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PubMed2005

Cognitive impairment in three subtypes of multiple sclerosis.

Patients with relapsing, primary progressive, and secondary progressive MS were administered the Tower of London and the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test, yielding several measures of executive function and speeded information processing. MS patients' performance was compared with healthy controls and with a clinical control group consisting of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The MS patients performed the tests more slowly, but did not differ from either group of controls on measures of executive function. Slowing in the speed of information processing was characteristic of MS patients across two basic tasks differing in terms of controlled versus automatic processing and in terms of whether or not rapid responding was an explicit feature of successful performance. Although evident in all subtypes, this slowing was more pronounced in secondary progressive patients and somewhat less pronounced in primary progressive patients. Furthermore, the slowing was unrelated to patients' disability status or level of depression.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Event-related potential correlates of depression, insight and negative symptoms in males with recent-onset psychosis.

OBJECTIVE: The neurobiology of clinical characteristics -in particular depression, insight and negative symptoms- in recent-onset psychosis (ROP) was studied using event-related potentials (ERPs). METHODS: Twenty right-handed ROP men and 20 controls completed an auditory-oddball task. ROP men had minimum exposure to antipsychotic medication. N100, N200 and P300 were studied to ascertain the effects of (a) diagnosis (patients versus controls), and (b) clinical characteristics. RESULTS: ROP men had significantly lower anterior N100, enhanced N200 at T3, and lower P300 at Pz than controls. Lower right-anterior N100 and enhanced right-anterior N200 amplitude explained 47.7% of negative symptoms. Left-central N100 amplitude explained 30.28% of negative symptoms. Lower left-posterior and higher right-posterior P300 amplitude explained 65.99% of total symptoms. Lower left-central N100, enhanced left-central N200 and depression explained 78.8% of impairments in insight and judgement. Impaired insight/judgement correlated positively with right-anterior N200 and was identified as the most significant co-efficient for depression. CONCLUSIONS: Disturbed selective-attention and executive function indexed by N100 and N200, respectively, are associated with poor insight and negative symptoms. A complex interaction exists between insight and depression. SIGNIFICANCE: The current results demonstrate a biological basis of insight and depression and a complex interaction between the two, perhaps mediated by executive function, in early psychosis.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed1996

Pain sensitivity and stability of physical aggression in boys.

It is unclear whether stably aggressive boys would be characterized by high or low pain sensitivity. Adolescent boys in whom physical aggression, executive functioning, anxiety, and family adversity had been assessed longitudinally formed three groups who differed in stability of physical aggression: stable, unstable, and non-aggressive. Stable aggressives were the least pain sensitive, whereas unstable aggressives were the most pain sensitive. While at low levels of executive functioning pain sensitivity could not be distinguished between the aggressive groups, at high levels unstable aggressives reported even more pain, whereas stable aggressives reported even less pain. Variations in anxiety were associated strongly with pain sensitivity in unstable aggressives. High pain ratings were found in boys who had a moderate level of family adversity, and low pain ratings in boys with low or high adversity. The differences in pain sensitivity between the groups may be motivationally important to the frequency and type of aggression.

Aggression↗

PubMed1998

Transition to young adulthood in Ullrich-Turner syndrome: neurodevelopmental changes.

Studies describing the neurocognitive profile of Ullrich-Turner syndrome (UTS) have focused primarily on neurodevelopmental changes in childhood and adolescence or in adults with UTS. The objective of the present study was to describe neurodevelopmental changes that occur in UTS females during the transition from adolescence to young-adulthood. The subjects included 99 females with UTS and 89 normal female controls matched for age and socioeconomic status. Subjects were between the ages of 13 and 21 years. All subjects received a battery of neurocognitive tests designed to assess general cognitive ability, academic achievement, memory, language, executive function, visual-spatial/perceptual and motor skills, affect recognition, attention, and motor skills. Results from our study indicated that females with UTS performed significantly less well than controls on measures of spatial/perceptual skills, visual-motor integration, affect recognition, visual memory, attentional abilities, and executive function, consistent with previous reports of cognitive abilities in adolescent UTS females. Moreover, our results indicate that decreased performance in some of these areas persists through late adolescence and into early adulthood while improvement occurs in other areas. It is possible that catch-up in certain cognitive deficiencies in UTS females represents a maturational/developmental lag. Alternatively, the neurodevelopmental changes that were observed in UTS females may result from the cumulative effects of estrogen replacement therapy during adolescence. Therapeutic interventions specific to the demands of young-adulthood are also discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Effect of blood pressure on cognitive functions in elderly persons.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about what specific cognitive functions are affected by elevated blood pressure (BP) and how orthostatic BP change is related to cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of BP and its postural change on cognitive functions in otherwise healthy elders. METHODS: In 70 healthy persons (mean age, 72 +/- 4 years), supine systolic BP (SBP) was assessed 3 times using a sphygmomanometer, and the average values were obtained for the analysis. After 1, 3, and 5 minutes of standing, 3 BP measurements were obtained and the orthostatic SBP changes were determined by subtracting these values from the supine average. Neuropsychological tests were administered to assess short-term and long-term verbal and visual memory, visuospatial skills, and frontal-executive functions. Participants were considered impaired in the specific cognitive performance if their scores fell below the 25th percentile of the study population. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relation of SBP and the magnitude of orthostatic SBP decline to risk for impairment in each of the cognitive tests. RESULTS: Controlling for potential confounders, each 10 mmHg increase in supine SBP was associated with a 2.31-fold increase (95% confidence interval, 1.14 to 4.66) in risk for impairment in psychomotor speed and set shifting as measured using the Trailmaking Part-B test. There was no significant association between cognitive functions and orthostatic SBP decline at 1, 3, and 5 minutes of standing. CONCLUSION: Elevation of BP is associated with a selective impairment in executive function in otherwise healthy community-dwelling elders.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

The neural basis for categorization in semantic memory.

We asked young adults to categorize written object descriptions into one of two categories, based on a rule or on overall similarity, while we monitored regional brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found significantly greater recruitment of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for rule-based categorization in direct comparison with similarity-based categorization. Recruitment of right ventral frontal cortex and thalamus was uniquely associated with rule-based categorization as well. These observations lend support to the claim that executive functions such as working memory, inhibitory control, and selective attention contribute to rule-based categorization. Right inferior parietal activation was uniquely associated with similarity-based categorization. This region may play an important role in overall feature configuration that is important for this form of categorization. We found other brain regions recruited for both rule-based and similarity-based categorization: Anterior cingulate cortex may support the implementation of executive functions during situations with competing response alternatives; and left inferior parietal cortex may be related to the integration of feature knowledge about objects represented in modality-specific association cortices. We also administered a degraded-similarity condition where the task of categorizing a written object description was made more difficult by perceptually degrading the stimulus materials. The degraded condition and the rule-based condition, but not the similarity-based condition, were associated with caudate activation. The caudate may support resource demands that are not specific for a particular categorization process. These findings associate partially distinct large-scale neural networks with different forms of categorization in semantic memory.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Attention as a controller.

We investigate, by constructing suitable models, the manner in which attention and executive function are observed to interact, including some aspects of the influence of value/emotion on this interaction. Attention is modelled using the recent engineering control model (Corollary Discharge of Attention Movement, CODAM), which includes suitable working memory components. We extend this model to take account of various executive functions performed in working memory under attention control, such as rehearsal, substitution and transformation of buffered activity. How these are achieved is specified in suitable extension of CODAM. Further extensions are then made to include emotional values of stimuli. All of these extensions are supported by recent experimental brain imaging data on various working memory tasks, which are simulated with reasonable accuracy. We conclude our analysis by a discussion on the nature of cognition as seen in terms of the resulting extended attention model framework.

Attention↗

PubMed2003

Vagal influence on working memory and attention.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of vagal tone on performance during executive and non-executive tasks, using a working memory and a sustained attention test. Reactivity to cognitive tasks was also investigated using heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Fifty-three male sailors from the Royal Norwegian Navy participated in this study. Inter-beat-intervals were recorded continuously for 5 min of baseline, followed by randomized presentation of a working memory test (WMT) based on Baddeley and Hitch's research (1974) and a continuous performance test (CPT). The session ended with a 5-min recovery period. High HRV and low HRV groups were formed based on a median split of the root mean squared successive differences during baseline. The results showed that the high HRV group showed more correct responses than the low HRV group on the WMT. Furthermore, the high HRV group showed faster mean reaction time (mRT), more correct responses and less error, than the low HRV group on the CPT. Follow-up analysis revealed that this was evident only for components of the CPT where executive functions were involved. The analyses of reactivity showed a suppression of HRV and an increase in HR during presentation of cognitive tasks compared to recovery. This was evident for both groups. The present results indicated that high HRV was associated with better performance on tasks involving executive function.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Autism spectrum disorder and psychopathy: shared cognitive underpinnings or double hit?

BACKGROUND: We measured psychopathic traits in boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) selected for difficult and aggressive behaviour. We asked (i) whether psychopathic tendencies can be measured in ASD independent of the severity of autistic behaviour; (ii) whether individuals with ASD with callous-unemotional (CU) traits differ in their cognitive profile from those without such traits; and (iii) how the cognitive data from this study compare with previous data of youngsters with psychopathic tendencies. METHOD: Twenty-eight ASD boys were rated on psychopathic tendencies, autistic traits and a range of cognitive measures assessing mentalizing ability, executive functions, emotion recognition and ability to make moral-conventional distinction. RESULTS: Our results indicate that psychopathic tendencies are not related to severity of ASD. In addition, such tendencies do not seem to be related to core autistic cognitive deficits, specifically in 'mind-reading' or executive function. Boys with co-occurring ASD and CU tendencies share some behaviours and aspects of cognitive profile with boys who have psychopathic tendencies alone. CONCLUSIONS: Callous/psychopathic acts in a small number of individuals with ASD probably reflect a 'double hit' involving an additional impairment of empathic response to distress cues, which is not part and parcel of ASD itself.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗

PubMed2004

Validity of the Boston qualitative scoring system for the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure among depressed elderly patients.

A recent qualitative scoring method for the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF), the Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS), purports to assess visuospatial organization, visual memory and executive function by using multiple series of scores with well-defined criteria. The first objective of this study was to determine whether the BQSS cores correlated with scores derived from the tradition Osterrieth scoring method and which method was more efficient at separating the diagnostics groups. The second objective was to correlate the BQSS executive scores to other nonverbal and verbal tests of executive function, working memory, processing speed, and episodic memory to determine what cognitive abilities the BQSS scores were measuring. The subjects, older depressed patients and healthy controls, were free of any clinical sign of incipient dementia or comorbid neurological disease. Their ROCF drawings were scored using both the Osterrieth and BQSS methods. The BQSS summary drawing scores correlated well with the Osterrieth summary scores for the copy and short-delay recall phases, the percent retained over the delay period and recognition. The BQSS executive scores for Planning, which included both copy and recall phases, correlated with Matrix Reasoning indicating that they assessed nonverbal reasoning but they did not correlate with other traditional executive tests. Planning also contributed to the separation of diagnostics groups and was the most effective score for predicting the percent of the ROCF retained over a short delay. The remaining executive scores did not show a pattern of correlations with other nonverbal executive or working memory scores that would satisfy concerns regarding their interpretation or internal validity when used in an older and/or depressed population. No differences emerged between the two scoring methods in their efficiency for predicting depression.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cortico-subcortical contributions to executive control.

The term "executive functions" refers to a range of cognitive processes, their common feature being the coordination of information processing and action control. Cortico-subcortical circuits which connect the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the basal ganglia and the cerebellum via the thalamus are believed to serve as neuroanatomical substrates of executive processing. This paper focuses on information processing related to executive functions by the PFC and related subcortical regions. Findings are mainly derived from neuropsychological investigations of brain-damaged patients but also from imaging studies in healthy subjects. There is evidence for subtle differences between these regions with respect to the cognitive mechanisms contributing to inhibition of habitual responses, task management/multitasking and set shifting, although the data base is sparse so far.

Basal Ganglia↗

PubMed2000

Working memory deficits in current and previous users of MDMA ('ecstasy').

Current and previous users of the drug MDMA ('ecstasy') were tested on measures of central executive functioning, information processing speed, and on self-report measures of arousal and anxiety. The results were compared with those for a control group who did not use MDMA. Relative to the control group, both user groups were found to be impaired in some aspects of central executive functioning. Also, there were significant group differences on the measures of anxiety (users were more anxious) and on arousal (previous users scoring higher on the arousal measure relative to current users). Users processed information as quickly as non-users but less accurately. Some possible mediators of the above group differences are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

The investigation of factors underlying deficits in self-awareness and self-regulation.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To examine a theoretical model which suggests that a contribution of both psychological and neuropsychological factors underlie deficits in self-awareness and self-regulation. RESEARCH DESIGN: Multivariate design including correlations and analysis of variance (ANOVA). METHODS: Sixty-one subjects with acquired brain injury (ABI) were administered standardized measures of self-awareness and self-regulation. Psychological factors included measures of coping-related denial, personality-related denial and personality change. Neuropsychological factors included an estimate of IQ and two measures of executive functioning that assess capacity for volition and purposive behaviour. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The findings indicated that the relative contribution of neuropsychological factors to an outcome of deficits in self-awareness and self-regulation had a more direct effect than psychological factors. In general, measures of executive functioning had a direct relationship, while measures of coping-related and personality-related denial had an indirect relationship with measures of self-awareness and self-regulation. CONCLUSION: The findings highlighted the importance of measuring both neuropsychological and psychological factors and demonstrated that the relative contribution of these variables varies according to different levels of self-awareness and self-regulation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2006

Population-based case-control study of cognitive function in essential tremor.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether patients with essential tremor (ET) have cognitive deficits when compared with controls and whether the types of cognitive deficits reported previously are also found in this large sampling of patients with ET. METHODS: A total of 232 patients with ET and 696 matched controls age 65 years or older (median 75 years) living in central Spain (the Neurologic Diseases in Central Spain study) underwent a neuropsychological assessment, including tests of global cognitive performance, frontal executive function, verbal fluency, and memory. Subjects also were asked whether they had forgetfulness. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients with ET were previously undiagnosed; only 14 (6%) were taking medication for tremor. Adjusted for age, gender, education, premorbid intelligence, medications, and depressive symptoms, cases performed less well on most neuropsychological tests and especially tests of global cognitive performance (37-item Mini-Mental State Examination = 27.0 +/- 6.7 in cases vs 28.9 +/- 5.9 in controls, p < 0.001) and frontal executive function (Trail Making Test number of errors = 8.7 +/- 11.0 in cases vs 3.8 +/- 7.6 in controls, p < 0.001). Forgetfulness was reported in 117 (50.4%) patients with ET vs 300 (43.1%) controls (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In a population-based sample of largely untreated patients with essential tremor, cases performed more poorly on formal neuropsychological testing than did their counterparts without tremor. A complaint of forgetfulness was also marginally more common in patients with essential tremor.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2005

Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognitive ability and achievement during childhood and beyond. Little is known about the developmental relationships between SES and specific brain systems or their associated cognitive functions. In this study we assessed neurocognitive functioning of kindergarteners from different socioeconomic backgrounds, using tasks drawn from the cognitive neuroscience literature in order to determine how childhood SES predicts the normal variance in performance across different neurocognitive systems. Five neurocognitive systems were examined: the occipitotemporal/visual cognition system, the parietal/spatial cognition system, the medial temporal/memory system, the left perisylvian/language system, and the prefrontal/executive system. SES was disproportionately associated with the last two, with low SES children performing worse than middle SES children on most measures of these systems. Relations among language, executive function, SES and specific aspects of early childhood experience were explored, revealing intercorrelations and a seemingly predominant role of individual differences in language ability involved in SES associations with executive function.

Brain↗

PubMed2006

Neuropsychological correlates of error negativity and positivity in schizophrenia patients.

The purpose of the present paper was to determine error-monitoring ability and its relationship with executive function in patients with schizophrenia. In order to evaluate error-monitoring ability, the error negativity (Ne) and error positivity (Pe) were measured using the Stroop task. The correct-related negativity (CRN) and positivity (Pc) were also measured. In addition, neuropsychological tests were administered in order to evaluate executive function. The patients with schizophrenia had significantly reduced Ne and augmented CRN amplitudes, but the Pe and Pc amplitudes of the patients were comparable to those of the controls. In addition, the Ne amplitude, measured at Fcz was positively correlated with the Trail Making Test (TMT), part B response time, and the categories achieved on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in patients with schizophrenia. No significant correlations were found between Ne amplitude and performance on the neuropsychological tests in the controls. And no associations were detected between CRN, Pe, Pc amplitudes and neuropsychological performance, in either the patients with schizophrenia or the controls. Reduced Ne amplitudes and augmented CRN amplitudes in patients with schizophrenia suggest the dysfunctional behavior-monitoring system in these patients. The functional significances of Ne and Pe are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Neuropsychological assessment after microsurgical clipping or endovascular treatment for anterior communicating artery aneurysm.

BACKGROUND: After open surgery for ruptured ACoA aneurysms, several patients who have achieved a favourable neurological outcome still exhibit significant cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to investigate the cognitive performances in patients with ACoA aneurysms submitted to different therapeutic options such as endovascular treatment and surgical clipping. METHODS: We evaluated 37 consecutive patients in WFNS grade I or II, who underwent an early treatment (within 48 hours) of a bleeding ACoA aneurysm: 20 out of 37 were surgically clipped (group A) and 17 were treated with endovascular coiling (group B). These two groups were compared with 16 patients (group C) with subarachnoid haemorrhage and negative cerebral panangiography and with 18 volunteers (group D) without neurological or psychiatric disorders. All patients were neurologically intact at discharge and were in Glasgow Outcome Scale 1 at 6 months follow-up after SAH. All subjects were tested to assess selective attention, verbal, spatial and logical memory, frontal lobe executive functions, language and intelligence. Depressive symptoms and anxiety were also examined. FINDINGS: Selective attention, verbal and spatial memory, and intelligence tests didn't show any significant difference between the patients and the controls. Surgically treated patients showed a significant worse performance on the logical memory and on the frontal lobe executive functions compared to controls, while the endovascular group and the group C (not treated) showed a significant decrease only in the literal fluency score.Moreover, the surgical group showed a significant impairment in using grammatical and syntactical rules to produce sentences. No significant difference was found between the group B, C and controls. Treated patients were not significantly more depressive or anxious than controls. INTERPRETATION: Investigation of neuropsychological deficits can show an impairment, even in patients classified as good outcome by Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). The frontal lobe functions and language are impaired especially in surgically treated in comparison with controls, but no significant difference was found respect to the endovascular and no treated patients (group C).

Attention↗

PubMed2005

Selective increase of cortical thickness in high-performing elderly--structural indices of optimal cognitive aging.

The aim of this study was to identify cortical areas important for optimal cognitive aging. 74 participants (20-88 years) went through neuropsychological tests and two MR sessions. The sample was split into two age groups. In each, every participant was classified as "high" or "average" on fluid ability tests and on neuropsychological tests related to executive function. The groups were compared with regard to thickness on a point-by-point basis across the entire cortical mantle. The old high fluid performers had thicker cortex than the average performers in large areas of cortex, while there was minimal difference between the groups of high vs. average executive function. Furthermore, the old group with high fluid function had thicker cortex than the young participants in the posterior cingulate and adjacent areas. Further analyses showed that the latter was a result of a complex aging pattern, differing between the two performance groups, with decades of cortical thickening and subsequent thinning.

Adult↗