Unit 5: Cognitive Dysfunction and Psychological Testing - Practice Quiz

Cognitive dysfunction refers to deficits in cognitive domains like memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and executive functioning, often associated with neurological or psychiatric conditions.

Agnosia is the inability to process sensory information to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells, which is not due to a defect in the specific sense organ itself.

The WCST is a classic neuropsychological test used to assess executive functions, specifically the ability to display flexibility in the face of changing schedules of reinforcement (set-shifting).

The MMSE is a brief screening instrument used to grade cognitive impairment and screen for dementia, whereas the others are comprehensive batteries or intelligence tests.

The MMSE is scored out of a maximum of 30 points. Scores below 24 are generally considered indicative of cognitive impairment.

Delirium is an acute confusional state characterized by fluctuating consciousness and attention, distinguishing it from the chronic and progressive nature of dementia.

The Stroop test evaluates the 'Stroop effect,' measuring a person's ability to inhibit an automatic response (reading a word) in favor of a less habitual one (naming the ink color), assessing cognitive control.

Premorbid functioning is the baseline level of cognitive and intellectual performance prior to the onset of pathology, essential for determining the extent of decline.

Individuals with severe cognitive impairment may lack the capacity to provide informed consent, necessitating consent from a legally authorized representative while seeking assent from the patient where possible.

The Trail Making Test (TMT) consists of Part A (visual scanning/processing speed) and Part B (mental flexibility/executive function) where the patient connects nodes in sequence.

The MoCA was specifically designed to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and is more sensitive to subtle deficits, particularly in executive function and visuospatial skills, compared to the MMSE.

Korsakoff's Syndrome is a chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1), most commonly caused by alcohol misuse, resulting in severe anterograde amnesia and confabulation.

Apraxia is a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to perform learned (familiar) movements on command, even though the command is understood and there is a willingness to perform the movement.

The Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test involves copying geometric figures and is used to evaluate visual-motor maturity and detect developmental disorders or neurological impairment.

To identify a deficit, a clinician compares the patient's score to a normative sample. A score significantly below the mean (e.g., or ) usually indicates dysfunction.

The Tower of London test assesses planning and problem-solving, which are executive functions heavily reliant on the prefrontal cortex.

The Boston Naming Test assesses a patient's ability to name line drawings of objects, detecting anomia (difficulty finding words) common in aphasia and dementia.

Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain (strokes/TIA). Its progression is often 'step-wise,' meaning stability followed by a sudden drop in function after a vascular event.

Ecological validity refers to how well the performance on a psychological test predicts the patient's ability to function in their everyday environment (e.g., managing finances, driving).

The Halstead-Reitan is a fixed set of tests developed to assess the presence, nature, and localization of brain dysfunction.

Anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia, while long-term memories from before the event remain intact.

SVTs are designed to assess whether a patient is providing full effort or if they are feigning/exaggerating cognitive deficits (malingering) for secondary gain (e.g., insurance, legal outcomes).

The Digit Span subtest (Forward, Backward, and Sequencing) measures auditory working memory and attention.

This test involves copying a complex geometric figure and then drawing it from memory, assessing visuospatial constructional ability and visual memory.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, meaning it involves the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons.

Cultural bias occurs when a test was developed in one culture and is used in another, leading to scores that reflect cultural familiarity (e.g., specific vocabulary or objects) rather than the underlying cognitive construct.

FTD often presents with behavioral variants (disinhibition, apathy, personality change) or language variants (primary progressive aphasia), unlike Alzheimer's which typically starts with memory loss.

Confabulation is a memory error defined as the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, often seen in Korsakoff's syndrome and ruptured aneurysm survivors.

Asking a patient to draw a clock face and set a specific time assesses visuospatial abilities, planning, and abstract thinking (executive function).

Forensic neuropsychology uses cognitive assessment to determine if a defendant has the cognitive capacity to understand legal proceedings and assist in their own defense.

The cholinergic hypothesis of Alzheimer's suggests that a deficiency in acetylcholine is critical in the genesis of the symptoms, hence treatments focus on inhibiting the breakdown of this neurotransmitter.

Luria's approach emphasizes a qualitative analysis of the nature of the errors (process approach) combined with quantitative data, and the battery is generally more portable and takes less time than the Halstead-Reitan.

Anosognosia is a lack of ability to perceive the realities of one's own condition. It's a person's inability to accept that they have a condition that matches up with their symptoms or a formal diagnosis.

Coup injuries occur at the point of impact; contrecoup injuries occur on the opposite side of the brain as the brain slams against the skull.

The SDMT involves pairing specific numbers with given geometric figures within a time limit, primarily measuring psychomotor speed, visual scanning, and attention.

Pseudo-dementia is a condition where cognitive impairment mimics dementia but is actually caused by a major depressive disorder. Unlike true dementia, the deficits often improve when the depression is treated.

Ethical practice requires that assessment results are communicated clearly, accurately, and in a manner the client can understand, minimizing harm and maximizing the utility of the findings.

The WMS-IV is a battery designed specifically to evaluate various memory functions, including auditory and visual memory in both immediate and delayed contexts.

Verbal fluency tasks (semantic or phonemic) ask participants to generate as many words as possible from a category (e.g., animals) or starting with a letter (e.g., F) within a time limit.

Deficits in left-right orientation, finger agnosia, agraphia, and acalculia (Gerstmann syndrome) are associated with lesions in the dominant (usually left) parietal lobe (angular gyrus).

Crystallized intelligence () involves knowledge that comes from prior learning and past experiences, such as vocabulary and general information. It is often resilient to aging and early brain injury compared to fluid intelligence.

A Z-score of -2.5 is 2.5 standard deviations below the mean. In a normal distribution, this falls in the bottom 0.6% (less than the 1st percentile), indicating significant impairment.

The Rivermead is an ecologically valid test designed to detect impairment in everyday memory functioning (e.g., remembering a name, remembering an appointment, finding a belonging).

Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

Practice effects occur when a patient's performance improves simply because they have taken the test (or a similar one) recently, which can mask true cognitive decline.

Broca's aphasia (expressive aphasia) is characterized by slow, halting, grammatically incorrect speech, though the person usually understands what is said to them.

The GCS assesses consciousness based on eye, verbal, and motor responses to stimuli, often used in emergency medicine for TBI.

Cognitive assessment identifies both deficits and preserved functions (strengths), allowing rehabilitation specialists to design strategies that use strengths to compensate for weaknesses.

While Huntington's involves movement disorders (chorea), cognitive changes typically involve subcortical patterns like slowed thinking (bradyphrenia) and executive dysfunction, rather than the rapid cortical memory loss seen in Alzheimer's.

CPTs measure sustained attention and impulsivity by requiring the subject to press a button for specific stimuli and refrain for others over a long period, key for assessing ADHD.