Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T04:51:49.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Measurement of Dementia∗

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

M. B. Brody
M. B. Brody*
Affiliation:
Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Hitherto two methods have been commonly used to measure dementia—by means of numerical measures of scatter, and by means of the discrepancy between scores on vocabulary and other tests. In the present investigation the value of the most popular techniques with both methods was examined, and a new short measure of dementia was evolved.

Subjects taking the Stanford Binet and similar tests rarely pass abruptly from complete success at and below a certain M.A. level to complete failure at the next and subsequent levels. For example, a subject with a total M.A. of eleven years may succeed in all the subtests at and below the VIII year level and fail all the subtests above the XIV year level, while between these two levels he succeeds in some and fails others. The range of partial success and failure is called the “scatter.” Many psychometrists believe that unusually wide scatter indicates psychopathy or intellectual deterioration. The various methods for measuring scatter are conveniently summarized by Harris and Shakow (1937).

A long-standing observation on the results of intelligence tests in dementia is that vocabulary ability remains comparatively unimpaired until a late stage when the subject is unable to solve other tests. Therefore, it has been claimed, vocabulary score may be taken as a measure of the subject's pre-morbid intelligence, and the discrepancy between his vocabulary ability and ability on other tests as a reflection of the difference between his former and present intelligence, thus providing a measure of his dementia. The Babcock test is the best known of several techniques, based on this principle, for the measurement of dementia.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 88 , Issue 371 , April 1942 , pp. 317 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1942 

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

Atwell, C. R. (1939), J. educ. Psychol., 30, 467.Google Scholar
Babcock, H. (1930), Arch. Psychol., No. 117.Google Scholar
Idem (1933), A Short Form of the Babcock Examination for the Measurement of Mental Deterioration. Chicago: Stoelting.Google Scholar
Brody, M. B. (1940), J. ment. Sci., 86, 532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idem (1941), Ibid., 87, 88.Google Scholar
Cattell, R. B. (1940), J. educ. Psychol., 81, 161.Google Scholar
Earl, C. J. C. (1940), J. abnorm. (soc.) Psychol., 36, 428.Google Scholar
Harris, A. J., and Shakow, D. (1937), Psychol. Bull., 34, 134.Google Scholar
Shipley, W. C. (1940a), Ibid., 37, 438.Google Scholar
Idem (1906), J. Psychol., 9, 371.Google Scholar
Idem and Burlingame, C. C. (1941), Amer. J. Psychiat., 97, 1313.Google Scholar
Vernon, P. E. (1937), Brit. J. educ. Psychol., 7, 72–88 and 115-137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.