severity.

scholarly journals Dutch multicentre, prospective follow-up, cohort study comparing the neurological and neuropsychological sequelae of hospitalised non-ICU- and ICU-treated COVID-19 survivors: a study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. e054901
Author(s):  
Simona Klinkhammer ◽  
Janneke Horn ◽  
Johanna M A Visser-Meilij ◽  
Esmée Verwijk ◽  
Annelien Duits ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Icu Patients ◽  
Neuropsychological Dysfunction ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Brain

IntroductionOwing to the novelty of COVID-19, there are still large knowledge gaps concerning its effect on the brain and the resulting impact on peoples’ lives. This large-scale prospective follow-up study investigates COVID-19-associated brain damage, neuropsychological dysfunction and long-term impact on the well-being of patients and their close ones. It is hypothesised that structural brain damage and cognitive dysfunction primarily occur in severely ill patients, as compared with moderately ill patients. Cognitive complaints, emotional distress and impact on well-being are hypothesised to be less dependent on illness severity.Methods and analysisFor this multicentre study, 200 patients with COVID-19 (100 intensive care unit (ICU) patients and 100 non-ICU patients) formerly hospitalised in one of the six recruiting hospitals during the first European infection wave (ie, March to June 2020) and their close ones will be recruited. At minimally 6 months posthospital discharge, patients will perform a set of neuropsychological tests and are subjected to a 3T MRI scan. Patients and close ones will fill out a set of questionnaires, also at minimally 6 months posthospital discharge and again another 6 months thereafter. Data related to COVID-19 hospitalisation will be extracted from the patients’ medical records. MRI abnormalities will ultimately be related to neuropsychological test performance and questionnaire outcomes.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval was granted by the medical research ethics committee of Maastricht University Medical Centre and Maastricht University (NL75102.068.20). The project is sponsored by The Brain Foundation Netherlands. Findings will be presented at national and international conferences, as well as published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.Trial registration numberNCT04745611.

Memory and executive impairment in schizophrenia: comparison with frontal and temporal brain damage

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 833-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Ornstein ◽  
B. J. Sahakian ◽  
P. J. McKenna
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenia ◽  
Cognitive Failures ◽  
Reverse Pattern ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Executive Impairment ◽  
The Brain

BackgroundAlthough poor neuropsychological test performance is well documented in schizophrenia, how closely it resembles that seen in patients with brain damage in terms of cognitive failures in daily life and stability over time has been little studied.MethodThirty patients with chronic schizophrenia, 24 patients with frontal or temporal brain damage and 30 healthy controls were given a battery of memory and executive tests. Carers of the two patient groups also completed questionnaires rating memory and executive failures in daily life. Testing was repeated 6 weeks later.ResultsThe schizophrenia and the brain-damaged patients were significantly impaired on most, but not all tests. The degree of carer-rated memory or executive failure was similar in the two groups, but the schizophrenia patients were rated as having significantly more executive failures than memory failures, whereas the brain-damaged patients showed the reverse pattern. Both groups of patients showed similar consistency of performance across sessions.ConclusionsNeuropsychological impairment in schizophrenia resembles that seen in patients with brain damage, not only in terms of overall severity, but also in terms of stability and the degree to which poor test performance translates into cognitive failures in daily life.

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