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Cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized features of schizotypal personality.

While two factors are currently thought to underlie individual differences in schizotypal personality, three factors may best explain schizotypal traits. This study used confirmatory factor analysis to assess five competing models of schizotypal personality in the general population: null model, one-factor model, simple two-factor model, Kendler two-factor model, and three-factor model. The computer program LISREL was used to analyze Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire subscale scores that reflect the nine traits of schizotypal personality. The scores were obtained from (1) a sample of 822 undergraduates and (2) a replication sample of 102 subjects drawn from the community. Results indicate replicable support for a three-factor model reflecting cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized latent factors. Low intercorrelations between the first two factors and the lack of fit by a one-factor model are partially inconsistent with recent notions that a single vulnerability dimension underlies schizotypal personality. It is argued that future investigations should assess the correlates of all three schizotypal factors in clinical and nonclinical samples in addition to the two more traditional factors. It is hypothesized that three factors of schizophrenic symptomatology observed in recent studies may reflect an exaggeration of three analogous factors found in the general population.

Adolescent↗

Risperidone treatment of schizophrenia: improvement in psychopathology and neuropsychological tests.

The aim of the study was to assess the effects of short-term risperidone treatment on schizophrenic symptoms and on neuropsychological frontal tests, and to find an association between the improvements in these two kinds of domains. Twenty-two schizophrenic patients treated with risperidone (2-6 mg/day) for 4 weeks were studied. Treatment with risperidone resulted in a significant decrease in the intensity of schizophrenic symptoms and in an improvement in all neuropsychological tests applied. A robust correlation was obtained between the amelioration of negative symptoms and improvements in many neuropsychological tests, specifically with amelioration in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), perseverative errors. Some correlation was also found with the improvement of positive symptoms, specifically with amelioration in the WCST, completed categories. The results may suggest a common neurobiological substrate of negative and cognitive symptoms, reflected in prefrontal cortex pathology and in therapeutic response to atypical antipsychotics.

Adolescent↗

Reflection-impulsivity and short-term memory in emotionally disturbed children.

In an investigation of the relationship between the reflection-impulsivity cognitive dimension and short-term memory in emotionally disturbed children, 42 Ss were administered the Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Visual-Aural Digit Span Test. Analysis of covariance indicated that on all memory tasks the reflective Ss were better than the impulsive subjects.

Affective Symptoms↗

Dopamine D1 receptor ligands modulate cognitive performance and hippocampal acetylcholine release in memory-impaired aged rats.

The possible modulation by D1 drugs of learning abilities of a population of aged memory-impaired animals was investigated in the present study. The level of D1/[3H]SCH 23390 receptors was first examined by quantitative autoradiography to ascertain if cognitive deficits seen in these animals could be related to alterations in the levels of these receptors. No significant differences in [3H]SCH 23390 binding were observed in any of the brain areas examined between young, and aged memory-unimpaired and aged memory-impaired animals. However, the cognitive deficits of the aged-impaired rats were modulated by D1 drugs. The D1 agonists SKF 38393 and SKF 81297 (3.0 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reduced the latency period to find a hidden platform in the Morris Water Maze, reflecting improved cognitive functions, while the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 (0.05 mg/kg, i.p.) had no overall significant effect. Moreover, the D1 agonist SKF 38393 increased, whereas the antagonist inhibited, in vivo hippocampal acetylcholine release. Taken together, these results suggest that functional hippocampal acetylcholine-dopamine interactions exist in aged memory-impaired rats. More importantly, the cognitive deficits seen in the aged-impaired rats can be attenuated by stimulations of D1 receptors, hence suggesting an alternative approach to alleviate the cognitive deficits seen in the aged brain.

2,3,4,5-Tetrahydro-7,8-dihydroxy-1-phenyl-1H-3-ben↗

Aerobic capacity and cognitive performance in a cross-sectional aging study.

In a population unselected for aerobic fitness status, aerobic fitness (VO2max) and its interaction with age were used to predict performance on several cognitive measures known to be affected by chronological age. It was hypothesized that, in particular, cognitively demanding tasks would be sensitive to aerobic capacity. Healthy subjects between 24 and 76 yr of age (N = 132) were recruited from a larger study into determinants of cognitive aging (Maastricht Aging Study-MAAS). All participants took part in a submaximal bicycle ergometer protocol and an extensive neurocognitive examination, including tests of intelligence, verbal memory, and simple and complex cognitive speed. Participants engaged more hours a week in aerobic sports and felt healthier than the nonparticipants of the same age did. No group differences were found in the basic anthropometric characteristics height, weight, and BMI. Two of four subtasks that reflect complex cognitive speed (Stroop color/word interference and Concept Shifting Test) showed main and interaction effects with age of aerobic capacity in a hierarchical regression analysis, accounting for up to 5% of variance in parameter score after correction for age, sex, and intelligence main effects. These findings fit well within a moderator model of aerobic fitness in cognitive aging. They add to the notion that aerobic fitness may selectively and age-dependently act on cognitive processes, in particular those that require relatively large attentional resources.

Adult↗

Effects of musical expertise and boundary markers on phrase perception in music.

A neural correlate for phrase boundary perception in music has recently been identified in musicians. It is called music closure positive shift ("music CPS") and has an equivalent in the perception of speech ("language CPS"). The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of musical expertise and different phrase boundary markers on the music CPS, using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and event-related magnetic fields (ERFs). Musicians and nonmusicians were tested while listening to binary phrased melodies. ERPs and ERFs of both subject groups differed considerably from each other. Phrased melody versions evoked an electric CPS and a magnetic CPSm in musicians, but an early negativity and a less pronounced CPSm in nonmusicians, suggesting different perceptual strategies for both subject groups. Musicians seem to process musical phrases in a structured manner similar to language. Nonmusicians, in contrast, are thought to detect primarily discontinuity in the melodic input. Variations of acoustic cues in the vicinity of the phrase boundary reveal that the CPS is influenced by a number of parameters that are considered to indicate phrasing in melodies: pause length, length of the last tone preceding the pause, and harmonic function of this last tone. This is taken as evidence that the CPS mainly reflects higher cognitive processing of phrasing, rather than mere perception of pauses. Furthermore, results suggest that the ERP and MEG methods are sensitive to different aspects within phrase perception. For both subject groups, qualitatively different ERP components (CPS and early negativity) seem to reflect a top-down activation of general but different phrasing schemata, whereas quantitatively differing MEG signals appear to reflect gradual differences in the bottom-up processing of acoustic boundary markers.

Adult↗

Interhemispheric transfer deficit in alexithymia: an experimental study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has demonstrated an association between alexithymia and a deficit in interhemispheric communication in Vietnam combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this association in a nonclinical sample. METHODS: The efficiency of interhemispheric transfer was assessed in 14 alexithymic and 15 nonalexithymic right-handed, male, undergraduate university students using a tactile finger localization task. RESULTS: The nonalexithymic subjects were significantly more efficient at transferring information between the cerebral hemispheres than the alexithymic subjects. CONCLUSIONS: This finding provides further evidence of an interhemispheric transfer deficit in alexithymia and suggests that an alexithymic cognitive style reflects poor integration of the information processing of the two cerebral hemispheres.

Adult↗

Decomposing components of task preparation with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

It is widely acknowledged that the prefrontal cortex plays a major role in cognitive control processes. One important experimental paradigm for investigating such higher order cognitive control is the task-switching paradigm. This paradigm investigates the ability to switch flexibly between different task situations. In this context, it has been found that participants are able to anticipatorily prepare an upcoming task. This ability has been assumed to reflect endogenous cognitive control. However, it is difficult to isolate task preparation process from task execution using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In the present study, we introduce a new experimental manipulation to investigate task preparation with fMRI. By manipulating the number of times a task was prepared, we could demonstrate that the left inferior frontal junction (IFJ) area (near the junction of inferior frontal sulcus and inferior precentral sulcus), the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the right intraparietal sulcus are involved in task preparation. By manipulating the cue-task mapping, we could further show that this activation is not related to cue encoding but to the updating of the relevant task representation. Based on these and previous results, we assume that the IFJ area constitutes a functionally separable division of the lateral prefrontal cortex. Finally, our data suggest that task preparation does not differ for switch and repetition trials in paradigms with a high proportion of switch trials, casting doubt on the assumption that an independent task set reconfiguration process takes place in the preparation interval.

Adult↗

Cognitive functions and complaints in HIV-1 individuals treated for depression.

Progressive neuropsychological dysfunction and complaints of cognitive difficulty frequently accompany HIV-1 infection. Providing appropriate treatment to HIV-1 patients requires determination of the extent to which the presentation of cognitive complaints reflects HIV-1-associated neuropsychological abnormalities or represents expression of depressive symptomatology. We prospectively treated 75 HIV-1 patients who were not demented but met criteria for major mood disorder with antidepressants for 12 weeks and compared pretreatment and posttreatment measures of depression, cognitive complaints, and neuropsychological performance. Complaints of difficulty with memory and attention were found to be independent of neuropsychological impairment, whereas memory complaints were highly correlated with severity of depression. Cognitive complaints declined significantly across the course of treatment for those patients who responded to antidepressant treatment. All patients, regardless of antidepressant treatment response, exhibited parallel improvement on 12-week follow- up neuropsychological examination. These findings suggest that treatment of depression affects cognitive complaints in HIV-1 individuals and that cognitive complaints of patients in asymptomatic or early symptomatic stages of HIV-1 infection may signal the need for evaluation of depression. In patients with more advanced HIV-1 infection, investigation into the basis of cognitive complaints may require a dual assessment of mood disturbance and neuropsychological status.

Journal Article↗

Formal thought disorder in offspring of schizophrenic parents.

OBJECTIVE: We examined potential early markers of schizophrenia using measures of formal thought disorder in offspring of parents with schizophrenia, other mental illness and no mental illness. METHODS: Two blind raters coded formal thought disorder in adolescent/early adult offspring of 42 schizophrenic, 39 other mental illness, and 36 no mental illness parents. In addition to parental diagnosis, we compared the individual offspring diagnosis with severity of formal thought disorder. Within the schizophrenia, other mental illness and no mental illness offspring groups, we examined the relationship between severity of formal thought disorder and performance on cognitive and motor tasks. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in formal thought disorder by parent or offspring diagnoses. Within the offspring group of parents with schizophrenia, the subjects with higher formal thought disorder scores performed significantly worse on the cognitive battery than those with lower formal thought disorder scores. Offspring of the other mental illness group with higher formal thought disorder scores, however, showed more deficits on motor tasks than those with lower formal thought disorder scores. CONCLUSION: Formal thought disorder may reflect underlying cognitive dysfunction in the offspring of parents with schizophrenia. Motor dysfunction in the offspring of parents with other psychiatric illness might be associated with formal thought disorder.

Adolescent↗

Effects of cognitive demands on postmovement motor cortical deactivation.

Postmovement beta-rebounds induced by different intermovement intervals were investigated using magnetoencephalography in 14 healthy participants to test the hypothesis that postmovement motor cortical deactivation over the primary motor cortex depends on movement-related cognitive demands. Shorter latency and lower amplitude in postmovement beta-rebounds over the contralateral primary motor cortex were noted in the short-movement interval movement (repetitive finger lifting). Greater latency span of postmovement beta-rebounds jittering using single-trial analysis in the long-movement interval movement (discrete finger lifting) was observed. The study elucidates that the temporal interval between two adjacent movements reflecting different degrees of cognitive demands can affect postmovement motor cortical deactivation in terms of postmovement beta-rebounds latency and amplitude, and latency span of postmovement beta-rebounds jittering. Postmovement motor cortical deactivation can reflect cognitive demands in addition to motor and somatosensory processing.

Adult↗

Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for elderly people (HoNOS 65+).

BACKGROUND: Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) have been developed to measure of outcomes in people with mental health problems. AIMS: The particular physical and cognitive problems affecting older people requires a specific scale for their measurement. We describe the development of such a scale, named HoNOS 65+. METHOD: Pilot, validity and reliability studies were carried out on an amended scale. Validity was assessed by comparison with existing scales reflecting depression, cognitive function, psychiatric symptomatology, activities of daily living and functional abilities. Reliability was measured in two centres. RESULTS: HoNOS 65+ was successfully amended to include specific aspects of mental health problems in older people including the phenomenology of depression, delusions occurring in the presence of dementia, incontinence and agitation/restlessness. HoNOS 65+ was able to discriminate between people suffering from organic and functional illnesses. Correlations with other scales indicated reasonable validity. Reliability was satisfactory. CONCLUSIONS: Aversion of HoNOS 65+ is presented (see pp. 435-438, this issue) which is appropriate for use in elderly people with mental health problems.

Activities of Daily Living↗

A method for identifying short-latency human cognitive potentials in single trials by scalp mapping.

Studies of scalp-recorded brain event-related potentials in humans currently depend on the electronic averaging of many responses to the stimulus. In non-averaged single responses, it is sometimes possible to see late components such as the so-called P300, but not the shorter latency components that are much smaller and masked in background noise. We tried to identify short-latency cognitive potentials evoked by finger stimulation by comparing single trial responses that are concomitantly recorded at the contralateral and ipsilateral parietal scalp respectively. We developed a single trial topographic mapping method that proved important for assessing whether any left-right difference at short latency indeed reflected genuine cognitive electrogeneses. These results make it possible to analyze on a trial-by-trial basis the short latency cognitive processing in somatic perception.

Adult↗

Choline acetyltransferase activity and cognitive domain scores of Alzheimer's patients.

Choline acetyltransferase activity and cognitive domain scores of Alzheimer's patients. Item scores from the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) from 389 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease were submitted to principal component analysis with orthogonal rotation. The optimal solution identified four factors that reflected the cognitive domains of attention/registration, verbal fluency/reasoning, graphomotor/praxis and recent memory. A subgroup of patients was identified for whom both the MDRS and the MMSE had been administered within the 12 months before death. Scores were assigned to these patients for the four factors. These cognitive-domain scores were then correlated with postmortem choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity in the medial frontal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, and hippocampus. ChAT activity in both the medial frontal and the inferior parietal cortex significantly correlated with scores on the graphomotor/praxis factor. Medial frontal ChAT also correlated significantly with the attention/registration scores. Hippocampal ChAT correlated significantly only with recent memory scores. These results are consistent with current animal research regarding the effect of selective cholinergic lesions on behavior.

Aged↗

The Carter Neurocognitive Assessment for children with severely compromised expressive language and motor skills.

In this paper, different means of assessing cognitive development in children with severe impairments in both their expressive language and their motor skills are reviewed. A range of techniques are considered, including traditional cognitive tests and behavioral and physiological measures, but these techniques are generally impractical and minimally informative when it comes to assessing children with both motor and speech impairments. Electrophysiological measures show some promise for the future, but are currently inadequate for wide-ranging cognitive assessment. Development of the Carter Neurocognitive Assessment (CNA) is described. The CNA is appropriate for use in clinical and research settings and was designed to minimalize the impact of severely impaired motor skills and expressive language on performance. The CNA is intended to itemize and quantify a range of skills reflecting a cognitive level up to approximately 18 to 24 months in four areas: Social Awareness, Visual Attention, Auditory Comprehension and Vocal Communication. The use of the CNA to assess the performance and developmental growth of eight children with Holoprosencephaly (HPE), a midline developmental brain malformation, is described. The CNA is a useful tool for the assessment of children with severely compromised motor and verbal skills and has provided a more positive view of the cognitive potential of children with severe handicaps, such as the sample of children with HPE, than that presented in the past.

Attention↗

The ABC of Alzheimer's disease: cognitive changes and their management in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Cognitive decline, commonly first recognized as memory impairment, is a typical feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neuropathological changes in the cerebral cortex and limbic system lead to deficits in learning, memory, language, and visuospatial skills. The precise nature of cognitive dysfunction reflects the distribution of pathological changes in AD. These will vary along the disease severity continuum and may also depend on where the disease sits in the spectrum of dementia. For example, AD-related disorders such as Lewy body dementia (LBD) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) also show symptoms of cognitive decline and share several pathological features, including degeneration of cortical cholinergic and striatal dopaminergic neurons. In vascular dementia (VaD), there is often an unequal distribution of cognitive deficit, with severe impairment in some functions and relative sparing of others. Cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitors, which help restore acetylcholine levels in the brain, are licensed for the symptomatic treatment of AD and have shown additional benefit in related dementias. Physiological correlates of cholinergic function/dysfunction in the brain include regional cerebral blood flow, glucose metabolism, and cerebrospinal fluid levels of ChE enzymes. These variables represent valuable markers of the clinical efficacy of ChE inhibitors. However, direct assessment of cognitive improvement, stabilization or decline is usually considered the key efficacy parameter in clinical studies of ChE inhibitors in AD and related dementias. Large-scale, placebo-controlled clinical studies of ChE inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy in treating the cognitive impairments associated with AD. Randomized comparative studies of ChE inhibitors are now under way to directly compare symptomatic efficacy and effects on disease progression. Clinical trial data of the cognitive effects of ChE inhibitors in AD, LBD, PDD, and VaD are discussed in detail in this article. The benefits of long-term treatment on symptomatic improvement in cognition and further potential disease-modifying effects are highlighted.

Aged↗

Sensory and cognitive event related potentials in workers chronically exposed to solvents.

To obtain objective measures of possible impairment due to organic solvents, auditory, visual and somatosensory evoked potentials and cognitive event related potentials were recorded in a group of 13 workers occupationally exposed to a mixture of various solvents. The patients were compared to healthy subjects and to chronic alcoholics seen during post-alcohol withdrawal. Auditory and visual evoked potentials were almost normal but somatosensory evoked potentials showed a slight decrease of peripheral conduction velocities and an increase of central conduction times more marked in the solvent exposed workers who were also alcoholics. The late "cognitive" components reflecting attention processes (N2 and P3) were normal. Solvent-exposed workers and alcoholics were both characterized by some difficulty in modulating their attentional resources according to task demands, as reflected by a tendency to responses (N1, N2 and P3) of similar amplitudes whether the stimulus was or was not the target. These findings support the presence, in solvent exposed workers, of minor dysfunction of the nervous system at both peripheral and cortical levels potentiated by alcohol as well as of mild cognitive impairments concerning attention processes.

Adult↗

Stress in schizophrenia: an integrative view.

Stress and the development of a (schizophrenic) psychosis are inextricably related. The process by which stress actually affects psychosis is far less clear. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, and in particular the release of corticosteroids, has been attributed an essential role. However, schizophrenia is a disorder in which many functions are distorted. Dysfunctions can be found in behavior, cognition, coping, physiology, pituitary-adrenal and immune functioning. In this short paper, these functions are discussed as to how they contribute to the way stress is appraised and processed. Schizophrenic patients are impaired in their biological response to stress by showing a blunted cortisol response to psychosocial stress. It is hypothesized that this reflects rather cognitive dysfunction, based on biological dysfunctions in those brain structures that are responsible for these processes, i.e. the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. Considering the blunted cortisol response as a maladaptive stress response, its consequences are commented on with an emphasis on the immune system. Finally, the role of neuroleptics, and in particular the atypical ones, is discussed for their beneficial effect, beyond their fear-and anxiety-reducing properties, in restoring some of the cognitive dysfunctions schizophrenic patients display. By doing so, they may improve perception of the environment, enhance adjustment and thus a proper stress response. Integration of these processes in stress research described, may provide new vistas of the stress concept in schizophrenia.

Humans↗