Multiple cognitive capabilities/deficits in children with an autism spectrum disorder: "weak" central coherence and its relationship to theory of mind and executive control.

PubMed

Pellicano, Elizabeth; Maybery, Murray; Durkin, Kevin; Maley, Alana

2006-01-01

This study examined the validity of "weak" central coherence (CC) in the context of multiple cognitive capabilities/deficits in autism. Children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and matched typically developing children were administered tasks tapping visuospatial coherence, false-belief understanding and aspects of executive control. Significant group differences were found in all three cognitive domains. Evidence of local processing on coherence tasks was widespread in the ASD group, but difficulties in attributing false beliefs and in components of executive functioning were present in fewer of the children with ASD. This cognitive profile was generally similar for younger and older children with ASD. Furthermore, weak CC was unrelated to false-belief understanding, but aspects of coherence (related to integration) were associated with aspects of executive control. Few associations were found between cognitive variables and indices of autistic symptomatology. Implications for CC theory are discussed.

The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction.

PubMed

Thompson, Hannah E; Almaghyuli, Azizah; Noonan, Krist A; Barak, Ohr; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Jefferies, Elizabeth

2018-01-03

Semantic cognition, as described by the controlled semantic cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers et al., , Neuropsychologia, 76, 220), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal 'hub' in combination with modality-specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time- and task-appropriate behaviour. Executive-semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive regions such as frontal and parietal cortex, are thought to allow the generation of non-dominant aspects of knowledge when these are appropriate for the task or context. Semantic aphasia (SA) patients have executive-semantic deficits, and these are correlated with general executive impairment. If the CSC proposal is correct, patients with executive impairment should not only exhibit impaired semantic cognition, but should also show characteristics that align with those observed in SA. This possibility remains largely untested, as patients selected on the basis that they show executive impairment (i.e., with 'dysexecutive syndrome') have not been extensively tested on tasks tapping semantic control and have not been previously compared with SA cases. We explored conceptual processing in 12 patients showing symptoms consistent with dysexecutive syndrome (DYS) and 24 SA patients, using a range of multimodal semantic assessments which manipulated control demands. Patients with executive impairments, despite not being selected to show semantic impairments, nevertheless showed parallel patterns to SA cases. They showed strong effects of distractor strength, cues and miscues, and probe-target distance, plus minimal effects of word frequency on comprehension (unlike semantic dementia patients with degradation of conceptual knowledge). This supports a component process account of semantic cognition in which retrieval is shaped by control processes, and confirms that deficits in SA patients reflect difficulty controlling semantic retrieval. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Neuropsychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.

Co-Segregation of Social Cognition, Executive Function and Local Processing Style in Children with ASD, Their Siblings and Normal Controls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oerlemans, Anoek M.; Droste, Katharina; van Steijn, Daphne J.; de Sonneville, Leo M. J.; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Rommelse, Nanda N.

2013-01-01

Cognitive research proposes that social cognition (SC), executive functions (EF) and local processing style (weak CC) may be fruitful areas for research into the familial-genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The performance of 140 children with ASD, 172 siblings and 127 controls on tasks measuring SC (face recognition,…

Mild Cognitive Dysfunction Does Not Affect Diabetes Mellitus Control in Minority Elderly Adults

PubMed Central

Palta, Priya; Golden, Sherita H.; Teresi, Jeanne; Palmas, Walter; Weinstock, Ruth S.; Shea, Steven; Manly, Jennifer J.; Luchsinger, Jose A.

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVES To determine whether older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cognitive dysfunction have poorer metabolic control of glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol than those without cognitive dysfunction. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING A minority cohort in New York City previously recruited for a trial of telemedicine. PARTICIPANTS Persons aged 73.0 ± 3.0 (N = 613; 69.5% female; 82.5% Hispanic, 15.5% non-Hispanic black). MEASUREMENTS Participants were classified with executive or memory dysfunction based on standardized score cutoffs (<16th percentile) for the Color Trails Test and Selective Reminding Test. Linear mixed models were used to compare repeated measures of the metabolic measures and evaluate the rates of change in individuals with and without dysfunction. RESULTS Of the 613 participants, 331 (54%) had executive dysfunction, 202 (33%) had memory dysfunction, and 96 (16%) had both. Over a median of 2 years, participants with executive or memory dysfunction did not exhibit significantly poorer metabolic control than those without executive function or memory type cognitive dysfunction. CONCLUSION Cognitive dysfunction in the mild range did not seem to affect diabetes mellitus control parameters in this multiethnic cohort of older adults with diabetes mellitus, although it cannot be excluded that cognitive impairment was overcome through assistance from formal or informal caregivers. It is possible that more-severe cognitive dysfunction could affect control. PMID:25439094

Mild cognitive dysfunction does not affect diabetes mellitus control in minority elderly adults.

PubMed

Palta, Priya; Golden, Sherita H; Teresi, Jeanne; Palmas, Walter; Weinstock, Ruth S; Shea, Steven; Manly, Jennifer J; Luchsinger, Jose A

2014-12-01

To determine whether older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cognitive dysfunction have poorer metabolic control of glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol than those without cognitive dysfunction. Prospective cohort study. A minority cohort in New York City previously recruited for a trial of telemedicine. Persons aged 73.0 ± 3.0 (N = 613; 69.5% female; 82.5% Hispanic, 15.5% non-Hispanic black). Participants were classified with executive or memory dysfunction based on standardized score cutoffs (<16th percentile) for the Color Trails Test and Selective Reminding Test. Linear mixed models were used to compare repeated measures of the metabolic measures and evaluate the rates of change in individuals with and without dysfunction. Of the 613 participants, 331 (54%) had executive dysfunction, 202 (33%) had memory dysfunction, and 96 (16%) had both. Over a median of 2 years, participants with executive or memory dysfunction did not exhibit significantly poorer metabolic control than those without executive function or memory type cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive dysfunction in the mild range did not seem to affect diabetes mellitus control parameters in this multiethnic cohort of older adults with diabetes mellitus, although it cannot be excluded that cognitive impairment was overcome through assistance from formal or informal caregivers. It is possible that more-severe cognitive dysfunction could affect control. © 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.

Can Training in a Real-Time Strategy Videogame Attenuate Cognitive Decline in Older Adults?

PubMed Central

Basak, Chandramallika; Boot, Walter R.; Voss, Michelle W.; Kramer, Arthur F.

2014-01-01

Declines in various cognitive abilities, particularly executive control functions, are observed in older adults. An important goal of cognitive training is to slow or reverse these age-related declines. However, opinion is divided in the literature regarding whether cognitive training can engender transfer to a variety of cognitive skills in older adults. Yet, recent research indicates that videogame training of young adults may engender broad transfer to skills of visual attention. In the current study, we used a real-time strategy videogame to attempt to train executive functions in older adults, such as working memory, task switching, short-term memory, inhibition, and reasoning. Older adults were either trained in a real-time strategy videogame for 23.5 hours (RON, n=20) or not (CONTROLS, n=20). A battery of cognitive tasks, including tasks of executive control and visuo-spatial skills, were assessed before, during, and after video game training. The trainees improved significantly in the measures of game performance. They also improved significantly more than the controls in a subset of the cognitive tasks, such as task switching, working memory, visual short term memory, and mental rotation. Trends in improvement were also observed, for the video game trainees, in inhibition and reasoning. Individual differences in changes in game performance were correlated with improvements in task-switching. The study has implications for the enhancement of executive control processes of older adults. PMID:19140648

The Association Between Computer Use and Cognition Across Adulthood: Use it so You Won't Lose it?

PubMed Central

Tun, Patricia A.; Lachman, Margie E.

2012-01-01

Understanding the association between computer use and adult cognition has been limited until now by self-selected samples with restricted ranges of age and education. Here we studied effects of computer use in a large national sample (N=2671) of adults aged 32 to 84, assessing cognition with the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (Tun & Lachman, 2005), and executive function with the Stop and Go Switch Task (Tun & Lachman, 2008). Frequency of computer activity was associated with cognitive performance after controlling for age, sex, education, and health status: that is, individuals who used the computer frequently scored significantly higher than those who seldom used the computer. Greater computer use was also associated with better executive function on a task-switching test, even after controlling for basic cognitive ability as well as demographic variables. These findings suggest that frequent computer activity is associated with good cognitive function, particularly executive control, across adulthood into old age, especially for those with lower intellectual ability. PMID:20677884

Balancing Automatic-Controlled Behaviors and Emotional-Salience States: A Dynamic Executive Functioning Hypothesis.

PubMed

Kluwe-Schiavon, Bruno; Viola, Thiago W; Sanvicente-Vieira, Breno; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro F; Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo

2016-01-01

Recently, there has been growing interest in understanding how executive functions are conceptualized in psychopathology. Since several models have been proposed, the major issue lies within the definition of executive functioning itself. Theoretical discussions have emerged, narrowing the boundaries between "hot" and "cold" executive functions or between self-regulation and cognitive control. Nevertheless, the definition of executive functions is far from a consensual proposition and it has been suggested that these models might be outdated. Current efforts indicate that human behavior and cognition are by-products of many brain systems operating and interacting at different levels, and therefore, it is very simplistic to assume a dualistic perspective of information processing. Based upon an adaptive perspective, we discuss how executive functions could emerge from the ability to solve immediate problems and to generalize successful strategies, as well as from the ability to synthesize and to classify environmental information in order to predict context and future. We present an executive functioning perspective that emerges from the dynamic balance between automatic-controlled behaviors and an emotional-salience state. According to our perspective, the adaptive role of executive functioning is to automatize efficient solutions simultaneously with cognitive demand, enabling individuals to engage such processes with increasingly complex problems. Understanding executive functioning as a mediator of stress and cognitive engagement not only fosters discussions concerning individual differences, but also offers an important paradigm to understand executive functioning as a continuum process rather than a categorical and multicomponent structure.

Balancing Automatic-Controlled Behaviors and Emotional-Salience States: A Dynamic Executive Functioning Hypothesis

PubMed Central

Kluwe-Schiavon, Bruno; Viola, Thiago W.; Sanvicente-Vieira, Breno; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro F.; Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo

2017-01-01

Recently, there has been growing interest in understanding how executive functions are conceptualized in psychopathology. Since several models have been proposed, the major issue lies within the definition of executive functioning itself. Theoretical discussions have emerged, narrowing the boundaries between “hot” and “cold” executive functions or between self-regulation and cognitive control. Nevertheless, the definition of executive functions is far from a consensual proposition and it has been suggested that these models might be outdated. Current efforts indicate that human behavior and cognition are by-products of many brain systems operating and interacting at different levels, and therefore, it is very simplistic to assume a dualistic perspective of information processing. Based upon an adaptive perspective, we discuss how executive functions could emerge from the ability to solve immediate problems and to generalize successful strategies, as well as from the ability to synthesize and to classify environmental information in order to predict context and future. We present an executive functioning perspective that emerges from the dynamic balance between automatic-controlled behaviors and an emotional-salience state. According to our perspective, the adaptive role of executive functioning is to automatize efficient solutions simultaneously with cognitive demand, enabling individuals to engage such processes with increasingly complex problems. Understanding executive functioning as a mediator of stress and cognitive engagement not only fosters discussions concerning individual differences, but also offers an important paradigm to understand executive functioning as a continuum process rather than a categorical and multicomponent structure. PMID:28154541

Dopamine and the Development of Executive Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Kriete, Trenton; Noelle, David C.

2015-01-01

Persons with autism regularly exhibit executive dysfunction (ED), including problems with deliberate goal-directed behavior, planning, and flexible responding in changing environments. Indeed, this array of deficits is sufficiently prominent to have prompted a theory that executive dysfunction is at the heart of these disorders. A more detailed examination of these behaviors reveals, however, that some aspects of executive function remain developmentaly appropriate. In particular, while people with autism often have difficulty with tasks requiring cognitive flexibility, their fundamental cognitive control capabilities, such as those involved in inhibiting an inappropriate but relatively automatic response, show no significant impairment on many tasks. In this article, an existing computational model of the prefrontal cortex and its role in executive control is shown to explain this dichotomous pattern of behavior by positing abnormalities in the dopamine-based modulation of frontal systems in individuals with autism. This model offers excellent qualitative and quantitative fits to performance on standard tests of cognitive control and cognitive flexibility in this clinical population. By simulating the development of the prefrontal cortex, the computational model also offers a potential explanation for an observed lack of executive dysfunction early in life. PMID:25811610

Dopamine and the development of executive dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Kriete, Trenton; Noelle, David C

2015-01-01

Persons with autism regularly exhibit executive dysfunction (ED), including problems with deliberate goal-directed behavior, planning, and flexible responding in changing environments. Indeed, this array of deficits is sufficiently prominent to have prompted a theory that executive dysfunction is at the heart of these disorders. A more detailed examination of these behaviors reveals, however, that some aspects of executive function remain developmentaly appropriate. In particular, while people with autism often have difficulty with tasks requiring cognitive flexibility, their fundamental cognitive control capabilities, such as those involved in inhibiting an inappropriate but relatively automatic response, show no significant impairment on many tasks. In this article, an existing computational model of the prefrontal cortex and its role in executive control is shown to explain this dichotomous pattern of behavior by positing abnormalities in the dopamine-based modulation of frontal systems in individuals with autism. This model offers excellent qualitative and quantitative fits to performance on standard tests of cognitive control and cognitive flexibility in this clinical population. By simulating the development of the prefrontal cortex, the computational model also offers a potential explanation for an observed lack of executive dysfunction early in life.

Is There a Role for Executive Functions in the Development of Mathematics Ability?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, Clancy; Knipe, Hilary; Gamson, David

2008-01-01

This article examines the role of working memory, attention shifting, and inhibitory control executive cognitive functions in the development of mathematics knowledge and ability in children. It suggests that an examination of the executive cognitive demand of mathematical thinking can complement procedural and conceptual knowledge-based…

Impairment of cognitive functioning during Sunitinib or Sorafenib treatment in cancer patients: a cross sectional study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Impairment of cognitive functioning has been reported in several studies in patients treated with chemotherapy. So far, no studies have been published on the effects of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitors on cognitive functioning. We investigated the objective and subjective cognitive function of patients during treatment with VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGFR TKI). Methods Three groups of participants, matched on age, sex and education, were enrolled; 1. metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) or GIST patients treated with sunitinib or sorafenib (VEGFR TKI patients n = 30); 2. patients with mRCC not receiving systemic treatment (patient controls n = 20); 3. healthy controls (n = 30). Sixteen neuropsychological tests examining the main cognitive domains (intelligence, memory, attention and concentration, executive functions and abstract reasoning) were administered by a neuropsychologist. Four questionnaires were used to assess subjective cognitive complaints, mood, fatigue and psychological wellbeing. Results No significant differences in mean age, sex distribution, education level or IQ were found between the three groups. Both patient groups performed significantly worse on the cognitive domains Learning & Memory and Executive Functions (Response Generation and Problem Solving) compared to healthy controls. However only the VEGFR TKI patients showed impairments on the Executive subdomain Response Generation. Effect sizes of cognitive dysfunction in patients using VEGFR TKI were larger on the domains Learning & Memory and Executive Functions, compared to patient controls. Both patients groups performed on the domain Attention & Concentration the same as the healthy controls. Longer duration of treatment on VEGFR TKI was associated with a worse score on Working Memory tasks. Conclusions Our data suggest that treatment with VEGFR TKI has a negative impact on cognitive functioning, specifically on Learning & Memory, and Executive Functioning. We propose that patients who are treated with VEGFR TKI are monitored and informed for possible signs or symptoms associated with cognitive impairment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01246843. PMID:24661373

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task.

PubMed

Sachs, Matthew; Kaplan, Jonas; Der Sarkissian, Alissa; Habibi, Assal

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67) were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports ("sports" group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85) and another not involved in music or sports ("control" group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05). During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance.

An integrative architecture for general intelligence and executive function revealed by lesion mapping

PubMed Central

Colom, Roberto; Solomon, Jeffrey; Krueger, Frank; Forbes, Chad; Grafman, Jordan

2012-01-01

Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in executive control, the broader functional networks that support high-level cognition and give rise to general intelligence remain to be well characterized. Here, we investigated the neural substrates of the general factor of intelligence (g) and executive function in 182 patients with focal brain damage using voxel-based lesion–symptom mapping. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System were used to derive measures of g and executive function, respectively. Impaired performance on these measures was associated with damage to a distributed network of left lateralized brain areas, including regions of frontal and parietal cortex and white matter association tracts, which bind these areas into a coordinated system. The observed findings support an integrative framework for understanding the architecture of general intelligence and executive function, supporting their reliance upon a shared fronto-parietal network for the integration and control of cognitive representations and making specific recommendations for the application of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System to the study of high-level cognition in health and disease. PMID:22396393

The role of genes, intelligence, personality, and social engagement in cognitive performance in Klinefelter syndrome.

PubMed

Skakkebæk, Anne; Moore, Philip J; Pedersen, Anders Degn; Bojesen, Anders; Kristensen, Maria Krarup; Fedder, Jens; Laurberg, Peter; Hertz, Jens Michael; Østergaard, John Rosendahl; Wallentin, Mikkel; Gravholt, Claus Højbjerg

2017-03-01

The determinants of cognitive deficits among individuals with Klinefelter syndrome (KS) are not well understood. This study was conducted to assess the impact of general intelligence, personality, and social engagement on cognitive performance among patients with KS and a group of controls matched for age and years of education. Sixty-nine patients with KS and 69 controls were assessed in terms of IQ, NEO personality inventory, the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scale, and measures of cognitive performance reflecting working memory and executive function. Patients with KS performed more poorly on memory and executive-function tasks. Patients with KS also exhibited greater neuroticism and less extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness than controls. Memory deficits among patients with KS were associated with lower intelligence, while diminished executive functioning was mediated by both lower intelligence and less social engagement. Our results suggest that among patients with KS, memory deficits are principally a function of lower general intelligence, while executive-function deficits are associated with both lower intelligence and poorer social skills. This suggests a potential influence of social engagement on executive cognitive functioning (and/or vice-versa) among individuals with KS, and perhaps those with other genetic disorders. Future longitudinal research would be important to further clarify this and other issues discussed in this research.

Effects of the FITKids randomized controlled trial on executive control and brain function.

PubMed

Hillman, Charles H; Pontifex, Matthew B; Castelli, Darla M; Khan, Naiman A; Raine, Lauren B; Scudder, Mark R; Drollette, Eric S; Moore, Robert D; Wu, Chien-Ting; Kamijo, Keita

2014-10-01

To assess the effect of a physical activity (PA) intervention on brain and behavioral indices of executive control in preadolescent children. Two hundred twenty-one children (7-9 years) were randomly assigned to a 9-month afterschool PA program or a wait-list control. In addition to changes in fitness (maximal oxygen consumption), electrical activity in the brain (P3-ERP) and behavioral measures (accuracy, reaction time) of executive control were collected by using tasks that modulated attentional inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Fitness improved more among intervention participants from pretest to posttest compared with the wait-list control (1.3 mL/kg per minute, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.3 to 2.4; d = 0.34 for group difference in pre-to-post change score). Intervention participants exhibited greater improvements from pretest to posttest in inhibition (3.2%, 95% CI: 0.0 to 6.5; d = 0.27) and cognitive flexibility (4.8%, 95% CI: 1.1 to 8.4; d = 0.35 for group difference in pre-to-post change score) compared with control. Only the intervention group increased attentional resources from pretest to posttest during tasks requiring increased inhibition (1.4 µV, 95% CI: 0.3 to 2.6; d = 0.34) and cognitive flexibility (1.5 µV, 95% CI: 0.6 to 2.5; d = 0.43). Finally, improvements in brain function on the inhibition task (r = 0.22) and performance on the flexibility task correlated with intervention attendance (r = 0.24). The intervention enhanced cognitive performance and brain function during tasks requiring greater executive control. These findings demonstrate a causal effect of a PA program on executive control, and provide support for PA for improving childhood cognition and brain health. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Independence of Hot and Cold Executive Function Deficits in High-Functioning Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Zimmerman, David L; Ownsworth, Tamara; O'Donovan, Analise; Roberts, Jacqueline; Gullo, Matthew J

2016-01-01

Individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) display diverse deficits in social, cognitive and behavioral functioning. To date, there has been mixed findings on the profile of executive function deficits for high-functioning adults (IQ > 70) with ASD. A conceptual distinction is commonly made between "cold" and "hot" executive functions. Cold executive functions refer to mechanistic higher-order cognitive operations (e.g., working memory), whereas hot executive functions entail cognitive abilities supported by emotional awareness and social perception (e.g., social cognition). This study aimed to determine the independence of deficits in hot and cold executive functions for high-functioning adults with ASD. Forty-two adults with ASD (64% male, aged 18-66 years) and 40 age and gender matched controls were administered The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT; emotion recognition and social inference), Letter Number Sequencing (working memory) and Hayling Sentence Completion Test (response initiation and suppression). Between-group analyses identified that the ASD group performed significantly worse than matched controls on all measures of cold and hot executive functions (d = 0.54 - 1.5). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the ASD sample performed more poorly on emotion recognition and social inference tasks than matched controls after controlling for cold executive functions and employment status. The findings also indicated that the ability to recognize emotions and make social inferences was supported by working memory and response initiation and suppression processes. Overall, this study supports the distinction between hot and cold executive function impairments for adults with ASD. Moreover, it advances understanding of higher-order impairments underlying social interaction difficulties for this population which, in turn, may assist with diagnosis and inform intervention programs.

Independence of Hot and Cold Executive Function Deficits in High-Functioning Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Zimmerman, David L.; Ownsworth, Tamara; O'Donovan, Analise; Roberts, Jacqueline; Gullo, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) display diverse deficits in social, cognitive and behavioral functioning. To date, there has been mixed findings on the profile of executive function deficits for high-functioning adults (IQ > 70) with ASD. A conceptual distinction is commonly made between “cold” and “hot” executive functions. Cold executive functions refer to mechanistic higher-order cognitive operations (e.g., working memory), whereas hot executive functions entail cognitive abilities supported by emotional awareness and social perception (e.g., social cognition). This study aimed to determine the independence of deficits in hot and cold executive functions for high-functioning adults with ASD. Forty-two adults with ASD (64% male, aged 18–66 years) and 40 age and gender matched controls were administered The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT; emotion recognition and social inference), Letter Number Sequencing (working memory) and Hayling Sentence Completion Test (response initiation and suppression). Between-group analyses identified that the ASD group performed significantly worse than matched controls on all measures of cold and hot executive functions (d = 0.54 − 1.5). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the ASD sample performed more poorly on emotion recognition and social inference tasks than matched controls after controlling for cold executive functions and employment status. The findings also indicated that the ability to recognize emotions and make social inferences was supported by working memory and response initiation and suppression processes. Overall, this study supports the distinction between hot and cold executive function impairments for adults with ASD. Moreover, it advances understanding of higher-order impairments underlying social interaction difficulties for this population which, in turn, may assist with diagnosis and inform intervention programs. PMID:26903836

Executive Functions in Children Who Experience Bullying Situations

PubMed Central

Medeiros, Wandersonia; Torro-Alves, Nelson; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro F.; Minervino, Carla M.

2016-01-01

Bullying is characterized by intentional, repetitive, and persistent aggressive behavior that causes damage to the victim. Many studies investigate the social and emotional aspects related to bullying, but few assess the cognitive aspects it involves. Studies with aggressive individuals indicate impairment in executive functioning and decision-making. The objective of this study was to assess hot and cold executive functions in children who experience bullying. A total of 60 children between 10 and 11 years of age were included in the study. They were divided into four groups: aggressors (bullies), victims, bully-victims, and control. Tests for decision-making, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were used. The bully group made more unfavorable choices on the Iowa Gambling Task, which may indicate difficulties in the decision-making process. The victim group took longer to complete the Trail Making Test (Part B) than aggressors, suggesting lower cognitive flexibility in victims. The hypothesis that aggressors would have lower performance in other executive functions such as inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility has not been confirmed. This study indicates that bullies have an impairment of hot executive functions whereas victims have a comparatively lower performance in cold executive functions. In addition to social and cultural variables, neurocognitive and emotional factors seem to influence the behavior of children in bullying situations. PMID:27616998

The Effect of Repetitive Saccade Execution on the Attention Network Test: Enhancing Executive Function with a Flick of the Eyes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edlin, James M.; Lyle, Keith B.

2013-01-01

The simple act of repeatedly looking left and right can enhance subsequent cognition, including divergent thinking, detection of matching letters from visual arrays, and memory retrieval. One hypothesis is that saccade execution enhances subsequent cognition by altering attentional control. To test this hypothesis, we compared performance…

Speed isn’t everything: Complex processing speed measures mask individual differences and developmental changes in executive control

PubMed Central

Cepeda, Nicholas J.; Blackwell, Katharine A.; Munakata, Yuko

2012-01-01

The rate at which people process information appears to influence many aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, many commonly accepted measures of “processing speed” may require goal maintenance, manipulation of information in working memory, and decision-making, blurring the distinction between processing speed and executive control and resulting in overestimation of processing-speed contributions to cognition. This concern may apply particularly to studies of developmental change, as even seemingly simple processing speed measures may require executive processes to keep children and older adults on task. We report two new studies and a re-analysis of a published study, testing predictions about how different processing speed measures influence conclusions about executive control across the life span. We find that the choice of processing speed measure affects the relationship observed between processing speed and executive control, in a manner that changes with age, and that choice of processing speed measure affects conclusions about development and the relationship among executive control measures. Implications for understanding processing speed, executive control, and their development are discussed. PMID:23432836

Age-Related Differences in the Reliance on Executive Control in Working Memory: Role of Task Demand

PubMed Central

Isingrini, Michel; Angel, Lucie; Fay, Séverine; Taconnat, Laurence; Lemaire, Patrick; Bouazzaoui, Badiâa

2015-01-01

We examined the hypothesis that age-related differences in the reliance on executive control may be better explained by variations of task demand than by a mechanism specifically linked to aging. To this end, we compared the relationship between the performance of young and older adults on two executive functioning tests and an updating working-memory task with different load levels. The results revealed a significant interaction between age, task demand, and individual executive capacities, indicating that executive resources were only involved at lower loads in older adults, and only at higher loads in young adults. Overall, the results are not consistent with the proposition that cognition places greater demand on executive control in older adults. However, they support the view that how much young and older adults rely on executive control to accomplish cognitive tasks depends on task demand. Finally, interestingly these results are consistent with the CRUNCH model accounting for age-related differences in brain activations. PMID:26700019

Age-Related Differences in the Reliance on Executive Control in Working Memory: Role of Task Demand.

PubMed

Isingrini, Michel; Angel, Lucie; Fay, Séverine; Taconnat, Laurence; Lemaire, Patrick; Bouazzaoui, Badiâa

2015-01-01

We examined the hypothesis that age-related differences in the reliance on executive control may be better explained by variations of task demand than by a mechanism specifically linked to aging. To this end, we compared the relationship between the performance of young and older adults on two executive functioning tests and an updating working-memory task with different load levels. The results revealed a significant interaction between age, task demand, and individual executive capacities, indicating that executive resources were only involved at lower loads in older adults, and only at higher loads in young adults. Overall, the results are not consistent with the proposition that cognition places greater demand on executive control in older adults. However, they support the view that how much young and older adults rely on executive control to accomplish cognitive tasks depends on task demand. Finally, interestingly these results are consistent with the CRUNCH model accounting for age-related differences in brain activations.

Executive functioning during full and partial remission (positive and negative symptomatic remission) of schizophrenia.

PubMed

Braw, Yoram; Benozio, Avi; Levkovitz, Yechiel

2012-12-01

Despite the upsurge of research regarding cognitive impairment in schizophrenia we still lack adequate understanding of the executive functioning of patients in symptomatic remission. Moreover, the cognitive functioning of patients in partial remission has not been studied previously although they comprise a significant proportion of schizophrenia patients. The current study therefore examined the executive functioning of patients in full symptomatic remission and for the first time assessed two sub-groups of patients in partial remission. Executive functioning of five groups was compared; symptomatic patients, patients in positive symptomatic remission, negative symptomatic remission, full symptomatic remission (SP, PSR, NSR, and FSR; N=101) and healthy controls (N=37). A graded cognitive profile was evident between the groups. SP patients exhibited widespread executive dysfunction while the performance of FSR patients was comparable to that of the healthy controls. Both PSR and NSR patients had working memory deficits, with PSR patients showing additional deficits in cognitive planning. The findings are encouraging, tentatively suggesting intact executive functioning among patients in full symptomatic remission. The graded cognitive profile of the patient groups strengthens earlier findings indicating the significant role of negative symptoms in determining executive dysfunction in schizophrenia. The findings point toward potential targets for therapeutic efforts and emphasize the need for further research of sub-groups of schizophrenia patients in partial remission. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Six-Month Cognitive-Motor and Aerobic Exercise Program Improves Executive Function in Persons with an Objective Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Investigation Using the Antisaccade Task.

PubMed

Heath, Matthew; Weiler, Jeffrey; Gregory, Michael A; Gill, Dawn P; Petrella, Robert J

2016-10-04

Persons with an objective cognitive impairment (OCI) are at increased risk for progression to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The present pilot project sought to examine whether participation in a long-term exercise program involving cognitive-motor (CM) dual-task gait training and aerobic exercise training improves executive function in persons with an OCI. To accomplish our objective, individuals with an OCI (n = 12) as determined by a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of less than 26 and older adults (n = 11) deemed to be cognitively healthy (i.e., control group: MoCA score ≥26) completed a six-month moderate-to-high intensity (65-85% maximum heart rate) treadmill-based CM and aerobic exercise training program wherein pre- and post-intervention executive control was examined via the antisaccade task. Notably, antisaccades require a goal-directed eye-movement mirror-symmetrical to a target and represent an ideal tool for the study of executive deficits because of its hands- and language-free nature. As well, the cortical networks mediating antisaccades represent regions associated with neuropathology in cognitive decline and dementia (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). Results showed that antisaccade reaction times for the OCI group reliably decreased by 30 ms from pre- to post-intervention, whereas the control group did not produce a reliable pre- to post-intervention change in reaction time (i.e., 6 ms). Thus, we propose that in persons with OCI long-term CM and aerobic training improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the executive mechanisms mediating high-level oculomotor control.

Adolescents born prematurely with isolated grade 2 haemorrhage in the early 1990s face increased risks of learning challenges.

PubMed

Vohr, Betty R; Allan, Walter; Katz, Karol H; Schneider, Karen; Tucker, Richard; Ment, Laura R

2014-10-01

To compare the impact of low-grade haemorrhage on neurocognitive function in 16-year-old adolescents born preterm, by grade of intraventricular haemorrhage, and term controls. We evaluated 338 preterm adolescents (birth weight 600-1250 g) for intelligence, executive function and memory tasks. Eleven had grade 3-4 haemorrhage, 44 had grade 2, 31 had grade 1, and 251 had no haemorrhage. Group comparisons were made with 102 term age-matched controls, and regression models used to identify the risk that low-grade haemorrhage posed for cognitive, executive function and memory deficits. Preterm adolescents with grade 2 haemorrhage had higher deficit rates of verbal intelligence, receptive vocabulary, phonemic fluency, cognitive flexibility and phonological fluency than preterm adolescents with grade 1 or no haemorrhage, compared with term controls. After excluding preterm adolescents with both grade 2 haemorrhage and cystic periventricular leukomalacia, those with isolated grade 2 haemorrhage remained at greater risk of cognitive and executive function deficits than term controls and of cognitive deficits than preterm adolescents with no haemorrhage. Our findings suggest that preterm adolescents born in the early 1990s with isolated grade 2 haemorrhage are at increased risk of learning challenges, including cognitive and executive function deficits. ©2014 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Accounting for intrusive thoughts in PTSD: Contributions of cognitive control and deliberate regulation strategies.

PubMed

Bomyea, Jessica; Lang, Ariel J

2016-03-01

Persistent, trauma-related intrusive thoughts are common in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Automatic aspects of cognitive functioning (including executive functioning) and maladaptive deliberate attempts at cognitive regulation have been proposed as individual difference factors that may perpetuate intrusive thoughts. The current study sought to examine the joint contribution of these two factors on intrusive thoughts in PTSD. Forty-two women with PTSD completed an executive functioning assessment followed by a thought suppression task. Intrusive thoughts (frequency and duration), as well as participants' use of specific cognitive regulation strategies (avoidance-based thought regulation strategies; TRS), were measured during the task. Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine the interaction of executive functioning and TRS on intrusive thoughts. Greater use of TRS was associated with greater intrusive thought persistence for those with low executive functioning, but not those with high executive functioning. Data was collected cross-sectionally and the laboratory thought suppression task may not correspond to naturalistic thought regulation. Results are consistent with prior literature suggesting that certain responses deployed by individuals to control intrusive thoughts may be unhelpful, but that a higher level of cognitive capacity may mitigate this effect. Implications of these findings for recent models of cognition in PTSD are discussed. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cognitive correlates of financial abilities in mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Okonkwo, Ozioma C; Wadley, Virginia G; Griffith, H Randall; Ball, Karlene; Marson, Daniel C

2006-11-01

To investigate the cognitive correlates of financial abilities in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Controlled, matched-sample, cross-sectional analysis regressing five cognitive composites on financial performance measures. University medical and research centers. Forty-three persons with MCI and 43 normal controls. The Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) and a comprehensive neurocognitive battery. Patients with MCI performed significantly worse than controls on cognitive domains of executive function, memory, and language and on FCI domains of financial conceptual knowledge, bank statement management, and bill payment. Patients with MCI also needed significantly more time to complete a multistep financial task and were significantly more likely than controls to make errors on this task. Stepwise regression models revealed that, within the MCI group, attention and executive function were significant correlates of FCI performance. Although impaired memory is the cardinal deficit in MCI, the neurocognitive basis of lower functional performance in MCI appears to be emergent declines in abilities to selectively attend, self-monitor, and temporally integrate information. Compromised performance on cognitive measures of attention and executive function may constitute clinical markers of lower financial abilities and should be evaluated for its relationship to functional ability in general. These cognitive domains may be appropriate targets of future intervention studies aimed at preservation of functional independence in people with MCI.

Mood effects on memory and executive control in a real-life situation.

PubMed

Lagner, Prune; Kliegel, Matthias; Phillips, Louise H; Ihle, Andreas; Hering, Alexandra; Ballhausen, Nicola; Schnitzspahn, Katharina M

2015-01-01

In the laboratory, studies have shown an inconsistent pattern of whether, and how, mood may affect cognitive functions indicating both mood-related enhancement as well as decline. Surprisingly, little is known about whether there are similar effects in everyday life. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate possible mood effects on memory and executive control in a real-life situation. Mood effects were examined in the context of winning in a sports competition. Sixty-one male handball players were tested with an extensive cognitive test battery (comprising memory and executive control) both after winning a match and after training as neutral baseline. Mood differed significantly between the two testing situations, while physiological arousal and motivation were comparable. Results showed lowered performance after the win compared with training in selected cognitive measures. Specifically, short-term and episodic memory performance was poorer following a win, whereas executive control performance was unaffected by condition. Differences in memory disappeared when emotional states after the match were entered as covariates into the initial analyses. Thus, findings suggest mood-related impairments in memory, but not in executive control processes after a positive real-life event.

Cognitive symptoms facilitatory for diagnoses in neuropsychiatric disorders: executive functions and locus of control.

PubMed

Archer, Trevor; Kostrzewa, Richard M; Beninger, Richard J; Palomo, Tomas

2008-10-01

Cognitive symptoms, considered in conjunction both with their regional brain and biomarkers as well as affective, attributional and neurodevelopmental components, demonstrate ever-increasing complexity to facilitate conceptualization yet, unavoidably, bedevil diagnosis in neuropsychiatry even before considerations of the enigmatic processes in memory, such as executive function and working memory, are drawn into the myriads of equations that await remedial interpretations. Prefrontal and limbic regions of the brain are involved in a diversity of expressions of cognition, normal or dysfunctional, at synaptic, intracellular and molecular levels that mobilize a concatenation of signaling entities. Serotoninergic neurotransission at prefrontal regions directs cognitive-affective entities that mediate decision-making and goal-directed behaviour. Clinical, non-clinical and basic studies challenge attempts to consolidate the multitude of evidence in order to obtain therapeutic notions to alleviate the disordered status of the diagnosed and yet-to-be diagnosed individuals. Locus of control, a concept of some utility in health-seeking procedures, is examined in three self-report studies from the perspective of a cognitive-emotional situation through observations of ordinary, 'healthy' young and middle-aged individuals, to assess the predictors of internal and external locus of control. A notion based on high level executive functioning in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in individuals characterised by internal locus of control is contrasted with a hypofunctional executive DLPFC, characterising individuals that express an external locus of control, is discussed.

General physical activity levels influence positive and negative priming effects in young adults.

PubMed

Kamijo, Keita; Takeda, Yuji

2009-03-01

To investigate the relationship between general physical activity level and the cognitive functions of executive control in young adults using behavioral measures and event-related brain potentials. Forty young adults (mean age=21.1 yrs; 19 females) were differentiated on the basis of their regular physical activity level into two groups: active and sedentary. They performed a spatial priming task consisting of three conditions: control, positive, and negative priming. Spatial priming effects, which are related to executive control and occur automatically, were assessed as indicators of cognitive functioning. Negative priming effects on reaction time and P3 latency in the active group were larger than in the sedentary group. By contrast, positive priming effects were only observed in the sedentary group. The cognitive effects of regular physical activity could be observed using a relatively simple paradigm. The results indicate that regular physical activity has a beneficial effect on the cognitive processes on executive control in young adults. The present study provides additional evidence of the beneficial effects of regular physical activity on cognitive functioning in young adults.

Cognitive performance and electrophysiological indices of cognitive control: a validation study of conflict adaptation.

PubMed

Clayson, Peter E; Larson, Michael J

2012-05-01

Psychiatric and neurologic disorders are associated with deficits in the postconflict recruitment of cognitive control. The primary aim of this study was to validate the relationship between cognitive functioning and indices of conflict adaptation. Event-related potentials were obtained from 89 healthy individuals who completed an Eriksen flanker task. Neuropsychological domains tested included memory, verbal fluency, and attention/executive functioning. Behavioral measures and N2 amplitudes showed significant conflict adaptation (i.e., previous-trial congruencies influenced current-trial measures). Higher scores on the attention/executive functioning and verbal fluency domains were associated with larger incongruent-trial N2 conflict adaptation; measures of cognitive functioning were not related to behavioral indices. This study provides initial validation of N2 conflict adaptation effects as cognitive function-related aspects of cognitive control. Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

The Role of Executive Control and Readiness to Change in Problematic Drinkers with Mild to Borderline Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Duijvenbode, Neomi; Didden, Robert; Korzilius, Hubert P. L. M.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.

2017-01-01

Background: Problematic alcohol use is associated with neuropsychological consequences, including cognitive biases. The goal of the study was to explore the moderating role of executive control and readiness to change on the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive biases in light and problematic drinkers with and without mild to borderline…

Primate Cognition: Attention, Episodic Memory, Prospective Memory, Self-Control, and Metacognition as Examples of Cognitive Control in Nonhuman Primates1

PubMed Central

Menzel, Charles R.; Parrish, Audrey E.; Perdue, Bonnie M.; Sayers, Ken; Smith, J. David; Washburn, David A.

2016-01-01

Primate Cognition is the study of cognitive processes, which represent internal mental processes involved in discriminations, decisions, and behaviors of humans and other primate species. Cognitive control involves executive and regulatory processes that allocate attention, manipulate and evaluate available information (and, when necessary, seek additional information), remember past experiences to plan future behaviors, and deal with distraction and impulsivity when they are threats to goal achievement. Areas of research that relate to cognitive control as it is assessed across species include executive attention, episodic memory, prospective memory, metacognition and self-control. Executive attention refers to the ability to control what sensory stimuli one attends to and how one regulates responses to those stimuli, especially in cases of conflict. Episodic memory refers to memory for personally experienced, autobiographical events. Prospective memory refers to the formation and implementation of future-intended actions, such as remembering what needs to be done later. Metacognition consists of control and monitoring processes that allow individuals to assess what information they have and what information they still need, and then if necessary to seek information. Self-control is a regulatory process whereby individuals forego more immediate or easier to obtain rewards for more delayed or harder to obtain rewards that are objectively more valuable. The behavioral complexity shown by nonhuman primates when given tests to assess these capacities indicates psychological continuities with human cognitive control capacities. However, more research is needed to clarify the proper interpretation of these behaviors with regard to possible cognitive constructs that may underlie such behaviors. PMID:27284790

Drawing links between the autism cognitive profile and imagination: Executive function and processing bias in imaginative drawings by children with and without autism.

PubMed

Ten Eycke, Kayla D; Müller, Ulrich

2018-02-01

Little is known about the relation between cognitive processes and imagination and whether this relation differs between neurotypically developing children and children with autism. To address this issue, we administered a cognitive task battery and Karmiloff-Smith's drawing task, which requires children to draw imaginative people and houses. For children with autism, executive function significantly predicted imaginative drawing. In neurotypically developing controls, executive function and cognitive-perceptual processing style predicted imaginative drawing, but these associations were moderated by mental age. In younger (neurotypically developing) children, better executive function and a local processing bias were associated with imagination; in older children, only a global bias was associated with imagination. These findings suggest that (a) with development there are changes in the type of cognitive processes involved in imagination and (b) children with autism employ a unique cognitive strategy in imaginative drawing.

Neurofeedback and its possible relevance for the treatment of Tourette syndrome.

PubMed

Farkas, Aniko; Bluschke, Annet; Roessner, Veit; Beste, Christian

2015-04-01

Neurofeedback is an increasingly recognized therapeutic option in various neuropsychiatric disorders to treat dysfunctions in cognitive control as well as disorder-specific symptoms. In this review we propose that neurofeedback may also reflect a valuable therapeutic option to treat executive control functions in Gilles-de-la-Tourette syndrome (GTS). Deficits in executive control functions when ADHD symptoms appear in GTS likely reflect pathophysiological processes in cortico-thalamic-striatal circuits and may also underlie the motor symptoms in GTS. Such executive control deficits evident in comorbid GTS/ADHD depend on neurophysiological processes well-known to be modifiable by neurofeedback. However, so far efforts to use neurofeedback to treat cognitive dysfunctions are scarce. We outline why neurofeedback should be considered a promising treatment option, what forms of neurofeedback may prove to be most effective and how neurofeedback may be implemented in existing intervention strategies to treat comorbid GTS/ADHD and associated dysfunctions in cognitive control. As cognitive control deficits in GTS mostly appear in comorbid GTS/ADHD, neurofeedback may be most useful in this frequent combination of disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improves Executive Dysfunctions in ADHD: Implications for Inhibitory Control, Interference Control, Working Memory, and Cognitive Flexibility.

PubMed

Nejati, Vahid; Salehinejad, Mohammad Ali; Nitsche, Michael A; Najian, Asal; Javadi, Amir-Homayoun

2017-09-01

This study examined effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) on major executive functions (EFs), including response inhibition, executive control, working memory (WM), and cognitive flexibility/task switching in ADHD. ADHD children received (a) left anodal/right cathodal DLPFC tDCS and (b) sham stimulation in Experiment 1 and (a) left anodal DLPFC/right cathodal OFC tDCS, (b) left cathodal DLPFC/right anodal OFC tDCS, and (c) sham stimulation in Experiment 2. The current intensity was 1 mA for 15 min with a 72-hr interval between sessions. Participants underwent Go/No-Go task, N-back test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and Stroop task after each tDCS condition. Anodal left DLPFC tDCS most clearly affected executive control functions (e.g., WM, interference inhibition), while cathodal left DLPFC tDCS improved inhibitory control. Cognitive flexibility/task switching benefited from combined DLPFC-OFC, but not DLPFC stimulation alone. Task-specific stimulation protocols can improve EFs in ADHD.

Modeling the Role of Priming in Executive Control: Cognitive and Neural Constraints

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-24

theoretical and empirical advances in our understanding of cognitive control. We discovered new phenomena and developed theories to account for them. We...developed theories of cognitive control and visual attention that integrated mathematical psychology with cognitive science and with neuroscience. We...significant theoretical and empirical advances in our understanding of cognitive control. We discovered new phenomena and developed theories to account

Is language impairment more common than executive dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

PubMed

Taylor, Lorna J; Brown, Richard G; Tsermentseli, Stella; Al-Chalabi, Ammar; Shaw, Christopher E; Ellis, Catherine M; Leigh, P Nigel; Goldstein, Laura H

2013-05-01

Systematic explorations of language abilities in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are lacking in the context of wider cognitive change. Neuropsychological assessment data were obtained from 51 patients with ALS and 35 healthy controls matched for age, gender and IQ. Composite scores were derived for the domains of language and executive functioning. Domain impairment was defined as a composite score ≤5th centile relative to the control mean. Cognitive impairment was also classified using recently published consensus criteria. The patients with ALS were impaired on language and executive composite scores. Language domain impairment was found in 43% of patients with ALS, and executive domain impairment in 31%. Standardised language and executive composite scores correlated in the ALS group (r=0.68, p<0.001). Multiple regression analyses indicated that scores on the executive composite accounted for 44% of the variance in language composite scores. Language impairments are at least as prevalent as executive dysfunction in ALS. While the two domains are strongly associated, executive dysfunction does not fully account for the profile of language impairments observed, further highlighting the heterogeneity of cognitive impairment in non-demented patients with ALS.

Physical Activity Is Associated with Reduced Implicit Learning but Enhanced Relational Memory and Executive Functioning in Young Adults

PubMed Central

Watt, Jennifer C.; Grove, George A.; Wollam, Mariegold E.; Uyar, Fatma; Mataro, Maria; Cohen, Neal J.; Howard, Darlene V.; Howard, James H.; Erickson, Kirk I.

2016-01-01

Accumulating evidence suggests that physical activity improves explicit memory and executive cognitive functioning at the extreme ends of the lifespan (i.e., in older adults and children). However, it is unknown whether these associations hold for younger adults who are considered to be in their cognitive prime, or for implicit cognitive functions that do not depend on motor sequencing. Here we report the results of a study in which we examine the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and (1) explicit relational memory, (2) executive control, and (3) implicit probabilistic sequence learning in a sample of healthy, college-aged adults. The main finding was that physical activity was positively associated with explicit relational memory and executive control (replicating previous research), but negatively associated with implicit learning, particularly in females. These results raise the intriguing possibility that physical activity upregulates some cognitive processes, but downregulates others. Possible implications of this pattern of results for physical health and health habits are discussed. PMID:27584059

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67) were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports (“sports” group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85) and another not involved in music or sports (“control” group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05). During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance. PMID:29084283

A 12-Week Physical and Cognitive Exercise Program Can Improve Cognitive Function and Neural Efficiency in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Nishiguchi, Shu; Yamada, Minoru; Tanigawa, Takanori; Sekiyama, Kaoru; Kawagoe, Toshikazu; Suzuki, Maki; Yoshikawa, Sakiko; Abe, Nobuhito; Otsuka, Yuki; Nakai, Ryusuke; Aoyama, Tomoki; Tsuboyama, Tadao

2015-07-01

To investigate whether a 12-week physical and cognitive exercise program can improve cognitive function and brain activation efficiency in community-dwelling older adults. Randomized controlled trial. Kyoto, Japan. Community-dwelling older adults (N = 48) were randomized into an exercise group (n = 24) and a control group (n = 24). Exercise group participants received a weekly dual task-based multimodal exercise class in combination with pedometer-based daily walking exercise during the 12-week intervention phase. Control group participants did not receive any intervention and were instructed to spend their time as usual during the intervention phase. The outcome measures were global cognitive function, memory function, executive function, and brain activation (measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging) associated with visual short-term memory. Exercise group participants had significantly greater postintervention improvement in memory and executive functions than the control group (P < .05). In addition, after the intervention, less activation was found in several brain regions associated with visual short-term memory, including the prefrontal cortex, in the exercise group (P < .001, uncorrected). A 12-week physical and cognitive exercise program can improve the efficiency of brain activation during cognitive tasks in older adults, which is associated with improvements in memory and executive function. © 2015, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2015, The American Geriatrics Society.

The influence of computer-based cognitive flexibility training on subjective cognitive well-being after stroke: A multi-center randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Murre, Jaap M. J.; Buitenweg, Jessika I. V.; Veltman, Dick J.; Aaronson, Justine A.; Nijboer, Tanja C. W.; Kruiper-Doesborgh, Suzanne J. C.; van Bennekom, Coen A. M.; Ridderinkhof, K. Richard; Schmand, Ben

2017-01-01

Background Stroke can result in cognitive complaints that can have a large impact on quality of life long after its occurrence. A number of computer-based training programs have been developed with the aim to improve cognitive functioning. Most studies investigating their efficacy used only objective outcome measures, whereas a reduction of subjective cognitive complaints may be equally important for improving quality of life. A few studies used subjective outcome measures but were inconclusive, partly due to methodological shortcomings such as lack of proper active and passive control groups. Objective The aim of the current study was to investigate whether computer-based cognitive flexibility training can improve subjective cognitive functioning and quality of life after stroke. Methods We performed a randomized controlled double blind trial (RCT). Adults (30–80 years old) who had a stroke 3 months to 5 years ago, were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 38), an active control group (i.e., mock training; n = 35), or a waiting list control group (n = 24). The intervention and mock training consisted of 58 half-hour sessions within 12 weeks. The primary subjective outcome measures were cognitive functioning (Cognitive Failure Questionnaire), executive functioning (Dysexecutive Functioning Questionnaire), quality of life (Short Form Health Survey), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL; Lawton & Brody IADL scale), and participation in society (Utrecht Scale for Evaluation of Rehabilitation-Participation). Secondary subjective outcome measures were recovery after stroke, depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale—depression subscale), fatigue (Checklist Individual Strength—Fatigue subscale), and subjective cognitive improvement (exit list). Finally, a proxy of the participant rated the training effects in subjective cognitive functioning, subjective executive functioning, and IADL. Results and conclusions All groups improved on the two measures of subjective cognitive functioning and subjective executive functioning, but not on the other measures. These cognitive and executive improvements remained stable 4 weeks after training completion. However, the intervention group did not improve more than the two control groups. This suggests that improvement was due to training-unspecific effects. The proxies did not report any improvements. We, therefore, conclude that the computer-based cognitive flexibility training did not improve subjective cognitive functioning or quality of life after stroke. PMID:29145410

The influence of computer-based cognitive flexibility training on subjective cognitive well-being after stroke: A multi-center randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

van de Ven, Renate M; Murre, Jaap M J; Buitenweg, Jessika I V; Veltman, Dick J; Aaronson, Justine A; Nijboer, Tanja C W; Kruiper-Doesborgh, Suzanne J C; van Bennekom, Coen A M; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; Schmand, Ben

2017-01-01

Stroke can result in cognitive complaints that can have a large impact on quality of life long after its occurrence. A number of computer-based training programs have been developed with the aim to improve cognitive functioning. Most studies investigating their efficacy used only objective outcome measures, whereas a reduction of subjective cognitive complaints may be equally important for improving quality of life. A few studies used subjective outcome measures but were inconclusive, partly due to methodological shortcomings such as lack of proper active and passive control groups. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether computer-based cognitive flexibility training can improve subjective cognitive functioning and quality of life after stroke. We performed a randomized controlled double blind trial (RCT). Adults (30-80 years old) who had a stroke 3 months to 5 years ago, were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 38), an active control group (i.e., mock training; n = 35), or a waiting list control group (n = 24). The intervention and mock training consisted of 58 half-hour sessions within 12 weeks. The primary subjective outcome measures were cognitive functioning (Cognitive Failure Questionnaire), executive functioning (Dysexecutive Functioning Questionnaire), quality of life (Short Form Health Survey), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL; Lawton & Brody IADL scale), and participation in society (Utrecht Scale for Evaluation of Rehabilitation-Participation). Secondary subjective outcome measures were recovery after stroke, depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale-depression subscale), fatigue (Checklist Individual Strength-Fatigue subscale), and subjective cognitive improvement (exit list). Finally, a proxy of the participant rated the training effects in subjective cognitive functioning, subjective executive functioning, and IADL. All groups improved on the two measures of subjective cognitive functioning and subjective executive functioning, but not on the other measures. These cognitive and executive improvements remained stable 4 weeks after training completion. However, the intervention group did not improve more than the two control groups. This suggests that improvement was due to training-unspecific effects. The proxies did not report any improvements. We, therefore, conclude that the computer-based cognitive flexibility training did not improve subjective cognitive functioning or quality of life after stroke.

Interactions of the Salience Network and Its Subsystems with the Default-Mode and the Central-Executive Networks in Normal Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

PubMed

Chand, Ganesh B; Wu, Junjie; Hajjar, Ihab; Qiu, Deqiang

2017-09-01

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations suggest that the intrinsically organized large-scale networks and the interaction between them might be crucial for cognitive activities. A triple network model, which consists of the default-mode network, salience network, and central-executive network, has been recently used to understand the connectivity patterns of the cognitively normal brains versus the brains with disorders. This model suggests that the salience network dynamically controls the default-mode and central-executive networks in healthy young individuals. However, the patterns of interactions have remained largely unknown in healthy aging or those with cognitive decline. In this study, we assess the patterns of interactions between the three networks using dynamical causal modeling in resting state fMRI data and compare them between subjects with normal cognition and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In healthy elderly subjects, our analysis showed that the salience network, especially its dorsal subnetwork, modulates the interaction between the default-mode network and the central-executive network (Mann-Whitney U test; p < 0.05), which was consistent with the pattern of interaction reported in young adults. In contrast, this pattern of modulation by salience network was disrupted in MCI (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the degree of disruption in salience network control correlated significantly with lower overall cognitive performance measured by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (r = 0.295; p < 0.05). This study suggests that a disruption of the salience network control, especially the dorsal salience network, over other networks provides a neuronal basis for cognitive decline and may be a candidate neuroimaging biomarker of cognitive impairment.

[Prematurity: longitudinal analysis of executive functions].

PubMed

Sastre-Riba, S

2009-02-27

Understanding cognitive development requires an interdisciplinary and neuropsychological approach. Executive functions facilitates cognitive activity and they are related to progressive cerebral configuration during pregnancy and infancy. One of the aims of the actual neuropsychology is the ontogeny of executive functions and their capacity to explain differential and normative developmental trends, specially because of its consequences on mental flexibility, monitoring, planning and cognitive control; they are also essential for good performance at school. The incidence of developmental risk factors as prematurity could affect long-term executive functioning expressed in learning difficulties or behavioral control. We studied, comparatively and longitudinally, the individual activity on objects displayed by typical babies (n = 25), and preterm babies (n = 10) from 1.5 to 2 years-old. Applying systematic observational methodology, spontaneous babies' activity is registered. Double intra and inter-group analysis compare the data from the resolution of a non-verbal task through a multifaceted design. Results obtained show us differential pattern of early executive functioning among the groups studied. The growth of executive functioning is showed, too, through the ages studied for every group.

Primate cognition: attention, episodic memory, prospective memory, self-control, and metacognition as examples of cognitive control in nonhuman primates.

PubMed

Beran, Michael J; Menzel, Charles R; Parrish, Audrey E; Perdue, Bonnie M; Sayers, Ken; Smith, J David; Washburn, David A

2016-09-01

Primate Cognition is the study of cognitive processes, which represent internal mental processes involved in discriminations, decisions, and behaviors of humans and other primate species. Cognitive control involves executive and regulatory processes that allocate attention, manipulate and evaluate available information (and, when necessary, seek additional information), remember past experiences to plan future behaviors, and deal with distraction and impulsivity when they are threats to goal achievement. Areas of research that relate to cognitive control as it is assessed across species include executive attention, episodic memory, prospective memory, metacognition, and self-control. Executive attention refers to the ability to control what sensory stimuli one attends to and how one regulates responses to those stimuli, especially in cases of conflict. Episodic memory refers to memory for personally experienced, autobiographical events. Prospective memory refers to the formation and implementation of future-intended actions, such as remembering what needs to be done later. Metacognition consists of control and monitoring processes that allow individuals to assess what information they have and what information they still need, and then if necessary to seek information. Self-control is a regulatory process whereby individuals forego more immediate or easier to obtain rewards for more delayed or harder to obtain rewards that are objectively more valuable. The behavioral complexity shown by nonhuman primates when given tests to assess these capacities indicates psychological continuities with human cognitive control capacities. However, more research is needed to clarify the proper interpretation of these behaviors with regard to possible cognitive constructs that may underlie such behaviors. WIREs Cogn Sci 2016, 7:294-316. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1397 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Impact of Elevated Core Body Temperature on Attention Networks.

PubMed

Liu, Kai; Jiang, Qingjun; Li, Li; Li, Bo; Yang, Zhen; Qian, Shaowen; Li, Min; Sun, Gang

2015-12-01

Cognitive function can be impaired after passive heat exposure and with an elevation in core body temperature (Tcore). This study examined the dynamic correlation among passive heat exposure, Tcore, and cognition. We gave the Attention Network Test of alerting, orienting, and executive control to five groups of five young men who were being exposed to a hyperthermic condition (50°C, 40% relative humidity) for 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40 minutes. We used the participants' reaction time, accuracy (correct responses), efficiency (accuracy÷reaction time), and Tcore to estimate optimal curve models for best fit of data. We could not estimate an appropriate curve model for either alerting or orienting with Tcore, change in Tcore, or duration of passive heat exposure. We estimated quadratic models for Tcore and duration (adjusted R=0.752), change in Tcore and duration (0.906), executive control score and duration (0.509), and efficiency of executive control and duration (0.293). We estimated linear models for executive control score and Tcore (0.479), efficiency of executive control and Tcore (0.261), executive control score and change in Tcore (0.279), and efficiency of executive control and change in Tcore (0.262). Different attentional abilities had different sensitivities to thermal stress. Executive control of attention deteriorated linearly with a rise in Tcore within the normal physiologic range, but deteriorated nonlinearly with longer passive heat exposure.

Cognitive reserve and emotional stimuli in older individuals: level of education moderates the age-related positivity effect.

PubMed

Bruno, Davide; Brown, Adam D; Kapucu, Aycan; Marmar, Charles R; Pomara, Nunzio

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: A frequently observed age-related effect is a preference in older individuals for positive stimuli. The cognitive control model proposes that this positivity effect may be mediated by executive functions. We propose that cognitive reserve, operationally defined as years of education, which tempers cognitive decline and has been linked to executive functions, should also influence the age-related positivity effect, especially as age advances. An emotional free recall test was administered to a group of 84 cognitively intact individuals aged 60 to 88, who varied in years of education. As part of a larger test battery, data were obtained on measures of executive functioning and depression. Multiple regression and moderation analyses were performed, controlling for general cognitive function, severity of depressive symptoms, and executive function. In our data, years of education appeared to moderate the effect of age on the positivity effect; age was negatively associated with recall of positive words in participants with fewer years of education, whereas a nonsignificant positive correlation was observed between age and positivity in participants with more education. Cognitive reserve appears to play a role in explaining individual differences in the positivity effect in healthy older individuals. Future studies should investigate whether cognitive reserve is also implicated in the ability to process a wide range of emotional stimuli and whether greater reserve is reflected in improved emotional regulation.

Fluid Intelligence as a Mediator of the Relationship between Executive Control and Balanced Time Perspective.

PubMed

Zajenkowski, Marcin; Stolarski, Maciej; Witowska, Joanna; Maciantowicz, Oliwia; Łowicki, Paweł

2016-01-01

This study examined the cognitive foundations of the balanced time perspective (BTP) proposed by Zimbardo and Boyd (1999). Although BTP is defined as the mental ability to switch effectively between different temporal perspectives, its connection with cognitive functioning has not yet been established. We addressed this by exploring the relationships between time perspectives and both fluid intelligence (measured with Raven's and Cattell's tests) and executive control (Go/No-go and anti-saccade tasks). An investigation conducted among Polish adults ( N = 233) revealed that more balanced TP profile was associated with higher fluid intelligence, and higher executive control. Moreover, we found that the relationship between executive control and BTP was completely mediated by fluid intelligence with the effect size (the ratio of the indirect effect to the total effect) of 0.75, which suggests that cognitive abilities play an important role in adoption of temporal balance. The findings have relevance to time perspective theory as they provide valuable insight into the mechanisms involved in assigning human experience to certain time frames.

Meditation in Higher Education: Does It Enhance Cognition?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helber, Casey; Zook, Nancy A.; Immergut, Matthew

2012-01-01

We predicted that students in a sociology course that included contemplative practices (i.e., mindfulness meditation) would show an increase in performance on higher level cognitive abilities (executive functions) over the semester compared to a control group of students. Change in executive functions performance was not significantly different…

Executive function in fibromyalgia: Comparing subjective and objective measures.

PubMed

Gelonch, Olga; Garolera, Maite; Valls, Joan; Rosselló, Lluís; Pifarré, Josep

2016-04-01

There is evidence to suggest the existence of an executive dysfunction in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia, although there are certain inconsistencies between studies. Here, we aim to compare executive performance between patients with fibromyalgia and a control group by using subjective and objective cognitive tests, analyzing the influence of patient mood on the results obtained, and studying associations between the two measures. 82 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 42 healthy controls, matched by age and years of education, were assessed using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult Version (BRIEF-A) as a subjective measure of executive functioning. A selection of objective cognitive tests were also used to measure a series of executive functions and to identify symptoms of depression and anxiety. Patients with fibromyalgia perceived greater difficulties than the control group on all of the BRIEF-A scales. However, after adjustments were made for depression and anxiety the only differences that remained were those associated with the working memory scale and the Metacognition and Global Executive Composite index. In the case of the objective cognitive tests, a significantly worse overall performance was evidenced for the fibromyalgia patients. However, this also disappeared when adjustments were made for depression and anxiety. After this adjustment, fibromyalgia patients only performed significantly worse for the interference effect in the Stroop Test. Although there were no significant associations between most of the objective cognitive tests and the BRIEF-A scales, depression and anxiety exhibited strong associations with almost all of the BRIEF-A scales and with several of the objective cognitive tests. Patients with fibromyalgia showed executive dysfunction in subjective and objective measures, although most of this impairment was associated with mood disturbances. Exceptions to this general rule were observed in the impairment of working memory evidenced on the BRIEF-A scale and the inhibition impairment exhibited by the interference effect from the Stroop Test. The two types of measurement provide different yet complementary information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The benefits of Tai Chi and brisk walking for cognitive function and fitness in older adults

PubMed Central

Ji, Zhiguang; Feng, Tian; Liu, Xiaolei; You, Yihong; Meng, Fanying; Wang, Ruoqing; Lu, Jialing

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of exercises with different cognitive demands for cognitive functions (Executive and non-Executive) in healthy older adults. A cross-sectional design was adopted. In total, 84 healthy older adults were enrolled in the study. They were categorized into the Tai Chi group (TG), the brisk walking group (BG) or the control group (CG). Each participant performed the Stroop task and a digit comparison task. The Stroop task included the following three conditions: a naming condition, an inhibition condition and an executive condition. There were two experimental conditions in the digit comparison task: the non-delay condition and the delay condition. The results indicated that participants of the TG and BG revealed significant better performance than the CG in the executive condition of cognitive tasks and fitness. There was no significant difference of reaction time (RT) and accuracy rate in the inhibition and delay conditions of cognitive tasks and fitness between the TG and BG. The TG showed shorter reaction time in the naming and the executive conditions, and more accurate in the inhibition conditions than the BG. These findings demonstrated that regular participation in brisk walking and Tai Chi have significant beneficial effects on executive function and fitness. However, due to the high cognitive demands of the exercise, Tai Chi benefit cognitive functions (Executive and non-Executive) in older adults more than brisk walking does. Further studies should research the underlying mechanisms at the behavioural and neuroelectric levels, providing more evidence to explain the effect of high-cognitive demands exercise on different processing levels of cognition. PMID:29062610

Concurrent and Short-term Prospective Relations among Neurocognitive Functioning, Coping, and Depressive Symptoms in Youth

PubMed Central

Evans, Lindsay D.; Kouros, Chrystyna D.; Samanez-Larkin, Silvia; Garber, Judy

2016-01-01

Objective The present short-term longitudinal study examined the concurrent and prospective relations among executive functioning (i.e., working memory and cognitive flexibility), coping (primary and secondary control coping), and depressive symptoms in children. Method Participants were 192 children between 9 and 15 years old (mean age = 12.36 years, SD = 1.77) recruited from the community. Youth were individually administered neuropsychological measures of executive functioning and intelligence, and completed self-report measures of executive dysfunction, coping, and depressive symptoms in small groups; the latter two measures were completed again four months later (Time 2). Linear regression analyses were used to examine direct associations among executive functions, coping, and depressive symptoms, and a bootstrapping procedure was used to test indirect effects of executive functioning on depressive symptoms through coping. Results Significant prospective relations were found between working memory measured at Time 1 (T1) and both primary and secondary control coping measured at Time 2 (T2), controlling for T1 coping. T1 cognitive flexibility significantly predicted T2 secondary control coping, controlling for T1 coping. Working memory deficits significantly predicted increases in depressive symptoms four months later, controlling for T1 depressive symptoms. Bootstrap analyses revealed that primary and secondary control coping each partially mediated the relation between working memory and depressive symptoms; secondary control coping partially mediated the relation between cognitive flexibility and depressive symptoms. Conclusion Coping may be one pathway through which deficits in executive functioning contribute to children's symptoms of depression. PMID:25651455

The puzzle of processing speed, memory, and executive function impairments in schizophrenia: fitting the pieces together.

PubMed

Knowles, Emma E M; Weiser, Mark; David, Anthony S; Glahn, David C; Davidson, Michael; Reichenberg, Abraham

2015-12-01

Substantial impairment in performance on the digit-symbol substitution task in patients with schizophrenia is well established, which has been widely interpreted as denoting a specific impairment in processing speed. However, other higher order cognitive functions might be more critical to performance on this task. To date, this idea has not been rigorously investigated in patients with schizophrenia. Neuropsychological measures of processing speed, memory, and executive functioning were completed by 125 patients with schizophrenia and 272 control subjects. We implemented a series of confirmatory factor and structural regression modeling to build an integrated model of processing speed, memory, and executive function with which to deconstruct the digit-symbol substitution task and characterize discrepancies between patients with schizophrenia and control subjects. The overall structure of the processing speed, memory, and executive function model was the same across groups (χ(2) = 208.86, p > .05), but the contribution of the specific cognitive domains to coding task performance differed significantly. When completing the task, control subjects relied on executive function and, indirectly, on working memory ability, whereas patients with schizophrenia used an alternative set of cognitive operations whereby they relied on the same processes required to complete verbal fluency tasks. Successful coding task performance relies predominantly on executive function, rather than processing speed or memory. Patients with schizophrenia perform poorly on this task because of an apparent lack of appropriate executive function input; they rely instead on an alternative cognitive pathway. Copyright © 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. 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.

Deficits in executive and memory processes in delusional disorder: a case-control study.

PubMed

Ibanez-Casas, Inmaculada; De Portugal, Enrique; Gonzalez, Nieves; McKenney, Kathryn A; Haro, Josep M; Usall, Judith; Perez-Garcia, Miguel; Cervilla, Jorge A

2013-01-01

Delusional disorder has been traditionally considered a psychotic syndrome that does not evolve to cognitive deterioration. However, to date, very little empirical research has been done to explore cognitive executive components and memory processes in Delusional Disorder patients. This study will investigate whether patients with delusional disorder are intact in both executive function components (such as flexibility, impulsivity and updating components) and memory processes (such as immediate, short term and long term recall, learning and recognition). A large sample of patients with delusional disorder (n = 86) and a group of healthy controls (n = 343) were compared with regard to their performance in a broad battery of neuropsychological tests including Trail Making Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Colour-Word Stroop Test, and Complutense Verbal Learning Test (TAVEC). When compared to controls, cases of delusional disorder showed a significantly poorer performance in most cognitive tests. Thus, we demonstrate deficits in flexibility, impulsivity and updating components of executive functions as well as in memory processes. These findings held significant after taking into account sex, age, educational level and premorbid IQ. Our results do not support the traditional notion of patients with delusional disorder being cognitively intact.

Social cognition dysfunction in adolescents with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (velo-cardio-facial syndrome): relationship with executive functioning and social competence/functioning.

PubMed

Campbell, L E; McCabe, K L; Melville, J L; Strutt, P A; Schall, U

2015-09-01

Social difficulties are often noted among people with intellectual disabilities. Children and adults with 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) often have poorer social competence as well as poorer performance on measures of executive and social-cognitive skills compared with typically developing young people. However, the relationship between social functioning and more basic processes of social cognition and executive functioning are not well understood in 22q11DS. The present study examined the relationship between social-cognitive measures of emotion attribution and theory of mind with executive functioning and their contribution to social competence in 22q11DS. The present cross-sectional study measured social cognition and executive performance of 24 adolescents with 22q11DS compared with 27 age-matched typically developing controls. Social cognition was tested using the emotion attribution task (EAT) and a picture sequencing task (PST), which tested mentalising (false-belief), sequencing, cause and effect, and inhibition. Executive functioning was assessed using computerised versions of the Tower of London task and working memory measures of spatial and non-spatial ability. Social competence was also assessed using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Adolescents with 22q11DS showed impaired false-belief, emotion attribution and executive functioning compared with typically developing control participants. Poorer performance was reported on all story types in the PST, although, patterns of errors and response times across story types were similar in both groups. General sequencing ability was the strongest predictor of false-belief, and performance on the false-belief task predicted emotion attribution accuracy. Intellectual functioning, rather than theory of mind or executive functioning, predicted social competence in 22q11DS. Performance on social-cognitive tasks of theory of mind indicate evidence of a general underlying dysfunction in 22q11DS that includes executive ability to understand cause and effect, to logically reason about social scenarios and also to inhibit responses to salient, but misleading cues. However, general intellectual ability is closely related to actual social competence suggesting that a generalised intellectual deficit coupled with more specific executive impairments may best explain poor social cognition in 22q11DS. © 2015 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cognitively and physically demanding exergaming to improve executive functions of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomised clinical trial.

PubMed

Benzing, Valentin; Schmidt, Mirko

2017-01-10

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders observed in childhood and adolescence. Its key symptoms - reduced attention, poor control of impulses as well as increased motor activity - are associated with decreased executive functions performance, finally affecting academic achievement. Although drug treatments usually show some effect, alternative treatments are continually being sought, due to lack of commitment and possible side effects. Cognitive trainings are frequently used with the objectives of increasing executive function performance. However, since transfer effects are limited and novelty and diversity are frequently ignored, interventions combining physical and cognitive demands targeting a broader range of cognitive processes are demanded. The aim of the study is to examine the effects of a cognitively and physically demanding exergame on executive functions of children with ADHD. In a randomised clinical trial, 66 girls and boys diagnosed with ADHD (age 8-12) will be assigned either to an 8-week exergame intervention group (three training sessions per week à 30 min) or a waiting-list control group. Before and afterwards, the executive function performance (computer-based tests), the sport motor performance and ADHD symptoms will be assessed. The current study will offer insights into the effectiveness of a combination of cognitive and physical training using exergaming. Positive effects on the executive functions, sport motor performance and ADHD symptoms are hypothesized. Beneficial effects would mean a large degree of scalability (simple and cost-effective) and high utility for patients with ADHD. KEK BE 393/15 (March 8, 2016); DRKS00010171 (March 14, 2016).

Insula Demonstrates a Non-Linear Response to Varying Demand for Cognitive Control and Weaker Resting Connectivity With the Executive Control Network in Smokers.

PubMed

Fedota, John R; Matous, Allison L; Salmeron, Betty Jo; Gu, Hong; Ross, Thomas J; Stein, Elliot A

2016-09-01

Deficits in cognitive control processes are a primary characteristic of nicotine addiction. However, while network-based connectivity measures of dysfunction have frequently been observed, empirical evidence of task-based dysfunction in these processes has been inconsistent. Here, in a sample of smokers (n=35) and non-smokers (n=21), a previously validated parametric flanker task is employed to characterize addiction-related alterations in responses to varying (ie, high, intermediate, and low) demands for cognitive control. This approach yields a demand-response curve that aims to characterize potential non-linear responses to increased demand for control, including insensitivities or lags in fully activating the cognitive control network. We further used task-based differences in activation between groups as seeds for resting-state analysis of network dysfunction in an effort to more closely link prior inconsistencies in task-related activation with evidence of impaired network connectivity in smokers. For both smokers and non-smokers, neuroimaging results showed similar increases in activation in brain areas associated with cognitive control. However, reduced activation in right insula was seen only in smokers and only when processing intermediate demand for cognitive control. Further, in smokers, this task-modulated right insula showed weaker functional connectivity with the superior frontal gyrus, a component of the task-positive executive control network. These results demonstrate that the neural instantiation of salience attribution in smokers is both more effortful to fully activate and has more difficulty communicating with the exogenous, task-positive, executive control network. Together, these findings further articulate the cognitive control dysfunction associated with smoking and illustrate a specific brain circuit potentially responsible.

Baseline Telomere Length and Effects of a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention on Cognition: The FINGER Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Sindi, Shireen; Ngandu, Tiia; Hovatta, Iiris; Kåreholt, Ingemar; Antikainen, Riitta; Hänninen, Tuomo; Levälahti, Esko; Laatikainen, Tiina; Lindström, Jaana; Paajanen, Teemu; Peltonen, Markku; Khalsa, Dharma Singh; Wolozin, Benjamin; Strandberg, Timo; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Soininen, Hilkka; Kivipelto, Miia; Solomon, Alina

2017-01-01

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a biomarker of aging, and it is associated with lifestyle. It is currently unknown whether LTL is associated with the response to lifestyle interventions. The goal is to assess whether baseline LTL modified the cognitive benefits of a 2-year multidomain lifestyle intervention (exploratory analyses). The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) was a 2-year randomized controlled trial including 1,260 people at risk of cognitive decline, aged 60–77 years identified from the general population. Participants were randomly assigned to the lifestyle intervention (diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk management) and control (general health advice) groups. Primary outcome was change in cognition (comprehensive neuropsychological test battery). Secondary outcomes were changes in cognitive domains: memory, executive functioning, and processing speed. 775 participants (392 control, 383 intervention) had baseline LTL (peripheral blood DNA). Mixed effects regression models with maximum likelihood estimation were used to analyze change in cognition as a function of randomization group, time, baseline LTL, and their interaction. Intervention and control groups did not significantly differ at baseline. Shorter LTL was related to less healthy baseline lifestyle. Intervention benefits on executive functioning were more pronounced among those with shorter baseline LTL (p-value for interaction was 0.010 adjusted for age and sex, and 0.007 additionally adjusted for baseline lifestyle factors). The FINGER intervention cognitive benefits were more pronounced with shorter baseline LTL, particularly for executive functioning, indicating that the multidomain lifestyle intervention was especially beneficial among higher-risk individuals. PMID:28777749

Baseline Telomere Length and Effects of a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention on Cognition: The FINGER Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Sindi, Shireen; Ngandu, Tiia; Hovatta, Iiris; Kåreholt, Ingemar; Antikainen, Riitta; Hänninen, Tuomo; Levälahti, Esko; Laatikainen, Tiina; Lindström, Jaana; Paajanen, Teemu; Peltonen, Markku; Khalsa, Dharma Singh; Wolozin, Benjamin; Strandberg, Timo; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Soininen, Hilkka; Kivipelto, Miia; Solomon, Alina

2017-01-01

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a biomarker of aging, and it is associated with lifestyle. It is currently unknown whether LTL is associated with the response to lifestyle interventions. The goal is to assess whether baseline LTL modified the cognitive benefits of a 2-year multidomain lifestyle intervention (exploratory analyses). The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) was a 2-year randomized controlled trial including 1,260 people at risk of cognitive decline, aged 60-77 years identified from the general population. Participants were randomly assigned to the lifestyle intervention (diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk management) and control (general health advice) groups. Primary outcome was change in cognition (comprehensive neuropsychological test battery). Secondary outcomes were changes in cognitive domains: memory, executive functioning, and processing speed. 775 participants (392 control, 383 intervention) had baseline LTL (peripheral blood DNA). Mixed effects regression models with maximum likelihood estimation were used to analyze change in cognition as a function of randomization group, time, baseline LTL, and their interaction. Intervention and control groups did not significantly differ at baseline. Shorter LTL was related to less healthy baseline lifestyle. Intervention benefits on executive functioning were more pronounced among those with shorter baseline LTL (p-value for interaction was 0.010 adjusted for age and sex, and 0.007 additionally adjusted for baseline lifestyle factors). The FINGER intervention cognitive benefits were more pronounced with shorter baseline LTL, particularly for executive functioning, indicating that the multidomain lifestyle intervention was especially beneficial among higher-risk individuals.

Emotional bias of cognitive control in adults with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

PubMed Central

Schulz, Kurt P.; Bédard, Anne-Claude V.; Fan, Jin; Clerkin, Suzanne M.; Dima, Danai; Newcorn, Jeffrey H.; Halperin, Jeffrey M.

2014-01-01

Affect recognition deficits found in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the lifespan may bias the development of cognitive control processes implicated in the pathophysiology of the disorder. This study aimed to determine the mechanism through which facial expressions influence cognitive control in young adults diagnosed with ADHD in childhood. Fourteen probands with childhood ADHD and 14 comparison subjects with no history of ADHD were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a face emotion go/no-go task. Event-related analyses contrasted activation and functional connectivity for cognitive control collapsed over face valence and tested for variations in activation for response execution and inhibition as a function of face valence. Probands with childhood ADHD made fewer correct responses and inhibitions overall than comparison subjects, but demonstrated comparable effects of face emotion on response execution and inhibition. The two groups showed similar frontotemporal activation for cognitive control collapsed across face valence, but differed in the functional connectivity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with fewer interactions with the subgenual cingulate cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and putamen in probands than in comparison subjects. Further, valence-dependent activation for response execution was seen in the amygdala, ventral striatum, subgenual cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex in comparison subjects but not in probands. The findings point to functional anomalies in limbic networks for both the valence-dependent biasing of cognitive control and the valence-independent cognitive control of face emotion processing in probands with childhood ADHD. This limbic dysfunction could impact cognitive control in emotional contexts and may contribute to the social and emotional problems associated with ADHD. PMID:24918067

Emotional bias of cognitive control in adults with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Schulz, Kurt P; Bédard, Anne-Claude V; Fan, Jin; Clerkin, Suzanne M; Dima, Danai; Newcorn, Jeffrey H; Halperin, Jeffrey M

2014-01-01

Affect recognition deficits found in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the lifespan may bias the development of cognitive control processes implicated in the pathophysiology of the disorder. This study aimed to determine the mechanism through which facial expressions influence cognitive control in young adults diagnosed with ADHD in childhood. Fourteen probands with childhood ADHD and 14 comparison subjects with no history of ADHD were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a face emotion go/no-go task. Event-related analyses contrasted activation and functional connectivity for cognitive control collapsed over face valence and tested for variations in activation for response execution and inhibition as a function of face valence. Probands with childhood ADHD made fewer correct responses and inhibitions overall than comparison subjects, but demonstrated comparable effects of face emotion on response execution and inhibition. The two groups showed similar frontotemporal activation for cognitive control collapsed across face valence, but differed in the functional connectivity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with fewer interactions with the subgenual cingulate cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and putamen in probands than in comparison subjects. Further, valence-dependent activation for response execution was seen in the amygdala, ventral striatum, subgenual cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex in comparison subjects but not in probands. The findings point to functional anomalies in limbic networks for both the valence-dependent biasing of cognitive control and the valence-independent cognitive control of face emotion processing in probands with childhood ADHD. This limbic dysfunction could impact cognitive control in emotional contexts and may contribute to the social and emotional problems associated with ADHD.

Exposing an “Intangible” Cognitive Skill among Collegiate Football Players: Enhanced Interference Control

PubMed Central

Wylie, Scott A.; Bashore, Theodore R.; Van Wouwe, Nelleke C.; Mason, Emily J.; John, Kevin D.; Neimat, Joseph S.; Ally, Brandon A.

2018-01-01

American football is played in a chaotic visual environment filled with relevant and distracting information. We investigated the hypothesis that collegiate football players show exceptional skill at shielding their response execution from the interfering effects of distraction (interference control). The performances of 280 football players from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football programs were compared to age-matched controls in a variant of the Eriksen flanker task (Eriksen and Eriksen, 1974). This task quantifies the magnitude of interference produced by visual distraction on split-second response execution. Overall, football athletes and age controls showed similar mean reaction times (RTs) and accuracy rates. However, football athletes were more proficient at shielding their response execution speed from the interfering effects of distraction (i.e., smaller flanker effect costs on RT). Offensive and defensive players showed smaller interference costs compared to controls, but defensive players showed the smallest costs. All defensive positions and one offensive position showed statistically smaller interference effects when compared directly to age controls. These data reveal a clear cognitive advantage among football athletes at executing motor responses in the face of distraction, the existence and magnitude of which vary by position. Individual differences in cognitive control may have important implications for both player selection and development to improve interference control capabilities during play. PMID:29479325

Symbiosis of executive and selective attention in working memory

PubMed Central

Vandierendonck, André

2014-01-01

The notion of working memory (WM) was introduced to account for the usage of short-term memory resources by other cognitive tasks such as reasoning, mental arithmetic, language comprehension, and many others. This collaboration between memory and other cognitive tasks can only be achieved by a dedicated WM system that controls task coordination. To that end, WM models include executive control. Nevertheless, other attention control systems may be involved in coordination of memory and cognitive tasks calling on memory resources. The present paper briefly reviews the evidence concerning the role of selective attention in WM activities. A model is proposed in which selective attention control is directly linked to the executive control part of the WM system. The model assumes that apart from storage of declarative information, the system also includes an executive WM module that represents the current task set. Control processes are automatically triggered when particular conditions in these modules are met. As each task set represents the parameter settings and the actions needed to achieve the task goal, it will depend on the specific settings and actions whether selective attention control will have to be shared among the active tasks. Only when such sharing is required, task performance will be affected by the capacity limits of the control system involved. PMID:25152723

Symbiosis of executive and selective attention in working memory.

PubMed

Vandierendonck, André

2014-01-01

The notion of working memory (WM) was introduced to account for the usage of short-term memory resources by other cognitive tasks such as reasoning, mental arithmetic, language comprehension, and many others. This collaboration between memory and other cognitive tasks can only be achieved by a dedicated WM system that controls task coordination. To that end, WM models include executive control. Nevertheless, other attention control systems may be involved in coordination of memory and cognitive tasks calling on memory resources. The present paper briefly reviews the evidence concerning the role of selective attention in WM activities. A model is proposed in which selective attention control is directly linked to the executive control part of the WM system. The model assumes that apart from storage of declarative information, the system also includes an executive WM module that represents the current task set. Control processes are automatically triggered when particular conditions in these modules are met. As each task set represents the parameter settings and the actions needed to achieve the task goal, it will depend on the specific settings and actions whether selective attention control will have to be shared among the active tasks. Only when such sharing is required, task performance will be affected by the capacity limits of the control system involved.

Theory of mind and empathy in preclinical and clinical Huntington’s disease

PubMed Central

Adjeroud, Najia; Besnard, Jérémy; Massioui, Nicole El; Verny, Christophe; Prudean, Adriana; Scherer, Clarisse; Gohier, Bénédicte; Bonneau, Dominique

2016-01-01

We investigated cognitive and affective Theory of Mind (ToM) and empathy in patients with premanifest and manifest Huntington’s disease (HD). The relationship between ToM performance and executive skills was also examined. Sixteen preclinical and 23 clinical HD patients, and 39 healthy subjects divided into 2 control groups were given a French adaptation of the Yoni test (Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Aharon-Peretz, J. (2007). Dissociable prefrontal networks for cognitive and affective theory of mind: a lesion study. Neuropsychologia, 45(3), 3054–67) that examines first- and second-order cognitive and affective ToM processing in separate conditions with a physical control condition. Participants were also given questionnaires of empathy and cognitive tests which mainly assessed executive functions (inhibition and mental flexibility). Clinical HD patients made significantly more errors than their controls in the first- and second-order cognitive and affective ToM conditions of the Yoni task, but exhibited no empathy deficits. However, there was no evidence that ToM impairment was related to cognitive deficits in these patients. Preclinical HD patients were unimpaired in ToM tasks and empathy measures compared with their controls. Our results are consistent with the idea that impaired affective and cognitive mentalizing emerges with the clinical manifestation of HD, but is not necessarily part of the preclinical stage. Furthermore, these impairments appear independent of executive dysfunction and empathy. PMID:26211015

Autism Spectrum Disorder and intact executive functioning.

PubMed

Ferrara, R; Ansermet, F; Massoni, F; Petrone, L; Onofri, E; Ricci, P; Archer, T; Ricci, S

2016-01-01

Earliest notions concerning autism (Autism Spectrum Disorders, ASD) describe the disturbance in executive functioning. Despite altered definition, executive functioning, expressed as higher cognitive skills required complex behaviors linked to the prefrontal cortex, are defective in autism. Specific difficulties in children presenting autism or verbal disabilities at executive functioning levels have been identified. Nevertheless, the developmental deficit of executive functioning in autism is highly diversified with huge individual variation and may even be absent. The aim of the present study to examine the current standing of intact executive functioning intact in ASD. Analysis of ASD populations, whether high-functioning, Asperger's or autism Broad Phenotype, studied over a range of executive functions including response inhibition, planning, cognitive flexibility, cognitive inhibition, and alerting networks indicates an absence of damage/impairment compared to the typically-developed normal control subjects. These findings of intact executive functioning in ASD subjects provide a strong foundation on which to construct applications for growth environments and the rehabilitation of autistic subjects.

Executive dysfunction in schizophrenia and its association with mentalizing abilities.

PubMed

Gavilán, José M; García-Albea, José E

2015-01-01

Patients with schizophrenia have been found impaired in important aspects of their basic and social cognition. Our aim in this study is to explore the relationship between executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) deficiencies in patients that suffer the illness. Twenty-two Spanish-speaking inpatients and 22 healthy controls matched in age, sex, education, language dominance, and premorbid IQ were assessed in EF and ToM abilities. The former were assessed using 10 tasks that covered 5 cognitive dimensions and the latter using 3 different tasks. Correlation analyses were used to explore the level of association between executive and mentalizing abilities. A series of discriminant function analyses were carried out to examine the relative contribution of each executive and mentalizing task to discriminate between patients and controls. Patients showed impairments in both, executive and ToM abilities. The correlation analyses showed a virtual absence of association between EF and ToM abilities within the group of patients, and an almost opposite pattern within the healthy group. ToM performance was more accurate than executive performance to discriminate patients from controls. Although EFs and ToM deficits come into view together in schizophrenia, they appear to belong to different and relatively independent cognitive domains. Copyright © 2013 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Aerobic Fitness and Cognitive Development: Event-Related Brain Potential and Task Performance Indices of Executive Control in Preadolescent Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillman, Charles H.; Buck, Sarah M.; Themanson, Jason R.; Pontifex, Matthew B.; Castelli, Darla M.

2009-01-01

The relationship between aerobic fitness and executive control was assessed in 38 higher- and lower-fit children (M[subscript age] = 9.4 years), grouped according to their performance on a field test of aerobic capacity. Participants performed a flanker task requiring variable amounts of executive control while event-related brain potential…

Estrogen Replacement Improves Verbal Memory and Executive Control in Oligomenorrheic/Amenorrheic Athletes in a Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Baskaran, Charumathi; Cunningham, Brooke; Plessow, Franziska; Singhal, Vibha; Woolley, Ryan; Ackerman, Kathryn E; Slattery, Meghan; Lee, Hang; Lawson, Elizabeth A; Eddy, Kamryn; Misra, Madhusmita

2017-05-01

Both estrogen and exercise may have cognition enhancing benefits; however, young oligomenorrheic/amenorrheic athletes (OA) with estrogen deficiency have not been evaluated for cognitive deficits. Our objective was to determine whether 6 months of estrogen replacement will impact cognitive domains in OA. We hypothesized that estrogen replacement would improve verbal memory and executive control in OA. We performed cognitive assessments at baseline and after 6 months in 48 OA (14-25 years) randomized to estrogen (EST+) (oral 30 µg ethinyl estradiol [n = 16] or transdermal 100 µg 17-β-estradiol patch [n = 13]) or no estrogen (EST-) (n = 19) in an ongoing clinical trial. Neurocognitive testing included California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) (for verbal memory) and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Color-Word Interference Test (D-KEFS-CWIT) (executive control). On average, subjects (mean ± SEM age: 19.9 ± 3.1 years, body mass index: 20.6 ± 2.3 kg/m²) participated in 10.3 ± 5.9 hours per week of weight-bearing activities of their lower limbs. The EST+ group performed better for CVLT-II verbal memory scores for immediate recall over 6 months of therapy compared to EST- (P < .05) even after controlling for baseline scores and age. Changes in D-KEFS-CWIT scores over 6 months did not differ between the groups. However, the EST+ group had greater improvements in inhibition-switching completion time over 6 months compared with the EST- group after controlling for baseline scores and age (P = .01). OA show improvements in verbal memory and executive control following 6 months of estrogen replacement. These findings in athletes, who are in their prime of neurocognitive development, underscore the need for future studies exploring cognition in OA. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00946192. © Copyright 2017 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

Bilingualism and Musicianship Enhance Cognitive Control

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Learning how to speak a second language (i.e., becoming a bilingual) and learning how to play a musical instrument (i.e., becoming a musician) are both thought to increase executive control through experience-dependent plasticity. However, evidence supporting this effect is mixed for bilingualism and limited for musicianship. In addition, the combined effects of bilingualism and musicianship on executive control are unknown. To determine whether bilingualism, musicianship, and combined bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control, we tested 219 young adults belonging to one of four groups (bilinguals, musicians, bilingual musicians, and controls) on a nonlinguistic, nonmusical, visual-spatial Simon task that measured the ability to ignore an irrelevant and misinformative cue. Results revealed that bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians showed an enhanced ability to ignore a distracting cue relative to controls, with similar levels of superior performance among bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians. These results indicate that bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control and have implications for educational and rehabilitation programs that use music and foreign language instruction to boost cognitive performance. PMID:26819764

Cognitive Function as a Trans-Diagnostic Treatment Target in Stimulant Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Sofuoglu, Mehmet; DeVito, Elise E.; Waters, Andrew J.; Carroll, Kathleen M.

2016-01-01

Stimulant use disorder is an important public health problem, with an estimated 2.1 million current users in the United States alone. No pharmacological treatments are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for stimulant use disorder and behavioral treatments have variable efficacy and limited availability. Most individuals with stimulant use disorder have other comorbidities, most with overlapping symptoms and cognitive impairments. The goal of this article is to present a rationale for cognition as a treatment target in stimulant use disorder, and to outline potential treatment approaches. Rates of lifetime comorbid psychiatric disorders among people with stimulant use disorders are estimated at 65% - 73%, with the most common being mood disorders (13% - 64%) and anxiety disorders (21% - 50%), as well as non-substance induced psychotic disorders (under 10%). There are several models of addictive behavior, but the dual process model particularly highlights the relevance of cognitive impairments and biases to the development and maintenance of addiction. This model explains addictive behavior as a balance between automatic processes and executive control, which in turn are related to individual (genetics, comorbid disorders, psychosocial factors) and other (craving, triggers, drug use) factors. Certain cognitive impairments, such as attentional bias and approach bias, are most relevant to automatic processes, while sustained attention, response inhibition, and working memory are primarily related to executive control. These cognitive impairments and biases are also common in disorders frequently comorbid with stimulant use disorder, and predict poor treatment retention and clinical outcomes. As such, they may serve as feasible trans-diagnostic treatment targets. There are promising pharmacological, cognitive, and behavioral approaches that aim to enhance cognitive function. Pharmacotherapies target cognitive impairments associated with executive control and include cholinesterase inhibitors (e.g., galantamine, rivastigmine) and monoamine transporter inhibitors (e.g., modafinil, methylphenidate). Cognitive behavioral therapy and cognitive rehabilitation also enhance executive control, while cognitive bias modification targets impairments associated with automatic processes. Cognitive enhancements to improve treatment outcomes is a novel and promising strategy, but its clinical value for the treatment of stimulant use disorder, with or without other psychiatric comorbidities, remains to be determined in future studies. PMID:26828702

Incident lacunes influence cognitive decline: the LADIS study.

PubMed

Jokinen, H; Gouw, A A; Madureira, S; Ylikoski, R; van Straaten, E C W; van der Flier, W M; Barkhof, F; Scheltens, P; Fazekas, F; Schmidt, R; Verdelho, A; Ferro, J M; Pantoni, L; Inzitari, D; Erkinjuntti, T

2011-05-31

In cerebral small vessel disease, the core MRI findings include white matter lesions (WML) and lacunar infarcts. While the clinical significance of WML is better understood, the contribution of lacunes to the rate of cognitive decline has not been established. This study investigated whether incident lacunes on MRI determine longitudinal cognitive change in elderly subjects with WML. Within the Leukoaraiosis and Disability Study (LADIS), 387 subjects were evaluated with repeated MRI and neuropsychological assessment at baseline and after 3 years. Predictors of change in global cognitive function and specific cognitive domains over time were analyzed with multivariate linear regression. After controlling for demographic factors, baseline cognitive performance, baseline lacunar and WML lesion load, and WML progression, the number of new lacunes was related to subtle decrease in compound scores for executive functions (p = 0.021) and speed and motor control (p = 0.045), but not for memory or global cognitive function. Irrespective of lacunes, WML progression was associated with decrease in executive functions score (p = 0.016). Incident lacunes on MRI parallel a steeper rate of decline in executive functions and psychomotor speed. Accordingly, in addition to WML, lacunes determine longitudinal cognitive impairment in small vessel disease. Although the individual contribution of lacunes on cognition was modest, they cannot be considered benign findings, but indicate a risk of progressive cognitive impairment.

Patients with Parkinson's disease learn to control complex systems-an indication for intact implicit cognitive skill learning.

PubMed

Witt, Karsten; Daniels, Christine; Daniel, Victoria; Schmitt-Eliassen, Julia; Volkmann, Jens; Deuschl, Günther

2006-01-01

Implicit memory and learning mechanisms are composed of multiple processes and systems. Previous studies demonstrated a basal ganglia involvement in purely cognitive tasks that form stimulus response habits by reinforcement learning such as implicit classification learning. We will test the basal ganglia influence on two cognitive implicit tasks previously described by Berry and Broadbent, the sugar production task and the personal interaction task. Furthermore, we will investigate the relationship between certain aspects of an executive dysfunction and implicit learning. To this end, we have tested 22 Parkinsonian patients and 22 age-matched controls on two implicit cognitive tasks, in which participants learned to control a complex system. They interacted with the system by choosing an input value and obtaining an output that was related in a complex manner to the input. The objective was to reach and maintain a specific target value across trials (dynamic system learning). The two tasks followed the same underlying complex rule but had different surface appearances. Subsequently, participants performed an executive test battery including the Stroop test, verbal fluency and the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST). The results demonstrate intact implicit learning in patients, despite an executive dysfunction in the Parkinsonian group. They lead to the conclusion that the basal ganglia system affected in Parkinson's disease does not contribute to the implicit acquisition of a new cognitive skill. Furthermore, the Parkinsonian patients were able to reach a specific goal in an implicit learning context despite impaired goal directed behaviour in the WCST, a classic test of executive functions. These results demonstrate a functional independence of implicit cognitive skill learning and certain aspects of executive functions.

Impact of the Cognitive-Functional (Cog-Fun) Intervention on Executive Functions and Participation Among Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Hahn-Markowitz, Jeri; Berger, Itai; Manor, Iris; Maeir, Adina

We examined the effect of the Cognitive-Functional (Cog-Fun) occupational therapy intervention on executive functions and participation among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We used a randomized, controlled study with a crossover design. One hundred and seven children age 7-10 yr diagnosed with ADHD were allocated to treatment or wait-list control group. The control group received treatment after a 3-mo wait. Outcome measures included the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Significant improvements were found on both the BRIEF and COPM after intervention with large treatment effects. Before crossover, significant Time × Group interactions were found on the BRIEF. This study supports the effectiveness of the Cog-Fun intervention in improving executive functions and participation among children with ADHD. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Characterization of cognitive and motor performance during dual-tasking in healthy older adults and patients with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Wild, Lucia Bartmann; de Lima, Daiane Borba; Balardin, Joana Bisol; Rizzi, Luana; Giacobbo, Bruno Lima; Oliveira, Henrique Bianchi; de Lima Argimon, Irani Iracema; Peyré-Tartaruga, Leonardo Alexandre; Rieder, Carlos R M; Bromberg, Elke

2013-02-01

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dual-tasking on cognitive performance and gait parameters in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) without dementia. The impact of cognitive task complexity on cognition and walking was also examined. Eighteen patients with PD (ages 53-88, 10 women; Hoehn and Yahr stage I-II) and 18 older adults (ages 61-84; 10 women) completed two neuropsychological measures of executive function/attention (the Stroop Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test). Cognitive performance and gait parameters related to functional mobility of stride were measured under single (cognitive task only) and dual-task (cognitive task during walking) conditions with different levels of difficulty and different types of stimuli. In addition, dual-task cognitive costs were calculated. Although cognitive performance showed no significant difference between controls and PD patients during single or dual-tasking conditions, only the patients had a decrease in cognitive performance during walking. Gait parameters of patients differed significantly from controls at single and dual-task conditions, indicating that patients gave priority to gait while cognitive performance suffered. Dual-task cognitive costs of patients increased with task complexity, reaching significantly higher values then controls in the arithmetic task, which was correlated with scores on executive function/attention (Stroop Color-Word Page). Baseline motor functioning and task executive/attentional load affect the performance of cognitive tasks of PD patients while walking. These findings provide insight into the functional strategies used by PD patients in the initial phases of the disease to manage dual-task interference.

Altered cognitive development in the siblings of individuals with schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Barch, Deanna M.; Cohen, Rachel; Csernansky, John

2014-01-01

The goal of the current study was to further investigate the late neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia by examining cross-sectional, age-related changes in cognitive function among young adult: 1) siblings of individuals with schizophrenia (N = 66); (2) healthy control participants (N = 77); and (3) the siblings of healthy controls (N = 77). All subjects participated in a battery of tasks in four domains: 1) IQ; 2) working memory; 3) episodic memory; and 4) executive function. We found significant group differences in the relationships between age and performance in working memory and episodic memory, with similar patterns for executive function and verbal IQ. The siblings of individuals with schizophrenia showed impaired performance in working memory, episodic memory, and executive function. In addition, healthy controls and/or their siblings showed age-related improvements in all four cognitive domains, while the siblings of individuals with schizophrenia only showed this for verbal IQ. PMID:25485180

Altered cognitive development in the siblings of individuals with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Barch, Deanna M; Cohen, Rachel; Csernansky, John

2014-03-01

The goal of the current study was to further investigate the late neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia by examining cross-sectional, age-related changes in cognitive function among young adult: 1) siblings of individuals with schizophrenia (N = 66); (2) healthy control participants (N = 77); and (3) the siblings of healthy controls (N = 77). All subjects participated in a battery of tasks in four domains: 1) IQ; 2) working memory; 3) episodic memory; and 4) executive function. We found significant group differences in the relationships between age and performance in working memory and episodic memory, with similar patterns for executive function and verbal IQ. The siblings of individuals with schizophrenia showed impaired performance in working memory, episodic memory, and executive function. In addition, healthy controls and/or their siblings showed age-related improvements in all four cognitive domains, while the siblings of individuals with schizophrenia only showed this for verbal IQ.

Theta oscillations are sensitive to both early and late conflict processing stages: effects of alcohol intoxication.

PubMed

Kovacevic, Sanja; Azma, Sheeva; Irimia, Andrei; Sherfey, Jason; Halgren, Eric; Marinkovic, Ksenija

2012-01-01

Prior neuroimaging evidence indicates that decision conflict activates medial and lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. Theoretical accounts of cognitive control highlight anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a central node in this network. However, a better understanding of the relative primacy and functional contributions of these areas to decision conflict requires insight into the neural dynamics of successive processing stages including conflict detection, response selection and execution. Moderate alcohol intoxication impairs cognitive control as it interferes with the ability to inhibit dominant, prepotent responses when they are no longer correct. To examine the effects of moderate intoxication on successive processing stages during cognitive control, spatio-temporal changes in total event-related theta power were measured during Stroop-induced conflict. Healthy social drinkers served as their own controls by participating in both alcohol (0.6 g/kg ethanol for men, 0.55 g/kg women) and placebo conditions in a counterbalanced design. Anatomically-constrained magnetoencephalography (aMEG) approach was applied to complex power spectra for theta (4-7 Hz) frequencies. The principal generator of event-related theta power to conflict was estimated to ACC, with contributions from fronto-parietal areas. The ACC was uniquely sensitive to conflict during both early conflict detection, and later response selection and execution stages. Alcohol attenuated theta power to conflict across successive processing stages, suggesting that alcohol-induced deficits in cognitive control may result from theta suppression in the executive network. Slower RTs were associated with attenuated theta power estimated to ACC, indicating that alcohol impairs motor preparation and execution subserved by the ACC. In addition to their relevance for the currently prevailing accounts of cognitive control, our results suggest that alcohol-induced impairment of top-down strategic processing underlies poor self-control and inability to refrain from drinking.

Creative thinking in schizophrenia: the role of executive dysfunction and symptom severity.

PubMed

Abraham, Anna; Windmann, Sabine; McKenna, Peter; Güntürkün, Onur

2007-05-01

This study examines the notion of enhanced creative thinking in schizophrenia and determines the mediating role of executive dysfunction and symptom severity in this relationship. Patients with chronic schizophrenia (n=28) were assessed on varied facets of creative cognition and standard tests of executive control relative to matched healthy control participants (n=18). Multivariate analyses revealed poorer performance by the patient group across almost all creative and executive function measures, except in the ability to be unconstrained by the influence of restrictive examples. Symptom-based contrasts using partial correlations revealed that differences were most extensive in the presence of thought disorder. Using hierarchical regression analyses, performance on the executive function tasks was found to play a mediatory role on specific aspects of creative cognition. Results are at odds with the popular notion of enhanced creative thinking in schizophrenia, but elucidate complex interactions between executive control and certain facets of creative thinking. In particular, performance of the schizophrenia group on measures that tap creativity elements of fluency and relevance were either partially or fully mediated by their performance on the executive control tasks, but this was not true of measures of originality.

Individual Differences in Executive Functions Are Almost Entirely Genetic in Origin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Naomi P.; Miyake, Akira; Young, Susan E.; DeFries, John C.; Corley, Robin P.; Hewitt, John K.

2008-01-01

Recent psychological and neuropsychological research suggests that executive functions--the cognitive control processes that regulate thought and action--are multifaceted and that different types of executive functions are correlated but separable. The present multivariate twin study of 3 executive functions (inhibiting dominant responses,…

Selective Attention, Working Memory, and Executive Function as Potential Independent Sources of Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Gold, James M; Robinson, Benjamin; Leonard, Carly J; Hahn, Britta; Chen, Shuo; McMahon, Robert P; Luck, Steven J

2017-11-11

People with schizophrenia demonstrate impairments in selective attention, working memory, and executive function. Given the overlap in these constructs, it is unclear if these represent distinct impairments or different manifestations of one higher-order impairment. To examine this question, we administered tasks from the basic cognitive neuroscience literature to measure visual selective attention, working memory capacity, and executive function in 126 people with schizophrenia and 122 healthy volunteers. Patients demonstrated deficits on all tasks with the exception of selective attention guided by strong bottom-up inputs. Although the measures of top-down control of selective attention, working memory, and executive function were all intercorrelated, several sources of evidence indicate that working memory and executive function are separate sources of variance. Specifically, both working memory and executive function independently contributed to the discrimination of group status and independently accounted for variance in overall general cognitive ability as assessed by the MATRICS battery. These two cognitive functions appear to be separable features of the cognitive impairments observed in schizophrenia. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Training Theory of Mind and Executive Control: A Tool for Improving School Achievement?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kloo, Daniela; Perner, Josef

2008-01-01

In the preschool years, there are marked improvements in theory of mind (ToM) and executive functions. And, children's competence in these two core cognitive domains is associated with their academic achievement. Therefore, training ToM and executive control could be a valuable tool for improving children's success in school. This article reviews…

Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority Children

PubMed Central

Engel de Abreu, Pascale M. J.; Cruz-Santos, Anabela; Tourinho, Carlos J.; Martin, Romain; Bialystok, Ellen

2014-01-01

This study explores whether the cognitive advantage associated with bilingualism in executive functioning extends to young immigrant children challenged by poverty and, if it does, which specific processes are most affected. In the study reported here, 40 Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilingual children from low-income immigrant families in Luxembourg and 40 matched monolingual children from Portugal completed visuospatial tests of working memory, abstract reasoning, selective attention, and interference suppression. Two broad cognitive factors of executive functioning—representation (abstract reasoning and working memory) and control (selective attention and interference suppression)—emerged from principal component analysis. Whereas there were no group differences in representation, the bilinguals performed significantly better than did the monolinguals in control. These results demonstrate, first, that the bilingual advantage is neither confounded with nor limited by socioeconomic and cultural factors and, second, that separable aspects of executive functioning are differentially affected by bilingualism. The bilingual advantage lies in control but not in visuospatial representational processes. PMID:23044796

Executive functioning and general cognitive ability in pregnant women and matched controls.

PubMed

Onyper, Serge V; Searleman, Alan; Thacher, Pamela V; Maine, Emily E; Johnson, Alicia G

2010-11-01

The current study compared the performances of pregnant women with education- and age-matched controls on a variety of measures that assessed perceptual speed, short-term and working memory capacity, subjective memory complaints, sleep quality, level of fatigue, executive functioning, episodic and prospective memory, and crystallized and fluid intelligence. A primary purpose was to test the hypothesis of Henry and Rendell (2007) that pregnancy-related declines in cognitive functioning would be especially evident in tasks that place a high demand on executive processes. We also investigated a parallel hypothesis: that the pregnant women would experience a broad-based reduction in cognitive capability. Very limited support was found for the executive functioning hypothesis. Pregnant women scored lower only on the measure of verbal fluency (Controlled Oral Word Association Test, COWAT) but not on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task or on any working memory measures. Furthermore, group differences in COWAT performance disappeared after controlling for verbal IQ (Shipley vocabulary). In addition, there was no support for the general decline hypothesis. We conclude that pregnancy-associated differences in performance observed in the current study were relatively mild and rarely reached either clinical or practical significance.

Effect of a structured course involving goal management training in older adults: A randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

van Hooren, Susan A.H.; Valentijn, Susanne A.M.; Bosma, Hans; Ponds, Rudolf W.H.M.; van Boxtel, Martin P.J.; Levine, Brian; Robertson, Ian; Jolles, Jelle

2007-01-01

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a structured 6-week neuropsychological course on the executive functioning of older adults with cognitive complaints. Methods A randomised controlled design was used involving 69 community dwelling individuals aged 55 years and older. Both objective and subjective measures were included to assess executive functioning. General linear model with repeated measures analysis of variance was used to examine the intervention effects. Results After the intervention, the participants in the intervention group were significantly less annoyed by their cognitive failures, were better able to manage their executive failures and reported less anxiety symptoms than those in the waiting list control group. Conclusion These findings indicate that a combination of psycho-education and training has the potential to change the attitude of older individuals towards their cognitive functioning. Practice implications Because this training focussed on cognitive functions that are among the first to decline in older adults and the subjective evaluation of the people after training was quite favourable, the proposed intervention may be considered a valuable contribution to cognitive interventions for older adults. PMID:16956743

Executive functions in mild cognitive impairment: emergence and breakdown of neural plasticity.

PubMed

Clément, Francis; Gauthier, Serge; Belleville, Sylvie

2013-05-01

Our goal was to test the effect of disease severity on the brain activation associated with two executive processes: manipulation and divided attention. This was achieved by administrating a manipulation task and a divided attention task using functional magnetic resonance imaging to 24 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 14 healthy controls matched for age, sex and education. The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale was used to divide persons with MCI into those with better and worse cognitive performances. Both tasks were associated with more brain activation in the MCI group with higher cognition than in healthy controls, particularly in the left frontal areas. Correlational analyses indicated that greater activation in a frontostriatal network hyperactivated by the higher-cognition group was related with better task performance, suggesting that these activations may support functional reorganization of a compensatory nature. By contrast, the lower-cognition group failed to show greater cerebral hyperactivation than controls during the divided attention task and, during the manipulation task, and showed less brain activation than controls in the left ventrolateral cortex, a region commonly hypoactivated in patients with Alzheimer's disease. These findings indicate that, during the early phase of MCI, executive functioning benefits from neural reorganization, but that a breakdown of this brain plasticity characterizes the late stages of MCI. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Executive Function in Preschool-Age Children: Integrating Measurement, Neurodevelopment, and Translational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, James A., Ed.; McCardle, Peggy, Ed.; Freund, Lisa, Ed.

2016-01-01

A primary aim of the neuropsychological revolution has been the mapping of what has come to be known as executive function (EF). This term encompasses a range of mental processes such as working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility that, together, regulate our social behavior, and our emotional and cognitive well-being. In this…

Microstructural White Matter Changes Underlying Cognitive and Behavioural Impairment in ALS – An In Vivo Study Using DTI

PubMed Central

Kasper, Elisabeth; Schuster, Christina; Machts, Judith; Kaufmann, Joern; Bittner, Daniel; Vielhaber, Stefan; Benecke, Reiner; Teipel, Stefan; Prudlo, Johannes

2014-01-01

Background A relevant fraction of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) exhibit a fronto-temporal pattern of cognitive and behavioural disturbances with pronounced deficits in executive functioning and cognitive control of behaviour. Structural imaging shows a decline in fronto-temporal brain areas, but most brain imaging studies did not evaluate cognitive status. We investigated microstructural white matter changes underlying cognitive impairment using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in a large cohort of ALS patients. Methods We assessed 72 non-demented ALS patients and 65 matched healthy control subjects using a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and DTI. We compared DTI measures of fiber tract integrity using tract-based spatial statistics among ALS patients with and without cognitive impairment and healthy controls. Neuropsychological performance and behavioural measures were correlated with DTI measures. Results Patients without cognitive impairment demonstrated white matter changes predominantly in motor tracts, including the corticospinal tract and the body of corpus callosum. Those with impairments (ca. 30%) additionally presented significant white matter alterations in extra-motor regions, particularly the frontal lobe. Executive and memory performance and behavioural measures were correlated with fiber tract integrity in large association tracts. Conclusion In non-demented cognitively impaired ALS patients, white matter changes measured by DTI are related to disturbances of executive and memory functions, including prefrontal and temporal regions. In a group comparison, DTI is able to observe differences between cognitively unimpaired and impaired ALS patients. PMID:25501028

The Impact of Inattention and Emotional Problems on Cognitive Control in Primary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sorensen, Lin; Plessen, Kerstin J.; Lundervold, Astri J.

2012-01-01

Objective: The present study investigated the predictive value of parent/teacher reports of inattention and emotional problems on cognitive control function in 241 children in primary school. Method: Cognitive control was measured by functions of set-shifting and working memory as assessed by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function…

Computer-Based Cognitive Training for Executive Functions after Stroke: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

van de Ven, Renate M.; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Veltman, Dick J.; Schmand, Ben A.

2016-01-01

Background: Stroke commonly results in cognitive impairments in working memory, attention, and executive function, which may be restored with appropriate training programs. Our aim was to systematically review the evidence for computer-based cognitive training of executive dysfunctions. Methods: Studies were included if they concerned adults who had suffered stroke or other types of acquired brain injury, if the intervention was computer training of executive functions, and if the outcome was related to executive functioning. We searched in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library. Study quality was evaluated based on the CONSORT Statement. Treatment effect was evaluated based on differences compared to pre-treatment and/or to a control group. Results: Twenty studies were included. Two were randomized controlled trials that used an active control group. The other studies included multiple baselines, a passive control group, or were uncontrolled. Improvements were observed in tasks similar to the training (near transfer) and in tasks dissimilar to the training (far transfer). However, these effects were not larger in trained than in active control groups. Two studies evaluated neural effects and found changes in both functional and structural connectivity. Most studies suffered from methodological limitations (e.g., lack of an active control group and no adjustment for multiple testing) hampering differentiation of training effects from spontaneous recovery, retest effects, and placebo effects. Conclusions: The positive findings of most studies, including neural changes, warrant continuation of research in this field, but only if its methodological limitations are addressed. PMID:27148007

Developmental Trajectories of Executive and Verbal Processes in Children with Phenylketonuria.

PubMed

Hawks, Zoë W; Strube, Michael J; Johnson, Neco X; Grange, Dorothy K; White, Desirée A

2018-01-01

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a hereditary disorder characterized by disrupted phenylalanine metabolism and cognitive impairment. However, the precise nature and developmental trajectory of this cognitive impairment remains unclear. The present study used a verbal fluency task to dissociate executive and verbal processes in children with PKU (n = 23; 7-18 years) and controls (n = 44; 7-19 years). Data were collected at three longitudinal timepoints over a three-year period, and the contributions of age, group, and their interaction to fluency performance were evaluated. Results indicated impairments in executive processes in children with PKU, which were exacerbated by declining metabolic control.

Theory of mind and empathy in preclinical and clinical Huntington's disease.

PubMed

Adjeroud, Najia; Besnard, Jérémy; El Massioui, Nicole; Verny, Christophe; Prudean, Adriana; Scherer, Clarisse; Gohier, Bénédicte; Bonneau, Dominique; Allain, Philippe

2016-01-01

We investigated cognitive and affective Theory of Mind (ToM) and empathy in patients with premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease (HD). The relationship between ToM performance and executive skills was also examined. Sixteen preclinical and 23 clinical HD patients, and 39 healthy subjects divided into 2 control groups were given a French adaptation of the Yoni test (Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Aharon-Peretz, J. (2007). Dissociable prefrontal networks for cognitive and affective theory of mind: a lesion study. Neuropsychologia, 45(3), 3054-67) that examines first- and second-order cognitive and affective ToM processing in separate conditions with a physical control condition. Participants were also given questionnaires of empathy and cognitive tests which mainly assessed executive functions (inhibition and mental flexibility). Clinical HD patients made significantly more errors than their controls in the first- and second-order cognitive and affective ToM conditions of the Yoni task, but exhibited no empathy deficits. However, there was no evidence that ToM impairment was related to cognitive deficits in these patients. Preclinical HD patients were unimpaired in ToM tasks and empathy measures compared with their controls. Our results are consistent with the idea that impaired affective and cognitive mentalizing emerges with the clinical manifestation of HD, but is not necessarily part of the preclinical stage. Furthermore, these impairments appear independent of executive dysfunction and empathy. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Acute exercise performed close to the anaerobic threshold improves cognitive performance in elderly females.

PubMed

Córdova, C; Silva, V C; Moraes, C F; Simões, H G; Nóbrega, O T

2009-05-01

The objective of the present study was to compare the effect of acute exercise performed at different intensities in relation to the anaerobic threshold (AT) on abilities requiring control of executive functions or alertness in physically active elderly females. Forty-eight physically active elderly females (63.8 +/- 4.6 years old) were assigned to one of four groups by drawing lots: control group without exercise or trial groups with exercise performed at 60, 90, or 110% of AT (watts) and submitted to 5 cognitive tests before and after exercise. Following cognitive pretesting, an incremental cycle ergometer test was conducted to determine AT using a fixed blood lactate concentration of 3.5 mmol/L as cutoff. Acute exercise executed at 90% of AT resulted in significant (P < 0.05, ANOVA) improvement in the performance of executive functions when compared to control in 3 of 5 tests (verbal fluency, Tower of Hanoi test (number of movements), and Trail Making test B). Exercising at 60% of AT did not improve results of any tests for executive functions, whereas exercise executed at 110% of AT only improved the performance in one of these tests (verbal fluency) compared to control. Women from all trial groups exhibited a remarkable reduction in the Simple Response Time (alertness) test (P = 0.001). Thus, physical exercise performed close to AT is more effective to improve cognitive processing of older women even if conducted acutely, and using a customized exercise prescription based on the anaerobic threshold should optimize the beneficial effects.

Self-organizing high-order cognitive functions in artificial agents: implications for possible prefrontal cortex mechanisms.

PubMed

Maniadakis, Michail; Trahanias, Panos; Tani, Jun

2012-09-01

In our daily life, we often adapt plans and behaviors according to dynamically changing world circumstances, selecting activities that make us feel more confident about the future. In this adaptation, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is believed to have an important role, applying executive control on other cognitive processes to achieve context switching and confidence monitoring; however, many questions remain open regarding the nature of neural processes supporting executive control. The current work explores possible mechanisms of this high-order cognitive function, transferring executing control in the domain of artificial cognitive systems. In particular, we study the self-organization of artificial neural networks accomplishing a robotic rule-switching task analogous to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The obtained results show that behavioral rules may be encoded in neuro-dynamic attractors, with their geometric arrangements in phase space affecting the shaping of confidence. Analysis of the emergent dynamical structures suggests possible explanations of the interactions of high-level and low-level processes in the real brain. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aerobic Exercise Improves Mood, Cognition, and Language Function in Parkinson's Disease: Results of a Controlled Study.

PubMed

Altmann, Lori J P; Stegemöller, Elizabeth; Hazamy, Audrey A; Wilson, Jonathan P; Bowers, Dawn; Okun, Michael S; Hass, Chris J

2016-10-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) results in a range of non-motor deficits that can affect mood, cognition, and language, and many of these issues are unresponsive to pharmacological intervention. Aerobic exercise can improve mood and cognition in healthy older adults, although only a few studies have examined exercise effects on these domains in PD. The current study assesses the effects of aerobic exercise on aspects of cognition, mood, and language production in people with PD. This study compares the effects of aerobic exercise to stretch-balance training and a no-contact control group in participants with idiopathic PD. The aerobic and stretch-balance groups trained three times a week for 16 weeks, while controls continued normal activities. Outcome measures included disease severity, mood, cognition (speed of processing, memory, and executive function), and language production (picture descriptions). Cognition and language were assessed in single and dual task conditions. Depressive symptoms increased only in the control group (p<.02). Executive function improved in the aerobic exercise group only in the single task (p=.007) and declined in controls in the dual task. Completeness of picture descriptions improved significantly more in the aerobic group than in the stretch-balance group (p<.02). Aerobic exercise is a viable intervention for PD that can be protective against increased depressive symptoms, and can improve several non-motor domains, including executive dysfunction and related aspects of language production. (JINS, 2016, 22, 878-889).

Executive Function Processes Predict Mobility Outcomes in Older Adults

PubMed Central

Gothe, Neha P.; Fanning, Jason; Awick, Elizabeth; Chung, David; Wójcicki, Thomas R.; Olson, Erin A.; Mullen, Sean P.; Voss, Michelle; Erickson, Kirk I.; Kramer, Arthur F.; McAuley, Edward

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence suggesting an association between cognitive function and physical performance in late life. This study examined the relationship between performance on executive function measures and subsequent mobility outcomes among community dwelling older adults across a 12-month randomized controlled exercise trial. DESIGN: Randomized controlled clinical trial SETTING: Champaign-Urbana, Illinois PARTICIPANTS: Community dwelling older adults (N = 179; Mage = 66.4) INTERVENTION: A 12-month exercise trial with two arms: an aerobic exercise group and a stretching and strengthening group MEASUREMENTS: Established cognitive tests of executive function including the flanker task, task switching and a dual task paradigm, and the Wisconsin card sort test. Mobility was assessed using the timed 8-foot up and go test and times to climb up and down a flight of stairs. METHODS: Participants completed the cognitive measures at baseline and the mobility measures at baseline and after 12 months of the intervention. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether baseline executive function predicted post-intervention functional performance after controlling for age, sex, education, cardiorespiratory fitness and baseline mobility levels. RESULTS: Our analyses revealed that selective baseline executive function measures, particularly performance on the flanker task (β’s =.15 to .17) and the Wisconsin card sort test (β’s =.11 to .16) consistently predicted mobility outcomes at month 12. The estimates were in the expected direction, such that better baseline performance on the executive function measures predicted better performance on the timed mobility tests independent of the intervention group. CONCLUSION: Executive functions of inhibitory control, mental set shifting and attentional flexibility were predictive of functional mobility. Given the literature associating mobility limitations with disability, morbidity, and mortality, these results are important for understanding the antecedents to poor mobility function that can be attenuated by well-designed interventions to improve cognitive performance. PMID:24521364

Executive Cognitive Functioning and Cardiovascular Autonomic Regulation in a Population-Based Sample of Working Adults.

PubMed

Stenfors, Cecilia U D; Hanson, Linda M; Theorell, Töres; Osika, Walter S

2016-01-01

Objective: Executive cognitive functioning is essential in private and working life and is sensitive to stress and aging. Cardiovascular (CV) health factors are related to cognitive decline and dementia, but there is relatively few studies of the role of CV autonomic regulation, a key component in stress responses and risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and executive processes. An emerging pattern of results from previous studies suggest that different executive processes may be differentially associated with CV autonomic regulation. The aim was thus to study the associations between multiple measures of CV autonomic regulation and measures of different executive cognitive processes. Method: Participants were 119 healthy working adults (79% women), from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. Electrocardiogram was sampled for analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) measures, including the Standard Deviation of NN, here heart beats (SDNN), root of the mean squares of successive differences (RMSSD), high frequency (HF) power band from spectral analyses, and QT variability index (QTVI), a measure of myocardial repolarization patterns. Executive cognitive functioning was measured by seven neuropsychological tests. The relationships between CV autonomic regulation measures and executive cognitive measures were tested with bivariate and partial correlational analyses, controlling for demographic variables, and mental health symptoms. Results: Higher SDNN and RMSSD and lower QTVI were significantly associated with better performance on cognitive tests tapping inhibition, updating, shifting, and psychomotor speed. After adjustments for demographic factors however (age being the greatest confounder), only QTVI was clearly associated with these executive tests. No such associations were seen for working memory capacity . Conclusion: Poorer CV autonomic regulation in terms of lower SDNN and RMSSD and higher QTVI was associated with poorer executive cognitive functioning in terms of inhibition, shifting, updating, and speed in healthy working adults. Age could largely explain the associations between the executive measures and SDNN and RMSSD, while associations with QTVI remained. QTVI may be a useful measure of autonomic regulation and promising as an early indicator of risk among otherwise healthy adults, compared to traditional HRV measures, as associations between QTVI and executive functioning was not affected by age.

Executive Cognitive Functioning and Cardiovascular Autonomic Regulation in a Population-Based Sample of Working Adults

PubMed Central

Stenfors, Cecilia U. D.; Hanson, Linda M.; Theorell, Töres; Osika, Walter S.

2016-01-01

Objective: Executive cognitive functioning is essential in private and working life and is sensitive to stress and aging. Cardiovascular (CV) health factors are related to cognitive decline and dementia, but there is relatively few studies of the role of CV autonomic regulation, a key component in stress responses and risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and executive processes. An emerging pattern of results from previous studies suggest that different executive processes may be differentially associated with CV autonomic regulation. The aim was thus to study the associations between multiple measures of CV autonomic regulation and measures of different executive cognitive processes. Method: Participants were 119 healthy working adults (79% women), from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. Electrocardiogram was sampled for analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) measures, including the Standard Deviation of NN, here heart beats (SDNN), root of the mean squares of successive differences (RMSSD), high frequency (HF) power band from spectral analyses, and QT variability index (QTVI), a measure of myocardial repolarization patterns. Executive cognitive functioning was measured by seven neuropsychological tests. The relationships between CV autonomic regulation measures and executive cognitive measures were tested with bivariate and partial correlational analyses, controlling for demographic variables, and mental health symptoms. Results: Higher SDNN and RMSSD and lower QTVI were significantly associated with better performance on cognitive tests tapping inhibition, updating, shifting, and psychomotor speed. After adjustments for demographic factors however (age being the greatest confounder), only QTVI was clearly associated with these executive tests. No such associations were seen for working memory capacity. Conclusion: Poorer CV autonomic regulation in terms of lower SDNN and RMSSD and higher QTVI was associated with poorer executive cognitive functioning in terms of inhibition, shifting, updating, and speed in healthy working adults. Age could largely explain the associations between the executive measures and SDNN and RMSSD, while associations with QTVI remained. QTVI may be a useful measure of autonomic regulation and promising as an early indicator of risk among otherwise healthy adults, compared to traditional HRV measures, as associations between QTVI and executive functioning was not affected by age. PMID:27761124

Apathy, but not depression, is associated with executive dysfunction in cerebral small vessel disease

PubMed Central

Hollocks, Matthew J.; Morris, Robin G.; Markus, Hugh S.

2017-01-01

Objective To determine the prevalence of apathy and depression in cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), and the relationships between both apathy and depression with cognition. To examine whether apathy is specifically related to impairment in executive functioning and processing speed. Methods 196 patients with a clinical lacunar stroke and an anatomically corresponding lacunar infarct on MRI were compared to 300 stroke-free controls. Apathy and depression were measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale, and cognitive functioning was assessed using an SVD cognitive screening tool, the Brief Memory and Executive Test, which measures executive functioning/processing speed and memory/orientation. Path analysis and binary logistic regression were used to assess the relation between apathy, depression and cognitive impairment. Results 31 participants with SVD (15.8%) met criteria for apathy only, 23 (11.8%) for both apathy and depression, and 2 (1.0%) for depression only. In the SVD group the presence of apathy was related to global cognition, and specifically to impaired executive functioning/processing speed, but not memory/orientation. The presence of depression was not related to global cognition, impaired executive functioning/processing speed or memory/orientation. Conclusions Apathy is a common feature of SVD and is associated with impaired executive functioning/processing speed suggesting the two may share biological mechanisms. Screening for apathy should be considered in SVD, and further work is required to develop and evaluate effective apathy treatment or management in SVD. PMID:28493898

Targeting Alertness to Improve Cognition in Older Adults: A Preliminary Report of Benefits in Executive Function and Skill Acquisition

PubMed Central

Van Vleet, Thomas M.; DeGutis, Joseph M.; Merzenich, Michael M.; Simpson, Gregory V.; Zomet, Ativ; Dabit, Sawsan

2016-01-01

Efficient self-regulation of alertness declines with age exacerbating normal declines in performance across multiple cognitive domains, including learning and skill acquisition. Previous cognitive intervention studies have shown that it is possible to enhance alertness in patients with acquired brain injury and marked attention impairments, and that this benefit generalizes to improvements in more global cognitive functions. In the current preliminary studies, we sought to test whether this approach, that targets both tonic (over a period of minutes) and phasic (moment-to-moment) alertness, can improve key executive functioning declines in older adults, and enhance the rate of skill acquisition. The results of both experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that, compared to active control training, alertness training significantly enhanced performance in several validated executive function measures. In experiment 2, alertness training significantly improved skill acquisition compared to active control training in a well-characterized speed of processing task, with the largest benefits shown in the most challenging speed of processing blocks. The results of the current study suggest that targeting intrinsic alertness in cognitive training provides a novel approach to improve executive functions in older adults and may be a useful adjunct treatment to enhance benefits gained in other clinically validated treatments. PMID:27372902

Cognitive control dysfunction in emotion dysregulation and psychopathology of major depression (MD): Evidence from transcranial brain stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).

PubMed

Salehinejad, Mohammad Ali; Ghanavai, Elham; Rostami, Reza; Nejati, Vahid

2017-03-01

Previous studies showed that MD is associated with a variety of cognitive deficits and executive dysfunctions which can persist even in remitted states. However, the role of cognitive impairments in MD psychopathology and treatment is not fully understood. This article aims to discuss how executive functions central components (e.g., Working memory and attention) mediate MD psychopathology considering the role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dLPFC) and present findings of a brain stimulation experiment to support this notion. The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the dLPFC on enhancing cognitive control functions was investigated. Twenty-four patients with MD (Experimental group=12, Control group=12) received 10 sessions of tDCS (2mA for 30min) over 10 consecutive days. The experimental group received active stimulation and the control group received sham stimulation. Participant's performance on cognitive functions (PAL, SRM, RVP and CRT from CANTAB) and their depression scores were assessed before and after tDCS. Results showed that brain stimulation of the dLPFC improved executive dysfunction in patients and a significant improvement on depression scores was also observed suggesting that cognitive control dysfunction may be a mediator in emotional dysregulation and psychopathology of MD. No follow-up investigation was done in this study which does not allow to infer long-term effect of tDCS. Low-focality of tDCS might have stimulated adjacent areas too. Cognitive components, namely cognitive control dysfunction, play role in MD psychopathology as they are involved in emotion dysregulation in MD. The amount of contribution of cognitive components in MD psychopathology is however, an open question. tDCS can be used as an intervention to improve cognitive dysfunction in MD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relationships Among Cognitive Function and Cerebral Blood Flow, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation in Older Heart Failure Patients.

PubMed

Kure, Christina E; Rosenfeldt, Franklin L; Scholey, Andrew B; Pipingas, Andrew; Kaye, David M; Bergin, Peter J; Croft, Kevin D; Wesnes, Keith A; Myers, Stephen P; Stough, Con

2016-07-01

The mechanisms for cognitive impairment in heart failure (HF) are unclear. We investigated the relative contributions of cerebral blood flow velocity (BFV), oxidative stress, and inflammation to HF-associated cognitive impairment. Thirty-six HF patients (≥60 years) and 40 healthy controls (68 ± 7 vs 67 ± 5 years, P > .05; 69% vs 50% male, P > .05) completed the Cognitive Drug Research computerized assessment battery and Stroop tasks. Common carotid (CCA) and middle cerebral arterial BFV were obtained by transcranial Doppler. Blood samples were collected for oxidant (diacron-reactive oxygen metabolites; F2-isoprostanes), antioxidant (coenzyme Q10; CoQ10), and inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein). Compared with controls, patients exhibited impaired attention (Cognitive Drug Research's Power of Attention domain, congruent Stroop) and executive function (incongruent Stroop). Multiple regression modeling showed that CCA-BFV and CoQ10 but not group predicted performance on attention and executive function. Additionally, in HF patients, CCA-BFV and CoQ10 (β = -0.34 vs β = -0.35) were significant predictors of attention, and CCA-BFV (β = -0.34) was a predictor of executive function. Power of Attention and executive function is impaired in older HF patients, and reduced CCA-BFV and CoQ10 are associated with worse cognition. Interventions addressing these mechanisms may improve cognition in older HF patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Executive Functions in Intellectual Disabilities: A Comparison between Williams Syndrome and Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costanzo, Floriana; Varuzza, Cristiana; Menghini, Deny; Addona, Francesca; Gianesini, Tiziana; Vicari, Stefano

2013-01-01

Executive functions are a set of high cognitive abilities that control and regulate other functions and behaviors and are crucial for successful adaptation. Deficits in executive functions are frequently described in developmental disorders, which are characterized by disadaptive behavior. However, executive functions are not widely examined in…

Executive Control Over Cognition: Stronger and Earlier Rule-Based Modulation of Spatial Category Signals in Prefrontal Cortex Relative to Parietal Cortex

PubMed Central

Goodwin, Shikha J.; Blackman, Rachael K.; Sakellaridi, Sofia

2012-01-01

Human cognition is characterized by flexibility, the ability to select not only which action but which cognitive process to engage to best achieve the current behavioral objective. The ability to tailor information processing in the brain to rules, goals, or context is typically referred to as executive control, and although there is consensus that prefrontal cortex is importantly involved, at present we have an incomplete understanding of how computational flexibility is implemented at the level of prefrontal neurons and networks. To better understand the neural mechanisms of computational flexibility, we simultaneously recorded the electrical activity of groups of single neurons within prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex of monkeys performing a task that required executive control of spatial cognitive processing. In this task, monkeys applied different spatial categorization rules to reassign the same set of visual stimuli to alternative categories on a trial-by-trial basis. We found that single neurons were activated to represent spatially defined categories in a manner that was rule dependent, providing a physiological signature of a cognitive process that was implemented under executive control. We found also that neural signals coding rule-dependent categories were distributed between the parietal and prefrontal cortex—however, not equally. Rule-dependent category signals were stronger, more powerfully modulated by the rule, and earlier to emerge in prefrontal cortex relative to parietal cortex. This suggests that prefrontal cortex may initiate the switch in neural representation at a network level that is important for computational flexibility. PMID:22399773

A Developmental Window into Trade-offs in Executive Function: The Case of Task Switching versus Response Inhibition in 6-year-olds

PubMed Central

Chatham, Christopher H.; Wiseheart, Melody; Munakata, Yuko

2014-01-01

Good executive function has been linked to many positive outcomes in academic performance, health, and social competence. However, some aspects of executive function may interfere with other cognitive processes. Childhood provides a unique test case for investigating such cognitive trade-offs, given the dramatic failures and developments observed during this period. For example, most children categorically switch or perseverate when asked to switch between rules on a card-sorting task. To test potential trade-offs with the development of task switching abilities, we compared 6-year-olds who switched versus perseverated in a card-sorting task on two aspects of inhibitory control: response inhibition (via a stop signal task) and interference control (via a Simon task). Across two studies, switchers showed worse response inhibition than perseverators, consistent with the idea of cognitive trade-offs; however, switchers showed better interference control than perseverators, consistent with prior work documenting benefits associated with the development of executive function. This pattern of positive and negative associations may reflect aspects of working memory (active maintenance of current goals, and clearing of prior goals) that help children focused on a single task-goal but hurt in situations with conflicting goals. Implications for understanding components of executive function and their relationships across development are discussed. PMID:24791710

A labor/leisure tradeoff in cognitive control.

PubMed

Kool, Wouter; Botvinick, Matthew

2014-02-01

Daily life frequently offers a choice between activities that are profitable but mentally demanding (cognitive labor) and activities that are undemanding but also unproductive (cognitive leisure). Although such decisions are often implicit, they help determine academic performance, career trajectories, and even health outcomes. Previous research has shed light both on the executive control functions that ultimately define cognitive labor and on a "default mode" of brain function that accompanies cognitive leisure. However, little is known about how labor/leisure decisions are actually made. Here, we identify a central principle guiding such decisions. Results from 3 economic-choice experiments indicate that the motivation underlying cognitive labor/leisure decision making is to strike an optimal balance between income and leisure, as given by a joint utility function. The results reported establish a new connection between microeconomics and research on executive function. They also suggest a new interpretation of so-called ego-depletion effects and a potential new approach to such phenomena as mind wandering and self-control failure.

A labor/leisure tradeoff in cognitive control

PubMed Central

Kool, Wouter; Botvinick, Matthew

2013-01-01

Daily life frequently offers a choice between activities that are profitable but mentally demanding (cognitive labor) and activities that are undemanding but also unproductive (cognitive leisure). Although such decisions are often implicit, they help determine academic performance, career trajectories, and even health outcomes. Previous research has shed light both on the executive control functions that ultimately define cognitive labor and a ‘default mode’ of brain function that accompanies cognitive leisure. However, little is known about how labor/leisure decisions are actually made. Here, we identify a central principle guiding such decisions. Results from three economic-choice experiments indicate that the motivation underlying cognitive labor/leisure decision-making is to strike an optimal balance between income and leisure, as given by a joint utility function. The results reported establish a new connection between microeconomics and research on executive function. They also suggest a new interpretation of so-called ego-depletion effects, and a potential new approach to such phenomena as mind-wandering and self-control failure. PMID:23230991

Long-Term Aftereffects of Response Inhibition: Memory Retrieval, Task Goals, and Cognitive Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verbruggen, Frederick; Logan, Gordon D.

2008-01-01

Cognitive control theories attribute control to executive processes that adjust and control behavior online. Theories of automaticity attribute control to memory retrieval. In the present study, online adjustments and memory retrieval were examined, and their roles in controlling performance in the stop-signal paradigm were elucidated. There was…

Combined Cognitive Training vs. Memory Strategy Training in Healthy Older Adults.

PubMed

Li, Bing; Zhu, Xinyi; Hou, Jianhua; Chen, Tingji; Wang, Pengyun; Li, Juan

2016-01-01

As mnemonic utilization deficit in older adults associates with age-related decline in executive function, we hypothesized that memory strategy training combined with executive function training might induce larger training effect in memory and broader training effects in non-memory outcomes than pure memory training. The present study compared the effects of combined cognitive training (executive function training plus memory strategy training) to pure memory strategy training. Forty healthy older adults were randomly assigned to a combined cognitive training group or a memory strategy training group. A control group receiving no training was also included. Combined cognitive training group received 16 sessions of training (eight sessions of executive function training followed by eight sessions of memory strategy training). Memory training group received 16 sessions of memory strategy training. The results partly supported our hypothesis in that indeed improved performance on executive function was only found in combined training group, whereas memory performance increased less in combined training compared to memory strategy group. Results suggest that combined cognitive training may be less efficient than pure memory training in memory outcomes, though the influences from insufficient training time and less closeness between trained executive function and working memory could not be excluded; however it has broader training effects in non-memory outcomes. www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR-OON-16007793.

Increased Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Cingulo-Opercular Cognitive-Control Network after Intervention in Children with Reading Difficulties

PubMed Central

Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Toro-Serey, Claudio; DiFrancesco, Mark

2015-01-01

Dyslexia, or reading difficulty, is characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction. Reading training using the Reading Acceleration Program improves reading and executive functions in both children with dyslexia and typical readers. This improvement is associated with increased activation in and functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex, part of the cingulo-opercular cognitive-control network, and the fusiform gyrus during a reading task after training. The objective of the current study was to determine whether the training also has an effect on functional connectivity of the cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal cognitive-control networks during rest in children with dyslexia and typical readers. Fifteen children with reading difficulty and 17 typical readers (8-12 years old) were included in the study. Reading and executive functions behavioral measures and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after reading training. Imaging data were analyzed using a graphical network-modeling tool. Both reading groups had increased reading and executive-functions scores after training, with greater gains among the dyslexia group. Training may have less effect on cognitive control in typical readers and a more direct effect on the visual area, as previously reported. Statistical analysis revealed that compared to typical readers, children with reading difficulty had significantly greater functional connectivity in the cingulo-opercular network after training, which may demonstrate the importance of cognitive control during reading in this population. These results support previous findings of increased error-monitoring activation after reading training in children with dyslexia and confirm greater gains with training in this group. PMID:26197049

Real-Life Impact of Executive Function Impairments in Adults Who Were Born Very Preterm.

PubMed

Kroll, Jasmin; Karolis, Vyacheslav; Brittain, Philip J; Tseng, Chieh-En Jane; Froudist-Walsh, Sean; Murray, Robin M; Nosarti, Chiara

2017-05-01

Children and adolescents who were born very preterm (≤32 weeks' gestation) are vulnerable to experiencing cognitive problems, including in executive function. However, it remains to be established whether cognitive deficits are evident in adulthood and whether these exert a significant effect on an individual's real-lifeachievement. Using a cross-sectional design, we tested a range of neurocognitive abilities, with a focus on executive function, in a sample of 122 very preterm individuals and 89 term-born controls born between 1979 and 1984. Associations between executive function and a range of achievement measures, indicative of a successful transition to adulthood, were examined. Very preterm adults performed worse compared to controls on measures of intellectual ability and executive function with moderate to large effect sizes. They also demonstrated significantly lower achievement levels in terms of years spent in education, employment status, and on a measure of functioning in work and social domains. Results of regression analysis indicated a stronger positive association between executive function and real-life achievement in the very preterm group compared to controls. Very preterm born adults demonstrate executive function impairments compared to full-term controls, and these are associated with lower achievement in several real-life domains. (JINS, 2017, 23, 381-389).

Characterizing neurocognitive late effects in childhood leukemia survivors using a combination of neuropsychological and cognitive neuroscience measures.

PubMed

Van Der Plas, Ellen; Erdman, Lauren; Nieman, Brian J; Weksberg, Rosanna; Butcher, Darci T; O'connor, Deborah L; Aufreiter, Susanne; Hitzler, Johann; Guger, Sharon L; Schachar, Russell J; Ito, Shinya; Spiegler, Brenda J

2017-10-10

Knowledge about cognitive late effects in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is largely based on standardized neuropsychological measures and parent reports. To examine whether cognitive neuroscience paradigms provided additional insights into neurocognitive and behavioral late effects in ALL survivors, we assessed cognition and behavior using a selection of cognitive neuroscience tasks and standardized measures probing domains previously demonstrated to be affected by chemotherapy. 130 ALL survivors and 158 control subjects, between 8 and 18 years old at time of testing, completed the n-back (working memory) and stop-signal (response inhibition) tasks. ALL survivors also completed standardized measures of intelligence (Wechsler Intelligence Scales [WISC-IV]), motor skills (Grooved Pegboard), math abilities (WIAT-III), and executive functions (Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System). Parents completed behavioral measures of executive functions (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function [BRIEF]) and attention (Conners-3). ALL survivors exhibited deficiencies in working memory and response inhibition compared with controls. ALL survivors also exhibited deficits on WISC-IV working memory and processing speed, Grooved Pegboard, WIAT-III addition and subtraction fluency, and numerical operations, as well as DKEFS number-letter switching. Parent reports suggested more attention deficits (Conners-3) and behavioral difficulties (BRIEF) in ALL survivors compared with referenced norms. Low correspondence between standardized and experimental measures of working memory and response inhibition was noted. The use of cognitive neuroscience paradigms complements our understanding of the cognitive deficits evident after treatment of ALL. These measures could further delineate cognitive processes involved in neurocognitive late effects, providing opportunities to explore their underlying mechanisms.

A randomized controlled trial of Kundalini yoga in mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Eyre, Harris A; Siddarth, Prabha; Acevedo, Bianca; Van Dyk, Kathleen; Paholpak, Pattharee; Ercoli, Linda; St Cyr, Natalie; Yang, Hongyu; Khalsa, Dharma S; Lavretsky, Helen

2017-04-01

Global population aging will result in increasing rates of cognitive decline and dementia. Thus, effective, low-cost, and low side-effect interventions for the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline are urgently needed. Our study is the first to investigate the effects of Kundalini yoga (KY) training on mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Older participants (≥55 years of age) with MCI were randomized to either a 12-week KY intervention or memory enhancement training (MET; gold-standard, active control). Cognitive (i.e. memory and executive functioning) and mood (i.e. depression, apathy, and resilience) assessments were administered at baseline, 12 weeks and 24 weeks. At baseline, 81 participants had no significant baseline group differences in clinical or demographic characteristics. At 12 weeks and 24 weeks, both KY and MET groups showed significant improvement in memory; however, only KY showed significant improvement in executive functioning. Only the KY group showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms and resilience at week 12. KY group showed short- and long-term improvements in executive functioning as compared to MET, and broader effects on depressed mood and resilience. This observation should be confirmed in future clinical trials of yoga intervention for treatment and prevention of cognitive decline (NCT01983930).

Cortical Thinning in Network-Associated Regions in Cognitively Normal and Below-Normal Range Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Pinnock, Farena; Parlar, Melissa; Hawco, Colin; Hanford, Lindsay; Hall, Geoffrey B.

2017-01-01

This study assessed whether cortical thickness across the brain and regionally in terms of the default mode, salience, and central executive networks differentiates schizophrenia patients and healthy controls with normal range or below-normal range cognitive performance. Cognitive normality was defined using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) composite score (T = 50 ± 10) and structural magnetic resonance imaging was used to generate cortical thickness data. Whole brain analysis revealed that cognitively normal range controls (n = 39) had greater cortical thickness than both cognitively normal (n = 17) and below-normal range (n = 49) patients. Cognitively normal controls also demonstrated greater thickness than patients in regions associated with the default mode and salience, but not central executive networks. No differences on any thickness measure were found between cognitively normal range and below-normal range controls (n = 24) or between cognitively normal and below-normal range patients. In addition, structural covariance between network regions was high and similar across subgroups. Positive and negative symptom severity did not correlate with thickness values. Cortical thinning across the brain and regionally in relation to the default and salience networks may index shared aspects of the psychotic psychopathology that defines schizophrenia with no relation to cognitive impairment. PMID:28348889

Novel Television-Based Cognitive Training Improves Working Memory and Executive Function

PubMed Central

Shatil, Evelyn; Mikulecká, Jaroslava; Bellotti, Francesco; Bureš, Vladimír

2014-01-01

The main study objective was to investigate the effect of interactive television-based cognitive training on cognitive performance of 119 healthy older adults, aged 60–87 years. Participants were randomly allocated to a cognitive training group or to an active control group in a single-blind controlled two-group design. Before and after training interactive television cognitive performance was assessed on well validated tests of fluid, higher-order ability, and system usability was evaluated. The participants in the cognitive training group completed a television-based cognitive training programme, while the participants in the active control group completed a TV-based programme of personally benefiting activities. Significant improvements were observed in well validated working memory and executive function tasks in the cognitive training but not in the control group. None of the groups showed statistically significant improvement in life satisfaction score. Participants' reports of “adequate” to “high” system usability testify to the successful development and implementation of the interactive television-based system and compliant cognitive training contents. The study demonstrates that cognitive training delivered by means of an interactive television system can generate genuine cognitive benefits in users and these are measurable using well-validated cognitive tests. Thus, older adults who cannot use or afford a computer can easily use digital interactive television to benefit from advanced software applications designed to train cognition. PMID:24992187

Measuring the construct of executive control in schizophrenia: defining and validating translational animal paradigms for discovery research.

PubMed

Gilmour, Gary; Arguello, Alexander; Bari, Andrea; Brown, Verity J; Carter, Cameron; Floresco, Stan B; Jentsch, David J; Tait, David S; Young, Jared W; Robbins, Trevor W

2013-11-01

Executive control is an aspect of cognitive function known to be impaired in schizophrenia. Previous meetings of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) group have more precisely defined executive control in terms of two constructs: "rule generation and selection", and "dynamic adjustments of control". Next, human cognitive tasks that may effectively measure performance with regard to these constructs were identified to be developed into practical and reliable measures for use in treatment development. The aim of this round of CNTRICS meetings was to define animal paradigms that have sufficient promise to warrant further investigation for their utility in measuring these constructs. Accordingly, "reversal learning" and the "attentional set-shifting task" were nominated to assess the construct of rule generation and selection, and the "stop signal task" for the construct of dynamic adjustments of control. These tasks are described in more detail here, with a particular focus on their utility for drug discovery efforts. Presently, each assay has strengths and weaknesses with regard to this point and increased emphasis on improving practical aspects of testing, understanding predictive validity, and defining biomarkers of performance represent important objectives in attaining confidence in translational validity here. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Mild Cognitive Impairment on the Event-Related Brain Potential Components Elicited in Executive Control Tasks.

PubMed

Zurrón, Montserrat; Lindín, Mónica; Cespón, Jesús; Cid-Fernández, Susana; Galdo-Álvarez, Santiago; Ramos-Goicoa, Marta; Díaz, Fernando

2018-01-01

We summarize here the findings of several studies in which we analyzed the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited in participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and in healthy controls during performance of executive tasks. The objective of these studies was to investigate the neural functioning associated with executive processes in MCI. With this aim, we recorded the brain electrical activity generated in response to stimuli in three executive control tasks (Stroop, Simon, and Go/NoGo) adapted for use with the ERP technique. We found that the latencies of the ERP components associated with the evaluation and categorization of the stimuli were longer in participants with amnestic MCI than in the paired controls, particularly those with multiple-domain amnestic MCI, and that the allocation of neural resources for attending to the stimuli was weaker in participants with amnestic MCI. The MCI participants also showed deficient functioning of the response selection and preparation processes demanded by each task.

Effects of Mild Cognitive Impairment on the Event-Related Brain Potential Components Elicited in Executive Control Tasks

PubMed Central

Zurrón, Montserrat; Lindín, Mónica; Cespón, Jesús; Cid-Fernández, Susana; Galdo-Álvarez, Santiago; Ramos-Goicoa, Marta; Díaz, Fernando

2018-01-01

We summarize here the findings of several studies in which we analyzed the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited in participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and in healthy controls during performance of executive tasks. The objective of these studies was to investigate the neural functioning associated with executive processes in MCI. With this aim, we recorded the brain electrical activity generated in response to stimuli in three executive control tasks (Stroop, Simon, and Go/NoGo) adapted for use with the ERP technique. We found that the latencies of the ERP components associated with the evaluation and categorization of the stimuli were longer in participants with amnestic MCI than in the paired controls, particularly those with multiple-domain amnestic MCI, and that the allocation of neural resources for attending to the stimuli was weaker in participants with amnestic MCI. The MCI participants also showed deficient functioning of the response selection and preparation processes demanded by each task.

Prospective Evaluation of Pretreatment Executive Cognitive Impairment and Depression in Patients Referred for Radiotherapy

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

Fuller, Clifton D.; Graduate Division of Radiological Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX; Department of Radiation Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR

Purpose: Cancer patients are at risk of cognitive impairment and depression. We sought to ascertain the prevalence of executive, visuospatial, memory, and general cognitive performance deficits before radiotherapy in a radiation oncology clinic referral population and correlate the neurocognitive measures with the depression symptom burden. Methods and Materials: A total of 122 sequential patients referred for radiotherapy evaluation were administered a test battery composed of the Executive Interview (EXIT25), Executive Clock Drawing Task (CLOX1 and CLOX2), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Memory Impairment Screen (MIS), and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The mean age {+-} standard deviation was 58 {+-} 17more » years. Of 122 patients, 24 (20%) had been referred for breast cancer, 21 (17%) for gastrointestinal cancer, 17 (14%) for genitourinary disease, and 8 (7%) for brain lesions; the rest were a variety of tumor sites. The cognitive performance among the tumor cohorts was compared using Bonferroni-corrected analysis of variance and Tukey-Kramer tests. Pearson correlation coefficients were determined between each cognitive instrument and the GDS. Results: Of the 122 patients, 52 (43%) exhibited a detectable executive cognition decrement on one or more test measures. Five percent had poor memory performance (MIS), 18% had poor visuospatial performance (CLOX2), and 13% had poor global cognition (MMSE). Patients with brain tumors performed substantially worse on the EXIT25. No between-group differences were found for CLOX1, CLOX2, MIS, or GDS performance. The EXIT25 scores correlated significantly with the GDS scores (r = 0.26, p = 0.005). Conclusions: The results of this study have shown that patients referred for radiotherapy exhibit cognitive impairment profiles comparable to those observed in acutely ill medical inpatients. Executive control impairment appears more prevalent than global cognitive deficits, visuospatial impairment, or depression.« less

Linking Childhood Poverty and Cognition: Environmental Mediators of Non-Verbal Executive Control in an Argentine Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipina, Sebastián; Segretin, Soledad; Hermida, Julia; Prats, Lucía; Fracchia, Carolina; Camelo, Jorge López; Colombo, Jorge

2013-01-01

Tests of attentional control, working memory, and planning were administered to compare the non-verbal executive control performance of healthy children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, mediations of several sociodemographic variables, identified in the literature as part of the experience of child poverty, between…

The impact of tinnitus upon cognition in adults: A systematic review.

PubMed

Tegg-Quinn, Susan; Bennett, Rebecca J; Eikelboom, Robert H; Baguley, David M

2016-10-01

To systematically review and analyse experimental outcomes of studies exploring the impact of tinnitus upon cognitive function and their implications for clinical management of invasive tinnitus. A systematic and descriptive review. Eighteen studies were identified investigating the impact of tinnitus on cognitive function. The 18 studies evaluated cognitive function using 24 different objective behavioural tests, nine electrophysiological recordings, one oculomotor test, and one self-report questionnaire. The studies spanned 18 years and revealed numerous interactions potentially contributing to the cognitive difficulties frequently reported by people with invasive tinnitus. The studies indicate a clear association between tinnitus and aspects of cognitive function, specifically the executive control of attention. Tinnitus impairs cognitive function by way of impact upon executive control of attention. Clinical management of patients reporting tinnitus and cognitive difficulties requires an understanding of the reciprocal relationship between tinnitus and cognitive function, with additive effects of anxiety, depression, and somatic cognitive bias. Further study is required to establish the impact of advancing age, hearing loss, anxiety, depression tinnitus duration, and distress upon cognitive function in people with invasive tinnitus.

A continuum of executive function deficits in early subcortical vascular cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Sudo, Felipe Kenji; Amado, Patricia; Alves, Gilberto Sousa; Laks, Jerson; Engelhardt, Eliasz

2017-01-01

Subcortical Vascular Cognitive Impairment (SVCI) is a clinical continuum of vascular-related cognitive impairment, including Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment (VaMCI) and Vascular Dementia. Deficits in Executive Function (EF) are hallmarks of the disorder, but the best methods to assess this function have yet to be determined. The insidious and almost predictable course of SVCI and the multidimensional concept of EF suggest that a temporal dissociation of impairments in EF domains exists early in the disorder. This study aims to review and analyze data from the literature about performance of VaMCI patients on the most used EF tests through a meta-analytic approach. Medline, Web of Knowledge and PsycINFO were searched, using the terms: "vascular mild cognitive impairment" OR "vascular cognitive impairment no dementia" OR "vascular mild neurocognitive disorder" AND "dysexecutive" OR "executive function". Meta-analyses were conducted for each of the selected tests, using random-effect models. Systematic review showed major discrepancies among the results of the studies included. Meta-analyses evidenced poorer performance on the Trail-Making Test part B and the Stroop color test by VaMCI patients compared to controls. A continuum of EF impairments has been proposed in SVCI. Early deficits appear to occur in cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control.

Assessment of planning abilities in individuals with mild cognitive impairment using an open-ended problem-solving task.

PubMed

Sanders, Chad; Low, Christina; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2014-01-01

There is currently limited research evaluating planning abilities, a core subcomponent of executive functioning, in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In the present study, we utilized the "Amap Task," an open-ended problem-solving task, to separately evaluate the formulation and execution components of planning ability in individuals with MCI. Thirty-seven cognitively healthy older adults and 37 individuals with MCI used a map layout of a university apartment to develop and write out a strategy (formulation stage) to successfully complete a list of tasks (e.g., retrieve and fill a water pitcher before placing it in the refrigerator). Subsequently, participants carried out the tasks in the apartment with the aid of their formulated plan (execution stage). MCI participants performed more poorly than older adult (OA) controls during both the formulation and execution stages on measures of task accuracy and task efficiency. However, both groups were able to adjust and improve task accuracy and efficiency from formulation to task execution. Finally, MCI participants took significantly longer to complete the task and adhered less to their formulated plans during task completion. Using an open-ended problem-solving task, the findings revealed that individuals with MCI experienced difficulties with both the formulation and execution components of planning. Like controls, participants with MCI were able to successfully modify their plan online, improving their performance from task formulation to task execution.

Working memory regulates trait anxiety-related threat processing biases.

PubMed

Booth, Robert W; Mackintosh, Bundy; Sharma, Dinkar

2017-06-01

High trait anxious individuals tend to show biased processing of threat. Correlational evidence suggests that executive control could be used to regulate such threat-processing. On this basis, we hypothesized that trait anxiety-related cognitive biases regarding threat should be exaggerated when executive control is experimentally impaired by loading working memory. In Study 1, 68 undergraduates read ambiguous vignettes under high and low working memory load; later, their interpretations of these vignettes were assessed via a recognition test. Trait anxiety predicted biased interpretation of social threat vignettes under high working memory load, but not under low working memory load. In Study 2, 53 undergraduates completed a dot probe task with fear-conditioned Japanese characters serving as threat stimuli. Trait anxiety predicted attentional bias to the threat stimuli but, again, this only occurred under high working memory load. Interestingly however, actual eye movements toward the threat stimuli were only associated with state anxiety, and this was not moderated by working memory load, suggesting that executive control regulates biased threat-processing downstream of initial input processes such as orienting. These results suggest that cognitive loads can exacerbate trait anxiety-related cognitive biases, and therefore represent a useful tool for assessing cognitive biases in future research. More importantly, since biased threat-processing has been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety, poor executive control may be a risk factor for anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Executive Functions

PubMed Central

Diamond, Adele

2014-01-01

Executive functions (EFs) make possible mentally playing with ideas; taking the time to think before acting; meeting novel, unanticipated challenges; resisting temptations; and staying focused. Core EFs are inhibition [response inhibition (self-control—resisting temptations and resisting acting impulsively) and interference control (selective attention and cognitive inhibition)], working memory, and cognitive flexibility (including creatively thinking “outside the box,” seeing anything from different perspectives, and quickly and flexibly adapting to changed circumstances). The developmental progression and representative measures of each are discussed. Controversies are addressed (e.g., the relation between EFs and fluid intelligence, self-regulation, executive attention, and effortful control, and the relation between working memory and inhibition and attention). The importance of social, emotional, and physical health for cognitive health is discussed because stress, lack of sleep, loneliness, or lack of exercise each impair EFs. That EFs are trainable and can be improved with practice is addressed, including diverse methods tried thus far. PMID:23020641

Cognitive programs: software for attention's executive

PubMed Central

Tsotsos, John K.; Kruijne, Wouter

2014-01-01

What are the computational tasks that an executive controller for visual attention must solve? This question is posed in the context of the Selective Tuning model of attention. The range of required computations go beyond top-down bias signals or region-of-interest determinations, and must deal with overt and covert fixations, process timing and synchronization, information routing, memory, matching control to task, spatial localization, priming, and coordination of bottom-up with top-down information. During task execution, results must be monitored to ensure the expected results. This description includes the kinds of elements that are common in the control of any kind of complex machine or system. We seek a mechanistic integration of the above, in other words, algorithms that accomplish control. Such algorithms operate on representations, transforming a representation of one kind into another, which then forms the input to yet another algorithm. Cognitive Programs (CPs) are hypothesized to capture exactly such representational transformations via stepwise sequences of operations. CPs, an updated and modernized offspring of Ullman's Visual Routines, impose an algorithmic structure to the set of attentional functions and play a role in the overall shaping of attentional modulation of the visual system so that it provides its best performance. This requires that we consider the visual system as a dynamic, yet general-purpose processor tuned to the task and input of the moment. This differs dramatically from the almost universal cognitive and computational views, which regard vision as a passively observing module to which simple questions about percepts can be posed, regardless of task. Differing from Visual Routines, CPs explicitly involve the critical elements of Visual Task Executive (vTE), Visual Attention Executive (vAE), and Visual Working Memory (vWM). Cognitive Programs provide the software that directs the actions of the Selective Tuning model of visual attention. PMID:25505430

Heart rate variability and cognitive processing: The autonomic response to task demands.

PubMed

Luque-Casado, Antonio; Perales, José C; Cárdenas, David; Sanabria, Daniel

2016-01-01

This study investigated variations in heart rate variability (HRV) as a function of cognitive demands. Participants completed an execution condition including the psychomotor vigilance task, a working memory task and a duration discrimination task. The control condition consisted of oddball versions (participants had to detect the rare event) of the tasks from the execution condition, designed to control for the effect of the task parameters (stimulus duration and stimulus rate) on HRV. The NASA-TLX questionnaire was used as a subjective measure of cognitive workload across tasks and conditions. Three major findings emerged from this study. First, HRV varied as a function of task demands (with the lowest values in the working memory task). Second, and crucially, we found similar HRV values when comparing each of the tasks with its oddball control equivalent, and a significant decrement in HRV as a function of time-on-task. Finally, the NASA-TLX results showed larger cognitive workload in the execution condition than in the oddball control condition, and scores variations as a function of task. Taken together, our results suggest that HRV is highly sensitive to overall demands of sustained attention over and above the influence of other cognitive processes suggested by previous literature. In addition, our study highlights a potential dissociation between objective and subjective measures of mental workload, with important implications in applied settings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Executive function and attention in patients with stress-related exhaustion: perceived fatigue and effect of distraction.

PubMed

Krabbe, David; Ellbin, Susanne; Nilsson, Michael; Jonsdottir, Ingibjörg H; Samuelsson, Hans

2017-07-01

Cognitive impairment has frequently been shown in patients who seek medical care for stress-related mental health problems. This study aims to extend the current knowledge of cognitive impairments in these patients by focusing on perceived fatigue and effects of distraction during cognitive testing. Executive function and attention were tested in a group of patients with stress-related exhaustion (n = 25) and compared with healthy controls (n = 25). Perceived fatigue was measured before, during and after the test session, and some of the tests were administered with and without standardized auditory distraction. Executive function and complex attention performance were poorer among the patients compared to controls. Interestingly, their performance was not significantly affected by auditory distraction but, in contrast to the controls, they reported a clear-cut increase in mental tiredness, during and after the test session. Thus, patients with stress-related exhaustion manage to perform during distraction but this was achieved at a great cost. These findings are discussed in terms of a possible tendency to adopt a high-effort approach despite cognitive impairments and the likelihood that such an approach will require increased levels of effort, which can result in increased fatigue. We tentatively conclude that increased fatigue during cognitive tasks is a challenge for patients with stress-related exhaustion and plausibly of major importance when returning to work demanding high cognitive performance.

Executive function processes predict mobility outcomes in older adults.

PubMed

Gothe, Neha P; Fanning, Jason; Awick, Elizabeth; Chung, David; Wójcicki, Thomas R; Olson, Erin A; Mullen, Sean P; Voss, Michelle; Erickson, Kirk I; Kramer, Arthur F; McAuley, Edward

2014-02-01

To examine the relationship between performance on executive function measures and subsequent mobility outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. Randomized controlled clinical trial. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Community-dwelling older adults (N = 179; mean age 66.4). A 12-month exercise trial with two arms: an aerobic exercise group and a stretching and strengthening group. Established cognitive tests of executive function (flanker task, task switching, and a dual-task paradigm) and the Wisconsin card sort test. Mobility was assessed using the timed 8-foot up and go test and times to climb up and down a flight of stairs. Participants completed the cognitive tests at baseline and the mobility measures at baseline and after 12 months of the intervention. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether baseline executive function predicted postintervention functional performance after controlling for age, sex, education, cardiorespiratory fitness, and baseline mobility levels. Selective baseline executive function measurements, particularly performance on the flanker task (β = 0.15-0.17) and the Wisconsin card sort test (β = 0.11-0.16) consistently predicted mobility outcomes at 12 months. The estimates were in the expected direction, such that better baseline performance on the executive function measures predicted better performance on the timed mobility tests independent of intervention. Executive functions of inhibitory control, mental set shifting, and attentional flexibility were predictive of functional mobility. Given the literature associating mobility limitations with disability, morbidity, and mortality, these results are important for understanding the antecedents to poor mobility function that well-designed interventions to improve cognitive performance can attenuate. © 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.

Individual differences in control of language interference in late bilinguals are mainly related to general executive abilities

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Recent research based on comparisons between bilinguals and monolinguals postulates that bilingualism enhances cognitive control functions, because the parallel activation of languages necessitates control of interference. In a novel approach we investigated two groups of bilinguals, distinguished by their susceptibility to cross-language interference, asking whether bilinguals with strong language control abilities ("non-switchers") have an advantage in executive functions (inhibition of irrelevant information, problem solving, planning efficiency, generative fluency and self-monitoring) compared to those bilinguals showing weaker language control abilities ("switchers"). Methods 29 late bilinguals (21 women) were evaluated using various cognitive control neuropsychological tests [e.g., Tower of Hanoi, Ruff Figural Fluency Task, Divided Attention, Go/noGo] tapping executive functions as well as four subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The analysis involved t-tests (two independent samples). Non-switchers (n = 16) were distinguished from switchers (n = 13) by their performance observed in a bilingual picture-naming task. Results The non-switcher group demonstrated a better performance on the Tower of Hanoi and Ruff Figural Fluency task, faster reaction time in a Go/noGo and Divided Attention task, and produced significantly fewer errors in the Tower of Hanoi, Go/noGo, and Divided Attention tasks when compared to the switchers. Non-switchers performed significantly better on two verbal subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Information and Similarity), but not on the Performance subtests (Picture Completion, Block Design). Conclusions The present results suggest that bilinguals with stronger language control have indeed a cognitive advantage in the administered tests involving executive functions, in particular inhibition, self-monitoring, problem solving, and generative fluency, and in two of the intelligence tests. What remains unclear is the direction of the relationship between executive functions and language control abilities. PMID:20180956

The Combined Burden of Cognitive, Executive Function, and Psychosocial Problems in Children with Epilepsy: A Population-Based Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoie, B.; Sommerfelt, K.; Waaler, P. E.; Alsaker, F. D.; Skeidsvoll, H.; Mykletun, A.

2008-01-01

The combined burden of psychosocial (Achenbach scales), cognitive (Raven matrices), and executive function (EF) problems was studied in a population-based sample of 6- to 12-year-old children with epilepsy (n = 162; 99 males, 63 females) and in an age- and sex-matched control group (n = 107; 62 males, 45 females). Approximately 35% of the children…

Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia across age groups: a case-control study.

PubMed

Mosiołek, Anna; Gierus, Jacek; Koweszko, Tytus; Szulc, Agata

2016-02-24

The potential dynamics of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia is discussed in the literature of the field. Recent publications suggest modest changes in level of cognitive impairment after first psychotic episode. Present article attempts to explore cognitive differences between patients and controls across age groups and differences between age groups in clinical group. One hundred and twenty-eight hospitalized patients with schizophrenia (64 women and 64 men) and 68 individuals from the control group (32 women and 32 men) aged 18-55 years were examined. The patients were divided into age groups (18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55). Both groups were examined using Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, Trail Making Test (A and B), Stroop Test, verbal fluency test and Wechsler digit span. Patients with schizophrenia obtained significantly lower scores versus the control group in regard to all the measured cognitive functions (Mann-Whitney U; p < 0.05. Most deficits were present in all age groups, however, statistically important impairment in executive functions (WCST) were present only in "older" groups. Patients with schizophrenia obtained less favourable results than the control group in all age groups. Deficits regarding executive functions do not seem to be at a significant level among the youngest group, whereas they are more noticeable in the group of 46-55-year-olds. Executive functions are significantly lowered in the group aged 36-45 in comparison to the "younger" groups. The level of cognitive functions shows a mild exacerbation in connection with age, whereas cognitive rigidity proved to be related to the number of years spent without hospital treatment.

Frontotemporal Functional Connectivity and Executive Functions Contribute to Episodic Memory Performance

PubMed Central

Blankenship, Tashauna L.; O'Neill, Meagan; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Diana, Rachel A.; Bell, Martha Ann

2016-01-01

The contributions of hemispheric-specific electrophysiology (electroencephalogram or EEG) and independent executive functions (inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility) to episodic memory performance were examined using abstract paintings. Right hemisphere frontotemporal functional connectivity during encoding and retrieval, measured via EEG alpha coherence, statistically predicted performance on recency but not recognition judgments for the abstract paintings. Theta coherence, however, did not predict performance. Likewise, cognitive flexibility statistically predicted performance on recency judgments, but not recognition. These findings suggest that recognition and recency operate via separate electrophysiological and executive mechanisms. PMID:27388478

Working memory maintenance is sufficient to reduce state anxiety.

PubMed

Balderston, Nicholas L; Quispe-Escudero, David; Hale, Elizabeth; Davis, Andrew; O'Connell, Katherine; Ernst, Monique; Grillon, Christian

2016-11-01

According to the attentional control theory (ACT) proposed by Eysenck and colleagues, anxiety interferes with cognitive processing by prioritizing bottom-up attentional processes over top-down attentional processes, leading to competition for access to limited resources in working memory, particularly the central executive (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, ). However, previous research using the n-back working memory task suggests that working memory load also reduces state anxiety. Assuming that similar mechanisms underlie the effect of anxiety on cognition, and the effect of cognition on anxiety, one possible implication of the ACT would suggest that the reduction of state anxiety with increasing working memory load is driven by activation of central executive attentional control processes. We tested this hypothesis using the Sternberg working memory paradigm, where maintenance processes can be isolated from central executive processes (Altamura et al., ; Sternberg, ). Consistent with the n-back results, subjects showed decreased state anxiety during the maintenance period of high-load trials relative to low-load trials, suggesting that maintenance processes alone are sufficient to achieve this state anxiety reduction. Given that the Sternberg task does not require central executive engagement, these results are not consistent with an implication of the ACT where the cognition/anxiety relationship and anxiety/cognition relationship are mediated by similar central executive mechanisms. Instead, we propose an extension of the ACT such that engaging working memory maintenance suppresses state anxiety in a load-dependent manner. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the efficacy of this effect may moderate the effect of trait anxiety on cognition. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Cognitive Control of Intentions for Voluntary Actions in Individuals with a High Level of Autistic Traits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poljac, Edita; Poljac, Ervin; Yeung, Nick

2012-01-01

Impairments in cognitive control generating deviant adaptive cognition have been proposed to account for the strong preference for repetitive behavior in autism. We examined if this preference reflects intentional deficits rather than problems in task execution in the broader autism phenotype using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Participants…

Neurocognitive Correlates of Young Drivers' Performance in a Driving Simulator.

PubMed

Guinosso, Stephanie A; Johnson, Sara B; Schultheis, Maria T; Graefe, Anna C; Bishai, David M

2016-04-01

Differences in neurocognitive functioning may contribute to driving performance among young drivers. However, few studies have examined this relation. This pilot study investigated whether common neurocognitive measures were associated with driving performance among young drivers in a driving simulator. Young drivers (19.8 years (standard deviation [SD] = 1.9; N = 74)) participated in a battery of neurocognitive assessments measuring general intellectual capacity (Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient, FSIQ) and executive functioning, including the Stroop Color-Word Test (cognitive inhibition), Wisconsin Card Sort Test-64 (cognitive flexibility), and Attention Network Task (alerting, orienting, and executive attention). Participants then drove in a simulated vehicle under two conditions-a baseline and driving challenge. During the driving challenge, participants completed a verbal working memory task to increase demand on executive attention. Multiple regression models were used to evaluate the relations between the neurocognitive measures and driving performance under the two conditions. FSIQ, cognitive inhibition, and alerting were associated with better driving performance at baseline. FSIQ and cognitive inhibition were also associated with better driving performance during the verbal challenge. Measures of cognitive flexibility, orienting, and conflict executive control were not associated with driving performance under either condition. FSIQ and, to some extent, measures of executive function are associated with driving performance in a driving simulator. Further research is needed to determine if executive function is associated with more advanced driving performance under conditions that demand greater cognitive load. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of early life stress on the cognitive phenotype of children with an extra X chromosome (47,XXY/47,XXX).

PubMed

van Rijn, Sophie; Barneveld, Petra; Descheemaeker, Mie-Jef; Giltay, Jacques; Swaab, Hanna

2018-02-01

Studies on gene-environment interactions suggest that some individuals may be more susceptible to life adversities than others due to their genetic profile. This study assesses whether or not children with an extra X chromosome are more vulnerable to the negative impact of early life stress on cognitive functioning than typically-developing children. A total of 50 children with an extra X chromosome and 103 non-clinical controls aged 9 to 18 years participated in the study. Cognitive functioning in domains of language, social cognition and executive functioning were assessed. Early life stress was measured with the Questionnaire of Life Events. High levels of early life stress were found to be associated with compromised executive functioning in the areas of mental flexibility and inhibitory control, irrespective of group membership. In contrast, the children with an extra X chromosome were found to be disproportionally vulnerable to deficits in social cognition on top of executive dysfunction, as compared to typically-developing children. Within the extra X group the number of negative life events is significantly correlated with more problems in inhibition, mental flexibility and social cognition. It is concluded that children with an extra X chromosome are vulnerable to adverse life events, with social cognition being particularly impacted in addition to the negative effects on executive functioning. The findings that developmental outcome is codependent on early environmental factors in genetically vulnerable children also underscores opportunities for training and support to positively influence the course of development.

The neurotic wandering mind: An individual differences investigation of neuroticism, mind-wandering, and executive control.

PubMed

Robison, Matthew K; Gath, Katherine I; Unsworth, Nash

2017-04-01

Cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience have recently developed a keen interest in the phenomenon of mind-wandering. People mind-wander frequently, and mind-wandering is associated with decreased cognitive performance. But why do people mind-wander so much? Previous investigations have focused on cognitive abilities like working memory capacity and attention control. But an individual's tendency to worry, feel anxious, and entertain personal concerns also influences mind-wandering. The Control Failure × Concerns model of mind-wandering. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 188-197] argues that individual differences in the propensity to mind-wander are jointly determined by cognitive abilities and by the presence of personally salient concerns that intrude on task focus. In order to test this model, we investigated individual differences in mind-wandering, executive attention, and personality with a focus on neuroticism. The results showed that neurotic individuals tended to report more mind-wandering during cognitive tasks, lower working memory capacity, and poorer attention control. Thus the trait of neuroticism adds an additional source of variance in the tendency to mind-wander, which offers support for the Control Failure × Concerns model. The results help bridge the fields of clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, affective neuroscience, and cognitive neuroscience as a means of developing a more complete understanding of the complex relationship between cognition, personality, and emotion.

Co-segregation of social cognition, executive function and local processing style in children with ASD, their siblings and normal controls.

PubMed

Oerlemans, Anoek M; Droste, Katharina; van Steijn, Daphne J; de Sonneville, Leo M J; Buitelaar, Jan K; Rommelse, Nanda N J

2013-12-01

Cognitive research proposes that social cognition (SC), executive functions (EF) and local processing style (weak CC) may be fruitful areas for research into the familial-genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The performance of 140 children with ASD, 172 siblings and 127 controls on tasks measuring SC (face recognition, affective prosody, and facial emotion recognition), EF (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and verbal working memory) and local processing style was assessed. Compelling evidence was found for the interrelatedness of SC and EF, but not local processing style, within individuals and within families, suggesting that these domains tend to co-segregate in ASD. Using the underlying shared variance of these constructs in genetic research may increase the power for detecting susceptibility genes for ASD.

A Multisite, Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of Computerized Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Gomar, Jesús J; Valls, Elia; Radua, Joaquim; Mareca, Celia; Tristany, Josep; del Olmo, Francisco; Rebolleda-Gil, Carlos; Jañez-Álvarez, María; de Álvaro, Francisco J; Ovejero, María R; Llorente, Ana; Teixidó, Cristina; Donaire, Ana M; García-Laredo, Eduardo; Lazcanoiturburu, Andrea; Granell, Luis; Mozo, Cristina de Pablo; Pérez-Hernández, Mónica; Moreno-Alcázar, Ana; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith; McKenna, Peter J

2015-11-01

The effectiveness of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) for the neuropsychological deficits seen in schizophrenia is supported by meta-analysis. However, a recent methodologically rigorous trial had negative findings. In this study, 130 chronic schizophrenic patients were randomly assigned to computerized CRT, an active computerized control condition (CC) or treatment as usual (TAU). Primary outcome measures were 2 ecologically valid batteries of executive function and memory, rated under blind conditions; other executive and memory tests and a measure of overall cognitive function were also employed. Carer ratings of executive and memory failures in daily life were obtained before and after treatment. Computerized CRT was found to produce improvement on the training tasks, but this did not transfer to gains on the primary outcome measures and most other neuropsychological tests in comparison to either CC or TAU conditions. Nor did the intervention result in benefits on carer ratings of daily life cognitive failures. According to this study, computerized CRT is not effective in schizophrenia. The use of both active and passive CCs suggests that nature of the control group is not an important factor influencing results. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Default and Executive Network Coupling Supports Creative Idea Production

PubMed Central

Beaty, Roger E.; Benedek, Mathias; Barry Kaufman, Scott; Silvia, Paul J.

2015-01-01

The role of attention in creative cognition remains controversial. Neuroimaging studies have reported activation of brain regions linked to both cognitive control and spontaneous imaginative processes, raising questions about how these regions interact to support creative thought. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored this question by examining dynamic interactions between brain regions during a divergent thinking task. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed a distributed network associated with divergent thinking, including several core hubs of the default (posterior cingulate) and executive (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) networks. The resting-state network affiliation of these regions was confirmed using data from an independent sample of participants. Graph theory analysis assessed global efficiency of the divergent thinking network, and network efficiency was found to increase as a function of individual differences in divergent thinking ability. Moreover, temporal connectivity analysis revealed increased coupling between default and salience network regions (bilateral insula) at the beginning of the task, followed by increased coupling between default and executive network regions at later stages. Such dynamic coupling suggests that divergent thinking involves cooperation between brain networks linked to cognitive control and spontaneous thought, which may reflect focused internal attention and the top-down control of spontaneous cognition during creative idea production. PMID:26084037

Dynamic reconfiguration of frontal brain networks during executive cognition in humans

PubMed Central

Braun, Urs; Schäfer, Axel; Walter, Henrik; Erk, Susanne; Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Haddad, Leila; Schweiger, Janina I.; Grimm, Oliver; Heinz, Andreas; Tost, Heike; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Bassett, Danielle S.

2015-01-01

The brain is an inherently dynamic system, and executive cognition requires dynamically reconfiguring, highly evolving networks of brain regions that interact in complex and transient communication patterns. However, a precise characterization of these reconfiguration processes during cognitive function in humans remains elusive. Here, we use a series of techniques developed in the field of “dynamic network neuroscience” to investigate the dynamics of functional brain networks in 344 healthy subjects during a working-memory challenge (the “n-back” task). In contrast to a control condition, in which dynamic changes in cortical networks were spread evenly across systems, the effortful working-memory condition was characterized by a reconfiguration of frontoparietal and frontotemporal networks. This reconfiguration, which characterizes “network flexibility,” employs transient and heterogeneous connectivity between frontal systems, which we refer to as “integration.” Frontal integration predicted neuropsychological measures requiring working memory and executive cognition, suggesting that dynamic network reconfiguration between frontal systems supports those functions. Our results characterize dynamic reconfiguration of large-scale distributed neural circuits during executive cognition in humans and have implications for understanding impaired cognitive function in disorders affecting connectivity, such as schizophrenia or dementia. PMID:26324898

Impact of Attention Training on Academic Achievement, Executive Functioning, and Behavior: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, Hannah; Gray, Kylie; Ellis, Kirsten; Taffe, John; Cornish, Kim

2017-01-01

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience significant difficulties in attention, learning, executive functions, and behavioral regulation. Emerging evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training may remediate these impairments. In a double blind controlled trial, 76 children with IDD (4-11 years) were…

Executive Control in Bilingual Language Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez-Fornells, A.; Balaguer, R. De Deigo; Munte, T. F.

2006-01-01

Little is known in cognitive neuroscience about the brain mechanisms and brain representations involved in bilingual language processing. On the basis of previous studies on switching and bilingualism, it has been proposed that executive functions are engaged in the control and regulation of the languages in use. Here, we review the existing…

From movement to thought: executive function, embodied cognition, and the cerebellum.

PubMed

Koziol, Leonard F; Budding, Deborah Ely; Chidekel, Dana

2012-06-01

This paper posits that the brain evolved for the control of action rather than for the development of cognition per se. We note that the terms commonly used to describe brain-behavior relationships define, and in many ways limit, how we conceptualize and investigate them and may therefore constrain the questions we ask and the utility of the "answers" we generate. Many constructs are so nonspecific and over-inclusive as to be scientifically meaningless. "Executive function" is one such term in common usage. As the construct is increasingly focal in neuroscience research, defining it clearly is critical. We propose a definition that places executive function within a model of continuous sensorimotor interaction with the environment. We posit that control of behavior is the essence of "executive function," and we explore the evolutionary advantage conferred by being able to anticipate and control behavior with both implicit and explicit mechanisms. We focus on the cerebellum's critical role in these control processes. We then hypothesize about the ways in which procedural (skill) learning contributes to the acquisition of declarative (semantic) knowledge. We hypothesize how these systems might interact in the process of grounding knowledge in sensorimotor anticipation, thereby directly linking movement to thought and "embodied cognition." We close with a discussion of ways in which the cerebellum instructs frontal systems how to think ahead by providing anticipatory control mechanisms, and we briefly review this model's potential applications.

The Use of Executive Control Processes in Engineering Design by Engineering Students and Professional Engineers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Raymond A.; Johnson, Scott D.

2012-01-01

A cognitive construct that is important when solving engineering design problems is executive control process, or metacognition. It is a central feature of human consciousness that enables one "to be aware of, monitor, and control mental processes." The framework for this study was conceptualized by integrating the model for creative design, which…

Combined Cognitive Training vs. Memory Strategy Training in Healthy Older Adults

PubMed Central

Li, Bing; Zhu, Xinyi; Hou, Jianhua; Chen, Tingji; Wang, Pengyun; Li, Juan

2016-01-01

As mnemonic utilization deficit in older adults associates with age-related decline in executive function, we hypothesized that memory strategy training combined with executive function training might induce larger training effect in memory and broader training effects in non-memory outcomes than pure memory training. The present study compared the effects of combined cognitive training (executive function training plus memory strategy training) to pure memory strategy training. Forty healthy older adults were randomly assigned to a combined cognitive training group or a memory strategy training group. A control group receiving no training was also included. Combined cognitive training group received 16 sessions of training (eight sessions of executive function training followed by eight sessions of memory strategy training). Memory training group received 16 sessions of memory strategy training. The results partly supported our hypothesis in that indeed improved performance on executive function was only found in combined training group, whereas memory performance increased less in combined training compared to memory strategy group. Results suggest that combined cognitive training may be less efficient than pure memory training in memory outcomes, though the influences from insufficient training time and less closeness between trained executive function and working memory could not be excluded; however it has broader training effects in non-memory outcomes. Clinical Trial Registration: www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR-OON-16007793. PMID:27375521

Salience and Default Mode Network Coupling Predicts Cognition in Aging and Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Putcha, Deepti; Ross, Robert S; Cronin-Golomb, Alice; Janes, Amy C; Stern, Chantal E

2016-02-01

Cognitive impairment is common in Parkinson's disease (PD). Three neurocognitive networks support efficient cognition: the salience network, the default mode network, and the central executive network. The salience network is thought to switch between activating and deactivating the default mode and central executive networks. Anti-correlated interactions between the salience and default mode networks in particular are necessary for efficient cognition. Our previous work demonstrated altered functional coupling between the neurocognitive networks in non-demented individuals with PD compared to age-matched control participants. Here, we aim to identify associations between cognition and functional coupling between these neurocognitive networks in the same group of participants. We investigated the extent to which intrinsic functional coupling among these neurocognitive networks is related to cognitive performance across three neuropsychological domains: executive functioning, psychomotor speed, and verbal memory. Twenty-four non-demented individuals with mild to moderate PD and 20 control participants were scanned at rest and evaluated on three neuropsychological domains. PD participants were impaired on tests from all three domains compared to control participants. Our imaging results demonstrated that successful cognition across healthy aging and Parkinson's disease participants was related to anti-correlated coupling between the salience and default mode networks. Individuals with poorer performance scores across groups demonstrated more positive salience network/default-mode network coupling. Successful cognition relies on healthy coupling between the salience and default mode networks, which may become dysfunctional in PD. These results can help inform non-pharmacological interventions (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) targeting these specific networks before they become vulnerable in early stages of Parkinson's disease.

[The relationship between executive functions, physical and functional capability in people over 60 years old].

PubMed

Rajtar-Zembaty, Anna; Sałakowski, Andrzej; Rajtar-Zembaty, Jakub

Nowadays it is believed that cognitive decline may contribute to the formation of gait disturbance and increased risk of falls. Currently the importance of executive functions to maintain proper control of gait is emphasized. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the level of executive function, functional and physical capability in patients over 60 years of age. The study included 300 patients (199 women and 101 men) aged 60-88 years. In order to screening for cognitive function Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used. The following researchers tools were used to conduct functional assessment: a) Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), b) Timed “Up and Go” (TUG) and c) Fast Walking Test. To assess executive fucntion Trail Making Test (TMT) was selected. The relationship between the speed of information processing (part A, TMT), executive functions (Part B, TMT), level of functional and physical capability was observed. The strongest positive correlation was noted between the time of TUG test and TMT part B (r=0.32; p<0.01), and also between Fast Gait Test and TMT part A (r=0.27; p<0.01). It has been proven that the level of executive function is related to the level of functional capability (β=0.18; p=0.001). It was found that 15% of variation in the level of the TUG test was explained by age, TMT- B, GDS and BMI. There is a relationship between level of executive functions, functional and physical capability in patients over 60 years of age. Cognitive processes play an important role in the control of motor functions therefore it is important to incorporate examination of cognitive functions in the early geriatric diagnosis.

Impact of DRD2/ANKK1 and COMT Polymorphisms on Attention and Cognitive Functions in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Nkam, Irene; Ramoz, Nicolas; Breton, Florence; Mallet, Jasmina; Gorwood, Philip; Dubertret, Caroline

2017-01-01

Cognitive deficits such as poor selective attention and executive functions decline have been reported in patients with schizophrenia. Many studies have emphasized the role of dopamine in regulating cognitive functions in the general population as well as in schizophrenia. However, the relationship between cognitive processes, schizophrenia and dopaminergic candidate genes is an original approach given interesting results. The purpose of the current exploratory study was to examine the interaction of dopaminergic genes (coding for dopamine receptor D2, DRD2, and for Catecholamine-O-Methyl-Transferase, COMT) with the diagnostic of schizophrenia in (i) the executive control of attention, (ii) selective attention, and (iii) executive functions. We recruited 52 patients with schizophrenia and 53 healthy controls who performed the Stroop Color-Word Test, the Attention Network Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting test. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the DRD2 gene (rs6275, rs6277, rs2242592 and rs1800497) and two SNPs in the COMT gene (rs4680 and rs165599) have been genotyped. Patients with schizophrenia performed significantly worse than controls in all cognitive performance, taking into account demographic variables. A significant gene by disease interaction was found for the Stroop interference (p = 0.002) for rs6275 of the DRD2 gene. The COMT Val/Val genotype and schizophrenia were associated with increased number of perseverative errors (p = 0.01). In our study, the DRD2 gene is involved in attention while the COMT gene is implicated in executive functions in patients with schizophrenia.

Executive function is affected in autism spectrum disorder, but does not correlate with intelligence.

PubMed

Merchán-Naranjo, Jessica; Boada, Leticia; del Rey-Mejías, Ángel; Mayoral, María; Llorente, Cloe; Arango, Celso; Parellada, Mara

2016-01-01

Studies of executive function in autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability (ASD-WID) patients are contradictory. We assessed a wide range of executive functioning cognitive domains in a sample of children and adolescents with ASD-WID and compared them with age-, sex-, and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched healthy controls. Twenty-four ASD-WID patients (mean age 12.8±2.5 years; 23 males; mean IQ 99.20±18.81) and 32 healthy controls (mean age 12.9±2.7 years; 30 males; mean IQ 106.81±11.02) were recruited. Statistically significant differences were found in all cognitive domains assessed, with better performance by the healthy control group: attention (U=185.0; P=.0005; D=0.90), working memory (T51.48=2.597; P=.006; D=0.72), mental flexibility (U=236.0; P=.007; D=0.67), inhibitory control (U=210.0; P=.002; D=0.71), and problem solving (U=261.0; P=0.021; D=0.62). These statistically significant differences were also found after controlling for IQ. Children and adolescents with ASD-WID have difficulties transforming and mentally manipulating verbal information, longer response latency, attention problems (difficulty set shifting), trouble with automatic response inhibition and problem solving, despite having normal IQ. Considering the low executive functioning profile found in those patients, we recommend a comprehensive intervention including work on non-social problems related to executive cognitive difficulties. Copyright © 2015 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Executive dysfunction in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.

PubMed

Gvirts, H Z; Braw, Y; Harari, H; Lozin, M; Bloch, Y; Fefer, K; Levkovitz, Y

2015-11-01

The boundary between bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder is a controversial one. Despite the importance of the topic, few studies have directly compared these patient groups. The aim of the study was to compare the executive functioning profile of BD and BPD patients. Executive functioning (sustained attention, problem-solving, planning, strategy formation, cognitive flexibility and working memory) was assessed in BD (n=30) and BPD outpatients (n=32) using a computerized assessment battery (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, CANTAB). The groups were compared to one another as well as to healthy controls. BD patients showed deficits in strategy formation and in planning (indicated by longer execution time in the ToL task) in comparison to BPD patients and healthy controls. BPD patients showed deficits in planning (short deliberation time in the ToL task) in comparison to BD patients and in comparison to healthy controls. In comparison to healthy controls, BPD patients displayed deficits in problem-solving. Differences in executive dysfunction between BD and BPD patients suggest that this cognitive dimension may be relevant for the clarification of the boundary between the disorders. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

The effects of lifelong cognitive lifestyle on executive function in older people with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Hindle, John V; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Martyr, Anthony; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Thomas, Enlli M; Clare, Linda

2017-12-01

Active lifelong cognitive lifestyles increase cognitive reserve and have beneficial effects on global cognition, cognitive decline and dementia risk in Parkinson's disease (PD). Executive function is particularly impaired even in early PD, and this impacts on quality of life. The effects of lifelong cognitive lifestyle on executive function in PD have not been studied previously. This study examined the association between lifelong cognitive lifestyle, as a proxy measure of cognitive reserve, and executive function in people with PD. Sixty-nine people diagnosed with early PD without dementia were recruited as part of the Bilingualism as a protective factor in Age-related Neurodegenerative Conditions study. Participants completed a battery of tests of executive function. The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire was completed as a comprehensive assessment of lifelong cognitive lifestyle. Non-parametric correlations compared clinical measures with executive function scores. Cross-sectional analyses of covariance were performed comparing the performance of low and high cognitive reserve groups on executive function tests. Correlational analyses showed that better executive function scores were associated with younger age, higher levodopa dose and higher Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire scores. Higher cognitive reserve was associated with better motor function, but high and low cognitive reserve groups did not differ in executive function. Cognitive reserve, although associated with global cognition, does not appear to be associated with executive function. This differential effect may reflect the specific cognitive profile of PD. The long-term effects of cognitive reserve on executive function in PD require further exploration. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improving executive function in childhood: evaluation of a training intervention for 5-year-old children

PubMed Central

Traverso, Laura; Viterbori, Paola; Usai, Maria Carmen

2015-01-01

Executive function (EF) refers to a set of higher order cognitive processes that control and modulate cognition under continuously changing and multiple task demands. EF plays a central role in early childhood, is associated and predictive of important cognitive achievements and has been recognized as a significant aspect of school readiness. This study examines the efficacy of a group based intervention for 5-year-old children that focuses on basic components of EF (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). The intervention included 12 sessions, lasted 1 month and used low-cost materials. Seventy-five children took part in the study. The results indicate that the children who attended the intervention outperformed controls in simple and more complex EF tasks. Specifically, these children exhibited increased abilities to delay gratification, to control on-going responses, to process and update information, and to manage high cognitive conflict. These results suggest the possibility that this intervention, which may be easily implemented in educational services, can promote EF during preschool period before the entrance in primary school. PMID:25983706

Improving executive function in childhood: evaluation of a training intervention for 5-year-old children.

PubMed

Traverso, Laura; Viterbori, Paola; Usai, Maria Carmen

2015-01-01

Executive function (EF) refers to a set of higher order cognitive processes that control and modulate cognition under continuously changing and multiple task demands. EF plays a central role in early childhood, is associated and predictive of important cognitive achievements and has been recognized as a significant aspect of school readiness. This study examines the efficacy of a group based intervention for 5-year-old children that focuses on basic components of EF (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). The intervention included 12 sessions, lasted 1 month and used low-cost materials. Seventy-five children took part in the study. The results indicate that the children who attended the intervention outperformed controls in simple and more complex EF tasks. Specifically, these children exhibited increased abilities to delay gratification, to control on-going responses, to process and update information, and to manage high cognitive conflict. These results suggest the possibility that this intervention, which may be easily implemented in educational services, can promote EF during preschool period before the entrance in primary school.

Testing the predictive power of cognitive atypicalities in autistic children: evidence from a 3-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Pellicano, Elizabeth

2013-08-01

This follow-up study investigated the predictive power of early cognitive atypicalities. Specifically, it examined whether early individual differences in specific cognitive skills, including theory of mind, executive function, and central coherence, could uniquely account for variation in autistic children's behaviors-social communication, repetitive behaviors, and interests and insistence on sameness-at follow-up. Thirty-seven cognitively able children with an autism spectrum condition were assessed on tests tapping verbal and nonverbal ability, theory of mind (false-belief prediction), executive function (planning ability, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control), and central coherence (local processing) at intake and their behavioral functioning (social communication, repetitive behaviors and interests, insistence on sameness) 3 years later. Individual differences in early executive but not theory of mind skills predicted variation in children's social communication. Individual differences in children's early executive function also predicted the degree of repetitive behaviors and interests at follow-up. There were no predictive relationships between early central coherence and children's insistence on sameness. These findings challenge the notion that distinct cognitive atypicalities map on to specific behavioral features of autism. Instead, early variation in executive function plays a key role in helping to shape autistic children's emerging behaviors, including their social communication and repetitive behaviors and interests. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cognitive consequences of cannabis use: comparison with abuse of stimulants and heroin with regard to attention, memory and executive functions.

PubMed

Lundqvist, Thomas

2005-06-01

This review aims to compare cognitive consequence between cannabis, and stimulants and heroin with regards to attention, memory and executive functions. The available studies using brain imaging techniques and neuropsychological tests show that acutely, all drugs create a disharmony in the neuropsychological network, causing a decrease of activity in areas responsible for short-term memory and attention, with the possible exception of heroin. Cannabis induces loss of internal control and cognitive impairment, especially of attention and memory, for the duration of intoxication. Heavy cannabis use is associated with reduced function of the attentional/executive system, as exhibited by decreased mental flexibility, increased perserveration, and reduced learning, to shift and/or sustain attention. Recent investigations on amphetamine/methamphetamine have documented deficits in learning, delayed recall, processing speed, and working memory. MDMA users exhibit difficulties in coding information into long-term memory, display impaired verbal learning, are more easily distracted, and are less efficient at focusing attention on complex tasks. The degree of executive impairment increases with the severity of use, and the impairments are relatively lasting over time. Chronic cocaine users display impaired attention, learning, memory, reaction time and cognitive flexibility. Heroin addiction may have a negative effect on impulse control, and selective processing.

A randomized controlled trial of Kundalini yoga in mild cognitive impairment

PubMed Central

Eyre, Harris A.; Siddarth, Prabha; Acevedo, Bianca; Van Dyk, Kathleen; Paholpak, Pattharee; Ercoli, Linda; Cyr, Natalie St.; Yang, Hongyu; Khalsa, Dharma S.; Lavretsky, Helen

2017-01-01

Background Global population aging will result in increasing rates of cognitive decline and dementia. Thus, effective, low-cost, and low side-effect interventions for the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline are urgently needed. Our study is the first to investigate the effects of Kundalini yoga (KY) training on mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Older participants (≥55 years of age) with MCI were randomized to either a 12-week KY intervention or memory enhancement training (MET; gold-standard, active control). Cognitive (i.e. memory and executive functioning) and mood (i.e. depression, apathy, and resilience) assessments were administered at baseline, 12 weeks and 24 weeks. Results At baseline, 81 participants had no significant baseline group differences in clinical or demographic characteristics. At 12 weeks and 24 weeks, both KY and MET groups showed significant improvement in memory; however, only KY showed significant improvement in executive functioning. Only the KY group showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms and resilience at week 12. Conclusion KY group showed short- and long-term improvements in executive functioning as compared to MET, and broader effects on depressed mood and resilience. This observation should be confirmed in future clinical trials of yoga intervention for treatment and prevention of cognitive decline (NCT01983930). PMID:28088925

Cognitive assessment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis by means of P300-Brain Computer Interface: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Poletti, Barbara; Carelli, Laura; Solca, Federica; Lafronza, Annalisa; Pedroli, Elisa; Faini, Andrea; Zago, Stefano; Ticozzi, Nicola; Meriggi, Paolo; Cipresso, Pietro; Lulé, Dorothée; Ludolph, Albert C; Riva, Giuseppe; Silani, Vincenzo

To investigate the use of P300-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology for the administration of motor-verbal free cognitive tests in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). We recruited 15 ALS patients and 15 age- and education-matched healthy subjects. All participants underwent a BCI-based neuropsychological assessment, together with two standard cognitive screening tools (FAB, MoCA), two psychological questionnaires (BDI, STAI-Y) and a usability questionnaire. For patients, clinical and respiratory examinations were also performed, together with a behavioural assessment (FBI). Correlations were observed between standard cognitive and BCI-based neuropsychological assessment, mainly concerning execution times in the ALS group. Moreover, patients provided positive rates concerning the BCI perceived usability and subjective experience. Finally, execution times at the BCI-based neuropsychological assessment were useful to discriminate patients from controls, with patients achieving lower processing speed than controls regarding executive functions. The developed motor-verbal free neuropsychological battery represents an innovative approach, that could provide relevant information for clinical practice and ethical issues. Its use for cognitive evaluation throughout the course of ALS, currently not available by means of standard assessment, must be addressed in further longitudinal validation studies. Further work will be aimed at refining the developed system and enlarging the cognitive spectrum investigated.

Grandparenting predicts late-life cognition: Results from the Women's Healthy Ageing Project.

PubMed

Burn, Katherine; Szoeke, Cassandra

2015-06-01

Social engagement provides dynamic stimulation for older individuals that influences cognition. Grandparenting is an increasingly popular form of childcare that provides social activity for older adults. To investigate the relationship between grandparenting, as a form of social engagement, and cognitive function in adults aged over 65, a decade after our previous work. Participants were 224 Australian women (mean age=70) from the longitudinal prospective Women's Healthy Ageing Project (WHAP). Cognitive function was assessed using a neuropsychological battery consisting of previously validated measures including the California Verbal Learning Test, Digit Span task, and Controlled Oral Word Association Test. Individual test scores were combined using factor analysis into executive function and episodic memory scores. Grandmothers minding grandchildren had higher executive function than those who were not minding grandchildren or who did not have grandchildren (p<0.05). Minding grandchildren for one day per week predicted better executive function performance than more frequent grandparenting (p<0.05), consistent with previous findings. While grandparenting is associated with better executive function overall, highly frequent grandparenting is associated with lower executive function, which may be due to demands. Social engagement comprises various aspects which need to be taken into consideration when studying cognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Domains of cognitive function in early old age: which ones are predicted by pre-retirement psychosocial work characteristics?

PubMed Central

Sabbath, Erika; Andel, Ross; Zins, Marie; Goldberg, Marcel; Berr, Claudine

2016-01-01

Background Psychosocial work characteristics may predict cognitive functioning after retirement. However, little research has explored specific cognitive domains associated with psychosocial work environments. Our study tested whether exposure to job demands, job control, and their combination during working life predicted post-retirement performance on eight cognitive tests. Methods We used data from French GAZEL cohort members who had undergone post-retirement cognitive testing (n=2,149). Psychosocial job characteristics were measured on average four years before retirement using Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire (job demands, job control, demand-control combinations). We tested associations between these exposures and post-retirement performance on tests of executive function, visual-motor speed, psycho-motor speed, verbal memory, and verbal fluency using OLS regression. Results Low job control during working life was negatively associated with executive function, psychomotor speed, phonemic fluency, and semantic fluency after retirement (p’s<.05) even after adjustment for demographics, socioeconomic status, health and social behaviours, and vascular risk factors. Both passive (low-demand, low-control) and high-strain (high-demand, low-control) jobs were associated with lower scores on phonemic and semantic fluency when compared to low-strain (low-demand, high-control) jobs. Conclusions Low job control, in combination with both high and low job demands, is associated with post-retirement deficits in some, but not all, cognitive domains. In addition to work stress, associations between passive work and subsequent cognitive function may implicate lack of cognitive engagement at work as a risk factor for future cognitive difficulties. PMID:27188277

Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism: How Linguistic Experience Leads to Cognitive Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bialystok, Ellen

2007-01-01

Bilinguals must have a mechanism for controlling attention to their two language systems in order to achieve fluent performance in each language without intrusions from the other. This paper examines the evidence that the experience of controlling attention to two languages boosts the development of executive control processes in childhood for…

The role of prevention focus under stereotype threat: Initial cognitive mobilization is followed by depletion.

PubMed

Ståhl, Tomas; Van Laar, Colette; Ellemers, Naomi

2012-06-01

Previous research has demonstrated that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and impairs central executive functions. The present research examines how these 2 consequences of stereotype threat are related. The authors argue that the prevention focus is responsible for the effects of stereotype threat on executive functions and cognitive performance. However, because the prevention focus is adapted to deal with threatening situations, the authors propose that it also leads to some beneficial responses to stereotype threat. Specifically, because stereotype threat signals a high risk of failure, a prevention focus initiates immediate recruitment of cognitive control resources. The authors further argue that this response initially facilitates cognitive performance but that the additional cognitive demands associated with working under threat lead to cognitive depletion over time. Study 1 demonstrates that stereotype threat (vs. control) facilitates immediate cognitive control capacity during a stereotype-relevant task. Study 2 experimentally demonstrates the process by showing that stereotype threat (vs. control) facilitates cognitive control as a default, as well as when a prevention focus has been experimentally induced, but not when a promotion focus has been induced. Study 3 shows that stereotype threat facilitates initial math performance under a prevention focus, whereas no effect is found under a promotion focus. Consistent with previous research, however, stereotype threat impaired math performance over time under a prevention focus, but not under a promotion focus. 2012 APA, all rights reserved

The Effects of Acute Stress on Core Executive Functions: A Meta-Analysis and Comparison with Cortisol

PubMed Central

Shields, Grant S.; Sazma, Matthew A.; Yonelinas, Andrew P.

2016-01-01

Core executive functions such as working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility are integral to daily life. A growing body of research has suggested that acute stress may impair core executive functions. However, there are a number of inconsistencies in the literature, leading to uncertainty about how or even if acute stress influences core executive functions. We addressed this by conducting a meta-analysis of acute stress effects on working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. We found that stress impaired working memory and cognitive flexibility, whereas it had nuanced effects on inhibition. Many of these effects were moderated by other variables, such as sex. In addition, we compared effects of acute stress on core executive functions to effects of cortisol administration and found some striking differences. Our findings indicate that stress works through mechanisms aside from or in addition to cortisol to produce a state characterized by more reactive processing of salient stimuli but greater control over actions. We conclude by highlighting some important future directions for stress and executive function research. PMID:27371161

Prospective memory, everyday cognitive failure and central executive function in recreational users of Ecstasy.

PubMed

Heffernan, T. M.; Jarvis, H.; Rodgers, J.; Scholey, A. B.; Ling, J.

2001-12-01

Chronic use of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), or Ecstasy, is believed to lead to impaired psychological performance, including well-documented decrements in laboratory and field tests of retrospective memory. Less is known about the impact of Ecstasy on aspects of 'everyday' memory, despite obvious concerns about such effects. The three studies reported here focused on the impact of chronic Ecstasy use on prospective memory (PM), associated central executive function and other aspects of day-to-day cognition. In study 1 46 regular Ecstasy users were compared with 46 Ecstasy-free controls using the Prospective Memory Questionnaire (PMQ). Ecstasy users reported significantly more errors in PM (remembering to do something in the future); these findings persisted after controlling for other drug use and the number of strategies used to aid memory. No difference was found between representative subgroups on the Lies Scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. In study 2 a different group of 30 regular Ecstasy users and 37 Ecstasy-free controls was assessed on the PMQ and on a central executive task comprising verbal fluency measures. The results confirmed the significant impairments in long- and short-term PM and revealed corresponding impairments in verbal fluency. In study 3 15 Ecstasy users, 15 cannabis users and 15 non-drug users were assessed using the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, which requires participants to provide ratings of the frequency of various day-to-day cognitive slips. The results indicate that the Ecstasy users did not perceive their general cognitive performance to be worse than that of controls. Taken together, these results suggest that Ecstasy users have impaired PM that cannot be explained by an increased propensity to exaggerate cognitive failures. These may be attributable, in part, to central executive deficits that are due to frontal lobe damage associated with Ecstasy use. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cognitive Performance in Older Adults with Stable Heart Failure: Longitudinal Evidence for Stability and Improvement

PubMed Central

Alosco, Michael L.; Garcia, Sarah; Spitznagel, Mary Beth; van Dulmen, Manfred; Cohen, Ronald; Sweet, Lawrence H.; Josephson, Richard; Hughes, Joel; Rosneck, Jim; Gunstad, John

2013-01-01

Cognitive impairment is prevalent in heart failure (HF), though substantial variability in the pattern of cognitive impairment is found across studies. To clarify the nature of cognitive impairment in HF, we examined longitudinal trajectories across multiple domains of cognition in HF patients using latent growth class modeling. 115 HF patients completed a neuropsychological battery at baseline, 3-months and 12-months. Participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Latent class growth analyses revealed a three-class model for attention/executive function, four-class model for memory, and a three-class model for language. The slope for attention/executive function and language remained stable, while improvements were noted in memory performance. Education and BDI-II significantly predicted the intercept for attention/executive function and language abilities. The BDI-II also predicted baseline memory. The current findings suggest that multiple performance-based classes of neuropsychological test performance exist within cognitive domains, though case-controlled prospective studies with extended follow-ups are needed to fully elucidate changes and predictors of cognitive function in HF. PMID:23906182

A multitasking general executive for compound continuous tasks.

PubMed

Salvucci, Dario D

2005-05-06

As cognitive architectures move to account for increasingly complex real-world tasks, one of the most pressing challenges involves understanding and modeling human multitasking. Although a number of existing models now perform multitasking in real-world scenarios, these models typically employ customized executives that schedule tasks for the particular domain but do not generalize easily to other domains. This article outlines a general executive for the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) cognitive architecture that, given independent models of individual tasks, schedules and interleaves the models' behavior into integrated multitasking behavior. To demonstrate the power of the proposed approach, the article describes an application to the domain of driving, showing how the general executive can interleave component subtasks of the driving task (namely, control and monitoring) and interleave driving with in-vehicle secondary tasks (radio tuning and phone dialing). 2005 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Common and specific impairments in attention functioning in girls with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion, fragile X or Turner syndromes

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS), fragile X syndrome (FXS), and Turner syndrome (TS) are complex and variable developmental syndromes caused by different genetic abnormalities; yet, they share similar cognitive impairments in the domains of numbers, space, and time. The atypical development of foundational neural networks that underpin the attentional system is thought to result in further impairments in higher-order cognitive functions. The current study investigates whether children with similar higher-order cognitive impairments but different genetic disorders also show similar impairments in alerting, orienting, and executive control of attention. Methods Girls with 22q11.2DS, FXS, or TS and typically developing (TD) girls, aged 7 to 15 years, completed an attention network test, a flanker task with alerting and orienting cues. Exploration of reaction times and accuracy allowed us to test for potential commonalities in attentional functioning in alerting, orienting, and executive control. Linear regression models were used to test whether the predictors of group and chronological age were able to predict differences in attention indices. Results Girls with 22q11.2DS, FXS, or TS demonstrated unimpaired function of the alerting system and impaired function of the executive control system. Diagnosis-specific impairments were found such that girls with FXS made more errors and had a reduced orienting index, while girls with 22q11.2DS showed specific age-related deficits in the executive control system. Conclusions These results suggest that the control but not the implementation of attention is selectively impaired in girls with 22q11.2DS, TS or FXS. Additionally, the age effect on executive control in girls with 22q11.2DS implies a possible altered developmental trajectory. PMID:24628892

Cognitive deficits of executive functions and decision-making in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Dittrich, Winand H; Johansen, Thomas

2013-10-01

The nature of cognitive deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by contradictory findings in terms of specific neuropsychological deficits. Selective impairments have been suggested to involve visuospatial memory, set shifting, decision-making and response inhibition. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive deficits in decision-making and executive functioning in OCD. It was hypothesized that the OCD patients would be less accurate in their responses compared to the healthy controls in rational decision-making on a version of the Cambridge gambling task (CGT) and on the color-word interference test and on a version of the Tower of Hanoi test (tower test) of executive functioning. Thirteen participants with OCD were compared to a group of healthy controls (n = 13) matched for age, gender, education and verbal IQ. Results revealed significant differences between the OCD group and the healthy control group on quality of decision-making on the CGT and for achievement score on the tower test. On these two tasks the OCD group performed worse than the healthy control group. The symptom-dimension analysis revealed performance differences where safety checking patients were impaired on the tower test compared to contamination patients. Results are discussed in the framework of cognition and emotion processing and findings implicate that OCD models should address, specifically, the interaction between cognition and emotion. Here the emotional disruption hypothesis is forwarded to account for the dysfunctional behaviors in OCD. Further implications regarding methodological and inhibitory factors affecting cognitive information processing are highlighted. © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Effects of Physical-Cognitive Dual Task Training on Executive Function and Gait Performance in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Falbo, S.; Condello, G.; Capranica, L.; Forte, R.

2016-01-01

Physical and cognitive training seem to counteract age-related decline in physical and mental function. Recently, the possibility of integrating cognitive demands into physical training has attracted attention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of twelve weeks of designed physical-cognitive training on executive cognitive function and gait performance in older adults. Thirty-six healthy, active individuals aged 72.30 ± 5.84 years were assigned to two types of physical training with major focus on physical single task (ST) training (n = 16) and physical-cognitive dual task (DT) training (n = 20), respectively. They were tested before and after the intervention for executive function (inhibition, working memory) through Random Number Generation and for gait (walking with/without negotiating hurdles) under both single and dual task (ST, DT) conditions. Gait performance improved in both groups, while inhibitory performance decreased after exercise training with ST focus but tended to increase after training with physical-cognitive DT focus. Changes in inhibition performance were correlated with changes in DT walking performance with group differences as a function of motor task complexity (with/without hurdling). The study supports the effectiveness of group exercise classes for older individuals to improve gait performance, with physical-cognitive DT training selectively counteracting the age-related decline in a core executive function essential for daily living. PMID:28053985

Effects of Physical-Cognitive Dual Task Training on Executive Function and Gait Performance in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Falbo, S; Condello, G; Capranica, L; Forte, R; Pesce, C

2016-01-01

Physical and cognitive training seem to counteract age-related decline in physical and mental function. Recently, the possibility of integrating cognitive demands into physical training has attracted attention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of twelve weeks of designed physical-cognitive training on executive cognitive function and gait performance in older adults. Thirty-six healthy, active individuals aged 72.30 ± 5.84 years were assigned to two types of physical training with major focus on physical single task (ST) training ( n = 16) and physical-cognitive dual task (DT) training ( n = 20), respectively. They were tested before and after the intervention for executive function (inhibition, working memory) through Random Number Generation and for gait (walking with/without negotiating hurdles) under both single and dual task (ST, DT) conditions. Gait performance improved in both groups, while inhibitory performance decreased after exercise training with ST focus but tended to increase after training with physical-cognitive DT focus. Changes in inhibition performance were correlated with changes in DT walking performance with group differences as a function of motor task complexity (with/without hurdling). The study supports the effectiveness of group exercise classes for older individuals to improve gait performance, with physical-cognitive DT training selectively counteracting the age-related decline in a core executive function essential for daily living.

Telephone-based goal management training for adults with mild traumatic brain injury: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Archer, Kristin R; Coronado, Rogelio A; Haislip, Lori R; Abraham, Christine M; Vanston, Susan W; Lazaro, Anthony E; Jackson, James C; Ely, E Wesley; Guillamondegui, Oscar D; Obremskey, William T

2015-06-02

Approximately 1 million individuals experience a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) and cost the United States nearly $17 billion each year. Many trauma survivors with mild TBI have debilitating and long-term physical, emotional, and cognitive impairments that are unrecognized at trauma centers. Early intervention studies are needed to address these impairments, especially cognitive deficits in executive functioning. Goal management training (GMT) is a structured cognitive rehabilitation program that has been found to improve executive functioning in patients with moderate to severe TBI. The current study adapted the GMT program for telephone delivery in order to improve the accessibility of rehabilitation services in a patient population with multiple barriers to care and significant yet unrecognized cognitive impairment. The primary objective of this study is to examine the efficacy of telephone-based GMT for improving executive functioning, functional status, and psychological health in trauma survivors with mild TBI. This study is a three-group randomized controlled trial being conducted at a Level I trauma center. Ninety trauma survivors with mild TBI and cognitive deficits in executive functioning will be randomized to receive telephone-based GMT, telephone-based education, or usual care. GMT and education programs will be delivered by a physical therapist. The first in-person session is 1 h and the remaining six telephone sessions are 30 min. A battery of well-established cognitive tests will be conducted and validated questionnaires will be collected that measure executive functioning, functional status, and depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms at 6 weeks, 4 months, and 7 months following hospital discharge. This study supports a telephone-delivery approach to rehabilitation services in order to broaden the availability of evidence-based cognitive strategies. This trial was registered with Clinicaltrials.gov on 10 October 2012, registration number: NCT01714531.

A continuum of executive function deficits in early subcortical vascular cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Sudo, Felipe Kenji; Amado, Patricia; Alves, Gilberto Sousa; Laks, Jerson; Engelhardt, Eliasz

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT. Background. Subcortical Vascular Cognitive Impairment (SVCI) is a clinical continuum of vascular-related cognitive impairment, including Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment (VaMCI) and Vascular Dementia. Deficits in Executive Function (EF) are hallmarks of the disorder, but the best methods to assess this function have yet to be determined. The insidious and almost predictable course of SVCI and the multidimensional concept of EF suggest that a temporal dissociation of impairments in EF domains exists early in the disorder. Objective: This study aims to review and analyze data from the literature about performance of VaMCI patients on the most used EF tests through a meta-analytic approach. Methods: Medline, Web of Knowledge and PsycINFO were searched, using the terms: “vascular mild cognitive impairment” OR “vascular cognitive impairment no dementia” OR “vascular mild neurocognitive disorder” AND “dysexecutive” OR “executive function”. Meta-analyses were conducted for each of the selected tests, using random-effect models. Results: Systematic review showed major discrepancies among the results of the studies included. Meta-analyses evidenced poorer performance on the Trail-Making Test part B and the Stroop color test by VaMCI patients compared to controls. Conclusion: A continuum of EF impairments has been proposed in SVCI. Early deficits appear to occur in cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. PMID:29354217

The Effects of Aerobic Exercise and Gaming on Cognitive Performance.

PubMed

Douris, Peter C; Handrakis, John P; Apergis, Demitra; Mangus, Robert B; Patel, Rima; Limtao, Jessica; Platonova, Svetlana; Gregorio, Aladino; Luty, Elliot

2018-03-01

The purpose of our study was to investigate the effects of video gaming, aerobic exercise (biking), and the combination of these two activities on the domains of cognitive performance: selective attention, processing speed, and executive functioning. The study was a randomized clinical trial with 40 subjects (mean age 23.7 ± 1.8 years) randomized to one of four thirty-minute conditions: video gaming, biking, simultaneous gaming and biking, and a control condition. Cognitive performance was measured pre and post condition using the Stroop test and Trails B test. A mixed design was utilized. While video gaming, biking, simultaneous gaming and biking conditions improved selective attention and processing speed (p < 0.05), only the bike condition improved the highest order of cognitive performance, executive function (p < 0.01). There were no changes in cognitive performance for the control condition. Previous studies have shown that if tasks approach the limits of attentional capacity there is an increase in the overall chance for errors, known as the dual-task deficit. Simultaneous biking and gaming may have surpassed attentional capacity limits, ultimately increasing errors during the executive function tests of our cognitive performance battery. The results suggest that the fatiguing effects of a combined physically and mentally challenging task that extends after the exercise cessation may overcome the eventual beneficial cognitive effects derived from the physical exercise.

Components of Executive Control with Advantages for Bilingual Children in Two Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bialystok, Ellen; Viswanathan, Mythili

2009-01-01

The present study used a behavioral version of an anti-saccade task, called the "faces task", developed by [Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Ryan, J. (2006). Executive control in a modified anti-saccade task: Effects of aging and bilingualism. "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition," 32,…

Degree of Bilingualism Modifies Executive Control in Hispanic Children in the USA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas-Sunesson, Danielle; Hakuta, Kenji; Bialystok, Ellen

2018-01-01

Past studies examining the cognitive function of bilingual school-aged children have pointed to enhancements in areas of executive control relative to age-matched monolingual children. The majority of these studies has tested children from a middle-class background and compared performance of bilinguals as a discrete group against monolinguals.…

Wandering Minds and Wavering Rhythms: Linking Mind Wandering and Behavioral Variability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seli, Paul; Cheyne, James Allan; Smilek, Daniel

2013-01-01

Mind wandering is a pervasive feature of human cognition often associated with the withdrawal of task-related executive control processes. Here, we explore the possibility that, in tasks requiring executive control to sustain consistent responding, moments of mind wandering could be associated with moments of increased behavioral variability. To…

Breaking bad habits by improving executive function in individuals with obesity.

PubMed

Allom, Vanessa; Mullan, Barbara; Smith, Evelyn; Hay, Phillipa; Raman, Jayanthi

2018-04-16

Two primary factors that contribute to obesity are unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior. These behaviors are particularly difficult to change in the long-term because they are often enacted habitually. Cognitive Remediation Therapy has been modified and applied to the treatment of obesity (CRT-O) with preliminary results of a randomized controlled trial demonstrating significant weight loss and improvements in executive function. The objective of this study was to conduct a secondary data analysis of the CRT-O trial to evaluate whether CRT-O reduces unhealthy habits that contribute to obesity via improvements in executive function. Eighty participants with obesity were randomized to CRT-O or control. Measures of executive function (Wisconsin Card Sort Task and Trail Making Task) and unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior habits were administered at baseline, post-intervention and at 3 month follow-up. Participants receiving CRT-O demonstrated improvements in both measures of executive function and reductions in both unhealthy habit outcomes compared to control. Mediation analyses revealed that change in one element of executive function performance (Wisconsin Card Sort Task perseverance errors) mediated the effect of CRT-O on changes in both habit outcomes. These results suggest that the effectiveness of CRT-O may result from the disruption of unhealthy habits made possible by improvements in executive function. In particular, it appears that cognitive flexibility, as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sort task, is a key mechanism in this process. Improving cognitive flexibility may enable individuals to capitalise on interruptions in unhealthy habits by adjusting their behavior in line with their weight loss goals rather than persisting with an unhealthy choice. The RCT was registered with the Australian New Zealand Registry of Clinical Trials (trial id: ACTRN12613000537752 ).

WWC Review of the Report "Effects of the FITKids Randomized Controlled Trial on Executive Control and Brain Function." What Works Clearinghouse Single Study Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2015

2015-01-01

This study measured the impact of the "Fitness Improves Thinking in Kids" ("FITKids") afterschool program on the executive control (i.e., maintaining focus, performing multiple cognitive processes) and physical fitness of preadolescent students. The "FITKids" program was held at the University of Illinois' campus and…

The Study of Mental and Resistance Training (SMART) study—resistance training and/or cognitive training in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, double-blind, double-sham controlled trial.

PubMed

Fiatarone Singh, Maria A; Gates, Nicola; Saigal, Nidhi; Wilson, Guy C; Meiklejohn, Jacinda; Brodaty, Henry; Wen, Wei; Singh, Nalin; Baune, Bernhard T; Suo, Chao; Baker, Michael K; Foroughi, Nasim; Wang, Yi; Sachdev, Perminder S; Valenzuela, Michael

2014-12-01

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) increases dementia risk with no pharmacologic treatment available. The Study of Mental and Resistance Training was a randomized, double-blind, double-sham controlled trial of adults with MCI. Participants were randomized to 2 supervised interventions: active or sham physical training (high intensity progressive resistance training vs seated calisthenics) plus active or sham cognitive training (computerized, multidomain cognitive training vs watching videos/quizzes), 2-3 days/week for 6 months with 18-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were global cognitive function (Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale; ADAS-Cog) and functional independence (Bayer Activities of Daily Living). Secondary outcomes included executive function, memory, and speed/attention tests, and cognitive domain scores. One hundred adults with MCI [70.1 (6.7) years; 68% women] were enrolled and analyzed. Resistance training significantly improved the primary outcome ADAS-Cog; [relative effect size (95% confidence interval) -0.33 (-0.73, 0.06); P < .05] at 6 months and executive function (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Matrices; P = .016) across 18 months. Normal ADAS-Cog scores occurred in 48% (24/49) after resistance training vs 27% (14/51) without resistance training [P < .03; odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 3.50 (1.18, 10.48)]. Cognitive training only attenuated decline in Memory Domain at 6 months (P < .02). Resistance training 18-month benefit was 74% higher (P = .02) for Executive Domain compared with combined training [z-score change = 0.42 (0.22, 0.63) resistance training vs 0.11 (-0.60, 0.28) combined] and 48% higher (P < .04) for Global Domain [z-score change = .0.45 (0.29, 0.61) resistance training vs 0.23 (0.10, 0.36) combined]. Resistance training significantly improved global cognitive function, with maintenance of executive and global benefits over 18 months. Copyright © 2014 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Training Sustainably Improves Executive Functioning in Middle-Aged Industry Workers Assessed by Task Switching: A Randomized Controlled ERP Study

PubMed Central

Gajewski, Patrick D.; Freude, Gabriele; Falkenstein, Michael

2017-01-01

Recently, we reported results of a cross-sectional study investigating executive functions in dependence of aging and type of work. That study showed deficits in performance and electrophysiological activity in middle-aged workers with long-term repetitive and unchallenging work. Based on these findings, we conducted a longitudinal study that aimed at ameliorating these cognitive deficits by means of a trainer-guided cognitive training (CT) in 57 further middle-aged workers with repetitive type of work from the same factory. This study was designed as a randomized controlled trail with pre- (t1), post- (t2), and a 3-month follow-up (t3) measure. The waiting control group was trained between t2 and t3. The training lasted 3 months (20 sessions) and was evaluated with the same task switching paradigm used in the previous cross-sectional study. The CT improved performance in accuracy at the behavioral level and affected the electrophysiological correlates of retrieval of stimulus-response sets (P2), response selection (N2), and error detection (Ne), thus unveiling the neuronal background of the behavioral effects. The same training effects were observed in the waiting control group after CT at t3. Moreover, at t3, most of the behavioral and electrophysiological training-induced changes were found stable. Hence, CT appears to be an important intervention for compensating cognitive deficits in executive functions in middle-aged employees with cognitively unchallenging work. PMID:28275347

Effects of selective serotonin reuptake and dual serotonergic-noradrenergic reuptake treatments on attention and executive functions in patients with major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Herrera-Guzmán, Ixchel; Herrera-Abarca, Jorge E; Gudayol-Ferré, Esteve; Herrera-Guzmán, Daniel; Gómez-Carbajal, Lizbeth; Peña-Olvira, Miriam; Villuendas-González, Erwin; Joan, Guàrdia-Olmos

2010-05-30

Several reports suggest that antidepressants may improve cognitive functioning in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The present work aims to study the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonergic-noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) treatments on the performance of working memory, attention and executive functions in patients with MDD. A total of 73 subjects meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version IV (DSM-IV) criteria for MDD, and 37 control subjects were assessed with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and a neuropsychological battery. The subjects were medicated with escitalopram (n=36) or duloxetine (n=37) for 24 weeks. At the end of the trial, the subjects were assessed again with the same tests. The depressed subjects showed alterations in attention and cognitive functions when compared to the control group. The administration of both treatments improved working memory, as well as attention and all the executive functions, but the cognitive functions of depressed patients do not improve enough to reach the levels of performance of the control subjects. Our results suggest that both SSRI and SNRI treatments presented the same efficacy in improving attention and the remaining executive functions. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive functions in preschool children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Reichenbach, Katrin; Bastian, Laura; Rohrbach, Saskia; Gross, Manfred; Sarrar, Lea

2016-07-01

A growing body of research has focused on executive functions in children with specific language impairment (SLI). However, results show limited convergence, particularly in preschool age. The current neuropsychological study compared performance of cognitive functions focused on executive components and working memory in preschool children with SLI to typically developing controls. Performance on the measures cognitive flexibility, inhibition, processing speed and phonological short-term memory was assessed. The monolingual, Caucasian study sample consisted of 30 children with SLI (Mage = 63.3 months, SD = 4.3 months) and 30 healthy controls (Mage = 62.2 months, SD = 3.7 months). Groups were matched for age and nonverbal IQ. Socioeconomic status of the participating families was included. Children with SLI had significantly poorer abilities of phonological short-term memory than matched controls. A tendency of poorer abilities in the SLI group was found for inhibition and processing speed. We confirmed phonological short-term memory to be a reliable marker of SLI in preschoolers. Our results do not give definite support for impaired executive function in SLI, possibly owing to limited sensitivity of test instruments in this age group. We argue for a standardization of executive function tests for research use. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neurogranin as a predictor of memory and executive function decline in MCI patients.

PubMed

Headley, Alison; De Leon-Benedetti, Andres; Dong, Chuanhui; Levin, Bonnie; Loewenstein, David; Camargo, Christian; Rundek, Tatjana; Zetterberg, Henrik; Blennow, Kaj; Wright, Clinton B; Sun, Xiaoyan

2018-03-06

To determine whether high CSF levels of neurogranin (Ng) predict longitudinal decline in memory and executive function during early-stage Alzheimer disease (AD). Baseline levels of CSF Ng were studied in relation to cross-sectional and longitudinal cognitive performance over 8 years. Data were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database, and participants with normal cognition (n = 111) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 193) were included. High levels of CSF Ng were associated with poor baseline memory scores (β = -0.21, p < 0.0001). CSF Ng predicted both memory and executive function decline over time (β = -0.0313, p = 0.0068 and β = -0.0346, p = 0.0169, respectively) independently of age, sex, education, and APOE ε4 status. When the rate of decline by tertiles was examined, CSF Ng was a level-dependent predictor of memory function, whereby the group with highest levels of Ng showed the fastest rates of decline in both memory and executive function. When examined separately, elevated Ng was associated with cognitive decline in participants with MCI but not in those with normal cognition. The levels of CSF Ng were not associated with cognitive measures when tau and amyloid 42 (Aβ 42 ) were controlled for in these analyses. High CSF Ng associates with poor memory scores in participants with MCI cross-sectionally and with poor memory and executive function longitudinally. The association of Ng with cognitive measures disappears when tau and Aβ 42 are included in the statistical models. Our findings suggest that CSF Ng may serve as a biomarker of cognition. Synaptic dysfunction contributes to cognitive impairment in early-stage AD. © 2018 American Academy of Neurology.

Self-Efficacy Buffers the Relationship between Educational Disadvantage and Executive Functioning.

PubMed

Zahodne, Laura B; Nowinski, Cindy J; Gershon, Richard C; Manly, Jennifer J

2015-04-01

Previous studies showed that control beliefs are more strongly related to global cognition and mortality among adults with low education, providing preliminary evidence that self-efficacy buffers against the negative impact of educational disadvantage on physical and cognitive health. The current study extends these findings to a nationally representative sample of men and women aged 30 to 85 and explores which cognitive domains are most strongly associated with self-efficacy, educational attainment, and their interaction. Data were obtained from 1032 adult (30-85) participants in the United States norming study for the NIH Toolbox. Self-efficacy, executive functioning, working memory, processing speed, episodic memory, and vocabulary were assessed with the NIH Toolbox. Multivariate analysis of covariance and follow-up regressions tested the hypothesis that self-efficacy would be more strongly related to cognitive performance among individuals with lower education, controlling for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, reading level, testing language, and depressive symptoms. Higher education was associated with higher self-efficacy and better performance on all cognitive tests. Higher self-efficacy was associated with better set-switching and attention/inhibition. Significant self-efficacy by education interactions indicated that associations between self-efficacy and executive abilities were stronger for individuals with lower education. Specifically, individuals with low education but high self-efficacy performed similarly to individuals with high education. This study provides evidence that self-efficacy beliefs buffer against the negative effects of low educational attainment on executive functioning. These results have implications for future policy and/or intervention work aimed at reducing the deleterious effects of educational disadvantage on later cognitive health.

Impairment of cognitive abilities and decision making after chronic use of alcohol: the impact of multiple detoxifications.

PubMed

Loeber, Sabine; Duka, Theodora; Welzel, Helga; Nakovics, Helmut; Heinz, Andreas; Flor, Herta; Mann, Karl

2009-01-01

In the present study, the effect of previous detoxifications on prefrontal function and decision making was examined in alcohol-dependent patients. Further, we examined whether the length of abstinence affects cognitive function. Forty-eight alcohol-dependent patients were recruited from an inpatient detoxification treatment facility and cognitive function was compared to a control group of 36 healthy controls. The patient population was then divided into a group of patients with less than two previous detoxifications (LO-detox group, n = 27) and a group of patients with two or more previous detoxifications (HI-detox group, n = 21) and cognitive function was compared. In addition, cognitive function of recently (i.e. less than 16 days; median split) and longer abstinent patients was compared. We assessed prefrontal function, memory function and intelligence. Alcoholics, when compared to healthy controls, performed worse with regard to the performance index Attention/Executive function. Cognitive impairment in these tasks was pronounced in recently abstinent patients. We found no significant differences between HI-detox and LO-detox patients with regard to the Attention/Executive function. However, in the IOWA gambling Task, the HI-detox group seemed to be less able to learn to choose cards from the more advantageous decks over time. Our results provide additional evidence for cognitive impairment of alcohol-dependent patients with regard to tasks sensitive to frontal lobe function and underline the importance of abstinence for these impairments to recover. We found only little evidence for the impairing effects of repeated withdrawal on prefrontal function and we suggest that executive function is affected earlier in dependence.

Longitudinal Study of a Novel, Performance-based Measure of Daily Function

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

have functional impairments, and healthy age matched controls on the UPSA, as well as measures of cognition (e.g., episodic memory , semantic memory ...controls on the UPSA, as well as measures of cognition (e.g., episodic memory , semantic memory , executive function, speed). We found that patients with...diagnosis have functional impairments, and healthy age matched controls on the UPSA, as well as measures of cognition (e.g., episodic memory , semantic

White matter structural network abnormalities underlie executive dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Dimond, Dennis; Ishaque, Abdullah; Chenji, Sneha; Mah, Dennell; Chen, Zhang; Seres, Peter; Beaulieu, Christian; Kalra, Sanjay

2017-03-01

Research in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suggests that executive dysfunction, a prevalent cognitive feature of the disease, is associated with abnormal structural connectivity and white matter integrity. In this exploratory study, we investigated the white matter constructs of executive dysfunction, and attempted to detect structural abnormalities specific to cognitively impaired ALS patients. Eighteen ALS patients and 22 age and education matched healthy controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging on a 4.7 Tesla scanner and completed neuropsychometric testing. ALS patients were categorized into ALS cognitively impaired (ALSci, n = 9) and ALS cognitively competent (ALScc, n = 5) groups. Tract-based spatial statistics and connectomics were used to compare white matter integrity and structural connectivity of ALSci and ALScc patients. Executive function performance was correlated with white matter FA and network metrics within the ALS group. Executive function performance in the ALS group correlated with global and local network properties, as well as FA, in regions throughout the brain, with a high predilection for the frontal lobe. ALSci patients displayed altered local connectivity and structural integrity in these same frontal regions that correlated with executive dysfunction. Our results suggest that executive dysfunction in ALS is related to frontal network disconnectivity, which potentially mediates domain-specific, or generalized cognitive impairment, depending on the degree of global network disruption. Furthermore, reported co-localization of decreased network connectivity and diminished white matter integrity suggests white matter pathology underlies this topological disruption. We conclude that executive dysfunction in ALSci is associated with frontal and global network disconnectivity, underlined by diminished white matter integrity. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1249-1268, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Associations between Markers of Glucose and Insulin Function and Cognitive Function in Healthy African American Elders

PubMed Central

Skinner, Jeannine S.; Morgan, Amy; Hernandez-Saucedo, Hector; Hansen, Angela; Corbett, Selena; Arbuckle, Matthew; Leverenz, James BA; Wilkins, Consuelo H.; Craft, Suzanne; Baker, Laura D.

2015-01-01

Background Glucose and insulin are important moderators of cognitive function. African Americans have poorer glycemic control across the glycemic spectrum and are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes and poor cognitive health. It is unclear which glucoregulatory markers predict cognitive function in this at-risk population. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between cognitive function and common markers of glucoregulation in non-diabetic African Americans elders. Methods Thirty-four, community-dwelling African Americans, aged 50-75 years completed cognitive testing and blood collection as part of a health screening assessment. Cognitive outcomes were composite scores derived from neuropsychological tests of executive function and verbal memory. Linear regression was used to examine relationships between cognitive composite scores and fasting blood levels of glucose, insulin, and hemoglobin A1C, with adjustments for age, education, body mass index, and antihypertensive medication use. Results Fasting plasma glucose was negatively associated with executive function (β=−0.41, p=0.03). There was a trend of an association between fasting plasma glucose and verbal memory (β=−0.34, p=0.06). Fasting insulin and hemoglobin A1c were not associated with cognitive function. Conclusion High non-diabetic fasting glucose levels were associated with poorer executive function and verbal memory. These results provide preliminary support for proactive glucose control in older African Americans even before glycemic criteria for type 2 diabetes are met. Our findings suggests that high-normal FPG levels may represent an early red-flag to signify increased risk of cognitive impairment or decline. PMID:26798567

Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as "poor readers".

PubMed

Engel de Abreu, Pascale M J; Abreu, Neander; Nikaedo, Carolina C; Puglisi, Marina L; Tourinho, Carlos J; Miranda, Mônica C; Befi-Lopes, Debora M; Bueno, Orlando F A; Martin, Romain

2014-01-01

This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled "Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility," "Interference Suppression," "Selective Attention," and "Response Inhibition." Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement.

Men and women with fibromyalgia: Relation between attentional function and clinical symptoms.

PubMed

Miró, Elena; Martínez, María P; Sánchez, Ana I; Prados, Germán; Lupiáñez, Juan

2015-09-01

This study was the first to explore whether individuals with fibromyalgia (FM) have different cognitive alterations (i.e., in alertness, orienting, and executive control) depending on their sex. We also analysed possible gender differences in the relationships between cognitive functioning and some of the main symptoms of FM. Cross-sectional study. Two clinical groups with FM (n = 58 women and n = 20 men) and two healthy control groups (n = 21 women and n = 27 men) aged between 30 and 60 years old participated in this study. Pain intensity, sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, and daily functioning were evaluated with self-report measures. Attentional function was assessed with the ANT-I task (Attentional Network Test-Interactions). Mixed ANOVAs showed impairment in vigilance and executive control in both male and female patients with FM compared with controls. Control men were faster than control women, but FM eliminated sex differences. In addition, attention deficit was associated with worse daily functioning in women but not in men with FM. Emotional distress and sleep disruption seemed to contribute differently to these cognitive alterations in both sexes. Therapy strategies aimed at reducing emotional distress and sleep disruption are likely to improve cognitive function by enhancing vigilance. Therapies aimed at reducing emotional distress seem to improve attentional function more in women than in men; those aimed at improving sleep quality are likely to reduce a vigilance/alertness deficit in women and executive problems in men. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Cognitive dysfunction in lower motor neuron disease: executive and memory deficits in progressive muscular atrophy.

PubMed

Raaphorst, Joost; de Visser, Marianne; van Tol, Marie-José; Linssen, Wim H J P; van der Kooi, Anneke J; de Haan, Rob J; van den Berg, Leonard H; Schmand, Ben

2011-02-01

In contrast with findings in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cognitive impairments have as yet not been shown in the lower motor neuron variant of motor neuron disease, progressive spinal muscular atrophy (PMA). The objective of this study was to investigate cognitive function in PMA and to compare the cognitive profile with that of ALS. In addition, visuospatial functions were assessed comprehensively; these tests are underrepresented in earlier neuropsychological investigations in ALS. 23 PMA and 30 ALS patients (vital capacity >70% of predicted value) underwent a neuropsychological assessment adapted to motor impairments: global cognitive and executive functioning, psychomotor speed, memory, language, attention and visuospatial skills. The results were compared with age, education and sex matched controls and with normative data. Compared with controls, PMA patients performed worse on attention/working memory (digit span backward), category fluency and the Mini-Mental State Examination. Compared with normative data, PMA patients most frequently showed impairment on three measures: letter-number sequencing, and immediate and delayed story recall. 17% of PMA patients showed cognitive impairment, defined as performance below 2 SDs from the mean of normative data on at least three neuropsychological tests. In ALS, similar but more extensive cognitive deficits were found. Visuospatial dysfunction was not found in PMA and ALS. 17% of PMA patients have executive and memory impairments. PMA with cognitive impairment adds a formerly unknown phenotype to the existing classification of motor neuron diseases.

Cognitive Control over Learning: Creating, Clustering, and Generalizing Task-Set Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Anne G. E.; Frank, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Learning and executive functions such as task-switching share common neural substrates, notably prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Understanding how they interact requires studying how cognitive control facilitates learning but also how learning provides the (potentially hidden) structure, such as abstract rules or task-sets, needed for…

Cognitive rehabilitation for executive dysfunction in adults with stroke or other adult non-progressive acquired brain damage.

PubMed

Chung, Charlie S Y; Pollock, Alex; Campbell, Tanya; Durward, Brian R; Hagen, Suzanne

2013-04-30

Executive functions are the controlling mechanisms of the brain and include the processes of planning, initiation, organisation, inhibition, problem solving, self monitoring and error correction. They are essential for goal-oriented behaviour and responding to new and novel situations. A high number of people with acquired brain injury, including around 75% of stroke survivors, will experience executive dysfunction. Executive dysfunction reduces capacity to regain independence in activities of daily living (ADL), particularly when alternative movement strategies are necessary to compensate for limb weakness. Improving executive function may lead to increased independence with ADL. There are various cognitive rehabilitation strategies for training executive function used within clinical practice and it is necessary to determine the effectiveness of these interventions. To determine the effects of cognitive rehabilitation on executive dysfunction for adults with stroke or other non-progressive acquired brain injuries. We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (August 2012), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, August 2012), MEDLINE (1950 to August 2012), EMBASE (1980 to August 2012), CINAHL (1982 to August 2012), PsycINFO (1806 to August 2012), AMED (1985 to August 2012) and 11 additional databases. We also searched reference lists and trials registers, handsearched journals and conference proceedings, and contacted experts. We included randomised trials in adults after non-progressive acquired brain injury, where the intervention was specifically targeted at improving cognition including separable executive function data (restorative interventions), where the intervention was aimed at training participants in methods to compensate for lost executive function (compensative interventions) or where the intervention involved the training in the use of an adaptive technique for improving independence with ADL (adaptive interventions). The primary outcome was global executive function and the secondary outcomes were specific components of executive function, working memory, ADL, extended ADL, quality of life and participation in vocational activities. We included studies in which the comparison intervention was no treatment, a placebo intervention (i.e. a rehabilitation intervention that should not impact on executive function), standard care or another cognitive rehabilitation intervention. Two review authors independently screened abstracts, extracted data and appraised trials. We undertook an assessment of methodological quality for allocation concealment, blinding of outcome assessors, method of dealing with missing data and other potential sources of bias. Nineteen studies (907 participants) met the inclusion criteria for this review. We included 13 studies (770 participants) in meta-analyses (417 traumatic brain injury, 304 stroke, 49 other acquired brain injury) reducing to 660 participants once non-included intervention groups were removed from three and four group studies. We were unable to obtain data from the remaining six studies. Three studies (134 participants) compared cognitive rehabilitation with sensorimotor therapy. None reported our primary outcome; data from one study was available relating to secondary outcomes including concept formation and ADL. Six studies (333 participants) compared cognitive rehabilitation with no treatment or placebo. None reported our primary outcome; data from four studies demonstrated no statistically significant effect of cognitive rehabilitation on secondary outcomes. Ten studies (448 participants) compared two different cognitive rehabilitation approaches. Two studies (82 participants) reported the primary outcome; no statistically significant effect was found. Data from eight studies demonstrated no statistically significant effect on the secondary outcomes. We explored the effect of restorative interventions (10 studies, 468 participants) and compensative interventions (four studies, 128 participants) and found no statistically significant effect compared with other interventions. We identified insufficient high-quality evidence to reach any generalised conclusions about the effect of cognitive rehabilitation on executive function, or other secondary outcome measures. Further high-quality research comparing cognitive rehabilitation with no intervention, placebo or sensorimotor interventions is recommended.

Emotion suppression moderates the quadratic association between RSA and executive function

PubMed Central

Spangler, Derek P.; Bell, Martha Ann; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

2016-01-01

There is uncertainty about whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a cardiac marker of adaptive emotion regulation, is involved in relatively low or high executive function performance. In the present study, we investigated: (1) whether RSA during rest and tasks predict both relatively low and high executive function within a larger quadratic association among the two variables, and (2) the extent to which this quadratic trend was moderated by individual differences in emotion regulation. To achieve these aims, a sample of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse women self-reported reappraisal and emotion suppression. They next experienced a two-minute resting period during which ECG was continually assessed. In the next phase, the women completed an array of executive function and non-executive cognitive tasks while ECG was measured throughout. As anticipated, resting RSA showed a quadratic association with executive function that was strongest for high suppression. These results suggest that relatively high resting RSA may predict poor executive function ability when emotion regulation consumes executive control resources needed for ongoing cognitive performance. PMID:26018941

Ghrelin is a possible new predictor associated with executive function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

PubMed

Chen, Siting; Zuo, Xuyang; Li, Yuan; Jiang, Tian; Zhang, Nan; Dai, Fang; Chen, Qiaoer; Zhang, Qiu

2017-05-01

The aim of the present research was to study the ghrelin level, executive function and their possible association in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A total of 370 people were recruited between March 2015 and March 2016 in this study. Among them, 212 participants were patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 158 participants were included as the control group. Their blood sample was analyzed for the level of ghrelin and other clinical indexes. Cognitive function was measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and executive function was evaluated by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. In the type 2 diabetes mellitus group, age, years of education, duration of diabetes, fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, hypertension and waist-to-hip ratio were correlated with total Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores. No association was found between ghrelin level and total Montreal Cognitive Assessment score in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, ghrelin was found to be a significant predictor for executive function impairment measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The level of serum ghrelin might be a biomarker of executive function and become a strong predictor of executive function impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ghrelin might have a potential protective effect against cognitive function impairment in type 2 diabetes patients. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Diabetes Investigation published by Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD) and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Emotion perception and executive functioning predict work status in euthymic bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Ryan, Kelly A; Vederman, Aaron C; Kamali, Masoud; Marshall, David; Weldon, Anne L; McInnis, Melvin G; Langenecker, Scott A

2013-12-15

Functional recovery, including return to work, in Bipolar Disorder (BD) lags behind clinical recovery and may be incomplete when acute mood symptoms have subsided. We examined impact of cognition on work status and underemployment in a sample of 156 Euthymic-BD and 143 controls (HC) who were divided into working/not working groups. Clinical, health, social support, and personality data were collected, and eight cognitive factors were derived from a battery of neuropsychological tests. The HC groups outperformed the BD groups on seven of eight cognitive factors. The working-BD group outperformed the not working-BD group on 4 cognitive factors composed of tasks of emotion processing and executive functioning including processing speed and set shifting. Emotion processing and executive tasks were predictive of BD unemployment, after accounting for number of mood episodes. Four cognitive factors accounted for a significant amount of the variance in work status among the BD participants. Results indicate that patients with BD who are unemployed/unable to work exhibit greater difficulties processing emotional information and on executive tasks that comprise a set shifting or interference resolution component as compared to those who are employed, independent of other factors. These cognitive and affective factors are suggested as targets for treatment and/or accommodations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of analgesics on executive function and memory in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Database.

PubMed

Doan, Lisa; Choi, Daniel; Kline, Richard

2017-10-01

Pain is common in older adults but may be undertreated in part due to concerns about medication toxicity. Analgesics may affect cognition. In this retrospective cohort study, we used the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database to examine the interaction of cognitive status and medications, especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We hypothesized NSAID use would be associated with cognition and that this could be mediated through changes in brain structure. In this post hoc analysis of the ADNI database, subjects were selected by searching the "concurrent medications log" for analgesic medications. Subjects were included if the analgesic was listed on the medication log prior to enrollment in ADNI and throughout the study. Subjects taking analgesics, particularly NSAIDs, at each study visit were compared to control subjects taking no analgesics. Using descriptive statistics as well as univariate, multivariate and repeated measure ANOVA, we explored the relationship between NSAID use and scores for executive function and memory related cognitive activities. We further took advantage of the extensive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data available in ADNI to test whether cognitive change was associated with brain structure. The multitude of imaging variables was compressed into a small number of features (five eigenvectors (EV)) using principal component analysis. There were 87 NSAID users, 373 controls, and 71 taking other analgesics. NSAID use was associated with higher executive function scores for cognitively normal (NL) subjects as well as subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). NSAID use was also associated with higher memory scores, but for NL females only. We analysed MRI data using principal component analysis to generate a set of five EVs. Examining NL and MCI subjects, one EV had significantly larger values in subjects taking NSAIDs versus control. This EV was one of two EVs which significantly correlated with composite executive function and memory scores as well as cognitive diagnosis. NSAID use was associated with higher executive function, and memory scores in certain subjects and larger cortical volumes in particular regions. Limitations of the study include secondary analysis of existing data and the possibility of confounding. These results suggest it is important to consider the secondary effects of medications when choosing a treatment regimen. Further prospective studies are needed to examine the role of analgesics on cognition and whether NSAIDs act through cortical dimension changes and how they are related to gender and cognitive diagnosis. Copyright © 2017 Scandinavian Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Does the way we read others' mind change over the lifespan? Insights from a massive web poll of cognitive skills from childhood to late adulthood.

PubMed

Klindt, David; Devaine, Marie; Daunizeau, Jean

2017-01-01

Mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to recognize what people think or feel, is a crucial component of human social intelligence. It has been recently proposed that ToM can be decomposed into automatic and controlled neurocognitive components, where only the latter engage executive functions (e.g., working memory, inhibitory control and task switching). Critical here is the notion that such dual processes are expected to follow different developmental dynamics. In this work, we provide novel experimental evidence for this notion. We report data gathered from about thirty thousand participants of a massive web poll of people's cognitive skills, which included ToM and executive functions. We show that although the maturation of executive functions occurs in synchrony (around 20 years of age), this is not the case for different mentalizing competences, which either mature before (for elementary ToM constituents) or after (for higher-level ToM). In addition, we show that inter-individual differences in executive functions predict variability in higher-level ToM skills from the onset of adulthood onwards, i.e., after the complete maturation of executive functions. Taken together, these results indicate that the relative contribution of ToM's controlled component significantly changes with age. In particular, this implies that, over the lifespan, people may rely upon distinct cognitive architectures when reading others' minds. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Autonomic Cardiovascular Control and Executive Function in Chronic Hypotension.

PubMed

Duschek, Stefan; Hoffmann, Alexandra; Reyes Del Paso, Gustavo A; Ettinger, Ulrich

2017-06-01

Chronic low blood pressure (hypotension) is characterized by complaints such as fatigue, reduced drive, dizziness, and cold limbs. Additionally, deficits in attention and memory have been observed. Autonomic dysregulation is considered to be involved in the origin of this condition. The study explored autonomic cardiovascular control in the context of higher cognitive processing (executive function) in hypotension. Hemodynamic recordings were performed in 40 hypotensive and 40 normotensive participants during execution of four classical executive function tasks (number-letter task, n-back task, continuous performance test, and flanker task). Parameters of cardiac sympathetic control, i.e., stroke volume, cardiac output, pre-ejection period, total peripheral resistance, and parasympathetic control, i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia and baroreflex sensitivity, were obtained. The hypotensive group exhibited lower stroke volume and cardiac output, as well as higher pre-ejection period and baroreflex sensitivity during task execution. Increased error rates in hypotensive individuals were observed in the n-back and flanker tasks. In the total sample, there were positive correlations of error rates with pre-ejection period, baroreflex sensitivity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and negative correlations with cardiac output. Group differences in stroke volume, cardiac output, and pre-ejection period suggest diminished beta-adrenergic myocardial drive during executive function processing in hypotension, in addition to increased baroreflex function. Although further research is warranted to quantify the extent of executive function impairment in hypotension, the results from correlation analysis add evidence to the notion that higher sympathetic inotropic influences and reduced parasympathetic cardiac influences are accompanied by better cognitive performance.

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Contributions to Human Intelligence

PubMed Central

Barbey, Aron K.; Colom, Roberto; Grafman, Jordan

2012-01-01

Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in executive control functions for human intelligence, the necessity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) for key competencies of general intelligence and executive function remains to be well established. Here we studied human brain lesion patients with dlPFC lesions to investigate whether this region is computationally necessary for performance on neuropsychological tests of general intelligence and executive function, administering the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and subtests of the Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) to three groups: dlPFC lesions (n = 19), non-dlPFC lesions (n = 152), and no brain lesions (n = 55). The key results indicate that: (1) patients with focal dlPFC damage exhibit lower scores, at the latent variable level, than controls in general intelligence (g) and executive function; (2) dlPFC patients demonstrate lower scores than controls in several executive measures; and (3) these latter differences are no longer significant when the pervasive influence of the general factor of intelligence (g) is statistically removed. The observed findings support a central role for the dlPFC in general intelligence and make specific recommendations for the interpretation and application of the WAIS and D-KEFS to the study of high-level cognition in health and disease. PMID:22634247

Training on Working Memory and Inhibitory Control in Young Adults

PubMed Central

Maraver, Maria J.; Bajo, M. Teresa; Gomez-Ariza, Carlos J.

2016-01-01

Different types of interventions have focused on trying to improve Executive Functions (EFs) due to their essential role in human cognition and behavior regulation. Although EFs are thought to be diverse, most training studies have targeted cognitive processes related to working memory (WM), and fewer have focused on training other control mechanisms, such as inhibitory control (IC). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the differential impact of training WM and IC as compared with control conditions performing non-executive control activities. Young adults were divided into two training (WM/IC) and two (active/passive) control conditions. Over six sessions, the training groups engaged in three different computer-based adaptive activities (WM or IC), whereas the active control group completed a program with low control-demanding activities that mainly involved processing speed. In addition, motivation and engagement were monitored through the training. The WM-training activities required maintenance, updating and memory search processes, while those from the IC group engaged response inhibition and interference control. All participants were pre- and post-tested in criterion tasks (n-back and Stroop), near transfer measures of WM (Operation Span) and IC (Stop-Signal). Non-trained far transfer outcome measures included an abstract reasoning test (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices) and a well-validated experimental task (AX-CPT) that provides indices of cognitive flexibility considering proactive/reactive control. Training results revealed that strongly motivated participants reached higher levels of training improvements. Regarding transfer effects, results showed specific patterns of near transfer effects depending on the type of training. Interestingly, it was only the IC training group that showed far transfer to reasoning. Finally, all trained participants showed a shift toward a more proactive mode of cognitive control, highlighting a general effect of training on cognitive flexibility. The present results reveal specific and general modulations of executive control mechanisms after brief training intervention targeting either WM or IC. PMID:27917117

Domains of cognitive function in early old age: which ones are predicted by pre-retirement psychosocial work characteristics?

PubMed

Sabbath, Erika L; Andel, Ross; Zins, Marie; Goldberg, Marcel; Berr, Claudine

2016-10-01

Psychosocial work characteristics may predict cognitive functioning after retirement. However, little research has explored specific cognitive domains associated with psychosocial work environments. Our study tested whether exposure to job demands, job control and their combination during working life predicted post-retirement performance on eight cognitive tests. We used data from French GAZEL cohort members who had undergone post-retirement cognitive testing (n=2149). Psychosocial job characteristics were measured on average for 4 years before retirement using Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire (job demands, job control and demand-control combinations). We tested associations between these exposures and post-retirement performance on tests for executive function, visual-motor speed, psychomotor speed, verbal memory, and verbal fluency using ordinary least squares regression. Low job control during working life was negatively associated with executive function, psychomotor speed, phonemic fluency and semantic fluency after retirement (p's<0.05), even after adjustment for demographics, socioeconomic status, health and social behaviours and vascular risk factors. Both passive (low-demand, low-control) and high-strain (high-demand, low-control) jobs were associated with lower scores on phonemic and semantic fluency when compared to low-strain (low-demand, high-control) jobs. Low job control, in combination with both high and low-job demands, is associated with post-retirement deficits in some, but not all, cognitive domains. In addition to work stress, associations between passive work and subsequent cognitive function may implicate lack of cognitive engagement at work as a risk factor for future cognitive difficulties. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Hemispheric Asymmetries and Cognitive Flexibility: An ERP and sLORETA Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ocklenburg, Sebastian; Gunturkun, Onur; Beste, Christian

2012-01-01

Although functional cerebral asymmetries (FCAs) affect all cognitive domains, their modulation of the efficacy of specific executive functions is largely unexplored. In the present study, we used a lateralized version of the task switching paradigm to investigate the relevance of hemispheric asymmetries for cognitive control processes. Words were…

A Competing Neurobehavioral Decision Systems Model of SES-Related Health and Behavioral Disparities

PubMed Central

Bickel, W. K.; Moody, L.; Quisenberry, A. J.; Ramey, C. T.; Sheffer, C. E.

2014-01-01

We propose that executive dysfunction is an important component relating the socioeconomic status gradient of select health behaviors. We review and find evidence supporting an SES gradient associated with (1) negative health behaviors (e.g., obesity, excessive use of alcohol, tobacco and other substances), and (2) executive dysfunction. Moreover, the evidence supports that stress and insufficient cognitive resources contribute to executive dysfunction and that executive dysfunction is evident among individuals who smoke cigarettes, are obese, abuse alcohol, and use illicit drugs. Collectively these data supports the dual system model of cognitive control, referred to here as the Competing Neurobehavioral Decision Systems hypothesis. The implications of these relationships for intervention and social justice considerations are discussed. PMID:25008219

White matter integrity in dyskinetic cerebral palsy: Relationship with intelligence quotient and executive function.

PubMed

Laporta-Hoyos, Olga; Pannek, Kerstin; Ballester-Plané, Júlia; Reid, Lee B; Vázquez, Élida; Delgado, Ignacio; Zubiaurre-Elorza, Leire; Macaya, Alfons; Póo, Pilar; Meléndez-Plumed, Mar; Junqué, Carme; Boyd, Roslyn; Pueyo, Roser

2017-01-01

Dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most disabling motor types of CP and has been classically associated with injury to the basal ganglia and thalamus. Although cognitive dysfunction is common in CP, there is a paucity of published quantitative analyses investigating the relationship between white matter (WM) microstructure and cognition in this CP type. This study aims (1) to compare brain WM microstructure between people with dyskinetic CP and healthy controls, (2) to identify brain regions where WM microstructure is related to intelligence and (3) to identify brain regions where WM microstructure is related to executive function in people with dyskinetic CP and (4) to identify brain regions where the correlations are different between controls and people with CP in IQ and executive functions. Thirty-three participants with dyskinetic CP (mean ± SD age: 24.42 ± 12.61, 15 female) were age and sex matched with 33 controls. Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological battery to assess intelligence quotient (IQ) and four executive function domains (attentional control, cognitive flexibility, goal setting and information processing). Diffusion weighted MRI scans were acquired at 3T. Voxel-based whole brain groupwise analyses were used to compare fractional anisotropy (FA) and of the CP group to the matched controls using a general lineal model. Further general linear models were used to identify regions where white matter FA correlated with IQ and each of the executive function domains. White matter FA was significantly reduced in the CP group in all cerebral lobes, predominantly in regions connected with the parietal and to a lesser extent the temporal lobes. There was no significant correlation between IQ or any of the four executive function domains and WM microstructure in the control group. In participants with CP, lower IQ was associated with lower FA in all cerebral lobes, predominantly in locations that also showed reduced FA compared to controls. Attentional control, goal setting and information processing did not correlate with WM microstructure in the CP group. Cognitive flexibility was associated with FA in regions known to contain connections with the frontal lobe (such as the superior longitudinal fasciculus and cingulum) as well as regions not known to contain tracts directly connected with the frontal lobe (such as the posterior corona radiata, posterior thalamic radiation, retrolenticular part of internal capsule, tapetum, body and splenium of corpus callosum). The widespread loss in the integrity of WM tissue is mainly located in the parietal lobe and related to IQ in dyskinetic CP. Unexpectedly, executive functions are only related with WM microstructure in regions containing fronto-cortical and posterior cortico-subcortical pathways, and not being specifically related to the state of fronto-striatal pathways which might be due to brain reorganization. Further studies of this nature may improve our understanding of the neurobiological bases of cognitive impairments after early brain insult.

No Effect of Commercial Cognitive Training on Brain Activity, Choice Behavior, or Cognitive Performance.

PubMed

Kable, Joseph W; Caulfield, M Kathleen; Falcone, Mary; McConnell, Mairead; Bernardo, Leah; Parthasarathi, Trishala; Cooper, Nicole; Ashare, Rebecca; Audrain-McGovern, Janet; Hornik, Robert; Diefenbach, Paul; Lee, Frank J; Lerman, Caryn

2017-08-02

Increased preference for immediate over delayed rewards and for risky over certain rewards has been associated with unhealthy behavioral choices. Motivated by evidence that enhanced cognitive control can shift choice behavior away from immediate and risky rewards, we tested whether training executive cognitive function could influence choice behavior and brain responses. In this randomized controlled trial, 128 young adults (71 male, 57 female) participated in 10 weeks of training with either a commercial web-based cognitive training program or web-based video games that do not specifically target executive function or adapt the level of difficulty throughout training. Pretraining and post-training, participants completed cognitive assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging during performance of the following validated decision-making tasks: delay discounting (choices between smaller rewards now vs larger rewards in the future) and risk sensitivity (choices between larger riskier rewards vs smaller certain rewards). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence that cognitive training influences neural activity during decision-making; nor did we find effects of cognitive training on measures of delay discounting or risk sensitivity. Participants in the commercial training condition improved with practice on the specific tasks they performed during training, but participants in both conditions showed similar improvement on standardized cognitive measures over time. Moreover, the degree of improvement was comparable to that observed in individuals who were reassessed without any training whatsoever. Commercial adaptive cognitive training appears to have no benefits in healthy young adults above those of standard video games for measures of brain activity, choice behavior, or cognitive performance. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Engagement of neural regions and circuits important in executive cognitive function can bias behavioral choices away from immediate rewards. Activity in these regions may be enhanced through adaptive cognitive training. Commercial brain training programs claim to improve a broad range of mental processes; however, evidence for transfer beyond trained tasks is mixed. We undertook the first randomized controlled trial of the effects of commercial adaptive cognitive training (Lumosity) on neural activity and decision-making in young adults ( N = 128) compared with an active control (playing on-line video games). We found no evidence for relative benefits of cognitive training with respect to changes in decision-making behavior or brain response, or for cognitive task performance beyond those specifically trained. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/377390-13$15.00/0.

No Effect of Commercial Cognitive Training on Brain Activity, Choice Behavior, or Cognitive Performance

PubMed Central

Caulfield, M. Kathleen; McConnell, Mairead; Bernardo, Leah; Parthasarathi, Trishala; Cooper, Nicole; Ashare, Rebecca; Audrain-McGovern, Janet; Lee, Frank J.; Lerman, Caryn

2017-01-01

Increased preference for immediate over delayed rewards and for risky over certain rewards has been associated with unhealthy behavioral choices. Motivated by evidence that enhanced cognitive control can shift choice behavior away from immediate and risky rewards, we tested whether training executive cognitive function could influence choice behavior and brain responses. In this randomized controlled trial, 128 young adults (71 male, 57 female) participated in 10 weeks of training with either a commercial web-based cognitive training program or web-based video games that do not specifically target executive function or adapt the level of difficulty throughout training. Pretraining and post-training, participants completed cognitive assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging during performance of the following validated decision-making tasks: delay discounting (choices between smaller rewards now vs larger rewards in the future) and risk sensitivity (choices between larger riskier rewards vs smaller certain rewards). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence that cognitive training influences neural activity during decision-making; nor did we find effects of cognitive training on measures of delay discounting or risk sensitivity. Participants in the commercial training condition improved with practice on the specific tasks they performed during training, but participants in both conditions showed similar improvement on standardized cognitive measures over time. Moreover, the degree of improvement was comparable to that observed in individuals who were reassessed without any training whatsoever. Commercial adaptive cognitive training appears to have no benefits in healthy young adults above those of standard video games for measures of brain activity, choice behavior, or cognitive performance. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Engagement of neural regions and circuits important in executive cognitive function can bias behavioral choices away from immediate rewards. Activity in these regions may be enhanced through adaptive cognitive training. Commercial brain training programs claim to improve a broad range of mental processes; however, evidence for transfer beyond trained tasks is mixed. We undertook the first randomized controlled trial of the effects of commercial adaptive cognitive training (Lumosity) on neural activity and decision-making in young adults (N = 128) compared with an active control (playing on-line video games). We found no evidence for relative benefits of cognitive training with respect to changes in decision-making behavior or brain response, or for cognitive task performance beyond those specifically trained. PMID:28694338

An Evidence Based Review of Acute and Long-Term Effects of Cannabis Use on Executive Cognitive Functions

PubMed Central

Crean, Rebecca D.; Crane, Natania A.; Mason, Barbara J.

2011-01-01

Cannabis use has been shown to impair cognitive functions on a number of levels—from basic motor coordination to more complex executive function tasks, such as the ability to plan, organize, solve problems, make decisions, remember, and control emotions and behavior. These deficits differ in severity depending on the quantity, recency, age of onset and duration of marijuana use. Understanding how cannabis use impairs executive function is important. Individuals with cannabis-related impairment in executive functions have been found to have trouble learning and applying the skills required for successful recovery, putting them at increased risk for relapse to cannabis use. Here we review the research on the acute, residual, and long-term effects of cannabis use on executive functions, and discuss the implications for treatment. PMID:21321675

Executive Resources and Item-Context Binding: Exploring the Influence of Concurrent Inhibition, Updating, and Shifting Tasks on Context Memory

PubMed Central

Nieznański, Marek; Obidziński, Michał; Zyskowska, Emilia; Niedziałkowska, Daria

2015-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated that context memory performance decreases as a result of cognitive load. However, the role of specific executive resources availability has not been specified yet. In a dual-task experiment, participants performed three kinds of concurrent task engaging: inhibition, updating, or shifting operations. In comparison with a no-load single-task condition, a significant decrease in item and context memory was observed, regardless of the kind of executive task. When executive load conditions were compared with non-specific cognitive load conditions, a significant interference effect was observed in the case of the inhibition task. The inhibition process appears to be an aspect of executive control, which relies on the same resource as item-context binding does, especially when binding refers to associations retrieved from long-term memory. PMID:26435761

Executive functioning in schizophrenia: Unique and shared variance with measures of fluid intelligence.

PubMed

Martin, A K; Mowry, B; Reutens, D; Robinson, G A

2015-10-01

Patients with schizophrenia often display deficits on tasks thought to measure "executive" processes. Recently, it has been suggested that reductions in fluid intelligence test performance entirely explain deficits reported for patients with focal frontal lesions on classical executive tasks. For patients with schizophrenia, it is unclear whether deficits on executive tasks are entirely accountable by fluid intelligence and representative of a common general process or best accounted for by distinct contributions to the cognitive profile of schizophrenia. In the current study, 50 patients with schizophrenia and 50 age, sex and premorbid intelligence matched controls were assessed using a broad neuropsychological battery, including tasks considered sensitive to executive abilities, namely the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT), word fluency, Stroop test, digit-span backwards, and spatial working memory. Fluid intelligence was measured using both the Matrix reasoning subtest from the Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) and a composite score derived from a number of cognitive tests. Patients with schizophrenia were impaired on all cognitive measures compared with controls, except smell identification and the optimal betting and risk-taking measures from the Cambridge Gambling Task. After introducing fluid intelligence as a covariate, significant differences remained for HSCT suppression errors, and classical executive function tests such as the Stroop test and semantic/phonemic word fluency, regardless of which fluid intelligence measure was included. Fluid intelligence does not entirely explain impaired performance on all tests considered as reflecting "executive" processes. For schizophrenia, these measures should remain part of a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment alongside a measure of fluid intelligence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of tennis play on executive function in 6-11-year-old children: a 12-month longitudinal study.

PubMed

Ishihara, Toru; Mizuno, Masao

2018-06-01

The present study aimed to assess the effects of 12 months of frequent tennis play on executive functions and the relationships of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), physical competence, and enjoyment of playing tennis to executive functions in children. Thirty-two children (6-11 years old) who had regularly played tennis (once a week; mean = 3 years, range = 0-6 years) before the study were enrolled in a 12-month intervention. Participants were allocated into two groups: low-dose (maintain current frequency of tennis play, N = 19) or high-dose (increased frequency of tennis play to four times per week, N = 13). Participants' MVPA, physical competence, enjoyment of playing tennis, and executive functions (i.e. inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were evaluated before and after this intervention. The high-dose group demonstrated a greater improvement in working memory than the low-dose group, while there was no group difference in MVPA, physical competence, and enjoyment of playing tennis. Changes in MVPA were associated with improvements in cognitive flexibility. Changes in physical competence were associated with improvements in working memory and cognitive flexibility. Changes in the enjoyment of playing tennis were associated with improvements in inhibitory control. The current findings suggest that replacement of MVPA with sports activity, such as tennis enhances executive functions development, and suggest that sports programmes that seek to build competence and enjoyment might help support the development of executive functions in children.

Cognitive Performance in Suicidal Depressed Elderly: Preliminary Report

PubMed Central

Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.; Butters, Meryl A.; Reynolds, Charles F.; Houck, Patricia R.; Clark, Luke; Mazumdar, Sati; Szanto, Katalin

2009-01-01

Objective Deficits in executive functions may play an important role in late-life suicide; however the association is understudied. This study examined cognitive function in general and executive functioning specifically in depressed elderly with and without suicidal ideation and attempts. Design Case-control study. Setting University-affiliated psychiatric hospital. Participants We compared 32 suicidal depressed participants aged 60 and older with 32 non-suicidal depressed participants equated for age, education, and gender. Measurements We assessed global cognitive function and executive function with the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) and the Executive Interview (EXIT25), respectively. Results Suicidal and non-suicidal depressed groups were comparable in terms of severity of depression and burden of physical illness. Suicidal participants performed worse on the EXIT25, and on the DRS total scale, as well as on Memory and Attention subscales. The differences were not explained by the presence of dementia, substance use, medication exposure, or brain injury from suicide attempts. Conclusions Poor performance on tests of executive function, attention, and memory is associated with suicidal behavior in late-life depression. PMID:18239196

Aging and Concurrent Task Performance: Cognitive Demand and Motor Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Albinet, Cedric; Tomporowski, Phillip D.; Beasman, Kathryn

2006-01-01

A motor task that requires fine control of upper limb movements and a cognitive task that requires executive processing--first performing them separately and then concurrently--was performed by 18 young and 18 older adults. The motor task required participants to tap alternatively on two targets, the sizes of which varied systematically. The…

The Timing and Magnitude of Stroop Interference and Facilitation in Monolinguals and Bilinguals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coderre, Emily L.; Van Heuven, Walter J. B.; Conklin, Kathy

2013-01-01

Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the…

Metabolic Syndrome and 16-year Cognitive Decline in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

PubMed Central

McEvoy, Linda K.; Laughlin, Gail A.; Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth; Bergstrom, Jaclyn; Kritz-Silverstein, Donna; Der-Martirosian, Claudia; von Mühlen, Denise

2012-01-01

PURPOSE To determine whether metabolic syndrome is associated with accelerated cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS Longitudinal study of 993 adults (mean 66.8 ± 8.7 years) from the Rancho Bernardo Study. Metabolic syndrome components, defined by 2001 NCEP-ATP III criteria, were measured in 1984–87. Cognitive function was first assessed in 1988–92. Cognitive assessments were repeated approximately every four years, for a maximum 16-year follow-up. Mixed-effects models examined longitudinal rate of cognitive decline by metabolic syndrome status, controlling for factors plausibly associated with cognitive function (diabetes, inflammation). RESULTS Metabolic syndrome was more common in men than women (14% vs. 9%, p=0.01). In women, metabolic syndrome was associated with greater executive function and long term memory decline. These associations did not differ by inflammatory biomarker levels. Diabetes did not alter the association of metabolic syndrome with long-term recall but modified the association with executive function: metabolic syndrome was associated with accelerated executive function decline in diabetic women only. Metabolic syndrome was not related to rate of decline on any cognitive measure in men. CONCLUSIONS Metabolic syndrome was a risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline, but only in women. Prevention of metabolic syndrome may aid in maintenance of cognitive function with age. PMID:22285865

Executive Functions and the Improvement of Thinking Abilities: The Intervention in Reading Comprehension

PubMed Central

García-Madruga, Juan A.; Gómez-Veiga, Isabel; Vila, José Ó.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a preliminary theory of executive functions that address in a specific way their relationship with working memory (WM) and higher-level cognition. It includes: (a) four core on-line WM executive functions that are involved in every novel and complex cognitive task; (b) two higher order off-line executive functions, planning and revision, that are required to resolving the most complex intellectual abilities; and (c) emotional control that is involved in any complex, novel and difficult task. The main assumption is that efficiency on thinking abilities may be improved by specific instruction or training on the executive functions necessary to solving novel and complex tasks involved in these abilities. Evidence for the impact of our training proposal on WM's executive functions involved in higher-level cognitive abilities comes from three studies applying an adaptive program designed to improve reading comprehension in primary school students by boosting the core WM's executive functions involved in it: focusing on relevant information, switching (or shifting) between representations or tasks, connecting incoming information from text with long-term representations, updating of the semantic representation of the text in WM, and inhibition of irrelevant information. The results are consistent with the assumption that cognitive enhancements from the training intervention may have affected not only a specific but also a more domain-general mechanism involved in various executive functions. We discuss some methodological issues in the studies of effects of WM training on reading comprehension. The perspectives and limitations of our approach are finally discussed. PMID:26869961

The effect of cognitive-based training for the healthy older people: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

PubMed Central

Chiu, Huei-Ling; Chu, Hsin; Tsai, Jui-Chen; Liu, Doresses; Chen, Ying-Ren; Yang, Hui-Ling

2017-01-01

Background From the perspective of disease prevention, the enhancement of cognitive function among the healthy older people has become an important issue in many countries lately. This study aim to investigate the effect of cognitive-based training on the overall cognitive function, memory, attention, executive function, and visual-spatial ability of the healthy older people. Methods Cochrane, PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL of selected randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and previous systematic reviews were searched for eligible studies. The population focused on this study were healthy older people who participated in randomized controlled trials that investigated the effectiveness of cognitive-based training. The outcomes including change in overall cognitive function, memory, attention, executive function, and visual-spatial ability. Results We collected a total of 31 RCTs, the results showed that cognitive-based training has a moderate effect on overall cognitive function (g = 0.419; 95%CI = 0.205–0.634) and executive function (g = 0.420; 95%CI = 0.239–0.602), and a small effect on the memory (g = 0.354; 95%CI = 0.244–0.465), attention (g = 0.218; 95%CI = 0.125–0.311), and visual-spatial ability (g = 0.183;95%CI = 0.015–0.352) in healthy older people. Subgroup analysis indicated the intervention characteristics of ≧3 times each week (p = 0.042), ≧8 total training weeks (p = 0.003) and ≧24 total training sessions (p = 0.040) yields a greater effect size. Conclusions Cognitive-based training is effective for the healthy older people. This improvement can represent a clinically important benefit, provide information about the use of cognitive-based training in healthy older people, and help the healthy older people obtain the greatest possible benefit in health promotion and disease prevention. PMID:28459873

Vascular cognitive impairment, a cardiovascular complication.

PubMed

Frances, Adiukwu; Sandra, Ofori; Lucy, Ugbomah

2016-06-22

Over the past two decades, the term vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) has been used to refer to a spectrum of cognitive decline characterized by executive dysfunction, associated with vascular pathology. With 30% of stroke survivors showing cognitive impairments, it is regarded as the most common cause of cognitive impairment. This is a narrative review of available literature citing sources from PubMed, MEDLINE and Google Scholar. VCI has a high prevalence both before and after a stroke and is associated with great economic and caregiver burden. Despite this, there is no standardized diagnostic criteria for VCI. Hypertension has been identified as a risk factor for VCI and causes changes in cerebral vessel structure and function predisposing to lacuna infarcts and small vessel haemorrhages in the frontostriatal loop leading to executive dysfunction and other cognitive impairments. Current trials have shown promising results in the use of antihypertensive medications in the management of VCI and prevention of disease progression to vascular dementia. Prevention of VCI is necessary in light of the looming dementia pandemic. All patients with cardiovascular risk factors would therefore benefit from cognitive screening with screening instruments sensitive to executive dysfunction as well as prompt and adequate control of hypertension.

Vascular cognitive impairment, a cardiovascular complication

PubMed Central

Frances, Adiukwu; Sandra, Ofori; Lucy, Ugbomah

2016-01-01

Over the past two decades, the term vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) has been used to refer to a spectrum of cognitive decline characterized by executive dysfunction, associated with vascular pathology. With 30% of stroke survivors showing cognitive impairments, it is regarded as the most common cause of cognitive impairment. This is a narrative review of available literature citing sources from PubMed, MEDLINE and Google Scholar. VCI has a high prevalence both before and after a stroke and is associated with great economic and caregiver burden. Despite this, there is no standardized diagnostic criteria for VCI. Hypertension has been identified as a risk factor for VCI and causes changes in cerebral vessel structure and function predisposing to lacuna infarcts and small vessel haemorrhages in the frontostriatal loop leading to executive dysfunction and other cognitive impairments. Current trials have shown promising results in the use of antihypertensive medications in the management of VCI and prevention of disease progression to vascular dementia. Prevention of VCI is necessary in light of the looming dementia pandemic. All patients with cardiovascular risk factors would therefore benefit from cognitive screening with screening instruments sensitive to executive dysfunction as well as prompt and adequate control of hypertension. PMID:27354961

Executive function deficits in short-term abstinent cannabis users.

PubMed

McHale, Sue; Hunt, Nigel

2008-07-01

Few cognitive tasks are adequately sensitive to show the small decrements in performance in abstinent chronic cannabis users. In this series of three experiments we set out to demonstrate a variety of tasks that are sufficiently sensitive to show differences in visual memory, verbal memory, everyday memory and executive function between controls and cannabis users. A series of three studies explored cognitive function deficits in cannabis users (phonemic verbal fluency, visual recognition and immediate and delayed recall, and prospective memory) in short-term abstinent cannabis users. Participants were selected using snowball sampling, with cannabis users being compared to a standard control group and a tobacco-use control group. The cannabis users, compared to both control groups, had deficits on verbal fluency, visual recognition, delayed visual recall, and short- and long-interval prospective memory. There were no differences for immediate visual recall. These findings suggest that cannabis use leads to impaired executive function. Further research needs to explore the longer term impact of cannabis use. Copyright 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effect of an interactive cycling training on cognitive functioning in older adults with mild dementia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Karssemeijer, E G A; Bossers, W J R; Aaronson, J A; Kessels, R P C; Olde Rikkert, M G M

2017-03-21

To date there is no cure or an effective disease-modifying drug to treat dementia. Available acetylcholine-esterase inhibiting drugs or memantine only produce small benefits on cognitive and behavioural functioning and their clinical relevance remains controversial. Combined cognitive-aerobic interventions are an appealing alternative or add-on to current pharmacological treatments. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of a combined cognitive-aerobic training and a single aerobic training compared to an active control group in older adults with mild dementia. We expect to find a beneficial effect on executive functioning in both training regimes, compared to the control intervention, with the largest effect in the combined cognitive-aerobic group. Secondary, intervention effects on cognitive functioning in other domains, physical functioning, physical activity levels, activities of daily living, frailty and quality of life are studied. The design is a single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) with three groups: a combined cognitive-aerobic bicycle training (interactive cycling), a single aerobic bicycle training and a control intervention, which consists of stretching and toning exercises. Older adults with mild dementia follow a 12-week training program consisting of three training sessions of 30-40 min per week. The primary study outcome is objective executive functioning measured with a neuropsychological assessment. Secondary measures are objective cognitive functioning in other domains, physical functioning, physical activity levels, activities of daily living, frailty, mood and quality of life. The three groups are compared at baseline, after 6 and 12 weeks of training, and at 24-week follow-up. This study will provide novel information on the effects of an interactive cycling training on executive function in older adults with mild dementia. Furthermore, since this study has both a combined cognitive-aerobic training and a single aerobic training group the effectiveness of the different components of the intervention can be identified. The results of this study may be used for physical and mental activity recommendations in older adults with dementia. The Netherlands National Trial Register NTR5581 . Registered 14 February 2016.

The Action Execution Process Implemented in Different Cognitive Architectures: A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Daqi; Franklin, Stan

2014-12-01

An agent achieves its goals by interacting with its environment, cyclically choosing and executing suitable actions. An action execution process is a reasonable and critical part of an entire cognitive architecture, because the process of generating executable motor commands is not only driven by low-level environmental information, but is also initiated and affected by the agent's high-level mental processes. This review focuses on cognitive models of action, or more specifically, of the action execution process, as implemented in a set of popular cognitive architectures. We examine the representations and procedures inside the action execution process, as well as the cooperation between action execution and other high-level cognitive modules. We finally conclude with some general observations regarding the nature of action execution.

The validity of the Brain Injury Cognitive Screen (BICS) as a neuropsychological screening assessment for traumatic and non-traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Vaughan, Frances L; Neal, Jo Anne; Mulla, Farzana Nizam; Edwards, Barbara; Coetzer, Rudi

2017-04-01

The Brain Injury Cognitive Screen (BICS) was developed as an in-service cognitive assessment battery for acquired brain injury patients entering community rehabilitation. The BICS focuses on domains that are particularly compromised following TBI, and provides a broader and more detailed assessment of executive function, attention and information processing than comparable screening assessments. The BICS also includes brief assessments of perception, naming, and construction, which were predicted to be more sensitive to impairments following non-traumatic brain injury. The studies reported here examine preliminary evidence for its validity in post-acute rehabilitation. In Study 1, TBI patients completed the BICS and were compared with matched controls. Patients with focal lesions and matched controls were compared in Study 2. Study 3 examined demographic effects in a sample of normative data. TBI and focal lesion patients obtained significantly lower composite memory, executive function and attention and information processing BICS scores than healthy controls. Injury severity effects were also obtained. Logistic regression analyses indicated that each group of BICS memory, executive function and attention measures reliably differentiated TBI and focal lesion participants from controls. Design Recall, Prospective Memory, Verbal Fluency, and Visual Search test scores showed significant independent regression effects. Other subtest measures showed evidence of sensitivity to brain injury. The study provides preliminary evidence of the BICS' sensitivity to cognitive impairment caused by acquired brain injury, and its potential clinical utility as a cognitive screen. Further validation based on a revised version of the BICS and more normative data are required.

Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as “poor readers”

PubMed Central

Engel de Abreu, Pascale M. J.; Abreu, Neander; Nikaedo, Carolina C.; Puglisi, Marina L.; Tourinho, Carlos J.; Miranda, Mônica C.; Befi-Lopes, Debora M.; Bueno, Orlando F. A.; Martin, Romain

2014-01-01

This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled “Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility,” “Interference Suppression,” “Selective Attention,” and “Response Inhibition.” Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement. PMID:24959155

The impact of intelligence on memory and executive functions of children with temporal lobe epilepsy: Methodological concerns with clinical relevance.

PubMed

Rzezak, Patricia; Guimarães, Catarina A; Guerreiro, Marilisa M; Valente, Kette D

2017-05-01

Patients with TLE are prone to have lower IQ scores than healthy controls. Nevertheless, the impact of IQ differences is not usually considered in studies that compared the cognitive functioning of children with and without epilepsy. This study aimed to determine the effect of using IQ as a covariate on memory and attentional/executive functions of children with TLE. Thirty-eight children and adolescents with TLE and 28 healthy controls paired as to age, gender, and sociodemographic factors were evaluated with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery for memory and executive functions. The authors conducted three analyses to verify the impact of IQ scores on the other cognitive domains. First, we compared performance on cognitive tests without controlling for IQ differences between groups. Second, we performed the same analyses, but we included IQ as a confounding factor. Finally, we evaluated the predictive value of IQ on cognitive functioning. Although patients had IQ score in the normal range, they showed lower IQ scores than controls (p = 0.001). When we did not consider IQ in the analyses, patients had worse performance in verbal and visual memory (short and long-term), semantic memory, sustained, divided and selective attention, mental flexibility and mental tracking for semantic information. By using IQ as a covariate, patients showed worse performance only in verbal memory (long-term), semantic memory, sustained and divided attention and in mental flexibility. IQ was a predictor factor of verbal and visual memory (immediate and delayed), working memory, mental flexibility and mental tracking for semantic information. Intelligence level had a significant impact on memory and executive functioning of children and adolescents with TLE without intellectual disability. This finding opens the discussion of whether IQ scores should be considered when interpreting the results of differences in cognitive performance of patients with epilepsy compared to healthy volunteers. Copyright © 2017 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-Efficacy Buffers the Relationship between Educational Disadvantage and Executive Functioning

PubMed Central

Zahodne, Laura B.; Nowinski, Cindy J.; Gershon, Richard C.; Manly, Jennifer J.

2016-01-01

Objective Previous studies showed that control beliefs are more strongly related to global cognition and mortality among adults with low education, providing preliminary evidence that self-efficacy buffers against the negative impact of educational disadvantage on physical and cognitive health. The current study extends these findings to a nationally-representative sample of men and women aged 30 to 85 and explores which cognitive domains are most strongly associated with self-efficacy, educational attainment, and their interaction. Method Data were obtained from 1,032 adult (30-85) participants in the United States norming study for the NIH Toolbox. Self-efficacy, executive functioning, working memory, processing speed, episodic memory, and vocabulary were assessed with the NIH Toolbox. Multivariate analysis of covariance and follow-up regressions tested the hypothesis that self-efficacy would be more strongly related to cognitive performance among individuals with lower education, controlling for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, reading level, testing language, and depressive symptoms. Results Higher education was associated with higher self-efficacy and better performance on all cognitive tests. Higher self-efficacy was associated with better set-switching and attention/inhibition. Significant self-efficacy by education interactions indicated that associations between self-efficacy and executive abilities were stronger for individuals with lower education. Specifically, individuals with low education but high self-efficacy performed similarly to individuals with high education. Conclusions This study provides evidence that self-efficacy beliefs buffer against the negative effects of low educational attainment on executive functioning. These results have implications for future policy and/or intervention work aimed at reducing the deleterious effects of educational disadvantage on later cognitive health. PMID:25877284

Executive functioning of complicated-mild to moderate traumatic brain injury patients with frontal contusions.

PubMed

Ghawami, Heshmatollah; Sadeghi, Sadegh; Raghibi, Mahvash; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa

2017-01-01

Executive dysfunctions are among the most prevalent neurobehavioral sequelae of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Using culturally validated tests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS: Trail Making, Verbal Fluency, Design Fluency, Sorting, Twenty Questions, and Tower) and the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS: Rule Shift Cards, Key Search, and Modified Six Elements), the current study was the first to examine executive functioning in a group of Iranian TBI patients with focal frontal contusions. Compared with a demographically matched normative sample, the frontal contusion patients showed substantial impairments, with very large effect sizes (p ≤ .003, 1.56 < d < 3.12), on all the executive measures. Controlling for respective lower-level/fundamental conditions, the differences on the highest-level executive (cognitive switching) conditions were still significant. The frontal patients also committed more errors. Patients with lateral prefrontal (LPFC) contusions were qualitatively worst. For example, only the LPFC patients committed perseverative repetition errors. Altogether, our results support the notion that the frontal lobes, specifically the lateral prefrontal regions, play a critical role in cognitive executive functioning, over and above the contributions of respective lower-level cognitive abilities. The results provide clinical evidence for validity of the cross-culturally adapted versions of the tests.

Cognitive rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Hanssen, K T; Beiske, A G; Landrø, N I; Hofoss, D; Hessen, E

2016-01-01

The evidence base in cognitive rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis (MS) is still sparse. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of cognitive rehabilitation on cognitive and executive coping, psychological well-being and psychological aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with MS. One hundred and twenty patients with cognitive complaints, taking part in a 4-week multidisciplinary rehabilitation, were randomized to an intervention group (n = 60) and a control group (n = 60). Both groups underwent neuropsychological assessment with subsequent feedback and took part in general multidisciplinary MS rehabilitation. Additionally, the intervention group participated in cognitive group sessions as well as individual sessions. The main focus was to formulate Goal Attainment Scaling goals for coping with cognitive challenges. For 3 months past rehabilitation, the intervention group received biweekly telephone follow-up, focusing on goal attainment. Executive functioning improved significantly from baseline to four and 7 months in both groups. Improvements in psychological well-being and psychological aspects of HRQoL occurred only in the intervention group. Multicomponent cognitive rehabilitation administered within the context of multidisciplinary rehabilitation can improve psychological well-being and psychological aspects of HRQoL. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Space Fortress game training and executive control in older adults: A pilot intervention

PubMed Central

Stern, Yaakov; Blumen, Helena M.; Rich, Leigh W.; Richards, Alexis; Herzberg, Gray; Gopher, Daniel

2012-01-01

We investigated the feasibility of using the Space Fortress (SF) game, a complex video game originally developed to study complex skill acquisition in young adults, to improve executive control processes in cognitively healthy older adults. The study protocol consisted of 36 one-hour game play sessions over 3 months with cognitive evaluations before and after, and a follow-up evaluation at 6 months. Sixty participants were randomized to one of three conditions: Emphasis Change (EC) – elders were instructed to concentrate on playing the entire game but place particular emphasis on a specific aspect of game play in each particular game; Active Control (AC) – game play with standard instructions; Passive Control (PC) – evaluation sessions without game play. Primary outcome measures were obtained from five tasks, presumably tapping executive control processes. A total of 54 older adults completed the study protocol. One measure of executive control, WAIS-III letter–number sequencing, showed improvement in performance from pre- to post-evaluations in the EC condition, but not in the other two conditions. These initial findings are modest but encouraging. Future SF interventions need to carefully consider increasing the duration and or the intensity of the intervention by providing at-home game training, reducing the motor demands of the game, and selecting appropriate outcome measures. PMID:21988726

In Search of Executive Impairment in Pathological Gambling: A Neuropsychological Study on Non-treatment Seeking Gamblers.

PubMed

Kapsomenakis, Alexandros; Simos, Panagiotis G; Konstantakopoulos, Georgios; Kasselimis, Dimitrios S

2018-02-17

Pathological gambling is characterized by a persisting maladaptive and recurrent behavior with severe social and psychological consequences. There is evidence of strong comorbidity with psychiatric manifestations as well as cognitive mainly involving executive functions. This study aimed to investigate impairment in executive functions and working memory, and personality traits in a sample of Greek gamblers. Twenty-four men involved in various gambling activities were recruited from ecological settings as probable pathological gamblers. They were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery involving several executive tasks, the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. An age- and education-level matched group of 21 men without history of habitual gambling served as controls. As a group, gamblers displayed significantly lower scores on indices of inhibition, decision making and self-reported emotional awareness, and scored higher on impulsivity/sensation seeking personality traits. Notably, gamblers scored similarly or significantly higher on measures of verbal and visuospatial working memory, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, verbal fluency, and sustained attention. Overall, we argue that gamblers do present with specific cognitive deficits, but there is no evidence for a generalized executive impairment, and further stress the importance of investigating cognitive, personality, and psychiatric aspects of gambling on the basis of an ecologically valid sampling.

Relationship Between Self-reported Apathy and Executive Dysfunction in Nondemented Patients With Parkinson Disease

PubMed Central

Zgaljardic, Dennis J.; Borod, Joan C.; Foldi, Nancy S.; Rocco, Mary; Mattis, Paul J.; Gordon, Mark F.; Feigin, Andrew S.; Eidelberg, David

2015-01-01

Objective The prevalence of apathy was assessed across select cognitive and psychiatric variables in 32 nondemented patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and 29 demographically matched healthy control participants. Background Apathy is common in PD, although differentiating apathy from motor, cognitive, and/or other neuropsychiatric symptoms can be challenging. Previous studies have reported a positive relationship between apathy and cognitive impairment, particularly executive dysfunction. Method Patients were categorized according to apathy symptom severity. Stringent criteria were used to exclude patients with dementia. Results Approximately 44% of patients endorsed significant levels of apathy. Those patients performed worse than patients with nonsignificant levels of apathy on select measures of verbal fluency and on a measure of verbal and nonverbal conceptualization. Further, they reported a greater number of symptoms related to depression and behavioral disturbance than did those patients with nonsignificant levels of apathy. Apathy was significantly related to self-report of depression and executive dysfunction. Performance on cognitive tasks assessing verbal fluency, working memory, and verbal abstraction and also on a self-report measure of executive dysfunction was shown to significantly predict increasing levels of apathy. Conclusions Our findings suggest that apathy in nondemented patients with PD seems to be strongly associated with executive dysfunction. PMID:17846518

Ongoing activity in temporally coherent networks predicts intra-subject fluctuation of response time to sporadic executive control demands.

PubMed

Nozawa, Takayuki; Sugiura, Motoaki; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Ihara, Mizuki; Kotozaki, Yuka; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Kanno, Akitake; Kawashima, Ryuta

2014-01-01

Can ongoing fMRI BOLD signals predict fluctuations in swiftness of a person's response to sporadic cognitive demands? This is an important issue because it clarifies whether intrinsic brain dynamics, for which spatio-temporal patterns are expressed as temporally coherent networks (TCNs), have effects not only on sensory or motor processes, but also on cognitive processes. Predictivity has been affirmed, although to a limited extent. Expecting a predictive effect on executive performance for a wider range of TCNs constituting the cingulo-opercular, fronto-parietal, and default mode networks, we conducted an fMRI study using a version of the color-word Stroop task that was specifically designed to put a higher load on executive control, with the aim of making its fluctuations more detectable. We explored the relationships between the fluctuations in ongoing pre-trial activity in TCNs and the task response time (RT). The results revealed the existence of TCNs in which fluctuations in activity several seconds before the onset of the trial predicted RT fluctuations for the subsequent trial. These TCNs were distributed in the cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal networks, as well as in perceptual and motor networks. Our results suggest that intrinsic brain dynamics in these networks constitute "cognitive readiness," which plays an active role especially in situations where information for anticipatory attention control is unavailable. Fluctuations in these networks lead to fluctuations in executive control performance.

Altered caudate connectivity is associated with executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury

PubMed Central

De Simoni, Sara; Jenkins, Peter O; Bourke, Niall J; Fleminger, Jessica J; Jolly, Amy E; Patel, Maneesh C; Leech, Robert; Sharp, David J

2018-01-01

Abstract Traumatic brain injury often produces executive dysfunction. This characteristic cognitive impairment often causes long-term problems with behaviour and personality. Frontal lobe injuries are associated with executive dysfunction, but it is unclear how these injuries relate to corticostriatal interactions that are known to play an important role in behavioural control. We hypothesized that executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury would be associated with abnormal corticostriatal interactions, a question that has not previously been investigated. We used structural and functional MRI measures of connectivity to investigate this. Corticostriatal functional connectivity in healthy individuals was initially defined using a data-driven approach. A constrained independent component analysis approach was applied in 100 healthy adult dataset from the Human Connectome Project. Diffusion tractography was also performed to generate white matter tracts. The output of this analysis was used to compare corticostriatal functional connectivity and structural integrity between groups of 42 patients with traumatic brain injury and 21 age-matched controls. Subdivisions of the caudate and putamen had distinct patterns of functional connectivity. Traumatic brain injury patients showed disruption to functional connectivity between the caudate and a distributed set of cortical regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex. Cognitive impairments in the patients were mainly seen in processing speed and executive function, as well as increased levels of apathy and fatigue. Abnormalities of caudate functional connectivity correlated with these cognitive impairments, with reductions in right caudate connectivity associated with increased executive dysfunction, information processing speed and memory impairment. Structural connectivity, measured using diffusion tensor imaging between the caudate and anterior cingulate cortex was impaired and this also correlated with measures of executive dysfunction. We show for the first time that altered subcortical connectivity is associated with large-scale network disruption in traumatic brain injury and that this disruption is related to the cognitive impairments seen in these patients. PMID:29186356

How Has the Internet Reshaped Human Cognition?

PubMed

Loh, Kep Kee; Kanai, Ryota

2016-10-01

Throughout our evolutionary history, our cognitive systems have been altered by the advent of technological inventions such as primitive tools, spoken language, writing, and arithmetic systems. Thirty years ago, the Internet surfaced as the latest technological invention poised to deeply reshape human cognition. With its multifaceted affordances, the Internet environment has profoundly transformed our thoughts and behaviors. Growing up with Internet technologies, "Digital Natives" gravitate toward "shallow" information processing behaviors characterized by rapid attention shifting and reduced deliberations. They engage in increased multitasking behaviors that are linked to increased distractibility and poor executive control abilities. Digital natives also exhibit higher prevalence of Internet-related addictive behaviors that reflect altered reward-processing and self-control mechanisms. Recent neuroimaging investigations have suggested associations between these Internet-related cognitive impacts and structural changes in the brain. Against mounting apprehension over the Internet's consequences on our cognitive systems, several researchers have lamented that these concerns were often exaggerated beyond existing scientific evidence. In the present review, we aim to provide an objective overview of the Internet's impacts on our cognitive systems. We critically discuss current empirical evidence about how the Internet environment has altered the cognitive behaviors and structures involved in information processing, executive control, and reward-processing. © The Author(s) 2015.

Impact of glycemic status on longitudinal cognitive performance in men with and without HIV Infection.

PubMed

Yang, Jingyan; Jacobson, Lisa P; Becker, James T; Levine, Andrew; Martin, Eileen M; Munro, Cynthia A; Palella, Frank J; Lake, Jordan E; Sacktor, Ned C; Brown, Todd T

2018-05-08

To determine the relationship between glycemic status and cognitive performance in men living with (MLWH) and without HIV infection. A prospective HIV/AIDS cohort study in four U.S. cities between 1999 and 2016. Glycemic status was categorized as normal glucose (NG), impaired fasting glucose (IFG), controlled diabetes mellitus (DM) and uncontrolled DM at each semi-annual visit. Cognitive performance was evaluated using nine neuropsychological tests which measure attention, constructional ability, verbal learning, executive functioning, memory, and psychomotor speed. Linear mixed models were used to assess the association between glycemic status and cognition. Overall, 900 MLWH and 1149 men without HIV were included. MLWH had significantly more person-visits with IFG (52.1% vs 47.9%) and controlled DM (58.2% vs 41.8%) than men without HIV (p < 0.05). Compared to men with NG, men with DM had significantly poorer performance on psychomotor speed, executive function and verbal learning (all p < 0.05). There was no difference in cognition by HIV serostatus. The largest effect was observed in individuals with uncontrolled DM throughout the study period, equivalent to 16.5 and 13.4 years of aging on psychomotor speed and executive function, respectively, the effect of which remained significant after adjusting for HIV-related risk factors. Lower CD4+ nadir was also associated with worse cognitive performance. Abnormalities in glucose metabolism were more common among MLWH than men without HIV and were related to impaired cognitive performance. Metabolic status, along with advanced age and previous immunosuppression, may be important predictors of cognition in the modern antiretroviral therapy era.

Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation of Attention and Executive Function in Acquired Brain Injury: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Bogdanova, Yelena; Yee, Megan K; Ho, Vivian T; Cicerone, Keith D

Comprehensive review of the use of computerized treatment as a rehabilitation tool for attention and executive function in adults (aged 18 years or older) who suffered an acquired brain injury. Systematic review of empirical research. Two reviewers independently assessed articles using the methodological quality criteria of Cicerone et al. Data extracted included sample size, diagnosis, intervention information, treatment schedule, assessment methods, and outcome measures. A literature review (PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid, Cochrane, PsychINFO, CINAHL) generated a total of 4931 publications. Twenty-eight studies using computerized cognitive interventions targeting attention and executive functions were included in this review. In 23 studies, significant improvements in attention and executive function subsequent to training were reported; in the remaining 5, promising trends were observed. Preliminary evidence suggests improvements in cognitive function following computerized rehabilitation for acquired brain injury populations including traumatic brain injury and stroke. Further studies are needed to address methodological issues (eg, small sample size, inadequate control groups) and to inform development of guidelines and standardized protocols.

Different cognitive profiles for single compared with recurrent fallers without dementia.

PubMed

Anstey, Kaarin J; Wood, Joanne; Kerr, Graham; Caldwell, Haley; Lord, Stephen R

2009-07-01

Relationships between self-reported retrospective falls and cognitive measures (executive function, reaction time [RT], processing speed, working memory, visual attention) were examined in a population based sample of older adults (n = 658). Two of the choice RT tests involved inhibiting responses to either targets of a specific color or location with hand and foot responses. Potentially confounding demographic variables, medical conditions, and postural sway were controlled for in logistic regression models, excluding participants with possible cognitive impairment. A factor analysis of cognitive measures extracted factors measuring RT, accuracy and inhibition, and visual search. Single fallers did not differ from nonfallers in terms of health, sway or cognitive function, except that they performed worse on accuracy and inhibition. In contrast, recurrent fallers performed worse than nonfallers on all measures. Results suggest that occasional falls in late life may be associated with subtle age-related changes in the prefrontal cortex leading to failures of executive control, whereas recurrent falling may result from more advanced brain ageing that is associated with generalized cognitive decline. 2009 American Psychological Association

Weight loss is associated with improvements in cognitive function among overweight and obese people: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Veronese, Nicola; Facchini, Silvia; Stubbs, Brendon; Luchini, Claudio; Solmi, Marco; Manzato, Enzo; Sergi, Giuseppe; Maggi, Stefania; Cosco, Theodore; Fontana, Luigi

2017-01-01

Whilst obesity is associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment, the influence of weight loss on cognitive function in obese/overweight people is equivocal. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and longitudinal studies evaluating the influence of voluntary weight loss on cognitive function in obese/overweight individuals. Articles were acquired from a systematic search of major databases from inception till 01/2016. A random effect meta-analysis of weight loss interventions (diet, physical activity, bariatric surgery) on different cognitive domains (memory, attention, executive functions, language and motor speed) was conducted. Twenty studies (13 longitudinal studies=551 participants; 7 RCTs=328 treated vs. 140 controls) were included. Weight loss was associated with a significant improvement in attention and memory in both longitudinal studies and RCTs, whereas executive function and language improved in longitudinal and RCT studies, respectively. In conclusion, intentional weight loss in obese/overweight people is associated with improvements in performance across various cognitive domains. Future adequately powered RCTs are required to confirm/refute these findings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuropsychological Characteristics and Their Association with Higher-Level Functional Capacity in Parkinson's Disease

PubMed Central

Miura, Kayoko; Matsui, Mie; Takashima, Shutaro; Tanaka, Kortaro

2015-01-01

Background/Aims Little is known about the relationship between cognitive functions and higher-level functional capacity (e.g. intellectual activity, social role, and social participation) in Parkinson's disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to clarify neuropsychological characteristics and their association with higher-level functional capacity in PD patients. Methods Participants were 31 PD patients and 23 demographically matched healthy controls. Neuropsychological tests were conducted. One year later, a questionnaire survey evaluated higher-level functional capacity in daily living. Results The PD group scored significantly lower than the control group in all cognitive domains, particularly executive function and processing. Executive function, processing speed, language, and memory were significantly correlated with higher-level functional capacity in PD patients. Stepwise regression showed that only executive function (Trail Making Test-B), together with disease severity (HY stage), predicted the higher-level functional capacity. Conclusion Our findings provide evidence of a relationship between executive function and higher-level functional capacity in patients with PD. PMID:26273243

Effects of simultaneously performed cognitive and physical training in older adults

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background While many studies confirm the positive effect of cognitive and physical training on cognitive performance of older adults, only little is known about the effects of simultaneously performed cognitive and physical training. In the current study, older adults simultaneously performed a verbal working memory and a cardiovascular training to improve cognitive and motor-cognitive dual task performance. Twenty training sessions of 30 minutes each were conducted over a period of ten weeks, with a test session before, in the middle, and after the training. Training gains were tested in measures of selective attention, paired-associates learning, executive control, reasoning, memory span, information processing speed, and motor-cognitive dual task performance in the form of walking and simultaneously performing a working memory task. Results Sixty-three participants with a mean age of 71.8 ± 4.9 years (range 65 to 84) either performed the simultaneous training (N = 21), performed a single working memory training (N = 16), or attended no training at all (N = 26). The results indicate similar training progress and larger improvements in the executive control task for both training groups when compared to the passive control group. In addition, the simultaneous training resulted in larger improvements compared to the single cognitive training in the paired-associates task and was able to reduce the step-to-step variability during the motor-cognitive dual task when compared to the single cognitive training and the passive control group. Conclusions The simultaneous training of cognitive and physical abilities presents a promising training concept to improve cognitive and motor-cognitive dual task performance, offering greater potential on daily life functioning, which usually involves the recruitment of multiple abilities and resources rather than a single one. PMID:24053148

Attention, memory, visuoconstructive, and executive task performance in adolescents with anxiety disorders: a case-control community study.

PubMed

Jarros, Rafaela Behs; Salum, Giovanni Abrahão; Silva, Cristiano Tschiedel Belem da; Toazza, Rudineia; Becker, Natália; Agranonik, Marilyn; Salles, Jerusa Fumagalli de; Manfro, Gisele Gus

2017-01-01

The aim of the present study was to assess children and adolescents with mild and severe anxiety disorders for their performance in attention, verbal episodic memory, working memory, visuoconstructive skills, executive functions, and cognitive global functioning and conduct comparative analyses with the performance of children free from anxiety disorders. Our sample comprised 68 children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (41 with current diagnoses of anxiety disorders and 27 controls) selected from a larger cross-sectional community sample of adolescents. Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders were categorized into two groups on the basis of anxiety severity (mild or severe). All participants underwent a neuropsychological assessment battery to evaluate attention, verbal episodic memory, working memory, visuoconstructive skills, and executive and cognitive functions. No differences were found in any neuropsychological tests, with the single exception that the group with mild anxiety had better performance on the Digit Span backward test compared to subjects with severe anxiety and to controls (p = 0.041; η2 = 0.11). Not only might anxiety disorders spare main cognitive functions during adolescence, they may even enhance certain working memory processes.

Evaluating executive function in schoolchildren with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Vélez-van-Meerbeke, A; Zamora, I P; Guzmán, G; Figueroa, B; López Cabra, C A; Talero-Gutiérrez, C

2013-01-01

To identify impairment of executive functions (EF) in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A case-control study was performed on a sample of schoolchildren with low socioeconomic levels in Bogota, Colombia. ADHD was diagnosed using the DSM IV checklist and the Behavior Assessment System for Children scale. Children with cognitive deficits were excluded. We evaluated scores from six measurements of executive function (EF). We conducted a bivariate statistical analysis to compare the variables, a multivariate study controlled by sex and age, and a logistic regression analysis. The study sample included 119 children with ADHD and 85 controls, all aged between 6 and 12 years. Controlling by sex, age, and type of school showed that EF measurements in children with ADHD were significantly more impaired than in controls, especially for measurements of verbal and graphic fluency, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, and cognitive flexibility. Comparison of ADHD subgroups showed that results in children with multiple deficits were similar to those in the global ADHD group. Graphic fluency impairment was the sole impairment in cases with only attention deficit or only hyperactivity-impulsivity manifestations. EF measures in children with ADHD revealed more problems, particularly those having to do within planning, inhibition, working memory and cognitive control. Age and sex may affect the degree of EF impairment. Copyright © 2012 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Age-related changes in strategic variations during arithmetic problem solving: The role of executive control.

PubMed

Hinault, T; Lemaire, P

2016-01-01

In this review, we provide an overview of how age-related changes in executive control influence aging effects in arithmetic processing. More specifically, we consider the role of executive control in strategic variations with age during arithmetic problem solving. Previous studies found that age-related differences in arithmetic performance are associated with strategic variations. That is, when they accomplish arithmetic problem-solving tasks, older adults use fewer strategies than young adults, use strategies in different proportions, and select and execute strategies less efficiently. Here, we review recent evidence, suggesting that age-related changes in inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory processes underlie age-related changes in strategic variations during arithmetic problem solving. We discuss both behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying age-related changes in these executive control processes. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An individual differences approach to semantic cognition: Divergent effects of age on representation, retrieval and selection.

PubMed

Hoffman, Paul

2018-05-25

Semantic cognition refers to the appropriate use of acquired knowledge about the world. This requires representation of knowledge as well as control processes which ensure that currently-relevant aspects of knowledge are retrieved and selected. Although these abilities can be impaired selectively following brain damage, the relationship between them in healthy individuals is unclear. It is also commonly assumed that semantic cognition is preserved in later life, because older people have greater reserves of knowledge. However, this claim overlooks the possibility of decline in semantic control processes. Here, semantic cognition was assessed in 100 young and older adults. Despite having a broader knowledge base, older people showed specific impairments in semantic control, performing more poorly than young people when selecting among competing semantic representations. Conversely, they showed preserved controlled retrieval of less salient information from the semantic store. Breadth of semantic knowledge was positively correlated with controlled retrieval but was unrelated to semantic selection ability, which was instead correlated with non-semantic executive function. These findings indicate that three distinct elements contribute to semantic cognition: semantic representations that accumulate throughout the lifespan, processes for controlled retrieval of less salient semantic information, which appear age-invariant, and mechanisms for selecting task-relevant aspects of semantic knowledge, which decline with age and may relate more closely to domain-general executive control.

Histories of Social Engagement and Adult Cognition: Midlife in the U.S. Study

PubMed Central

Miller-Martinez, Dana M.; Stein Merkin, Sharon; Lachman, Margie E.; Tun, Patricia A.; Karlamangla, Arun S.

2011-01-01

Objectives. To evaluate whether social contacts, support, and social strain/conflict are related to executive function and memory abilities in middle-age and older adults. Methods. Longitudinal data on social contacts, support, and strain/conflict were examined in relation to executive function and memory at ages 35–85 years using data from the national Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS) study. Age-related differences in patterns of association were also examined. Results. Regression analyses, controlling for age, sex, race, education, chronic health conditions, and health behaviors, revealed significant positive associations between histories of greater social contacts and support and both executive function and episodic memory, whereas declines in social contacts were negatively associated with both outcomes. Greater average reported frequency of social exchanges characterized by strain or conflict was negatively associated with executive function but not episodic memory. Patterns were generally consistent across different age groups; where differences were seen, associations were stronger in younger age group. Discussion. Positive and negative aspects of social relationships are related to cognition throughout adulthood, consistent with the hypothesis that social factors have life-long influences on cognition. Positive and negative aspects of social engagement may thus be important factors to consider in relation to efforts to promote optimal cognitive development and cognitive aging. PMID:21196438

Cognitive function in patients with primary adrenal insufficiency (Addison's disease).

PubMed

Schultebraucks, Katharina; Wingenfeld, Katja; Heimes, Jana; Quinkler, Marcus; Otte, Christian

2015-05-01

Patients with primary adrenal insufficiency (AI) need to replace glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids that act on glucocorticoid (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MR). Both receptors are highly expressed in the hippocampus and are closely associated with cognitive function, which might be impaired by insufficient or increased GR and MR stimulation. However, little is known about cognitive function in patients with AI. It was examined whether patients with AI exhibit worse cognitive function compared to sex-, age-, and education-matched controls. Cognitive function (executive function, concentration, verbal memory, visual memory, working memory, and autobiographical memory) was assessed in 30 patients with AI (mean age 52.4 yrs. ±14.4, n=21 women, mean duration of illness 18.2 yrs. ±11.1) and 30 matched controls. We also measured depressive symptoms, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure. Patients with AI showed more depressive symptoms, had a greater BMI and lower systolic blood pressure compared to controls. Adjusted analyses controlling for these variables revealed that patients with AI performed significantly worse in verbal learning (F=7.8, p=.007). Executive function, concentration, working memory, verbal memory, visuospatial memory, and autobiographical memory did not differ between groups. No clinically relevant cognitive impairment was found in patients with AI compared to matched controls. Even long-term glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid substitution over almost two decades appears to have only subtle effects on cognition in patients with AI. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain training game improves executive functions and processing speed in the elderly: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Nouchi, Rui; Taki, Yasuyuki; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Akitsuki, Yuko; Shigemune, Yayoi; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Tsukiura, Takashi; Yomogida, Yukihito; Kawashima, Ryuta

2012-01-01

The beneficial effects of brain training games are expected to transfer to other cognitive functions, but these beneficial effects are poorly understood. Here we investigate the impact of the brain training game (Brain Age) on cognitive functions in the elderly. Thirty-two elderly volunteers were recruited through an advertisement in the local newspaper and randomly assigned to either of two game groups (Brain Age, Tetris). This study was completed by 14 of the 16 members in the Brain Age group and 14 of the 16 members in the Tetris group. To maximize the benefit of the interventions, all participants were non-gamers who reported playing less than one hour of video games per week over the past 2 years. Participants in both the Brain Age and the Tetris groups played their game for about 15 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Each group played for a total of about 20 days. Measures of the cognitive functions were conducted before and after training. Measures of the cognitive functions fell into four categories (global cognitive status, executive functions, attention, and processing speed). Results showed that the effects of the brain training game were transferred to executive functions and to processing speed. However, the brain training game showed no transfer effect on any global cognitive status nor attention. Our results showed that playing Brain Age for 4 weeks could lead to improve cognitive functions (executive functions and processing speed) in the elderly. This result indicated that there is a possibility which the elderly could improve executive functions and processing speed in short term training. The results need replication in large samples. Long-term effects and relevance for every-day functioning remain uncertain as yet. UMIN Clinical Trial Registry 000002825.

[Psychiatric, Cognitive and Emotional Profile in Ex-combatants of Illegal Armed Groups in Colombia].

PubMed

Tobón, Carlos; Aguirre-Acevedo, Daniel Camilo; Velilla, Lina; Duque, Jon; Ramos, Claudia Patricia; Pineda, David

2016-01-01

Exposure to armed conflict produces biological adaptations oriented to handle the highly stressful conditions in war environments. The special features of The Colombian armed create a special scenario to evaluate the human behavior. In this study, psychiatric, cognitive and emotional processing characteristics of a group of Colombian armed illegal forces of ex-combatants are described. Sixty-three ex combatants and 22 controls were assessed with WAIS (IQ), INECO frontal screening (executive functions), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (empathy), emotional features recognition and MINI (psychiatric profile). When compared to the control group, ex-combatants showed higher frequency of antisocial personality disorder (P=.031) and behavioral dissocial disorder (P=.017). In cognitive profile, the ex-combatants showed a lower score in the executive function test (Me=18.50; RQ=4.00), control (Me=23.00; RQ=5.25), with a poor personal distress in emphatic profile (Me=10.00; RQ=5.00) compared to control group (Me=37.00; RQ=7.25). We found differences in cognitive and psychiatric profile in ex-combatants in comparison with controls. Copyright © 2015 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Stereotype threat and executive resource depletion: examining the influence of emotion regulation.

PubMed

Johns, Michael; Inzlicht, Michael; Schmader, Toni

2008-11-01

Research shows that stereotype threat reduces performance by diminishing executive resources, but less is known about the psychological processes responsible for these impairments. The authors tested the idea that targets of stereotype threat try to regulate their emotions and that this regulation depletes executive resources, resulting in underperformance. Across 4 experiments, they provide converging evidence that targets of stereotype threat spontaneously attempt to control their expression of anxiety and that such emotion regulation depletes executive resources needed to perform well on tests of cognitive ability. They also demonstrate that providing threatened individuals with a means to effectively cope with negative emotions--by reappraising the situation or the meaning of their anxiety--can restore executive resources and improve test performance. They discuss these results within the framework of an integrated process model of stereotype threat, in which affective and cognitive processes interact to undermine performance.

Stereotype Threat and Executive Resource Depletion: Examining the Influence of Emotion Regulation

PubMed Central

Johns, Michael; Inzlicht, Michael; Schmader, Toni

2010-01-01

Research shows that stereotype threat reduces performance by diminishing executive resources, but less is known about the psychological processes responsible for these impairments. The authors tested the idea that targets of stereotype threat try to regulate their emotions and that this regulation depletes executive resources, resulting in underperformance. Across 4 experiments, they provide converging evidence that targets of stereotype threat spontaneously attempt to control their expression of anxiety and that such emotion regulation depletes executive resources needed to perform well on tests of cognitive ability. They also demonstrate that providing threatened individuals with a means to effectively cope with negative emotions—by reappraising the situation or the meaning of their anxiety—can restore executive resources and improve test performance. They discuss these results within the framework of an integrated process model of stereotype threat, in which affective and cognitive processes interact to undermine performance. PMID:18999361

Autistic traits and cognitive performance in young people with mild intellectual impairment.

PubMed

Harris, Jonathan M; Best, Catherine S; Moffat, Vivien J; Spencer, Michael D; Philip, Ruth C M; Power, Michael J; Johnstone, Eve C

2008-08-01

Cognitive performance and the relationship between theory of mind (TOM), weak central coherence and executive function were investigated in a cohort of young people with additional learning needs. Participants were categorized by social communication questionnaire score into groups of 10 individuals within the autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) range, 14 within the pervasive developmental disorder range and 18 with few autistic traits. The ASD group were significantly poorer than the other groups on a test of cognitive flexibility. In the ASD group only, there was a strong relationship between executive performance and TOM which remained after controlling for IQ. Our findings suggest that the relationship between cognitive traits may more reliably distinguish autism than the presence of individual deficits alone.

Self-reflection and set-shifting mediate awareness in cognitively preserved schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Gilleen, James; David, Anthony; Greenwood, Kathryn

2016-05-01

Poor insight in schizophrenia has been linked to poor cognitive functioning, psychological processes such as denial, or more recently with impaired metacognitive capacity. Few studies, however, have investigated the potential co-dependency of multiple factors in determining level of insight, but such a model is necessary in order to account for patients with good cognitive functioning who have very poor awareness. As evidence suggests that set-shifting and cognitive insight (self-reflection (SR) and self-certainty) are strong predictors of awareness we proposed that these factors are key mediators in the relationship between cognition and awareness. We hypothesised that deficits specifically in SR and set-shifting determine level of awareness in the context of good cognition. Thirty schizophrenia patients were stratified by high and low awareness of illness and executive functioning scores. Cognitive insight, cognition, mood and symptom measures were compared between sub-groups. A low insight/high executive functioning (LI-HE) group, a high insight/high executive functioning (HI-HE) group and a low insight/low executive functioning (LI-LE) group were revealed. As anticipated, the LI-HE patients showed significantly lower capacity for SR and set-shifting than the HI-HE patients. This study indicates that good cognitive functioning is necessary but not sufficient for good awareness; good awareness specifically demands preserved capacity to self-reflect and shift-set. Results support Nelson and Narens' [1990. Metamemory: A theoretical framework and new findings. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 26, 125-173] model of metacognition by which awareness is founded on control (set-shifting) and monitoring (SR) processes. These specific factors could be targeted to improve insight in patients with otherwise unimpaired cognitive function.

Cognitive Contributions to Freezing of Gait in Parkinson Disease: Implications for Physical Rehabilitation

PubMed Central

King, Laurie A.; Cohen, Rajal G.; Horak, Fay B.

2016-01-01

People with Parkinson disease (PD) who show freezing of gait also have dysfunction in cognitive domains that interact with mobility. Specifically, freezing of gait is associated with executive dysfunction involving response inhibition, divided attention or switching attention, and visuospatial function. The neural control impairments leading to freezing of gait have recently been attributed to higher-level, executive and attentional cortical processes involved in coordinating posture and gait rather than to lower-level, sensorimotor impairments. To date, rehabilitation for freezing of gait primarily has focused on compensatory mobility training to overcome freezing events, such as sensory cueing and voluntary step planning. Recently, a few interventions have focused on restitutive, rather than compensatory, therapy. Given the documented impairments in executive function specific to patients with PD who freeze and increasing evidence of overlap between cognitive and motor function, incorporating cognitive challenges with mobility training may have important benefits for patients with freezing of gait. Thus, a novel theoretical framework is proposed for exercise interventions that jointly address both the specific cognitive and mobility challenges of people with PD who freeze. PMID:26381808

Cognitive Contributions to Freezing of Gait in Parkinson Disease: Implications for Physical Rehabilitation.

PubMed

Peterson, Daniel S; King, Laurie A; Cohen, Rajal G; Horak, Fay B

2016-05-01

People with Parkinson disease (PD) who show freezing of gait also have dysfunction in cognitive domains that interact with mobility. Specifically, freezing of gait is associated with executive dysfunction involving response inhibition, divided attention or switching attention, and visuospatial function. The neural control impairments leading to freezing of gait have recently been attributed to higher-level, executive and attentional cortical processes involved in coordinating posture and gait rather than to lower-level, sensorimotor impairments. To date, rehabilitation for freezing of gait primarily has focused on compensatory mobility training to overcome freezing events, such as sensory cueing and voluntary step planning. Recently, a few interventions have focused on restitutive, rather than compensatory, therapy. Given the documented impairments in executive function specific to patients with PD who freeze and increasing evidence of overlap between cognitive and motor function, incorporating cognitive challenges with mobility training may have important benefits for patients with freezing of gait. Thus, a novel theoretical framework is proposed for exercise interventions that jointly address both the specific cognitive and mobility challenges of people with PD who freeze. © 2016 American Physical Therapy Association.

Metacognition, Theory of Mind, and Self-Control: The Relevance of High-Level Cognitive Processes in Development, Neuroscience, and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sodian, Beate; Frith, Uta

2008-01-01

The cognitive control of behavior is critical for success in school. The emergence of self-control in development has been linked to the ability to represent one's own and others' mental states (theory of mind and metacognition). Despite rapid progress in exploring the neural correlates of both mind reading and executive function in recent years,…

Automaticity of Cognitive Control: Goal Priming in Response-Inhibition Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verbruggen, Frederick; Logan, Gordon D.

2009-01-01

Response inhibition is a hallmark of cognitive control. An executive system inhibits responses by activating a stop goal when a stop signal is presented. The authors asked whether the stop goal could be primed by task-irrelevant information in stop-signal and go/no-go paradigms. In Experiment 1, the task-irrelevant primes "GO," ###, or "STOP" were…

Brain Oscillatory Correlates of Altered Executive Functioning in Positive and Negative Symptomatic Schizophrenia Patients and Healthy Controls.

PubMed

Berger, Barbara; Minarik, Tamas; Griesmayr, Birgit; Stelzig-Schoeler, Renate; Aichhorn, Wolfgang; Sauseng, Paul

2016-01-01

Working Memory and executive functioning deficits are core characteristics of patients suffering from schizophrenia. Electrophysiological research indicates that altered patterns of neural oscillatory mechanisms underpinning executive functioning are associated with the psychiatric disorder. Such brain oscillatory changes have been found in local amplitude differences at gamma and theta frequencies in task-specific cortical areas. Moreover, interregional interactions are also disrupted as signified by decreased phase coherence of fronto-posterior theta activity in schizophrenia patients. However, schizophrenia is not a one-dimensional psychiatric disorder but has various forms and expressions. A common distinction is between positive and negative symptomatology but most patients have both negative and positive symptoms to some extent. Here, we examined three groups-healthy controls, predominantly negative, and predominantly positive symptomatic schizophrenia patients-when performing a working memory task with increasing cognitive demand and increasing need for executive control. We analyzed brain oscillatory activity in the three groups separately and investigated how predominant symptomatology might explain differences in brain oscillatory patterns. Our results indicate that differences in task specific fronto-posterior network activity (i.e., executive control network) expressed by interregional phase synchronization are able to account for working memory dysfunctions between groups. Local changes in the theta and gamma frequency range also show differences between patients and healthy controls, and more importantly, between the two patient groups. We conclude that differences in oscillatory brain activation patterns related to executive processing can be an indicator for positive and negative symptomatology in schizophrenia. Furthermore, changes in cognitive and especially executive functioning in patients are expressed by alterations in a task-specific fronto-posterior connectivity even in the absence of behavioral impairment.

Social strain and executive function across the lifespan: The dark (and light) sides of social engagement

PubMed Central

Tun, Patricia A.; Miller-Martinez, Dana; Lachman, Margie E.; Seeman, Teresa

2012-01-01

We investigated how the association between social strain and cognitive efficiency varies with task demands across adulthood, from latencies on simpler speeded tasks to tests involving executive function. Participants (N= 3280) were drawn from the MIDUS survey, a large, diverse national sample of adults who completed cognitive tests including speeded task-switching (Tun & Lachman, 2008). After controlling for demographic and health variables, we found that higher levels of reported social strain were associated with slower processing speed, particularly for the complex task-switching test relative to simpler speeded tests. Effects of strain were greatest for those with the lowest general cognitive ability. Moreover, those with very high levels of social strain but low levels of social support gave the poorest task-switching performance. These findings provide further evidence for the complex relationship between the social environment and cognition across adulthood, particularly the association between efficiency of executive functions and negative social interactions. PMID:22873285

Genes and Experience in the Development of Executive Attention and Effortful Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothbart, Mary K.; Posner, Michael I.

2005-01-01

The executive attention network is involved in regulating emotions and cognitions, forming a neural basis for temperamental self-regulation. New brain imaging and molecular genetics methods can enhance our understanding of common mechanisms of self-regulation and individual differences in their expression.

The Brain Games study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of computerised cognitive training for preventing mental illness in adolescents with high-risk personality styles.

PubMed

Mewton, Louise; Hodge, Antoinette; Gates, Nicola; Visontay, Rachel; Teesson, Maree

2017-09-25

A broad range of mental disorders are now understood as aberrations of normal adolescent brain development. In both adolescents and adults, executive dysfunction has been implicated across a range of mental illnesses, and enhancing executive functioning may prove to be a useful prevention strategy for adolescents at risk for a range of psychopathology. This study will consist of a double-blind, randomised controlled trial with a 12-month follow-up period. Participants will consist of 200 people aged 16-24 years who are at risk for a range of mental disorders based on personality risk factors, but have not experienced a lifetime mental illness as determined by a structured diagnostic interview. Participants will be randomly allocated to either an intervention group who complete an online cognitive training programme specifically targeting executive functioning ability or a control group who complete an online cognitive training programme that has limited executive functioning training potential. Superiority of the executive functioning training programme compared with the control training programme will be assessed at baseline, post-training and at 3-month, 6-month and 12-month follow-up. All assessments will be conducted online. The primary outcome of the study will be general psychopathology as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes will include executive functioning ability, day-to-day functioning and alcohol consumption. All analyses will be undertaken using mixed-model repeated measures analysis of variance with planned contrasts. Ethics approval has been obtained from the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee (HC15094). Results of the trial immediately post-treatment and at 12 months follow-up will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. ACTRN12616000127404; Pre-results. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

The Brain Games study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of computerised cognitive training for preventing mental illness in adolescents with high-risk personality styles

PubMed Central

Mewton, Louise; Hodge, Antoinette; Gates, Nicola; Visontay, Rachel; Teesson, Maree

2017-01-01

Introduction A broad range of mental disorders are now understood as aberrations of normal adolescent brain development. In both adolescents and adults, executive dysfunction has been implicated across a range of mental illnesses, and enhancing executive functioning may prove to be a useful prevention strategy for adolescents at risk for a range of psychopathology. Methods and analysis This study will consist of a double-blind, randomised controlled trial with a 12-month follow-up period. Participants will consist of 200 people aged 16–24 years who are at risk for a range of mental disorders based on personality risk factors, but have not experienced a lifetime mental illness as determined by a structured diagnostic interview. Participants will be randomly allocated to either an intervention group who complete an online cognitive training programme specifically targeting executive functioning ability or a control group who complete an online cognitive training programme that has limited executive functioning training potential. Superiority of the executive functioning training programme compared with the control training programme will be assessed at baseline, post-training and at 3-month, 6-month and 12-month follow-up. All assessments will be conducted online. The primary outcome of the study will be general psychopathology as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes will include executive functioning ability, day-to-day functioning and alcohol consumption. All analyses will be undertaken using mixed-model repeated measures analysis of variance with planned contrasts. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been obtained from the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee (HC15094). Results of the trial immediately post-treatment and at 12 months follow-up will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number ACTRN12616000127404; Pre-results. PMID:28951415

Efficacy of group cognitive rehabilitation therapy in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Mani, A; Chohedri, E; Ravanfar, P; Mowla, A; Nikseresht, A

2018-06-01

Cognitive impairment occurs in 40%-65% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Several techniques for cognitive rehabilitation (CR) in these patients have been evaluated; however, the results have been controversial. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of group compensatory CR in patients with MS-related cognitive impairment. Thirty-four female patients with diagnosed relapsing-remitting MS and evidence of impaired cognitive function were included and randomized to intervention (n = 17) and control (n = 17) groups. CR intervention consisted of eight 2-hour sessions of comprehensive group CR over a 4-week period that focused on improvement of memory, attention, and executive function. As placebo, the control group received the same number of non-therapeutic group sessions. Assessment of cognitive function was performed before intervention (pretest), at the end of intervention (post-test), and 3 months later (follow-up). The study population included 34 patients with a mean age of 35.5 years. Statistical comparison of memory assessments at 3-month follow-up showed significantly higher scores in the CR group than in the control group (93.33 vs 86.40 for Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination test and 16.58 vs 12.00 for visual memory, 19.32 vs 14.05 for verbal memory, and 51.28 vs 44.41 for general scores on the Memory Functioning Questionnaire test, respectively). Wisconsin card sorting test score comparison showed significantly lower total time consumption in the CR group than in the control group (308.1 vs 340.8 seconds, respectively). Behavior rating inventory of executive function-adult scores in all four subtests were significantly higher in the CR group than in the control group (40.25 vs 55.4 for behavioral regulation index, 51.16 vs 68.6 for metacognition index, and 97.41 vs 124.00 for global executive composite, respectively). Attention was the only domain in which we did not observe any significant variation between groups in terms of post-test and follow-up scores. This study supports the efficacy of group CR in the improvement of cognitive function in patients with MS. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Task-Based Neurofeedback Training: A Novel Approach Toward Training Executive Functions

PubMed Central

Hosseini, SM Hadi; Pritchard-Berman, Mika; Sosa, Natasha; Ceja, Angelica; Kesler, Shelli R.

2016-01-01

Cognitive training is an emergent approach to improve cognitive functions in various neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. However, current training programs can be relatively lengthy, making adherence potentially difficult for patients with cognitive difficulties. Previous studies suggest that providing individuals with real-time feedback about the level of brain activity (neurofeedback) can potentially help them learn to control the activation of specific brain regions. In the present study, we developed a novel task-based neurofeedback training paradigm that benefits from the effects of neurofeedback in parallel with computerized training. We focused on executive function training given its core involvement in various developmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was employed for providing neurofeedback by measuring changes in oxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex. Of the twenty healthy adult participants, ten received real neurofeedback (NFB) on prefrontal activity during cognitive training, and ten were presented with sham feedback (SHAM). Compared with SHAM, the NFB group showed significantly improved executive function performance including measures of working memory after four sessions of training (100 minutes total). The NFB group also showed significantly reduced training-related brain activity in the executive function network including right middle frontal and inferior frontal regions compared with SHAM. Our data suggest that providing neurofeedback along with cognitive training can enhance executive function after a relatively short period of training. Similar designs could potentially be used for patient populations with known neuropathology, potentially helping them to boost/recover the activity in the affected brain regions. PMID:27015711

Postural control system influences intrinsic alerting state.

PubMed

Barra, Julien; Auclair, Laurent; Charvillat, Agnès; Vidal, Manuel; Pérennou, Dominic

2015-03-01

Numerous studies using dual-task paradigms (postural and cognitive) have shown that postural control requires cognitive resources. However, the influence of postural control on attention components has never been directly addressed. Using the attention network test (ANT), which assesses specifically each of the 3 components of attention-alertness, orientation, and executive control-within a single paradigm, we investigated the effect of postural balance demand on these 3 components. Forty-two participants completed the ANT in 3 postural conditions: (a) supine, a very stable position; (b) sitting on a chair, an intermediate position; and (c) standing with feet lined up heel to toe, a very instable position known as the Romberg position. Our results revealed that the difficulty of postural control does modulate alerting in such a way that it improves with the level of instability of the position. Regarding the orienting and executive control components of attention, performance was not different when participants were standing upright or seated, whereas in the supine position, performance dropped. The strong and specific interaction between postural control and the alerting system suggests that these mechanisms may share parts of the underlying neural circuits. We discuss the possible implication of the locus coeruleus, known to be involved in both postural balance and alerting. Also, our findings concerning orienting and executive control systems suggest that supine posture could have a specific effect on cognitive activities. These effects are discussed in terms of particularities resulting from the supine position. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

The development of inhibitory control in preschool children: effects of "executive skills" training.

PubMed

Dowsett, S M; Livesey, D J

2000-03-01

As one of several processes involved in the executive functioning of the cognitive system, inhibitory control plays a significant role in determining how various mental processes work together in the successful performance of a task. Studies of response inhibition have shown that although 3-year-old children have the cognitive capacity to learn the rules required for response control, indicated by the correct verbal response, developmental constraints prevent them from withholding the correct response (Bell & Livesey, 1985; Livesey & Morgan, 1991). Some argue that these abulic dissociations are relative to children's ability to reflect on the rules required for response control (Zelazo, Reznick, & Pinon, 1995). The current study showed that repeated exposure to tasks facilitating the acquisition of increasingly complex rule structures could improve inhibitory control (as measured by a go/no-go discrimination learning task), even in children aged 3 years. These tasks included a variant of Diamond and Boyer's (1989) modified version of the Wisconsin Card Sort Task and a simplification of the change paradigm (Logan & Burkell, 1986). It is argued that experience with these tasks increased the acquisition of complex rules by placing demands on executive processes. This includes response control and other executive functions, such as representational flexibility, the ability to maintain information in working memory, the selective control of attention, and proficiency at error correction. The role of experiential variables in the development of inhibitory control is discussed in terms of the interaction between neural development and appropriate executive task experience in the early years. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Meta-analysis of neuropsychological measures of executive functioning in children and adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Lai, Chun Lun Eric; Lau, Zoe; Lui, Simon S Y; Lok, Eugenia; Tam, Venus; Chan, Quinney; Cheng, Koi Man; Lam, Siu Man; Cheung, Eric F C

2017-05-01

Existing literature on the profile of executive dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder showed inconsistent results. Age, comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and cognitive abilities appeared to play a role in confounding the picture. Previous meta-analyses have focused on a few components of executive functions. This meta-analysis attempted to delineate the profile of deficit in several components of executive functioning in children and adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). Ninety-eight English published case-control studies comparing children and adolescents with HFASD with typically developing controls using well-known neuropsychological measures to assess executive functions were included. Results showed that children and adolescents with HFASD were moderately impaired in verbal working memory (g = 0.67), spatial working memory (g = 0.58), flexibility (g = 0.59), planning (g = 0.62), and generativity (g = 0.60) except for inhibition (g = 0.41). Subgroup analysis showed that impairments were still significant for flexibility (g = 0.57-0.61), generativity (g = 0.52-0.68), and working memory (g = 0.49-0.56) in a sample of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) subjects without comorbid ADHD or when the cognitive abilities of the ASD group and the control group were comparable. This meta-analysis confirmed the presence of executive dysfunction in children and adolescents with HFASD. These deficits are not solely accounted for by the effect of comorbid ADHD and the general cognitive abilities. Our results support the executive dysfunction hypothesis and contribute to the clinical understanding and possible development of interventions to alleviate these deficits in children and adolescents with HFASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 911-939. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Executive Functioning and Learning Skills of Adolescent Children Born at Fewer than 26 Weeks of Gestation

PubMed Central

Farooqi, A.; Adamsson, M.; Serenius, F.; Hägglöf, B.

2016-01-01

Aims To assess the cognitive and behavioral aspects of executive functioning (EF) and learning skills in extremely preterm (EPT) children compared with term control children aged 10 to 15 years. Methods A total of 132 of 134 (98% of all eligible survivors) EPT children born at the 2 Swedish regional tertiary care centers from 1992 to 1998 (mean age = 12 years, mean birth weight = 718 g, and mean gestational age = 24.4 weeks) and 103 matched term controls were assessed. General intelligence was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III-R), and cognitive aspects of EF were analyzed using EF-sensitive subscales of the WISC-III-R and Tower test of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Scale (D-KEFS). Behaviors related to EF and learning skills were assessed using the Five to Fifteen questionnaire, which is a validated parent and teacher instrument. Academic performance in school was assessed by teachers’ responses on Achenbach’s Teachers Report Form. Analyses performed included multivariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA and MANCOVA) and logistic regression analyses. Results The EPT children displayed significant deficits in cognitive aspects of EF compared with the controls, exhibiting decreases on the order of 0.9 SD to 1.2 SD for tasks of verbal conceptual reasoning, verbal and non-verbal working memory, processing speed and planning ability (P <0.001 for all). After excluding the children with major neurosensory impairment (NSI) or a Full Scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) of < 70, significant differences were observed on all tests. Compared with controls, parents and teachers of EPT children reported significantly more EF-related behavioral problems. MANCOVA of teacher-reported learning skills in children with FSIQ >70 and without major NSI revealed no interactions, but significant main effects were observed for the behavioral composite executive function score, group status (EPT vs control) and FSIQ, for which all effect sizes were medium to large. The corresponding findings of MANCOVA of the parent-reported learning skills were very similar. According to the teachers’ ratings, the EPT children were less well adjusted to the school environment. Conclusion EPT children born in the 1990s who received active perinatal care are at an increased risk of executive dysfunction, even after excluding children with significant neurodevelopmental disabilities. Even mild to moderate executive dysfunctions has a significant impact on learning skills. These findings suggest the need for timely interventions that address specific cognitive vulnerabilities and executive dysfunctions. PMID:26999522

Executive Functioning and Learning Skills of Adolescent Children Born at Fewer than 26 Weeks of Gestation.

PubMed

Farooqi, A; Adamsson, M; Serenius, F; Hägglöf, B

2016-01-01

To assess the cognitive and behavioral aspects of executive functioning (EF) and learning skills in extremely preterm (EPT) children compared with term control children aged 10 to 15 years. A total of 132 of 134 (98% of all eligible survivors) EPT children born at the 2 Swedish regional tertiary care centers from 1992 to 1998 (mean age = 12 years, mean birth weight = 718 g, and mean gestational age = 24.4 weeks) and 103 matched term controls were assessed. General intelligence was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III-R), and cognitive aspects of EF were analyzed using EF-sensitive subscales of the WISC-III-R and Tower test of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Scale (D-KEFS). Behaviors related to EF and learning skills were assessed using the Five to Fifteen questionnaire, which is a validated parent and teacher instrument. Academic performance in school was assessed by teachers' responses on Achenbach's Teachers Report Form. Analyses performed included multivariate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA and MANCOVA) and logistic regression analyses. The EPT children displayed significant deficits in cognitive aspects of EF compared with the controls, exhibiting decreases on the order of 0.9 SD to 1.2 SD for tasks of verbal conceptual reasoning, verbal and non-verbal working memory, processing speed and planning ability (P <0.001 for all). After excluding the children with major neurosensory impairment (NSI) or a Full Scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) of < 70, significant differences were observed on all tests. Compared with controls, parents and teachers of EPT children reported significantly more EF-related behavioral problems. MANCOVA of teacher-reported learning skills in children with FSIQ >70 and without major NSI revealed no interactions, but significant main effects were observed for the behavioral composite executive function score, group status (EPT vs control) and FSIQ, for which all effect sizes were medium to large. The corresponding findings of MANCOVA of the parent-reported learning skills were very similar. According to the teachers' ratings, the EPT children were less well adjusted to the school environment. EPT children born in the 1990s who received active perinatal care are at an increased risk of executive dysfunction, even after excluding children with significant neurodevelopmental disabilities. Even mild to moderate executive dysfunctions has a significant impact on learning skills. These findings suggest the need for timely interventions that address specific cognitive vulnerabilities and executive dysfunctions.

Assessing children's cognitive flexibility with the Shape Trail Test.

PubMed

Chan, Amy Y C; Morgan, Sarah-Jane

2018-01-01

In this paper we report an initial validation of the Shape Trail Test-Child Version (STT-CV) with a non-clinical sample of children aged 6 to 9 years. The STT-CV has been developed as an age-appropriate and culturally fair direct downward extension of the Trail Making Test (TMT) for the assessment of cognitive flexibility. Children completed the STT-CV and four established measures of executive functions that assessed working memory, inhibitory control and task switching. Results showed the expected age-based differences in completion times for both parts of the STT-CV (Trail A and Trail B). Children's performance on the STT-CV correlated significantly with all four measures of executive functions. After controlling for the effects of chronological age, completion times for Trail B remained correlated with most other measures of executive functions. These findings provide emerging evidence for the utility of the STT-CV, and highlight the need for designing and using appropriate variants of the TMT in the behavioural assessment of cognitive flexibility in developmentally and culturally diverse populations.

Poor Cognitive Inhibition Predicts Rumination About Insomnia in a Clinical Sample.

PubMed

Ballesio, Andrea; Ottaviani, Cristina; Lombardo, Caterina

2018-04-20

According to the Cognitive Model of Insomnia disorder, rumination about lack of sleep and its diurnal consequences plays a crucial role in maintaining insomnia. Consolidated evidence shows that rumination is related to poor executive functions, which are cognitive control processes impacted by insomnia. Despite this evidence, no studies so far investigated the relationship between executive functions and rumination in individuals with insomnia. The aim of this pilot study was to cover this gap by investigating whether poor executive functions are associated with rumination in a sample of individuals with a diagnosis of insomnia disorder. Thirty young adults (22.67 ± 3.68 years, 73.3% females) diagnosed with insomnia disorder by clinical psychologists with expertise in behavioral sleep medicine completed the study. Measures of insomnia, depression, emotion regulation, and rumination about the daytime consequences of insomnia were collected. Executive functions were assessed using a Task Switching paradigm, measuring cognitive inhibition and set-shifting with cognitive flexibility. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that higher depression (β = 0.781, p < 0.001) and cognitive reappraisal (β = 0.329, p = 0.016), and poorer cognitive inhibition (β = -0.334, p = 0.014), significantly predicted higher rumination. Rumination about symptoms of insomnia in a clinical sample is associated with impaired inhibitory but not switching capacities above and beyond the role played by traditional predictors such as depression and emotion regulation strategies. If replicated, present preliminary results suggest the need to target cognitive inhibition deficits in insomnia treatment.

Psychological and neural mechanisms associated with effort-related cardiovascular reactivity and cognitive control: An integrative approach.

PubMed

Silvestrini, Nicolas

2017-09-01

Numerous studies have assessed cardiovascular (CV) reactivity as a measure of effort mobilization during cognitive tasks. However, psychological and neural processes underlying effort-related CV reactivity are still relatively unclear. Previous research reliably found that CV reactivity during cognitive tasks is mainly determined by one region of the brain, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and that this region is systematically engaged during cognitively demanding tasks. The present integrative approach builds on the research on cognitive control and its brain correlates that shows that dACC function can be related to conflict monitoring and integration of information related to task difficulty and success importance-two key variables in determining effort mobilization. In contrast, evidence also indicates that executive cognitive functioning is processed in more lateral regions of the prefrontal cortex. The resulting model suggests that, when automatic cognitive processes are insufficient to sustain behavior, the dACC determines the amount of required and justified effort according to task difficulty and success importance, which leads to proportional adjustments in CV reactivity and executive cognitive functioning. These propositions are discussed in relation to previous findings on effort-related CV reactivity and cognitive performance, new predictions for future studies, and relevance for other self-regulatory processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cognitive functioning in young children with type 1 diabetes.

PubMed

Cato, M Allison; Mauras, Nelly; Ambrosino, Jodie; Bondurant, Aiden; Conrad, Amy L; Kollman, Craig; Cheng, Peiyao; Beck, Roy W; Ruedy, Katrina J; Aye, Tandy; Reiss, Allan L; White, Neil H; Hershey, Tamara

2014-02-01

The aim of this study was to assess cognitive functioning in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and examine whether glycemic history influences cognitive function. Neuropsychological evaluation of 216 children (healthy controls, n = 72; T1D, n = 144) ages 4-10 years across five DirecNet sites. Cognitive domains included IQ, Executive Functions, Learning and Memory, and Processing Speed. Behavioral, mood, parental IQ data, and T1D glycemic history since diagnosis were collected. The cohorts did not differ in age, gender or parent IQ. Median T1D duration was 2.5 years and average onset age was 4 years. After covarying age, gender, and parental IQ, the IQ and the Executive Functions domain scores trended lower (both p = .02, not statistically significant adjusting for multiple comparisons) with T1D relative to controls. Children with T1D were rated by parents as having more depressive and somatic symptoms (p < .001). Learning and memory (p = .46) and processing speed (p = .25) were similar. Trends in the data supported that the degree of hyperglycemia was associated with Executive Functions, and to a lesser extent, Child IQ and Learning and Memory. Differences in cognition are subtle in young children with T1D within 2 years of onset. Longitudinal evaluations will help determine whether these findings change or become more pronounced with time.

Cognitive functioning in young children with type 1 diabetes

PubMed Central

Cato, M. Allison; Mauras, Nelly; Ambrosino, Jodie; Bondurant, Aiden; Conrad, Amy L.; Kollman, Craig; Cheng, Peiyao; Beck, Roy W.; Ruedy, Katrina J.; Aye, Tandy; Reiss, Allan L.; White, Neil H.; Hershey, Tamara

2014-01-01

Objective To assess cognitive functioning in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and examine whether glycemic history influences cognitive function. Research Design and Methods Neuropsychological evaluation of 216 children (healthy controls, n = 72; T1D, n = 144) ages 4-10yrs across five DirecNet sites. Cognitive domains included IQ, Executive Functions, Learning and Memory, and Processing Speed. Behavioral, mood, parental IQ data and T1D glycemic history since diagnosis were collected. Results The cohorts did not differ in age, gender or parent IQ. Median T1D duration was 2.5yrs and average onset age was 4yrs. After covarying age, gender, and parental IQ, the IQ and the Executive Functions domain scores trended lower (both p = .02, not statistically significant adjusting for multiple comparisons) with T1D relative to controls. Children with T1D were rated by parents as having more depressive and somatic symptoms (p < 0.001). Learning and memory (p = 0.46) and processing speed (p = 0.25) were similar. Trends in the data supported that the degree of hyperglycemia was associated with Executive Functions, and to a lesser extent, Child IQ and Learning and Memory. Conclusions Differences in cognition are subtle in young children with T1D within 2 years of onset. Longitudinal evaluations will help determine whether these findings change or become more pronounced with time. PMID:24512675

Selective Cognitive Dysfunction Is Related to a Specific Pattern of Cerebral Damage in Persons With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

PubMed

Di Paola, Margherita; Phillips, Owen; Costa, Alberto; Ciurli, Paola; Bivona, Umberto; Catani, Sheila; Formisano, Rita; Caltagirone, Carlo; Carlesimo, Giovanni Augusto

2015-01-01

Cognitive dysfunction is a common sequela of traumatic brain injury (TBI); indeed, patients show a heterogeneous pattern of cognitive deficits. This study was aimed at investigating whether patients who show selective cognitive dysfunction after TBI present a selective pattern of cerebral damage. Post-Coma Unit, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy. We collected data from 8 TBI patients with episodic memory disorder and without executive deficits, 7 patients with executive function impairment and preserved episodic memory capacities, and 16 healthy controls. We used 2 complementary analyses: (1) an exploratory and qualitative approach in which we investigated the distribution of lesions in the TBI groups, and (2) a hypothesis-driven and quantitative approach in which we calculated the volume of hippocampi of individuals in the TBI and control groups. Neuropsychological scores and hippocampal volumes. We found that patients with TBI and executive functions impairment presented focal lesions involving the frontal lobes, whereas patients with TBI and episodic memory disorders showed atrophic changes of the mesial temporal structure (hippocampus). The complexity of TBI is due to several heterogeneous factors. Indeed, studying patients with TBI and selective cognitive dysfunction should lead to a better understanding of correlations with specific brain impairment and damage, better follow-up of long-term outcome scenarios, and better planning of selective and focused rehabilitation programs.

Cognitive and neurophysiological markers of ADHD persistence and remission.

PubMed

Cheung, Celeste H M; Rijsdijk, Fruhling; McLoughlin, Gráinne; Brandeis, Daniel; Banaschewski, Tobias; Asherson, Philip; Kuntsi, Jonna

2016-06-01

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists in around two-thirds of individuals in adolescence and early adulthood. To examine the cognitive and neurophysiological processes underlying the persistence or remission of ADHD. Follow-up data were obtained from 110 young people with childhood ADHD and 169 controls on cognitive, electroencephalogram frequency, event-related potential (ERP) and actigraph movement measures after 6 years. ADHD persisters differed from remitters on preparation-vigilance measures (contingent negative variation, delta activity, reaction time variability and omission errors), IQ and actigraph count, but not on executive control measures of inhibition or working memory (nogo-P3 amplitudes, commission errors and digit span backwards). Preparation-vigilance measures were markers of remission, improving concurrently with ADHD symptoms, whereas executive control measures were not sensitive to ADHD persistence/remission. For IQ, the present and previous results combined suggest a role in moderating ADHD outcome. These findings fit with previously identified aetiological separation of the cognitive impairments in ADHD. The strongest candidates for the development of non-pharmacological interventions involving cognitive training and neurofeedback are the preparation-vigilance processes that were markers of ADHD remission. © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016.

Decline in Executive Control during Acute Bouts of Exercise as a Function of Exercise Intensity and Fitness Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Labelle, Veronique; Bosquet, Laurent; Mekary, Said; Bherer, Louis

2013-01-01

Studies on the effects of acute bouts of cardiovascular exercise on cognitive performances show contradictory findings due to methodological differences (e.g., exercise intensity, cognitive function assessed, participants' aerobic fitness level, etc.). The present study assessed the acute effect of exercise intensity on cognition while controlling…

Cognitive sequelae of methanol poisoning involve executive dysfunction and memory impairment in cross-sectional and long-term perspective.

PubMed

Bezdicek, O; Michalec, J; Vaneckova, M; Klempir, J; Liskova, I; Seidl, Z; Janikova, B; Miovsky, M; Hubacek, J; Diblik, P; Kuthan, P; Pilin, A; Kurcova, I; Fenclova, Z; Petrik, V; Navratil, T; Pelclova, D; Zakharov, S; Ruzicka, E

2017-03-01

Methanol poisoning leads to lesions in the basal ganglia and subcortical white matter, as well as to demyelination and atrophy of the optic nerve. However, information regarding cognitive deficits in a large methanol sample is lacking. The principal aim of the present study was to identify the cognitive sequelae of methanol poisoning and their morphological correlates. A sample of 50 patients (METH; age 48 ± 13 years), 3-8 months after methanol poisoning, and 57 control subjects (CS; age 49 ± 13 years) were administered a neuropsychological battery. Forty-six patients were followed in 2 years' perspective. Patients additionally underwent 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Three biochemical and toxicological metabolic markers and a questionnaire regarding alcohol abuse facilitated the classification of 24 patients with methanol poisoning without alcohol abuse (METHna) and 22 patients with methanol poisoning and alcohol abuse (METHa). All groups were compared to a control group of similar size, and matched for age, education, premorbid intelligence level, global cognitive performance, and level of depressive symptoms. Using hierarchical multiple regression we found significant differences between METH and CS, especially in executive and memory domains. METHa showed a similar pattern of cognitive impairment with generally more severe executive dysfunction. Moreover, all METH patients with extensive involvement on brain MRI (lesions in ≥2 anatomical regions) had a more severe cognitive impairment. From a longitudinal perspective, we did not find any changes in their cognitive functioning after 2 years' follow-up. Our findings suggest that methanol poisoning is associated with executive dysfunction and explicit memory impairment, supposedly due to basal ganglia dysfunction and disruption of frontostriatal circuitry proportional to the number of brain lesions, and that these changes are persistent after 2 years' follow-up. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children

PubMed Central

Jaschke, Artur C.; Honing, Henkjan; Scherder, Erik J. A.

2018-01-01

Background: Research on the effects of music education on cognitive abilities has generated increasing interest across the scientific community. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies investigating the effects of structured music education on cognitive sub-functions are still rare. Prime candidates for investigating a relationship between academic achievement and music education appear to be executive functions such as planning, working memory, and inhibition. Methods: One hundred and forty-seven primary school children, Mage = 6.4 years, SD = 0.65 were followed for 2.5 years. Participants were randomized into four groups: two music intervention groups, one active visual arts group, and a no arts control group. Neuropsychological tests assessed verbal intelligence and executive functions. Additionally, a national pupil monitor provided data on academic performance. Results: Children in the visual arts group perform better on visuospatial memory tasks as compared to the three other conditions. However, the test scores on inhibition, planning and verbal intelligence increased significantly in the two music groups over time as compared to the visual art and no arts controls. Mediation analysis with executive functions and verbal IQ as mediator for academic performance have shown a possible far transfer effect from executive sub-function to academic performance scores. Discussion: The present results indicate a positive influence of long-term music education on cognitive abilities such as inhibition and planning. Of note, following a two-and-a-half year long visual arts program significantly improves scores on a visuospatial memory task. All results combined, this study supports a far transfer effect from music education to academic achievement mediated by executive sub-functions. PMID:29541017

Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children.

PubMed

Jaschke, Artur C; Honing, Henkjan; Scherder, Erik J A

2018-01-01

Background: Research on the effects of music education on cognitive abilities has generated increasing interest across the scientific community. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies investigating the effects of structured music education on cognitive sub-functions are still rare. Prime candidates for investigating a relationship between academic achievement and music education appear to be executive functions such as planning, working memory, and inhibition. Methods: One hundred and forty-seven primary school children, M age = 6.4 years, SD = 0.65 were followed for 2.5 years. Participants were randomized into four groups: two music intervention groups, one active visual arts group, and a no arts control group. Neuropsychological tests assessed verbal intelligence and executive functions. Additionally, a national pupil monitor provided data on academic performance. Results: Children in the visual arts group perform better on visuospatial memory tasks as compared to the three other conditions. However, the test scores on inhibition, planning and verbal intelligence increased significantly in the two music groups over time as compared to the visual art and no arts controls. Mediation analysis with executive functions and verbal IQ as mediator for academic performance have shown a possible far transfer effect from executive sub-function to academic performance scores. Discussion: The present results indicate a positive influence of long-term music education on cognitive abilities such as inhibition and planning. Of note, following a two-and-a-half year long visual arts program significantly improves scores on a visuospatial memory task. All results combined, this study supports a far transfer effect from music education to academic achievement mediated by executive sub-functions.

Using Dual Process Models to Examine Impulsivity Throughout Neural Maturation.

PubMed

Leshem, Rotem

2016-01-01

The multivariate construct of impulsivity is examined through neural systems and connections that comprise the executive functioning system. It is proposed that cognitive and behavioral components of impulsivity can be divided into two distinct groups, mediated by (1) the cognitive control system: deficits in top-down cognitive control processes referred to as action/cognitive impulsivity and (2) the socioemotional system: related to bottom-up affective/motivational processes referred to as affective impulsivity. Examination of impulsivity from a developmental viewpoint can guide future research, potentially enabling the selection of more effective interventions for impulsive individuals, based on the cognitive components requiring improvement.

Executive Function and Mathematics Achievement: Are Effects Construct- and Time-General or Specific?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan, Robert; Nguyen, Tutrang; Miao, Alicia; McClelland, Megan; Bailey, Drew

2016-01-01

Executive function (EF) is considered a set of interrelated cognitive processes, including inhibitory control, working memory, and attentional shifting, that are connected to the development of the prefrontal cortex and contribute to children's problem solving skills and self regulatory behavior (Best & Miller, 2010; Garon, Bryson, &…

Daydreaming Style Moderates the Relation between Working Memory and Mind Wandering: Integrating Two Hypotheses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcusson-Clavertz, David; Cardeña, Etzel; Terhune, Devin Blair

2016-01-01

Mind wandering--mentation unrelated to one's current activity and surroundings--is a ubiquitous phenomenon, but seemingly competing ideas have been proposed regarding its relation to executive cognitive processes. The control-failure hypothesis postulates that executive processes prevent mind wandering, whereas the global availability hypothesis…

The Neural Substrates of Cognitive Control Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solomon, Marjorie; Ozonoff, Sally J.; Ursu, Stefan; Ravizza, Susan; Cummings, Neil; Ly, Stanford; Carter, Cameron S.

2009-01-01

Executive function deficits are among the most frequently reported symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), however, there have been few functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that investigate the neural substrates of executive function deficits in ASDs, and only one in adolescents. The current study examined cognitive…

Episodic memory and executive functioning in currently depressed patients compared to healthy controls.

PubMed

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

2015-01-01

At present, little is still known about the link between depression, memory and executive functioning. This study examined whether there are memory-related impairments in depressed patients and whether the size of such deficits depends on the age group and on specific types of cognitive measures. Memory performances of 215 clinically depressed patients were compared to the data of a matched control sample. Regression analyses were performed to determine the extent to which executive dysfunctions contributed to episodic memory impairments. When compared with healthy controls, significantly lower episodic memory and executive functioning performances were found for depressed patients of all age groups. Effect sizes appeared to vary across different memory and executive functioning measures. The extent to which executive dysfunctions could explain episodic memory impairments varied depending on the type of measure examined. These findings emphasise the need to consider memory-related functioning of depressed patients in the context of therapeutic treatments.

Neuroanatomical and Cognitive Mediators of Age-Related Differences in Episodic Memory

PubMed Central

Head, Denise; Rodrigue, Karen M.; Kennedy, Kristen M.; Raz, Naftali

2009-01-01

Aging is associated with declines in episodic memory. In this study, the authors used a path analysis framework to explore the mediating role of differences in brain structure, executive functions, and processing speed in age-related differences in episodic memory. Measures of regional brain volume (prefrontal gray and white matter, caudate, hippocampus, visual cortex), executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, task switching, temporal processing), processing speed, and episodic memory were obtained in a sample of young and older adults. As expected, age was linked to reduction in regional brain volumes and cognitive performance. Moreover, neural and cognitive factors completely mediated age differences in episodic memory. Whereas hippocampal shrinkage directly affected episodic memory, prefrontal volumetric reductions influenced episodic memory via limitations in working memory and inhibitory control. Age-related slowing predicted reduced efficiency in temporal processing, working memory, and inhibitory control. Lastly, poorer temporal processing directly affected episodic memory. No direct effects of age on episodic memory remained once these factors were taken into account. These analyses highlight the value of a multivariate approach with the understanding of complex relationships in cognitive and brain aging. PMID:18590361

Can cognitive enhancers reduce the risk of falls in older people with Mild Cognitive Impairment? A protocol for a randomised controlled double blind trial

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Older adults with cognitive problems have a higher risk of falls, at least twice that of cognitively normal older adults. The consequences of falls in this population are very serious: fallers with cognitive problems suffer more injuries due to falls and are approximately five times more likely to be admitted to institutional care. Although the mechanisms of increased fall risk in cognitively impaired people are not completely understood, it is known that impaired cognitive abilities can reduce attentional resource allocation while walking. Since cognitive enhancers, such as cholinesterase inhibitors, improve attention and executive function, we hypothesise that cognitive enhancers may reduce fall risk in elderly people in the early stages of cognitive decline by improving their gait and balance performance due to an enhancement in attention and executive function. Method/Design Double blinded randomized controlled trial with 6 months follow-up in 140 older individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Participants will be randomized to the intervention group, receiving donepezil, and to the control group, receiving placebo. A block randomization by four and stratification based on fall history will be performed. Primary outcomes are improvements in gait velocity and reduction in gait variability. Secondary outcomes are changes in the balance confidence, balance sway, attention, executive function, and number of falls. Discussion By characterizing and understanding the effects of cognitive enhancers on fall risk in older adults with cognitive impairments, we will be able to pave the way for a new approach to fall prevention in this population. This RCT study will provide, for the first time, information regarding the effect of a medication designed to augment cognitive functioning have on the risk of falls in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment. We expect a significant reduction in the risk of falls in this vulnerable population as a function of the reduced gait variability achieved by treatment with cognitive enhancers. This study may contribute to a new approach to prevent and treat fall risk in seniors in early stages of dementia. Trial Registration The protocol for this study is registered with the Clinical Trials Registry, identifier number: NCT00934531 http://www.clinicaltrials.gov PMID:19674471

Individual Differences in Childhood Sleep Problems Predict Later Cognitive Executive Control

PubMed Central

Friedman, Naomi P.; Corley, Robin P.; Hewitt, John K.; Wright, Kenneth P.

2009-01-01

Study Objective: To determine whether individual differences in developmental patterns of general sleep problems are associated with 3 executive function abilities—inhibiting, updating working memory, and task shifting—in late adolescence. Participants: 916 twins (465 female, 451 male) and parents from the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study. Measurements and Results: Parents reported their children's sleep problems at ages 4 years, 5 y, 7 y, and 9–16 y based on a 7-item scale from the Child-Behavior Checklist; a subset of children (n = 568) completed laboratory assessments of executive functions at age 17. Latent variable growth curve analyses were used to model individual differences in longitudinal trajectories of childhood sleep problems. Sleep problems declined over time, with ~70% of children having ≥ 1 problem at age 4 and ~33% of children at age 16. However, significant individual differences in both the initial levels of problems (intercept) and changes across time (slope) were observed. When executive function latent variables were added to the model, the intercept did not significantly correlate with the later executive function latent variables; however, the slope variable significantly (P < 0.05) negatively correlated with inhibiting (r = −0.27) and updating (r = −0.21), but not shifting (r = −0.10) abilities. Further analyses suggested that the slope variable predicted the variance common to the 3 executive functions (r = −0.29). Conclusions: Early levels of sleep problems do not seem to have appreciable implications for later executive functioning. However, individuals whose sleep problems decrease more across time show better general executive control in late adolescence. Citation: Friedman NP; Corley RP; Hewitt JK; Wright KP. Individual differences in childhood sleep problems predict later cognitive executive control. SLEEP 2009;32(3):323-333. PMID:19294952

Computerised training improves cognitive performance in chronic pain: a participant-blinded randomised active-controlled trial with remote supervision.

PubMed

Baker, Katharine S; Georgiou-Karistianis, Nellie; Lampit, Amit; Valenzuela, Michael; Gibson, Stephen J; Giummarra, Melita J

2018-04-01

Chronic pain is associated with reduced efficiency of cognitive performance, and few studies have investigated methods of remediation. We trialled a computerised cognitive training protocol to determine whether it could attenuate cognitive difficulties in a chronic pain sample. Thirty-nine adults with chronic pain (mean age = 43.3, 61.5% females) were randomised to an 8-week online course (3 sessions/week from home) of game-like cognitive training exercises, or an active control involving watching documentary videos. Participants received weekly supervision by video call. Primary outcomes were a global neurocognitive composite (tests of attention, speed, and executive function) and self-reported cognition. Secondary outcomes were pain (intensity; interference), mood symptoms (depression; anxiety), and coping with pain (catastrophising; self-efficacy). Thirty participants (15 training and 15 control) completed the trial. Mixed model intention-to-treat analyses revealed significant effects of training on the global neurocognitive composite (net effect size [ES] = 0.43, P = 0.017), driven by improved executive function performance (attention switching and working memory). The control group reported improvement in pain intensity (net ES = 0.65, P = 0.022). Both groups reported subjective improvements in cognition (ES = 0.28, P = 0.033) and catastrophising (ES = 0.55, P = 0.006). Depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, and pain interference showed no change in either group. This study provides preliminary evidence that supervised cognitive training may be a viable method for enhancing cognitive skills in persons with chronic pain, but transfer to functional and clinical outcomes remains to be demonstrated. Active control results suggest that activities perceived as relaxing or enjoyable contribute to improved perception of well-being. Weekly contact was pivotal to successful program completion.

An Investigation of Emotion Recognition and Theory of Mind in People with Chronic Heart Failure

PubMed Central

Habota, Tina; McLennan, Skye N.; Cameron, Jan; Ski, Chantal F.; Thompson, David R.; Rendell, Peter G.

2015-01-01

Objectives Cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), but no study has investigated whether these deficits extend to social cognition. The present study provided the first empirical assessment of emotion recognition and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with CHF. In addition, it assessed whether each of these social cognitive constructs was associated with more general cognitive impairment. Methods A group comparison design was used, with 31 CHF patients compared to 38 demographically matched controls. The Ekman Faces test was used to assess emotion recognition, and the Mind in the Eyes test to measure ToM. Measures assessing global cognition, executive functions, and verbal memory were also administered. Results There were no differences between groups on emotion recognition or ToM. The CHF group’s performance was poorer on some executive measures, but memory was relatively preserved. In the CHF group, both emotion recognition performance and ToM ability correlated moderately with global cognition (r = .38, p = .034; r = .49, p = .005, respectively), but not with executive function or verbal memory. Conclusion CHF patients with lower cognitive ability were more likely to have difficulty recognizing emotions and inferring the mental states of others. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:26529409

Are there reliable changes in memory and executive functions after cognitive behavioural therapy in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder?

PubMed

Vandborg, Sanne Kjær; Hartmann, Tue Borst; Bennedsen, Birgit Egedal; Pedersen, Anders Degn; Thomsen, Per Hove

2015-01-01

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have impaired memory and executive functions, but it is unclear whether these functions improve after cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) of OCD symptoms. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether memory and executive functions change after CBT in patients with OCD. We assessed 39 patients with OCD before and after CBT with neuropsychological tests of memory and executive functions. To correct for practice effects, 39 healthy controls (HCs) were assessed at two parallel time intervals with the neuropsychological tests. There were no changes in memory and executive functions after CBT in patients with OCD when results were corrected for practice effects. Patients performed worse on a test of visuospatial memory and organisational skills (Rey complex figure test [RCFT]) compared to HCs both before and after CBT (ps = .002-.036). The finding of persistent poor RCFT performances indicates that patients with OCD have impaired visuospatial memory and organisational skills that may be trait-related rather than state-dependent. These impairments may need to be considered in treatment. Our findings underline the importance of correcting for practice effects when investigating changes in cognitive functions.

Sleep deprivation impairs inhibitory control during wakefulness in adult sleepwalkers.

PubMed

Labelle, Marc-Antoine; Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh; Petit, Dominique; Desautels, Alex; Montplaisir, Jacques; Zadra, Antonio

2015-12-01

Sleepwalkers often complain of excessive daytime somnolence. Although excessive daytime somnolence has been associated with cognitive impairment in several sleep disorders, very few data exist concerning sleepwalking. This study aimed to investigate daytime cognitive functioning in adults diagnosed with idiopathic sleepwalking. Fifteen sleepwalkers and 15 matched controls were administered the Continuous Performance Test and Stroop Colour-Word Test in the morning after an overnight polysomnographic assessment. Participants were tested a week later on the same neuropsychological battery, but after 25 h of sleep deprivation, a procedure known to precipitate sleepwalking episodes during subsequent recovery sleep. There were no significant differences between sleepwalkers and controls on any of the cognitive tests administered under normal waking conditions. Testing following sleep deprivation revealed significant impairment in sleepwalkers' executive functions related to inhibitory control, as they made more errors than controls on the Stroop Colour-Word Test and more commission errors on the Continuous Performance Test. Sleepwalkers' scores on measures of executive functions were not associated with self-reported sleepiness or indices of sleep fragmentation from baseline polysomnographic recordings. The results support the idea that sleepwalking involves daytime consequences and suggest that these may also include cognitive impairments in the form of disrupted inhibitory control following sleep deprivation. These disruptions may represent a daytime expression of sleepwalking's pathophysiological mechanisms. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Emotion suppression moderates the quadratic association between RSA and executive function.

PubMed

Spangler, Derek P; Bell, Martha Ann; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

2015-09-01

There is uncertainty about whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a cardiac marker of adaptive emotion regulation, is involved in relatively low or high executive function performance. In the present study, we investigated (a) whether RSA during rest and tasks predict both relatively low and high executive function within a larger quadratic association among the two variables, and (b) the extent to which this quadratic trend was moderated by individual differences in emotion regulation. To achieve these aims, a sample of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse women self-reported reappraisal and emotion suppression. They next experienced a 2-min resting period during which electrocardiogram (ECG) was continually assessed. In the next phase, the women completed an array of executive function and nonexecutive cognitive tasks while ECG was measured throughout. As anticipated, resting RSA showed a quadratic association with executive function that was strongest for high suppression. These results suggest that relatively high resting RSA may predict poor executive function ability when emotion regulation consumes executive control resources needed for ongoing cognitive performance. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Effects of repeated withdrawal from alcohol on recovery of cognitive impairment under abstinence and rate of relapse.

PubMed

Loeber, Sabine; Duka, Theodora; Welzel Márquez, Helga; Nakovics, Helmut; Heinz, Andreas; Mann, Karl; Flor, Herta

2010-01-01

Several authors suggest that withdrawal from alcohol could cause neurotoxic lesions in the frontal lobe and thereby affect cognitive function. In line with this, previous studies have demonstrated greater cognitive impairment of alcohol-dependent patients with two or more previous detoxifications (Hi-detox) compared with patients with less than two detoxifications (Lo-detox). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether repeated withdrawal from alcohol affects recovery of cognitive function and is related to relapse. Forty-eight alcohol-dependent patients (Hi-detox: n = 31, Lo-detox: n = 17) and 36 healthy controls underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological test-battery. Patients were tested after completion of detoxification (T1) and 3 (T2, n = 35) and 6 (T3, n = 28) months after discharge. Healthy controls were tested at T1 (n = 36) and T2 (n = 16). Drinking behaviour was assessed at all times. Patients performed significantly worse than controls at T1 as well as T2 with regard to attention/executive function. Recovery of attention/executive function was observed within the second 3 months after discharge, but the Hi-detox group performed worse than the Lo-detox group. No association with relapse was observed. This study provides first evidence, that repeated withdrawal from alcohol might be associated with reduced brain plasticity as indicated by a delay of recovery from impairment of attention/executive function. However, little evidence was found for a direct influence of cognitive impairment on treatment success.

Relations between prospective memory, cognitive abilities, and brain structure in adolescents who vary in prenatal drug exposure

PubMed Central

Robey, Alison; Buckingham-Howes, Stacy; Salmeron, Betty Jo; Black, Maureen M.; Riggins, Tracy

2014-01-01

This investigation examined how prospective memory (PM) relates to cognitive abilities (i.e., executive function, attention, working memory, and retrospective memory), and brain structure in adolescents who vary in prenatal drug exposure (PDE). The sample included 105 (55 female, 50 male) urban, primarily African American adolescents (mean age 15.5 years) from low socioeconomic status (SES) families; 56% (n=59) were prenatally exposed to drugs (heroin and/or cocaine) and 44% (n=46) were not prenatally exposed, but similar in age, gender, race, and SES. Executive functioning, attentional control, working memory, retrospective memory, and overall cognitive ability were assessed by validated performance measures. Executive functioning was also measured by caregiver report. A subset of 52 adolescents completed MRI scans, which provided measures of subcortical gray matter volumes and thickness of prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortices. Results revealed no differences in PM performance by PDE status, even after adjusting for age and IQ. Executive function, retrospective memory, cortical thickness in frontal and parietal regions, and volume of subcortical regions (i.e., putamen and hippocampus) were related to PM performance in the sample overall, even after adjusting for age, IQ, and total gray matter volume. Findings suggest that variations in PM ability during adolescence are robustly related to individual differences in cognitive abilities, in particular executive function and retrospective memory, and brain structure, but do not vary by PDE status. PMID:24630759

Neurocognitive Function in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: 3-Year Follow-Up Shows Cognitive Development Lagging behind Healthy Youths

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pavuluri, Mani N.; West, Amy; Hill, Kristian; Jindal, Kittu; Sweeney, John A.

2009-01-01

The comparison of the neurocognitive functioning of people with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) with a control group shows that the developmental progress in executive functions and verbal memory of those with PBD was significantly less than those in the control group. The results were seen after comparing data from baseline cognitive tests and a…

The cognitive bases of the development of past and future episodic cognition in preschoolers.

PubMed

Ünal, Gülten; Hohenberger, Annette

2017-10-01

The aim of this study was to use a minimalist framework to examine the joint development of past and future episodic cognition and their underlying cognitive abilities in 3- to 5-year-old Turkish preschoolers. Participants engaged in two main tasks, a what-where-when (www) task to measure episodic memory and a future prediction task to measure episodic future thinking. Three additional tasks were used for predicting children's performance in the two main tasks: a temporal language task, an executive function task, and a spatial working memory task. Results indicated that past and future episodic tasks were significantly correlated with each other even after controlling for age. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that, after controlling for age, the www task was predicted by executive functions, possibly supporting binding of episodic information and by linguistic abilities. The future prediction task was predicted by linguistic abilities alone, underlining the importance of language for episodic past and future thinking. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of bilingualism on toddlers’ executive functioning

PubMed Central

Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Blaye, Agnes; Coutya, Julie; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-01-01

Bilingual children have been shown to outperform monolingual children on tasks measuring executive functioning skills. This advantage is usually attributed to bilinguals’ extensive practice in exercising selective attention and cognitive flexibility during language use because both languages are active when one of them is being used. We examined whether this advantage is observed in 24-month-olds who have had much less experience in language production. A battery of executive functioning tasks and the cognitive scale of the Bayley test were administered to 63 monolingual and bilingual children. Native bilingual children performed significantly better than monolingual children on the Stroop task, with no difference between groups on the other tasks, confirming the specificity of bilingual effects to conflict tasks reported in older children. These results demonstrate that bilingual advantages in executive control emerge at an age not previously shown. PMID:21122877

Decision Making and Ratio Processing in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

PubMed

Pertl, Marie-Theres; Benke, Thomas; Zamarian, Laura; Delazer, Margarete

2015-01-01

Making advantageous decisions is important in everyday life. This study aimed at assessing how patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) make decisions under risk. Additionally, it investigated the relationship between decision making, ratio processing, basic numerical abilities, and executive functions. Patients with MCI (n = 22) were compared with healthy controls (n = 29) on a complex task of decision making under risk (Game of Dice Task-Double, GDT-D), on two tasks evaluating basic decision making under risk, on a task of ratio processing, and on several neuropsychological background tests. Patients performed significantly lower than controls on the GDT-D and on ratio processing, whereas groups performed comparably on basic decision tasks. Specifically, in the GDT-D, patients obtained lower net scores and lower mean expected values, which indicate a less advantageous performance relative to that of controls. Performance on the GDT-D correlated significantly with performance in basic decision tasks, ratio processing, and executive-function measures when the analysis was performed on the whole sample. Patients with MCI make sub-optimal decisions in complex risk situations, whereas they perform at the same level as healthy adults in simple decision situations. Ratio processing and executive functions have an impact on the decision-making performance of both patients and healthy older adults. In order to facilitate advantageous decisions in complex everyday situations, information should be presented in an easily comprehensible form and cognitive training programs for patients with MCI should focus--among other abilities--on executive functions and ratio processing.

Metacognitive Control of Categorial Neurobehavioral Decision Systems

PubMed Central

Foxall, Gordon R.

2016-01-01

The competing neuro-behavioral decision systems (CNDS) model proposes that the degree to which an individual discounts the future is a function of the relative hyperactivity of an impulsive system based on the limbic and paralimbic brain regions and the relative hypoactivity of an executive system based in prefrontal cortex (PFC). The model depicts the relationship between these categorial systems in terms of the antipodal neurophysiological, behavioral, and decision (cognitive) functions that engender normal and addictive responding. However, a case may be made for construing several components of the impulsive and executive systems depicted in the model as categories (elements) of additional systems that are concerned with the metacognitive control of behavior. Hence, this paper proposes a category-based structure for understanding the effects on behavior of CNDS, which includes not only the impulsive and executive systems of the basic model but a superordinate level of reflective or rational decision-making. Following recent developments in the modeling of cognitive control which contrasts Type 1 (rapid, autonomous, parallel) processing with Type 2 (slower, computationally demanding, sequential) processing, the proposed model incorporates an arena in which the potentially conflicting imperatives of impulsive and executive systems are examined and from which a more appropriate behavioral response than impulsive choice emerges. This configuration suggests a forum in which the interaction of picoeconomic interests, which provide a cognitive dimension for CNDS, can be conceptualized. This proposition is examined in light of the resolution of conflict by means of bundling. PMID:26925004

Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions: A tale of chickens and eggs.

PubMed

Cox, Simon R; Bak, Thomas H; Allerhand, Michael; Redmond, Paul; Starr, John M; Deary, Ian J; MacPherson, Sarah E

2016-10-01

The influence of bilingualism on cognitive functioning is currently a topic of intense scientific debate. The strongest evidence for a cognitive benefit of bilingualism has been demonstrated in executive functions. However, the causal direction of the relationship remains unclear: does learning other languages improve executive functions or are people with better executive abilities more likely to become bilingual? To address this, we examined 90 male participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936; 26 were bilingual, 64 monolingual. All participants underwent an intelligence test at age 11 years and were assessed on a wide range of executive and social cognition tasks at age 74. The only notable differences between both groups were found for the Simon Effect (which indexes stimulus-response conflict resolution; β=-.518, p=0.025) and a trend effect for the Faux Pas task (a measure of complex theory of mind; ToM, β=0.432, p=0.060). Controlling for the influence of childhood intelligence, parental and own social class significantly attenuated the bilingual advantage on the Faux Pas test (β=0.058, p=0.816), whereas the Simon task advantage remained (β=-.589, p=0.049). We find some weak evidence that the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive functions may be selective and bi-directional. Pre-existing cognitive and social class differences from childhood may influence both ToM ability in older age and the likelihood of learning another language; yet, bilingualism does not appear to independently contribute to Faux Pas score. Conversely, learning a second language is related to better conflict processing, irrespective of initial childhood ability or social class. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Regional brain activation supporting cognitive control in the context of reward is associated with treated adolescents’ marijuana problem severity at follow-up: A Preliminary Study

PubMed Central

Chung, Tammy; Paulsen, David J.; Geier, Charles F.; Luna, Beatriz; Clark, Duncan B.

2015-01-01

This preliminary study examined the extent to which regional brain activation during a reward cue antisaccade (AS) task was associated with 6-month treatment outcome in adolescent substance users. Antisaccade performance provides a sensitive measure of executive function and cognitive control, and generally improves with reward cues. We hypothesized that when preparing to execute an AS, greater activation in regions associated with cognitive and oculomotor control supporting AS, particularly during reward cue trials, would be associated with lower substance use severity at 6-month follow-up. Adolescents (n=14, ages 14-18) recruited from community-based outpatient treatment completed an fMRI reward cue AS task (reward and neutral conditions), and provided follow-up data. Results indicated that AS errors decreased in reward, compared to neutral, trials. AS behavioral performance, however, was not associated with treatment outcome. As hypothesized, activation in regions of interest (ROIs) associated with cognitive (e.g., ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) and oculomotor control (e.g., supplementary eye field) during reward trials were inversely correlated with marijuana problem severity at 6-months. ROI activation during neutral trials was not associated with outcomes. Results support the role of motivational (reward cue) factors to enhance cognitive control processes, and suggest a potential brain-based correlate of youth treatment outcome. PMID:26026506

Acute personalized habitual caffeine doses improve attention and have selective effects when considering the fractionation of executive functions.

PubMed

Lanini, Juliana; Galduróz, José Carlos Fernandes; Pompéia, Sabine

2016-01-01

Caffeine is widely used, often consumed with food, and improves simple and complex/executive attention under fasting conditions. We investigated whether these cognitive effects are observed when personalized habitual doses of caffeine are ingested by caffeine consumers, whether they are influenced by nutriments and if various executive domains are susceptible to improvement. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled study including 60 young, healthy, rested males randomly assigned to one of four treatments: placebo fasting, caffeine fasting, placebo meal and caffeine meal. Caffeine doses were individualized for each participant based on their self-reported caffeine consumption at the time of testing (morning). The test battery included measures of simple and sustained attention, executive domains (inhibiting, updating, shifting, dual tasking, planning and accessing long-term memory), control measures of subjective alterations, glucose and insulin levels, skin conductance, heart rate and pupil dilation. Regardless of meal intake, acute habitual doses of caffeine decreased fatigue, and improved simple and sustained attention and executive updating. This executive effect was not secondary to the habitual weekly dose consumed, changes in simple and sustained attention, mood, meal ingestion and increases in cognitive effort. We conclude that the morning caffeine "fix" has positive attentional effects and selectively improved executive updating whether or not caffeine is consumed with food. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Relationship between sports experience and executive function in 6-12-year-old children: independence from physical fitness and moderation by gender.

PubMed

Ishihara, Toru; Sugasawa, Shigemi; Matsuda, Yusuke; Mizuno, Masao

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sports experience (i.e., tennis experience) and executive function in children while controlling for physical activity and physical fitness. Sixty-eight participants (6-12 years old, 34 males and 34 females) were enrolled in regular tennis lessons (mean = 2.4 years, range = 0.1-7.3 years) prior to the study. Executive functions, including inhibitory control (the Stroop Color-Word Test), working memory (the 2-back Task), and cognitive flexibility (the Local-global Task) were evaluated. Participants' levels of daily physical activity, ranging from moderate to vigorous, were evaluated using triaxial accelerometers. The total score for physical fitness was assessed using the Tennis Field Test. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed interaction effects between gender and tennis experience on participants' reaction time (RT) on the switch cost of the Local-global Task after controlling for age, BMI, gender, physical activity, physical fitness, and tennis experience. Longer tennis experience was associated with shorter switch cost in males but not in females. Higher scores on physical fitness were positively associated with lower interference scores on the Stroop Color-Word Test, RT on the 2-back Task, and RT in the switching condition of the Local-global Task, after controlling for age, BMI, gender, and physical activity. In conclusion, all three foundational components of executive function (i.e., inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were more strongly related to physical fitness than to physical activity in males and females, whereas greater cognitive flexibility was related to tennis experience only in the males. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Electrophysiological indices of anterior cingulate cortex function reveal changing levels of cognitive effort and reward valuation that sustain task performance.

PubMed

Umemoto, Akina; Inzlicht, Michael; Holroyd, Clay B

2018-06-21

Successful execution of goal-directed behaviors often requires the deployment of cognitive control, which is thought to require cognitive effort. Recent theories have proposed that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) regulates control levels by weighing the reward-related benefits of control against its effort-related costs. However, given that the sensations of cognitive effort and reward valuation are available only to introspection, this hypothesis is difficult to investigate empirically. We have proposed that two electrophysiological indices of ACC function, frontal midline theta and the reward positivity (RewP), provide objective measures of these functions. To explore this issue, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) from participants engaged in an extended, cognitively-demanding task. Participants performed a time estimation task for 2 h in which they received reward and error feedback according to their task performance. We observed that the amplitude of the RewP, a feedback-locked component of the event related brain potential associated with reward processing, decreased with time-on-task. Conversely, frontal midline theta power, which consists of 4-8 Hz EEG oscillations associated with cognitive effort, increased with time-on-task. We also explored how these phenomena changed over time by conducting within-participant multi-level modeling analyses. Our results suggest that extended execution of a cognitively-demanding task is characterized by an early phase in which high control levels foster rapid improvements in task performance, and a later phase in which high control levels were necessary to maintain stable task performance, perhaps counteracting waning reward valuation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain structural correlates of executive and social cognition profiles in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and elderly bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Baez, Sandra; Pinasco, Clara; Roca, María; Ferrari, Jesica; Couto, Blas; García-Cordero, Indira; Ibañez, Agustín; Cruz, Francy; Reyes, Pablo; Matallana, Diana; Manes, Facundo; Cetcovich, Marcelo; Torralva, Teresa

2017-02-17

An early stage of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) often displays a mix of behavioral disturbances and personality changes hindering a differential diagnosis from elderly bipolar disorder (BD), making this process a big challenge. However, no studies have compared these pathologies from neuropsychological and neuroanatomical perspectives. The aim of the present study was to compare the executive functions (EF) and social cognition profiles as well as the structural neuroimaging of bvFTD and elderly patients with BD. First, we compared the executive and social cognition performances of 16 bvFTD patients, 13 BD patients and 22 healthy controls. Second, we compared grey matter volumes in both groups of patients and controls using voxel-based morphometry. Lastly, we examined the brain regions where atrophy might be associated with specific impairments in bvFTD and BD patients. Compared to controls, bvFTD patients showed deficits in working memory, abstraction capacity, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency and theory of mind (ToM). Patients with BD showed lower performance than controls in terms of abstraction capacity and verbal inhibitory control. In bvFTD patients, atrophy of frontal, temporal and insular cortices was related to EF deficits. Atrophy of the amygdala, the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the putamen, the insula, the precuneus, the right temporo-parietal junction and superior temporal pole was associated to ToM impairments. No significant associations between atrophy and EF performance were observed in BD patients. BvFTD patients showed greater EF and ToM deficits than BD patients. Moreover, compared to BD, bvFTD patients exhibited a significant decrease in GM volume in frontal, temporal and parietal regions. Our results provide the first comparison of EF, social cognition and neuroanatomical profiles of bvFTD and elderly BD patients. These findings shed light on differential diagnosis of these disorders and may have important clinical implications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decision Making and Cognitive Behavioral Flexibility in a OCD Sample: a Study in a Virtual Environment.

PubMed

la Paglia, Filippo; la Cascia, Caterina; Rizzo, Rosalinda; Riva, Giuseppe; la Barbera, Daniele

2015-01-01

Neuropsychological disorders are common in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients. Executive functions, verbal fluency and verbal memory, shifting attention from one aspect of stimuli to others, mental flexibility, engaging in executive planning and decision making, are the most involved cognitive domains. We focus on two aspects of neuropsychological function: decision making and cognitive behavioral flexibility, assessed through a virtual version of the Multiple Errand Test (V-MET), developed using the NeuroVR software. Thirty OCD patients were compared with thirty matched control subjects. The results showed the presence of difficulties in OCD patients with tasks where the goal is not clear, the information is incomplete or the parameters are ill-defined.

Triglycerides are negatively correlated with cognitive function in nondemented aging adults.

PubMed

Parthasarathy, Vishnu; Frazier, Darvis T; Bettcher, Brianne M; Jastrzab, Laura; Chao, Linda; Reed, Bruce; Mungas, Dan; Weiner, Michael; DeCarli, Charles; Chui, Helena; Kramer, Joel H

2017-09-01

Vascular risk factors like hyperlipidemia may adversely affect brain function. We hypothesized that increased serum triglycerides are associated with decreased executive function and memory in nondemented elderly subjects. We also researched possible vascular mediators and white matter microstructure as assessed with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Participants were 251 nondemented elderly adults (54% male) with a mean age of 78 (SD = 6.4; range: 62-94) years and a mean education of 15.6 (SD = 2.9; range: 8-23) years. Fasting blood samples were used to detect serum triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels along with ApoE4 status. DTI was used to determine whole brain fractional anisotropy (FA). Composite executive and memory scores were derived from item response theory. Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores provided informant-based measures of daily functioning. Triglyceride levels were inversely correlated with executive function, but there was no relationship with memory. Controlling for age, gender, and education did not affect this correlation. This relationship persisted after controlling for vascular risk factors like LDL, total cholesterol, CDR and ApoE4 status. Lastly, adding whole-brain FA to the model did not affect the correlation between triglycerides and executive function. Triglyceride levels are inversely correlated with executive function in nondemented elderly adults after controlling for age, education, gender, total cholesterol, LDL, ApoE4 status, CDR, and white-matter microstructure. The fact that the effect of triglycerides on cognition was not clearly mediated by vascular risks or cerebrovascular injury raises questions about widely held assumptions of how triglycerides might impact cognition function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Sympathetic arousal, but not disturbed executive functioning, mediates the impairment of cognitive flexibility under stress.

PubMed

Marko, Martin; Riečanský, Igor

2018-05-01

Cognitive flexibility emerges from an interplay of multiple cognitive systems, of which lexical-semantic and executive are thought to be the most important. Yet this has not been addressed by previous studies demonstrating that such forms of flexible thought deteriorate under stress. Motivated by these shortcomings, the present study evaluated several candidate mechanisms implied to mediate the impairing effects of stress on flexible thinking. Fifty-seven healthy adults were randomly assigned to psychosocial stress or control condition while assessed for performance on cognitive flexibility, working memory capacity, semantic fluency, and self-reported cognitive interference. Stress response was indicated by changes in skin conductance, hearth rate, and state anxiety. Our analyses showed that acute stress impaired cognitive flexibility via a concomitant increase in sympathetic arousal, while this mediator was positively associated with semantic fluency. Stress also decreased working memory capacity, which was partially mediated by elevated cognitive interference, but neither of these two measures were associated with cognitive flexibility or sympathetic arousal. Following these findings, we conclude that acute stress impairs cognitive flexibility via sympathetic arousal that modulates lexical-semantic and associative processes. In particular, the results indicate that stress-level of sympathetic activation may restrict the accessibility and integration of remote associates and bias the response competition towards prepotent and dominant ideas. Importantly, our results indicate that stress-induced impairments of cognitive flexibility and executive functions are mediated by distinct neurocognitive mechanisms. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lose-Shift Responding in Humans Is Promoted by Increased Cognitive Load

PubMed Central

Ivan, Victorita E.; Banks, Parker J.; Goodfellow, Kris; Gruber, Aaron J.

2018-01-01

The propensity of animals to shift choices immediately after unexpectedly poor reinforcement outcomes is a pervasive strategy across species and tasks. We report here on the memory supporting such lose-shift responding in humans, assessed using a binary choice task in which random responding is the optimal strategy. Participants exhibited little lose-shift responding when fully attending to the task, but this increased by 30%–40% in participants that performed with additional cognitive load that is known to tax executive systems. Lose-shift responding in the cognitively loaded adults persisted throughout the testing session, despite being a sub-optimal strategy, but was less likely as the time increased between reinforcement and the subsequent choice. Furthermore, children (5–9 years old) without load performed similarly to the cognitively loaded adults. This effect disappeared in older children aged 11–13 years old. These data provide evidence supporting our hypothesis that lose-shift responding is a default and reflexive strategy in the mammalian brain, likely mediated by a decaying memory trace, and is normally suppressed by executive systems. Reducing the efficacy of executive control by cognitive load (adults) or underdevelopment (children) increases its prevalence. It may therefore be an important component to consider when interpreting choice data, and may serve as an objective behavioral assay of executive function in humans that is easy to measure. PMID:29568264

Cognitive performance in mid-stage Parkinson's disease: functional connectivity under chronic antiparkinson treatment.

PubMed

Vancea, Roxana; Simonyan, Kristina; Petracca, Maria; Brys, Miroslaw; Di Rocco, Alessandro; Ghilardi, Maria Felice; Inglese, Matilde

2017-09-23

Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) is related to the reorganization of brain topology. Although drug challenge studies have proven how levodopa treatment can modulate functional connectivity in brain circuits, the role of chronic dopaminergic therapy on cognitive status and functional connectivity has never been investigated. We sought to characterize brain functional topology in mid-stage PD patients under chronic antiparkinson treatment and explore the presence of correlation between reorganization of brain architecture and specific cognitive deficits. We explored networks topology and functional connectivity in 16 patients with PD and 16 matched controls through a graph theoretical analysis of resting state-functional MRI data, and evaluated the relationships between network metrics and cognitive performance. PD patients showed a preserved small-world network topology but a lower clustering coefficient in comparison with healthy controls. Locally, PD patients showed lower degree of connectivity and local efficiency in many hubs corresponding to functionally relevant areas. Four disconnected subnetworks were also identified in regions responsible for executive control, sensory-motor control and planning, motor coordination and visual elaboration. Executive functions and information processing speed were directly correlated with degree of connectivity and local efficiency in frontal, parietal and occipital areas. While functional reorganization appears in both motor and cognitive areas, the clinical expression of network imbalance seems to be partially compensated by the chronic levodopa treatment with regards to the motor but not to the cognitive performance. In a context of reduced network segregation, the presence of higher local efficiency in hubs regions correlates with a better cognitive performance.

Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales.

PubMed

Clare, Linda; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Martyr, Anthony; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Quinn, Catherine; Thomas, Enlli M; Gathercole, Virginia C Mueller; Hindle, John V

2016-09-01

The observation of a bilingual advantage in executive control tasks involving inhibition and management of response conflict suggests that being bilingual might contribute to increased cognitive reserve. In support of this, recent evidence indicates that bilinguals develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later than monolinguals, and may retain an advantage in performance on executive control tasks. We compared age at the time of receiving an AD diagnosis in bilingual Welsh/English speakers (n = 37) and monolingual English speakers (n = 49), and assessed the performance of bilinguals (n = 24) and monolinguals (n = 49) on a range of executive control tasks. There was a non-significant difference in age at the time of diagnosis, with bilinguals being on average 3 years older than monolinguals, but bilinguals were also significantly more cognitively impaired at the time of diagnosis. There were no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in performance on executive function tests, but bilinguals appeared to show relative strengths in the domain of inhibition and response conflict. Bilingual Welsh/English speakers with AD do not show a clear advantage in executive function over monolingual English speakers, but may retain some benefits in inhibition and management of response conflict. There may be a delay in onset of AD in Welsh/English bilinguals, but if so, it is smaller than that found in some other clinical populations. In this Welsh sample, bilinguals with AD came to the attention of services later than monolinguals, and reasons for this pattern could be explored further. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Role of sleep continuity and total sleep time in executive function across the adult lifespan.

PubMed

Wilckens, Kristine A; Woo, Sarah G; Kirk, Afton R; Erickson, Kirk I; Wheeler, Mark E

2014-09-01

The importance of sleep for cognition in young adults is well established, but the role of habitual sleep behavior in cognition across the adult life span remains unknown. We examined the relationship between sleep continuity and total sleep time as assessed with a sleep-detection device, and cognitive performance using a battery of tasks in young (n = 59, mean age = 23.05) and older (n = 53, mean age = 62.68) adults. Across age groups, higher sleep continuity was associated with better cognitive performance. In the younger group, higher sleep continuity was associated with better working memory and inhibitory control. In the older group, higher sleep continuity was associated with better inhibitory control, memory recall, and verbal fluency. Very short and very long total sleep time was associated with poorer working memory and verbal fluency, specifically in the younger group. Total sleep time was not associated with cognitive performance in any domains for the older group. These findings reveal that sleep continuity is important for executive function in both young and older adults, but total sleep time may be more important for cognition in young adults. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Executive control deficits in substance-dependent individuals: a comparison of alcohol, cocaine, and methamphetamine and of men and women.

PubMed

van der Plas, Ellen A A; Crone, Eveline A; van den Wildenberg, Wery P M; Tranel, Daniel; Bechara, Antoine

2009-08-01

Substance dependence is associated with executive function deficits, but the nature of these executive defects and the effect that different drugs and sex have on these defects have not been fully clarified. Therefore, we compared the performance of alcohol- (n = 33; 18 women), cocaine- (n = 27; 14 women), and methamphetamine-dependent individuals (n = 38; 25 women) with sex-matched healthy comparisons (n = 36; 17 women) on complex decision making as measured with the Iowa Gambling Task, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and response inhibition. Cocaine- and methamphetamine-dependent individuals were impaired on complex decision making, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, but not on response inhibition. The deficits in working memory and cognitive flexibility were milder than the decision-making deficits and did not change as a function of memory load or task switching. Interestingly, decision making was significantly more impaired in women addicted to cocaine or methamphetamine than in men addicted to these drugs. Together, these findings suggest that drug of choice and sex have different effects on executive functioning, which, if replicated, may help tailor intervention.

Altered attentional control strategies but spared executive functioning in chronic cannabis users.

PubMed

Nusbaum, Amy T; Whitney, Paul; Cuttler, Carrie; Spradlin, Alexander; Hinson, John M; McLaughlin, Ryan J

2017-12-01

Cannabis use has increased rapidly in recent decades. The increase in cannabis use makes it important to understand the potential influence of chronic use on attentional control and other executive functions (EFs). Because cannabis is often used to reduce stress, and because stress can constrain attentional control and EFs, the primary goal of this study was to determine the joint effect of acute stress and chronic cannabis use on specific EFs. Thirty-nine cannabis users and 40 non-users were assigned to either a stress or no stress version of the Maastricht Acute Stress Test. Participants then completed two cognitive tasks that involve EFs: (1) task switching, and (2) a novel Flexible Attentional Control Task. These two tasks provided assessments of vigilant attention, inhibitory control, top-down attentional control, and cognitive flexibility. Salivary cortisol was assessed throughout the study. Reaction time indices showed an interaction between stress and cannabis use on top-down attentional control (p=0.036, n p 2 =0.059). Follow-up tests showed that cannabis users relied less on top-down attentional control than did non-users in the no stress version. Despite not relying on top-down control, the cannabis users showed no overall performance deficits on the tasks. Chronic cannabis users performed cognitive tasks involving EFs as well as non-users while not employing cognitive control processes that are typical for such tasks. These results indicate alterations in cognitive processing in cannabis users, but such alterations do not necessarily lead to global performance deficits. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Beneficial effects of reading aloud and solving simple arithmetic calculations (learning therapy) on a wide range of cognitive functions in the healthy elderly: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Almost all cognitive functions decline with age. Results of previous studies have shown that cognitive training related to everyday life (reading aloud and solving simple arithmetic calculations), namely learning therapy, can improve two cognitive function (executive functions and processing speed) in elderly people. However, it remains unclear whether learning therapy engenders improvement of various cognitive functions or not. We investigate the impact of learning therapy on various cognitive functions (executive functions, episodic memory, short-term memory, working memory, attention, reading ability, and processing speed) in healthy older adults. Methods We use a single-blinded intervention with two parallel groups (a learning therapy group and a waiting list control group). Testers are blind to the study hypothesis and the group membership of participants. Through an advertisement in local newspaper, 64 healthy older adults are recruited. They will be assigned randomly to a learning therapy group or a waiting list control group. In the learning therapy group, participants are required to perform two cognitive tasks for 6 months: reading Japanese aloud and solving simple calculations. The waiting list group does not participate in the intervention. The primary outcome measure is the Stroop test score: a measure of executive function. Secondary outcome measures are assessments including the following: verbal fluency task, logical memory, first and second names, digit span forward, digit span backward, Japanese reading test, digit cancellation task, digit symbol coding, and symbol search. We assess these outcome measures before and after the intervention. Discussion This report is the first study which investigates the beneficial effects of learning therapy on a wide range of cognitive functions of elderly people. Our study provides sufficient evidence of learning therapy effectiveness. Most cognitive functions, which are correlated strongly with daily life activities, decrease with age. These study results can elucidate effects of cognitive training on elderly people. Trial registration This trial was registered in The University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (No. UMIN000006998). PMID:22483196

Beneficial effects of reading aloud and solving simple arithmetic calculations (learning therapy) on a wide range of cognitive functions in the healthy elderly: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Nouchi, Rui; Taki, Yasuyuki; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Nozawa, Takayuki; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Nouchi, Haruka; Kawashima, Ryuta

2012-04-06

Almost all cognitive functions decline with age. Results of previous studies have shown that cognitive training related to everyday life (reading aloud and solving simple arithmetic calculations), namely learning therapy, can improve two cognitive function (executive functions and processing speed) in elderly people. However, it remains unclear whether learning therapy engenders improvement of various cognitive functions or not. We investigate the impact of learning therapy on various cognitive functions (executive functions, episodic memory, short-term memory, working memory, attention, reading ability, and processing speed) in healthy older adults. We use a single-blinded intervention with two parallel groups (a learning therapy group and a waiting list control group). Testers are blind to the study hypothesis and the group membership of participants. Through an advertisement in local newspaper, 64 healthy older adults are recruited. They will be assigned randomly to a learning therapy group or a waiting list control group. In the learning therapy group, participants are required to perform two cognitive tasks for 6 months: reading Japanese aloud and solving simple calculations. The waiting list group does not participate in the intervention. The primary outcome measure is the Stroop test score: a measure of executive function. Secondary outcome measures are assessments including the following: verbal fluency task, logical memory, first and second names, digit span forward, digit span backward, Japanese reading test, digit cancellation task, digit symbol coding, and symbol search. We assess these outcome measures before and after the intervention. This report is the first study which investigates the beneficial effects of learning therapy on a wide range of cognitive functions of elderly people. Our study provides sufficient evidence of learning therapy effectiveness. Most cognitive functions, which are correlated strongly with daily life activities, decrease with age. These study results can elucidate effects of cognitive training on elderly people. This trial was registered in The University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (No. UMIN000006998).

[Impairment of executive function in elderly patients with major unipolar depression: influence of psychomotor retardation].

PubMed

Baudic, Sophie; Benisty, Sarah; Dalla Barba, Gianfrano; Traykov, Latchezar

2007-03-01

The results from several studies assessing the executive function in depressed patients compared to control subjects varied from significant impairment to normal performance. To assess the executive impairment in elderly patients with major unipolar depression and to evaluate the influence of psychomotor retardation and severity of depression in the executive deficits, the performance of 15 elderly patients with unipolar depression was compared to that of 15 elderly control subjects on executive tasks. The severity of depression was evaluated by the Montgomery and Asberg depressive scale and that of psychomotor retardation by the Widlöcher's scale. In depressed patients, deficits were found on tasks assessing cognitive flexibility (Modified card sorting test (MCST) and Trail making test B), planification and elaboration of strategies (cognitive estimates), motor initiation (graphic sequences), categorisation and hypothesis making (MCST) and interference resistance (Stroop test). However, depressed patients performed normally on the Hayling test assessing the inhibition processes. Intensity of psychomotor retardation was not correlated to the performance of executive tasks. Conversely, severity of depression was related to the scores of MCST (number of errors and perseverations), Stroop and Hayling tests (time taken to complete the end of the sentence). Unipolar depressed patients showed deficits in most tasks assessing executive function. However, inhibition processes appeared to be intact in depressed patients although their implementation was difficult. The severity of depression but not that of psychomotor retardation was associated with executive deficits.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Working Memory and Executive Dysfunction in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Antiphospholipid Antibody-Positive Patients.

PubMed

Kozora, E; Uluğ, A M; Erkan, D; Vo, A; Filley, C M; Ramon, G; Burleson, A; Zimmerman, R; Lockshin, M D

2016-11-01

Standardized cognitive tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients demonstrate deficits in working memory and executive function. These neurobehavioral abnormalities are not well studied in antiphospholipid syndrome, which may occur independently of or together with SLE. This study compares an fMRI paradigm involving motor skills, working memory, and executive function in SLE patients without antiphospholipid antibody (aPL) (the SLE group), aPL-positive non-SLE patients (the aPL-positive group), and controls. Brain MRI, fMRI, and standardized cognitive assessment results were obtained from 20 SLE, 20 aPL-positive, and 10 healthy female subjects with no history of neuropsychiatric abnormality. Analysis of fMRI data showed no differences in performance across groups on bilateral motor tasks. When analysis of variance was used, significant group differences were found in 2 executive function tasks (word generation and word rhyming) and in a working memory task (N-Back). Patients positive for aPL demonstrated higher activation in bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices compared to controls during working memory and executive function tasks. SLE patients also demonstrated bilateral frontal and temporal activation during working memory and executive function tasks. Compared to controls, both aPL-positive and SLE patients had elevated cortical activation, primarily in the frontal lobes, during tasks involving working memory and executive function. These findings are consistent with cortical overactivation as a compensatory mechanism for early white matter neuropathology in these disorders. © 2016, American College of Rheumatology.

Exploring the cognitive features in children with autism spectrum disorder, their co-twins, and typically developing children within a population-based sample.

PubMed

Brunsdon, Victoria E A; Colvert, Emma; Ames, Catherine; Garnett, Tracy; Gillan, Nicola; Hallett, Victoria; Lietz, Stephanie; Woodhouse, Emma; Bolton, Patrick; Happé, Francesca

2015-08-01

The behavioural symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are thought to reflect underlying cognitive deficits/differences. The findings in the literature are somewhat mixed regarding the cognitive features of ASD. This study attempted to address this issue by investigating a range of cognitive deficits and the prevalence of multiple cognitive atypicalities in a large population-based sample comprising children with ASD, their unaffected co-twins, and typically developing comparison children. Participants included families from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) where one or both children met diagnostic criteria for ASD. Overall, 181 adolescents with a diagnosis of ASD and 73 unaffected co-twins were included, plus an additional 160 comparison control participants. An extensive cognitive battery was administered to measure IQ, central coherence, executive function, and theory of mind ability. Differences between groups (ASD, co-twin, control) are reported on tasks assessing theory of mind, executive function, and central coherence. The ASD group performed atypically in significantly more cognitive tasks than the unaffected co-twin and control groups. Nearly a third of the ASD group presented with multiple cognitive atypicalities. Multiple cognitive atypicalities appear to be a characteristic, but not universal feature, of ASD. Further work is needed to investigate whether specific cognitive atypicalities, either alone or together, are related to specific behaviours characteristic of ASD. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Task-based neurofeedback training: A novel approach toward training executive functions.

PubMed

Hosseini, S M Hadi; Pritchard-Berman, Mika; Sosa, Natasha; Ceja, Angelica; Kesler, Shelli R

2016-07-01

Cognitive training is an emergent approach to improve cognitive functions in various neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. However, current training programs can be relatively lengthy, making adherence potentially difficult for patients with cognitive difficulties. Previous studies suggest that providing individuals with real-time feedback about the level of brain activity (neurofeedback) can potentially help them learn to control the activation of specific brain regions. In the present study, we developed a novel task-based neurofeedback training paradigm that benefits from the effects of neurofeedback in parallel with computerized training. We focused on executive function training given its core involvement in various developmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was employed for providing neurofeedback by measuring changes in oxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex. Of the twenty healthy adult participants, ten received real neurofeedback (NFB) on prefrontal activity during cognitive training, and ten were presented with sham feedback (SHAM). Compared with SHAM, the NFB group showed significantly improved executive function performance including measures of working memory after four sessions of training (100min total). The NFB group also showed significantly reduced training-related brain activity in the executive function network including right middle frontal and inferior frontal regions compared with SHAM. Our data suggest that providing neurofeedback along with cognitive training can enhance executive function after a relatively short period of training. Similar designs could potentially be used for patient populations with known neuropathology, potentially helping them to boost/recover the activity in the affected brain regions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Memory, executive, and multidomain subtle cognitive impairment: clinical and biomarker findings.

PubMed

Toledo, Jon B; Bjerke, Maria; Chen, Kewei; Rozycki, Martin; Jack, Clifford R; Weiner, Michael W; Arnold, Steven E; Reiman, Eric M; Davatzikos, Christos; Shaw, Leslie M; Trojanowski, John Q

2015-07-14

We studied the biomarker signatures and prognoses of 3 different subtle cognitive impairment (SCI) groups (executive, memory, and multidomain) as well as the subjective memory complaints (SMC) group. We studied 522 healthy controls in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Cutoffs for executive, memory, and multidomain SCI were defined using participants who remained cognitively normal (CN) for 7 years. CSF Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarkers, composite and region-of-interest (ROI) MRI, and fluorodeoxyglucose-PET measures were compared in these participants. Using a stringent cutoff (fifth percentile), 27.6% of the ADNI participants were classified as SCI. Most single ROI or global-based measures were not sensitive to detect differences between groups. Only MRI-SPARE-AD (Spatial Pattern of Abnormalities for Recognition of Early AD), a quantitative MRI pattern-based global index, showed differences between all groups, excluding the executive SCI group. Atrophy patterns differed in memory SCI and SMC. The CN and the SMC groups presented a similar distribution of preclinical dementia stages. Fifty percent of the participants with executive, memory, and multidomain SCI progressed to mild cognitive impairment or dementia at 7, 5, and 2 years, respectively. Our results indicate that (1) the different SCI categories have different clinical prognoses and biomarker signatures, (2) longitudinally followed CN subjects are needed to establish clinical cutoffs, (3) subjects with SMC show a frontal pattern of brain atrophy, and (4) pattern-based analyses outperform commonly used single ROI-based neuroimaging biomarkers and are needed to detect initial stages of cognitive impairment. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Executive and Visuo-Motor Function in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sachse, Michael; Schlitt, Sabine; Hainz, Daniela; Ciaramidaro, Angela; Schirman, Shella; Walter, Henrik; Poustka, Fritz; Bolte, Sven; Freitag, Christine M.

2013-01-01

This study broadly examines executive (EF) and visuo-motor function in 30 adolescent and adult individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison to 28 controls matched for age, gender, and IQ. ASD individuals showed impaired spatial working memory, whereas planning, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition were spared.…

Predicting Word Reading and Comprehension with Executive Function and Speed Measures across Development: A Latent Variable Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christopher, Micaela E.; Miyake, Akira; Keenan, Janice M.; Pennington, Bruce; DeFries, John C.; Wadsworth, Sally J.; Willcutt, Erik; Olson, Richard K.

2012-01-01

The present study explored whether different executive control and speed measures (working memory, inhibition, processing speed, and naming speed) independently predict individual differences in word reading and reading comprehension. Although previous studies suggest these cognitive constructs are important for reading, the authors analyze the…

Working memory and executive functions: effects of training on academic achievement.

PubMed

Titz, Cora; Karbach, Julia

2014-11-01

The aim of this review is to illustrate the role of working memory and executive functions for scholastic achievement as an introduction to the question of whether and how working memory and executive control training may improve academic abilities. The review of current research showed limited but converging evidence for positive effects of process-based complex working-memory training on academic abilities, particularly in the domain of reading. These benefits occurred in children suffering from cognitive and academic deficits as well as in healthy students. Transfer of training to mathematical abilities seemed to be very limited and to depend on the training regime and the characteristics of the study sample. A core issue in training research is whether high- or low-achieving children benefit more from cognitive training. Individual differences in terms of training-related benefits suggested that process-based working memory and executive control training often induced compensation effects with larger benefits in low performing individuals. Finally, we discuss the effects of process-based training in relation to other types of interventions aimed at improving academic achievement.

Further education improves cognitive reserve and triggers improvement in selective cognitive functions in older adults: The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project.

PubMed

Thow, Megan E; Summers, Mathew J; Saunders, Nichole L; Summers, Jeffery J; Ritchie, Karen; Vickers, James C

2018-01-01

The strong link between early-life education and subsequent reduced risk of dementia suggests that education in later life could enhance cognitive function and may reduce age-related cognitive decline and protect against dementia. Episodic memory, working memory, executive function, and language processing performances were assessed annually over 4 years in 359 healthy older adults who attended university for a minimum of 12 months (intervention) and were compared against 100 healthy adult controls. Multiple group latent growth curve modeling revealed a significant improvement in language processing capacity over time in the intervention group. No changes were detected for episodic memory, working memory, or executive function. These results suggest that complex mental stimulation resulting from late-life further education results in improved crystallized knowledge but no changes to fluid cognitive functions.

Memory deficits in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are not exclusively caused by executive dysfunction: a comparative neuropsychological study of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Machts, Judith; Bittner, Verena; Kasper, Elisabeth; Schuster, Christina; Prudlo, Johannes; Abdulla, Susanne; Kollewe, Katja; Petri, Susanne; Dengler, Reinhard; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Vielhaber, Stefan; Schoenfeld, Mircea A; Bittner, Daniel M

2014-06-30

Recent work suggests that ALS and frontotemporal dementia can occur together and share at least in part the same underlying pathophysiology. However, it is unclear at present whether memory deficits in ALS stem from a temporal lobe dysfunction, or are rather driven by frontal executive dysfunction. In this study we sought to investigate the nature of memory deficits by analyzing the neuropsychological performance of 40 ALS patients in comparison to 39 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients and 40 healthy controls (HC). The neuropsychological battery tested for impairment in executive functions, as well as memory and visuo-spatial skills, the results of which were compared across study groups. In addition, we calculated composite scores for memory (learning, recall, recognition) and executive functions (verbal fluency, cognitive flexibility, working memory). We hypothesized that the nature of memory impairment in ALS will be different from those exhibited by aMCI patients. Patient groups exhibited significant differences in their type of memory deficit, with the ALS group showing impairment only in recognition, whereas aMCI patients showed short and delayed recall performance deficits as well as reduced short-term capacity. Regression analysis revealed a significant impact of executive function on memory performance exclusively for the ALS group, accounting for one fifth of their memory performance. Interestingly, merging all sub scores into a single memory and an executive function score obscured these differences. The presented results indicate that the interpretation of neuropsychological scores needs to take the distinct cognitive profiles in ALS and aMCI into consideration. Importantly, the observed memory deficits in ALS were distinctly different from those observed in aMCI and can be explained only to some extent in the context of comorbid (coexisting) executive dysfunction. These findings highlight the qualitative differences in temporal lobe dysfunction between ALS and aMCI patients, and support temporal lobe dysfunction as a mechanism underlying the distinct cognitive impairments observed in ALS.

Cognitive features of psychotic states arising in late life (late paraphrenia).

PubMed

Almeida, O P; Howard, R J; Levy, R; David, A S; Morris, R G; Sahakian, B J

1995-07-01

The cognitive performance of 47 elderly psychotic patients with onset of symptoms in late life (late paraphrenia) was compared to that of 33 controls matched for age, sex, ethnic origin, number of years of education, and pre-morbid IQ as measured by the NART. Neuropsychological indices of general cognitive functioning (MMSE, CAMCOG, WAIS-R verbal and performance scores) showed that patients were performing the tasks at a significantly lower level than controls. Patients also showed a trend to have a lower span capacity than controls, particularly at the spatial span subtest. There was no obvious impairment of learning as measured by the digit and spatial recurring span tasks nor of simultaneous matching-to-sample ability. However, patients' performance on a delayed-matching-to-sample procedure was significantly worse than that of controls. In addition, patients performed worse than controls on the Recognition Memory Test for Faces, but not for Words. Finally, the performance of patients on tests assessing executive functioning (Verbal Fluency Test, Computerized Extra and Intra-Dimensional Shift Task, Computerized Spatial Working Memory Task, and Computerized Tower of London Task) was consistently worse than that of controls. These results suggest that psychotic states arising in late life are predominantly associated with a decline on measures of general cognitive ability and executive functioning. The neuropsychological meaning of these findings is discussed in the light of cognitive models of psychotic symptoms, as well as of schizophrenia and dementia research. We concluded that the lack of a clear pattern of impairment among these patients may be the result of their clinical and cognitive diversity.

The pervasive nature of unconscious social information processing in executive control

PubMed Central

Prabhakaran, Ranjani; Gray, Jeremy R.

2012-01-01

Humans not only have impressive executive abilities, but we are also fundamentally social creatures. In the cognitive neuroscience literature, it has long been assumed that executive control mechanisms, which play a critical role in guiding goal-directed behavior, operate on consciously processed information. Although more recent evidence suggests that unconsciously processed information can also influence executive control, most of this literature has focused on visual masked priming paradigms. However, the social psychological literature has demonstrated that unconscious influences are pervasive, and social information can unintentionally influence a wide variety of behaviors, including some that are likely to require executive abilities. For example, social information can unconsciously influence attention processes, such that simply instructing participants to describe a previous situation in which they had power over someone or someone else had power over them has been shown to unconsciously influence their attentional focus abilities, a key aspect of executive control. In the current review, we consider behavioral and neural findings from a variety of paradigms, including priming of goals and social hierarchical roles, as well as interpersonal interactions, in order to highlight the pervasive nature of social influences on executive control. These findings suggest that social information can play a critical role in executive control, and that this influence often occurs in an unconscious fashion. We conclude by suggesting further avenues of research for investigation of the interplay between social factors and executive control. PMID:22557956

A Structural Analysis of Executive Functions and Socioeconomic Status in School-Age Children: Cognitive Factors as Effect Mediators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aran-Filippetti, Vanessa; Richaud de Minzi, Maria Cristina

2012-01-01

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-known predictor of cognitive achievement and executive functioning, although the underlying cognitive mediating processes remain unclear. The authors analyze the association between different socioeconomic indicators and the executive functions (EF) of schoolchildren and the possible cognitive mediating factors…

Attention processes in chronic fatigue syndrome: attentional bias for health-related threat and the role of attentional control.

PubMed

Hou, Ruihua; Moss-Morris, Rona; Risdale, Anna; Lynch, Jeannette; Jeevaratnam, Preshan; Bradley, Brendan P; Mogg, Karin

2014-01-01

Cognitive behavioural models of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) propose that attention processes, specifically, enhanced selective attention to health-threat related cues, may play an important role in symptom maintenance. The current study investigated attentional bias towards health-threat stimuli in CFS. It also examined whether individuals with CFS have impaired executive attention, and whether this was related to attentional bias. 27 participants with CFS and 35 healthy controls completed a Visual Probe Task measuring attentional bias, and an Attention Network Test measuring executive attention, alerting and orienting. Participants also completed self-report measures of CFS and mood symptoms. Compared to the control group, the CFS group showed greater attentional bias for health-threat words than pictures; and the CFS group was significantly impaired in executive attention. Furthermore, CFS individuals with poor executive attention showed greater attentional bias to health-threat related words, compared not only to controls but also to CFS individuals with good executive attention. Thus, this study revealed a significant relationship between attentional bias and executive attention in CFS: attentional bias to threat was primarily evident in those with impaired executive attention control. Taking account of individual differences in executive attention control in current intervention models may be beneficial for CFS. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain training game boosts executive functions, working memory and processing speed in the young adults: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Nouchi, Rui; Taki, Yasuyuki; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Nozawa, Takayuki; Kambara, Toshimune; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nouchi, Haruka; Kawashima, Ryuta

2013-01-01

Do brain training games work? The beneficial effects of brain training games are expected to transfer to other cognitive functions. Yet in all honesty, beneficial transfer effects of the commercial brain training games in young adults have little scientific basis. Here we investigated the impact of the brain training game (Brain Age) on a wide range of cognitive functions in young adults. We conducted a double-blind (de facto masking) randomized controlled trial using a popular brain training game (Brain Age) and a popular puzzle game (Tetris). Thirty-two volunteers were recruited through an advertisement in the local newspaper and randomly assigned to either of two game groups (Brain Age, Tetris). Participants in both the Brain Age and the Tetris groups played their game for about 15 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Measures of the cognitive functions were conducted before and after training. Measures of the cognitive functions fell into eight categories (fluid intelligence, executive function, working memory, short-term memory, attention, processing speed, visual ability, and reading ability). Our results showed that commercial brain training game improves executive functions, working memory, and processing speed in young adults. Moreover, the popular puzzle game can engender improvement attention and visuo-spatial ability compared to playing the brain training game. The present study showed the scientific evidence which the brain training game had the beneficial effects on cognitive functions (executive functions, working memory and processing speed) in the healthy young adults. Our results do not indicate that everyone should play brain training games. However, the commercial brain training game might be a simple and convenient means to improve some cognitive functions. We believe that our findings are highly relevant to applications in educational and clinical fields. UMIN Clinical Trial Registry 000005618.

Brain Training Game Boosts Executive Functions, Working Memory and Processing Speed in the Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Nouchi, Rui; Taki, Yasuyuki; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Nozawa, Takayuki; Kambara, Toshimune; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nouchi, Haruka; Kawashima, Ryuta

2013-01-01

Background Do brain training games work? The beneficial effects of brain training games are expected to transfer to other cognitive functions. Yet in all honesty, beneficial transfer effects of the commercial brain training games in young adults have little scientific basis. Here we investigated the impact of the brain training game (Brain Age) on a wide range of cognitive functions in young adults. Methods We conducted a double-blind (de facto masking) randomized controlled trial using a popular brain training game (Brain Age) and a popular puzzle game (Tetris). Thirty-two volunteers were recruited through an advertisement in the local newspaper and randomly assigned to either of two game groups (Brain Age, Tetris). Participants in both the Brain Age and the Tetris groups played their game for about 15 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Measures of the cognitive functions were conducted before and after training. Measures of the cognitive functions fell into eight categories (fluid intelligence, executive function, working memory, short-term memory, attention, processing speed, visual ability, and reading ability). Results and Discussion Our results showed that commercial brain training game improves executive functions, working memory, and processing speed in young adults. Moreover, the popular puzzle game can engender improvement attention and visuo-spatial ability compared to playing the brain training game. The present study showed the scientific evidence which the brain training game had the beneficial effects on cognitive functions (executive functions, working memory and processing speed) in the healthy young adults. Conclusions Our results do not indicate that everyone should play brain training games. However, the commercial brain training game might be a simple and convenient means to improve some cognitive functions. We believe that our findings are highly relevant to applications in educational and clinical fields. Trial Registration UMIN Clinical Trial Registry 000005618. PMID:23405164

Executive Control Deficits as a Prodrome to Falls in Healthy Older Adults: A Prospective Study Linking Thinking, Walking, and Falling

PubMed Central

Herman, Talia; Mirelman, Anat; Giladi, Nir; Schweiger, Avraham

2010-01-01

Background. Executive function (EF) deficits may increase fall risk, even among older adults with no overt cognitive impairment. Indeed, the effects of dual tasking (DT) on gait, a challenge to executive control, are more exaggerated in persons with a history of falls. Prospective evidence is, however, lacking. Methods. We prospectively evaluated whether EF predicts falls over a 2-year period among 262 community-living, healthy, and well-functioning older adults, focusing on the 201 who reported no falls during the previous year. At baseline, participants completed a computerized cognitive battery that generated an index of EF and other cognitive domains. Gait was assessed using performance-based tests and by quantifying walking during single- and dual-task conditions. Results. The 262 participants (mean age: 76.3 ± 4.3 years, 60.3% women) had intact cognitive function on testing, a low comorbidity index, and good mobility. The EF index predicted future falls. Among those who reported no previous falls, participants in the worst EF quartile were three times more likely to fall during the 2 years of follow-up, and they were more likely to transition from nonfaller to faller sooner. DT gait variability also predicted future falls and multiple falls, whereas other measures of cognitive function, gait, and mobility did not. Conclusions. Among healthy older adults, individuals with poorer EF are more prone to falls. Higher-level cognitive functions such as those regulated by the frontal lobes are apparently needed for safe everyday navigation that demands multitasking. Optimal screening, early detection, and treatment of falls should, apparently, also target this cognitive domain. PMID:20484336

Can task-switching training enhance executive control functioning in children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder?

PubMed

Kray, Jutta; Karbach, Julia; Haenig, Susann; Freitag, Christine

2011-01-01

The key cognitive impairments of children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) include executive control functions such as inhibitory control, task-switching, and working memory (WM). In this training study we examined whether task-switching training leads to improvements in these functions. Twenty children with combined type ADHD and stable methylphenidate medication performed a single-task and a task-switching training in a crossover training design. The children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group started with the single-task training and then performed the task-switching training and the other group vice versa. The effectiveness of the task-switching training was measured as performance improvements (relative to the single-task training) on a structurally similar but new switching task and on other executive control tasks measuring inhibitory control and verbal WM as well as on fluid intelligence (reasoning). The children in both groups showed improvements in task-switching, that is, a reduction of switching costs, but not in performing the single-tasks across four training sessions. Moreover, the task-switching training lead to selective enhancements in task-switching performance, that is, the reduction of task-switching costs was found to be larger after task-switching than after single-task training. Similar selective improvements were observed for inhibitory control and verbal WM, but not for reasoning. Results of this study suggest that task-switching training is an effective cognitive intervention that helps to enhance executive control functioning in children with ADHD.

Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?

PubMed Central

Kray, Jutta; Karbach, Julia; Haenig, Susann; Freitag, Christine

2012-01-01

The key cognitive impairments of children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) include executive control functions such as inhibitory control, task-switching, and working memory (WM). In this training study we examined whether task-switching training leads to improvements in these functions. Twenty children with combined type ADHD and stable methylphenidate medication performed a single-task and a task-switching training in a crossover training design. The children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group started with the single-task training and then performed the task-switching training and the other group vice versa. The effectiveness of the task-switching training was measured as performance improvements (relative to the single-task training) on a structurally similar but new switching task and on other executive control tasks measuring inhibitory control and verbal WM as well as on fluid intelligence (reasoning). The children in both groups showed improvements in task-switching, that is, a reduction of switching costs, but not in performing the single-tasks across four training sessions. Moreover, the task-switching training lead to selective enhancements in task-switching performance, that is, the reduction of task-switching costs was found to be larger after task-switching than after single-task training. Similar selective improvements were observed for inhibitory control and verbal WM, but not for reasoning. Results of this study suggest that task-switching training is an effective cognitive intervention that helps to enhance executive control functioning in children with ADHD. PMID:22291628

Exploring social cognition in patients with apathy following acquired brain damage.

PubMed

Njomboro, Progress; Humphreys, Glyn W; Deb, Shoumitro

2014-01-23

Research on cognition in apathy has largely focused on executive functions. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated the relationship between apathy symptoms and processes involved in social cognition. Apathy symptoms include attenuated emotional behaviour, low social engagement and social withdrawal, all of which may be linked to underlying socio-cognitive deficits. We compared patients with brain damage who also had apathy symptoms against similar patients with brain damage but without apathy symptoms. Both patient groups were also compared against normal controls on key socio-cognitive measures involving moral reasoning, social awareness related to making judgements between normative and non-normative behaviour, Theory of Mind processing, and the perception of facial expressions of emotion. We also controlled for the likely effects of executive deficits and depressive symptoms on these comparisons. Our results indicated that patients with apathy were distinctively impaired in making moral reasoning decisions and in judging the social appropriateness of behaviour. Deficits in Theory of Mind and perception of facial expressions of emotion did not distinguish patients with apathy from those without apathy. Our findings point to a possible socio-cognitive profile for apathy symptoms and provide initial insights into how socio-cognitive deficits in patients with apathy may affect social functioning.

Could schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder be distinguishable using cognitive profiles?

PubMed

Chen, Chih-Ken; Lee, Chun-Yi; Lee, Yu; Hung, Chi-Fa; Huang, Yu-Chi; Lee, Sheng-Yu; Huang, Ming-Chyi; Chong, Mian-Yoon; Chen, Yi-Chih; Wang, Liang-Jen

2018-05-24

This study seeks to determine whether the cognition profiles of patients with schizoaffective disorder (SAD), schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder (BD) are distinguishable. A total of 227 participants, comprising 88 healthy control subjects, 50 patients with SAD, 48 patients with schizophrenia and 41 patients with BD, were recruited. The participants' cognitive functions were evaluated using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). A discriminant functions analysis (DFA) was conducted to determine whether using cognitive performance can be used to distinguish these participant groups. Relative to healthy control subjects, patients with SAD, schizophrenia and BD exhibited significant deficits in all cognitive domains (verbal memory, working memory, motor speed, verbal fluency, attention and processing speed, executive function and a composite BACS score). Among the three patient groups, the schizophrenia group exhibited particularly impaired motor speed, and the BD group performed best in attention, processing speed, executive function and the composite BACS score. The classification accuracy rates of patients with SAD, schizophrenia and BD in the DFA model were 38%, 47.9% and 46.3%, respectively. These findings suggest that the impairments of some cognitive domains were less severe in patients with BD than in patients with schizophrenia or SAD. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Is Ginkgo biloba a cognitive enhancer in healthy individuals? A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Laws, Keith R; Sweetnam, Hilary; Kondel, Tejinder K

2012-11-01

We conducted a meta-analysis to examine whether Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) enhances cognitive function in healthy individuals. Scopus, Medline, Google Scholar databases and recent qualitative reviews were searched for studies examining the effects of G. biloba on cognitive function in healthy individuals. We identified randomised controlled trials containing data on memory (K = 13), executive function (K = 7) and attention (K = 8) from which effect sizes could be derived. The analyses provided measures of memory, executive function and attention in 1132, 534 and 910 participants, respectively. Effect sizes were non-significant and close to zero for memory (d = -0.04: 95%CI -0.17 to 0.07), executive function (d = -0.05: 95%CI -0.17 to 0.05) and attention (d = -0.08: 95%CI -0.21 to 0.02). Meta-regressions showed that effect sizes were not related to participant age, duration of the trial, daily dose, total dose or sample size. We report that G. biloba had no ascertainable positive effects on a range of targeted cognitive functions in healthy individuals. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Parkinson's Disease and Dopaminergic Therapy--Differential Effects on Movement, Reward and Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowe, J. B.; Hughes, L.; Ghosh, B. C. P.; Eckstein, D.; Williams-Gray, C. H.; Fallon, S.; Barker, R. A.; Owen, A. M.

2008-01-01

Cognitive deficits are very common in Parkinson's disease particularly for "executive functions" associated with frontal cortico-striatal networks. Previous work has identified deficits in tasks that require attentional control like task-switching, and reward-based tasks like gambling or reversal learning. However, there is a complex…

Nicotine withdrawal modulates frontal brain function during an affective Stroop task

PubMed Central

Modlin, Leslie; Wang, Lihong; Kozink, Rachel V.; McClernon, F. Joseph

2013-01-01

Background Among nicotine-dependent smokers, smoking abstinence disrupts multiple cognitive and affective processes including conflict resolution and emotional information processing (EIP). However, the neurobiological basis of abstinence effects on resolving emotional interference on cognition remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate smoking abstinence effects on emotion–cognition interactions. Methods Smokers (n=17) underwent fMRI while performing an affective Stroop task (aST) over two sessions: once following 24-h abstinence and once following smoking as usual. The aST includes trials that serially present incongruent or congruent numerical grids bracketed by neutral or negative emotional distractors and view-only emotional image trials. Statistical analyses were conducted using a statistical threshold of p<0.05 cluster corrected. Results Smoking abstinence increased Stroop blood-oxygenation-level-dependent response in the right middle frontal and rostral anterior cingulate gyri. Moreover, withdrawal-induced negative affect was associated with less activation in frontoparietal regions during negative emotional information processing; whereas, during Stroop trials, negative affect predicted greater activation in frontal regions during negative, but not neutral emotional distractor trials. Conclusion Hyperactivation in the frontal executive control network during smoking abstinence may represent a need to recruit additional executive resources to meet task demands. Moreover, abstinence-induced negative affect may disrupt cognitive control neural circuitry during EIP and place additional demands on frontal executive neural resources during cognitive demands when presented with emotionally distracting stimuli. PMID:21989805

Reshaping the Mind: The Benefits of Bilingualism

PubMed Central

Bialystok, Ellen

2015-01-01

Studies have shown that bilingual individuals consistently outperform their monolingual counterparts on tasks involving executive control. The present paper reviews some of the evidence for this conclusion and relates the findings to the effect of bilingualism on cognitive organisation and to conceptual issues in the structure of executive control. Evidence for the protective effect of bilingualism against Alzheimer’s disease is presented with some speculation about the reason for that protection. PMID:21910523

Intelligence, creativity, and cognitive control: The common and differential involvement of executive functions in intelligence and creativity

PubMed Central

Benedek, Mathias; Jauk, Emanuel; Sommer, Markus; Arendasy, Martin; Neubauer, Aljoscha C.

2014-01-01

Intelligence and creativity are known to be correlated constructs suggesting that they share a common cognitive basis. The present study assessed three specific executive abilities – updating, shifting, and inhibition – and examined their common and differential relations to fluid intelligence and creativity (i.e., divergent thinking ability) within a latent variable model approach. Additionally, it was tested whether the correlation of fluid intelligence and creativity can be explained by a common executive involvement. As expected, fluid intelligence was strongly predicted by updating, but not by shifting or inhibition. Creativity was predicted by updating and inhibition, but not by shifting. Moreover, updating (and the personality factor openness) was found to explain a relevant part of the shared variance between intelligence and creativity. The findings provide direct support for the executive involvement in creative thought and shed further light on the functional relationship between intelligence and creativity. PMID:25278640

Strategy difficulty effects in young and older adults' episodic memory are modulated by inter-stimulus intervals and executive control processes.

PubMed

Burger, Lucile; Uittenhove, Kim; Lemaire, Patrick; Taconnat, Laurence

2017-04-01

Efficient execution of strategies is crucial to memory performance and to age-related differences in this performance. Relative strategy complexity influences memory performance and aging effects on memory. Here, we aimed to further our understanding of the effects of relative strategy complexity by looking at the role of cognitive control functions and the time-course of the effects of relative strategy complexity. Thus, we manipulated inter-stimulus intervals (ISI) and assessed executive functions. Results showed that (a) performance as a function of the relative strategy difficulty of the current and previous trial was modulated by ISI, (b) these effects were modulated by inhibition capacities, and (c) significant age differences were found in the way ISI modulates relative strategy difficulty. These findings have important implications for understanding the relationships between aging, executive control, and strategy execution in episodic memory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Roles of Arterial Stiffness and Blood Pressure in Hypertension-Associated Cognitive Decline in Healthy Adults.

PubMed

Hajjar, Ihab; Goldstein, Felicia C; Martin, Greg S; Quyyumi, Arshed A

2016-01-01

Although there is strong evidence that hypertension leads to cognitive decline, especially in the executive domain, the relationship between blood pressure and cognition has been conflicted. Hypertension is characterized by blood pressure elevation and increased arterial stiffness. We aimed at investigating whether arterial stiffness would be superior to blood pressure in predicting cognitive decline and explaining the hypertension-executive decline association. A randomly selected asymptomatic population (n=591, age=49.2 years, 70% women, 27% black, and education=18 years) underwent annual vascular and cognitive assessments. Cognition was assessed using computerized versions commonly used cognitive tests, and principal component analysis was used for deriving cognitive scores for executive function, memory, and working memory. Arterial stiffness was measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). Higher PWV, but not blood pressure, was associated with a steeper decline in executive (P=0.0002), memory (P=0.05), and working memory (P=0.02) scores after adjusting for demographics, education, and baseline cognitive performance. This remained true after adjusting for hypertension. Hypertension was associated with greater decline in executive score (P=0.0029) and those with combined hypertension and elevated PWV (>7 m/s) had the greatest decline in executive score (P value hypertension×PWV=0.02). PWV explained the association between hypertension and executive function (P value for hypertension=0.0029 versus 0.24 when adjusting for PWV). In healthy adults, increased arterial stiffness is superior to blood pressure in predicting cognitive decline in all domains and in explaining the hypertension-executive function association. Arterial stiffness, especially in hypertension, may be a target in the prevention of cognitive decline. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Influences of Aerobic Dance on Cognitive Performance in Adults with Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Chen, Ming-De; Kuo, Yu-Hsin; Chang, Yen-Ching; Hsu, Su-Ting; Kuo, Chang-Chih; Chang, Jyh-Jong

2016-12-01

Cognitive impairment is one of the core features of schizophrenia. This study examined the influences of an aerobic dance programme on the cognitive functions of people with schizophrenia. A quasi-experimental matched-control design was applied. The experimental group (n = 17) participated in a 60-minute aerobic dance group class three times a week for 3 months. The control group (n = 19) participated in colouring and handwriting activities. Cognitive functions were measured before and after the interventions for both groups. The intervention group experienced significant improvements in processing speed, memory and executive function, whereas no significant changes were noted in any measures in the control group. While there were no significant between-group differences, the data showed approximately medium effect sizes that favoured the intervention group in regard to processing speed (Cohen's d = 0.51), memory (d = 0.35-0.41) and the spontaneity and fluency aspects of executive function (d = 0.51). While the small sample size and lack of randomization were the primary methodological shortcomings, this study provides preliminary results supporting aerobic dance as an adjunct activity-based intervention to improve cognitive functions in people with schizophrenia. More rigorous studies are needed to validate the findings. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Differential effects on cognitive functioning in 9- to 12-year olds prenatally exposed to cigarettes and marihuana.

PubMed

Fried, P A; Watkinson, B; Gray, R

1998-01-01

Cognitive performance was examined in 131 9-12-year-old children for whom prenatal marihuana and cigarette exposure had been ascertained. The subjects, participants in an ongoing longitudinal study, were from a low-risk, predominantly middle class sample. The tasks included the WISC-III and a series of tests assessing aspects of cognition subsumed under the rubric of executive function. Consistent with results obtained at earlier ages, discriminant function analysis revealed a dose-dependent association, which remained after controlling for potential confounds (including secondhand smoke), between prenatal cigarette exposure and lower global intelligence scores with the verbal subtests of the WISC maximally discriminating among levels of in utero exposure. In contrast, prenatal marihuana exposure was not associated with global intelligence or the verbal subtests. Rather, this drug was negatively associated with the executive function tasks that require impulse control and visual analysis/hypothesis testing and with a number of WISC subtests requiring the same abilities. The interpretation of these results is discussed in terms of executive function and is related to earlier observations of this sample and to the extant prefrontal and general marihuana literature.

Brain Training Game Improves Executive Functions and Processing Speed in the Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Nouchi, Rui; Taki, Yasuyuki; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Akitsuki, Yuko; Shigemune, Yayoi; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Tsukiura, Takashi; Yomogida, Yukihito; Kawashima, Ryuta

2012-01-01

Background The beneficial effects of brain training games are expected to transfer to other cognitive functions, but these beneficial effects are poorly understood. Here we investigate the impact of the brain training game (Brain Age) on cognitive functions in the elderly. Methods and Results Thirty-two elderly volunteers were recruited through an advertisement in the local newspaper and randomly assigned to either of two game groups (Brain Age, Tetris). This study was completed by 14 of the 16 members in the Brain Age group and 14 of the 16 members in the Tetris group. To maximize the benefit of the interventions, all participants were non-gamers who reported playing less than one hour of video games per week over the past 2 years. Participants in both the Brain Age and the Tetris groups played their game for about 15 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Each group played for a total of about 20 days. Measures of the cognitive functions were conducted before and after training. Measures of the cognitive functions fell into four categories (global cognitive status, executive functions, attention, and processing speed). Results showed that the effects of the brain training game were transferred to executive functions and to processing speed. However, the brain training game showed no transfer effect on any global cognitive status nor attention. Conclusions Our results showed that playing Brain Age for 4 weeks could lead to improve cognitive functions (executive functions and processing speed) in the elderly. This result indicated that there is a possibility which the elderly could improve executive functions and processing speed in short term training. The results need replication in large samples. Long-term effects and relevance for every-day functioning remain uncertain as yet. Trial Registration UMIN Clinical Trial Registry 000002825 PMID:22253758

Functional reorganization during cognitive function tasks in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Keller, Jürgen; Böhm, Sarah; Aho-Özhan, Helena E A; Loose, Markus; Gorges, Martin; Kassubek, Jan; Uttner, Ingo; Abrahams, Sharon; Ludolph, Albert C; Lulé, Dorothée

2018-06-01

Cognitive deficits, especially in the domains of social cognition and executive function including verbal fluency, are common in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. There is yet sparse understanding of pathogenesis of the underlying, possibly adaptive, cortical patterns. To address this issue, 65 patients with ALS and 33 age-, gender- and education-matched healthy controls were tested on cognitive and behavioral deficits with the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), cortical activity during social cognition and executive function tasks (theory of mind, verbal fluency, alternation) adapted from the ECAS was determined in a 3 Tesla scanner. Compared to healthy controls, ALS patients performed worse in the ECAS overall (p < 0.001) and in all of its subdomains (p < 0.02), except memory. Imaging revealed altered cortical activation during all tasks, with patients consistently showing a hyperactivation in relevant brain areas compared to healthy controls. Additionally, cognitively high performing ALS patients consistently exhibited more activation in frontal brain areas than low performing patients and behaviorally unimpaired patients presented with more neuronal activity in orbitofrontal areas than behaviorally impaired patients. In conclusion, hyperactivation in fMRI cognitive tasks seems to represent an early adaptive process to overcome neuronal cell loss in relevant brain areas. The hereby presented cortical pattern change might suggest that, once this loss passes a critical threshold and no cortical buffering is possible, clinical representation of cognitive and behavioral impairment evolves. Future studies might shed light on the pattern of cortical pattern change in the course of ALS.

Evidence that specific executive functions predict symptom variance among schizophrenia patients with a predominantly negative symptom profile.

PubMed

Donohoe, Gary; Corvin, Aiden; Robertson, Ian H

2006-01-01

Although deficits in executive functioning in schizophrenia have been consistently reported, their precise relationship to symptomatology remains unclear. Recent approaches to executive functioning in nonschizophrenia studies have aimed to "fractionate" the individual cognitive processes involved. In this study, we hypothesised that if these processes are fractionable, then particular symptom syndromes may be selectively related to executive deficits. In particular, it was hoped that this approach could clarify whether negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia are differentially related to particular aspects of executive/attentional functions. A total of 32 patients with schizophrenia and 16 matched controls were assessed on a series of tasks designed to tap the theoretically derived executive functions of Inhibition, Shifting set, Working memory, and Sustained attention. Negative symptoms were significantly predicted by performance on an "Inhibition" task (Stroop), and not by performance on any other task. Furthermore, for a subgroup of patients with predominantly negative symptoms variance in positive symptoms was only significantly predicted by performance on a set-shifting task (Visual Elevator), and not by performance on other tasks, including inhibition. Our results support the contention that negative symptoms can, at least partly, be conceived of as cognitive behaviours expressing specific executive deficits. Specifically, we discuss the possibility that negative symptoms may, in part, express a failure in response monitoring. We further suggest that the disordered metacognition resulting in positive symptoms may be mediated by cognitive flexibility in patients with a predominantly negative symptom profile.

Functional Connectivity in Multiple Cortical Networks Is Associated with Performance Across Cognitive Domains in Older Adults.

PubMed

Shaw, Emily E; Schultz, Aaron P; Sperling, Reisa A; Hedden, Trey

2015-10-01

Intrinsic functional connectivity MRI has become a widely used tool for measuring integrity in large-scale cortical networks. This study examined multiple cortical networks using Template-Based Rotation (TBR), a method that applies a priori network and nuisance component templates defined from an independent dataset to test datasets of interest. A priori templates were applied to a test dataset of 276 older adults (ages 65-90) from the Harvard Aging Brain Study to examine the relationship between multiple large-scale cortical networks and cognition. Factor scores derived from neuropsychological tests represented processing speed, executive function, and episodic memory. Resting-state BOLD data were acquired in two 6-min acquisitions on a 3-Tesla scanner and processed with TBR to extract individual-level metrics of network connectivity in multiple cortical networks. All results controlled for data quality metrics, including motion. Connectivity in multiple large-scale cortical networks was positively related to all cognitive domains, with a composite measure of general connectivity positively associated with general cognitive performance. Controlling for the correlations between networks, the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) and executive function demonstrated the only significant association, suggesting specificity in this relationship. Further analyses found that the FPCN mediated the relationships of the other networks with cognition, suggesting that this network may play a central role in understanding individual variation in cognition during aging.

Benefits of virtual reality based cognitive rehabilitation through simulated activities of daily living: a randomized controlled trial with stroke patients.

PubMed

Faria, Ana Lúcia; Andrade, Andreia; Soares, Luísa; I Badia, Sergi Bermúdez

2016-11-02

Stroke is one of the most common causes of acquired disability, leaving numerous adults with cognitive and motor impairments, and affecting patients' capability to live independently. There is substancial evidence on post-stroke cognitive rehabilitation benefits, but its implementation is generally limited by the use of paper-and-pencil methods, insufficient personalization, and suboptimal intensity. Virtual reality tools have shown potential for improving cognitive rehabilitation by supporting carefully personalized, ecologically valid tasks through accessible technologies. Notwithstanding important progress in VR-based cognitive rehabilitation systems, specially with Activities of Daily Living (ADL's) simulations, there is still a need of more clinical trials for its validation. In this work we present a one-month randomized controlled trial with 18 stroke in and outpatients from two rehabilitation units: 9 performing a VR-based intervention and 9 performing conventional rehabilitation. The VR-based intervention involved a virtual simulation of a city - Reh@City - where memory, attention, visuo-spatial abilities and executive functions tasks are integrated in the performance of several daily routines. The intervention had levels of difficulty progression through a method of fading cues. There was a pre and post-intervention assessment in both groups with the Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination (primary outcome) and the Trail Making Test A and B, Picture Arrangement from WAIS III and Stroke Impact Scale 3.0 (secondary outcomes). A within groups analysis revealed significant improvements in global cognitive functioning, attention, memory, visuo-spatial abilities, executive functions, emotion and overall recovery in the VR group. The control group only improved in self-reported memory and social participation. A between groups analysis, showed significantly greater improvements in global cognitive functioning, attention and executive functions when comparing VR to conventional therapy. Our results suggest that cognitive rehabilitation through the Reh@City, an ecologically valid VR system for the training of ADL's, has more impact than conventional methods. This trial was not registered because it is a small sample study that evaluates the clinical validity of a prototype virtual reality system.

Cognitive profile in Wilson's disease: a case series of 31 patients.

PubMed

Wenisch, E; De Tassigny, A; Trocello, J-M; Beretti, J; Girardot-Tinant, N; Woimant, F

2013-12-01

Wilson's disease (WD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of copper metabolism. If untreated, WD, which is initially a liver disease, can turn into a multi-systemic disease with neurological involvement. Very few studies have described cognitive impairment in WD. The aim of this study is to report the cognitive profile of 31 treated WD patients. Patients were classed into two groups using the Unified Wilson Disease Rating Scale (UWDRS): WD patients without neurological signs (WD-N(-)) (n=13), and WD patients with neurological signs (WD-N(+)) (n=18). The patients participated in a neuropsychological assessment evaluating memory, executive function and visuo-spatial abilities. Both groups performed well for verbal intelligence and episodic memory skills. However, the majority of these patients exhibited altered performance for at least one cognitive test, particularly in the executive domain. The WD-N(+) group performed less well than the WD-N(-) group on cognitive tests involving rapid motor function, abstract thinking, working memory and top-down inhibitory control. Cognitive impairment in treated WD patients essentially affects executive function involving fronto-striatal circuits. Verbal intelligence and episodic memory abilities seem to be remarkably preserved. Neuropsychological assessment is a valuable tool to evaluate the presence and the consequences of these cognitive impairments in WD patients with or without neurological signs in the course of this chronic disease. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Longitudinal cognitive biomarkers predicting symptom onset in presymptomatic frontotemporal dementia.

PubMed

Jiskoot, Lize C; Panman, Jessica L; van Asseldonk, Lauren; Franzen, Sanne; Meeter, Lieke H H; Donker Kaat, Laura; van der Ende, Emma L; Dopper, Elise G P; Timman, Reinier; van Minkelen, Rick; van Swieten, John C; van den Berg, Esther; Papma, Janne M

2018-06-01

We performed 4-year follow-up neuropsychological assessment to investigate cognitive decline and the prognostic abilities from presymptomatic to symptomatic familial frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Presymptomatic MAPT (n = 15) and GRN mutation carriers (n = 31), and healthy controls (n = 39) underwent neuropsychological assessment every 2 years. Eight mutation carriers (5 MAPT, 3 GRN) became symptomatic. We investigated cognitive decline with multilevel regression modeling; the prognostic performance was assessed with ROC analyses and stepwise logistic regression. MAPT converters declined on language, attention, executive function, social cognition, and memory, and GRN converters declined on attention and executive function (p < 0.05). Cognitive decline in ScreeLing phonology (p = 0.046) and letter fluency (p = 0.046) were predictive for conversion to non-fluent variant PPA, and decline on categorical fluency (p = 0.025) for an underlying MAPT mutation. Using longitudinal neuropsychological assessment, we detected a mutation-specific pattern of cognitive decline, potentially suggesting prognostic value of neuropsychological trajectories in conversion to symptomatic FTD.

Cognitive Complaints After Breast Cancer Treatments: Examining the Relationship With Neuropsychological Test Performance

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Cognitive complaints are reported frequently after breast cancer treatments. Their association with neuropsychological (NP) test performance is not well-established. Methods Early-stage, posttreatment breast cancer patients were enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal, cohort study prior to starting endocrine therapy. Evaluation included an NP test battery and self-report questionnaires assessing symptoms, including cognitive complaints. Multivariable regression models assessed associations among cognitive complaints, mood, treatment exposures, and NP test performance. Results One hundred eighty-nine breast cancer patients, aged 21–65 years, completed the evaluation; 23.3% endorsed higher memory complaints and 19.0% reported higher executive function complaints (>1 SD above the mean for healthy control sample). Regression modeling demonstrated a statistically significant association of higher memory complaints with combined chemotherapy and radiation treatments (P = .01), poorer NP verbal memory performance (P = .02), and higher depressive symptoms (P < .001), controlling for age and IQ. For executive functioning complaints, multivariable modeling controlling for age, IQ, and other confounds demonstrated statistically significant associations with better NP visual memory performance (P = .03) and higher depressive symptoms (P < .001), whereas combined chemotherapy and radiation treatment (P = .05) approached statistical significance. Conclusions About one in five post–adjuvant treatment breast cancer patients had elevated memory and/or executive function complaints that were statistically significantly associated with domain-specific NP test performances and depressive symptoms; combined chemotherapy and radiation treatment was also statistically significantly associated with memory complaints. These results and other emerging studies suggest that subjective cognitive complaints in part reflect objective NP performance, although their etiology and biology appear to be multifactorial, motivating further transdisciplinary research. PMID:23606729

Ecological validity of virtual reality daily living activities screening for early dementia: longitudinal study.

PubMed

Tarnanas, Ioannis; Schlee, Winfried; Tsolaki, Magda; Müri, René; Mosimann, Urs; Nef, Tobias

2013-08-06

Dementia is a multifaceted disorder that impairs cognitive functions, such as memory, language, and executive functions necessary to plan, organize, and prioritize tasks required for goal-directed behaviors. In most cases, individuals with dementia experience difficulties interacting with physical and social environments. The purpose of this study was to establish ecological validity and initial construct validity of a fire evacuation Virtual Reality Day-Out Task (VR-DOT) environment based on performance profiles as a screening tool for early dementia. The objectives were (1) to examine the relationships among the performances of 3 groups of participants in the VR-DOT and traditional neuropsychological tests employed to assess executive functions, and (2) to compare the performance of participants with mild Alzheimer's-type dementia (AD) to those with amnestic single-domain mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls in the VR-DOT and traditional neuropsychological tests used to assess executive functions. We hypothesized that the 2 cognitively impaired groups would have distinct performance profiles and show significantly impaired independent functioning in ADL compared to the healthy controls. The study population included 3 groups: 72 healthy control elderly participants, 65 amnestic MCI participants, and 68 mild AD participants. A natural user interface framework based on a fire evacuation VR-DOT environment was used for assessing physical and cognitive abilities of seniors over 3 years. VR-DOT focuses on the subtle errors and patterns in performing everyday activities and has the advantage of not depending on a subjective rating of an individual person. We further assessed functional capacity by both neuropsychological tests (including measures of attention, memory, working memory, executive functions, language, and depression). We also evaluated performance in finger tapping, grip strength, stride length, gait speed, and chair stands separately and while performing VR-DOTs in order to correlate performance in these measures with VR-DOTs because performance while navigating a virtual environment is a valid and reliable indicator of cognitive decline in elderly persons. The mild AD group was more impaired than the amnestic MCI group, and both were more impaired than healthy controls. The novel VR-DOT functional index correlated strongly with standard cognitive and functional measurements, such as mini-mental state examination (MMSE; rho=0.26, P=.01) and Bristol Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale scores (rho=0.32, P=.001). Functional impairment is a defining characteristic of predementia and is partly dependent on the degree of cognitive impairment. The novel virtual reality measures of functional ability seem more sensitive to functional impairment than qualitative measures in predementia, thus accurately differentiating from healthy controls. We conclude that VR-DOT is an effective tool for discriminating predementia and mild AD from controls by detecting differences in terms of errors, omissions, and perseverations while measuring ADL functional ability.

Discrete memory impairments in largely pure chronic users of MDMA.

PubMed

Wunderli, Michael D; Vonmoos, Matthias; Fürst, Marina; Schädelin, Katrin; Kraemer, Thomas; Baumgartner, Markus R; Seifritz, Erich; Quednow, Boris B

2017-10-01

Chronic use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") has repeatedly been associated with deficits in working memory, declarative memory, and executive functions. However, previous findings regarding working memory and executive function are inconclusive yet, as in most studies concomitant stimulant use, which is known to affect these functions, was not adequately controlled for. Therefore, we compared the cognitive performance of 26 stimulant-free and largely pure (primary) MDMA users, 25 stimulant-using polydrug MDMA users, and 56 MDMA/stimulant-naïve controls by applying a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Neuropsychological tests were grouped into four cognitive domains. Recent drug use was objectively quantified by 6-month hair analyses on 17 substances and metabolites. Considerably lower mean hair concentrations of stimulants (amphetamine, methamphetamine, methylphenidate, cocaine), opioids (morphine, methadone, codeine), and hallucinogens (ketamine, 2C-B) were detected in primary compared to polydrug users, while both user groups did not differ in their MDMA hair concentration. Cohen's d effect sizes for both comparisons, i.e., primary MDMA users vs. controls and polydrug MDMA users vs. controls, were highest for declarative memory (d primary =.90, d polydrug =1.21), followed by working memory (d primary =.52, d polydrug =.96), executive functions (d primary =.46, d polydrug =.86), and attention (d primary =.23, d polydrug =.70). Thus, primary MDMA users showed strong and relatively discrete declarative memory impairments, whereas MDMA polydrug users displayed broad and unspecific cognitive impairments. Consequently, even largely pure chronic MDMA use is associated with decreased performance in declarative memory, while additional deficits in working memory and executive functions displayed by polydrug MDMA users are likely driven by stimulant co-use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Intact short-term memory and impaired executive functions in obsessive compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Demeter, Gyula; Racsmány, Mihály; Csigó, Katalin; Harsányi, András; Németh, Attila; Döme, László

2013-01-30

Previous neuropsychological studies produced inconsistent results with tasks tapping short-term verbal and visual-spatial memory and executive functions in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of deficits in these cognitive domains. A further goal was to describe the distribution of patients in different impairment ranges for all functions, and clarify the relationship between symptom severity and cognitive impairments. Thirty patients with OCD (DSM-IV) and 30 healthy volunteers were compared using well-known neuropsychological tasks. We assessed short-term verbal memory with the Digit Span Forward and Digit Span Backward Tasks, short-term visual-spatial memory with the Corsi Block Tapping Task, while we measured the level of executive functions with the StroopTask and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Compared with a matched healthy control group, the performance of OCD patients was in the impaired range only in the two executive tasks. We find a significant positive correlations between the Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale) total scores and the number of perseverative responses (r(28) = 0.409, p < 0.05) and perseverative errors (r(28) = 0.385, p < 0.05) in the WCST. Our results gave evidence that executive functions are impaired while short-term memory is intact in OCD. This is in line with neuropsychological model of OCD that the deficit of cognitive and behavioral inhibition are responsible for the main cognitive findings of this disorder, most prevalently the deficit in set shifting and prepotent response inhibition.

Relations among prospective memory, cognitive abilities, and brain structure in adolescents who vary in prenatal drug exposure.

PubMed

Robey, Alison; Buckingham-Howes, Stacy; Salmeron, Betty Jo; Black, Maureen M; Riggins, Tracy

2014-11-01

This investigation examined how prospective memory (PM) relates to cognitive abilities (i.e., executive function, attention, working memory, and retrospective memory) and brain structure in adolescents who vary in prenatal drug exposure (PDE). The sample consisted of 105 (55 female and 50 male) urban, primarily African American adolescents (mean age=15.5 years) from low socioeconomic status (SES) families. Approximately 56% (n=59) were prenatally exposed to drugs (heroin and/or cocaine) and 44% (n=46) were not prenatally exposed, but the adolescents were similar in age, gender, race, and SES. Executive functioning, attentional control, working memory, retrospective memory, and overall cognitive ability were assessed by validated performance measures. Executive functioning was also measured by caregiver report. A subset of 52 adolescents completed MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans, which provided measures of subcortical gray matter volumes and thickness of prefrontal, parietal, and temporal cortices. Results revealed no differences in PM performance by PDE status, even after adjusting for age and IQ. Executive function, retrospective memory, cortical thickness in frontal and parietal regions, and volume of subcortical regions (i.e., putamen and hippocampus) were related to PM performance in the sample overall, even after adjusting for age, IQ, and total gray matter volume. Findings suggest that variations in PM ability during adolescence are robustly related to individual differences in cognitive abilities, in particular executive function and retrospective memory, and brain structure, but do not vary by PDE status. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inefficient Executive Cognitive Control in Schizophrenia Is Preceded by Altered Functional Activation during Information Encoding: An fMRI Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlosser, Ralf G. M.; Koch, Kathrin; Wagner, Gerd; Nenadic, Igor; Roebel, Martin; Schachtzabel, Claudia; Axer, Martina; Schultz, Christoph; Reichenbach, Jurgen R.; Sauer, Heinrich

2008-01-01

Working memory deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia. Previous working memory studies suggest a load dependent storage deficit. However, explicit studies of higher executive working memory processes are limited. Moreover, few studies have examined whether subcomponents of working memory such as encoding and maintenance of information are…

Teachers' Understanding of the Role of Executive Functions in Mathematics Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilmore, Camilla; Cragg, Lucy

2014-01-01

Cognitive psychology research has suggested an important role for executive functions, the set of skills that monitor and control thought and action, in learning mathematics. However, there is currently little evidence about whether teachers are aware of the importance of these skills and, if so, how they come by this information. We conducted an…

Working Memory Capacity and the Top-Down Control of Visual Search: Exploring the Boundaries of "Executive Attention"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kane, Michael J.; Poole, Bradley J.; Tuholski, Stephen W.; Engle, Randall W.

2006-01-01

The executive attention theory of working memory capacity (WMC) proposes that measures of WMC broadly predict higher order cognitive abilities because they tap important and general attention capabilities (R. W. Engle & M. J. Kane, 2004). Previous research demonstrated WMC-related differences in attention tasks that required restraint of habitual…

Long-Term Effects of Physically Active Academic Lessons on Physical Fitness and Executive Functions in Primary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Greeff, J. W.; Hartman, E.; Mullender-Wijnsma, M. J.; Bosker, R. J.; Doolaard, S.; Visscher, C.

2016-01-01

Integrating physical activity into the curriculum has potential health and cognitive benefits in primary school children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of physically active academic lessons on cardiovascular fitness, muscular fitness and executive functions. In the current randomized controlled trial, 499 second and third…

Executive Functioning in Childhood Epilepsy: Parent-Report and Cognitive Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parrish, Joy; Geary, Elizabeth; Jones, Jana; Seth, Raj; Hermann, Bruce; Seidenberg, Michael

2007-01-01

There is considerable interest in the assessment of executive function (EF) in pediatric clinical populations but only a few well-standardized measures exist. We examined EF in 53 children aged 8 to 18 years with recent onset epilepsy (31 males, 22 females) and 50 control children (23 males, 27 females) using the Behavior Rating Inventory of…

Banishing the Control Homunculi in Studies of Action Control and Behavior Change

PubMed Central

Verbruggen, Frederick; McLaren, Ian P. L.; Chambers, Christopher D.

2014-01-01

For centuries, human self-control has fascinated scientists and nonscientists alike. Current theories often attribute it to an executive control system. But even though executive control receives a great deal of attention across disciplines, most aspects of it are still poorly understood. Many theories rely on an ill-defined set of “homunculi” doing jobs like “response inhibition” or “updating” without explaining how they do so. Furthermore, it is not always appreciated that control takes place across different timescales. These two issues hamper major advances. Here we focus on the mechanistic basis for the executive control of actions. We propose that at the most basic level, action control depends on three cognitive processes: signal detection, action selection, and action execution. These processes are modulated via error-correction or outcome-evaluation mechanisms, preparation, and task rules maintained in working and long-term memory. We also consider how executive control of actions becomes automatized with practice and how people develop a control network. Finally, we discuss how the application of this unified framework in clinical domains can increase our understanding of control deficits and provide a theoretical basis for the development of novel behavioral change interventions. PMID:25419227

Investigating the Relationship between Sexual and Chemical Addictions by Comparing Executive Function in Pedophiles, Opiate Addicts and Healthy Controls

PubMed Central

Cohen, Lisa J.; Nesci, Cristina; Steinfeld, Matthew; Haeri, Sophia; Galynker, Igor

2011-01-01

Disorders of driven sexual behavior have been conceptualized as sexual addictions. In the following study, we compared 51 subjects with pedophilia, 53 subjects with opiate addiction, and 84 healthy control subjects on neuropsychological tests that tap executive functions. The test battery included the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Color-Word Test, the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT), Porteus Mazes, Controlled Word Association (COWA), and Trailmaking Test. The groups differed on tests of cognitive flexibility and set switching (WCST), sustained attention (Stroop), and impulsivity (MFFT and Porteus Mazes). There were no differences on verbal fluency (COWA). The subjects with pedophilia differed significantly from those with opiate addiction on several tests, with longer latency to response on MFFT and fewer completed mazes but also fewer errors on Porteus Mazes. Thus, while both subjects with pedophilia and those with opiate addiction show executive dysfunction, the nature of that dysfunction may differ between the two groups; specifically, opiate addicted subjects may be more prone to cognitive impulsivity. PMID:21107145

Investigating the relationship between sexual and chemical addictions by comparing executive function in subjects with pedophilia or opiate addiction and healthy controls.

PubMed

Cohen, Lisa J; Nesci, Cristina; Steinfeld, Matthew; Haeri, Sophia; Galynker, Igor

2010-11-01

Disorders of driven sexual behavior have been conceptualized as sexual addictions. In the following study, we compared 51 subjects with pedophilia, 53 subjects with opiate addiction, and 84 healthy control subjects on neuropsychological tests that tap executive functions. The test battery included the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Color-Word Test, the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT), Porteus Mazes, Controlled Word Association (COWA), and Trailmaking Test. The groups differed on tests of cognitive flexibility and set switching (WCST), sustained attention (Stroop), and impulsivity (MFFT and Porteus Mazes). There were no differences on verbal fluency (COWA). The subjects with pedophilia differed significantly from those with opiate addiction on several tests, with longer latency to response on MFFT and fewer completed mazes but also fewer errors on Porteus Mazes. Thus, while both subjects with pedophilia and those with opiate addiction show executive dysfunction, the nature of that dysfunction may differ between the two groups; specifically, opiate addicted subjects may be more prone to cognitive impulsivity.

Improved Cognition While Cycling in Parkinson’s Disease Patients and Healthy Adults

PubMed Central

Hazamy, Audrey A.; Altmann, Lori J. P.; Stegemöller, Elizabeth; Bowers, Dawn; Lee, Hyo Keun; Wilson, Jonathan; Okun, Michael S.; Hass, Chris J.

2017-01-01

Persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are typically more susceptible than healthy adults to impaired performance when two tasks (dual task interference) are performed simultaneously. This limitation has by many experts been attributed to limitations in cognitive resources. Nearly all studies of dual task performance in PD employ walking or balance-based motor tasks, which are commonly impaired in PD. These tasks can be performed using a combination of one or two executive function tasks. The current study examined whether persons with PD would demonstrate greater dual task effects on cognition compared to healthy older adults (HOAs) during a concurrent cycling task. Participants with and without PD completed a battery of 12 cognitive tasks assessing visual and verbal processing in the following cognitive domains: speed of processing, controlled processing, working memory and executive function. Persons with PD exhibited impairments compared to healthy participants in select tasks (i.e., 0-Back, 2-Back and operation span). Further, both groups unexpectedly exhibited dual task facilitation of response times in visual tasks across cognitive domains, and improved verbal recall during an executive function task. Only one measure, 2-back, showed a speed-accuracy trade-off in the dual task. These results demonstrate that, when paired with a motor task in which they are not impaired, people with PD exhibit similar dual task effects on cognitive tasks as HOAs, even when these dual task effects are facilitative. More generally, these findings demonstrate that pairing cognitive tasks with cycling may actually improve cognitive performance which may have therapeutic relevance to cognitive decline associated with aging and PD pathology. PMID:28088064

The need for cognition mediates and moderates the association between depressive symptoms and impaired effortful control.

PubMed

Nishiguchi, Yuki; Takano, Keisuke; Tanno, Yoshihiko

2016-07-30

Previous studies have shown a negative correlation between effortful control (EC) and depressive symptoms. EC is defined as the efficiency of executive attention, which may be reduced by the attentional impairment associated with depression. However, the mechanism underlying this correlation is still unclear. We investigated the relationship between EC and depressive symptoms with the hypothesis that cognitive motivation, or need for cognition (NfC), is a possible mediator of this relationship. Participants were 178 Japanese university students. Each completed the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Effortful Control Scale, and Need for Cognition Scale at baseline and follow-up assessments. Supporting our hypothesis, mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of depressive symptoms on EC that was mediated by NfC. In addition, our data demonstrated a direct effect of depressive symptoms on EC. Longitudinal analysis indicated that an increase in depression and a decrease in NfC occurred synchronously, while NfC predicted an increase in EC over time. Depressive symptoms may decrease executive functioning and effortful control both directly and indirectly, the latter effect being mediated by motivation. These findings imply that a motivational deficit may partially explain the decreased EC found in people suffering from depression. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Breakfast improves cognitive function in cirrhotic patients with cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Vaisman, Nachum; Katzman, Helena; Carmiel-Haggai, Michal; Lusthaus, Michal; Niv, Eva

2010-07-01

Cognitive disturbances are relatively common in patients with liver disease. High protein load precipitates hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients. Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is a prevalent neurocognitive complication of cirrhosis. Because the influence of nutritional factors on the progression of cognitive impairment has not been explored in depth, this study aimed to investigate the effect on cognition of acute metabolic changes induced by breakfast consumption. Twenty-one subjects (10 women) with Child A cirrhosis and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled. Patients and controls were divided into 2 groups: those receiving a breakfast of 500 kcal and 21 g protein and those receiving no breakfast. Serum ammonia concentrations and cognitive functions were studied (Mindstreams; NeuroTrax, Fresh Meadows, NY) before and 2 h after breakfast. A mixed model was used to analyze the data. At baseline, cirrhotic patients had significantly lower total scores and significantly lower subscores (P < 0.015 global cognitive score) in 4 of 7 cognitive categories, which is indicative of MHE. Patients with hyperammonemia (>85 mug/dL) scored significantly lower for attention than did patients with normal serum ammonia concentrations (P < 0.003). After 2 h, MHE patients and controls responded differently to breakfast consumption with regard to attention and executive functions (P < 0.003 and P < 0.04, respectively). Although patients' scores improved after breakfast consumption, despite an increase in serum ammonia, healthy controls who continued to fast performed better. Chronic hyperammonemia may negatively affect attention. Eating breakfast improves attention and executive functions of patients with MHE. Prolonged periods of starvation may be partly responsible for these changes. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01083446.

Fighting Depression: Action Video Game Play May Reduce Rumination and Increase Subjective and Objective Cognition in Depressed Patients

PubMed Central

Kühn, Simone; Berna, Fabrice; Lüdtke, Thies; Gallinat, Jürgen; Moritz, Steffen

2018-01-01

Cognitive deficits are common in depression and may persist following the resolution of affective symptoms. However, therapeutic strategies that successfully target cognitive impairments are lacking. Recent work has demonstrated that playing action video games leads to improvements in cognition, in particular executive function, in healthy individuals. We therefore set out to test whether playing video games can reduce symptoms associated with depression. We focussed on depressive symptoms and on rumination, since rumination is a good predictor of depression and may contribute to triggering depression. We recruited 68 clinically depressed individuals (mean age: 46 years, 47 females) that were randomized into the training group playing a fast paced action video game for 6 weeks or a waitlist control group. Before and after training participants completed online questionnaires and a neuropsychological test battery. Only participants who actually played the game were included in the analysis. The final sample consisted of n = 21 training group and n = 29 waitlist control group. The training group showed significantly higher subjective cognitive ability, as well as lower self-reported rumination at posttest in contrast to the control group (although these findings do not survive Bonferroni correction). On a subsample with cognitive performance data (n = 19) we detected an improvement in executive function (Trail Making Task A and B) in the training compared with the control group. The results show that the fast paced action video game employed in the present study improved Trail Making performance and may reduce rumination and enhance subjective cognitive ability. Future research may focus on the investigation of the precise cognitive profile of effects. PMID:29483888

Fighting Depression: Action Video Game Play May Reduce Rumination and Increase Subjective and Objective Cognition in Depressed Patients.

PubMed

Kühn, Simone; Berna, Fabrice; Lüdtke, Thies; Gallinat, Jürgen; Moritz, Steffen

2018-01-01

Cognitive deficits are common in depression and may persist following the resolution of affective symptoms. However, therapeutic strategies that successfully target cognitive impairments are lacking. Recent work has demonstrated that playing action video games leads to improvements in cognition, in particular executive function, in healthy individuals. We therefore set out to test whether playing video games can reduce symptoms associated with depression. We focussed on depressive symptoms and on rumination, since rumination is a good predictor of depression and may contribute to triggering depression. We recruited 68 clinically depressed individuals (mean age: 46 years, 47 females) that were randomized into the training group playing a fast paced action video game for 6 weeks or a waitlist control group. Before and after training participants completed online questionnaires and a neuropsychological test battery. Only participants who actually played the game were included in the analysis. The final sample consisted of n = 21 training group and n = 29 waitlist control group. The training group showed significantly higher subjective cognitive ability, as well as lower self-reported rumination at posttest in contrast to the control group (although these findings do not survive Bonferroni correction). On a subsample with cognitive performance data ( n = 19) we detected an improvement in executive function (Trail Making Task A and B) in the training compared with the control group. The results show that the fast paced action video game employed in the present study improved Trail Making performance and may reduce rumination and enhance subjective cognitive ability. Future research may focus on the investigation of the precise cognitive profile of effects.

Preventing risk for significant behavior problems through a cognitive-behavioral intervention: effects of the tools for getting along curriculum at one-year follow-up.

PubMed

Smith, Stephen W; Daunic, Ann P; Barber, Brian R; Aydin, Burak; Van Loan, Christopher L; Taylor, Gregory G

2014-10-01

Efficient and effective social-emotional learning programs increase the likelihood of success in school for all students, and particularly for those who may develop emotional or behavior problems. In this study, we followed a sub-sample of students 1 year after their participation in a randomized controlled trial of the effects of the Tools for Getting Along (TFGA) curriculum. TFGA is a universally delivered, preventive cognitive-behavioral curricular intervention designed to improve upper elementary school students' emotional and behavioral self-regulation. To determine effects at 1-year follow-up, we assessed 720 out of the 1,296 original students across TFGA and control conditions on measures of curricular knowledge, teacher-rated executive function and behavior, and student-reported anger and social problem solving. Findings indicated a continued positive effect on curricular knowledge for students taught TFGA relative to controls. We also found significant pretest by condition interaction effects on teacher reports of skills associated with executive function, including inhibitory control and shift (cognitive flexibility), and on teacher reported internalizing and externalizing behavior. Specifically, students with poorer scores on these measures at pretest benefited from TFGA at follow-up relative to comparable students in the control condition. Finally, we found marginally significant pretest by condition interaction effects on proactive aggression, outward expressions of anger, and the executive function related skills of initiating activities and using working memory. Counter to expectations, we found negative TFGA effects on student-reported trait anger and anger control.

Effects of Physical Activity on Children’s Executive Function: Contributions of Experimental Research on Aerobic Exercise

PubMed Central

Best, John R.

2011-01-01

Executive function refers to the cognitive processes necessary for goal-directed cognition and behavior, which develop across childhood and adolescence. Recent experimental research indicates that both acute and chronic aerobic exercise promote children’s executive function. Furthermore, there is tentative evidence that not all forms of aerobic exercise benefit executive function equally: Cognitively-engaging exercise appears to have a stronger effect than non-engaging exercise on children’s executive function. This review discusses this evidence as well as the mechanisms that may underlie the association between exercise and executive function. Research from a variety of disciplines is covered, including developmental psychology, kinesiology, cognitive neuroscience, and biopsychology. Finally, these experimental findings are placed within the larger context of known links between action and cognition in infancy and early childhood, and the clinical and practical implications of this research are discussed. PMID:21818169

Seeing conflict and engaging control: Experience with contrastive language benefits executive function in preschoolers

PubMed Central

Doebel, Sabine; Zelazo, Philip David

2016-01-01

Engaging executive function often requires overriding a prepotent response in favor of a conflicting but adaptive one. Language may play a key role in this ability by supporting integrated representations of conflicting rules. We tested whether experience with contrastive language that could support such representations benefits executive function in 3-year-old children. Children who received brief experience with language highlighting contrast between objects, attributes, and actions showed greater executive function on two of three ‘conflict’ executive function tasks than children who received experience with contrasting stimuli only and children who read storybooks with the experimenter, controlling for baseline executive function. Experience with contrasting stimuli did not benefit executive function relative to reading books with the experimenter, indicating experience with contrastive language, rather than experience with contrast generally, was key. Experience with contrastive language also boosted spontaneous attention to contrast, consistent with improvements in representing contrast. These findings indicate a role for language in executive function that is consistent with the Cognitive Complexity and Control theory's key claim that coordinating conflicting rules is critical to overcoming perseveration, and suggest new ideas for testing theories of executive function. PMID:27658118

Seeing conflict and engaging control: Experience with contrastive language benefits executive function in preschoolers.

PubMed

Doebel, Sabine; Zelazo, Philip David

2016-12-01

Engaging executive function often requires overriding a prepotent response in favor of a conflicting but adaptive one. Language may play a key role in this ability by supporting integrated representations of conflicting rules. We tested whether experience with contrastive language that could support such representations benefits executive function in 3-year-old children. Children who received brief experience with language highlighting contrast between objects, attributes, and actions showed greater executive function on two of three 'conflict' executive function tasks than children who received experience with contrasting stimuli only and children who read storybooks with the experimenter, controlling for baseline executive function. Experience with contrasting stimuli did not benefit executive function relative to reading books with the experimenter, indicating experience with contrastive language, rather than experience with contrast generally, was key. Experience with contrastive language also boosted spontaneous attention to contrast, consistent with improvements in representing contrast. These findings indicate a role for language in executive function that is consistent with the Cognitive Complexity and Control theory's key claim that coordinating conflicting rules is critical to overcoming perseveration, and suggest new ideas for testing theories of executive function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Corpus callosal atrophy and associations with cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease

PubMed Central

Bledsoe, Ian O.; Merkitch, Doug; Dinh, Vy; Bernard, Bryan; Stebbins, Glenn T.

2017-01-01

Objective: To investigate atrophy of the corpus callosum on MRI in Parkinson disease (PD) and its relationship to cognitive impairment. Methods: One hundred patients with PD and 24 healthy control participants underwent clinical and neuropsychological evaluations and structural MRI brain scans. Participants with PD were classified as cognitively normal (PD-NC; n = 28), having mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI; n = 47), or having dementia (PDD; n = 25) by Movement Disorder Society criteria. Cognitive domain (attention/working memory, executive function, memory, language, visuospatial function) z scores were calculated. With the use of FreeSurfer image processing, volumes for total corpus callosum and its subsections (anterior, midanterior, central, midposterior, posterior) were computed and normalized by total intracranial volume. Callosal volumes were compared between participants with PD and controls and among PD cognitive groups, covarying for age, sex, and PD duration and with multiple comparison corrections. Regression analyses were performed to evaluate relationships between callosal volumes and performance in cognitive domains. Results: Participants with PD had reduced corpus callosum volumes in midanterior and central regions compared to healthy controls. Participants with PDD demonstrated decreased callosal volumes involving multiple subsections spanning anterior to posterior compared to participants with PD-MCI and PD-NC. Regional callosal atrophy predicted cognitive domain performance such that central volumes were associated with the attention/working memory domain; midposterior volumes with executive function, language, and memory domains; and posterior volumes with memory and visuospatial domains. Conclusions: Notable volume loss occurs in the corpus callosum in PD, with specific neuroanatomic distributions in PDD and relationships of regional atrophy to different cognitive domains. Callosal volume loss may contribute to clinical manifestations of PD cognitive impairment. PMID:28235816

Sleeping with technology: cognitive, affective, and technology usage predictors of sleep problems among college students.

PubMed

Rosen, Larry; Carrier, Louis M; Miller, Aimee; Rokkum, Jeffrey; Ruiz, Abraham

2016-03-01

Sleep problems related to technology affect college students through several potential mechanisms including displacement of sleep due to technology use, executive functioning abilities, and the impact of emotional states related to stress and anxiety about technology availability. In the present study, cognitive and affective factors that influence technology usage were examined for their impact upon sleep problems. More than 700 US college students completed an online questionnaire addressing technology usage, anxiety/dependence, executive functioning, nighttime phone usage, bedtime phone location, and sleep problems. A path model controlling for background variables was tested using the data. The results showed that executive dysfunction directly predicted sleep problems as well as affected sleep problems through nighttime awakenings. In addition, anxiety/dependence increased daily smartphone usage and also increased nighttime awakenings, which, in turn, affected sleep problems. Thus, both the affective and cognitive factors that influence technology usage affected sleep problems. Copyright © 2016 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Elementary School Children’s Cheating Behavior and its Cognitive Correlates

PubMed Central

Ding, Xiao Pan; Omrin, Danielle S.; Evans, Angela D.; Fu, Genyue; Chen, Guopeng; Lee, Kang

2014-01-01

Elementary school children’s cheating behavior and its cognitive correlates were investigated using a guessing game. Children (N = 95) between 8 and 12 years of age were asked to guess which side of the screen a coin would appear on and received rewards based on their self-reported accuracy. Children’s cheating behavior was measured by examining whether children failed to adhere to the game rules by falsely reporting their accuracy. Children’s theory-of-mind understanding and executive functioning skills were also assessed. The majority of children cheated during the guessing game, and cheating behavior decreased with age. Children with better working memory and inhibitory control were less likely to cheat. However, among the cheaters, those with greater cognitive flexibility use more tactics while cheating. Results revealed the unique role that executive functioning plays in children’s cheating behavior: Like a double-edged sword, executive functioning can inhibit children’s cheating behavior on the one side, while it can promote the sophistication of children’s cheating tactics on the other. PMID:24464240

A neurobehavioral examination of individuals with high-functioning autism and Asperger's disorder using a fronto-striatal model of dysfunction.

PubMed

Rinehart, Nicole J; Bradshaw, John L; Tonge, Bruce J; Brereton, Avril V; Bellgrove, Mark A

2002-06-01

The repetitive, stereotyped, and obsessive behaviors that characterize autism may in part be attributable to disruption of the region of the fronto-striatal system, which mediates executive abilities. Neuropsychological testing has shown that children with autism exhibit set-shifting deficiencies on tests such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting task but show normal inhibitory ability on variants of the Stroop color-word test. According to Minshew and Goldstein's multiple primary deficit theory, the complexity of the executive functioning task is important in determining the performance of individuals with autism. This study employed a visual-spatial task (with a Stroop-type component) to examine the integrity of executive functioning, in particular inhibition, in autism (n = 12) and Asperger's disorder (n = 12) under increasing levels of cognitive complexity. Whereas the Asperger's disorder group performed similarly to age- and IQ-matched control participants, even at the higher levels of cognitive complexity, the high-functioning autism group displayed inhibitory deficits specifically associated with increasing cognitive load.

The profile of executive function in OCD hoarders and hoarding disorder☆

PubMed Central

Morein-Zamir, Sharon; Papmeyer, Martina; Pertusa, Alberto; Chamberlain, Samuel R.; Fineberg, Naomi A.; Sahakian, Barbara J.; Mataix-Cols, David; Robbins, Trevor W.

2014-01-01

Hoarding disorder is a new mental disorder in DSM-5. It is classified alongside OCD and other presumably related disorders in the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders chapter. We examined cognitive performance in two distinct groups comprising individuals with both OCD and severe hoarding, and individuals with hoarding disorder without comorbid OCD. Participants completed executive function tasks assessing inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, spatial planning, probabilistic learning and reversal and decision making. Compared to a matched healthy control group, OCD hoarders showed significantly worse performance on measures of response inhibition, set shifting, spatial planning, probabilistic learning and reversal, with intact decision making. Despite having a strikingly different clinical presentation, individuals with only hoarding disorder did not differ significantly from OCD hoarders on any cognitive measure suggesting the two hoarding groups have a similar pattern of cognitive difficulties. Tests of cognitive flexibility were least similar across the groups, but differences were small and potentially reflected subtle variation in underlying brain pathology together with psychometric limitations. These results highlight both commonalities and potential differences between OCD and hoarding disorder, and together with other lines of evidence, support the inclusion of the new disorder within the new Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders chapter in DSM-5. PMID:24467873

Embodied cognitive evolution and the cerebellum.

PubMed

Barton, Robert A

2012-08-05

Much attention has focused on the dramatic expansion of the forebrain, particularly the neocortex, as the neural substrate of cognitive evolution. However, though relatively small, the cerebellum contains about four times more neurons than the neocortex. I show that commonly used comparative measures such as neocortex ratio underestimate the contribution of the cerebellum to brain evolution. Once differences in the scaling of connectivity in neocortex and cerebellum are accounted for, a marked and general pattern of correlated evolution of the two structures is apparent. One deviation from this general pattern is a relative expansion of the cerebellum in apes and other extractive foragers. The confluence of these comparative patterns, studies of ape foraging skills and social learning, and recent evidence on the cognitive neuroscience of the cerebellum, suggest an important role for the cerebellum in the evolution of the capacity for planning, execution and understanding of complex behavioural sequences--including tool use and language. There is no clear separation between sensory-motor and cognitive specializations underpinning such skills, undermining the notion of executive control as a distinct process. Instead, I argue that cognitive evolution is most effectively understood as the elaboration of specialized systems for embodied adaptive control.

Reshaping the mind: the benefits of bilingualism.

PubMed

Bialystok, Ellen

2011-12-01

Studies have shown that bilingual individuals consistently outperform their monolingual counterparts on tasks involving executive control. The present paper reviews some of the evidence for this conclusion and relates the findings to the effect of bilingualism on cognitive organisation and to conceptual issues in the structure of executive control. Evidence for the protective effect of bilingualism against Alzheimer's disease is presented with some speculation about the reason for that protection. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Executive Functioning of Sexually Compulsive and Non-Sexually Compulsive Men Before and After Watching an Erotic Video.

PubMed

Messina, Bruna; Fuentes, Daniel; Tavares, Hermano; Abdo, Carmita H N; Scanavino, Marco de T

2017-03-01

Despite the serious behavioral consequences faced by individuals with sexual compulsivity, related neuropsychological studies are sparse. To compare decision making and cognitive flexibility at baseline and after exposure to an erotic video in sexually compulsive participants and non-sexually compulsive controls. The sample consisted of 30 sexually compulsive men and 30 controls. Cognitive flexibility was investigated through the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and decision making was examined through the Iowa Gambling Task. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test categories, correct responses, and perseverative errors and Iowa Gambling Task general trends and blocks. Sexually compulsive subjects and controls performed similarly at baseline. After watching an erotic video, controls performed better in block 1 of the Iowa Gambling Task (P = .01) and had more correct responses on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (P = .01). The controls presented fewer impulsive initial choices and better cognitive flexibility after exposure to erotic stimuli. Messina B, Fuentes D, Tavares H, et al. Executive Functioning of Sexually Compulsive and Non-Sexually Compulsive Men Before and After Watching an Erotic Video. J Sex Med 2017;14:347-354. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Executive function is independently associated with performances of balance and mobility in community-dwelling older adults after mild stroke: implications for falls prevention

PubMed Central

Liu-Ambrose, Teresa; Pang, Marco; Eng, Janice J

2015-01-01

Background Stroke survivors have a high incidence of falls. Impaired executive-controlled processes are frequent in stroke survivors and are associated with falls in this population. Better understanding of the independent association between executive-controlled processes and physiological fall risk (i.e. performances of balance and mobility) could enhance future interventions that aim to prevent falls and to promote an independent lifestyle among stroke survivors. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of 63 adults who suffered a mild stroke >1 year prior to the study, aged > or =50 years. Results Cognitive flexibility was independently associated with performances of balance and mobility in community-dwelling older adults after mild stroke, after accounting for age, quadriceps strength of the paretic side and current physical activity level. Conclusions Clinicians may need to consider cognitive function when assessing and treating impaired balance and mobility in community-dwelling older adults after mild stroke. PMID:17143004

Impairment in proverb interpretation as an executive function deficit in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Leyhe, Thomas; Saur, Ralf; Eschweiler, Gerhard W; Milian, Monika

2011-01-01

Proverb interpretation is assumed to reflect executive functions. We hypothesized that proverb interpretation is impaired in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) diagnosed as single-domain impairment by common neuropsychological testing. We compared performance in a proverb interpretation test in single-domain aMCI patients and patients with early Alzheimer's disease (EAD). The groups with aMCI and EAD performed significantly worse than healthy controls. Both patient groups gave concrete answers with a similar frequency. However, patients with EAD tended to give senseless answers more frequently. Our data suggest that in patients diagnosed as single-domain aMCI, deterioration of executive functions is detectable with subtle and appropriate neuropsychological testing. Implementation of these procedures may improve the early prediction of AD.

Elderly with Autism: Executive Functions and Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geurts, Hilde M.; Vissers, Marlies E.

2012-01-01

Cognitive autism research is mainly focusing on children and young adults even though we know that autism is a life-long disorder and that healthy aging already has a strong impact on cognitive functioning. We compared the neuropsychological profile of 23 individuals with autism and 23 healthy controls (age range 51-83 years). Deficits were…

Does the Cognitive Architecture of Simplex and Multiplex ASD Families Differ?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oerlemans, Anoek M.; Hartman, Catharina A.; Franke, Barbara; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Rommelse, Nanda N. J.

2016-01-01

Children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their unaffected siblings from 54 simplex (SPX, one individual in the family affected) and 59 multiplex (MPX, two or more individuals affected) families, and 124 controls were assessed on intelligence, social cognition and executive functions. SPX and MPX ASD probands displayed similar cognitive…

Thinking as the control of imagination: a conceptual framework for goal-directed systems.

PubMed

Pezzulo, Giovanni; Castelfranchi, Cristiano

2009-07-01

This paper offers a conceptual framework which (re)integrates goal-directed control, motivational processes, and executive functions, and suggests a developmental pathway from situated action to higher level cognition. We first illustrate a basic computational (control-theoretic) model of goal-directed action that makes use of internal modeling. We then show that by adding the problem of selection among multiple action alternatives motivation enters the scene, and that the basic mechanisms of executive functions such as inhibition, the monitoring of progresses, and working memory, are required for this system to work. Further, we elaborate on the idea that the off-line re-enactment of anticipatory mechanisms used for action control gives rise to (embodied) mental simulations, and propose that thinking consists essentially in controlling mental simulations rather than directly controlling behavior and perceptions. We conclude by sketching an evolutionary perspective of this process, proposing that anticipation leveraged cognition, and by highlighting specific predictions of our model.

Attention deficits and divorce.

PubMed

Bouchard, Geneviève; Saint-Aubin, Jean

2014-09-01

Building on previous work on the role of attention deficits associated with the regulation of executive control in psychiatric disorders, we examine whether these attention deficits are related to an interpersonal disturbance, the experience of divorce. Attentional capacities of 95 randomly selected couples from the general population were measured with a well-established task, the Attentional Network Task, which assesses the efficiency of 3 attention networks (that is, alerting, orienting, and executive control). Among the 190 participants, 32 had experienced a divorce in the past. ANCOVAs were used to compare divorced people in marital or cohabiting unions with people in first unions in their performance on this purely cognitive task. Our findings indicate that divorced people who are currently living in a cohabiting relationship show significantly lower executive control than other adults living as couples, after controlling for sex, age, income, and education. This subgroup of divorced people not only exhibit greater difficulty in responding to some stimuli while ignoring irrelevant ones but also manifest cognitive deficits in conflict resolution. This study highlights the links between attention and the long-term maintenance of intimate relationships. Our results may have important implications for the identification of people at risk for divorce.

Effect of alternating postures on cognitive performance for healthy people performing sedentary work.

PubMed

Schwartz, Bernhard; Kapellusch, Jay M; Schrempf, Andreas; Probst, Kathrin; Haller, Michael; Baca, Arnold

2018-06-01

Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for several diseases and the prevalence of worksite-based interventions such as sit-to-stand workstations is increasing. Although their impact on sedentary behaviour has been regularly investigated, the effect of working in alternating body postures on cognitive performance is unclear. To address this uncertainty, 45 students participated in a two-arm, randomised controlled cross-over trial under laboratory conditions. Subjects executed validated cognitive tests (working speed, reaction time, concentration performance) either in sitting or alternating working postures on two separate days (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02863731). MANOVA results showed no significant difference in cognitive performance between trials executed in alternating, standing or sitting postures. Perceived workload did not differ between sitting and alternating days. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant learning effects regarding concentration performance and working speed for both days. These results suggest that working posture did not affect cognitive performance in the short term. Practitioner Summary: Prior reports indicated health-related benefits based on alternated (sit/stand) body postures. Nevertheless, their effect on cognitive performance is unknown. This randomised controlled trial showed that working in alternating body postures did not influence reaction time, concentration performance, working speed or workload perception in the short term.

Efficacy of a Computer-Assisted Cognitive Rehabilitation Intervention in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Kosmidis, Mary H.; Zampakis, Petros; Malefaki, Sonia; Ntoskou, Katerina; Nousia, Anastasia; Bakirtzis, Christos; Papathanasopoulos, Panagiotis

2017-01-01

Cognitive impairment is frequently encountered in multiple sclerosis (MS) affecting between 40–65% of individuals, irrespective of disease duration and severity of physical disability. In the present multicenter randomized controlled trial, fifty-eight clinically stable RRMS patients with mild to moderate cognitive impairment and relatively low disability status were randomized to receive either computer-assisted (RehaCom) functional cognitive training with an emphasis on episodic memory, information processing speed/attention, and executive functions for 10 weeks (IG; n = 32) or standard clinical care (CG; n = 26). Outcome measures included a flexible comprehensive neuropsychological battery of tests sensitive to MS patient deficits and feedback regarding personal benefit gained from the intervention on four verbal questions. Only the IG group showed significant improvements in verbal and visuospatial episodic memory, processing speed/attention, and executive functioning from pre - to postassessment. Moreover, the improvement obtained on attention was retained over 6 months providing evidence on the long-term benefits of this intervention. Group by time interactions revealed significant improvements in composite cognitive domain scores in the IG relative to the demographically and clinically matched CG for verbal episodic memory, processing speed, verbal fluency, and attention. Treated patients rated the intervention positively and were more confident about their cognitive abilities following treatment. PMID:29463950

Cognitive Control Deficits Associated with Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy

PubMed Central

Zeier, Joshua D.; Baskin-Sommers, Arielle R.; Newman, Joseph P.; Racer, Kristina Hiatt

2011-01-01

Antisociality has been linked to a variety of executive functioning deficits, including poor cognitive control. Surprisingly, cognitive control deficits are rarely found in psychopathic individuals, despite their notoriously severe and persistent antisocial behavior. In fact, primary (low-anxious) psychopathic individuals display superior performance on cognitive control-type tasks under certain circumstances. To clarify these seemingly contradictory findings, we administered a response competition (i.e. flanker) task to incarcerated offenders, who were assessed for Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) symptoms and psychopathy. As hypothesized, APD related to poorer accuracy, especially on incongruent trials. Contrary to expectation, however, the same pattern of results was found in psychopathy. Additional analyses indicated that these effects of APD and psychopathy were associated with overlapping variance. The findings suggest that psychopathy and APD symptoms are both associated with deficits in cognitive control, and that this deficit relates to general antisociality as opposed to a specific antisocial syndrome. PMID:22452754

Executive Functioning in Men with Schizophrenia and Substance Use Disorders. Influence of Lifetime Suicide Attempts

PubMed Central

Capella, Maria del Mar; Prat, Gemma; Forero, Diego A.; López-Vera, Silvia; Navarro, José Francisco

2017-01-01

Background Lifetime suicide attempts in patients with comorbidity between psychotic disorders and Substance Use Disorder (SUD), known as dual diagnosis, was associated with a worse clinical and cognitive state, poor prognosis and premature death. However, to date no previous study has examined the cognitive performance of these patients considering as independent the presence or absence of lifetime suicide attempts. Methods We explore executive functioning differences between suicide attempters and non-attempters in dual schizophrenia (DS) patients and the possible related factors for both executive performance and current suicide risk. Fifty DS male patients in remission of SUD and clinically stables, 24 with and 26 without lifetime suicide attempts, were evaluated. We considered Z scores for all neuropsychological tests and a composite summary score for both premorbid IQ and executive functioning. Results DS patients showed low performance in set-shifting, planning and problem solving tasks. Those with suicide attempts presented lower composite summary scores, together with worse problem solving skills and decision-making, compared with non-attempters. However, after controlling for alcohol dependence, only differences in decision-making remained. Executive functioning was related to the premorbid intelligence quotient, and several clinical variables (duration, severity, months of abstinence and relapses of SUD, global functioning and negative symptoms). A relationship between current suicide risk, and first-degree relatives with SUD, insight and positive symptoms was also found. Conclusions Our results suggest that problem solving and, especially, decision-making tasks might be sensitive to cognitive impairment of DS patients related to presence of lifetime suicide attempts. The assessment of these executive functions and cognitive remediation therapy when necessary could be beneficial for the effectiveness of treatment in patients with DS. However, further research is needed to expand our findings and overcome some limitations of this study. PMID:28099526

Executive Functioning in Men with Schizophrenia and Substance Use Disorders. Influence of Lifetime Suicide Attempts.

PubMed

Adan, Ana; Capella, Maria Del Mar; Prat, Gemma; Forero, Diego A; López-Vera, Silvia; Navarro, José Francisco

2017-01-01

Lifetime suicide attempts in patients with comorbidity between psychotic disorders and Substance Use Disorder (SUD), known as dual diagnosis, was associated with a worse clinical and cognitive state, poor prognosis and premature death. However, to date no previous study has examined the cognitive performance of these patients considering as independent the presence or absence of lifetime suicide attempts. We explore executive functioning differences between suicide attempters and non-attempters in dual schizophrenia (DS) patients and the possible related factors for both executive performance and current suicide risk. Fifty DS male patients in remission of SUD and clinically stables, 24 with and 26 without lifetime suicide attempts, were evaluated. We considered Z scores for all neuropsychological tests and a composite summary score for both premorbid IQ and executive functioning. DS patients showed low performance in set-shifting, planning and problem solving tasks. Those with suicide attempts presented lower composite summary scores, together with worse problem solving skills and decision-making, compared with non-attempters. However, after controlling for alcohol dependence, only differences in decision-making remained. Executive functioning was related to the premorbid intelligence quotient, and several clinical variables (duration, severity, months of abstinence and relapses of SUD, global functioning and negative symptoms). A relationship between current suicide risk, and first-degree relatives with SUD, insight and positive symptoms was also found. Our results suggest that problem solving and, especially, decision-making tasks might be sensitive to cognitive impairment of DS patients related to presence of lifetime suicide attempts. The assessment of these executive functions and cognitive remediation therapy when necessary could be beneficial for the effectiveness of treatment in patients with DS. However, further research is needed to expand our findings and overcome some limitations of this study.

Metamemory monitoring in mild cognitive impairment: Evidence of a less accurate episodic feeling-of-knowing.

PubMed

Perrotin, Audrey; Belleville, Sylvie; Isingrini, Michel

2007-09-20

This study aimed at exploring metamemory and specifically the accuracy of memory monitoring in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using an episodic memory feeling-of-knowing (FOK) procedure. To this end, 20 people with MCI and 20 matched control participants were compared on the episodic FOK task. Results showed that the MCI group made less accurate FOK predictions than the control group by overestimating their memory performance on a recognition task. The MCI overestimation behavior was found to be critically related to the severity of their cognitive decline. In the light of recent neuroanatomical models showing the involvement of a temporal-frontal network underlying accurate FOK predictions, the role of memory and executive processes was evaluated. Thus, participants were also administered memory and executive neuropsychological tests. Correlation analysis revealed a between-group differential pattern indicating that FOK accuracy was primarily related to memory abilities in people with MCI, whereas it was specifically related to executive functioning in control participants. The lesser ability of people with MCI to assess their memory status accurately on an episodic FOK task is discussed in relation to both their subjective memory complaints and to their actual memory deficits which might be mediated by the brain vulnerability of their hippocampus and medial temporal system. It is suggested that their memory weakness may lead people with MCI to use other less reliable forms of memory monitoring.

Cognitive Control Structures in the Imitation Learning of Spatial Sequences and Rhythms-An fMRI Study.

PubMed

Sakreida, Katrin; Higuchi, Satomi; Di Dio, Cinzia; Ziessler, Michael; Turgeon, Martine; Roberts, Neil; Vogt, Stefan

2018-03-01

Imitation learning involves the acquisition of novel motor patterns based on action observation (AO). We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the imitation learning of spatial sequences and rhythms during AO, motor imagery (MI), and imitative execution in nonmusicians and musicians. While both tasks engaged the fronto-parietal mirror circuit, the spatial sequence task recruited posterior parietal and dorsal premotor regions more strongly. The rhythm task involved an additional network for auditory working memory. This partial dissociation supports the concept of task-specific mirror mechanisms. Two regions of cognitive control were identified: 1) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be more strongly activated during MI of novel spatial sequences, which allowed us to extend the 2-level model of imitation learning by Buccino et al. (2004) to spatial sequences. 2) During imitative execution of both tasks, the posterior medial frontal cortex was robustly activated, along with the DLPFC, which suggests that both regions are involved in the cognitive control of imitation learning. The musicians' selective behavioral advantage for rhythm imitation was reflected cortically in enhanced sensory-motor processing during AO and by the absence of practice-related activation differences in DLPFC during rhythm execution. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Acute effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive function in individuals with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Silveira, Carolina R A; Roy, Eric A; Almeida, Quincy J

2018-04-03

Deficits in executive functions are highly prevalent in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although chronic physical exercise has been shown to improve executive functions in PD, evidence of acute exercise effects is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of an acute bout of exercise on cognitive processes underlying executive functions in PD. Twenty individuals with PD were assessed in both a Control and an Exercise conditions. In each condition, individuals started performing a simple and a choice reaction time (RT) task. Subsequently, participants were asked to sit on a cycle ergometer (Control) or cycle (Exercise) for 20 min in counterbalanced order. Participants were asked to repeat both reaction time tasks after 15-min rest period in both conditions. While no differences were found in simple RT, participants showed faster choice RT post Exercise as well as Control conditions (p = .012). Participants had slower choice RT for target stimulus compared to non-target stimuli irrespective of time or experimental condition (p < .001). There was no change in accuracy following experimental conditions. Results suggest that individuals with PD may not respond behaviourally to a single bout of exercise. The lack of selective effects of exercise on cognition suggests that practice effects may have influenced previous research. Future studies should assess whether neurophysiological changes might occur after an acute bout of exercise in PD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Apathy and Reduced Speed of Processing Underlie Decline in Verbal Fluency following DBS.

PubMed

Foley, Jennifer A; Foltynie, Tom; Zrinzo, Ludvic; Hyam, Jonathan A; Limousin, Patricia; Cipolotti, Lisa

2017-01-01

Objective . Reduced verbal fluency is a strikingly uniform finding following deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD). The precise cognitive mechanism underlying this reduction remains unclear, but theories have suggested reduced motivation, linguistic skill, and/or executive function. It is of note, however, that previous reports have failed to consider the potential role of any changes in speed of processing. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine verbal fluency changes with a particular focus on the role of cognitive speed. Method . In this study, 28 patients with PD completed measures of verbal fluency, motivation, language, executive functioning, and speed of processing, before and after DBS. Results . As expected, there was a marked decline in verbal fluency but also in a timed test of executive functions and two measures of speed of processing. Verbal fluency decline was associated with markers of linguistic and executive functioning, but not after speed of processing was statistically controlled for. In contrast, greater decline in verbal fluency was associated with higher levels of apathy at baseline, which was not associated with changes in cognitive speed. Discussion . Reduced generativity and processing speed may account for the marked reduction in verbal fluency commonly observed following DBS.

The Role of Intelligence Quotient and Emotional Intelligence in Cognitive Control Processes

PubMed Central

Checa, Purificación; Fernández-Berrocal, Pablo

2015-01-01

The relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) and cognitive control processes has been extensively established. Several studies have shown that IQ correlates with cognitive control abilities, such as interference suppression, as measured with experimental tasks like the Stroop and Flanker tasks. By contrast, there is a debate about the role of Emotional Intelligence (EI) in individuals' cognitive control abilities. The aim of this study is to examine the relation between IQ and EI, and cognitive control abilities evaluated by a typical laboratory control cognitive task, the Stroop task. Results show a negative correlation between IQ and the interference suppression index, the ability to inhibit processing of irrelevant information. However, the Managing Emotions dimension of EI measured by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), but not self-reported of EI, negatively correlates with the impulsivity index, the premature execution of the response. These results suggest that not only is IQ crucial, but also competences related to EI are essential to human cognitive control processes. Limitations and implications of these results are also discussed. PMID:26648901

Executive functions and basic symptoms in adolescent antisocial behavior: a cross-sectional study on an Italian sample of late-onset offenders.

PubMed

Muscatello, Maria Rosaria A; Scimeca, Giuseppe; Pandolfo, Gianluca; Micò, Umberto; Romeo, Vincenzo M; Mallamace, Domenico; Mento, Carmela; Zoccali, Rocco; Bruno, Antonio

2014-04-01

Executive cognitive functions (ECFs) and other cognitive impairments, such as lower IQ and verbal deficits, have been associated with the pattern of antisocial and delinquent behavior starting in childhood (early-onset), but not with late-onset antisocial behavior. Beyond objective measures of ECF, basic symptoms are prodromal, subjectively experienced cognitive, perceptual, affective, and social disturbances, associated with a range of psychiatric disorders, mainly with psychosis. The goal of the present study was to examine ECF and basic symptoms in a sample of late-onset juvenile delinquents. Two-hundred nine male adolescents (aged 15-20 years) characterized by a pattern of late-onset delinquent behavior with no antecedents of Conduct Disorder, were consecutively recruited from the Social Services of the Department of Juvenile Justice of the city of Messina (Italy), and compared with nonantisocial controls matched for age, educational level, and socio-demographic features on measures for ECF dysfunction and basic symptoms. Significant differences between late-onset offenders (completers=147) and control group (n=150) were found on ECF and basic symptoms measures. Chi-square analysis showed that a significantly greater number of late-onset offending participants scored in the clinical range on several ECF measures. Executive cognitive impairment, even subtle and subclinical, along with subjective symptoms of cognitive dysfunction (basic symptom), may be contributing factor in the development and persistence of antisocial behaviors displayed by late-onset adolescent delinquents. The findings also suggest the need for additional research aimed to assess a broader range of cognitive abilities and specific vulnerability and risk factors for late-onset adolescent offenders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Longitudinal Evaluation of Cognitive Functioning in Young Children with Type 1 Diabetes over 18 Months.

PubMed

Cato, M Allison; Mauras, Nelly; Mazaika, Paul; Kollman, Craig; Cheng, Peiyao; Aye, Tandy; Ambrosino, Jodie; Beck, Roy W; Ruedy, Katrina J; Reiss, Allan L; Tansey, Michael; White, Neil H; Hershey, Tamara

2016-03-01

Decrements in cognitive function may already be evident in young children with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here we report prospectively acquired cognitive results over 18 months in a large cohort of young children with and without T1D. A total of 144 children with T1D (mean HbA1c: 7.9%) and 70 age-matched healthy controls (mean age both groups 8.5 years; median diabetes duration 3.9 years; mean age of onset 4.1 years) underwent neuropsychological testing at baseline and after 18-months of follow-up. We hypothesized that group differences observed at baseline would be more pronounced after 18 months, particularly in those T1D patients with greatest exposure to glycemic extremes. Cognitive domain scores did not differ between groups at the 18 month testing session and did not change differently between groups over the follow-up period. However, within the T1D group, a history of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) was correlated with lower Verbal IQ and greater hyperglycemia exposure (HbA1c area under the curve) was inversely correlated to executive functions test performance. In addition, those with a history of both types of exposure performed most poorly on measures of executive function. The subtle cognitive differences between T1D children and nondiabetic controls observed at baseline were not observed 18 months later. Within the T1D group, as at baseline, relationships between cognition (Verbal IQ and executive functions) and glycemic variables (chronic hyperglycemia and DKA history) were evident. Continued longitudinal study of this T1D cohort and their carefully matched healthy comparison group is planned.

Longitudinal Evaluation of Cognitive Functioning in Young Children with Type 1 Diabetes over 18 Months

PubMed Central

Cato, M. Allison; Mauras, Nelly; Mazaika, Paul; Kollman, Craig; Cheng, Peiyao; Aye, Tandy; Ambrosino, Jodie; Beck, Roy W.; Ruedy, Katrina J.; Reiss, Allan L.; Tansey, Michael; White, Neil H.; Hershey, Tamara

2016-01-01

Objective Decrements in cognitive function may already be evident in young children with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here we report prospectively acquired cognitive results over 18 months in a large cohort of young children with and without T1D. Methods 144 children with T1D (mean HbA1c: 7.9%) and 70 age-matched healthy controls (mean age both groups 8.5 years; median diabetes duration 3.9 yrs; mean age of onset 4.1 yrs) underwent neuropsychological testing at baseline and after 18-months of follow-up. We hypothesized that group differences observed at baseline would be more pronounced after 18 months, particularly in those T1D patients with greatest exposure to glycemic extremes. Results Cognitive domain scores did not differ between groups at the 18 month testing session and did not change differently between groups over the follow-up period. However, within the T1D group, a history of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) was correlated with lower Verbal IQ and greater hyperglycemia exposure (HbA1c area under the curve) was inversely correlated to executive functions test performance. In addition, those with a history of both types of exposure performed most poorly on measures of executive function. Conclusions The subtle cognitive differences between T1D children and nondiabetic controls observed at baseline were not observed 18 months later. Within the T1D group, as at baseline, relationships between cognition (VIQ and executive functions) and glycemic variables (chronic hyperglycemia and DKA history) were evident. Continued longitudinal study of this T1D cohort and their carefully matched healthy comparison group is planned. PMID:26786245

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.

Is Work-Related Rumination Associated with Deficits in Executive Functioning?

PubMed Central

Cropley, Mark; Zijlstra, Fred R. H.; Querstret, Dawn; Beck, Sarah

2016-01-01

Work-related rumination, that is, perseverative thinking about work during leisure time, has been associated with a range of negative health and wellbeing issues. The present paper examined the association between work-related rumination and cognitive processes centerd around the theoretical construct of executive functioning. Executive functioning is an umbrella term for high level cognitive processes such as planning, working memory, inhibition, mental flexibility; and it underlies how people manage and regulate their goal directed behavior. Three studies are reported. Study I, reports the results of a cross-sectional study of 240 employees, and demonstrates significant correlations between work-related rumination and three proxy measures of executive functioning: cognitive failures (0.33), cognitive flexibility (-0.24), and situational awareness at work (-0.28). Study II (n = 939), expands on the findings from study 1 and demonstrates that workers reporting medium and high work-related rumination were 2.8 and 5 times, respectively, more likely to report cognitive failures relative to low ruminators. High ruminators also demonstrated greater difficulties with ‘lapses of attention’ (OR = 4.8), ‘lack of focus of attention’ (OR = 3.4), and ‘absent mindedness’ (OR = 4.3). The final study, examined the association between work-related rumination and executive functioning using interview data from 2460 full time workers. Workers were divided into tertiles low, medium, and high. The findings showed that high work-related rumination was associated with deficits in starting (OR = 2.3) and finishing projects (OR = 2.4), fidgeting (OR = 1.9), memory (OR = 2.2), pursuing tasks in order (OR = 1.8), and feeling compelled to do things (OR = 2.0). It was argued that work-related rumination may not be related to work demands per se, but appears to be an executive functioning/control issue. Such findings are important for the design and delivery of intervention programes aimed at helping people to switch off and unwind from work. PMID:27746759

Is Work-Related Rumination Associated with Deficits in Executive Functioning?

PubMed

Cropley, Mark; Zijlstra, Fred R H; Querstret, Dawn; Beck, Sarah

2016-01-01

Work-related rumination, that is, perseverative thinking about work during leisure time, has been associated with a range of negative health and wellbeing issues. The present paper examined the association between work-related rumination and cognitive processes centerd around the theoretical construct of executive functioning. Executive functioning is an umbrella term for high level cognitive processes such as planning, working memory, inhibition, mental flexibility; and it underlies how people manage and regulate their goal directed behavior. Three studies are reported. Study I, reports the results of a cross-sectional study of 240 employees, and demonstrates significant correlations between work-related rumination and three proxy measures of executive functioning: cognitive failures (0.33), cognitive flexibility (-0.24), and situational awareness at work (-0.28). Study II ( n = 939), expands on the findings from study 1 and demonstrates that workers reporting medium and high work-related rumination were 2.8 and 5 times, respectively, more likely to report cognitive failures relative to low ruminators. High ruminators also demonstrated greater difficulties with 'lapses of attention' (OR = 4.8), 'lack of focus of attention' (OR = 3.4), and 'absent mindedness' (OR = 4.3). The final study, examined the association between work-related rumination and executive functioning using interview data from 2460 full time workers. Workers were divided into tertiles low, medium, and high. The findings showed that high work-related rumination was associated with deficits in starting (OR = 2.3) and finishing projects (OR = 2.4), fidgeting (OR = 1.9), memory (OR = 2.2), pursuing tasks in order (OR = 1.8), and feeling compelled to do things (OR = 2.0). It was argued that work-related rumination may not be related to work demands per se , but appears to be an executive functioning/control issue. Such findings are important for the design and delivery of intervention programes aimed at helping people to switch off and unwind from work.

Are executive functions related to emotional intelligence? A correlational study in schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder.

PubMed

Hurtado, M M; Triviño, M; Arnedo, M; Roldán, G; Tudela, P

2016-12-30

This research explored the relationship between executive functions (working memory and reasoning subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Trail Making and Stroop tests, fluency and planning tasks, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) and emotional intelligence measured by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test in patients with schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder compared to a control group. As expected, both clinical groups performed worse than the control group in executive functions and emotional intelligence, although the impairment was greater in the borderline personality disorder group. Executive functions significantly correlated with social functioning. Results are discussed in relation to the brain circuits that mediate executive functions and emotional intelligence and the findings obtained with other models of social cognition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-pharmacological interventions on cognitive functions in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

PubMed

Teixeira, Camila Vieira Ligo; Gobbi, Lilian Teresa Bucken; Corazza, Danilla Icassatti; Stella, Florindo; Costa, José Luiz Riani; Gobbi, Sebastião

2012-01-01

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be a stage of pre-dementia. There is no consensus about pharmacological treatment for this population, so it is important to structure non-pharmacological interventions for increasing their cognitive reserve. We intended to analyze the effects of non-pharmacological interventions in the cognitive functions in older people with MC, in form of a systemic review. Data sources were the Web of Science, Biological Abstracts, Medline, Pub Med, EBSCHost, Scirus and Google Scholar. All studies were longitudinal trials, with MCI sample, aged>60 years, community-dwelling, and having cognitive functions as dependent variable. Seven studies, from 91 previously selected ones, were identified according to the inclusion criteria. Six studies used cognitive intervention, improving memory and one study used physical activity as intervention, improving executive functions. The results show evidence that physical activity and cognitive exercise may improve memory and executive functions in older people with MCI. But yet, more controlled studies are needed to establish a protocol of recommendations regarding the systemization of exercise, necessary to produce benefits in the cognitive functioning in older people with MCI. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Yoga practice improves executive function by attenuating stress levels.

PubMed

Gothe, Neha P; Keswani, Rahul K; McAuley, Edward

2016-12-01

Prolonged activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system is thought to have deleterious effects on brain function. Neuroendocrine studies suggest that brain exposure to higher cortisol concentrations contribute to cognitive deficits as we age. Mind-body techniques such as yoga have shown to improve stress levels by restoring the body's sympathetic-parasympathetic balance. The objective of this study was to determine whether yoga practice moderated the stress response resulting in improved executive function. Sedentary community dwelling older adults (N=118, Mean age=62.02) were randomized to an 8-week yoga intervention or a stretching control group. At baseline and following 8 weeks, all participants completed measures of executive function, self-reported stress and anxiety and provided saliva samples before and after cognitive testing to assess cortisol. Yoga participants showed improved accuracy on executive function measures and an attenuated cortisol response compared to their stretching counterparts who showed increased cortisol levels and poor cognitive performance at follow up. The change in cortisol levels as well as self-reported stress and anxiety levels predicted performance on the running span task, n-back working memory and task switching paradigm (β's=0.27-0.38, p's≤0.05 for yoga and β's=-0.37-0.47, p's≤0.01 for stretching control). Eight weeks of regular yoga practice resulted in improved working memory performance that was mediated by an attenuated response to stress as measured by self-report stress and objective salivary cortisol measurements. This trial offers evidence for non-traditional physical activity interventions such as yoga that may be helpful in restoring HPA balance in older adults, thereby preventing cognitive decline. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Contributions to Gait and Falls: Evidence and Implications

PubMed Central

Amboni, Marianna; Barone, Paolo; Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.

2014-01-01

Dementia and gait impairments often coexist in older adults and patients with neurodegenerative disease. Both conditions represent independent risk factors for falls. The relationship between cognitive function and gait has recently received increasing attention. Gait is no longer considered merely automated motor activity but rather an activity that requires executive function and attention as well as judgment of external and internal cues. In this review, we intend to: (1) summarize and synthesize the experimental, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging evidence that supports the role played by cognition in the control of gait; and (2) briefly discuss the implications deriving from the interplay between cognition and gait. In recent years, the dual task paradigm has been widely used as an experimental method to explore the interplay between gait and cognition. Several neuropsychological investigations have also demonstrated that walking relies on the use of several cognitive domains, including executive-attentional function, visuospatial abilities, and even memory resources. A number of morphological and functional neuroimaging studies have offered additional evidence supporting the relationship between gait and cognitive resources. Based on the findings from 3 lines of studies, it appears that a growing body of evidence indicates a pivotal role of cognition in gait control and fall prevention. The interplay between higher-order neural function and gait has a number of clinical implications, ranging from integrated assessment tools to possible innovative lines of interventions, including cognitive therapy for falls prevention on one hand and walking program for reducing dementia risk on the other. PMID:24132840

Effects of Cognitive Training on Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Default Mode, Salience, and Central Executive Networks.

PubMed

Cao, Weifang; Cao, Xinyi; Hou, Changyue; Li, Ting; Cheng, Yan; Jiang, Lijuan; Luo, Cheng; Li, Chunbo; Yao, Dezhong

2016-01-01

Neuroimaging studies have documented that aging can disrupt certain higher cognitive systems such as the default mode network (DMN), the salience network and the central executive network (CEN). The effect of cognitive training on higher cognitive systems remains unclear. This study used a 1-year longitudinal design to explore the cognitive training effect on three higher cognitive networks in healthy older adults. The community-living healthy older adults were divided into two groups: the multi-domain cognitive training group (24 sessions of cognitive training over a 3-months period) and the wait-list control group. All subjects underwent cognitive measurements and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning at baseline and at 1 year after the training ended. We examined training-related changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between three networks. Compared with the baseline, we observed maintained or increased FC within all three networks after training. The scans after training also showed maintained anti-correlation of FC between the DMN and CEN compared to the baseline. These findings demonstrated that cognitive training maintained or improved the functional integration within networks and the coupling between the DMN and CEN in older adults. Our findings suggested that multi-domain cognitive training can mitigate the aging-related dysfunction of higher cognitive networks.

Effects of Cognitive Training on Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Default Mode, Salience, and Central Executive Networks

PubMed Central

Cao, Weifang; Cao, Xinyi; Hou, Changyue; Li, Ting; Cheng, Yan; Jiang, Lijuan; Luo, Cheng; Li, Chunbo; Yao, Dezhong

2016-01-01

Neuroimaging studies have documented that aging can disrupt certain higher cognitive systems such as the default mode network (DMN), the salience network and the central executive network (CEN). The effect of cognitive training on higher cognitive systems remains unclear. This study used a 1-year longitudinal design to explore the cognitive training effect on three higher cognitive networks in healthy older adults. The community-living healthy older adults were divided into two groups: the multi-domain cognitive training group (24 sessions of cognitive training over a 3-months period) and the wait-list control group. All subjects underwent cognitive measurements and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning at baseline and at 1 year after the training ended. We examined training-related changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between three networks. Compared with the baseline, we observed maintained or increased FC within all three networks after training. The scans after training also showed maintained anti-correlation of FC between the DMN and CEN compared to the baseline. These findings demonstrated that cognitive training maintained or improved the functional integration within networks and the coupling between the DMN and CEN in older adults. Our findings suggested that multi-domain cognitive training can mitigate the aging-related dysfunction of higher cognitive networks. PMID:27148042

Brief Report: Further Evidence for a Link between Inner Speech Limitations and Executive Function in High-Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell-Smith, Suzanna N.; Comerford, Bronwynn J. E.; Maybery, Murray T.; Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.

2014-01-01

This study investigated the involvement of inner speech limitations in the executive dysfunction associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Seventeen children with ASD and 18 controls, statistically-matched in age and IQ, performed a computer-based card sorting test (CST) to assess cognitive flexibility under four conditions: baseline, with…

Stability and Change in Executive Function Abilities from Late Adolescence to Early Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Naomi P.; Miyake, Akira; Altamirano, Lee J.; Corley, Robin P.; Young, Susan E.; Rhea, Sally Ann; Hewitt, John K.

2016-01-01

Executive functions (EFs)--the higher level cognitive abilities that enable us to control our own thoughts and actions--continue to develop into early adulthood, yet no longitudinal study has examined their stability during the important life transition from late adolescence to young adulthood. In this twin study (total N = 840 individuals from…

The Influence of Tactile Cognitive Maps on Auditory Space Perception in Sighted Persons.

PubMed

Tonelli, Alessia; Gori, Monica; Brayda, Luca

2016-01-01

We have recently shown that vision is important to improve spatial auditory cognition. In this study, we investigate whether touch is as effective as vision to create a cognitive map of a soundscape. In particular, we tested whether the creation of a mental representation of a room, obtained through tactile exploration of a 3D model, can influence the perception of a complex auditory task in sighted people. We tested two groups of blindfolded sighted people - one experimental and one control group - in an auditory space bisection task. In the first group, the bisection task was performed three times: specifically, the participants explored with their hands the 3D tactile model of the room and were led along the perimeter of the room between the first and the second execution of the space bisection. Then, they were allowed to remove the blindfold for a few minutes and look at the room between the second and third execution of the space bisection. Instead, the control group repeated for two consecutive times the space bisection task without performing any environmental exploration in between. Considering the first execution as a baseline, we found an improvement in the precision after the tactile exploration of the 3D model. Interestingly, no additional gain was obtained when room observation followed the tactile exploration, suggesting that no additional gain was obtained by vision cues after spatial tactile cues were internalized. No improvement was found between the first and the second execution of the space bisection without environmental exploration in the control group, suggesting that the improvement was not due to task learning. Our results show that tactile information modulates the precision of an ongoing space auditory task as well as visual information. This suggests that cognitive maps elicited by touch may participate in cross-modal calibration and supra-modal representations of space that increase implicit knowledge about sound propagation.

Neuropsychological outcome in patients with childhood craniopharyngioma and hypothalamic involvement.

PubMed

Özyurt, Jale; Thiel, Christiane M; Lorenzen, Anna; Gebhardt, Ursel; Calaminus, Gabriele; Warmuth-Metz, Monika; Müller, Hermann L

2014-04-01

To test memory performance and executive functions in patients with childhood craniopharyngioma and hypothalamic involvement. Using standardized neuropsychological tests, we compared cognitive performance in a group of 15 patients with childhood craniopharyngioma and known hypothalamic involvement and a group of 24 age- and intelligence-matched control subjects. In addition, we compared individual patients' results with normative data to detect abnormal performance in the clinically relevant range. Within the patient group, we further tested whether the grade of hypothalamic involvement had an impact on cognitive performance and quality of life. Relative to healthy controls, the patients demonstrated significantly lower performance scores in tests of memory and executive functioning. On the individual performance level, delayed recall performance was severely impaired in one-third of the patients. Compared with patients with low-grade hypothalamic involvement, those with high-grade hypothalamic involvement showed worse performance in executive functions and reduced functional capabilities for daily life actions, indicating lower quality of life. Our findings demonstrate that hypothalamic involvement is related to impairments in memory and executive functioning in patients with childhood craniopharyngioma and indicate that a high grade of hypothalamic involvement is related to worse outcomes. Copyright © 2014 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Auditory Cortical Plasticity Drives Training-Induced Cognitive Changes in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Dale, Corby L.; Brown, Ethan G.; Fisher, Melissa; Herman, Alexander B.; Dowling, Anne F.; Hinkley, Leighton B.; Subramaniam, Karuna; Nagarajan, Srikantan S.; Vinogradov, Sophia

2016-01-01

Schizophrenia is characterized by dysfunction in basic auditory processing, as well as higher-order operations of verbal learning and executive functions. We investigated whether targeted cognitive training of auditory processing improves neural responses to speech stimuli, and how these changes relate to higher-order cognitive functions. Patients with schizophrenia performed an auditory syllable identification task during magnetoencephalography before and after 50 hours of either targeted cognitive training or a computer games control. Healthy comparison subjects were assessed at baseline and after a 10 week no-contact interval. Prior to training, patients (N = 34) showed reduced M100 response in primary auditory cortex relative to healthy participants (N = 13). At reassessment, only the targeted cognitive training patient group (N = 18) exhibited increased M100 responses. Additionally, this group showed increased induced high gamma band activity within left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex immediately after stimulus presentation, and later in bilateral temporal cortices. Training-related changes in neural activity correlated with changes in executive function scores but not verbal learning and memory. These data suggest that computerized cognitive training that targets auditory and verbal learning operations enhances both sensory responses in auditory cortex as well as engagement of prefrontal regions, as indexed during an auditory processing task with low demands on working memory. This neural circuit enhancement is in turn associated with better executive function but not verbal memory. PMID:26152668

Parkinson's patients' executive profile and goals they set for improvement: Why is cognitive rehabilitation not common practice?

PubMed

Vlagsma, T T; Koerts, J; Fasotti, L; Tucha, O; van Laar, T; Dijkstra, H; Spikman, J M

2016-01-01

Impairments in executive functions (EF) are the core cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Surprisingly, cognitive rehabilitation is not routinely offered to patients with PD. However, in patients with acquired brain injury (ABI), cognitive rehabilitation, in particular strategic executive training, is common practice and has been shown to be effective. In this study, we determined whether PD patients have different needs and aims with regard to strategic executive training than ABI patients, and whether possible differences might be a reason for not offering this kind of cognitive rehabilitation programme to patients with PD. Patients' needs and aims were operationalised by individually set goals, which were classified into domains of EF and daily life. In addition, patients with PD and ABI were compared on their cognitive, in particular EF, profile. Overall, PD patients' goals and cognitive profile were similar to those of patients with ABI. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, there is no reason to assume that strategic executive training cannot be part of standard therapy in PD. However, when strategic executive training is applied in clinical practice, disease-specific characteristics need to be taken into account.

[Cognitive remediation and work outcome in schizophrenia].

PubMed

Franck, N

2014-06-01

Recovery is partly defined by the patients' capacity to work, since doing well in a job favors hope and responsibilities' taking. Diminished job placement or tenure is linked with cognitive disorders, which impact directly and indirectly (through negative symptoms) functional outcomes. Attention, executive functions and working memory disorders can result in an alteration of the ability to manage the tasks required in the workplace. Executive function, working memory and social cognition disorders may also have an impact on behavior in relationships. Cognitive disorders do not automatically directly contribute to vocational outcome, yet their effects may be mediated by other variables such as symptoms, metacognition, social skills and intrinsic motivation. Then, since all these dimensions have to be taken into account, reducing the impact of cognitive troubles becomes a major challenge for the care of schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation is the more effective therapeutic tool to reduce cognitive dysfunctions. It rests in particular on the development of new strategies that allow taking concrete situations into account more efficiently. Cognitive remediation reduces the detrimental consequences of cognitive disorders and permits their compensation. It has emerged as an effective treatment, that improves not only cognitive abilities but also functioning, as it has been shown by numerous randomized controlled studies and several meta-analyses. The present article considers the effects on cognitive remediation on work function in schizophrenia. Several randomized controlled trials that compared supported employment alone versus supported employment associated with cognitive remediation showed significant improvement of employment rates in the latter condition. These results favor the use of cognitive remediation before job placement. The specific needs of the occupation that will be provided and the cognitive profile of the user should be taken into account. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

The cognitive mechanisms underlying perspective taking between conversational partners: Evidence from speakers with Alzheimer’s disease

PubMed Central

Wardlow, Liane; Ivanova, Iva; Gollan, Tamar H.

2014-01-01

Successful communication requires speakers to consider their listeners’ perspectives. Little is known about how this ability changes in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) although such knowledge could reveal the cognitive mechanisms fundamental to perspective-taking ability, and reveal which cognitive deficits are fundamental to communication disorders in AD. Patients with mild to moderate AD and age and education matched controls were tested in a communicative perspective-taking task, and on measures of executive control, general cognitive functioning, and lexical retrieval. Patients’ ability to perform the perspective-taking task was significantly correlated with performance on measures of general cognitive functioning, visual scanning and construction, response conflict and attention. Measures of lexical retrieval tended not to be correlated with performance on the communication task with one exception: semantic but not letter fluency predicted a derived score of perspective-taking ability. These findings broaden our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying perspective taking, and suggest that impairments in perspective taking in AD occur during utterance planning, and at a relatively early processing stage which involves rapid visual scanning and problem solving, rather than during retrieval of lexical items needed to speak. More broadly, these data reveal executive function and semantic deficits, but not problems with lexical retrieval, as more fundamental to the basis of cognitive changes associated with AD. PMID:24467889

Improvement of postoperative cognitive dysfunction and attention network function of patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease via dexmedetomidine.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingchao; Wang, Guoliang; Zhang, Fangxiang; Zhao, Qian

2018-03-01

The protective effect of dexmedetomidine on cognitive dysfunction and decreased attention network function of patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease after stenting was investigated. Fifty-eight patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease undergoing stenting in Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital were selected and randomly divided into control group (n=29) and dexmedetomidine group (n=29). The dexmedetomidine group was treated with dexmedetomidine before induced anesthesia, while the control group was given the same dose of normal saline; and the normal volunteers of the same age were selected as the normal group (n=29). At 3 days after operation, the levels of serum S100B and nerve growth factor (NGF) in each group were detected using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was detected via western blotting. Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) and attention network test (ANT) were performed. Moreover, the cognitive function and attention network function, and the effects of dexmedetomidine on cognitive function and attention network function were evaluated. The concentrations of serum S100B and NGF in dexmedetomidine group was lower than those in control group (P<0.01). The results of western blotting showed that the levels of serum BDNF in control group and dexmedetomidine group were significantly lower than that in normal group (P<0.01), and it was higher in dexmedetomidine group than that in control group (P<0.01). Besides, both MoCA and ANT results revealed that the visual space and executive function scores, attention scores, delayed memory scores, targeted network efficiency and executive control network efficiency in dexmedetomidine group were obviously higher than those in control group (P<0.01). The cognitive function and attention network function of patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease have a certain degree of damage, and the preoperative administration of dexmedetomidine can effectively improve the patient's cognitive dysfunction and attention network function after operation.

[Ecological executive function characteristics and effects of executive function on social adaptive function in school-aged children with epilepsy].

PubMed

Xu, X J; Wang, L L; Zhou, N

2016-02-23

To explore the characteristics of ecological executive function in school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy and examine the effects of executive function on social adaptive function. A total of 51 school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy aged 5-12 years at our hospital and 37 normal ones of the same gender, age and educational level were included. The differences in ecological executive function and social adaptive function were compared between the two groups with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Child Adaptive Behavior Scale, the Pearson's correlation test and multiple stepwise linear regression were used to explore the impact of executive function on social adaptive function. The scores of school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy in global executive composite (GEC), behavioral regulation index (BRI) and metacognition index (MI) of BRIEF ((62±12), (58±13) and (63±12), respectively) were significantly higher than those of the control group ((47±7), (44±6) and (48±8), respectively))(P<0.01). The scores of school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy in adaptive behavior quotient (ADQ), independence, cognition, self-control ((86±22), (32±17), (49±14), (41±16), respectively) were significantly lower than those of the control group ((120±12), (59±14), (59±7) and (68±10), respectively))(P<0.01). Pearson's correlation test showed that the scores of BRIEF, such as GEC, BRI, MI, inhibition, emotional control, monitoring, initiation and working memory had significantly negative correlations with the score of ADQ, independence, self-control ((r=-0.313--0.741, P<0.05)). Also, GEC, inhibition, MI, initiation, working memory, plan, organization and monitoring had significantly negative correlations with the score of cognition ((r=-0.335--0.437, P<0.05)); Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis showed that BRI, inhibition and working memory were closely related with the social adaptive function of school-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy. School-aged children with idiopathic or probably symptomatic epilepsy may have significantly ecological executive function impairment and social adaptive function reduction. The aspects of BRI, inhibition and working memory in ecological executive function are significantly related with social adaptive function in school-aged children with epilepsy.

For whom the mind wanders, and when: an experience-sampling study of working memory and executive control in daily life.

PubMed

Kane, Michael J; Brown, Leslie H; McVay, Jennifer C; Silvia, Paul J; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Kwapil, Thomas R

2007-07-01

An experience-sampling study of 124 undergraduates, pretested on complex memory-span tasks, examined the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and the experience of mind wandering in daily life. Over 7 days, personal digital assistants signaled subjects eight times daily to report immediately whether their thoughts had wandered from their current activity, and to describe their psychological and physical context. WMC moderated the relation between mind wandering and activities' cognitive demand. During challenging activities requiring concentration and effort, higher-WMC subjects maintained on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than did lower-WMC subjects. The results were therefore consistent with theories of WMC emphasizing the role of executive attention and control processes in determining individual differences and their cognitive consequences.

Rule induction performance in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia: examining the role of simple and biconditional rule learning processes.

PubMed

Oosterman, Joukje M; Heringa, Sophie M; Kessels, Roy P C; Biessels, Geert Jan; Koek, Huiberdina L; Maes, Joseph H R; van den Berg, Esther

2017-04-01

Rule induction tests such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test require executive control processes, but also the learning and memorization of simple stimulus-response rules. In this study, we examined the contribution of diminished learning and memorization of simple rules to complex rule induction test performance in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Twenty-six aMCI patients, 39 AD patients, and 32 control participants were included. A task was used in which the memory load and the complexity of the rules were independently manipulated. This task consisted of three conditions: a simple two-rule learning condition (Condition 1), a simple four-rule learning condition (inducing an increase in memory load, Condition 2), and a complex biconditional four-rule learning condition-inducing an increase in complexity and, hence, executive control load (Condition 3). Performance of AD patients declined disproportionately when the number of simple rules that had to be memorized increased (from Condition 1 to 2). An additional increment in complexity (from Condition 2 to 3) did not, however, disproportionately affect performance of the patients. Performance of the aMCI patients did not differ from that of the control participants. In the patient group, correlation analysis showed that memory performance correlated with Condition 1 performance, whereas executive task performance correlated with Condition 2 performance. These results indicate that the reduced learning and memorization of underlying task rules explains a significant part of the diminished complex rule induction performance commonly reported in AD, although results from the correlation analysis suggest involvement of executive control functions as well. Taken together, these findings suggest that care is needed when interpreting rule induction task performance in terms of executive function deficits in these patients.

The relationship between theory of mind and the executive functions: Evidence from patients with frontal lobe damage.

PubMed

Yeh, Zai-Ting; Tsai, Ming-Cheng; Tsai, Ming-Dar; Lo, Chiao-Yu; Wang, Kaw-Chen

2017-01-01

"Theory of mind" (ToM) refers to the ability to predict others' thoughts, intentions, beliefs, and feelings. Evidence from neuropsychology and functional imaging indicates that ToM is a domain-specific or modular architecture; however, research in development psychology has suggested that ToM is the full development of the executive functions in individuals. Therefore, the relationship between ToM and the executive functions needs to be clarified. Since the frontal lobe plays a critical role in the abilities of ToM and the executive functions, patients with frontal lobe damage were recruited for the present study. Assessments of ToM and the executive functions were performed on 23 patients with frontal lobe damage and 20 healthy controls. When controlling for the executive functions, significant differences between the patient and normal groups were found in the affective component of ToM, but not in the cognitive component. The present study suggests that in various social situations, executing ToM abilities requires logical reasoning processes provided by the executive functions. However, the reasoning processes of affective ToM are independent of executive functions.

How Do Executive Functions Fit with the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Model? Some Evidence from a Joint Factor Analysis of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Floyd, Randy G.; Bergeron, Renee; Hamilton, Gloria; Parra, Gilbert R.

2010-01-01

This study investigated the relations among executive functions and cognitive abilities through a joint exploratory factor analysis and joint confirmatory factor analysis of 25 test scores from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities. Participants were 100 children and adolescents…

Obesity, metabolic profile, and inhibition failure: Young women under scrutiny.

PubMed

Catoira, N P; Tapajóz, F; Allegri, R F; Lajfer, J; Rodríguez Cámara, M J; Iturry, M L; Castaño, G O

2016-04-01

The prevalence of obesity, as well as evidence about this pathology as a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly, is increasing worldwide. Executive functions have been found to be compromised in most studies, although the specific results are dissimilar. Obese young women constitute an interesting study and intervention group, having been found to be unaffected by age and hormonal negative effects on cognition and considering that their health problems affect not only themselves but their families and offspring. The objective of the present study was to compare the executive performance of obese young women with that of a healthy control group. A cross-sectional study was done among premenopausal women from a public hospital in Buenos Aires. The sample comprised 113 participants (32 healthy controls and 81 obese women), who were evaluated for depressive and anxiety symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and executive functioning (Trail-Making Test B, Stroop Color and Word Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and verbal fluency test). Statistical analysis was done by using the SPSS version 20.0 software. Among executive functions, a significant difference was found between groups in inhibition (p<0.01). No correlation was found between psychopathologic measures and Stroop Test Interference results. We found slight correlations between Stroop Test Interference results, waist circumference, fat mass and HDL-cholesterol. In obese group, there was a negative slightly correlation between this cognitive test and 2h post-load glucose level. Inhibition was decreased in our obese young women group, and glucose/lipid metabolism may be involved in this association. The cognitive impairment is comparable with that described in addictive conditions. Our conclusions support the concept of multidisciplinary management of obese patients from the time of diagnosis. Detecting and understanding cognitive dysfunction in this population is essential to providing appropriate treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A pilot study of an online cognitive rehabilitation program for executive function skills in children with cancer-related brain injury

PubMed Central

Kesler, Shelli R.; Lacayo, Norman J.; Jo, Booil

2011-01-01

Primary objectives Children with a history of cancer are at increased risk for cognitive impairments, particularly in executive and memory domains. Traditional, in-person cognitive rehabilitation strategies may be unavailable and/or impractical for many of these children given difficulties related to resources and health status. The feasibility and efficacy of implementing a computerized, home-based cognitive rehabilitation curriculum designed to improve executive function skills was examined in these children. Methods A one-arm open trial pilot study of an original executive function cognitive rehabilitation curriculum was conducted with 23 paediatric cancer survivors aged 7–19. Results Compliance with the cognitive rehabilitation program was 83%, similar to that of many traditional programs. Following the cognitive intervention, participants showed significantly increased processing speed, cognitive flexibility, verbal and visual declarative memory scores as well as significantly increased pre-frontal cortex activation compared to baseline. Conclusions These results suggest that a program of computerized cognitive exercises can be successfully implemented at home in young children with cancer. These exercises may be effective for improving executive and memory skills in this group, with concurrent changes in neurobiologic status. PMID:21142826

What has fMRI told us about the Development of Cognitive Control through Adolescence?

PubMed Central

Luna, Beatriz; Padmanabhan, Aarthi; O’Hearn, Kirsten

2009-01-01

Cognitive control, the ability to voluntarily guide our behavior, continues to improve throughout adolescence. Below we review the literature on age-related changes in brain function related to response inhibition and working memory, which support cognitive control. Findings from studies using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) indicate that processing errors, sustaining a cognitive control state, and reaching adult levels of precision, persist through adolescence. Developmental changes in patterns of brain function suggest that core regions of the circuitry underlying cognitive control are on-line early in development. However, age-related changes in localized processes across the brain and in establishing long range connections that support top-down modulation of behavior may support more effective neural processing for optimal mature executive function. While great progress has been made in understanding the age-related changes in brain processes underlying cognitive development, there are still important challenges in developmental neuroimaging methods and the interpretation of data that need to be addressed. PMID:19765880

A cognitive dual task affects gait variability in patients suffering from chronic low back pain.

PubMed

Hamacher, Dennis; Hamacher, Daniel; Schega, Lutz

2014-11-01

Chronic pain and gait variability in a dual-task situation are both associated with higher risk of falling. Executive functions regulate (dual-task) gait variability. A possible cause explaining why chronic pain increases risk of falling in an everyday dual-task situation might be that pain interferes with executive functions and results in a diminished dual-task capability with performance decrements on the secondary task. The main goal of this experiment was to evaluate the specific effects of a cognitive dual task on gait variability in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. Twelve healthy participants and twelve patients suffering from CLBP were included. The subjects were asked to perform a cognitive single task, a walking single task and a motor-cognitive dual task. Stride variability of trunk movements was calculated. A two-way ANOVA was performed to compare single-task walking with dual-task walking and the single cognitive task performance with the motor-cognitive dual-task performance. We did not find any differences in both of the single-task performances between groups. However, regarding single-task walking and dual-task walking, we observed an interaction effect indicating that low back pain patients show significantly higher gait variability in the dual-task condition as compared to controls. Our data suggest that chronic pain reduces motor-cognitive dual-task performance capability. We postulate that the detrimental effects are caused by central mechanisms where pain interferes with executive functions which, in turn, might contribute to increased risk of falling.

The effect of healthy dietary consumption on executive cognitive functioning in children and adolescents: a systematic review.

PubMed

Cohen, J F W; Gorski, M T; Gruber, S A; Kurdziel, L B F; Rimm, E B

2016-09-01

A systematic review was conducted to evaluate whether healthier dietary consumption among children and adolescents impacts executive functioning. PubMed, Education Resources Information Center, PsychINFO and Thomson Reuters' Web of Science databases were searched, and studies of executive functioning among children or adolescents aged 6-18 years, which examined food quality, macronutrients and/or foods, were included. Study quality was also assessed. In all, twenty-one studies met inclusion criteria. Among the twelve studies examining food quality (n 9) or macronutrient intakes (n 4), studies examining longer-term diet (n 6) showed positive associations between healthier overall diet quality and executive functioning, whereas the studies examining the acute impact of diet (n 6) were inconsistent but suggestive of improvements in executive functioning with better food quality. Among the ten studies examining foods, overall, there was a positive association between healthier foods (e.g. whole grains, fish, fruits and/or vegetables) and executive function, whereas less-healthy snack foods, sugar-sweetened beverages and red/processed meats were inversely associated with executive functioning. Taken together, evidence suggests a positive association between healthy dietary consumption and executive functioning. Additional studies examining the effects of healthier food consumption, as well as macronutrients, on executive functioning are warranted. These studies should ideally be conducted in controlled environments and use validated cognitive tests.

Exercise and Parkinson's: benefits for cognition and quality of life.

PubMed

Cruise, K E; Bucks, R S; Loftus, A M; Newton, R U; Pegoraro, R; Thomas, M G

2011-01-01

The benefits of physical exercise for psychological aspects of quality of life (QoL) are well established in normally ageing adults, yet potential benefits for people with Parkinson's disease (PD) have received limited attention. This study evaluated the benefits of exercise for cognitive functioning, mood and disease-specific QoL for people with PD. Twenty-eight individuals with PD were allocated to an exercise intervention program (EIP, n = 15) or control group (n = 13). The EIP group undertook a programme of progressive anabolic and aerobic exercise twice weekly for 12 weeks. The control group maintained their usual lifestyle. Exercise was shown to have selective benefits for cognitive functioning by improving frontal lobe based executive function. No significant effects were demonstrated for mood or disease-specific QoL. These results are consistent with previous research demonstrating selective benefits of exercise for executive function among normal ageing adults and PD. Copyright © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Munksgaard.

Executive Dysfunctions Predict Self-Restricted Driving Habits in Elderly People with or without Alzheimer's Dementia.

PubMed

Kurzthaler, Ilsemarie; Kemmler, Georg; Defrancesco, Michaela; Moser, Bernadette; Fleischhacker, Wolfgang W; Weiss, Elisabeth M

2017-09-01

Introduction The purpose of this study was to elucidate the impact of specific cognitive functions on self-restricted driving habits in healthy elderly drivers and patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Method Our study population included 35 cognitively healthy controls, 10 MCI patients, and 16 patients with AD. All participants completed a neuropsychological examination and a self-reported questionnaire assessing driving habits and patterns. Results In challenging driving conditions, patients with MCI or AD showed significantly more driving self-restriction than healthy subjects (effect size d=1.06, p=0.007). Ordinal regression analysis across the entire group revealed that deficits in executive functions and reaction had a higher impact on driving restriction (p=0.002) than deficits in memory functions (p=0.570). Additionally, our data showed that 40% of patients with mild to moderate AD still drive in challenging conditions. Discussion Our results illustrate that elderly individuals use self-imposed driving restrictions as compensatory strategies. These restrictions increase with cognitive decline mainly in the field of executive functions, but they do not change once patients convert from MCI to AD. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Cognitive and affective associations with an ecologically valid test of theory of mind across the lifespan.

PubMed

Johansson Nolaker, Emilie; Murray, Kim; Happé, Francesca; Charlton, Rebecca A

2018-05-24

Many studies have demonstrated that theory of mind (ToM) ability declines with increasing age. Research has found that ToM-age associations are often mediated by other cognitive abilities particularly executive function. However, older adults rarely complain about real-world ToM difficulties. It has been suggested that older adults may perform better in real-world situations compared with experimental settings. We examined performance on the Strange Stories Film Task (SSFT) which has been designed to assess ToM using naturalistic, video scenarios. Sixty adults aged between 17- and 95-years-old completed the SSFT, inhibitory control (Stroop) and working memory (letter-number sequencing) measures, the basic empathy scale (cognitive and affective empathy), and the broad autism phenotype questionnaire. ToM performance correlated significantly with age, whereas performance on a control task did not. Partial correlations and stepwise regression analyses demonstrated that performance on the three SSFT ToM measures was explained by a combination of executive function and empathy measures, with age explaining none of the variance. Using a naturalistic test of ToM, performance was shown to decline with age for ToM but not control scenarios. Across the lifespan, the variance in ToM performance was explained by cognitive abilities and empathy but not age. Age alone may not influence ToM ability, but may be associated with age-related changes in cognition and social-cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Resting cardiac vagal tone predicts intraindividual reaction time variability during an attention task in a sample of young and healthy adults.

PubMed

Williams, DeWayne P; Thayer, Julian F; Koenig, Julian

2016-12-01

Intraindividual reaction time variability (IIV), defined as the variability in trial-to-trial response times, is thought to serve as an index of central nervous system function. As such, greater IIV reflects both poorer executive brain function and cognitive control, in addition to lapses in attention. Resting-state vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), a psychophysiological index of self-regulatory abilities, has been linked with executive brain function and cognitive control such that those with greater resting-state vmHRV often perform better on cognitive tasks. However, research has yet to investigate the direct relationship between resting vmHRV and task IIV. The present study sought to examine this relationship in a sample of 104 young and healthy participants who first completed a 5-min resting-baseline period during which resting-state vmHRV was assessed. Participants then completed an attentional (target detection) task, where reaction time, accuracy, and trial-to-trial IIV were obtained. Results showed resting vmHRV to be significantly related to IIV, such that lower resting vmHRV predicted higher IIV on the task, even when controlling for several covariates (including mean reaction time and accuracy). Overall, our results provide further evidence for the link between resting vmHRV and cognitive control, and extend these notions to the domain of lapses in attention, as indexed by IIV. Implications and recommendations for future research on resting vmHRV and cognition are discussed. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Pain and Cognition in Multiple Sclerosis.

PubMed

Scherder, R; Kant, N; Wolf, E; Pijnenburg, A C M; Scherder, E

2017-10-01

The goal of the present study was to examine the relationship between pain and cognition in patients with multiple sclerosis. Cross-sectional. Nursing home and personal environment of the investigators. Two groups of participants were included: 91 patients with multiple sclerosis and 80 matched control participants. The level of pain was measured by the following pain scales: Number of Words Chosen-Affective, Colored Analogue Scale for pain intensity and suffering from pain, and the Faces Pain Scale. Mood was tested by administering the Beck Depression Inventory and the Symptom Check List-90 anxiety and depression subscale. Global cognitive functioning was assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination. Memory and executive functions were assessed by several neuropsychological tests. Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients scored significantly lower than control participants on the majority of the neuropsychological tests. The MS patients experienced more pain compared with control participants, despite the fact that they were taking significantly more pain medication. No significant correlation was observed between cognition and pain in MS patients. Verbal working memory explained 10% of pain intensity (trend). Mood appeared to be a significant predictor of pain in patients with multiple sclerosis. The lack of a relationship between cognition and pain might be explained by the fact that, compared with control participants, patients with multiple sclerosis activate other non-pain-related areas to perform executive functions and memory tasks. © 2017 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Moderators of noise-induced cognitive change in healthy adults.

PubMed

Wright, Bernice Al; Peters, Emmanuelle R; Ettinger, Ulrich; Kuipers, Elizabeth; Kumari, Veena

2016-01-01

Environmental noise causes cognitive impairment, particularly in executive function and episodic memory domains, in healthy populations. However, the possible moderating influences on this relationship are less clear. This study assessed 54 healthy participants (24 men) on a cognitive battery (measuring psychomotor speed, attention, executive function, working memory, and verbal learning and memory) under three (quiet, urban, and social) noise conditions. IQ, subjective noise sensitivity, sleep, personality, paranoia, depression, anxiety, stress, and schizotypy were assessed on a single occasion. We found significantly slower psychomotor speed (urban), reduced working memory and episodic memory (urban and social), and more cautious decision-making (executive function, urban) under noise conditions. There was no effect of sex. Variance in urban noise-induced changes in psychomotor speed, attention, Trail Making B-A (executive function), and immediate recall and social noise-induced changes in verbal fluency (executive function) and immediate recall were explained by a combination of baseline cognition and paranoia, noise sensitivity, sleep, or cognitive disorganization. Higher baseline cognition (but not IQ) predicted greater impairment under urban and social noise for most cognitive variables. Paranoia predicted psychomotor speed, attention, and executive function impairment. Subjective noise sensitivity predicted executive function and memory impairment. Poor sleep quality predicted less memory impairment. Finally, lower levels of cognitive disorganization predicted slower psychomotor speed and greater memory impairment. The identified moderators should be considered in studies aiming to reduce the detrimental effects of occupational and residential noise. These results highlight the importance of studying noise effects in clinical populations characterized by high levels of the paranoia, sleep disturbances, noise sensitivity, and cognitive disorganization.

Moderators of noise-induced cognitive change in healthy adults

PubMed Central

Wright, Bernice AL; Peters, Emmanuelle R; Ettinger, Ulrich; Kuipers, Elizabeth; Kumari, Veena

2016-01-01

Environmental noise causes cognitive impairment, particularly in executive function and episodic memory domains, in healthy populations. However, the possible moderating influences on this relationship are less clear. This study assessed 54 healthy participants (24 men) on a cognitive battery (measuring psychomotor speed, attention, executive function, working memory, and verbal learning and memory) under three (quiet, urban, and social) noise conditions. IQ, subjective noise sensitivity, sleep, personality, paranoia, depression, anxiety, stress, and schizotypy were assessed on a single occasion. We found significantly slower psychomotor speed (urban), reduced working memory and episodic memory (urban and social), and more cautious decision-making (executive function, urban) under noise conditions. There was no effect of sex. Variance in urban noise-induced changes in psychomotor speed, attention, Trail Making B-A (executive function), and immediate recall and social noise-induced changes in verbal fluency (executive function) and immediate recall were explained by a combination of baseline cognition and paranoia, noise sensitivity, sleep, or cognitive disorganization. Higher baseline cognition (but not IQ) predicted greater impairment under urban and social noise for most cognitive variables. Paranoia predicted psychomotor speed, attention, and executive function impairment. Subjective noise sensitivity predicted executive function and memory impairment. Poor sleep quality predicted less memory impairment. Finally, lower levels of cognitive disorganization predicted slower psychomotor speed and greater memory impairment. The identified moderators should be considered in studies aiming to reduce the detrimental effects of occupational and residential noise. These results highlight the importance of studying noise effects in clinical populations characterized by high levels of the paranoia, sleep disturbances, noise sensitivity, and cognitive disorganization. PMID:27157685

Memory and executive functions in persons with type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Sadanand, Shilpa; Balachandar, Rakesh; Bharath, Srikala

2016-02-01

Literature suggests that persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at risk for cognitive impairment, hence dementia. Common domains reported to be affected in those with T2DM are memory and executive functions. The extent of influence of T2DM on these domains has varied among studies. A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out to understand whether sub-domains contributed to the variations observed in published research. We searched 'PubMed', 'ScienceDirect', 'SciVerseHub', 'Psychinfo', 'Proquest' 'Ebsco' and 'J-gate Plus' databases for published studies on cognition and T2DM among persons aged 50 years and older. Memory, executive functions and processing speed domain and sub-domain scores were extracted; effect sizes (Cohen's d) were calculated and analysed. Eight hundred seventeen articles were found. After various levels of filtering, 15 articles met the inclusion criteria for quantitative analyses. The analyses indicated that in comparison to controls, persons with T2DM showed decrements in episodic memory (d = -0.51), logical memory (d = -0.24), sub-domain of executive functions which included phonemic fluency (d = -0.35) and cognitive flexibility (d = 0.52), and speed of processing (d = -0.22). We found no difference in the sub-domains of verbal short-term memory and working memory. The meta-analysis revealed a detrimental effect of T2DM on cognitive sub-domains, namely, episodic memory and cognitive flexibility. There was a trend for the logical memory, phonemic fluency and processing speed to be affected. The analysis indicates that T2DM is a detrimental factor on certain cognitive sub-domains, rendering the person vulnerable to subsequent dementia. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Associations between waist circumference, metabolic risk and executive function in adolescents: A cross-sectional mediation analysis.

PubMed

Bugge, Anna; Möller, Sören; Westfall, Daniel R; Tarp, Jakob; Gejl, Anne K; Wedderkopp, Niels; Hillman, Charles H

2018-01-01

The main objective of this study was to investigate the associations between waist circumference, metabolic risk factors, and executive function in adolescents. The study was cross-sectional and included 558 adolescents (mean age 14.2 years). Anthropometrics and systolic blood pressure (sysBP) were measured and fasting blood samples were analyzed for metabolic risk factors. A metabolic risk factor cluster score (MetS-cluster score) was computed from the sum of standardized sysBP, triglycerides (TG), inverse high-density lipid cholesterol (HDLc) and insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment). Cognitive control was measured with a modified flanker task. Regression analyses indicated that after controlling for demographic variables, HDLc exhibited a negative and TG a positive association with flanker reaction time (RT). Waist circumference did not demonstrate a statistically significant total association with the cognitive outcomes. In structural equation modeling, waist circumference displayed an indirect positive association with incongruent RT through a higher MetS-cluster score and through lower HDLc. The only statistically significant direct association between waist circumference and the cognitive outcomes was for incongruent RT in the model including HDLc as mediator. These findings are consonant with the previous literature reporting an adverse association between certain metabolic risk factors and cognitive control. Accordingly, these results suggest specificity between metabolic risk factors and cognitive control outcomes. Further, results of the present study, although cross-sectional, provide new evidence that specific metabolic risk factors may mediate an indirect association between adiposity and cognitive control in adolescents, even though a direct association between these variables was not observed. However, taking the cross-sectional study design into consideration, these results should be interpreted with caution and future longitudinal or experimental studies should verify the findings of this study.

Developmental changes in decision making under risk: The role of executive functions and reasoning abilities in 8- to 19-year-old decision makers.

PubMed

Schiebener, Johannes; García-Arias, María; García-Villamisar, Domingo; Cabanyes-Truffino, Javier; Brand, Matthias

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown that children and adolescents often tend toward risky decisions despite explicit knowledge about the potential negative consequences. This phenomenon has been suggested to be associated with the immaturity of brain areas involved in cognitive control functions. Particularly, "frontal lobe functions," such as executive functions and reasoning, mature until young adulthood and are thought to be involved in age-related changes in decision making under explicit risk conditions. We investigated 112 participants, aged 8-19 years, with a frequently used task assessing decisions under risk, the Game of Dice Task (GDT). Additionally, we administered the Modified Card Sorting Test assessing executive functioning (categorization, cognitive flexibility, and strategy maintenance) as well as the Ravens Progressive Matrices assessing reasoning. The results showed that risk taking in the GDT decreased with increasing age and this effect was not moderated by reasoning but by executive functions: Particularly, young persons with weak executive functioning showed very risky decision making. Thus, the individual maturation of executive functions, associated with areas in the prefrontal cortex, seems to be an important factor in young peoples' behavior in risky decision-making situations.

Modulation of Irisin and Physical Activity on Executive Functions in Obesity and Morbid obesity

PubMed Central

Fagundo, A. B.; Jiménez-Murcia, S.; Giner-Bartolomé, C.; Agüera, Z.; Sauchelli, S.; Pardo, M.; Crujeiras, A. B.; Granero, R.; Baños, R.; Botella, C.; de la Torre, R.; Fernández-Real, J. M.; Fernández-García, J. C.; Frühbeck, G.; Rodríguez, A.; Mallorquí-Bagué, N.; Tárrega, S.; Tinahones, F. J.; Rodriguez, R.; Ortega, F.; Menchón, J. M.; Casanueva, F. F.; Fernández-Aranda, F.

2016-01-01

Whether the executive profile is different between obesity (OB) and morbid obesity (MO) remains unclear. Recent evidence suggests that physical activity (PA) can act as a cognitive enhancer. Irisin is a recently discovered hormone associated with some of the positive effects of PA. The objective of the study was to investigate the executive profile in OB and MO, and to explore the role of PA and irisin. 114 participants were included (21 OB, 44 MO and 49 healthy controls-HC) in the study and assessed with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, and Iowa Gambling Task. All participants were female, aged between 18 and 60 years. Results showed a similar dysfunctional profile on decision making in OB and MO compared with HC. Thus, no specific neuropsychological profiles between OB and MO can be clearly observed in our sample. However, a negative correlation was found between irisin and executive functioning. These results demonstrate a specific executive profile in OB and a relevant and negative modulation of irisin on executive functioning. Although irisin might be a promising target for the treatment of obesity, its effects on cognition might be considered when thinking about its therapeutic use. PMID:27476477

Sex Differences in Cognitive Domains and Their Clinical Correlates in Higher-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolte, Sven; Duketis, Eftichia; Poustka, Fritz; Holtmann, Martin

2011-01-01

Despite the skewed sex ratio, few studies have addressed possible cognitive sex differences in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study compared visual attention to detail (ATTD) and selected executive functions (EF) in 35 males and 21 females with higher-functioning ASD and unaffected sibling controls. Females with ASD outperformed males on…

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation during emotional anticipation and neuropsychological performance in posttraumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Aupperle, Robin L; Allard, Carolyn B; Grimes, Erin M; Simmons, Alan N; Flagan, Taru; Behrooznia, Michelle; Cissell, Shadha H; Twamley, Elizabeth W; Thorp, Steven R; Norman, Sonya B; Paulus, Martin P; Stein, Murray B

2012-04-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with executive or attentional dysfunction and problems in emotion processing. However, it is unclear whether these two domains of dysfunction are related to common or distinct neurophysiological substrates. To examine the hypothesis that greater neuropsychological impairment in PTSD relates to greater disruption in prefrontal-subcortical networks during emotional anticipation. Case-control, cross-sectional study. General community and hospital and community psychiatric clinics. Volunteer sample of 37 women with PTSD related to intimate partner violence and 34 age-comparable healthy control women. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural responses during anticipation of negative and positive emotional images. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale was used to characterize PTSD symptom severity. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Third Edition, Digit Symbol Test, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Color-Word Interference Test, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were used to characterize neuropsychological performance. Women with PTSD performed worse on complex visuomotor processing speed (Digit Symbol Test) and executive function (Color-Word Interference Inhibition/Switching subtest) measures compared with control subjects. Posttraumatic stress disorder was associated with greater anterior insula and attenuated lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation during emotional anticipation. Greater dorsolateral PFC activation (anticipation of negative images minus anticipation of positive images) was associated with lower PTSD symptom severity and better visuomotor processing speed and executive functioning. Greater medial PFC and amygdala activation related to slower visuomotor processing speed. During emotional anticipation, women with PTSD show exaggerated activation in the anterior insula, a region important for monitoring internal bodily state. Greater dorsolateral PFC response in PTSD patients during emotional anticipation may reflect engagement of cognitive control networks that are beneficial for emotional and cognitive functioning. Novel treatments could be aimed at strengthening the balance between cognitive control (dorsolateral PFC) and affective processing (medial PFC and amygdala) networks to improve overall functioning for PTSD patients.

Connectivity in MEG resting-state networks increases after resective surgery for low-grade glioma and correlates with improved cognitive performance☆

PubMed Central

van Dellen, E.; de Witt Hamer, P.C.; Douw, L.; Klein, M.; Heimans, J.J.; Stam, C.J.; Reijneveld, J.C.; Hillebrand, A.

2012-01-01

Purpose Low-grade glioma (LGG) patients often have cognitive deficits. Several disease- and treatment related factors affect cognitive processing. Cognitive outcome of resective surgery is unpredictable, both for improvement and deterioration, especially for complex domains such as attention and executive functioning. MEG analysis of resting-state networks (RSNs) is a good candidate for presurgical prediction of cognitive outcome. In this study, we explore the relation between alterations in connectivity of RSNs and changes in cognitive processing after resective surgery, as a stepping stone to ultimately predict postsurgical cognitive outcome. Methods Ten patients with LGG were included, who had no adjuvant therapy. MEG recording and neuropsychological assessment were obtained before and after resective surgery. MEG data were recorded during a no-task eyes-closed condition, and projected to the anatomical space of the AAL atlas. Alterations in functional connectivity, as characterized by the phase lag index (PLI), within the default mode network (DMN), executive control network (ECN), and left- and right-sided frontoparietal networks (FPN) were compared to cognitive changes. Results Lower alpha band DMN connectivity was increased after surgery, and this increase was related to improved verbal memory functioning. Similarly, right FPN connectivity was increased after resection in the upper alpha band, which correlated with improved attention, working memory and executive functioning. Discussion Increased alpha band RSN functional connectivity in MEG recordings correlates with improved cognitive outcome after resective surgery. The mechanisms resulting in functional connectivity alterations after resection remain to be elucidated. Importantly, our findings indicate that connectivity of MEG RSNs may be used for presurgical prediction of cognitive outcome in future studies. PMID:24179752

Midlife Eriksonian Psychosocial Development: Setting the Stage for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Late Life

PubMed Central

Malone, Johanna C.; Liu, Sabrina R.; Vaillant, George E.; Rentz, Dorene M.; Waldinger, Robert J.

2017-01-01

Erikson’s (1950) model of adult psychosocial development outlines the significance of successful involvement within one’s relationships, work, and community for healthy aging. He theorized that the consequences of not meeting developmental challenges included stagnation and emotional despair. Drawing on this model, the present study uses prospective longitudinal data to examine how the quality of assessed Eriksonian psychosocial development in midlife relates to late-life cognitive and emotional functioning. In particular we were interested to see whether late-life depression mediated the relationship between Eriksonian development and specific domains of cognitive functioning (i.e., executive functioning and memory). Participants were 159 men from the over 75 year longitudinal Study of Adult Development. The sample was comprised of men from both higher and lower socio-economic strata. Eriksonian psychosocial development was coded from men’s narrative responses to interviews between the ages of 30–47 (Vaillant and Milofsky, 1980). In late life (ages 75–85) men completed a performance - based neuropsychological assessment measuring global cognitive status, executive functioning, and memory. In addition depressive symptomatology was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale. Our results indicated that higher midlife Eriksonian psychosocial development was associated with stronger global cognitive functioning and executive functioning, and lower levels of depression three to four decades later. There was no significant association between Eriksonian development and late-life memory. Late-life depression mediated the relationship between Eriksonian development and both global cognition and executive functioning. All of these results controlled for highest level of education and adolescent intelligence. Findings have important implications for understanding the lasting benefits of psychosocial engagement in mid-adulthood for late-life cognitive and emotional health. In addition, it may be that less successful psychosocial development increases levels of depression making individuals more vulnerable to specific areas of cognitive decline. PMID:26551530

Does multicomponent physical exercise with simultaneous cognitive training boost cognitive performance in older adults? A 6-month randomized controlled trial with a 1-year follow-up.

PubMed

Eggenberger, Patrick; Schumacher, Vera; Angst, Marius; Theill, Nathan; de Bruin, Eling D

2015-01-01

Cognitive impairment is a health problem that concerns almost every second elderly person. Physical and cognitive training have differential positive effects on cognition, but have been rarely applied in combination. This study evaluates synergistic effects of multicomponent physical exercise complemented with novel simultaneous cognitive training on cognition in older adults. We hypothesized that simultaneous cognitive-physical components would add training specific cognitive benefits compared to exclusively physical training. Seniors, older than 70 years, without cognitive impairment, were randomly assigned to either: 1) virtual reality video game dancing (DANCE), 2) treadmill walking with simultaneous verbal memory training (MEMORY), or 3) treadmill walking (PHYS). Each program was complemented with strength and balance exercises. Two 1-hour training sessions per week over 6 months were applied. Cognitive performance was assessed at baseline, after 3 and 6 months, and at 1-year follow-up. Multiple regression analyses with planned comparisons were calculated. Eighty-nine participants were randomized to the three groups initially, 71 completed the training, while 47 were available at 1-year follow-up. Advantages of the simultaneous cognitive-physical programs were found in two dimensions of executive function. "Shifting attention" showed a time×intervention interaction in favor of DANCE/MEMORY versus PHYS (F[2, 68] =1.95, trend P=0.075, r=0.17); and "working memory" showed a time×intervention interaction in favor of DANCE versus MEMORY (F[1, 136] =2.71, trend P=0.051, R (2)=0.006). Performance improvements in executive functions, long-term visual memory (episodic memory), and processing speed were maintained at follow-up in all groups. Particular executive functions benefit from simultaneous cognitive-physical training compared to exclusively physical multicomponent training. Cognitive-physical training programs may counteract widespread cognitive impairments in the elderly.

Cognition in older patients with multiple sclerosis compared to patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults.

PubMed

Roth, Alexandra K; Denney, Douglas R; Burns, Jeffrey M; Lynch, Sharon G

2018-06-25

Progress in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) has resulted in larger numbers of patients living to an advanced age, but little is known about the cognitive status of these individuals. The primary purpose of this study was to identify differences in the cognitive performance between elderly individuals with MS and those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Three groups ranging in age from 60 to 80 were compared: patients with MS (n = 64), patients with aMCI (n = 58), and healthy adults (n = 70). All participants completed a standard neuropsychological test battery that evaluated domains of attention, processing speed, executive function, memory, language, and visual spatial function. Compared to age- and gender-matched healthy controls, elderly MS patients exhibited a pattern of cognitive impairment centering on information processing speed and memory that was consistent with the deficits observed in other studies of MS patients regardless of age. Compared to aMCI patients, the MS patients exhibited worse performance on measures of processing speed, but better performance on a measure of memory under cued conditions (Selective Reminding Test), a nonspeeded measure of language (Boston Naming Test), and measures of executive function with processing speed statistically controlled (Trail Making Test, Stroop Test). Differences on neuropsychological measures can serve to distinguish aMCI from MS-related cognitive impairment in older patients, but it is essential that these measures control for the deficit in processing speed that is such a primary feature of MS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing cognition following petrol sniffing for Indigenous Australians.

PubMed

Dingwall, Kylie M; Lewis, Matthew S; Maruff, Paul; Cairney, Sheree

2010-07-01

Chronic petrol inhalation can be associated with significant cognitive impairment. While rehabilitation programs can rely on such skills to educate clients and achieve treatment outcomes, cognitive function is rarely assessed on admission. This is particularly true for Indigenous populations where standard assessments are not appropriate. This paper describes a process for assessing cognition in Indigenous Australians. Two studies investigate firstly the demographic factors impacting on cognition for healthy Indigenous Australians and secondly the utility of the assessment process for detecting petrol sniffing related cognitive impairments. Study One assessed a naturalistic sample of healthy Indigenous Australians from the Northern Territory (N = 206; mean age = 28.03) on computerised tests of psychomotor speed, visual attention, memory, learning, spatial awareness and executive functions. Multiple regression analyses determined the unique contributions of six factors (age, education, gender, familiarity with computers, regular long term cannabis use and locality) to the variance in performance for this group. Study Two examined group differences in cognitive performance on the same tests between healthy Indigenous Australians (N = 96) and Indigenous petrol sniffers (N = 50; both age restricted to < 26 years) while controlling those factors found to impact on performance from Study One. Age, computer familiarity, and education significantly contributed to the variance in performance measures. While controlling these factors, petrol abuse was associated with poorer performance on complex tasks of psychomotor, visual attention, memory, learning, spatial awareness and executive function. This assessment process is useful for detecting substance abuse related impairments in Indigenous Australians and when using this assessment process, age and computer familiarity in particular should be controlled for.

Episodic memory impairment in Addison's disease: results from a telephonic cognitive assessment.

PubMed

Henry, Michelle; Thomas, Kevin G F; Ross, Ian L

2014-06-01

Patients with Addison's disease frequently self-report memory and attention difficulties, even when on standard replacement therapy. However, few published studies examine, using objective measures and assessing across multiple domains, the cognitive functioning of Addison's disease patients relative to healthy controls. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether the previously reported subjective cognitive deficits in Addison's disease are confirmed by objective measures. Conducting comprehensive neuropsychological assessments of patients with relatively rare clinical disorders, such as Addison's disease, is challenging because access to those patients is often limited, and because their medical condition might prevent extended testing sessions. Brief telephonic cognitive assessments are a useful tool in such circumstances. Hence, we administered the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone to 27 Addison's disease patients and 27 matched healthy controls. The instrument provides objective assessment of episodic memory, working memory, executive functioning, reasoning, and speed of processing. Statistical analyses confirmed that, as expected, patients performed significantly more poorly than controls on the episodic memory subtest. There were, however, no significant between-group differences on the attention, executive functioning, reasoning, and speed of processing subtests. Furthermore, patients with a longer duration of illness performed more poorly across all domains of cognition. We conclude that, for Addison's disease patients, previously reported subjective cognitive deficits are matched by objective impairment, but only in the domain of episodic memory. Future research might investigate (a) whether these memory deficits are material-specific (i.e., whether non-verbal memory is also affected), and (b) the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these deficits.

Improving everyday prospective memory performance in older adults: comparing cognitive process and strategy training.

PubMed

Brom, Sarah Susanne; Kliegel, Matthias

2014-09-01

Considering the importance of prospective memory for independence in old age recently, research has started to examine interventions to reduce prospective memory errors. Two general approaches can be proposed: (a) process training of executive control associated with prospective memory functioning, and/or (b) strategy training to reduce executive task demands. The present study was the first to combine and compare both training methods in a sample of 62 community-dwelling older adults (60-86 years) and to explore their effects on an ecologically valid everyday life prospective memory task (here: regular blood pressure monitoring). Even though the training of executive control was successful in enhancing the trained ability, clear transfer effects on prospective memory performance could only be found for the strategy training. However, participants with low executive abilities benefited particularly from the implementation intention strategy. Conceptually, this supports models suggesting interactions between task demands and individual differences in executive control in explaining individual differences in prospective memory performance. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Frontal P300 decrement and executive dysfunction in adolescents with conduct problems.

PubMed

Kim, M S; Kim, J J; Kwon, J S

2001-01-01

This study investigated the cognitive and cerebral function of adolescents with conduct problems by neuropsychological battery (STIM) and event-related potential (ERP). Eighteen adolescents with conduct disorder, and 18 age-matched normal subjects were included. Such cognitive functions as attention, memory, executive function and problem solving were evaluated using subtests of STIM. ERP was measured using an auditory oddball paradigm. The conduct group showed a significantly lower hit rate on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) than the control group. In addition, the conduct group showed reduced P300 amplitude at Fz and Cz, and prolonged P300 latency at Fz, and there was a significant correlation between P300 amplitude and Stroop test performance. These results indicate that adolescents with conduct problems have impairments of executive function and inhibition, and that these impairments are associated with frontal dysfunction.

Impairment in Proverb Interpretation as an Executive Function Deficit in Patients with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer's Disease

PubMed Central

Leyhe, Thomas; Saur, Ralf; Eschweiler, Gerhard W.; Milian, Monika

2011-01-01

Background/Aims Proverb interpretation is assumed to reflect executive functions. We hypothesized that proverb interpretation is impaired in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) diagnosed as single-domain impairment by common neuropsychological testing. Methods We compared performance in a proverb interpretation test in single-domain aMCI patients and patients with early Alzheimer's disease (EAD). Results The groups with aMCI and EAD performed significantly worse than healthy controls. Both patient groups gave concrete answers with a similar frequency. However, patients with EAD tended to give senseless answers more frequently. Conclusions Our data suggest that in patients diagnosed as single-domain aMCI, deterioration of executive functions is detectable with subtle and appropriate neuropsychological testing. Implementation of these procedures may improve the early prediction of AD. PMID:22163233

Differences in Resting State Functional Connectivity between Young Adult Endurance Athletes and Healthy Controls

PubMed Central

Raichlen, David A.; Bharadwaj, Pradyumna K.; Fitzhugh, Megan C.; Haws, Kari A.; Torre, Gabrielle-Ann; Trouard, Theodore P.; Alexander, Gene E.

2016-01-01

Expertise and training in fine motor skills has been associated with changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity. Fewer studies have explored the neural effects of athletic activities that do not seem to rely on precise fine motor control (e.g., distance running). Here, we compared resting-state functional connectivity in a sample of adult male collegiate distance runners (n = 11; age = 21.3 ± 2.5) and a group of healthy age-matched non-athlete male controls (n = 11; age = 20.6 ± 1.1), to test the hypothesis that expertise in sustained aerobic motor behaviors affects resting state functional connectivity in young adults. Although generally considered an automated repetitive task, locomotion, especially at an elite level, likely engages multiple cognitive actions including planning, inhibition, monitoring, attentional switching and multi-tasking, and motor control. Here, we examined connectivity in three resting-state networks that link such executive functions with motor control: the default mode network (DMN), the frontoparietal network (FPN), and the motor network (MN). We found two key patterns of significant between-group differences in connectivity that are consistent with the hypothesized cognitive demands of elite endurance running. First, enhanced connectivity between the FPN and brain regions often associated with aspects of working memory and other executive functions (frontal cortex), suggest endurance running may stress executive cognitive functions in ways that increase connectivity in associated networks. Second, we found significant anti-correlations between the DMN and regions associated with motor control (paracentral area), somatosensory functions (post-central region), and visual association abilities (occipital cortex). DMN deactivation with task-positive regions has been shown to be generally beneficial for cognitive performance, suggesting anti-correlated regions observed here are engaged during running. For all between-group differences, there were significant associations between connectivity, self-reported physical activity, and estimates of maximum aerobic capacity, suggesting a dose-response relationship between engagement in endurance running and connectivity strength. Together these results suggest that differences in experience with endurance running are associated with differences in functional brain connectivity. High intensity aerobic activity that requires sustained, repetitive locomotor and navigational skills may stress cognitive domains in ways that lead to altered brain connectivity, which in turn has implications for understanding the beneficial role of exercise for brain and cognitive function over the lifespan. PMID:28018192

Studying self-awareness in children: validation of the Questionnaire of Executive Functioning (QEF).

PubMed

Geurten, Marie; Catale, Corinne; Geurten, Claire; Wansard, Murielle; Meulemans, Thierry

2016-05-01

People with accurate representations of their own cognitive functioning (i.e. cognitive self-awareness) tend to use appropriate strategies to regulate their behavior. Due to the lack of appropriate instruments, few studies have examined the development of this ability among children. This study tested the measurement properties of the self-rating and other-rating forms of the Questionnaire of Executive Functioning (QEF), designed to tap children's knowledge of their executive functioning. Specifically, the construct, convergent, and discriminant validities were investigated and a self-other discrepancy score was computed to assess children's executive self-awareness. Participants were 317 children aged 7-14 years old. Confirmatory factor analyses carried out on the QEF confirmed the eight-factor structure of both versions. There were significant correlations between the QEF and the parent versions of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, the Dysexecutive Questionnaire for Children, and the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory. Both forms of the QEF were able to distinguish between children who had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and control participants. A statistical difference was observed between the TBI and control groups on this score, suggesting that TBI may trigger self-awareness impairments in children. The good psychometric properties of the two forms of the QEF were established. Furthermore, results of the analyses carried out on the different discrepancy scores seem to indicate that the QEF could help clinicians to detect patients with self-awareness deficits.

The effects of bilingual growth on toddlers’ executive function

PubMed Central

Crivello, Cristina; Kuzyk, Olivia; Rodrigues, Monyka; Friend, Margaret; Zesiger, Pascal; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

2015-01-01

The mastery of two languages provides bilingual speakers with cognitive benefits over monolinguals, particularly on cognitive flexibility and selective attention. However, extant research is limited to comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals at a single point in time. This study investigated whether growth in bilingual proficiency, as shown by an increased number of translation equivalents (TEs) over a 7-month period, improves executive function. We hypothesized that bilingual toddlers with a larger increase of TEs would have more practice in switching across lexical systems, boosting executive function abilities. Expressive vocabulary and TEs were assessed at 24 and 31 months of age. A battery of tasks, including conflict, delay, and working memory tasks, was administered at 31 months. As expected, we observed a task-specific advantage in inhibitory control in bilinguals. More important, within the bilingual group, larger increases in the number of TEs predicted better performance on conflict tasks but not on delay tasks. This unique longitudinal design confirms the relation between executive function and early bilingualism. PMID:26402219

Genetic Contributions to Age-Related Decline in Executive Function: A 10-Year Longitudinal Study of COMT and BDNF Polymorphisms

PubMed Central

Erickson, Kirk I.; Kim, Jennifer S.; Suever, Barbara L.; Voss, Michelle W.; Francis, B. Magnus; Kramer, Arthur F.

2008-01-01

Genetic variability in the dopaminergic and neurotrophic systems could contribute to age-related impairments in executive control and memory function. In this study we examined whether genetic polymorphisms for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were related to the trajectory of cognitive decline occurring over a 10-year period in older adults. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the COMT (Val158/108Met) gene affects the concentration of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex. In addition, a Val/Met substitution in the pro-domain for BDNF (Val66Met) affects the regulated secretion and trafficking of BDNF with Met carriers showing reduced secretion and poorer cognitive function. We found that impairments over the 10-year span on a task-switching paradigm did not vary as a function of the COMT polymorphism. However, for the BDNF polymorphism the Met carriers performed worse than Val homozygotes at the first testing session but only the Val homozygotes demonstrated a significant reduction in performance over the 10-year span. Our results argue that the COMT polymorphism does not affect the trajectory of age-related executive control decline, whereas the Val/Val polymorphism for BDNF may promote faster rates of cognitive decay in old age. These results are discussed in relation to the role of BDNF in senescence and the transforming impact of the Met allele on cognitive function in old age. PMID:18958211

Socioeconomic risk moderates the link between household chaos and maternal executive function.

PubMed

Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Chen, Nan; Wang, Zhe; Bell, Martha Ann

2012-06-01

We examined the link between household chaos (i.e., noise, clutter, disarray, lack of routines) and maternal executive function (i.e., effortful regulation of attention and memory), and whether it varied as a function of socioeconomic risk (i.e., single parenthood, lower mother and father educational attainment, housing situation, and father unemployment). We hypothesized that: 1) higher levels of household chaos would be linked with poorer maternal executive function, even when controlling for other measures of cognitive functioning (e.g., verbal ability), and 2) this link would be strongest in the most socioeconomically distressed or lowest-socioeconomic status households. The diverse sample included 153 mothers from urban and rural areas who completed a questionnaire and a battery of cognitive executive function tasks and a verbal ability task in the laboratory. Results were mixed for Hypothesis 1, and consistent with Hypothesis 2. Two-thirds of the variance overlapped between household chaos and maternal executive function, but only in families with high levels of socioeconomic risk. This pattern was not found for chaos and maternal verbal ability, suggesting that the potentially deleterious effects of household chaos may be specific to maternal executive function. The findings implicate household chaos as a powerful statistical predictor of maternal executive function in socioeconomically distressed contexts. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Socioeconomic Risk Moderates the Link between Household Chaos and Maternal Executive Function

PubMed Central

Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Chen, Nan; Wang, Zhe; Bell, Martha Ann

2012-01-01

We examined the link between household chaos (i.e., noise, clutter, disarray, lack of routines) and maternal executive function (i.e., effortful regulation of attention and memory), and whether it varied as a function of socioeconomic risk (i.e., single parenthood, lower mother and father educational attainment, housing situation, and father unemployment). We hypothesized that: 1) higher levels of household chaos would be linked with poorer maternal executive function, even when controlling for other measures of cognitive functioning (e.g., verbal ability), and 2) this link would be strongest in the most socioeconomically distressed or lowest-socioeconomic status households. The diverse sample included 153 mothers from urban and rural areas who completed a questionnaire and a battery of cognitive executive function tasks and a verbal ability task in the laboratory. Results were mixed for hypothesis 1, and consistent with hypothesis 2. Two-thirds of the variance overlapped between household chaos and maternal executive function, but only in families with high levels of socioeconomic risk. This pattern was not found for chaos and maternal verbal ability, suggesting that the potentially deleterious effects of household chaos may be specific to maternal executive function. The findings implicate household chaos as a powerful statistical predictor of maternal executive function in socioeconomically distressed contexts. PMID:22563703

Working memory and executive function decline across normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Kirova, Anna-Mariya; Bays, Rebecca B; Lagalwar, Sarita

2015-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease marked by deficits in episodic memory, working memory (WM), and executive function. Examples of executive dysfunction in AD include poor selective and divided attention, failed inhibition of interfering stimuli, and poor manipulation skills. Although episodic deficits during disease progression have been widely studied and are the benchmark of a probable AD diagnosis, more recent research has investigated WM and executive function decline during mild cognitive impairment (MCI), also referred to as the preclinical stage of AD. MCI is a critical period during which cognitive restructuring and neuroplasticity such as compensation still occur; therefore, cognitive therapies could have a beneficial effect on decreasing the likelihood of AD progression during MCI. Monitoring performance on working memory and executive function tasks to track cognitive function may signal progression from normal cognition to MCI to AD. The present review tracks WM decline through normal aging, MCI, and AD to highlight the behavioral and neurological differences that distinguish these three stages in an effort to guide future research on MCI diagnosis, cognitive therapy, and AD prevention.

Thalamocortical Connections and Executive Function in Pediatric Temporal and Frontal Lobe Epilepsy.

PubMed

Law, N; Smith, M L; Widjaja, E

2018-06-07

Largely accepted in the literature is the role the interconnections between the thalamus and cortex play in generalized epilepsy. However, thalamocortical involvement is less understood in focal epilepsy in terms of the effect of seizures on thalamocortical circuitry in the developing brain and subsequent cognitive outcome. We investigated thalamocortical pathway microstructure in pediatric frontal lobe epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy and examined the associations between pathway microstructure and measures of executive function. We examined thalamocortical connections in 24 children with frontal lobe epilepsy, 17 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, and 25 healthy children using DTI. We investigated several executive function measures in patients and controls, which were distilled into latent executive function components to compare among groups, and the associations between measures of thalamocortical microstructure and executive function. We found no differences in thalamocortical pathway microstructure between the groups, but aspects of executive function (mental flexibility/inhibition/shifting) were impaired in the frontal lobe epilepsy group compared with controls. In patients with frontal lobe epilepsy, younger age at seizure onset and a greater number of antiepileptic drugs were associated with DTI indices indicative of damaged/less developed thalamocortical pathways. In patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, poorer performance on all measures of executive function was associated with DTI indices reflective of damaged/less developed pathways. Our results give insight into vulnerable neural networks in pediatric focal epilepsy and suggest thalamocortical pathway damage as a potential mechanism of executive function impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy but not frontal lobe epilepsy. Identifying structure-function relations can help inform how we measure functional and cognitive/behavioral outcomes in these populations. © 2018 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Bilingual Language Control and General Purpose Cognitive Control among Individuals with Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence Based on Negative Priming and Flanker Tasks

PubMed Central

Dash, Tanya; Kar, Bhoomika R.

2014-01-01

Background. Bilingualism results in an added advantage with respect to cognitive control. The interaction between bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control systems can also be understood by studying executive control among individuals with bilingual aphasia. Objectives. The current study examined the subcomponents of cognitive control in bilingual aphasia. A case study approach was used to investigate whether cognitive control and language control are two separate systems and how factors related to bilingualism interact with control processes. Methods. Four individuals with bilingual aphasia performed a language background questionnaire, picture description task, and two experimental tasks (nonlinguistic negative priming task and linguistic and nonlinguistic versions of flanker task). Results. A descriptive approach was used to analyse the data using reaction time and accuracy measures. The cumulative distribution function plots were used to visualize the variations in performance across conditions. The results highlight the distinction between general purpose cognitive control and bilingual language control mechanisms. Conclusion. All participants showed predominant use of the reactive control mechanism to compensate for the limited resources system. Independent yet interactive systems for bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control were postulated based on the experimental data derived from individuals with bilingual aphasia. PMID:24982591

The Future of Executive-Skills Coaching and Behavioral Science in Programs That Serve Teens and Young Adults: Lessons from the Annie E. Casey Pilot Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dechausay, Nadine

2018-01-01

Executive skills are the cognitive abilities that make it possible for people to set goals, regulate impulses, and complete the steps necessary to achieve their objectives. Examples of these skills include time management, emotional control, and organization. Richard Guare and Peggy Dawson have developed a coaching strategy based on executive…

Executive Functions of Divers Are Selectively Impaired at 20-Meter Water Depth.

PubMed

Steinberg, Fabian; Doppelmayr, Michael

2017-01-01

Moving and acting underwater within recreational or occupational activities require intact executive functions, since they subserve higher cognitive functions such as successful self-regulation, coping with novel situations, and decision making; all of which could be influenced by nitrogen narcosis due to elevated partial pressure under water. However, specific executive functions that could provide a differentiated view on humans' cognitive performance ability have not yet been systematically analyzed in full-water immersion, which is a research gap addressed within this approach to contribute to a better understanding of nitrogen narcosis. In this study, 20 young, healthy, and certified recreational divers participated and performed three different executive-function tests: the Stroop test (Inhibition), the Number/Letter test (Task switching), the 2-back test (Updating/Working memory), and a simple reaction time test (Psychomotor performance). These tests were performed once on land, at 5-meter (m) water depth, and at 20-meter (m) water depth of an indoor diving facility in standardized test conditions (26°C in all water depths). A water-proofed and fully operational tablet computer was used to present visual stimuli and to register reaction times. Performance of the simple reaction time test was not different between underwater and land testing, suggesting that reaction times were not biased by the utilization of the tablet in water immersion. Executive functions were not affected by the shallow water immersion of 5-m water depth. However, performance scores in 20-m water depth revealed a decreased performance in the incongruent test condition (i.e., an index of inhibitory control ability) of the Stroop test, while all other tests were unaffected. Even though only one out of the three tested cognitive domains was affected, the impairment of inhibitory control ability even in relatively shallow water of 20-m is a critical component that should be considered for diver's safety, since inhibition is required in self-control requiring situations where impulsive and automatic behavior must be inhibited. Our interpretation of these selective impairments is based on a discussion suggesting that different neural networks within the central nervous system, which process specific executive functions, are affected differently by nitrogen narcosis.

Neuropsychological correlates of cognitive, emotional-affective and auto-activation apathy in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Perri, Roberta; Turchetta, Chiara Stella; Caruso, Giulia; Fadda, Lucia; Caltagirone, Carlo; Carlesimo, Augusto Giovanni

2018-01-31

Apathy symptoms include different dimensions: cognitive (C), emotional-affective (E-Aff) and auto-activation; they have been related to dysfunctions of the dorsolateral, orbito-basal prefrontal cortex and the subcortical frontal connections to the basal ganglia, respectively. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), an association has been found between apathy severity and both executive deficits and atrophy of the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex; however, it is not clear whether these associations concern only the cognitive aspects of apathy. Furthermore, whether there is an association in AD between E-aff apathy and theory of mind (ToM),the cognitive functions subsumed by the orbito-basal prefrontal cortex, has not been investigated. Aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between C, E-Aff and auto-activation apathy and performance on tasks investigating executive and ToM cognitive functions in AD. For this purpose, 20 AD patients with apathy and 20 matched controls were submitted to an executive and ToM neuropsychological assessment. Apathy was assessed with a weekly diary (ApD) created specifically to assist caregivers in quantifying the C, E-Aff and auto-activation symptomatology of apathy. Correlational analyses showed that AD patients' scores on the Modified Card Sorting Test (MCST) and Emotion Attribution tasks were correlated with most ApD scores. However, regression analyses showed that C diary scores were predicted by MCST performance, E-Aff diary scores by performance on the E-Attribution task and ApD scores measuring auto-activation apathy were predicted by both the MCST and the Emotion Attribution scores. These results confirm the co-occurrence of apathy and executive-function deficits in AD and suggest a specific association between AD patients' executive deficits and the cognitive component of apathy. Furthermore, they document, for the first time, an association between poor performance on tests assessing ToM abilities and the emotional-affective component of apathy in AD patients. Finally, these results are in line with the view that auto-activation apathy reflects the sum of emotional and cognitive processing deficits. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Executive attention impairment in adolescents with schizophrenia who have used cannabis.

PubMed

Epstein, Katherine A; Kumra, Sanjiv

2014-08-01

Repeated exposure to cannabis in nonpsychotic adolescents is associated with impairments in executive control of attention, similar to those observed in young adults with first-episode schizophrenia. To assess the impact of recurrent exposure to cannabis on cognitive function, this study characterized attention performance in both nonpsychotic adolescents and adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS). The Attention Network Test, a standard procedure that estimates the functional state of neural networks controlling the efficiency of three different attentional behaviors (alerting, orienting, and executive attention), was administered to four groups of participants: (1) adolescents with EOS and comorbid cannabis use disorder (EOS+CUD; n=18), (2) "Pure" schizophrenia (EOS; n=34), (3) "Pure" cannabis use disorder (CUD; n=29), and (4) Healthy controls (HC; n=53). Task performance was examined with a 2×2 design (EOS+ versus EOS- and CUD+ versus CUD-) using multivariate analysis of covariance. Correlative analyses were conducted between executive attention performance and measures of surface area in the right anterior cingulate cortex. A significant EOS×CUD interaction was observed. In the executive attention network, adolescents with EOS+CUD showed reduced efficiency relative to adolescents with pure EOS, whereas no group differences were found between adolescents with pure CUD and HC. Less efficient executive attention was significantly associated with smaller surface area in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex in EOS+CUD. These preliminary data suggest that the presence of CUD has a moderating effect on attentional performance in adolescents with schizophrenia compared to nonpsychotic adolescents. These deficits could have a role in difficulties with self-regulation and predisposition to substance misuse in this patient group. The anatomic substrate of this cognitive deficit may be related to surface area in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing: an eye movement study of sentence reading

PubMed Central

Columbus, Georgie; Sheikh, Naveed A.; Côté-Lecaldare, Marilena; Häuser, Katja; Baum, Shari R.; Titone, Debra

2015-01-01

Metaphors are common elements of language that allow us to creatively stretch the limits of word meaning. However, metaphors vary in their degree of novelty, which determines whether people must create new meanings on-line or retrieve previously known metaphorical meanings from memory. Such variations affect the degree to which general cognitive capacities such as executive control are required for successful comprehension. We investigated whether individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing using eye movement measures of reading. Thirty-nine participants read sentences including metaphors or idioms, another form of figurative language that is more likely to rely on meaning retrieval. They also completed the AX-CPT, a domain-general executive control task. In Experiment 1, we examined sentences containing metaphorical or literal uses of verbs, presented with or without prior context. In Experiment 2, we examined sentences containing idioms or literal phrases for the same participants to determine whether the link to executive control was qualitatively similar or different to Experiment 1. When metaphors were low familiar, all people read verbs used as metaphors more slowly than verbs used literally (this difference was smaller for high familiar metaphors). Executive control capacity modulated this pattern in that high executive control readers spent more time reading verbs when a prior context forced a particular interpretation (metaphorical or literal), and they had faster total metaphor reading times when there was a prior context. Interestingly, executive control did not relate to idiom processing for the same readers. Here, all readers had faster total reading times for high familiar idioms than literal phrases. Thus, executive control relates to metaphor but not idiom processing for these readers, and for the particular metaphor and idiom reading manipulations presented. PMID:25628557

Individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing: an eye movement study of sentence reading.

PubMed

Columbus, Georgie; Sheikh, Naveed A; Côté-Lecaldare, Marilena; Häuser, Katja; Baum, Shari R; Titone, Debra

2014-01-01

Metaphors are common elements of language that allow us to creatively stretch the limits of word meaning. However, metaphors vary in their degree of novelty, which determines whether people must create new meanings on-line or retrieve previously known metaphorical meanings from memory. Such variations affect the degree to which general cognitive capacities such as executive control are required for successful comprehension. We investigated whether individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing using eye movement measures of reading. Thirty-nine participants read sentences including metaphors or idioms, another form of figurative language that is more likely to rely on meaning retrieval. They also completed the AX-CPT, a domain-general executive control task. In Experiment 1, we examined sentences containing metaphorical or literal uses of verbs, presented with or without prior context. In Experiment 2, we examined sentences containing idioms or literal phrases for the same participants to determine whether the link to executive control was qualitatively similar or different to Experiment 1. When metaphors were low familiar, all people read verbs used as metaphors more slowly than verbs used literally (this difference was smaller for high familiar metaphors). Executive control capacity modulated this pattern in that high executive control readers spent more time reading verbs when a prior context forced a particular interpretation (metaphorical or literal), and they had faster total metaphor reading times when there was a prior context. Interestingly, executive control did not relate to idiom processing for the same readers. Here, all readers had faster total reading times for high familiar idioms than literal phrases. Thus, executive control relates to metaphor but not idiom processing for these readers, and for the particular metaphor and idiom reading manipulations presented.

Cognitive Variability in Adults with ADHD and AS: Disentangling the Roles of Executive Functions and Social Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz; Baez, Sandra; Torralva, Teresa; Castellanos, Francisco Xavier; Rattazzi, Alexia; Bein, Victoria; Rogg, Katharina; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2013-01-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's Syndrome (AS) share a heterogeneous cognitive profile. Studies assessing executive functions (EF) and social cognition in both groups have found preserved and impaired performances. These inconsistent findings would be partially explained by the cognitive variability reported in these…

Creative constraints: Brain activity and network dynamics underlying semantic interference during idea production.

PubMed

Beaty, Roger E; Christensen, Alexander P; Benedek, Mathias; Silvia, Paul J; Schacter, Daniel L

2017-03-01

Functional neuroimaging research has recently revealed brain network interactions during performance on creative thinking tasks-particularly among regions of the default and executive control networks-but the cognitive mechanisms related to these interactions remain poorly understood. Here we test the hypothesis that the executive control network can interact with the default network to inhibit salient conceptual knowledge (i.e., pre-potent responses) elicited from memory during creative idea production. Participants studied common noun-verb pairs and were given a cued-recall test with corrective feedback to strengthen the paired association in memory. They then completed a verb generation task that presented either a previously studied noun (high-constraint) or an unstudied noun (low-constraint), and were asked to "think creatively" while searching for a novel verb to relate to the presented noun. Latent Semantic Analysis of verbal responses showed decreased semantic distance values in the high-constraint (i.e., interference) condition, which corresponded to increased neural activity within regions of the default (posterior cingulate cortex and bilateral angular gyri), salience (right anterior insula), and executive control (left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) networks. Independent component analysis of intrinsic functional connectivity networks extended this finding by revealing differential interactions among these large-scale networks across the task conditions. The results suggest that interactions between the default and executive control networks underlie response inhibition during constrained idea production, providing insight into specific neurocognitive mechanisms supporting creative cognition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Strategic modulation of cognitive control.

PubMed

Lungu, Ovidiu V; Liu, Tao; Waechter, Tobias; Willingham, Daniel T; Ashe, James

2007-08-01

The neural substrate of cognitive control is thought to comprise an evaluative component located in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and an executive component in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The control mechanism itself is mainly local, triggered by response conflict (monitored by the ACC) and involving the allocation of executive resources (recruited by the PFC) in a trial-to-trial fashion. However, another way to achieve control would be to use a strategic mechanism based on long-term prediction of upcoming events and on a chronic response strategy that ignores local features of the task. In the current study, we showed that such a strategic control mechanism was based on a functional dissociation or complementary relationship between the ACC and the PFC. When information in the environment was available to make predictions about upcoming stimuli, local task features (e.g., response conflict) were no longer used as a control signal. We suggest that having separate control mechanisms based on local or global task features allows humans to be persistent in pursuing their goals, yet flexible enough to adapt to changes in the environment.

Differential Effects of the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Val158Met Genotype on the Cognitive Function of Schizophrenia Patients and Healthy Japanese Individuals

PubMed Central

Tsuchimine, Shoko; Yasui-Furukori, Norio; Kaneda, Ayako; Kaneko, Sunao

2013-01-01

Background The functional polymorphism Val158Met in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene has been associated with differences in prefrontal cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals. Several studies have indicated that the Met allele is associated with better performance on measures of cognitive function. We investigated whether the COMT Val158Met genotype was associated with cognitive function in 149 healthy controls and 118 patients with schizophrenia. Methods Cognitive function, including verbal memory, working memory, motor speed, attention, executive function and verbal fluency, was assessed by the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS-J). We employed a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a multiple regression analysis to determine the associations between the COMT Val158Met genotype and the BACS-J measurements. Results The one-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference in the scores on the Tower of London, a measure of executive function, between the different Val158Met genotypes in the healthy controls (p = 0.023), and a post-hoc analysis showed significant differences between the scores on the Tower of London in the val/val genotype group (18.6 ± 2.4) compared to the other two groups (17.6 ± 2.7 for val/met and 17.1 ± 3.2 for met/met; p = 0.027 and p = 0.024, respectively). Multiple regression analyses revealed that executive function was significantly correlated with the Val158Met genotype (p = 0.003). However, no evidence was found for an effect of the COMT on any cognitive domains of the BACS-J in the patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion These data support the hypothesis that the COMT Val158Met genotype maintains an optimal level of dopamine activity. Further studies should be performed that include a larger sample size and include patients on and off medication, as these patients would help to confirm our findings. PMID:24282499

Extending the ‘cross-disorder’ relevance of executive functions to dimensional neuropsychiatric traits in youth

PubMed Central

McGrath, Lauren M.; Braaten, Ellen B.; Doty, Nathan D.; Willoughby, Brian L.; Wilson, H. Kent; O’Donnell, Ellen H.; Colvin, Mary K.; Ditmars, Hillary L.; Blais, Jessica E.; Hill, Erin N.; Metzger, Aaron; Perlis, Roy H.; Willcutt, Erik G.; Smoller, Jordan W.; Waldman, Irwin D.; Faraone, Stephen V.; Seidman, Larry J.; Doyle, Alysa E.

2016-01-01

Background Evidence that different neuropsychiatric conditions share genetic liability has increased interest in phenotypes with ‘cross-disorder’ relevance, as they may contribute to revised models of psychopathology. Cognition is a promising construct for study; yet, evidence that the same cognitive functions are impaired across different forms of psychopathology comes primarily from separate studies of individual categorical diagnoses versus controls. Given growing support for dimensional models that cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries, we aimed to determine, within a single cohort, whether performance on measures of executive functions (EFs) predicted dimensions of different psychopathological conditions known to share genetic liability. Methods Data are from 393 participants, ages 8 to 17, consecutively enrolled in the Longitudinal Study of Genetic Influences on Cognition (LOGIC). This project is conducting deep phenotyping and genomic analyses in youth referred for neuropsychiatric evaluation. Using structural equation modeling, we examined whether EFs predicted variation in core dimensions of autism spectrum disorder, bipolar illness and schizophrenia, including social responsiveness, mania/emotion regulation, and positive symptoms of psychosis, respectively. Results We modeled three cognitive factors (working memory, shifting, and executive processing speed) that loaded on a second-order EF factor. The EF factor predicted variation in our three target traits but not in a negative control (somatization). Moreover, this EF factor was primarily associated with the overlapping (rather than unique) variance across the three outcome measures, suggesting it related to a general increase in psychopathology symptoms across those dimensions. Conclusions Findings extend support for the relevance of cognition to neuropsychiatric conditions that share underlying genetic risk. They suggest that higher-order cognition, including EFs, relate to the dimensional spectrum of each of these disorders and not just the clinical diagnoses. Moreover, results have implications for bottom-up models linking genes, cognition, and a general psychopathology liability. PMID:26411927

Executive Functioning in Alcoholics Following an mHealth Cognitive Stimulation Program: Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Oliveira, Jorge; Lopes, Paulo; Brito, Rodrigo; Morais, Diogo; Silva, Diana; Silva, Ana; Rebelo, Sara; Bastos, Marta; Deus, Alberto

2014-01-01

Background The consequences of alcohol dependence are severe and may range from physical disease to neuropsychological deficits in several cognitive domains. Alcohol abuse has also been related to brain dysfunction specifically in the prefrontal cortex. Conventional neuropsychological interventions (paper-and-pencil cognitive stimulation training) have a positive effect but are time-consuming, costly, and not motivating for patients. Objective Our goal was to test the cognitive effects of a novel approach to neuropsychological intervention, using mobile technology and serious games, on patients with alcohol dependence. Methods The trial design consisted of a two-arm study assessing the cognitive outcomes of neuropsychological intervention with mobile serious games (mHealth) versus control (treatment-as-usual with no neuropsychological intervention) in patients undergoing treatment for alcohol dependence syndrome. Sixty-eight patients were recruited from an alcohol-rehab clinic and randomly assigned to the mHealth (n=33) or control condition (n=35). The intervention on the experimental group consisted of a therapist-assisted cognitive stimulation therapy for 4 weeks on a 2-3 days/week basis. Results Fourteen patients dropped out of the study. The results of the neuropsychological assessments with the remaining 54 patients showed an overall increase (P<.05) of general cognitive abilities, mental flexibility, psychomotor processing speed, and attentional ability in both experimental (n=26) and control groups (n=28). However, there was a more pronounced improvement (P=.01) specifically in frontal lobe functions from baseline (mean 13.89, SE 0.58) to follow-up (mean 15.50, SE 0.46) in the experimental group but not in the control group. Conclusions The overall increase in general cognitive function for both experimental and control groups supports the beneficial role of existing alcohol treatment protocols aimed at minimizing withdrawal symptoms, but the differential improvements observed in frontal lobe functioning supports the use of mobile serious games for neuropsychological stimulation to overcome executive dysfunction in patients with alcohol dependence. This trial was negative on two neuropsychological/cognitive tests, and positive on one. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01942954; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01942954 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6OYDqHLwB). PMID:24742381

Validity of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised new Executive Function Scores in the diagnosis of dementia: some early findings.

PubMed

Heinik, Jeremia; Solomesh, Isaac

2007-03-01

The Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised introduces 2 new executive items (Ideational Fluency and Visual Reasoning), which separately or combined with 2 executive items in the former version (word list generation and similarities) might constitute an Executive Function Score (EFS). The authors studied the validity of these new EFSs in 51 demented (dementia of the Alzheimer's type, vascular dementia) and nondemented individuals (depressives and normals). The new EFSs were found valid to accurately differentiate between demented and nondemented subjects; however, they were considerably less so when specific diagnoses were considered. Correlations between the variously combined executive scores and the cognitive scales and subscales studied were prevalently low to moderate, and ranged from high and significant to low and nonsignificant when the 4 executive items were correlated to each other. The ability of the executive scores to discriminate demented from nondemented individuals was lower compared with the Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised scores. EFS was found internally consistent.

Effect of recurrent severe hypoglycemia on cognitive performance in adult patients with diabetes: A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Chen, Yu-Xue; Liu, Zheng-Ren; Yu, Ying; Yao, En-Sheng; Liu, Xing-Hua; Liu, Lu

2017-10-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the existence and extent of cognitive impairment in adult diabetes mellitus (DM) patients with episodes of recurrent severe hypoglycemia, by using meta-analysis to synthesize data across studies. PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane library search engines were used to identify studies on cognitive performance in DM patients with recurrent severe hypoglycemia. Random-effects meta-analysis was performed on seven eligible studies using an inverse-variance method. Effect sizes, which are the standardized differences between the experimental group and the control group, were calculated. Of the 853 studies, 7 studies met the inclusion criteria. Compared with control subjects, the adult DM patients with episodes of recurrent severe hypoglycemia demonstrated a significantly lowered performance on memory in both types of DM patients, and poor performance of processing speed in type 2 DM patients. There was no significant difference between adult DM patients with and those without severe hypoglycemia in other cognitive domains such as general intelligence, executive function, processing speed and psychomotor efficiency. Our results seem to confirm the hypothesis that cognitive dysfunction is characterized by worse memory and processing speed in adult DM patients with a history of recurrent severe hypoglycemia, whereas general intelligence, executive function, and psychomotor efficiency are spared.