The following is an excerpt from a psychological report of a 17-year-old client SDM in a Caribbean country. Although SDM is a brilliant, intelligent teenager, her processing speed issues have been affecting her ability to function effectively in school. She has been trying to compensate for these challenges by spending additional time on her workload which results in reduced sleep, feelings of frustration when she is unable to meet deadlines and significant stress when she is attempting to sort through verbal information. Since she has been pulled from school, SDM has been doing significantly better. Challenges such as the short-term memory and stimulus overload that were happening previously, are no longer present. Now she is focusing on a number of different things, including taking the DELE examinations in Spanish, and starting a business with her cousin and a friend in a bid to become more independently minded and earning something for herself. SDM also wants to get back into swimming, a sport she enjoys and has done a lot of “emotional unpacking” focusing on her spirituality, her relationships and the goals she would like to accomplish in life. She and her family have realized that even though she is a brilliant child, there will have to clear focus on balancing her stress levels and workload. SDM presents as a 17-year-old girl with an Extremely High General Ability Index (GAI) and significant challenges with memory and processing speed that are impacting on her ability to function adequately in an academic setting. Based on background information and her previous assessment, there is progressive decline in her memory and her processing speed. Her previous assessment showed that her cognitive ability was in the Upper Extreme which is consistent with her WISC- V GAI score. SDM’s results on cognitive and memory tests shows impairments that span multiple cognitive domains namely processing speed, memory and executive functioning. Although her overall cognitive performance is very strong, when we look at her FSIQ which was in the Above Average range, the impact of her processing speed on her performance becomes very evident. The challenges with processing speed observed in testing is consistent with observations in her previous assessment. It is possible however, that as her course/class and workload increases in difficulty, her processing speed might become more impaired and she will require more time and effort in order to grasp new information, retrieve and apply it. Processing speed is a good indicator of how quickly a person will excel at a newly learnt skill. For SDM, she has an excellent ability to learn new information, however she has significant challenges in how quickly and accurately she is able to complete her work. In addition, she displayed perfectionist tendencies which could further slowdown how quickly she accomplishes her tasks. Processing speed also impacts on working memory abilities since individuals who can process information quickly do not have to hold as much information in working memory. In addition, working memory can only store information for a limited period of time, so individuals with processing speed issues will quickly fill their mental storage time. Although all her Working Memory scores were in the High Average and Very Superior ranges, her pattern of scores indicate that visual working memory is a specific area of weakness when compared to her verbal and symbolic working memory. This could possibly indicate that she needs more time and exposure when reasoning with visual information. This could possible explain why her Picture Span scores were lower than her Digit Span scores. Her processing speed also had a significant impact on her performance on the CTMT since although she displayed good mental flexibility and visual search abilities her performance still fell within the Severely Impaired ranges Her General Memory was found to be in the Below Average range which was inconsistent with a previous assessment which determined excellent short and long-term memory. It is important to note however, that both assessments did not measure all the same aspects of memory. Currently, her Visual Memory seems to be the most impaired. She displayed significant challenges recall meaningful visual information such as pictures/ scenarios. Despite her weak visual memory however, her visual recognition was stronger which seems to suggest that visual information is stored but she has challenges with retrieving that information. What aspects of cognitive psychology are evident in the case? What can be understood about the relation between brain structures and mental processes and the development of cognition from the case?
The following is an excerpt from a psychological report of a 17-year-old client SDM in a Caribbean country.
Although SDM is a brilliant, intelligent teenager, her processing speed issues have been affecting her ability to function effectively in school. She has been trying to compensate for these challenges by spending additional time on her workload which results in reduced sleep, feelings of frustration when she is unable to meet deadlines and significant stress when she is attempting to sort through verbal information. Since she has been pulled from school, SDM has been doing significantly better. Challenges such as the short-term memory and stimulus overload that were happening previously, are no longer present. Now she is focusing on a number of different things, including taking the DELE examinations in Spanish, and starting a business with her cousin and a friend in a bid to become more independently minded and earning something for herself. SDM also wants to get back into swimming, a sport she enjoys and has done a lot of “emotional unpacking” focusing on her spirituality, her relationships and the goals she would like to accomplish in life. She and her family have realized that even though she is a brilliant child, there will have to clear focus on balancing her stress levels and workload.
SDM presents as a 17-year-old girl with an Extremely High General Ability Index (GAI) and significant challenges with memory and processing speed that are impacting on her ability to function adequately in an academic setting. Based on background information and her previous assessment, there is progressive decline in her memory and her processing speed. Her previous assessment showed that her cognitive ability was in the Upper Extreme which is consistent with her WISC- V GAI score. SDM’s results on cognitive and memory tests shows impairments that span multiple cognitive domains namely processing speed, memory and executive functioning.
Although her overall cognitive performance is very strong, when we look at her FSIQ which was in the Above Average range, the impact of her processing speed on her performance becomes very evident. The challenges with processing speed observed in testing is consistent with observations in her previous assessment. It is possible however, that as her course/class and workload increases in difficulty, her processing speed might become more impaired and she will require more time and effort in order to grasp new information, retrieve and apply it. Processing speed is a good indicator of how quickly a person will excel at a newly learnt skill. For SDM, she has an excellent ability to learn new information, however she has significant challenges in how quickly and accurately she is able to complete her work. In addition, she displayed perfectionist tendencies which could further slowdown how quickly she accomplishes her tasks.
Processing speed also impacts on working memory abilities since individuals who can process information quickly do not have to hold as much information in working memory. In addition, working memory can only store information for a limited period of time, so individuals with processing speed issues will quickly fill their mental storage time. Although all her Working Memory scores were in the High Average and Very Superior ranges, her pattern of scores indicate that visual working memory is a specific area of weakness when compared to her verbal and symbolic working memory. This could possibly indicate that she needs more time and exposure when reasoning with visual information. This could possible explain why her Picture Span scores were lower than her Digit Span scores. Her processing speed also had a significant impact on her performance on the CTMT since although she displayed good mental flexibility and visual search abilities her performance still fell within the Severely Impaired ranges Her General Memory was found to be in the Below Average range which was inconsistent with a previous assessment which determined excellent short and long-term memory. It is important to note however, that both assessments did not measure all the same aspects of memory. Currently, her Visual Memory seems to be the most impaired. She displayed significant challenges recall meaningful visual information such as pictures/ scenarios. Despite her weak visual memory however, her visual recognition was stronger which seems to suggest that visual information is stored but she has challenges with retrieving that information.
- What aspects of cognitive psychology are evident in the case?
- What can be understood about the relation between brain structures and mental processes and the development of cognition from the case?
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In regard to the above submission what would you state are:
1. The implications from the ideas/issues arising from the case have for treating with matters related to cognition in the Caribbean context?
2. What recommendations would you make for improving research in the Caribbean to address cognitive issues?
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