This marks the official beginning of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief of JINS though the transition has been ongoing for more than a year. The change you will notice most is the cover, but I have also instituted a new section, Neurobehavioral Grand Rounds, which is a way to emphasize the importance of case studies by including an introduction by an expert in the field who will put the case in a broader context. Other sections will remain the same except I have changed the name of Research Letters to Rapid Communications, and I want to encourage you to submit such papers that are short, and are put on a fast track for review. Electronic submission and review is still in its infancy, but I am optimistic that it will speed the review process. Speedy publication is in all of our interests, but rapid, high quality reviews are the cornerstone of that speed. Therefore, when JINS asks you to review a manuscript, please agree to do it. We will be relying heavily on your help in order to improve the review lag.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether age affects visual memory retention across extended time intervals. In addition, we wanted to study how memory capabilities across different time intervals are related to the volume of different neuroanatomical structures (right hippocampus, right cortex, right white matter). One test of recognition (CVMT) and one test of recall (Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test) were administered, giving measures of immediate recognition/recall, 20–30 min recognition/recall, and recognition/recall at a mean of 75 days. Volumetric measures of right hemisphere hippocampus, cortex, and white matter were obtained through an automated labelling procedure of MRI recordings. Results did not demonstrate a steeper rate of forgetting for older participants when the retention intervals were increased, indicating that older people have spared ability to retain information in the long-term store. Differences in neuroanatomical volumes could explain up to 36% of the variance in memory performance, but were not significantly related to rates of forgetting. Cortical volume and hippocampal volume were in some cases independent as predictors of memory function. Generally, cortical volume was a better predictor of recognition memory than hippocampal volume, while the 2 structures did not differ in their predictive power of recall abilities. While neuroanatomical volumetric differences can explain some of the differences in memory functioning between younger and older persons, the hippocampus does not seem to be unique in this respect. (JINS, 2005, 11, 2–15.)

Treatment with interferon-alpha (IFN-α) has been shown to adversely affect cognitive functioning in patients with a variety of medical disorders, but information about the effects of IFN-α on cognitive functioning in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of IFN-α on neuropsychological test performance in CHC patients. Participants were 30 patients with CHC, 11 who underwent IFN-α therapy and 19 who did not. All participants were tested at baseline (i.e., pretreatment) and approximately 6 months later with the Symbol Digit Modalities Test and Trail Making Test. Results revealed that the treatment group performed significantly worse than untreated CHC patients on Part B of the Trail Making Test after approximately 6 months of treatment. No significant group differences were found on Part A of the Trail Making Test or Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Findings suggest that CHC patients undergoing treatment with IFN-α may experience reduced abilities to benefit from practice but suffer no decrements in performance after 6 months of treatment. Additional research is needed to replicate these findings and to explore risk factors for susceptibility to IFN-α-induced effects. (JINS, 2005, 11, 16–22.)

The present study further explored the phenomenon of “diagnosis threat” (Suhr & Gunstad, 2002), by examining the potential explanatory roles of anxiety, effort, and depression. Individuals with mild head injury history were randomly assigned to receive either neutral instructions (controls, N = 25) or to have attention called to their head injury history as a reason for invitation into the study (diagnosis threat, N = 28). Depression was measured at baseline. Following the neuropsychological battery, ratings of effort, test pressure, and state anxiety were completed. The diagnosis threat group performed worse than controls on attention/working memory, psychomotor speed, and memory tasks, but not on measures of executive functioning, post-test anxiety, or effort. Effort, anxiety and depression were not related to cognitive performance, nor did depression interact with expectations in explaining group differences in performance. Results provide further support for the “diagnosis threat” effect, but offer no support for effort, anxiety, or depression explanations for diminished performance. (JINS, 2005, 11, 23–29.)

The ability to spatially rotate a mental image was compared in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 18) and patients with Huntington's disease (HD; n = 18). Compared to their respective age-matched normal control (NC) group, the speed, but not the accuracy, of mental rotation abnormally decreased with increasing angle of orientation for patients with HD. In contrast, the accuracy, but not the speed, of rotation abnormally decreased with increasing angle of orientation for patients with AD. Additional analyses showed that these unique patterns of performance were not attributable to different speed/accuracy trade-off sensitivities. This double dissociation suggests that the distinct brain regions affected in the two diseases differentially contribute to speed and accuracy of mental rotation. Specifically, the slowing exhibited by HD patients may be mediated by damage to the basal ganglia, whereas the spatial manipulation deficit of AD patients may reflect pathology in parietal and temporal lobe association cortices important for visuospatial processing. (JINS, 2005, 11, 30–39.)

Patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and normal controls were tested on a retrograde amnesia test with semantic content (Neologism and Vocabulary Test, or NVT), consisting of neologisms to be defined. Patients showed a decrement as compared to normal controls, pointing to retrograde amnesia within semantic memory. No evidence for a gradient within this amnesia was found, although one was present on an autobiographic test of retrograde amnesia that had a wider time scale. Several explanations for these results are presented, including one that suggests that extended retrograde amnesia and semantic memory deficits are in fact one and the same deficit. (JINS, 2005, 11, 40–48.)

We hypothesized that patterns of sustained attention performance in bipolar disorder were consistent with processing efficiency theory—a theory of the relationship between central processing capacity and performance. We predicted (1) sustained attention deficits during mania because symptoms interfere with limited-capacity executive control processes resulting in decreased performance effectiveness; and (2) decreased processing efficiency during euthymia, as indicated by speed/accuracy tradeoffs, consistent with a stable phenotypic abnormality. Twenty-five manic bipolar, 23 euthymic bipolar, and 28 healthy comparison participants were compared on a continuous performance task and administered symptom-rating scales. The manic group was significantly impaired on overall perceptual sensitivity and demonstrated a significant linear decrease in performance over time, consistent with impaired sustained attention. The euthymic group evidenced significantly slower overall hit reaction time (RT), but when RT was controlled they performed similarly to the healthy group over time. Two discriminant functions combined to separate the groups on manic symptom severity and on-task effort/strategy use. These findings are consistent with processing efficiency theory. They suggest that euthymic patients sustain attention through effortful control at the expense of processing efficiency, while acute mania reduces the capacity for control and impairs sustained attention. Problems with processing efficiency are viewed as trait characteristics of bipolar disorder that may be overlooked by traditional error-based assessments. (JINS, 2005, 11, 49–57.)

Clinical decision making about an athlete's return to competition after concussion is hampered by a lack of systematic methods to measure recovery. We applied standard regression-based methods to statistically measure individual rates of impairment at several time points after concussion in college football players. Postconcussive symptoms, cognitive functioning, and balance were assessed in 94 players with concussion (based on American Academy of Neurology Criteria) and 56 noninjured controls during preseason baseline testing, and immediately, 3 hr, and 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days postinjury. Ninety-five percent of injured players exhibited acute concussion symptoms and impairment on cognitive or balance testing immediately after injury, which diminished to 4% who reported elevated symptoms on postinjury day 7. In addition, a small but clinically significant percentage of players who reported being symptom free by day 2 continued to be classified as impaired on the basis of objective balance and cognitive testing. These data suggest that neuropsychological testing may be of incremental utility to subjective symptom checklists in identifying the residual effects of sport-related concussion. The implementation of neuropsychological testing to detect subtle cognitive impairment is most useful once postconcussive symptoms have resolved. This management model is also supported by practical and other methodological considerations. (JINS, 2005, 11, 58–69.)

Higher rates of alcohol use have been reported in HIV+ individuals compared to the general population. Both heavy alcohol use and HIV infection are associated with increased risk of neuropsychological (NP) impairment. We examined effects of heavy active alcohol use and HIV on NP functioning in a large sample of community-residing HIV+ individuals and HIV− controls. The four main study groups included 72 HIV− light/non-drinkers, 70 HIV− heavy drinkers (>100 drinks per month), 70 HIV+ light/non-drinkers, and 56 HIV+ heavy drinkers. The heavy drinking group was further subdivided to assess effects of the heaviest levels of active alcohol use (>6 drinks per day) on NP functioning. A comprehensive NP battery was administered. Multivariate analysis of covariance was employed to examine the effect of HIV and alcohol on NP functioning after adjusting for group differences in age and estimated premorbid verbal intellectual functioning. The analyses identified main effects of heavy drinking and HIV on NP function, with greatest effects involving the contrast of HIV+ heavy drinkers and the HIV− light drinkers. Synergistic effects of heaviest current drinking and HIV infection were identified in analyses of motor and visuomotor speed. Supplementary analyses also revealed better NP function in the HIV+ group with antiretroviral treatment (ART) and lower level of viral burden, a finding that was consistent across levels of alcohol consumption. Finally, heavy alcohol use and executive functioning difficulties were associated with lower levels of self-reported medication adherence in the HIV+ group. The findings suggest that active heavy alcohol use and HIV infection have additive adverse effects on NP function, that they may show synergistic effects in circumstances of very heavy active alcohol use, and that heavy drinking and executive functioning may mediate health-related behaviors in HIV disease. (JINS, 2005, 11, 70–83.)

Limited research has investigated specific attentional sequelae following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as sustained, selective, and shifting attention, as well as speed of processing. Little is known about the pattern of recovery of these skills or their interaction with ongoing development. The present study examined attentional abilities at acute, 6-, 12-, and 24-month time points postinjury in a group of 71 children who had sustained a mild, moderate, or severe TBI. Results indicated that children who sustained a severe TBI generally performed poorest, but showed most recovery over time. The pattern of recovery was dependent on the attentional component being measured. Specifically, deficits were most evident on more complex and timed tasks. While a number of areas showed recovery over time, for some attentional components, difficulties persisted to 24 months postinjury. (JINS, 2005, 11, 84–98.)

A topic much considered in research on acalculia was its relationship with aphasia. Far less attention has been given to the natural course of acalculia. In this retrospective study, we examined the relationship between aphasia and acalculia in an unselected series of 98 left-brain-damaged patients and the spontaneous recovery from acalculia in 92 acalculic patients with follow-up. There was a significant association between aphasia and acalculia although 19 participants exhibited aphasia with no acalculia and six acalculia with no aphasia. We observed significant improvement between a first examination carried out between 1 and 5 months post-onset and a second examination carried out between 3 and 11 months later (mean: 5 months). The mechanisms of spontaneous recovery are discussed. (JINS, 2005, 11, 99–107.)

We used a rational-empirical approach in the construction and validation of a cognitive activity scale for use with elderly populations. The scale development effort produced a 25-item scale with a reasonably high level of internal consistency in a sample of 200 elderly individuals. Scale scores were positively correlated with years of education and measures of various domains of cognitive ability. In a separate cross-validation sample, a similar pattern of reliability and validity coefficients was obtained. The full scale score was found to contribute significantly to the prediction of cognitive ability after controlling for the effects of age, education, and gender. Two subscales (Higher Cognitive Abilities and Frequent Cognitive Abilities) and a measure of self-reported maintenance of cognitive activity were also developed. In a separate study, the maintenance score was found to differ significantly between the validation sample and a sample of individuals with a history of neurological disorder, with a moderate effect size (d approximately = .7). Further cross-validation studies in minority groups and groups of varying socioeconomic status will be critical in establishing the research and clinical value of the scale and subscales. (JINS, 2005, 11, 108–116.)

Review of The Central Nervous System. Structure and Function (3rd ed.), by Per Brodal. 2004. New York: Oxford University Press. 515 pp., $79.95.

Review of Successful Private Practice in Neuropsychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Model by Mary Pepping. 2003. San Diego: Academic Press. 206 pp., $44.95.

Recent and relevant books.

The following is a correction for an error that occurred in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 781–793. The article titled “Neuropsychological functioning in a cohort of HIV infected women: Importance of antiretroviral therapy,” by J.L. Richardson et al., had errors in Table 5, which appeared on page 788. Please refer to the numbers in boldface that shows the incorrect and correct values, respectively.