Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:14:16.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Accuracy of estimation of time-intervals in psychogeriatric outpatients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2012

Jeremia Heinik
Jeremia Heinik*
Affiliation:
Margoletz Psychogeriatric Center, Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Jeremia Heinik, MD, Margoletz Psychogeriatric Center, Ichilov Hospital, 6 Weizman Street, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel. Phone: +972-3-6973325; Fax: +972-3-6974658. Email: heinik@post.tau.ac.il.
Get access

Abstract

Background: Accuracy of estimation of time-intervals has received marginal attention in psychogeriatrics. We examined presumed differences in this time measure in participants with dementia (PWD) versus participants without dementia (PWoutD), further subdivided into specific diagnoses and performance subgroups. We also studied its demographic, clinical, and cognitive correlates and predictors. A diagnostic role was hypothesized.

Methods: Forty-three individuals (27 PWD: 16 dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), 11 vascular dementia (VaD); 16 PWoutD: 10 major depressive disorder (MDD), 6 normal) were interviewed with the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly – Revised (CAMDEX-R) that permits the registration of this time measure. Demographic, clinical, and cognitive data were obtained.

Results: Neither absolute accuracy of estimation of duration of interview nor its transformed logarithm were significantly different between PWD and PWoutD, or between DAT and VaD participants. MDD participants performed significantly poorer than normal and did not differ from PWD, and the PWD relatively better performing subgroup. The logarithm of absolute accuracy of estimation correlated with some clinical and cognitive variables. Only a measure of depression and of impaired judgment could significantly predict it.

Conclusions: The absolute accuracy of estimation of time-intervals did not differ between the major groups and the main diagnoses subgroups. It was associated with a variety of clinical and cognitive measures, and was predicted by the composite constructs of depression and impaired judgment. The diagnostic value of this measure in the psychogeriatric clinic is questionable, and limited to “worried” well individuals.

Keywords

accuracy of estimation of time-intervalstime estimationpassage of time estimationdementiadepressionpsychogeriatricoutpatients
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 24 , Issue 5 , May 2012 , pp. 809 - 821
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexopolous, G. S., Kiosses, D. N., Klimstra, S., Kalayam, B. and Bruce, M. L. (2002). Clinical presentation of the “depression-executive dysfunction syndrome” of late life. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 10, 98–106.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Bech, P. (1975). Depression: influence on time estimation and time experiments. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 51, 42–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berrios, G. (1982). Disorientation states and psychiatry. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 23, 479–491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonnot, O., de Mentalembert, M. and Coulon, N. (2011). Are impairments of time perception in schizophrenia a neglected phenomena? Journal of Physiology – Paris. Epublished ahead of print, doi:10.1016/j.jphysparis.2011.07.006.Google Scholar
Bullard, S. E., Fein, D., Glesson, M. K., Tiscler, N., Mapou, R. L. and Kaplan, E. (2004). The Biber cognitive estimation test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19, 835–846.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cappelletti, M., Freeman, E. D. and Cipolotti, L. (2009). Dissociations and interactions between time, numerosity and space processing. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2732–2748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carrasco, M. C., Guillem, M. J. and Redolat, R. (2000). Estimation of short temporal intervals in Alzheimer's disease. Experimental Aging Research, 26, 139–151.Google Scholar
Caselli, L., Iaboli, L. and Nichelli, P. (2009). Time estimation in mild Alzheimer's disease patients. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 5, 32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaston, A. and Kingstone, A. (2004). Time estimation: the effect of cortically mediated attention. Brain and Cognition, 55, 286–289.Google Scholar
Church, R. M. (1984). Properties of the internal clock. In Gibbon, J. and Allan, I. (eds.), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 423: Timing and Time Perception (pp. 566–582). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Coslett, H. B., Shenton, J., Dyer, T. and Wiener, M. (2009). Cognitive timing: neuropsychology and anatomic basis. Brain Research, 1254, 38–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Damasceno, B. P. (1996). Time perception as a complex functional system: neuropsychological approach. International Journal of Neuroscience, 85, 237–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foley, H. J. and Matlin, M. W. (2010). Sensation & Perception, 5th edn. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and McHugh, P. R. (1975). “Mini-mental state:” a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–198.Google Scholar
Gibbon, J., Church, R. M. and Meck, W. H. (1984). Scalar timing in memory. In Gibbon, J. and Allan, L. (eds.), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 423: Timing and Time Perception (pp. 52–77). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Grewal, R. P. (1995). Awareness of time in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Psychological Reports, 76, 717–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grondin, S. (2010). Timing and time perception: a review of recent behavioral and neuroscience findings and theoretical directions. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72, 561–582.Google Scholar
Gunstad, J., Cohen, R. A., Paul, R. H., Luster, F. S. and Gordon, E. (2006). Age effects in time estimation: relationship to frontal brain morphology. Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, 5, 75–87.Google Scholar
Hachinski, V. C. et al. (1975). Cerebral blood flow in dementia. Archives of Neurology, 32, 632–637.Google Scholar
Hawkins, W., French, L., Crawford, B. and Enzle, M. (1988). Depressed affect and time perception. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 275–280.Google Scholar
Heinik, J. and Ayalon, L. (2010). Self-estimation of performance time versus actual performance time in older adults with suspected mild cognitive impairment: a clinical perspective. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 47, 291–296.Google Scholar
Heinik, J. and Solomesh, I. (2007). Validity of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination – Revised new executive function score in the diagnosis of dementia: some early findings. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 20, 22–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, C. P., Berg, L., Danziger, W. L., Coben, L. A. and Martin, R. L. (1982). A new clinical scale for the staging of dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 566–572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaspers, K. (1963). General Psychopathology, Hoenig, J. and Hamilton, M. W. (trans.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press (original in German).Google Scholar
Kitamura, T. and Kumar, R. (1984). Controlled study on time reproduction of depressive patients. Psychopathology, 17, 24–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, B. and Dreier, T. (1997). Preservation of temporal skills in Alzheimer's disease. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 85, 83–96.Google Scholar
Meck, W. H. (1983). Selective adjustment of speed of internal clock and memory processes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 9, 171–201.Google Scholar
Mezey, A. G. and Cohen, S. I. (1961). The effect of depressive illness on time judgment and time experience. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 24, 269–270.Google Scholar
Mimura, M., Kinsbourne, M. and O'Connor, M. (2000). Time estimation by patients with frontal lesions and by Korsakoff amnestics. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 517–528.Google Scholar
Nichelli, P., Venneri, A., Molinari, M., Tavani, F. and Grafman, J. (1993). Precision and accuracy of subjective time estimation in different memory disorders. Brain Research: Cognitive Brain Research, 1, 87–93.Google Scholar
Page, T. (1994). Time is the essence: molecular analysis of the biological clock. Science, 263, 1570–1573.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Papagno, C., Allegra, A. and Cardaci, M. (2004). Time estimation in Alzheimer's disease and the role of central executive. Brain and Cognition, 54, 18–23.Google Scholar
Roth, M., Huppert, F. A., Mountjoy, C. Q. and Tym, E. (1998). CAMDEX-R: The Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly – Revised. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rueda, A. D. and Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (2009). Time estimation abilities in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychology, 23, 178–188.Google Scholar
Sims, A. (2002). Symptoms in the Mind: An Introduction to Descriptive Psychopathology. London: Saunders.Google Scholar
Wahlund, L. O., Pihlstrand, E. and Jönhagen, M. E. (2003). Mild cognitive impairment: experience from a memory clinic. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 107 (Suppl. 179), 21–24.Google Scholar
Wiener, M. and Coslett, H. B. (2008). Disruption of temporal processing in a subject with probable frontotemporal dementia. Neuropsychologia, 46, 1927–1939.Google Scholar
Yesavage, J. A. et al. (1983). Development and validation of a geriatric screening scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 17, 37–49.Google Scholar