An important component of neuropsychological testing is assessment of premorbid intelligence to estimate a patient's ability independent of neurological impairment. A common test of premorbid IQ-namely, the Reading section of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT)-has been shown to have high measurement error in the high ability range, is unnecessarily long (55 items), and is proprietary. We describe the development of an alternative, nonproprietary, computerized adaptive test for premorbid IQ, the Penn Reading Assessment (PRA-CAT). PRA-CAT items were calibrated using a 1-parameter item response theory model in a large community sample (N ϭ 9,498), Ages 8 to 21, and the resulting parameters were used to simulate computerized adaptive testing sessions. Simulations demonstrated that the PRA-CAT achieves low measurement error (0.25; equivalent to Cronbach's alpha ϭ .94) and acceptable measurement error (0.40; Cronbach's alpha ϭ .84) after only 18 and 6 items, respectively (on average). Correlation of WRAT and PRA-CAT scores with numerous clinical, cognitive, demographic, and neuroimaging criteria suggests that validity of PRA-CAT score interpretation is comparable (and sometimes superior) with the WRAT. The fully functioning PRA-CAT for public use (including item parameter estimates reported here) has been built using the open-source program Concerto, and can be installed by anyone on a local computer or on the "cloud." Given the length and proprietary nature of the WRAT, the PRA-CAT shows promise as a potential alternative (and with minimal or no cost). Further validation in the context of neurological injury is needed.
Public Significance StatementClinicians often wish to assess the severity of disease-or injury-related cognitive decline, which can be difficult if premorbid cognitive ability is unknown. The PRA-CAT provides a method of assessing this premorbid ability (IQ) that is more efficient than current methods of doing so.
Individuals higher in eating restraint report feeling ambivalent (i.e., both positive and negative) about food, regardless of whether it is perceived to be unhealthy or healthy (Norris, Do, Close & Deswert, 2019). Given that ambivalence is thought to be a highly unpleasant, unstable, and arousing state, we sought in the current study to examine whether individuals higher in eating restraint show enhanced physiological arousal toward food (but not nonfood) images. Replicating our earlier findings (Norris et al., 2019), individuals higher in eating restraint exhibited more ambivalence towards both unhealthy and healthy food (but not nonfood) images than did those lower in eating restraint. Importantly, skin conductance reactivity (SCR) toward both unhealthy and healthy food images was greater for individuals higher in eating restraint than those lower in eating restraint; there were no group differences for nonfood images. Furthermore, eating restraint scores were positively correlated with SCR toward both unhealthy and healthy food images, suggesting that more extreme restraint is associated with stronger physiological arousal. Together, our results suggest that individuals higher in eating restraint experience more ambivalence and enhanced physiological arousal toward food images regardless of their perceived health value. Implications for treating individuals with eating disorders are discussed.
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