1. Does Culture Affect Brain Function?
Antonio E. Puente
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Hahnemann University
December 14, 2000

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

3. 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)

4. Examples from Three Neuropsychological Studies
Background
Grenada, W.I.- Hypertension & Stress
Argentina- Fulbright & the Malvinas
Puerto Rico- APA Visiting Psychologist Program & the Translation of Test

5. Examples from Studies: Continued
Intention
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?

6. Examples From Studies: Three Attempts
Wechsler Intelligence Scales
Luria-Nebraska Battery
Amazon Indians

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

8. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16. 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)

17. 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.

18. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

28. 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

29. 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

30. Explanation of Current State of the Scientific Literature
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

31. 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?

32. Further Information Address: E-mail: Web Site:
Department of Psychology, UNC-W, Wilmington, NC
Web Site:
clinicalneuropsychology.com
uncwil.edu/people/puente