The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "Frontal Lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysis.

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (1) Theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (2) One cannot generalize from a single case, therefore the single case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (3) The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, while other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (4) The case study contains a bias toward verification; and (5) It is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. The article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and that a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of more good case studies.

Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.

/pdf/five-misunderstandings-about-case-study-research-5fjkxsjtxc.pdf

Despite the concern that has been expressed about potential method biases, and the pervasiveness of research settings with the potential to produce them, there is disagreement about whether they really are a problem for researchers in the behavioral sciences. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to explore the current state of knowledge about method biases. First, we explore the meaning of the terms “method” and “method bias” and then we examine whether method biases influence all measures equally. Next, we review the evidence of the effects that method biases have on individual measures and on the covariation between different constructs. Following this, we evaluate the procedural and statistical remedies that have been used to control method biases and provide recommendations for minimizing method bias.

Sources of Method Bias in Social Science Research and Recommendations on How to Control It

https://www.fafich.ufmg.br/cogvila/discexp3/wmebuff.pdf

The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?

Assessments are carried out in order to answer questions. Consequently, the
nature of the question determines the assessment procedure. So we would use
different tests and procedures for testing out a theoretical model than we would
for trying to predict the likelihood of successful return to work for a brain-injured
patient. An example of the former is the work of Baddeley, Logie, Bressi, Della
Sala, and Spinnler (1986), who were trying to support or refute their hypothesis
that patients with Alzheimer’s disease had a deficit in the central executive
component of the working memory model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974). An
example of the latter is Shallice and Burgess’s (1991) six elements test which
requires participants to plan and organise their activity over a 15-minute period
while following certain rules. Mayes (1986) discusses the different concerns of
researchers and clinicians with regard to memory assessments but his views are
equally relevant to assessments of executive functioning. When thinking about
frontal lobe or executive functioning clinicians are likely to be concerned with
answering such questions as:1. Does this person have cognitive impairments that are typically associated
with the Dysexecutive syndrome (DES)?

Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome

Ninety-two mixed etiology neurological patients and 216 control participants were assessed on a range of neuropsychological tests, including 10 neuropsychological measures of executive function derived from 6 different tests. People who knew the patients well (relatives or carers) completed a questionnaire about the patient's dysexecutive problems in everyday life, and this paper reports the extent to which the tests predicted the patients' everyday life problems. All of the tests were significantly predictive of at least some of the behavioral and cognitive deficits reported by patients' carers. However, factor analysis of the patients' dysexecutive symptoms suggested a fractionation of the dysexecutive syndrome, with neuropsychological tests loading differentially on 3 underlying cognitive factors (Inhibition, Intentionality, and Executive Memory), supporting the conclusions that different tests measure different cognitive processes, and that there may be limits to the fractionation of the executive system.

/pdf/the-ecological-validity-of-tests-of-executive-function-28ge0r94je.pdf

The ecological validity of tests of executive function.

This paper describes a new technique for assessing "autobiographical" and "personal semantic" memory in amnesic patients and healthy controls. It provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the procedure, and reports an age-related temporal gradient in amnesic patients. The results are considered in terms of the severity, the rate of onset, and the duration of the amnesia; and a preliminary analysis is given of the findings in different diagnostic groups. The findings indicate that autobiographical and personal semantic memory show a consistent pattern of impairment, when a comparison is made which controls for the age of the memories and the subject's own past experience.

The autobiographical memory interview: a new assessment of autobiographical and personal semantic memory in amnesic patients.

Development of a behavioral test of visuospatial neglect.

About the Editors. List of Contributors. Preface. Preface to the First Edition. SECTION I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. The Psychology of Memory (A. Baddeley). Neurobiological Foundations of Human Memory (D. Tranel and A. Damasio). Functional Neuroimaging of Memory (M. Rugg). The Medial Temporal Lobe and Memory for Facts and Events (J. Manns and L. Squire). Connectionist Models for Memory Disorders (J. Murre). Psychopharmacology of Human Memory (H. Curran and H. Weingartner). SECTION II: VARIETIES OF MEMORY DISORDER. The Amnesic Syndrome: Overview and Subtypes (M. O'Connor and M. Verfaillie). Theories of Anterograde Amnesia (A. Mayes). Retrograde Amnesia (M. Kopelman). Transient Global Amnesia (G. Goldenberg). Recovery of Memory Function in Neurological Disease (N. Kapur and K. Graham). Neuropsychological Impairments of Verbal Short-term Memory (G. Vallar and C. Papagano). Neuropsychological Impairments of Visual and Spatial Working Memory (S. Della Sala and R. Logie). Disorders of Semantic Memory (J. Snowden). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Confabulation: A Review and a Model (A. Gilboa and M. Moscovitch). Frontal Lobes and Memory (J. Baldo and A. Shimamura). Posttraumatic Amnesia and Residual Memory Deficit after Closed Head Injury (H. Levin and G. Hanten). Schizophrenia (P. McKenna et al.). Memory and Emotional Disorder (T. Dalgleish and S. Cox). Psychogenic Amnesia (M. Kopelman). SECTION III: DEVELOPMENT AND MEMORY. Memory Development During the Childhood Years (S. Gathercole). Children with Intellectual Disabilities (S. Vicari and G. Carlesimo). Developmental Amnesias and Accquired Amnesias of Childhood (C. Temple). Memory in Elderly People (J. Kester et al.). The Memory Deficit in Alzheimer's Disease (J. Becker and A. Overman) Memory Disorders in Subcortical Dementia (J. Brandt and C. Munro). SECTION IV: ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF MEMORY PROBLEMS. Assessment of Memory Disorders (B. Wilson). Separating Memory from Other Cognitive Disorders (D. Howieson and M. Lezak). Management and Remediation of Memory Problems in Brain-injured Adults (B. Wilson). Assessment and Management of Memory Problems in Children (J. Middleton). Assessment and Intervention in Dementia of Alzheimer Type (L. Clare). Reducing the Impact of Cognitive Impairment in Dementia (B. Woods). External Memory Aids and Computers in Memory Rehabilitation (N. Kapur et al.). Emotional and Social Consequences of Memory Disorders (R. Tate). Author Index. Subject Index.

Barbara A. Wilson

Papers

Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome

The ecological validity of tests of executive function.

The autobiographical memory interview: a new assessment of autobiographical and personal semantic memory in amnesic patients.

Development of a behavioral test of visuospatial neglect.

The handbook of memory disorders