No abstract

Examining 484 consecutive criminal cases in which the NGRI plea was made, it was found: (1) a high degree of interexaminer agreement existed on the issue of the defendant's mental state in a nonadversary exanaination procedure; and, (2) court verdicts were highly congruent with the opinions expressed by examiners on the issue of insanity.

The research which we will report has to do with the comparative manifestations of psychopathology in several ethnic groups. These groups are in the State of Hawaii; they are all American, but they represent very diverse cultural backgrounds.If one is interested in the ways in which psychopathology is manifested in different cultural groups, Hawaii provides a very convenient laboratory. The Islands have representatives of such disparate cultural groups as the Western, the Oriental, the Malay, and the Polynesian. Further, in this particular setting they all speak a common language. Finally, where severe functional mental disorders are the focus of interest, we note that there is only one State hospital in the Islands and only one general hospital to which most of the severely disturbed are referred. Although we identify these aspects of the situation in Hawaii as advantages for cross-cultural research, we are also aware that the relatively uniform environmental conditions contribute to a somewhat rapid assimilation of these groups and, thus, the blurring of lines among them.Given this as background, we wish to state the primary aims to be pursued in this research. Its

A number of studies during the past decade have described deficits associated with chronic alcoholism. Although several of these studies have used neuropsychological tests, no study has comprehensively surveyed all recognized neuropsychological skills in a single population. The present study compared 41 chronic alcoholics to 41 matched controls during a two-day battery of neuropsychological tests, including the Halstead-Reitan, Wechsler Memory Scale, and other major tests. It was hypothesized that tests reflecting right and anterior brain function would differentiate between the groups. A factor analysis of the tests which differentiated between the groups indicated five primary deficits in chronic alcoholism: spatial conceptual skills, associative conceptual skills, flexibility, spatial-motor integration, and serial integration. The last factor demonstrated a small but significant verbal loss in the alcoholics. The implications of these factors for understanding and treating chronic alcoholism were discussed.

The research which we will report has to do with the comparative manifestations of psychopathology in several ethnic groups. These groups are in the State of Hawaii; they are all American, but they represent very diverse cultural backgrounds.If one is interested in the ways in which psychopathology is manifested in different cultural groups, Hawaii provides a very convenient laboratory. The Islands have representatives of such disparate cultural groups as the Western, the Oriental, the Malay, and the Polynesian. Further, in this particular setting they all speak a common language. Finally, where severe functional mental disorders are the focus of interest, we note that there is only one State hospital in the Islands and only one general hospital to which most of the severely disturbed are referred. Although we identify these aspects of the situation in Hawaii as advantages for cross-cultural research, we are also aware that the relatively uniform environmental conditions contribute to a somewhat rapid assimilation of these groups and, thus, the blurring of lines among them.Given this as background, we wish to state the primary aims to be pursued in this research. Its