Abstract
Ph.D. (Psychology)
Attention deficit disorder, or its theoretical antecedent
minimal brain dysfunction, has been the subject of numerous
investigations as to the nature and cause of this disturbance
that so often affects children. Although the findings of
these studies appear to be equivocal as regards the precise
cause of the condition, there are numerous indications in the
literature that there might indeed be a neurological, albeit
a "soft" neurological basis or cause, for this disturbance.
A study was performed to test the hypothesis that minimal
brain dysfunction indeed has its basis in higher cortical
dysfunctions as assessed within the context of neuropsychological
investigations. In order to perform the study, two
measures of neuropsychological functioning, the Luria-Nebraska
neuropsychological investigation for children and the Majovski
determination of higher cortical functions in children and
adolescents were subjected to a determination of its validity
within the South African context. Subsequently these tests
were applied to two groups of children with organic brain
damage, a group of children diagnosed as having minimal brain
dysfunction, a group of children with emotional disturbance,
and a group of normal children.
The two groups of organically brain damaged children consisted
of a group of children with predominantly left hemispheric
brain damage and a group of children with predominantly right
hemispheric brain damage. It was postulated that children
with minimal brain dysfunction would show less higher cortical
dysfunction than the two groups of children with organic brain
damage, but more higher cortical dysfunction than the normal
children, and the children with emotional disturbance.
The validation procedure indicated that both measures of
neuropsychological functioning have adequate validity in terms...