Wells Carolyn T, Mahone E Mark, Matson Melissa A, Kates Wendy R, Hay Trisha, Horska Alena
Children's National Medical Center, Department of Neuropsychology, 14801 Physician's Lane Suite 173, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Brain Cogn. 2008 Nov;68(2):171-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2008.04.004. Epub 2008 May 29.
Ecological validity of neuropsychological assessment includes the ability of tests to predict real-world functioning and/or covary with brain structures. Studies have examined the relationship between adaptive skills and test performance, with less focus on the association between regional brain volumes and neurobehavioral function in healthy children. The present study examined the relationship between temporal lobe gray matter volumes and performance on two neuropsychological tests hypothesized to measure temporal lobe functioning (visual perception-VP; peabody picture vocabulary test, third edition-PPVT-III) in 48 healthy children ages 5-18 years. After controlling for age and gender, left and right temporal and left occipital volumes were significant predictors of VP. Left and right frontal and temporal volumes were significant predictors of PPVT-III. Temporal volume emerged as the strongest lobar correlate with both tests. These results provide convergent and discriminant validity supporting VP as a measure of the "what" system; but suggest the PPVT-III as a complex measure of receptive vocabulary, potentially involving executive function demands.
神经心理学评估的生态效度包括测试预测现实世界功能和/或与脑结构共变的能力。已有研究探讨了适应性技能与测试表现之间的关系，而较少关注健康儿童区域脑容量与神经行为功能之间的关联。本研究调查了48名5至18岁健康儿童的颞叶灰质体积与两项假设用于测量颞叶功能的神经心理学测试（视觉感知-VP；皮博迪图片词汇测验第三版-PPVT-III）表现之间的关系。在控制年龄和性别后，左、右颞叶以及左枕叶体积是VP的显著预测因子。左、右额叶和颞叶体积是PPVT-III的显著预测因子。颞叶体积是与两项测试相关性最强的脑叶。这些结果提供了聚合效度和区分效度，支持将VP作为“什么”系统的一种测量方法；但表明PPVT-III是接受性词汇的一项复杂测量指标，可能涉及执行功能需求。
