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Results for “Cognitive Reflection”

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PubMed1981

Effects of self-instructional training on cognitive impulsivity of mentally retarded adolescents.

The cognitive style dimension of reflection-impulsivity was assessed for 27 retarded adolescents using the Matching Familiar Figures Test. The most impulsive adolescents subsequently received training in self-instruction while observing a reflective model or observed the model without specific training in self-instruction. Posttraining measures indicated that the self-instruction procedure produced significantly more reflective responding than did the model-alone procedure. The results also suggested the presence of a developmental lag in cognitive style among the retarded children compared to recent norms for nonretarded children. The finding that the retarded youth were responsive to self-instructional training appears to be inconsistent with Luria's (1961) contention that retarded individuals are incapable of using the language-based second signaling system to influence and control their own behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

How should we define the caring role? Broadening the parameters of the concept of care.

There are many different interpretations of the dynamics of the nurse/patient relationship and the contrasting needs and priorities nurses and patients attach to it. This article outlines varying interpretations of the concept of care, and suggests the concept can be broadened to reflect the physical, emotional, cognitive and intuitive aspects of the caring role.

Humans↗

PubMed1994

Neuropathological correlates of memory dysfunction in the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.

The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a neuropathological term which encompasses two clinical syndromes in thiamine-deficient alcoholics, Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis. Wernicke's encephalopathy is characterised by eye and gait disorders and mental confusion, and can lead to the profound and permanent amnesia known as Korsakoff's psychosis. Despite this specific difference, both conditions appear to have identical neuropathology with haemorrhages and other lesions around the ventricular system. The memory deficit has been attributed to a number of brain lesions, including a recent suggestion that brain pathways utilising particular neurotransmitters are specifically damaged. To examine this, the number of chemically identified neurons in particular brain regions was quantified in patients with Wernicke's encephalopathy alone or in combination with Korsakoff's psychosis and compared with age- and sex-matched controls. Noradrenaline, a neurotransmitter thought to be involved in the process of selective attention, is localised in pathways projecting to the cortex. Our patients with either Wernicke's encephalopathy or additional Korsakoff's psychosis do not differ from controls in the distribution and number of these cells. Serotonin is another neurotransmitter that has been linked with alcohol dependency. Both patient groups have a profound loss of serotonin-containing neurons compared with controls. The loss of forebrain neurons containing acetylcholine in patients with Alzheimer's disease has implicated this neurotransmitter in the maintenance of memory functions. There was a large variation in the number of these forebrain neurons in thiamine-deficient alcoholics compared with controls. Cholinergic cell loss reflected the severity of cognitive dysfunction, but was not exclusive to patients with amnesia. Two thalamic nuclei are involved in relaying memories for storage and retrieval, the anterior and mediodorsal thalamic nuclei. While patients with Wernicke's encephalopathy often had neuronal loss in the mediodorsal nucleus, only patients with Korsakoff's psychosis had cell loss in both medial thalamic nuclei. The results suggest that cumulative lesions contribute to the amnesia seen in thiamine-deficient alcoholics, including deficits in serotonergic, cholinergic and medial thalamic pathways.

Acetylcholine↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Effectiveness of brief infusions with Ginkgo biloba Special Extract EGb 761 in dementia of the vascular and Alzheimer type].

In a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind clinical trial, 40 patients with a mean age of 68 (+/- 12.5) years suffering from moderate dementia (Alzheimer, vascular, or mixed type) according to DSM-III-R criteria were included. Severity of the disease had to correspond to stages 4 or 5 of Reisberg's Global Deterioration Scale. Infusions of either EGb 761 or placebo were administered 4 days per week for 4 weeks. Primary outcome measure was the activities of daily living as assessed by the Nürnberger-Alters-Beobachtungsskala (NAB). The Clinical Global Impressions of change (CGI, item 2) and the actual intelligence as assessed by the Kurztest für Allgemeine Intelligenz (KAI) were further target variables. No relevant group differences could be detected at baseline. After therapy, patients of the active substance group scored significantly better (p < 0.05) on each outcome measure than those who received placebo. Using a sequential testing procedure, a global significance level of p < 0.05 could be assured. Superiority of EGb 761 therapy was also found with respect to a self-rating scale for instrumental activities of daily living (Nürnberger-Alters-Alltagsaktivitätenskala), the improvement of the most prominent symptom of illness, and the decrease of depression. Thus clinical efficacy of EGb 761 could be shown on three planes of assessment: the behavioral, the psychopathologic and the psychometric plane. It could be confirmed that, in patients with moderate dementia, short-term intravenous infusion therapy with EGb 761 results in an improvement of psychopathology and cognitive performance, which is reflected in an increased ability to cope with the demands of daily living.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1997

Heart rate responses to real and simulated BA Hawk MK 51 flight.

BACKGROUND: The effects of psychological workload on inflight heart rate were studied in five experienced (flight instructors) and five less experienced (cadets) military pilots of the Finnish Air Force (FAF). METHOD: The subjects performed the same flight mission twice; first with the BA Hawk MK 51 simulator with minimal G-forces and after that with the BA Hawk MK 51 jet trainer with Gz-forces below +2. The mission included: a) 2 min rest after seating; b) take-off; c) ILS approach in the minimum weather conditions (initial, intermediate and final approach); d) landing tour (visual approach); and e) landing. The heart rates were continuously measured using a small portable recorder developed at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The R-R intervals were stored and analyzed with an accuracy of 1 ms. The different phases of each flight were marked in the data by using codes given beforehand for each critical event. RESULTS: The take-off resulted in a significant increase in the heart rate from the resting levels both in the cadets and the flight instructors in both planes. In the simulator the heart rate decreased during the initial approach and slightly increased after it during the intermediate approach. Thereafter the heart rate decreased during the landing tour which seemed to be the least psychologically demanding phase of the simulated flight. The heart rate increased again during the landing but did not exceed the heart rates measured during the take-off and the ILS-approach. There were no statistical differences between the groups. In the jet trainer no decrease in the heart rate could be observed immediately after the take-off, unlike in the case of the simulated flight. The inflight heart rate increased during the final approach, decreased during the landing tour and finally increased during the landing. According to the heart rate analysis the final approach was the most loaded phase of the real flight. The changes towards the phases of final approach and landing were greater among the flight instructors. CONCLUSION: There were no statistically significant differences between the mean heart rates during the real and the simulated flight. It is suggested that the heart rate changes for most reflected the changes in cognitive workload.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Children's false memories: a test of the dissociability of cognitive and social processes.

In this reflection on "Fuzzy-Trace Theory and Children's False Memories" by Brainerd and Reyna (1998, this issue), I describe aspects of the historical and theoretical context of fuzzy-trace theory and the usefulness of fuzzy-trace theory in organizing false memory phenomena. I also suggest some limitations of fuzzy-trace theory concerning the representation of child intentionality and of social and affective phenomena.

Cognition↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mapping early somatosensory evoked potentials in selective attention: critical evaluation of control conditions used for titrating by difference the cognitive P30, P40, P100 and N140.

Detailed procedures are described for the study of somatosensory event-related potentials (ERPs) to electric stimulation of fingers. Control responses to homogeneous (100%) series of identical stimuli (thus eliminating input mismatch) while the subject reads a novel (thus providing a distinct attention-capturing activity and maintaining vigilance level) are validated as reflecting the exogenous obligatory profiles required for assessing cognitive component in ERPs to target relevant stimuli. With these 'neutral' conditions, the control responses have a similar profile even at larger ISIs such as those separating the infrequent targets in Attention runs. Conversely, series of stimuli identical to those in control runs can elicit cognitive components in a 'Lie' experiment when the subject is induced to treat the stimuli like targets even though there is no discrimination involved. On this basis, the somatosensory P30, P40, P100 and N140 components appearing in the target profiles are considered genuine cognitive components. They have been analyzed with scatter displays, electronic subtraction, bit-mapped displays and with calculation of Z and dilation factors. The cognitive P30 and P40 reflect selective attention-related enhancements of the neural generators in receiving somatosensory cortex. The early parietal positivity P27 can thus be modulated separately from the frontal N30 component and is thought to be generated by a radial dipole in area 1. The later cognitive P100 and N140 reflect the invocation of distinct processors in conjunction with the behavioral use of the sensory input. The evolving topographical patterns of the P100 and N140 electrogeneses, revealed by bit-mapped data, suggest complex interactions between posterior parietal and prefrontal cortex whereby the sensory information is placed into spatial coordinate systems and matched with representations of relevant objects or relationships in space for target processing in the sequential tasks.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Clock drawing test in mild and moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type: a comparative and correlation study.

OBJECTIVES: (a) To compare two different clock drawing tests (CDTs) in mild and moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT); (b) To examine presumed correlation between these CDTs and some demographic, cognitive and activities of daily living (ADL) variables in mild and moderate DAT. METHODS: Cross-sectional study. Psychogeriatric outpatient clinic. 49 DAT patients, total; 26-mild, 23-moderate, mean age 77.8 and 80.6, respectively. Evaluations included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG), the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL), and a Basic Activities of Daily Living (BADL)-dressing subscale. Severity of dementia was determined with the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Each clock was blindly scored by the same investigator, according to Shulman's and Freedman's methods. RESULTS: Mild and moderate DAT groups were similar in age, gender and education. Performance on Shulman's clock was similar between groups while moderate DAT subjects performed significantly worse on Freedman's clock compared to mild DAT patients. Both clocks correlated highly in mild and moderate DAT. CDT scores correlated significantly with age and education only in mild DAT. Neither clock correlated with ADLs in either stage of dementia severity. CDTs correlated with the MMSE score, and the CAMCOG score in mild DAT, and only with the CAMCOG score in moderate DAT. These correlations were still significant after controlling for age and education. CONCLUSIONS: Different aspects of cognition and dementia severity are reflected depending on how a clock drawing is scored. Some scoring systems may have greater sensitivity than others in monitoring progression of cognitive deterioration. Correlation between different CDTs and the variables studied (demographic, cognitive, ADLs), when present, is not ubiqitous and changes with the dementia severity.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1986

What ever happened to the norms for the Matching Familiar Figures Test?

The Matching Familiar Figures Test is used almost exclusively to assess cognitive tempo, e.g., impulsive-reflective, etc., in subjects. Although norms for this test were published by Salkind in 1978, a comprehensive review of the literature on cognitive tempo covering 1979 through 1984 showed only 8% of the reviewed studies used the norms. The problems associated with the failure to use norms, most notably, the inability to generalize findings from one sample to another, are covered.

Attention↗

PubMed1983

Sequential changes in the P3 component of the auditory evoked potential in confusional states and dementing illnesses.

The P3 component of the auditory evoked potential has been shown to reflect "endogenous" processes related to cognition. This component was measured serially in seven patients who had confusional states or dementing illnesses that fluctuated in severity over time. The latency of P3 component reflected the clinical impression of changes in mental function for each of the patients. These results suggest that the P3 component of the auditory evoked potential provides an objective serial measure of cognitive state that may be useful in following patients with dementing illnesses and in evaluating the effectiveness of any specific therapy.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Neuropsychological and neuropathological sequelae of cerebral anoxia: a critical review.

Fifty-eight studies of the neuropathological and neuropsychological outcomes of cerebral anoxia were reviewed. Neuropathological reports were examined for the variety, extent, and specificity of lesions resulting from an anoxic event. While most attention has focused on damage to the hippocampus following anoxic brain injury, the review indicated that watershed cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia were both more frequently damaged than the hippocampus. The hippocampus was the sole affected structure in only 18% of reported cases. Neurological, neuropsychological and psychiatric studies were analyzed. Of 67 individual case reports, a memory disturbance was documented in 36 (54%), but a memory disturbance without report of additional cognitive deficits occurred in only 13 (19.4%). Changes in personality and behavior were noted in 31 (46.2%). Visuospatial or, less frequently, visual recognition problems were noted in 21 individual cases (31.3%) reviewed. Memory deficits were found in all 14 group studies reviewed, while in 9 papers changes in behavior or personality were also documented. Six studies also reported visuospatial deficits. Careful reading of the literature reveals a range of cognitive and behavioral changes that reflect very well the neuropathological outcomes of anoxic episodes.

Brain↗

PubMed1981

Student assessment -- a cautionary tale.

This paper outlines part of a course evaluation which involves two objective tests based on prestated behavioural objectives. The mid-year test gave cause for satisfaction but the end-of-year examination showed a gross decline. An analysis of cognitive levels was done using Bloom's taxonomy as a basis, and it became apparent that in the end-of-year examination students were required to function at considerably higher cognitive levels. Care must obviously be taken in ensuring that examination papers accurately reflect both the skills and the cognitive levels which students are expected to attain.

Chemistry↗

PubMed2006

Effects of combination estrogen plus progestin hormone treatment on cognition and affect.

CONTEXT: Some studies of hormone treatment in postmenopausal women suggest benefits on specific cognitive functions, particularly memory. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether hormone therapy influences changes in specific cognitive functions and affect in older women. DESIGN: This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. SETTING: Participants were women from 14 of 40 clinical centers of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). PARTICIPANTS: Postmenopausal women (1416) aged 65 yr and older, free of probable dementia, and enrolled in WHI and the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) trial of combination estrogen and progestin for a mean of 3 yr and followed for a mean of 1.35 yr, were studied. INTERVENTION: Intervention was conjugated equine estrogen (CEE; 0.625 mg) with 2.5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in one daily tablet (CEE + MPA) or placebo. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Annual rates of change in specific cognitive functions and affect, adjusted for time since randomization, were measured. RESULTS: CEE + MPA had a negative impact on verbal memory (P <or= 0.01) and a trend to a positive impact on figural memory (P = 0.012) over time compared with placebo, but other cognitive domains were not affected. Both effects on memory were evident only after long-term therapy. CEE + MPA did not significantly influence positive affect, negative affect, or depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of CEE + MPA on cognitive function varies across cognitive domains in older women, reflecting both possible beneficial and detrimental actions of ovarian steroids on the aging brain. Our results extend prior findings about dementia and global cognitive function to age-related changes in specific cognitive functions and suggest directions for future research.

Affect↗

PubMed1998

Children's cognitive level and perception of pain.

Doctors and nurses tend not to approach children according to their developmental level. Children develop an understanding of illness and of the cause and effect of pain that reflects Piaget's stages of cognitive development. Until nurses begin routinely to consider a child's developmental level when assessing pain, children will continue to suffer unnecessary pain and anxiety.

Child↗

PubMed1996

Patterns of synaptic and nerve cell pathology in Alzheimer's disease.

Recent neuropathological evidence suggests that synapse pathology is the major correlate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, but also in other dementia syndromes. We suggest that synapse loss in AD-patients mainly reflects neuronal destruction in other iso- and allocortical areas as well as in brain stem nuclei. In addition an impaired compensatory synaptogenesis may contribute to the reduction in synaptic connectivity. The patterns of cell death in AD-brains determined by analysis of DNA-fragmentation in situ revealed significantly higher numbers of dying cells (neurons as well as glia cells) in AD-brains compared to controls. Amyloid deposition as well as neurofibrillary pathology apparently do not induce cell death directly, but may increase the risk of cells to die in response to additional minor metabolic insults. We propose that multiple pathogenetic factors are involved in the reduction of synaptic connectivity in AD-brains, which finally is reflected in the decline of cognitive functions.

Alzheimer Disease↗

PubMed2001

Developmental aspects of pediatric fMRI: considerations for image acquisition, analysis, and interpretation.

Functional MRI provides a powerful means to identify and trace the evolution, development, and consolidation of cognitive neural networks through normal childhood. Neural network perturbations due to disease and other adverse factors during development can also be explored. Studies performed to date suggest that normal children older than 5 years show activation maps comparable to adults for similar cognitive paradigms. Minor differences in adult and pediatric activation maps may reflect age dependent strategies or maturation of cognitive networks. However, there are important physiologic and anatomic differences in children, varying with age, that may affect the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of pediatric fMRI data. Differences between children and adult fMRI comparison studies may reflect technical aspects of data acquisition as much as developmental and brain maturation factors.

Aging↗

PubMed1999

Cortical activation related to auditory semantic matching of concrete versus abstract words.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine cortical correlates of semantic memory processes in the auditory stimulus modality. METHODS: Event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) of the lower (8-10 Hz) and upper (10-12 Hz) alpha frequency bands of background EEG were studied in 10 subjects performing an auditory semantic matching task. The stimuli were abstract and concrete nouns which were presented sequentially in pairs. The task was to decide whether the two nouns belonged to the same semantic category or not. RESULTS: The presentation of the first stimulus (encoding) elicited ERS whereas the presentation of the second stimulus (semantic matching) elicited ERD. Abstract nouns presented as the second stimulus elicited ERD which was most prominent in the lower alpha frequency band, whereas the presentation of a concrete noun as the first stimulus elicited ERS, most prominently in the upper alpha frequency band. CONCLUSIONS: The auditorily elicited ERD/ERS reflects cortical activity associated with cognitive functions. The present findings demonstrate that the auditorily elicited ERD/ERS can reveal subtle differences in auditory information processing. Semantic memory processes (encoding and comparison) are reflected as varying responses in the two alpha frequency bands.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2000

Differences in visual attention and task interference between males and females reflect differences in brain laterality.

Two cognitive tasks (a letter memory task and a spatial memory task) designed to selectively activate the left or right hemisphere were combined with attentional probe tasks to measure how hemispheric activation affects attention to left and right hemifields. The probe task in Experiment 1 required the identification of digits in the left and right hemifield. During the letter task, male subjects identified more probes from the left hemifield than from the right. Their accuracy varied little across the two hemifields during the dots task. Experiment 2 tested whether this pattern is due to either spatial attention or interference in character processing. Instead of identifying digits, the probe task required subjects to respond to a black square that appeared in the periphery of the screen. For male subjects, the pattern was opposite of that from Experiment 1. During the letter task they responded faster to the probe in the right hemifield than in the left. Their response times were equivalent across the two hemifields during the dots task.These results indicate two separate effects of laterality in male subjects. The activation of one hemisphere produced more attention to the contralateral hemifield in Experiment 2, and the letter memory task interfered with the processing of other characters in the right visual field more than those in the left visual field in Experiment 1. Neither of these effects appeared in female subjects, corroborating earlier claims that female brains are less lateralized than male brains.

Adult↗