"Neuroscience Nuance: Dissecting the Relevance of Neuroscience in Adjudicating Criminal Culpability"

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"Neuroscience Nuance: Dissecting the Relevance of Neuroscience in Adjudicating Criminal Culpability"
// Sentencing Law and Policy

The title of this post is the title of this notable new paper authored by Christopher Slobogin. Even more than the title, the paper's abstract suggests it is a must-read for sentencing fans:

Most scholars who have written about the role of neuroscience in determining criminal liability and punishment take a stance somewhere between those who assert that neuroscience has virtually nothing to say about such determinations and those that claim it will upend the assumption that most choices to commit crime are blameworthy.  At the same time, those who take this intermediate position have seldom clarified how they think neuroscience can help. This article tries to answer that question more precisely than most works in this vein.  It identifies five types of neuroscience evidence that might be presented by the defense and discusses when that evidence is material under accepted legal doctrine.  It concludes that, even on the assumption that the data presented are accurate, much commonly proffered neuroscientific evidence is immaterial or only weakly material, not only at trial but also at sentencing. At the same time, it recognizes that certain types of neuroscience evidence can be very useful in criminal adjudication, especially at sentencing.

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Law Review Article: Lucas (2017) An Empirical Assessment of Georgia's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Standard to Determine Intellectual Disability in Capital Cases

This article can be found at this link.


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Atkins-related Court decision: Cathey v Davis (2017, Texas)

For some reason I failed to post the most recent court decision this past May regarding Cathey, a case where the Flynn effect (norm obsolescence) is prominent. This decision can now be found here. The court granted Cathey a district court hearing to present evidence regarding the Flynn effect in his Atkins claim. Prior Cathey related posts can be found here.


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Atkins related case: Wesely Coonce v USA Appellants Opening Brief

The opening appellant brief for the Atkin's related case of Wesley Coonce (Coonce v USA, 2016) is now available for viewing here.

Law Review Article (Meyer, 2017): The newly informed decency of death: Hall v Florida endorses the Marsshall hypothesis in eighth ammendment review of the death penalty

The above titled law review article (Meyer, 2017:  The newly informed decency of death:  Hall v Florida endorses the Marshall hypothesis in eighth amendment review of the death penalty can be found here.

Flynn effect reference project

I had previously maintained a "Flynn effect archive" project at this blog.  In its prior form, it included a reference list and hyperlinks to almost all articles.  I have now found it necessary to remove all posts (and index tag terms) related to that project.  It's purpose has changed.

Originally the idea was to make available most the available research on the Flynn effect.  Over time I noticed (via the hit counter tracker) that fewer and fewer people were consulting it to obtain copies of articles.  The time necessary to maintain the archive, especially after I switched domain servers (which resulted in a ton of obsolete and broken hyperlinks), was not cost-effective.  Thus, that archive is no longer available.

In its place I am now  maintaining (and will update periodically) a simple working list of Flynn effect (aka, norm obsolescence) references.  The current version, dated 09-17-17, can be downloaded by clicking here.  It includes 291 references.  I will refer to this as the Flynn Effect Reference Project.  I will update it on a regular basis, especially since it is now much easier to maintain.

The reference list should not be considered exhaustive of all possible published and unpublished research regarding the Flynn effect.  It is the best I can put together.  Any readers who locate missing articles, or new publications, should contact me via email (go to the MindHub and contact me via the contact info).  I will then add those to the next update.

Enjoy.

Evaluating WAIS–IV structure through a different psychometric lens: structural causal model discovery as an alternative to confirmatory factor analysis via BrowZine

Evaluating WAIS–IV structure through a different psychometric lens: structural causal model discovery as an alternative to confirmatory factor analysis
van Dijk, Marjolein J. A. M.; Claassen, Tom; Suwartono, Christiany; van der Veld, William M.; van der Heijden, Paul T.; Hendriks, Marc P. H.
The Clinical Neuropsychologist: Vol. 31 Issue 6-7 – 2017: 1141 - 1154

10.1080/13854046.2017.1352029

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The use of neuropsychological tests to assess intelligence
Gansler, David A.; Varvaris, Mark; Schretlen, David J.
The Clinical Neuropsychologist: Vol. 31 Issue 6-7 – 2017: 1073 - 1086

10.1080/13854046.2017.1322149

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Psychometrics and statistics: two pillars of neuropsychological practice
Hilsabeck, Robin C.
The Clinical Neuropsychologist: Vol. 31 Issue 6-7 – 2017: 995 - 999

10.1080/13854046.2017.1350752

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The Intelligent Brain: One of the Great Courses on sale

The Intelligent Brain

1 What Is Intelligence? Probe the nature of intelligence by looking first at the phenomenon of savants—individuals who excel at a narrow mental skill. Does this qualify as…

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Validation of the Advanced Clinical Solutions Word Choice Test (WCT) in a Mixed Clinical Sample: Establishing Classification Accuracy, Sensitivity/Specificity, and Cutoff Scores via BrowZine

File under malingering assessment

Validation of the Advanced Clinical Solutions Word Choice Test (WCT) in a Mixed Clinical Sample: Establishing Classification Accuracy, Sensitivity/Specificity, and Cutoff Scores
Bain, Kathleen M.; Soble, Jason R.
Assessment: Articles in press

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Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rules against Flynn effect adjustment of IQ scores in Atkins death penalty cases: Black v Carpenter (2017)

A newly published 6th Circuit opinion (Black v Carpenter, 2017) rules against norm obsolescence (the Flynn effect) in the evaluation of IQ test scores in Atkins ID death penalty cases.  I obviously disagree with this decision as outlined in my 2015 chapter in the AAIDD "The Death Penalty and Intellectual Disability" (Polloway, 2015).

I have no further comment at this time as my expert opinion is clearly articulated in the AAIDD publication and I will continue my efforts to educate the courts.  This decision is at variance with the official positions of American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) and the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5), the two professional associations with official  guidance regarding  the diagnosis of ID. 

This looks like another issue that might need the attention of SCOTUS.

The following section is extracted from the complete ruling.


E. Implications of the Flynn Effect

There is good reason to have pause before retroactively adjusting IQ scores downward to offset the Flynn Effect. As we noted above, see n.1, supra, the Flynn Effect describes the apparent rise in IQ scores generated by a given IQ test as time elapses from the date of that specific test’s standardization. The reported increase is an average of approximately three points per decade, meaning that for an IQ test normed in 1995, an individual who took that test in 1995 and scored 100 would be expected to score 103 on that same test if taken in 2005, and would be expected to score 106 on that same test in 2015. This does not imply that the individual is “gaining intelligence”: after all, if the same individual, in 2015, took an IQ test that was normed in 2015, we would expect him to score 100, and we would consider him to be of the same “average” intelligence that he demonstrated when he scored 100 on the 1995-normed test in 1995. Rather, the Flynn Effect implies that the longer a test has been on the market after initially being normed, the higher (on average) an individual should perform, as compared with how that individual would perform on a more recently normed IQ test.

At first glance, of course, the Flynn Effect is troubling: if scoring 70 on an IQ test in 1995 would have been sufficient to avoid execution, then why shouldn’t a score of 76 on that same test administered in 2015 (which would produce a “Flynn-adjusted” score of 70) likewise suffice to avoid execution? Further, even if IQ tests were routinely restandardized every year or two to reset the mean score to 100, and even if old IQ tests were taken off the market so as to avoid the Flynn Effect “inflation” of scores that is visible when an IQ test continues to be administered long after its initial standardization, that would only mask, but not change, the fact that IQ scores are said to be rising.

Indeed, perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the Flynn Effect is that it is true. As Dr. Tassé states in his declaration, “[t]he so-called ‘Flynn Effect’ is NOT a theory. It is a wellestablished scientific fact that the US population is gaining an average of 3 full-scale IQ points per decade.” The implications of the Flynn Effect over a longer period of time are jarring: consider a cohort of individuals who, in 1917, took an IQ test that was normed in 1917 and received “normal” scores (say, 100, on average). If we could transport that same cohort of individuals to the present day, we would expect their average score today on an IQ test normed in 2017—a century later—to be thirty points lower: 70, making them mentally retarded, on average.

Alternatively, consider a cohort of individuals who, in 2017, took an IQ test that was normed in 2017 and received “normal” scores (of 100, on average). If we could transport that same cohort of individuals to a century ago, we would expect that their average score on a test normed in 1917 would be thirty points higher: 130, making them geniuses, on average.

It thus makes little sense to use Flynn-adjusted IQ scores to determine whether a criminal is sufficiently intellectually disabled to be exempt from the death penalty. After all, if Atkins stands for the proposition that someone with an IQ score of 70 or lower in 2002 (when Atkins was decided) is exempt from the death penalty, then the use of Flynn-adjusted IQ scores would conceivably lead to the conclusion that, within the next few decades, almost no one with borderline or merely below-average IQ scores should be executed, because their scores when adjusted downward to 2002 levels would be below 70. Indeed, the Supreme Court did not amplify just what moral or medical theory led to the highly general language that it used in Atkins when it prohibited the imposition of a death sentence for criminals who are “so impaired as to fall within the range of mentally retarded offenders about whom there is a national consensus,” 536 U.S. at 317. If Atkins had been a 1917 case, the majority of the population now living—if we were to apply downward adjustments to their IQ scores to offset the Flynn Effect from 1917 until now—would be too mentally retarded to be executed; and until the Supreme Court tells us that it is committed to making such downward adjustments, we decline to do so.

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COLE, Chief Judge, concurring in the opinion except for Section II.E. I concur with the majority opinion except as to the section discussing the implications of the Flynn Effect. In holding that Black did not prove that he had significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, we concluded that Black’s childhood IQ scores would be above 70 even if we adjusted those scores to account for both the SEM and the Flynn Effect. Accordingly, I would not address the question of whether we should apply a Flynn Effect adjustment in cases generally because it is unnecessary to the resolution of Black’s appeal. Regardless, courts, including our own in Black I, have regarded the Flynn Effect as an important consideration in determining who qualifies as intellectually disabled. See, e.g., Black v. Bell, 664 F.3d 81, 95–96 (6th Cir. 2011); Walker v. True, 399 F.3d 315, 322–23 (4th Cir. 2005).

The Newly Informed Decency of Death: Hall v. Florida Endorses the Marshall Hypothesis in Eighth Amendment Review of the Death Penalty by Chance Meyer :: SSRN

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3004672

Sharing The Flynn effect for verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory: A cross-temporal meta-analysis via BrowZine

The Flynn effect for verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory: A cross-temporal meta-analysis
Wongupparaj, Peera; Wongupparaj, Rangsirat; Kumari, Veena; Morris, Robin G.
Intelligence: Vol. 64 – 2017: 71 - 80

10.1016/j.intell.2017.07.006

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APA Handbook of Forensic Neuropsychology

APA Handbook of Forensic Neuropsychology

List Price: $199.00 Member/Affiliate Price: $129.00 Quantity: FREE SHIPPING For individuals in the U.S. & U.S. territories Pages: 528 Item #: 4311532 ISBN:…

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Time processing in children with mathematical difficulties via BrowZine

Time processing in children with mathematical difficulties
Cester, Ilaria; Mioni, Giovanna; Cornoldi, Cesare
Learning and Individual Differences: Vol. 58 – 2017: 22 - 30

10.1016/j.lindif.2017.07.005

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Evaluating WAIS–IV structure through a different psychometric lens: structural causal model discovery as an alternative to confirmatory factor analysis via BrowZine

Evaluating WAIS–IV structure through a different psychometric lens: structural causal model discovery as an alternative to confirmatory factor analysis
van Dijk, Marjolein J. A. M.; Claassen, Tom; Suwartono, Christiany; van der Veld, William M.; van der Heijden, Paul T.; Hendriks, Marc P. H.
The Clinical Neuropsychologist: Articles in press



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Disconnected lives: Women with intellectual disabilities in conflict with the law via BrowZine

Disconnected lives: Women with intellectual disabilities in conflict with the law
Levine, Kathryn Ann; Proulx, Jocelyn; Schwartz, Karen
Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities: Articles in press



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Science, Technology, Society, and Law via BrowZine

Science, Technology, Society, and Law
Cole, Simon A.; Bertenthal, Alyse
Annual Review of Law and Social Science: Vol. 13 Issue 1 – 2017:

10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110316-113550

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Research Byte: Reliability of competence and sanity opinions---a meta-analysis

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"Intelligent" intelligence testing with Wechsler Arithmetic test

This article is a good reminder that "intelligent" intelligence testing requires "knowing thy subtests."

The authors conclude "In summary, while Arithmetic may be considered a measure of concentration or working memory, it should be kept in mind that many other factors influence it and that its specificity as a concentration measure is limited."







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The Diagnosis of Mental Disorders Is Influenced by Automatic Causal Reasoning via BrowZine

The Diagnosis of Mental Disorders Is Influenced by Automatic Causal Reasoning
Flores, Amanda; Cobos, Pedro L.; Hagmayer, York
Clinical Psychological Science: Articles in press



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The development of expertise

Coping, Emotion Regulation, and Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-Analysis and Narrative Review. via BrowZine

Coping, Emotion Regulation, and Psychopathology in Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-Analysis and Narrative Review.
Compas, Bruce E.; Jaser, Sarah S.; Bettis, Alexandra H.; Watson, Kelly H.; Gruhn, Meredith A.; Dunbar, Jennifer P.; Williams, Ellen; Thigpen, Jennifer C.
Psychological Bulletin: Articles in press



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Emotion and the Prefrontal Cortex: An Integrative Review. via BrowZine

Emotion and the Prefrontal Cortex: An Integrative Review.
Dixon, Matthew L.; Thiruchselvam, Ravi; Todd, Rebecca; Christoff, Kalina
Psychological Bulletin: Articles in press



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Field reliability of competency and sanity opinions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. via BrowZine

Field reliability of competency and sanity opinions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Guarnera, Lucy A.; Murrie, Daniel C.
Psychological Assessment: Vol. 29 Issue 6 – 2017: 795 - 818

10.1037/pas0000388

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Taking forensic mental health assessment “out of the lab” and into “the real world”: Introduction to the special issue on the field utility of forensic assessment instruments and procedures. via BrowZine

Taking forensic mental health assessment "out of the lab" and into "the real world": Introduction to the special issue on the field utility of forensic assessment instruments and procedures.
Edens, John F.; Boccaccini, Marcus T.
Psychological Assessment: Vol. 29 Issue 6 – 2017: 599 - 610

10.1037/pas0000475

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Invalid before impaired: an emerging paradox of embedded validity indicators via BrowZine

File under the assessment of malingering

Invalid before impaired: an emerging paradox of embedded validity indicators
Erdodi, Laszlo A.; Lichtenstein, Jonathan D.
The Clinical Neuropsychologist: Articles in press



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False confessions via BrowZine

False confessions
Kassin, Saul M.
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science: Articles in press



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Preserved cognitive functions with age are determined by domain-dependent shifts in network responsivity

Preserved cognitive functions with age are determined by domain-dependent shifts in network responsivity

Altmetric: 28 More detail Article | Open Dávid Samu • , Karen L. Campbell • , Kamen A.…

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Kevin McGrew, PhD

Educational Psychologist

Director, Institute for Applied Psychometrics

IAP

www.themindhub.com

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