The Neuropsychology of Individual Differences


Book Description

This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of neuropsychological approaches to the assessment and study of individual differences. The book covers individual differences in mental abilities such as intelligence, mental retardation, learning memory, language, and reading. In addition, it discusses neurological models of cognitive information processing individual differences in personality and temperament, and neuro-psychological approaches to the assessment of learning disabilities and psychopathological disorders.




The Neuropsychology of Individual Differences


Book Description

The Neuropsychology of Individual Differences: A Developmental Per spective was designed to sliIVey the complexities and subtleties of neu rologically based differences in human beings. By conceptualizing and presenting subject matter in a developmental sequence, we hoped to emphasize the inseparable union between the science of neuropsychology and the study of human behavior. Following a brief introductory chapter, the volume opens with chap ters concerning critical preliminary questions, such as establishing a foundation and rationale for a neuropsychological basis for individual differences and consideration of important methodological issues. It pro ceeds with discussions of the role of neuropsychology in the individual's efforts to organize the world via such basic means as perception and temperament. Three chapters follow that discuss individual differences in higher cortical functions: cognitive ability, language, and learning. Neuropsychological differences between the sexes and in the expression of psychopathological and neurological conditions comprise the topics for the next three chapters. The final topical chapter provides a discussion of rehabilitation of neurological disorders in children, and the volume concludes with a synthesis of all contributions.




Biology of Personality and Individual Differences


Book Description

This is the first book to provide an overview of current research using cutting-edge genetic and neuroimaging methods in the study of personality. Integrating compelling lines of inquiry that until now have largely remained disparate, the volume brings together leading investigators from personality psychology; clinical psychology and psychiatry; cognitive, affective, and behavioral neuroscience; and comparative psychology. Coverage includes the structure of personality and its mapping onto biology, genetic markers for individual differences and vulnerability towards psychopathology, sex differences and age-related processes, and functional neuroimaging approaches.




Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition


Book Description

As cognitive models of behavior continue to evolve, the mechanics of cognitive exceptionality, with its range of individual variations in abilities and performance, remains a challenge to psychology. Reaching beyond the standard view of exceptional cognition equaling superior intelligence, the Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition examines the latest findings from psychobiology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience, for a comprehensive state-of-the-art volume. Breaking down cognition in terms of attentional mechanisms, working memory, and higher-order processing, contributors discuss general models of cognition and personality. Chapter authors build on this foundation as they revisit current theory in such areas as processing effort and general arousal and examine emerging methods in individual differences research, including new data on the role of brain plasticity in cognitive function. The possibility of a unified theory of individual differences in cognitive ability and the extent to which these variables may account for real-world competencies are emphasized, and commentary chapters offer suggestions for further research priorities. Coverage highlights include: The relationship between cognition and temperamental traits. The development of autobiographical memory. Anxiety and attentional control. The neurophysiology of gender differences in cognitive ability. Intelligence and cognitive control. Individual differences in dual task coordination. The effects of subclinical depression on attention, memory, and reasoning. Mood as a shaper of information. Researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in psychology and cognitive sciences, including clinical psychology and neuropsychology, personality and social psychology, neuroscience, and education, will find the Handbook of Individual Differences in Cognition an expert guide to the field as it currently stands and to its agenda for the future.




Explorations in Temperament


Book Description

The growing interest in research on temperament during the last decade has been re corded by several authors (e. g. , R. Plomin; J. E. Bates) from such sources of informa tion as the Social Sciences Citation Index or Psychological Abstracts. The editors' inquiry shows that the number of cases in which the term temperament was used in the title of a paper or in the paper's abstract published in Psychological Abstracts reveals an essential increase in research on temperament. During the years 1975 to 1979, the term temperament was used in the title and/or summary of 173 abstracts (i. e. , 34. 6 publications per year); during the next five years (1980-1984), it was used in 367 abstracts (73. 4 publications per year), whereas in the last five years (1985 to 1989), the term has appeared in 463 abstracts, that is, in 92. 6 publications per year. Even if the review of temperament literature is restricted to those abstracts, it can easily be concluded that temperament is used in different contexts and with different meanings, hardly allowing any comparisons or general statements. One of the consequences of this state of affairs is that our knowledge on temperament does not cumulate despite the increasing research activity in this field. This situation in temperament research motivated the editors to organize a one week workshop on The Diagnosis of Temperament (Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany, September 1987).




Understanding Individual Differences in Language Development Across the School Years


Book Description

This volume presents the findings of a large-scale study of individual differences in spoken (and heard) language development during the school years. The goal of the study was to investigate the degree to which language abilities at school entry were stable over time and influential in the child’s overall success in important aspects of development. The methodology was a longitudinal study of over 600 children in the US Midwest during a 10-year period. The language skills of these children -- along with reading, academic, and psychosocial outcomes -- were measured. There was intentional oversampling of children with poor language ability without being associated with other developmental or sensory disorders. Furthermore, these children could be sub-grouped based on their nonverbal abilities, such that one group represents children with specific language impairment (SLI), and the other group with nonspecific language impairment (NLI) represents poor language along with depressed nonverbal abilities. Throughout the book, the authors consider whether these distinctions are supported by evidence obtained in this study and which aspects of development are impacted by poor language ability. Data are provided that allow conclusions to be made regarding the level of risk associated with different degrees of poor language and whether this risk should be viewed as lying on a continuum. The volume will appeal to researchers and professionals with an interest in children’s language development, particularly those working with children who have a range of language impairments. This includes Speech and Language Pathologists; Child Neuropsychologists; Clinical Psychologists working in Education, as well as Psycholinguists and Developmental Psychologists.




Individual Differences in Conscious Experience


Book Description

Individual Differences in Conscious Experience is intended for readers with philosophical, psychological, or clinical interests in subjective experience. It addresses some difficult but important issues in the study of consciousness, subconsciousness, and self-consciousness. The book's fourteen chapters are written by renowned, pioneering researchers who, collectively, have published more than fifty books and more than one thousand journal articles. The editors' introductory chapter frames the book's subtext: that mind-brain theories embodying the constraints of individual differences in subjective experience should be given greater credence than nomothetic theories ignoring those constraints. The next five chapters describe research and theory pertaining to individual differences in conscious sensations — specifically, individual differences in pain perception, phantom limbs, gustatory sensations, and mental imagery. Then, two succeeding chapters focus on individual differences in subconsciousness. The final six chapters address individual differences in altered states of self-consciousness — dreams, hypnotic phenomena, and various clinical syndromes. (Series B)




The Neuropsychology of Individual Differences


Book Description

This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of neuropsychological approaches to the assessment and study of individual differences. The book covers individual differences in mental abilities such as intelligence, mental retardation, learning memory, language, and reading. In addition, it discusses neurological models of cognitive information processing individual differences in personality and temperament, and neuro-psychological approaches to the assessment of learning disabilities and psychopathological disorders.




Beyond Individual Differences


Book Description

In an era of intense interest in educational reform, spurred by increasing global competition for jobs and advancement, it is more critical than ever to understand the nature of learning. And although much attention is paid to differences between learners, short shrift is often given to cognitive functions that characterize successful learning for all students. Yet these are the very functions that determine the difference between successful and rewarding learning versus merely “doing” without truly learning. Firmly grounded in the principles of neuropsychology, Beyond Individual Differences analyzes both successful and unproductive learning in terms of the brain’s organizing processes – that is, its unconscious sifting, selecting, and meaning-making that enable students to incorporate and build on what they’ve learned in the past. At the same time, it explores the learning situations that cause organization to break down and offers several preventive strategies. Key areas of coverage include: The complex role of mental organization in learning and education. Specific organizing processes and the links to success or failure in learning. Information/cognitive overload. The student’s experience of learning and its impact on development. Accommodating a range of individual differences in the classroom. Practices for supporting students’ unconscious organizing processes. Beyond Individual Differences is essential reading for a wide range of professionals and policy makers as well as researchers and graduate students in school and clinical child psychology, special and general education, social work and school counseling, speech therapy, and neuropsychology.




Understanding Psychological Assessment


Book Description

Introductory texts on psychological testing and evaluation historically are not in short supply. Typically, however, such texts have been relatively superficial in their discussion of clinical material and have focused primarily on the theoretical and psychometric properties of indi vidual tests. More practical, clinically relevant presentations of psychological instruments have been confined to individual volumes with advanced and often very technical information geared to the more sophisticated user. Professors in introductory graduate courses are often forced to adopt several advanced texts to cover the material, at the same time helping students wade through unnecessary technical information in order to provide a basic working knowl edge of each test. Understanding Psychological Assessment is an attempt to address these concerns. It brings together into a single volume a broad sampling of the most respected instruments in the psychologist's armamentarium along with promising new tests of cognitive, vocational, and personality functioning. Additionally, it presents the most updated versions of these tests, all in a practical, clearly written format that covers the development, psychometrics, administra tive considerations, and interpretive hypotheses for each instrument. Clinical case studies allow the reader to apply the interpretive guidelines to real clinical data, thereby reinforcing basic understanding of the instrument and helping to insure that both the student and practi tioner can actually begin to use the test. Understanding Psychological Assessment includes cognitive and personality tests for adults, children, and adolescents, as well as chapters on the theory of psychological measurement and integrated report writing.