Methodological considerations in estimating speed of cognitive operations

Abstract

Individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and having cognitive impairment have been described as having slow mentation. Data supporting this proposition come from a variety of sources, including Sternberg's (1966) item recognition memory task. The procedure nominally provides an index of speed of mental operations, independent from input/output demands. However, since the original use of this procedure in the 1960s, advances in cognitive psychology have revealed many of its limitations. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric characteristics of this task. Each participant performed the Sternberg item recognition task twice, 6 mo apart. The stability of the estimate of the slope of regression equations and for zero intercept ranged from excellent (r = .87) to poor (r = .30), and the data from many individual subjects could not be reliably modelled using multiple linear regression techniques. These data, as well as those from previous research, demonstrate the limited practical use of this task in clinical samples. Furthermore, as cognitive psychological theory has advanced in the past 30 yr, the conceptual underpinnings of the procedure have essentially evaporated. (JINS, 1995, / , 3-9).

Somatosensory discrimination deficits following pediatric cerebral malaria.

“…It is interesting to note that the increased response latency of dihaptic discrimination responding is in keeping with contemporary concepts in neuropsychology that lesions of the cerebral white matter, as a general rule, tend to be associated with impaired speed and efficiency of cognitive information processing. [29][30][31] Our findings, although not conclusive as to whether there is indeed a generalized slowing of speed of information processing following recovery from the acute phases of cerebral malaria, provide some support for the view that subcortical mechanisms may be preferentially involved 13,14 in this disease. A limitation of this study is the relatively small sample size, a drawback which suggests the need for future replication.…”

Analysis of group differences in processing speed: Brinley plots, Q-Q plots, and other conspiracies

“…Not only are the regression lines for the memory scanning experiments different from those for the other two tasks-they are also obviously much more varied. The reasons for this are obscure, although questions have been raised regarding the reliability of memory scanning measures (Becker et al, 1995). In contrast, slope measures for other information processing slopes (e.g., mental rotation) have been shown to be highly reliable (Damos & Carter, 1995).…”

Potential utility of resting-state magnetoencephalography as a biomarker of CNS abnormality in HIV disease

“…HIV-infected individuals have slowed mentation, increased choice reaction times, and memory loss that is more characteristic of a retrieval defect than an encoding or storage loss (Becker et al, 1995a; Becker et al, 1995b; Martin, 1994; Martin et al, 1993; Martin et al, 1992). Following the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), the patterns of neuropsychological deficits now include more signs of cortical involvement (Cysique et al, 2004; Sacktor et al, 2007), severe immunosuppression is no longer a requirement for HAD (Dore et al, 1999), and the nature of the links between virological markers, immunological markers and HAD are changing (Brew, 2004; McArthur et al, 2003).…”