The Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) is widely used in scientific research as well as in clinical practice. But there exists little research on the structure of the AVLT. We investigated the structure of a German version of the AVLT and VLMT, in 232 patients of a psychiatric clinic and in 872 patients of an epileptologic clinic. First we stated a theoretical LISREL model relating the observed variables of the VLMT to short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) as latent variables. Then we estimated the postulated LISREL model in the two samples. The proposed model showed excellent fit in both samples, and there were no significant deviations between the estimated and the observed covariance matrices. Thus, STM and LTM suffice to explain the structure of the VLMT, and the proposed structural equations model can be used to estimate STM and LTM capacity from VLMT data.
Three groups of schizophrenic diseases which cannot be differentiated with regard to psychopathological cross-section syndromes were investigated by psychological tests: one group (22 cases) of reversible postpsychotic basic stages and two groups of pure residual syndromes with an average duration of disease of 9.3 years (20 cases) and 17.5 years (21 cases). All three groups revealed findings deviating significantly from the norm. The pathological values were most marked in the performance scale of HAWIE (Hamburg-WAIS), which in all groups showed a significant lowering of performance compared with verbal scale (which corresponds approximately to the premorbid intelligence level), in "KVT" and in measures of sensory-motor reaction time by "Wiener Reaktionsgerät", less in "Benton test" and in examination with "Schreibdruckwaage". Reversible postpsychotic asthenic basic stages could not be significantly differentiated in psychological tests from pure residual syndromes which were comparable with regard to sex and age at the onset of the disease and--in the pure residues group of 1980--with regard to age and school success. The decrease of performance in the reaction test, in the concentration test of Abels, and in the averbal part of HAWIE correlated with symptoms and factors which were found with the help of "Frankfurter Beschwerdefragebogen" in the same patients. This positive correlation was more distinct in the reversible postpsychotic basic stages than in pure residues. The findings support the global hypothesis that the deficiencies of schizophrenic stages with a component of reversible or irreversible pure potential reduction are based on disturbances of perception and interpretation of information. Also that there are no fundamental differences between cerebro-organic or psychosyndromes of schizophrenic diseases determined by the dynamic and cognitive disorders of pure deficiency.
Zusammenfassung: Zur leichteren Anwendbarkeit des in der Demenzforschung mehrfach und in verschiedener Weise benutzten Uhrzeichen-Tests im Rahmen psychodiagnostischer Verfahren sollten Merkmale gefunden werden, die eine diagnostische Differenzierung zwischen «Alzheimer-Patienten», «Depressiven» und «Gesunden» erlauben. Insgesamt 205 Patienten einer «Gedächtnissprechstunde» mit den Diagnosen Demenz vom Alzheimer-Typ (n = 101), Major Depression (n = 58) nach DSM-III-R und «Gesund» (klinisch unauffällig) (n = 46) wurden gebeten, das Zifferblatt einer Uhr mit einer vorgegebenen Zeit zu zeichnen. Anhand von 18 in diesen Zeichnungen empirisch gefundenen Fehlerkategorien wurde nach Unterschieden in den drei Gruppen gesucht. Dabei ergaben sich hochsignifikante Unterschiede in der Häufigkeit der vorkommenden Merkmale sowohl zwischen Gesunden und Depressiven (p = < .0004) als auch zwischen Depressiven und Alzheimer-Patienten (p = < .0001). Eine Diskriminanzanalyse kennzeichnete sechs Fehlerkategorien als signifikante, nicht redundante Prädiktoren für DAT. Drei von ihnen und noch drei weitere, die nur seltener waren, kamen ausschließlich bei DAT vor. Inhaltlich entsprechen diese Fehlerkategorien Verwirrungstendenzen, Unfähigkeit, konzeptgebunden zu denken, und Verlust der Vorstellung des Geforderten, also Störungen der höheren kortikalen Funktionen. Ferner stellte sich heraus, daß sechs der DAT kennzeichnenden Merkmale bei den Depressiven überhaupt nicht vorkamen.
Within the context of an extensive study of electroconvulsive therapy at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Bonn 15 patients suffering from therapy-resistant Major depression (DSM III-R) were examined with a detailed psychometric test battery, containing memory- and nonmemory tests. The test battery had been applied short time before, during and after the treatment with 10 ECT applied unilateral over the nondominant hemisphere. Comparing the test performances before and 1-2 days after the end of the series there were only few remarkable changes: a significant decrease was diagnosed exclusively in 30 min delayed recall of verbal items, while visual short-term memory and visual-constructive performance showed a significant improvement (in spite of unilateral stimulation on the right side). None of the other cognitive functions inclusively speed of performances and reaction time was detracted short time after the end of the ECT-treatment, instead all the measures improved albeit not significantly. Between responders to treatment (50% improvement in HAMD) and non-responders no significant differences neither before nor after the treatment were detected. The non-responders had in nearly all of the tests some better (but not significantly) results despite being older than the group of responders.
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