How Does the Linguistic Distance Between Spoken and Standard Language in Arabic Affect Recall and Recognition Performances During Verbal Memory Examination.

PubMed

Taha, Haitham

2017-06-01

The current research examined how Arabic diglossia affects verbal learning memory. Thirty native Arab college students were tested using auditory verbal memory test that was adapted according to the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and developed in three versions: Pure spoken language version (SL), pure standard language version (SA), and phonologically similar version (PS). The result showed that for immediate free-recall, the performances were better for the SL and the PS conditions compared to the SA one. However, for the parts of delayed recall and recognition, the results did not reveal any significant consistent effect of diglossia. Accordingly, it was suggested that diglossia has a significant effect on the storage and short term memory functions but not on long term memory functions. The results were discussed in light of different approaches in the field of bilingual memory.

Hippocampal volume and auditory attention on a verbal memory task with adult survivors of pediatric brain tumor.

PubMed

Jayakar, Reema; King, Tricia Z; Morris, Robin; Na, Sabrina

2015-03-01

We examined the nature of verbal memory deficits and the possible hippocampal underpinnings in long-term adult survivors of childhood brain tumor. 35 survivors (M = 24.10 ± 4.93 years at testing; 54% female), on average 15 years post-diagnosis, and 59 typically developing adults (M = 22.40 ± 4.35 years, 54% female) participated. Automated FMRIB Software Library (FSL) tools were used to measure hippocampal, putamen, and whole brain volumes. The California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) was used to assess verbal memory. Hippocampal, F(1, 91) = 4.06, ηp² = .04; putamen, F(1, 91) = 11.18, ηp² = .11; and whole brain, F(1, 92) = 18.51, ηp² = .17, volumes were significantly lower for survivors than controls (p < .05). Hippocampus and putamen volumes were significantly correlated (r = .62, p < .001) with each other, but not with total brain volume (r = .09; r = .08), for survivors and controls. Verbal memory indices of auditory attention list span (Trial 1: F(1, 92) = 12.70, η² = .12) and final list learning (Trial 5: F(1, 92) = 6.01, η² = .06) were significantly lower for survivors (p < .05). Total hippocampal volume in survivors was significantly correlated (r = .43, p = .01) with auditory attention, but none of the other CVLT-II indices. Secondary analyses for the effect of treatment factors are presented. Volumetric differences between survivors and controls exist for the whole brain and for subcortical structures on average 15 years post-diagnosis. Treatment factors seem to have a unique effect on subcortical structures. Memory differences between survivors and controls are largely contingent upon auditory attention list span. Only hippocampal volume is associated with the auditory attention list span component of verbal memory. These findings are particularly robust for survivors treated with radiation. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Modalities of memory: is reading lips like hearing voices?

PubMed

Maidment, David W; Macken, Bill; Jones, Dylan M

2013-12-01

Functional similarities in verbal memory performance across presentation modalities (written, heard, lipread) are often taken to point to a common underlying representational form upon which the modalities converge. We show here instead that the pattern of performance depends critically on presentation modality and different mechanisms give rise to superficially similar effects across modalities. Lipread recency is underpinned by different mechanisms to auditory recency, and while the effect of an auditory suffix on an auditory list is due to the perceptual grouping of the suffix with the list, the corresponding effect with lipread speech is due to misidentification of the lexical content of the lipread suffix. Further, while a lipread suffix does not disrupt auditory recency, an auditory suffix does disrupt recency for lipread lists. However, this effect is due to attentional capture ensuing from the presentation of an unexpected auditory event, and is evident both with verbal and nonverbal auditory suffixes. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that short-term verbal memory performance is determined by modality-specific perceptual and motor processes, rather than by the storage and manipulation of phonological representations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source memory errors in schizophrenia, hallucinations and negative symptoms: a synthesis of research findings.

PubMed

Brébion, G; Ohlsen, R I; Bressan, R A; David, A S

2012-12-01

Previous research has shown associations between source memory errors and hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. We bring together here findings from a broad memory investigation to specify better the type of source memory failure that is associated with auditory and visual hallucinations. Forty-one patients with schizophrenia and 43 healthy participants underwent a memory task involving recall and recognition of lists of words, recognition of pictures, memory for temporal and spatial context of presentation of the stimuli, and remembering whether target items were presented as words or pictures. False recognition of words and pictures was associated with hallucination scores. The extra-list intrusions in free recall were associated with verbal hallucinations whereas the intra-list intrusions were associated with a global hallucination score. Errors in discriminating the temporal context of word presentation and the spatial context of picture presentation were associated with auditory hallucinations. The tendency to remember verbal labels of items as pictures of these items was associated with visual hallucinations. Several memory errors were also inversely associated with affective flattening and anhedonia. Verbal and visual hallucinations are associated with confusion between internal verbal thoughts or internal visual images and perception. In addition, auditory hallucinations are associated with failure to process or remember the context of presentation of the events. Certain negative symptoms have an opposite effect on memory errors.

The Effect of Neurocognitive Function on Math Computation in Pediatric ADHD: Moderating Influences of Anxious Perfectionism and Gender.

PubMed

Sturm, Alexandra; Rozenman, Michelle; Piacentini, John C; McGough, James J; Loo, Sandra K; McCracken, James T

2018-03-20

Predictors of math achievement in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are not well-known. To address this gap in the literature, we examined individual differences in neurocognitive functioning domains on math computation in a cross-sectional sample of youth with ADHD. Gender and anxiety symptoms were explored as potential moderators. The sample consisted of 281 youth (aged 8-15 years) diagnosed with ADHD. Neurocognitive tasks assessed auditory-verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory, and processing speed. Auditory-verbal working memory speed significantly predicted math computation. A three-way interaction revealed that at low levels of anxious perfectionism, slower processing speed predicted poorer math computation for boys compared to girls. These findings indicate the uniquely predictive values of auditory-verbal working memory and processing speed on math computation, and their differential moderation. These findings provide preliminary support that gender and anxious perfectionism may influence the relationship between neurocognitive functioning and academic achievement.

Working memory capacity and visual-verbal cognitive load modulate auditory-sensory gating in the brainstem: toward a unified view of attention.

PubMed

Sörqvist, Patrik; Stenfelt, Stefan; Rönnberg, Jerker

2012-11-01

Two fundamental research questions have driven attention research in the past: One concerns whether selection of relevant information among competing, irrelevant, information takes place at an early or at a late processing stage; the other concerns whether the capacity of attention is limited by a central, domain-general pool of resources or by independent, modality-specific pools. In this article, we contribute to these debates by showing that the auditory-evoked brainstem response (an early stage of auditory processing) to task-irrelevant sound decreases as a function of central working memory load (manipulated with a visual-verbal version of the n-back task). Furthermore, individual differences in central/domain-general working memory capacity modulated the magnitude of the auditory-evoked brainstem response, but only in the high working memory load condition. The results support a unified view of attention whereby the capacity of a late/central mechanism (working memory) modulates early precortical sensory processing.

Prefrontal N-acetylaspartate is strongly associated with memory performance in (abstinent) ecstasy users: preliminary report.

PubMed

Reneman, L; Majoie, C B; Schmand, B; van den Brink, W; den Heeten, G J

2001-10-01

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy") is known to damage brain serotonin neurons in animals and possibly humans. Because serotonergic damage may adversely affect memory, we compared verbal memory function between MDMA users and MDMA-naïve control subjects and evaluated the relationship between verbal memory function and neuronal dysfunction in the MDMA users. An auditory verbal memory task (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) was used to study eight abstinent MDMA users and seven control subjects. In addition 1H-MRS was used in different brain regions of all MDMA users to measure N-acetylaspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr) ratios, a marker for neuronal viability. The MDMA users recalled significantly fewer words than control subjects on delayed (p =.03) but not immediate recall (p =.08). In MDMA users, delayed memory function was strongly associated with NAA/Cr only in the prefrontal cortex (R(2) =.76, p =.01). Greater decrements in memory function predicted lower NAA/Cr levels-and by inference greater neuronal dysfunction-in the prefrontal cortex of MDMA users.

Brain activity is related to individual differences in the number of items stored in auditory short-term memory for pitch: evidence from magnetoencephalography.

PubMed

Grimault, Stephan; Nolden, Sophie; Lefebvre, Christine; Vachon, François; Hyde, Krista; Peretz, Isabelle; Zatorre, Robert; Robitaille, Nicolas; Jolicoeur, Pierre

2014-07-01

We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine brain activity related to the maintenance of non-verbal pitch information in auditory short-term memory (ASTM). We focused on brain activity that increased with the number of items effectively held in memory by the participants during the retention interval of an auditory memory task. We used very simple acoustic materials (i.e., pure tones that varied in pitch) that minimized activation from non-ASTM related systems. MEG revealed neural activity in frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices that increased with a greater number of items effectively held in memory by the participants during the maintenance of pitch representations in ASTM. The present results reinforce the functional role of frontal and temporal cortices in the retention of pitch information in ASTM. This is the first MEG study to provide both fine spatial localization and temporal resolution on the neural mechanisms of non-verbal ASTM for pitch in relation to individual differences in the capacity of ASTM. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms mediating the representation and maintenance of basic non-verbal auditory features in the human brain. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Verbal short-term memory span in children: long-term modality dependent effects of intrauterine growth restriction.

PubMed

Geva, R; Eshel, R; Leitner, Y; Fattal-Valevski, A; Harel, S

2008-12-01

Recent reports showed that children born with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are at greater risk of experiencing verbal short-term memory span (STM) deficits that may impede their learning capacities at school. It is still unknown whether these deficits are modality dependent. This long-term, prospective design study examined modality-dependent verbal STM functions in children who were diagnosed at birth with IUGR (n = 138) and a control group (n = 64). Their STM skills were evaluated individually at 9 years of age with four conditions of the Visual-Aural Digit Span Test (VADS; Koppitz, 1981): auditory-oral, auditory-written, visuospatial-oral and visuospatial-written. Cognitive competence was evaluated with the short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children--revised (WISC-R95; Wechsler, 1998). We found IUGR-related specific auditory-oral STM deficits (p < .036) in conjunction with two double dissociations: an auditory-visuospatial (p < .014) and an input-output processing distinction (p < .014). Cognitive competence had a significant effect on all four conditions; however, the effect of IUGR on the auditory-oral condition was not overridden by the effect of intelligence quotient (IQ). Intrauterine growth restriction affects global competence and inter-modality processing, as well as distinct auditory input processing related to verbal STM functions. The findings support a long-term relationship between prenatal aberrant head growth and auditory verbal STM deficits by the end of the first decade of life. Empirical, clinical and educational implications are presented.

The Ineluctable Modality of the Audible: Perceptual Determinants of Auditory Verbal Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maidment, David W.; Macken, William J.

2012-01-01

Classical cognitive accounts of verbal short-term memory (STM) invoke an abstract, phonological level of representation which, although it may be derived differently via different modalities, is itself amodal. Key evidence for this view is that serial recall of phonologically similar verbal items (e.g., the letter sounds "b",…

Working memory, short-term memory and reading proficiency in school-age children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Bharadwaj, Sneha V; Maricle, Denise; Green, Laura; Allman, Tamby

2015-10-01

The objective of the study was to examine short-term memory and working memory through both visual and auditory tasks in school-age children with cochlear implants. The relationship between the performance on these cognitive skills and reading as well as language outcomes were examined in these children. Ten children between the ages of 7 and 11 years with early-onset bilateral severe-profound hearing loss participated in the study. Auditory and visual short-term memory, auditory and visual working memory subtests and verbal knowledge measures were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV Integrated and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children II. Reading outcomes were assessed using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test III. Performance on visual short-term memory and visual working memory measures in children with cochlear implants was within the average range when compared to the normative mean. However, auditory short-term memory and auditory working memory measures were below average when compared to the normative mean. Performance was also below average on all verbal knowledge measures. Regarding reading outcomes, children with cochlear implants scored below average for listening and passage comprehension tasks and these measures were positively correlated to visual short-term memory, visual working memory and auditory short-term memory. Performance on auditory working memory subtests was not related to reading or language outcomes. The children with cochlear implants in this study demonstrated better performance in visual (spatial) working memory and short-term memory skills than in auditory working memory and auditory short-term memory skills. Significant positive relationships were found between visual working memory and reading outcomes. The results of the study provide support for the idea that WM capacity is modality specific in children with hearing loss. Based on these findings, reading instruction that capitalizes on the strengths in visual short-term memory and working memory is suggested for young children with early-onset hearing loss. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Auditory Verbal Learning Test (Rey AVLT): An Arabic Version

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharoni, Varda; Natur, Nazeh

2014-01-01

The goals of this study were to adapt the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) into Arabic, to compare recall functioning among age groups (6:0 to 17:11), and to compare gender differences on various memory dimensions (immediate and delayed recall, learning rate, recognition, proactive interferences, and retroactive interferences). This…

Areas of Left Perisylvian Cortex Mediate Auditory-Verbal Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koenigs, Michael; Acheson, Daniel J.; Barbey, Aron K.; Solomon, Jeffrey; Postle, Bradley R.; Grafman, Jordan

2011-01-01

A contentious issue in memory research is whether verbal short-term memory (STM) depends on a neural system specifically dedicated to the temporary maintenance of information, or instead relies on the same brain areas subserving the comprehension and production of language. In this study, we examined a large sample of adults with acquired brain…

Role of Auditory Non-Verbal Working Memory in Sentence Repetition for Bilingual Children with Primary Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebert, Kerry Danahy

2014-01-01

Background: Sentence repetition performance is attracting increasing interest as a valuable clinical marker for primary (or specific) language impairment (LI) in both monolingual and bilingual populations. Multiple aspects of memory appear to contribute to sentence repetition performance, but non-verbal memory has not yet been considered. Aims: To…

Role of auditory non-verbal working memory in sentence repetition for bilingual children with primary language impairment.

PubMed

Ebert, Kerry Danahy

2014-01-01

Sentence repetition performance is attracting increasing interest as a valuable clinical marker for primary (or specific) language impairment (LI) in both monolingual and bilingual populations. Multiple aspects of memory appear to contribute to sentence repetition performance, but non-verbal memory has not yet been considered. To explore the relationship between a measure of non-verbal auditory working memory (NVWM) and sentence repetition performance in a sample of bilingual children with LI. Forty-seven school-aged Spanish-English bilingual children with LI completed sentence repetition and non-word repetition tasks in both Spanish and English as well as an NVWM task. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to predict sentence repetition in each language using age, non-word repetition and NVWM. NVWM predicted unique variance in sentence repetition performance in both languages after accounting for chronological age and language-specific phonological memory, as measured by non-word repetition. Domain-general memory resources play a unique role in sentence repetition performance in children with LI. Non-verbal working memory weaknesses may contribute to the poor performance of children with LI on sentence repetition tasks. © 2014 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

The phonological short-term store-rehearsal system: patterns of impairment and neural correlates.

PubMed

Vallar, G; Di Betta, A M; Silveri, M C

1997-06-01

Two left brain-damaged patients (L.A. and T.O.) with a selective impairment of auditory-verbal span are reported. Patient L.A. was unable to hold auditory-verbal material in the phonological store component of short-term memory. His performance was however normal on tasks requiring phonological judgements, which specifically involve the phonological output buffer component of the rehearsal process. He also showed some evidence that rehearsal contributed to the immediate retention of auditory-verbal material. Patient T.O. never made use of the rehearsal process in tasks assessing both immediate retention and the ability to make phonological judgements, but the memory capacity of the phonological short-term store was comparatively preserved. These contrasting patterns of impairment suggest that the phonological store component of verbal short-term memory was severely impaired in patient L.A., and spared, at least in part, in patient T.O. The rehearsal process was preserved in L.A., and primarily defective in T.O. The localisation of the lesions in the left hemisphere (L.A.: inferior parietal lobule, superior and middle temporal gyri; T.O.: sub-cortical premotor and rolandic regions, anterior insula) suggests that these two sub-components of phonological short-term memory have discrete anatomical correlates.

Stimulus modality and working memory performance in Greek children with reading disabilities: additional evidence for the pictorial superiority hypothesis.

PubMed

Constantinidou, Fofi; Evripidou, Christiana

2012-01-01

This study investigated the effects of stimulus presentation modality on working memory performance in children with reading disabilities (RD) and in typically developing children (TDC), all native speakers of Greek. It was hypothesized that the visual presentation of common objects would result in improved learning and recall performance as compared to the auditory presentation of stimuli. Twenty children, ages 10-12, diagnosed with RD were matched to 20 TDC age peers. The experimental tasks implemented a multitrial verbal learning paradigm incorporating three modalities: auditory, visual, and auditory plus visual. Significant group differences were noted on language, verbal and nonverbal memory, and measures of executive abilities. A mixed-model MANOVA indicated that children with RD had a slower learning curve and recalled fewer words than TDC across experimental modalities. Both groups of participants benefited from the visual presentation of objects; however, children with RD showed the greatest gains during this condition. In conclusion, working memory for common verbal items is impaired in children with RD; however, performance can be facilitated, and learning efficiency maximized, when information is presented visually. The results provide further evidence for the pictorial superiority hypothesis and the theory that pictorial presentation of verbal stimuli is adequate for dual coding.

Verbal Recall of Auditory and Visual Signals by Normal and Deficient Reading Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Maureen Julianne

Verbal recall of bisensory memory tasks was compared among 48 9- to 12-year old boys in three groups: normal readers, primary deficit readers, and secondary deficit readers. Auditory and visual stimulus pairs composed of digits, which incorporated variations of intersensory and intrasensory conditions were administered to Ss through a Bell and…

Auditory processing and phonological awareness skills of five-year-old children with and without musical experience.

PubMed

Escalda, Júlia; Lemos, Stela Maris Aguiar; França, Cecília Cavalieri

2011-09-01

To investigate the relations between musical experience, auditory processing and phonological awareness of groups of 5-year-old children with and without musical experience. Participants were 56 5-year-old subjects of both genders, 26 in the Study Group, consisting of children with musical experience, and 30 in the Control Group, consisting of children without musical experience. All participants were assessed with the Simplified Auditory Processing Assessment and Phonological Awareness Test and the data was statistically analyzed. There was a statistically significant difference between the results of the sequential memory test for verbal and non-verbal sounds with four stimuli, phonological awareness tasks of rhyme recognition, phonemic synthesis and phonemic deletion. Analysis of multiple binary logistic regression showed that, with exception of the sequential verbal memory with four syllables, the observed difference in subjects' performance was associated with their musical experience. Musical experience improves auditory and metalinguistic abilities of 5-year-old children.

Auditory Verbal Working Memory as a Predictor of Speech Perception in Modulated Maskers in Listeners with Normal Hearing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Millman, Rebecca E.; Mattys, Sven L.

2017-01-01

Purpose: Background noise can interfere with our ability to understand speech. Working memory capacity (WMC) has been shown to contribute to the perception of speech in modulated noise maskers. WMC has been assessed with a variety of auditory and visual tests, often pertaining to different components of working memory. This study assessed the…

Selective verbal recognition memory impairments are associated with atrophy of the language network in non-semantic variants of primary progressive aphasia.

PubMed

Nilakantan, Aneesha S; Voss, Joel L; Weintraub, Sandra; Mesulam, M-Marsel; Rogalski, Emily J

2017-06-01

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is clinically defined by an initial loss of language function and preservation of other cognitive abilities, including episodic memory. While PPA primarily affects the left-lateralized perisylvian language network, some clinical neuropsychological tests suggest concurrent initial memory loss. The goal of this study was to test recognition memory of objects and words in the visual and auditory modality to separate language-processing impairments from retentive memory in PPA. Individuals with non-semantic PPA had longer reaction times and higher false alarms for auditory word stimuli compared to visual object stimuli. Moreover, false alarms for auditory word recognition memory were related to cortical thickness within the left inferior frontal gyrus and left temporal pole, while false alarms for visual object recognition memory was related to cortical thickness within the right-temporal pole. This pattern of results suggests that specific vulnerability in processing verbal stimuli can hinder episodic memory in PPA, and provides evidence for differential contributions of the left and right temporal poles in word and object recognition memory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Notetaking, Verbal Aptitude, & Listening Span: Factors Involved in Learning from Lectures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walbaum, Sharlene D.

Three variables (verbal aptitude, listening ability, and notetaking) that may mediate how much college students learn from a lecture were studied. Verbal aptitude was operationalized as a Verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (VSAT) score. Listening ability was measured as the score on an auditory short-term memory task, using the serial running memory…

HPA Axis Function Alters Development of Working Memory in Boys with FXS

PubMed Central

Scherr, Jessica F.; Hahn, Laura J.; Hooper, Stephen R.; Hatton, Deborah; Roberts, Jane E.

2016-01-01

The present study examines verbal working memory over time in boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS) compared to nonverbal mental-age (NVMA) matched, typically developing (TD) boys. Concomitantly, the relationship between cortisol—a physiological marker for stress—and verbal working memory performance over time is examined to understand the role of physiological mechanisms in cognitive development in FXS. Participants were assessed between one and three times over a 2-year time frame using two verbal working memory tests that differ in complexity: memory for words and auditory working memory with salivary cortisol collected at the beginning and end of each assessment. Multilevel modeling results indicate specific deficits over time on the memory for words task in boys with FXS compared to TD controls that is exacerbated by elevated baseline cortisol. Similar increasing rates of growth over time were observed for boys with FXS and TD controls on the more complex auditory working memory task, but only boys with FXS displayed an association of increased baseline cortisol and lower performance. This study highlights the benefit of investigations of how dynamic biological and cognitive factors interact and influence cognitive development over time. PMID:26760450

Differences in visual vs. verbal memory impairments as a result of focal temporal lobe damage in patients with traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Ariza, Mar; Pueyo, Roser; Junqué, Carme; Mataró, María; Poca, María Antonia; Mena, Maria Pau; Sahuquillo, Juan

2006-09-01

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the type of lesion in a sample of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) was related to material-specific memory impairment. Fifty-nine patients with TBI were classified into three groups according to whether the site of the lesion was right temporal, left temporal or diffuse. Six-months post-injury, visual (Warrington's Facial Recognition Memory Test and Rey's Complex Figure Test) and verbal (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test) memories were assessed. Visual memory deficits assessed by facial memory were associated with right temporal lobe lesion, whereas verbal memory performance assessed with a list of words was related to left temporal lobe lesion. The group with diffuse injury showed both verbal and visual memory impairment. These results suggest a material-specific memory impairment in moderate and severe TBI after focal temporal lesions and a non-specific memory impairment after diffuse damage.

Effects of Steady-State Noise on Verbal Working Memory in Young Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marrone, Nicole; Alt, Mary; DeDe, Gayle; Olson, Sarah; Shehorn, James

2015-01-01

Purpose: We set out to examine the impact of perceptual, linguistic, and capacity demands on performance of verbal working-memory tasks. The Ease of Language Understanding model (Rönnberg et al., 2013) provides a framework for testing the dynamics of these interactions within the auditory-cognitive system. Methods: Adult native speakers of English…

Biomarkers for PTSD

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

Molecular evidence of stress- induced acute heart injury in a mouse model simulating posttraumatic stress disorder. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Feb...obtaining measures aligned with the core neurocognitive domains: IQ, working memory ( auditory /visual), processing speed, verbal memory (immediate...in the test sample and combined sample with a similar pattern for the validation sample. Similarly, performance on tests of auditory and visual

Musical practice and cognitive aging: two cross-sectional studies point to phonemic fluency as a potential candidate for a use-dependent adaptation.

PubMed

Fauvel, Baptiste; Groussard, Mathilde; Mutlu, Justine; Arenaza-Urquijo, Eider M; Eustache, Francis; Desgranges, Béatrice; Platel, Hervé

2014-01-01

Because of permanent use-dependent brain plasticity, all lifelong individuals' experiences are believed to influence the cognitive aging quality. In older individuals, both former and current musical practices have been associated with better verbal skills, visual memory, processing speed, and planning function. This work sought for an interaction between musical practice and cognitive aging by comparing musician and non-musician individuals for two lifetime periods (middle and late adulthood). Long-term memory, auditory-verbal short-term memory, processing speed, non-verbal reasoning, and verbal fluencies were assessed. In Study 1, measures of processing speed and auditory-verbal short-term memory were significantly better performed by musicians compared with controls, but both groups displayed the same age-related differences. For verbal fluencies, musicians scored higher than controls and displayed different age effects. In Study 2, we found that lifetime period at training onset (childhood vs. adulthood) was associated with phonemic, but not semantic, fluency performances (musicians who had started to practice in adulthood did not perform better on phonemic fluency than non-musicians). Current frequency of training did not account for musicians' scores on either of these two measures. These patterns of results are discussed by setting the hypothesis of a transformative effect of musical practice against a non-causal explanation.

PRESCHOOL SPEECH ARTICULATION AND NONWORD REPETITION ABILITIES MAY HELP PREDICT EVENTUAL RECOVERY OR PERSISTENCE OF STUTTERING

PubMed Central

Spencer, Caroline; Weber-Fox, Christine

2014-01-01

Purpose In preschool children, we investigated whether expressive and receptive language, phonological, articulatory, and/or verbal working memory proficiencies aid in predicting eventual recovery or persistence of stuttering. Methods Participants included 65 children, including 25 children who do not stutter (CWNS) and 40 who stutter (CWS) recruited at age 3;9–5;8. At initial testing, participants were administered the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language, 3rd edition (TACL-3), Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test, 3rd edition (SPELT-3), Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology-Consonant Inventory subtest (BBTOP-CI), Nonword Repetition Test (NRT; Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998), and Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills-Revised (TAPS-R) auditory number memory and auditory word memory subtests. Stuttering behaviors of CWS were assessed in subsequent years, forming groups whose stuttering eventually persisted (CWS-Per; n=19) or recovered (CWS-Rec; n=21). Proficiency scores in morphosyntactic skills, consonant production, verbal working memory for known words, and phonological working memory and speech production for novel nonwords obtained at the initial testing were analyzed for each group. Results CWS-Per were less proficient than CWNS and CWS-Rec in measures of consonant production (BBTOP-CI) and repetition of novel phonological sequences (NRT). In contrast, receptive language, expressive language, and verbal working memory abilities did not distinguish CWS-Rec from CWS-Per. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that preschool BBTOP-CI scores and overall NRT proficiency significantly predicted future recovery status. Conclusion Results suggest that phonological and speech articulation abilities in the preschool years should be considered with other predictive factors as part of a comprehensive risk assessment for the development of chronic stuttering. PMID:25173455

Improving Memory Span in Children with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conners, F. A.; Rosenquist, C. J.; Arnett, L.; Moore, M. S.; Hume, L. E.

2008-01-01

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is characterized by impaired memory span, particularly auditory verbal memory span. Memory span is linked developmentally to several language capabilities, and may be a basic capacity that enables language learning. If children with DS had better memory span, they might benefit more from language intervention. The…

Impact of auditory selective attention on verbal short-term memory and vocabulary development.

PubMed

Majerus, Steve; Heiligenstein, Lucie; Gautherot, Nathalie; Poncelet, Martine; Van der Linden, Martial

2009-05-01

This study investigated the role of auditory selective attention capacities as a possible mediator of the well-established association between verbal short-term memory (STM) and vocabulary development. A total of 47 6- and 7-year-olds were administered verbal immediate serial recall and auditory attention tasks. Both task types probed processing of item and serial order information because recent studies have shown this distinction to be critical when exploring relations between STM and lexical development. Multiple regression and variance partitioning analyses highlighted two variables as determinants of vocabulary development: (a) a serial order processing variable shared by STM order recall and a selective attention task for sequence information and (b) an attentional variable shared by selective attention measures targeting item or sequence information. The current study highlights the need for integrative STM models, accounting for conjoined influences of attentional capacities and serial order processing capacities on STM performance and the establishment of the lexical language network.

Effects of methylphenidate on working memory components: influence of measurement.

PubMed

Bedard, Anne-Claude; Jain, Umesh; Johnson, Sheilah Hogg; Tannock, Rosemary

2007-09-01

To investigate the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on components of working memory (WM) in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and determine the responsiveness of WM measures to MPH. Participants were a clinical sample of 50 children and adolescents with ADHD, aged 6 to 16 years old, who participated in an acute randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial with single challenges of three MPH doses. Four components of WM were investigated, which varied in processing demands (storage versus manipulation of information) and modality (auditory-verbal; visual-spatial), each of which was indexed by a minimum of two separate measures. MPH improved the ability to store visual-spatial information irrespective of instrument used, but had no effects on the storage of auditory-verbal information. By contrast, MPH enhanced the ability to manipulate both auditory-verbal and visual-spatial information, although effects were instrument specific in both cases. MPH effects on WM are selective: they vary as a function of WM component and measurement.

A pilot study of working memory and academic achievement in college students with ADHD.

PubMed

Gropper, Rachel J; Tannock, Rosemary

2009-05-01

To investigate working memory (WM), academic achievement, and their relationship in university students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were university students with previously confirmed diagnoses of ADHD (n = 16) and normal control (NC) students (n = 30). Participants completed 3 auditory-verbal WM measures, 2 visual-spatial WM measures, and 1 control executive function task. Also, they self-reported grade point averages (GPAs) based on university courses. The ADHD group displayed significant weaknesses on auditory-verbal WM tasks and 1 visual-spatial task. They also showed a nonsignificant trend for lower GPAs. Within the entire sample, there was a significant relationship between GPA and auditory-verbal WM. WM impairments are evident in a subgroup of the ADHD population attending university. WM abilities are linked with, and thus may compromise, academic attainment. Parents and physicians are advised to counsel university-bound students with ADHD to contact the university accessibility services to provide them with academic guidance.

The neural substrates of recognition memory for verbal information: spanning the divide between short- and long-term memory.

PubMed

Buchsbaum, Bradley R; Padmanabhan, Aarthi; Berman, Karen Faith

2011-04-01

One of the classic categorical divisions in the history of memory research is that between short-term and long-term memory. Indeed, because memory for the immediate past (a few seconds) and memory for the relatively more remote past (several seconds and beyond) are assumed to rely on distinct neural systems, more often than not, memory research has focused either on short- (or "working memory") or on long-term memory. Using an auditory-verbal continuous recognition paradigm designed for fMRI, we examined how the neural signatures of recognition memory change across an interval of time (from 2.5 to 30 sec) that spans this hypothetical division between short- and long-term memory. The results revealed that activity during successful auditory-verbal item recognition in inferior parietal cortex and the posterior superior temporal lobe was maximal for early lags, whereas, conversely, activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus increased as a function of lag. Taken together, the results reveal that as the interval between item repetitions increases, there is a shift in the distribution of memory-related activity that moves from posterior temporo-parietal cortex (lags 1-4) to inferior frontal regions (lags 5-10), indicating that as time advances, the burden of recognition memory is increasingly placed on top-down retrieval mechanisms that are mediated by structures in inferior frontal cortex.

Effect of Auditory Interference on Memory of Haptic Perceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anater, Paul F.

1980-01-01

The effect of auditory interference on the processing of haptic information by 61 visually impaired students (8 to 20 years old) was the focus of the research described in this article. It was assumed that as the auditory interference approximated the verbalized activity of the haptic task, accuracy of recall would decline. (Author)

Association of auditory-verbal and visual hallucinations with impaired and improved recognition of colored pictures.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Usall, Judith; Huerta-Ramos, Elena; Perez del Olmo, Mireia; Cuevas-Esteban, Jorge; Haro, Josep Maria; Ochoa, Susana

2015-09-01

A number of cognitive underpinnings of auditory hallucinations have been established in schizophrenia patients, but few have, as yet, been uncovered for visual hallucinations. In previous research, we unexpectedly observed that auditory hallucinations were associated with poor recognition of color, but not black-and-white (b/w), pictures. In this study, we attempted to replicate and explain this finding. Potential associations with visual hallucinations were explored. B/w and color pictures were presented to 50 schizophrenia patients and 45 healthy individuals under 2 conditions of visual context presentation corresponding to 2 levels of visual encoding complexity. Then, participants had to recognize the target pictures among distractors. Auditory-verbal hallucinations were inversely associated with the recognition of the color pictures presented under the most effortful encoding condition. This association was fully mediated by working-memory span. Visual hallucinations were associated with improved recognition of the color pictures presented under the less effortful condition. Patients suffering from visual hallucinations were not impaired, relative to the healthy participants, in the recognition of these pictures. Decreased working-memory span in patients with auditory-verbal hallucinations might impede the effortful encoding of stimuli. Visual hallucinations might be associated with facilitation in the visual encoding of natural scenes, or with enhanced color perception abilities. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Treatment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms and Cognitive Performance: Preliminary Results of a Prospective Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Bründl, Elisabeth; Böhm, Christina; Lürding, Ralf; Schödel, Petra; Bele, Sylvia; Hochreiter, Andreas; Scheitzach, Judith; Zeman, Florian; Brawanski, Alexander; Schebesch, Karl-Michael

2016-10-01

Few studies have addressed the effect of treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysm (UIA) on cognitive function. Neuropsychological assessment after UIA treatment is underreported, and prospective trials have repeatedly been demanded. In 2014, we conducted a prospective controlled study to evaluate the differences in cognitive processing caused by the treatment of anterior circulation UIAs. Thirty patients were enrolled until September 2015. Ten patients received endovascular aneurysm occlusion (EV), 10 patients were treated microsurgically (MS), and 10 patients with surgically treated degenerative lumbar spine disease (LD) served as control. All patients underwent extended standardized neuropsychological assessment before (t 1 ) and 6 weeks after treatment (t 2 ). Tests included verbal, visual, and visuospatial memory, psychomotor functioning, executive functioning, and its subdomains verbal fluency and cognitive flexibility. We statistically evaluated intragroup and intergroup changes. Intragroup comparisons and group-rate analysis showed no significant impairment in overall neuropsychological performance, either postinterventionally or postoperatively. However, the postoperative performance in cognitive processing speed, cognitive flexibility, and executive functioning was significantly worse in the MS group than in the EV (P = 0.038) and LD group (P = 0.02). Compared with the EV group, patients with MS showed significant postoperative impairment in a subtest for auditory-verbal memory (Wechsler Memory Scale, Fourth Edition, Logical Memory II; MS vs. EV P = 0.011). The MS group trended toward posttreatment impairment in subtests for verbal fluency and semantic memory (Regensburg Word Fluency Test; MS vs. EV P = 0.083) and in auditory-verbal memory (Wechsler Memory Scale, Fourth Edition, Logical Memory II; MS vs. LD P = 0.06). Our preliminary data showed no effect of anterior circulation UIA treatment on overall neuropsychological function but impaired short-term executive processing in surgically treated patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Short-Term Memory; An Annotated Bibliography. Supplement 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Dennis F.

A compilation of 165 references dealing with short term memory, this bibliography supplements "Short-Term Memory: An Annotated Bibliography" (August 1968). The time period covered is predominantly June 1968 to June 1969. Such aspects and topics as psychometrics, motivation, human engineering, vision, auditory perception, verbal and nonverbal…

Effects of Steady-State Noise on Verbal Working Memory in Young Adults

PubMed Central

Alt, Mary; DeDe, Gayle; Olson, Sarah; Shehorn, James

2015-01-01

Purpose We set out to examine the impact of perceptual, linguistic, and capacity demands on performance of verbal working-memory tasks. The Ease of Language Understanding model (Rönnberg et al., 2013) provides a framework for testing the dynamics of these interactions within the auditory-cognitive system. Methods Adult native speakers of English (n = 45) participated in verbal working-memory tasks requiring processing and storage of words involving different linguistic demands (closed/open set). Capacity demand ranged from 2 to 7 words per trial. Participants performed the tasks in quiet and in speech-spectrum-shaped noise. Separate groups of participants were tested at different signal-to-noise ratios. Word-recognition measures were obtained to determine effects of noise on intelligibility. Results Contrary to predictions, steady-state noise did not have an adverse effect on working-memory performance in every situation. Noise negatively influenced performance for the task with high linguistic demand. Of particular importance is the finding that the adverse effects of background noise were not confined to conditions involving declines in recognition. Conclusions Perceptual, linguistic, and cognitive demands can dynamically affect verbal working-memory performance even in a population of healthy young adults. Results suggest that researchers and clinicians need to carefully analyze task demands to understand the independent and combined auditory-cognitive factors governing performance in everyday listening situations. PMID:26384291

Verbal learning on depressive pseudodementia: accentuate impairment of free recall, moderate on learning processes, and spared short-term and recognition memory.

PubMed

Paula, Jonas Jardim de; Miranda, Débora Marques; Nicolato, Rodrigo; Moraes, Edgar Nunes de; Bicalho, Maria Aparecida Camargos; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro Fernandes

2013-09-01

Depressive pseudodementia (DPD) is a clinical condition characterized by depressive symptoms followed by cognitive and functional impairment characteristics of dementia. Memory complaints are one of the most related cognitive symptoms in DPD. The present study aims to assess the verbal learning profile of elderly patients with DPD. Ninety-six older adults (34 DPD and 62 controls) were assessed by neuropsychological tests including the Rey auditory-verbal learning test (RAVLT). A multivariate general linear model was used to assess group differences and controlled for demographic factors. Moderate or large effects were found on all RAVLT components, except for short-term and recognition memory. DPD impairs verbal memory, with large effect size on free recall and moderate effect size on the learning. Short-term storage and recognition memory are useful in clinical contexts when the differential diagnosis is required.

Repetition suppression and reactivation in auditory-verbal short-term recognition memory.

PubMed

Buchsbaum, Bradley R; D'Esposito, Mark

2009-06-01

The neural response to stimulus repetition is not uniform across brain regions, stimulus modalities, or task contexts. For instance, it has been observed in many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that sometimes stimulus repetition leads to a relative reduction in neural activity (repetition suppression), whereas in other cases repetition results in a relative increase in activity (repetition enhancement). In the present study, we hypothesized that in the context of a verbal short-term recognition memory task, repetition-related "increases" should be observed in the same posterior temporal regions that have been previously associated with "persistent activity" in working memory rehearsal paradigms. We used fMRI and a continuous recognition memory paradigm with short lags to examine repetition effects in the posterior and anterior regions of the superior temporal cortex. Results showed that, consistent with our hypothesis, the 2 posterior temporal regions consistently associated with working memory maintenance, also show repetition increases during short-term recognition memory. In contrast, a region in the anterior superior temporal lobe showed repetition suppression effects, consistent with previous research work on perceptual adaptation in the auditory-verbal domain. We interpret these results in light of recent theories of the functional specialization along the anterior and posterior axes of the superior temporal lobe.

Neurofeedback-Based Enhancement of Single-Trial Auditory Evoked Potentials: Treatment of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Rieger, Kathryn; Rarra, Marie-Helene; Diaz Hernandez, Laura; Hubl, Daniela; Koenig, Thomas

2018-03-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations depend on a broad neurobiological network ranging from the auditory system to language as well as memory-related processes. As part of this, the auditory N100 event-related potential (ERP) component is attenuated in patients with schizophrenia, with stronger attenuation occurring during auditory verbal hallucinations. Changes in the N100 component assumingly reflect disturbed responsiveness of the auditory system toward external stimuli in schizophrenia. With this premise, we investigated the therapeutic utility of neurofeedback training to modulate the auditory-evoked N100 component in patients with schizophrenia and associated auditory verbal hallucinations. Ten patients completed electroencephalography neurofeedback training for modulation of N100 (treatment condition) or another unrelated component, P200 (control condition). On a behavioral level, only the control group showed a tendency for symptom improvement in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score in a pre-/postcomparison ( t (4) = 2.71, P = .054); however, no significant differences were found in specific hallucination related symptoms ( t (7) = -0.53, P = .62). There was no significant overall effect of neurofeedback training on ERP components in our paradigm; however, we were able to identify different learning patterns, and found a correlation between learning and improvement in auditory verbal hallucination symptoms across training sessions ( r = 0.664, n = 9, P = .05). This effect results, with cautious interpretation due to the small sample size, primarily from the treatment group ( r = 0.97, n = 4, P = .03). In particular, a within-session learning parameter showed utility for predicting symptom improvement with neurofeedback training. In conclusion, patients with schizophrenia and associated auditory verbal hallucinations who exhibit a learning pattern more characterized by within-session aptitude may benefit from electroencephalography neurofeedback. Furthermore, independent of the training group, a significant spatial pre-post difference was found in the event-related component P200 ( P = .04).

Binding of Verbal and Spatial Features in Auditory Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maybery, Murray T.; Clissa, Peter J.; Parmentier, Fabrice B. R.; Leung, Doris; Harsa, Grefin; Fox, Allison M.; Jones, Dylan M.

2009-01-01

The present study investigated the binding of verbal identity and spatial location in the retention of sequences of spatially distributed acoustic stimuli. Study stimuli varying in verbal content and spatial location (e.g. V[subscript 1]S[subscript 1], V[subscript 2]S[subscript 2], V[subscript 3]S[subscript 3], V[subscript 4]S[subscript 4]) were…

Verbal short-term memory and vocabulary learning in polyglots.

PubMed

Papagno, C; Vallar, G

1995-02-01

Polyglot and non-polyglot Italian subjects were given tests assessing verbal (phonological) and visuo-spatial short-term and long-term memory, general intelligence, and vocabulary knowledge in their native language. Polyglots had a superior level of performance in verbal short-term memory tasks (auditory digit span and nonword repetition) and in a paired-associate learning test, which assessed the subjects' ability to acquire new (Russian) words. By contrast, the two groups had comparable performance levels in tasks assessing general intelligence, visuo-spatial short-term memory and learning, and paired-associate learning of Italian words. These findings, which are in line with neuropsychological and developmental evidence, as well as with data from normal subjects, suggest a close relationship between the capacity of phonological memory and the acquisition of foreign languages.

Auditory Word Serial Recall Benefits from Orthographic Dissimilarity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pattamadilok, Chotiga; Lafontaine, Helene; Morais, Jose; Kolinsky, Regine

2010-01-01

The influence of orthographic knowledge has been consistently observed in speech recognition and metaphonological tasks. The present study provides data suggesting that such influence also pervades other cognitive domains related to language abilities, such as verbal working memory. Using serial recall of auditory seven-word lists, we observed…

Different verbal learning strategies in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test.

PubMed

Bowler, Dermot M; Limoges, Elyse; Mottron, Laurent

2009-06-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which requires the free recall of the same list of 15 unrelated words over 5 trials, was administered to 21 high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 21 matched typical individuals. The groups showed similar overall levels of free recall, rates of learning over trials and subjective organisation of their recall. However, the primacy portion of the serial position curve of the ASD participants showed slower growth over trials than that of the typical participants. The implications of this finding for our understanding of memory in ASD are discussed.

On Auditing Auditory Information: The Influence of Mood on Memory for Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houston, David; Haddock, Geoffrey

2007-01-01

Previous research suggests that memory for music possesses a number of similarities to the more frequently studied modalities of verbal and visual memory. The present study addresses a yet uninvestigated factor involved in the memory for music: mood. Specifically, the study explored whether a mood-congruency effect is attained using major and…

Specific Verbal Memory Measures May Distinguish Alzheimer's Disease from Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

PubMed

Bussè, Cinzia; Anselmi, Pasquale; Pompanin, Sara; Zorzi, Giovanni; Fragiacomo, Federica; Camporese, Giulia; Di Bernardo, Gian Antonio; Semenza, Carlo; Caffarra, Paolo; Cagnin, Annachiara

2017-01-01

Standard measures of commonly used memory tests may not be appropriate to distinguish different neurodegenerative diseases affecting memory. To study whether specific measures of verbal memory obtained with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test (RAVLT) could help distinguish dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty-nine DLB and 32 AD patients participated in the study and were followed longitudinally for 3 years until the diagnosis was confirmed according to standard clinical criteria. Twenty-eight healthy elderly subjects served as controls. The following verbal memory measures were evaluated: verbal learning (VL), verbal forgetting (VF), percentage of verbal forgetting (VF%), and serial position effects of the immediate recall performance. DLB and AD groups have comparable performances at the RAVLT immediate and delayed recall tasks. However, VL was higher in DLB than AD while VF% was greater in AD. With a VF% cut-off ≥75%, AD and DLB patients were differently distributed, with 58% of AD versus 21% of DLB above this cut-off. The recency effect was significant higher in AD than DLB. DLB patients had a better performance in VL than AD, but worse VF and recency effect. These specific measures of verbal memory could be used as cognitive markers in the differential diagnosis between these two conditions.

Cognitive functions in first-episode depression and recurrent depressive disorder.

PubMed

Talarowska, Monika; Zajączkowska, Marlena; Gałecki, Piotr

2015-03-01

Cognitive deficits in the course of depressive disorders affect mainly memory, attention and the frontal functions. They are associated with both an earlier onset of symptoms and prolonged episodes. The main aim of the study was to verify the hypothesis of differences in the effectiveness of cognitive processes between patients with a first episode of depression (ED-I) and recurrent depressive disorders (rDD). The study comprised 210 subjects: patients with ED-I (n=60) and patients with rDD (n=150). The assessment of cognitive functions was based on performance of the Trail Making Test, the Stroop Test, the Verbal Fluency Test, the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the digit span from WAIS-R. There were no statistically significant differences between the analysed groups in the severity of depressive symptoms. The negative impact of depressive symptoms on the effectiveness of cognitive functions was observed. The ED-I group recorded better results compared to the rDD group in terms of the speed of information processing, visual-spatial and auditory-verbal memory and executive functions, auditory-verbal immediate and delayed memory, ability to learn and verbal fluency. The same differences were observed with respect to the patients from the ED-I group and the patients with the second episode of depression (ED-II) in the course of rDD. There are significant differences in cognitive functioning of patients with a depressive episode and recurrent depressive disorders. These differences are already visible from the second episode of a major depressive disorder. Memory, verbal fluency and frontal functions are reduced.

Short-Term Forgetting without Interference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKeown, Denis; Mercer, Tom

2012-01-01

In the 1st reported experiment, we demonstrate that auditory memory is robust over extended retention intervals (RIs) when listeners compare the timbre of complex tones, even when active or verbal rehearsal is difficult or impossible. Thus, our tones have an abstract timbre that resists verbal labeling, they differ across trials so that no…

The Contributions of Memory and Vocabulary to Non-Verbal Ability Scores in Adolescents with Intellectual Disability

PubMed Central

Mungkhetklang, Chantanee; Bavin, Edith L.; Crewther, Sheila G.; Goharpey, Nahal; Parsons, Carl

2016-01-01

It is usually assumed that performance on non-verbal intelligence tests reflects visual cognitive processing and that aspects of working memory (WM) will be involved. However, the unique contribution of memory to non-verbal scores is not clear, nor is the unique contribution of vocabulary. Thus, we aimed to investigate these contributions. Non-verbal test scores for 17 individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and 39 children with typical development (TD) of similar mental age were compared to determine the unique contribution of visual and verbal short-term memory (STM) and WM and the additional variance contributed by vocabulary scores. No significant group differences were found in the non-verbal test scores or receptive vocabulary scores, but there was a significant difference in expressive vocabulary. Regression analyses indicate that for the TD group STM and WM (both visual and verbal) contributed similar variance to the non-verbal scores. For the ID group, visual STM and verbal WM contributed most of the variance to the non-verbal test scores. The addition of vocabulary scores to the model contributed greater variance for both groups. More unique variance was contributed by vocabulary than memory for the TD group, whereas for the ID group memory contributed more than vocabulary. Visual and auditory memory and vocabulary contributed significantly to solving visual non-verbal problems for both the TD group and the ID group. However, for each group, there were different weightings of these variables. Our findings indicate that for individuals with TD, vocabulary is the major factor in solving non-verbal problems, not memory, whereas for adolescents with ID, visual STM, and verbal WM are more influential than vocabulary, suggesting different pathways to achieve solutions to non-verbal problems. PMID:28082922

Predictors of change in life skills in schizophrenia after cognitive remediation.

PubMed

Kurtz, Matthew M; Seltzer, James C; Fujimoto, Marco; Shagan, Dana S; Wexler, Bruce E

2009-02-01

Few studies have investigated predictors of response to cognitive remediation interventions in patients with schizophrenia. Predictor studies to date have selected treatment outcome measures that were either part of the remediation intervention itself or closely linked to the intervention with few studies investigating factors that predict generalization to measures of everyday life-skills as an index of treatment-related improvement. In the current study we investigated the relationship between four measures of neurocognitive function, crystallized verbal ability, auditory sustained attention and working memory, verbal learning and memory, and problem-solving, two measures of symptoms, total positive and negative symptoms, and the process variables of treatment intensity and duration, to change on a performance-based measure of everyday life-skills after a year of computer-assisted cognitive remediation offered as part of intensive outpatient rehabilitation treatment. Thirty-six patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were studied. Results of a linear regression model revealed that auditory attention and working memory predicted a significant amount of the variance in change in performance-based measures of everyday life skills after cognitive remediation, even when variance for all other neurocognitive variables in the model was controlled. Stepwise regression revealed that auditory attention and working memory predicted change in everyday life-skills across the trial even when baseline life-skill scores, symptoms and treatment process variables were controlled. These findings emphasize the importance of sustained auditory attention and working memory for benefiting from extended programs of cognitive remediation.

Selective deficits in verbal working memory associated with a known genetic etiology: The neuropsychological profile of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

PubMed Central

HINTON, VERONICA J.; DE VIVO, DARRYL C.; NEREO, NANCY E.; GOLDSTEIN, EDWARD; STERN, YAAKOV

2007-01-01

Forty-one boys diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) were each compared to an unaffected sibling on a battery of neuropsychological tests. Verbal, visuospatial, attention/memory, abstract thinking, and academic achievement skills were tested. Results indicated the boys with DMD performed similarly to their siblings on the majority of measures, indicating intact verbal, visuospatial, long-term memory, and abstract skills. However, the DMD group did significantly more poorly than their siblings on specific measures of story recall, digit span, and auditory comprehension, as well as in all areas of academic achievement (reading, writing, and math). This profile indicates that verbal working memory skills are selectively impaired in DMD, and that that likely contributes to limited academic achievement. The association between the known impact of the genetic mutation on the development of the central nervous system and boys’ cognitive profile is discussed. PMID:11253841

Gender differences in episodic memory and visual working memory including the effects of age.

PubMed

Pauls, Franz; Petermann, Franz; Lepach, Anja Christina

2013-01-01

Analysing the relationship between gender and memory, and examining the effects of age on the overall memory-related functioning, are the ongoing goals of psychological research. The present study examined gender and age group differences in episodic memory with respect to the type of task. In addition, these subgroup differences were also analysed in visual working memory. A sample of 366 women and 330 men, aged between 16 and 69 years of age, participated in the current study. Results indicate that women outperformed men on auditory memory tasks, whereas male adolescents and older male adults showed higher level performances on visual episodic and visual working memory measures. However, the size of gender-linked effects varied somewhat across age groups. Furthermore, results partly support a declining performance on episodic memory and visual working memory measures with increasing age. Although age-related losses in episodic memory could not be explained by a decreasing verbal and visuospatial ability with age, women's advantage in auditory episodic memory could be explained by their advantage in verbal ability. Men's higher level visual episodic memory performance was found to result from their advantage in visuospatial ability. Finally, possible methodological, biological, and cognitive explanations for the current findings are discussed.

Depressive Mood and Testosterone Related to Declarative Verbal Memory Decline in Middle-Aged Caregivers of Children with Eating Disorders.

PubMed

Romero-Martínez, Ángel; Ruiz-Robledillo, Nicolás; Moya-Albiol, Luis

2016-03-04

Caring for children diagnosed with a chronic psychological disorder such as an eating disorder (ED) can be used as a model of chronic stress. This kind of stress has been reported to have deleterious effects on caregivers' cognition, particularly in verbal declarative memory of women caregivers. Moreover, high depressive mood and variations in testosterone (T) levels moderate this cognitive decline. The purpose of this study was to characterize whether caregivers of individuals with EDs (n = 27) show declarative memory impairments compared to non-caregivers caregivers (n = 27), using for this purpose a standardized memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Its purpose was also to examine the role of depressive mood and T in memory decline. Results showed that ED caregivers presented high depressive mood, which was associated to worse verbal memory performance, especially in the case of women. In addition, all caregivers showed high T levels. Nonetheless, only in the case of women caregivers did T show a curvilinear relationship with verbal memory performance, meaning that the increases of T were associated to the improvement in verbal memory performance, but only up to a certain point, as after such point T continued to increase and memory performance decreased. Thus, chronic stress due to caregiving was associated to disturbances in mood and T levels, which in turn was associated to verbal memory decline. These findings should be taken into account in the implementation of intervention programs for helping ED caregivers cope with caregiving situations and to prevent the risk of a pronounced verbal memory decline.

Eye Closure Reduces the Cross-Modal Memory Impairment Caused by Auditory Distraction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perfect, Timothy J.; Andrade, Jackie; Eagan, Irene

2011-01-01

Eyewitnesses instructed to close their eyes during retrieval recall more correct and fewer incorrect visual and auditory details. This study tested whether eye closure causes these effects through a reduction in environmental distraction. Sixty participants watched a staged event before verbally answering questions about it in the presence of…

Musical and verbal short-term memory: insights from neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders.

PubMed

Caclin, Anne; Tillmann, Barbara

2018-05-09

Auditory short-term memory (STM) is a fundamental ability to make sense of auditory information as it unfolds over time. Whether separate STM systems exist for different types of auditory information (music and speech, in particular) is a matter of debate. The present paper reviews studies that have investigated both musical and verbal STM in healthy individuals and in participants with neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. Overall, the results are in favor of only partly shared networks for musical and verbal STM. Evidence for a distinction in STM for the two materials stems from (1) behavioral studies in healthy participants, in particular from the comparison between nonmusicians and musicians; (2) behavioral studies in congenital amusia, where a selective pitch STM deficit is observed; and (3) studies in brain-damaged patients with cases of double dissociation. In this review we highlight the need for future studies comparing STM for the same perceptual dimension (e.g., pitch) in different materials (e.g., music and speech), as well as for studies aiming at a more insightful characterization of shared and distinct mechanisms for speech and music in the different components of STM, namely encoding, retention, and retrieval. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Association of physical fitness and fatness with cognitive function in women with fibromyalgia.

PubMed

Soriano-Maldonado, Alberto; Artero, Enrique G; Segura-Jiménez, Víctor; Aparicio, Virgina A; Estévez-López, Fernando; Álvarez-Gallardo, Inmaculada C; Munguía-Izquierdo, Diego; Casimiro-Andújar, Antonio J; Delgado-Fernández, Manuel; Ortega, Francisco B

2016-09-01

This study assessed the association of fitness and fatness with cognitive function in women with fibromyalgia, and the independent influence of their single components on cognitive tasks. A total of 468 women with fibromyalgia were included. Speed of information processing and working memory (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task), as well as immediate and delayed recall, verbal learning and delayed recognition (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) were assessed. Aerobic fitness, muscle strength, flexibility and motor agility were assessed with the Senior Fitness Test battery. Body mass index, percent body fat, fat-mass index and waist circumference were measured. Aerobic fitness was associated with attention and working memory (all, p < 0.05). All fitness components were generally associated with delayed recall, verbal learning and delayed recognition (all, p < 0.05). Aerobic fitness showed the most powerful association with attention, working memory, delayed recall and verbal learning, while motor agility was the most powerful indicator of delayed recognition. None of the fatness parameters were associated with any of the outcomes (all, p > 0.05). Our results suggest that fitness, but not fatness, is associated with cognitive function in women with fibromyalgia. Aerobic fitness appears to be the most powerful fitness component regarding the cognitive tasks evaluated.

Depth of Processing and Age Differences.

PubMed

Kheirzadeh, Shiela; Pakzadian, Sarah Sadat

2016-10-01

The present article is aimed to investigate whether there are any differences between youngsters and adults in their working and long-term memory functioning. The theory of Depth of Processing (Craik and Lockhart in J Verbal Learning Verbal Behav 11:671-684, 1972) discusses the varying degrees of strengths of memory traces as the result of differential levels of processing on the retrieved input. Additionally, they claim that there are three levels of visual, auditory and semantic processes applied on the stimuli in the short-term memory leading to discrepancy in the durability of the memory traces and the later ease of recall and retrieval. In the present article, it is tried to demonstrate if there are evidences of more durable memory traces formed after semantic, visual and auditory processions of the incoming language data in two groups of (a) children in their language learning critical age and (b) youngsters who have passed the critical age period. The comparisons of the results made using two-way ANOVAs revealed the superiority of semantic processing for both age groups in recall, retention and consequently recognition of the new English vocabularies by EFL learners.

Impaired short-term memory for pitch in congenital amusia.

PubMed

Tillmann, Barbara; Lévêque, Yohana; Fornoni, Lesly; Albouy, Philippe; Caclin, Anne

2016-06-01

Congenital amusia is a neuro-developmental disorder of music perception and production. The hypothesis is that the musical deficits arise from altered pitch processing, with impairments in pitch discrimination (i.e., pitch change detection, pitch direction discrimination and identification) and short-term memory. The present review article focuses on the deficit of short-term memory for pitch. Overall, the data discussed here suggest impairments at each level of processing in short-term memory tasks; starting with the encoding of the pitch information and the creation of the adequate memory trace, the retention of the pitch traces over time as well as the recollection and comparison of the stored information with newly incoming information. These impairments have been related to altered brain responses in a distributed fronto-temporal network, associated with decreased connectivity between these structures, as well as in abnormalities in the connectivity between the two auditory cortices. In contrast, amusic participants׳ short-term memory abilities for verbal material are preserved. These findings show that short-term memory deficits in congenital amusia are specific to pitch, suggesting a pitch-memory system that is, at least partly, separated from verbal memory. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language-Specific Attention Treatment for Aphasia: Description and Preliminary Findings.

PubMed

Peach, Richard K; Nathan, Meghana R; Beck, Katherine M

2017-02-01

The need for a specific, language-based treatment approach to aphasic impairments associated with attentional deficits is well documented. We describe language-specific attention treatment, a specific skill-based approach for aphasia that exploits increasingly complex linguistic tasks that focus attention. The program consists of eight tasks, some with multiple phases, to assess and treat lexical and sentence processing. Validation results demonstrate that these tasks load on six attentional domains: (1) executive attention; (2) attentional switching; (3) visual selective attention/processing speed; (4) sustained attention; (5) auditory-verbal working memory; and (6) auditory processing speed. The program demonstrates excellent inter- and intrarater reliability and adequate test-retest reliability. Two of four people with aphasia exposed to this program demonstrated good language recovery whereas three of the four participants showed improvements in auditory-verbal working memory. The results provide support for this treatment program in patients with aphasia having no greater than a moderate degree of attentional impairment. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Good Holders, Bad Shufflers: An Examination of Working Memory Processes and Modalities in Children with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Simone, Ashley N; Bédard, Anne-Claude V; Marks, David J; Halperin, Jeffrey M

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine working memory (WM) modalities (visual-spatial and auditory-verbal) and processes (maintenance and manipulation) in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The sample consisted of 63 8-year-old children with ADHD and an age- and sex-matched non-ADHD comparison group (N=51). Auditory-verbal and visual-spatial WM were assessed using the Digit Span and Spatial Span subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Integrated - Fourth Edition. WM maintenance and manipulation were assessed via forward and backward span indices, respectively. Data were analyzed using a 3-way Group (ADHD vs. non-ADHD)×Modality (Auditory-Verbal vs. Visual-Spatial)×Condition (Forward vs. Backward) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Secondary analyses examined differences between Combined and Predominantly Inattentive ADHD presentations. Significant Group×Condition (p=.02) and Group×Modality (p=.03) interactions indicated differentially poorer performance by those with ADHD on backward relative to forward and visual-spatial relative to auditory-verbal tasks, respectively. The 3-way interaction was not significant. Analyses targeting ADHD presentations yielded a significant Group×Condition interaction (p=.009) such that children with ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive Presentation performed differentially poorer on backward relative to forward tasks compared to the children with ADHD-Combined Presentation. Findings indicate a specific pattern of WM weaknesses (i.e., WM manipulation and visual-spatial tasks) for children with ADHD. Furthermore, differential patterns of WM performance were found for children with ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive versus Combined Presentations. (JINS, 2016, 22, 1-11).

Memory functions of children born with asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction.

PubMed

Geva, Ronny; Eshel, Rina; Leitner, Yael; Fattal-Valevski, Aviva; Harel, Shaul

2006-10-30

Learning difficulties are frequently diagnosed in children born with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Models of various animal species with IUGR were studied and demonstrated specific susceptibility and alterations of the hippocampal formation and its related neural structures. The main purpose was to study memory functions of children born with asymmetric IUGR in a large-scale cohort using a long-term prospective paradigm. One hundred and ten infants diagnosed with IUGR were followed-up from birth to 9 years of age. Their performance was compared with a group of 63 children with comparable gestational age and multiple socioeconomic factors. Memory functions (short-term, super- and long-term spans) for different stimuli types (verbal and visual) were evaluated using Visual Auditory Digit Span tasks (VADS), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (Rey-AVLT), and Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF). Children with IUGR had short-term memory difficulties that hindered both serial verbal processing system and simultaneous processing of high-load visuo-spatial stimuli. The difficulties were not related to prematurity, neonatal complications or growth catch-up, but were augmented by lower maternal education. Recognition skills and benefits from reiteration, typically affected by hippocampal dysfunction, were preserved in both groups. Memory profile of children born with IUGR is characterized primarily by a short-term memory deficit that does not necessarily comply with a typical hippocampal deficit, but rather may reflect an executive short-term memory deficit characteristic of anterior hippocampal-prefrontal network. Implications for cognitive intervention are discussed.

Role of Working Memory in Children's Understanding Spoken Narrative: A Preliminary Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, James W.; Polunenko, Anzhela; Marinellie, Sally A.

2009-01-01

The role of phonological short-term memory (PSTM), attentional resource capacity/allocation, and processing speed on children's spoken narrative comprehension was investigated. Sixty-seven children (6-11 years) completed a digit span task (PSTM), concurrent verbal processing and storage (CPS) task (resource capacity/allocation), auditory-visual…

Hippocampal Region-Specific Contributions to Memory Performance in Normal Elderly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Karren H. M.; Chuah, Lisa Y. M.; Sim, Sam K. Y.; Chee, Michael W. L.

2010-01-01

To investigate the relationship between regional hippocampal volume and memory in healthy elderly, 147 community-based volunteers, aged 55-83 years, were evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging, the Groton Maze Learning Test, Visual Reproduction and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Hippocampal volumes were determined by interactive…

Self-awareness of memory function in Parkinson's disease in relation to mood and symptom severity.

PubMed

Sitek, Emilia J; Sołtan, Witold; Wieczorek, Dariusz; Robowski, Piotr; Sławek, Jarosław

2011-03-01

In clinical practice, discrepancies are observed between self and proxy reports of various aspects of Parkinson's disease (PD). This study aimed at assessing self-awareness of memory function in PD both by comparing patients' and caregivers' questionnaire ratings of the patients' memory and by correlating subjective ratings with verbal learning results. Forty-five patient-proxy pairs participated in the study. Self-Rating Scale of Memory Functions was used as a questionnaire subjective measure. Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) was applied to assess verbal memory, Stroop test to assess cognitive control and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for global cognitive assessment. Patient self-reports did not diverge appreciably from proxy reports when global scores were considered, but patient-proxy consistency was low for individual items with the exception of those referring to verbal recall. Both patient and proxy ratings were moderately correlated with the objective measures. Patient-proxy discrepancies were associated with lower verbal learning, poor cognitive control and more severe PD symptomatology. Moreover, depression was associated with patients' overestimation of symptoms. Self-awareness of memory function is relatively well preserved in PD, but is negatively affected by depressive symptoms. Patient-proxy discrepancies increase also with disease severity, degree of memory problems and cognitive control deficits. Caregivers seem to be unaware of the specificity of memory problems in PD and report only some of them, mainly those related to verbal recall.

Interaction of language, auditory and memory brain networks in auditory verbal hallucinations.

PubMed

Ćurčić-Blake, Branislava; Ford, Judith M; Hubl, Daniela; Orlov, Natasza D; Sommer, Iris E; Waters, Flavie; Allen, Paul; Jardri, Renaud; Woodruff, Peter W; David, Olivier; Mulert, Christoph; Woodward, Todd S; Aleman, André

2017-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) occur in psychotic disorders, but also as a symptom of other conditions and even in healthy people. Several current theories on the origin of AVH converge, with neuroimaging studies suggesting that the language, auditory and memory/limbic networks are of particular relevance. However, reconciliation of these theories with experimental evidence is missing. We review 50 studies investigating functional (EEG and fMRI) and anatomic (diffusion tensor imaging) connectivity in these networks, and explore the evidence supporting abnormal connectivity in these networks associated with AVH. We distinguish between functional connectivity during an actual hallucination experience (symptom capture) and functional connectivity during either the resting state or a task comparing individuals who hallucinate with those who do not (symptom association studies). Symptom capture studies clearly reveal a pattern of increased coupling among the auditory, language and striatal regions. Anatomical and symptom association functional studies suggest that the interhemispheric connectivity between posterior auditory regions may depend on the phase of illness, with increases in non-psychotic individuals and first episode patients and decreases in chronic patients. Leading hypotheses involving concepts as unstable memories, source monitoring, top-down attention, and hybrid models of hallucinations are supported in part by the published connectivity data, although several caveats and inconsistencies remain. Specifically, possible changes in fronto-temporal connectivity are still under debate. Precise hypotheses concerning the directionality of connections deduced from current theoretical approaches should be tested using experimental approaches that allow for discrimination of competing hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Lateralized effects of orthographical irregularity and auditory memory load on the kinematics of transcription typewriting.

PubMed

Bloemsaat, Gijs; Van Galen, Gerard P; Meulenbroek, Ruud G J

2003-05-01

This study investigated the combined effects of orthographical irregularity and auditory memory load on the kinematics of finger movements in a transcription-typewriting task. Eight right-handed touch-typists were asked to type 80 strings of ten seven-letter words. In half the trials an irregularly spelt target word elicited a specific key press sequence of either the left or right index finger. In the other trials regularly spelt target words elicited the same key press sequence. An auditory memory load was added in half the trials by asking participants to remember the pitch of a tone during task performance. Orthographical irregularity was expected to slow down performance. Auditory memory load, viewed as a low level stressor, was expected to affect performance only when orthographically irregular words needed to be typed. The hypotheses were confirmed. Additional analysis showed differential effects on the left and right hand, possibly related to verbal-manual interference and hand dominance. The results are discussed in relation to relevant findings of recent neuroimaging studies.

Modality Specific Cerebro-Cerebellar Activations in Verbal Working Memory: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Kirschen, Matthew P.; Chen, S. H. Annabel; Desmond, John E.

2010-01-01

Verbal working memory (VWM) engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters) and modality (auditory and visual) dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44), insular, cingulate (BA 32), and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40) regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI) and right inferior (HVIII) cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI) cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19) and left parietal (BA7/40) cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominately in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22). In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load. PMID:20714061

Modality specific cerebro-cerebellar activations in verbal working memory: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Kirschen, Matthew P; Chen, S H Annabel; Desmond, John E

2010-01-01

Verbal working memory (VWM) engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters) and modality (auditory and visual) dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44), insular, cingulate (BA 32), and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40) regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI) and right inferior (HVIII) cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI) cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19) and left parietal (BA7/40) cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominantly in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22). In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load.

Preschool speech articulation and nonword repetition abilities may help predict eventual recovery or persistence of stuttering.

PubMed

Spencer, Caroline; Weber-Fox, Christine

2014-09-01

In preschool children, we investigated whether expressive and receptive language, phonological, articulatory, and/or verbal working memory proficiencies aid in predicting eventual recovery or persistence of stuttering. Participants included 65 children, including 25 children who do not stutter (CWNS) and 40 who stutter (CWS) recruited at age 3;9-5;8. At initial testing, participants were administered the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language, 3rd edition (TACL-3), Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test, 3rd edition (SPELT-3), Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology-Consonant Inventory subtest (BBTOP-CI), Nonword Repetition Test (NRT; Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998), and Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills-Revised (TAPS-R) auditory number memory and auditory word memory subtests. Stuttering behaviors of CWS were assessed in subsequent years, forming groups whose stuttering eventually persisted (CWS-Per; n=19) or recovered (CWS-Rec; n=21). Proficiency scores in morphosyntactic skills, consonant production, verbal working memory for known words, and phonological working memory and speech production for novel nonwords obtained at the initial testing were analyzed for each group. CWS-Per were less proficient than CWNS and CWS-Rec in measures of consonant production (BBTOP-CI) and repetition of novel phonological sequences (NRT). In contrast, receptive language, expressive language, and verbal working memory abilities did not distinguish CWS-Rec from CWS-Per. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that preschool BBTOP-CI scores and overall NRT proficiency significantly predicted future recovery status. Results suggest that phonological and speech articulation abilities in the preschool years should be considered with other predictive factors as part of a comprehensive risk assessment for the development of chronic stuttering. At the end of this activity the reader will be able to: (1) describe the current status of nonlinguistic and linguistic predictors for recovery and persistence of stuttering; (2) summarize current evidence regarding the potential value of consonant cluster articulation and nonword repetition abilities in helping to predict stuttering outcome in preschool children; (3) discuss the current findings in relation to potential implications for theories of developmental stuttering; (4) discuss the current findings in relation to potential considerations for the evaluation and treatment of developmental stuttering. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of nonverbal learning and memory using the Design Learning Test.

PubMed

Foster, Paul S; Drago, Valeria; Harrison, David W

2009-05-01

The laterality of verbal and nonverbal learning and memory to the left and right temporal lobes, respectively, has received much empirical support. Researchers have often used the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) as a measure of verbal learning and memory in these investigations. However, a precise analog of the RAVLT that uses stimuli difficult to encode verbally has not been reported. Further, although researchers have developed some measures that are essentially visuospatial analogs of the RAVLT, no correlational data have been reported attesting to the relation between the measures. The authors report the development of a nonverbal analog of the RAVLT, referred to as the Design Learning Test (DLT). Also, the authors present correlational data supporting a relation between the DLT and RAVLT, and they hope that the present study will stimulate research investigating whether the DLT is sensitive to right temporal lobe functioning.

Declarative verbal memory impairments in middle-aged women who are caregivers of offspring with autism spectrum disorders: The role of negative affect and testosterone.

PubMed

Romero-Martínez, A; González-Bono, E; Salvador, A; Moya-Albiol, L

2016-01-01

Caring for offspring diagnosed with a chronic psychological disorder such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is used in research as a model of chronic stress. This chronic stress has been reported to have deleterious effects on caregivers' cognition, particularly in verbal declarative memory. Moreover, such cognitive decline may be mediated by testosterone (T) levels and negative affect, understood as depressive mood together with high anxiety and anger. This study aimed to compare declarative memory function in middle-aged women who were caregivers for individuals with ASD (n = 24; mean age = 45) and female controls (n = 22; mean age = 45), using a standardised memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). It also sought to examine the role of care recipient characteristics, negative mood and T levels in memory impairments. ASD caregivers were highly sensitive to proactive interference and verbal forgetting. In addition, they had higher negative affect and T levels, both of which have been associated with poorer verbal memory performance. Moreover, the number of years of caregiving affected memory performance and negative affect, especially, in terms of anger feelings. On the other hand, T levels in caregivers had a curvilinear relationship with verbal memory performance; that is, increases in T were associated with improvements in verbal memory performance up to a certain point, but subsequently, memory performance decreased with increasing T. Chronic stress may produce disturbances in mood and hormonal levels, which in turn might increase the likelihood of developing declarative memory impairments although caregivers do not show a generalised decline in memory. These findings should be taken into account for understanding the impact of cognitive impairments on the ability to provide optimal caregiving.

Unique and shared validity of the "Wechsler logical memory test", the "California verbal learning test", and the "verbal learning and memory test" in patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Helmstaedter, Christoph; Wietzke, Jennifer; Lutz, Martin T

2009-12-01

This study was set-up to evaluate the construct validity of three verbal memory tests in epilepsy patients. Sixty-one consecutively evaluated patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) or extra-temporal epilepsy (E-TLE) underwent testing with the verbal learning and memory test (VLMT, the German equivalent of the Rey auditory verbal learning test, RAVLT); the California verbal learning test (CVLT); the logical memory and digit span subtests of the Wechsler memory scale, revised (WMS-R); and testing of intelligence, attention, speech and executive functions. Factor analysis of the memory tests resulted in test-specific rather than test over-spanning factors. Parameters of the CVLT and WMS-R, and to a much lesser degree of the VLMT, were highly correlated with attention, language function and vocabulary. Delayed recall measures of logical memory and the VLMT differentiated TLE from E-TLE. Learning and memory scores off all three tests differentiated mesial temporal sclerosis from other pathologies. A lateralization of the epilepsy was possible only for a subsample of 15 patients with mesial TLE. Although the three tests provide overlapping indicators for a temporal lobe epilepsy or a mesial pathology, they can hardly be taken in exchange. The tests have different demands on semantic processing and memory organization, and they appear differentially sensitive to performance in non-memory domains. The tests capability to lateralize appears to be poor. The findings encourage the further discussion of the dependency of memory outcomes on test selection.

Spatial versus verbal memory impairments in patients with fibromyalgia.

PubMed

Kim, Seong-Ho; Kim, Sang-Hyon; Kim, Seong-Kyu; Nam, Eun Jung; Han, Seung Woo; Lee, Seung Jae

2012-05-01

Mounting evidence suggests that individuals with fibromyalgia (FM) have impairments in general cognitive functions. However, few studies have explored the possibility of dissociation between verbal and visuospatial memory impairments in FM. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the asymmetrical impairment of cognitive functions between verbal and visuospatial memory and between short-term and long-term memory. Neuropsychological assessments were carried out on 23 female patients with FM and 24 healthy female controls. Verbal memory abilities were assessed using the Korean version of the Rey auditory verbal learning test (KAVLT) and digit span task, and visuospatial memory abilities were assessed using the Korean version of the Rey complex figure test (KCFT) and spatial span task. The analysis of covariance was used to assess group differences in performance on cognitive tests after controlling for depression. The two groups did not significantly differ in terms of age, years of education, or in their estimated verbal and performance IQ, but FM patients reported more severe depressive symptoms than did controls on the Beck depression inventory. Significant group differences were found in immediate and delayed recall on the KCFT (F (1,44) = 6.49, p = 0.014 and F (1,44) = 6.96, p = 0.011, respectively), whereas no difference was found in immediate and delayed recall on the KAVLT. In terms of short-term memory, neither the digit span task nor spatial span task showed any difference between groups, regardless of whether repetition was forward or backward. These findings suggest that spatial memory abilities may be more impaired than verbal memory abilities in patients with FM.

Neural Processing of Spoken Words in Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helenius, Paivi; Parviainen, Tiina; Paetau, Ritva; Salmelin, Riitta

2009-01-01

Young adults with a history of specific language impairment (SLI) differ from reading-impaired (dyslexic) individuals in terms of limited vocabulary and poor verbal short-term memory. Phonological short-term memory has been shown to play a significant role in learning new words. We investigated the neural signatures of auditory word recognition…

An auditory analog of the picture superiority effect.

PubMed

Crutcher, Robert J; Beer, Jenay M

2011-01-01

Previous research has found that pictures (e.g., a picture of an elephant) are remembered better than words (e.g., the word "elephant"), an empirical finding called the picture superiority effect (Paivio & Csapo. Cognitive Psychology 5(2):176-206, 1973). However, very little research has investigated such memory differences for other types of sensory stimuli (e.g. sounds or odors) and their verbal labels. Four experiments compared recall of environmental sounds (e.g., ringing) and spoken verbal labels of those sounds (e.g., "ringing"). In contrast to earlier studies that have shown no difference in recall of sounds and spoken verbal labels (Philipchalk & Rowe. Journal of Experimental Psychology 91(2):341-343, 1971; Paivio, Philipchalk, & Rowe. Memory & Cognition 3(6):586-590, 1975), the experiments reported here yielded clear evidence for an auditory analog of the picture superiority effect. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that sounds were recalled better than the verbal labels of those sounds. Experiment 2 also showed that verbal labels are recalled as well as sounds when participants imagine the sound that the word labels. Experiments 3 and 4 extended these findings to incidental-processing task paradigms and showed that the advantage of sounds over words is enhanced when participants are induced to label the sounds.

Neuropsychological sequelae of exposure to welding fumes in a group of occupationally exposed men.

PubMed

Bowler, Rosemarie M; Gysens, Sabine; Diamond, Emily; Booty, Andrew; Hartney, Christopher; Roels, Harry A

2003-10-01

This study compares the neuropsychological function, emotional status, visual function, and illness prevalence of 76 former and current chemical industry welders primarily involved in steel welding, and exposed to welding fumes for an average of 24.9 years with that of 42 unexposed, non-welder controls. Health and occupational history questionnaires were administered, as were the neuropsychological tests included in the World Health Organization Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery, Luria Motor Test, and selected tests from the WAIS-III, and WMS-III. Emotional status tests included the BSI, POMS, BAI, and BDI, and vision tests included the Snellen near visual acuity, Lanthony d-15 color vision, Vistech Contrast Sensitivity, and Schirmer strips. While welders and controls performed similarly on tests of verbal skills, verbal retention, and auditory span, welders performed worse than controls on tests of verbal learning, working memory, cognitive flexibility, visuomotor processing speed, and motor efficiency. Welders had poorer color vision and emotional status, and increased prevalence of illnesses and psychiatric symptoms. The increased symptoms in welders were related to decreased scores on tasks measuring verbal learning, visuomotor abilities, visuospatial abilities, and information processing, and motor efficiency. Within the group of welders, the number of hours welding was negatively related to scores on verbal learning, auditory span, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and motor efficiency.

Selective memory retrieval of auditory what and auditory where involves the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Kostopoulos, Penelope; Petrides, Michael

2016-02-16

There is evidence from the visual, verbal, and tactile memory domains that the midventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in the top-down modulation of activity within posterior cortical areas for the selective retrieval of specific aspects of a memorized experience, a functional process often referred to as active controlled retrieval. In the present functional neuroimaging study, we explore the neural bases of active retrieval for auditory nonverbal information, about which almost nothing is known. Human participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a task in which they were presented with short melodies from different locations in a simulated virtual acoustic environment within the scanner and were then instructed to retrieve selectively either the particular melody presented or its location. There were significant activity increases specifically within the midventrolateral prefrontal region during the selective retrieval of nonverbal auditory information. During the selective retrieval of information from auditory memory, the right midventrolateral prefrontal region increased its interaction with the auditory temporal region and the inferior parietal lobule in the right hemisphere. These findings provide evidence that the midventrolateral prefrontal cortical region interacts with specific posterior cortical areas in the human cerebral cortex for the selective retrieval of object and location features of an auditory memory experience.

The impact of aging and hearing status on verbal short-term memory.

PubMed

Verhaegen, Clémence; Collette, Fabienne; Majerus, Steve

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of hearing status on age-related decrease in verbal short-term memory (STM) performance. This was done by administering a battery of verbal STM tasks to elderly and young adult participants matched for hearing thresholds, as well as to young normal-hearing control participants. The matching procedure allowed us to assess the importance of hearing loss as an explanatory factor of age-related STM decline. We observed that elderly participants and hearing-matched young participants showed equal levels of performance in all verbal STM tasks, and performed overall lower than the normal-hearing young control participants. This study provides evidence for recent theoretical accounts considering reduced hearing level as an important explanatory factor of poor auditory-verbal STM performance in older adults.

Test performance and classification statistics for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test in selected clinical samples.

PubMed

Schoenberg, Mike R; Dawson, Kyra A; Duff, Kevin; Patton, Doyle; Scott, James G; Adams, Russell L

2006-10-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test [RAVLT; Rey, A. (1941). L'examen psychologique dans les cas d'encéphalopathie traumatique. Archives de Psychologie, 28, 21] is a commonly used neuropsychological measure that assesses verbal learning and memory. Normative data have been compiled [Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services]. When assessing an individual suspected of neurological dysfunction, useful comparisons include the extent that the patient deviates from healthy peers and also how closely the subject's performance matches those with known brain injury. This study provides the means and S.D.'s of 392 individuals with documented neurological dysfunction [closed head TBI (n=68), neoplasms (n=57), stroke (n=47), Dementia of the Alzheimer's type (n=158), and presurgical epilepsy left seizure focus (n=28), presurgical epilepsy right seizure focus (n=34)] and 122 patients with no known neurological dysfunction and psychiatric complaints. Patients were stratified into three age groups, 16-35, 36-59, and 60-88. Data were provided for trials I-V, List B, immediate recall, 30-min delayed recall, and recognition. Classification characteristics of the RAVLT using [Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services] meta-norms found the RAVLT to best distinguish patients suspected of Alzheimer's disease from the psychiatric comparison group.

Normal-range verbal-declarative memory in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Heinrichs, R Walter; Parlar, Melissa; Pinnock, Farena

2017-10-01

Cognitive impairment is prevalent and related to functional outcome in schizophrenia, but a significant minority of the patient population overlaps with healthy controls on many performance measures, including declarative-verbal-memory tasks. In this study, we assessed the validity, clinical, and functional implications of normal-range (NR), verbal-declarative memory in schizophrenia. Performance normality was defined using normative data for 8 basic California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-II; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Ober, 2000) recall and recognition trials. Schizophrenia patients (n = 155) and healthy control participants (n = 74) were assessed for performance normality, defined as scores within 1 SD of the normative mean on all 8 trials, and assigned to normal- and below-NR memory groups. NR schizophrenia patients (n = 26) and control participants (n = 51) did not differ in general verbal ability, on a reading-based estimate of premorbid ability, across all 8 CVLT-II-score comparisons or in terms of intrusion and false-positive errors and auditory working memory. NR memory patients did not differ from memory-impaired patients (n = 129) in symptom severity, and both patient groups were significantly and similarly disabled in terms of functional status in the community. These results confirm a subpopulation of schizophrenia patients with normal, verbal-declarative-memory performance and no evidence of decline from higher premorbid ability levels. However, NR patients did not experience less severe psychopathology, nor did they show advantage in community adjustment relative to impaired patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Propofol disrupts functional interactions between sensory and high-order processing of auditory verbal memory.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaolin; Lauer, Kathryn K; Ward, Barney D; Rao, Stephen M; Li, Shi-Jiang; Hudetz, Anthony G

2012-10-01

Current theories suggest that disrupting cortical information integration may account for the mechanism of general anesthesia in suppressing consciousness. Human cognitive operations take place in hierarchically structured neural organizations in the brain. The process of low-order neural representation of sensory stimuli becoming integrated in high-order cortices is also known as cognitive binding. Combining neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, and anesthetic manipulation, we examined how cognitive networks involved in auditory verbal memory are maintained in wakefulness, disrupted in propofol-induced deep sedation, and re-established in recovery. Inspired by the notion of cognitive binding, an functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided connectivity analysis was utilized to assess the integrity of functional interactions within and between different levels of the task-defined brain regions. Task-related responses persisted in the primary auditory cortex (PAC), but vanished in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and premotor areas in deep sedation. For connectivity analysis, seed regions representing sensory and high-order processing of the memory task were identified in the PAC and IFG. Propofol disrupted connections from the PAC seed to the frontal regions and thalamus, but not the connections from the IFG seed to a set of widely distributed brain regions in the temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes (with exception of the PAC). These later regions have been implicated in mediating verbal comprehension and memory. These results suggest that propofol disrupts cognition by blocking the projection of sensory information to high-order processing networks and thus preventing information integration. Such findings contribute to our understanding of anesthetic mechanisms as related to information and integration in the brain. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sex-based memory advantages and cognitive aging: a challenge to the cognitive reserve construct?

PubMed

Caselli, Richard J; Dueck, Amylou C; Locke, Dona E C; Baxter, Leslie C; Woodruff, Bryan K; Geda, Yonas E

2015-02-01

Education and related proxies for cognitive reserve (CR) are confounded by associations with environmental factors that correlate with cerebrovascular disease possibly explaining discrepancies between studies examining their relationships to cognitive aging and dementia. In contrast, sex-related memory differences may be a better proxy. Since they arise developmentally, they are less likely to reflect environmental confounds. Women outperform men on verbal and men generally outperform women on visuospatial memory tasks. Furthermore, memory declines during the preclinical stage of AD, when it is clinically indistinguishable from normal aging. To determine whether CR mitigates age-related memory decline, we examined the effects of gender and APOE genotype on longitudinal memory performances. Memory decline was assessed in a cohort of healthy men and women enriched for APOE ɛ4 who completed two verbal [Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), Buschke Selective Reminding Test (SRT)] and two visuospatial [Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (CFT), and Benton Visual Retention Test (VRT)] memory tests, as well as in a separate larger and older cohort [National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC)] who completed a verbal memory test (Logical Memory). Age-related memory decline was accelerated in APOE ɛ4 carriers on all verbal memory measures (AVLT, p=.03; SRT p<.001; logical memory p<.001) and on the VRT p=.006. Baseline sex associated differences were retained over time, but no sex differences in rate of decline were found for any measure in either cohort. Sex-based memory advantage does not mitigate age-related memory decline in either APOE ɛ4 carriers or non-carriers.

Evaluating the developmental trajectory of the episodic buffer component of working memory and its relation to word recognition in children.

PubMed

Wang, Shinmin; Allen, Richard J; Lee, Jun Ren; Hsieh, Chia-En

2015-05-01

The creation of temporary bound representation of information from different sources is one of the key abilities attributed to the episodic buffer component of working memory. Whereas the role of working memory in word learning has received substantial attention, very little is known about the link between the development of word recognition skills and the ability to bind information in the episodic buffer of working memory and how it may develop with age. This study examined the performance of Grade 2 children (8 years old), Grade 3 children (9 years old), and young adults on a task designed to measure their ability to bind visual and auditory-verbal information in working memory. Children's performance on this task significantly correlated with their word recognition skills even when chronological age, memory for individual elements, and other possible reading-related factors were taken into account. In addition, clear developmental trajectories were observed, with improvements in the ability to hold temporary bound information in working memory between Grades 2 and 3, and between the child and adult groups, that were independent from memory for the individual elements. These findings suggest that the capacity to temporarily bind novel auditory-verbal information to visual form in working memory is linked to the development of word recognition in children and improves with age. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interactions of cognitive and auditory abilities in congenitally blind individuals.

PubMed

Rokem, Ariel; Ahissar, Merav

2009-02-01

Congenitally blind individuals have been found to show superior performance in perceptual and memory tasks. In the present study, we asked whether superior stimulus encoding could account for performance in memory tasks. We characterized the performance of a group of congenitally blind individuals on a series of auditory, memory and executive cognitive tasks and compared their performance to that of sighted controls matched for age, education and musical training. As expected, we found superior verbal spans among congenitally blind individuals. Moreover, we found superior speech perception, measured by resilience to noise, and superior auditory frequency discrimination. However, when memory span was measured under conditions of equivalent speech perception, by adjusting the signal to noise ratio for each individual to the same level of perceptual difficulty (80% correct), the advantage in memory span was completely eliminated. Moreover, blind individuals did not possess any advantage in cognitive executive functions, such as manipulation of items in memory and math abilities. We propose that the short-term memory advantage of blind individuals results from better stimulus encoding, rather than from superiority at subsequent processing stages.

Semantic control and modality: an input processing deficit in aphasia leading to deregulated semantic cognition in a single modality.

PubMed

Thompson, Hannah E; Jefferies, Elizabeth

2013-08-01

Research suggests that semantic memory deficits can occur in at least three ways. Patients can (1) show amodal degradation of concepts within the semantic store itself, such as in semantic dementia (SD), (2) have difficulty in controlling activation within the semantic system and accessing appropriate knowledge in line with current goals or context, as in semantic aphasia (SA) and (3) experience a semantic deficit in only one modality following degraded input from sensory cortex. Patients with SA show deficits of semantic control and access across word and picture tasks, consistent with the view that their problems arise from impaired modality-general control processes. However, there are a few reports in the literature of patients with semantic access problems restricted to auditory-verbal materials, who show decreasing ability to retrieve concepts from words when they are presented repeatedly with closely related distractors. These patients challenge the notion that semantic control processes are modality-general and suggest instead a separation of 'access' to auditory-verbal and non-verbal semantic systems. We had the rare opportunity to study such a case in detail. Our aims were to examine the effect of manipulations of control demands in auditory-verbal semantic, non-verbal semantic and non-semantic tasks, allowing us to assess whether such cases always show semantic control/access impairments that follow a modality-specific pattern, or whether there are alternative explanations. Our findings revealed: (1) deficits on executive tasks, unrelated to semantic demands, which were more evident in the auditory modality than the visual modality; (2) deficits in executively-demanding semantic tasks which were accentuated in the auditory-verbal domain compared with the visual modality, but still present on non-verbal tasks, and (3) a coupling between comprehension and executive control requirements, in that mild impairment on single word comprehension was greatly increased on more demanding, associative judgements across modalities. This pattern of results suggests that mild executive-semantic impairment, paired with disrupted connectivity from auditory input, may give rise to semantic 'access' deficits affecting only the auditory modality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reducing involuntary memory by interfering consolidation of stressful auditory information: A pilot study.

PubMed

Tabrizi, Fara; Jansson, Billy

2016-03-01

Intrusive emotional memories were induced by aversive auditory stimuli and modulated with cognitive tasks performed post-encoding (i.e., during consolidation). A between-subjects design was used with four conditions; three consolidation-interference tasks (a visuospatial and two verbal interference tasks) and a no-task control condition. Forty-one participants listened to a soundtrack depicting traumatic scenes (e.g., police brutality, torture and rape). Immediately after listening to the soundtrack, the subjects completed a randomly assigned task for 10 min. Intrusions from the soundtrack were reported in a diary during the following seven-day period. In line with a modality-specific approach to intrusion modulation, auditory intrusions were reduced by verbal tasks compared to both a no-task and a visuospatial interference task.. The study did not control for individual differences in imagery ability which may be a feature in intrusion development. The results provide an increased understanding of how intrusive mental images can be modulated which may have implications for preventive treatment.. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Age, Background Noise, Semantic Ambiguity, and Hearing Loss on Recognition Memory for Spoken Sentences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koeritzer, Margaret A.; Rogers, Chad S.; Van Engen, Kristin J.; Peelle, Jonathan E.

2018-01-01

Purpose: The goal of this study was to determine how background noise, linguistic properties of spoken sentences, and listener abilities (hearing sensitivity and verbal working memory) affect cognitive demand during auditory sentence comprehension. Method: We tested 30 young adults and 30 older adults. Participants heard lists of sentences in…

Down Syndrome and Short-Term Memory Impairment: A Storage or Retrieval Deficit?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adler, Sol; McDade, Hiram L.

1980-01-01

Three groups of eight Ss (Down's syndrome, CA control, and MA control) received a battery of tests to assess recall and recognition memory using either auditory or visual input with verbal and nonverbal responses. Results indicated that the Down's syndrome group possessed deficits in both storage and retrieval abilities, with storage of visually…

The Role of Working Memory and Contextual Constraints in Children's Processing of Relative Clauses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wieghall, Anna R.; Altmann, Gerry T. M.

2011-01-01

An auditory sentence comprehension task investigated the extent to which the integration of contextual and structural cues was mediated by verbal memory span with 32 English-speaking six- to eight-year-old children. Spoken relative clause sentences were accompanied by visual context pictures which fully (depicting the actions described within the…

Intensive Auditory Cognitive Training Improves Verbal Memory in Adolescents and Young Adults at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis.

PubMed

Loewy, Rachel; Fisher, Melissa; Schlosser, Danielle A; Biagianti, Bruno; Stuart, Barbara; Mathalon, Daniel H; Vinogradov, Sophia

2016-07-01

Individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis demonstrate cognitive impairments that predict later psychotic transition and real-world functioning. Cognitive training has shown benefits in schizophrenia, but has not yet been adequately tested in the CHR population. In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, CHR individuals (N = 83) were given laptop computers and trained at home on 40 hours of auditory processing-based exercises designed to target verbal learning and memory operations, or on computer games (CG). Participants were assessed with neurocognitive tests based on the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia initiative (MATRICS) battery and rated on symptoms and functioning. Groups were compared before and after training using a mixed-effects model with restricted maximum likelihood estimation, given the high study attrition rate (42%). Participants in the targeted cognitive training group showed a significant improvement in Verbal Memory compared to CG participants (effect size = 0.61). Positive and Total symptoms improved in both groups over time. CHR individuals showed patterns of training-induced cognitive improvement in verbal memory consistent with prior observations in schizophrenia. This is a particularly vulnerable domain in individuals at-risk for psychosis that predicts later functioning and psychotic transition. Ongoing follow-up of this cohort will assess the durability of training effects in CHR individuals, as well as the potential impact on symptoms and functioning over time. Clinical Trials Number: NCT00655239. URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00655239?term=vinogradov&rank=5. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center 2016.

Temporal precision and the capacity of auditory-verbal short-term memory.

PubMed

Gilbert, Rebecca A; Hitch, Graham J; Hartley, Tom

2017-12-01

The capacity of serially ordered auditory-verbal short-term memory (AVSTM) is sensitive to the timing of the material to be stored, and both temporal processing and AVSTM capacity are implicated in the development of language. We developed a novel "rehearsal-probe" task to investigate the relationship between temporal precision and the capacity to remember serial order. Participants listened to a sub-span sequence of spoken digits and silently rehearsed the items and their timing during an unfilled retention interval. After an unpredictable delay, a tone prompted report of the item being rehearsed at that moment. An initial experiment showed cyclic distributions of item responses over time, with peaks preserving serial order and broad, overlapping tails. The spread of the response distributions increased with additional memory load and correlated negatively with participants' auditory digit spans. A second study replicated the negative correlation and demonstrated its specificity to AVSTM by controlling for differences in visuo-spatial STM and nonverbal IQ. The results are consistent with the idea that a common resource underpins both the temporal precision and capacity of AVSTM. The rehearsal-probe task may provide a valuable tool for investigating links between temporal processing and AVSTM capacity in the context of speech and language abilities.

A model of memory impairment in schizophrenia: cognitive and clinical factors associated with memory efficiency and memory errors.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Ohlsen, Ruth I; David, Anthony S

2013-12-01

Memory impairments in patients with schizophrenia have been associated with various cognitive and clinical factors. Hallucinations have been more specifically associated with errors stemming from source monitoring failure. We conducted a broad investigation of verbal memory and visual memory as well as source memory functioning in a sample of patients with schizophrenia. Various memory measures were tallied, and we studied their associations with processing speed, working memory span, and positive, negative, and depressive symptoms. Superficial and deep memory processes were differentially associated with processing speed, working memory span, avolition, depression, and attention disorders. Auditory/verbal and visual hallucinations were differentially associated with specific types of source memory error. We integrated all the results into a revised version of a previously published model of memory functioning in schizophrenia. The model describes the factors that affect memory efficiency, as well as the cognitive underpinnings of hallucinations within the source monitoring framework. © 2013.

Barriers to repeated assessment of verbal learning and memory: a comparison of international shopping list task and rey auditory verbal learning test on build-up of proactive interference.

PubMed

Rahimi-Golkhandan, S; Maruff, P; Darby, D; Wilson, P

2012-11-01

Proactive interference (PI) that remains unidentified can confound the assessment of verbal learning, particularly when its effects vary from one population to another. The International Shopping List Task (ISLT) is a new measure that provides multiple forms that can be equated for linguistic factors across cultural groups. The aim of this study was to examine the build-up of PI on two measures of verbal learning-a traditional test of list learning (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT) and the ISLT. The sample consisted of 61 healthy adults aged 18-40. Each test had three parallel forms, each recalled three times. Results showed that repeated administration of the ISLT did not result in significant PI effects, unlike the RAVLT. Although these PI effects, observed during short retest intervals, may not be as robust under normal clinical administrations of the tests, the results suggest that the choice of the verbal learning test should be guided by the knowledge of PI effects and the susceptibility of particular patient groups to this effect.

Story retelling and language ability in school-aged children with cerebral palsy and speech impairment.

PubMed

Nordberg, Ann; Dahlgren Sandberg, Annika; Miniscalco, Carmela

2015-01-01

Research on retelling ability and cognition is limited in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and speech impairment. To explore the impact of expressive and receptive language, narrative discourse dimensions (Narrative Assessment Profile measures), auditory and visual memory, theory of mind (ToM) and non-verbal cognition on the retelling ability of children with CP and speech impairment. Fifteen speaking children with speech impairment (seven girls, eight boys) (mean age = 11 years, SD = 1;4 years), and different types of CP and different levels of gross motor and cognitive function participated in the present study. Story retelling skills were tested and analysed with the Bus Story Test (BST) and the Narrative Assessment Profile (NAP). Receptive language ability was tested with the Test for Reception of Grammar-2 (TROG-2) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - IV (PPVT-IV). Non-verbal cognitive level was tested with the Raven's coloured progressive matrices (RCPM), memory functions assessed with the Corsi block-tapping task (CB) and the Digit Span from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. ToM was assessed with the false belief items of the two story tests "Kiki and the Cat" and "Birthday Puppy". The children had severe problems with retelling ability corresponding to an age-equivalent of 5;2-6;9 years. Receptive and expressive language, visuo-spatial and auditory memory, non-verbal cognitive level and ToM varied widely within and among the children. Both expressive and receptive language correlated significantly with narrative ability in terms of NAP total scores, so did auditory memory. The results suggest that retelling ability in the children with CP in the present study is dependent on language comprehension and production, and memory functions. Consequently, it is important to examine retelling ability together with language and cognitive abilities in these children in order to provide appropriate support. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Frontal Phonological Agraphia and Acalculia with Impaired Verbal Short-Term Memory due to Left Inferior Precentral Gyrus Lesion.

PubMed

Sakurai, Yasuhisa; Furukawa, Emi; Kurihara, Masanori; Sugimoto, Izumi

2018-01-01

We report a patient with phonological agraphia (selective impairment of kana [Japanese phonetic writing] nonwords) and acalculia (mental arithmetic difficulties) with impaired verbal short-term memory after a cerebral hemorrhage in the opercular part of the left precentral gyrus (Brodmann area 6) and the adjacent postcentral gyrus. The patient showed phonemic paragraphia in five-character kana nonword writing, minimal acalculia, and reduced digit and letter span. Mental arithmetic normalized after 8 months and agraphia recovered to the normal range at 1 year after onset, in parallel with an improvement of the auditory letter span score from 4 to 6 over a period of 14 months and in the digit span score from 6 to 7 over 24 months. These results suggest a close relationship between the recovery of agraphia and acalculia and the improvement of verbal short-term memory. The present case also suggests that the opercular part of the precentral gyrus constitutes the phonological route in writing that conveys phonological information of syllable sequences, and its damage causes phonological agraphia and acalculia with reduced verbal short-term memory.

Evaluation of Domain-Specific Collaboration Interfaces for Team Command and Control Tasks

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

Technologies 1.1.1. Virtual Whiteboard Cognitive theories relating the utilization, storage, and retrieval of verbal and spatial information, such as...AE Spatial emergent SE Auditory linguistic AL Spatial positional SP Facial figural FF Spatial quantitative SQ Facial motive FM Tactile figural...driven by the auditory linguistic (AL), short-term memory (STM), spatial attentive (SA), visual temporal (VT), and vocal process (V) subscales. 0

Assessment and Treatment of Short-Term and Working Memory Impairments in Stroke Aphasia: A Practical Tutorial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salis, Christos; Kelly, Helen; Code, Chris

2015-01-01

Background: Aphasia following stroke refers to impairments that affect the comprehension and expression of spoken and/or written language, and co-occurring cognitive deficits are common. In this paper we focus on short-term and working memory impairments that impact on the ability to retain and manipulate auditory-verbal information. Evidence from…

Cognitive, sensory, and psychosocial characteristics in patients with Bardet-Biedl syndrome.

PubMed

Brinckman, Danielle D; Keppler-Noreuil, Kim M; Blumhorst, Catherine; Biesecker, Leslie G; Sapp, Julie C; Johnston, Jennifer J; Wiggs, Edythe A

2013-12-01

Forty-two patients with a clinical diagnosis of Bardet-Biedl syndrome ages 2-61 years were given a neuropsychological test battery to evaluate cognitive, sensory, and behavioral functioning. These tests included the Wechsler scales of intelligence, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Boston Naming Test, D-KEFS Verbal Fluency Test, D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test, D-KEFS Sorting Test, Wide Range Achievement Test: Math and Reading Subtests, Purdue Pegboard, The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test, Social Communication Questionnaire, Social Responsiveness Scale, and Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Parent Rating Scale. On the age appropriate Wechsler scale, the mean Verbal Comprehension was 81 (n = 36), Working Memory was 81 (n = 36), Perceptual Reasoning was 78 (n = 24) and Full Scale IQ was 75 (n = 26). Memory for a word list (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) was in the average range with a mean of 89 (n = 19). Fine motor speed was slow on the Purdue with mean scores 3-4 standard deviations below norms. All subjects were microsmic on the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test. Of these 42 patients, only 6 were able to complete all auditory and visual tests; 52% were unable to complete the visual tests due to impaired vision. A wide range of behavioral issues were endorsed on questionnaires given to parents. Most had social skill deficits but no pattern of either externalizing or internalizing problems. We identify a characteristic neuro-behavioral profile in our cohort comprised of reduced IQ, impaired fine-motor function, and decreased olfaction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Verbal memory decline from hippocampal depth electrodes in temporal lobe surgery for epilepsy.

PubMed

Ljung, Hanna; Nordlund, Arto; Strandberg, Maria; Bengzon, Johan; Källén, Kristina

2017-12-01

To explore whether patients with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy risk aggravated verbal memory loss from intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) recording with longitudinal hippocampal electrodes in the language-dominant hemisphere. A long-term neuropsychological follow-up (mean 61.5 months, range 22-111 months) was performed in 40 patients after ictal registration with left hippocampal depth electrodes (study group, n = 16) or no invasive EEG, only extracranial registration (reference group, n = 24). The groups were equal with respect to education, age at seizure onset, epilepsy duration, and prevalence of pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE; 75%) versus seizure freedom (25%). Retrospective neuropsychological data from preoperative surgical workup (T1) and prospective follow-up neuropsychological data (T2) were compared. A ≥1 SD intrapatient decline was considered as clinically relevant deterioration of verbal memory. Significant decline in verbal memory was seen in 56% of the patients in the study group compared to 21% in the reference group. At T1, there were no statistical between-group differences in memory performance. At T2, between-group comparison showed significantly greater verbal memory decline for the study group (Claeson Dahl Learning and Retention Test, Verbal Learning: p = 0.05; Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Total Learning: p = 0.04; Claeson Dahl Learning and Retention Test, Verbal Retention: p = 0.04). An odds ratio (OR) of 7.1 (90% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-37.7) for verbal memory decline was seen if right temporal lobe resection (R TLR) had been performed between T1 and T2. The difference between groups remained unchanged when patients who had undergone R TLR were excluded from the analysis, with a remaining aggravated significant decline in verbal memory performance for the study group compared to the reference group. Our results suggest a risk of verbal memory deterioration after the use of depth electrodes along the longitudinal axis of the hippocampus. Until this issue is further investigated, caution regarding depth electrodes in the language-dominant hemisphere hippocampus seems advisable. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International League Against Epilepsy.

Narrative abilities, memory and attention in children with a specific language impairment.

PubMed

Duinmeijer, Iris; de Jong, Jan; Scheper, Annette

2012-01-01

While narrative tasks have proven to be valid measures for detecting language disorders, measuring communicative skills and predicting future academic performance, research into the comparability of different narrative tasks has shown that outcomes are dependent on the type of task used. Although many of the studies detecting task differences touch upon the fact that tasks place differential demands on cognitive abilities like auditory attention and memory, few studies have related specific narrative tasks to these cognitive abilities. Examining this relation is especially warranted for children with specific language impairment (SLI), who are characterized by language problems, but often have problems in other cognitive domains as well. In the current research, a comparison was made between a story retelling task (The Bus Story) and a story generation task (The Frog Story) in a group of children with SLI (n= 34) and a typically developing group (n= 38) from the same age range. In addition to the two narrative tasks, sustained auditory attention (TEA-Ch) and verbal working memory (WISC digit span and the Dutch version of the CVLT-C word list recall) were measured. Correlations were computed between the narrative, the memory and the attention scores. A group comparison showed that the children with SLI scored significantly worse than the typically developing children on several narrative measures as well as on sustained auditory attention and verbal working memory. A within-subjects comparison of the scores on the two narrative tasks showed a contrast between the tasks on several narrative measures. Furthermore, correlational analyses showed that, on the level of plot structure, the story generation task correlated with sustained auditory attention, while the story retelling task correlated with word list recall. Mean length of utterance (MLU) on the other hand correlated with digit span but not with sustained auditory attention. While children with SLI have problems with narratives in general, their performance is also dependent on the specific elicitation task used for research or diagnostics. Various narrative tasks generate different scores and are differentially correlated to cognitive skills like attention and memory, making the selection of a given task crucial in the clinical setting. © 2012 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

White Matter Integrity Dissociates Verbal Memory and Auditory Attention Span in Emerging Adults with Congenital Heart Disease.

PubMed

Brewster, Ryan C; King, Tricia Z; Burns, Thomas G; Drossner, David M; Mahle, William T

2015-01-01

White matter disruptions have been identified in individuals with congenital heart disease (CHD). However, no specific theory-driven relationships between microstructural white matter disruptions and cognition have been established in CHD. We conducted a two-part study. First, we identified significant differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) of emerging adults with CHD using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). TBSS analyses between 22 participants with CHD and 18 demographically similar controls identified five regions of normal appearing white matter with significantly lower FA in CHD, and two higher. Next, two regions of lower FA in CHD were selected to examine theory-driven differential relationships with cognition: voxels along the left uncinate fasciculus (UF; a tract theorized to contribute to verbal memory) and voxels along the right middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP; a tract previously linked to attention). In CHD, a significant positive correlation between UF FA and memory was found, r(20)=.42, p=.049 (uncorrected). There was no correlation between UF and auditory attention span. A positive correlation between MCP FA and auditory attention span was found, r(20)=.47, p=.027 (uncorrected). There was no correlation between MCP and memory. In controls, no significant relationships were identified. These results are consistent with previous literature demonstrating lower FA in younger CHD samples, and provide novel evidence for disrupted white matter integrity in emerging adults with CHD. Furthermore, a correlational double dissociation established distinct white matter circuitry (UF and MCP) and differential cognitive correlates (memory and attention span, respectively) in young adults with CHD.

Mild cognitive impairment: applicability of research criteria in a memory clinic and characterization of cognitive profile.

PubMed

Alladi, Suvarna; Arnold, Robert; Mitchell, Joanna; Nestor, Peter J; Hodges, John R

2006-04-01

We explored the applicability of recently proposed research criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a memory clinic and changes in case definition related to which memory tests are used and the status of general cognitive function in MCI. A total of 166 consecutive GP referrals to the Cambridge Memory Clinic underwent comprehensive neuropsychological and psychiatric evaluation. Of 166 cases, 42 were excluded (significant depression 8, established dementia 29 and other disorders 5). Of 124 non-demented, non-depressed patients, 72 fulfilled Petersen's criteria for amnestic MCI based upon verbal memory performance [the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT)] and 90 met criteria if performance on verbal and/or non-verbal memory tests [the Rey figure recall or the Paired Associates Learning test (PAL)] was considered. Of the 90 broadly defined MCI cases, only 25 had pure amnesia: other subtle semantic and/or attention deficits were typically present. A further 12 were classed as non-amnestic MCI and 22 as 'worried well'. Definition of MCI varies considerably dependent upon the tests used for case definition. The majority have other cognitive deficits despite normal performance on the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and intact activities of daily living (ADL) and fit within multi-domain MCI. Pure amnesic MCI is rare.

Bilingual language processing after a lesion in the left thalamic and temporal regions. A case report with early childhood onset

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

van Lieshout, P.; Renier, W.; Eling, P.

1990-02-01

This case study concerns an 18-year-old bilingual girl who suffered a radiation lesion in the left (dominant) thalamic and temporal region when she was 4 years old. Language and memory assessment revealed deficits in auditory short-term memory, auditory word comprehension, nonword repetition, syntactic processing, word fluency, and confrontation naming tasks. Both languages (English and Dutch) were found to be affected in a similar manner, despite the fact that one language (English) was acquired before and the other (Dutch) after the period of lesion onset. Most of the deficits appear to be related to verbal (short-term) memory dysfunction. Several hypotheses ofmore » subcortical involvement in memory processes are discussed with reference to existing theories in this area.« less

Auditory verbal hallucinations: Social, but how?

PubMed Central

Alderson-Day, Ben; Fernyhough, Charles

2017-01-01

Summary Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are experiences of hearing voices in the absence of an external speaker. Standard explanatory models propose that AVH arise from misattributed verbal cognitions (i.e. inner speech), but provide little account of how heard voices often have a distinct persona and agency. Here we review the argument that AVH have important social and agent-like properties and consider how different neurocognitive approaches to AVH can account for these elements, focusing on inner speech, memory, and predictive processing. We then evaluate the possible role of separate social-cognitive processes in the development of AVH, before outlining three ways in which speech and language processes already involve socially important information, such as cues to interact with others. We propose that when these are taken into account, the social characteristics of AVH can be explained without an appeal to separate social-cognitive systems. PMID:29238264

The role of the primary auditory cortex in the neural mechanism of auditory verbal hallucinations

PubMed Central

Kompus, Kristiina; Falkenberg, Liv E.; Bless, Josef J.; Johnsen, Erik; Kroken, Rune A.; Kråkvik, Bodil; Larøi, Frank; Løberg, Else-Marie; Vedul-Kjelsås, Einar; Westerhausen, René; Hugdahl, Kenneth

2013-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are a subjective experience of “hearing voices” in the absence of corresponding physical stimulation in the environment. The most remarkable feature of AVHs is their perceptual quality, that is, the experience is subjectively often as vivid as hearing an actual voice, as opposed to mental imagery or auditory memories. This has lead to propositions that dysregulation of the primary auditory cortex (PAC) is a crucial component of the neural mechanism of AVHs. One possible mechanism by which the PAC could give rise to the experience of hallucinations is aberrant patterns of neuronal activity whereby the PAC is overly sensitive to activation arising from internal processing, while being less responsive to external stimulation. In this paper, we review recent research relevant to the role of the PAC in the generation of AVHs. We present new data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, examining the responsivity of the left and right PAC to parametrical modulation of the intensity of auditory verbal stimulation, and corresponding attentional top-down control in non-clinical participants with AVHs, and non-clinical participants with no AVHs. Non-clinical hallucinators showed reduced activation to speech sounds but intact attentional modulation in the right PAC. Additionally, we present data from a group of schizophrenia patients with AVHs, who do not show attentional modulation of left or right PAC. The context-appropriate modulation of the PAC may be a protective factor in non-clinical hallucinations. PMID:23630479

Relation between language, audio-vocal psycholinguistic abilities and P300 in children having specific language impairment.

PubMed

Shaheen, Elham Ahmed; Shohdy, Sahar Saad; Abd Al Raouf, Mahmoud; Mohamed El Abd, Shereen; Abd Elhamid, Asmss

2011-09-01

Specific language impairment is a relatively common developmental condition in which a child fails to develop language at the typical rate despite normal general intellectual abilities, adequate exposure to language, and in the absence of hearing impairments, or neurological or psychiatric disorders. There is much controversy about the extent to which the auditory processing deficits are important in the genesis specific language impairment. The objective of this paper is to assess the higher cortical functions in children with specific language impairment, through assessing neurophysiological changes in order to correlate the results with the clinical picture of the patients to choose the proper rehabilitation training program. This study was carried out on 40 children diagnosed to have specific language impairment and 20 normal children as a control group. All children were subjected to the assessment protocol applied in Kasr El-Aini hospital. They were also subjected to a language test (receptive, expressive and total language items), the audio-vocal items of Illinois test of psycholinguistic (auditory reception, auditory association, verbal expression, grammatical closure, auditory sequential memory and sound blending) as well as audiological assessment that included peripheral audiological and P300 amplitude and latency assessment. The results revealed a highly significant difference in P300 amplitude and latency between specific language impairment group and control group. There is also strong correlations between P300 latency and the grammatical closure, auditory sequential memory and sound blending, while significant correlation between the P300 amplitude and auditory association and verbal expression. Children with specific language impairment, in spite of the normal peripheral hearing, have evidence of cognitive and central auditory processing defects as evidenced by P300 auditory event related potential in the form of prolonged latency which indicate a slow rate of processing and defective memory as evidenced by small amplitude. These findings affect cognitive and language development in specific language impairment children and should be considered during planning the intervention program. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interpreting potential markers of storage and rehearsal: Implications for studies of verbal short-term memory and neuropsychological cases.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaoli; Logie, Robert H; Jarrold, Christopher

2016-08-01

Neuropsychological studies of verbal short-term memory have often focused on two signature effects - phonological similarity and word length - the absence of which has been taken to indicate problems in phonological storage and rehearsal respectively. In the present study we present a possible alternative reading of such data, namely that the absence of these effects can follow as a consequence of an individual's poor level of recall. Data from a large normative sample of 251 adult participants were re-analyzed under the assumption that the size of phonological similarity and word length effects are proportional to an individual's overall level of recall. For both manipulations, when proportionalized effects were plotted against memory span, the same function fit the data in both auditory and visual presentation conditions. Furthermore, two additional sets of single-case data were broadly comparable to those that would be expected for an individual's level of verbal short-term memory performance albeit with some variation across tasks. These findings indicate that the absolute magnitude of phonological similarity and word length effects depends on overall levels of recall, and that these effects are necessarily eliminated at low levels of verbal short-term memory performance. This has implications for how one interprets any variation in the size of these effects, and raises serious questions about the causal direction of any relationship between impaired verbal short-term memory and the absence of phonological similarity or word length effects.

Clinical utility of the Wechsler Memory Scale--Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in predicting laterality of temporal lobe epilepsy among surgical candidates.

PubMed

Soble, Jason R; Eichstaedt, Katie E; Waseem, Hena; Mattingly, Michelle L; Benbadis, Selim R; Bozorg, Ali M; Vale, Fernando L; Schoenberg, Mike R

2014-12-01

This study evaluated the accuracy of the Wechsler Memory Scale--Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in identifying functional cognitive deficits associated with seizure laterality in localization-related temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) relative to a previously established measure, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Emerging WMS-IV studies have highlighted psychometric improvements that may enhance its ability to identify lateralized memory deficits. Data from 57 patients with video-EEG-confirmed unilateral TLE who were administered the WMS-IV and RAVLT as part of a comprehensive presurgical neuropsychological evaluation for temporal resection were retrospectively reviewed. We examined the predictive accuracy of the WMS-IV not only in terms of verbal versus visual composite scores but also using individual subtests. A series of hierarchal logistic regression models were developed, including the RAVLT, WMS-IV delayed subtests (Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates, Designs, Visual Reproduction), and a WMS-IV verbal-visual memory difference score. Analyses showed that the RAVLT significantly predicted laterality with overall classification rates of 69.6% to 70.2%, whereas neither the individual WMS-IV subtests nor the verbal-visual memory difference score accounted for additional significant variance. Similar to previous versions of the WMS, findings cast doubt as to whether the WMS-IV offers significant incremental validity in discriminating seizure laterality in TLE beyond what can be obtained from the RAVLT. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of age-at-testing on verbal memory among children following severe traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Silberg, Tamar; Ahonniska-Assa, Jaana; Levav, Miriam; Eliyahu, Roni; Peleg-Pilowsky, Tamar; Brezner, Amichai; Vakil, Eli

2016-01-01

Memory deficits are a common sequelae following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI), which often have serious implications on age-related academic skills. The current study examined verbal memory performance using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in a pediatric TBI sample. Verbal memory abilities as well as the effect of age at-testing on performance were examined. A sample of 67 children following severe TBI (age average = 12.3 ± 2.74) and 67 matched controls were evaluated using the RAVLT. Age effect at assessment was examined using two age groups: above and below 12 years of age during evaluation. Differences between groups were examined via the 9 RAVLT learning trials and the 7 composite scores conducted out of them. Children following TBI recalled significantly less words than controls on all RAVLT trials and had significantly lower scores on all composite scores. However, all of these scores fell within the low average range. Further analysis revealed significantly lower than average performance among the older children (above 12 years), while scores of the younger children following TBI fell within average limits. To conclude, verbal memory deficits among children following severe TBI demonstrate an age-at-testing effect with more prominent problems occurring above 12 years at the time of evaluation. Yet, age-appropriate performance among children below 12 years of age may not accurately describe memory abilities at younger ages following TBI. It is therefore recommended that clinicians address child's age at testing and avoid using a single test as an indicator of verbal memory functioning post TBI.

Engineering Data Compendium. Human Perception and Performance. Volume 3

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

Wagener, & G. E. Herman. Binaural analysis in the aging auditory system. 1978, 33. 8.316, Fig. I: From K. D. Kryter, Effects of ear protective...Amplitude distortion, 8.313 Articulation index. 8.317 Articulatory features, 8.205 Aspiration, 8.207 Attention, divided, 8.120 Binaural unmasking, 8.312...8.125-8.128 Transfer of training. 8.120 Unmasking, binaural , 8.312, 8.314, 8.315 Verbal memory. 8.101 Verbal recall. 8.311 Visual field location

Consequence of preterm birth in early adolescence: the role of language on auditory short-term memory.

PubMed

Fraello, David; Maller-Kesselman, Jill; Vohr, Betty; Katz, Karol H; Kesler, Shelli; Schneider, Karen; Reiss, Allan; Ment, Laura; Spann, Marisa N

2011-06-01

This study tested the hypothesis that preterm early adolescents' short-term memory is compromised when presented with increasingly complex verbal information and that associated neuroanatomical volumes would differ between preterm and term groups. Forty-nine preterm and 20 term subjects were evaluated at age 12 years with neuropsychological measures and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There were no differences between groups in simple short-term and working memory. Preterm subjects performed lower on learning and short-term memory tests that included increased verbal complexity. They had reduced right parietal, left temporal, and right temporal white matter volumes and greater bilateral frontal gray and right frontal white matter volumes. There was a positive association between complex working memory and the left hippocampus and frontal white matter in term subjects. While not correlated, memory scores and volumes of cortical regions known to subserve language and memory were reduced in preterm subjects. This study provides evidence of possible mechanisms for learning problems in former preterm infants.

Using virtual reality to distinguish subjects with multiple- but not single-domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment from normal elderly subjects.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Alireza; Kargar, Mahmoud; Hesami, Ehsan

2018-03-01

Spatial disorientation is a hallmark of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease. Our aim was to use virtual reality to determine the allocentric and egocentric memory deficits of subjects with single-domain aMCI (aMCIsd) and multiple-domain aMCI (aMCImd). For this purpose, we introduced an advanced virtual reality navigation task (VRNT) to distinguish these deficits in mild Alzheimer's disease (miAD), aMCIsd, and aMCImd. The VRNT performance of 110 subjects, including 20 with miAD, 30 with pure aMCIsd, 30 with pure aMCImd, and 30 cognitively normal controls was compared. Our newly developed VRNT consists of a virtual neighbourhood (allocentric memory) and virtual maze (egocentric memory). Verbal and visuospatial memory impairments were also examined with Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, respectively. We found that miAD and aMCImd subjects were impaired in both allocentric and egocentric memory, but aMCIsd subjects performed similarly to the normal controls on both tasks. The miAD, aMCImd, and aMCIsd subjects performed worse on finding the target or required more time in the virtual environment than the aMCImd, aMCIsd, and normal controls, respectively. Our findings indicated the aMCImd and miAD subjects, as well as the aMCIsd subjects, were more impaired in egocentric orientation than allocentric orientation. We concluded that VRNT can distinguish aMCImd subjects, but not aMCIsd subjects, from normal elderly subjects. The VRNT, along with the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, can be used as a valid diagnostic tool for properly distinguishing different forms of aMCI. © 2018 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.

Dynamic testing in schizophrenia: does training change the construct validity of a test?

PubMed

Wiedl, Karl H; Schöttke, Henning; Green, Michael F; Nuechterlein, Keith H

2004-01-01

Dynamic testing typically involves specific interventions for a test to assess the extent to which test performance can be modified, beyond level of baseline (static) performance. This study used a dynamic version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) that is based on cognitive remediation techniques within a test-training-test procedure. From results of previous studies with schizophrenia patients, we concluded that the dynamic and static versions of the WCST should have different construct validity. This hypothesis was tested by examining the patterns of correlations with measures of executive functioning, secondary verbal memory, and verbal intelligence. Results demonstrated a specific construct validity of WCST dynamic (i.e., posttest) scores as an index of problem solving (Tower of Hanoi) and secondary verbal memory and learning (Auditory Verbal Learning Test), whereas the impact of general verbal capacity and selective attention (Verbal IQ, Stroop Test) was reduced. It is concluded that the construct validity of the test changes with dynamic administration and that this difference helps to explain why the dynamic version of the WCST predicts functional outcome better than the static version.

Changes in auditory memory performance following the use of frequency-modulated system in children with suspected auditory processing disorders.

PubMed

Umat, Cila; Mukari, Siti Z; Ezan, Nurul F; Din, Normah C

2011-08-01

To examine the changes in the short-term auditory memory following the use of frequency-modulated (FM) system in children with suspected auditory processing disorders (APDs), and also to compare the advantages of bilateral over unilateral FM fitting. This longitudinal study involved 53 children from Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Kuantan 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The study was conducted from September 2007 to October 2008 in the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The children's age was between 7-10 years old, and they were assigned into 3 groups: 15 in the control group (not fitted with FM); 19 in the unilateral; and 19 in the bilateral FM-fitting group. Subjects wore the FM system during school time for 12 weeks. Their working memory (WM), best learning (BL), and retention of information (ROI) were measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test at pre-fitting, post (after 12 weeks of FM usage), and at long term (one year after the usage of FM system ended). There were significant differences in the mean WM (p=0.001), BL (p=0.019), and ROI (p=0.005) scores at the different measurement times, in which the mean scores at long-term were consistently higher than at pre-fitting, despite similar performances at the baseline (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in performance between unilateral- and bilateral-fitting groups. The use of FM might give a long-term effect on improving selected short-term auditory memories of some children with suspected APDs. One may not need to use 2 FM receivers to receive advantages on auditory memory performance.

The contribution of short-term memory capacity to reading ability in adolescents with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Edwards, Lindsey; Aitkenhead, Lynne; Langdon, Dawn

2016-11-01

This study aimed to establish the relationship between short-term memory capacity and reading skills in adolescents with cochlear implants. A between-groups design compared a group of young people with cochlear implants with a group of hearing peers on measures of reading, and auditory and visual short-term memory capacity. The groups were matched for non-verbal IQ and age. The adolescents with cochlear implants were recruited from the Cochlear Implant Programme at a specialist children's hospital. The hearing participants were recruited from the same schools as those attended by the implanted adolescents. Participants were 18 cochlear implant users and 14 hearing controls, aged between 12 and 18 years. All used English as their main language and had no significant learning disability or neuro-developmental disorder. Short-term memory capacity was assessed in the auditory modality using Forward and Reverse Digit Span from the WISC IV UK, and visually using Forward and Reverse Memory from the Leiter-R. Individual word reading, reading comprehension and pseudoword decoding were assessed using the WIAT II UK. A series of ANOVAs revealed that the adolescents with cochlear implants had significantly poorer auditory short-term memory capacity and reading skills (on all measures) compared with their hearing peers. However, when Forward Digit Span was entered into the analyses as a covariate, none of the differences remained statistically significant. Deficits in immediate auditory memory persist into adolescence in deaf children with cochlear implants. Short-term auditory memory capacity is an important neurocognitive process in the development of reading skills after cochlear implantation in childhood that remains evident in later adolescence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated 3D mapping of baseline and 12-month associations between three verbal memory measures and hippocampal atrophy in 490 ADNI subjects.

PubMed

Apostolova, Liana G; Morra, Jonathan H; Green, Amity E; Hwang, Kristy S; Avedissian, Christina; Woo, Ellen; Cummings, Jeffrey L; Toga, Arthur W; Jack, Clifford R; Weiner, Michael W; Thompson, Paul M

2010-05-15

We used a previously validated automated machine learning algorithm based on adaptive boosting to segment the hippocampi in baseline and 12-month follow-up 3D T1-weighted brain MRIs of 150 cognitively normal elderly (NC), 245 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 97 Dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) ADNI subjects. Using the radial distance mapping technique, we examined the hippocampal correlates of delayed recall performance on three well-established verbal memory tests--ADAScog delayed recall (ADAScog-DR), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test -DR (AVLT-DR) and Wechsler Logical Memory II-DR (LM II-DR). We observed no significant correlations between delayed recall performance and hippocampal radial distance on any of the three verbal memory measures in NC. All three measures were associated with hippocampal volumes and radial distance in the full sample and in the MCI group at baseline and at follow-up. In DAT we observed stronger left-sided associations between hippocampal radial distance, LM II-DR and ADAScog-DR both at baseline and at follow-up. The strongest linkage between memory performance and hippocampal atrophy in the MCI sample was observed with the most challenging verbal memory test-the AVLT-DR, as opposed to the DAT sample where the least challenging test the ADAScog-DR showed strongest associations with the hippocampal structure. After controlling for baseline hippocampal atrophy, memory performance showed regionally specific associations with hippocampal radial distance in predominantly CA1 but also in subicular distribution. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Verbal and visual memory in patients with early Parkinson's disease: effect of levodopa.

PubMed

Singh, Sumit; Behari, Madhuri

2006-03-01

The effect of initiation of levodopa therapy on the memory functions in patients with Parkinson's disease remains poorly understood. To evaluate the effect of initiation of levodopa therapy on memory, in patients with early Parkinson's disease. Prospective case control study. Seventeen patients with early Parkinson's disease were evaluated for verbal memory using Rey's auditory verbal learning test, and visual memory using the Benton's visual retention test and Form sequence learning test. UPDRS scores, Hoehn and Yahr's Staging and Schwab and England scores of Activities of daily living. Hamilton's depression rating scale and MMSE were also evaluated. Six controls were also evaluated according to similar study protocol. Levodopa was then prescribed to the cases. Same tests were repeated on all the subjects after 12 weeks. The mean age of the patients was 59.8 (+ 12.9 yrs); mean disease duration of 3.26 (+ 2.06 yrs). The mean UPDRS scores of patients were 36.52 (+ 15.84). Controls were of a similar age and sex distribution. A statistically significant improvement in the scores on the UPDRS, Hamilton's depression scale, Schwab and England scale, and a statistically significant deterioration in the scores of visual memory was observed in patients with PD after starting levodopa, as compared to their baseline scores. There was no correlation between degree of deterioration and the dose of levodopa. Initiation of levodopa therapy in patients with early and stable Parkinson's disease is associated with deterioration in visual memory functions, with relative preservation of the verbal memory.

Contralateral interictal and ictal EEG epileptiform activity accentuate memory impairment in unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis patients.

PubMed

Pinto, Lecio F; Adda, Carla C; Silva, Liliane C A; Banaskiwitz, Natalie H C; Passarelli, Valmir; Jorge, Carmen L; Valerio, Rosa M; Castro, Luiz H

2017-03-01

Memory impairment is a recognized complication of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Epileptiform activity may negatively impact on cognition. We evaluated the impact of contralateral EEG involvement on memory in unilateral MTS (uMTS) patients. Retrospective review of 121 right-handed uMTS patients (69 left) evaluated with prolonged video-EEG and verbal and nonverbal memory tests (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Rey-Osterrieth Complex figure), with additional very delayed trials. Patients were classified according to ictal/interictal EEG findings and MTS side as left or right concordant or discordant. Thirty-nine normal individuals who underwent the same neuropsychological battery served as controls. Demographic, disease, and treatment features did not differ among groups. On the 7-day verbal memory free recall, left discordant performed significantly worse than controls and right concordant, recognized fewer words, and had more recognition errors than all other groups, including left concordant. For nonverbal memory, right discordant performed significantly worse than controls on delayed recall, and attained lower scores than other groups on immediate and 7-day recall, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. Left discordant had higher scores of memory complaints than controls and disclosed a trend toward accentuated memory impairment compared with the other groups over time. Our results suggest that contralateral electrographic involvement in uMTS was associated with more pronounced memory impairment for verbal material in left discordant patients, and to a lesser extent, for nonverbal material in right discordant patients. Left discordant group also had increased memory complaints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Processing Determinants of Reading Speed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Mark D.; McClelland, James L.

1979-01-01

Two groups of undergraduates differing in reading ability were tested on a number of reaction-time tasks designed to determine the speed of encoding visual information at several different levels, tests of sensory functions, verbal and quantitative reasoning ability, short-term auditory memory span, and ability to comprehend spoken text.…

The central role of recognition in auditory perception: a neurobiological model.

PubMed

McLachlan, Neil; Wilson, Sarah

2010-01-01

The model presents neurobiologically plausible accounts of sound recognition (including absolute pitch), neural plasticity involved in pitch, loudness and location information integration, and streaming and auditory recall. It is proposed that a cortical mechanism for sound identification modulates the spectrotemporal response fields of inferior colliculus neurons and regulates the encoding of the echoic trace in the thalamus. Identification involves correlation of sequential spectral slices of the stimulus-driven neural activity with stored representations in association with multimodal memories, verbal lexicons, and contextual information. Identities are then consolidated in auditory short-term memory and bound with attribute information (usually pitch, loudness, and direction) that has been integrated according to the identities' spectral properties. Attention to, or recall of, a particular identity will excite a particular sequence in the identification hierarchies and so lead to modulation of thalamus and inferior colliculus neural spectrotemporal response fields. This operates as an adaptive filter for identities, or their attributes, and explains many puzzling human auditory behaviors, such as the cocktail party effect, selective attention, and continuity illusions.

The representation of order information in auditory-verbal short-term memory.

PubMed

Kalm, Kristjan; Norris, Dennis

2014-05-14

Here we investigate how order information is represented in auditory-verbal short-term memory (STM). We used fMRI and a serial recall task to dissociate neural activity patterns representing the phonological properties of the items stored in STM from the patterns representing their order. For this purpose, we analyzed fMRI activity patterns elicited by different item sets and different orderings of those items. These fMRI activity patterns were compared with the predictions made by positional and chaining models of serial order. The positional models encode associations between items and their positions in a sequence, whereas the chaining models encode associations between successive items and retain no position information. We show that a set of brain areas in the postero-dorsal stream of auditory processing store associations between items and order as predicted by a positional model. The chaining model of order representation generates a different pattern similarity prediction, which was shown to be inconsistent with the fMRI data. Our results thus favor a neural model of order representation that stores item codes, position codes, and the mapping between them. This study provides the first fMRI evidence for a specific model of order representation in the human brain. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/346879-08$15.00/0.

Psycho acoustical Measures in Individuals with Congenital Visual Impairment.

PubMed

Kumar, Kaushlendra; Thomas, Teenu; Bhat, Jayashree S; Ranjan, Rajesh

2017-12-01

In congenital visual impaired individuals one modality is impaired (visual modality) this impairment is compensated by other sensory modalities. There is evidence that visual impaired performed better in different auditory task like localization, auditory memory, verbal memory, auditory attention, and other behavioural tasks when compare to normal sighted individuals. The current study was aimed to compare the temporal resolution, frequency resolution and speech perception in noise ability in individuals with congenital visual impaired and normal sighted. Temporal resolution, frequency resolution, and speech perception in noise were measured using MDT, GDT, DDT, SRDT, and SNR50 respectively. Twelve congenital visual impaired participants with age range of 18 to 40 years were taken and equal in number with normal sighted participants. All the participants had normal hearing sensitivity with normal middle ear functioning. Individual with visual impairment showed superior threshold in MDT, SRDT and SNR50 as compared to normal sighted individuals. This may be due to complexity of the tasks; MDT, SRDT and SNR50 are complex tasks than GDT and DDT. Visual impairment showed superior performance in auditory processing and speech perception with complex auditory perceptual tasks.

Association between Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease, APOE Genotypes and Auditory Verbal Learning Task in Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Mandecka, Monika; Budziszewska, Magdalena; Barczak, Anna; Pepłońska, Beata; Chodakowska-Żebrowska, Małgorzata; Filipek-Gliszczyńska, Anna; Nesteruk, Marta; Styczyńska, Maria; Barcikowska, Maria; Gabryelewicz, Tomasz

2016-07-29

In the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD), early pathological changes in the brain start decades before any clinical manifestation. The concentration levels of AD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, such as amyloid-β1-42 (Aβ1-42), total tau (T-tau), and phosphorylated tau (P-tau), may reflect a cerebral pathology facilitating an early diagnosis of the disease and predicting a cognitive deterioration. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of AD CSF biomarkers in those individuals with a subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's dementia (AD-D), together with the relationships between the biomarkers, an APOE ɛ4 presence, and a verbal episodic memory performance. We included 252 patients from the memory clinic with a diagnosis of SCD (n = 85), MCI (n = 87), and AD-D (n = 80). A verbal episodic memory performance level was assessed and was based on a delayed recall trial from the 10-word list of an auditory verbal learning task (AVLT). We found that the patients with more severe cognitive impairments had significantly lower levels of Aβ1-42 and higher levels of T-tau and P-tau. This pattern was also typical for the APOE ɛ4 carriers, who had lower levels of Aβ1-42 than the noncarriers in the AD-D and MCI groups. The levels of T-tau and P-tau were significantly higher in the APOE ɛ4 carriers than in the noncarriers, but only in the MCI patients. The AVLT performance in the whole study samples was predicted by age, Aβ1-42, and the T-tau CSF biomarkers, but not by the APOE genotyping.

Executive abilities in children with congenital visual impairment in mid-childhood.

PubMed

Bathelt, Joe; de Haan, Michelle; Salt, Alison; Dale, Naomi Jane

2018-02-01

The role of vision and vision deprivation in the development of executive function (EF) abilities in childhood is little understood; aspects of EF such as initiative, attention orienting, inhibition, planning and performance monitoring are often measured through visual tasks. Studying the development and integrity of EF abilities in children with congenital visual impairment (VI) may provide important insights into the development of EF and also its possible relationship with vision and non-visual senses. The current study investigates non-visual EF abilities in 18 school-age children of average verbal intelligence with VI of differing levels of severity arising from congenital disorders affecting the eye, retina, or anterior optic nerve. Standard auditory neuropsychological assessments of sustained and divided attention, phonemic, semantic and switching verbal fluency, verbal working memory, and ratings of everyday executive abilities by parents were undertaken. Executive skills were compared to age-matched typically-sighted (TS) typically-developing children and across levels of vision (mild to moderate VI [MVI] or severe to profound VI [SPVI]). The results do not indicate significant differences or deficits on direct assessments of verbal and auditory EF between the groups. However, parent ratings suggest difficulties with everyday executive abilities, with the greatest difficulties in those with SPVI. The findings are discussed as possibly reflecting increased demands of behavioral executive skills for children with VI in everyday situations despite auditory and verbal EF abilities in the typical range for their age. These findings have potential implications for clinical and educational practices.

Remembering a criminal conversation: beyond eyewitness testimony.

PubMed

Campos, Laura; Alonso-Quecuty, María L

2006-01-01

Unlike the important body of work on eyewitness memory, little research has been done on the accuracy and completeness of "earwitness" memory for conversations. The present research examined the effects of mode of presentation (audiovisual/ auditory-only) on witnesses' free recall for utterances in a criminal conversation at different retention intervals (immediate/delayed) within a single experiment. Different forms of correct recall (verbatim/gist) of the verbal information as well as different types of errors (distortions/fabrications) were also examined. It was predicted that participants in the audiovisual modality would provide more correct information, and fewer errors than participants in the auditory-only modality. Participants' recall was predicted to be impaired over time, dropping to a greater extent after a delay in the auditory-only modality. Results confirmed these hypotheses. Interpretations of the overall findings are offered within the context of dual-coding theory, and within the theoretical frameworks of source monitoring and fuzzy-trace theory.

Common and differential electrophysiological mechanisms underlying semantic object memory retrieval probed by features presented in different stimulus types.

PubMed

Chiang, Hsueh-Sheng; Eroh, Justin; Spence, Jeffrey S; Motes, Michael A; Maguire, Mandy J; Krawczyk, Daniel C; Brier, Matthew R; Hart, John; Kraut, Michael A

2016-08-01

How the brain combines the neural representations of features that comprise an object in order to activate a coherent object memory is poorly understood, especially when the features are presented in different modalities (visual vs. auditory) and domains (verbal vs. nonverbal). We examined this question using three versions of a modified Semantic Object Retrieval Test, where object memory was probed by a feature presented as a written word, a spoken word, or a picture, followed by a second feature always presented as a visual word. Participants indicated whether each feature pair elicited retrieval of the memory of a particular object. Sixteen subjects completed one of the three versions (N=48 in total) while their EEG were recorded simultaneously. We analyzed EEG data in four separate frequency bands (delta: 1-4Hz, theta: 4-7Hz; alpha: 8-12Hz; beta: 13-19Hz) using a multivariate data-driven approach. We found that alpha power time-locked to response was modulated by both cross-modality (visual vs. auditory) and cross-domain (verbal vs. nonverbal) probing of semantic object memory. In addition, retrieval trials showed greater changes in all frequency bands compared to non-retrieval trials across all stimulus types in both response-locked and stimulus-locked analyses, suggesting dissociable neural subcomponents involved in binding object features to retrieve a memory. We conclude that these findings support both modality/domain-dependent and modality/domain-independent mechanisms during semantic object memory retrieval. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Poor anchoring limits dyslexics' perceptual, memory, and reading skills.

PubMed

Oganian, Yulia; Ahissar, Merav

2012-07-01

The basic deficits underlying the severe and persistent reading difficulties in dyslexia are still highly debated. One of the major topics of debate is whether these deficits are language specific, or affect both verbal and non-verbal stimuli. Recently, Ahissar and colleagues proposed the "anchoring-deficit hypothesis" (Ahissar, Lubin, Putter-Katz, & Banai, 2006), which suggests that dyslexics have a general difficulty in automatic extraction of stimulus regularities from auditory inputs. This hypothesis explained a broad range of dyslexics' verbal and non-verbal difficulties. However, it was not directly tested in the context of reading and verbal memory, which poses the main stumbling blocks to dyslexics. Here we assessed the abilities of adult dyslexics to efficiently benefit from ("anchor to") regularities embedded in repeated tones, orally presented syllables, and written words. We also compared dyslexics' performance to that of individuals with attention disorder (ADHD), but no reading disability. We found an anchoring effect in all groups: all gained from stimulus repetition. However, in line with the anchoring-deficit hypothesis, controls and ADHD participants showed a significantly larger anchoring effect in all tasks. This study is the first that directly shows that the same domain-general deficit, poor anchoring, characterizes dyslexics' performance in perceptual, working memory and reading tasks. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Short-Term and Working Memory Impairments in Early-Implanted, Long-Term Cochlear Implant Users Are Independent of Audibility and Speech Production

PubMed Central

AuBuchon, Angela M.; Pisoni, David B.; Kronenberger, William G.

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVES Determine if early-implanted, long-term cochlear implant (CI) users display delays in verbal short-term and working memory capacity when processes related to audibility and speech production are eliminated. DESIGN Twenty-three long-term CI users and 23 normal-hearing controls each completed forward and backward digit span tasks under testing conditions which differed in presentation modality (auditory or visual) and response output (spoken recall or manual pointing). RESULTS Normal-hearing controls reproduced more lists of digits than the CI users, even when the test items were presented visually and the responses were made manually via touchscreen response. CONCLUSIONS Short-term and working memory delays observed in CI users are not due to greater demands from peripheral sensory processes such as audibility or from overt speech-motor planning and response output organization. Instead, CI users are less efficient at encoding and maintaining phonological representations in verbal short-term memory utilizing phonological and linguistic strategies during memory tasks. PMID:26496666

Short-Term and Working Memory Impairments in Early-Implanted, Long-Term Cochlear Implant Users Are Independent of Audibility and Speech Production.

PubMed

AuBuchon, Angela M; Pisoni, David B; Kronenberger, William G

2015-01-01

To determine whether early-implanted, long-term cochlear implant (CI) users display delays in verbal short-term and working memory capacity when processes related to audibility and speech production are eliminated. Twenty-three long-term CI users and 23 normal-hearing controls each completed forward and backward digit span tasks under testing conditions that differed in presentation modality (auditory or visual) and response output (spoken recall or manual pointing). Normal-hearing controls reproduced more lists of digits than the CI users, even when the test items were presented visually and the responses were made manually via touchscreen response. Short-term and working memory delays observed in CI users are not due to greater demands from peripheral sensory processes such as audibility or from overt speech-motor planning and response output organization. Instead, CI users are less efficient at encoding and maintaining phonological representations in verbal short-term memory using phonological and linguistic strategies during memory tasks.

Computer Presentational Features for Young Children's Preferential Selection and Recall of Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calvert, Sandra L.; And Others

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of visual and auditory presentational features on young children's selection and memory for verbally presented content. Assessed as a function of action and sound were preschool children's preferential selection and recall of words presented in a computer microworld. A computer microworld…

Recall is not necessary for verbal sequence learning.

PubMed

Kalm, Kristjan; Norris, Dennis

2016-01-01

The question of whether overt recall of to-be-remembered material accelerates learning is important in a wide range of real-world learning settings. In the case of verbal sequence learning, previous research has proposed that recall either is necessary for verbal sequence learning (Cohen & Johansson Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6, 139-143, 1967; Cunningham, Healy, & Williams Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 575-597, 1984), or at least contributes significantly to it (Glass, Krejci, & Goldman Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 189-199, 1989; Oberauer & Meyer Memory, 17, 774-781, 2009). In contrast, here we show that the amount of previous spoken recall does not predict learning and is not necessary for it. We suggest that previous research may have underestimated participants' learning by using suboptimal performance measures, or by using manual or written recall. However, we show that the amount of spoken recall predicted how much interference from other to-be-remembered sequences would be observed. In fact, spoken recall mediated most of the error learning observed in the task. Our data support the view that the learning of overlapping auditory-verbal sequences is driven by learning the phonological representations and not the articulatory motor responses. However, spoken recall seems to reinforce already learned representations, whether they are correct or incorrect, thus contributing to a participant identifying a specific stimulus as either "learned" or "new" during the presentation phase.

Verbal Memory Deficits Are Correlated with Prefrontal Hypometabolism in 18FDG PET of Recreational MDMA Users

PubMed Central

Bosch, Oliver G.; Wagner, Michael; Jessen, Frank; Kühn, Kai-Uwe; Joe, Alexius; Seifritz, Erich; Maier, Wolfgang; Biersack, Hans-Jürgen; Quednow, Boris B.

2013-01-01

Introduction 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”) is a recreational club drug with supposed neurotoxic effects selectively on the serotonin system. MDMA users consistently exhibit memory dysfunction but there is an ongoing debate if these deficits are induced mainly by alterations in the prefrontal or mediotemporal cortex, especially the hippocampus. Thus, we investigated the relation of verbal memory deficits with alterations of regional cerebral brain glucose metabolism (rMRGlu) in recreational MDMA users. Methods Brain glucose metabolism in rest was assessed using 2-deoxy-2-(18F)fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography (18FDG PET) in 19 male recreational users of MDMA and 19 male drug-naïve controls. 18FDG PET data were correlated with memory performance assessed with a German version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Results As previously shown, MDMA users showed significant impairment in verbal declarative memory performance. PET scans revealed significantly decreased rMRGlu in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex, bilateral thalamus, right hippocampus, right precuneus, right cerebellum, and pons (at the level of raphe nuclei) of MDMA users. Among MDMA users, learning and recall were positively correlated with rMRGlu predominantly in bilateral frontal and parietal brain regions, while recognition was additionally related to rMRGlu in the right mediotemporal and bihemispheric lateral temporal cortex. Moreover, cumulative lifetime dose of MDMA was negatively correlated with rMRGlu in the left dorsolateral and bilateral orbital and medial PFC, left inferior parietal and right lateral temporal cortex. Conclusions Verbal learning and recall deficits of recreational MDMA users are correlated with glucose hypometabolism in prefrontal and parietal cortex, while word recognition was additionally correlated with mediotemporal hypometabolism. We conclude that memory deficits of MDMA users arise from combined fronto-parieto-mediotemporal dysfunction. PMID:23585882

Direct comparison of four implicit memory tests.

PubMed

Rajaram, S; Roediger, H L

1993-07-01

Four verbal implicit memory tests, word identification, word stem completion, word fragment completion, and anagram solution, were directly compared in one experiment and were contrasted with free recall. On all implicit tests, priming was greatest from prior visual presentation of words, less (but significant) from auditory presentation, and least from pictorial presentations. Typefont did not affect priming. In free recall, pictures were recalled better than words. The four implicit tests all largely index perceptual (lexical) operations in recognizing words, or visual word form representations.

Attention and Modality Effects in STM: A Second Look. Occasional Paper No. 14.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Thomas; Byers, Joe

The auditory/verbal short-term memory of 64 college students was examined across a wide range of retention intervals (5 seconds to 60 seconds). High attention during interpolated processing was ensured by monitoring rehearsal with a combination of methods, and errors were analyzed for evidence of proactive and intra-unit interference. Recall of…

Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS): Factor Structure of a Core Battery.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Glenn E.; And Others

1992-01-01

Using the Mayo Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS) group (526 55-to 97-year-old adults), factor models were examined for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R); the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS); and a core battery of the WAIS-R, the WMS, and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. (SLD)

Story Retelling and Language Ability in School-Aged Children with Cerebral Palsy and Speech Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordberg, Ann; Dahlgren Sandberg, Annika; Miniscalco, Carmela

2015-01-01

Background: Research on retelling ability and cognition is limited in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and speech impairment. Aims: To explore the impact of expressive and receptive language, narrative discourse dimensions (Narrative Assessment Profile measures), auditory and visual memory, theory of mind (ToM) and non-verbal cognition on the…

Learning Curve Analyses in Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Are Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Truly Visual Learners?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erdodi, Laszlo; Lajiness-O'Neill, Renee; Schmitt, Thomas A.

2013-01-01

Visual and auditory verbal learning using a selective reminding format was studied in a mixed clinical sample of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n = 42), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (n = 83), velocardiofacial syndrome (n = 17) and neurotypicals (n = 38) using the Test of Memory and Learning to (1) more thoroughly…

What factors underlie children's susceptibility to semantic and phonological false memories? investigating the roles of language skills and auditory short-term memory.

PubMed

McGeown, Sarah P; Gray, Eleanor A; Robinson, Jamey L; Dewhurst, Stephen A

2014-06-01

Two experiments investigated the cognitive skills that underlie children's susceptibility to semantic and phonological false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott procedure (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). In Experiment 1, performance on the Verbal Similarities subtest of the British Ability Scales (BAS) II (Elliott, Smith, & McCulloch, 1997) predicted correct and false recall of semantic lures. In Experiment 2, performance on the Yopp-Singer Test of Phonemic Segmentation (Yopp, 1988) did not predict correct recall, but inversely predicted the false recall of phonological lures. Auditory short-term memory was a negative predictor of false recall in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. The findings are discussed in terms of the formation of gist and verbatim traces as proposed by fuzzy trace theory (Reyna & Brainerd, 1998) and the increasing automaticity of associations as proposed by associative activation theory (Howe, Wimmer, Gagnon, & Plumpton, 2009). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Controlling memory impairment in elderly adults using virtual reality memory training: a randomized controlled pilot study.

PubMed

Optale, Gabriele; Urgesi, Cosimo; Busato, Valentina; Marin, Silvia; Piron, Lamberto; Priftis, Konstantinos; Gamberini, Luciano; Capodieci, Salvatore; Bordin, Adalberto

2010-05-01

Memory decline is a prevalent aspect of aging but may also be the first sign of cognitive pathology. Virtual reality (VR) using immersion and interaction may provide new approaches to the treatment of memory deficits in elderly individuals. The authors implemented a VR training intervention to try to lessen cognitive decline and improve memory functions. The authors randomly assigned 36 elderly residents of a rest care facility (median age 80 years) who were impaired on the Verbal Story Recall Test either to the experimental group (EG) or the control group (CG). The EG underwent 6 months of VR memory training (VRMT) that involved auditory stimulation and VR experiences in path finding. The initial training phase lasted 3 months (3 auditory and 3 VR sessions every 2 weeks), and there was a booster training phase during the following 3 months (1 auditory and 1 VR session per week). The CG underwent equivalent face-to-face training sessions using music therapy. Both groups participated in social and creative and assisted-mobility activities. Neuropsychological and functional evaluations were performed at baseline, after the initial training phase, and after the booster training phase. The EG showed significant improvements in memory tests, especially in long-term recall with an effect size of 0.7 and in several other aspects of cognition. In contrast, the CG showed progressive decline. The authors suggest that VRMT may improve memory function in elderly adults by enhancing focused attention.

Selective impairment of auditory selective attention under concurrent cognitive load.

PubMed

Dittrich, Kerstin; Stahl, Christoph

2012-06-01

Load theory predicts that concurrent cognitive load impairs selective attention. For visual stimuli, it has been shown that this impairment can be selective: Distraction was specifically increased when the stimulus material used in the cognitive load task matches that of the selective attention task. Here, we report four experiments that demonstrate such selective load effects for auditory selective attention. The effect of two different cognitive load tasks on two different auditory Stroop tasks was examined, and selective load effects were observed: Interference in a nonverbal-auditory Stroop task was increased under concurrent nonverbal-auditory cognitive load (compared with a no-load condition), but not under concurrent verbal-auditory cognitive load. By contrast, interference in a verbal-auditory Stroop task was increased under concurrent verbal-auditory cognitive load but not under nonverbal-auditory cognitive load. This double-dissociation pattern suggests the existence of different and separable verbal and nonverbal processing resources in the auditory domain.

Selective attention and the three-process memory model for the interpretation of verbal free recall in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Christidi, Foteini; Zalonis, Ioannis; Smyrnis, Nikolaos; Evdokimidis, Ioannis

2012-09-01

The present study investigates selective attention and verbal free recall in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and examines the contribution of selective attention, encoding, consolidation, and retrieval memory processes to patients' verbal free recall. We examined 22 non-demented patients with sporadic ALS and 22 demographically related controls using Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test (SNST; selective attention) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT; immediate & delayed verbal free recall). The item-specific deficit approach (ISDA) was applied to RAVLT to evaluate encoding, consolidation, and retrieval difficulties. ALS patients performed worse than controls on SNST (p < .001) and RAVLT immediate and delayed recall (p < .001) and showed deficient encoding (p = .001) and consolidation (p = .002) but not retrieval (p = .405). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that SNST and ISDA indices accounted for: (a) 91.1% of the variance in RAVLT immediate recall, with encoding (p = .016), consolidation (p < .001), and retrieval (p = .032) significantly contributing to the overall model and the SNST alone accounting for 41.6%; and (b) 85.2% of the variance in RAVLT delayed recall, with consolidation (p < .001) and retrieval (p = .008) significantly contributing to the overall model and the SNST alone accounting for 39.8%. Thus, selective attention, encoding, and consolidation, and to a lesser extent of retrieval, influenced both immediate and delayed verbal free recall. Concluding, selective attention and the memory processes of encoding, consolidation, and retrieval should be considered while interpreting patients' impaired free recall. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1-10).

Modeling Learning and Memory Using Verbal Learning Tests: Results From ACTIVE

PubMed Central

Gross, Alden L.

2013-01-01

Objective. To investigate the influence of memory training on initial recall and learning. Method. The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study of community-dwelling adults older than age 65 (n = 1,401). We decomposed trial-level recall in the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) into initial recall and learning across trials using latent growth models. Results. Trial-level increases in words recalled in the AVLT and HVLT at each follow-up visit followed an approximately logarithmic shape. Over the 5-year study period, memory training was associated with slower decline in Trial 1 AVLT recall (Cohen’s d = 0.35, p = .03) and steep pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning (d = 1.56, p < .001). Findings were replicated using the HVLT (decline in initial recall, d = 0.60, p = .01; pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning, d = 3.10, p < .001). Because of the immediate training boost, the memory-trained group had a higher level of recall than the control group through the end of the 5-year study period despite faster decline in learning. Discussion. This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms by which training benefits memory and expands current knowledge by reporting long-term changes in initial recall and learning, as measured from growth models and by characterization of the impact of memory training on these components. Results reveal that memory training delays the worsening of memory span and boosts learning. PMID:22929389

Modeling learning and memory using verbal learning tests: results from ACTIVE.

PubMed

Gross, Alden L; Rebok, George W; Brandt, Jason; Tommet, Doug; Marsiske, Michael; Jones, Richard N

2013-03-01

To investigate the influence of memory training on initial recall and learning. The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study of community-dwelling adults older than age 65 (n = 1,401). We decomposed trial-level recall in the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) into initial recall and learning across trials using latent growth models. Trial-level increases in words recalled in the AVLT and HVLT at each follow-up visit followed an approximately logarithmic shape. Over the 5-year study period, memory training was associated with slower decline in Trial 1 AVLT recall (Cohen's d = 0.35, p = .03) and steep pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning (d = 1.56, p < .001). Findings were replicated using the HVLT (decline in initial recall, d = 0.60, p = .01; pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning, d = 3.10, p < .001). Because of the immediate training boost, the memory-trained group had a higher level of recall than the control group through the end of the 5-year study period despite faster decline in learning. This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms by which training benefits memory and expands current knowledge by reporting long-term changes in initial recall and learning, as measured from growth models and by characterization of the impact of memory training on these components. Results reveal that memory training delays the worsening of memory span and boosts learning.

Association of Chronic Subjective Tinnitus with Neuro- Cognitive Performance.

PubMed

Gudwani, Sunita; Munjal, Sanjay K; Panda, Naresh K; Kohli, Adarsh

2017-12-01

Chronic subjective tinnitus is associated with cognitive disruptions affecting perception, thinking, language, reasoning, problem solving, memory, visual tasks (reading) and attention. To evaluate existence of any association between tinnitus parameters and neuropsychological performance to explain cognitive processing. Study design was prospective, consisting 25 patients with idiopathic chronic subjective tinnitus and gave informed consent before planning their treatment. Neuropsychological profile included (i) performance on verbal information, comprehension, arithmetic and digit span; (ii) non-verbal performance for visual pattern completion analogies; (iii) memory performance for long-term, recent, delayed-recall, immediate-recall, verbal-retention, visualretention, visual recognition; (iv) reception, interpretation and execution for visual motor gestalt. Correlation between tinnitus onset duration/ loudness perception with neuropsychological profile was assessed by calculating Spearman's coefficient. Findings suggest that tinnitus may interfere with cognitive processing especially performance on digit span, verbal comprehension, mental balance, attention & concentration, immediate recall, visual recognition and visual-motor gestalt subtests. Negative correlation between neurocognitive tasks with tinnitus loudness and onset duration indicated their association. Positive correlation between tinnitus and visual-motor gestalt performance indicated the brain dysfunction. Tinnitus association with non-auditory processing of verbal, visual and visuo-spatial information suggested neuroplastic changes that need to be targeted in cognitive rehabilitation.

On the Perceptual Subprocess of Absolute Pitch.

PubMed

Kim, Seung-Goo; Knösche, Thomas R

2017-01-01

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability of musicians to identify the pitch of tonal sound without external reference. While there have been behavioral and neuroimaging studies on the characteristics of AP, how the AP is implemented in human brains remains largely unknown. AP can be viewed as comprising of two subprocesses: perceptual (processing auditory input to extract a pitch chroma) and associative (linking an auditory representation of pitch chroma with a verbal/non-verbal label). In this review, we focus on the nature of the perceptual subprocess of AP. Two different models on how the perceptual subprocess works have been proposed: either via absolute pitch categorization (APC) or based on absolute pitch memory (APM). A major distinction between the two views is that whether the AP uses unique auditory processing (i.e., APC) that exists only in musicians with AP or it is rooted in a common phenomenon (i.e., APM), only with heightened efficiency. We review relevant behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that supports each notion. Lastly, we list open questions and potential ideas to address them.

On the Perceptual Subprocess of Absolute Pitch

PubMed Central

Kim, Seung-Goo; Knösche, Thomas R.

2017-01-01

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability of musicians to identify the pitch of tonal sound without external reference. While there have been behavioral and neuroimaging studies on the characteristics of AP, how the AP is implemented in human brains remains largely unknown. AP can be viewed as comprising of two subprocesses: perceptual (processing auditory input to extract a pitch chroma) and associative (linking an auditory representation of pitch chroma with a verbal/non-verbal label). In this review, we focus on the nature of the perceptual subprocess of AP. Two different models on how the perceptual subprocess works have been proposed: either via absolute pitch categorization (APC) or based on absolute pitch memory (APM). A major distinction between the two views is that whether the AP uses unique auditory processing (i.e., APC) that exists only in musicians with AP or it is rooted in a common phenomenon (i.e., APM), only with heightened efficiency. We review relevant behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that supports each notion. Lastly, we list open questions and potential ideas to address them. PMID:29085275

Speech timing and working memory in profoundly deaf children after cochlear implantation

PubMed Central

Burkholder, Rose A.; Pisoni, David B.

2012-01-01

Thirty-seven profoundly deaf children between 8- and 9-years-old with cochlear implants and a comparison group of normal-hearing children were studied to measure speaking rates, digit spans, and speech timing during digit span recall. The deaf children displayed longer sentence durations and pauses during recall and shorter digit spans compared to the normal-hearing children. Articulation rates, measured from sentence durations, were strongly correlated with immediate memory span in both normal-hearing and deaf children, indicating that both slower subvocal rehearsal and scanning processes may be factors that contribute to the deaf children’s shorter digit spans. These findings demonstrate that subvocal verbal rehearsal speed and memory scanning processes are not only dependent on chronological age as suggested in earlier research by Cowan and colleagues (1998). Instead, in this clinical population the absence of early auditory experience and phonological processing activities before implantation appears to produce measurable effects on the working memory processes that rely on verbal rehearsal and serial scanning of phonological information in short-term memory. PMID:12742763

Planning sentences while doing other things at the same time: effects of concurrent verbal and visuospatial working memory load.

PubMed

Klaus, Jana; Mädebach, Andreas; Oppermann, Frank; Jescheniak, Jörg D

2017-04-01

This study investigated to what extent advance planning during sentence production is affected by a concurrent cognitive load. In two picture-word interference experiments in which participants produced subject-verb-object sentences while ignoring auditory distractor words, we assessed advance planning at a phonological (lexeme) and at an abstract-lexical (lemma) level under visuospatial or verbal working memory (WM) load. At the phonological level, subject and object nouns were found to be activated before speech onset with concurrent visuospatial WM load, but only subject nouns were found to be activated with concurrent verbal WM load, indicating a reduced planning scope as a function of type of WM load (Experiment 1). By contrast, at the abstract-lexical level, subject and object nouns were found to be activated regardless of type of concurrent load (Experiment 2). In both experiments, sentence planning had a more detrimental effect on concurrent verbal WM task performance than on concurrent visuospatial WM task performance. Overall, our results suggest that advance planning at the phonological level is more affected by a concurrently performed verbal WM task than advance planning at the abstract-lexical level. Also, they indicate an overlap of resources allocated to phonological planning in speech production and verbal WM.

Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Teachers. Topics in Down Syndrome.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oelwein, Patricia Logan

This book is designed to give parents and teachers of children with Down syndrome and other developmental delays an alternative reading program. The program is based on a functional, language-experience approach which attempts to compensate for common deficits in auditory memory and verbal skills. The seven chapters of Part 1 describe how children…

Rehearsal significantly improves immediate and delayed recall on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test.

PubMed

Hessen, Erik

2011-10-01

A repeated observation during memory assessment with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is that patients who spontaneously employ a memory rehearsal strategy by repeating the word list more than once achieve better scores than patients who only repeat the word list once. This observation led to concern about the ability of the standard test procedure of RAVLT and similar tests in eliciting the best possible recall scores. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that a rehearsal recall strategy of repeating the word list more than once would result in improved scores of recall on the RAVLT. We report on differences in outcome after standard administration and after experimental administration on Immediate and Delayed Recall measures from the RAVLT of 50 patients. The experimental administration resulted in significantly improved scores for all the variables employed. Additionally, it was found that patients who failed effort screening showed significantly poorer improvement on Delayed Recall compared with those who passed the effort screening. The general clear improvement both in raw scores and T-scores demonstrates that recall performance can be significantly influenced by the strategy of the patient or by small variations in instructions by the examiner.

Better verbal memory in women than men in MCI despite similar levels of hippocampal atrophy.

PubMed

Sundermann, Erin E; Biegon, Anat; Rubin, Leah H; Lipton, Richard B; Mowrey, Wenzhu; Landau, Susan; Maki, Pauline M

2016-04-12

To examine sex differences in the relationship between clinical symptoms related to Alzheimer disease (AD) (verbal memory deficits) and neurodegeneration (hippocampal volume/intracranial volume ratio [HpVR]) across AD stages. The sample included 379 healthy participants, 694 participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and 235 participants with AD and dementia from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative who completed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using linear regression to examine the interaction between sex and HpVR on RAVLT across and within diagnostic groups adjusting for age, education, and APOE ε4 status. Across groups, there were significant sex × HpVR interactions for immediate and delayed recall (p < 0.01). Women outperformed men among individuals with moderate to larger HpVR, but not among individuals with smaller HpVR. In diagnosis-stratified analyses, the HpVR × sex interaction was significant in the aMCI group, but not in the control or AD dementia groups, for immediate and delayed recall (p < 0.01). Among controls, women outperformed men on both outcomes irrespective of HpVR (p < 0.001). In AD dementia, better RAVLT performance was independently associated with female sex (immediate, p = 0.04) and larger HpVR (delayed, p = 0.001). Women showed an advantage in verbal memory despite evidence of moderate hippocampal atrophy. This advantage may represent a sex-specific form of cognitive reserve delaying verbal memory decline until more advanced disease stages. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Prefrontal Neuronal Responses during Audiovisual Mnemonic Processing

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jaewon

2015-01-01

During communication we combine auditory and visual information. Neurophysiological research in nonhuman primates has shown that single neurons in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) exhibit multisensory responses to faces and vocalizations presented simultaneously. However, whether VLPFC is also involved in maintaining those communication stimuli in working memory or combining stored information across different modalities is unknown, although its human homolog, the inferior frontal gyrus, is known to be important in integrating verbal information from auditory and visual working memory. To address this question, we recorded from VLPFC while rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) performed an audiovisual working memory task. Unlike traditional match-to-sample/nonmatch-to-sample paradigms, which use unimodal memoranda, our nonmatch-to-sample task used dynamic movies consisting of both facial gestures and the accompanying vocalizations. For the nonmatch conditions, a change in the auditory component (vocalization), the visual component (face), or both components was detected. Our results show that VLPFC neurons are activated by stimulus and task factors: while some neurons simply responded to a particular face or a vocalization regardless of the task period, others exhibited activity patterns typically related to working memory such as sustained delay activity and match enhancement/suppression. In addition, we found neurons that detected the component change during the nonmatch period. Interestingly, some of these neurons were sensitive to the change of both components and therefore combined information from auditory and visual working memory. These results suggest that VLPFC is not only involved in the perceptual processing of faces and vocalizations but also in their mnemonic processing. PMID:25609614

Impaired decision making and delayed memory are related with anxiety and depressive symptoms in acromegaly.

PubMed

Crespo, Iris; Santos, Alicia; Valassi, Elena; Pires, Patricia; Webb, Susan M; Resmini, Eugenia

2015-12-01

Evaluation of cognitive function in acromegaly has revealed contradictory findings; some studies report normal cognition in patients with long-term cured acromegaly, while others show attention and memory deficits. Moreover, the presence of affective disorders in these patients is common. Our aim was to evaluate memory and decision making in acromegalic patients and explore their relationship with affective disorders like anxiety and depressive symptoms. Thirty-one patients with acromegaly (mean age 49.5 ± 8.5 years, 14 females and 17 males) and thirty-one healthy controls participated in this study. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were used to evaluate decision making, verbal memory, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, respectively. Acromegalic patients showed impairments in delayed verbal memory (p < 0.05) and more anxiety and depressive symptoms (p < 0.05) than controls. In the IGT, acromegalic patients presented an altered decision-making strategy compared to controls, choosing a lower number of the safer cards (p < 0.05) and higher number of the riskier cards (p < 0.05). Moreover, multiple correlations between anxiety and depressive symptoms and performance in memory and decision making were found. Impaired delayed memory and decision making observed in acromegalic patients are related to anxiety and depressive symptoms. Providing emotional support to the patients could improve their cognitive function. A key clinical application of this research is the finding that depressive symptoms and anxiety are essentially modifiable factors.

Binge drinking and declarative memory in university students.

PubMed

Parada, María; Corral, Montserrat; Caamaño-Isorna, Francisco; Mota, Nayara; Crego, Alberto; Holguín, Socorro Rodríguez; Cadaveira, Fernando

2011-08-01

Binge drinking (BD), which is characterized by sporadic consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods, is prevalent among university students. Animal studies have shown that BD is associated with damage to the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a key role in learning and memory. The temporal cortex undergoes structural and functional changes during adolescence. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between BD and declarative memory in male and female university students. The participants were 122 students (between 18 and 20 years of age): 62 BD (30 women) and 60 non-BD (29 women). The neuropsychological assessment included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Weschler Memory Scale-3rd ed. (WMS-III) Logical Memory subtest, to evaluate verbal declarative memory, and the WMS-III Family Pictures subtest, to measure visual declarative memory. The BD students remembered fewer words in the interference list and displayed greater proactive interference in the RAVLT; they performed worse in the Logical Memory subtest, both on immediate and delayed recall. There were no differences between the groups in performance of the Family Pictures subtest. No significant interactions were observed between BD and sex. Binge drinking is associated with poorer verbal declarative memory, regardless of sex. The findings are consistent with the vulnerability of the adolescent hippocampus to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. Longitudinal studies will help determine the nature of this relationship, the neurodevelopmental trajectories for each sex, and the repercussions on academic performance. Copyright © 2011 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Age, gesture span, and dissociations among component subsystems of working memory.

PubMed

Dolman, R; Roy, E A; Dimeck, P T; Hall, C R

2000-01-01

Working memory was examined in old and young adults using a series of span tasks, including the forward versions of the visual-spatial and digit span tasks from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, and comparable hand gesture and visual design span tasks. The observation that the young participants performed significantly better on all the tasks except digit span suggested that aging has an impact on some component subsystems of working memory but not others. Analyses of intercorrelations in span performance supports the dissociation among three component subsystems, one for auditory verbal information (the articulatory loop), one for visual-spatial information (visual-spatial scratch-pad), and one for hand/body postural configuration.

Disproportionately severe memory deficit in relation to normal intellectual functioning after closed head injury.

PubMed Central

Levin, H S; Goldstein, F C; High, W M; Eisenberg, H M

1988-01-01

The presence of disproportionate memory impairment with relatively preserved intellectual functioning was examined in 87 survivors of moderate or severe closed head injury. Approximately one-fourth of the patients tested at 5 to 15 and/or 16 to 42 months after injury manifested defective memory on both auditory and pictorial measures despite obtaining Wechsler Verbal and Performance Intelligence Quotients within the average range. The findings indicate that disproportionately severe memory deficit persists in a subgroup of closed head injured survivors which is reminiscent in some cases of the amnesic disturbance arising from other causes. Evaluation of long term memory in relation to cognitive ability could potentially identify important distinctions for prognosis and rehabilitation in head injured patients. PMID:3225586

Association of KIBRA and memory.

PubMed

Bates, Timothy C; Price, Jackie F; Harris, Sarah E; Marioni, Riccardo E; Fowkes, F Gerry R; Stewart, Marlene C; Murray, Gordon D; Whalley, Lawrence J; Starr, John M; Deary, Ian J

2009-07-24

We report on the association of KIBRA with memory in two samples of older individuals assessed on either memory for semantically unrelated word stimuli (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, n=2091), or a measure of semantically related material (the WAIS Logical Memory Test of prose-passage recall, n=542). SNP rs17070145 was associated with delayed recall of semantically unrelated items, but not with immediate recall for these stimuli, nor with either immediate or delayed recall for semantically related material. The pattern of results suggests a role for the T-->C substitution in intron 9 of KIBRA in a component of episodic memory involved in long-term storage but independent of processes shared with immediate recall such as rehearsal involved in acquisition and rehearsal or processes.

B.F. Skinner and the auditory inkblot: The rise and fall of the verbal summator as a projective technique.

PubMed

Rutherford, Alexandra

2003-11-01

Behaviorist B.F. Skinner is not typically associated with the fields of personality assessment or projective testing. However, early in his career Skinner developed an instrument he named the verbal summator, which, at one point, he referred to as a device for "snaring out complexes," much like an auditory analogue of the Rorschach inkblots. Skinner's interest in the projective potential of his technique was relatively short lived, but whereas he used the verbal summator to generate experimental data for his theory of verbal behavior, several other clinicians and researchers exploited this potential and adapted the verbal summator technique for both research and applied purposes. The idea of an auditory inkblot struck many as a useful innovation, and the verbal summator spawned the tautophone test, the auditory apperception test, and the Azzageddi test, among others. This article traces the origin, development, and eventual demise of the verbal summator as an auditory projective technique.

Poor supplementary motor area activation differentiates auditory verbal hallucination from imagining the hallucination☆

PubMed Central

Raij, Tuukka T.; Riekki, Tapani J.J.

2012-01-01

Neuronal underpinnings of auditory verbal hallucination remain poorly understood. One suggested mechanism is brain activation that is similar to verbal imagery but occurs without the proper activation of the neuronal systems that are required to tag the origins of verbal imagery in one's mind. Such neuronal systems involve the supplementary motor area. The supplementary motor area has been associated with awareness of intention to make a hand movement, but whether this region is related to the sense of ownership of one's verbal thought remains poorly known. We hypothesized that the supplementary motor area is related to the distinction between one's own mental processing (auditory verbal imagery) and similar processing that is attributed to non-self author (auditory verbal hallucination). To test this hypothesis, we asked patients to signal the onset and offset of their auditory verbal hallucinations during functional magnetic resonance imaging. During non-hallucination periods, we asked the same patients to imagine the hallucination they had previously experienced. In addition, healthy control subjects signaled the onset and offset of self-paced imagery of similar voices. Both hallucinations and the imagery of hallucinations were associated with similar activation strengths of the fronto-temporal language-related circuitries, but the supplementary motor area was activated more strongly during the imagery than during hallucination. These findings suggest that auditory verbal hallucination resembles verbal imagery in language processing, but without the involvement of the supplementary motor area, which may subserve the sense of ownership of one's own verbal imagery. PMID:24179739

Memory factors in Rey AVLT: Implications for early staging of cognitive decline.

PubMed

Fernaeus, Sven-Erik; Ostberg, Per; Wahlund, Lars-Olof; Hellström, Ake

2014-12-01

Supraspan verbal list learning is widely used to assess dementia and related cognitive disorders where declarative memory deficits are a major clinical sign. While the overall learning rate is important for diagnosis, serial position patterns may give insight into more specific memory processes in patients with cognitive impairment. This study explored these patterns in a memory clinic clientele. One hundred eighty three participants took the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The major groups were patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), Vascular Dementia (VD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI) as well as healthy controls (HC). Raw scores for the five trials and five serial partitions were factor analysed. Three memory factors were found and interpreted as Primacy, Recency, and Resistance to Interference. AD and MCI patients had impaired scores in all factors. SCI patients were significantly impaired in the Resistance to Interference factor, and in the Recency factor at the first trial. The main conclusion is that serial position data from word list testing reflect specific memory capacities which vary with levels of cognitive impairment. © 2014 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Swedish Hayling task, and its relation to working memory, verbal ability, and speech-recognition-in-noise.

PubMed

Stenbäck, Victoria; Hällgren, Mathias; Lyxell, Björn; Larsby, Birgitta

2015-06-01

Cognitive functions and speech-recognition-in-noise were evaluated with a cognitive test battery, assessing response inhibition using the Hayling task, working memory capacity (WMC) and verbal information processing, and an auditory test of speech recognition. The cognitive tests were performed in silence whereas the speech recognition task was presented in noise. Thirty young normally-hearing individuals participated in the study. The aim of the study was to investigate one executive function, response inhibition, and whether it is related to individual working memory capacity (WMC), and how speech-recognition-in-noise relates to WMC and inhibitory control. The results showed a significant difference between initiation and response inhibition, suggesting that the Hayling task taps cognitive activity responsible for executive control. Our findings also suggest that high verbal ability was associated with better performance in the Hayling task. We also present findings suggesting that individuals who perform well on tasks involving response inhibition, and WMC, also perform well on a speech-in-noise task. Our findings indicate that capacity to resist semantic interference can be used to predict performance on speech-in-noise tasks. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visual-spatial memory may be enhanced with theta burst deep brain stimulation of the fornix: a preliminary investigation with four cases.

PubMed

Miller, Jonathan P; Sweet, Jennifer A; Bailey, Christopher M; Munyon, Charles N; Luders, Hans O; Fastenau, Philip S

2015-07-01

Memory loss after brain injury can be a source of considerable morbidity, but there are presently few therapeutic options for restoring memory function. We have previously demonstrated that burst stimulation of the fornix is able to significantly improve memory in a rodent model of traumatic brain injury. The present study is a preliminary investigation with a small group of cases to explore whether theta burst stimulation of the fornix might improve memory in humans. Four individuals undergoing stereo-electroencephalography evaluation for drug-resistant epilepsy were enrolled. All participants were implanted with an electrode into the proximal fornix and dorsal hippocampal commissure on the language dominant (n = 3) or language non-dominant (n = 1) side, and stimulation of this electrode reliably produced a diffuse evoked potential in the head and body of the ipsilateral hippocampus. Each participant underwent testing of verbal memory (Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test), visual-spatial memory (Medical College of Georgia Complex Figure Test), and visual confrontational naming (Boston Naming Test Short Form) once per day over at least two consecutive days using novel test forms each day. For 50% of the trials, the fornix electrode was continuously stimulated using a burst pattern (200 Hz in 100 ms trains, five trains per second, 100 µs, 7 mA) and was compared with sham stimulation. Participants and examiners were blinded to whether stimulation was active or not, and the order of stimulation was randomized. The small sample size precluded use of inferential statistics; therefore, data were analysed using descriptive statistics and graphic analysis. Burst stimulation of the fornix was not perceived by any of the participants but was associated with a robust reversible improvement in immediate and delayed performance on the Medical College of Georgia Complex Figure Test. There were no apparent differences on either Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test or Boston Naming Test. There was no apparent relationship between performance and side of stimulation (language dominant or non-dominant). There were no complications. Preliminary evidence in this small sample of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy suggests that theta burst stimulation of the fornix may be associated with improvement in visual-spatial memory. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Auditory Alterations in Children Infected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus Verified Through Auditory Processing Test

PubMed Central

Romero, Ana Carla Leite; Alfaya, Lívia Marangoni; Gonçales, Alina Sanches; Frizzo, Ana Claudia Figueiredo; Isaac, Myriam de Lima

2016-01-01

Introduction The auditory system of HIV-positive children may have deficits at various levels, such as the high incidence of problems in the middle ear that can cause hearing loss. Objective The objective of this study is to characterize the development of children infected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the Simplified Auditory Processing Test (SAPT) and the Staggered Spondaic Word Test. Methods We performed behavioral tests composed of the Simplified Auditory Processing Test and the Portuguese version of the Staggered Spondaic Word Test (SSW). The participants were 15 children infected by HIV, all using antiretroviral medication. Results The children had abnormal auditory processing verified by Simplified Auditory Processing Test and the Portuguese version of SSW. In the Simplified Auditory Processing Test, 60% of the children presented hearing impairment. In the SAPT, the memory test for verbal sounds showed more errors (53.33%); whereas in SSW, 86.67% of the children showed deficiencies indicating deficit in figure-ground, attention, and memory auditory skills. Furthermore, there are more errors in conditions of background noise in both age groups, where most errors were in the left ear in the Group of 8-year-olds, with similar results for the group aged 9 years. Conclusion The high incidence of hearing loss in children with HIV and comorbidity with several biological and environmental factors indicate the need for: 1) familiar and professional awareness of the impact on auditory alteration on the developing and learning of the children with HIV, and 2) access to educational plans and follow-up with multidisciplinary teams as early as possible to minimize the damage caused by auditory deficits. PMID:28050213

Verbal auditory agnosia in a patient with traumatic brain injury: A case report.

PubMed

Kim, Jong Min; Woo, Seung Beom; Lee, Zeeihn; Heo, Sung Jae; Park, Donghwi

2018-03-01

Verbal auditory agnosia is the selective inability to recognize verbal sounds. Patients with this disorder lose the ability to understand language, write from dictation, and repeat words with reserved ability to identify nonverbal sounds. However, to the best of our knowledge, there was no report about verbal auditory agnosia in adult patient with traumatic brain injury. He was able to clearly distinguish between language and nonverbal sounds, and he did not have any difficulty in identifying the environmental sounds. However, he did not follow oral commands and could not repeat and dictate words. On the other hand, he had fluent and comprehensible speech, and was able to read and understand written words and sentences. Verbal auditory agnosia INTERVENTION:: He received speech therapy and cognitive rehabilitation during his hospitalization, and he practiced understanding of verbal language by providing written sentences together. Two months after hospitalization, he regained his ability to understand some verbal words. Six months after hospitalization, his ability to understand verbal language was improved to an understandable level when speaking slowly in front of his eyes, but his comprehension of verbal sound language was still word level, not sentence level. This case gives us the lesson that the evaluation of auditory functions as well as cognition and language functions important for accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment, because the verbal auditory agnosia tends to be easily misdiagnosed as hearing impairment, cognitive dysfunction and sensory aphasia.

Auditory Verbal Experience and Agency in Waking, Sleep Onset, REM, and Non-REM Sleep.

PubMed

Speth, Jana; Harley, Trevor A; Speth, Clemens

2017-04-01

We present one of the first quantitative studies on auditory verbal experiences ("hearing voices") and auditory verbal agency (inner speech, and specifically "talking to (imaginary) voices or characters") in healthy participants across states of consciousness. Tools of quantitative linguistic analysis were used to measure participants' implicit knowledge of auditory verbal experiences (VE) and auditory verbal agencies (VA), displayed in mentation reports from four different states. Analysis was conducted on a total of 569 mentation reports from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non-REM sleep, sleep onset, and waking. Physiology was controlled with the nightcap sleep-wake mentation monitoring system. Sleep-onset hallucinations, traditionally at the focus of scientific attention on auditory verbal hallucinations, showed the lowest degree of VE and VA, whereas REM sleep showed the highest degrees. Degrees of different linguistic-pragmatic aspects of VE and VA likewise depend on the physiological states. The quantity and pragmatics of VE and VA are a function of the physiologically distinct state of consciousness in which they are conceived. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Role of learning potential in cognitive remediation: Construct and predictive validity.

PubMed

Davidson, Charlie A; Johannesen, Jason K; Fiszdon, Joanna M

2016-03-01

The construct, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of Learning Potential (LP) was evaluated in a trial of cognitive remediation for adults with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. LP utilizes a dynamic assessment approach to prospectively estimate an individual's learning capacity if provided the opportunity for specific related learning. LP was assessed in 75 participants at study entry, of whom 41 completed an eight-week cognitive remediation (CR) intervention, and 22 received treatment-as-usual (TAU). LP was assessed in a "test-train-test" verbal learning paradigm. Incremental predictive validity was assessed as the degree to which LP predicted memory skill acquisition above and beyond prediction by static verbal learning ability. Examination of construct validity confirmed that LP scores reflected use of trained semantic clustering strategy. LP scores correlated with executive functioning and education history, but not other demographics or symptom severity. Following the eight-week active phase, TAU evidenced little substantial change in skill acquisition outcomes, which related to static baseline verbal learning ability but not LP. For the CR group, LP significantly predicted skill acquisition in domains of verbal and visuospatial memory, but not auditory working memory. Furthermore, LP predicted skill acquisition incrementally beyond relevant background characteristics, symptoms, and neurocognitive abilities. Results suggest that LP assessment can significantly improve prediction of specific skill acquisition with cognitive training, particularly for the domain assessed, and thereby may prove useful in individualization of treatment. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Updating and feature overwriting in short-term memory for timbre.

PubMed

Mercer, Tom; McKeown, Denis

2010-11-01

Previous research has demonstrated a potent, stimulus-specific form of interference in short-term auditory memory. This effect has been interpreted in terms of interitem confusion and grouping, but the present experiments suggested that interference might be a feature-specific phenomenon. Participants compared standard and comparison tones over a 10-sec interval and were required to determine whether they differed in timbre. A single interfering distractor tone was presented either 50 msec or 8 sec after the offset of the standard (Experiment 1) or 2 sec prior to its onset (Experiment 2). The distractor varied in the number of features it shared with the standard and comparison, and this proved critical, since performance on the task was greatly impaired when the distractor either consisted of novel, unshared features (Experiment 1) or contained the distinguishing feature of the comparison tone (Experiments 1 and 2). These findings were incompatible with earlier accounts of forgetting but were fully explicable by the recent timbre memory model, which associates interference in short-term auditory memory with an "updating" process and feature overwriting. These results suggest similarities with the mechanisms that underlie forgetting in verbal short-term memory.

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is associated with reduced verbal episodic memory in healthy, middle-aged and older adults.

PubMed

Lam, Virginie; Albrecht, Matthew A; Takechi, Ryusuke; Prasopsang, Prachya; Lee, Ya Ping; Foster, Jonathan K; Mamo, John C L

2016-06-01

There is increasing evidence supporting an association of higher serum vitamin D concentration with better cognitive performance in older individuals. However, to date, consideration of the putative association between vitamin D and cognition has been based principally on studies investigating clinical participant samples manifesting vitamin D deficiency, particularly in older people. Moreover, relationships between vitamin D and cognition are typically not considered in the context of counter-regulatory calcium-modulating hormones or calcium homeostasis. Serum vitamin D/bioactive (ionised) calcium/parathyroid hormone homeostasis was considered in the context of cognitive performance in healthy, middle-aged and older individuals. A cross-sectional sample of 179 participants between the ages of 47-84 years was recruited for this study (114 females, 65 males). Participants provided fasting blood samples for analysis of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, ionised calcium (iCa) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) and completed cognitive measures of verbal episodic learning and memory. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were negatively associated (with and without covariates of age, gender, depression and NART scores, iCa, and PTH) with measures of verbal episodic learning and memory, in particular with trial 5 of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and long-delay free recall on the RAVLT. Overall, the findings from this study suggest an association between higher vitamin D status and poorer performance on verbal episodic memory in middle-aged and older individuals with normal vitamin D-calcium-PTH homeostasis. Despite requiring replication in other participant samples, this is a potentially important finding as it indicates that it may not be beneficial from a cognitive perspective to provide vitamin D supplements in individuals with already adequate vitamin D status.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) impairs encoding but not retrieval of verbal information.

PubMed

Ranganathan, Mohini; Radhakrishnan, Rajiv; Addy, Peter H; Schnakenberg-Martin, Ashley M; Williams, Ashley H; Carbuto, Michelle; Elander, Jacqueline; Pittman, Brian; Andrew Sewell, R; Skosnik, Patrick D; D'Souza, Deepak Cyril

2017-10-03

Cannabis and agonists of the brain cannabinoid receptor (CB 1 R) produce acute memory impairments in humans. However, the extent to which cannabinoids impair the component processes of encoding and retrieval has not been established in humans. The objective of this analysis was to determine whether the administration of Δ 9 -Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis, impairs encoding and/or retrieval of verbal information. Healthy subjects were recruited from the community. Subjects were administered the Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) either before administration of THC (experiment #1) (n=38) or while under the influence of THC (experiment #2) (n=57). Immediate and delayed recall on the RAVLT was compared. Subjects received intravenous THC, in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized manner at doses known to produce behavioral and subjective effects consistent with cannabis intoxication. Total immediate recall, short delayed recall, and long delayed recall were reduced in a statistically significant manner only when the RAVLT was administered to subjects while they were under the influence of THC (experiment #2) and not when the RAVLT was administered prior. THC acutely interferes with encoding of verbal memory without interfering with retrieval. These data suggest that learning information prior to the use of cannabis or cannabinoids is not likely to disrupt recall of that information. Future studies will be necessary to determine whether THC impairs encoding of non-verbal information, to what extent THC impairs memory consolidation, and the role of other cannabinoids in the memory-impairing effects of cannabis. Cannabinoids, Neural Synchrony, and Information Processing (THC-Gamma) http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT00708994 NCT00708994 Pharmacogenetics of Cannabinoid Response http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00678730 NCT00678730. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Sleep and Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis.

PubMed

Braley, Tiffany J; Kratz, Anna L; Kaplish, Neeraj; Chervin, Ronald D

2016-08-01

To examine associations between cognitive performance and polysomnographic measures of obstructive sleep apnea in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Participants underwent a comprehensive MS-specific cognitive testing battery (the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in MS, or MACFIMS) and in-laboratory overnight PSG. In adjusted linear regression models, the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) and minimum oxygen saturation (MinO2) were significantly associated with performance on multiple MACFIMS measures, including the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT; 2-sec and 3-sec versions), which assesses working memory, processing speed, and attention, and on the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, a test of delayed visual memory. The respiratory disturbance index (RDI) was also significantly associated with PASAT-3 scores as well as the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) Discriminability Index, a test of verbal memory and response inhibition. Among these associations, apnea severity measures accounted for between 12% and 23% of the variance in cognitive test performance. Polysomnographic measures of sleep fragmentation (as reflected by the total arousal index) and total sleep time also showed significant associations with a component of the CVLT-II that assesses response inhibition, explaining 18% and 27% of the variance in performance. Among patients with MS, obstructive sleep apnea and sleep disturbance are significantly associated with diminished visual memory, verbal memory, executive function (as reflected by response inhibition), attention, processing speed, and working memory. If sleep disorders degrade these cognitive functions, effective treatment could offer new opportunities to improve cognitive functioning in patients with MS. A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 1489. © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Effects of an acute bout of exercise on memory in 6th grade children.

PubMed

Etnier, Jennifer; Labban, Jeffrey D; Piepmeier, Aaron; Davis, Matthew E; Henning, David A

2014-08-01

Research supports the positive effects of exercise on cognitive performance by children. However, a limited number of studies have explored the effects specifically on memory. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of an acute bout of exercise on learning, short-term memory, and long-term memory in a sample of children. Children were randomly assigned to an exercise condition or to a no-treatment control condition and then performed repeated trials on an auditory verbal learning task. In the exercise condition, participants performed the PACER task, an aerobic fitness assessment, in their physical education class before performing the memory task. In the control condition, participants performed the memory task at the beginning of their physical education class. Results showed that participants in the exercise condition demonstrated significantly better learning of the word lists and significantly better recall of the words after a brief delay. There were not significant differences in recognition of the words after an approximately 24-hr delay. These results provide evidence in a school setting that an acute bout of exercise provides benefits for verbal learning and long-term memory. Future research should be designed to identify the extent to which these findings translate to academic measures.

Sleep quality and communication aspects in children.

PubMed

de Castro Corrêa, Camila; José, Maria Renata; Andrade, Eduardo Carvalho; Feniman, Mariza Ribeiro; Fukushiro, Ana Paula; Berretin-Felix, Giédre; Maximino, Luciana Paula

2017-09-01

To correlate quality of life of children in terms of sleep, with their oral language skills, auditory processing and orofacial myofunctional aspects. Nineteen children (12 males and seven females, in the mean age 9.26) undergoing otorhinolaryngological and speech evaluations participated in this study. The OSA-18 questionnaire was applied, followed by verbal and nonverbal sequential memory tests, dichotic digit test, nonverbal dichotic test and Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test, related to auditory processing. The Phonological Awareness Profile test, Rapid Automatized Naming and Phonological Working Memory were used for assessment of the phonological processing. Language was assessed by the ABFW Child Language Test, analyzing the phonological and lexical levels. Orofacial myofunctional aspects were evaluated through the MBGR Protocol. Statistical tests used: the Mann-Whitney Test, Fisher's exact test and Spearman Correlation. Relating the performance of children in all evaluations to the results obtained in the OSA-18, there was a statistically significant correlation in the phonological working memory for backward digits (p = 0.04); as well as in the breathing item (p = 0.03), posture of the mandible (p = 0.03) and mobility of lips (p = 0.04). A correlation was seen between the sleep quality of life and the skills related to the phonological processing, specifically in the phonological working memory in backward digits, and related to orofacial myofunctional aspects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mediating Effects of Working Memory in the Relation Between Rapid Automatized Naming and Chinese Reading Comprehension.

PubMed

Weng, Xiaoqian; Li, Guangze; Li, Rongbao

2016-08-01

This study examined the mediating role of working memory (WM) in the relation between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and Chinese reading comprehension. Three tasks assessing differentially visual and verbal components of WM were programmed by E-prime 2.0. Data collected from 55 Chinese college students were analyzed using correlations and hierarchical regression methods to determine the connection among RAN, reading comprehension, and WM components. Results showed that WM played a significant mediating role in the RAN-reading relation and that auditory WM made stronger contributions than visual WM. Taking into account of the multi-component nature of WM and the specificity of Chinese reading processing, this study discussed the mediating powers of the WM components, particularly auditory WM, further clarifying the possible components involved in the RAN-reading relation and thus providing some insight into the complicated Chinese reading process.

Influence of seasonal variation in mood and behavior on cognitive test performance among young adults.

PubMed

Merikanto, Ilona; Lahti, Tuuli; Castaneda, Anu E; Tuulio-Henriksson, Annamari; Aalto-Setälä, Terhi; Suvisaari, Jaana; Partonen, Timo

2012-10-01

Seasonal variations in mood and behavior are common among the general population and may have a deteriorating effect on cognitive functions. In this study the effect of seasonal affective disorder (SAD-like symptoms) on cognitive test performance were evaluated in more detail. The data were derived from the study Mental Health in Early Adulthood in Finland. Participants (n = 481) filled in a modified Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) and performed cognitive tests in verbal and visual skills, attention and general intelligence. SAD-like symptoms, especially regarding the seasonal variations in weight and appetite, had a significant effect on working memory (Digit Span Backward, P = 0.008) and auditory attention and short-term memory (Digit Span Forward, P = 0.004). The seasonal variations in sleep duration and mood had an effect on auditory attention and short-term memory (Digit Span Forward, P = 0.02 and P = 0.0002, respectively). The seasonal variations in social activity and energy level had no effect. Seasonal changes in mood, appetite and weight have an impairing effect on auditory attention and processing speed. If performance tests are not to repeated in different seasons, attention needs to be given to the most appropriate season in which to test.

Music mnemonics aid Verbal Memory and Induce Learning – Related Brain Plasticity in Multiple Sclerosis

PubMed Central

Thaut, Michael H.; Peterson, David A.; McIntosh, Gerald C.; Hoemberg, Volker

2014-01-01

Recent research on music and brain function has suggested that the temporal pattern structure in music and rhythm can enhance cognitive functions. To further elucidate this question specifically for memory, we investigated if a musical template can enhance verbal learning in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and if music-assisted learning will also influence short-term, system-level brain plasticity. We measured systems-level brain activity with oscillatory network synchronization during music-assisted learning. Specifically, we measured the spectral power of 128-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) in alpha and beta frequency bands in 54 patients with MS. The study sample was randomly divided into two groups, either hearing a spoken or a musical (sung) presentation of Rey’s auditory verbal learning test. We defined the “learning-related synchronization” (LRS) as the percent change in EEG spectral power from the first time the word was presented to the average of the subsequent word encoding trials. LRS differed significantly between the music and the spoken conditions in low alpha and upper beta bands. Patients in the music condition showed overall better word memory and better word order memory and stronger bilateral frontal alpha LRS than patients in the spoken condition. The evidence suggests that a musical mnemonic recruits stronger oscillatory network synchronization in prefrontal areas in MS patients during word learning. It is suggested that the temporal structure implicit in musical stimuli enhances “deep encoding” during verbal learning and sharpens the timing of neural dynamics in brain networks degraded by demyelination in MS. PMID:24982626

Auditory-motor interaction revealed by fMRI: speech, music, and working memory in area Spt.

PubMed

Hickok, Gregory; Buchsbaum, Bradley; Humphries, Colin; Muftuler, Tugan

2003-07-01

The concept of auditory-motor interaction pervades speech science research, yet the cortical systems supporting this interface have not been elucidated. Drawing on experimental designs used in recent work in sensory-motor integration in the cortical visual system, we used fMRI in an effort to identify human auditory regions with both sensory and motor response properties, analogous to single-unit responses in known visuomotor integration areas. The sensory phase of the task involved listening to speech (nonsense sentences) or music (novel piano melodies); the "motor" phase of the task involved covert rehearsal/humming of the auditory stimuli. A small set of areas in the superior temporal and temporal-parietal cortex responded both during the listening phase and the rehearsal/humming phase. A left lateralized region in the posterior Sylvian fissure at the parietal-temporal boundary, area Spt, showed particularly robust responses to both phases of the task. Frontal areas also showed combined auditory + rehearsal responsivity consistent with the claim that the posterior activations are part of a larger auditory-motor integration circuit. We hypothesize that this circuit plays an important role in speech development as part of the network that enables acoustic-phonetic input to guide the acquisition of language-specific articulatory-phonetic gestures; this circuit may play a role in analogous musical abilities. In the adult, this system continues to support aspects of speech production, and, we suggest, supports verbal working memory.

Cognition, depression, fatigue, and quality of life in primary Sjögren's syndrome: correlations.

PubMed

Koçer, Belgin; Tezcan, Mehmet Engin; Batur, Hale Zeynep; Haznedaroğlu, Şeminur; Göker, Berna; İrkeç, Ceyla; Çetinkaya, Rümeysa

2016-12-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and pattern of cognitive dysfunction observed in primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) and to examine the relationships between cognitive abilities, depression, fatigue, and quality of life. Thirty-two subjects with PSS were compared with 19 healthy controls on comprehensive neuropsychological, depression, fatigue, health state, and daily-life activities tests. There was low performance in Clock Drawing, COWAT, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), Colorless Word Reading (Stroop1) and Recognizing Colors (Stroop2) Patterns of STROOP test, SDLT, Auditory-Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), immediate and long-term verbal memory, Benton Judgment of Line Orientation Test (BJLOT), and in all the patterns of RCFT in PSS patients compared to the healthy control group ( p  < .05). It was observed an increased depression frequency and fatigue severity, impairment in health condition, and a decreased quality of life in PSS cases compared to the healthy controls ( p  < .05). All the depression, fatigue severity, and quality of life tests showed a significant positive correlation with each other ( p  < .05). A significant negative correlation between Clock Drawing and SF-36-BP ( p  = .031, r  = -.382) and SF-36-GH ( p  = .027, r  = -.392) was observed. Clock Drawing, PASAT, and AVLT are very useful tests to determine the subclinical and clinical cognitive dysfunction to evaluate attention, information processing speed, executive functions, and short-term and long-term verbal memory in PSS patients. Depression and fatigue may not affect the neuropsychological tests performance.

The influence of shift work on cognitive functions and oxidative stress.

PubMed

Özdemir, Pınar Güzel; Selvi, Yavuz; Özkol, Halil; Aydın, Adem; Tülüce, Yasin; Boysan, Murat; Beşiroğlu, Lütfullah

2013-12-30

Shift work influences health, performance, activity, and social relationships, and it causes impairment in cognitive functions. In this study, we investigated the effects of shift work on participants' cognitive functions in terms of memory, attention, and learning, and we measured the effects on oxidative stress. Additionally, we investigated whether there were significant relationships between cognitive functions and whole blood oxidant/antioxidant status of participants. A total of 90 health care workers participated in the study, of whom 45 subjects were night-shift workers. Neuropsychological tests were administered to the participants to assess cognitive function, and blood samples were taken to detect total antioxidant capacity and total oxidant status at 08:00. Differences in anxiety, depression, and chronotype characteristics between shift work groups were not significant. Shift workers achieved significantly lower scores on verbal memory, attention-concentration, and the digit span forward sub-scales of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), as well as on the immediate memory and total learning sub-scales of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Oxidative stress parameters were significantly associated with some types of cognitive function, including attention-concentration, recognition, and long-term memory. These findings suggest that night shift work may result in significantly poorer cognitive performance, particularly working memory. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Music and speech listening enhance the recovery of early sensory processing after stroke.

PubMed

Särkämö, Teppo; Pihko, Elina; Laitinen, Sari; Forsblom, Anita; Soinila, Seppo; Mikkonen, Mikko; Autti, Taina; Silvennoinen, Heli M; Erkkilä, Jaakko; Laine, Matti; Peretz, Isabelle; Hietanen, Marja; Tervaniemi, Mari

2010-12-01

Our surrounding auditory environment has a dramatic influence on the development of basic auditory and cognitive skills, but little is known about how it influences the recovery of these skills after neural damage. Here, we studied the long-term effects of daily music and speech listening on auditory sensory memory after middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke. In the acute recovery phase, 60 patients who had middle cerebral artery stroke were randomly assigned to a music listening group, an audio book listening group, or a control group. Auditory sensory memory, as indexed by the magnetic MMN (MMNm) response to changes in sound frequency and duration, was measured 1 week (baseline), 3 months, and 6 months after the stroke with whole-head magnetoencephalography recordings. Fifty-four patients completed the study. Results showed that the amplitude of the frequency MMNm increased significantly more in both music and audio book groups than in the control group during the 6-month poststroke period. In contrast, the duration MMNm amplitude increased more in the audio book group than in the other groups. Moreover, changes in the frequency MMNm amplitude correlated significantly with the behavioral improvement of verbal memory and focused attention induced by music listening. These findings demonstrate that merely listening to music and speech after neural damage can induce long-term plastic changes in early sensory processing, which, in turn, may facilitate the recovery of higher cognitive functions. The neural mechanisms potentially underlying this effect are discussed.

Combining computerized social cognitive training with neuroplasticity-based auditory training in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Sacks, Stephanie; Fisher, Melissa; Garrett, Coleman; Alexander, Phillip; Holland, Christine; Rose, Demian; Hooker, Christine; Vinogradov, Sophia

2013-01-01

Social cognitive deficits are an important treatment target in schizophrenia, but it is unclear to what degree they require specialized interventions and which specific components of behavioral interventions are effective. In this pilot study, we explored the effects of a novel computerized neuroplasticity-based auditory training delivered in conjunction with computerized social cognition training (SCT) in patients with schizophrenia. Nineteen clinically stable schizophrenia subjects performed 50 hours of computerized exercises that place implicit, increasing demands on auditory perception, plus 12 hours of computerized training in emotion identification, social perception, and theory of mind tasks. All subjects were assessed with MATRICS-recommended measures of neurocognition and social cognition, plus a measure of self-referential source memory before and after the computerized training. Subjects showed significant improvements on multiple measures of neurocognition. Additionally, subjects showed significant gains on measures of social cognition, including the MSCEIT Perceiving Emotions, MSCEIT Managing Emotions, and self-referential source memory, plus a significant decrease in positive symptoms. Computerized training of auditory processing/verbal learning in schizophrenia results in significant basic neurocognitive gains. Further, addition of computerized social cognition training results in significant gains in several social cognitive outcome measures. Computerized cognitive training that directly targets social cognitive processes can drive improvements in these crucial functions.

Evaluating a Novel Eye Tracking Tool to Detect Invalid Responding in Neurocognitive Assessment

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-07

Learning Test-II (CVLT-II; 63), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT; 231), Warrington’s Recognition Memory Test (RMT; 274), and Seashore Rhythm...history of brain injury (BR) and unbiased responders without a history of brain injury (UR). Demographics (e.g., age, sex , race/ethnicity, years of...project (i.e., “true” invalid responding) is rarely observed with certainty or experimentally induced . However, behavior that approximates true invalid

Audiovisual semantic congruency during encoding enhances memory performance.

PubMed

Heikkilä, Jenni; Alho, Kimmo; Hyvönen, Heidi; Tiippana, Kaisa

2015-01-01

Studies of memory and learning have usually focused on a single sensory modality, although human perception is multisensory in nature. In the present study, we investigated the effects of audiovisual encoding on later unisensory recognition memory performance. The participants were to memorize auditory or visual stimuli (sounds, pictures, spoken words, or written words), each of which co-occurred with either a semantically congruent stimulus, incongruent stimulus, or a neutral (non-semantic noise) stimulus in the other modality during encoding. Subsequent memory performance was overall better when the stimulus to be memorized was initially accompanied by a semantically congruent stimulus in the other modality than when it was accompanied by a neutral stimulus. These results suggest that semantically congruent multisensory experiences enhance encoding of both nonverbal and verbal materials, resulting in an improvement in their later recognition memory.

Verbal short-term memory as an articulatory system: evidence from an alternative paradigm.

PubMed

Cheung, Him; Wooltorton, Lana

2002-01-01

In a series of experiments, the role of articulatory rehearsal in verbal [corrected] short-term memory was examined via a shadowing-plus-recall paradigm. In this paradigm, subjects shadowed a word target presented closely after an auditory memory list before they recalled the list. The phonological relationship between the shadowing target and the final item on the memory list was manipulated. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that targets sounding similar to the list-final memory item generally took longer to shadow than unrelated targets. This inhibitory effect of phonological relatedness was more pronounced with tense- than lax-vowel pseudoword recall lists. The interaction between vowel tenseness and phonological relatedness was replicated in Experiment 3 using shorter lists of real words. In Experiment 4, concurrent articulation was applied during list learning to block rehearsal; consequently, neither the phonological relatedness effect nor its interaction with vowel tenseness emerged. Experiments 5 and 6 manipulated the occurrence frequencies and lexicality of the recall items, respectively, instead of vowel tenseness. Unlike vowel tenseness, these non-articulatory memory factors failed to interact with the phonological relatedness effect. Experiment 7 orthogonally manipulated the vowel tenseness and frequencies of the recall items; slowing in shadowing times due to phonological relatedness was modulated by vowel tenseness but not frequency. Taken together, these results suggest that under the present paradigm, the modifying effect of vowel tenseness on the magnitude of slowing in shadowing due to phonological relatedness is indicative of a prominent articulatory component in verbal short-term retention. The shadowing-plus-recall approach avoids confounding overt recall into internal memory processing, which is an inherent problem of the traditional immediate serial recall and span tasks.

Recovery of episodic memory subprocesses in mild and complicated mild traumatic brain injury at 1 and 12 months post injury.

PubMed

Tayim, Fadi M; Flashman, Laura A; Wright, Matthew J; Roth, Robert M; McAllister, Thomas W

2016-11-01

Episodic memory complaints are commonly reported after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The contributions of specific memory subprocesses (encoding, consolidation, and retrieval), however, are not well understood in mild TBI (mTBI). In the present study, we evaluated subprocesses of episodic memory in patients with mTBI using the item-specific deficit approach (ISDA), which analyzes responses on list learning tasks at an item level. We also conducted exploratory analyses to evaluate the effects of complicated mTBI (comp-mTBI) on memory. We compared episodic verbal memory performance in mTBI (n = 92) at approximately 1 and 12 months post TBI, as well as in a healthy comparison (HC) group (n = 40) at equivalent time points. Episodic memory was assessed using the California Verbal Learning Test-2nd Edition (CVLT-II), and both standard CVLT-II scores and ISDA indices were evaluated. Compared to the HC group, the mTBI group showed significantly poorer encoding and learning across time, as measured by ISDA and CVLT-II. Further analyses of these mTBI subgroups [(noncomplicated mTBI (NC-mTBI, n = 77) and comp-mTBI (n = 15)], indicated that it was the comp-mTBI group who continued to demonstrate poorer encoding ability than the HC group. When the patient groups were directly compared, the NC-mTBI group improved slightly on the ISDA Encoding Deficit Index. While the comp-mTBI group worsened slightly over time, their poorer encoding ability was not likely clinically meaningful. These findings indicate that, while the NC-mTBI and HC groups' performances were comparable by 12 months, a primary, long-term deficit in encoding of auditory verbal information remained problematic in the comp-mTBI group.

Effect of a synesthete's photisms on name recall.

PubMed

Mills, Carol Bergfeld; Innis, Joanne; Westendorf, Taryn; Owsianiecki, Lauren; McDonald, Angela

2006-02-01

A multilingual, colored-letter synesthete professor (MLS), 9 nonsynesthete multilingual professors and 4 nonsynesthete art professors learned 30 names of individuals (first and last name pairs) in three trials. They recalled the names after each trial and six months later, as well as performed cued recall trials initially and after six months. As hypothesized, MLS recalled significantly more names than control groups on all free recall tests (except after the first trial) and on cued recall tests. In addition, MLS gave qualitatively different reasons for remembering names than any individual control participant. MLS gave mostly color reasons for remembering the names, whereas nonsynesthetes gave reasons based on familiarity or language or art knowledge. Results on standardized memory tests showed that MLS had average performance on non-language visual memory tests (the Benton Visual Retention Test-Revised--BURT-R, and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test--CFT), but had superior memory performance on a verbal test consisting of lists of nouns (Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test--RAVLT). MLS's synesthesia seems to aid memory for visually or auditorily presented language stimuli (names and nouns), but not for non-language visual stimuli (simple and complex figures).

Experience and information loss in auditory and visual memory.

PubMed

Gloede, Michele E; Paulauskas, Emily E; Gregg, Melissa K

2017-07-01

Recent studies show that recognition memory for sounds is inferior to memory for pictures. Four experiments were conducted to examine the nature of auditory and visual memory. Experiments 1-3 were conducted to evaluate the role of experience in auditory and visual memory. Participants received a study phase with pictures/sounds, followed by a recognition memory test. Participants then completed auditory training with each of the sounds, followed by a second memory test. Despite auditory training in Experiments 1 and 2, visual memory was superior to auditory memory. In Experiment 3, we found that it is possible to improve auditory memory, but only after 3 days of specific auditory training and 3 days of visual memory decay. We examined the time course of information loss in auditory and visual memory in Experiment 4 and found a trade-off between visual and auditory recognition memory: Visual memory appears to have a larger capacity, while auditory memory is more enduring. Our results indicate that visual and auditory memory are inherently different memory systems and that differences in visual and auditory recognition memory performance may be due to the different amounts of experience with visual and auditory information, as well as structurally different neural circuitry specialized for information retention.

Investigating the influence of working memory capacity when driving behavior is combined with cognitive load: An LCT study of young novice drivers.

PubMed

Ross, Veerle; Jongen, Ellen M M; Wang, Weixin; Brijs, Tom; Brijs, Kris; Ruiter, Robert A C; Wets, Geert

2014-01-01

Distracted driving has received increasing attention in the literature due to potential adverse safety outcomes. An often posed solution to alleviate distraction while driving is hands-free technology. Interference by distraction can occur however at the sensory input (e.g., visual) level, but also at the cognitive level where hands-free technology induces working memory (WM) load. Active maintenance of goal-directed behavior in the presence of distraction depends on WM capacity (i.e., Lavie's Load theory) which implies that people with higher WM capacity are less susceptible to distractor interference. This study investigated the interaction between verbal WM load and WM capacity on driving performance to determine whether individuals with higher WM capacity were less affected by verbal WM load, leading to a smaller deterioration of driving performance. Driving performance of 46 young novice drivers (17-25 years-old) was measured with the lane change task (LCT). Participants drove without and with verbal WM load of increasing complexity (auditory-verbal response N-back task). Both visuospatial and verbal WM capacity were investigated. Dependent measures were mean deviation in the lane change path (MDEV), lane change initiation (LCI) and percentage of correct lane changes (PCL). Driving experience was included as a covariate. Performance on each dependent measure deteriorated with increasing verbal WM load. Meanwhile, higher WM capacity related to better LCT performance. Finally, for LCI and PCL, participants with higher verbal WM capacity were influenced less by verbal WM load. These findings entail that completely eliminating distraction is necessary to minimize crash risks among young novice drivers. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST): neuropsychological mechanisms of change.

PubMed

Hall, Louise; Orrell, Martin; Stott, Joshua; Spector, Aimee

2013-03-01

Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) is an evidence-based psychosocial intervention for people with dementia consisting of 14 group sessions aiming to stimulate various areas of cognition. This study examined the effects of CST on specific cognitive domains and explored the neuropsychological processes underpinning any effects. A total of 34 participants with mild to moderate dementia were included. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests in the week before and after the manualised seven-week CST programme. There were significant improvement pre- to post-CST group on measures of delayed verbal recall (WMS III logical memory subtest - delayed), visual memory (WMS III visual reproduction subtest - delayed), orientation (WMS III information and orientation subscale), and auditory comprehension (Token Test). There were no significant changes on measures of naming (Boston Naming Test-2), attention (Trail Making Test A/Digit Span), executive function (DKEFS verbal fluency/Trail Making Test B), praxis (WMS III visual reproduction - immediate) or on a general cognitive screen (MMSE). Memory, comprehension of syntax, and orientation appear to be the cognitive domains most impacted by CST. One hypothesis is that the language-based nature of CST enhances neural pathways responsible for processing of syntax, possibly also aiding verbal recall. Another is that the reduction in negative self-stereotypes due to the de-stigmatising effect of CST may impact on language and memory, domains that are the primary focus of CST. Further research is required to substantiate these hypotheses.

Associations between speech understanding and auditory and visual tests of verbal working memory: effects of linguistic complexity, task, age, and hearing loss

PubMed Central

Smith, Sherri L.; Pichora-Fuller, M. Kathleen

2015-01-01

Listeners with hearing loss commonly report having difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments. Their difficulties could be due to auditory and cognitive processing problems. Performance on speech-in-noise tests has been correlated with reading working memory span (RWMS), a measure often chosen to avoid the effects of hearing loss. If the goal is to assess the cognitive consequences of listeners’ auditory processing abilities, however, then listening working memory span (LWMS) could be a more informative measure. Some studies have examined the effects of different degrees and types of masking on working memory, but less is known about the demands placed on working memory depending on the linguistic complexity of the target speech or the task used to measure speech understanding in listeners with hearing loss. Compared to RWMS, LWMS measures using different speech targets and maskers may provide a more ecologically valid approach. To examine the contributions of RWMS and LWMS to speech understanding, we administered two working memory measures (a traditional RWMS measure and a new LWMS measure), and a battery of tests varying in the linguistic complexity of the speech materials, the presence of babble masking, and the task. Participants were a group of younger listeners with normal hearing and two groups of older listeners with hearing loss (n = 24 per group). There was a significant group difference and a wider range in performance on LWMS than on RWMS. There was a significant correlation between both working memory measures only for the oldest listeners with hearing loss. Notably, there were only few significant correlations among the working memory and speech understanding measures. These findings suggest that working memory measures reflect individual differences that are distinct from those tapped by these measures of speech understanding. PMID:26441769

Results from a National Central Auditory Processing Disorder Service: A Real-World Assessment of Diagnostic Practices and Remediation for Central Auditory Processing Disorder

PubMed Central

Cameron, Sharon; Glyde, Helen; Dillon, Harvey; King, Alison; Gillies, Karin

2015-01-01

This article describes the development and evaluation of a national service to diagnose and remediate central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). Data were gathered from 38 participating Australian Hearing centers over an 18-month period from 666 individuals age 6, 0 (years, months) to 24, 8 (median 9, 0). A total of 408 clients were diagnosed with either a spatial processing disorder (n = 130), a verbal memory deficit (n = 174), or a binaural integration deficit (n = 104). A hierarchical test protocol was used so not all children were assessed on all tests in the battery. One hundred fifty clients decided to proceed with deficit-specific training (LiSN & Learn or Memory Booster) and/or be fitted with a frequency modulation system. Families were provided with communication strategies targeted to a child's specific listening difficulties and goals. Outcomes were measured using repeat assessment of the relevant diagnostic test, as well as the Client Oriented Scale of Improvement measure and Listening Inventories for Education teacher questionnaire. Group analyses revealed significant improvements postremediation for all training/management options. Individual posttraining performance and results of outcome measures also are discussed. PMID:27587910

Language and Short-Term Memory: The Role of Perceptual-Motor Affordance

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The advantage for real words over nonwords in serial recall—the lexicality effect—is typically attributed to support for item-level phonology, either via redintegration, whereby partially degraded short-term traces are “cleaned up” via support from long-term representations of the phonological material or via the more robust temporary activation of long-term lexical phonological knowledge that derives from its combination with established lexical and semantic levels of representation. The much smaller effect of lexicality in serial recognition, where the items are re-presented in the recognition cue, is attributed either to the minimal role for redintegration from long-term memory or to the minimal role for item memory itself in such retrieval conditions. We show that the reduced lexicality effect in serial recognition is not a function of the retrieval conditions, but rather because previous demonstrations have used auditory presentation, and we demonstrate a robust lexicality effect for visual serial recognition in a setting where auditory presentation produces no such effect. Furthermore, this effect is abolished under conditions of articulatory suppression. We argue that linguistic knowledge affects the readiness with which verbal material is segmentally recoded via speech motor processes that support rehearsal and therefore affects tasks that involve recoding. On the other hand, auditory perceptual organization affords sequence matching in the absence of such a requirement for segmental recoding and therefore does not show such effects of linguistic knowledge. PMID:24797440

Language and short-term memory: the role of perceptual-motor affordance.

PubMed

Macken, Bill; Taylor, John C; Jones, Dylan M

2014-09-01

The advantage for real words over nonwords in serial recall--the lexicality effect--is typically attributed to support for item-level phonology, either via redintegration, whereby partially degraded short-term traces are "cleaned up" via support from long-term representations of the phonological material or via the more robust temporary activation of long-term lexical phonological knowledge that derives from its combination with established lexical and semantic levels of representation. The much smaller effect of lexicality in serial recognition, where the items are re-presented in the recognition cue, is attributed either to the minimal role for redintegration from long-term memory or to the minimal role for item memory itself in such retrieval conditions. We show that the reduced lexicality effect in serial recognition is not a function of the retrieval conditions, but rather because previous demonstrations have used auditory presentation, and we demonstrate a robust lexicality effect for visual serial recognition in a setting where auditory presentation produces no such effect. Furthermore, this effect is abolished under conditions of articulatory suppression. We argue that linguistic knowledge affects the readiness with which verbal material is segmentally recoded via speech motor processes that support rehearsal and therefore affects tasks that involve recoding. On the other hand, auditory perceptual organization affords sequence matching in the absence of such a requirement for segmental recoding and therefore does not show such effects of linguistic knowledge.

Long-latency auditory evoked potentials with verbal and nonverbal stimuli.

PubMed

Oppitz, Sheila Jacques; Didoné, Dayane Domeneghini; Silva, Débora Durigon da; Gois, Marjana; Folgearini, Jordana; Ferreira, Geise Corrêa; Garcia, Michele Vargas

2015-01-01

Long-latency auditory evoked potentials represent the cortical activity related to attention, memory, and auditory discrimination skills. Acoustic signal processing occurs differently between verbal and nonverbal stimuli, influencing the latency and amplitude patterns. To describe the latencies of the cortical potentials P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3, as well as P3 amplitude, with different speech stimuli and tone bursts, and to classify them in the presence and absence of these data. A total of 30 subjects with normal hearing were assessed, aged 18-32 years old, matched by gender. Nonverbal stimuli were used (tone burst; 1000Hz - frequent and 4000Hz - rare); and verbal (/ba/ - frequent; /ga/, /da/, and /di/ - rare). Considering the component N2 for tone burst, the lowest latency found was 217.45ms for the BA/DI stimulus; the highest latency found was 256.5ms. For the P3 component, the shortest latency with tone burst stimuli was 298.7 with BA/GA stimuli, the highest, was 340ms. For the P3 amplitude, there was no statistically significant difference among the different stimuli. For latencies of components P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, there were no statistical differences among them, regardless of the stimuli used. There was a difference in the latency of potentials N2 and P3 among the stimuli employed but no difference was observed for the P3 amplitude. Copyright © 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Cognitive and Executive Functions in Colombian School Children with Conduct Disorder: Sex Differences.

PubMed

Urazán-Torres, Gina Rocío; Puche-Cabrera, Mario José; Caballero-Forero, Mangelli; Rey-Anacona, César Armando

2013-12-01

Most of the studies that have examined cognitive and executive functions in conduct disorders (CD) have been conducted on institutionalized male adolescents. In this research the cognitive and executive functions of non-institutionalized Colombian school children with CD were compared with normal school children, all between 6 and 12 years-old. We used a case-control design. The cases were participants who met the diagnostic criteria for CD (n=39) and controls who did not meet these criteria (n=39), according to reports of a professional of the participants' institution, and a structured interview for childhood psychiatric syndromes. The two groups were selected from educational institutions, and there were no differences in age, school grade, or socioeconomic level. The IQ was reviewed, as well as the presence of other mental disorders, serious physical illnesses, and more serious neurological signs. The cognitive and executive functions were evaluated using a child neuropsychological test battery. We found that participants with CD had significantly lower scores in construction abilities, perceptual abilities (tactile, visual and auditory), differed in verbal memory, differed in visual memory, language (repetition, expression and understanding), meta-linguistic abilities, spatial abilities, visual and auditory attention, conceptual abilities, verbal and graphic fluency, and cognitive flexibility. The same differences were found between males, except in repetition, whereas girls showed fewer differences, thus the cognitive and executive performance was poorer in males with CD than in females, especially in verbal and linguistic-related functions. Children with CD could show generalized cognitive and executive deficits. These deficits seem to be more frequent in boys than in girls with CD. Copyright © 2013 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Different effects of anterior temporal lobectomy and selective amygdalohippocampectomy on verbal memory performance of patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Boucher, Olivier; Dagenais, Emmanuelle; Bouthillier, Alain; Nguyen, Dang Khoa; Rouleau, Isabelle

2015-11-01

The advantage of selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) over anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) for the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) remains controversial. Because ATL is more extensive and involves the lateral and medial parts of the temporal lobe, it may be predicted that its impact on memory is more important than SAH, which involves resection of medial temporal structures only. However, several studies do not support this assumption. Possible explanations include task-specific factors such as the extent of semantic and syntactic information to be memorized and failure to control for main confounders. We compared preoperative vs. postoperative memory performance in 13 patients with SAH with 26 patients who underwent ATL matched on side of surgery, IQ, age at seizure onset, and age at surgery. Memory function was assessed using the Logical Memory subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scales - 3rd edition (LM-WMS), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), the Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test. Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed opposite effects of SAH and ATL on the two verbal learning memory tests. On the immediate recall trial of the LM-WMS, performance deteriorated after ATL in comparison with that after SAH. By contrast, on the delayed recognition trial of the RAVLT, performance deteriorated after SAH compared with that after ATL. However, additional analyses revealed that the latter finding was only observed when surgery was conducted in the right hemisphere. No interaction effects were found on other memory outcomes. The results are congruent with the view that tasks involving rich semantic content and syntactical structure are more sensitive to the effects of lateral temporal cortex resection as compared with mesiotemporal resection. The findings highlight the importance of task selection in the assessment of memory in patients undergoing TLE surgery. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An EMG Study of the Lip Muscles during Covert Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapin, Lucile; Dohen, Marion; Polosan, Mircea; Perrier, Pascal; Loevenbruck, Hélène

2013-01-01

Purpose: "Auditory verbal hallucinations" (AVHs) are speech perceptions in the absence of external stimulation. According to an influential theoretical account of AVHs in schizophrenia, a deficit in inner-speech monitoring may cause the patients' verbal thoughts to be perceived as external voices. The account is based on a…

Auditory Processing Disorder (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... or other speech-language difficulties? Are verbal (word) math problems difficult for your child? Is your child ... inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems — require heightened auditory processing and language levels. ...

Auditory processing disorders, verbal disfluency, and learning difficulties: a case study.

PubMed

Jutras, Benoît; Lagacé, Josée; Lavigne, Annik; Boissonneault, Andrée; Lavoie, Charlen

2007-01-01

This case study reports the findings of auditory behavioral and electrophysiological measures performed on a graduate student (identified as LN) presenting verbal disfluency and learning difficulties. Results of behavioral audiological testing documented the presence of auditory processing disorders, particularly temporal processing and binaural integration. Electrophysiological test results, including middle latency, late latency and cognitive potentials, revealed that LN's central auditory system processes acoustic stimuli differently to a reference group with normal hearing.

The use of EMDR in positive verbal material: results from a patient study

PubMed Central

Matthijssen, Suzy Johanna Martina Adriana; van den Hout, Marcel

2016-01-01

Background According to the working memory (WM) theory of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), dual tasks that tax WM during memory recall reduce image vividness and emotionality of memory during future recalls when no dual task is carried out. There is some evidence that WM taxing also reduces vividness and emotionality of auditory or verbal imagery. Objective The present study tests the effect of eye movements (EM) on positive verbal material (verbal imagery), which is used in different parts of the EMDR protocol. In the Dutch version of the standard EMDR protocol, a procedure “Positive Closure” (PC) is performed, which uses verbal imagery under dual task condition (EM). The value of EM in this procedure has not been established and according to the WM account would be counterproductive. Two earlier studies with undergraduates, with a set-up comparable to the present one, showed no additive value of the EM in the procedure, but no counterproductive effect either. Method Thirty-six patients rated the belief in possessing two positive personality traits and emotionality of the traits. They then had an EMDR session targeting a negative memory and recalled and re-rated the belief and emotionality of the traits afterward. Subsequently, they recalled one trait while dual tasking (EM) and the other trait without dual tasking. Afterward, they re-rated the belief and emotionality. Results EM did not affect the belief in possessing the trait or the emotionality. Secondary analysis shows an effective EMDR session itself enhances the belief in the traits, compared to a less or non-effective EMDR session. Conclusions EM are not effective in enhancing the belief in possessing a personality trait or the emotionality. If replicated by other patient studies, this suggests elimination of the PC procedure. Highlights of the article In this study the additive value of EM on verbal material (in the procedure Positive Closure) is not found. No effect of the procedure Positive Closure on the Belief in a personality trait nor the emotional intensity of the trait was found. An effective EMDR session (large reduction of the SUD during the session) was effective in changing the Belief in personality traits. PMID:27387844

Binge drinking during adolescence and young adulthood is associated with deficits in verbal episodic memory

PubMed Central

Cadaveira, Fernando; Caamaño-Isorna, Francisco; Rodríguez-Holguín, Socorro

2017-01-01

Binge drinking (BD), a harmful pattern of alcohol consumption, is common during adolescence. Young adults with alcohol use disorders exhibit hippocampal alterations and episodic memory deficits. However, it is not known how these difficulties progress in community BD adolescents. Our objective was to analyze the relationship between BD trajectory and verbal episodic memory during the developmental period spanning from adolescence and to early adulthood. An initial sample of 155 male and female first-year university students with no other risk factors were followed over six years. Participants were classified as stable non-BDs, stable BDs and ex-BDs according to the third AUDIT item. At baseline, participants comprised 36 ♂/ 40 ♀ non-BDs (18.58 years), 40 ♂/ 39 ♀ BDs (18.87 years), and at the third follow-up, they comprised 8 ♂/ 8 ♀ stable non-BDs (25.49 years), 2 ♂/ 2 ♀ stable BDs (25.40) and 8 ♂/ 12 ♀ ex-BDs (24.97 years). Episodic memory was assessed four times with the Logical Memory subtest (WMS-III) and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Generalized linear mixed models were applied. The results showed that, relative to non-BDs, stable BDs presented difficulties in immediate and delayed recall in the Logical Memory subtest. These difficulties remained stable over time. The short-term ex-BDs continued to display difficulties in immediate and delayed recall in the Logical Memory subtest, but long-term ex-BDs did not. The effects were not influenced by age of alcohol onset, frequency of cannabis use, tobacco use or psychopathological distress. In conclusion, BD during adolescence and young adulthood is associated with episodic memory deficits. Abandoning the BD pattern may lead to partial recovery. These findings are consistent with the vulnerability of the adolescent hippocampus to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. PMID:28152062

Binge drinking during adolescence and young adulthood is associated with deficits in verbal episodic memory.

PubMed

Carbia, Carina; Cadaveira, Fernando; Caamaño-Isorna, Francisco; Rodríguez-Holguín, Socorro; Corral, Montse

2017-01-01

Binge drinking (BD), a harmful pattern of alcohol consumption, is common during adolescence. Young adults with alcohol use disorders exhibit hippocampal alterations and episodic memory deficits. However, it is not known how these difficulties progress in community BD adolescents. Our objective was to analyze the relationship between BD trajectory and verbal episodic memory during the developmental period spanning from adolescence and to early adulthood. An initial sample of 155 male and female first-year university students with no other risk factors were followed over six years. Participants were classified as stable non-BDs, stable BDs and ex-BDs according to the third AUDIT item. At baseline, participants comprised 36 ♂/ 40 ♀ non-BDs (18.58 years), 40 ♂/ 39 ♀ BDs (18.87 years), and at the third follow-up, they comprised 8 ♂/ 8 ♀ stable non-BDs (25.49 years), 2 ♂/ 2 ♀ stable BDs (25.40) and 8 ♂/ 12 ♀ ex-BDs (24.97 years). Episodic memory was assessed four times with the Logical Memory subtest (WMS-III) and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Generalized linear mixed models were applied. The results showed that, relative to non-BDs, stable BDs presented difficulties in immediate and delayed recall in the Logical Memory subtest. These difficulties remained stable over time. The short-term ex-BDs continued to display difficulties in immediate and delayed recall in the Logical Memory subtest, but long-term ex-BDs did not. The effects were not influenced by age of alcohol onset, frequency of cannabis use, tobacco use or psychopathological distress. In conclusion, BD during adolescence and young adulthood is associated with episodic memory deficits. Abandoning the BD pattern may lead to partial recovery. These findings are consistent with the vulnerability of the adolescent hippocampus to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol.

Enhanced Memory Consolidation Via Automatic Sound Stimulation During Non-REM Sleep.

PubMed

Leminen, Miika M; Virkkala, Jussi; Saure, Emma; Paajanen, Teemu; Zee, Phyllis C; Santostasi, Giovanni; Hublin, Christer; Müller, Kiti; Porkka-Heiskanen, Tarja; Huotilainen, Minna; Paunio, Tiina

2017-03-01

Slow-wave sleep (SWS) slow waves and sleep spindle activity have been shown to be crucial for memory consolidation. Recently, memory consolidation has been causally facilitated in human participants via auditory stimuli phase-locked to SWS slow waves. Here, we aimed to develop a new acoustic stimulus protocol to facilitate learning and to validate it using different memory tasks. Most importantly, the stimulation setup was automated to be applicable for ambulatory home use. Fifteen healthy participants slept 3 nights in the laboratory. Learning was tested with 4 memory tasks (word pairs, serial finger tapping, picture recognition, and face-name association). Additional questionnaires addressed subjective sleep quality and overnight changes in mood. During the stimulus night, auditory stimuli were adjusted and targeted by an unsupervised algorithm to be phase-locked to the negative peak of slow waves in SWS. During the control night no sounds were presented. Results showed that the sound stimulation increased both slow wave (p = .002) and sleep spindle activity (p < .001). When overnight improvement of memory performance was compared between stimulus and control nights, we found a significant effect in word pair task but not in other memory tasks. The stimulation did not affect sleep structure or subjective sleep quality. We showed that the memory effect of the SWS-targeted individually triggered single-sound stimulation is specific to verbal associative memory. Moreover, the ambulatory and automated sound stimulus setup was promising and allows for a broad range of potential follow-up studies in the future. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].

A Community of One: Social Cognition and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations

PubMed Central

Bell, Vaughan

2013-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations have attracted a great deal of scientific interest, but despite the fact that they are fundamentally a social experience—in essence, a form of hallucinated communication—current theories remain firmly rooted in an individualistic account and have largely avoided engagement with social cognition. Nevertheless, there is mounting evidence for the role of social cognitive and social neurocognitive processes in auditory verbal hallucinations, and, consequently, it is proposed that problems with the internalisation of social models may be key to the experience. PMID:24311984

Test of a motor theory of long-term auditory memory

PubMed Central

Schulze, Katrin; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Mishkin, Mortimer

2012-01-01

Monkeys can easily form lasting central representations of visual and tactile stimuli, yet they seem unable to do the same with sounds. Humans, by contrast, are highly proficient in auditory long-term memory (LTM). These mnemonic differences within and between species raise the question of whether the human ability is supported in some way by speech and language, e.g., through subvocal reproduction of speech sounds and by covert verbal labeling of environmental stimuli. If so, the explanation could be that storing rapidly fluctuating acoustic signals requires assistance from the motor system, which is uniquely organized to chain-link rapid sequences. To test this hypothesis, we compared the ability of normal participants to recognize lists of stimuli that can be easily reproduced, labeled, or both (pseudowords, nonverbal sounds, and words, respectively) versus their ability to recognize a list of stimuli that can be reproduced or labeled only with great difficulty (reversed words, i.e., words played backward). Recognition scores after 5-min delays filled with articulatory-suppression tasks were relatively high (75–80% correct) for all sound types except reversed words; the latter yielded scores that were not far above chance (58% correct), even though these stimuli were discriminated nearly perfectly when presented as reversed-word pairs at short intrapair intervals. The combined results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that participation of the oromotor system may be essential for laying down the memory of speech sounds and, indeed, that speech and auditory memory may be so critically dependent on each other that they had to coevolve. PMID:22511719

Test of a motor theory of long-term auditory memory.

PubMed

Schulze, Katrin; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Mishkin, Mortimer

2012-05-01

Monkeys can easily form lasting central representations of visual and tactile stimuli, yet they seem unable to do the same with sounds. Humans, by contrast, are highly proficient in auditory long-term memory (LTM). These mnemonic differences within and between species raise the question of whether the human ability is supported in some way by speech and language, e.g., through subvocal reproduction of speech sounds and by covert verbal labeling of environmental stimuli. If so, the explanation could be that storing rapidly fluctuating acoustic signals requires assistance from the motor system, which is uniquely organized to chain-link rapid sequences. To test this hypothesis, we compared the ability of normal participants to recognize lists of stimuli that can be easily reproduced, labeled, or both (pseudowords, nonverbal sounds, and words, respectively) versus their ability to recognize a list of stimuli that can be reproduced or labeled only with great difficulty (reversed words, i.e., words played backward). Recognition scores after 5-min delays filled with articulatory-suppression tasks were relatively high (75-80% correct) for all sound types except reversed words; the latter yielded scores that were not far above chance (58% correct), even though these stimuli were discriminated nearly perfectly when presented as reversed-word pairs at short intrapair intervals. The combined results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that participation of the oromotor system may be essential for laying down the memory of speech sounds and, indeed, that speech and auditory memory may be so critically dependent on each other that they had to coevolve.

Activations in temporal areas using visual and auditory naming stimuli: A language fMRI study in temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Gonzálvez, Gloria G; Trimmel, Karin; Haag, Anja; van Graan, Louis A; Koepp, Matthias J; Thompson, Pamela J; Duncan, John S

2016-12-01

Verbal fluency functional MRI (fMRI) is used for predicting language deficits after anterior temporal lobe resection (ATLR) for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but primarily engages frontal lobe areas. In this observational study we investigated fMRI paradigms using visual and auditory stimuli, which predominately involve language areas resected during ATLR. Twenty-three controls and 33 patients (20 left (LTLE), 13 right (RTLE)) were assessed using three fMRI paradigms: verbal fluency, auditory naming with a contrast of auditory reversed speech; picture naming with a contrast of scrambled pictures and blurred faces. Group analysis showed bilateral temporal activations for auditory naming and picture naming. Correcting for auditory and visual input (by subtracting activations resulting from auditory reversed speech and blurred pictures/scrambled faces respectively) resulted in left-lateralised activations for patients and controls, which was more pronounced for LTLE compared to RTLE patients. Individual subject activations at a threshold of T>2.5, extent >10 voxels, showed that verbal fluency activated predominantly the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in 90% of LTLE, 92% of RTLE, and 65% of controls, compared to right IFG activations in only 15% of LTLE and RTLE and 26% of controls. Middle temporal (MTG) or superior temporal gyrus (STG) activations were seen on the left in 30% of LTLE, 23% of RTLE, and 52% of controls, and on the right in 15% of LTLE, 15% of RTLE, and 35% of controls. Auditory naming activated temporal areas more frequently than did verbal fluency (LTLE: 93%/73%; RTLE: 92%/58%; controls: 82%/70% (left/right)). Controlling for auditory input resulted in predominantly left-sided temporal activations. Picture naming resulted in temporal lobe activations less frequently than did auditory naming (LTLE 65%/55%; RTLE 53%/46%; controls 52%/35% (left/right)). Controlling for visual input had left-lateralising effects. Auditory and picture naming activated temporal lobe structures, which are resected during ATLR, more frequently than did verbal fluency. Controlling for auditory and visual input resulted in more left-lateralised activations. We hypothesise that these paradigms may be more predictive of postoperative language decline than verbal fluency fMRI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Clinical utility of the Wechsler Memory Scale - Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Bouman, Zita; Elhorst, Didi; Hendriks, Marc P H; Kessels, Roy P C; Aldenkamp, Albert P

2016-02-01

The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is one of the most widely used test batteries to assess memory functions in patients with brain dysfunctions of different etiologies. This study examined the clinical validation of the Dutch Wechsler Memory Scale - Fourth Edition (WMS-IV-NL) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The sample consisted of 75 patients with intractable TLE, who were eligible for epilepsy surgery, and 77 demographically matched healthy controls. All participants were examined with the WMS-IV-NL. Patients with TLE performed significantly worse than healthy controls on all WMS-IV-NL indices and subtests (p<.01), with the exception of the Visual Working Memory Index including its contributing subtests, as well as the subtests Logical Memory I, Verbal Paired Associates I, and Designs II. In addition, patients with mesiotemporal abnormalities performed significantly worse than patients with lateral temporal abnormalities on the subtests Logical Memory I and Designs II and all the indices (p<.05), with the exception of the Auditory Memory Index and Visual Working Memory Index. Patients with either a left or a right temporal focus performed equally on all WMS-IV-NL indices and subtests (F(15, 50)=.70, p=.78), as well as the Auditory-Visual discrepancy score (t(64)=-1.40, p=.17). The WMS-IV-NL is capable of detecting memory problems in patients with TLE, indicating that it is a sufficiently valid memory battery. Furthermore, the findings support previous research showing that the WMS-IV has limited value in identifying material-specific memory deficits in presurgical patients with TLE. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Learning virtual routes: what does verbal coding do in working memory?].

PubMed

Gyselinck, Valérie; Grison, Élise; Gras, Doriane

2015-03-01

Two experiments were run to complete our understanding of the role of verbal and visuospatial encoding in the construction of a spatial model from visual input. In experiment 1 a dual task paradigm was applied to young adults who learned a route in a virtual environment and then performed a series of nonverbal tasks to assess spatial knowledge. Results indicated that landmark knowledge as asserted by the visual recognition of landmarks was not impaired by any of the concurrent task. Route knowledge, assessed by recognition of directions, was impaired both by a tapping task and a concurrent articulation task. Interestingly, the pattern was modulated when no landmarks were available to perform the direction task. A second experiment was designed to explore the role of verbal coding on the construction of landmark and route knowledge. A lexical-decision task was used as a verbal-semantic dual task, and a tone decision task as a nonsemantic auditory task. Results show that these new concurrent tasks impaired differently landmark knowledge and route knowledge. Results can be interpreted as showing that the coding of route knowledge could be grounded on both a coding of the sequence of events and on a semantic coding of information. These findings also point on some limits of Baddeley's working memory model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Verbal working memory-related functional connectivity alterations in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the effects of methylphenidate.

PubMed

Wu, Zhao-Min; Bralten, Janita; An, Li; Cao, Qing-Jiu; Cao, Xiao-Hua; Sun, Li; Liu, Lu; Yang, Li; Mennes, Maarten; Zang, Yu-Feng; Franke, Barbara; Hoogman, Martine; Wang, Yu-Feng

2017-08-01

Few studies have investigated verbal working memory-related functional connectivity patterns in participants with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thus, we aimed to compare working memory-related functional connectivity patterns in healthy children and those with ADHD, and study effects of methylphenidate (MPH). Twenty-two boys with ADHD were scanned twice, under either MPH (single dose, 10 mg) or placebo, in a randomised, cross-over, counterbalanced placebo-controlled design. Thirty healthy boys were scanned once. We used fMRI during a numerical n-back task to examine functional connectivity patterns in case-control and MPH-placebo comparisons, using independent component analysis. There was no significant difference in behavioural performance between children with ADHD, treated with MPH or placebo, and healthy controls. Compared with controls, participants with ADHD under placebo showed increased functional connectivity within fronto-parietal and auditory networks, and decreased functional connectivity within the executive control network. MPH normalized the altered functional connectivity pattern and significantly enhanced functional connectivity within the executive control network, though in non-overlapping areas. Our study contributes to the identification of the neural substrates of working memory. Single dose of MPH normalized the altered brain functional connectivity network, but had no enhancing effect on (non-impaired) behavioural performance.

The effects of early auditory-based intervention on adult bilateral cochlear implant outcomes.

PubMed

Lim, Stacey R

2017-09-01

The goal of this exploratory study was to determine the types of improvement that sequentially implanted auditory-verbal and auditory-oral adults with prelingual and childhood hearing loss received in bilateral listening conditions, compared to their best unilateral listening condition. Five auditory-verbal adults and five auditory-oral adults were recruited for this study. Participants were seated in the center of a 6-loudspeaker array. BKB-SIN sentences were presented from 0° azimuth, while multi-talker babble was presented from various loudspeakers. BKB-SIN scores in bilateral and the best unilateral listening conditions were compared to determine the amount of improvement gained. As a group, the participants had improved speech understanding scores in the bilateral listening condition. Although not statistically significant, the auditory-verbal group tended to have greater speech understanding with greater levels of competing background noise, compared to the auditory-oral participants. Bilateral cochlear implantation provides individuals with prelingual and childhood hearing loss with improved speech understanding in noise. A higher emphasis on auditory development during the critical language development years may add to increased speech understanding in adulthood. However, other demographic factors such as age or device characteristics must also be considered. Although both auditory-verbal and auditory-oral approaches emphasize spoken language development, they emphasize auditory development to different degrees. This may affect cochlear implant (CI) outcomes. Further consideration should be made in future auditory research to determine whether these differences contribute to performance outcomes. Additional investigation with a larger participant pool, controlled for effects of age and CI devices and processing strategies, would be necessary to determine whether language learning approaches are associated with different levels of speech understanding performance.

Speech Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Several articles addressing topics in speech research are presented. The topics include: exploring the functional significance of physiological tremor: A biospectroscopic approach; differences between experienced and inexperienced listeners to deaf speech; a language-oriented view of reading and its disabilities; Phonetic factors in letter detection; categorical perception; Short-term recall by deaf signers of American sign language; a common basis for auditory sensory storage in perception and immediate memory; phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory; initiation versus execution time during manual and oral counting by stutterers; trading relations in the perception of speech by five-year-old children; the role of the strap muscles in pitch lowering; phonetic validation of distinctive features; consonants and syllable boundaires; and vowel information in postvocalic frictions.

Acquired Auditory Verbal Agnosia and Seizures in Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Judith A.; Ferry, Peggy C.

1978-01-01

The paper presents a review of cases of children with acquired aphasia with convulsive disorder and discusses clinical features of three additional children in whom the specific syndrome of auditory verbal agnosia was identified. (Author/CL)

Misperception of exocentric directions in auditory space

PubMed Central

Arthur, Joeanna C.; Philbeck, John W.; Sargent, Jesse; Dopkins, Stephen

2008-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated large errors (over 30°) in visually perceived exocentric directions (the direction between two objects that are both displaced from the observer’s location; e.g., Philbeck et al., in press). Here, we investigated whether a similar pattern occurs in auditory space. Blindfolded participants either attempted to aim a pointer at auditory targets (an exocentric task) or gave a verbal estimate of the egocentric target azimuth. Targets were located at 20° to 160° azimuth in the right hemispace. For comparison, we also collected pointing and verbal judgments for visual targets. We found that exocentric pointing responses exhibited sizeable undershooting errors, for both auditory and visual targets, that tended to become more strongly negative as azimuth increased (up to −19° for visual targets at 160°). Verbal estimates of the auditory and visual target azimuths, however, showed a dramatically different pattern, with relatively small overestimations of azimuths in the rear hemispace. At least some of the differences between verbal and pointing responses appear to be due to the frames of reference underlying the responses; when participants used the pointer to reproduce the egocentric target azimuth rather than the exocentric target direction relative to the pointer, the pattern of pointing errors more closely resembled that seen in verbal reports. These results show that there are similar distortions in perceiving exocentric directions in visual and auditory space. PMID:18555205

Effects of Secondary Task Modality and Processing Code on Automation Trust and Utilization During Simulated Airline Luggage Screening

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phillips, Rachel; Madhavan, Poornima

2010-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of environmental distractions on human trust and utilization of automation during the process of visual search. Participants performed a computer-simulated airline luggage screening task with the assistance of a 70% reliable automated decision aid (called DETECTOR) both with and without environmental distractions. The distraction was implemented as a secondary task in either a competing modality (visual) or non-competing modality (auditory). The secondary task processing code either competed with the luggage screening task (spatial code) or with the automation's textual directives (verbal code). We measured participants' system trust, perceived reliability of the system (when a target weapon was present and absent), compliance, reliance, and confidence when agreeing and disagreeing with the system under both distracted and undistracted conditions. Results revealed that system trust was lower in the visual-spatial and auditory-verbal conditions than in the visual-verbal and auditory-spatial conditions. Perceived reliability of the system (when the target was present) was significantly higher when the secondary task was visual rather than auditory. Compliance with the aid increased in all conditions except for the auditory-verbal condition, where it decreased. Similar to the pattern for trust, reliance on the automation was lower in the visual-spatial and auditory-verbal conditions than in the visual-verbal and auditory-spatial conditions. Confidence when agreeing with the system decreased with the addition of any kind of distraction; however, confidence when disagreeing increased with the addition of an auditory secondary task but decreased with the addition of a visual task. A model was developed to represent the research findings and demonstrate the relationship between secondary task modality, processing code, and automation use. Results suggest that the nature of environmental distractions influence interaction with automation via significant effects on trust and system utilization. These findings have implications for both automation design and operator training.

Auditory, visual and auditory-visual memory and sequencing performance in typically developing children.

PubMed

Pillai, Roshni; Yathiraj, Asha

2017-09-01

The study evaluated whether there exists a difference/relation in the way four different memory skills (memory score, sequencing score, memory span, & sequencing span) are processed through the auditory modality, visual modality and combined modalities. Four memory skills were evaluated on 30 typically developing children aged 7 years and 8 years across three modality conditions (auditory, visual, & auditory-visual). Analogous auditory and visual stimuli were presented to evaluate the three modality conditions across the two age groups. The children obtained significantly higher memory scores through the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. Likewise, their memory scores were significantly higher through the auditory-visual modality condition than through the visual modality. However, no effect of modality was observed on the sequencing scores as well as for the memory and the sequencing span. A good agreement was seen between the different modality conditions that were studied (auditory, visual, & auditory-visual) for the different memory skills measures (memory scores, sequencing scores, memory span, & sequencing span). A relatively lower agreement was noted only between the auditory and visual modalities as well as between the visual and auditory-visual modality conditions for the memory scores, measured using Bland-Altman plots. The study highlights the efficacy of using analogous stimuli to assess the auditory, visual as well as combined modalities. The study supports the view that the performance of children on different memory skills was better through the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A sensitive period for musical training: contributions of age of onset and cognitive abilities.

PubMed

Bailey, Jennifer; Penhune, Virginia B

2012-04-01

The experiences we engage in during childhood can stay with us well into our adult years. The idea of a sensitive period--a window during maturation when our brains are most influenced by behavior--has been proposed. Work from our laboratory has shown that early-trained musicians (ET) performed better on visual-motor and auditory-motor synchronization tasks than late-trained musicians (LT), even when matched for total musical experience. Although the groups of musicians showed no cognitive differences, working memory scores correlated with task performance. In this study, we have replicated these findings in a larger sample of musicians and included a group of highly educated nonmusicians (NM). Participants performed six woodblock rhythms of varying levels of metrical complexity and completed cognitive subtests measuring verbal abilities, working memory, and pattern recognition. Working memory scores correlated with task performance across all three groups. Interestingly, verbal abilities were stronger among the NM, while nonverbal abilities were stronger among musicians. These findings are discussed in context of the sensitive period hypothesis as well as the debate surrounding cognitive differences between musicians and NM. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

Correlation of MRI Visual Scales with Neuropsychological Profile in Mild Cognitive Impairment of Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Vasconcellos, Luiz Felipe; Pereira, João Santos; Adachi, Marcelo; Greca, Denise; Cruz, Manuela; Malak, Ana Lara; Charchat-Fichman, Helenice; Spitz, Mariana

2017-01-01

Few studies have evaluated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visual scales in Parkinson's disease-Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI). We selected 79 PD patients and 92 controls (CO) to perform neurologic and neuropsychological evaluation. Brain MRI was performed to evaluate the following scales: Global Cortical Atrophy (GCA), Fazekas, and medial temporal atrophy (MTA). The analysis revealed that both PD groups (amnestic and nonamnestic) showed worse performance on several tests when compared to CO. Memory, executive function, and attention impairment were more severe in amnestic PD-MCI group. Overall analysis of frequency of MRI visual scales by MCI subtype did not reveal any statistically significant result. Statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between GCA scale and Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), semantic verbal fluency, Stroop test, figure memory test, trail making test (TMT) B, and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The MTA scale correlated with Stroop test and Fazekas scale with figure memory test, digit span, and Stroop test according to the subgroup evaluated. Visual scales by MRI in MCI should be evaluated by cognitive domain and might be more useful in more severely impaired MCI or dementia patients.

Does Working Memory Impact Functional Outcomes in Individuals With ADHD: A Qualitative and Comprehensive Literature Review.

PubMed

Fried, Ronna; Abrams, Jessica; Hall, Anna; Feinberg, Leah; Pope, Amanda; Biederman, Joseph

2017-09-01

Working Memory (WM) is a domain of executive functioning often impaired in individuals with ADHD. Although assumed to cause difficulties across functioning, the scope of impairments from WM deficits in ADHD has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to examine outcomes associated with WM deficits in ADHD. We conducted a search of the scientific literature on WM deficits, and Freedom From Distractibility (FFD), in ADHD using PubMed and PsycInfo databases. The final sample included 11 controlled studies of WM/FFD deficits in ADHD with operationalized assessment of outcomes in academic, social, and emotional areas. WM assessment was divided into auditory-verbal memory (AVM) and spatial-visual memory (SWM). Seven studies examined WM deficits in academic functioning, eight studies assessed WM deficits in social functioning, and three assessed WM deficits in psychopathology. The majority of the literature suggests that WM deficits affect primarily academic functioning.

Confabulation behavior and false memories in Korsakoff's syndrome: role of source memory and executive functioning.

PubMed

Kessels, Roy P C; Kortrijk, Hans E; Wester, Arie J; Nys, Gudrun M S

2008-04-01

Confabulation behavior is common in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome. A distinction can be made between spontaneous and provoked confabulations, which may have different underlying cognitive mechanisms. Provoked confabulations may be related to intrusions on memory tests, whereas spontaneous confabulations may be due to executive dysfunction or a source memory deficit. In 19 chronic Korsakoff patients, spontaneous confabulations were quantified by third-party rating (Likert scale). Provoked confabulations were assessed using the Dalla Barba Confabulation Battery. Furthermore, assessment of executive function was performed using an extensive neuropsychological battery. False memories (i.e. intrusions) and source memory were measured using twoparallelversions of a word-list learning paradigm (a modification of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test). There were deficits in source memory, in which patients incorrectly assigned previously learned words to an incorrect word list. Also, Korsakoff patients had extensive executive deficits, but no relationship between the severity of these deficits and the severity of confabulation or intrusions on a memory task was found. The present findings provide evidence for a dissociation between spontaneous confabulation, provoked confabulation and false memories.

Episodic memory impairment in systemic lupus erythematosus: involvement of thalamic structures.

PubMed

Zimmermann, Nicolle; Corrêa, Diogo Goulart; Netto, Tania Maria; Kubo, Tadeu; Pereira, Denis Batista; Fonseca, Rochele Paz; Gasparetto, Emerson Leandro

2015-02-01

Episodic memory deficits in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have been frequently reported in the literature; however, little is known about the neural correlates of these deficits. We investigated differences in the volumes of different brain structures of SLE patients with and without episodic memory impairments diagnosed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Groups were paired based on age, education, sex, Mini Mental State Examination score, accumulation of disease burden (SLICC), and focused attention dimension score. Patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cortical volumetric reconstruction and segmentation of the MR images were performed with the FreeSurfer software program. SLE patients with episodic memory deficits presented shorter time of diagnosis than SLE patients without episodic memory deficits. ANOVA revealed that SLE patients with episodic memory deficits had a larger third ventricle volume than SLE patients without episodic memory deficits and controls. Additionally, covariance analysis indicated group effects on the bilateral thalamus and on the third ventricle. Our findings indicate that episodic memory may be impaired in SLE patients with normal hippocampal volume. In addition, the thalamus may undergo volumetric changes associated with episodic memory loss in SLE.

Low Working Memory rather than ADHD Symptoms Predicts Poor Academic Achievement in School-Aged Children.

PubMed

Simone, Ashley N; Marks, David J; Bédard, Anne-Claude; Halperin, Jeffrey M

2018-02-01

This study examined whether working memory (WM), inattentive symptoms, and/or hyperactive/impulsive symptoms significantly contributed to academic, behavioral, and global functioning in 8-year-old children. One-hundred-sixty 8-year-old children (75.6% male), who were originally recruited as preschoolers, completed subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition, Integrated and Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition to assess WM and academic achievement, respectively. Teachers rated children's academic and behavioral functioning using the Vanderbilt Rating Scale. Global functioning, as rated by clinicians, was assessed by the Children's Global Assessment Scale. Multiple linear regressions were completed to determine the extent to which WM (auditory-verbal and visual-spatial) and/or inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptom severity significantly contributed to academic, behavioral, and/or global functioning. Both auditory-verbal and visual-spatial WM but not ADHD symptom severity, significantly and independently contributed to measures of academic achievement (all p < 0.01). In contrast, both WM and inattention symptoms (p < 0.01), but not hyperactivity-impulsivity (p > 0.05) significantly contributed to teacher-ratings of academic functioning. Further, inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity (p < 0.04), but not WM (p > 0.10) were significantly associated with teacher-ratings of behavioral functioning and clinician-ratings of global functioning. Taken together, it appears that WM in children may be uniquely related to academic skills, but not necessarily to overall behavioral functioning.

Outcome survey of auditory-verbal graduates: study of clinical efficacy.

PubMed

Goldberg, D M; Flexer, C

1993-05-01

Audiologists must be knowledgeable about the efficacy of aural habilitation practices because we are often the first professionals to inform parents about their child's hearing impairment. The purpose of this investigation was to document the status of graduates of one aural habilitation option; auditory-verbal. A consumer survey was completed by graduates from auditory-verbal programs in the United States and Canada. Graduates were queried regarding degree and etiology of hearing loss, age of onset, amplification, and educational and employment history, among other topics. Results indicated that the majority of the respondents were integrated into regular learning and living environments.

Neuronal correlates of perception, imagery, and memory for familiar tunes.

PubMed

Herholz, Sibylle C; Halpern, Andrea R; Zatorre, Robert J

2012-06-01

We used fMRI to investigate the neuronal correlates of encoding and recognizing heard and imagined melodies. Ten participants were shown lyrics of familiar verbal tunes; they either heard the tune along with the lyrics, or they had to imagine it. In a subsequent surprise recognition test, they had to identify the titles of tunes that they had heard or imagined earlier. The functional data showed substantial overlap during melody perception and imagery, including secondary auditory areas. During imagery compared with perception, an extended network including pFC, SMA, intraparietal sulcus, and cerebellum showed increased activity, in line with the increased processing demands of imagery. Functional connectivity of anterior right temporal cortex with frontal areas was increased during imagery compared with perception, indicating that these areas form an imagery-related network. Activity in right superior temporal gyrus and pFC was correlated with the subjective rating of imagery vividness. Similar to the encoding phase, the recognition task recruited overlapping areas, including inferior frontal cortex associated with memory retrieval, as well as left middle temporal gyrus. The results present new evidence for the cortical network underlying goal-directed auditory imagery, with a prominent role of the right pFC both for the subjective impression of imagery vividness and for on-line mental monitoring of imagery-related activity in auditory areas.

Different Verbal Learning Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowler, Dermot M.; Limoges, Elyse; Mottron, Laurent

2009-01-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which requires the free recall of the same list of 15 unrelated words over 5 trials, was administered to 21 high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 21 matched typical individuals. The groups showed similar overall levels of free recall, rates of learning over trials and…

Association Between Lifetime Marijuana Use and Cognitive Function in Middle Age: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study.

PubMed

Auer, Reto; Vittinghoff, Eric; Yaffe, Kristine; Künzi, Arnaud; Kertesz, Stefan G; Levine, Deborah A; Albanese, Emiliano; Whitmer, Rachel A; Jacobs, David R; Sidney, Stephen; Glymour, M Maria; Pletcher, Mark J

2016-03-01

Marijuana use is increasingly common in the United States. It is unclear whether it has long-term effects on memory and other domains of cognitive function. To study the association between cumulative lifetime exposure to marijuana use and cognitive performance in middle age. We used data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a cohort of 5115 black and white men and women aged 18 to 30 years at baseline from March 25, 1985, to June 7, 1986 (year 0), and followed up over 25 years from June 7, 1986, to August 31, 2011, to estimate cumulative years of exposure to marijuana (1 year = 365 days of marijuana use) using repeated measures and to assess associations with cognitive function at year 25. Linear regression was used to adjust for demographic factors, cardiovascular risk factors, tobacco smoking, use of alcohol and illicit drugs, physical activity, depression, and results of the mirror star tracing test (a measure of cognitive function) at year 2. Data analysis was conducted from June 7, 1986, to August 31, 2011. Three domains of cognitive function were assessed at year 25 using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (verbal memory), the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (processing speed), and the Stroop Interference Test (executive function). Among 3385 participants with cognitive function measurements at the year 25 visit, 2852 (84.3%) reported past marijuana use, but only 392 (11.6%) continued to use marijuana into middle age. Current use of marijuana was associated with worse verbal memory and processing speed; cumulative lifetime exposure was associated with worse performance in all 3 domains of cognitive function. After excluding current users and adjusting for potential confounders, cumulative lifetime exposure to marijuana remained significantly associated with worse verbal memory. For each 5 years of past exposure, verbal memory was 0.13 standardized units lower (95% CI, -0.24 to -0.02; P = .02), corresponding to a mean of 1 of 2 participants remembering 1 word fewer from a list of 15 words for every 5 years of use. After adjustment, we found no associations with lower executive function (-0.03 [95% CI, -0.12 to 0.07]; P = .56) or processing speed (-0.04 [95% CI, -0.16 to 0.08]; P = .51). Past exposure to marijuana is associated with worse verbal memory but does not appear to affect other domains of cognitive function.

Verbal Learning and Memory in Cannabis and Alcohol Users: An Event-Related Potential Investigation

PubMed Central

Smith, Janette L.; De Blasio, Frances M.; Iredale, Jaimi M.; Matthews, Allison J.; Bruno, Raimondo; Dwyer, Michelle; Batt, Tessa; Fox, Allison M.; Solowij, Nadia; Mattick, Richard P.

2017-01-01

Aims: Long-term heavy use of cannabis and alcohol are known to be associated with memory impairments. In this study, we used event-related potentials to examine verbal learning and memory processing in a commonly used behavioral task. Method: We conducted two studies: first, a small pilot study of adolescent males, comprising 13 Drug-Naive Controls (DNC), 12 heavy drinkers (HD) and 8 cannabis users (CU). Second, a larger study of young adults, comprising 45 DNC (20 female), 39 HD (16 female), and 20 CU (9 female). In both studies, participants completed a modified verbal learning task (the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT) while brain electrical activity was recorded. ERPs were calculated for words which were subsequently remembered vs. those which were not remembered, and for presentations of learnt words, previously seen words, and new words in a subsequent recognition test. Pre-planned principal components analyses (PCA) were used to quantify the ERP components in these recall and recognition phases separately for each study. Results: Memory performance overall was slightly lower than published norms using the standardized RAVLT delivery, but was generally similar and showed the expected changes over trials. Few differences in performance were observed between groups; a notable exception was markedly poorer delayed recall in HD relative to DNC (Study 2). PCA identified components expected from prior research using other memory tasks. At encoding, there were no between-group differences in the usual P2 recall effect (larger for recalled than not-recalled words). However, alcohol-related differences were observed in a larger P540 (indexing recollection) in HD than DNC, and cannabis-related differences were observed in a smaller N340 (indexing familiarity) and a lack of previously seen > new words effect for P540 in Study 2. Conclusions: This study is the first examination of ERPs in the RAVLT in healthy control participants, as well as substance-using individuals, and represents an important advance in methodology. The results indicate alterations in recognition memory processing, which even if not manifesting in overt behavioral impairment, underline the potential for brain dysfunction with early exposure to alcohol and cannabis. PMID:29276495

Mutism and auditory agnosia due to bilateral insular damage--role of the insula in human communication.

PubMed

Habib, M; Daquin, G; Milandre, L; Royere, M L; Rey, M; Lanteri, A; Salamon, G; Khalil, R

1995-03-01

We report a case of transient mutism and persistent auditory agnosia due to two successive ischemic infarcts mainly involving the insular cortex on both hemispheres. During the 'mutic' period, which lasted about 1 month, the patient did not respond to any auditory stimuli and made no effort to communicate. On follow-up examinations, language competences had re-appeared almost intact, but a massive auditory agnosia for non-verbal sounds was observed. From close inspection of lesion site, as determined with brain resonance imaging, and from a study of auditory evoked potentials, it is concluded that bilateral insular damage was crucial to both expressive and receptive components of the syndrome. The role of the insula in verbal and non-verbal communication is discussed in the light of anatomical descriptions of the pattern of connectivity of the insular cortex.

Verbal overshadowing of visual memories: some things are better left unsaid.

PubMed

Schooler, J W; Engstler-Schooler, T Y

1990-01-01

It is widely believed that verbal processing generally improves memory performance. However, in a series of six experiments, verbalizing the appearance of previously seen visual stimuli impaired subsequent recognition performance. In Experiment 1, subjects viewed a videotape including a salient individual. Later, some subjects described the individual's face. Subjects who verbalized the face performed less well on a subsequent recognition test than control subjects who did not engage in memory verbalization. The results of Experiment 2 replicated those of Experiment 1 and further clarified the effect of memory verbalization by demonstrating that visualization does not impair face recognition. In Experiments 3 and 4 we explored the hypothesis that memory verbalization impairs memory for stimuli that are difficult to put into words. In Experiment 3 memory impairment followed the verbalization of a different visual stimulus: color. In Experiment 4 marginal memory improvement followed the verbalization of a verbal stimulus: a brief spoken statement. In Experiments 5 and 6 the source of verbally induced memory impairment was explored. The results of Experiment 5 suggested that the impairment does not reflect a temporary verbal set, but rather indicates relatively long-lasting memory interference. Finally, Experiment 6 demonstrated that limiting subjects' time to make recognition decisions alleviates the impairment, suggesting that memory verbalization overshadows but does not eradicate the original visual memory. This collection of results is consistent with a recording interference hypothesis: verbalizing a visual memory may produce a verbally biased memory representation that can interfere with the application of the original visual memory.

Loss of white matter connections after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its relationship to social cognition.

PubMed

McDonald, Skye; Dalton, Katie I; Rushby, Jacqueline A; Landin-Romero, Ramon

2018-06-14

Adults with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often suffer poor social cognition. Social cognition is complex, requiring verbal, non-verbal, auditory, visual and affective input and integration. While damage to focal temporal and frontal areas has been implicated in disorders of social cognition after TBI, the role of white matter pathology has not been examined. In this study 17 adults with chronic, severe TBI and 17 control participants underwent structural MRI scans and Diffusion Tensor Imaging. The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) was used to assess their ability to understand emotional states, thoughts, intentions and conversational meaning in everyday exchanges. Track-based spatial statistics were used to perform voxelwise analysis of Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and Mean Diffusivity (MD) of white matter tracts associated with poor social cognitive performance. FA suggested a wide range of tracts were implicated in poor TASIT performance including tracts known to mediate, auditory localisation (planum temporale) communication between nonverbal and verbal processes in general (corpus callosum) and in memory in particular (fornix) as well as tracts and structures associated with semantics and verbal recall (left temporal lobe and hippocampus), multimodal processing and integration (thalamus, external capsule, cerebellum) and with social cognition (orbitofrontal cortex, frontopolar cortex, right temporal lobe). Even when controlling for non-social cognition, the corpus callosum, fornix, bilateral thalamus, right external capsule and right temporal lobe remained significant contributors to social cognitive performance. This study highlights the importance of loss of white matter connectivity in producing complex social information processing deficits after TBI.

Meaningful Memory in Acute Anorexia Nervosa Patients-Comparing Recall, Learning, and Recognition of Semantically Related and Semantically Unrelated Word Stimuli.

PubMed

Terhoeven, Valentin; Kallen, Ursula; Ingenerf, Katrin; Aschenbrenner, Steffen; Weisbrod, Matthias; Herzog, Wolfgang; Brockmeyer, Timo; Friederich, Hans-Christoph; Nikendei, Christoph

2017-03-01

It is unclear whether observed memory impairment in anorexia nervosa (AN) depends on the semantic structure (categorized words) of material to be encoded. We aimed to investigate the processing of semantically related information in AN. Memory performance was assessed in a recall, learning, and recognition test in 27 adult women with AN (19 restricting, 8 binge-eating/purging subtype; average disease duration: 9.32 years) and 30 healthy controls using an extended version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, applying semantically related and unrelated word stimuli. Short-term memory (immediate recall, learning), regardless of semantics of the words, was significantly worse in AN patients, whereas long-term memory (delayed recall, recognition) did not differ between AN patients and controls. Semantics of stimuli do not have a better effect on memory recall in AN compared to CO. Impaired short-term versus long-term memory is discussed in relation to dysfunctional working memory in AN. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Can verbal working memory training improve reading?

PubMed

Banales, Erin; Kohnen, Saskia; McArthur, Genevieve

2015-01-01

The aim of the current study was to determine whether poor verbal working memory is associated with poor word reading accuracy because the former causes the latter, or the latter causes the former. To this end, we tested whether (a) verbal working memory training improves poor verbal working memory or poor word reading accuracy, and whether (b) reading training improves poor reading accuracy or verbal working memory in a case series of four children with poor word reading accuracy and verbal working memory. Each child completed 8 weeks of verbal working memory training and 8 weeks of reading training. Verbal working memory training improved verbal working memory in two of the four children, but did not improve their reading accuracy. Similarly, reading training improved word reading accuracy in all children, but did not improve their verbal working memory. These results suggest that the causal links between verbal working memory and reading accuracy may not be as direct as has been assumed.

The importance of ignoring: Alpha oscillations protect selectivity.

PubMed

Payne, Lisa; Sekuler, Robert

2014-06-01

Selective attention is often thought to entail an enhancement of some task-relevant stimulus or attribute. We discuss the perspective that ignoring irrelevant, distracting information plays a complementary role in information processing. Cortical oscillations within the alpha (8-14 Hz) frequency band have emerged as a marker of sensory suppression. This suppression is linked to selective attention for visual, auditory, somatic, and verbal stimuli. Inhibiting processing of irrelevant input makes responses more accurate and timely. It also helps protect material held in short-term memory against disruption. Furthermore, this selective process keeps irrelevant information from distorting the fidelity of memories. Memory is only as good as the perceptual representations on which it is based, and on whose maintenance it depends. Modulation of alpha oscillations can be exploited as an active, purposeful mechanism to help people pay attention and remember the things that matter.

A combination of physical activity and computerized brain training improves verbal memory and increases cerebral glucose metabolism in the elderly.

PubMed

Shah, T; Verdile, G; Sohrabi, H; Campbell, A; Putland, E; Cheetham, C; Dhaliwal, S; Weinborn, M; Maruff, P; Darby, D; Martins, R N

2014-12-02

Physical exercise interventions and cognitive training programs have individually been reported to improve cognition in the healthy elderly population; however, the clinical significance of using a combined approach is currently lacking. This study evaluated whether physical activity (PA), computerized cognitive training and/or a combination of both could improve cognition. In this nonrandomized study, 224 healthy community-dwelling older adults (60-85 years) were assigned to 16 weeks home-based PA (n=64), computerized cognitive stimulation (n=62), a combination of both (combined, n=51) or a control group (n=47). Cognition was assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test and the CogState computerized battery at baseline, 8 and 16 weeks post intervention. Physical fitness assessments were performed at all time points. A subset (total n=45) of participants underwent [(18)F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scans at 16 weeks (post-intervention). One hundred and ninety-one participants completed the study and the data of 172 participants were included in the final analysis. Compared with the control group, the combined group showed improved verbal episodic memory and significantly higher brain glucose metabolism in the left sensorimotor cortex after controlling for age, sex, premorbid IQ, apolipoprotein E (APOE) status and history of head injury. The higher cerebral glucose metabolism in this brain region was positively associated with improved verbal memory seen in the combined group only. Our study provides evidence that a specific combination of physical and mental exercises for 16 weeks can improve cognition and increase cerebral glucose metabolism in cognitively intact healthy older adults.

A combination of physical activity and computerized brain training improves verbal memory and increases cerebral glucose metabolism in the elderly

PubMed Central

Shah, T; Verdile, G; Sohrabi, H; Campbell, A; Putland, E; Cheetham, C; Dhaliwal, S; Weinborn, M; Maruff, P; Darby, D; Martins, R N

2014-01-01

Physical exercise interventions and cognitive training programs have individually been reported to improve cognition in the healthy elderly population; however, the clinical significance of using a combined approach is currently lacking. This study evaluated whether physical activity (PA), computerized cognitive training and/or a combination of both could improve cognition. In this nonrandomized study, 224 healthy community-dwelling older adults (60–85 years) were assigned to 16 weeks home-based PA (n=64), computerized cognitive stimulation (n=62), a combination of both (combined, n=51) or a control group (n=47). Cognition was assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test and the CogState computerized battery at baseline, 8 and 16 weeks post intervention. Physical fitness assessments were performed at all time points. A subset (total n=45) of participants underwent [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scans at 16 weeks (post-intervention). One hundred and ninety-one participants completed the study and the data of 172 participants were included in the final analysis. Compared with the control group, the combined group showed improved verbal episodic memory and significantly higher brain glucose metabolism in the left sensorimotor cortex after controlling for age, sex, premorbid IQ, apolipoprotein E (APOE) status and history of head injury. The higher cerebral glucose metabolism in this brain region was positively associated with improved verbal memory seen in the combined group only. Our study provides evidence that a specific combination of physical and mental exercises for 16 weeks can improve cognition and increase cerebral glucose metabolism in cognitively intact healthy older adults. PMID:25463973

Olfactory memory in the old and very old: relations to episodic and semantic memory and APOE genotype.

PubMed

Larsson, Maria; Hedner, Margareta; Papenberg, Goran; Seubert, Janina; Bäckman, Lars; Laukka, Erika J

2016-02-01

The neuroanatomical organization that underlies olfactory memory is different from that of other memory types. The present work examines olfactory memory in an elderly population-based sample (Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen) aged 60-100 years (n = 2280). We used structural equation modeling to investigate whether olfactory memory in old age is best conceptualized as a distinct category, differentiated from episodic and semantic memory. Further, potential olfactory dedifferentiation and genetic associations (APOE) to olfactory function in late senescence were investigated. Results are in support of a 3-factor solution where olfactory memory, as indexed by episodic odor recognition and odor identification, is modeled separately from episodic and semantic memory for visual and verbal information. Increasing age was associated with poorer olfactory memory performance, and observed age-related deficits were further exacerbated for carriers of the APOE ε4 allele; these effects tended to be larger for olfactory memory compared to episodic and semantic memory pertaining to other sensory systems (vision, auditory). Finally, stronger correlations between olfactory and episodic memory, indicating dedifferentiation, were observed in the older age groups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Similarities and differences in borderline and organic personality disorder.

PubMed

Mathiesen, Birgit B; Simonsen, Erik; Soegaard, Ulf; Kvist, Kajsa

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that brain injury patients with Organic Personality Disorder (OPD) may display "borderline" traits due to prefrontal damage, and their personality structure may be unstable and close to a borderline personality organisation. They may have few general neuropsychological dysfunctions but specific executive deficits. Similar deficits have been found in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The objective of this study was to identify differences and similarities between the neuropsychological and personality profiles of BPD and OPD patients. Twenty BPD patients and 24 OPD patients were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders (SCID-II), the Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP), and a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Very few neuropsychological differences were found between the two patient groups. However, the verbal fluency, verbal intelligence, verbal memory, and immediate auditory memory/attention of the BPD patients were significantly poorer than the OPD patients'. The KAPP profiles of the BPD patients showed significantly poorer functioning in three areas: frustration tolerance, the body as a factor of self-esteem, and overall personality organisation. These results support our clinical experience and expectations concerning the severity of symptoms of both patient groups. We suggest considering in depth assessments of both neuropsychological and personality-related problems for each of these patients in order to inform treatment.

The effect of shunt surgery on neuropsychological performance in normal pressure hydrocephalus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Peterson, Katie A; Savulich, George; Jackson, Dan; Killikelly, Clare; Pickard, John D; Sahakian, Barbara J

2016-08-01

We conducted a systematic review of the literature and used meta-analytic techniques to evaluate the impact of shunt surgery on neuropsychological performance in patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). Twenty-three studies with 1059 patients were identified for review using PubMed, Web of Science, Google scholar and manual searching. Inclusion criteria were prospective, within-subject investigations of cognitive outcome using neuropsychological assessment before and after shunt surgery in patients with NPH. There were statistically significant effects of shunt surgery on cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination; MMSE), learning and memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test; RAVLT, total and delayed subtests), executive function (backwards digit span, phonemic verbal fluency, trail making test B) and psychomotor speed (trail making test A) all in the direction of improvement following shunt surgery, but with considerable heterogeneity across all measures. A more detailed examination of the data suggested robust evidence for improved MMSE, RAVLT total, RAVLT delayed, phonemic verbal fluency and trail making test A only. Meta-regressions revealed no statistically significant effect of age, sex or follow-up interval on improvement in the MMSE. Our results suggest that shunt surgery is most sensitive for improving global cognition, learning and memory and psychomotor speed in patients with NPH.

Relationships of posttraumatic stress symptoms and sleep measures to cognitive performance in young-adult African Americans.

PubMed

Brownlow, Janeese A; Brown, Tyish S Hall; Mellman, Thomas A

2014-04-01

Disturbed sleep is a prominent feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD and disrupted sleep have been independently linked to cognitive deficits; however, synergistic effects of PTSD and poor sleep on cognition have not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of PTSD symptoms and objectively measured disruptions to sleep on cognitive function. Forty-four young-adult African American urban residents comprised the study sample. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS; Blake et al., 1995) was utilized to determine the severity of PTSD symptoms. Participants underwent 2 consecutive nights of polysomnography. The Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (Reeves, Winter, Bleiberg, & Kang, ) was utilized to assess sustained attention and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (Schmidt, ) was used to evaluate verbal memory. PTSD symptom severity, r(42) = .40, p = .007, was significantly associated with omission errors on the sustained attention task, and sleep duration, r(42) = .41, p = .006, and rapid eye movement sleep, r(42) = .43, p = .003, were positively correlated with verbal memory. There was an interaction of PTSD symptom severity and sleep duration on omission errors such that more than 7 hours 12 minutes of sleep mitigated attentional lapses that were associated with PTSD. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Accounting for the phenomenology and varieties of auditory verbal hallucination within a predictive processing framework

PubMed Central

Wilkinson, Sam

2018-01-01

Two challenges that face popular self-monitoring theories (SMTs) of auditory verbal hallucination (AVH) are that they cannot account for the auditory phenomenology of AVHs and that they cannot account for their variety. In this paper I show that both challenges can be met by adopting a predictive processing framework (PPF), and by viewing AVHs as arising from abnormalities in predictive processing. I show how, within the PPF, both the auditory phenomenology of AVHs, and three subtypes of AVH, can be accounted for. PMID:25286243

Comparing the experience of voices in borderline personality disorder with the experience of voices in a psychotic disorder: A systematic review.

PubMed

Merrett, Zalie; Rossell, Susan L; Castle, David J

2016-07-01

In clinical settings, there is substantial evidence both clinically and empirically to suggest that approximately 50% of individuals with borderline personality disorder experience auditory verbal hallucinations. However, there is limited research investigating the phenomenology of these voices. The aim of this study was to review and compare our current understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder with auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with a psychotic disorder, to critically analyse existing studies investigating auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder and to identify gaps in current knowledge, which will help direct future research. The literature was searched using the electronic database Scopus, PubMed and MEDLINE. Relevant studies were included if they were written in English, were empirical studies specifically addressing auditory verbal hallucinations and borderline personality disorder, were peer reviewed, used only adult humans and sample comprising borderline personality disorder as the primary diagnosis, and included a comparison group with a primary psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia. Our search strategy revealed a total of 16 articles investigating the phenomenology of auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder. Some studies provided evidence to suggest that the voice experiences in borderline personality disorder are similar to those experienced by people with schizophrenia, for example, occur inside the head, and often involved persecutory voices. Other studies revealed some differences between schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder voice experiences, with the borderline personality disorder voices sounding more derogatory and self-critical in nature and the voice-hearers' response to the voices were more emotionally resistive. Furthermore, in one study, the schizophrenia group's voices resulted in more disruption in daily functioning. These studies are, however, limited in number and do not provide definitive evidence of these differences. The limited research examining auditory verbal hallucinations experiences in borderline personality disorder poses a significant diagnostic and treatment challenge. A deeper understanding of the precise phenomenological characteristics will help us in terms of diagnostic distinction as well as inform treatments. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2016.

[Executive functioning and motivation in preschool children at risk for learning difficulties in mathematics].

PubMed

Presentación-Herrero, M Jesús; Mercader-Ruiz, Jessica; Siegenthaler-Hierro, Rebeca; Fernández-Andrés, Inmaculada; Miranda-Casas, Ana

2015-02-25

Early identification of the factors involved in the development of learning difficulties in mathematics is essential to be able to understand their origin and implement successful interventions. This study analyses the capacity of executive functioning and of variables from the motivational belief system to differentiate and classify preschool children with and without risk of having difficulties in mathematics. A total of 146 subjects from the third year of preschool education took part in the study, divided into risk/no risk according to the score obtained on the operations subtest of the TEDI-MATH test. Working memory (verbal and visuospatial) and inhibition (with auditory and visual stimuli) neuropsychological tasks were applied. Teachers filled in a questionnaire on the children's motivation with regard to learning. Significant differences were found between the two groups on the working memory and inhibition-auditory factors, as well as on all the motivation variables. The results also show a similar power of classification, with percentages above 80%, for both groups of variables. The implications of these findings for educational practice are discussed.

Memory deficits in abstinent MDMA (ecstasy) users: neuropsychological evidence of frontal dysfunction.

PubMed

Quednow, Boris B; Jessen, Frank; Kuhn, Kai-Uwe; Maier, Wolfgang; Daum, Irene; Wagner, Michael

2006-05-01

Chronic administration of the common club drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is associated with long-term depletion of serotonin (5-HT) and loss of 5-HT axons in the brains of rodents and non-human primates, and evidence suggests that recreational MDMA consumption may also affect the human serotonergic system. Moreover, it was consistently shown that abstinent MDMA users have memory deficits. Recently, it was supposed that these deficits are an expression of a temporal or rather hippocampal dysfunction caused by the serotonergic neurotoxicity of MDMA. The aim of this study is to examine the memory deficits of MDMA users neuropsychologically in order to evaluate the role of different brain regions. Nineteen male abstinent MDMA users, 19 male abstinent cannabis users and 19 male drug-naive control subjects were examined with a German version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). MDMA users showed widespread and marked verbal memory deficits, compared to drug-naive controls as well as compared to cannabis users, whereas cannabis users did not differ from control subjects in their memory performance. MDMA users revealed impairments in learning, consolidation, recall and recognition. In addition, they also showed a worse recall consistency and strong retroactive interference whereby both measures were previously associated with frontal lobe function. There was a significant correlation between memory performance and the amount of MDMA taken. These results suggest that the memory deficits of MDMA users are not only the result of a temporal or hippocampal dysfunction, but also of a dysfunction of regions within the frontal cortex.

Negative BOLD in sensory cortices during verbal memory: a component in generating internal representations?

PubMed

Azulay, Haim; Striem, Ella; Amedi, Amir

2009-05-01

People tend to close their eyes when trying to retrieve an event or a visual image from memory. However the brain mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain poorly understood. Recently, we showed that during visual mental imagery, auditory areas show a much more robust deactivation than during visual perception. Here we ask whether this is a special case of a more general phenomenon involving retrieval of intrinsic, internally stored information, which would result in crossmodal deactivations in other sensory cortices which are irrelevant to the task at hand. To test this hypothesis, a group of 9 sighted individuals were scanned while performing a memory retrieval task for highly abstract words (i.e., with low imaginability scores). We also scanned a group of 10 congenitally blind, which by definition do not have any visual imagery per se. In sighted subjects, both auditory and visual areas were robustly deactivated during memory retrieval, whereas in the blind the auditory cortex was deactivated while visual areas, shown previously to be relevant for this task, presented a positive BOLD signal. These results suggest that deactivation may be most prominent in task-irrelevant sensory cortices whenever there is a need for retrieval or manipulation of internally stored representations. Thus, there is a task-dependent balance of activation and deactivation that might allow maximization of resources and filtering out of non relevant information to enable allocation of attention to the required task. Furthermore, these results suggest that the balance between positive and negative BOLD might be crucial to our understanding of a large variety of intrinsic and extrinsic tasks including high-level cognitive functions, sensory processing and multisensory integration.

A verbal behavior analysis of auditory hallucinations

PubMed Central

Burns, Caleb E. S.; Heiby, Elaine M.; Tharp, Roland G.

1983-01-01

A review of recent research on the non-medical control of auditory hallucinations is presented. It is suggested that the decreases in hallucinatory behavior obtained in studies using aversive contingencies may be attributable to the disruption of the chains of behavior involved. The results of several additional studies are interpreted as indicating that methods of stimulus control and the use of incompatible behaviors may be effective in reducing the rate of auditory hallucinations. Research relating auditory hallucinations to subvocalizations is presented in support of the view that hallucinatory phenomena are sometimes related to the subject's own vocal productions. Skinner's views (1934, 1936, 1953, 1957, 1980) are then presented as possible explanations of some hallucinatory behavior. It is suggested that some auditory hallucinations consit of the mishearing of environmental and physiological stimuli as voices in a fashion similar to that which Skinner observed in his work with the verbal summator. The maintenance of long chains of such responses may be largely attributable to self-intraverbal influences (such as are present during automatic writing). With some auditory hallucinations, this progression involves first mishearing ambiguous stimuli as voices and then attributing the voices to some cause (e.g., insanity, the television, radio, or God). Later, the frequent and ongoing chains of such behavior may contaminate other verbal responses. Such verbal behavior may be parasitic on “normal verbal behavior” (and hence, not directly dependent on consquences for maintenance), may be cued by various stimuli (including respiration), and may interfere with other covert and overt behavior. Several studies to investigate this view are presented. It is hoped that such research will lead to a better understanding of the major issues involved in the etiology and treatment of auditory hallucinations in particular and perhaps of psychosis in general. PMID:22478583

Oscillatory cortical network involved in auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia.

PubMed

van Lutterveld, Remko; Hillebrand, Arjan; Diederen, Kelly M J; Daalman, Kirstin; Kahn, René S; Stam, Cornelis J; Sommer, Iris E C

2012-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), a prominent symptom of schizophrenia, are often highly distressing for patients. Better understanding of the pathogenesis of hallucinations could increase therapeutic options. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides direct measures of neuronal activity and has an excellent temporal resolution, offering a unique opportunity to study AVH pathophysiology. Twelve patients (10 paranoid schizophrenia, 2 psychosis not otherwise specified) indicated the presence of AVH by button-press while lying in a MEG scanner. As a control condition, patients performed a self-paced button-press task. AVH-state and non-AVH state were contrasted in a region-of-interest (ROI) approach. In addition, the two seconds before AVH onset were contrasted with the two seconds after AVH onset to elucidate a possible triggering mechanism. AVH correlated with a decrease in beta-band power in the left temporal cortex. A decrease in alpha-band power was observed in the right inferior frontal gyrus. AVH onset was related to a decrease in theta-band power in the right hippocampus. These results suggest that AVH are triggered by a short aberration in the theta band in a memory-related structure, followed by activity in language areas accompanying the experience of AVH itself.

The Impact of Age, Background Noise, Semantic Ambiguity, and Hearing Loss on Recognition Memory for Spoken Sentences.

PubMed

Koeritzer, Margaret A; Rogers, Chad S; Van Engen, Kristin J; Peelle, Jonathan E

2018-03-15

The goal of this study was to determine how background noise, linguistic properties of spoken sentences, and listener abilities (hearing sensitivity and verbal working memory) affect cognitive demand during auditory sentence comprehension. We tested 30 young adults and 30 older adults. Participants heard lists of sentences in quiet and in 8-talker babble at signal-to-noise ratios of +15 dB and +5 dB, which increased acoustic challenge but left the speech largely intelligible. Half of the sentences contained semantically ambiguous words to additionally manipulate cognitive challenge. Following each list, participants performed a visual recognition memory task in which they viewed written sentences and indicated whether they remembered hearing the sentence previously. Recognition memory (indexed by d') was poorer for acoustically challenging sentences, poorer for sentences containing ambiguous words, and differentially poorer for noisy high-ambiguity sentences. Similar patterns were observed for Z-transformed response time data. There were no main effects of age, but age interacted with both acoustic clarity and semantic ambiguity such that older adults' recognition memory was poorer for acoustically degraded high-ambiguity sentences than the young adults'. Within the older adult group, exploratory correlation analyses suggested that poorer hearing ability was associated with poorer recognition memory for sentences in noise, and better verbal working memory was associated with better recognition memory for sentences in noise. Our results demonstrate listeners' reliance on domain-general cognitive processes when listening to acoustically challenging speech, even when speech is highly intelligible. Acoustic challenge and semantic ambiguity both reduce the accuracy of listeners' recognition memory for spoken sentences. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5848059.

Attending to auditory memory.

PubMed

Zimmermann, Jacqueline F; Moscovitch, Morris; Alain, Claude

2016-06-01

Attention to memory describes the process of attending to memory traces when the object is no longer present. It has been studied primarily for representations of visual stimuli with only few studies examining attention to sound object representations in short-term memory. Here, we review the interplay of attention and auditory memory with an emphasis on 1) attending to auditory memory in the absence of related external stimuli (i.e., reflective attention) and 2) effects of existing memory on guiding attention. Attention to auditory memory is discussed in the context of change deafness, and we argue that failures to detect changes in our auditory environments are most likely the result of a faulty comparison system of incoming and stored information. Also, objects are the primary building blocks of auditory attention, but attention can also be directed to individual features (e.g., pitch). We review short-term and long-term memory guided modulation of attention based on characteristic features, location, and/or semantic properties of auditory objects, and propose that auditory attention to memory pathways emerge after sensory memory. A neural model for auditory attention to memory is developed, which comprises two separate pathways in the parietal cortex, one involved in attention to higher-order features and the other involved in attention to sensory information. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Randomized Controlled Trial Considering Varied Exercises for Reducing Proactive Memory Interference.

PubMed

Frith, Emily; Sng, Eveleen; Loprinzi, Paul D

2018-06-11

We evaluated the effects of exercise on proactive memory interference. Study 1 ( n = 88) employed a 15-min treadmill walking protocol, while Study 2 ( n = 88) included a 15-min bout of progressive maximal exertion treadmill exercise. Each study included four distinct groups, in which groups of 22 participants each were randomly assigned to: (a) exercise before memory encoding, (b) a control group with no exercise, (c) exercise during memory encoding, and (d) exercise after memory encoding (i.e., during memory consolidation). We used the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) to assess proactive memory interference. In both studies, the group that exercised prior to memory encoding recalled the most words from list B (distractor list) of the RAVLT, though group differences were not statistically significant for Study 1 (walking exercise) ( p = 0.521) or Study 2 (high-intensity exercise) ( p = 0.068). In this sample of young adults, high intensity exercise prior to memory encoding showed a non-significant tendency to attenuate impairments in recall attributable to proactive memory interference. Thus, future work with larger samples is needed to clarify potential beneficial effects of exercise for reducing proactive memory interference.

Freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: the paradoxical interplay between gait and cognition.

PubMed

Ricciardi, Lucia; Bloem, Bastiaan R; Snijders, Anke H; Daniele, Antonio; Quaranta, Davide; Bentivoglio, Anna Rita; Fasano, Alfonso

2014-08-01

Freezing of gait is a disabling episodic gait disturbance common in patients with Parkinson's disease. Recent evidences suggest a complex interplay between gait impairment and executive functions. Aim of our study was to evaluate whether specific motor conditions (sitting or walking) influence cognitive performance in patients with or without different types of freezing. Eight healthy controls, eight patients without freezing, nine patients with levodopa-responsive and nine patients with levodopa-resistant freezing received a clinical and neuropsychological assessment during two randomly performed conditions: at rest and during walking. At rest, patients with levodopa-resistant freezing performed worse than patients without freezing on tests of phonological fluency (p = 0.01). No differences among the four groups were detected during walking. When cognitive performances during walking were compared to the performance at rest, there was a significant decline of verbal episodic memory task (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) in patients without freezing and with levodopa-responsive freezing. Interestingly, walking improved performance on the phonological fluency task in patients with levodopa-resistant freezing (p = 0.04). Compared to patients without freezing, patients with levodopa-resistant freezing perform worse when tested while seated in tasks of phonological verbal fluency. Surprisingly, gait was associated with a paradoxical improvement of phonological verbal fluency in the patients with levodopa-resistant freezing whilst walking determined a worsening of episodic memory in the other patient groups. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hallucination- and speech-specific hypercoupling in frontotemporal auditory and language networks in schizophrenia using combined task-based fMRI data: An fBIRN study.

PubMed

Lavigne, Katie M; Woodward, Todd S

2018-04-01

Hypercoupling of activity in speech-perception-specific brain networks has been proposed to play a role in the generation of auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia; however, it is unclear whether this hypercoupling extends to nonverbal auditory perception. We investigated this by comparing schizophrenia patients with and without AVHs, and healthy controls, on task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data combining verbal speech perception (SP), inner verbal thought generation (VTG), and nonverbal auditory oddball detection (AO). Data from two previously published fMRI studies were simultaneously analyzed using group constrained principal component analysis for fMRI (group fMRI-CPCA), which allowed for comparison of task-related functional brain networks across groups and tasks while holding the brain networks under study constant, leading to determination of the degree to which networks are common to verbal and nonverbal perception conditions, and which show coordinated hyperactivity in hallucinations. Three functional brain networks emerged: (a) auditory-motor, (b) language processing, and (c) default-mode (DMN) networks. Combining the AO and sentence tasks allowed the auditory-motor and language networks to separately emerge, whereas they were aggregated when individual tasks were analyzed. AVH patients showed greater coordinated activity (deactivity for DMN regions) than non-AVH patients during SP in all networks, but this did not extend to VTG or AO. This suggests that the hypercoupling in AVH patients in speech-perception-related brain networks is specific to perceived speech, and does not extend to perceived nonspeech or inner verbal thought generation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Napping on the Night Shift: A Study of Sleep, Performance, and Learning in Physicians-in-Training.

PubMed

McDonald, Jennifer; Potyk, Darryl; Fischer, David; Parmenter, Brett; Lillis, Teresa; Tompkins, Lindsey; Bowen, Angela; Grant, Devon; Lamp, Amanda; Belenky, Gregory

2013-12-01

Physicians in training experience fatigue from sleep loss, high workload, and working at an adverse phase of the circadian rhythm, which collectively degrades task performance and the ability to learn and remember. To minimize fatigue and sustain performance, learning, and memory, humans generally need 7 to 8 hours of sleep in every 24-hour period. In a naturalistic, within-subjects design, we studied 17 first- and second-year internal medicine residents working in a tertiary care medical center, rotating between day shift and night float every 4 weeks. We studied each resident for 2 weeks while he/she worked the day shift and for 2 weeks while he/she worked the night float, objectively measuring sleep by wrist actigraphy, vigilance by the Psychomotor Vigilance Task test, and visual-spatial and verbal learning and memory by the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. Residents, whether working day shift or night float, slept approximately 7 hours in every 24-hour period. Residents, when working day shift, consolidated their sleep into 1 main sleep period at night. Residents working night float split their sleep, supplementing their truncated daytime sleep with nighttime on-duty naps. There was no difference in vigilance or learning and memory, whether residents worked day shift or night float. Off-duty sleep supplemented with naps while on duty appears to be an effective strategy for sustaining vigilance, learning, and memory when working night float.

Factors influencing tests of auditory processing: a perspective on current issues and relevant concerns.

PubMed

Cacace, Anthony T; McFarland, Dennis J

2013-01-01

Tests of auditory perception, such as those used in the assessment of central auditory processing disorders ([C]APDs), represent a domain in audiological assessment where measurement of this theoretical construct is often confounded by nonauditory abilities due to methodological shortcomings. These confounds include the effects of cognitive variables such as memory and attention and suboptimal testing paradigms, including the use of verbal reproduction as a form of response selection. We argue that these factors need to be controlled more carefully and/or modified so that their impact on tests of auditory and visual perception is only minimal. To advocate for a stronger theoretical framework than currently exists and to suggest better methodological strategies to improve assessment of auditory processing disorders (APDs). Emphasis is placed on adaptive forced-choice psychophysical methods and the use of matched tasks in multiple sensory modalities to achieve these goals. Together, this approach has potential to improve the construct validity of the diagnosis, enhance and develop theory, and evolve into a preferred method of testing. Examination of methods commonly used in studies of APDs. Where possible, currently used methodology is compared to contemporary psychophysical methods that emphasize computer-controlled forced-choice paradigms. In many cases, the procedures used in studies of APD introduce confounding factors that could be minimized if computer-controlled forced-choice psychophysical methods were utilized. Ambiguities of interpretation, indeterminate diagnoses, and unwanted confounds can be avoided by minimizing memory and attentional demands on the input end and precluding the use of response-selection strategies that use complex motor processes on the output end. Advocated are the use of computer-controlled forced-choice psychophysical paradigms in combination with matched tasks in multiple sensory modalities to enhance the prospect of obtaining a valid diagnosis. American Academy of Audiology.

Frontal Glutamate and γ-Aminobutyric Acid Levels and Their Associations With Mismatch Negativity and Digit Sequencing Task Performance in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Rowland, Laura M; Summerfelt, Ann; Wijtenburg, S Andrea; Du, Xiaoming; Chiappelli, Joshua J; Krishna, Nithin; West, Jeffrey; Muellerklein, Florian; Kochunov, Peter; Hong, L Elliot

2016-02-01

Auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) is a biomarker for schizophrenia thought to reflect glutamatergic N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor function and excitatory-inhibitory neurotransmission balance. However, the association of glutamate level with MMN has not been directly examined in patients with schizophrenia, to our knowledge. To investigate the contributions of glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) to MMN and digit sequencing task (DST) performance, an assessment of verbal working memory, in schizophrenia. Fifty-three control participants from the community and 45 persons with schizophrenia from outpatient clinics completed an electroencephalographic session for MMN, magnetic resonance spectroscopy for glutamate and GABA, and a DST. The study dates were July 2011 to May 2014, and the dates of our analysis were May 2014 to August 2015. Glutamate, GABA, the ratio of glutamine to glutamate, MMN amplitude, and DST. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effects of neurochemistry and MMN amplitude on DST performance. The 45 persons with schizophrenia were a mean (SD) of 37.7 (12.8) years and the control participants were 37.1 (13.1) years. The schizophrenia group had a mean (SD) of 14.7 (12.1) years of illness. Mismatch negativity amplitude (F = 4.39, P = .04) and glutamate (F = 9.69, P = .002) were reduced in the schizophrenia group. Smaller MMN amplitude was significantly associated with lower GABA level (P = .008), lower glutamate level (P = .05), and higher ratio of glutamine to glutamate (P = .003). Reduced MMN amplitude was linked to poor verbal working memory in schizophrenia (P = .002). Modeling revealed that a proxy of glutamatergic function, indexed by the ratio of glutamine to glutamate, influenced a path from the ratio of glutamine to glutamate to MMN to verbal working memory (P = .38 [root-mean-square error of approximation, P < .001] by χ2 test), supporting the contention that MMN serves as an intermediate biomarker linking glutamatergic function to DST performance in schizophrenia. The role of glutamate and GABA in MMN and verbal working memory deficits in schizophrenia has been frequently debated. These data provide in vivo evidence that support glutamatergic and GABAergic regulation of MMN and verbal working memory function in schizophrenia.

Frontal Glutamate and γ-Aminobutyric Acid Levels and Their Associations With Mismatch Negativity and Digit Sequencing Task Performance in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Rowland, Laura M.; Summerfelt, Ann; Wijtenburg, S. Andrea; Du, Xiaoming; Chiappelli, Joshua J.; Krishna, Nithin; West, Jeffrey; Muellerklein, Florian; Kochunov, Peter; Hong, L. Elliot

2016-01-01

IMPORTANCE Auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) is a biomarker for schizophrenia thought to reflect glutamatergic N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor function and excitatory-inhibitory neurotransmission balance. However, the association of glutamate level with MMN has not been directly examined in patients with schizophrenia, to our knowledge. OBJECTIVE To investigate the contributions of glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) to MMN and digit sequencing task (DST) performance, an assessment of verbal working memory, in schizophrenia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Fifty-three control participants from the community and 45 persons with schizophrenia from outpatient clinics completed an electroencephalographic session for MMN, magnetic resonance spectroscopy for glutamate and GABA, and a DST. The study dates were July 2011 to May 2014, and the dates of our analysis were May 2014 to August 2015. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Glutamate, GABA, the ratio of glutamine to glutamate, MMN amplitude, and DST. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effects of neurochemistry and MMN amplitude on DST performance. RESULTS The 45 persons with schizophrenia were a mean (SD) of 37.7 (12.8) years and the control participants were 37.1 (13.1) years. The schizophrenia group had a mean (SD) of 14.7 (12.1) years of illness. Mismatch negativity amplitude (F = 4.39, P = .04) and glutamate (F = 9.69, P = .002) were reduced in the schizophrenia group. Smaller MMN amplitude was significantly associated with lower GABA level (P = .008), lower glutamate level (P = .05), and higher ratio of glutamine to glutamate (P = .003). Reduced MMN amplitude was linked to poor verbal working memory in schizophrenia (P = .002). Modeling revealed that a proxy of glutamatergic function, indexed by the ratio of glutamine to glutamate, influenced a path from the ratio of glutamine to glutamate to MMN to verbal working memory (P = .38 [root-mean-square error of approximation, P < .001] by χ2 test), supporting the contention that MMN serves as an intermediate biomarker linking glutamatergic function to DST performance in schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The role of glutamate and GABA in MMN and verbal working memory deficits in schizophrenia has been frequently debated. These data provide in vivo evidence that support glutamatergic and GABAergic regulation of MMN and verbal working memory function in schizophrenia. PMID:26720179

Intermediate Cognitive Phenotypes in Bipolar Disorder

PubMed Central

Langenecker, Scott A.; Saunders, Erika F.H.; Kade, Allison M.; Ransom, Michael T.; McInnis, Melvin G.

2013-01-01

Background Intermediate cognitive phenotypes (ICPs) are measurable and quantifiable states that may be objectively assessed in a standardized method, and can be integrated into association studies, including genetic, biochemical, clinical, and imaging based correlates. The present study used neuropsychological measures as ICPs, with factor scores in executive functioning, attention, memory, fine motor function, and emotion processing, similar to prior work in schizophrenia. Methods Healthy control subjects (HC, n=34) and euthymic (E, n=66), depressed (D, n=43), or hypomanic/mixed (HM, n=13) patients with bipolar disorder (BD) were assessed with neuropsychological tests. These were from eight domains consistent with previous literature; auditory memory, visual memory, processing speed with interference resolution, verbal fluency and processing speed, conceptual reasoning and set-shifting, inhibitory control, emotion processing, and fine motor dexterity. Results Of the eight factor scores, the HC group outperformed the E group in three (Processing Speed with Interference Resolution, Visual Memory, Fine Motor Dexterity), the D group in seven (all except Inhibitory Control), and the HM group in four (Inhibitory Control, Processing Speed with Interference Resolution, Fine Motor Dexterity, and Auditory Memory). Limitations The HM group was relatively small, thus effects of this phase of illness may have been underestimated. Effects of medication could not be fully controlled without a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Conclusions Use of the factor scores can assist in determining ICPs for BD and related disorders, and may provide more specific targets for development of new treatments. We highlight strong ICPs (Processing Speed with Interference Resolution, Visual Memory, Fine Motor Dexterity) for further study, consistent with the existing literature. PMID:19800130

Cognitive Predictors of Verbal Memory in a Mixed Clinical Pediatric Sample

PubMed Central

Jordan, Lizabeth L.; Tyner, Callie E.; Heaton, Shelley C.

2013-01-01

Verbal memory problems, along with other cognitive difficulties, are common in children diagnosed with neurological and/or psychological disorders. Historically, these “memory problems” have been poorly characterized and often present with a heterogeneous pattern of performance across memory processes, even within a specific diagnostic group. The current study examined archival neuropsychological data from a large mixed clinical pediatric sample in order to understand whether functioning in other cognitive areas (i.e., verbal knowledge, attention, working memory, executive functioning) may explain some of the performance variability seen across verbal memory tasks of the Children’s Memory Scale (CMS). Multivariate analyses revealed that among the cognitive functions examined, only verbal knowledge explained a significant amount of variance in overall verbal memory performance. Further univariate analyses examining the component processes of verbal memory indicated that verbal knowledge is specifically related to encoding, but not the retention or retrieval stages. Future research is needed to replicate these findings in other clinical samples, to examine whether verbal knowledge predicts performance on other verbal memory tasks and to explore whether these findings also hold true for visual memory tasks. Successful replication of the current study findings would indicate that interventions targeting verbal encoding deficits should include efforts to improve verbal knowledge. PMID:25379253

A Brain System for Auditory Working Memory.

PubMed

Kumar, Sukhbinder; Joseph, Sabine; Gander, Phillip E; Barascud, Nicolas; Halpern, Andrea R; Griffiths, Timothy D

2016-04-20

The brain basis for auditory working memory, the process of actively maintaining sounds in memory over short periods of time, is controversial. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in human participants, we demonstrate that the maintenance of single tones in memory is associated with activation in auditory cortex. In addition, sustained activation was observed in hippocampus and inferior frontal gyrus. Multivoxel pattern analysis showed that patterns of activity in auditory cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus distinguished the tone that was maintained in memory. Functional connectivity during maintenance was demonstrated between auditory cortex and both the hippocampus and inferior frontal cortex. The data support a system for auditory working memory based on the maintenance of sound-specific representations in auditory cortex by projections from higher-order areas, including the hippocampus and frontal cortex. In this work, we demonstrate a system for maintaining sound in working memory based on activity in auditory cortex, hippocampus, and frontal cortex, and functional connectivity among them. Specifically, our work makes three advances from the previous work. First, we robustly demonstrate hippocampal involvement in all phases of auditory working memory (encoding, maintenance, and retrieval): the role of hippocampus in working memory is controversial. Second, using a pattern classification technique, we show that activity in the auditory cortex and inferior frontal gyrus is specific to the maintained tones in working memory. Third, we show long-range connectivity of auditory cortex to hippocampus and frontal cortex, which may be responsible for keeping such representations active during working memory maintenance. Copyright © 2016 Kumar et al.

Does Bacopa monnieri improve memory performance in older persons? Results of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

PubMed

Morgan, Annette; Stevens, John

2010-07-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Bacopa monnieri Linn. for improvement of memory performance in healthy older persons. This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The trial took place in Lismore, NSW, Australia between February and July 2005. Ninety-eight (98) healthy participants over 55 years of age were recruited from the general population. Participants were randomized to receive an extract of Bacopa monnieri called BacoMind(TM) (Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd.), 300 mg/day, or an identical placebo. Following screening, neuropsychologic and subjective memory assessments were performed at baseline and at 12 weeks. Audioverbal and visual memory performance were measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (CFT), and the Reitan Trail Making Test (TMT). Subjective memory performance was measured by the Memory Complaint Questionnaire (MAC-Q). One hundred and thirty-six (136) subjects volunteered; 103 met entry criteria, 98 commenced, and 81 completed the trial. Bacopa significantly improved verbal learning, memory acquisition, and delayed recall as measured by the AVLT: trial a4 (p = 0.000), trial a5 (p = 0.016); trial a6 (p = 0.000); trial a7 (delayed recall) (p = 0.001); total learning (p = 0.011); and retroactive interference (p = 0.048). CFT, MAC-Q, and TMT scores improved but group differences were not significant. Bacopa versus placebo caused gastrointestinal tract (GIT) side-effects. Bacopa significantly improved memory acquisition and retention in healthy older Australians. This concurs with previous findings and traditional use. Bacopa caused GIT side-effects of increased stool frequency, abdominal cramps, and nausea.

Intellectual Profile of Adolescents with Headache: A Case–Control Study Using the WISC-IV

PubMed Central

Chiappedi, Matteo; Mensi, Martina; Antonaci, Eliana; Zavani, Elena; Tronconi, Livio; Termine, Cristiano; Balottin, Umberto

2018-01-01

There are few literature evidences about the intellectual profile of adolescents with headache and no study has used the fourth edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) in patients with a diagnosis of headache according to the ICHD-III-beta. We recruited 30 patients (age 11–14 years; male:female = 1:2) seen for headache in a tertiary center in Northern Italy and 30 healthy controls matched for age and sex, recruited in a public school from the same geographic area. The diagnosis of headache was done according to the ICHD-III criteria (beta version): the case group was composed of 16 patients with migraine and 14 with tension-type headache. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the WISC-IV. Recruited patients with idiopathic headache diagnosis had on average a cognitive function within the normal range. We found no statistically significant differences in the total Intellective Quotient comparing patients with headache and controls; the Working Memory Index was, however, lower in patients with headache (p = 0.012), and in particular, we found a lower Digit Span (p < 0.001). We also found a borderline statistical difference (p = 0.051) between case and controls Verbal Comprehension Index (CVI), which was due to a lower score in the Similarities subtest (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that, although within normal limits, cognitive functioning of adolescents with headache differs from that of healthy peers regarding memory and verbal skills. The Working Memory Index is related to the subject’s ability to store new information and keep them in short-term memory, to maintain focused attention and to manipulate them to find solutions. The difference in Similarities is also important because it provides a measure of the level of verbal reasoning and concept formation; it is also a measure of verbal abstract thinking skills relevant for language development, lexical knowledge, auditory comprehension, memory, and ability to discriminate between essential and non-essential characteristics. Our data, in keep with previous findings, suggest the need for further researches to better understand the pathogenesis of these difficulties and obtain ideas for an adequate rehabilitative treatment. PMID:29559952

Language and memory abilities of internationally adopted children from China: evidence for early age effects.

PubMed

Delcenserie, Audrey; Genesee, Fred

2014-11-01

The goal of the present study was to examine if internationally adopted (IA) children from China (M = 10;8) adopted by French-speaking families exhibit lags in verbal memory in addition to lags in verbal abilities documented in previous studies (Gauthier & Genesee, 2011). Tests assessing verbal and non-verbal memory, language, non-verbal cognitive ability, and socio-emotional development were administered to thirty adoptees. Their results were compared to those of thirty non-adopted monolingual French-speaking children matched on age, gender, and socioeconomic status. The IA children scored significantly lower than the controls on language, verbal short-term memory, verbal working memory, and verbal long-term memory. No group differences were found on non-verbal memory, non-verbal cognitive ability, and socio-emotional development, suggesting language-specific difficulties. Despite extended exposure to French, adoptees may experience language difficulties due to limitations in verbal memory, possibly as a result of their delayed exposure to that language and/or attrition of the birth language.

Verbal memory after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery in children: Do only mesial structures matter?

PubMed

Law, Nicole; Benifla, Mony; Rutka, James; Smith, Mary Lou

2017-02-01

Previous findings have been mixed regarding verbal memory outcome after left temporal lobectomy in children, and there are few studies comparing verbal memory change after lateral versus mesial temporal lobe resections. We compared verbal memory outcome associated with sparing or including the mesial structures in children who underwent left or right temporal lobe resection. We also investigated predictors of postsurgical verbal memory change. We retrospectively assessed verbal memory change approximately 1 year after unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy surgery using a list learning task. Participants included 23 children who underwent temporal lobe surgery with sparing of the mesial structures (13 left), and 40 children who had a temporal lobectomy that included resection of mesial structures (22 left). Children who underwent resection from the left lateral and mesial temporal lobe were the only group to show decline in verbal memory. Furthermore, when we considered language representation in the left temporal resection group, patients with left language representation and spared mesial structures showed essentially no change in verbal memory from preoperative to follow-up, whereas those with left language representation and excised mesial structures showed a decline. Postoperative seizure status had no effect on verbal memory change in children after left temporal lobe surgery. Finally, we found that patients with intact preoperative verbal memory experienced a significant decline compared to those with below average preoperative verbal memory. Our findings provide evidence of significant risk factors for verbal memory decline in children, specific to left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Children who undergo left temporal lobe surgery that includes mesial structures may be most vulnerable for verbal memory decline, especially when language representation is localized to the left hemisphere and when preoperative verbal memory is intact. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International League Against Epilepsy.

Accounting for the phenomenology and varieties of auditory verbal hallucination within a predictive processing framework.

PubMed

Wilkinson, Sam

2014-11-01

Two challenges that face popular self-monitoring theories (SMTs) of auditory verbal hallucination (AVH) are that they cannot account for the auditory phenomenology of AVHs and that they cannot account for their variety. In this paper I show that both challenges can be met by adopting a predictive processing framework (PPF), and by viewing AVHs as arising from abnormalities in predictive processing. I show how, within the PPF, both the auditory phenomenology of AVHs, and three subtypes of AVH, can be accounted for. Copyright © 2014 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Phonological working memory in German children with poor reading and spelling abilities.

PubMed

Steinbrink, Claudia; Klatte, Maria

2008-11-01

Deficits in verbal short-term memory have been identified as one factor underlying reading and spelling disorders. However, the nature of this deficit is still unclear. It has been proposed that poor readers make less use of phonological coding, especially if the task can be solved through visual strategies. In the framework of Baddeley's phonological loop model, this study examined serial recall performance in German second-grade children with poor vs good reading and spelling abilities. Children were presented with four-item lists of common nouns for immediate serial recall. Word length and phonological similarity as well as presentation modality (visual vs auditory) and type of recall (visual vs verbal) were varied as within-subject factors in a mixed design. Word length and phonological similarity effects did not differ between groups, thus indicating equal use of phonological coding and rehearsal in poor and good readers. However, in all conditions, except the one that combined visual presentation and visual recall, overall performance was significantly lower in poor readers. The results suggest that the poor readers' difficulties do not arise from an avoidance of the phonological loop, but from its inefficient use. An alternative account referring to unstable phonological representations in long-term memory is discussed. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Accuracy of prospective memory tests in mild Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Martins, Sergilaine Pereira; Damasceno, Benito Pereira

2012-01-01

To verify the accuracy of prospective memory (ProM) tests in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty mild AD patients (CDR 1), and 20 controls underwent Digit Span (DS), Trail Making (TM) A and B, visual perception, Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning tests, and Cornell Scale for Depression. AD diagnosis was based on DSM-IV and NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. ProM was assessed with the appointment and belonging subtests of Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT); and with two new tests (the clock and animal tests). AD patients had a worse performance than controls on the majority of tests, except DS forward and TM-A. There was no correlation between RBMT and the new ProM tests. As for accuracy, the only significant difference concerned the higher sensitivity of our animal test versus the RBMT belonging test. The clock and the animal tests showed similar specificity, but higher sensitivity than the RBMT subtests.

Effects of preventive surgery for unruptured intracranial aneurysms on attention, executive function, learning and memory: a prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Chung, Joonho; Seok, Jeong-Ho; Kwon, Min A; Kim, Yong Bae; Joo, Jin-Yang; Hong, Chang-Ki

2016-01-01

We prospectively evaluated the effects of preventive surgery for unruptured intracranial aneurysms on attention, executive function, learning and memory. Between March 2012 and June 2013, 56 patients were recruited for this study. Fifty-one patients met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) age ≤65 years and (2) planned microsurgery or endovascular surgery for unruptured intracranial aneurysm. Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) preoperative intelligence quotient <80 (n = 3); (2) initial modified Rankin scale ≥1 (n = 1); (3) loss to follow-up (n = 1). An auditory controlled continuous performance test (ACCPT), word-color test (WCT) and verbal learning test (VLT) were performed before and after (6 months) preventive surgery. ACCPT (attention), WCT (executive function) and VLT (learning and memory) scores did not change significantly between the pre- and postoperative evaluations. The ACCPT, WCT, total VLT scores (verbal learning) and delayed VLT scores (memory) did not differ significantly between patients undergoing microsurgery and those undergoing endovascular surgery. However, ACCPT, WCT and delayed VLT scores decreased postoperatively in patients with leukoaraiosis on preoperative FLAIR images (OR 9.899, p = 0.041; OR 11.421, p = 0.006; OR 2.952, p = 0.024, respectively). Preventive surgery for unruptured intracranial aneurysms did not affect attention, executive function, learning or memory. However, patients with leukoaraiosis on FLAIR images might be prone to deficits in attention, executive function and memory postoperatively, whereas learning might not be affected.

Decay uncovered in nonverbal short-term memory.

PubMed

Mercer, Tom; McKeown, Denis

2014-02-01

Decay theory posits that memory traces gradually fade away over the passage of time unless they are actively rehearsed. Much recent work exploring verbal short-term memory has challenged this theory, but there does appear to be evidence for trace decay in nonverbal auditory short-term memory. Numerous discrimination studies have reported a performance decline as the interval separating two tones is increased, consistent with a decay process. However, most of this tone comparison research can be explained in other ways, without reference to decay, and these alternative accounts were tested in the present study. In Experiment 1, signals were employed toward the end of extended retention intervals to ensure that listeners were alert to the presence and frequency content of the memoranda. In Experiment 2, a mask stimulus was employed in an attempt to distinguish between a highly detailed sensory trace and a longer-lasting short-term memory, and the distinctiveness of the stimuli was varied. Despite these precautions, slow-acting trace decay was observed. It therefore appears that the mere passage of time can lead to forgetting in some forms of short-term memory.

Neural circuits in auditory and audiovisual memory.

PubMed

Plakke, B; Romanski, L M

2016-06-01

Working memory is the ability to employ recently seen or heard stimuli and apply them to changing cognitive context. Although much is known about language processing and visual working memory, the neurobiological basis of auditory working memory is less clear. Historically, part of the problem has been the difficulty in obtaining a robust animal model to study auditory short-term memory. In recent years there has been neurophysiological and lesion studies indicating a cortical network involving both temporal and frontal cortices. Studies specifically targeting the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in auditory working memory have suggested that dorsal and ventral prefrontal regions perform different roles during the processing of auditory mnemonic information, with the dorsolateral PFC performing similar functions for both auditory and visual working memory. In contrast, the ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), which contains cells that respond robustly to auditory stimuli and that process both face and vocal stimuli may be an essential locus for both auditory and audiovisual working memory. These findings suggest a critical role for the VLPFC in the processing, integrating, and retaining of communication information. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research Outcomes of Auditory-Verbal Intervention: Is the Approach Justified?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhoades, Ellen A.

2006-01-01

This paper examines the construct of evidence-based practice, how existing data on the effectiveness of the Auditory-Verbal (A-V) approach for children with hearing loss are evaluated within this construct, and whether implementation of an A-V intervention model is therefore justified. It concludes with a recurrent call for action towards…

Verbal memory outcome in patients with normal preoperative verbal memory and left mesial temporal sclerosis.

PubMed

LoGalbo, Anthony; Sawrie, Stephen; Roth, David L; Kuzniecky, Ruben; Knowlton, Robert; Faught, Edward; Martin, Roy

2005-05-01

Previous studies have shown that structural integrity (i.e., presence/absence of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS)) of the left mesial temporal lobe is associated with verbal memory outcome following left anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL). However, the functional integrity of the left temporal lobe, as exemplified by preoperative verbal memory performance, has also been associated with verbal memory outcome following surgery. We investigated the risk of verbal memory loss in patients with known structural abnormality (i.e., left mesial temporal sclerosis by MRI) and normal preoperative verbal memory performance who undergo left ATL. Seventeen patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy, MRI-based exclusive left MTS, and normal preoperative verbal memory were identified. Normal verbal memory was defined as performance on both Acquisition (learning across trials 1-5) and Retrieval (long delayed free recall) portions of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) above a T score of 40 (>16%ile). Postoperative verbal memory outcome was established by incorporating standardized regression-based (SRB) change scores. Postoperative declines across both CVLT Retrieval T scores and Acquisition T scores (average 20% and average 15% declines from baseline scores, respectively) were measured for the group. The average CVLT Retrieval SRB change score was -2.5, and the average CVLT Acquisition SRB change score was -1.0. A larger proportion of patients demonstrated postoperative declines on Retrieval scores than Acquisition scores (64.7% vs 17.6%, respectively). Even in the presence of left MTS, patients exhibiting normal presurgical verbal memory are at risk for verbal memory declines following ATL. These results suggest that the functional integrity of the left mesial temporal lobe may play an important role in the verbal memory outcome in this patient group.

Differential cognitive and perceptual correlates of print reading versus braille reading.

PubMed

Veispak, Anneli; Boets, Bart; Ghesquière, Pol

2013-01-01

The relations between reading, auditory, speech, phonological and tactile spatial processing are investigated in a Dutch speaking sample of blind braille readers as compared to sighted print readers. Performance is assessed in blind and sighted children and adults. Regarding phonological ability, braille readers perform equally well compared to print readers on phonological awareness, better on verbal short-term memory and significantly worse on lexical retrieval. The groups do not differ on speech perception or auditory processing. Braille readers, however, have more sensitive fingers than print readers. Investigation of the relations between these cognitive and perceptual skills and reading performance indicates that in the group of braille readers auditory temporal processing has a longer lasting and stronger impact not only on phonological abilities, which have to satisfy the high processing demands of the strictly serial language input, but also directly on the reading ability itself. Print readers switch between grapho-phonological and lexical reading modes depending on the familiarity of the items. Furthermore, the auditory temporal processing and speech perception, which were substantially interrelated with phonological processing, had no direct associations with print reading measures. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Randomized controlled trial evaluating the temporal effects of high-intensity exercise on learning, short-term and long-term memory, and prospective memory.

PubMed

Frith, Emily; Sng, Eveleen; Loprinzi, Paul D

2017-11-01

The broader purpose of this study was to examine the temporal effects of high-intensity exercise on learning, short-term and long-term retrospective memory and prospective memory. Among a sample of 88 young adult participants, 22 were randomized into one of four different groups: exercise before learning, control group, exercise during learning, and exercise after learning. The retrospective assessments (learning, short-term and long-term memory) were assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Long-term memory including a 20-min and 24-hr follow-up assessment. Prospective memory was assessed using a time-based procedure by having participants contact (via phone) the researchers at a follow-up time period. The exercise stimulus included a 15-min bout of progressive maximal exertion treadmill exercise. High-intensity exercise prior to memory encoding (vs. exercise during memory encoding or consolidation) was effective in enhancing long-term memory (for both 20-min and 24-h follow-up assessments). We did not observe a differential temporal effect of high-intensity exercise on short-term memory (immediate post-memory encoding), learning or prospective memory. The timing of high-intensity exercise may play an important role in facilitating long-term memory. © 2017 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[In Process Citation

PubMed

Ackermann; Mathiak

1999-11-01

Pure word deafness (auditory verbal agnosia) is characterized by an impairment of auditory comprehension, repetition of verbal material and writing to dictation whereas spontaneous speech production and reading largely remain unaffected. Sometimes, this syndrome is preceded by complete deafness (cortical deafness) of varying duration. Perception of vowels and suprasegmental features of verbal utterances (e.g., intonation contours) seems to be less disrupted than the processing of consonants and, therefore, might mediate residual auditory functions. Often, lip reading and/or slowing of speaking rate allow within some limits to compensate for speech comprehension deficits. Apart from a few exceptions, the available reports of pure word deafness documented a bilateral temporal lesion. In these instances, as a rule, identification of nonverbal (environmental) sounds, perception of music, temporal resolution of sequential auditory cues and/or spatial localization of acoustic events were compromised as well. The observed variable constellation of auditory signs and symptoms in central hearing disorders following bilateral temporal disorders, most probably, reflects the multitude of functional maps at the level of the auditory cortices subserving, as documented in a variety of non-human species, the encoding of specific stimulus parameters each. Thus, verbal/nonverbal auditory agnosia may be considered a paradigm of distorted "auditory scene analysis" (Bregman 1990) affecting both primitive and schema-based perceptual processes. It cannot be excluded, however, that disconnection of the Wernicke-area from auditory input (Geschwind 1965) and/or an impairment of suggested "phonetic module" (Liberman 1996) contribute to the observed deficits as well. Conceivably, these latter mechanisms underly the rare cases of pure word deafness following a lesion restricted to the dominant hemisphere. Only few instances of a rather isolated disruption of the discrimination/identification of nonverbal sound sources, in the presence of uncompromised speech comprehension, have been reported so far (nonverbal auditory agnosia). As a rule, unilateral right-sided damage has been found to be the relevant lesion.

The pattern of verbal, visuospatial and procedural learning in Richardson variant of progressive supranuclear palsy in comparison to Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Sitek, Emilia J; Wieczorek, Dariusz; Konkel, Agnieszka; Dąbrowska, Magda; Sławek, Jarosław

2017-08-29

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is regarded either within spectrum of atypical parkinsonian syndromes or frontotemporal lobar degeneration. We compared the verbal, visuospatial and procedural learning profiles in patients with PSP and Parkinson's disease (PD). Furthermore, the relationship between executive factors (initiation and inhibition) and learning outcomes was analyzed. Thirty-three patients with the clinical diagnosis of PSP-Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS), 39 patients with PD and 29 age -and education -matched controls were administered Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), Visual Learning and Memory Test for Neuropsychological Assessment by Lamberti and Weidlich (Diagnosticum für Cerebralschädigung, DCS), Tower of Toronto (ToT) and two motor sequencing tasks. Patients with PSP-RS and PD were matched in terms of MMSE scores and mood. Performance on DCS was lower in PSP-RS than in PD. AVLT delayed recall was better in PSP-RS than PD. Motor sequencing task did not differentiate between patients. Scores on AVLT correlated positively with phonemic fluency scores in both PSP-RS and PD. ToT rule violation scores were negatively associated with DCS performance in PSP-RS and PD as well as with AVLT performance in PD. Global memory performance is relatively similar in PSP-RS and PD. Executive factors (initiation and inhibition) are closely related to memory performance in PSP-RS and PD. Visuospatial learning impairment in PSP-RS is possibly linked to impulsivity and failure to inhibit automatic responses.

Differential learning and memory performance in OEF/OIF veterans for verbal and visual material.

PubMed

Sozda, Christopher N; Muir, James J; Springer, Utaka S; Partovi, Diana; Cole, Michael A

2014-05-01

Memory complaints are particularly salient among veterans who experience combat-related mild traumatic brain injuries and/or trauma exposure, and represent a primary barrier to successful societal reintegration and everyday functioning. Anecdotally within clinical practice, verbal learning and memory performance frequently appears differentially reduced versus visual learning and memory scores. We sought to empirically investigate the robustness of a verbal versus visual learning and memory discrepancy and to explore potential mechanisms for a verbal/visual performance split. Participants consisted of 103 veterans with reported history of mild traumatic brain injuries returning home from U.S. military Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom referred for outpatient neuropsychological evaluation. Findings indicate that visual learning and memory abilities were largely intact while verbal learning and memory performance was significantly reduced in comparison, residing at approximately 1.1 SD below the mean for verbal learning and approximately 1.4 SD below the mean for verbal memory. This difference was not observed in verbal versus visual fluency performance, nor was it associated with estimated premorbid verbal abilities or traumatic brain injury history. In our sample, symptoms of depression, but not posttraumatic stress disorder, were significantly associated with reduced composite verbal learning and memory performance. Verbal learning and memory performance may benefit from targeted treatment of depressive symptomatology. Also, because visual learning and memory functions may remain intact, these might be emphasized when applying neurocognitive rehabilitation interventions to compensate for observed verbal learning and memory difficulties.

Text as a Supplement to Speech in Young and Older Adults a)

PubMed Central

Krull, Vidya; Humes, Larry E.

2015-01-01

Objective The purpose of this experiment was to quantify the contribution of visual text to auditory speech recognition in background noise. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that partially accurate visual text from an automatic speech recognizer could be used successfully to supplement speech understanding in difficult listening conditions in older adults, with normal or impaired hearing. Our working hypotheses were based on what is known regarding audiovisual speech perception in the elderly from speechreading literature. We hypothesized that: 1) combining auditory and visual text information will result in improved recognition accuracy compared to auditory or visual text information alone; 2) benefit from supplementing speech with visual text (auditory and visual enhancement) in young adults will be greater than that in older adults; and 3) individual differences in performance on perceptual measures would be associated with cognitive abilities. Design Fifteen young adults with normal hearing, fifteen older adults with normal hearing, and fifteen older adults with hearing loss participated in this study. All participants completed sentence recognition tasks in auditory-only, text-only, and combined auditory-text conditions. The auditory sentence stimuli were spectrally shaped to restore audibility for the older participants with impaired hearing. All participants also completed various cognitive measures, including measures of working memory, processing speed, verbal comprehension, perceptual and cognitive speed, processing efficiency, inhibition, and the ability to form wholes from parts. Group effects were examined for each of the perceptual and cognitive measures. Audiovisual benefit was calculated relative to performance on auditory-only and visual-text only conditions. Finally, the relationship between perceptual measures and other independent measures were examined using principal-component factor analyses, followed by regression analyses. Results Both young and older adults performed similarly on nine out of ten perceptual measures (auditory, visual, and combined measures). Combining degraded speech with partially correct text from an automatic speech recognizer improved the understanding of speech in both young and older adults, relative to both auditory- and text-only performance. In all subjects, cognition emerged as a key predictor for a general speech-text integration ability. Conclusions These results suggest that neither age nor hearing loss affected the ability of subjects to benefit from text when used to support speech, after ensuring audibility through spectral shaping. These results also suggest that the benefit obtained by supplementing auditory input with partially accurate text is modulated by cognitive ability, specifically lexical and verbal skills. PMID:26458131

Contributions of Language and Memory Demands to Verbal Memory Performance in Language-Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isaki, Emi; Spaulding, Tammie J.; Plante, Elena

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of adults with language-based learning disorders (L/LD) and normal language controls on verbal short-term and verbal working memory tasks. Eighteen adults with L/LD and 18 normal language controls were compared on verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory tasks under low,…

Maintenance of memory for melodies: Articulation or attentional refreshing?

PubMed

Nees, Michael A; Corrini, Ellen; Leong, Peri; Harris, Joanna

2017-12-01

Past research on the effects of articulatory suppression on working memory for nonverbal sounds has been characterized by discrepant findings, which suggests that multiple mechanisms may be involved in the rehearsal of nonverbal sounds. In two experiments we examined the potential roles of two theoretical mechanisms of verbal working memory-articulatory rehearsal and attentional refreshing-in the maintenance of memory for short melodies. In both experiments, participants performed a same-different melody comparison task. During an 8-s retention interval, interference tasks were introduced to suppress articulatory rehearsal, attentional refreshing, or both. In Experiment 1, only the conditions that featured articulatory suppression resulted in worse memory performance than in a control condition, and the suppression of both attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal concurrently did not impair memory more than articulatory suppression alone. Experiment 2 reproduced these findings and also confirmed that the locus of interference was articulatory and not auditory (i.e., the interference was not attributable to the sound of participants' own voices during articulatory suppression). Both experiments suggested that articulatory rehearsal played a role in the maintenance of melodies in memory, whereas attentional refreshing did not. We discuss potential theoretical implications regarding the mechanisms used for the rehearsal of nonverbal sounds in working memory.

Visuospatial and verbal memory in mental arithmetic.

PubMed

Clearman, Jack; Klinger, Vojtěch; Szűcs, Dénes

2017-09-01

Working memory allows complex information to be remembered and manipulated over short periods of time. Correlations between working memory and mathematics achievement have been shown across the lifespan. However, only a few studies have examined the potentially distinct contributions of domain-specific visuospatial and verbal working memory resources in mental arithmetic computation. Here we aimed to fill this gap in a series of six experiments pairing addition and subtraction tasks with verbal and visuospatial working memory and interference tasks. In general, we found higher levels of interference between mental arithmetic and visuospatial working memory tasks than between mental arithmetic and verbal working memory tasks. Additionally, we found that interference that matched the working memory domain of the task (e.g., verbal task with verbal interference) lowered working memory performance more than mismatched interference (verbal task with visuospatial interference). Findings suggest that mental arithmetic relies on domain-specific working memory resources.

Neural circuits in Auditory and Audiovisual Memory

PubMed Central

Plakke, B.; Romanski, L.M.

2016-01-01

Working memory is the ability to employ recently seen or heard stimuli and apply them to changing cognitive context. Although much is known about language processing and visual working memory, the neurobiological basis of auditory working memory is less clear. Historically, part of the problem has been the difficulty in obtaining a robust animal model to study auditory short-term memory. In recent years there has been neurophysiological and lesion studies indicating a cortical network involving both temporal and frontal cortices. Studies specifically targeting the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in auditory working memory have suggested that dorsal and ventral prefrontal regions perform different roles during the processing of auditory mnemonic information, with the dorsolateral PFC performing similar functions for both auditory and visual working memory. In contrast, the ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), which contains cells that respond robustly to auditory stimuli and that process both face and vocal stimuli may be an essential locus for both auditory and audiovisual working memory. These findings suggest a critical role for the VLPFC in the processing, integrating, and retaining of communication information. PMID:26656069

An Evaluation of Auditory Verbal Therapy Using the Rate of Early Language Development as an Outcome Measure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan, Sarah; Stokes, Jacqueline; White, Catherine; Tyszkiewicz, Elizabeth; Woolgar, Alexandra

2008-01-01

Providing unbiased data concerning the outcomes of particular intervention methods is imperative if professionals and parents are to assimilate information which could contribute to an "informed choice". An evaluation of Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) was conducted using a formal assessment of spoken language as an outcome measure. Spoken…

The Ecological Transition to Auditory-Verbal Therapy: Experiences of Parents Whose Children Use Cochlear Implants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuss, Deirdre

2006-01-01

This Canadian study reports on the experiences of parents whose children use cochlear implants and on their perspectives prior to and following the transition to Auditory-Verbal therapy. A qualitative case study design, framed in social-ecological theory, guided this research. Data collection procedures included a family information questionnaire,…

Auditory Imagery: Empirical Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbard, Timothy L.

2010-01-01

The empirical literature on auditory imagery is reviewed. Data on (a) imagery for auditory features (pitch, timbre, loudness), (b) imagery for complex nonverbal auditory stimuli (musical contour, melody, harmony, tempo, notational audiation, environmental sounds), (c) imagery for verbal stimuli (speech, text, in dreams, interior monologue), (d)…

Retrosplenial cortex is required for the retrieval of remote memory for auditory cues.

PubMed

Todd, Travis P; Mehlman, Max L; Keene, Christopher S; DeAngeli, Nicole E; Bucci, David J

2016-06-01

The restrosplenial cortex (RSC) has a well-established role in contextual and spatial learning and memory, consistent with its known connectivity with visuo-spatial association areas. In contrast, RSC appears to have little involvement with delay fear conditioning to an auditory cue. However, all previous studies have examined the contribution of the RSC to recently acquired auditory fear memories. Since neocortical regions have been implicated in the permanent storage of remote memories, we examined the contribution of the RSC to remotely acquired auditory fear memories. In Experiment 1, retrieval of a remotely acquired auditory fear memory was impaired when permanent lesions (either electrolytic or neurotoxic) were made several weeks after initial conditioning. In Experiment 2, using a chemogenetic approach, we observed impairments in the retrieval of remote memory for an auditory cue when the RSC was temporarily inactivated during testing. In Experiment 3, after injection of a retrograde tracer into the RSC, we observed labeled cells in primary and secondary auditory cortices, as well as the claustrum, indicating that the RSC receives direct projections from auditory regions. Overall our results indicate the RSC has a critical role in the retrieval of remotely acquired auditory fear memories, and we suggest this is related to the quality of the memory, with less precise memories being RSC dependent. © 2016 Todd et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

An Experimental Analysis of Memory Processing

PubMed Central

Wright, Anthony A

2007-01-01

Rhesus monkeys were trained and tested in visual and auditory list-memory tasks with sequences of four travel pictures or four natural/environmental sounds followed by single test items. Acquisitions of the visual list-memory task are presented. Visual recency (last item) memory diminished with retention delay, and primacy (first item) memory strengthened. Capuchin monkeys, pigeons, and humans showed similar visual-memory changes. Rhesus learned an auditory memory task and showed octave generalization for some lists of notes—tonal, but not atonal, musical passages. In contrast with visual list memory, auditory primacy memory diminished with delay and auditory recency memory strengthened. Manipulations of interitem intervals, list length, and item presentation frequency revealed proactive and retroactive inhibition among items of individual auditory lists. Repeating visual items from prior lists produced interference (on nonmatching tests) revealing how far back memory extended. The possibility of using the interference function to separate familiarity vs. recollective memory processing is discussed. PMID:18047230

Auditory short-term memory in the primate auditory cortex.

PubMed

Scott, Brian H; Mishkin, Mortimer

2016-06-01

Sounds are fleeting, and assembling the sequence of inputs at the ear into a coherent percept requires auditory memory across various time scales. Auditory short-term memory comprises at least two components: an active ׳working memory' bolstered by rehearsal, and a sensory trace that may be passively retained. Working memory relies on representations recalled from long-term memory, and their rehearsal may require phonological mechanisms unique to humans. The sensory component, passive short-term memory (pSTM), is tractable to study in nonhuman primates, whose brain architecture and behavioral repertoire are comparable to our own. This review discusses recent advances in the behavioral and neurophysiological study of auditory memory with a focus on single-unit recordings from macaque monkeys performing delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. Monkeys appear to employ pSTM to solve these tasks, as evidenced by the impact of interfering stimuli on memory performance. In several regards, pSTM in monkeys resembles pitch memory in humans, and may engage similar neural mechanisms. Neural correlates of DMS performance have been observed throughout the auditory and prefrontal cortex, defining a network of areas supporting auditory STM with parallels to that supporting visual STM. These correlates include persistent neural firing, or a suppression of firing, during the delay period of the memory task, as well as suppression or (less commonly) enhancement of sensory responses when a sound is repeated as a ׳match' stimulus. Auditory STM is supported by a distributed temporo-frontal network in which sensitivity to stimulus history is an intrinsic feature of auditory processing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Nonverbal auditory agnosia with lesion to Wernicke's area.

PubMed

Saygin, Ayse Pinar; Leech, Robert; Dick, Frederic

2010-01-01

We report the case of patient M, who suffered unilateral left posterior temporal and parietal damage, brain regions typically associated with language processing. Language function largely recovered since the infarct, with no measurable speech comprehension impairments. However, the patient exhibited a severe impairment in nonverbal auditory comprehension. We carried out extensive audiological and behavioral testing in order to characterize M's unusual neuropsychological profile. We also examined the patient's and controls' neural responses to verbal and nonverbal auditory stimuli using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We verified that the patient exhibited persistent and severe auditory agnosia for nonverbal sounds in the absence of verbal comprehension deficits or peripheral hearing problems. Acoustical analyses suggested that his residual processing of a minority of environmental sounds might rely on his speech processing abilities. In the patient's brain, contralateral (right) temporal cortex as well as perilesional (left) anterior temporal cortex were strongly responsive to verbal, but not to nonverbal sounds, a pattern that stands in marked contrast to the controls' data. This substantial reorganization of auditory processing likely supported the recovery of M's speech processing.

Similar verbal memory impairments in schizophrenia and healthy aging. Implications for understanding of neural mechanisms.

PubMed

Silver, Henry; Bilker, Warren B

2015-03-30

Memory is impaired in schizophrenia patients but it is not clear whether this is specific to the illness and whether different types of memory (verbal and nonverbal) or memories in different cognitive domains (executive, object recognition) are similarly affected. To study relationships between memory impairments and schizophrenia we compared memory functions in 77 schizophrenia patients, 58 elderly healthy individuals and 41 young healthy individuals. Tests included verbal associative and logical memory and memory in executive and object recognition domains. We compared relationships of memory functions to each other and to other cognitive functions including psychomotor speed and verbal and spatial working memory. Compared to the young healthy group, schizophrenia patients and elderly healthy individuals showed similar severe impairment in logical memory and in the ability to learn new associations (NAL), and similar but less severe impairment in spatial working memory and executive and object memory. Verbal working memory was significantly more impaired in schizophrenia patients than in the healthy elderly. Verbal episodic memory impairment in schizophrenia may share common mechanisms with similar impairment in healthy aging. Impairment in verbal working memory in contrast may reflect mechanisms specific to schizophrenia. Study of verbal explicit memory impairment tapped by the NAL index may advance understanding of abnormal hippocampus dependent mechanisms common to schizophrenia and aging. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrity of white matter structure is related to episodic memory performance in the low-educated elderly.

PubMed

Resende, Elisa de Paula França; Tovar-Moll, Fernanda Freire; Ferreira, Fernanda Meireles; Bramati, Ivanei; de Souza, Leonardo Cruz; Carmona, Karoline Carvalho; Guimarães, Henrique Cerqueira; Carvalho, Viviane Amaral; Barbosa, Maira Tonidandel; Caramelli, Paulo

2017-11-01

The low-educated elderly are a vulnerable population in whom studying the role of white matter integrity on memory may provide insights for understanding how memory declines with aging and disease. Thirty-one participants (22 women), 23 cognitively healthy and eight with cognitive impairment-no dementia, aged 80.4 ± 3.8 years, with 2.2 ± 1.9 years of education, underwent an MRI scan with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) acquisition. We verified if there were correlations between the performance on the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB) and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) with DTI parameters. The BCSB delayed recall task correlated with frontotemporoparietal connection bundles, with the hippocampal part of the cingulum bilaterally and with the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. The RAVLT learning and delayed recall scores also correlated with the hippocampal part of the cingulum bilaterally. Although preliminary, our study suggests that the integrity of white matter frontotemporoparietal fasciculi seems to play a role in episodic memory performance in the low-educated elderly. This finding opens opportunities to study potential targets for memory decline prevention in vulnerable populations.

Auditory Hallucinations as Translational Psychiatry: Evidence from Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

PubMed

Hugdahl, Kenneth

2017-12-01

In this invited review article, I present a translational perspective and overview of our research on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia at the University of Bergen, Norway, with a focus on the neuronal mechanisms underlying the phenomenology of experiencing "hearing voices". An auditory verbal hallucination (i.e. hearing a voice) is defined as a sensory experience in the absence of a corresponding external sensory source that could explain the phenomenological experience. I suggest a general frame or scheme for the study of auditory verbal hallucinations, called Levels of Explanation. Using a Levels of Explanation approach, mental phenomena can be described and explained at different levels (cultural, clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, cellular and molecular). Another way of saying this is that, to advance knowledge in a research field, it is not only necessary to replicate findings, but also to show how evidence obtained with one method, and at one level of explanation, converges with evidence obtained with another method at another level. To achieve breakthroughs in our understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations, we have to advance vertically through the various levels, rather than the more common approach of staying at our favourite level and advancing horizontally (e.g., more advanced techniques and data acquisition analyses). The horizontal expansion will, however, not advance a deeper understanding of how an auditory verbal hallucination spontaneously starts and stops. Finally, I present data from the clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, and cellular levels, where data from one level validate and support data at another level, called converging of evidence. Using a translational approach, the current status of auditory verbal hallucinations is that they implicate speech perception areas in the left temporal lobe, impairing perception of and attention to external sounds. Preliminary results also show that amygdala is implicated in the emotional «colouring» of the voices and that excitatory neurotransmitters might be involved. What we do not know is why hallucinatory episodes occur spontaneously, why they fluctuate over time, and what makes them spontaneously stop. Moreover, is voice hearing a category or dimension in its own right, independent of diagnosis, and why is the auditory modality predominantly implicated in psychotic disorders, while the visual modality dominates in, for example, neurological diseases?

The Effects of Acute Exercise on Memory and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF).

PubMed

Etnier, Jennifer L; Wideman, Laurie; Labban, Jeffrey D; Piepmeier, Aaron T; Pendleton, Daniel M; Dvorak, Kelly K; Becofsky, Katie

2016-08-01

Acute exercise benefits cognition, and some evidence suggests that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a role in this effect. The purpose of this study was to explore the dose-response relationship between exercise intensity, memory, and BDNF. Young adults completed 3 exercise sessions at different intensities relative to ventilator threshold (Vt) (VO 2max , Vt - 20%, Vt + 20%). For each session, participants exercised for approximately 30 min. Following exercise, they performed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) to assess short-term memory, learning, and long-term memory recall. Twenty-four hours later, they completed the RAVLT recognition trial, which provided another measure of long-term memory. Blood was drawn before exercise, immediately postexercise, and after the 30-min recall test. Results indicated that long-term memory as assessed after the 24-hr delay differed as a function of exercise intensity with the largest benefits observed following maximal intensity exercise. BDNF data showed a significant increase in response to exercise; however, there were no differences relative to exercise intensity and there were no significant associations between BDNF and memory. Future research is warranted so that we can better understand how to use exercise to benefit cognitive performance.

Napping on the Night Shift: A Study of Sleep, Performance, and Learning in Physicians-in-Training

PubMed Central

McDonald, Jennifer; Potyk, Darryl; Fischer, David; Parmenter, Brett; Lillis, Teresa; Tompkins, Lindsey; Bowen, Angela; Grant, Devon; Lamp, Amanda; Belenky, Gregory

2013-01-01

Background Physicians in training experience fatigue from sleep loss, high workload, and working at an adverse phase of the circadian rhythm, which collectively degrades task performance and the ability to learn and remember. To minimize fatigue and sustain performance, learning, and memory, humans generally need 7 to 8 hours of sleep in every 24-hour period. Methods In a naturalistic, within-subjects design, we studied 17 first- and second-year internal medicine residents working in a tertiary care medical center, rotating between day shift and night float every 4 weeks. We studied each resident for 2 weeks while he/she worked the day shift and for 2 weeks while he/she worked the night float, objectively measuring sleep by wrist actigraphy, vigilance by the Psychomotor Vigilance Task test, and visual-spatial and verbal learning and memory by the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. Results Residents, whether working day shift or night float, slept approximately 7 hours in every 24-hour period. Residents, when working day shift, consolidated their sleep into 1 main sleep period at night. Residents working night float split their sleep, supplementing their truncated daytime sleep with nighttime on-duty naps. There was no difference in vigilance or learning and memory, whether residents worked day shift or night float. Conclusions Off-duty sleep supplemented with naps while on duty appears to be an effective strategy for sustaining vigilance, learning, and memory when working night float. PMID:24455014

Does targeted cognitive training reduce educational disparities in cognitive function among cognitively normal older adults?

PubMed

Clark, Daniel O; Xu, Huiping; Unverzagt, Frederick W; Hendrie, Hugh

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to investigate educational differences in treatment responses to memory, reasoning, and speed of processing cognitive training relative to no-contact control. Secondary analyses of the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly trial were conducted. Two thousand eight hundred older adults were randomized to memory, reasoning, or speed of processing training or no-contact control. A repeated-measures mixed-effects model was used to investigate immediate post-training and 1-year outcomes with sensitivity analyses out to 10 years. Outcomes were as follows: (1) memory composite of Hopkins Verbal Learning Test, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test; (2) reasoning composite of letter series, letter sets, and word series; and (3) speed of processing measured using three trials of useful field of view and the digit symbol substitution test. The effects of reasoning and memory training did not differ by educational attainment. The effect of speed of processing training did. Those with fewer than 12 years of education experienced a 50% greater effect on the useful field of view test compared with those with 16 or more years of education. The training advantage for those with fewer than 12 years of education was maintained to 3 years post-training. Older adults with less than a secondary education are at elevated risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. The analyses here indicate that speed of processing training is effective in older adults with low educational attainment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Verbal learning and memory in adolescent cannabis users, alcohol users and non-users.

PubMed

Solowij, Nadia; Jones, Katy A; Rozman, Megan E; Davis, Sasha M; Ciarrochi, Joseph; Heaven, Patrick C L; Lubman, Dan I; Yücel, Murat

2011-07-01

Long-term heavy cannabis use can result in memory impairment. Adolescent users may be especially vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effects of cannabis. In a cross-sectional and prospective neuropsychological study of 181 adolescents aged 16-20 (mean 18.3 years), we compared performance indices from one of the most widely used measures of learning and memory--the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test--between cannabis users (n=52; mean 2.4 years of use, 14 days/month, median abstinence 20.3 h), alcohol users (n=67) and non-user controls (n=62) matched for age, education and premorbid intellectual ability (assessed prospectively), and alcohol consumption for cannabis and alcohol users. Cannabis users performed significantly worse than alcohol users and non-users on all performance indices. They recalled significantly fewer words overall (p<0.001), demonstrating impaired learning (p<0.001), retention (p<0.001) and retrieval (p<0.05) (Cohen's d 0.43-0.84). The degree of impairment was associated with the duration, quantity, frequency and age of onset of cannabis use, but was unrelated to alcohol exposure or other drug use. No gender effects were detected and the findings remained after controlling for premorbid intellectual ability. An earlier age of onset of regular cannabis use was associated with worse memory performance after controlling for extent of exposure to cannabis. Despite relatively brief exposure, adolescent cannabis users relative to their age-matched counterparts demonstrated similar memory deficits to those reported in adult long-term heavy users. The results indicate that cannabis adversely affects the developing brain and reinforce concerns regarding the impact of early exposure.

Gender differences in post-temporal lobectomy verbal memory and relationships between MRI hippocampal volumes and preoperative verbal memory.

PubMed

Trenerry, M R; Jack, C R; Cascino, G D; Sharbrough, F W; Ivnik, R J

1995-01-01

Thirty-three men and 42 women who underwent left, and 26 men and 24 women who underwent right temporal lobectomy (TL) were studied retrospectively to determine if there were sex differences in (1) verbal memory outcome, and (2) relationships between verbal memory and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hippocampal volumes. All patients were left hemisphere language dominant. The surgical specimen and MRI were consistent only with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Verbal memory was evaluated by Logical Memory percent retention (LMPER) from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Women experienced a significant improvement while men experienced a significant decline in postoperative LMPER. The difference between right and left hippocampal volumes predicted verbal memory outcome in both men and women. Preoperative LMPER was positively correlated with both the left and right hippocampal volumes in left TL women only. No verbal memory sex differences or correlations between LMPER and MRI data were found in the right TL group. The data support the presence of human neurocognitive sexual dimorphism. Verbal memory abilities supported by the hippocampus are less lateralized in women with left temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis. Women appear to have greater verbal memory plasticity following early left mesial temporal lobe insult.

Perception of non-verbal auditory stimuli in Italian dyslexic children.

PubMed

Cantiani, Chiara; Lorusso, Maria Luisa; Valnegri, Camilla; Molteni, Massimo

2010-01-01

Auditory temporal processing deficits have been proposed as the underlying cause of phonological difficulties in Developmental Dyslexia. The hypothesis was tested in a sample of 20 Italian dyslexic children aged 8-14, and 20 matched control children. Three tasks of auditory processing of non-verbal stimuli, involving discrimination and reproduction of sequences of rapidly presented short sounds were expressly created. Dyslexic subjects performed more poorly than control children, suggesting the presence of a deficit only partially influenced by the duration of the stimuli and of inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs).

Case report: Using an auditory trainer with caregiver video modeling to enhance communication and socialization behaviors in autism.

PubMed

Baharav, Eva; Darling, Rieko

2008-04-01

A minimally verbal child with autism was exposed to short daily sessions of watching his parents on video in conjunction with an FM auditory trainer for a period of 4 weeks. Baseline measures of verbal and social behaviors were taken pre-treatment and repeated post treatment. Results indicate substantial gains in word productions, social orienting, and increased eye contact. Results are discussed in terms of the contributions of auditory-visual processing to establishing communication and socialization in autism and early intervention effectiveness.

Teaching Equivalence Relations to Individuals with Minimal Verbal Repertoires: Are Visual and Auditory-Visual Discriminations Predictive of Stimulus Equivalence?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vause, Tricia; Martin, Garry L.; Yu, C.T.; Marion, Carole; Sakko, Gina

2005-01-01

The relationship between language, performance on the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) test, and stimulus equivalence was examined. Five participants with minimal verbal repertoires were studied; 3 who passed up to ABLA Level 4, a visual quasi-identity discrimination and 2 who passed ABLA Level 6, an auditory-visual nonidentity…

Rate of Language Growth in Children with Hearing Loss in an Auditory-Verbal Early Intervention Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Carla Wood; Schatschneider, Christopher

2013-01-01

This longitudinal study explored the rate of language growth of children in an early intervention program providing auditory-verbal therapy. A retrospective investigation, the study applied a linear growth model to estimate a mean growth curve and the extent of individual variation in language performance on the Preschool Language Scale, 4th ed.…

Auditory-Verbal Therapy as an Intervention Approach for Children Who Are Deaf: A Review of the Evidence. EBP Briefs. Volume 11, Issue 6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowers, Lisa M.

2017-01-01

Clinical Question: Would young deaf children who participate in Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) provided by a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist (LSLS) certified in AVT demonstrate gains in receptive and expressive language skills similar to their typical hearing peers? Method: Systematic Review. Study Sources: EBSCOhost databases: Academic…

Language Outcomes for Children of Low-Income Families Enrolled in Auditory Verbal Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan, Sarah; Stokes, Jacqueline; Weller, Isobel

2010-01-01

A common misconception about families in the UK who choose to participate in an Auditory Verbal (AV) approach for their child with hearing impairment, is that they are uniformly from affluent backgrounds. It is asserted that the good spoken language outcomes in these children are a product of the child's social background and family's values…

Impaired quality and efficiency of sleep impairs cognitive functioning in Addison's disease.

PubMed

Henry, Michelle; Ross, Ian Louis; Wolf, Pedro Sofio Abril; Thomas, Kevin Garth Flusk

2017-04-01

Standard replacement therapy for Addison's disease (AD) does not restore a normal circadian rhythm. Periods of sub- and supra- physiological cortisol levels experienced by patients with AD likely induce disrupted sleep. Given that healthy sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation, the novelty of the current study was to characterise, using objective measures, the relationship between sleep and memory in patients with AD, and to examine the hypothesis that poor sleep is a biological mechanism underlying memory impairment in those patients. We used a within-subjects design. Ten patients with AD and 10 matched healthy controls completed standardised neuropsychological tests assessing declarative memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) and procedural memory (Finger Tapping Task) before and after a period of actigraphy-measured sleep, and before and after a period of waking. Relative to healthy controls, patients with AD experienced disrupted sleep characterised by poorer sleep efficiency and more time spent awake. Patients also showed impaired verbal learning and memory relative to healthy controls (p=0.007). Furthermore, whereas healthy controls' declarative memory performance benefited from a period of sleep compared to waking (p=0.032), patients with AD derived no such benefit from sleep (p=0.448). Regarding the procedural memory task, analyses detected no significant between-group differences (all p's<0.065), and neither group showed significant sleep-enhanced performance. We demonstrated, using actigraphy and standardized measures of memory performance, an association between sleep disturbances and cognitive deficits in patients with AD. These results suggest that, in patients with AD, the source of memory deficits is, at least to some extent, disrupted sleep patterns that interfere with optimal consolidation of previously-learned declarative information. Hence, treating the sleep disturbances that are frequently experienced by patients with AD may improve their cognitive functioning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cortical Thickness and Episodic Memory Impairment in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

PubMed

Bizzo, Bernardo Canedo; Sanchez, Tiago Arruda; Tukamoto, Gustavo; Zimmermann, Nicolle; Netto, Tania Maria; Gasparetto, Emerson Leandro

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in brain cortical thickness of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with and without episodic memory impairment and healthy controls. We studied 51 patients divided in 2 groups (SLE with episodic memory deficit, n = 17; SLE without episodic memory deficit, n = 34) by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and 34 healthy controls. Groups were paired based on sex, age, education, Mini-Mental State Examination score, and accumulation of disease burden. Cortical thickness from magnetic resonance imaging scans was determined using the FreeSurfer software package. SLE patients with episodic memory deficits presented reduced cortical thickness in the left supramarginal cortex and superior temporal gyrus when compared to the control group and in the right superior frontal, caudal, and rostral middle frontal and precentral gyri when compared to the SLE group without episodic memory impairment considering time since diagnosis of SLE as covaried. There were no significant differences in the cortical thickness between the SLE without episodic memory and control groups. Different memory-related cortical regions thinning were found in the episodic memory deficit group when individually compared to the groups of patients without memory impairment and healthy controls. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

Audiovisual integration of emotional signals in voice and face: an event-related fMRI study.

PubMed

Kreifelts, Benjamin; Ethofer, Thomas; Grodd, Wolfgang; Erb, Michael; Wildgruber, Dirk

2007-10-01

In a natural environment, non-verbal emotional communication is multimodal (i.e. speech melody, facial expression) and multifaceted concerning the variety of expressed emotions. Understanding these communicative signals and integrating them into a common percept is paramount to successful social behaviour. While many previous studies have focused on the neurobiology of emotional communication in the auditory or visual modality alone, far less is known about multimodal integration of auditory and visual non-verbal emotional information. The present study investigated this process using event-related fMRI. Behavioural data revealed that audiovisual presentation of non-verbal emotional information resulted in a significant increase in correctly classified stimuli when compared with visual and auditory stimulation. This behavioural gain was paralleled by enhanced activation in bilateral posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and right thalamus, when contrasting audiovisual to auditory and visual conditions. Further, a characteristic of these brain regions, substantiating their role in the emotional integration process, is a linear relationship between the gain in classification accuracy and the strength of the BOLD response during the bimodal condition. Additionally, enhanced effective connectivity between audiovisual integration areas and associative auditory and visual cortices was observed during audiovisual stimulation, offering further insight into the neural process accomplishing multimodal integration. Finally, we were able to document an enhanced sensitivity of the putative integration sites to stimuli with emotional non-verbal content as compared to neutral stimuli.

Consonant Differentiation Mediates the Discrepancy between Non-verbal and Verbal Abilities in Children with ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Key, A. P.; Yoder, P. J.; Stone, W. L.

2016-01-01

Background: Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate verbal communication disorders reflected in lower verbal than non-verbal abilities. The present study examined the extent to which this discrepancy is associated with atypical speech sound differentiation. Methods: Differences in the amplitude of auditory event-related…

Electrical brain activity and response to olanzapine in schizophrenia: a study with LORETA images of P300.

PubMed

Sumiyoshi, Tomiki; Higuchi, Yuko; Kawasaki, Yasuhiro; Matsui, Mie; Kato, Kanade; Yuuki, Hiromi; Arai, Hirofumi; Kurachi, Masayoshi

2006-09-30

The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in the distribution for the P300 generator, as demonstrated by Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) images, in patients with schizophrenia during treatment with olanzapine. Data were obtained from five right-handed patients treated with olanzapine for 6 months. Five right-handed normal volunteers also participated in the study. LORETA images of P300 in response to the odd-ball auditory discrimination task revealed a left dominant lateralized high current source density in the temporal lobes in all control subjects. Although this pattern of brain activation was not evident in patients at baseline, 6-month treatment with olanzapine recovered the left dominant pattern of the electrical density in the temporal regions, such as the Heschl gyrus, and improved performance on a test of verbal learning and memory. Scores of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale also improved during treatment. These results provide the first suggestion that enhancement of verbal memory and the functional status by treatment with some antipsychotic drugs may be associated with modulations of the anatomical configuration of electrical brain activity in patients with schizophrenia.

Reduced mismatch negativity in mild cognitive impairment: associations with neuropsychological performance.

PubMed

Mowszowski, Loren; Hermens, Daniel F; Diamond, Keri; Norrie, Louisa; Hickie, Ian B; Lewis, Simon J G; Naismith, Sharon L

2012-01-01

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) refers to a transitory state between healthy aging and dementia. Biomarkers are needed to facilitate early identification of MCI and predict progression to dementia. One potential neurophysiological biomarker, mismatch negativity (MMN), is an event-related potential reflecting fundamental, pre-attentive cognitive processes. MMN is reduced in normal aging and dementia and in neuropsychiatric samples and is associated with verbal memory deficits and poor executive functioning. This study aimed to investigate auditory MMN and its relationship to neuropsychological performance in MCI. Twenty-eight MCI participants and fourteen controls, aged ≥50 years, underwent neurophysiological and neuropsychological assessment, and completed questionnaires pertaining to disability. Relative to controls, the MCI group demonstrated reduced temporal MMN amplitude (p < 0.01). Reduced right temporal MMN was significantly associated with poorer verbal learning (r = 0.496; p < 0.01) and reduced left temporal MMN was significantly associated with increased self-reported disability (r = -0.419; p < 0.05). These results indicate that patients with MCI exhibit altered pre-attentive information processing, which in turn is associated with memory and psychosocial deficits. These findings overall suggest that MMN may be a viable neurophysiological biomarker of underlying disease in this 'at risk' group.

Test validity and performance validity: considerations in providing a framework for development of an ability-focused neuropsychological test battery.

PubMed

Larrabee, Glenn J

2014-11-01

Literature on test validity and performance validity is reviewed to propose a framework for specification of an ability-focused battery (AFB). Factor analysis supports six domains of ability: first, verbal symbolic; secondly, visuoperceptual and visuospatial judgment and problem solving; thirdly, sensorimotor skills; fourthly, attention/working memory; fifthly, processing speed; finally, learning and memory (which can be divided into verbal and visual subdomains). The AFB should include at least three measures for each of the six domains, selected based on various criteria for validity including sensitivity to presence of disorder, sensitivity to severity of disorder, correlation with important activities of daily living, and containing embedded/derived measures of performance validity. Criterion groups should include moderate and severe traumatic brain injury, and Alzheimer's disease. Validation groups should also include patients with left and right hemisphere stroke, to determine measures sensitive to lateralized cognitive impairment and so that the moderating effects of auditory comprehension impairment and neglect can be analyzed on AFB measures. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Lexical-Access Ability and Cognitive Predictors of Speech Recognition in Noise in Adult Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Smits, Cas; Merkus, Paul; Festen, Joost M.; Goverts, S. Theo

2017-01-01

Not all of the variance in speech-recognition performance of cochlear implant (CI) users can be explained by biographic and auditory factors. In normal-hearing listeners, linguistic and cognitive factors determine most of speech-in-noise performance. The current study explored specifically the influence of visually measured lexical-access ability compared with other cognitive factors on speech recognition of 24 postlingually deafened CI users. Speech-recognition performance was measured with monosyllables in quiet (consonant-vowel-consonant [CVC]), sentences-in-noise (SIN), and digit-triplets in noise (DIN). In addition to a composite variable of lexical-access ability (LA), measured with a lexical-decision test (LDT) and word-naming task, vocabulary size, working-memory capacity (Reading Span test [RSpan]), and a visual analogue of the SIN test (text reception threshold test) were measured. The DIN test was used to correct for auditory factors in SIN thresholds by taking the difference between SIN and DIN: SRTdiff. Correlation analyses revealed that duration of hearing loss (dHL) was related to SIN thresholds. Better working-memory capacity was related to SIN and SRTdiff scores. LDT reaction time was positively correlated with SRTdiff scores. No significant relationships were found for CVC or DIN scores with the predictor variables. Regression analyses showed that together with dHL, RSpan explained 55% of the variance in SIN thresholds. When controlling for auditory performance, LA, LDT, and RSpan separately explained, together with dHL, respectively 37%, 36%, and 46% of the variance in SRTdiff outcome. The results suggest that poor verbal working-memory capacity and to a lesser extent poor lexical-access ability limit speech-recognition ability in listeners with a CI. PMID:29205095

Exploring cognitive complaints in schizophrenia: the subjective scale to investigate cognition in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Stip, E; Caron, J; Renaud, S; Pampoulova, T; Lecomte, Y

2003-01-01

While it has become commonplace to test the various components of memory in schizophrenia with paper-and-pencil or in-lab tasks, very little data exist on the subjective complaints of patients regarding their memory. Few instruments have been designed to collect systematically the complaints of patients with schizophrenia. We present a work in progress on the Subjective Scale to Investigate Cognition in Schizophrenia (SSTICS), a 21-item, Likert-type scale that is simple and easy to use. It allows a quantitative approach to the subjective and cognitive dimensions of schizophrenia. Stip constructed the scale based on a questionnaire covering several cognitive domains: memory (working memory, explicit long-term memory), attention (divided, distractibility, alertness, sustained), language, and praxia. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the SSTICS in a population of 114 French-speaking patients in Montreal. Patients were recruited in the community and assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and the Extrapyramidal Symptoms Rating Scale (ESRS). Cognition was measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) (long-term memory), Controlled Oral Word Association Test (verbal fluency), and Trails A and B. Preliminary analyses showed very good internal consistency for the global score (alpha=0.88), and alphas varying from 0.57 to 0.72 for the subscales. Stability over time was very good. The principal components analysis accounted for a multiple structure. Correlations between subjective scores and objective cognitive assessment were significant for several domains. Validation of the SSTICS needs to be completed through further exploration of the factorial structure and testing of the English version.

Associations between cognition and internalizing problems in young adults with early-onset schizophrenia: A 13-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Strugstad, Benedicte; Lau, Bjørn; Glenne Øie, Merete

2018-04-12

The present follow-up study examines the associations between cognition and parent-rated internalizing problems among adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) at baseline (T1) and self-rated internalizing problems 13 years later (T2). Twelve individuals (8 male/4 female) with EOS and 30 healthy controls (16 male/14 female) were included in the study. All were between 12 and 18 years of age at T1. Internalizing problems were measured with the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment Internalizing Scale. Cognition was examined with a neuropsychological test battery measuring auditory attention/working memory, visuomotor processing, cognitive flexibility and verbal memory. Compared to healthy controls, the EOS group had significant cognitive deficits and more internalizing problems both at T1 and T2. There was no correlation between parent-rated internalizing problems at T1 and self-rated internalizing problems at T2 in the EOS group. However, deficits in auditory attention/working memory at T1 were significantly associated with internalizing problems at T2. A focus on improving the treatment of cognitive impairments may be important in preventing the development of internalizing problems in young patients with schizophrenia. The small sample size of the study is a limitation and further research is recommended. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Maintenance effects of working memory intervention (Cogmed) in children with symptomatic epilepsy.

PubMed

Fuentes, Amanda; Kerr, Elizabeth N

2017-02-01

To extend previous research documenting the benefits of working memory (WM) intervention (Cogmed) immediately post-intervention in children with epilepsy by assessing the 3-month maintenance effects. Participants involved in a previous randomized clinical trial (RCT) were invited to participate if they completed Cogmed within the last 3months (n=15) and additional participants (n=13) were prospectively recruited. Standardized assessments of near-transfer effects (i.e., visual and auditory attention and WM) were completed prior to and immediately after intervention and at 3-month follow-up. An additional measure assessing the far-transfer effect of fluid reasoning was administered prior to intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Participants exhibited gains in auditory and visual attention and WM immediately following intervention and gains were generally sustained at 3-month follow-up. Intervention did not improve visual-verbal WM or fluid reasoning. The clinical variables studied (i.e., age of seizure onset, seizure frequency, epilepsy duration, and overall intellectual functioning) did not elucidate reliable relationships with intervention. Working memory training is possibly efficacious in improving related skills which are maintained for 3months in children with active epilepsy. No transfer to fluid reasoning was documented. Further investigation by means of a large-scale RCT which includes a placebo and both objective and subjective measures of the impact of training on daily functioning is warranted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electrophysiological basis for the ability of olanzapine to improve verbal memory and functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia: a LORETA analysis of P300.

PubMed

Higuchi, Yuko; Sumiyoshi, Tomiki; Kawasaki, Yasuhiro; Matsui, Mie; Arai, Hirofumi; Kurachi, Masayoshi

2008-04-01

Abnormality of P300 waveforms of event-related potentials (ERPs) has been suggested to represent an aspect of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Previous work points to the contribution of altered neural function in discrete brain regions in the left hemisphere to psychotic symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. In this study, we sought to determine: 1) if patients with schizophrenia elicit a decreased P300 current source density in brain areas, such as the superior temporal gyrus (STG); 2) if decreased P300 generator density in the left STG is recovered by treatment with the most widely-used antipsychotic drug olanzapine; and 3) if the recovery of P300 source density is associated with improvements of cognitive and functional status. P300 in response to an auditory oddball task, as well as verbal learning memory, psychopathology, and quality of life were evaluated in 16 right-handed patients with schizophrenia before and after treatment with olanzapine for 6 months. ERP data were also obtained from 16 right-handed age and gender-matched normal volunteers. Low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) analysis was used to obtain current density images of P300. Patients with schizophrenia showed significantly smaller LORETA values in several brain regions in the left side, particularly STG, middle frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus, compared with control subjects. Six-month treatment with olanzapine significantly increased P300 source density only in the left STG. Positive symptoms, negative symptoms, verbal learning memory, and quality of life were also improved during treatment. Significant correlations were found between the increase in LORETA values of left STG vs. improvements of negative symptoms, as measured by Scale for the Assessment of the Negative Symptoms, and verbal learning memory, as measured by the Japanese Verbal Learning Test. Improvement of quality of life, as evaluated by the Quality of Life Scale, were significantly associated with an increase in LORETA values of middle frontal gyrus, and tended to correlate with that of precentral gyrus. The results of this study suggest that changes in cortical activity, as measured by ERPs, are responsible for the ability of some antipsychotic drugs to improve cognition and functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia.

Intima-Media Thickness and Cognitive Function in Stroke-Free Middle-Aged Adults: Findings From the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study.

PubMed

Zeki Al Hazzouri, Adina; Vittinghoff, Eric; Sidney, Stephen; Reis, Jared P; Jacobs, David R; Yaffe, Kristine

2015-08-01

The relationship between carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and cognitive function in midlife remains relatively unexplored. We examined the association between IMT and cognitive function in a middle-aged epidemiological cohort of 2618 stroke-free participants. At the year 20 visit (our study baseline), participants from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study had IMT measured by ultrasound at the common carotid artery. Five years later, participants completed a cognitive battery consisting of the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test of verbal memory, the Digit Symbol Substitution Test of processing speed, and the Stroop test of executive function. We transformed cognitive scores into standardized z scores, with negative values indicating worse performance. Mean age at baseline was 45.3 years (SD, 3.6). Greater IMT (per 1 SD difference of 0.12 mm) was significantly associated with worse performance on all cognitive tests (z scores) in unadjusted linear regression models (verbal memory, -0.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.20 to -0.13; processing speed, -0.23; 95% CI, -0.27 to -0.19; and executive function, -0.17; 95% CI, -0.20 to -0.13). In models adjusted for sociodemographics and vascular risk factors that lie earlier in the causal pathway, greater IMT remained negatively associated with processing speed (-0.06; 95% CI, -0.09 to -0.02; P, 0.003) and borderline associated with executive function (-0.03; 95% CI, -0.07 to 0.00; P, 0.07) but not with verbal memory. We observed an association between greater IMT and worse processing speed-a key component of cognitive functioning-at middle age above and beyond traditional vascular risk factors. Efforts targeted at preventing early stages of atherosclerosis may modify the course of cognitive aging. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

[Cognitive disturbances observed in chronic hepatitis C patients during pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin therapy].

PubMed

Pawełczyk, Tomasz; Pawełczyk, Agnieszka; Białkowska, Jolanta; Jabłkowski, Maciej; Strzelecki, Dominik; Dworniak, Daniela; Rabe-Jabłońska, Jolanta

2008-01-01

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients treated with peg-interferon alpha and ribavirin (peg-IFNalpha/RBV) complain of irritability, attention and memory disturbances which may indicate cognitive impairment associated with treatment. Assessment of the probable connection between peg-IFNalpha/RBV treatment and the development of cognitive disturbances in CHC patients. 47 CHC patients were divided into two groups: experimental (n=26) and control (n=21). The experimental group patients were given peg-IFNalpha2a (n=18) or peg-IFNalpha2b (n=8) plus RBV in standard doses as recommended by the manufacturers. Control group patients did not receive the above treatment. Both groups underwent a neuropsychological examination consisting of R. Brickenkamp d2 test, Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Hooper Visual Organization Test at the beginning (t=0) and after 12 weeks of treatment or observation (t=1). The experimental group patients showed significant deterioration in all the measured cognitive functions in t=1 comparing to t=0. Cognitive decline was not seen in the control group. The observed cognitive performance changes could not be correlated sufficiently enough with the presence of organic affective disorders diagnosed according to ICD-10 criteria. The findings suggest that peg-IFNalpha/RBV therapy of CHC patients is connected with the deterioration in cognitive functioning including attention, auditory verbal memory and visuo-spatial skills. These changes may be the effect of peg-IFNalpha-induced neurotransmission abnormalities in the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus and parieto-orbital cortical regions and can impair patients' ability to drive a motor vehicle, operate machinery, or their engagement in hazardous activities requiring attention and coordination. Medical professionals should thoroughly inform patients about the possibility of cognitive decline associated with peg-IFNalpha/RBV therapy.

Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test scores can be predicted from whole brain MRI in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Moradi, Elaheh; Hallikainen, Ilona; Hänninen, Tuomo; Tohka, Jussi

2017-01-01

Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is a powerful neuropsychological tool for testing episodic memory, which is widely used for the cognitive assessment in dementia and pre-dementia conditions. Several studies have shown that an impairment in RAVLT scores reflect well the underlying pathology caused by Alzheimer's disease (AD), thus making RAVLT an effective early marker to detect AD in persons with memory complaints. We investigated the association between RAVLT scores (RAVLT Immediate and RAVLT Percent Forgetting) and the structural brain atrophy caused by AD. The aim was to comprehensively study to what extent the RAVLT scores are predictable based on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data using machine learning approaches as well as to find the most important brain regions for the estimation of RAVLT scores. For this, we built a predictive model to estimate RAVLT scores from gray matter density via elastic net penalized linear regression model. The proposed approach provided highly significant cross-validated correlation between the estimated and observed RAVLT Immediate (R = 0.50) and RAVLT Percent Forgetting (R = 0.43) in a dataset consisting of 806 AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or healthy subjects. In addition, the selected machine learning method provided more accurate estimates of RAVLT scores than the relevance vector regression used earlier for the estimation of RAVLT based on MRI data. The top predictors were medial temporal lobe structures and amygdala for the estimation of RAVLT Immediate and angular gyrus, hippocampus and amygdala for the estimation of RAVLT Percent Forgetting. Further, the conversion of MCI subjects to AD in 3-years could be predicted based on either observed or estimated RAVLT scores with an accuracy comparable to MRI-based biomarkers.

Hippocampal, amygdala, and neocortical synchronization of theta rhythms is related to an immediate recall during rey auditory verbal learning test.

PubMed

Babiloni, Claudio; Vecchio, Fabrizio; Mirabella, Giovanni; Buttiglione, Maura; Sebastiano, Fabio; Picardi, Angelo; Di Gennaro, Giancarlo; Quarato, Pier P; Grammaldo, Liliana G; Buffo, Paola; Esposito, Vincenzo; Manfredi, Mario; Cantore, Giampaolo; Eusebi, Fabrizio

2009-07-01

It is well known that theta rhythms (3-8 Hz) are the fingerprint of hippocampus, and that neural activity accompanying encoding of words differs according to whether the items are later remembered or forgotten ["subsequent memory effect" (SME)]. Here, we tested the hypothesis that temporal synchronization of theta rhythms among hippocampus, amygdala, and neocortex is related to immediate memorization of repeated words. To address this issue, intracerebral electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded in five subjects with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), under presurgical monitoring routine. During the recording of the intracerebral EEG activity, the subjects performed a computerized version of Rey auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT), a popular test for the clinical evaluation of the immediate and delayed memory. They heard the same list of 15 common words for five times. Each time, immediately after listening the list, the subjects were required to repeat as many words as they could recall. Spectral coherence of the intracerebral EEG activity was computed in order to assess the temporal synchronization of the theta (about 3-8 Hz) rhythms among hippocampus, amygdala, and temporal-occipital neocortex. We found that theta coherence values between amygdala and hippocampus, and between hippocampus and occipital-temporal cortex, were higher in amplitude during successful than unsuccessful immediate recall. A control analysis showed that this was true also for a gamma band (40-45 Hz). Furthermore, these theta and gamma effects were not observed in an additional (control) subject with drug-resistant TLE and a wide lesion to hippocampus. In conclusion, a successful immediate recall to the RAVLT was associated to the enhancement of temporal synchronization of the theta (gamma) rhythms within a cerebral network including hippocampus, amygdala, and temporal-occipital neocortex. Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Auditory agnosia.

PubMed

Slevc, L Robert; Shell, Alison R

2015-01-01

Auditory agnosia refers to impairments in sound perception and identification despite intact hearing, cognitive functioning, and language abilities (reading, writing, and speaking). Auditory agnosia can be general, affecting all types of sound perception, or can be (relatively) specific to a particular domain. Verbal auditory agnosia (also known as (pure) word deafness) refers to deficits specific to speech processing, environmental sound agnosia refers to difficulties confined to non-speech environmental sounds, and amusia refers to deficits confined to music. These deficits can be apperceptive, affecting basic perceptual processes, or associative, affecting the relation of a perceived auditory object to its meaning. This chapter discusses what is known about the behavioral symptoms and lesion correlates of these different types of auditory agnosia (focusing especially on verbal auditory agnosia), evidence for the role of a rapid temporal processing deficit in some aspects of auditory agnosia, and the few attempts to treat the perceptual deficits associated with auditory agnosia. A clear picture of auditory agnosia has been slow to emerge, hampered by the considerable heterogeneity in behavioral deficits, associated brain damage, and variable assessments across cases. Despite this lack of clarity, these striking deficits in complex sound processing continue to inform our understanding of auditory perception and cognition. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Brain Region-Specific Activity Patterns after Recent or Remote Memory Retrieval of Auditory Conditioned Fear

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwon, Jeong-Tae; Jhang, Jinho; Kim, Hyung-Su; Lee, Sujin; Han, Jin-Hee

2012-01-01

Memory is thought to be sparsely encoded throughout multiple brain regions forming unique memory trace. Although evidence has established that the amygdala is a key brain site for memory storage and retrieval of auditory conditioned fear memory, it remains elusive whether the auditory brain regions may be involved in fear memory storage or…

P300 as a measure of processing capacity in auditory and visual domains in Specific Language Impairment

PubMed Central

Evans, Julia L.; Pollak, Seth D.

2011-01-01

This study examined the electrophysiological correlates of auditory and visual working memory in children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI). Children with SLI and age-matched controls (11;9 – 14;10) completed visual and auditory working memory tasks while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. In the auditory condition, children with SLI performed similarly to controls when the memory load was kept low (1-back memory load). As expected, when demands for auditory working memory were higher, children with SLI showed decreases in accuracy and attenuated P3b responses. However, children with SLI also evinced difficulties in the visual working memory tasks. In both the low (1-back) and high (2-back) memory load conditions, P3b amplitude was significantly lower for the SLI as compared to CA groups. These data suggest a domain-general working memory deficit in SLI that is manifested across auditory and visual modalities. PMID:21316354

Attention and memory deficits in crack-cocaine users persist over four weeks of abstinence.

PubMed

Almeida, Priscila P; de Araujo Filho, Gerardo M; Malta, Stella M; Laranjeira, Ronaldo R; Marques, Ana Cecilia R P; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Lacerda, Acioly L T

2017-10-01

Crack-cocaine addiction is an important public health problem worldwide. Although there is not a consensus, preliminary evidence has suggested that cognitive impairments in patients with crack-cocaine dependence persist during abstinence, affecting different neuropsychological domains. However, few studies have prospectively evaluated those deficits in different phases of abstinence. The main aim of present study was to examine neuropsychological performance of patients with crack-cocaine dependence during early abstinence and after four weeks, comparing with matched controls. Thirty-five males with crack-cocaine dependence, aged 18 to 50years, who met DSM-IV criteria for cocaine dependence and a control group of 33 healthy men were enrolled. They were assessed through Block Design, Digit Span and Vocabulary of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III), the Rey Auditory Learning Test (RAVLT) and the Verbal Fluency (FAS) between 3 and 10days (mean of 6.1±2.0days) and after 4weeks of abstinence. Compared to controls, the crack-cocaine dependent group exhibited deficits in cognitive performance affecting attention, verbal memory and learning tasks in early withdrawal. Most of the cognitive deficits persisted after four weeks of abstinence. Present results observed that the group of patients with crack-cocaine dependence presented persistent deficits affecting memory and attention even after four weeks of abstinence, confirming previous studies that had disclosed such cognitive impairments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Auditory Pitch Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated With Nonverbal Abilities.

PubMed

Chowdhury, Rakhee; Sharda, Megha; Foster, Nicholas E V; Germain, Esther; Tryfon, Ana; Doyle-Thomas, Krissy; Anagnostou, Evdokia; Hyde, Krista L

2017-11-01

Atypical sensory perception and heterogeneous cognitive profiles are common features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous findings on auditory sensory processing in ASD are mixed. Accordingly, auditory perception and its relation to cognitive abilities in ASD remain poorly understood. Here, children with ASD, and age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched typically developing children, were tested on a low- and a higher level pitch processing task. Verbal and nonverbal cognitive abilities were measured using the Wechsler's Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. There were no group differences in performance on either auditory task or IQ measure. However, there was significant variability in performance on the auditory tasks in both groups that was predicted by nonverbal, not verbal skills. These results suggest that auditory perception is related to nonverbal reasoning rather than verbal abilities in ASD and typically developing children. In addition, these findings provide evidence for preserved pitch processing in school-age children with ASD with average IQ, supporting the idea that there may be a subgroup of individuals with ASD that do not present perceptual or cognitive difficulties. Future directions involve examining whether similar perceptual-cognitive relationships might be observed in a broader sample of individuals with ASD, such as those with language impairment or lower IQ.

Near-Independent Capacities and Highly Constrained Output Orders in the Simultaneous Free Recall of Auditory-Verbal and Visuo-Spatial Stimuli

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cortis Mack, Cathleen; Dent, Kevin; Ward, Geoff

2018-01-01

Three experiments examined the immediate free recall (IFR) of auditory-verbal and visuospatial materials from single-modality and dual-modality lists. In Experiment 1, we presented participants with between 1 and 16 spoken words, with between 1 and 16 visuospatial dot locations, or with between 1 and 16 words "and" dots with synchronized…

Happiness increases verbal and spatial working memory capacity where sadness does not: Emotion, working memory and executive control.

PubMed

Storbeck, Justin; Maswood, Raeya

2016-08-01

The effects of emotion on working memory and executive control are often studied in isolation. Positive mood enhances verbal and impairs spatial working memory, whereas negative mood enhances spatial and impairs verbal working memory. Moreover, positive mood enhances executive control, whereas negative mood has little influence. We examined how emotion influences verbal and spatial working memory capacity, which requires executive control to coordinate between holding information in working memory and completing a secondary task. We predicted that positive mood would improve both verbal and spatial working memory capacity because of its influence on executive control. Positive, negative and neutral moods were induced followed by completing a verbal (Experiment 1) or spatial (Experiment 2) working memory operation span task to assess working memory capacity. Positive mood enhanced working memory capacity irrespective of the working memory domain, whereas negative mood had no influence on performance. Thus, positive mood was more successful holding information in working memory while processing task-irrelevant information, suggesting that the influence mood has on executive control supersedes the independent effects mood has on domain-specific working memory.

Neuropsychopharmacology of auditory hallucinations: insights from pharmacological functional MRI and perspectives for future research.

PubMed

Johnsen, Erik; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Fusar-Poli, Paolo; Kroken, Rune A; Kompus, Kristiina

2013-01-01

Experiencing auditory verbal hallucinations is a prominent symptom in schizophrenia that also occurs in subjects at enhanced risk for psychosis and in the general population. Drug treatment of auditory hallucinations is challenging, because the current understanding is limited with respect to the neural mechanisms involved, as well as how CNS drugs, such as antipsychotics, influence the subjective experience and neurophysiology of hallucinations. In this article, the authors review studies of the effect of antipsychotic medication on brain activation as measured with functional MRI in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations. First, the authors examine the neural correlates of ongoing auditory hallucinations. Then, the authors critically discuss studies addressing the antipsychotic effect on the neural correlates of complex cognitive tasks. Current evidence suggests that blood oxygen level-dependant effects of antipsychotic drugs reflect specific, regional effects but studies on the neuropharmacology of auditory hallucinations are scarce. Future directions for pharmacological neuroimaging of auditory hallucinations are discussed.

Content-specificity in verbal recall: a randomized controlled study.

PubMed

Zirk-Sadowski, Jan; Szucs, Denes; Holmes, Joni

2013-01-01

In this controlled experiment we examined whether there are content effects in verbal short-term memory and working memory for verbal stimuli. Thirty-seven participants completed forward and backward digit and letter recall tasks, which were constructed to control for distance effects between stimuli. A maximum-likelihood mixed-effects logistic regression revealed main effects of direction of recall (forward vs backward) and content (digits vs letters). There was an interaction between type of recall and content, in which the recall of digits was superior to the recall of letters in verbal short-term memory but not in verbal working memory. These results demonstrate that the recall of information from verbal short-term memory is content-specific, whilst the recall of information from verbal working memory is content-general.

Comparison of adult age differences in verbal and visuo-spatial memory: the importance of 'pure', parallel and validated measures.

PubMed

Kemps, Eva; Newson, Rachel

2006-04-01

The study compared age-related decrements in verbal and visuo-spatial memory across a broad elderly adult age range. Twenty-four young (18-25 years), 24 young-old (65-74 years), 24 middle-old (75-84 years) and 24 old-old (85-93 years) adults completed parallel recall and recognition measures of verbal and visuo-spatial memory from the Doors and People Test (Baddeley, Emslie & Nimmo-Smith, 1994). These constituted 'pure' and validated indices of either verbal or visuo-spatial memory. Verbal and visuo-spatial memory declined similarly with age, with a steeper decline in recall than recognition. Unlike recognition memory, recall performance also showed a heightened decline after the age of 85. Age-associated memory loss in both modalities was largely due to working memory and executive function. Processing speed and sensory functioning (vision, hearing) made minor contributions to memory performance and age differences in it. Together, these findings demonstrate common, rather than differential, age-related effects on verbal and visuo-spatial memory. They also emphasize the importance of using 'pure', parallel and validated measures of verbal and visuo-spatial memory in memory ageing research.

Auditory short-term memory in the primate auditory cortex

PubMed Central

Scott, Brian H.; Mishkin, Mortimer

2015-01-01

Sounds are fleeting, and assembling the sequence of inputs at the ear into a coherent percept requires auditory memory across various time scales. Auditory short-term memory comprises at least two components: an active ‘working memory’ bolstered by rehearsal, and a sensory trace that may be passively retained. Working memory relies on representations recalled from long-term memory, and their rehearsal may require phonological mechanisms unique to humans. The sensory component, passive short-term memory (pSTM), is tractable to study in nonhuman primates, whose brain architecture and behavioral repertoire are comparable to our own. This review discusses recent advances in the behavioral and neurophysiological study of auditory memory with a focus on single-unit recordings from macaque monkeys performing delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. Monkeys appear to employ pSTM to solve these tasks, as evidenced by the impact of interfering stimuli on memory performance. In several regards, pSTM in monkeys resembles pitch memory in humans, and may engage similar neural mechanisms. Neural correlates of DMS performance have been observed throughout the auditory and prefrontal cortex, defining a network of areas supporting auditory STM with parallels to that supporting visual STM. These correlates include persistent neural firing, or a suppression of firing, during the delay period of the memory task, as well as suppression or (less commonly) enhancement of sensory responses when a sound is repeated as a ‘match’ stimulus. Auditory STM is supported by a distributed temporo-frontal network in which sensitivity to stimulus history is an intrinsic feature of auditory processing. PMID:26541581

A Comparison of Two FMRI Methods for Predicting Verbal Memory Decline After Left Temporal Lobectomy: Language Lateralization vs. Hippocampal Activation Asymmetry

PubMed Central

Binder, Jeffrey R.; Swanson, Sara J.; Sabsevitz, David S.; Hammeke, Thomas A.; Raghavan, Manoj; Mueller, Wade M.

2010-01-01

Purpose Language lateralization measured by preoperative fMRI was shown recently to be predictive of verbal memory outcome in patients undergoing left anterior temporal lobe (L-ATL) resection. The aim of this study was to determine whether language lateralization or hippocampal activation asymmetry is a better predictor of memory outcome in this setting. Methods Thirty L-ATL patients underwent preoperative language fMRI, preoperative hippocampal fMRI using a scene encoding task, and pre- and postoperative neuropsychological testing. A group of 37 right ATL surgery patients who underwent the same testing procedures was included for comparison. Results Verbal memory decline occurred in roughly half of the L-ATL patients. Preoperative language lateralization was correlated with postoperative verbal memory change. Hippocampal activation asymmetry was strongly related to side of seizure focus and to Wada memory asymmetry but was unrelated to verbal memory outcome. Discussion Preoperative hippocampal activation asymmetry elicited by a scene encoding task is not predictive of verbal memory outcome. Risk of verbal memory decline is likely to be related to lateralization of material-specific verbal memory networks, which are more closely correlated with language lateralization than with overall asymmetry of episodic memory processes. PMID:19817807

Verbal and non-verbal memory and hippocampal volumes in a memory clinic population.

PubMed

Bonner-Jackson, Aaron; Mahmoud, Shamseldeen; Miller, Justin; Banks, Sarah J

2015-10-15

Better characterization of the relationship between episodic memory and hippocampal volumes is crucial in early detection of neurodegenerative disease. We examined these relationships in a memory clinic population. Participants (n = 226) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging and tests of verbal (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, HVLT-R) and non-verbal (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, BVMT-R) memory. Correlational analyses were performed, and analyses on clinical subgroups (i.e., amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, non-amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, probable Alzheimer's disease, intact memory) were conducted. Positive associations were identified between bilateral hippocampal volumes and both memory measures, and BVMT-R learning slope was more strongly positively associated with hippocampal volumes than HVLT-R learning slope. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) participants showed specific positive associations between BVMT-R performance and hippocampal volumes bilaterally. Additionally, analyses of the aMCI group showed trend-level evidence of material-specific lateralization, such that retention of verbal information was positively associated with left hippocampal volume, whereas learning curve and retention of non-verbal information was positively associated with right hippocampal volume. Findings support the link between episodic memory and hippocampal volumes in a memory clinic population. Non-verbal memory measures also may have higher diagnostic value, particularly in individuals at elevated risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Sex differences in episodic memory: the impact of verbal and visuospatial ability.

PubMed

Herlitz, A; Airaksinen, E; Nordström, E

1999-10-01

The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability on sex differences in episodic memory was investigated. One hundred men and 100 women, 2040 years old, participated in a series of verbal and visuospatial tasks. Episodic memory was assessed in tasks that, to a greater or lesser extent, were verbal or visuospatial in nature. Results showed that women excelled in verbal production tasks and that men performed at a superior level on a mental rotation task. In addition, women tended to perform at a higher level than men on most episodic memory tasks. Taken together, the results demonstrated that (a) women perform at a higher level than men on most verbal episodic memory tasks and on some episodic memory tasks with a visuospatial component, and (b) women's higher performance on episodic memory tasks cannot fully be explained by their superior performance on verbal production tasks.

Auditory orienting of attention: Effects of cues and verbal workload with children and adults.

PubMed

Phélip, Marion; Donnot, Julien; Vauclair, Jacques

2016-01-01

The use of tone cues has an improving effect on the auditory orienting of attention for children as for adults. Verbal cues, on the contrary, do not seem to orient attention as efficiently before the age of 9 years. However, several studies have reported inconsistent effects of orienting attention on ear asymmetries. Multiple factors are questioned, such as the role of verbal workload. Indeed, the semantic nature of the dichotic pairs and their load of processing may explain orienting of attention performance. Thus, by controlling for the role of verbal workload, the present experiment aimed to evaluate the development of capacities for the auditory orienting of attention. Right-handed, 6- to 12-year-olds and adults were recruited to complete either a tone cue or a verbal cue dichotic listening task in the identification of familiar words or nonsense words. A factorial design analysis of variance showed a significant right-ear advantage for all the participants and for all the types of stimuli. A major developmental effect was observed in which verbal cues played an important role: they allowed the 6- to 8-year-olds to improve their performance of identification in the left ear. These effects were taken as evidence of the implication of top-down processes in cognitive flexibility across development.

Contributions of Feature Binding During Encoding and Functional Connectivity of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures to Episodic Memory Deficits Across the Prodromal and First-Episode Phases of Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Haut, Kristen M.; van Erp, Theo G. M.; Knowlton, Barbara; Bearden, Carrie E.; Subotnik, Kenneth; Ventura, Joseph; Nuechterlein, Keith H.; Cannon, Tyrone D.

2014-01-01

Patients with and at risk for psychosis may have difficulty using associative strategies to facilitate episodic memory encoding and recall. In parallel studies, patients with first-episode schizophrenia (n = 27) and high psychosis risk (n = 28) compared with control participants (n = 22 and n = 20, respectively) underwent functional MRI during a remember-know memory task. Psychophysiological interaction analyses, using medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures as regions of interest, were conducted to measure functional connectivity patterns supporting successful episodic memory. During encoding, patients with first-episode schizophrenia demonstrated reduced functional coupling between MTL regions and regions involved in stimulus representations, stimulus selection, and cognitive control. Relative to control participants and patients with high psychosis risk who did not convert to psychosis, patients with high psychosis risk who later converted to psychosis also demonstrated reduced connectivity between MTL regions and auditory-verbal and visual-association regions. These results suggest that episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia are related to inefficient recruitment of cortical connections involved in associative memory formation; such deficits precede the onset of psychosis among those individuals at high clinical risk. PMID:25750836

Contributions of Feature Binding During Encoding and Functional Connectivity of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures to Episodic Memory Deficits Across the Prodromal and First-Episode Phases of Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Haut, Kristen M; van Erp, Theo G M; Knowlton, Barbara; Bearden, Carrie E; Subotnik, Kenneth; Ventura, Joseph; Nuechterlein, Keith H; Cannon, Tyrone D

2015-03-01

Patients with and at risk for psychosis may have difficulty using associative strategies to facilitate episodic memory encoding and recall. In parallel studies, patients with first-episode schizophrenia ( n = 27) and high psychosis risk ( n = 28) compared with control participants ( n = 22 and n = 20, respectively) underwent functional MRI during a remember-know memory task. Psychophysiological interaction analyses, using medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures as regions of interest, were conducted to measure functional connectivity patterns supporting successful episodic memory. During encoding, patients with first-episode schizophrenia demonstrated reduced functional coupling between MTL regions and regions involved in stimulus representations, stimulus selection, and cognitive control. Relative to control participants and patients with high psychosis risk who did not convert to psychosis, patients with high psychosis risk who later converted to psychosis also demonstrated reduced connectivity between MTL regions and auditory-verbal and visual-association regions. These results suggest that episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia are related to inefficient recruitment of cortical connections involved in associative memory formation; such deficits precede the onset of psychosis among those individuals at high clinical risk.

The effects of divided attention on auditory priming.

PubMed

Mulligan, Neil W; Duke, Marquinn; Cooper, Angela W

2007-09-01

Traditional theorizing stresses the importance of attentional state during encoding for later memory, based primarily on research with explicit memory. Recent research has begun to investigate the role of attention in implicit memory but has focused almost exclusively on priming in the visual modality. The present experiments examined the effect of divided attention on auditory implicit memory, using auditory perceptual identification, word-stem completion and word-fragment completion. Participants heard study words under full attention conditions or while simultaneously carrying out a distractor task (the divided attention condition). In Experiment 1, a distractor task with low response frequency failed to disrupt later auditory priming (but diminished explicit memory as assessed with auditory recognition). In Experiment 2, a distractor task with greater response frequency disrupted priming on all three of the auditory priming tasks as well as the explicit test. These results imply that although auditory priming is less reliant on attention than explicit memory, it is still greatly affected by at least some divided-attention manipulations. These results are consistent with research using visual priming tasks and have relevance for hypotheses regarding attention and auditory priming.

The Effect of Noise on the Relationship Between Auditory Working Memory and Comprehension in School-Age Children.

PubMed

Sullivan, Jessica R; Osman, Homira; Schafer, Erin C

2015-06-01

The objectives of the current study were to examine the effect of noise (-5 dB SNR) on auditory comprehension and to examine its relationship with working memory. It was hypothesized that noise has a negative impact on information processing, auditory working memory, and comprehension. Children with normal hearing between the ages of 8 and 10 years were administered working memory and comprehension tasks in quiet and noise. The comprehension measure comprised 5 domains: main idea, details, reasoning, vocabulary, and understanding messages. Performance on auditory working memory and comprehension tasks were significantly poorer in noise than in quiet. The reasoning, details, understanding, and vocabulary subtests were particularly affected in noise (p < .05). The relationship between auditory working memory and comprehension was stronger in noise than in quiet, suggesting an increased contribution of working memory. These data suggest that school-age children's auditory working memory and comprehension are negatively affected by noise. Performance on comprehension tasks in noise is strongly related to demands placed on working memory, supporting the theory that degrading listening conditions draws resources away from the primary task.

Short and Long Term Effects of Left and Bilateral Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Schizophrenia Patients with Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Bais, Leonie; Vercammen, Ans; Stewart, Roy; van Es, Frank; Visser, Bert; Aleman, André; Knegtering, Henderikus

2014-01-01

Background Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left temporo-parietal junction area has been studied as a treatment option for auditory verbal hallucinations. Although the right temporo-parietal junction area has also shown involvement in the genesis of auditory verbal hallucinations, no studies have used bilateral stimulation. Moreover, little is known about durability effects. We studied the short and long term effects of 1 Hz treatment of the left temporo-parietal junction area in schizophrenia patients with persistent auditory verbal hallucinations, compared to sham stimulation, and added an extra treatment arm of bilateral TPJ area stimulation. Methods In this randomized controlled trial, 51 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and persistent auditory verbal hallucinations were randomly allocated to treatment of the left or bilateral temporo-parietal junction area or sham treatment. Patients were treated for six days, twice daily for 20 minutes. Short term efficacy was measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale (AHRS), and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). We included follow-up measures with the AHRS and PANAS at four weeks and three months. Results The interaction between time and treatment for Hallucination item P3 of the PANSS showed a trend for significance, caused by a small reduction of scores in the left group. Although self-reported hallucination scores, as measured with the AHRS and PANAS, decreased significantly during the trial period, there were no differences between the three treatment groups. Conclusion We did not find convincing evidence for the efficacy of left-sided rTMS, compared to sham rTMS. Moreover, bilateral rTMS was not superior over left rTMS or sham in improving AVH. Optimizing treatment parameters may result in stronger evidence for the efficacy of rTMS treatment of AVH. Moreover, future research should consider investigating factors predicting individual response. Trial Registration Dutch Trial Register NTR1813 PMID:25329799

[Predictors of verbal memory decline following temporal lobe surgery].

PubMed

de Vanssay-Maigne, A; Boutin, M; Baudoin-Chial, S

2008-05-01

Verbal memory decline can occur after temporal lobe surgery, especially when the left dominant hemisphere is involved. This potential functional risk must be evaluated before surgery. Among all factors that have been identified by several studies, the side of surgery (left dominant) and high baseline memory performance have been found to be predictive of verbal memory decline. Other factors such as etiology, sex, age at surgery, age at seizure onset, and duration may influence memory decline, but the results are not clear. Our purpose was to identify, in our population of patients and among all risk factors, those that may be predictive of verbal memory decline. Logistic regression was used to examine the effect of each factor on the postoperative verbal memory index (WMS-R) in 101 patients who underwent a right (n=49) or left (n=52) anterior temporal lobe resection. In the group as a whole, 22 % of the patients demonstrated verbal memory decline of more than one standard deviation. The verbal memory decline was significantly related to surgery on the left side and a high level of verbal memory performance. These factors were significant predictors of decline. The other factors (etiology, sex, age at surgery, age at seizure onset, and duration) were not found to be predictive of this decline. Our analysis demonstrates that the patients who are most at risk of undergoing verbal memory deterioration are those who undergo left-sided temporal resection and have good memory scores preoperatively. The contradictions found in the literature about the other factors could be explained by the diversity of the tests and criteria used to assess memory decline.

Verbal memory impairment after left insular cortex infarction

PubMed Central

Manes, F.; Springer, J.; Jorge, R.; Robinson, R.

1999-01-01

PET studies have shown an association between changes in blood flow in the insular cortex and verbal memory. This study compared verbal memory profiles between a group of four right handed patients with right insular infarction and a group of six right handed patients with left insular infarction. Patient groups were comparable in age, education, and sex. Patients were administered memory tests about 4-8 weeks poststroke. Patients with left insular lesions showed significantly poorer immediate and delayed verbal memory as measured by story A of the WMS-R logical memory I (t=−2.73, p<0.03) and logical memory II (t=−4.1, p<0.004) subtests as well as the CERAD word list memory (delayed recall) (t=−2.4, p<0.05). These findings indicate that left insular damage is associated with poorer performance on verbal memory tasks. The findings suggest that the insula may be part of a functional network that mediates verbal memory.

 PMID:10486407

Brain Mapping of Language and Auditory Perception in High-Functioning Autistic Adults: A PET Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muller, R-A.; Behen, M. E.; Rothermel, R. D.; Chugani, D. C.; Muzik, O.; Mangner, T. J.; Chugani, H. T.

1999-01-01

A study used positron emission tomography (PET) to study patterns of brain activation during auditory processing in five high-functioning adults with autism. Results found that participants showed reversed hemispheric dominance during the verbal auditory stimulation and reduced activation of the auditory cortex and cerebellum. (CR)

Development of auditory sensory memory from 2 to 6 years: an MMN study.

PubMed

Glass, Elisabeth; Sachse, Steffi; von Suchodoletz, Waldemar

2008-08-01

Short-term storage of auditory information is thought to be a precondition for cognitive development, and deficits in short-term memory are believed to underlie learning disabilities and specific language disorders. We examined the development of the duration of auditory sensory memory in normally developing children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. To probe the lifetime of auditory sensory memory we elicited the mismatch negativity (MMN), a component of the late auditory evoked potential, with tone stimuli of two different frequencies presented with various interstimulus intervals between 500 and 5,000 ms. Our findings suggest that memory traces for tone characteristics have a duration of 1-2 s in 2- and 3-year-old children, more than 2 s in 4-year-olds and 3-5 s in 6-year-olds. The results provide insights into the maturational processes involved in auditory sensory memory during the sensitive period of cognitive development.

In a Concurrent Memory and Auditory Perception Task, the Pupil Dilation Response Is More Sensitive to Memory Load Than to Auditory Stimulus Characteristics.

PubMed

Zekveld, Adriana A; Kramer, Sophia E; Rönnberg, Jerker; Rudner, Mary

2018-06-19

Speech understanding may be cognitively demanding, but it can be enhanced when semantically related text cues precede auditory sentences. The present study aimed to determine whether (a) providing text cues reduces pupil dilation, a measure of cognitive load, during listening to sentences, (b) repeating the sentences aloud affects recall accuracy and pupil dilation during recall of cue words, and (c) semantic relatedness between cues and sentences affects recall accuracy and pupil dilation during recall of cue words. Sentence repetition following text cues and recall of the text cues were tested. Twenty-six participants (mean age, 22 years) with normal hearing listened to masked sentences. On each trial, a set of four-word cues was presented visually as text preceding the auditory presentation of a sentence whose meaning was either related or unrelated to the cues. On each trial, participants first read the cue words, then listened to a sentence. Following this they spoke aloud either the cue words or the sentence, according to instruction, and finally on all trials orally recalled the cues. Peak pupil dilation was measured throughout listening and recall on each trial. Additionally, participants completed a test measuring the ability to perceive degraded verbal text information and three working memory tests (a reading span test, a size-comparison span test, and a test of memory updating). Cue words that were semantically related to the sentence facilitated sentence repetition but did not reduce pupil dilation. Recall was poorer and there were more intrusion errors when the cue words were related to the sentences. Recall was also poorer when sentences were repeated aloud. Both behavioral effects were associated with greater pupil dilation. Larger reading span capacity and smaller size-comparison span were associated with larger peak pupil dilation during listening. Furthermore, larger reading span and greater memory updating ability were both associated with better cue recall overall. Although sentence-related word cues facilitate sentence repetition, our results indicate that they do not reduce cognitive load during listening in noise with a concurrent memory load. As expected, higher working memory capacity was associated with better recall of the cues. Unexpectedly, however, semantic relatedness with the sentence reduced word cue recall accuracy and increased intrusion errors, suggesting an effect of semantic confusion. Further, speaking the sentence aloud also reduced word cue recall accuracy, probably due to articulatory suppression. Importantly, imposing a memory load during listening to sentences resulted in the absence of formerly established strong effects of speech intelligibility on the pupil dilation response. This nullified intelligibility effect demonstrates that the pupil dilation response to a cognitive (memory) task can completely overshadow the effect of perceptual factors on the pupil dilation response. This highlights the importance of taking cognitive task load into account during auditory testing.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The relationship of phonological ability, speech perception, and auditory perception in adults with dyslexia

PubMed Central

Law, Jeremy M.; Vandermosten, Maaike; Ghesquiere, Pol; Wouters, Jan

2014-01-01

This study investigated whether auditory, speech perception, and phonological skills are tightly interrelated or independently contributing to reading. We assessed each of these three skills in 36 adults with a past diagnosis of dyslexia and 54 matched normal reading adults. Phonological skills were tested by the typical threefold tasks, i.e., rapid automatic naming, verbal short-term memory and phonological awareness. Dynamic auditory processing skills were assessed by means of a frequency modulation (FM) and an amplitude rise time (RT); an intensity discrimination task (ID) was included as a non-dynamic control task. Speech perception was assessed by means of sentences and words-in-noise tasks. Group analyses revealed significant group differences in auditory tasks (i.e., RT and ID) and in phonological processing measures, yet no differences were found for speech perception. In addition, performance on RT discrimination correlated with reading but this relation was mediated by phonological processing and not by speech-in-noise. Finally, inspection of the individual scores revealed that the dyslexic readers showed an increased proportion of deviant subjects on the slow-dynamic auditory and phonological tasks, yet each individual dyslexic reader does not display a clear pattern of deficiencies across the processing skills. Although our results support phonological and slow-rate dynamic auditory deficits which relate to literacy, they suggest that at the individual level, problems in reading and writing cannot be explained by the cascading auditory theory. Instead, dyslexic adults seem to vary considerably in the extent to which each of the auditory and phonological factors are expressed and interact with environmental and higher-order cognitive influences. PMID:25071512

Investigating Verbal and Visual Auditory Learning After Conformal Radiation Therapy for Childhood Ependymoma

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Di Pinto, Marcos; Conklin, Heather M.; Li Chenghong

Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to determine whether children with localized ependymoma experience a decline in verbal or visual-auditory learning after conformal radiation therapy (CRT). The secondary objective was to investigate the impact of age and select clinical factors on learning before and after treatment. Methods and Materials: Learning in a sample of 71 patients with localized ependymoma was assessed with the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-C) and the Visual-Auditory Learning Test (VAL). Learning measures were administered before CRT, at 6 months, and then yearly for a total of 5 years. Results: There was no significant declinemore » on measures of verbal or visual-auditory learning after CRT; however, younger age, more surgeries, and cerebrospinal fluid shunting did predict lower scores at baseline. There were significant longitudinal effects (improved learning scores after treatment) among older children on the CVLT-C and children that did not receive pre-CRT chemotherapy on the VAL. Conclusion: There was no evidence of global decline in learning after CRT in children with localized ependymoma. Several important implications from the findings include the following: (1) identification of and differentiation among variables with transient vs. long-term effects on learning, (2) demonstration that children treated with chemotherapy before CRT had greater risk of adverse visual-auditory learning performance, and (3) establishment of baseline and serial assessment as critical in ascertaining necessary sensitivity and specificity for the detection of modest effects.« less

Cognitive performance in transient global hypoxic brain injury due to moderate drowning.

PubMed

Nucci, Mariana Penteado; Lukasova, Katerina; Vieira, Gilson; Sato, João Ricardo; Amaro Júnior, Edson

2018-06-01

Drowning is a serious and frequently neglected public health threat. Primary respiratory impairment after submersion often leads to brain dysfunction. Depending on the period of global hypoxia (respiratory failure), clinical aspects of neurological dysfunction are evident on the first evaluation after the water rescue. Nowadays, many neuropsychological assessments after drowning are inconclusive, with some studies reporting only minor neurological or cognitive impairments. The aim of this study is to identify measures in neuropsychological tests that most contribute to classify volunteers as moderate drowning subjects or healthy controls. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first neuropsychological prospective case-control study of moderate drowning in a country with large coastal cities. Fifteen moderate drowning patients (DP), who met the inclusion criteria, were compared with 18 healthy controls (HC). All subjects were assessed on memory, learning, visual spatial ability, executive function, attention, and general intellectual functioning and underwent structural magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the brain at 3.0 T, in order to exclude subjects with anatomic abnormalities. Neuropsychological tests assessing learning, execution function, and verbal fluency-Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) general learning ability, Digit Span total, Phonological Verbal Fluency (total FAS correct), and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised (BVMT) correct recognition-have the strongest discriminating ability, using predictive models via the partial least squares (PLS) approach for data classification, while the other tests have shown similar predictive values between groups. Learning, execution function, and verbal fluency domains were the most critically affected domains. Serious impairments in the same domains have already been reported in severe drowning cases, and we hypothesize that subtle alterations found in moderate drowning cases, although not sufficient to be detected in daily routine, may possibly have a negative impact on cognitive reserve.

Visual associations cued recall A Paradigm for Measuring Episodic Memory Decline in Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Meyer, Sascha R A; Spaan, Pauline E J; Boelaarts, Leo; Ponds, Rudolf W H M; Schmand, Ben; de Jonghe, Jos F M

2016-09-01

Repeated measurements of episodic memory are needed for monitoring amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Most episodic memory tests may pose a challenge to patients, even when they are in the milder stages of the disease. This cross-sectional study compared floor effects of the Visual Association Test (VAT) and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in healthy elderly controls and in patients with aMCI or AD (N = 125). A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine whether linear or quadratic trends best fitted the data of cognitive test performance across global cognitive impairment. Results showed that VAT total scores decreased linearly across the range of global cognitive impairment, whereas RAVLT total scores showed a quadratic trend, with total scores levelling off for 90% of aMCI patients and 94% of AD patients. We conclude that the VAT shows few if any floor effects in patients with aMCI and mild AD and is therefore a potentially promising cognitive test for monitoring episodic memory impairment.

Auditory Hallucinations as Translational Psychiatry: Evidence from Magnetic Resonance Imaging

PubMed Central

Hugdahl, Kenneth

2017-01-01

In this invited review article, I present a translational perspective and overview of our research on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia at the University of Bergen, Norway, with a focus on the neuronal mechanisms underlying the phenomenology of experiencing “hearing voices”. An auditory verbal hallucination (i.e. hearing a voice) is defined as a sensory experience in the absence of a corresponding external sensory source that could explain the phenomenological experience. I suggest a general frame or scheme for the study of auditory verbal hallucinations, called Levels of Explanation. Using a Levels of Explanation approach, mental phenomena can be described and explained at different levels (cultural, clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, cellular and molecular). Another way of saying this is that, to advance knowledge in a research field, it is not only necessary to replicate findings, but also to show how evidence obtained with one method, and at one level of explanation, converges with evidence obtained with another method at another level. To achieve breakthroughs in our understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations, we have to advance vertically through the various levels, rather than the more common approach of staying at our favourite level and advancing horizontally (e.g., more advanced techniques and data acquisition analyses). The horizontal expansion will, however, not advance a deeper understanding of how an auditory verbal hallucination spontaneously starts and stops. Finally, I present data from the clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, and cellular levels, where data from one level validate and support data at another level, called converging of evidence. Using a translational approach, the current status of auditory verbal hallucinations is that they implicate speech perception areas in the left temporal lobe, impairing perception of and attention to external sounds. Preliminary results also show that amygdala is implicated in the emotional «colouring» of the voices and that excitatory neurotransmitters might be involved. What we do not know is why hallucinatory episodes occur spontaneously, why they fluctuate over time, and what makes them spontaneously stop. Moreover, is voice hearing a category or dimension in its own right, independent of diagnosis, and why is the auditory modality predominantly implicated in psychotic disorders, while the visual modality dominates in, for example, neurological diseases? PMID:29019460

Intelligence or years of education: which is better correlated with memory function in normal elderly Japanese subjects?

PubMed

Murayama, Norio; Iseki, Eizo; Tagaya, Hirokuni; Ota, Kazumi; Kasanuki, Koji; Fujishiro, Hiroshige; Arai, Heii; Sato, Kiyoshi

2013-03-01

We compared differences in intelligence and memory function between normal elderly Japanese subjects with more years of education and those with fewer years of education. We also investigated clinical and neuropsychological factors that are strongly correlated with memory function. There were 118 normal elderly subjects who underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd edition (WAIS-III), and Wechsler Memory Scale Revised. Subjects with at least 13 years of education were categorized as the H group, and those with 12 years of education or less were categorized as the L group. Age and Mini-Mental State Examination scores were not significantly different between the two groups. On the WAIS-III, there were significant differences between the two groups in Verbal IQ and Full Scale IQ. On the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised, there were significant differences between the two groups in Visual Memory, General Memory, and Delayed Recall. Correlation coefficients between memory function and the other factors demonstrated significant but weak correlations between years of education and General Memory (R = 0.22) and between years of education and Delayed Recall (R = 0.20). Strong correlations were found between Verbal IQ and Verbal Memory (R = 0.45), between Verbal IQ and General Memory (R = 0.49), between Full Scale IQ and General Memory (R = 0.50) and between Full Scale IQ and Delayed Recall (R = 0.48). In normal elderly Japanese subjects, years of education weakly correlated with memory function while Verbal IQ, Full Scale IQ and Verbal Comprehension on WAIS-III had stronger correlations with memory function. Verbal IQ and Verbal Comprehension on WAIS-III were found to be insusceptible to the cognitive decline characteristic of Alzheimer's disease or amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Therefore, verbal intelligence, as measured by Verbal IQ and Verbal Comprehension, may be the most useful factor for inferring premorbid memory function in Alzheimer's disease or amnestic mild cognitive impairment patients. © 2013 The Authors. Psychogeriatrics © 2013 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.

Memory for sound, with an ear toward hearing in complex auditory scenes.

PubMed

Snyder, Joel S; Gregg, Melissa K

2011-10-01

An area of research that has experienced recent growth is the study of memory during perception of simple and complex auditory scenes. These studies have provided important information about how well auditory objects are encoded in memory and how well listeners can notice changes in auditory scenes. These are significant developments because they present an opportunity to better understand how we hear in realistic situations, how higher-level aspects of hearing such as semantics and prior exposure affect perception, and the similarities and differences between auditory perception and perception in other modalities, such as vision and touch. The research also poses exciting challenges for behavioral and neural models of how auditory perception and memory work.

Cognitive changes in people with temporal lobe epilepsy over a 13-year period.

PubMed

Mameniškienė, Rūta; Rimšienė, Justė; Puronaitė, Roma

2016-10-01

The aims of our study were to evaluate cognitive decline in people with temporal lobe epilepsy over a period of 13years and to determine what clinical and treatment characteristics may have been associated with these. Thirty-three individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy underwent the same neuropsychological assessment of verbal and nonverbal memory, attention, and executive functions using the same cognitive test battery as one used 13years ago. Long-term verbal and nonverbal memory was tested four weeks later. Results were compared with those carried out 13years earlier. There was no significant change in verbal and verbal-logical memory tests; however, nonverbal memory worsened significantly. Long-term verbal memory declined for 21.9% of participants, long-term verbal-logical memory for 34.4%, and long-term nonverbal memory for 56.3%. Worsening of working verbal and verbal-logical memory was associated with longer epilepsy duration and lower levels of patients' education; worsening of verbal delayed recall and long-term verbal-logical memory was associated with higher seizure frequency. Decline in long-term nonverbal memory had significant association with a longer duration of epilepsy. The worsening of reaction and attention inversely correlated with the symptoms of depression. Over a 13-year period, cognitive functions did not change significantly. Good seizure control and reduced symptoms of depression in this sample of people with temporal lobe epilepsy were associated with better cognitive functioning. The predictors of change of cognitive functions could be complex and require further study. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relation between Working Memory Capacity and Auditory Stream Segregation in Children with Auditory Processing Disorder.

PubMed

Lotfi, Yones; Mehrkian, Saiedeh; Moossavi, Abdollah; Zadeh, Soghrat Faghih; Sadjedi, Hamed

2016-03-01

This study assessed the relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation by using the concurrent minimum audible angle in children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (APD). The participants in this cross-sectional, comparative study were 20 typically developing children and 15 children with a diagnosed APD (age, 9-11 years) according to the subtests of multiple-processing auditory assessment. Auditory stream segregation was investigated using the concurrent minimum audible angle. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition and forward and backward digit span tasks. Nonparametric statistics were utilized to compare the between-group differences. The Pearson correlation was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and the localization tests between the 2 groups. The group with APD had significantly lower scores than did the typically developing subjects in auditory stream segregation and working memory capacity. There were significant negative correlations between working memory capacity and the concurrent minimum audible angle in the most frontal reference location (0° azimuth) and lower negative correlations in the most lateral reference location (60° azimuth) in the children with APD. The study revealed a relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation in children with APD. The research suggests that lower working memory capacity in children with APD may be the possible cause of the inability to segregate and group incoming information.

Verbal Memory in Parkinson’s Disease: A Combined DTI and fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Lucas-Jiménez, Olaia; Díez-Cirarda, María; Ojeda, Natalia; Peña, Javier; Cabrera-Zubizarreta, Alberto; Ibarretxe-Bilbao, Naroa

2015-01-01

Background: While significant progress has been made to determine the functional role of specific gray matter areas underlying verbal memory in Parkinson’s disease (PD), very little is known about the relationship between these regions and their underlying white matter structures. Objective: The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate verbal memory, fractional anisotropy and brain activation differences between PD patients and healthy controls (HC), (2) to explore the neuroanatomical and neurofunctional correlates of verbal memory in PD, and (3) to investigate the relationship between these neuroanatomical and neurofunctional verbal memory correlates in PD. Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a verbal memory paradigm and diffusion tensor imaging data (DTI), were acquired in 37 PD patients and 15 age-, sex-, and education-matched HC. Results: PD patients showed verbal recognition memory impairment, lower fractional anisotropy in the anterior cingulate tract, and lower brain activation in the inferior orbitofrontal cortex compared to HC. Brain activation in the inferior orbitofrontal cortex correlated significantly with verbal recognition memory impairment in PD patients. In addition, a relationship between brain activation in the inferior orbitofrontal cortex and fractional anisotropy of the uncinate fasciculus was found in PD. Conclusions: These results reveal that deficits in verbal memory in PD are accompanied by functional brain activation changes, but also have specific structural correlates related to white matter microstructural integrity. PMID:27070003

Recognition Memory for Braille or Spoken Words: An fMRI study in Early Blind

PubMed Central

Burton, Harold; Sinclair, Robert J.; Agato, Alvin

2012-01-01

We examined cortical activity in early blind during word recognition memory. Nine participants were blind at birth and one by 1.5 yrs. In an event-related design, we studied blood oxygen level-dependent responses to studied (“old”) compared to novel (“new”) words. Presentation mode was in Braille or spoken. Responses were larger for identified “new” words read with Braille in bilateral lower and higher tier visual areas and primary somatosensory cortex. Responses to spoken “new” words were larger in bilateral primary and accessory auditory cortex. Auditory cortex was unresponsive to Braille words and occipital cortex responded to spoken words but not differentially with “old”/“new” recognition. Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex had larger responses to “old” words only with Braille. Larger occipital cortex responses to “new” Braille words suggested verbal memory based on the mechanism of recollection. A previous report in sighted noted larger responses for “new” words studied in association with pictures that created a distinctiveness heuristic source factor which enhanced recollection during remembering. Prior behavioral studies in early blind noted an exceptional ability to recall words. Utilization of this skill by participants in the current study possibly engendered recollection that augmented remembering “old” words. A larger response when identifying “new” words possibly resulted from exhaustive recollecting the sensory properties of “old” words in modality appropriate sensory cortices. The uniqueness of a memory role for occipital cortex is in its cross-modal responses to coding tactile properties of Braille. The latter possibly reflects a “sensory echo” that aids recollection. PMID:22251836

Recognition memory for Braille or spoken words: an fMRI study in early blind.

PubMed

Burton, Harold; Sinclair, Robert J; Agato, Alvin

2012-02-15

We examined cortical activity in early blind during word recognition memory. Nine participants were blind at birth and one by 1.5years. In an event-related design, we studied blood oxygen level-dependent responses to studied ("old") compared to novel ("new") words. Presentation mode was in Braille or spoken. Responses were larger for identified "new" words read with Braille in bilateral lower and higher tier visual areas and primary somatosensory cortex. Responses to spoken "new" words were larger in bilateral primary and accessory auditory cortex. Auditory cortex was unresponsive to Braille words and occipital cortex responded to spoken words but not differentially with "old"/"new" recognition. Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex had larger responses to "old" words only with Braille. Larger occipital cortex responses to "new" Braille words suggested verbal memory based on the mechanism of recollection. A previous report in sighted noted larger responses for "new" words studied in association with pictures that created a distinctiveness heuristic source factor which enhanced recollection during remembering. Prior behavioral studies in early blind noted an exceptional ability to recall words. Utilization of this skill by participants in the current study possibly engendered recollection that augmented remembering "old" words. A larger response when identifying "new" words possibly resulted from exhaustive recollecting the sensory properties of "old" words in modality appropriate sensory cortices. The uniqueness of a memory role for occipital cortex is in its cross-modal responses to coding tactile properties of Braille. The latter possibly reflects a "sensory echo" that aids recollection. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improving working memory in children with low language abilities

PubMed Central

Holmes, Joni; Butterfield, Sally; Cormack, Francesca; van Loenhoud, Anita; Ruggero, Leanne; Kashikar, Linda; Gathercole, Susan

2015-01-01

This study investigated whether working memory training is effective in enhancing verbal memory in children with low language abilities (LLA). Cogmed Working Memory Training was completed by a community sample of children aged 8–11 years with LLA and a comparison group with matched non-verbal abilities and age-typical language performance. Short-term memory (STM), working memory, language, and IQ were assessed before and after training. Significant and equivalent post-training gains were found in visuo-spatial short-term memory in both groups. Exploratory analyses across the sample established that low verbal IQ scores were strongly and highly specifically associated with greater gains in verbal STM, and that children with higher verbal IQs made greater gains in visuo-spatial short-term memory following training. This provides preliminary evidence that intensive working memory training may be effective for enhancing the weakest aspects of STM in children with low verbal abilities, and may also be of value in developing compensatory strategies. PMID:25983703

Music training is associated with cortical synchronization reflected in EEG coherence during verbal memory encoding.

PubMed

Cheung, Mei-Chun; Chan, Agnes S; Liu, Ying; Law, Derry; Wong, Christina W Y

2017-01-01

Music training can improve cognitive functions. Previous studies have shown that children and adults with music training demonstrate better verbal learning and memory performance than those without such training. Although prior studies have shown an association between music training and changes in the structural and functional organization of the brain, there is no concrete evidence of the underlying neural correlates of the verbal memory encoding phase involved in such enhanced memory performance. Therefore, we carried out an electroencephalography (EEG) study to investigate how music training was associated with brain activity during the verbal memory encoding phase. Sixty participants were recruited, 30 of whom had received music training for at least one year (the MT group) and 30 of whom had never received music training (the NMT group). The participants in the two groups were matched for age, education, gender distribution, and cognitive capability. Their verbal and visual memory functions were assessed using standardized neuropsychological tests and EEG was used to record their brain activity during the verbal memory encoding phase. Consistent with previous studies, the MT group demonstrated better verbal memory than the NMT group during both the learning and the delayed recall trials in the paper-and-pencil tests. The MT group also exhibited greater learning capacity during the learning trials. Compared with the NMT group, the MT group showed an increase in long-range left and right intrahemispheric EEG coherence in the theta frequency band during the verbal memory encoding phase. In addition, their event-related left intrahemispheric theta coherence was positively associated with subsequent verbal memory performance as measured by discrimination scores. These results suggest that music training may modulate the cortical synchronization of the neural networks involved in verbal memory formation.

Music training is associated with cortical synchronization reflected in EEG coherence during verbal memory encoding

PubMed Central

Cheung, Mei-chun; Chan, Agnes S.; Liu, Ying; Law, Derry; Wong, Christina W. Y.

2017-01-01

Music training can improve cognitive functions. Previous studies have shown that children and adults with music training demonstrate better verbal learning and memory performance than those without such training. Although prior studies have shown an association between music training and changes in the structural and functional organization of the brain, there is no concrete evidence of the underlying neural correlates of the verbal memory encoding phase involved in such enhanced memory performance. Therefore, we carried out an electroencephalography (EEG) study to investigate how music training was associated with brain activity during the verbal memory encoding phase. Sixty participants were recruited, 30 of whom had received music training for at least one year (the MT group) and 30 of whom had never received music training (the NMT group). The participants in the two groups were matched for age, education, gender distribution, and cognitive capability. Their verbal and visual memory functions were assessed using standardized neuropsychological tests and EEG was used to record their brain activity during the verbal memory encoding phase. Consistent with previous studies, the MT group demonstrated better verbal memory than the NMT group during both the learning and the delayed recall trials in the paper-and-pencil tests. The MT group also exhibited greater learning capacity during the learning trials. Compared with the NMT group, the MT group showed an increase in long-range left and right intrahemispheric EEG coherence in the theta frequency band during the verbal memory encoding phase. In addition, their event-related left intrahemispheric theta coherence was positively associated with subsequent verbal memory performance as measured by discrimination scores. These results suggest that music training may modulate the cortical synchronization of the neural networks involved in verbal memory formation. PMID:28358852

Auditory agnosia as a clinical symptom of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy.

PubMed

Furushima, Wakana; Kaga, Makiko; Nakamura, Masako; Gunji, Atsuko; Inagaki, Masumi

2015-08-01

To investigate detailed auditory features in patients with auditory impairment as the first clinical symptoms of childhood adrenoleukodystrophy (CSALD). Three patients who had hearing difficulty as the first clinical signs and/or symptoms of ALD. Precise examination of the clinical characteristics of hearing and auditory function was performed, including assessments of pure tone audiometry, verbal sound discrimination, otoacoustic emission (OAE), and auditory brainstem response (ABR), as well as an environmental sound discrimination test, a sound lateralization test, and a dichotic listening test (DLT). The auditory pathway was evaluated by MRI in each patient. Poor response to calling was detected in all patients. Two patients were not aware of their hearing difficulty, and had been diagnosed with normal hearing by otolaryngologists at first. Pure-tone audiometry disclosed normal hearing in all patients. All patients showed a normal wave V ABR threshold. Three patients showed obvious difficulty in discriminating verbal sounds, environmental sounds, and sound lateralization and strong left-ear suppression in a dichotic listening test. However, once they discriminated verbal sounds, they correctly understood the meaning. Two patients showed elongation of the I-V and III-V interwave intervals in ABR, but one showed no abnormality. MRIs of these three patients revealed signal changes in auditory radiation including in other subcortical areas. The hearing features of these subjects were diagnosed as auditory agnosia and not aphasia. It should be emphasized that when patients are suspected to have hearing impairment but have no abnormalities in pure tone audiometry and/or ABR, this should not be diagnosed immediately as psychogenic response or pathomimesis, but auditory agnosia must also be considered. Copyright © 2014 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonspecific verbal cues alleviate forgetting by young children.

PubMed

Morgan, Kirstie; Hayne, Harlene

2007-11-01

Verbal reminders play a pervasive role in memory retrieval by human adults. In fact, relatively nonspecific verbal information (e.g. 'Remember the last time we ate at that restaurant?') will often cue vivid recollections of a past event even when presented outside the original encoding context. Although research has shown that memory retrieval by young children can be initiated by physical cues and by highly specific verbal cues, the effect of less specific verbal cues is not known. Using a Visual Recognition Memory (VRM) procedure, we examined the effect of nonspecific verbal cues on memory retrieval by 4-year-old children. Our findings showed that nonspecific verbal cues were as effective as highly specific nonverbal cues in facilitating memory retrieval after a 2-week delay. We conclude that, at least by 4 years of age, children are able to use nonspecific verbal reminders to cue memory retrieval, and that the VRM paradigm may be particularly valuable in examining the age at which this initially occurs.

Early 'visual' cortex activation correlates with superior verbal memory performance in the blind.

PubMed

Amedi, Amir; Raz, Noa; Pianka, Pazit; Malach, Rafael; Zohary, Ehud

2003-07-01

The visual cortex may be more modifiable than previously considered. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in ten congenitally blind human participants, we found robust occipital activation during a verbal-memory task (in the absence of any sensory input), as well as during verb generation and Braille reading. We also found evidence for reorganization and specialization of the occipital cortex, along the anterior-posterior axis. Whereas anterior regions showed preference for Braille, posterior regions (including V1) showed preference for verbal-memory and verb generation (which both require memory of verbal material). No such occipital activation was found in sighted subjects. This difference between the groups was mirrored by superior performance of the blind in various verbal-memory tasks. Moreover, the magnitude of V1 activation during the verbal-memory condition was highly correlated with the blind individual's abilities in a variety of verbal-memory tests, suggesting that the additional occipital activation may have a functional role.

A new modified listening span task to enhance validity of working memory assessment for people with and without aphasia.

PubMed

Ivanova, Maria V; Hallowell, Brooke

2014-01-01

Deficits in working memory (WM) are an important subset of cognitive processing deficits associated with aphasia. However, there are serious limitations to research on WM in aphasia largely due to the lack of an established valid measure of WM impairment for this population. The aim of the current study was to address shortcomings of previous measures by developing and empirically evaluating a novel WM task with a sentence-picture matching processing component designed to circumvent confounds inherent in existing measures of WM in aphasia. The novel WM task was presented to persons with (n=27) and without (n=33) aphasia. Results demonstrated high concurrent validity of a novel WM task. Individuals with aphasia performed significantly worse on all conditions of the WM task compared to individuals without aphasia. Different patterns of performance across conditions were observed for the two groups. Additionally, WM capacity was significantly related to auditory comprehension abilities in individuals with mild aphasia but not those with moderate aphasia. Strengths of the novel WM task are that it allows for differential control for length versus complexity of verbal stimuli and indexing of the relative influence of each, minimizes metalinguistic requirements, enables control for complexity of processing components, allows participants to respond with simple gestures or verbally, and eliminates reading requirements. Results support the feasibility and validity of using a novel task to assess WM in individuals with and without aphasia. Readers will be able to (1) discuss the limitations of current working memory measures for individuals with aphasia; (2) describe how task design features of a new working memory task for people with aphasia address shortcomings of existing measures; (3) summarize the evidence supporting the validity of the novel working memory task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of Preoperative Functional MRI to Predict Verbal Memory Decline After Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgery

PubMed Central

Binder, Jeffrey R.; Sabsevitz, David S.; Swanson, Sara J.; Hammeke, Thomas A.; Raghavan, Manoj; Mueller, Wade M.

2010-01-01

Purpose Verbal memory decline is a frequent complication of left anterior temporal lobectomy (L-ATL). The goal of this study was to determine whether preoperative language mapping using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is useful for predicting which patients are likely to experience verbal memory decline after L-ATL. Methods Sixty L-ATL patients underwent preoperative language mapping with fMRI, preoperative intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) testing for language and memory lateralization, and pre- and postoperative neuropsychological testing. Demographic, historical, neuropsychological, and imaging variables were examined for their ability to predict pre- to postoperative memory change. Results Verbal memory decline occurred in over 30% of patients. Good preoperative performance, late age at onset of epilepsy, left dominance on fMRI, and left dominance on the Wada test were each predictive of memory decline. Preoperative performance and age at onset together accounted for roughly 50% of the variance in memory outcome (p < .001), and fMRI explained an additional 10% of this variance (p ≤ .003). Neither Wada memory asymmetry nor Wada language asymmetry added additional predictive power beyond these noninvasive measures. Discussion Preoperative fMRI is useful for identifying patients at high risk for verbal memory decline prior to L-ATL surgery. Lateralization of language is correlated with lateralization of verbal memory, whereas Wada memory testing is either insufficiently reliable or insufficiently material-specific to accurately localize verbal memory processes. PMID:18435753

Auditory agnosia associated with bilateral putaminal hemorrhage: A case report of clinical course of recovery.

PubMed

Tokida, Haruki; Kanaya, Yuhei; Shimoe, Yutaka; Imagawa, Madoka; Fukunaga, Shinya; Kuriyama, Masaru

2017-08-31

A 45-year-old right-handed man with a past history (10 years) of putaminal hemorrage presented with auditory agnosia associated with left putaminal hemorrhage. It was suspected that the auditory agnosia was due to bilateral damage in the acoustic radiations. Generalized auditory agnosia, verbal and non-verbal (music and environmental), was diagnosed by neuropsychological examinations. It improved 4 months after the onset. However, the clinical assessment of attention remained poor. The cognition for speech sounds improved slowly, but once it started to improve, the progress of improvement was rapid. Subsequently, the cognition for music sounds also improved, while the recovery of the cognition for environmental sounds remained delayed. There was a dissociation in recovery between these cognitions. He was able to return to work a year after the onset. We also reviewed the literature for cases with auditory agnosia and discuss their course of recovery in this report.

What Does It Take to Search Organized? The Cognitive Correlates of Search Organization During Cancellation After Stroke.

PubMed

Ten Brink, Antonia F; Visser-Meily, Johanna M A; Nijboer, Tanja C W

2018-05-01

Stroke could lead to deficits in organization of visual search. Cancellation tests are frequently used in standard neuropsychological assessment and appear suitable to measure search organization. The current aim was to evaluate which cognitive functions are associated with cancellation organization measures after stroke. Stroke patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation were included in this retrospective study. We performed exploratory factor analyses to explore cognitive domains. A digital shape cancellation test (SC) was administered, and measures of search organization (intersections rate and best r) were computed. The following cognitive functions were measured by neuropsychological testing: neglect (SC, line bisection; LB, Catherine Bergego Scale; CBS, and Balloons Test), visuospatial perception and construction (Rey Complex Figure Test, RCFT), psychomotor speed (Trail Making Test; TMT-A), executive functioning/working memory (TMT-B), spatial planning (Tower Test), rule learning (Brixton Test), short-term auditory memory (Digit Span Forward; DSF), and verbal working memory (Digit Span Backward; DSB). In total, 439 stroke patients were included in our analyses. Four clusters were separated: "Executive functioning" (TMT-A, TMT-B, Brixton Test, and Tower Test), "Verbal memory" (DSF and DSB), "Search organization" (intersections rate and best r), and "Neglect" (CBS, RCFT copy, Balloons Test, SC, and LB). Search organization during cancellation, as measured with intersections rate and best r, seems a distinct cognitive construct compared to existing cognitive domains that are tested during neuropsychological assessment. Administering cancellation tests and analyzing measures of search organization could provide useful additional insights into the visuospatial processes of stroke patients. (JINS, 2018, 24, 424-436).

Neuropsychological functioning and brain energetics of drug resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients.

PubMed

Osório, Camila Moreira; Latini, Alexandra; Leal, Rodrigo Bainy; de Oliveira Thais, Maria Emília Rodrigues; Vascouto, Helena Dresch; Remor, Aline Pertile; Lopes, Mark William; Linhares, Marcelo Neves; Ben, Juliana; de Paula Martins, Roberta; Prediger, Rui Daniel; Hoeller, Alexandre Ademar; Markowitsch, Hans Joachim; Wolf, Peter; Lin, Kátia; Walz, Roger

2017-12-01

Interictal hypometabolism is commonly measured by 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) in the temporal lobe of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE-HS). Left temporal lobe interictal FDG-PET hypometabolism has been associated with verbal memory impairment, while right temporal lobe FDG-PET hypometabolism is associated with nonverbal memory impairment. The biochemical mechanisms involved in these findings remain unknown. In comparison to healthy controls (n=21), surgically treated patients with MTLE-HS (n=32, left side=17) had significant lower scores in the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT retention and delayed), Logical Memory II (LMII), Boston Naming test (BNT), Letter Fluency and Category Fluency. We investigated whether enzymatic activities of the mitochondrial enzymes Complex I (C I), Complex II (C II), Complex IV (C IV) and Succinate Dehydrogenase (SDH) from the resected samples of the middle temporal neocortex (mTCx), amygdala (AMY) and hippocampus (HIP) were associated with performance in the RAVLT, LMII, BNT and fluency tests of our patients. After controlling for the side of hippocampus sclerosis, years of education, disease duration, antiepileptic treatment and seizure outcome after surgery, no independent associations were observed between the cognitive test scores and the analyzed mitochondrial enzymatic activities (p>0.37). Results indicate that memory and language impairment observed in MTLE-HS patients are not strongly associated with the levels of mitochondrial CI, CII, SDH and C IV enzymatic activities in the temporal lobe structures ipsilateral to the HS lesion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Duration of Auditory Sensory Memory in Parents of Children with SLI: A Mismatch Negativity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barry, Johanna G.; Hardiman, Mervyn J.; Line, Elizabeth; White, Katherine B.; Yasin, Ifat; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

2008-01-01

In a previous behavioral study, we showed that parents of children with SLI had a subclinical deficit in phonological short-term memory. Here, we tested the hypothesis that they also have a deficit in nonverbal auditory sensory memory. We measured auditory sensory memory using a paradigm involving an electrophysiological component called the…

Selective Attention to Auditory Memory Neurally Enhances Perceptual Precision.

PubMed

Lim, Sung-Joo; Wöstmann, Malte; Obleser, Jonas

2015-12-09

Selective attention to a task-relevant stimulus facilitates encoding of that stimulus into a working memory representation. It is less clear whether selective attention also improves the precision of a stimulus already represented in memory. Here, we investigate the behavioral and neural dynamics of selective attention to representations in auditory working memory (i.e., auditory objects) using psychophysical modeling and model-based analysis of electroencephalographic signals. Human listeners performed a syllable pitch discrimination task where two syllables served as to-be-encoded auditory objects. Valid (vs neutral) retroactive cues were presented during retention to allow listeners to selectively attend to the to-be-probed auditory object in memory. Behaviorally, listeners represented auditory objects in memory more precisely (expressed by steeper slopes of a psychometric curve) and made faster perceptual decisions when valid compared to neutral retrocues were presented. Neurally, valid compared to neutral retrocues elicited a larger frontocentral sustained negativity in the evoked potential as well as enhanced parietal alpha/low-beta oscillatory power (9-18 Hz) during memory retention. Critically, individual magnitudes of alpha oscillatory power (7-11 Hz) modulation predicted the degree to which valid retrocues benefitted individuals' behavior. Our results indicate that selective attention to a specific object in auditory memory does benefit human performance not by simply reducing memory load, but by actively engaging complementary neural resources to sharpen the precision of the task-relevant object in memory. Can selective attention improve the representational precision with which objects are held in memory? And if so, what are the neural mechanisms that support such improvement? These issues have been rarely examined within the auditory modality, in which acoustic signals change and vanish on a milliseconds time scale. Introducing a new auditory memory paradigm and using model-based electroencephalography analyses in humans, we thus bridge this gap and reveal behavioral and neural signatures of increased, attention-mediated working memory precision. We further show that the extent of alpha power modulation predicts the degree to which individuals' memory performance benefits from selective attention. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3516094-11$15.00/0.

Modulating the focus of attention for spoken words at encoding affects frontoparietal activation for incidental verbal memory.

PubMed

Christensen, Thomas A; Almryde, Kyle R; Fidler, Lesley J; Lockwood, Julie L; Antonucci, Sharon M; Plante, Elena

2012-01-01

Attention is crucial for encoding information into memory, and current dual-process models seek to explain the roles of attention in both recollection memory and incidental-perceptual memory processes. The present study combined an incidental memory paradigm with event-related functional MRI to examine the effect of attention at encoding on the subsequent neural activation associated with unintended perceptual memory for spoken words. At encoding, we systematically varied attention levels as listeners heard a list of single English nouns. We then presented these words again in the context of a recognition task and assessed the effect of modulating attention at encoding on the BOLD responses to words that were either attended strongly, weakly, or not heard previously. MRI revealed activity in right-lateralized inferior parietal and prefrontal regions, and positive BOLD signals varied with the relative level of attention present at encoding. Temporal analysis of hemodynamic responses further showed that the time course of BOLD activity was modulated differentially by unintentionally encoded words compared to novel items. Our findings largely support current models of memory consolidation and retrieval, but they also provide fresh evidence for hemispheric differences and functional subdivisions in right frontoparietal attention networks that help shape auditory episodic recall.

Modulating the Focus of Attention for Spoken Words at Encoding Affects Frontoparietal Activation for Incidental Verbal Memory

PubMed Central

Christensen, Thomas A.; Almryde, Kyle R.; Fidler, Lesley J.; Lockwood, Julie L.; Antonucci, Sharon M.; Plante, Elena

2012-01-01

Attention is crucial for encoding information into memory, and current dual-process models seek to explain the roles of attention in both recollection memory and incidental-perceptual memory processes. The present study combined an incidental memory paradigm with event-related functional MRI to examine the effect of attention at encoding on the subsequent neural activation associated with unintended perceptual memory for spoken words. At encoding, we systematically varied attention levels as listeners heard a list of single English nouns. We then presented these words again in the context of a recognition task and assessed the effect of modulating attention at encoding on the BOLD responses to words that were either attended strongly, weakly, or not heard previously. MRI revealed activity in right-lateralized inferior parietal and prefrontal regions, and positive BOLD signals varied with the relative level of attention present at encoding. Temporal analysis of hemodynamic responses further showed that the time course of BOLD activity was modulated differentially by unintentionally encoded words compared to novel items. Our findings largely support current models of memory consolidation and retrieval, but they also provide fresh evidence for hemispheric differences and functional subdivisions in right frontoparietal attention networks that help shape auditory episodic recall. PMID:22144982

Verbal Memory Performance and Reduced Cortical Thickness of Brain Regions Along the Uncinate Fasciculus in Young Adult Cannabis Users

PubMed Central

Levar, Nina; Francis, Alan N.; Smith, Matthew J.; Ho, Wilson C.; Gilman, Jodi M.

2018-01-01

Abstract Introduction: Memory impairment is one of the most commonly reported effects of cannabis use, especially among those who initiate use earlier, perhaps due to the effects of delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol on cannabinoid (CB1) receptors in the brain. Studies have increasingly investigated whether cannabis use is associated with impairments in verbal memory, and with alterations in brain structures underlying verbal memory. The uncinate fasciculus (UF), a long-range white matter tract, connects regions with densely localized CB1 receptors that are important in verbal memory. This study investigated the impact of cannabis use on UF structures and its association with memory performance in young adult cannabis users (CU) and non-using controls (CON). Materials and Methods: Nineteen CU and 22 CON completed a verbal memory task and a neuroimaging protocol, in which diffusion tensor imaging and structural scans were collected. We compared memory performance, diffusion and tractography measures of the UF, and cortical thickness of regions connected by the UF, between CU and CON. In regions showing a significant group effect, we also examined associations between verbal memory performance, cortical thickness, and age of onset of cannabis use. Results: Compared to non-users, CU had worse memory performance, decreased fiber bundle length in the UF, and decreased cortical thickness of brain regions along the UF such as the entorhinal cortex and fusiform gyrus. Verbal memory performance was significantly associated with age of onset of cannabis use, indicating that those who initiated cannabis use at an earlier age performed worse. Cortical thickness of the entorhinal cortex was significantly correlated with age of first use and memory performance. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that cannabis use, especially when initiated at a young age, may be associated with worse verbal memory and altered neural development along the UF. Reductions in cortical thickness in regions implicated in memory processes may underlie weaknesses in verbal memory performance. PMID:29607411

Episodic epileptic verbal auditory agnosia in Landau Kleffner syndrome treated with combination diazepam and corticosteroids.

PubMed

Devinsky, Orrin; Goldberg, Rina; Miles, Daniel; Bojko, Aviva; Riviello, James

2014-10-01

We report 2 pediatric patients who presented initially with seizures followed by subacute language regression characterized by a verbal auditory agnosia. These previously normal children had no evidence of expressive aphasia during their symptomatic periods. Further, in both cases, auditory agnosia was associated with sleep-activated electroencephalographic (EEG) epileptiform activity, consistent with Landau-Kleffner syndrome. However, both cases are unique since the episodic auditory agnosia and sleep-activated EEG epileptiform activity rapidly responded to combination therapy with pulse benzodiazepine and corticosteroids. Further, in each case, recurrences were characterized by similar symptoms, EEG findings, and beneficial responses to the pulse benzodiazepine and corticosteroid therapy. These observations suggest that pulse combination high-dose corticosteroid and benzodiazepine therapy may be especially effective in Landau-Kleffner syndrome. © The Author(s) 2014.

Visuospatial declarative learning despite profound verbal declarative amnesia in Korsakoff's syndrome.

PubMed

Oudman, Erik; Postma, Albert; Nijboer, Tanja C W; Wijnia, Jan W; Van der Stigchel, Stefan

2017-03-20

Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterised by severe amnesia. Although the presence of impairments in memory has long been acknowledged, there is a lack of knowledge about the precise characteristics of declarative memory capacities in order to implement memory rehabilitation. In this study, we investigated the extent to which patients diagnosed with KS have preserved declarative memory capacities in working memory, long-term memory encoding or long-term memory recall operations, and whether these capacities are most preserved for verbal or visuospatial content. The results of this study demonstrate that patients with KS have compromised declarative memory functioning on all memory indices. Performance was lowest for the encoding operation compared to the working memory and delayed recall operation. With respect to the content, visuospatial memory was relatively better preserved than verbal memory. All memory operations functioned suboptimally, although the most pronounced disturbance was found in verbal memory encoding. Based on the preserved declarative memory capacities in patients, visuospatial memory can form a more promising target for compensatory memory rehabilitation than verbal memory. It is therefore relevant to increase the number of spatial cues in memory rehabilitation for KS patients.

Risk to verbal memory following anterior temporal lobectomy in patients with severe left-sided hippocampal sclerosis.

PubMed

Martin, Roy C; Kretzmer, Tracy; Palmer, Cheryl; Sawrie, Stephen; Knowlton, Robert; Faught, Edward; Morawetz, Richard; Kuzniecky, Ruben

2002-12-01

Previous investigations indicate low risk for memory loss following anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) in patients with severe hippocampal sclerosis (HS) compared with patients with mild HS. However, these conclusions have been established primarily with group-level analyses. To investigate individual base rate risk for verbal memory loss following ATL in patients who have pathologically verified mild, moderate, or severe HS. One hundred fifteen patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (68 with left-sided and 47 with right-sided epilepsy) were included. Acquisition, retrieval, and recognition components of verbal memory, as measured by the California Verbal Learning Test, were assessed before and after ATL. Postoperatively, the degree of neuronal loss and reactive gliosis of the hippocampus was assessed via a 3-tiered rating system establishing mild, moderate, and severe pathologic features. Patients with preoperative magnetic resonance imaging-based evidence of lesions outside the mesial temporal area (side of surgical resection) were excluded. Neither seizure laterality nor severity of HS was associated with preoperative verbal memory performance. Postoperatively, the left-sided ATL group demonstrated significant decline across the acquisition (P<.01), retrival (P<.001), and recognition (P<.001) verbal memory components compared with the right-sided ATL group. Patients who underwent left-sided ATL and had mild HS displayed the largest magnitude and percentage proportion of postoperative decline across all verbal memory components. However, 28 (48%) of the 58 patients who underwent left-sided ATL and who had moderate and severe HS displayed statistically reliable declines on retrieval aspects of verbal memory. Most patients undergoing right-sided ATL, regardless of the extent of hippocampal pathologic features, displayed no postoperative memory change. Substantial individual heterogeneity of memory outcome exists across groups of patients undergoing ATL, with various degrees of pathologically verified HS. Patients undergoing left-sided ATL who have mild HS seem at greatest risk for broad-spectrum verbal memory decline. However, when examining outcome on a patient-by-patient basis, many patients undergoing left-sided ATL who have moderate to severe HS were also vulnerable to verbal memory loss. This risk seems selective to a retrieval-based aspect of verbal memory.

Relation between Working Memory Capacity and Auditory Stream Segregation in Children with Auditory Processing Disorder

PubMed Central

Lotfi, Yones; Mehrkian, Saiedeh; Moossavi, Abdollah; Zadeh, Soghrat Faghih; Sadjedi, Hamed

2016-01-01

Background: This study assessed the relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation by using the concurrent minimum audible angle in children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (APD). Methods: The participants in this cross-sectional, comparative study were 20 typically developing children and 15 children with a diagnosed APD (age, 9–11 years) according to the subtests of multiple-processing auditory assessment. Auditory stream segregation was investigated using the concurrent minimum audible angle. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition and forward and backward digit span tasks. Nonparametric statistics were utilized to compare the between-group differences. The Pearson correlation was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and the localization tests between the 2 groups. Results: The group with APD had significantly lower scores than did the typically developing subjects in auditory stream segregation and working memory capacity. There were significant negative correlations between working memory capacity and the concurrent minimum audible angle in the most frontal reference location (0° azimuth) and lower negative correlations in the most lateral reference location (60° azimuth) in the children with APD. Conclusion: The study revealed a relationship between working memory capacity and auditory stream segregation in children with APD. The research suggests that lower working memory capacity in children with APD may be the possible cause of the inability to segregate and group incoming information. PMID:26989281

Long-term memory: A review and meta-analysis of studies of declarative and procedural memory in specific language impairment

PubMed Central

Lum, Jarrad A. G.; Conti-Ramsden, Gina

2014-01-01

This review examined the status of long-term memory systems in specific language impairment (SLI), in particular declarative memory and aspects of procedural memory. Studies included in the review were identified following a systematic search of the literature and findings combined using meta-analysis. This review showed individuals with SLI are poorer than age matched controls in the learning and retrieval of verbal information from the declarative memory. However, there is evidence to suggest that the problems with declarative learning and memory for verbal information in SLI might be due to difficulties with verbal working memory and language. The learning and retrieval of non-verbal information from declarative memory appears relatively intact. In relation to procedural learning and memory, evidence indicates poor implicit learning of verbal information. Findings pertaining to nonverbal information have been mixed. This review of the literature indicates there are now substantial grounds for suspecting that multiple memory systems may be implicated in the impairment. PMID:24748707

Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations in children.

PubMed

Ho, Yim-Chi; Cheung, Mei-Chun; Chan, Agnes S

2003-07-01

The hypothesis that music training can improve verbal memory was tested in children. The results showed that children with music training demonstrated better verbal but not visual memory than did their counterparts without such training. When these children were followed up after a year, those who had begun or continued music training demonstrated significant verbal memory improvement. Students who discontinued the training did not show any improvement. Contrary to the differences in verbal memory between the groups, their changes in visual memory were not significantly different. Consistent with previous findings for adults (A. S. Chan, Y. Ho, & M. Cheung, 1998), the results suggest that music training systematically affects memory processing in accordance with possible neuroanatomical modifications in the left temporal lobe.

Music training and working memory: an ERP study.

PubMed

George, Elyse M; Coch, Donna

2011-04-01

While previous research has suggested that music training is associated with improvements in various cognitive and linguistic skills, the mechanisms mediating or underlying these associations are mostly unknown. Here, we addressed the hypothesis that previous music training is related to improved working memory. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a standardized test of working memory, we investigated both neural and behavioral aspects of working memory in college-aged, non-professional musicians and non-musicians. Behaviorally, musicians outperformed non-musicians on standardized subtests of visual, phonological, and executive memory. ERPs were recorded in standard auditory and visual oddball paradigms (participants responded to infrequent deviant stimuli embedded in lists of standard stimuli). Electrophysiologically, musicians demonstrated faster updating of working memory (shorter latency P300s) in both the auditory and visual domains and musicians allocated more neural resources to auditory stimuli (larger amplitude P300), showing increased sensitivity to the auditory standard/deviant difference and less effortful updating of auditory working memory. These findings demonstrate that long-term music training is related to improvements in working memory, in both the auditory and visual domains and in terms of both behavioral and ERP measures. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

LAMP: 100+ Systematic Exercise Lessons for Developing Linguistic Auditory Memory Patterns in Beginning Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valett, Robert E.

Research findings on auditory sequencing and auditory blending and fusion, auditory-visual integration, and language patterns are presented in support of the Linguistic Auditory Memory Patterns (LAMP) program. LAMP consists of 100 developmental lessons for young students with learning disabilities or language problems. The lessons are included in…

Nocturnal Blood Pressure in Young Adults and Cognitive Function in Midlife: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

PubMed Central

Ning, Hongyan; Muntner, Paul; Reis, Jared P.; Calhoun, David A.; Viera, Anthony J.; Levine, Deborah A.; Jacobs, David R.; Shimbo, Daichi; Liu, Kiang; Greenland, Philip; Lloyd-Jones, Donald

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND Nocturnal blood pressure (BP) is associated with risk for cardiovascular events. However, the relationship between nocturnal BP in young adults and cognitive function in midlife remains unclear. METHODS We used data from the ambulatory BP monitoring substudy of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, including 224 participants (mean age 30 years, 45% men, 63% African Americans). At the 20-year follow-up, the Stroop test (executive function), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (psychomotor speed), and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (verbal memory) were assessed. RESULTS Baseline mean office, daytime, and nocturnal BP were 109/73, 120/74, and 107/59mm Hg, respectively. Nocturnal BP dipping, calculated as (nocturnal systolic BP [SBP] − daytime SBP) × 100/daytime SBP, was divided into quartiles (Q1: −39.3% to −16.9%; Q2: −16.8% to −13.2%, Q3 [reference]: −13.1% to −7.8%, and Q4: −7.7% to +56.4%). In multiple regression analyses, the least nocturnal SBP dipping (Q4 vs. reference) and higher nocturnal diastolic BP level were associated with worse Stroop scores, with adjustments for demographic and clinical characteristics, and cumulative exposure to office BP during follow-up (β [standard error]: 0.37 [0.18] and 0.19 [0.07], respectively; all P < 0.05). Digit Symbol Substitution Test and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test were not significantly associated with nocturnal SBP dipping or nocturnal SBP/diastolic BP levels. CONCLUSIONS Among healthy young adults, less nocturnal SBP dipping and higher nocturnal diastolic BP levels were associated with lower executive function in midlife, independent of multiple measures of office BP during long-term follow-up. PMID:25783740

Musical and verbal semantic memory: two distinct neural networks?

PubMed

Groussard, M; Viader, F; Hubert, V; Landeau, B; Abbas, A; Desgranges, B; Eustache, F; Platel, H

2010-02-01

Semantic memory has been investigated in numerous neuroimaging and clinical studies, most of which have used verbal or visual, but only very seldom, musical material. Clinical studies have suggested that there is a relative neural independence between verbal and musical semantic memory. In the present study, "musical semantic memory" is defined as memory for "well-known" melodies without any knowledge of the spatial or temporal circumstances of learning, while "verbal semantic memory" corresponds to general knowledge about concepts, again without any knowledge of the spatial or temporal circumstances of learning. Our aim was to compare the neural substrates of musical and verbal semantic memory by administering the same type of task in each modality. We used high-resolution PET H(2)O(15) to observe 11 young subjects performing two main tasks: (1) a musical semantic memory task, where the subjects heard the first part of familiar melodies and had to decide whether the second part they heard matched the first, and (2) a verbal semantic memory task with the same design, but where the material consisted of well-known expressions or proverbs. The musical semantic memory condition activated the superior temporal area and inferior and middle frontal areas in the left hemisphere and the inferior frontal area in the right hemisphere. The verbal semantic memory condition activated the middle temporal region in the left hemisphere and the cerebellum in the right hemisphere. We found that the verbal and musical semantic processes activated a common network extending throughout the left temporal neocortex. In addition, there was a material-dependent topographical preference within this network, with predominantly anterior activation during musical tasks and predominantly posterior activation during semantic verbal tasks. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the influence of memory content of auditory stimuli on the memory content of EEG signal

PubMed Central

Namazi, Hamidreza; Kulish, Vladimir V.

2016-01-01

One of the major challenges in brain research is to relate the structural features of the auditory stimulus to structural features of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. Memory content is an important feature of EEG signal and accordingly the brain. On the other hand, the memory content can also be considered in case of stimulus. Beside all works done on analysis of the effect of stimuli on human EEG and brain memory, no work discussed about the stimulus memory and also the relationship that may exist between the memory content of stimulus and the memory content of EEG signal. For this purpose we consider the Hurst exponent as the measure of memory. This study reveals the plasticity of human EEG signals in relation to the auditory stimuli. For the first time we demonstrated that the memory content of an EEG signal shifts towards the memory content of the auditory stimulus used. The results of this analysis showed that an auditory stimulus with higher memory content causes a larger increment in the memory content of an EEG signal. For the verification of this result, we benefit from approximate entropy as indicator of time series randomness. The capability, observed in this research, can be further investigated in relation to human memory. PMID:27528219

Analysis of the influence of memory content of auditory stimuli on the memory content of EEG signal.

PubMed

Namazi, Hamidreza; Khosrowabadi, Reza; Hussaini, Jamal; Habibi, Shaghayegh; Farid, Ali Akhavan; Kulish, Vladimir V

2016-08-30

One of the major challenges in brain research is to relate the structural features of the auditory stimulus to structural features of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. Memory content is an important feature of EEG signal and accordingly the brain. On the other hand, the memory content can also be considered in case of stimulus. Beside all works done on analysis of the effect of stimuli on human EEG and brain memory, no work discussed about the stimulus memory and also the relationship that may exist between the memory content of stimulus and the memory content of EEG signal. For this purpose we consider the Hurst exponent as the measure of memory. This study reveals the plasticity of human EEG signals in relation to the auditory stimuli. For the first time we demonstrated that the memory content of an EEG signal shifts towards the memory content of the auditory stimulus used. The results of this analysis showed that an auditory stimulus with higher memory content causes a larger increment in the memory content of an EEG signal. For the verification of this result, we benefit from approximate entropy as indicator of time series randomness. The capability, observed in this research, can be further investigated in relation to human memory.

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition and Information Processing in the Auditory Cortex

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-04-30

9,24,29,30), or for causing auditory hallucinations (2,23,31,32). Thus, compounds which alter cho- linergic transmission, in particular anticholinesterases...the upper auditory system. Thus, attending to and understanding verbal messages in humans, irrespective of the particular voice which speaks them, may...00, AD ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE INHIBITION AND INFORMATION PROCESSING IN THE AUDITORY CORTEX ANNUAL SUMMARY REPORT DTIC ELECTENORMAN M

Verbal Overshadowing: Disrupting Memory in Postsecondary Adult Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Guin, Jerold C.

2010-01-01

Verbal overshadowing is the later disruption of recognition memory resulting from prior verbal recall of the memory. Cognitive psychologists in the field of criminal justice have studied the effect since 1990 due to its ramifications in eyewitness testimony. Because of its short history of research, the effects of verbal overshadowing in the…

Temporal Organization of Sound Information in Auditory Memory.

PubMed

Song, Kun; Luo, Huan

2017-01-01

Memory is a constructive and organizational process. Instead of being stored with all the fine details, external information is reorganized and structured at certain spatiotemporal scales. It is well acknowledged that time plays a central role in audition by segmenting sound inputs into temporal chunks of appropriate length. However, it remains largely unknown whether critical temporal structures exist to mediate sound representation in auditory memory. To address the issue, here we designed an auditory memory transferring study, by combining a previously developed unsupervised white noise memory paradigm with a reversed sound manipulation method. Specifically, we systematically measured the memory transferring from a random white noise sound to its locally temporal reversed version on various temporal scales in seven experiments. We demonstrate a U-shape memory-transferring pattern with the minimum value around temporal scale of 200 ms. Furthermore, neither auditory perceptual similarity nor physical similarity as a function of the manipulating temporal scale can account for the memory-transferring results. Our results suggest that sounds are not stored with all the fine spectrotemporal details but are organized and structured at discrete temporal chunks in long-term auditory memory representation.

Family influences on the cognitive development of profoundly deaf children: exploring the effects of socioeconomic status and siblings.

PubMed

Macaulay, Catrin E; Ford, Ruth M

2013-10-01

We evaluated the cognitive development of 48 profoundly deaf children from hearing families (born 1994-2002, mean age M = 8.0 years at time of test, none of whom had received early auditory-verbal therapy) as a function of family socioeconomic status and number of siblings. Overall, the deaf children matched a younger group of 47 hearing controls (M = 4.6 years) on verbal ability, theory of mind, and cognitive inhibition. Partial correlations (controlling for age) revealed positive relations in the hearing group between maternal education and inhibition, between number of younger siblings and references to emotions, and between number of close-in-age siblings and references to desires and false beliefs. In the deaf group, there were positive relations between household income and memory span, between maternal education and references to false beliefs, and between number of younger siblings and nonverbal ability. In contrast, deaf children with a greater number of older siblings aged ≤12 years showed inferior memory span, inhibition, belief understanding, picture-sequencing accuracy, and mental-state language, suggesting that they failed to compete successfully with older siblings for their parents' attention and material resources. We consider the implications of the findings for understanding birth-order effects on deaf and language-impaired children.

Contribution of auditory working memory to speech understanding in mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Tao, Duoduo; Deng, Rui; Jiang, Ye; Galvin, John J; Fu, Qian-Jie; Chen, Bing

2014-01-01

To investigate how auditory working memory relates to speech perception performance by Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant (CI) users. Auditory working memory and speech perception was measured in Mandarin-speaking CI and normal-hearing (NH) participants. Working memory capacity was measured using forward digit span and backward digit span; working memory efficiency was measured using articulation rate. Speech perception was assessed with: (a) word-in-sentence recognition in quiet, (b) word-in-sentence recognition in speech-shaped steady noise at +5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, (c) Chinese disyllable recognition in quiet, (d) Chinese lexical tone recognition in quiet. Self-reported school rank was also collected regarding performance in schoolwork. There was large inter-subject variability in auditory working memory and speech performance for CI participants. Working memory and speech performance were significantly poorer for CI than for NH participants. All three working memory measures were strongly correlated with each other for both CI and NH participants. Partial correlation analyses were performed on the CI data while controlling for demographic variables. Working memory efficiency was significantly correlated only with sentence recognition in quiet when working memory capacity was partialled out. Working memory capacity was correlated with disyllable recognition and school rank when efficiency was partialled out. There was no correlation between working memory and lexical tone recognition in the present CI participants. Mandarin-speaking CI users experience significant deficits in auditory working memory and speech performance compared with NH listeners. The present data suggest that auditory working memory may contribute to CI users' difficulties in speech understanding. The present pattern of results with Mandarin-speaking CI users is consistent with previous auditory working memory studies with English-speaking CI users, suggesting that the lexical importance of voice pitch cues (albeit poorly coded by the CI) did not influence the relationship between working memory and speech perception.

The relation between working memory capacity and auditory lateralization in children with auditory processing disorders.

PubMed

Moossavi, Abdollah; Mehrkian, Saiedeh; Lotfi, Yones; Faghihzadeh, Soghrat; sajedi, Hamed

2014-11-01

Auditory processing disorder (APD) describes a complex and heterogeneous disorder characterized by poor speech perception, especially in noisy environments. APD may be responsible for a range of sensory processing deficits associated with learning difficulties. There is no general consensus about the nature of APD and how the disorder should be assessed or managed. This study assessed the effect of cognition abilities (working memory capacity) on sound lateralization in children with auditory processing disorders, in order to determine how "auditory cognition" interacts with APD. The participants in this cross-sectional comparative study were 20 typically developing and 17 children with a diagnosed auditory processing disorder (9-11 years old). Sound lateralization abilities investigated using inter-aural time (ITD) differences and inter-aural intensity (IID) differences with two stimuli (high pass and low pass noise) in nine perceived positions. Working memory capacity was evaluated using the non-word repetition, and forward and backward digits span tasks. Linear regression was employed to measure the degree of association between working memory capacity and localization tests between the two groups. Children in the APD group had consistently lower scores than typically developing subjects in lateralization and working memory capacity measures. The results showed working memory capacity had significantly negative correlation with ITD errors especially with high pass noise stimulus but not with IID errors in APD children. The study highlights the impact of working memory capacity on auditory lateralization. The finding of this research indicates that the extent to which working memory influences auditory processing depend on the type of auditory processing and the nature of stimulus/listening situation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Auditory and Non-Auditory Contributions for Unaided Speech Recognition in Noise as a Function of Hearing Aid Use

PubMed Central

Gieseler, Anja; Tahden, Maike A. S.; Thiel, Christiane M.; Wagener, Kirsten C.; Meis, Markus; Colonius, Hans

2017-01-01

Differences in understanding speech in noise among hearing-impaired individuals cannot be explained entirely by hearing thresholds alone, suggesting the contribution of other factors beyond standard auditory ones as derived from the audiogram. This paper reports two analyses addressing individual differences in the explanation of unaided speech-in-noise performance among n = 438 elderly hearing-impaired listeners (mean = 71.1 ± 5.8 years). The main analysis was designed to identify clinically relevant auditory and non-auditory measures for speech-in-noise prediction using auditory (audiogram, categorical loudness scaling) and cognitive tests (verbal-intelligence test, screening test of dementia), as well as questionnaires assessing various self-reported measures (health status, socio-economic status, and subjective hearing problems). Using stepwise linear regression analysis, 62% of the variance in unaided speech-in-noise performance was explained, with measures Pure-tone average (PTA), Age, and Verbal intelligence emerging as the three most important predictors. In the complementary analysis, those individuals with the same hearing loss profile were separated into hearing aid users (HAU) and non-users (NU), and were then compared regarding potential differences in the test measures and in explaining unaided speech-in-noise recognition. The groupwise comparisons revealed significant differences in auditory measures and self-reported subjective hearing problems, while no differences in the cognitive domain were found. Furthermore, groupwise regression analyses revealed that Verbal intelligence had a predictive value in both groups, whereas Age and PTA only emerged significant in the group of hearing aid NU. PMID:28270784

Auditory and Non-Auditory Contributions for Unaided Speech Recognition in Noise as a Function of Hearing Aid Use.

PubMed

Gieseler, Anja; Tahden, Maike A S; Thiel, Christiane M; Wagener, Kirsten C; Meis, Markus; Colonius, Hans

2017-01-01

Differences in understanding speech in noise among hearing-impaired individuals cannot be explained entirely by hearing thresholds alone, suggesting the contribution of other factors beyond standard auditory ones as derived from the audiogram. This paper reports two analyses addressing individual differences in the explanation of unaided speech-in-noise performance among n = 438 elderly hearing-impaired listeners ( mean = 71.1 ± 5.8 years). The main analysis was designed to identify clinically relevant auditory and non-auditory measures for speech-in-noise prediction using auditory (audiogram, categorical loudness scaling) and cognitive tests (verbal-intelligence test, screening test of dementia), as well as questionnaires assessing various self-reported measures (health status, socio-economic status, and subjective hearing problems). Using stepwise linear regression analysis, 62% of the variance in unaided speech-in-noise performance was explained, with measures Pure-tone average (PTA), Age , and Verbal intelligence emerging as the three most important predictors. In the complementary analysis, those individuals with the same hearing loss profile were separated into hearing aid users (HAU) and non-users (NU), and were then compared regarding potential differences in the test measures and in explaining unaided speech-in-noise recognition. The groupwise comparisons revealed significant differences in auditory measures and self-reported subjective hearing problems, while no differences in the cognitive domain were found. Furthermore, groupwise regression analyses revealed that Verbal intelligence had a predictive value in both groups, whereas Age and PTA only emerged significant in the group of hearing aid NU.

The association of perceived stress and verbal memory is greater in HIV-infected versus HIV-uninfected women.

PubMed

Rubin, Leah H; Cook, Judith A; Weber, Kathleen M; Cohen, Mardge H; Martin, Eileen; Valcour, Victor; Milam, Joel; Anastos, Kathryn; Young, Mary A; Alden, Christine; Gustafson, Deborah R; Maki, Pauline M

2015-08-01

In contrast to findings from cohorts comprised primarily of HIV-infected men, verbal memory deficits are the largest cognitive deficit found in HIV-infected women from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), and this deficit is not explained by depressive symptoms or substance abuse. HIV-infected women may be at greater risk for verbal memory deficits due to a higher prevalence of cognitive risk factors such as high psychosocial stress and lower socioeconomic status. Here, we investigate the association between perceived stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and verbal memory performance using the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) in 1009 HIV-infected and 496 at-risk HIV-uninfected WIHS participants. Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery which yielded seven cognitive domain scores, including a primary outcome of verbal memory. HIV infection was not associated with a higher prevalence of high perceived stress (i.e., PSS-10 score in the top tertile) but was associated with worse performance on verbal learning (p < 0.01) and memory (p < 0.001), as well as attention (p = 0.02). Regardless of HIV status, high stress was associated with poorer performance in those cognitive domains (p's < 0.05) as well as processing speed (p = 0.01) and executive function (p < 0.01). A significant HIV by stress interaction was found only for the verbal memory domain (p = 0.02); among HIV-infected women only, high stress was associated with lower performance (p's < 0.001). That association was driven by the delayed verbal memory measure in particular. These findings suggest that high levels of perceived stress contribute to the deficits in verbal memory observed in WIHS women.

Abnormal interactions of verbal- and spatial-memory networks in young people at familial high-risk for schizophrenia.

PubMed

Li, Xiaobo; Thermenos, Heidi W; Wu, Ziyan; Momura, Yoko; Wu, Kai; Keshavan, Matcheri; Seidman, Lawrence; DeLisi, Lynn E

2016-10-01

Working memory impairment (especially in verbal and spatial domains) is the core neurocognitive impairment in schizophrenia and the familial high-risk (FHR) population. Inconsistent results have been reported in clinical and neuroimaging studies examining the verbal- and spatial-memory deficits in the FHR subjects, due to sample differences and lack of understanding on interactions of the brain regions for processing verbal- and spatial-working memory. Functional MRI data acquired during a verbal- vs. spatial-memory task were included from 51 young adults [26 FHR and 25 controls]. Group comparisons were conducted in brain activation patterns responding to 1) verbal-memory condition (A), 2) spatial-memory condition (B), 3) verbal higher than spatial (A-B), 4) spatial higher than verbal (B-A), 5) conjunction of brain regions that were activated during both A and B (A∧B). Group difference of the laterality index (LI) in inferior frontal lobe for condition A was also assessed. Compared to controls, the FHR group exhibited significantly decreased brain activity in left inferior frontal during A, and significantly stronger involvement of ACC, PCC, paracentral gyrus for the contrast of A-B. The LI showed a trend of reduced left-higher-than-right pattern for verbal-memory processing in the HR group. Our findings suggest that in the entire functional brain network for working-memory processing, verbal information processing associated brain pathways are significantly altered in people at familial high risk for developing schizophrenia. Future studies will need to examine whether these alterations may indicate vulnerability for predicting the onset of Schizophrenia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transmodal comparison of auditory, motor, and visual post-processing with and without intentional short-term memory maintenance.

PubMed

Bender, Stephan; Behringer, Stephanie; Freitag, Christine M; Resch, Franz; Weisbrod, Matthias

2010-12-01

To elucidate the contributions of modality-dependent post-processing in auditory, motor and visual cortical areas to short-term memory. We compared late negative waves (N700) during the post-processing of single lateralized stimuli which were separated by long intertrial intervals across the auditory, motor and visual modalities. Tasks either required or competed with attention to post-processing of preceding events, i.e. active short-term memory maintenance. N700 indicated that cortical post-processing exceeded short movements as well as short auditory or visual stimuli for over half a second without intentional short-term memory maintenance. Modality-specific topographies pointed towards sensory (respectively motor) generators with comparable time-courses across the different modalities. Lateralization and amplitude of auditory/motor/visual N700 were enhanced by active short-term memory maintenance compared to attention to current perceptions or passive stimulation. The memory-related N700 increase followed the characteristic time-course and modality-specific topography of the N700 without intentional memory-maintenance. Memory-maintenance-related lateralized negative potentials may be related to a less lateralised modality-dependent post-processing N700 component which occurs also without intentional memory maintenance (automatic memory trace or effortless attraction of attention). Encoding to short-term memory may involve controlled attention to modality-dependent post-processing. Similar short-term memory processes may exist in the auditory, motor and visual systems. Copyright © 2010 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-grounding visual, auditory and olfactory autobiographical memories.

PubMed

Knez, Igor; Ljunglöf, Louise; Arshamian, Artin; Willander, Johan

2017-07-01

Given that autobiographical memory provides a cognitive foundation for the self, we investigated the relative importance of visual, auditory and olfactory autobiographical memories for the self. Thirty subjects, with a mean age of 35.4years, participated in a study involving a three×three within-subject design containing nine different types of autobiographical memory cues: pictures, sounds and odors presented with neutral, positive and negative valences. It was shown that visual compared to auditory and olfactory autobiographical memories involved higher cognitive and emotional constituents for the self. Furthermore, there was a trend showing positive autobiographical memories to increase their proportion to both cognitive and emotional components of the self, from olfactory to auditory to visually cued autobiographical memories; but, yielding a reverse trend for negative autobiographical memories. Finally, and independently of modality, positive affective states were shown to be more involved in autobiographical memory than negative ones. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Proceedings of the Lake Wilderness Attention Conference Held at Seattle Washington, 22-24 September 1980.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-10

Pohlmann, L. D. Some models of observer behavior in two-channel auditory signal detection. Perception and Psychophy- sics, 1973, 14, 101-109. Spelke...spatial), and processing modalities ( auditory versus visual input, vocal versus manual response). If validated, this configuration has both theoretical...conclusion that auditory and visual processes will compete, as will spatial and verbal (albeit to a lesser extent than auditory - auditory , visual-visual

Temporal Lobe and Frontal-Subcortical Dissociations in Non-Demented Parkinson's Disease with Verbal Memory Impairment.

PubMed

Tanner, Jared J; Mareci, Thomas H; Okun, Michael S; Bowers, Dawn; Libon, David J; Price, Catherine C

2015-01-01

The current investigation examined verbal memory in idiopathic non-dementia Parkinson's disease and the significance of the left entorhinal cortex and left entorhinal-retrosplenial region connections (via temporal cingulum) on memory impairment in Parkinson's disease. Forty non-demented Parkinson's disease patients and forty non-Parkinson's disease controls completed two verbal memory tests--a wordlist measure (Philadelphia repeatable Verbal Memory Test) and a story measure (Logical Memory). All participants received T1-weighted and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (3T; Siemens) sequences. Left entorhinal volume and left entorhinal-retrosplenial connectivity (temporal cingulum edge weight) were the primary imaging variables of interest with frontal lobe thickness and subcortical structure volumes as dissociating variables. Individuals with Parkinson's disease showed worse verbal memory, smaller entorhinal volumes, but did not differ in entorhinal-retrosplenial connectivity. For Parkinson's disease entorhinal-retrosplenial edge weight had the strongest associations with verbal memory. A subset of Parkinson's disease patients (23%) had deficits (z-scores < -1.5) across both memory measures. Relative to non-impaired Parkinson's peers, this memory-impaired group had smaller entorhinal volumes. Although entorhinal cortex volume was significantly reduced in Parkinson's disease patients relative to non-Parkinson's peers, only white matter connections associated with the entorhinal cortex were significantly associated with verbal memory performance in our sample. There was also no suggestion of contribution from frontal-subcortical gray or frontal white matter regions. These findings argue for additional investigation into medial temporal lobe gray and white matter connectivity for understanding memory in Parkinson's disease.

Semantic congruency but not temporal synchrony enhances long-term memory performance for audio-visual scenes.

PubMed

Meyerhoff, Hauke S; Huff, Markus

2016-04-01

Human long-term memory for visual objects and scenes is tremendous. Here, we test how auditory information contributes to long-term memory performance for realistic scenes. In a total of six experiments, we manipulated the presentation modality (auditory, visual, audio-visual) as well as semantic congruency and temporal synchrony between auditory and visual information of brief filmic clips. Our results show that audio-visual clips generally elicit more accurate memory performance than unimodal clips. This advantage even increases with congruent visual and auditory information. However, violations of audio-visual synchrony hardly have any influence on memory performance. Memory performance remained intact even with a sequential presentation of auditory and visual information, but finally declined when the matching tracks of one scene were presented separately with intervening tracks during learning. With respect to memory performance, our results therefore show that audio-visual integration is sensitive to semantic congruency but remarkably robust against asymmetries between different modalities.

Role of Verbal Memory in Reading Text Comprehension of Individuals with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levorato, Maria Chiara; Roch, Maja; Florit, Elena

2011-01-01

This study analyzed the relationship between verbal memory and reading text comprehension in individuals with Down syndrome. The hypothesis that verbal memory provides unique contribution to reading text comprehension after controlling for verbal skills was tested. Twenty-three individuals with Down syndrome (ages 11 years, 2 months-18 years, 1…

Acute stress impairs recall after interference in older people, but not in young people.

PubMed

Hidalgo, Vanesa; Almela, Mercedes; Villada, Carolina; Salvador, Alicia

2014-03-01

Stress has been associated with negative changes observed during the aging process. However, very little research has been carried out on the role of age in acute stress effects on memory. We aimed to explore the role of age and sex in the relationship between hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity to psychosocial stress and short-term declarative memory performance. To do so, sixty-seven participants divided into two age groups (each group with a similar number of men and women) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a control condition in a crossover design. Memory performance was assessed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). As expected, worse memory performance was associated with age; but more interestingly, the stressor impaired recall after interference only in the older group. In addition, this effect was negatively correlated with the alpha-amylase over cortisol ratio, which has recently been suggested as a good marker of stress system dysregulation. However, we failed to find sex differences in memory performance. These results show that age moderates stress-induced effects on declarative memory, and they point out the importance of studying both of the physiological systems involved in the stress response together. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dissociation of long-term verbal memory and fronto-executive impairment in first-episode psychosis

PubMed Central

Leeson, V. C.; Robbins, T. W.; Franklin, C.; Harrison, M.; Harrison, I.; Ron, M. A.; Barnes, T. R. E.; Joyce, E. M.

2009-01-01

Background Verbal memory is frequently and severely affected in schizophrenia and has been implicated as a mediator of poor clinical outcome. Whereas encoding deficits are well demonstrated, it is unclear whether retention is impaired. This distinction is important because accelerated forgetting implies impaired consolidation attributable to medial temporal lobe (MTL) dysfunction whereas impaired encoding and retrieval implicates involvement of prefrontal cortex. Method We assessed a group of healthy volunteers (n=97) and pre-morbid IQ- and sex-matched first-episode psychosis patients (n=97), the majority of whom developed schizophrenia. We compared performance of verbal learning and recall with measures of visuospatial working memory, planning and attentional set-shifting, and also current IQ. Results All measures of performance, including verbal memory retention, a memory savings score that accounted for learning impairments, were significantly impaired in the schizophrenia group. The difference between groups for delayed recall remained even after the influence of learning and recall was accounted for. Factor analyses showed that, in patients, all variables except verbal memory retention loaded on a single factor, whereas in controls verbal memory and fronto-executive measures were separable. Conclusions The results suggest that IQ, executive function and verbal learning deficits in schizophrenia may reflect a common abnormality of information processing in prefrontal cortex rather than specific impairments in different cognitive domains. Verbal memory retention impairments, however, may have a different aetiology. PMID:19419594

Achilles' ear? Inferior human short-term and recognition memory in the auditory modality.

PubMed

Bigelow, James; Poremba, Amy

2014-01-01

Studies of the memory capabilities of nonhuman primates have consistently revealed a relative weakness for auditory compared to visual or tactile stimuli: extensive training is required to learn auditory memory tasks, and subjects are only capable of retaining acoustic information for a brief period of time. Whether a parallel deficit exists in human auditory memory remains an outstanding question. In the current study, a short-term memory paradigm was used to test human subjects' retention of simple auditory, visual, and tactile stimuli that were carefully equated in terms of discriminability, stimulus exposure time, and temporal dynamics. Mean accuracy did not differ significantly among sensory modalities at very short retention intervals (1-4 s). However, at longer retention intervals (8-32 s), accuracy for auditory stimuli fell substantially below that observed for visual and tactile stimuli. In the interest of extending the ecological validity of these findings, a second experiment tested recognition memory for complex, naturalistic stimuli that would likely be encountered in everyday life. Subjects were able to identify all stimuli when retention was not required, however, recognition accuracy following a delay period was again inferior for auditory compared to visual and tactile stimuli. Thus, the outcomes of both experiments provide a human parallel to the pattern of results observed in nonhuman primates. The results are interpreted in light of neuropsychological data from nonhuman primates, which suggest a difference in the degree to which auditory, visual, and tactile memory are mediated by the perirhinal and entorhinal cortices.

Serotonin 1A receptors, depression, and memory in temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Theodore, William H; Wiggs, Edythe A; Martinez, Ashley R; Dustin, Irene H; Khan, Omar I; Appel, Shmuel; Reeves-Tyer, Pat; Sato, Susumu

2012-01-01

Memory deficits and depression are common in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Previous positron emission tomography (PET) studies have shown reduced mesial temporal 5HT1A-receptor binding in these patients. We examined the relationships among verbal memory performance, depression, and 5HT1A-receptor binding measured with 18F-trans-4-fluoro-N-2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1-yl]ethyl-N-(2-pyridyl) cyclohexane carboxamide (18FCWAY) PET in a cross-sectional study. We studied 40 patients (24 male; mean age 34.5 ± 10.7 years) with TLE. Seizure diagnosis and focus localization were based on ictal video-electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Patients had neuropsychological testing with Wechsler Adult Intelligence Score III (WAIS III) and Wechsler Memory Score III (WMS III) on stable antiepileptic drug (AED) regimens at least 24 h since the last seizure. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores were obtained. We performed interictal PET with 18FCWAY, a fluorinated derivative of WAY 100635, a highly specific 5HT1A ligand, and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to estimate partial volume and plasma free fraction corrected 18FCWAY volume of distribution (V/f1). Hippocampal V/f1 was significantly lower in area ipsilateral than contralateral to the epileptic focus (73.7 ± 27.3 vs. 95.4 ± 28.4; p < 0.001). We found a significant relation between both left hippocampal 18FCWAY V/f1 (r = 0.41; p < 0.02) and left hippocampal volume (r = 0.36; p < 0.03) and delayed auditory memory score. On multiple regression, there was a significant effect of the interaction of left hippocampal 18FCWAY V/f1 and left hippocampal volume on delayed auditory memory, but not of either alone. High collinearity was present. In an analysis of variance including the side of the seizure focus, the effect of left hippocampal 18FCWAY V/f1 but not focus laterality retained significance. Mean BDI was 8.3 ± 7.0. There was a significant inverse relation between BDI and 18FCWAY V/f1 ipsilateral to the patient's epileptic focus (r = 0.38 p < 0.02). There was no difference between patients with a right or left temporal focus. There was no relation between BDI and immediate or delayed auditory memory. Our study suggests that reduced left hippocampal 5HT1A-receptor binding may play a role in memory impairment in patients with TLE. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2011 International League Against Epilepsy.

Enhancing effects of acute psychosocial stress on priming of non-declarative memory in healthy young adults.

PubMed

Hidalgo, Vanesa; Villada, Carolina; Almela, Mercedes; Espín, Laura; Gómez-Amor, Jesús; Salvador, Alicia

2012-05-01

Social stress affects cognitive processes in general, and memory performance in particular. However, the direction of these effects has not been clearly established, as it depends on several factors. Our aim was to determine the impact of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity to psychosocial stress on short-term non-declarative memory and declarative memory performance. Fifty-two young participants (18 men, 34 women) were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) and a control condition in a crossover design. Implicit memory was assessed by a priming test, and explicit memory was assessed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The TSST provoked greater salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) responses than the control task. Men had a higher cortisol response to stress than women, but no sex differences were found for sAA release. Stress was associated with an enhancement of priming but did not affect declarative memory. Additionally, the enhancement on the priming test was higher in those whose sAA levels increased more in response to stress (r(48) = 0.339, p = 0.018). Our results confirm an effect of acute stress on priming, and that this effect is related to SNS activity. In addition, they suggest a different relationship between stress biomarkers and the different memory systems.

Why Do Pictures, but Not Visual Words, Reduce Older Adults’ False Memories?

PubMed Central

Smith, Rebekah E.; Hunt, R. Reed; Dunlap, Kathryn R.

2015-01-01

Prior work shows that false memories resulting from the study of associatively related lists are reduced for both young and older adults when the auditory presentation of study list words is accompanied by related pictures relative to when auditory word presentation is combined with visual presentation of the word. In contrast, young adults, but not older adults, show a reduction in false memories when presented with the visual word along with the auditory word relative to hearing the word only. In both the case of pictures relative to visual words and visual words relative to auditory words alone, the benefit of picture and visual words in reducing false memories has been explained in terms of monitoring for perceptual information. In our first experiment we provide the first simultaneous comparison of all three study presentation modalities (auditory only, auditory plus visual word, and auditory plus picture). Young and older adults show a reduction in false memories in the auditory plus picture condition, but only young adults show a reduction in the visual word condition relative to the auditory only condition. A second experiment investigates whether older adults fail to show a reduction in false memory in the visual word condition because they do not encode perceptual information in the visual word condition. In addition, the second experiment provides evidence that the failure of older adults to show the benefits of visual word presentation is related to reduced cognitive resources. PMID:26213799

Why do pictures, but not visual words, reduce older adults' false memories?

PubMed

Smith, Rebekah E; Hunt, R Reed; Dunlap, Kathryn R

2015-09-01

Prior work shows that false memories resulting from the study of associatively related lists are reduced for both young and older adults when the auditory presentation of study list words is accompanied by related pictures relative to when auditory word presentation is combined with visual presentation of the word. In contrast, young adults, but not older adults, show a reduction in false memories when presented with the visual word along with the auditory word relative to hearing the word only. In both cases of pictures relative to visual words and visual words relative to auditory words alone, the benefit of picture and visual words in reducing false memories has been explained in terms of monitoring for perceptual information. In our first experiment, we provide the first simultaneous comparison of all 3 study presentation modalities (auditory only, auditory plus visual word, and auditory plus picture). Young and older adults show a reduction in false memories in the auditory plus picture condition, but only young adults show a reduction in the visual word condition relative to the auditory only condition. A second experiment investigates whether older adults fail to show a reduction in false memory in the visual word condition because they do not encode perceptual information in the visual word condition. In addition, the second experiment provides evidence that the failure of older adults to show the benefits of visual word presentation is related to reduced cognitive resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Neurocognitive Models of Medical Decision-Making Capacity in Traumatic Brain Injury Across Injury Severity.

PubMed

Triebel, Kristen L; Novack, Thomas A; Kennedy, Richard; Martin, Roy C; Dreer, Laura E; Raman, Rema; Marson, Daniel C

2016-01-01

To identify neurocognitive predictors of medical decision-making capacity (MDC) in participants with mild and moderate/severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Academic medical center. Sixty adult controls and 104 adults with TBI (49 mild, 55 moderate/severe) evaluated within 6 weeks of injury. Prospective cross-sectional study. Participants completed the Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument to assess MDC and a neuropsychological test battery. We used factor analysis to reduce the battery test measures into 4 cognitive composite scores (verbal memory, verbal fluency, academic skills, and processing speed/executive function). We identified cognitive predictors of the 3 most clinically relevant Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument consent standards (appreciation, reasoning, and understanding). In controls, academic skills (word reading, arithmetic) and verbal memory predicted understanding; verbal fluency predicted reasoning; and no predictors emerged for appreciation. In the mild TBI group, verbal memory predicted understanding and reasoning, whereas academic skills predicted appreciation. In the moderate/severe TBI group, verbal memory and academic skills predicted understanding; academic skills predicted reasoning; and academic skills and verbal fluency predicted appreciation. Verbal memory was a predictor of MDC in controls and persons with mild and moderate/severe TBI. In clinical practice, impaired verbal memory could serve as a "red flag" for diminished consent capacity in persons with recent TBI.

Ictal mnemestic aura and verbal memory function.

PubMed

Vederman, Aaron C; Holtzer, Roee; Zimmerman, Molly E; Devinsky, Orrin; Barr, William B

2010-04-01

Déjà vu aura is a well-known phenomenon experienced by some patients with epilepsy. This study sought to explore the relationship between verbal memory and the experience of déjà vu or other types of mnemestic auras in 42 individuals with intractable seizures and 42 age- and education-matched patient controls. Verbal memory was assessed with indices of learning, long delay recall, and recognition from the California Verbal Learning Test. Results indicated that auras of any type were not associated with memory performance on the California Verbal Learning Test. As expected, age and education were related to verbal memory performance. Mnemestic auras were associated with clinical indices of illness, suggesting that the presence of these auras may be regarded as a risk factor for greater chronicity and severity in epilepsy. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[A case of pure word deafness and auditory agnosia associated with bilateral temporo-parietal lesions].

PubMed

Sato, M; Yasui, N; Isobe, I; Kobayashi, T

1982-10-01

A-49-year-old right-handed female was reported. She showed pure word deafness and auditory agnosia because of bilateral temporo-parietal lesions. The left lesion resulted from angiospasm of the left anterior and middle cerebral arteries after subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a ruptured aneurysm of the left carotid artery, and the right one resulted from subcortical hematoma after the V-P shunt operation. CT scan revealed the abnormal low density area on the bilateral temporo-parietal regions seven months after onset. Neurophychological findings were as follows: there were no aphasic symptoms such as paraphasia, word finding difficulties, or disturbances of spontaneous writing, reading and calculation. But her auditory comprehension was severely disturbed, and she could neither repeat words after the tester nor write from dictation. She also could not recognize meaningful sounds and music in spite of normal hearing sensitivity for pure tone, BSR and AER. We discussed the neuropsychological mechanisms of auditory recognition, and assumed that each hemisphere might process both verbal and non-verbal auditory stimuli in the secondary auditory area. The auditory input may be recognized at the left association area, the final level of this mechanism. Pure word deafness and auditory agnosia of this case might be caused by the disruption of the right secondary auditory area, the pathway between the left primary auditory area and the left secondary auditory area, and between the left and right secondary auditory areas.

Predictors of Verbal Working Memory in Children with Cerebral Palsy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peeters, Marieke; Verhoeven, Ludo; de Moor, Jan

2009-01-01

The goal of the present study was to examine the precursors of verbal working memory in 52 children with cerebral palsy with varying degrees of speech impairments in the first grade of special education. Following Baddeley's model of working memory, children's verbal working memory was measured by means of a forced-recognition task. As precursors…

The Memory Fitness Program: Cognitive Effects of a Healthy Aging Intervention

PubMed Central

Miller, Karen J.; Siddarth, Prabha; Gaines, Jean M.; Parrish, John M.; Ercoli, Linda M.; Marx, Katherine; Ronch, Judah; Pilgram, Barbara; Burke, Kasey; Barczak, Nancy; Babcock, Bridget; Small, Gary W.

2014-01-01

Context Age-related memory decline affects a large proportion of older adults. Cognitive training, physical exercise, and other lifestyle habits may help to minimize self-perception of memory loss and a decline in objective memory performance. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 6-week educational program on memory training, physical activity, stress reduction, and healthy diet led to improved memory performance in older adults. Design A convenience sample of 115 participants (mean age: 80.9 [SD: 6.0 years]) was recruited from two continuing care retirement communities. The intervention consisted of 60-minute classes held twice weekly with 15–20 participants per class. Testing of both objective and subjective cognitive performance occurred at baseline, preintervention, and postintervention. Objective cognitive measures evaluated changes in five domains: immediate verbal memory, delayed verbal memory, retention of verbal information, memory recognition, and verbal fluency. A standardized metamemory instrument assessed four domains of memory self-awareness: frequency and severity of forgetting, retrospective functioning, and mnemonics use. Results The intervention program resulted in significant improvements on objective measures of memory, including recognition of word pairs (t[114] = 3.62, p < 0.001) and retention of verbal information from list learning (t[114] = 2.98, p < 0.01). No improvement was found for verbal fluency. Regarding subjective memory measures, the retrospective functioning score increased significantly following the intervention (t[114] = 4.54, p < 0.0001), indicating perception of a better memory. Conclusions These findings indicate that a 6-week healthy lifestyle program can improve both encoding and recalling of new verbal information, as well as self-perception of memory ability in older adults residing in continuing care retirement communities. PMID:21765343

Verbal memory and verbal fluency tasks used for language localization and lateralization during magnetoencephalography.

PubMed

Pirmoradi, Mona; Jemel, Boutheina; Gallagher, Anne; Tremblay, Julie; D'Hondt, Fabien; Nguyen, Dang Khoa; Béland, Renée; Lassonde, Maryse

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop a presurgical magnetoencephalography (MEG) protocol to localize and lateralize expressive and receptive language function as well as verbal memory in patients with epilepsy. Two simple language tasks and a different analytical procedure were developed. Ten healthy participants and 13 epileptic patients completed two language tasks during MEG recording: a verbal memory task and a verbal fluency task. As a first step, principal component analyses (PCA) were performed on source data from the group of healthy participants to identify spatiotemporal factors that were relevant to these paradigms. Averaged source data were used to localize areas activated during each task and a laterality index (LI) was computed on an individual basis for both groups, healthy participants and patients, using sensor data. PCA revealed activation in the left temporal lobe (300 ms) during the verbal memory task, and from the frontal lobe (210 ms) to the temporal lobe (500 ms) during the verbal fluency task in healthy participants. Averaged source data showed activity in the left hemisphere (250-750 ms), in Wernicke's area, for all participants. Left hemisphere dominance was demonstrated better using the verbal memory task than the verbal fluency task (F1,19=4.41, p=0.049). Cohen's kappa statistic revealed 93% agreement (k=0.67, p=0.002) between LIs obtained from MEG sensor data and fMRI, the IAT, electrical cortical stimulation or handedness with the verbal memory task for all participants. At 74%, agreement results for the verbal fluency task did not reach statistical significance. Analysis procedures yielded interesting findings with both tasks and localized language-related activation. However, based on source localization and laterality indices, the verbal memory task yielded better results in the context of the presurgical evaluation of epileptic patients. The verbal fluency task did not add any further information to the verbal memory task as regards language localization and lateralization for most patients and healthy participants that would facilitate decision making prior to surgery. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Blom, Jan Dirk

2015-01-01

Auditory hallucinations constitute a phenomenologically rich group of endogenously mediated percepts which are associated with psychiatric, neurologic, otologic, and other medical conditions, but which are also experienced by 10-15% of all healthy individuals in the general population. The group of phenomena is probably best known for its verbal auditory subtype, but it also includes musical hallucinations, echo of reading, exploding-head syndrome, and many other types. The subgroup of verbal auditory hallucinations has been studied extensively with the aid of neuroimaging techniques, and from those studies emerges an outline of a functional as well as a structural network of widely distributed brain areas involved in their mediation. The present chapter provides an overview of the various types of auditory hallucination described in the literature, summarizes our current knowledge of the auditory networks involved in their mediation, and draws on ideas from the philosophy of science and network science to reconceptualize the auditory hallucinatory experience, and point out directions for future research into its neurobiologic substrates. In addition, it provides an overview of known associations with various clinical conditions and of the existing evidence for pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16.

PubMed

Meijs, Celeste; Hurks, Petra P M; Wassenberg, Renske; Feron, Frans J M; Jolles, Jelle

2016-01-01

This study examines inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance. Children aged 5 to 16 performed a verbal learning test within one of three presentation modalities: pictorial, auditory, or textual. The results indicated that a beneficial effect of pictures exists over auditory and textual presentation modalities and that this effect increases with age. However, this effect is only found if the information to be learned is presented once (or at most twice) and only in children above the age of 7. The results may be explained in terms of single or dual coding of information in which the phonological loop is involved. Development of the (sub)vocal rehearsal system in the phonological loop is believed to be a gradual process that begins developing around the age of 7. The developmental trajectories are similar for boys and girls. Additionally, auditory information and textual information both seemed to be processed in a similar manner, namely without labeling or recoding, leading to single coding. In contrast, pictures are assumed to be processed by the dual coding of both the visual information and a (verbal) labeling of the pictures.

Minimal effects of visual memory training on the auditory performance of adult cochlear implant users

PubMed Central

Oba, Sandra I.; Galvin, John J.; Fu, Qian-Jie

2014-01-01

Auditory training has been shown to significantly improve cochlear implant (CI) users’ speech and music perception. However, it is unclear whether post-training gains in performance were due to improved auditory perception or to generally improved attention, memory and/or cognitive processing. In this study, speech and music perception, as well as auditory and visual memory were assessed in ten CI users before, during, and after training with a non-auditory task. A visual digit span (VDS) task was used for training, in which subjects recalled sequences of digits presented visually. After the VDS training, VDS performance significantly improved. However, there were no significant improvements for most auditory outcome measures (auditory digit span, phoneme recognition, sentence recognition in noise, digit recognition in noise), except for small (but significant) improvements in vocal emotion recognition and melodic contour identification. Post-training gains were much smaller with the non-auditory VDS training than observed in previous auditory training studies with CI users. The results suggest that post-training gains observed in previous studies were not solely attributable to improved attention or memory, and were more likely due to improved auditory perception. The results also suggest that CI users may require targeted auditory training to improve speech and music perception. PMID:23516087

Short-Term Memory and Aphasia: From Theory to Treatment.

PubMed

Minkina, Irene; Rosenberg, Samantha; Kalinyak-Fliszar, Michelene; Martin, Nadine

2017-02-01

This article reviews existing research on the interactions between verbal short-term memory and language processing impairments in aphasia. Theoretical models of short-term memory are reviewed, starting with a model assuming a separation between short-term memory and language, and progressing to models that view verbal short-term memory as a cognitive requirement of language processing. The review highlights a verbal short-term memory model derived from an interactive activation model of word retrieval. This model holds that verbal short-term memory encompasses the temporary activation of linguistic knowledge (e.g., semantic, lexical, and phonological features) during language production and comprehension tasks. Empirical evidence supporting this model, which views short-term memory in the context of the processes it subserves, is outlined. Studies that use a classic measure of verbal short-term memory (i.e., number of words/digits correctly recalled in immediate serial recall) as well as those that use more intricate measures (e.g., serial position effects in immediate serial recall) are discussed. Treatment research that uses verbal short-term memory tasks in an attempt to improve language processing is then summarized, with a particular focus on word retrieval. A discussion of the limitations of current research and possible future directions concludes the review. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Short-Term Memory and Aphasia: From Theory to Treatment

PubMed Central

Minkina, Irene; Rosenberg, Samantha; Kalinyak-Fliszar, Michelene; Martin, Nadine

2018-01-01

This article reviews existing research on the interactions between verbal short-term memory and language processing impairments in aphasia. Theoretical models of short-term memory are reviewed, starting with a model assuming a separation between short-term memory and language, and progressing to models that view verbal short-term memory as a cognitive requirement of language processing. The review highlights a verbal short-term memory model derived from an interactive activation model of word retrieval. This model holds that verbal short-term memory encompasses the temporary activation of linguistic knowledge (e.g., semantic, lexical, and phonological features) during language production and comprehension tasks. Empirical evidence supporting this model, which views short-term memory in the context of the processes it subserves, is outlined. Studies that use a classic measure of verbal short-term memory (i.e., number of words/digits correctly recalled in immediate serial recall) as well as those that use more intricate measures (e.g., serial position effects in immediate serial recall) are discussed. Treatment research that uses verbal short-term memory tasks in an attempt to improve language processing is then summarized, with a particular focus on word retrieval. A discussion of the limitations of current research and possible future directions concludes the review. PMID:28201834

Effects of Training Auditory Sequential Memory and Attention on Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Pnina S.; Schwartz, Allen A.

To determine if auditory sequential memory (ASM) in young children can be improved through training and to discover the effects of such training on the reading scores of children with reading problems, a study was conducted involving 92 second and third graders. For purposes of this study, auditory sequential memory was defined as the ability to…

Cerebrocerebellar networks during articulatory rehearsal and verbal working memory tasks.

PubMed

Chen, S H Annabel; Desmond, John E

2005-01-15

Converging evidence has implicated the cerebellum in verbal working memory. The current fMRI study sought to further characterize cerebrocerebellar participation in this cognitive process by revealing regions of activation common to a verbal working task and an articulatory control task, as well as regions that are uniquely activated by working memory. Consistent with our model's predictions, load-dependent activations were observed in Broca's area (BA 44/6) and the superior cerebellar hemisphere (VI/CrusI) for both working memory and motoric rehearsal. In contrast, activations unique to verbal working memory were found in the inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and the right inferior cerebellum hemisphere (VIIB). These findings provide evidence for two cerebrocerebellar networks for verbal working memory: a frontal/superior cerebellar articulatory control system and a parietal/inferior cerebellar phonological storage system.

Liar, liar, working memory on fire: Investigating the role of working memory in childhood verbal deception.

PubMed

Alloway, Tracy Packiam; McCallum, Fiona; Alloway, Ross G; Hoicka, Elena

2015-09-01

The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of working memory in verbal deception in children. We presented 6- and 7-year-olds with a temptation resistance paradigm; they played a trivia game and were then given an opportunity to peek at the final answers on the back of a card. Measures of both verbal and visuospatial working memory were included. The good liars performed better on the verbal working memory test in both processing and recall compared with the bad liars. However, there was no difference in visuospatial working scores between good liars and bad liars. This pattern suggests that verbal working memory plays a role in processing and manipulating the multiple pieces of information involved in lie-telling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Face-name association task reveals memory networks in patients with left and right hippocampal sclerosis.

PubMed

Klamer, Silke; Milian, Monika; Erb, Michael; Rona, Sabine; Lerche, Holger; Ethofer, Thomas

2017-01-01

We aimed to identify reorganization processes of episodic memory networks in patients with left and right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) due to hippocampal sclerosis as well as their relations to neuropsychological memory performance. We investigated 28 healthy subjects, 12 patients with left TLE (LTLE) and 9 patients with right TLE (RTLE) with hippocampal sclerosis by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a face-name association task, which combines verbal and non-verbal memory functions. Regions-of-interest (ROIs) were defined based on the group results of the healthy subjects. In each ROI, fMRI activations were compared across groups and correlated with verbal and non-verbal memory scores. The face-name association task yielded activations in bilateral hippocampus (HC), left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left superior frontal gyrus (SFG), left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral angular gyrus (AG), bilateral medial prefrontal cortex and right anterior temporal lobe (ATL). LTLE patients demonstrated significantly less activation in the left HC and left SFG, whereas RTLE patients showed significantly less activation in the HC bilaterally, the left SFG and right AG. Verbal memory scores correlated with activations in the left and right HC, left SFG and right ATL and non-verbal memory scores with fMRI activations in the left and right HC and left SFG. The face-name association task can be employed to examine functional alterations of hippocampal activation during encoding of both verbal and non-verbal material in one fMRI paradigm. Further, the left SFG seems to be a convergence region for encoding of verbal and non-verbal material.

A meta-analysis of working memory impairments in survivors of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Dunning, Darren L; Westgate, Briony; Adlam, Anna-Lynne R

2016-10-01

To establish the magnitude of deficits in working memory (WM) and short-term memory (STM) in those with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) relative to age-matched, healthy controls and to explore the moderating effects of time since injury and age at injury on these impairments. Twenty-one studies that compared the WM and/or STM abilities of individuals with at least a moderate TBI relative to healthy controls were included in a random effects meta-analysis. Measures used to examine memory performance were categorized by modality (visuospatial, verbal) and memory system (WM, STM). Individuals with TBI had significant deficits in verbal STM (Cohen's d = .41), visuospatial WM (Cohen's d = .69), and verbal WM (Cohen's d = .37) relative to controls. Greater decrements in verbal STM and verbal WM skills were associated with longer time postinjury. Larger deficits were observed in verbal WM abilities in individuals with older age at injury. Evidence for WM impairments following TBI is consistent with previous research. Larger verbal STM and verbal WM deficits were related to a longer time postinjury, suggesting that these aspects of memory do not "recover" over time and instead, individuals might show increased rates of cognitive decline. Age at injury was associated with the severity of verbal WM impairments, with larger deficits evident for injuries that occurred later in life. Further research needs to chart the long-term effects of TBI on WM and to compare the effects of injury on verbal relative to visuospatial memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Persistent neural activity in auditory cortex is related to auditory working memory in humans and nonhuman primates

PubMed Central

Huang, Ying; Matysiak, Artur; Heil, Peter; König, Reinhard; Brosch, Michael

2016-01-01

Working memory is the cognitive capacity of short-term storage of information for goal-directed behaviors. Where and how this capacity is implemented in the brain are unresolved questions. We show that auditory cortex stores information by persistent changes of neural activity. We separated activity related to working memory from activity related to other mental processes by having humans and monkeys perform different tasks with varying working memory demands on the same sound sequences. Working memory was reflected in the spiking activity of individual neurons in auditory cortex and in the activity of neuronal populations, that is, in local field potentials and magnetic fields. Our results provide direct support for the idea that temporary storage of information recruits the same brain areas that also process the information. Because similar activity was observed in the two species, the cellular bases of some auditory working memory processes in humans can be studied in monkeys. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15441.001 PMID:27438411

Auditory memory can be object based.

PubMed

Dyson, Benjamin J; Ishfaq, Feraz

2008-04-01

Identifying how memories are organized remains a fundamental issue in psychology. Previous work has shown that visual short-term memory is organized according to the object of origin, with participants being better at retrieving multiple pieces of information from the same object than from different objects. However, it is not yet clear whether similar memory structures are employed for other modalities, such as audition. Under analogous conditions in the auditory domain, we found that short-term memories for sound can also be organized according to object, with a same-object advantage being demonstrated for the retrieval of information in an auditory scene defined by two complex sounds overlapping in both space and time. Our results provide support for the notion of an auditory object, in addition to the continued identification of similar processing constraints across visual and auditory domains. The identification of modality-independent organizational principles of memory, such as object-based coding, suggests possible mechanisms by which the human processing system remembers multimodal experiences.

Learning and Memory Following Conformal Radiation Therapy for Pediatric Craniopharyngioma and Low-Grade Glioma

PubMed Central

Pinto, Marcos Di; Conklin, Heather M.; Li, Chenghong; Merchant, Thomas E.

2012-01-01

Purpose The primary objective of this study was to examine whether children with low-grade glioma (LGG) or craniopharyngioma had impaired learning and memory after conformal radiation therapy (CRT). A secondary objective was to determine whether children who received chemotherapy before CRT, a treatment often used to delay radiation therapy in younger children with LGG, received any protective benefit with respect to learning. Methods and Materials Learning and memory in 57 children with LGG and 44 children with craniopharyngioma were assessed with the California Verbal Learning Test–Children’s Version and the Visual-Auditory Learning tests. Learning measures were administered before CRT, 6 months later, and then yearly for a total of 5 years. Results No decline in learning scores after CRT was observed when patients were grouped by diagnosis. For children with LGG, chemotherapy before CRT did not provide a protective effect on learning. Multiple regression analyses, which accounted for age and tumor volume and location, found that children treated with chemotherapy before CRT were at greater risk of decline on learning measures than those treated with CRT alone. Variables predictive of learning and memory decline included hydrocephalus, shunt insertion, younger age at time of treatment, female gender, and pre-CRT chemotherapy. Conclusions This study did not reveal any impairment or decline in learning after CRT in over-all aggregate learning scores. However, several important variables were found to have a significant effect on neurocognitive outcome. Specifically, chemotherapy before CRT was predictive of worse outcome on verbal learning in LGG patients. In addition, hydrocephalus and shunt insertion in craniopharyngioma were found to be predictive of worse neurocognitive outcome, suggesting a more aggressive natural history for those patients. PMID:22867897

Verbal short-term memory development and spoken language outcomes in deaf children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Harris, Michael S; Kronenberger, William G; Gao, Sujuan; Hoen, Helena M; Miyamoto, Richard T; Pisoni, David B

2013-01-01

Cochlear implants (CIs) help many deaf children achieve near-normal speech and language (S/L) milestones. Nevertheless, high levels of unexplained variability in S/L outcomes are limiting factors in improving the effectiveness of CIs in deaf children. The objective of this study was to longitudinally assess the role of verbal short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) capacity as a progress-limiting source of variability in S/L outcomes after CI in children. Longitudinal study of 66 children with CIs for prelingual severe-to-profound hearing loss. Outcome measures included performance on digit span forward (DSF), digit span backward (DSB), and four conventional S/L measures that examined spoken-word recognition (Phonetically Balanced Kindergarten word test), receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test ), sentence-recognition skills (Hearing in Noise Test), and receptive and expressive language functioning (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Fourth Edition Core Language Score; CELF). Growth curves for DSF and DSB in the CI sample over time were comparable in slope, but consistently lagged in magnitude relative to norms for normal-hearing peers of the same age. For DSF and DSB, 50.5% and 44.0%, respectively, of the CI sample scored more than 1 SD below the normative mean for raw scores across all ages. The first (baseline) DSF score significantly predicted all endpoint scores for the four S/L measures, and DSF slope (growth) over time predicted CELF scores. DSF baseline and slope accounted for an additional 13 to 31% of variance in S/L scores after controlling for conventional predictor variables such as: chronological age at time of testing, age at time of implantation, communication mode (auditory-oral communication versus total communication), and maternal education. Only DSB baseline scores predicted endpoint language scores on Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and CELF. DSB slopes were not significantly related to any endpoint S/L measures. DSB baseline scores and slopes taken together accounted for an additional 4 to 19% of variance in S/L endpoint measures after controlling for the conventional predictor variables. Verbal STM/WM scores, process measures of information capacity, develop at an average rate in the years after cochlear implantation, but were found to consistently lag in absolute magnitude behind those reported for normal-hearing peers. Baseline verbal STM/WM predicted long-term endpoint S/L outcomes, but verbal STM slopes predicted only endpoint language outcomes. Verbal STM/WM processing skills reflect important underlying core elementary neurocognitive functions and represent potential intervention targets for improving endpoint S/L outcomes in pediatric CI users.

Pathways to functional outcomes following a first episode of psychosis: The roles of premorbid adjustment, verbal memory and symptom remission.

PubMed

Jordan, Gerald; Veru, Franz; Lepage, Martin; Joober, Ridha; Malla, Ashok; Iyer, Srividya N

2017-12-01

Most studies have investigated either the singular or relative contributions of premorbid adjustment, verbal memory and symptom remission to functional outcomes in first-episode psychosis. Fewer studies have examined the pathways of these factors in impacting functioning. Our study addresses this gap. The objective was to determine whether the relationship between premorbid adjustment and functional outcomes was mediated by verbal memory and symptom remission. A total of 334 first-episode psychosis participants (aged 14-35 years) were assessed on premorbid adjustment, verbal memory upon entry, and positive and negative symptom remission and functioning at multiple time points over a 2-year follow-up. Mediation analyses showed that over the first year, the relationship between premorbid adjustment and functioning was mediated by verbal memory and positive symptom remission (β = -0.18; 95% confidence interval = [-0.51, -0.04]), as well as by verbal memory and negative symptom remission (β = -0.41; 95% confidence interval = [-1.11, -1.03]). Over 2 years, the relationship between premorbid adjustment and functioning was mediated by verbal memory and only negative symptom remission (β = -0.38; 95% confidence interval = [-1.46, -0.02]). Comparatively less malleable factors (premorbid adjustment and verbal memory) may contribute to functional outcomes through more malleable factors (symptoms). Promoting remission may be an important parsimonious means to achieving better functional outcomes.

Verbal Working Memory Is Related to the Acquisition of Cross-Linguistic Phonological Regularities.

PubMed

Bosma, Evelyn; Heeringa, Wilbert; Hoekstra, Eric; Versloot, Arjen; Blom, Elma

2017-01-01

Closely related languages share cross-linguistic phonological regularities, such as Frisian -âld [ͻ:t] and Dutch -oud [ʱut], as in the cognate pairs kâld [kͻ:t] - koud [kʱut] 'cold' and wâld [wͻ:t] - woud [wʱut] 'forest'. Within Bybee's (1995, 2001, 2008, 2010) network model, these regularities are, just like grammatical rules within a language, generalizations that emerge from schemas of phonologically and semantically related words. Previous research has shown that verbal working memory is related to the acquisition of grammar, but not vocabulary. This suggests that verbal working memory supports the acquisition of linguistic regularities. In order to test this hypothesis we investigated whether verbal working memory is also related to the acquisition of cross-linguistic phonological regularities. For three consecutive years, 5- to 8-year-old Frisian-Dutch bilingual children ( n = 120) were tested annually on verbal working memory and a Frisian receptive vocabulary task that comprised four cognate categories: (1) identical cognates, (2) non-identical cognates that either do or (3) do not exhibit a phonological regularity between Frisian and Dutch, and (4) non-cognates. The results showed that verbal working memory had a significantly stronger effect on cognate category (2) than on the other three cognate categories. This suggests that verbal working memory is related to the acquisition of cross-linguistic phonological regularities. More generally, it confirms the hypothesis that verbal working memory plays a role in the acquisition of linguistic regularities.

Brain region-specific activity patterns after recent or remote memory retrieval of auditory conditioned fear.

PubMed

Kwon, Jeong-Tae; Jhang, Jinho; Kim, Hyung-Su; Lee, Sujin; Han, Jin-Hee

2012-09-19

Memory is thought to be sparsely encoded throughout multiple brain regions forming unique memory trace. Although evidence has established that the amygdala is a key brain site for memory storage and retrieval of auditory conditioned fear memory, it remains elusive whether the auditory brain regions may be involved in fear memory storage or retrieval. To investigate this possibility, we systematically imaged the brain activity patterns in the lateral amygdala, MGm/PIN, and AuV/TeA using activity-dependent induction of immediate early gene zif268 after recent and remote memory retrieval of auditory conditioned fear. Consistent with the critical role of the amygdala in fear memory, the zif268 activity in the lateral amygdala was significantly increased after both recent and remote memory retrieval. Interesting, however, the density of zif268 (+) neurons in both MGm/PIN and AuV/TeA, particularly in layers IV and VI, was increased only after remote but not recent fear memory retrieval compared to control groups. Further analysis of zif268 signals in AuV/TeA revealed that conditioned tone induced stronger zif268 induction compared to familiar tone in each individual zif268 (+) neuron after recent memory retrieval. Taken together, our results support that the lateral amygdala is a key brain site for permanent fear memory storage and suggest that MGm/PIN and AuV/TeA might play a role for remote memory storage or retrieval of auditory conditioned fear, or, alternatively, that these auditory brain regions might have a different way of processing for familiar or conditioned tone information at recent and remote time phases.

The storage and recall of auditory memory.

PubMed

Nebenzahl, I; Albeck, Y

1990-01-01

The architecture of the auditory memory is investigated. The auditory information is assumed to be represented by f-t patterns. With the help of a psycho-physical experiment it is demonstrated that the storage of these patterns is highly folded in the sense that a long signal is broken into many short stretches before being stored in the memory. Recognition takes place by correlating newly heard input in the short term memory to information previously stored in the long term memory. We show that this correlation is performed after the input is accumulated and held statically in the short term memory.

Associations between depressive symptoms and memory deficits vary as a function of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) levels in healthy older adults.

PubMed

Lin, Feng; Suhr, Julie; Diebold, Stephanie; Heffner, Kathi L

2014-04-01

Accumulating evidence suggests an adverse association between depressive symptoms and cognition, but a positive association between insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and cognition. The present study examined the influence of IGF-1 in the relationship between depressive symptoms and learning and memory. A cross-sectional study of 94 healthy fit older adults. Blood was collected and plasma IGF-1 was measured. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and learning and memory were assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Among older adults with lower IGF-1 levels, higher depressive symptoms scores were associated with lower AVLT delayed recall and recognition. Older adults with higher IF-1 levels showed no associations between depressive symptoms and memory. The association between depressive symptoms and cognition is stronger among older adults with lower levels of circulating IGF-1. Further validation studies on groups with depression or different stages of cognitive impairment are needed. IGF-1 may be a novel intervention target for slowing cognitive decline in older adults with depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acute memory deficits in chemotherapy-treated adults.

PubMed

Lindner, Oana C; Mayes, Andrew; McCabe, Martin G; Talmi, Deborah

2017-11-01

Data from research on amnesia and epilepsy are equivocal with regards to the dissociation, shown in animal models, between rapid and slow long-term memory consolidation. Cancer treatments have lasting disruptive effects on memory and on brain structures associated with memory, but their acute effects on synaptic consolidation are unknown. We investigated the hypothesis that cancer treatment selectively impairs slow synaptic consolidation. Cancer patients and their matched controls were administered a novel list-learning task modelled on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Learning, forgetting, and retrieval were tested before, and one day after patients' first chemotherapy treatment. Due to difficulties recruiting cancer patients at that sensitive time, we were only able to study 10 patients and their matched controls. Patients exhibited treatment-dependent accelerated forgetting over 24 hours compared to their own pre-treatment performance and to the performance of control participants, in agreement with our hypothesis. The number of intrusions increased after treatment, suggesting retrieval deficits. Future research with larger samples should adapt our methods to distinguish between consolidation and retrieval causes for treatment-dependent accelerated forgetting. The presence of significant accelerated forgetting in our small sample is indicative of a potentially large acute effect of chemotherapy treatment on forgetting, with potentially clinically relevant implications.

Changes in verbal learning and memory in schizophrenia and non-psychotic controls in midlife: A nine-year follow-up in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study 1966.

PubMed

Rannikko, Irina; Haapea, Marianne; Miettunen, Jouko; Veijola, Juha; Murray, Graham K; Barnett, Jennifer H; Husa, Anja P; Jones, Peter B; Isohanni, Matti; Jääskeläinen, Erika

2015-08-30

Findings on longitudinal change of cognitive performance in schizophrenia are extremely variable in the case of verbal learning and memory, and it is still unclear which dimensions of verbal learning and memory exhibit possible deterioration over the long-term. Our aim was to compare the change in verbal learning and memory in individuals with schizophrenia 10-20 years after the illness onset and healthy controls during a nine-year follow-up in a general population sample. Our sample included 41 schizophrenia spectrum subjects and 73 controls from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study 1966. The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was used to estimate the degree of change in verbal learning and memory during a nine-year follow-up from age 34-years to 43- years. Both cases and controls deteriorated. There was statistically significant decline in two out of 20 CVLT items among cases and in 13 out of 20 CVLT items among controls. With the exception of two variables, the decline in verbal learning and memory over nine years was not significantly larger in cases. We conclude that during midlife verbal learning and memory in schizophrenia mostly declines in a normative fashion with aging at the same rate as the general population. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Concurrent Verbal and Visual Tasks on Category Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, Sarah J.; Minda, John Paul

2011-01-01

Current theories of category learning posit separate verbal and nonverbal learning systems. Past research suggests that the verbal system relies on verbal working memory and executive functioning and learns rule-defined categories; the nonverbal system does not rely on verbal working memory and learns non-rule-defined categories (E. M. Waldron…

The Effect of Noise on the Relationship between Auditory Working Memory and Comprehension in School-Age Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Jessica R.; Osman, Homira; Schafer, Erin C.

2015-01-01

Purpose: The objectives of the current study were to examine the effect of noise (-5 dB SNR) on auditory comprehension and to examine its relationship with working memory. It was hypothesized that noise has a negative impact on information processing, auditory working memory, and comprehension. Method: Children with normal hearing between the ages…

Neuropsychological function and memory suppression in conversion disorder.

PubMed

Brown, Laura B; Nicholson, Timothy R; Aybek, Selma; Kanaan, Richard A; David, Anthony S

2014-09-01

Conversion disorder (CD) is a condition where neurological symptoms, such as weakness or sensory disturbance, are unexplained by neurological disease and are presumed to be of psychological origin. Contemporary theories of the disorder generally propose dysfunctional frontal control of the motor or sensory systems. Classical (Freudian) psychodynamic theory holds that the memory of stressful life events is repressed. Little is known about the frontal (executive) function of these patients, or indeed their general neuropsychological profile, and psychodynamic theories have been largely untested. This study aimed to investigate neuropsychological functioning in patients with CD, focusing on executive and memory function. A directed forgetting task (DFT) using words with variable emotional valence was also used to investigate memory suppression. 21 patients and 36 healthy controls completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and patients had deficits in executive function and auditory-verbal (but not autobiographical) memory. The executive deficits were largely driven by differences in IQ, anxiety and mood between the groups. A subgroup of 11 patients and 28 controls completed the DFT and whilst patients recalled fewer words overall than controls, there were no significant effects of directed forgetting or valence. This study provides some limited support for deficits in executive, and to a lesser degree, memory function in patients with CD, but did not find evidence of altered memory suppression to support the psychodynamic theory of repression. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Measuring Memory and Attention to Preview in Motion.

PubMed

Jagacinski, Richard J; Hammond, Gordon M; Rizzi, Emanuele

2017-08-01

Objective Use perceptual-motor responses to perturbations to reveal the spatio-temporal detail of memory for the recent past and attention to preview when participants track a winding roadway. Background Memory of the recently passed roadway can be inferred from feedback control models of the participants' manual movement patterns. Similarly, attention to preview of the upcoming roadway can be inferred from feedforward control models of manual movement patterns. Method Perturbation techniques were used to measure these memory and attention functions. Results In a laboratory tracking task, the bandwidth of lateral roadway deviations was found to primarily influence memory for the past roadway rather than attention to preview. A secondary auditory/verbal/vocal memory task resulted in higher velocity error and acceleration error in the tracking task but did not affect attention to preview. Attention to preview was affected by the frequency pattern of sinusoidal perturbations of the roadway. Conclusion Perturbation techniques permit measurement of the spatio-temporal span of memory and attention to preview that affect tracking a winding roadway. They also provide new ways to explore goal-directed forgetting and spatially distributed attention in the context of movement. More generally, these techniques provide sensitive measures of individual differences in cognitive aspects of action. Application Models of driving behavior and assessment of driving skill may benefit from more detailed spatio-temporal measurement of attention to preview.

Human engineer's guide to auditory displays. Volume 1. Elements of perception and memory affecting auditory displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulligan, B. E.; Goodman, L. S.; McBride, D. K.; Mitchell, T. M.; Crosby, T. N.

1984-08-01

This work reviews the areas of auditory attention, recognition, memory and auditory perception of patterns, pitch, and loudness. The review was written from the perspective of human engineering and focuses primarily on auditory processing of information contained in acoustic signals. The impetus for this effort was to establish a data base to be utilized in the design and evaluation of acoustic displays.

Cognitive performance of neuromyelitis optica patients: comparison with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Vanotti, Sandra; Cores, Evangelina Valeria; Eizaguirre, Barbara; Melamud, Luciana; Rey, Raúl; Villa, Andrés

2013-06-01

The aim of the present research was to investigate cognitive pattern of patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and to compare it with multiple sclerosis (MS) patients' performance. Fourteen NMO, 14 relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), and 14 healthy control patients participated in the investigation. Neuropsychological functions were evaluated with the Brief Repeatable Neuropsychological Battery for MS; Symbol Digit Modalities Test; Digit Span; and Semantic Fluency. Fifty-seven percent of NMO patients and 42.85% of the MS ones had abnormal performance in at least two cognitive tests. The NMO Group showed abnormal performance in verbal fluency, verbal and visual memories, with greater attention deficits. NMO patients outperformed healthy control in the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT). However, no difference was found between NMO and RRMS patients. The NMO Group showed more dysfunction in attention and verbal fluencies than in verbal and visual memories. When compared with the MS patients, a similar dysfunction pattern was found. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi investigar o padrão cognitivo de pacientes com neuromielite óptica (NMO) e compará-lo com o desempenho de pacientes com esclerose múltipla (EM). Métodos: Quatorze pacientes com NMO, 14 com esclerose múltipla recorrente remitente (EMRR) e 14 participantes do Controle saudáveis participaram da presente investigação. As funções neuropsicológicas foram avaliadas com a Bateria Breve de Testes Neuropsicológicos de Rao, Teste Símbolo Digit e a Fluência Semântica. Resultados: Cinquenta e sete por cento dos pacientes com NMO e 42,85% daqueles com EM apresentaram desempenho anormal em pelo menos dois testes cognitivos. O Grupo NMO apresentarou desempenho anormal na fluência verbal e nas memórias visual e verbal, com maiores déficits de atenção. Pacientes com NMO superaram os controles saudáveis em PASAT. No entanto, não foi encontrada diferença entre os pacientes com NMO e aqueles com EMRR. Conclusões: O Grupo NMO mostrou mais disfunção nas fluências de atenção e verbais do que nas memórias verbal e visual. Quando comparados com os pacientes com EM, um padrão de disfunção semelhante foi encontrado.

Verbal Learning and Memory Functions in Adolescents with Reading Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oyler, James D.; Obrzut, John E.; Asbjornsen, Arve E.

2012-01-01

The authors of this current study compared the memory performance of adolescent students with specific reading disabilities (RD) with that of typical adolescent readers on a newly developed verbal learning test, the "Bergen-Tucson Verbal Learning Test" (BTVLT). This multiple trial test was designed to measure memory acquisition,…

The Interaction of Concreteness and Phonological Similarity in Verbal Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acheson, Daniel J.; Postle, Bradley R.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2010-01-01

Although phonological representations have been a primary focus of verbal working memory research, lexical-semantic manipulations also influence performance. In the present study, the authors investigated whether a classic phenomenon in verbal working memory, the phonological similarity effect (PSE), is modulated by a lexical-semantic variable,…

A Memory-Based Theory of Verbal Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dennis, Simon

2005-01-01

The syntagmatic paradigmatic model is a distributed, memory-based account of verbal processing. Built on a Bayesian interpretation of string edit theory, it characterizes the control of verbal cognition as the retrieval of sets of syntagmatic and paradigmatic constraints from sequential and relational long-term memory and the resolution of these…

The neural basis of visual dominance in the context of audio-visual object processing.

PubMed

Schmid, Carmen; Büchel, Christian; Rose, Michael

2011-03-01

Visual dominance refers to the observation that in bimodal environments vision often has an advantage over other senses in human. Therefore, a better memory performance for visual compared to, e.g., auditory material is assumed. However, the reason for this preferential processing and the relation to the memory formation is largely unknown. In this fMRI experiment, we manipulated cross-modal competition and attention, two factors that both modulate bimodal stimulus processing and can affect memory formation. Pictures and sounds of objects were presented simultaneously in two levels of recognisability, thus manipulating the amount of cross-modal competition. Attention was manipulated via task instruction and directed either to the visual or the auditory modality. The factorial design allowed a direct comparison of the effects between both modalities. The resulting memory performance showed that visual dominance was limited to a distinct task setting. Visual was superior to auditory object memory only when allocating attention towards the competing modality. During encoding, cross-modal competition and attention towards the opponent domain reduced fMRI signals in both neural systems, but cross-modal competition was more pronounced in the auditory system and only in auditory cortex this competition was further modulated by attention. Furthermore, neural activity reduction in auditory cortex during encoding was closely related to the behavioural auditory memory impairment. These results indicate that visual dominance emerges from a less pronounced vulnerability of the visual system against competition from the auditory domain. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Some Neurocognitive Correlates of Noise-Vocoded Speech Perception in Children with Normal Hearing: A Replication and Extension of Eisenberg et al., 2002

PubMed Central

Roman, Adrienne S.; Pisoni, David B.; Kronenberger, William G.; Faulkner, Kathleen F.

2016-01-01

Objectives Noise-vocoded speech is a valuable research tool for testing experimental hypotheses about the effects of spectral-degradation on speech recognition in adults with normal hearing (NH). However, very little research has utilized noise-vocoded speech with children with NH. Earlier studies with children with NH focused primarily on the amount of spectral information needed for speech recognition without assessing the contribution of neurocognitive processes to speech perception and spoken word recognition. In this study, we first replicated the seminal findings reported by Eisenberg et al. (2002) who investigated effects of lexical density and word frequency on noise-vocoded speech perception in a small group of children with NH. We then extended the research to investigate relations between noise-vocoded speech recognition abilities and five neurocognitive measures: auditory attention and response set, talker discrimination and verbal and nonverbal short-term working memory. Design Thirty-one children with NH between 5 and 13 years of age were assessed on their ability to perceive lexically controlled words in isolation and in sentences that were noise-vocoded to four spectral channels. Children were also administered vocabulary assessments (PPVT-4 and EVT-2) and measures of auditory attention (NEPSY Auditory Attention (AA) and Response Set (RS) and a talker discrimination task (TD)) and short-term memory (visual digit and symbol spans). Results Consistent with the findings reported in the original Eisenberg et al. (2002) study, we found that children perceived noise-vocoded lexically easy words better than lexically hard words. Words in sentences were also recognized better than the same words presented in isolation. No significant correlations were observed between noise-vocoded speech recognition scores and the PPVT-4 using language quotients to control for age effects. However, children who scored higher on the EVT-2 recognized lexically easy words better than lexically hard words in sentences. Older children perceived noise-vocoded speech better than younger children. Finally, we found that measures of auditory attention and short-term memory capacity were significantly correlated with a child’s ability to perceive noise-vocoded isolated words and sentences. Conclusions First, we successfully replicated the major findings from the Eisenberg et al. (2002) study. Because familiarity, phonological distinctiveness and lexical competition affect word recognition, these findings provide additional support for the proposal that several foundational elementary neurocognitive processes underlie the perception of spectrally-degraded speech. Second, we found strong and significant correlations between performance on neurocognitive measures and children’s ability to recognize words and sentences noise-vocoded to four spectral channels. These findings extend earlier research suggesting that perception of spectrally-degraded speech reflects early peripheral auditory processes as well as additional contributions of executive function, specifically, selective attention and short-term memory processes in spoken word recognition. The present findings suggest that auditory attention and short-term memory support robust spoken word recognition in children with NH even under compromised and challenging listening conditions. These results are relevant to research carried out with listeners who have hearing loss, since they are routinely required to encode, process and understand spectrally-degraded acoustic signals. PMID:28045787

Memory and linguistic/executive functions of children with borderline intellectual functioning.

PubMed

Água Dias, Andrea B; Albuquerque, Cristina P; Simões, Mário R

2017-11-08

Children with Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF) have received a minimal amount of research attention and have been studied in conjunction with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The present study intends to broaden the knowledge of BIF, by analyzing domains such as verbal memory and visual memory, as well as tasks that rely simultaneously on memory, executive functions, and language. A cross-sectional, comparison study was carried out between a group of 40 children with BIF (mean age = 10.03; 24 male and 16 female), and a control group of 40 normal children of the same age, gender, and socioeconomic level as the BIF group. The WISC-III Full Scale IQs of the BIF group ranged from 71 to 84. The following instruments were used: Word List, Narrative Memory, Rey Complex Figure, Face Memory, Rapid Naming (both RAN and RAS tests), and Verbal Fluency. The results showed deficits in children with BIF in verbal short-term memory, rapid naming, phonemic verbal fluency, and visual short-term memory, specifically in a visual recognition task, when compared with the control group. Long-term verbal memory was impaired only in older children with BIF and long-term visual memory showed no deficit. Verbal short-term memory stands out as a limitation and visual long-term memory as a strength. Correlations between the WISC-III and neuropsychological tests scores were predominantly low. The study expands the neuropsychological characterization of children with BIF and the implications of the deficits and strengths are stressed.

[Information processing speed and influential factors in multiple sclerosis].

PubMed

Zhang, M L; Xu, E H; Dong, H Q; Zhang, J W

2016-04-19

To study the information processing speed and the influential factors in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. A total of 36 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), 21 patients with secondary progressive MS (SPMS), and 50 healthy control subjects from Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University between April 2010 and April 2012 were included into this cross-sectional study.Neuropsychological tests was conducted after the disease had been stable for 8 weeks, including information processing speed, memory, executive functions, language and visual perception.Correlation between information processing speed and depression, fatigue, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) were studied. (1)MS patient groups demonstrated cognitive deficits compared to healthy controls.The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) (control group 57±12; RRMS group 46±17; SPMS group 35±10, P<0.05) and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) (control group 85±18; RRMS group 77±20; SPMS group 57±20, P<0.05) impaired most.SPMS patients were more affected compared to patients with RRMS subtypes, and these differences were attenuated after control for physical disability level as measured by the EDSS scores.MS patients, especially SPMS subtype, were more severely impaired than control group in the verbal learning test, verbal fluency, Stroop C test planning time, while visual-spatial function and visual memory were relatively reserved in MS patients.(2) According to the Pearson univariate correlation analysis, age, depression, EDSS scores and fatigue were related with PASAT and SDMT tests (r=-0.41--0.61, P<0.05). Depression significantly affected the speed of information processing (P<0.05). Impairment of information processing speed, verbal memory and executive functioning are seen in MS patients, especially in SPMS subtype, while visual-spatial function is relatively reserved.Age, white matter change scales, EDSS scores, depression are negatively associated with information processing speed.

Impaired MMN/P3a complex in first-episode psychosis: cognitive and psychosocial associations.

PubMed

Hermens, Daniel F; Ward, Philip B; Hodge, M Antoinette Redoblado; Kaur, Manreena; Naismith, Sharon L; Hickie, Ian B

2010-08-16

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a neurophysiological indicator of the brain's ability to extract relevant information from an irrelevant background. The P3a orienting response often accompanies MMN in deviance detection paradigms. Both MMN and P3a have been described as reliable biomarkers of schizophrenia. MMN/P3a impairments are associated with deficits in verbal memory and attentional switching, reflecting dysfunctions in the temporal and frontal systems, respectively. It remains unresolved whether MMN/P3a are robust biomarkers of psychosis in first-episode patients. Thirty-four young people (18 to 30years) were assessed in this study; 17 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients were compared to 17 healthy controls. To elicit MMN/P3a, a two-tone passive auditory oddball paradigm with 8% duration deviants was used; event-related potentials were recorded at frontal, central and temporal (mastoid) sites. Neuropsychological assessments included processing speed, attentional switching, simple attention, and verbal learning and memory. Social functioning and quality of life measures were also obtained. The FEP group showed significantly reduced MMN amplitudes compared to controls. The FEP group also showed significantly reduced P3a amplitudes at frontal and central sites compared with controls. As expected, the FEP group also showed significant deficits in attention and verbal learning/memory. Correlational analyses found strong associations between fronto-central MMN/P3a peak amplitude and cognitive/psychosocial functioning. This study provides evidence of early neurobiological markers in young people with FEP. These findings suggest that MMN/P3a impairments are present at early stages of psychosis and that fundamental pre-attentive/deviance detection deficits may mark the beginning of progressive underlying changes with illness onset. Such deficits in FEP appear to have important links with higher-order cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Anterior Nuclei of the Thalamus: A Subcortical Gate in Memory Processing: An Intracerebral Recording Study.

PubMed

Štillová, Klára; Jurák, Pavel; Chládek, Jan; Chrastina, Jan; Halámek, Josef; Bočková, Martina; Goldemundová, Sabina; Říha, Ivo; Rektor, Ivan

2015-01-01

To study the involvement of the anterior nuclei of the thalamus (ANT) as compared to the involvement of the hippocampus in the processes of encoding and recognition during visual and verbal memory tasks. We studied intracerebral recordings in patients with pharmacoresistent epilepsy who underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ANT with depth electrodes implanted bilaterally in the ANT and compared the results with epilepsy surgery candidates with depth electrodes implanted bilaterally in the hippocampus. We recorded the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the visual and verbal memory encoding and recognition tasks. P300-like potentials were recorded in the hippocampus by visual and verbal memory encoding and recognition tasks and in the ANT by the visual encoding and visual and verbal recognition tasks. No significant ERPs were recorded during the verbal encoding task in the ANT. In the visual and verbal recognition tasks, the P300-like potentials in the ANT preceded the P300-like potentials in the hippocampus. The ANT is a structure in the memory pathway that processes memory information before the hippocampus. We suggest that the ANT has a specific role in memory processes, especially memory recognition, and that memory disturbance should be considered in patients with ANT-DBS and in patients with ANT lesions. ANT is well positioned to serve as a subcortical gate for memory processing in cortical structures.

The attentional boost effect and context memory.

PubMed

Mulligan, Neil W; Smith, S Adam; Spataro, Pietro

2016-04-01

Stimuli co-occurring with targets in a detection task are better remembered than stimuli co-occurring with distractors-the attentional boost effect (ABE). The ABE is of interest because it is an exception to the usual finding that divided attention during encoding impairs memory. The effect has been demonstrated in tests of item memory but it is unclear if context memory is likewise affected. Some accounts suggest enhanced perceptual encoding or associative binding, predicting an ABE on context memory, whereas other evidence suggests a more abstract, amodal basis of the effect. In Experiment 1, context memory was assessed in terms of an intramodal perceptual detail, the font and color of the study word. Experiment 2 examined context memory cross-modally, assessing memory for the modality (visual or auditory) of the study word. Experiments 3 and 4 assessed context memory with list discrimination, in which 2 study lists are presented and participants must later remember which list (if either) a test word came from. In all experiments, item (recognition) memory was also assessed and consistently displayed a robust ABE. In contrast, the attentional-boost manipulation did not enhance context memory, whether defined in terms of visual details, study modality, or list membership. There was some evidence that the mode of responding on the detection task (motoric response as opposed to covert counting of targets) may impact context memory but there was no evidence of an effect of target detection, per se. In sum, the ABE did not occur in context memory with verbal materials. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Cerebral Glucose Metabolism is Associated with Verbal but not Visual Memory Performance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

PubMed

Gardener, Samantha L; Sohrabi, Hamid R; Shen, Kai-Kai; Rainey-Smith, Stephanie R; Weinborn, Michael; Bates, Kristyn A; Shah, Tejal; Foster, Jonathan K; Lenzo, Nat; Salvado, Olivier; Laske, Christoph; Laws, Simon M; Taddei, Kevin; Verdile, Giuseppe; Martins, Ralph N

2016-03-31

Increasing evidence suggests that Alzheimer's disease (AD) sufferers show region-specific reductions in cerebral glucose metabolism, as measured by [18F]-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET). We investigated preclinical disease stage by cross-sectionally examining the association between global cognition, verbal and visual memory, and 18F-FDG PET standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) in 43 healthy control individuals, subsequently focusing on differences between subjective memory complainers and non-memory complainers. The 18F-FDG PET regions of interest investigated include the hippocampus, amygdala, posterior cingulate, superior parietal, entorhinal cortices, frontal cortex, temporal cortex, and inferior parietal region. In the cohort as a whole, verbal logical memory immediate recall was positively associated with 18F-FDG PET SUVR in both the left hippocampus and right amygdala. There were no associations observed between global cognition, delayed recall in logical memory, or visual reproduction and 18F-FDG PET SUVR. Following stratification of the cohort into subjective memory complainers and non-complainers, verbal logical memory immediate recall was positively associated with 18F-FDG PET SUVR in the right amygdala in those with subjective memory complaints. There were no significant associations observed in non-memory complainers between 18F-FDG PET SUVR in regions of interest and cognitive performance. We observed subjective memory complaint-specific associations between 18F-FDG PET SUVR and immediate verbal memory performance in our cohort, however found no associations between delayed recall of verbal memory performance or visual memory performance. It is here argued that the neural mechanisms underlying verbal and visual memory performance may in fact differ in their pathways, and the characteristic reduction of 18F-FDG PET SUVR observed in this and previous studies likely reflects the pathophysiological changes in specific brain regions that occur in preclinical AD.

The effect of rehearsal rate and memory load on verbal working memory.

PubMed

Fegen, David; Buchsbaum, Bradley R; D'Esposito, Mark

2015-01-15

While many neuroimaging studies have investigated verbal working memory (WM) by manipulating memory load, the subvocal rehearsal rate at these various memory loads has generally been left uncontrolled. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate how mnemonic load and the rate of subvocal rehearsal modulate patterns of activity in the core neural circuits underlying verbal working memory. Using fMRI in healthy subjects, we orthogonally manipulated subvocal rehearsal rate and memory load in a verbal WM task with long 45-s delay periods. We found that middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and superior parietal lobule (SPL) exhibited memory load effects primarily early in the delay period and did not exhibit rehearsal rate effects. In contrast, we found that inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), premotor cortex (PM) and Sylvian-parietal-temporal region (area Spt) exhibited approximately linear memory load and rehearsal rate effects, with rehearsal rate effects lasting through the entire delay period. These results indicate that IFG, PM and area Spt comprise the core articulatory rehearsal areas involved in verbal WM, while MFG and SPL are recruited in a general supervisory role once a memory load threshold in the core rehearsal network has been exceeded. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Rehearsal Rate and Memory Load on Verbal Working Memory

PubMed Central

Fegen, David; Buchsbaum, Bradley R.; D’Esposito, Mark

2014-01-01

While many neuroimaging studies have investigated verbal working memory (WM) by manipulating memory load, the subvocal rehearsal rate at these various memory loads has generally been left uncontrolled. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate how mnemonic load and the rate of subvocal rehearsal modulate patterns of activity in the core neural circuits underlying verbal working memory. Using fMRI in healthy subjects, we orthogonally manipulated subvocal rehearsal rate and memory load in a verbal WM task with long 45-second delay periods. We found that middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and superior parietal lobule (SPL) exhibited memory load effects primarily early in the delay period and did not exhibit rehearsal rate effects. In contrast, we found that inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), premotor cortex (PM) and Sylvian-parietal-temporal region (area Spt) exhibited approximately linear memory load and rehearsal rate effects, with rehearsal rate effects lasting through the entire delay period. These results indicate that IFG, PM and area Spt comprise the core articulatory rehearsal areas involved in verbal WM, while MFG and SPL are recruited in a general supervisory role once a memory load threshold in the core rehearsal network has been exceeded. PMID:25467303

Verbal Working Memory and Language Production: Common Approaches to the Serial Ordering of Verbal Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acheson, Daniel J.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2009-01-01

Verbal working memory (WM) tasks typically involve the language production architecture for recall; however, language production processes have had a minimal role in theorizing about WM. A framework for understanding verbal WM results is presented here. In this framework, domain-specific mechanisms for serial ordering in verbal WM are provided by…

Differential effects of ongoing EEG beta and theta power on memory formation

PubMed Central

Scholz, Sebastian; Schneider, Signe Luisa

2017-01-01

Recently, elevated ongoing pre-stimulus beta power (13–17 Hz) at encoding has been associated with subsequent memory formation for visual stimulus material. It is unclear whether this activity is merely specific to visual processing or whether it reflects a state facilitating general memory formation, independent of stimulus modality. To answer that question, the present study investigated the relationship between neural pre-stimulus oscillations and verbal memory formation in different sensory modalities. For that purpose, a within-subject design was employed to explore differences between successful and failed memory formation in the visual and auditory modality. Furthermore, associative memory was addressed by presenting the stimuli in combination with background images. Results revealed that similar EEG activity in the low beta frequency range (13–17 Hz) is associated with subsequent memory success, independent of stimulus modality. Elevated power prior to stimulus onset differentiated successful from failed memory formation. In contrast, differential effects between modalities were found in the theta band (3–7 Hz), with an increased oscillatory activity before the onset of later remembered visually presented words. In addition, pre-stimulus theta power dissociated between successful and failed encoding of associated context, independent of the stimulus modality of the item itself. We therefore suggest that increased ongoing low beta activity reflects a memory promoting state, which is likely to be moderated by modality-independent attentional or inhibitory processes, whereas high ongoing theta power is suggested as an indicator of the enhanced binding of incoming interlinked information. PMID:28192459

Differential effect of an anticholinergic antidepressant on sleep-dependent memory consolidation.

PubMed

Goerke, Monique; Cohrs, Stefan; Rodenbeck, Andrea; Kunz, Dieter

2014-05-01

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is considered critical to the consolidation of procedural memory - the memory of skills and habits. Many antidepressants strongly suppress REM sleep, however, and procedural memory consolidation has been shown to be impaired in depressed patients on antidepressant therapy. As a result, it is important to determine whether antidepressive therapy can lead to amnestic impairment. We thus investigated the effects of the anticholinergic antidepressant amitriptyline on sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, parallel-group study. Sleep laboratory. Twenty-five healthy men (mean age: 26.8 ± 5.6 y). 75 mg amitriptyline versus placebo. To test memory consolidation, a visual discrimination task, a finger-tapping task, the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test were performed. Sleep was measured using polysomnography. Our findings show that amitriptyline profoundly suppressed REM sleep and impaired perceptual skill learning, but not motor skill or declarative learning. Our study is the first to demonstrate that an antidepressant can affect procedural memory consolidation in healthy subjects. Moreover, considering the results of a recent study, in which selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors were shown not to impair procedural memory consolidation, our findings suggest that procedural memory consolidation is not facilitated by the characteristics of REM sleep captured by visual sleep scoring, but rather by the high cholinergic tone associated with REM sleep. Our study contributes to the understanding of potentially undesirable behavioral effects of amitriptyline.

Normative data for a computer-assisted version of the auditory three-consonant Brown-Peterson paradigm in the elderly French-Quebec population.

PubMed

Callahan, Brandy L; Belleville, Sylvie; Ferland, Guylaine; Potvin, Olivier; Tremblay, Marie-Pier; Hudon, Carol; Macoir, Joël

2014-01-01

The Brown-Peterson task is used to assess verbal short-term memory as well as divided attention. In its auditory three-consonant version, trigrams are presented to participants who must recall the items in correct order after variable delays, during which an interference task is performed. The present study aimed to establish normative data for this test in the elderly French-Quebec population based on cross-sectional data from a retrospective, multi-center convenience sample. A total of 595 elderly native French-speakers from the province of Quebec performed the Memoria version of the auditory three-consonant Brown-Peterson test. For both series and item-by-item scoring methods, age, education, and, in most cases, recall after a 0-second interval were found to be significantly associated with recall performance after 10-second, 20-second, and 30-second interference intervals. Based on regression model results, equations to calculate Z scores are presented for the 10-second, 20-second and 30-second intervals and for each scoring method to allow estimation of expected performance based on participants' individual characteristics. As an important ceiling effect was observed at the 0-second interval, norms for this interference interval are presented in percentiles.

Chronic fluoxetine dissociates contextual from auditory fear memory.

PubMed

Sanders, Jeff; Mayford, Mark

2016-10-06

Fluoxetine is a medication used to treat Major Depressive Disorder and other psychiatric conditions. These experiments studied the effects of chronic fluoxetine treatment on the contextual versus auditory fear memory of mice. We found that chronic fluoxetine treatment of adult mice impaired their contextual fear memory, but spared auditory fear memory. Hippocampal perineuronal nets, which are involved in contextual fear memory plasticity, were unaltered by fluoxetine treatment. These data point to a selective inability to form contextual fear memory as a result of fluoxetine treatment, and they suggest that a blunting of hippocampal-mediated aversive memory may be a therapeutic action for this medication. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sleep Shelters Verbal Memory from Different Kinds of Interference

PubMed Central

Sheth, Bhavin R.; Varghese, Reni; Truong, Thuy

2012-01-01

Study Objectives: Studies have shown that sleep shelters old verbal memories from associative interference arising from new, more recently acquired memories. Our objective is to extend the forms of interference for which sleep provides a sheltering benefit to non-associative and prospective interference, and to examine experimental conditions and memory strengths for which sleep before or after learning particularly affects verbal memory consolidation. Design: Acquiring paired word associates, retention across intervening sleep and wake, training on new, interfering word associates, and test recall of both sets. Setting: University laboratory. Participants: Healthy volunteers. Interventions: N/A. Measurements and Results: Comparing recall before and after intervening periods of sleep versus wake, we found that: (i) Sleep preferentially shields weakly encoded verbal memories from retroactive interference. (ii) Sleep immediately following learning helps shelter memory from associative and non-associative forms of retroactive interference. (iii) Sleep protects new verbal memories from prospective interference. (iv) Word associations acquired for the first time in the evening after a day spent in the wake state are encoded more strongly than word associations acquired in the morning following a night of sleep. Conclusions: The findings extend the known sleep protection from interference to non-associative as well as prospective interference, and limit the protection to weakly encoded word associations. Combined, our results suggest that sleep immediately after verbal learning isolates newly formed memory traces and renders them inaccessible, except by specific contextual cues. Memory isolation in sleep is a passive mechanism that can reasonably account for several experimental findings. Citation: Sheth BR; Varghese R; Truong T. Sleep shelters verbal memory from different kinds of interference. SLEEP 2012;35(7):985-996. PMID:22754045

Specific memory impairment following neonatal encephalopathy in term-born children.

PubMed

van Handel, Mariëlle; de Sonneville, Leo; de Vries, Linda S; Jongmans, Marian J; Swaab, Hanna

2012-01-01

This study examines short-term memory, verbal working memory, episodic long-term memory, and intelligence in 32 children with mild neonatal encephalopathy (NE), 39 children with moderate NE, 10 children with NE who developed cerebral palsy (CP), and 53 comparison children, at the age of 9 to 10 years. in addition to a global effect on intelligence, NE had a specific effect on verbal working memory, verbal and visuo-spatial long-term memory, and learning, which was associated with degree of NE. Although these memory problems occurred in children without CP, they were more pronounced when children had also developed CP.

Verbal makes it positive, spatial makes it negative: working memory biases judgments, attention, and moods.

PubMed

Storbeck, Justin; Watson, Philip

2014-12-01

Prior research has suggested that emotion and working memory domains are integrated, such that positive affect enhances verbal working memory, whereas negative affect enhances spatial working memory (Gray, 2004; Storbeck, 2012). Simon (1967) postulated that one feature of emotion and cognition integration would be reciprocal connectedness (i.e., emotion influences cognition and cognition influences emotion). We explored whether affective judgments and attention to affective qualities are biased by the activation of verbal and spatial working memory mind-sets. For all experiments, participants completed a 2-back verbal or spatial working memory task followed by an endorsement task (Experiments 1 & 2), word-pair selection task (Exp. 3), or attentional dot-probe task (Exp. 4). Participants who had an activated verbal, compared with spatial, working memory mind-set were more likely to endorse pictures (Exp. 1) and words (Exp. 2) as being more positive and to select the more positive word pair out of a set of word pairs that went 'together best' (Exp. 3). Additionally, people who completed the verbal working memory task took longer to disengage from positive stimuli, whereas those who completed the spatial working memory task took longer to disengage from negative stimuli (Exp. 4). Interestingly, across the 4 experiments, we observed higher levels of self-reported negative affect for people who completed the spatial working memory task, which was consistent with their endorsement and attentional bias toward negative stimuli. Therefore, emotion and working memory may have a reciprocal connectedness allowing for bidirectional influence.

Auditory and Visual Working Memory Functioning in College Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and/or Learning Disabilities.

PubMed

Liebel, Spencer W; Nelson, Jason M

2017-12-01

We investigated the auditory and visual working memory functioning in college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and clinical controls. We examined the role attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder subtype status played in working memory functioning. The unique influence that both domains of working memory have on reading and math abilities was investigated. A sample of 268 individuals seeking postsecondary education comprise four groups of the present study: 110 had an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis only, 72 had a learning disability diagnosis only, 35 had comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disability diagnoses, and 60 individuals without either of these disorders comprise a clinical control group. Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation, and licensed psychologists employed a multi-informant, multi-method approach in obtaining diagnoses. In the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder only group, there was no difference between auditory and visual working memory functioning, t(100) = -1.57, p = .12. In the learning disability group, however, auditory working memory functioning was significantly weaker compared with visual working memory, t(71) = -6.19, p < .001, d = -0.85. Within the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder only group, there were no auditory or visual working memory functioning differences between participants with either a predominantly inattentive type or a combined type diagnosis. Visual working memory did not incrementally contribute to the prediction of academic achievement skills. Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder did not demonstrate significant working memory differences compared with clinical controls. Individuals with a learning disability demonstrated weaker auditory working memory than individuals in either the attention-deficit/hyperactivity or clinical control groups. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Verbal Mediation and Memory for Novel Figural Designs: A Dual Interference Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverberg, N.; Buchanan, L.

2005-01-01

To the extent that all types of visual stimuli can be verbalized to some degree, verbal mediation is intrinsic in so-called ''visual'' memory processing. This impurity complicates the interpretation of visual memory performance, particularly in certain neurologically impaired populations (e.g., aphasia). The purpose of this study was to…

Verbal Dominant Memory Impairment and Low Risk for Post-operative Memory Worsening in Both Left and Right Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Associated with Hippocampal Sclerosis.

PubMed

Khalil, Amr Farid; Iwasaki, Masaki; Nishio, Yoshiyuki; Jin, Kazutaka; Nakasato, Nobukazu; Tominaga, Teiji

2016-11-15

Post-operative memory changes after temporal lobe surgery have been established mainly by group analysis of cognitive outcome. This study investigated individual patient-based memory outcome in surgically-treated patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). This study included 84 consecutive patients with intractable TLE caused by unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS) who underwent epilepsy surgery (47 females, 41 left [Lt] TLE). Memory functions were evaluated with the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised before and at 1 year after surgery. Pre-operative memory function was classified into three patterns: verbal dominant memory impairment (Verb-D), visual dominant impairment (Vis-D), and no material-specific impairment. Post-operative changes in verbal and visual memory indices were classified into meaningful improvement, worsening, or no significant changes. Pre-operative patterns and post-operative changes in verbal and visual memory function were compared between the Lt and right (Rt) TLE groups. Pre-operatively, Verb-D was the most common type of impairment in both the Lt and Rt TLE groups (65.9 and 48.8%), and verbal memory indices were lower than visual memory indices, especially in the Lt compared with Rt TLE group. Vis-D was observed only in 11.6% of Rt and 7.3% of Lt TLE patients. Post-operatively, meaningful improvement of memory indices was observed in 23.3-36.6% of the patients, and the memory improvement was equivalent between Lt and Rt TLE groups and between verbal and visual materials. In conclusion, Verb-D is most commonly observed in patients with both the Lt and Rt TLE associated with HS. Hippocampectomy can improve memory indices in such patients regardless of the side of surgery and the function impaired.

Effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure on verbal memory revealed with fMRI

PubMed Central

Lu, Lisa H.; Johnson, Arianne; O’Hare, Elizabeth D.; Bookheimer, Susan Y.; Smith, Lynne M.; O’Connor, Mary J.; Sowell, Elizabeth R.

2009-01-01

Objective Efforts to understand specific effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure on cognitive processing are hampered by high rates of concomitant alcohol use during pregnancy. We examined whether neurocognitive systems differed among children with differing prenatal teratogenic exposures when they engaged in a verbal memory task. Patients and Methods Participants (7-15 years old) engaged in a verbal paired associate learning task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. The MA group included 14 children with prenatal methamphetamine exposure, 12 of whom had concomitant alcohol exposure. They were compared to 9 children with prenatal alcohol but not methamphetamine exposure (ALC) and 20 unexposed controls (CON). Groups did not differ in age, gender, or socioeconomic status. Participants’ IQ and verbal learning performance were measured using standardized instruments. Results The MA group activated more diffuse brain regions, including bilateral medial temporal structures known to be important for memory, than both the ALC and the CON groups. These group differences remained after IQ was covaried. More activation in medial temporal structures by the MA group compared to the ALC group cannot be explained by performance differences because both groups performed at similar levels on the verbal memory task. Conclusions More diffuse activation in the MA group during verbal memory may reflect recruitment of compensatory systems to support a weak verbal memory network. Differences in activation patterns between the MA and ALC groups suggest that prenatal MA exposure influences the development of the verbal memory system above and beyond effects of prenatal alcohol exposure. PMID:19525715

The advantage of reading over listening text comprehension in Down syndrome: what is the role of verbal memory?

PubMed

Roch, Maja; Florit, Elena; Levorato, M Chiara

2012-01-01

The current study was designed to investigate the role played by verbal memory in the advantage shown by individuals with Down syndrome in reading over listening text comprehension (Roch & Levorato, 2009). Two different aspects of verbal memory were analyzed: processing load and coding modality. Participants were 20 individuals with Down syndrome, aged between 11 and 26 years who were matched for reading comprehension with a group of 20 typically developing children aged between 6;3 and 7;3 years. The two groups were presented with a listening comprehension test and four verbal memory tasks in which the degree of processing load and the coding modality were manipulated. The results of the study confirmed the advantage of reading over listening comprehension for individuals with Down syndrome. Furthermore, it emerged that different aspects of verbal memory were related respectively to reading and to listening comprehension: visual memory with low processing load was related to the former and oral memory with high processing load to the latter. Finally, it was demonstrated that verbal memory contributed to explain the advantage of reading over listening comprehension in Down syndrome. The results are discussed in light of their theoretical relevance and practical implications. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mild Thyrotoxicosis Leads to Brain Perfusion Changes: An Arterial Spin Labelling Study.

PubMed

Göbel, A; Heldmann, M; Sartorius, A; Göttlich, M; Dirk, A-L; Brabant, G; Münte, T F

2017-01-01

Hypo- and hyperthyroidism have effects on brain structure and function, as well as cognitive processes, including memory. However, little is known about the influence of thyroid hormones on brain perfusion and the relationship of such perfusion changes with cognition. The present study aimed to demonstrate the effect of short-term experimental hyperthyroidism on brain perfusion in healthy volunteers and to assess whether perfusion changes, if present, are related to cognitive performance. It is known that an interaction exists between brain perfusion and cerebral oxygen consumption rate and it is considered that neural activation increases cerebral regional perfusion rate in brain areas associated with memory. Measuring cerebral blood flow may therefore represent a proxy for neural activity. Therefore, arterial spin labelling (ASL) measurements were conducted and later analysed to evaluate brain perfusion in 29 healthy men before and after ingesting thyroid hormones for 8 weeks. Psychological tests concerning memory were performed at the same time-points and the results were correlated with the imaging results. In the hyperthyroid condition, perfusion was increased in the posterior cerebellum in regions connected with cerebral networks associated with cognitive control and the visual cortex compared to the euthyroid condition. In addition, these perfusion changes were positively correlated with changes of performance in the German version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Task [AVLT, Verbaler Lern-und-Merkfähigkeits-Test (VLMT)]. Cerebellar perfusion and function therefore appears to be modulated by thyroid hormones, likely because the cerebellum hosts a high number of thyroid hormone receptors. © 2016 British Society for Neuroendocrinology.

Immediate list recall as a measure of short-term episodic memory: insights from the serial position effect and item response theory.

PubMed

Gavett, Brandon E; Horwitz, Julie E

2012-03-01

The serial position effect shows that two interrelated cognitive processes underlie immediate recall of a supraspan word list. The current study used item response theory (IRT) methods to determine whether the serial position effect poses a threat to the construct validity of immediate list recall as a measure of verbal episodic memory. Archival data were obtained from a national sample of 4,212 volunteers aged 28-84 in the Midlife Development in the United States study. Telephone assessment yielded item-level data for a single immediate recall trial of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Two parameter logistic IRT procedures were used to estimate item parameters and the Q(1) statistic was used to evaluate item fit. A two-dimensional model better fit the data than a unidimensional model, supporting the notion that list recall is influenced by two underlying cognitive processes. IRT analyses revealed that 4 of the 15 RAVLT items (1, 12, 14, and 15) were misfit (p < .05). Item characteristic curves for items 14 and 15 decreased monotonically, implying an inverse relationship between the ability level and the probability of recall. Elimination of the four misfit items provided better fit to the data and met necessary IRT assumptions. Performance on a supraspan list learning test is influenced by multiple cognitive abilities; failure to account for the serial position of words decreases the construct validity of the test as a measure of episodic memory and may provide misleading results. IRT methods can ameliorate these problems and improve construct validity.

Executive dysfunction affects word list recall performance: Evidence from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases.

PubMed

Consonni, Monica; Rossi, Stefania; Cerami, Chiara; Marcone, Alessandra; Iannaccone, Sandro; Francesco Cappa, Stefano; Perani, Daniela

2017-03-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is widely used in clinical practice to evaluate verbal episodic memory. While there is evidence that RAVLT performance can be influenced by executive dysfunction, the way executive disorders affect the serial position curve (SPC) has not been yet explored. To this aim, we analysed immediate and delayed recall performances of 13 non-demented amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with a specific mild executive dysfunction (ALSci) and compared their performances to those of 48 healthy controls (HC) and 13 cognitively normal patients with ALS. Moreover, to control for the impact of a severe dysexecutive syndrome and a genuine episodic memory deficit on the SPC, we enrolled 15 patients with a diagnosis of behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and 18 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Results documented that, compared to cognitively normal subjects, ALSci patients had a selective mid-list impairment for immediate recall scores. The bvFTD group obtained low performances with a selectively increased forgetting rate for terminal items, whereas the AD group showed a disproportionately large memory loss on the primary and middle part of the SPC for immediate recall scores and were severely impaired in the delayed recall trial. These results suggested that subtle executive dysfunctions might influence the recall of mid-list items, possibly reflecting deficiency in control strategies at retrieval of word lists, whereas severer dysexecutive syndrome might also affect the recall of terminal items possibly due to attention deficit or retroactive interference. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

In search of an auditory engram.

PubMed

Fritz, Jonathan; Mishkin, Mortimer; Saunders, Richard C

2005-06-28

Monkeys trained preoperatively on a task designed to assess auditory recognition memory were impaired after removal of either the rostral superior temporal gyrus or the medial temporal lobe but were unaffected by lesions of the rhinal cortex. Behavioral analysis indicated that this result occurred because the monkeys did not or could not use long-term auditory recognition, and so depended instead on short-term working memory, which is unaffected by rhinal lesions. The findings suggest that monkeys may be unable to place representations of auditory stimuli into a long-term store and thus question whether the monkey's cerebral memory mechanisms in audition are intrinsically different from those in other sensory modalities. Furthermore, it raises the possibility that language is unique to humans not only because it depends on speech but also because it requires long-term auditory memory.

Measurements of auditory-verbal STM span in aphasia: effects of item, task, and lexical impairment.

PubMed

Martin, Nadine; Ayala, Jennifer

2004-06-01

In the first part of this study, we investigated effects of item and task type on span performance in a group of aphasic individuals with word processing and STM deficits. Group analyses revealed significant effects of item on span performance with span being greater for digits than for words. We also investigated associations between subjects' lexical-semantic and phonological processing abilities and performance on four measures of verbal span (digit and word span, each varied for type of response, verbal vs. pointing) as well as one measure of nonverbal span. We predicted and found that the patterns of association between verbal span tasks and lexical abilities reflected the integrity of language processes and representations deployed in each paradigm used to assess span. Performance on the pointing span task, which engages both lexical-semantic and phonological processes, correlated with measures of both lexical-semantic and phonological abilities. Performance on repetition span, which engages primarily input and output phonological processes, correlated with measures of phonological abilities but not measures of lexical-semantic abilities. However, when partial correlations were performed for two subject groups based on their relative preservation of lexical-semantic ability (less or more than phonological ability), repetition span correlated with lexical-semantic measures only in the subgroup with relatively impaired lexical-semantics. Additionally, performance on the nonverbal span task correlated with measures of phonological abilities, suggesting either a general cognitive deficit affecting verbal and nonverbal STM or possibly, the use of a verbal strategy to perform this task. Our discussion focuses on the interpretation of span measurements in clinical practice and research, as well as the implications of these data for theories of short-term memory and word processing.

The relationship of speech intelligibility with hearing sensitivity, cognition, and perceived hearing difficulties varies for different speech perception tests

PubMed Central

Heinrich, Antje; Henshaw, Helen; Ferguson, Melanie A.

2015-01-01

Listeners vary in their ability to understand speech in noisy environments. Hearing sensitivity, as measured by pure-tone audiometry, can only partly explain these results, and cognition has emerged as another key concept. Although cognition relates to speech perception, the exact nature of the relationship remains to be fully understood. This study investigates how different aspects of cognition, particularly working memory and attention, relate to speech intelligibility for various tests. Perceptual accuracy of speech perception represents just one aspect of functioning in a listening environment. Activity and participation limits imposed by hearing loss, in addition to the demands of a listening environment, are also important and may be better captured by self-report questionnaires. Understanding how speech perception relates to self-reported aspects of listening forms the second focus of the study. Forty-four listeners aged between 50 and 74 years with mild sensorineural hearing loss were tested on speech perception tests differing in complexity from low (phoneme discrimination in quiet), to medium (digit triplet perception in speech-shaped noise) to high (sentence perception in modulated noise); cognitive tests of attention, memory, and non-verbal intelligence quotient; and self-report questionnaires of general health-related and hearing-specific quality of life. Hearing sensitivity and cognition related to intelligibility differently depending on the speech test: neither was important for phoneme discrimination, hearing sensitivity alone was important for digit triplet perception, and hearing and cognition together played a role in sentence perception. Self-reported aspects of auditory functioning were correlated with speech intelligibility to different degrees, with digit triplets in noise showing the richest pattern. The results suggest that intelligibility tests can vary in their auditory and cognitive demands and their sensitivity to the challenges that auditory environments pose on functioning. PMID:26136699

Auditory Memory Distortion for Spoken Prose

PubMed Central

Hutchison, Joanna L.; Hubbard, Timothy L.; Ferrandino, Blaise; Brigante, Ryan; Wright, Jamie M.; Rypma, Bart

2013-01-01

Observers often remember a scene as containing information that was not presented but that would have likely been located just beyond the observed boundaries of the scene. This effect is called boundary extension (BE; e.g., Intraub & Richardson, 1989). Previous studies have observed BE in memory for visual and haptic stimuli, and the present experiments examined whether BE occurred in memory for auditory stimuli (prose, music). Experiments 1 and 2 varied the amount of auditory content to be remembered. BE was not observed, but when auditory targets contained more content, boundary restriction (BR) occurred. Experiment 3 presented auditory stimuli with less content and BR also occurred. In Experiment 4, white noise was added to stimuli with less content to equalize the durations of auditory stimuli, and BR still occurred. Experiments 5 and 6 presented trained stories and popular music, and BR still occurred. This latter finding ruled out the hypothesis that the lack of BE in Experiments 1–4 reflected a lack of familiarity with the stimuli. Overall, memory for auditory content exhibited BR rather than BE, and this pattern was stronger if auditory stimuli contained more content. Implications for the understanding of general perceptual processing and directions for future research are discussed. PMID:22612172

The role of working memory in auditory selective attention.

PubMed

Dalton, Polly; Santangelo, Valerio; Spence, Charles

2009-11-01

A growing body of research now demonstrates that working memory plays an important role in controlling the extent to which irrelevant visual distractors are processed during visual selective attention tasks (e.g., Lavie, Hirst, De Fockert, & Viding, 2004). Recently, it has been shown that the successful selection of tactile information also depends on the availability of working memory (Dalton, Lavie, & Spence, 2009). Here, we investigate whether working memory plays a role in auditory selective attention. Participants focused their attention on short continuous bursts of white noise (targets) while attempting to ignore pulsed bursts of noise (distractors). Distractor interference in this auditory task, as measured in terms of the difference in performance between congruent and incongruent distractor trials, increased significantly under high (vs. low) load in a concurrent working-memory task. These results provide the first evidence demonstrating a causal role for working memory in reducing interference by irrelevant auditory distractors.

Auditory sensory memory and language abilities in former late talkers: a mismatch negativity study.

PubMed

Grossheinrich, Nicola; Kademann, Stefanie; Bruder, Jennifer; Bartling, Juergen; Von Suchodoletz, Waldemar

2010-09-01

The present study investigated whether (a) a reduced duration of auditory sensory memory is found in late talking children and (b) whether deficits of sensory memory are linked to persistent difficulties in language acquisition. Former late talkers and children without delayed language development were examined at the age of 4 years and 7 months using mismatch negativity (MMN) with interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 500 ms and 2000 ms. Additionally, short-term memory, language skills, and nonverbal intelligence were assessed. MMN mean amplitude was reduced for the ISI of 2000 ms in former late talking children both with and without persistent language deficits. In summary, our findings suggest that late talkers are characterized by a reduced duration of auditory sensory memory. However, deficits in auditory sensory memory are not sufficient for persistent language difficulties and may be compensated for by some children.

Entrainment to an auditory signal: Is attention involved?

PubMed

Kunert, Richard; Jongman, Suzanne R

2017-01-01

Many natural auditory signals, including music and language, change periodically. The effect of such auditory rhythms on the brain is unclear however. One widely held view, dynamic attending theory, proposes that the attentional system entrains to the rhythm and increases attention at moments of rhythmic salience. In support, 2 experiments reported here show reduced response times to visual letter strings shown at auditory rhythm peaks, compared with rhythm troughs. However, we argue that an account invoking the entrainment of general attention should further predict rhythm entrainment to also influence memory for visual stimuli. In 2 pseudoword memory experiments we find evidence against this prediction. Whether a pseudoword is shown during an auditory rhythm peak or not is irrelevant for its later recognition memory in silence. Other attention manipulations, dividing attention and focusing attention, did result in a memory effect. This raises doubts about the suggested attentional nature of rhythm entrainment. We interpret our findings as support for auditory rhythm perception being based on auditory-motor entrainment, not general attention entrainment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Sentence processing and verbal working memory in a white-matter-disconnection patient.

PubMed

Meyer, Lars; Cunitz, Katrin; Obleser, Jonas; Friederici, Angela D

2014-08-01

The Arcuate Fasciculus/Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (AF/SLF) is the white-matter bundle that connects posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex. Its causal functional role in sentence processing and verbal working memory is currently under debate. While impairments of sentence processing and verbal working memory often co-occur in patients suffering from AF/SLF damage, it is unclear whether these impairments result from shared white-matter damage to the verbal-working-memory network. The present study sought to specify the behavioral consequences of focal AF/SLF damage for sentence processing and verbal working memory, which were assessed in a single patient suffering from a cleft-like lesion spanning the deep left superior temporal gyrus, sparing most surrounding gray matter. While tractography suggests that the ventral fronto-temporal white-matter bundle is intact in this patient, the AF/SLF was not visible to tractography. In line with the hypothesis that the AF/SLF is causally involved in sentence processing, the patient׳s performance was selectively impaired on sentences that jointly involve both complex word orders and long word-storage intervals. However, the patient was unimpaired on sentences that only involved long word-storage intervals without involving complex word orders. On the contrary, the patient performed generally worse than a control group across standard verbal-working-memory tests. We conclude that the AF/SLF not only plays a causal role in sentence processing, linking regions of the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus to the temporo-parietal region, but moreover plays a crucial role in verbal working memory, linking regions of the left ventral inferior frontal gyrus to the left temporo-parietal region. Together, the specific sentence-processing impairment and the more general verbal-working-memory impairment may imply that the AF/SLF subserves both sentence processing and verbal working memory, possibly pointing to the AF and SLF respectively supporting each. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relation between working memory components and ADHD symptoms from a developmental perspective.

PubMed

Tillman, Carin; Eninger, Lilianne; Forssman, Linda; Bohlin, Gunilla

2011-01-01

The objective was to examine the relations between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and four working memory (WM) components (short-term memory and central executive in verbal and visuospatial domains) in 284 6-16-year-old children from the general population. The results showed that verbal and visuospatial short-term memory and verbal central executive uniquely contributed to inattention symptoms. Age interacted with verbal short-term memory in predicting inattention, with the relation being stronger in older children. These findings support the notion of ADHD as a developmental disorder, with changes in associated neuropsychological deficits across time. The results further indicate ADHD-related deficits in several specific WM components.

Effects of classroom bilingualism on task-shifting, verbal memory, and word learning in children.

PubMed

Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

2014-07-01

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of 2 years. The groups were compared on a measure of non-linguistic task-shifting; measures of verbal short-term and working memory; and measures of word learning. The two groups of children did not differ on measures of non-linguistic task-shifting and verbal short-term memory. However, the classroom-exposure bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on the measure of verbal working memory and a measure of word learning. Together, these findings indicate that while exposure to a second language in a classroom setting may not be sufficient to engender changes in cognitive control, it can facilitate verbal memory and verbal learning. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of Classroom Bilingualism on Task Shifting, Verbal Memory, and Word Learning in Children

PubMed Central

Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

2014-01-01

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of two years. The groups were compared on a measure of non-linguistic task-shifting; measures of verbal short-term and working memory; and measures of word-learning. The two groups of children did not differ on measures of non-linguistic task-shifting and verbal short-term memory. However, the classroom-exposure bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on the measure of verbal working memory and a measure of word-learning. Together, these findings indicate that while exposure to a second language in a classroom setting may not be sufficient to engender changes in cognitive control, it can facilitate verbal memory and verbal learning. PMID:24576079

Cognitive correlates of verbal memory and verbal fluency in schizophrenia, and differential effects of various clinical symptoms between male and female patients.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Villalta-Gil, Victoria; Autonell, Jaume; Cervilla, Jorge; Dolz, Montserrat; Foix, Alexandrina; Haro, Josep Maria; Usall, Judith; Vilaplana, Miriam; Ochoa, Susana

2013-06-01

Impairment of higher cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia might stem from perturbation of more basic functions, such as processing speed. Various clinical symptoms might affect cognitive efficiency as well. Notably, previous research has revealed the role of affective symptoms on memory performance in this population, and suggested sex-specific effects. We conducted a post-hoc analysis of an extensive neuropsychological study of 88 patients with schizophrenia. Regression analyses were conducted on verbal memory and verbal fluency data to investigate the contribution of semantic organisation and processing speed to performance. The role of negative and affective symptoms and of attention disorders in verbal memory and verbal fluency was investigated separately in male and female patients. Semantic clustering contributed to verbal recall, and a measure of reading speed contributed to verbal recall as well as to phonological and semantic fluency. Negative symptoms affected verbal recall and verbal fluency in the male patients, whereas attention disorders affected these abilities in the female patients. Furthermore, depression affected verbal recall in women, whereas anxiety affected it in men. These results confirm the association of processing speed with cognitive efficiency in patients with schizophrenia. They also confirm the previously observed sex-specific associations of depression and anxiety with memory performance in these patients, and suggest that negative symptoms and attention disorders likewise are related to cognitive efficiency differently in men and women. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Verbal Fluency and Verbal Short-Term Memory in Adults with Down Syndrome and Unspecified Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stavroussi, Panayiota; Andreou, Georgia; Karagiannopoulou, Dimitra

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine verbal fluency and verbal short-term memory in 12 adults with Down syndrome (DS) and 12 adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) of unspecified origin, matched for receptive vocabulary and chronological age. Participants' performance was assessed on two conditions of a verbal fluency test, namely, semantic…