Pia Banerjee

Publications (2)2.66 Total impact

• Article: Executive strategic processing during verbal fluency performance in children with phenylketonuria.

  Pia Banerjee, Dorothy K Grange, Robert D Steiner, Desirée A White
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  ABSTRACT: In the current study, we examined a specific aspect of executive abilities, strategic processing, in 32 children with early-treated phenylketonuria (PKU) and 41 typically-developing control children. To do so, clustering and switching were assessed during semantic (animal, food/drink) and phonemic (S, F) fluency tasks. Specifically, number of words generated, number of subcategory clusters, number of words in subcategory clusters, and number of switches between subcategories were analyzed to provide a refined analysis of strategic processing. Compared with controls, children with PKU generated significantly fewer words and made significantly fewer switches between subcategories in the food/drink trial and the phonemic fluency condition. Number of switches was associated with number of words generated in these tasks. In addition, a significant interaction between age and group in number of switches for the food/drink trial reflected a greater increase in number of switches for the control than PKU group as a function of increasing age. These results suggest impairment in frontally-mediated aspects of strategic processing in children with early-treated PKU and indicate that strategic processing should be evaluated carefully as these children age.
  Child Neuropsychology 12/2010; 17(2):105-17. · 1.80 Impact Factor
• Article: Animated toys versus video reinforcement in 16-24-month-old children in a clinical setting.

  Roanne K Karzon, Pia Banerjee
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  ABSTRACT: To compare the clinical efficacy of visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) with animated toy animal reinforcement (AVRA) to the efficacy of VRA with video reinforcement (VVRA) in children age 16 to 24 months in a fast-paced medical practice. The 145 participants (age 16 to 24 months) were referred by either their primary care physician or an otolaryngology practitioner (physician or nurse practitioner) for audiologic assessment. Children were assigned in a counterbalanced manner to either the AVRA or VVRA group. Significantly more threshold estimates were obtained with AVRA (M = 5.52) than with VVRA (M = 3.47). There were no significant differences in performance based on age, hearing status, or gender. Number and relative strength of the visual reinforcers used are posited as the main reasons for the disparate outcomes. Clinical practices that test large numbers of children with VRA would be well-served to have both AVRA and VVRA available to meet the needs of individual patients.
  American Journal of Audiology 12/2010; 19(2):91-9. · 0.87 Impact Factor