The Babcock deterioration test in state hospital practice.

An Investigation of the Vocabulary Performance of Schizophrenics: II. Conceptual Level of Definitions

“…On the basis of the evidence provided by the present study, it may be assumed that the conceptual level of the vocabulary of schizophrenics (comparable to those in the present sample) is as adequately represented by the Wechsler-Bellevue Vocabulary raw score as it would be by a further analysis into five qualitative categories. Furthermore, in the light of the evidence furnished by Babcock (4,5), Rapaport (30), Hunt (18,19), Jastak (20), Rabin (27,28,29), Shafer and Rapaport (32), Dearborn (13), Schwarz (31), Altman and Shakow (2), Whitman (38), Davidson (11,12), and others, that vocabulary performance (scored by the pass-fail criterion to which Yacorzynski objects) is extremely resistant to impairment by mental "deterioration," the use of vocabulary score as a "stable baseline" would seem fully acceptable in pathological groups comparable to the present sample.…”

Psychological deficit in depression.

“…Additional evidence for general intellectual impairment in manic-depressives is provided by the studies of Rapaport (1945), Shapiro and Nelson (1955), and Wittman (1933). These investigators found significant intellectual deterioration in manic-depressives, using the Babcock-Levy Test (Babcock & Levy, 1940).…”

An evaluation of the postulates underlying the Babcock deterioration test.

“…This statement in no way questions the validity of the test as a predictive instrument, but simply refers to the theoretical basis on which the test was constructed. Ample experimental evidence has accumulated to show that the test does measure deterioration in cases of paresis (i, 14), 261 schizophrenia (2,12), epilepsy (3,14), and senility (6), 1 although its effectiveness has recently been questioned by Capps (4).…”