1. What Does the Culture in Cultural Neuropsychology Tell Us About Psychology?
Antonio E. Puente
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Florida Institute of Technology
Melbourne, Florida
April 14, 2006

2. Outline Purpose of Presentation Background and Biases
Assumptions and Limitations
Defining Concepts
Examples from Neuropsychological Studies
Pragmatic Observations
Theoretical Speculations

3. Purpose of Presentation
Summary of 25 Years of Research Where Do Biopsychosocial Variables Fit in Brain Dysfunction?
Searching for a Neuropsychological “g”

4. Background and Biases Ethnicity Educational Professional Theoretical
Sperry
Vygotsky-Luria

5. Assumptions and Limitations
Philosophy Vs Science
Functional Vs Organic
Culture Vs Biology
Individual Vs Contextual

6. Defining Concepts Culture (Shared Extra-genetic Knowledge)
Brain and Neuropsychology (Processor of Information; Information about the Processor)
Intelligence and Cognition (Understanding/Tracking/Using Discrete Information)

7. Overall Purpose
To Increase Purpose/Validity/Value by Understanding the Individual in a Biopsychosocial Context
Historical- psychological (learning & emotion aka psychopathology)
Present- biological (and cognitive)
Future- social cultural context

8. Insert Slides for Hispanic
4,5, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,22,23, 24, 25, 26

9. Examples from Neuropsychological Studies
Background ( )
Grenada, W.I.- Hypertension & Stress
Argentina- Fulbright & the Malvinas
Puerto Rico- APA Visiting Psychologist Program & the Translation of Tests

10. Examples from Studies: Continued
Intention (since 1985)
Why do Ethnic-Minorities do Poorly on Most Cognitive & Neuropsychological Measures?
Three Generations = Anglo Saxon
Cattell and the Concept of “g”
Is There Common Information Processing Across Cultures?

11. Examples From Five “Studies”
Wechsler Intelligence Scales
Luria-Nebraska Battery
Amazon Indians
Russia
Hispanics

12. Wechsler Scales: I Background Item Bias on the Wechsler Scales WISC
Puerto Rican Version
WAIS vs WISC

13. Wechsler Scales: II Principal Collaborators In Psych Corp:
William Hrabrick,, Aurelio Prifitera, Michael O’Callahan, David Tulsky
Principal Co-Collaborators:
Alfredo Ardila, Josette Harris, Andres Barona, Laura Herrans (& Monica Rosselli)
Consulting Workgroup (7)
Other Collaborators:
50-70 School and Clinical Neuropsychologists Throughout the US

14. Wechsler Scales: III Time-Frame Items Production Sampling
Standardization

15. Wechsler Scales: IV Time-Frame: Initial Work= late 1980s-1993
Formal Work=

16. Wechsler Scales: V Items: Borrowed Items Explicit and Implicit Bias
Across Hispanic Subgroup Agreement
Scoring Criteria

17. Wechsler Scales: VI Production: Using Prior WISC & Foreign Versions
Drawings
Printing
Pricing & Packaging
Production

18. Wechsler Scales: VII Sampling: Age Sex
Educational Level (child and parent)
Country of Origin
Acculturation Level
Language Preference of Child
Socio-economic Status

19. Wechsler Scales: VIII Standardization: Examiners Methods 36
Geographical & Cultural Variability
Taped Tryout
Methods
Tryout= 600
Standardization= 1,000
Test-Retest= 300

20. Wechsler Scales: IX Current Status: “On Hold”
No Internal or External Project Director nor Funding

21. Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery: I
Background
National Academy of Neuropsychology 1979 Meeting in Orlando
Luria-North Dakota Neuropsychological Battery
Initial Collaboration with Golden & “Item Interpretation of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery”
Chilean Journal of Psychology (1982)

22. LNNB: II Failed Attempts: Spanish Collaborators: Argentina Puerto Rico
Madrid- Juan Tobal, Antonio Cano, Juan Manuel Cepedez, Itziar Iruarrizaga
Granada- Juan Gody, Juana Garcia. Miguel Perez
Other- Salamanca; TEA, Western Psych.

23. LNNB: III Literature Review: 500 Total Articles on the LNNB
34 on the LNNB and Ethnic/Foreign Samples
4= Children; 30= Adult
Empirical= 23 (BD, Schizophrenia)
Translations= 9

24. LNNB: IV Problems: Items Copyright Hispanic Subculture
Literal Translation
Copyright
Luria
Christensen
TEA
Western Psychological Services

25. LNNB: V
Translation:
Original Translation by Bilingual Neuropsychologist
Back Translation by Two Bilingual Neuropsychologist
New Translation Developed
Discrepancies With English Translation Reconciled

26. LNNB: VI Major Item Changes: Receptive Speech Expressive Speech
Writing & Reading
Arithmetic
Intellectual Processes

27. LNNB: VII Sampling: Total= 232 (men= 126; women= 106)
Mean Age= (15-88)
Mean Education= 9.93(0-21)

28. LNNB: VIII Correlations with LNNB I: Range= .5356 to .7232
Education= -.48 to -.72
Scales= .52 to .845

29. LNNB: IX Next Steps: Publishing Patient Group Info
TEA/Western Psychological Corporation Copyright & Related Difficulties

30. Amazon Indians: I Background: Collaborators: Culture-free Sample
Caribbean, Latin America, Spain, Russia
Collaborators:
Vivian Andrade (Brazil)
Miguel Perez (Spain)

31. Amazon: II First Study Task Sampling CVLT Type Task (15 words)
Words in Guaranis & Portuguese
Sampling
Total= 20
Guaranis (educated vs “uneducated”)

32. Amazon: III (First Study Continued)
Results:
Verbal Memory
similar number of words in first trial
different learning curves
more words total for indigenous Indians

33. Amazon Indians: IV Second Study
Sample
N= 12 per group
Educated vs “non-educated” Guaranis
Tasks
CVLT type task (15 matched words)
12 Figures of indigenous animals
WMS-R Logical Memory
WAIS-R Digit Span
WAIS-R Block Design

34. Amazon Indians: V Second Study (continued)
Results
No between-group differences
“Un-educated” Indians did significantly better in motor and visual tasks than in verbal tasks in either language

35. Russia Background Luria & Vygotsky
Biannual International Luria Conference
Anna Agranovich

36. Russia: II Sample Total = 40 per group USA Russia
Age (18-44) (18-43)
Ed (12-17) (12-17)

37. Russia: III Methodology/Instruments Hemisphere Anterior Posterior
left/verbal Fluency Digits Forward
Digits Backward Verbal Memory
right/visual Ruff Figural Fluency Visual Memory
Color Trails Clock Test

38. Russia: IV Results Verbal Fluency 21.75 24.18
Test USA Russia
Verbal Fluency
Digits Backwards
Digits Forward
Verbal Memory
Visual Memory
Clock
RFFT
CTT
CTT

39. Hispanics in The US
Insert slides 28, 29

40. Some Pragmatic Observations
Translations
Typical vs Required
Translators
Norms
Paucity of Data
Heterogeneity of Groups
Criterion Validity
Who is the Reference Value
What is “Brain Damage”
Personnel
Few Academics, in general
Even Fewer Ethnic-Minorities Within the Field

41. Some Theoretical Questions
New, Novel, & Extremely Difficult
History and Culture Do Matter
Personal Manipulation of History and Culture Matter Even More
Cultural Knowledge Might be the Manner in Which Natural Selection Expresses Itself in Homo Sapiens
Clinical Neuropsychology Might Help Unravel This Expression

42. Insert slide 30,

43. Answers with Questions: Where Do We Go From Here?
Is Reductionism Enough?
Is the Tabula Rasa Really Blank?
Does Individual Cognition Affect Gene Pool Constitution?
If so, is Culture the Mechanism?
Is Intelligence and Neuropsychological Constructs (e.g. Memory, Problem Solving, etc.) Equal to Understanding of Culture?
If so, Does Mind Emerge from Brain and, in turn, Control Brain?

44. Insert Slide 31

45. Further Information Address: E-mail: Web Site:
Department of Psychology, UNC-W, Wilmington, NC
Web Site:
clinicalneuropsychology.us
uncw.edu/people/puente