CEREBRAL DYSFUNCTION VS. PSYCHOGENESIS IN HALSTEAD-REITAN TESTS

Abstract

Concerning behavioral manifestations of psychogenetic vs. cerebral dysfunctions, the Halstead-Reitan Test Battery was administered to patients admitted to Little Rock Veterans Administration Hospital for complete neurological evaluation. Over an 18-month period, 77 cases were diagnosed rather definitively as having only cerebral dysfunction and 39 as showing only nonpsychotic personality dysfunction. Of the 12 Halstead-Reitan variables studied, the brain-injured group performed significantly more poorly on all except Seashore Rhythm and Time Sense Memory Tests. One method of statistically controlling for age and IQ differences suggested that only Aphasia Testing and TPT Time were discriminating. Factor analyses were then done, generating five “brain damage” group factors and six psychogenic group factors. Both Varimax and General Factor rotations revealed substantial factor loading and factor composition differences between groups for all but the Trail Making Test and IQ, thus providing further evidence that cerebral deficit and nonpsychotic personality dysfunctions exerted different effects on Halstead-Reitan performances to some extent. Results also suggest that: a) general biological and psychometric intelligences overlap extensively; b) analysis of reinforcement-scheduling parameters with brain-injured patients may be fruitful; and c) nonpsychotic psychogenic factors impair communication, general adaptive ability, and concept formation to some degree. A 7-test battery is proposed both as economical of clinical time and as having maximum research potential for global organic vs. psychogenic differentiation.

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