Common Cognitive Deficits in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism: Working Memory and Visual-Motor Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Englund, Julia A.; Decker, Scott L.; Allen, Ryan A.; Roberts, Alycia M.

2014-01-01

Cognitive deficits in working memory (WM) are characteristic features of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism. However, few studies have investigated cognitive deficits using a wide range of cognitive measures. We compared children with ADHD ("n" = 49) and autism ("n" = 33) with a demographically matched…

Long-term memory for verbal and visual information in Down syndrome and Williams syndrome: performance on the Doors and People test.

PubMed

Jarrold, Christopher; Baddeley, Alan D; Phillips, Caroline

2007-02-01

Previous studies have suggested that Williams syndrome and Down syndrome may be associated with specific short-term memory deficits. Individuals with Williams syndrome perform relatively poorly on tests of visuo-spatial short-term memory and individuals with Down syndrome show a relative deficit on verbal short-term memory tasks. However, these patterns of impairments may reflect the impact of generally impaired visuo-spatial processing skills in Williams syndrome, and verbal abilities in Down syndrome. The current study explored this possibility by assessing long-term memory among 15 individuals with Williams syndrome and 20 individuals with Down syndrome using the Doors and People test, a battery which assesses recall and recognition of verbal and visual information. Individuals' performance was standardised for age and level of intellectual ability with reference to that shown by a sample of 110 typically developing children. The results showed that individuals with Down syndrome have no differential deficits in long-term memory for verbal information, implying that verbal short-term memory deficits in this population are relatively selective. Instead both individuals with Down syndrome and with Williams syndrome showed some evidence of relatively poor performance on tests of long-term memory for visual information. It is therefore possible that visuo-spatial short-term memory deficits that have previously been demonstrated in Williams syndrome may be secondary to more general problems in visuo-spatial processing in this population.

Using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) to assess the cognitive impact of electroconvulsive therapy on visual and visuospatial memory.

PubMed

Falconer, D W; Cleland, J; Fielding, S; Reid, I C

2010-06-01

The cognitive impact of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is rarely measured systematically in everyday clinical practice even though patient and clinician acceptance is limited by its adverse affect on memory. If patients are tested it is often with simple paper and pencil tests of visual or verbal memory. There are no reported studies of computerized neuropsychological testing to assess the cognitive impact of ECT on visuospatial memory. Twenty-four patients with severe depression were treated with a course of bilateral ECT and assessed with a battery of visual memory tests within the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). These included spatial and pattern recognition memory, pattern-location associative learning and a delayed matching to sample test. Testing was carried out before ECT, during ECT, within the week after ECT and 1 month after ECT. Patients showed significant impairments in visual and visuospatial memory both during and within the week after ECT. Most impairments resolved 1 month following ECT; however, significant impairment in spatial recognition memory remained. This is one of only a few studies that have detected anterograde memory deficits more than 2 weeks after treatment. Patients receiving ECT displayed a range of visual and visuospatial deficits over the course of their treatment. These deficits were most prominent for tasks dependent on the use of the right medial temporal lobe; frontal lobe function may also be implicated. The CANTAB appears to be a useful instrument for measuring the adverse cognitive effects of ECT on aspects of visual and visuospatial memory.

Using Visual Strategies to Support Verbal Comprehension in an Adolescent with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lecas, Jean-Francois; Mazaud, Anne-Marie; Reibel, Esther; Rey, Arnaud

2011-01-01

It has been frequently reported that children with Down syndrome have deficits in verbal short-term memory while having relatively good performance in visual short-term memory tasks. Such verbal deficits have a detrimental effect on various high-level cognitive processes, most notably language comprehension. In this study, we report the case of an…

Visual encoding impairment in patients with schizophrenia: contribution of reduced working memory span, decreased processing speed, and affective symptoms.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Huerta-Ramos, Elena; Ochoa, Susana; Usall, Judith; Abellán-Vega, Helena; Roca, Mercedes; Haro, Josep Maria

2015-01-01

Previous research has revealed the contribution of decreased processing speed and reduced working memory span in verbal and visual memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia. The role of affective symptoms in verbal memory has also emerged in a few studies. The authors designed a picture recognition task to investigate the impact of these factors on visual encoding. Two types of pictures (black and white vs. colored) were presented under 2 different conditions of context encoding (either displayed at a specific location or in association with another visual stimulus). It was assumed that the process of encoding associated pictures was more effortful than that of encoding pictures that were presented alone. Working memory span and processing speed were assessed. In the patient group, working memory span was significantly associated with the recognition of the associated pictures but not significantly with that of the other pictures. Controlling for processing speed eliminated the patients' deficit in the recognition of the colored pictures and greatly reduced their deficit in the recognition of the black-and-white pictures. The recognition of the black-and-white pictures was inversely related to anxiety in men and to depression in women. Working memory span constrains the effortful visual encoding processes in patients, whereas processing speed decrement accounts for most of their visual encoding deficit. Affective symptoms also have an impact on visual encoding, albeit differently in men and women. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Assessment of short-term memory in Arabic speaking children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Kaddah, F A; Shoeib, R M; Mahmoud, H E

2010-12-15

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) may have some kind of memory disorder that could increase their linguistic impairment. This study assessed the short-term memory skills in Arabic speaking children with either Expressive Language Impairment (ELI) or Receptive/Expressive Language Impairment (R/ELI) in comparison to controls in order to estimate the nature and extent of any specific deficits in these children that could explain the different prognostic results of language intervention. Eighteen children were included in each group. Receptive, expressive and total language quotients were calculated using the Arabic language test. Assessment of auditory and visual short-term memory was done using the Arabic version of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. Both groups of SLI performed significantly lower linguistic abilities and poorer auditory and visual short-term memory in comparison to normal children. The R/ELI group presented an inferior performance than the ELI group in all measured parameters. Strong association was found between most tasks of auditory and visual short-term memory and linguistic abilities. The results of this study highlighted a specific degree of deficit of auditory and visual short-term memories in both groups of SLI. These deficits were more prominent in R/ELI group. Moreover, the strong association between the different auditory and visual short-term memories and language abilities in children with SLI must be taken into account when planning an intervention program for these children.

Disruptions of network connectivity predict impairment in multiple behavioral domains after stroke

PubMed Central

Ramsey, Lenny E.; Metcalf, Nicholas V.; Chacko, Ravi V.; Weinberger, Kilian; Baldassarre, Antonello; Hacker, Carl D.; Shulman, Gordon L.; Corbetta, Maurizio

2016-01-01

Deficits following stroke are classically attributed to focal damage, but recent evidence suggests a key role of distributed brain network disruption. We measured resting functional connectivity (FC), lesion topography, and behavior in multiple domains (attention, visual memory, verbal memory, language, motor, and visual) in a cohort of 132 stroke patients, and used machine-learning models to predict neurological impairment in individual subjects. We found that visual memory and verbal memory were better predicted by FC, whereas visual and motor impairments were better predicted by lesion topography. Attention and language deficits were well predicted by both. Next, we identified a general pattern of physiological network dysfunction consisting of decrease of interhemispheric integration and intrahemispheric segregation, which strongly related to behavioral impairment in multiple domains. Network-specific patterns of dysfunction predicted specific behavioral deficits, and loss of interhemispheric communication across a set of regions was associated with impairment across multiple behavioral domains. These results link key organizational features of brain networks to brain–behavior relationships in stroke. PMID:27402738

FMRI of visual working memory in high school football players.

PubMed

Shenk, Trey E; Robinson, Meghan E; Svaldi, Diana O; Abbas, Kausar; Breedlove, Katherine M; Leverenz, Larry J; Nauman, Eric A; Talavage, Thomas M

2015-01-01

Visual working memory deficits have been observed in at-risk athletes. This study uses a visual N-back working memory functional magnetic resonance imaging task to longitudinally assess asymptomatic football athletes for abnormal activity. Athletes were increasingly "flagged" as the season progressed. Flagging may provide early detection of injury.

Verbal and Visual Memory Impairments in Bipolar I and II Disorder.

PubMed

Ha, Tae Hyon; Kim, Ji Sun; Chang, Jae Seung; Oh, Sung Hee; Her, Ju Young; Cho, Hyun Sang; Park, Tae Sung; Shin, Soon Young; Ha, Kyooseob

2012-12-01

To compare verbal and visual memory performances between patients with bipolar I disorder (BD I) and patients with bipolar II disorder (BD II) and to determine whether memory deficits were mediated by impaired organizational strategies. Performances on the Korean-California Verbal Learning Test (K-CVLT) and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF) in 37 patients with BD I, 46 patients with BD II and 42 healthy subjects were compared. Mediating effects of impaired organization strategies on poor delayed recall was tested by comparing direct and mediated models using multiple regression analysis. Both patients groups recalled fewer words and figure components and showed lower Semantic Clustering compared to controls. Verbal memory impairment was partly mediated by difficulties in Semantic Clustering in both subtypes, whereas the mediating effect of Organization deficit on the visual memory impairment was present only in BD I. In all mediated models, group differences in delayed recall remained significant. Our findings suggest that memory impairment may be one of the fundamental cognitive deficits in bipolar disorders and that executive dysfunctions can exert an additional influence on memory impairments.

A Contextual View of Adult Learning and Memory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glynn, Shawn M.

Explanations of age-related differences in adult memory usually assume two forms: processing deficits and structural deficits. Processing deficit explanations attribute recall differences to a failure of older adults to effectively use the processes of attention, organization, mediation (the use of such devices as visual images and verbal images…

Visual working memory and number sense: Testing the double deficit hypothesis in mathematics.

PubMed

Toll, Sylke W M; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; Van Luit, Johannes E H

2016-09-01

Evidence exists that there are two main underlying cognitive factors in mathematical difficulties: working memory and number sense. It is suggested that real math difficulties appear when both working memory and number sense are weak, here referred to as the double deficit (DD) hypothesis. The aim of this study was to test the DD hypothesis within a longitudinal time span of 2 years. A total of 670 children participated. The mean age was 4.96 years at the start of the study and 7.02 years at the end of the study. At the end of the first year of kindergarten, both visual-spatial working memory and number sense were measured by two different tasks. At the end of first grade, mathematical performance was measured with two tasks, one for math facts and one for math problems. Multiple regressions revealed that both visual working memory and symbolic number sense are predictors of mathematical performance in first grade. Symbolic number sense appears to be the strongest predictor for both math areas (math facts and math problems). Non-symbolic number sense only predicts performance in math problems. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that a combination of visual working memory and number sense deficits (NSDs) leads to the lowest performance on mathematics. Our DD hypothesis was confirmed. Both visual working memory and symbolic number sense in kindergarten are related to mathematical performance 2 years later, and a combination of visual working memory and NSDs leads to low performance in mathematical performance. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Effects of gender and executive function on visuospatial working memory in adult obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Martoni, Riccardo Maria; Salgari, Giulia; Galimberti, Elisa; Cavallini, Maria Cristina; O'Neill, Joseph

2015-12-01

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is the ability of the brain to transiently store and manipulate visual information. VSWM deficiencies have been reported in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but not consistently, perhaps due to variability in task design and clinical patient factors. To explore this variability, this study assessed effects of the design factors task difficulty and executive organizational strategy and of the clinical factors gender, OCD symptom dimension, and duration of illness on VSWM in OCD. The CANTAB spatial working memory, spatial recognition memory, delayed matching to sample, and stop signal tasks were administered to 42 adult OCD patients and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Aims were to detect a possible VSWM deficit in the OCD sample, to evaluate influences of the above task and patient factors, to determine the specificity of the deficit to the visuospatial subdomain, and to examine effects of sustained attention as potential neurocognitive confound. We confirmed previous findings of a VSWM deficit in OCD that was more severe for greater memory load (task difficulty) and that was affected by task strategy (executive function). We failed to demonstrate significant deficits in neighboring or confounding neurocognitive subdomains (visual object recognition or visual object short-term memory, sustained attention). Notably, the VSWM deficit was only significant for female patients, adding to evidence for sexual dimorphism in OCD. Again as in prior work, more severe OCD symptoms in the symmetry dimension (but no other dimension) significantly negatively impacted VSWM. Duration of illness had no significant effect on VSWM. VSWM deficits in OCD appear more severe with higher task load and may be mediated through poor task strategy. Such deficits may present mainly in female patients and in (male and female) patients with symmetry symptoms.

Visual Fast Mapping in School-Aged Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Mary

2013-01-01

Purpose: To determine whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) demonstrate impaired visual fast mapping skills compared with unimpaired peers and to test components of visual working memory that may contribute to a visual working memory deficit. Methods: Fifty children (25 SLI) played 2 computer-based visual fast mapping games…

Cognitive deficits in individuals with methamphetamine use disorder: A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Potvin, Stéphane; Pelletier, Julie; Grot, Stéphanie; Hébert, Catherine; Barr, Alasdair M; Lecomte, Tania

2018-05-01

Methamphetamine has long been considered as a neurotoxic substance causing cognitive deficits. Recently, however, the magnitude and the clinical significance of the cognitive effects associated with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) have been debated. To help clarify this controversy, we performed a meta-analysis of the cognitive deficits associated with MUD. A literature search yielded 44 studies that assessed cognitive dysfunction in 1592 subjects with MUD and 1820 healthy controls. Effect size estimates were calculated using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis, for the following 12 cognitive domains: attention, executive functions, impulsivity/reward processing, social cognition, speed of processing, verbal fluency/language, verbal learning and memory, visual learning and memory, visuo-spatial abilities and working memory. Findings revealed moderate impairment across most cognitive domains, including attention, executive functions, language/verbal fluency, verbal learning and memory, visual memory and working memory. Deficits in impulsivity/reward processing and social cognition were more prominent, whereas visual learning and visuo-spatial abilities were relatively spared cognitive domains. A publication bias was observed. These results show that MUD is associated with broad cognitive deficits that are in the same range as those associated with alcohol and cocaine use disorder, as recently shown by way of meta-analysis. The prominent effects of MUD on social cognition and impulsivity/reward processing are based on a small number of studies, and as such, these results will need to be replicated. The functional consequences (social and occupational) of the cognitive deficits of methamphetamine will also need to be determined. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age-related decline of precision and binding in visual working memory.

PubMed

Peich, Muy-Cheng; Husain, Masud; Bays, Paul M

2013-09-01

Working memory declines with normal aging, but the nature of this impairment is debated. Studies based on detecting changes to arrays of visual objects have identified two possible components to age-related decline: a reduction in the number of items that can be stored, or a deficit in maintaining the associations (bindings) between individual object features. However, some investigations have reported intact binding with aging, and specific deficits arising only in Alzheimer's disease. Here, using a recently developed continuous measure of recall fidelity, we tested the precision with which adults of different ages could reproduce from memory the orientation and color of a probed array item. The results reveal a further component of cognitive decline: an age-related decrease in the resolution with which visual information can be maintained in working memory. This increase in recall variability with age was strongest under conditions of greater memory load. Moreover, analysis of the distribution of errors revealed that older participants were more likely to incorrectly report one of the unprobed items in memory, consistent with an age-related increase in misbinding. These results indicate a systematic decline with age in working memory resources that can be recruited to store visual information. The paradigm presented here provides a sensitive index of both memory resolution and feature binding, with the potential for assessing their modulation by interventions. The findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms underpinning working memory deficits in both health and disease.

Age-Related Decline of Precision and Binding in Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Working memory declines with normal aging, but the nature of this impairment is debated. Studies based on detecting changes to arrays of visual objects have identified two possible components to age-related decline: a reduction in the number of items that can be stored, or a deficit in maintaining the associations (bindings) between individual object features. However, some investigations have reported intact binding with aging, and specific deficits arising only in Alzheimer’s disease. Here, using a recently developed continuous measure of recall fidelity, we tested the precision with which adults of different ages could reproduce from memory the orientation and color of a probed array item. The results reveal a further component of cognitive decline: an age-related decrease in the resolution with which visual information can be maintained in working memory. This increase in recall variability with age was strongest under conditions of greater memory load. Moreover, analysis of the distribution of errors revealed that older participants were more likely to incorrectly report one of the unprobed items in memory, consistent with an age-related increase in misbinding. These results indicate a systematic decline with age in working memory resources that can be recruited to store visual information. The paradigm presented here provides a sensitive index of both memory resolution and feature binding, with the potential for assessing their modulation by interventions. The findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms underpinning working memory deficits in both health and disease. PMID:23978008

Rey's 15-Item Visual Memory Test for the Detection of Malingering: Normative Observations on Patients with Neurological Disorders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Gregory P.; And Others

1992-01-01

To gather normative observations on a visual memory test developed by A. Rey (1964), it was administered to 100 temporal-lobe epilepsy patients with memory deficits and 56 outpatients with neurological disorders. Results suggest a cutoff score of 7 on the memory test may alert the clinician to possible factitious memory complaints. (SLD)

The Effect of Visual-Chunking-Representation Accommodation on Geometry Testing for Students with Math Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Dake; Ding, Yi; Stegall, Joanna; Mo, Lei

2012-01-01

Students who struggle with learning mathematics often have difficulties with geometry problem solving, which requires strong visual imagery skills. These difficulties have been correlated with deficiencies in visual working memory. Cognitive psychology has shown that chunking of visual items accommodates students' working memory deficits. This…

Verbal Short-Term Memory Deficits in Chinese Children with Dyslexia may not be a Problem with the Activation of Phonological Representations.

PubMed

Zhao, Jing; Yang, Yang; Song, Yao-Wu; Bi, Hong-Yan

2015-11-01

This study explored the underlying mechanism of the verbal short-term memory deficit in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia. Twenty-four children with dyslexia and 28 age-matched normal readers participated in the study. They were required to memorize a visually presented series of six Chinese characters and identify them from a list also including code-specific distracters and non-code-specific distracters. Error rates were recorded and were higher for code-specific distracters in all three conditions, revealing phonological, visual, and semantic similarity effects respectively. Group comparisons showed a stronger phonological similarity effect in dyslexic group, suggesting intact activation of phonological representations of target characters. Children with dyslexia also exhibited a greater semantic similarity effect, revealing stronger activation of semantic representations, while visual similarity effects were equivalent to controls. These results suggest that the verbal short-term memory deficit in Chinese dyslexics might not stem from insufficient activation of phonological information. Based the semantic activation of target characters in dyslexics is greater than in controls, it is possible that the memory deficit of dyslexia is related with deficient inhibition of target semantic representations in short-term memory. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Profile of cognitive deficits and associations with depressive symptoms and intelligence in chronic early-onset schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Jepsen, Jens Richardt Møllegaard; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Pagsberg, Anne Katrine; Christensen, Anne Marie Raaberg; Nordentoft, Merete; Mortensen, Erik Lykke

2013-10-01

Cognitive deficits in several domains have been demonstrated in early-onset schizophrenia patients but their profile and relation to depressive symptoms and intelligence need further characterization. The purpose was to characterize the profile of cognitive deficits in chronic, early-onset schizophrenia patients, assess the potential associations with depressive symptom severity, and examine whether cognitive deficits within several domains reflect intelligence impairments. This study compared attention, visual-construction, aspects of visual and verbal memory, and executive functions in chronic, early-onset schizophrenia patients (mean age = 20.7 years) (N = 18) and healthy controls (N = 38). Schizophrenia diagnoses were established at the time of the patients' first clinical presentation during childhood or adolescence and were confirmed five years later. In the chronic phase of early-onset schizophrenia, significant deficits were observed in all specific cognitive functions. The profile of cognitive deficits was jagged, and visual-construction, attention, and one aspect of verbal memory (verbal stories recall) were differentially impaired. Deficits of visual recall, visual recognition, and executive functions were accounted for by deficits in intelligence, while this was not the case for deficits of verbal recall of stories or attention. No significant associations were observed between the severity of cognitive deficits and that of depressive symptoms. Chronic, early-onset schizophrenia is characterized by a broad and jagged profile of cognitive deficits. Deficits of attention and verbal recall of stories appear not to be accounted for by deficits in intelligence, and the severity of cognitive deficits seems independent from that of depressive symptoms. © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

A new selective developmental deficit: Impaired object recognition with normal face recognition.

PubMed

Germine, Laura; Cashdollar, Nathan; Düzel, Emrah; Duchaine, Bradley

2011-05-01

Studies of developmental deficits in face recognition, or developmental prosopagnosia, have shown that individuals who have not suffered brain damage can show face recognition impairments coupled with normal object recognition (Duchaine and Nakayama, 2005; Duchaine et al., 2006; Nunn et al., 2001). However, no developmental cases with the opposite dissociation - normal face recognition with impaired object recognition - have been reported. The existence of a case of non-face developmental visual agnosia would indicate that the development of normal face recognition mechanisms does not rely on the development of normal object recognition mechanisms. To see whether a developmental variant of non-face visual object agnosia exists, we conducted a series of web-based object and face recognition tests to screen for individuals showing object recognition memory impairments but not face recognition impairments. Through this screening process, we identified AW, an otherwise normal 19-year-old female, who was then tested in the lab on face and object recognition tests. AW's performance was impaired in within-class visual recognition memory across six different visual categories (guns, horses, scenes, tools, doors, and cars). In contrast, she scored normally on seven tests of face recognition, tests of memory for two other object categories (houses and glasses), and tests of recall memory for visual shapes. Testing confirmed that her impairment was not related to a general deficit in lower-level perception, object perception, basic-level recognition, or memory. AW's results provide the first neuropsychological evidence that recognition memory for non-face visual object categories can be selectively impaired in individuals without brain damage or other memory impairment. These results indicate that the development of recognition memory for faces does not depend on intact object recognition memory and provide further evidence for category-specific dissociations in visual recognition. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

Effects of complete monocular deprivation in visuo-spatial memory.

PubMed

Cattaneo, Zaira; Merabet, Lotfi B; Bhatt, Ela; Vecchi, Tomaso

2008-09-30

Monocular deprivation has been associated with both specific deficits and enhancements in visual perception and processing. In this study, performance on a visuo-spatial memory task was compared in congenitally monocular individuals and sighted control individuals viewing monocularly (i.e., patched) and binocularly. The task required the individuals to view and memorize a series of target locations on two-dimensional matrices. Overall, congenitally monocular individuals performed worse than sighted individuals (with a specific deficit in simultaneously maintaining distinct spatial representations in memory), indicating that the lack of binocular visual experience affects the way visual information is represented in visuo-spatial memory. No difference was observed between the monocular and binocular viewing control groups, suggesting that early monocular deprivation affects the development of cortical mechanisms mediating visuo-spatial cognition.

Neuropsychological findings associated with Panayiotopoulos syndrome in three children.

PubMed

Hodges, Samantha L; Gabriel, Marsha T; Perry, M Scott

2016-01-01

Panayiotopoulos syndrome is a common idiopathic benign epilepsy that has a peak age of onset in early childhood. The syndrome is multifocal and shows significant electroencephalogram (EEG) variability, with occipital predominance. Although a benign syndrome often refers to the absence of neurological and neuropsychological deficits, the syndrome has recently been associated with cognitive impairments. Also, despite frequent occipital EEG abnormalities, research regarding the visual functioning of patients is less reported and often contradictory. The purpose of this study was to gain additional knowledge regarding the neurocognitive functioning of patients with Panayiotopoulos syndrome and specifically to address any visual processing deficits associated with the syndrome. Following diagnosis of the syndrome based on typical clinical and electrophysiological criteria, three patients, aged 5, 8, and 10years were referred by epileptologists for neuropsychological evaluation. Neuropsychological findings suggest that the patients had notable impairments on visual memory tasks, especially in comparison with verbal memory. Further, they demonstrated increased difficulty on picture memory suggesting difficulty retaining information from a crowded visual field. Two of the three patients showed weakness in visual processing speed, which may account for weaker retention of complex visual stimuli. Abilities involving attention were normal for all patients, suggesting that inattention is not responsible for these visual deficits. Academically, the patients were weak in numerical operations and spelling, which both rely partially on visual memory and may affect achievement in these areas. Overall, the results suggest that patients with Panayiotopoulos syndrome may have visual processing and visual memory problems that could potentially affect their academic capabilities. Identifying such difficulties may be helpful in creating educational and remedial assistance programs for children with this syndrome, as well as developing appropriate presentation of information to these children in school. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual Memory in Methamphetamine Dependent Individuals: Deficient Strategic Control of Encoding and Retrieval

PubMed Central

Morgan, Erin E.; Woods, Steven Paul; Poquette, Amelia J.; Vigil, Ofilio; Heaton, Robert K.; Grant, Igor

2012-01-01

Objective Chronic use of methamphetamine (MA) has moderate effects on neurocognitive functions associated with frontal systems, including the executive aspects of verbal episodic memory. Extending this literature, the current study examined the effects of MA on visual episodic memory with the hypothesis that a profile of deficient strategic encoding and retrieval processes would be revealed for visuospatial information (i.e., simple geometric designs), including possible differential effects on source versus item recall. Method The sample comprised 114 MA-dependent (MA+) and 110 demographically-matched MA-nondependent comparison participants (MA−) who completed the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test – Revised (BVMT-R), which was scored for standard learning and memory indices, as well as novel item (i.e., figure) and source (i.e., location) memory indices. Results Results revealed a profile of impaired immediate and delayed free recall (p < .05) in the context of preserved learning slope, retention, and recognition discriminability in the MA+ group. The MA+ group also performed more poorly than MA− participants on Item visual memory (p < .05) but not Source visual memory (p > .05), and no group by task-type interaction was observed (p > .05). Item visual memory demonstrated significant associations with executive dysfunction, deficits in working memory, and shorter length of abstinence from MA use (p < 0.05). Conclusions These visual memory findings are commensurate with studies reporting deficient strategic verbal encoding and retrieval in MA users that are posited to reflect the vulnerability of frontostriatal circuits to the neurotoxic effects of MA. Potential clinical implications of these visual memory deficits are discussed. PMID:22311530

Does Differential Visual Exploration Contribute to Visual Memory Impairments in 22Q11.2 Microdeletion Syndrome?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bostelmann, M.; Glaser, B.; Zaharia, A.; Eliez, S.; Schneider, M.

2017-01-01

Background: Chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is a genetic syndrome characterised by a unique cognitive profile. Individuals with the syndrome present several non-verbal deficits, including visual memory impairments and atypical exploration of visual information. In this study, we seek to understand how visual attention may…

Battery for ECT Related Cognitive Deficits (B4ECT-ReCoDe): development and validation.

PubMed

Viswanath, Biju; Harihara, Shashidhara N; Nahar, Abhinav; Phutane, Vivek Haridas; Taksal, Aarati; Thirthalli, Jagadisha; Gangadhar, Bangalore N

2013-06-01

The use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in treatment of psychiatric disorders is associated with adverse cognitive effects. There is a need to develop a short assessment tool of cognitive functions during the course of ECT. This study aimed at developing and validating a short, sensitive battery to assess cognitive deficits associated with ECT in India. Battery for ECT Related Cognitive Deficits (B4ECT-ReCoDe), a brief cognitive battery (20-30 min) to assess verbal, visual, working and autobiographic memory, sustained attention, psychomotor speed and subjective memory impairment, was administered to 30 in-patients receiving bilateral ECT, one day after the 1st, 3rd and 6th ECT. Data was analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation. Significant deficits were found in verbal, visual and autobiographic memory, psychomotor speed. Subjective experience of memory loss correlated positively with verbal memory impairment. B4ECT-ReCoDe, a brief, sensitive measure of cognitive impairments associated with ECT can be used in routine clinical practice. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visual short-term memory deficits associated with GBA mutation and Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Zokaei, Nahid; McNeill, Alisdair; Proukakis, Christos; Beavan, Michelle; Jarman, Paul; Korlipara, Prasad; Hughes, Derralynn; Mehta, Atul; Hu, Michele T M; Schapira, Anthony H V; Husain, Masud

2014-08-01

Individuals with mutation in the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene are at significantly high risk of developing Parkinson's disease with cognitive deficit. We examined whether visual short-term memory impairments, long associated with patients with Parkinson's disease, are also present in GBA-positive individuals-both with and without Parkinson's disease. Precision of visual working memory was measured using a serial order task in which participants observed four bars, each of a different colour and orientation, presented sequentially at screen centre. Afterwards, they were asked to adjust a coloured probe bar's orientation to match the orientation of the bar of the same colour in the sequence. An additional attentional 'filtering' condition tested patients' ability to selectively encode one of the four bars while ignoring the others. A sensorimotor task using the same stimuli controlled for perceptual and motor factors. There was a significant deficit in memory precision in GBA-positive individuals-with or without Parkinson's disease-as well as GBA-negative patients with Parkinson's disease, compared to healthy controls. Worst recall was observed in GBA-positive cases with Parkinson's disease. Although all groups were impaired in visual short-term memory, there was a double dissociation between sources of error associated with GBA mutation and Parkinson's disease. The deficit observed in GBA-positive individuals, regardless of whether they had Parkinson's disease, was explained by a systematic increase in interference from features of other items in memory: misbinding errors. In contrast, impairments in patients with Parkinson's disease, regardless of GBA status, was explained by increased random responses. Individuals who were GBA-positive and also had Parkinson's disease suffered from both types of error, demonstrating the worst performance. These findings provide evidence for dissociable signature deficits within the domain of visual short-term memory associated with GBA mutation and with Parkinson's disease. Identification of the specific pattern of cognitive impairment in GBA mutation versus Parkinson's disease is potentially important as it might help to identify individuals at risk of developing Parkinson's disease. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.

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

PubMed

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

2017-09-01

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

Do Immediate Memory Deficits in Students with Learning Disabilities in Reading Reflect a Developmental Lag or Deficit?: A Selective Meta-Analysis of the Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Shaughnessy, Tam E.; Swanson, H. Lee

1998-01-01

A study synthesized findings of 41 studies that compared children with and without learning disabilities in reading on immediate-memory performance. Results indicate children with learning disabilities were distinctly disadvantaged compared to average readers when memory manipulations required the naming of visual information and task conditions…

Visual Working Memory and Number Sense: Testing the Double Deficit Hypothesis in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toll, Sylke W. M.; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H.; Van Luit, Johannes E. H.

2016-01-01

Background: Evidence exists that there are two main underlying cognitive factors in mathematical difficulties: working memory and number sense. It is suggested that real math difficulties appear when both working memory and number sense are weak, here referred to as the double deficit (DD) hypothesis. Aims: The aim of this study was to test the DD…

Visual Information Processing Deficits as Biomarkers of Vulnerability to Schizophrenia: An Event-Related Potential Study in Schizotypy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koychev, Ivan; El-Deredy, Wael; Haenschel, Corinna; Deakin, John Francis William

2010-01-01

We aimed to clarify the importance of early visual processing deficits for the formation of cognitive deficits in the schizophrenia spectrum. We carried out an event-related potential (ERP) study using a computerised delayed matching to sample working memory (WM) task on a sample of volunteers with high and low scores on the Schizotypal…

Improving visual memory, attention, and school function with atomoxetine in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Shang, Chi-Yung; Gau, Susan Shur-Fen

2012-10-01

Atomoxetine is efficacious in reducing symptoms of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but its effect on visual memory and attention needs more investigation. This study aimed to assess the effect of atomoxetine on visual memory, attention, and school function in boys with ADHD in Taiwan. This was an open-label 12 week atomoxetine treatment trial among 30 drug-naíve boys with ADHD, aged 8-16 years. Before administration of atomoxetine, the participants were assessed using psychiatric interviews, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition (WISC-III), the school function of the Chinese version of the Social Adjustment Inventory for Children and Adolescents (SAICA), the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT), and the tasks of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) involving visual memory and attention: Pattern Recognition Memory, Spatial Recognition Memory, and Reaction Time, which were reassessed at weeks 4 and 12. Our results showed there was significant improvement in pattern recognition memory and spatial recognition memory as measured by the CANTAB tasks, sustained attention and response inhibition as measured by the CPT, and reaction time as measured by the CANTAB after treatment with atomoxetine for 4 weeks or 12 weeks. In addition, atomoxetine significantly enhanced school functioning in children with ADHD. Our findings suggested that atomoxetine was associated with significant improvement in visual memory, attention, and school functioning in boys with ADHD.

Visual-spatial abilities relate to mathematics achievement in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure

PubMed Central

Crocker, N.; Riley, E.P.; Mattson, S.N.

2014-01-01

Objective The current study examined the relationship between mathematics and attention, working memory, and visual memory in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and controls. Method Fifty-six children (29 AE, 27 CON) were administered measures of global mathematics achievement (WRAT-3 Arithmetic & WISC-III Written Arithmetic), attention, (WISC-III Digit Span forward and Spatial Span forward), working memory (WISC-III Digit Span backward and Spatial Span backward), and visual memory (CANTAB Spatial Recognition Memory and Pattern Recognition Memory). The contribution of cognitive domains to mathematics achievement was analyzed using linear regression techniques. Attention, working memory and visual memory data were entered together on step 1 followed by group on step 2, and the interaction terms on step 3. Results Model 1 accounted for a significant amount of variance in both mathematics achievement measures, however, model fit improved with the addition of group on step 2. Significant predictors of mathematics achievement were Spatial Span forward and backward and Spatial Recognition Memory. Conclusions These findings suggest that deficits in spatial processing may be related to math impairments seen in FASD. In addition, prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with deficits in mathematics achievement, above and beyond the contribution of general cognitive abilities. PMID:25000323

Visual-spatial abilities relate to mathematics achievement in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

PubMed

Crocker, Nicole; Riley, Edward P; Mattson, Sarah N

2015-01-01

The current study examined the relationship between mathematics and attention, working memory, and visual memory in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and controls. Subjects were 56 children (29 AE, 27 CON) who were administered measures of global mathematics achievement (WRAT-3 Arithmetic & WISC-III Written Arithmetic), attention, (WISC-III Digit Span forward and Spatial Span forward), working memory (WISC-III Digit Span backward and Spatial Span backward), and visual memory (CANTAB Spatial Recognition Memory and Pattern Recognition Memory). The contribution of cognitive domains to mathematics achievement was analyzed using linear regression techniques. Attention, working memory, and visual memory data were entered together on Step 1 followed by group on Step 2, and the interaction terms on Step 3. Model 1 accounted for a significant amount of variance in both mathematics achievement measures; however, model fit improved with the addition of group on Step 2. Significant predictors of mathematics achievement were Spatial Span forward and backward and Spatial Recognition Memory. These findings suggest that deficits in spatial processing may be related to math impairments seen in FASD. In addition, prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with deficits in mathematics achievement, above and beyond the contribution of general cognitive abilities. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Cognitive functioning following traumatic brain injury: A five-year follow-up.

PubMed

Marsh, Nigel V; Ludbrook, Maria R; Gaffaney, Lauren C

2016-01-01

To describe the long-term prevalence and severity of cognitive deficits following significant (i.e., ventilation required for >24 hours) traumatic brain injury. To assess a comprehensive range of cognitive functions using psychometric measures with established normative, reliability, and validity data. A group of 71 adults was assessed at approximately five years (mean = 66 months) following injury. Assessment of cognitive functioning covered the domains of intelligence, attention, verbal and visual memory, visual-spatial construction, and executive functions. Impairment was evident across all domains but prevalence varied both within and between domains. Across aspects of intelligence clinical impairment ranged from 8-25% , attention 39-62% , verbal memory 16-46% , visual memory 23-51% , visual-spatial construction 38% , and executive functions (verbal fluency) 13% . In addition, 3-23% of performances across the measures were in the borderline range, suggesting a high prevalence of subclinical deficit. Although the prevalence of impairment may vary across cognitive domains, long-term follow-up documented deficits in all six domains. These findings provide further evidence that while improvement of cognitive functioning following significant traumatic brain injury may be possible, recovery of function is unlikely.

Episodic and semantic memory in children with mesial temporal sclerosis.

PubMed

Rzezak, Patricia; Guimarães, Catarina; Fuentes, Daniel; Guerreiro, Marilisa M; Valente, Kette Dualibi Ramos

2011-07-01

The aim of this study was to analyze semantic and episodic memory deficits in children with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) and their correlation with clinical epilepsy variables. For this purpose, 19 consecutive children and adolescents with MTS (8 to 16 years old) were evaluated and their performance on five episodic memory tests (short- and long-term memory and learning) and four semantic memory tests was compared with that of 28 healthy volunteers. Patients performed worse on tests of immediate and delayed verbal episodic memory, visual episodic memory, verbal and visual learning, mental scanning for semantic clues, object naming, word definition, and repetition of sentences. Clinical variables such as early age at seizure onset, severity of epilepsy, and polytherapy impaired distinct types of memory. These data confirm that children with MTS have episodic memory deficits and add new information on semantic memory. The data also demonstrate that clinical variables contribute differently to episodic and semantic memory performance. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of aging on the working memory processes of multimodal information.

PubMed

Solesio-Jofre, Elena; López-Frutos, José María; Cashdollar, Nathan; Aurtenetxe, Sara; de Ramón, Ignacio; Maestú, Fernando

2017-05-01

Normal aging is associated with deficits in working memory processes. However, the majority of research has focused on storage or inhibitory processes using unimodal paradigms, without addressing their relationships using different sensory modalities. Hence, we pursued two objectives. First, was to examine the effects of aging on storage and inhibitory processes. Second, was to evaluate aging effects on multisensory integration of visual and auditory stimuli. To this end, young and older participants performed a multimodal task for visual and auditory pairs of stimuli with increasing memory load at encoding and interference during retention. Our results showed an age-related increased vulnerability to interrupting and distracting interference reflecting inhibitory deficits related to the off-line reactivation and on-line suppression of relevant and irrelevant information, respectively. Storage capacity was impaired with increasing task demands in both age groups. Additionally, older adults showed a deficit in multisensory integration, with poorer performance for new visual compared to new auditory information.

Face identity matching is selectively impaired in developmental prosopagnosia.

PubMed

Fisher, Katie; Towler, John; Eimer, Martin

2017-04-01

Individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) have severe face recognition deficits, but the mechanisms that are responsible for these deficits have not yet been fully identified. We assessed whether the activation of visual working memory for individual faces is selectively impaired in DP. Twelve DPs and twelve age-matched control participants were tested in a task where they reported whether successively presented faces showed the same or two different individuals, and another task where they judged whether the faces showed the same or different facial expressions. Repetitions versus changes of the other currently irrelevant attribute were varied independently. DPs showed impaired performance in the identity task, but performed at the same level as controls in the expression task. An electrophysiological marker for the activation of visual face memory by identity matches (N250r component) was strongly attenuated in the DP group, and the size of this attenuation was correlated with poor performance in a standardized face recognition test. Results demonstrate an identity-specific deficit of visual face memory in DPs. Their reduced sensitivity to identity matches in the presence of other image changes could result from earlier deficits in the perceptual extraction of image-invariant visual identity cues from face images. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Face-specific and domain-general visual processing deficits in children with developmental prosopagnosia.

PubMed

Dalrymple, Kirsten A; Elison, Jed T; Duchaine, Brad

2017-02-01

Evidence suggests that face and object recognition depend on distinct neural circuitry within the visual system. Work with adults with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) demonstrates that some individuals have preserved object recognition despite severe face recognition deficits. This face selectivity in adults with DP indicates that face- and object-processing systems can develop independently, but it is unclear at what point in development these mechanisms are separable. Determining when individuals with DP first show dissociations between faces and objects is one means to address this question. In the current study, we investigated face and object processing in six children with DP (5-12-years-old). Each child was assessed with one face perception test, two different face memory tests, and two object memory tests that were matched to the face memory tests in format and difficulty. Scores from the DP children on the matched face and object tasks were compared to within-subject data from age-matched controls. Four of the six DP children, including the 5-year-old, showed evidence of face-specific deficits, while one child appeared to have more general visual-processing deficits. The remaining child had inconsistent results. The presence of face-specific deficits in children with DP suggests that face and object perception depend on dissociable processes in childhood.

Deletion of the GluA1 AMPA Receptor Subunit Alters the Expression of Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanderson, David J.; Sprengel, Rolf; Seeburg, Peter H.; Bannerman, David M.

2011-01-01

Deletion of the GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit selectively impairs short-term memory for spatial locations. We further investigated this deficit by examining memory for discrete nonspatial visual stimuli in an operant chamber. Unconditioned suppression of magazine responding to visual stimuli was measured in wild-type and GluA1 knockout mice.…

Working memory deficits in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): the contribution of central executive and subsystem processes.

PubMed

Rapport, Mark D; Alderson, R Matt; Kofler, Michael J; Sarver, Dustin E; Bolden, Jennifer; Sims, Valerie

2008-08-01

The current study investigated contradictory findings from recent experimental and meta-analytic studies concerning working memory deficits in ADHD. Working memory refers to the cognitive ability to temporarily store and mentally manipulate limited amounts of information for use in guiding behavior. Phonological (verbal) and visuospatial (nonverbal) working memory were assessed across four memory load conditions in 23 boys (12 ADHD, 11 typically developing) using tasks based on Baddeley's (Working memory, thought, and action, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007) working memory model. The model posits separate phonological and visuospatial storage and rehearsal components that are controlled by a single attentional controller (CE: central executive). A latent variable approach was used to partial task performance related to three variables of interest: phonological buffer/rehearsal loop, visuospatial buffer/rehearsal loop, and the CE attentional controller. ADHD-related working memory deficits were apparent across all three cognitive systems--with the largest magnitude of deficits apparent in the CE--even after controlling for reading speed, nonverbal visual encoding, age, IQ, and SES.

Devil in the details? Developmental dyslexia and visual long-term memory for details.

PubMed

Huestegge, Lynn; Rohrßen, Julia; van Ermingen-Marbach, Muna; Pape-Neumann, Julia; Heim, Stefan

2014-01-01

Cognitive theories on causes of developmental dyslexia can be divided into language-specific and general accounts. While the former assume that words are special in that associated processing problems are rooted in language-related cognition (e.g., phonology) deficits, the latter propose that dyslexia is rather rooted in a general impairment of cognitive (e.g., visual and/or auditory) processing streams. In the present study, we examined to what extent dyslexia (typically characterized by poor orthographic representations) may be associated with a general deficit in visual long-term memory (LTM) for details. We compared object- and detail-related visual LTM performance (and phonological skills) between dyslexic primary school children and IQ-, age-, and gender-matched controls. The results revealed that while the overall amount of LTM errors was comparable between groups, dyslexic children exhibited a greater portion of detail-related errors. The results suggest that not only phonological, but also general visual resolution deficits in LTM may play an important role in developmental dyslexia.

Auditory and Visual Sustained Attention in Children with Speech Sound Disorder

PubMed Central

Murphy, Cristina F. B.; Pagan-Neves, Luciana O.; Wertzner, Haydée F.; Schochat, Eliane

2014-01-01

Although research has demonstrated that children with specific language impairment (SLI) and reading disorder (RD) exhibit sustained attention deficits, no study has investigated sustained attention in children with speech sound disorder (SSD). Given the overlap of symptoms, such as phonological memory deficits, between these different language disorders (i.e., SLI, SSD and RD) and the relationships between working memory, attention and language processing, it is worthwhile to investigate whether deficits in sustained attention also occur in children with SSD. A total of 55 children (18 diagnosed with SSD (8.11±1.231) and 37 typically developing children (8.76±1.461)) were invited to participate in this study. Auditory and visual sustained-attention tasks were applied. Children with SSD performed worse on these tasks; they committed a greater number of auditory false alarms and exhibited a significant decline in performance over the course of the auditory detection task. The extent to which performance is related to auditory perceptual difficulties and probable working memory deficits is discussed. Further studies are needed to better understand the specific nature of these deficits and their clinical implications. PMID:24675815

Distinguishing neurocognitive deficits in adult patients with NP-C from early onset Alzheimer's dementia.

PubMed

Johnen, Andreas; Pawlowski, Matthias; Duning, Thomas

2018-06-05

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the NPC1 or the NPC2 gene. Neurocognitive deficits are common in NP-C, particularly in patients with the adolescent/adult-onset form. As a disease-specific therapy is available, it is important to distinguish clinically between the cognitive profiles in NP-C and primary dementia (e.g., early Alzheimer's disease; eAD). In a prospective observational study, we directly compared the neurocognitive profiles of patients with confirmed NP-C (n = 7) and eAD (n = 15). All patients underwent neurocognitive assessment using dementia screening tests (mini-mental status examination [MMSE] and frontal assessment battery [FAB]) and an extensive battery of tests assessing verbal memory, visuoconstructive abilities, visual memory, executive functions and verbal fluency. Overall cognitive impairment (MMSE) was significantly greater in eAD vs. NP-C (p = 0.010). The frequency of patients classified as cognitively 'impaired' was also significantly greater in eAD vs. NP-C (p = 0.025). Patients with NP-C showed relatively preserved verbal memory, but frequent impairment in visual memory, visuoconstruction, executive functions and in particular, verbal fluency. In the eAD group, a wider profile of more frequent and more severe neurocognitive deficits was seen, primarily featuring severe verbal and visual memory deficits along with major executive impairment. Delayed verbal memory recall was a particularly strong distinguishing factor between the two groups. A combination of detailed yet easy-to-apply neurocognitive tests assessing verbal memory, executive functions and verbal fluency may help distinguish NP-C cases from those with primary dementia due to eAD.

Visual dot interaction with short-term memory.

PubMed

Etindele Sosso, Faustin Armel

2017-06-01

Many neurodegenerative diseases have a memory component. Brain structures related to memory are affected by environmental stimuli, and it is difficult to dissociate effects of all behavior of neurons. Here, visual cortex of mice was stimulated with gratings and dot, and an observation of neuronal activity before and after was made. Bandwidth, firing rate and orientation selectivity index were evaluated. A primary communication between primary visual cortex and short-term memory appeared to show an interesting path to train cognitive circuitry and investigate the basics mechanisms of the neuronal learning. The findings also suggested the interplay between primary visual cortex and short-term plasticity. The properties inside a visual target shape the perception and affect the basic encoding. Using visual cortex, it may be possible to train the memory and improve the recovery of people with cognitive disabilities or memory deficit.

Longitudinal deficits to attention, executive, and working memory in subtypes of mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Saunders, Nichole L J; Summers, Mathew J

2011-03-01

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has emerged as a classification for a prodromal phase of cognitive decline that may precede the emergence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent research suggests that attention, executive, and working memory deficits may appear much earlier in the progression of AD than traditionally conceptualized, and may be more consistently associated with the later development of AD than memory processing deficits. The present study longitudinally tracked attention, executive and working memory functions in subtypes of MCI. In a longitudinal study, 52 amnestic MCI (a-MCI), 29 nonamnestic MCI (na-MCI), and 25 age- and education-matched controls undertook neuropsychological assessment of visual and verbal memory, attentional processing, executive functioning, working memory capacity, and semantic language at 10 month intervals. Analysis by repeated measures ANOVA indicate that the a-MCI and na-MCI groups displayed a decline in simple sustained attention (ηp² = .054) with a significant decline on a task of divided attention (ηp² = .053) being evident in the a-MCI group. Stable deficits were found on other measures of attention, working memory and executive function in the a-MCI and na-MCI groups. The a-MCI group displayed stable impairments to visual and verbal memory. The results indicate that a-MCI and na-MCI display a stable pattern of deficits to attention, working memory, and executive function. The decline in simple sustained attention in a-MCI and n-MCI groups and to divided attention in a-MCI may be early indicators of possible transition to dementia from MCI. However, further research is required to determine this. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adler, Sol; McDade, Hiram L.

1980-01-01

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

Phonological Working Memory in German Children with Poor Reading and Spelling Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinbrink, Claudia; Klatte, Maria

2008-01-01

Deficits in verbal short-term memory have been identified as one factor underlying reading and spelling disorders. However, the nature of this deficit is still unclear. It has been proposed that poor readers make less use of phonological coding, especially if the task can be solved through visual strategies. In the framework of Baddeley's…

Ageing and feature binding in visual working memory: The role of presentation time.

PubMed

Rhodes, Stephen; Parra, Mario A; Logie, Robert H

2016-01-01

A large body of research has clearly demonstrated that healthy ageing is accompanied by an associative memory deficit. Older adults exhibit disproportionately poor performance on memory tasks requiring the retention of associations between items (e.g., pairs of unrelated words). In contrast to this robust deficit, older adults' ability to form and temporarily hold bound representations of an object's surface features, such as colour and shape, appears to be relatively well preserved. However, the findings of one set of experiments suggest that older adults may struggle to form temporary bound representations in visual working memory when given more time to study objects. However, these findings were based on between-participant comparisons across experimental paradigms. The present study directly assesses the role of presentation time in the ability of younger and older adults to bind shape and colour in visual working memory using a within-participant design. We report new evidence that giving older adults longer to study memory objects does not differentially affect their immediate memory for feature combinations relative to individual features. This is in line with a growing body of research suggesting that there is no age-related impairment in immediate memory for colour-shape binding.

Complete abolition of reading and writing ability with a third ventricle colloid cyst: implications for surgical intervention and proposed neural substrates of visual recognition and visual imaging ability.

PubMed

Barker, Lynne Ann; Morton, Nicholas; Romanowski, Charles A J; Gosden, Kevin

2013-10-24

We report a rare case of a patient unable to read (alexic) and write (agraphic) after a mild head injury. He had preserved speech and comprehension, could spell aloud, identify words spelt aloud and copy letter features. He was unable to visualise letters but showed no problems with digits. Neuropsychological testing revealed general visual memory, processing speed and imaging deficits. Imaging data revealed an 8 mm colloid cyst of the third ventricle that splayed the fornix. Little is known about functions mediated by fornical connectivity, but this region is thought to contribute to memory recall. Other regions thought to mediate letter recognition and letter imagery, visual word form area and visual pathways were intact. We remediated reading and writing by multimodal letter retraining. The study raises issues about the neural substrates of reading, role of fornical tracts to selective memory in the absence of other pathology, and effective remediation strategies for selective functional deficits.

WISC-R Scatter and Patterns in Three Types of Learning Disabled Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tabachnick, Barbara G.; Turbey, Carolyn B.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) subtest scatter and Bannatyne recategorization scores were investigated with three types of learning disabilities in children 6 to 16 years old: visual-motor and visual-perceptual disability (N=66); auditory-perceptual and receptive language deficit (N=18); and memory deficit (N=12). Three…

Effect of organizational strategy on visual memory in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Kim, Myung-Sun; Namgoong, Yoon; Youn, Tak

2008-08-01

The aim of the present study was to examine how copy organization mediated immediate recall among patients with schizophrenia using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF). The Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS) was applied for qualitative and quantitative analyses of ROCF performances. Subjects included 20 patients with schizophrenia and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. During the copy condition, the schizophrenia group and the control group differed in fragmentation; during the immediate recall condition, the two groups differed in configural presence and planning; and during the delayed recall condition, they differed in several qualitative measurements, including configural presence, cluster presence/placement, detail presence/placement, fragmentation, planning, and neatness. The two groups also differed in several quantitative measurements, including immediate presence and accuracy, immediate retention, delayed retention, and organization. Although organizational strategies used during the copy condition mediated the difference between the two groups during the immediate recall condition, group also had a significant direct effect on immediate recall. Schizophrenia patients are deficient in visual memory, and a piecemeal approach to the figure and organizational deficit seem to be related to the visual memory deficit. But schizophrenia patients also appeared to have some memory problems, including retention and/or retrieval deficits.

Working memory subsystems and task complexity in young boys with Fragile X syndrome.

PubMed

Baker, S; Hooper, S; Skinner, M; Hatton, D; Schaaf, J; Ornstein, P; Bailey, D

2011-01-01

Working memory problems have been targeted as core deficits in individuals with Fragile X syndrome (FXS); however, there have been few studies that have examined working memory in young boys with FXS, and even fewer studies that have studied the working memory performance of young boys with FXS across different degrees of complexity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phonological loop and visual-spatial working memory in young boys with FXS, in comparison to mental age-matched typical boys, and to examine the impact of complexity of the working memory tasks on performance. The performance of young boys (7 to 13-years-old) with FXS (n = 40) was compared with that of mental age and race matched typically developing boys (n = 40) on measures designed to test the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad across low, moderate and high degrees of complexity. Multivariate analyses were used to examine group differences across the specific working memory systems and degrees of complexity. Results suggested that boys with FXS showed deficits in phonological loop and visual-spatial working memory tasks when compared with typically developing mental age-matched boys. For the boys with FXS, the phonological loop was significantly lower than the visual-spatial sketchpad; however, there was no significant difference in performance across the low, moderate and high degrees of complexity in the working memory tasks. Reverse tasks from both the phonological loop and visual-spatial sketchpad appeared to be the most challenging for both groups, but particularly for the boys with FXS. These findings implicate a generalised deficit in working memory in young boys with FXS, with a specific disproportionate impairment in the phonological loop. Given the lack of differentiation on the low versus high complexity tasks, simple span tasks may provide an adequate estimate of working memory until greater involvement of the central executive is achieved. © 2010 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Training on Movement Figure-Ground Discrimination Remediates Low-Level Visual Timing Deficits in the Dorsal Stream, Improving High-Level Cognitive Functioning, Including Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory.

PubMed

Lawton, Teri; Shelley-Tremblay, John

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurotraining to discriminate a moving test pattern relative to a stationary background, figure-ground discrimination, improves vision and cognitive functioning in dyslexics, as well as typically-developing normal students. We predict that improving the speed and sensitivity of figure-ground movement discrimination ( PATH to Reading neurotraining) acts to remediate visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream, thereby improving processing speed, reading fluency, and the executive control functions of attention and working memory in both dyslexic and normal students who had PATH neurotraining more than in those students who had no neurotraining. This prediction was evaluated by measuring whether dyslexic and normal students improved on standardized tests of cognitive skills following neurotraining exercises, more than following computer-based guided reading ( Raz-Kids ( RK )). The neurotraining used in this study was visually-based training designed to improve magnocellular function at both low and high levels in the dorsal stream: the input to the executive control networks coding working memory and attention. This approach represents a paradigm shift from the phonologically-based treatment for dyslexia, which concentrates on high-level speech and reading areas. This randomized controlled-validation study was conducted by training the entire second and third grade classrooms (42 students) for 30 min twice a week before guided reading. Standardized tests were administered at the beginning and end of 12-weeks of intervention training to evaluate improvements in academic skills. Only movement-discrimination training remediated both low-level visual timing deficits and high-level cognitive functioning, including selective and sustained attention, reading fluency and working memory for both dyslexic and normal students. Remediating visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream revealed the causal role of visual movement discrimination training in improving high-level cognitive functions such as attention, reading acquisition and working memory. This study supports the hypothesis that faulty timing in synchronizing the activity of magnocellular with parvocellular visual pathways in the dorsal stream is a fundamental cause of dyslexia and being at-risk for reading problems in normal students, and argues against the assumption that reading deficiencies in dyslexia are caused by phonological or language deficits, requiring a paradigm shift from phonologically-based treatment of dyslexia to a visually-based treatment. This study shows that visual movement-discrimination can be used not only to diagnose dyslexia early, but also for its successful treatment, so that reading problems do not prevent children from readily learning.

Training on Movement Figure-Ground Discrimination Remediates Low-Level Visual Timing Deficits in the Dorsal Stream, Improving High-Level Cognitive Functioning, Including Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory

PubMed Central

Lawton, Teri; Shelley-Tremblay, John

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurotraining to discriminate a moving test pattern relative to a stationary background, figure-ground discrimination, improves vision and cognitive functioning in dyslexics, as well as typically-developing normal students. We predict that improving the speed and sensitivity of figure-ground movement discrimination (PATH to Reading neurotraining) acts to remediate visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream, thereby improving processing speed, reading fluency, and the executive control functions of attention and working memory in both dyslexic and normal students who had PATH neurotraining more than in those students who had no neurotraining. This prediction was evaluated by measuring whether dyslexic and normal students improved on standardized tests of cognitive skills following neurotraining exercises, more than following computer-based guided reading (Raz-Kids (RK)). The neurotraining used in this study was visually-based training designed to improve magnocellular function at both low and high levels in the dorsal stream: the input to the executive control networks coding working memory and attention. This approach represents a paradigm shift from the phonologically-based treatment for dyslexia, which concentrates on high-level speech and reading areas. This randomized controlled-validation study was conducted by training the entire second and third grade classrooms (42 students) for 30 min twice a week before guided reading. Standardized tests were administered at the beginning and end of 12-weeks of intervention training to evaluate improvements in academic skills. Only movement-discrimination training remediated both low-level visual timing deficits and high-level cognitive functioning, including selective and sustained attention, reading fluency and working memory for both dyslexic and normal students. Remediating visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream revealed the causal role of visual movement discrimination training in improving high-level cognitive functions such as attention, reading acquisition and working memory. This study supports the hypothesis that faulty timing in synchronizing the activity of magnocellular with parvocellular visual pathways in the dorsal stream is a fundamental cause of dyslexia and being at-risk for reading problems in normal students, and argues against the assumption that reading deficiencies in dyslexia are caused by phonological or language deficits, requiring a paradigm shift from phonologically-based treatment of dyslexia to a visually-based treatment. This study shows that visual movement-discrimination can be used not only to diagnose dyslexia early, but also for its successful treatment, so that reading problems do not prevent children from readily learning. PMID:28555097

Deficits of organizational strategy and visual memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Shin, M S; Park, S J; Kim, M S; Lee, Y H; Ha, T H; Kwon, J S

2004-10-01

This study was conducted to investigate the deficits of organizational strategy and visual memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Thirty OCD patients and 30 healthy controls aged 20-35 years participated. The Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) test were administered to participants. The authors scored ROCF performances using the Boston Qualitative Scoring System. The OCD patients showed poorer planning ability and higher fragmentation than did healthy controls when copying the ROCF, and they showed even poorer performances in the immediate and delayed recall conditions. The authors found that the Organization score in the copy condition mediated the difference between the OCD group and the healthy group in immediate recall. The direct effect of diagnosis (OCD or healthy) on the immediate recall condition of the ROCF was also significant. This study indicates that people with OCD have poor memory function and organizational deficits.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Maureen Julianne

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

Differences in Memory Functioning between Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and/or Focal Epilepsy

PubMed Central

Lee, Sylvia E.; Kibby, Michelle Y.; Cohen, Morris J.; Stanford, Lisa; Park, Yong; Strickland, Suzanne

2016-01-01

Prior research has shown that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy are frequently comorbid and that both disorders are associated with various attention and memory problems. Nonetheless, limited research has been conducted comparing the two disorders in one sample to determine unique versus shared deficits. Hence, we investigated differences in working memory and short-term and delayed recall between children with ADHD, focal epilepsy of mixed foci, comorbid ADHD/epilepsy and controls. Participants were compared on the Core subtests and the Picture Locations subtest of the Children’s Memory Scale (CMS). Results indicated that children with ADHD displayed intact verbal working memory and long-term memory (LTM), as well as intact performance on most aspects of short-term memory (STM). They performed worse than controls on Numbers Forward and Picture Locations, suggesting problems with focused attention and simple span for visual-spatial material. Conversely, children with epilepsy displayed poor focused attention and STM regardless of modality assessed, which affected encoding into LTM. The only loss over time was found for passages (Stories). Working memory was intact. Children with comorbid ADHD/epilepsy displayed focused attention and STM/LTM problems consistent with both disorders, having the lowest scores across the four groups. Hence, focused attention and visual-spatial span appear to be affected in both disorders, whereas additional STM/encoding problems are specific to epilepsy. Children with comorbid ADHD/epilepsy have deficits consistent with both disorders, with slight additive effects. This study suggests that attention and memory testing should be a regular part of the evaluation of children with epilepsy and ADHD. PMID:26156331

Functional neuroimaging and behavioral correlates of capacity decline in visual short-term memory after sleep deprivation.

PubMed

Chee, Michael W L; Chuah, Y M Lisa

2007-05-29

Sleep deprivation (SD) impairs short-term memory, but it is unclear whether this is because of reduced storage capacity or processes contributing to appropriate information encoding. We evaluated 30 individuals twice, once after a night of normal sleep and again after 24 h of SD. In each session, we evaluated visual memory capacity by presenting arrays of one to eight colored squares. Additionally, we measured cortical responses to varying visual array sizes without engaging memory. The magnitude of intraparietal sulcus activation and memory capacity after normal sleep were highly correlated. SD elicited a pattern of activation in both tasks, indicating that deficits in visual processing and visual attention accompany and could account for loss of short-term memory capacity. Additionally, a comparison between better and poorer performers showed that preservation of precuneus and temporoparietal junction deactivation with increasing memory load corresponds to less performance decline when one is sleep-deprived.

Selective deficit of spatial short-term memory: Role of storage and rehearsal mechanisms.

PubMed

Bonnì, Sonia; Perri, Roberta; Fadda, Lucia; Tomaiuolo, Francesco; Koch, Giacomo; Caltagirone, Carlo; Carlesimo, Giovanni Augusto

2014-10-01

We report the neuropsychological and MRI investigation of a patient (GP) who developed a selective impairment of spatial short-term memory (STM) following damage to the dorso-mesial areas of the right frontal lobe. We assessed in this patient spatial STM with an experimental procedure that evaluated immediate and 5-20 s delayed recall of verbal, visual and spatial stimuli. The patient scored significantly worse than normal controls on tests that required delayed recall of spatial data. This could not be ascribed to a deficit of spatial episodic long-term memory because amnesic patients performed normally on these tests. Conversely, the patient scored in the normal range on tests of immediate recall of verbal, visual and spatial data and tests of delayed recall of verbal and visual data. Comparison with a previously described patient who had a selective deficit in immediate spatial recall and an ischemic lesion that affected frontal and parietal dorso-mesial areas in the right hemisphere (Carlesimo GA, Perri R, Turriziani P, Tomaiuolo F, Caltagirone C. Remembering what but not where: independence of spatial and visual working memory in the human brain. Cortex. 2001 Sep; 37(4):519-34) suggests that the right parietal areas are involved in the short-term storage of spatial information and that the dorso-mesial regions of the right frontal underlie mechanisms for the delayed maintenance of the same data.

Working memory for visual features and conjunctions in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Gold, James M; Wilk, Christopher M; McMahon, Robert P; Buchanan, Robert W; Luck, Steven J

2003-02-01

The visual working memory (WM) storage capacity of patients with schizophrenia was investigated using a change detection paradigm. Participants were presented with 2, 3, 4, or 6 colored bars with testing of both single feature (color, orientation) and feature conjunction conditions. Patients performed significantly worse than controls at all set sizes but demonstrated normal feature binding. Unlike controls, patient WM capacity declined at set size 6 relative to set size 4. Impairments with subcapacity arrays suggest a deficit in task set maintenance: Greater impairment for supercapacity set sizes suggests a deficit in the ability to selectively encode information for WM storage. Thus, the WM impairment in schizophrenia appears to be a consequence of attentional deficits rather than a reduction in storage capacity.

Effects of β-hydroxy-β-methyl butyrate on working memory and cognitive flexibility in an animal model of aging.

PubMed

Hankosky, Emily R; Sherrill, Luke K; Ruvola, Lauren A; Haake, Rachel M; Kim, Taehyeon; Hammerslag, Lindsey R; Kougias, Daniel G; Juraska, Janice M; Gulley, Joshua M

2017-09-01

Normal aging results in cognitive decline and nutritional interventions have been suggested as potential approaches for mitigating these deficits. Here, we used rats to investigate the effects of short- and long-term dietary supplementation with the leucine metabolite β-hydroxy-β-methyl butyrate (HMB) on working memory and cognitive flexibility. Beginning ∼12 months of age, male and female Long-Evans rats were given twice daily access to sipper tubes containing calcium HMB (450 mg/kg) or vehicle (285 mg/kg calcium lactate) in a sucrose solution (20% w/v). Supplementation continued for 1 or 7 months (middle- and old-age (OA) groups, respectively) before testing began. Working memory was assessed by requiring rats to respond on a previously sampled lever following various delays. Cognitive flexibility was assessed by training rats to earn food according to a visual strategy and then, once acquired, shifting to an egocentric response strategy. Treatment with HMB improved working memory performance in middle-age (MA) males and OA rats of both sexes. In the cognitive flexibility task, there was a significant age-dependent deficit in acquisition of the visual strategy that was not apparent in OA males treated with HMB. Furthermore, HMB ameliorated an apparent deficit in visual strategy acquisition in MA females. Together, these findings suggest that daily nutritional supplementation with HMB facilitates learning and improves working memory performance. As such, HMB supplementation may mitigate age-related cognitive deficits and may therefore be an effective tool to combat this undesirable feature of the aging process.

The case against specialized visual-spatial short-term memory.

PubMed

Morey, Candice C

2018-05-24

The dominant paradigm for understanding working memory, or the combination of the perceptual, attentional, and mnemonic processes needed for thinking, subdivides short-term memory (STM) according to whether memoranda are encoded in aural-verbal or visual formats. This traditional dissociation has been supported by examples of neuropsychological patients who seem to selectively lack STM for either aural-verbal, visual, or spatial memoranda, and by experimental research using dual-task methods. Though this evidence is the foundation of assumptions of modular STM systems, the case it makes for a specialized visual STM system is surprisingly weak. I identify the key evidence supporting a distinct verbal STM system-patients with apparent selective damage to verbal STM and the resilience of verbal short-term memories to general dual-task interference-and apply these benchmarks to neuropsychological and experimental investigations of visual-spatial STM. Contrary to the evidence on verbal STM, patients with apparent visual or spatial STM deficits tend to experience a wide range of additional deficits, making it difficult to conclude that a distinct short-term store was damaged. Consistently with this, a meta-analysis of dual-task visual-spatial STM research shows that robust dual-task costs are consistently observed regardless of the domain or sensory code of the secondary task. Together, this evidence suggests that positing a specialized visual STM system is not necessary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Visuospatial deficits in schizophrenia: central executive and memory subsystems impairments.

PubMed

Leiderman, Eduardo A; Strejilevich, Sergio A

2004-06-01

Object and spatial visual working memory are impaired in schizophrenic patients. It is not clear if the impairments reside in each memory subsystem alone or also in the central executive component that coordinates these processes. In order to elucidate which memory component is impaired, we developed a paradigm with single spatial and object working memory tasks and dual ones with two different delays (5 and 30 s). Fifteen schizophrenic patients and 14 control subjects performed these tests. Schizophrenic patients had a poorer performance compared to normal controls in all tasks and in all time delays. Both schizophrenics and controls performed significantly worse in the object task than in the spatial task. The performance was even worse in the dual task compared to the singles ones in schizophrenic patients but not in controls. These data suggest that visuospatial performance deficits in schizophrenia are due to both visuospatial memory subsystems impairments and central executive ones. The pattern of deficits observed points to a codification or evocation deficit and not to a maintenance one.

Evaluation of a Short-Term Computer-Assisted Training Programme for the Remediation of Attentional Deficits after Brain Injury: A Preliminary Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gauggel, S.; Niemann, T.

1996-01-01

This study evaluated a computer-assisted training program used by four patients (ages 40 to 53) who had attentional deficits caused by cerebrovascular accident and closed head injury. Patients demonstrated improvements in training tasks, attention, and visual memory, but no improvements in two verbal memory tests and a general intelligence test.…

Objective and subjective memory ratings in cannabis-dependent adolescents.

PubMed

McClure, Erin A; Lydiard, Jessica B; Goddard, Scott D; Gray, Kevin M

2015-01-01

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance worldwide, with an estimated 160 million users. Among adolescents, rates of cannabis use are increasing, while the perception of detrimental effects of cannabis use is declining. Difficulty with memory is one of the most frequently noted cognitive deficits associated with cannabis use, but little data exist exploring how well users can identify their own memory deficits, if present. The current secondary analysis sought to characterize objective verbal and visual memory performance via a neurocognitive battery in cannabis-dependent adolescents enrolled in a pharmacotherapeutic cannabis cessation clinical trial (N = 112) and compare this to a single self-reported item assessing difficulties with memory loss. Exploratory analyses also assessed dose-dependent effects of cannabis on memory performance. A small portion of the study sample (10%) endorsed a "serious problem" with memory loss. Those participants reporting "no problem" or "serious problem" scored similarly on visual and verbal memory tasks on the neurocognitive battery. Exploratory analyses suggested a potential relationship between days of cannabis use, amount of cannabis used, and gender with memory performance. This preliminary and exploratory analysis suggests that a sub-set of cannabis users may not accurately perceive difficulties with memory. Further work should test this hypothesis with the use of a control group, comprehensive self-reports of memory problems, and adult populations that may have more years of cannabis use and more severe cognitive deficits. © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

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

PubMed Central

Evans, Julia L.; Pollak, Seth D.

2011-01-01

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

The Role of Aging in Intra-Item and Item-Context Binding Processes in Visual Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Dwight J.; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2016-01-01

Aging is accompanied by declines in both working memory and long-term episodic memory processes. Specifically, important age-related memory deficits are characterized by performance impairments exhibited by older relative to younger adults when binding distinct components into a single integrated representation, despite relatively intact memory…

[Clinical Neuropsychology of Dementia with Lewy Bodies].

PubMed

Nagahama, Yasuhiro

2016-02-01

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) shows lesser memory impairment and more severe visuospatial disability than Alzheimer disease (AD). Although deficits in both consolidation and retrieval underlie the memory impairment, retrieval deficit is predominant in DLB. Visuospatial dysfunctions in DLB are related to the impairments in both ventral and dorsal streams of higher visual information processing, and lower visual processing in V1/V2 may also be impaired. Attention and executive functions are more widely disturbed in DLB than in AD. Imitation of finger gestures is impaired more frequently in DLB than in other mild dementia, and provides additional information for diagnosis of mild dementia, especially for DLB. Pareidolia, which lies between hallucination and visual misperception, is found frequently in DLB, but its mechanism is still under investigation.

Mental object rotation in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Crucian, Gregory P; Barrett, Anna M; Burks, David W; Riestra, Alonso R; Roth, Heidi L; Schwartz, Ronald L; Triggs, William J; Bowers, Dawn; Friedman, William; Greer, Melvin; Heilman, Kenneth M

2003-11-01

Deficits in visual-spatial ability can be associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), and there are several possible reasons for these deficits. Dysfunction in frontal-striatal and/or frontal-parietal systems, associated with dopamine deficiency, might disrupt cognitive processes either supporting (e.g., working memory) or subserving visual-spatial computations. The goal of this study was to assess visual-spatial orientation ability in individuals with PD using the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), along with other measures of cognitive function. Non-demented men with PD were significantly less accurate on this test than matched control men. In contrast, women with PD performed similarly to matched control women, but both groups of women did not perform much better than chance. Further, mental rotation accuracy in men correlated with their executive skills involving mental processing and psychomotor speed. In women with PD, however, mental rotation accuracy correlated negatively with verbal memory, indicating that higher mental rotation performance was associated with lower ability in verbal memory. These results indicate that PD is associated with visual-spatial orientation deficits in men. Women with PD and control women both performed poorly on the MRT, possibly reflecting a floor effect. Although men and women with PD appear to engage different cognitive processes in this task, the reason for the sex difference remains to be elucidated.

Mathematical outcomes and working memory in children with TBI and orthopedic injury.

PubMed

Raghubar, Kimberly P; Barnes, Marcia A; Prasad, Mary; Johnson, Chad P; Ewing-Cobbs, Linda

2013-03-01

This study compared mathematical outcomes in children with predominantly moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI; n550) or orthopedic injury (OI; n547) at 2 and 24 months post-injury. Working memory and its contribution to math outcomes at 24 months post-injury was also examined. Participants were administered an experimental cognitive addition task and standardized measures of calculation, math fluency, and applied problems; as well as experimental measures of verbal and visual-spatial working memory. Although children with TBI did not have deficits in foundational math fact retrieval, they performed more poorly than OIs on standardized measures of math. In the TBI group, performance on standardized measures was predicted by age at injury, socioeconomic status, and the duration of impaired consciousness. Children with TBI showed impairments on verbal, but not visual working memory relative to children with OI. Verbal working memory mediated group differences on math calculations and applied problems at 24 months post-injury. Children with TBI have difficulties in mathematics, but do not have deficits in math fact retrieval, a signature deficit of math disabilities. Results are discussed with reference to models of mathematical cognition and disability and the role of working memory in math learning and performance for children with TBI.

Mathematical Outcomes and Working Memory in Children With TBI and Orthopedic Injury

PubMed Central

Raghubar, Kimberly P.; Barnes, Marcia A.; Prasad, Mary; Johnson, Chad P.; Ewing-Cobbs, Linda

2013-01-01

This study compared mathematical outcomes in children with predominantly moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI; n =50) or orthopedic injury (OI; n=47) at 2 and 24 months post-injury. Working memory and its contribution to math outcomes at 24 months post-injury was also examined. Participants were administered an experimental cognitive addition task and standardized measures of calculation, math fluency, and applied problems; as well as experimental measures of verbal and visual-spatial working memory. Although children with TBI did not have deficits in foundational math fact retrieval, they performed more poorly than OIs on standardized measures of math. In the TBI group, performance on standardized measures was predicted by age at injury, socioeconomic status, and the duration of impaired consciousness. Children with TBI showed impairments on verbal, but not visual working memory relative to children with OI. Verbal working memory mediated group differences on math calculations and applied problems at 24 months post-injury. Children with TBI have difficulties in mathematics, but do not have deficits in math fact retrieval, a signature deficit of math disabilities. Results are discussed with reference to models of mathematical cognition and disability and the role of working memory in math learning and performance for children with TBI. PMID:23164058

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

PubMed

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

2006-09-01

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

Component deficits of visual neglect: "Magnetic" attraction of attention vs. impaired spatial working memory.

PubMed

Toba, Monica N; Rabuffetti, Marco; Duret, Christophe; Pradat-Diehl, Pascale; Gainotti, Guido; Bartolomeo, Paolo

2018-01-31

Visual neglect is a disabling consequence of right hemisphere damage, whereby patients fail to detect left-sided objects. Its precise mechanisms are debated, but there is some consensus that distinct component deficits may variously associate and interact in different patients. Here we used a touch-screen based procedure to study two putative component deficits of neglect, rightward "magnetic" attraction of attention and impaired spatial working memory, in a group of 47 right brain-damaged patients, of whom 33 had signs of left neglect. Patients performed a visual search task on three distinct conditions, whereby touched targets could (1) be tagged, (2) disappear or (3) show no change. Magnetic attraction of attention was defined as more left neglect on the tag condition than on the disappear condition, where right-sided disappeared targets could not capture patients' attention. Impaired spatial working memory should instead produce more neglect on the no change condition, where no external cue indicated that a target had already been explored, than on the tag condition. Using a specifically developed analysis algorithm, we identified significant differences of performance between the critical conditions. Neglect patients as a group performed better on the disappear condition than on the no change condition and also better in the tag condition comparing with the no change condition. No difference was found between the tag condition and the disappear condition. Some of our neglect patients had dissociated patterns of performance, with predominant magnetic attraction or impaired spatial working memory. Anatomical results issued from both grey matter analysis and fiber tracking were consistent with the typical patterns of fronto-parietal and occipito-frontal disconnection in neglect, but did not identify lesional patterns specifically associated with one or another deficit, thus suggesting the possible co-localization of attentional and working memory processes in fronto-parietal networks. These findings give support to the hypothesis of the co-occurrence of distinct cognitive deficits in visual neglect and stress the necessity of multi-component models of visuospatial disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disentangling the adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder endophenotype: parametric measurement of attention.

PubMed

Finke, Kathrin; Schwarzkopf, Wolfgang; Müller, Ulrich; Frodl, Thomas; Müller, Hermann J; Schneider, Werner X; Engel, Rolf R; Riedel, Michael; Möller, Hans-Jürgen; Hennig-Fast, Kristina

2011-11-01

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists frequently into adulthood. The decomposition of endophenotypes by means of experimental neuro-cognitive assessment has the potential to improve diagnostic assessment, evaluation of treatment response, and disentanglement of genetic and environmental influences. We assessed four parameters of attentional capacity and selectivity derived from simple psychophysical tasks (verbal report of briefly presented letter displays) and based on a "theory of visual attention." These parameters are mathematically independent, quantitative measures, and previous studies have shown that they are highly sensitive for subtle attention deficits. Potential reductions of attentional capacity, that is, of perceptual processing speed and working memory storage capacity, were assessed with a whole report paradigm. Furthermore, possible pathologies of attentional selectivity, that is, selection of task-relevant information and bias in the spatial distribution of attention, were measured with a partial report paradigm. A group of 30 unmedicated adult ADHD patients and a group of 30 demographically matched healthy controls were tested. ADHD patients showed significant reductions of working memory storage capacity of a moderate to large effect size. Perceptual processing speed, task-based, and spatial selection were unaffected. The results imply a working memory deficit as an important source of behavioral impairments. The theory of visual attention parameter working memory storage capacity might constitute a quantifiable and testable endophenotype of ADHD.

[Formula: see text]Differences in memory functioning between children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or focal epilepsy.

PubMed

Lee, Sylvia E; Kibby, Michelle Y; Cohen, Morris J; Stanford, Lisa; Park, Yong; Strickland, Suzanne

2016-01-01

Prior research has shown that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy are frequently comorbid and that both disorders are associated with various attention and memory problems. Nonetheless, limited research has been conducted comparing the two disorders in one sample to determine unique versus shared deficits. Hence, we investigated differences in working memory (WM) and short-term and delayed recall between children with ADHD, focal epilepsy of mixed foci, comorbid ADHD/epilepsy and controls. Participants were compared on the Core subtests and the Picture Locations subtest of the Children's Memory Scale (CMS). Results indicated that children with ADHD displayed intact verbal WM and long-term memory (LTM), as well as intact performance on most aspects of short-term memory (STM). They performed worse than controls on Numbers Forward and Picture Locations, suggesting problems with focused attention and simple span for visual-spatial material. Conversely, children with epilepsy displayed poor focused attention and STM regardless of the modality assessed, which affected encoding into LTM. The only loss over time was found for passages (Stories). WM was intact. Children with comorbid ADHD/epilepsy displayed focused attention and STM/LTM problems consistent with both disorders, having the lowest scores across the four groups. Hence, focused attention and visual-spatial span appear to be affected in both disorders, whereas additional STM/encoding problems are specific to epilepsy. Children with comorbid ADHD/epilepsy have deficits consistent with both disorders, with slight additive effects. This study suggests that attention and memory testing should be a regular part of the evaluation of children with epilepsy and ADHD.

Consequences of mild traumatic brain injury on information processing assessed with attention and short-term memory tasks.

PubMed

Malojcic, Branko; Mubrin, Zdenko; Coric, Bojana; Susnic, Mirica; Spilich, George J

2008-01-01

In this investigation, we explored the impact of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) upon short term or working memory and attention. The performance of 37 individuals with mTBI was compared with that of 53 age, sex and education-matched controls. All participants were staff members or individuals seeking medical care at a University hospital serving a large metropolitan area. A battery of computerized tests measured sustained visual attention, short-term memory (STM), simple reaction time, and decision time. Individuals with mTBI showed a performance deficit at sustained visual attention, STM scanning and a trend towards slowing in choice decision making. These observed changes in the cognitive performance of mTBI individuals are hypothesized to be a consequence of impaired central information processing. Our results suggest that mTBI can elicit meaningful cognitive deficits for several months post-injury. Additionally, we believe that the tasks employed in the current investigation demonstrate their utility for understanding cognitive deficits in mTBI individuals.

Allocentric but not egocentric visual memory difficulties in adults with ADHD may represent cognitive inefficiency.

PubMed

Brown, Franklin C; Roth, Robert M; Katz, Lynda J

2015-08-30

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has often been conceptualized as arising executive dysfunctions (e.g., inattention, defective inhibition). However, recent studies suggested that cognitive inefficiency may underlie many ADHD symptoms, according to reaction time and processing speed abnormalities. This study explored whether a non-timed measure of cognitive inefficiency would also be abnormal. A sample of 23 ADHD subjects was compared to 23 controls on a test that included both egocentric and allocentric visual memory subtests. A factor analysis was used to determine which cognitive variables contributed to allocentric visual memory. The ADHD sample performed significantly lower on the allocentric but not egocentric conditions. Allocentric visual memory was not associated with timed, working memory, visual perception, or mental rotation variables. This paper concluded by discussing how these results supported a cognitive inefficiency explanation for some ADHD symptoms, and discussed future research directions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Memory-guided force output is associated with self-reported ADHD symptoms in young adults.

PubMed

Neely, Kristina A; Chennavasin, Amanda P; Yoder, Arie; Williams, Genevieve K R; Loken, Eric; Huang-Pollock, Cynthia L

2016-11-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder in childhood and persists into adulthood in up to 65 % of cases. ADHD is associated with adverse outcomes such as the ability to gain and maintain employment and is associated with an increased risk for substance abuse obesity workplace injuries and traffic accidents A majority of diagnosed children have motor deficits; however, few studies have examined motor deficits in young adults. This study provides a novel examination of visuomotor control of grip force in young adults with and without ADHD. Participants were instructed to maintain force production over a 20-second trial with and without real-time visual feedback about their performance. The results demonstrated that when visual feedback was available, adults with ADHD produced slightly higher grip force than controls. However, when visual feedback was removed, adults with ADHD had a faster rate of decay of force, which was associated with ADHD symptom severity and trait impulsivity. These findings suggest that there may be important differences in the way that adults with ADHD integrate visual feedback during continuous motor tasks. These may account for some of the motor impairments reported in children with ADHD. These deficits could result from (1) dysfunctional sensory motor integration and/or (2) deficits in short-term visuomotor memory.

Auditory verbal memory and psychosocial symptoms are related in children with idiopathic epilepsy.

PubMed

Schaffer, Yael; Ben Zeev, Bruria; Cohen, Roni; Shuper, Avinoam; Geva, Ronny

2015-07-01

Idiopathic epilepsies are considered to have relatively good prognoses and normal or near normal developmental outcomes. Nevertheless, accumulating studies demonstrate memory and psychosocial deficits in this population, and the prevalence, severity and relationships between these domains are still not well defined. We aimed to assess memory, psychosocial function, and the relationships between these two domains among children with idiopathic epilepsy syndromes using an extended neuropsychological battery and psychosocial questionnaires. Cognitive abilities, neuropsychological performance, and socioemotional behavior of 33 early adolescent children, diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy, ages 9-14years, were assessed and compared with 27 age- and education-matched healthy controls. Compared to controls, patients with stabilized idiopathic epilepsy exhibited higher risks for short-term memory deficits (auditory verbal and visual) (p<0.0001), working memory deficits (p<0.003), auditory verbal long-term memory deficits (p<0.0021), and more frequent psychosocial symptoms (p<0.0001). The severity of auditory verbal memory deficits was related to severity of psychosocial symptoms among the children with epilepsy but not in the healthy controls. Results suggest that deficient auditory verbal memory may be compromising psychosocial functioning in children with idiopathic epilepsy, possibly underscoring that cognitive variables, such as auditory verbal memory, should be assessed and treated in this population to prevent secondary symptoms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differential effects of m1 and m2 receptor antagonists in perirhinal cortex on visual recognition memory in monkeys

PubMed Central

Wu, Wei; Saunders, Richard C.; Mishkin, Mortimer; Turchi, Janita

2012-01-01

Microinfusions of the nonselective muscarinic antagonist scopolamine into perirhinal cortex impairs performance on visual recognition tasks, indicating that muscarinic receptors in this region play a pivotal role in recognition memory. To assess the mnemonic effects of selective blockade in perirhinal cortex of muscarinic receptor subtypes, we locally infused either the m1-selective antagonist pirenzepine or the m2-selective antagonist methoctramine in animals performing one-trial visual recognition, and compared these scores with those following infusions of equivalent volumes of saline. Compared to these control infusions, injections of pirenzepine, but not of methoctramine, significantly impaired recognition accuracy. Further, similar doses of scopolamine and pirenzepine yielded similar deficits, suggesting that the deficits obtained earlier with scopolamine were due mainly, if not exclusively, to blockade of m1 receptors. The present findings indicate that m1 and m2 receptors have functionally dissociable roles, and that the formation of new visual memories is critically dependent on the cholinergic activation of m1 receptors located on perirhinal cells. PMID:22561485

Differential effects of m1 and m2 receptor antagonists in perirhinal cortex on visual recognition memory in monkeys.

PubMed

Wu, Wei; Saunders, Richard C; Mishkin, Mortimer; Turchi, Janita

2012-07-01

Microinfusions of the nonselective muscarinic antagonist scopolamine into perirhinal cortex impairs performance on visual recognition tasks, indicating that muscarinic receptors in this region play a pivotal role in recognition memory. To assess the mnemonic effects of selective blockade in perirhinal cortex of muscarinic receptor subtypes, we locally infused either the m1-selective antagonist pirenzepine or the m2-selective antagonist methoctramine in animals performing one-trial visual recognition, and compared these scores with those following infusions of equivalent volumes of saline. Compared to these control infusions, injections of pirenzepine, but not of methoctramine, significantly impaired recognition accuracy. Further, similar doses of scopolamine and pirenzepine yielded similar deficits, suggesting that the deficits obtained earlier with scopolamine were due mainly, if not exclusively, to blockade of m1 receptors. The present findings indicate that m1 and m2 receptors have functionally dissociable roles, and that the formation of new visual memories is critically dependent on the cholinergic activation of m1 receptors located on perirhinal cells. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Reducing Problems in Fine Motor Development among Primary Children through the Use of Multi-Sensory Techniques.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wessel, Dorothy

A 10-week classroom intervention program was implemented to facilitate the fine-motor development of eight first-grade children assessed as being deficient in motor skills. The program was divided according to five deficits to be remediated: visual motor, visual discrimination, visual sequencing, visual figure-ground, and visual memory. Each area…

HIV-infected persons with bipolar disorder are less aware of memory deficits than HIV-infected persons without bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Blackstone, Kaitlin; Tobin, Alexis; Posada, Carolina; Gouaux, Ben; Grant, Igor; Moore, David J; The Hiv Neurobehavioral Research Program Hnrp

2012-01-01

Episodic memory deficits are common in HIV infection and bipolar disorder, but patient insight into such deficits remains unclear. Thirty-four HIV-infected individuals without bipolar disorder (HIV+/BD-) and 47 HIV+ individuals with comorbid bipolar disorder (HIV+/BD+) were administered the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised to examine objective learning/memory functioning. Subjective memory complaints were assessed via the memory subscale of the Patient's Assessment of Own Functioning Inventory. HIV+/BD+ individuals performed poorer on tests of visual learning and visual/verbal recall than did HIV+/BD- participants (ps < .05). Memory complaints only predicted verbal learning (at a trend level, p = .10) and recall (p = .03) among the HIV+/BD- individuals. Memory complaints were not associated with memory performance within the HIV+/BD+ group (ps > .10). Memory complaints were associated with depressive symptoms in both groups (ps < 0.05). These complaints were also predictive of immunosuppression, higher unemployment, and greater dependence on activities of daily living among the HIV+/BD+ individuals (ps < .05). Awareness of memory abilities was particularly poor among HIV+/BD+ individuals (i.e., objective learning/memory did not correspond to reported complaints), which has important implications for the capacity of these individuals to engage in error-monitoring and compensatory strategies in daily life. Memory complaints are associated with depressed mood regardless of group membership. Among HIV+/BD+ individuals, these complaints may also signify worse HIV disease status and problems with everyday functioning. Clinicians and researchers should be cognizant of what these complaints indicate in order to lead treatment most effectively; use of objective neurocognitive assessments may still be warranted when working with these populations.

Preservation of episodic memory in semantic dementia: The importance of regions beyond the medial temporal lobes.

PubMed

Irish, Muireann; Bunk, Steffie; Tu, Sicong; Kamminga, Jody; Hodges, John R; Hornberger, Michael; Piguet, Olivier

2016-01-29

Episodic memory impairment represents one of the hallmark clinical features of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) attributable to the degeneration of medial temporal and parietal regions of the brain. In contrast, a somewhat paradoxical profile of relatively intact episodic memory, particularly for non-verbal material, is observed in semantic dementia (SD), despite marked atrophy of the hippocampus. This retrospective study investigated the neural substrates of episodic memory retrieval in 20 patients with a diagnosis of SD and 21 disease-matched cases of AD and compared their performance to that of 35 age- and education-matched healthy older Controls. Participants completed the Rey Complex Figure and the memory subscale of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised as indices of visual and verbal episodic recall, respectively. Relative to Controls, AD patients showed compromised memory performance on both visual and verbal memory tasks. In contrast, memory deficits in SD were modality-specific occurring exclusively on the verbal task. Controlling for semantic processing ameliorated these deficits in SD, while memory impairments persisted in AD. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed significant overlap in the neural correlates of verbal episodic memory in AD and SD with predominantly anteromedial regions, including the bilateral hippocampus, strongly implicated. Controlling for semantic processing negated this effect in SD, however, a distributed network of frontal, medial temporal, and parietal regions was implicated in AD. Our study corroborates the view that episodic memory deficits in SD arise very largely as a consequence of the conceptual loading of traditional tasks. We propose that the functional integrity of frontal and parietal regions enables new learning to occur in SD in the face of significant hippocampal and anteromedial temporal lobe pathology, underscoring the inherent complexity of the episodic memory circuitry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of interventions to improve occupational performance of people with cognitive impairments after stroke: an evidence-based review.

PubMed

Gillen, Glen; Nilsen, Dawn M; Attridge, Jessica; Banakos, Erasmia; Morgan, Marie; Winterbottom, Lauren; York, Wesley

2015-01-01

This evidence-based review was conducted to determine which interventions are effective in improving occupational performance after stroke. Forty-six articles met the inclusion criteria and were examined. Interventions for the following impairments were reviewed: general cognitive deficits, executive dysfunction, apraxia, memory loss, attention deficits, visual field deficits (included because of their close relationship with neglect), and unilateral neglect. Evidence is available from a variety of clinical trials to guide interventions regarding general cognition, apraxia, and neglect. The evidence regarding interventions for executive dysfunction and memory loss is limited. There is insufficient evidence regarding impairments of attention and mixed evidence regarding interventions for visual field deficits. The effective interventions have some commonalities, including being performance focused, involving strategy training, and using a compensatory as opposed to a remediation approach. The implications of the findings for practice, research, and education are discussed. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Visual Processing Deficits in Children with Slow RAN Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stainthorp, Rhona; Stuart, Morag; Powell, Daisy; Quinlan, Philip; Garwood, Holly

2010-01-01

Two groups of 8- to 10-year-olds differing in rapid automatized naming speed but matched for age, verbal and nonverbal ability, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visual acuity participated in four experiments investigating early visual processing. As low RAN children had significantly slower simple reaction times (SRT) this was…

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

PubMed

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

2014-12-01

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

Deconstructing processing speed deficits in schizophrenia: application of a parametric digit symbol coding test.

PubMed

Bachman, Peter; Reichenberg, Abraham; Rice, Patrick; Woolsey, Mary; Chaves, Olga; Martinez, David; Maples, Natalie; Velligan, Dawn I; Glahn, David C

2010-05-01

Cognitive processing inefficiency, often measured using digit symbol coding tasks, is a putative vulnerability marker for schizophrenia and a reliable indicator of illness severity and functional outcome. Indeed, performance on the digit symbol coding task may be the most severe neuropsychological deficit patients with schizophrenia display at the group level. Yet, little is known about the contributions of simpler cognitive processes to coding performance in schizophrenia (e.g. decision making, visual scanning, relational memory, motor ability). We developed an experimental behavioral task, based on a computerized digit symbol coding task, which allows the manipulation of demands placed on visual scanning efficiency and relational memory while holding decisional and motor requirements constant. Although patients (n=85) were impaired on all aspects of the task when compared to demographically matched healthy comparison subjects (n=30), they showed a particularly striking failure to benefit from the presence of predictable target information. These findings are consistent with predicted impairments in cognitive processing speed due to schizophrenia patients' well-known memory impairment, suggesting that this mnemonic deficit may have consequences for critical aspects of information processing that are traditionally considered quite separate from the memory domain. Future investigation into the mechanisms underlying the wide-ranging consequences of mnemonic deficits in schizophrenia should provide additional insight. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Can motivation normalize working memory and task persistence in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder? The effects of money and computer-gaming.

PubMed

Dovis, Sebastiaan; Van der Oord, Saskia; Wiers, Reinout W; Prins, Pier J M

2012-07-01

Visual-spatial Working Memory (WM) is the most impaired executive function in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Some suggest that deficits in executive functioning are caused by motivational deficits. However, there are no studies that investigate the effects of motivation on the visual-spatial WM of children with- and without ADHD. Studies examining this in executive functions other than WM, show inconsistent results. These inconsistencies may be related to differences in the reinforcement used. The effects of different reinforcers on WM performance were investigated in 30 children with ADHD and 31 non-ADHD controls. A visual-spatial WM task was administered in four reinforcement conditions: Feedback-only, 1 euro, 10 euros, and a computer-game version of the task. In the Feedback-only condition, children with ADHD performed worse on the WM measure than controls. Although incentives significantly improved the WM performance of children with ADHD, even the strongest incentives (10 euros and Gaming) were unable to normalize their performance. Feedback-only provided sufficient reinforcement for controls to reach optimal performance, while children with ADHD required extra reinforcement. Only children with ADHD showed a decrease in performance over time. Importantly, the strongest incentives (10 euros and Gaming) normalized persistence of performance in these children, whereas 1 euro had no such effect. Both executive and motivational deficits give rise to visual-spatial WM deficits in ADHD. Problems with task-persistence in ADHD result from motivational deficits. In ADHD-reinforcement studies and clinical practice (e.g., assessment), reinforcement intensity can be a confounding factor and should be taken into account. Gaming can be a cost-effective way to maximize performance in ADHD.

Memory functions of children born with asymmetric intrauterine growth restriction.

PubMed

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

2006-10-30

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

Visual orienting and attention deficits in 5- and 10-month-old preterm infants.

PubMed

Ross-Sheehy, Shannon; Perone, Sammy; Macek, Kelsi L; Eschman, Bret

2017-02-01

Cognitive outcomes for children born prematurely are well characterized, including increased risk for deficits in memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function. However, little is known about deficits that appear within the first 12 months, and how these early deficits contribute to later outcomes. To probe for functional deficits in visual attention, preterm and full-term infants were tested at 5 and 10 months with the Infant Orienting With Attention task (IOWA; Ross-Sheehy, Schneegans and Spencer, 2015). 5-month-old preterm infants showed significant deficits in orienting speed and task related error. However, 10-month-old preterm infants showed only selective deficits in spatial attention, particularly reflexive orienting responses, and responses that required some inhibition. These emergent deficits in spatial attention suggest preterm differences may be related to altered postnatal developmental trajectories. Moreover, we found no evidence of a dose-response relation between increased gestational risk and spatial attention. These results highlight the critical role of postnatal visual experience, and suggest that visual orienting may be a sensitive measure of attentional delay. Results reported here both inform current theoretical models of early perceptual/cognitive development, and future intervention efforts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vigilance and iconic memory in children at high risk for alcoholism.

PubMed

Steinhauer, S R; Locke, J; Hill, S Y

1997-07-01

Previous studies report reduced visual event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes in young males at high risk for alcoholism. These findings could involve difficulties at several stages of visual processing. This study was aimed at examining vigilance performance and iconic memory functions in children at high risk or low risk for alcoholism. Sustained vigilance and retrieval from iconic memory were evaluated in 54 (29 male) white children at high risk and 47 (25 male) white children at low risk for developing alcoholism. Children were also grouped according to gender and age (younger: 8-12 years; older: 13-18 years). No differences is visual sensitivity, response criterion or reaction time were associated with risk status on the degraded visual stimulus version of the Continuous Performance Test. For the Span of Apprehension, no differences were found due to risk status when only 1 or 5 distractors were presented, although with 9 distractors a significant effect of risk status was found when it was tested as an interaction with gender and age (decreased accuracy for older high-risk boys compared to older low-risk boys). These findings suggest that ERP deviations are not attributable to stages of visual processing deficits, but represent difficulty involving more complex utilization of information. Implications of these results are that the differences between high- and low-risk children that have been reported previously for visual ERP components (e.g., P300) are not attributable to deficits of attentional or iconic memory mechanisms.

Developmental dyslexia: exploring how much phonological and visual attention span disorders are linked to simultaneous auditory processing deficits.

PubMed

Lallier, Marie; Donnadieu, Sophie; Valdois, Sylviane

2013-07-01

The simultaneous auditory processing skills of 17 dyslexic children and 17 skilled readers were measured using a dichotic listening task. Results showed that the dyslexic children exhibited difficulties reporting syllabic material when presented simultaneously. As a measure of simultaneous visual processing, visual attention span skills were assessed in the dyslexic children. We presented the dyslexic children with a phonological short-term memory task and a phonemic awareness task to quantify their phonological skills. Visual attention spans correlated positively with individual scores obtained on the dichotic listening task while phonological skills did not correlate with either dichotic scores or visual attention span measures. Moreover, all the dyslexic children with a dichotic listening deficit showed a simultaneous visual processing deficit, and a substantial number of dyslexic children exhibited phonological processing deficits whether or not they exhibited low dichotic listening scores. These findings suggest that processing simultaneous auditory stimuli may be impaired in dyslexic children regardless of phonological processing difficulties and be linked to similar problems in the visual modality.

Visual short-term memory load suppresses temporo-parietal junction activity and induces inattentional blindness.

PubMed

Todd, J Jay; Fougnie, Daryl; Marois, René

2005-12-01

The right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is critical for stimulus-driven attention and visual awareness. Here we show that as the visual short-term memory (VSTM) load of a task increases, activity in this region is increasingly suppressed. Correspondingly, increasing VSTM load impairs the ability of subjects to consciously detect the presence of a novel, unexpected object in the visual field. These results not only demonstrate that VSTM load suppresses TPJ activity and induces inattentional blindness, but also offer a plausible neural mechanism for this perceptual deficit: suppression of the stimulus-driven attentional network.

Process Deficits in Learning Disabled Children and Implications for Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Doris J.

An exploration of specific deficits of learning disabled children, especially in the auditory system, is presented in this paper. Disorders of attention, perception, phonemic and visual discrimination, memory, and symbolization and conceptualization are considered. The paper develops several questions for teachers of learning disabled children to…

Cognitive deficits and predictors 3 years after diagnosis of a pilocytic astrocytoma in childhood.

PubMed

Aarsen, Femke K; Paquier, Philippe F; Arts, Willem-Frans; Van Veelen, Marie-Lise; Michiels, Erna; Lequin, Maarten; Catsman-Berrevoets, Coriene E

2009-07-20

PURPOSE To prospectively study cognitive deficits and predictors 3 years after diagnosis in a large series of pediatric patients treated for pilocytic astrocytoma (PA). PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty-one of 67 children were grouped according to infratentorial, supratentorial midline, and supratentorial hemispheric site. Intelligence, memory, attention, language, visual-spatial, and executive functions were assessed. Included predictors were sex, age, relapse, diagnosis-assessment interval, hydrocephalus, kind of treatment, and tumor variables. Results All children with PA had problems with sustained attention and speed. In the infratentorial group, there also were deficits in verbal intelligence, visual-spatial memory, executive functioning, and naming. Verbal intelligence and verbal memory problems occurred in the brainstem tumor group. The supratentorial hemispheric tumor group had additional problems with selective attention and executive functioning, and the supratentorial midline tumor group displayed no extra impairments. More specifically, the dorsal supratentorial midline tumor group displayed problems with language and verbal memory. Predictors for lower cognitive functioning were hydrocephalus, radiotherapy, residual tumor size, and age; predictors for better functioning were chemotherapy or treatment of hydrocephalus. Almost 60% of children had problems with academic achievement, for which risk factors were relapse and younger age at diagnosis. CONCLUSION Despite normal intelligence at long-term follow-up, children treated for PA display invalidating cognitive impairments. Adequate treatment of hydrocephalus is important for a more favorable long-term cognitive outcome. Even children without initial severe deficits may develop cognitive impairments years after diagnosis, partly because of the phenomenon of growing into deficit, which has devastating implications for academic achievement and quality of life (QOL).

[Learning difficulties in mathematics in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder].

PubMed

Miranda-Casas, A; Meliá-de Alba, A; Marco-Taverner, R; Roselló, B; Mulas, F

2006-02-13

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning difficulties are two diagnostic categories of great social importance and impact, and which are associated in around 25-35% of cases. One explanation offered by researchers to account for this overlap is a deficit in executive functioning (EF). 1) To compare EF and applied mathematical knowledge in children with ADHD, difficulties in learning mathematics (DLM) or ADHD + DLM, and to identify the deficiencies they experience. 2) To verify whether the phenotype hypothesis is fulfilled in the case of the ADHD + DLM condition. The study involved a quasi-experimental 2 x 2 design, with a sample made up of 78 participants (6-13 years old) who were divided into four groups: ADHD (n = 33), DLM (n = 15), ADHD + DLM (n = 15) and a control group (n = 15). Tests aimed at evaluating different cognitive processes as well as applied mathematical knowledge were administered: inhibitory control (go/no go); verbal working (backward digit-recall and counting memory task) and temporal-visual-spatial memory; short-term memory (direct digit-recall); attention (CPT); calculation speed (Canals) and real-life problems. Taking the variables age, gender and intelligence quotient as covariables, results showed that the three groups with problems displayed a deficit of attention and in working memory; the DLM group stood out from the other owing to the presence of a specific deficiency affecting the ability to recall temporal-visual-spatial information. In contrast, deficits in inhibitory control were seen to be specific to ADHD. Finally, findings did not support the phenotype hypothesis, and it was therefore an accumulative profile.

Differential age-related effects on conjunctive and relational visual short-term memory binding.

PubMed

Bastin, Christine

2017-12-28

An age-related associative deficit has been described in visual short-term binding memory tasks. However, separate studies have suggested that ageing disrupts relational binding (to associate distinct items or item and context) more than conjunctive binding (to integrate features within an object). The current study directly compared relational and conjunctive binding with a short-term memory task for object-colour associations in 30 young and 30 older adults. Participants studied a number of object-colour associations corresponding to their individual object span level in a relational task in which objects were associated to colour patches and a conjunctive task where colour was integrated into the object. Memory for individual items and for associations was tested with a recognition memory test. Evidence for an age-related associative deficit was observed in the relational binding task, but not in the conjunctive binding task. This differential impact of ageing on relational and conjunctive short-term binding is discussed by reference to two underlying age-related cognitive difficulties: diminished hippocampally dependent binding and attentional resources.

The influence of visual ability on learning and memory performance in 13 strains of mice.

PubMed

Brown, Richard E; Wong, Aimée A

2007-03-01

We calculated visual ability in 13 strains of mice (129SI/Sv1mJ, A/J, AKR/J, BALB/cByJ, C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6J, CAST/EiJ, DBA/2J, FVB/NJ, MOLF/EiJ, SJL/J, SM/J, and SPRET/EiJ) on visual detection, pattern discrimination, and visual acuity and tested these and other mice of the same strains in a behavioral test battery that evaluated visuo-spatial learning and memory, conditioned odor preference, and motor learning. Strain differences in visual acuity accounted for a significant proportion of the variance between strains in measures of learning and memory in the Morris water maze. Strain differences in motor learning performance were not influenced by visual ability. Conditioned odor preference was enhanced in mice with visual defects. These results indicate that visual ability must be accounted for when testing for strain differences in learning and memory in mice because differences in performance in many tasks may be due to visual deficits rather than differences in higher order cognitive functions. These results have significant implications for the search for the neural and genetic basis of learning and memory in mice.

The effects of incentives on visual-spatial working memory in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Shiels, Keri; Hawk, Larry W; Lysczek, Cynthia L; Tannock, Rosemary; Pelham, William E; Spencer, Sarah V; Gangloff, Brian P; Waschbusch, Daniel A

2008-08-01

Working memory is one of several putative core neurocognitive processes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present work seeks to determine whether visual-spatial working memory is sensitive to motivational incentives, a laboratory analogue of behavioral treatment. Participants were 21 children (ages 7-10) with a diagnosis of ADHD-combined type. Participants completed a computerized spatial span task designed to assess storage of visual-spatial information (forward span) and manipulation of the stored information (backward span). The spatial span task was completed twice on the same day, once with a performance-based incentive (trial-wise feedback and points redeemable for prizes) and once without incentives. Participants performed significantly better on the backward span when rewarded for correct responses, compared to the no incentive condition. However, incentives had no effect on performance during the forward span. These findings may suggest the use of motivational incentives improved manipulation, but not storage, of visual-spatial information among children with ADHD. Possible explanations for the differential incentive effects are discussed, including the possibility that incentives prevented a vigilance decrement as task difficulty and time on task increased.

A neuropsychological assessment, using computerized battery tests (CANTAB), in children with benign rolandic epilepsy before AED therapy.

PubMed

Vinţan, M A; Palade, S; Cristea, A; Benga, I; Muresanu, D F

2012-02-22

Benign rolandic epilepsy (BRE) is a form of partial idiopathic epilepsy according to the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) syndromes classification (1989). Recent studies have identified cases of BRE that do not meet the initial definition of 'benign'; these included reports of cases with specific cognitive deficits. It is still a matter of debate, whether these deficits are due to epilepsy per se, to treatment or other associated factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate if BRE children have cognitive deficits at the onset of their seizures, prior to their participation in any anti-epileptic drug therapy (AED). We performed a neuropsychological assessment of 18 BRE children compared with a corresponding age-matched control group. We used the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Subjects were at their first neurological evaluation, before any AED therapy. We assessed: visual memory, induction and executive functions. In our group, the BRE children performed comparably with the control children for the induction and executive functions. Substantial differences were identified for the visual memory subtests: PRM percent correct (t = -2.58, p = 0.01) and SRM percent correct (t = -2.73, p = 0.01). Age of seizure onset had a negative impact on the visual memory subtest performances (PRM mean correct latency). We found significant correlations between the different CANTAB subtests results and characteristics of the centrotemporal spikes (CTS). Our results are consistent with the findings of other similar studies. This form of epilepsy is associated with subtle neuropsychological deficits, present at seizure onset. Neuropsychological deficits identified, suggest a more diffuse brain involvement in the epileptiform process.

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

PubMed

Steinbrink, Claudia; Klatte, Maria

2008-11-01

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

Field visual perspective during autobiographical memory recall is less frequent among patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Potheegadoo, Jevita; Berna, Fabrice; Cuervo-Lombard, Christine; Danion, Jean-Marie

2013-10-01

There is growing interest in clinical research regarding the visual perspective adopted during memory retrieval, because it reflects individuals' self-attitude towards their memories of past personal events. Several autobiographical memory deficits, including low specificity of personal memories, have been identified in schizophrenia, but visual perspective during autobiographical memory retrieval has not yet been investigated in patients. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the visual perspective with which patients visualize themselves when recalling autobiographical memories and to assess the specificity of their memories which is a major determinant of visual perspective. Thirty patients with schizophrenia and 30 matched controls recalled personal events from 4 life periods. After each recall, they were asked to report their visual perspective (Field or Observer) associated with the event. The specificity of their memories was assessed by independent raters. Our results showed that patients reported significantly fewer Field perspectives than comparison participants. Patients' memories, whether recalled with Field or Observer perspectives, were less specific and less detailed. Our results indicate that patients with schizophrenia adopt Field perspectives less frequently than comparison participants, and that this may contribute to a weakened sense of the individual of being an actor of his past events, and hence to a reduced sense of self. They suggest that this may be related to low specificity of memories and that all the important aspects involved in re-experiencing autobiographical events are impaired in patients with schizophrenia. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Eye movement analysis and cognitive processing: detecting indicators of conversion to Alzheimer’s disease

PubMed Central

Pereira, Marta LG Freitas; Camargo, Marina von Zuben A; Aprahamian, Ivan; Forlenza, Orestes V

2014-01-01

A great amount of research has been developed around the early cognitive impairments that best predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Given that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is no longer considered to be an intermediate state between normal aging and AD, new paths have been traced to acquire further knowledge about this condition and its subtypes, and to determine which of them have a higher risk of conversion to AD. It is now known that other deficits besides episodic and semantic memory impairments may be present in the early stages of AD, such as visuospatial and executive function deficits. Furthermore, recent investigations have proven that the hippocampus and the medial temporal lobe structures are not only involved in memory functioning, but also in visual processes. These early changes in memory, visual, and executive processes may also be detected with the study of eye movement patterns in pathological conditions like MCI and AD. In the present review, we attempt to explore the existing literature concerning these patterns of oculomotor changes and how these changes are related to the early signs of AD. In particular, we argue that deficits in visual short-term memory, specifically in iconic memory, attention processes, and inhibitory control, may be found through the analysis of eye movement patterns, and we discuss how they might help to predict the progression from MCI to AD. We add that the study of eye movement patterns in these conditions, in combination with neuroimaging techniques and appropriate neuropsychological tasks based on rigorous concepts derived from cognitive psychology, may highlight the early presence of cognitive impairments in the course of the disease. PMID:25031536

Age-related differences in associative memory: the role of sensory decline.

PubMed

Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe; Kilb, Angela

2014-09-01

Numerous studies show age-related decline in episodic memory. One of the explanations for this decline points to older adults' deficit in associative memory, reflecting the difficulties they have in binding features of episodes into cohesive entities and retrieving these bindings. Here, we evaluate the degree to which this deficit may be mediated by sensory loss associated with increased age. In 2 experiments, young adults studied word pairs that were degraded at encoding either visually (Experiment 1) or auditorily (Experiment 2). We then tested their memory for both the component words and the associations with recognition tests. For both experiments, young adults under nondegraded conditions showed an advantage in associative over item memory, relative to a group of older adults. In contrast, under perceptually degraded conditions younger adults performed similarly to the older adults who were tested under nondegraded conditions. More specifically, under perceptual degradation, young adults' associative memory declined and their component memory improved somewhat, resulting in an associative deficit, similar to that shown by older adults. This evidence is consistent with a sensory acuity decline in old age being one mediator in the associative deficit of older adults. These results broaden our understanding of age-related memory changes and how sensory and cognitive processes interact to shape these changes. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed with respect to mechanisms underlying age-related changes in episodic memory and resource tradeoffs in the encoding of component and associative memory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Cotinine improves visual recognition memory and decreases cortical Tau phosphorylation in the Tg6799 mice.

PubMed

Grizzell, J Alex; Patel, Sagar; Barreto, George E; Echeverria, Valentina

2017-08-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the progressive aggregation of hyperphosphorylated forms of the microtubule associated protein Tau in the central nervous system. Cotinine, the main metabolite of nicotine, reduced working memory deficits, synaptic loss, and amyloid β peptide aggregation into oligomers and plaques as well as inhibited the cerebral Tau kinase, glycogen synthase 3β (GSK3β) in the transgenic (Tg)6799 (5XFAD) mice. In this study, the effect of cotinine on visual recognition memory and cortical Tau phosphorylation at the GSK3β sites Serine (Ser)-396/Ser-404 and phospho-CREB were investigated in the Tg6799 and non-transgenic (NT) littermate mice. Tg mice showed short-term visual recognition memory impairment in the novel object recognition test, and higher levels of Tau phosphorylation when compared to NT mice. Cotinine significantly improved visual recognition memory performance increased CREB phosphorylation and reduced cortical Tau phosphorylation. Potential mechanisms underlying theses beneficial effects are discussed. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Structural Anatomical Investigation of Long-Term Memory Deficit in Behavioral Frontotemporal Dementia.

PubMed

Bertoux, Maxime; Flanagan, Emma C; Hobbs, Matthew; Ruiz-Tagle, Amparo; Delgado, Carolina; Miranda, Marcelo; Ibáñez, Agustín; Slachevsky, Andrea; Hornberger, Michael

2018-01-01

Although a growing body of work has shown that behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) could present with severe amnesia in approximately half of cases, memory assessment is currently the clinical standard to distinguish bvFTD from Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus, the concept of "relatively preserved episodic memory" in bvFTD remains the basis of its clinical distinction from AD and a criterion for bvFTD's diagnosis. This view is supported by the idea that bvFTD is not characterized by genuine amnesia and hippocampal degeneration, by contrast to AD. In this multicenter study, we aimed to investigate the neural correlates of memory performance in bvFTD as assessed by the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT). Imaging explorations followed a two-step procedure, first relying on a visual rating of atrophy of 35 bvFTD and 34 AD patients' MRI, contrasted with 29 controls; and then using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in a subset of bvFTD patients. Results showed that 43% of bvFTD patients presented with a genuine amnesia. Data-driven analysis on visual rating data showed that, in bvFTD, memory recall & storage performances were significantly predicted by atrophy in rostral prefrontal and hippocampal/perihippocampal regions, similar to mild AD. VBM results in bvFTD (pFWE<0.05) showed similar prefrontal and hippocampal regions in addition to striatal and lateral temporal involvement. Our findings showed the involvement of prefrontal as well as medial/lateral temporal atrophy in memory deficits of bvFTD patients. This contradicts the common view that only frontal deficits explain memory impairment in this disease and plead for an updated view on memory dysfunctions in bvFTD.

Alterations in visual cortical activation and connectivity with prefrontal cortex during working memory updating in major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Le, Thang M; Borghi, John A; Kujawa, Autumn J; Klein, Daniel N; Leung, Hoi-Chung

2017-01-01

The present study examined the impacts of major depressive disorder (MDD) on visual and prefrontal cortical activity as well as their connectivity during visual working memory updating and related them to the core clinical features of the disorder. Impairment in working memory updating is typically associated with the retention of irrelevant negative information which can lead to persistent depressive mood and abnormal affect. However, performance deficits have been observed in MDD on tasks involving little or no demand on emotion processing, suggesting dysfunctions may also occur at the more basic level of information processing. Yet, it is unclear how various regions in the visual working memory circuit contribute to behavioral changes in MDD. We acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 18 unmedicated participants with MDD and 21 age-matched healthy controls (CTL) while they performed a visual delayed recognition task with neutral faces and scenes as task stimuli. Selective working memory updating was manipulated by inserting a cue in the delay period to indicate which one or both of the two memorized stimuli (a face and a scene) would remain relevant for the recognition test. Our results revealed several key findings. Relative to the CTL group, the MDD group showed weaker postcue activations in visual association areas during selective maintenance of face and scene working memory. Across the MDD subjects, greater rumination and depressive symptoms were associated with more persistent activation and connectivity related to no-longer-relevant task information. Classification of postcue spatial activation patterns of the scene-related areas was also less consistent in the MDD subjects compared to the healthy controls. Such abnormalities appeared to result from a lack of updating effects in postcue functional connectivity between prefrontal and scene-related areas in the MDD group. In sum, disrupted working memory updating in MDD was revealed by alterations in activity patterns of the visual association areas, their connectivity with the prefrontal cortex, and their relationship with core clinical characteristics. These results highlight the role of information updating deficits in the cognitive control and symptomatology of depression.

Processing speed and working memory span: their differential role in superficial and deep memory processes in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Pilowsky, Lyn S; David, Anthony S

2011-05-01

Previous work has suggested that decrement in both processing speed and working memory span plays a role in the memory impairment observed in patients with schizophrenia. We undertook a study to examine simultaneously the effect of these two factors. A sample of 49 patients with schizophrenia and 43 healthy controls underwent a battery of verbal and visual memory tasks. Superficial and deep encoding memory measures were tallied. We conducted regression analyses on the various memory measures, using processing speed and working memory span as independent variables. In the patient group, processing speed was a significant predictor of superficial and deep memory measures in verbal and visual memory. Working memory span was an additional significant predictor of the deep memory measures only. Regression analyses involving all participants revealed that the effect of diagnosis on all the deep encoding memory measures was reduced to non-significance when processing speed was entered in the regression. Decreased processing speed is involved in verbal and visual memory deficit in patients, whether the task require superficial or deep encoding. Working memory is involved only insofar as the task requires a certain amount of effort.

Semantic and phonological coding in poor and normal readers.

PubMed

Vellutino, F R; Scanlon, D M; Spearing, D

1995-02-01

Three studies were conducted evaluating semantic and phonological coding deficits as alternative explanations of reading disability. In the first study, poor and normal readers in second and sixth grade were compared on various tests evaluating semantic development as well as on tests evaluating rapid naming and pseudoword decoding as independent measures of phonological coding ability. In a second study, the same subjects were given verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks using high and low meaning words as verbal stimuli and Chinese ideographs as visual stimuli. On the semantic tasks, poor readers performed below the level of the normal readers only at the sixth grade level, but, on the rapid naming and pseudoword learning tasks, they performed below the normal readers at the second as well as at the sixth grade level. On both the verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks, performance in poor readers approximated that of normal readers when the word stimuli were high in meaning but not when they were low in meaning. These patterns were essentially replicated in a third study that used some of the same semantic and phonological measures used in the first experiment, and verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks that employed word lists and visual stimuli (novel alphabetic characters) that more closely approximated those used in learning to read. It was concluded that semantic coding deficits are an unlikely cause of reading difficulties in most poor readers at the beginning stages of reading skills acquisition, but accrue as a consequence of prolonged reading difficulties in older readers. It was also concluded that phonological coding deficits are a probable cause of reading difficulties in most poor readers.

Asperger syndrome: tests of right hemisphere functioning and interhemispheric communication.

PubMed

Gunter, Helen L; Ghaziuddin, Mohammad; Ellis, Hadyn D

2002-08-01

The primary aim of this investigation was to assess to what extent Rourke's (1989, 1995) nonverbal learning disabilities syndrome (NLD) model resembles the pattern of assets and deficits seen in people with Asperger syndrome (AS). NLD can be characterized by a cluster of deficits primarily affecting nonverbal aspects of functioning, in the presence of proficiency in single word reading and a superior verbal memory. The neurological underpinnings of this syndrome may be dysfunction of white matter affecting right hemisphere functioning and interhemispheric communication. To explore this hypothesis, eight participants with AS (ages 10 to 41 years) were assessed in the following areas: the pragmatics of language and communication, verbal and visual memory, visual-spatial abilities, and bimanual motor skills. Results confirmed the close similarity in the neuropsychologic profiles of NLD and AS.

Visual feature binding in younger and older adults: encoding and suffix interference effects.

PubMed

Brown, Louise A; Niven, Elaine H; Logie, Robert H; Rhodes, Stephen; Allen, Richard J

2017-02-01

Three experiments investigated younger (18-25 yrs) and older (70-88 yrs) adults' temporary memory for colour-shape combinations (binding). We focused upon estimating the magnitude of the binding cost for each age group across encoding time (Experiment 1; 900/1500 ms), presentation format (Experiment 2; simultaneous/sequential), and interference (Experiment 3; control/suffix) conditions. In Experiment 1, encoding time did not differentially influence binding in the two age groups. In Experiment 2, younger adults exhibited poorer binding performance with sequential relative to simultaneous presentation, and serial position analyses highlighted a particular age-related difficulty remembering the middle item of a series (for all memory conditions). Experiments 1-3 demonstrated small to medium binding effect sizes in older adults across all encoding conditions, with binding less accurate than shape memory. However, younger adults also displayed negative effects of binding (small to large) in two of the experiments. Even when older adults exhibited a greater suffix interference effect in Experiment 3, this was for all memory types, not just binding. We therefore conclude that there is no consistent evidence for a visual binding deficit in healthy older adults. This relative preservation contrasts with the specific and substantial deficits in visual feature binding found in several recent studies of Alzheimer's disease.

Emotion-Cognition Interactions in Schizophrenia: Implicit and Explicit Effects of Facial Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linden, Stefanie C.; Jackson, Margaret C.; Subramanian, Leena; Wolf, Claudia; Green, Paul; Healy, David; Linden, David E. J.

2010-01-01

Working memory (WM) and emotion classification are amongst the cognitive domains where specific deficits have been reported for patients with schizophrenia. In healthy individuals, the capacity of visual working memory is enhanced when the material to be retained is emotionally salient, particularly for angry faces. We investigated whether…

The role of attention in binding visual features in working memory: evidence from cognitive ageing.

PubMed

Brown, Louise A; Brockmole, James R

2010-10-01

Two experiments were conducted to assess the costs of attentional load during a feature (colour-shape) binding task in younger and older adults. Experiment 1 showed that a demanding backwards counting task, which draws upon central executive/general attentional resources, reduced binding to a greater extent than individual feature memory, but the effect was no greater in older than in younger adults. Experiment 2 showed that presenting memory items sequentially rather than simultaneously, such that items are required to be maintained while new representations are created, selectively affects binding performance in both age groups. Although this experiment exhibited an age-related binding deficit overall, both age groups were affected by the attention manipulation to an equal extent. While a role for attentional processes in colour-shape binding was apparent across both experiments, manipulations of attention exerted equal effects in both age groups. We therefore conclude that age-related binding deficits neither emerge nor are exacerbated under conditions of high attentional load. Implications for theories of visual working memory and cognitive ageing are discussed.

[Neuropsychological evaluation of a case of organic personality disorder due to penetrating brain injury].

PubMed

Sanz de la Torre, J C; Pérez-Ríos, M

1996-06-01

In this paper, an organic personality disorder case by penetrating brain injury, predominantly localized in the right frontal lobe, is presented. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging (CT scan studies) were performed. We assessed the main cognitive aspect: orientation, attention, memory, intelligence, language, visual-spatial functioning, motor functioning, executive functioning and personality. The results obtained, point out disorders in the patient's behavior and in the executive functions. Likewise, other cognitive functions as: attention, memory, language and visual-spatial functioning, show specific deficits.

Self-imagining enhances recognition memory in memory-impaired individuals with neurological damage.

PubMed

Grilli, Matthew D; Glisky, Elizabeth L

2010-11-01

The ability to imagine an elaborative event from a personal perspective relies on several cognitive processes that may potentially enhance subsequent memory for the event, including visual imagery, semantic elaboration, emotional processing, and self-referential processing. In an effort to find a novel strategy for enhancing memory in memory-impaired individuals with neurological damage, we investigated the mnemonic benefit of a method we refer to as self-imagining-the imagining of an event from a realistic, personal perspective. Fourteen individuals with neurologically based memory deficits and 14 healthy control participants intentionally encoded neutral and emotional sentences under three instructions: structural-baseline processing, semantic processing, and self-imagining. Findings revealed a robust "self-imagination effect (SIE)," as self-imagination enhanced recognition memory relative to deep semantic elaboration in both memory-impaired individuals, F(1, 13) = 32.11, p < .001, η2 = .71; and healthy controls, F(1, 13) = 5.57, p < .05, η2 = .30. In addition, results indicated that mnemonic benefits of self-imagination were not limited by severity of the memory disorder nor were they related to self-reported vividness of visual imagery, semantic processing, or emotional content of the materials. The findings suggest that the SIE may depend on unique mnemonic mechanisms possibly related to self-referential processing and that imagining an event from a personal perspective makes that event particularly memorable even for those individuals with severe memory deficits. Self-imagining may thus provide an effective rehabilitation strategy for individuals with memory impairment.

Spontaneous strategy use protects against visual working memory deficits in older adults infected with HIV.

PubMed

Woods, Steven Paul; Weber, Erica; Cameron, Marizela V; Dawson, Matthew S; Delano-Wood, Lisa; Bondi, Mark W; Grant, Igor

2010-12-01

Recent studies suggest that older human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults are at particular risk for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), including dementia. Deficits in attention/working memory are posited to play a central role in the development of HAND among older adults. The aim of the present study was to examine the possible protective benefits of spontaneous strategy use during a visual working memory task in 46 older and 42 younger adults infected with HIV. Results revealed a significant interaction between age and strategy use, with older adults who used a meta-cognitive strategy demonstrating superior working memory performance versus non-strategy users. This effect was not observed in the younger HIV-infected sample and was not better explained by possible confounding factors, such as education, comorbid medical conditions, or HIV disease severity. Within the older group, strategy use was associated with better executive functions and higher estimated verbal intelligence. Findings from this study suggest that working memory declines in older HIV-infected adults are moderated by the use of higher-level mnemonic strategies and may inform cognitive neurorehabilitation efforts to improve cognitive and everyday functioning outcomes in older persons living with HIV infection.

Associative visual agnosia: a case study.

PubMed

Charnallet, A; Carbonnel, S; David, D; Moreaud, O

2008-01-01

We report a case of massive associative visual agnosia. In the light of current theories of identification and semantic knowledge organization, a deficit involving both levels of structural description system and visual semantics must be assumed to explain the case. We suggest, in line with a previous case study, an alternative account in the framework of (non abstractive) episodic models of memory.

Improving Dorsal Stream Function in Dyslexics by Training Figure/Ground Motion Discrimination Improves Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory.

PubMed

Lawton, Teri

2016-01-01

There is an ongoing debate about whether the cause of dyslexia is based on linguistic, auditory, or visual timing deficits. To investigate this issue three interventions were compared in 58 dyslexics in second grade (7 years on average), two targeting the temporal dynamics (timing) of either the auditory or visual pathways with a third reading intervention (control group) targeting linguistic word building. Visual pathway training in dyslexics to improve direction-discrimination of moving test patterns relative to a stationary background (figure/ground discrimination) significantly improved attention, reading fluency, both speed and comprehension, phonological processing, and both auditory and visual working memory relative to controls, whereas auditory training to improve phonological processing did not improve these academic skills significantly more than found for controls. This study supports the hypothesis that faulty timing in synchronizing the activity of magnocellular with parvocellular visual pathways is a fundamental cause of dyslexia, and argues against the assumption that reading deficiencies in dyslexia are caused by phonological deficits. This study demonstrates that visual movement direction-discrimination can be used to not only detect dyslexia early, but also for its successful treatment, so that reading problems do not prevent children from readily learning.

Recognition of visual stimuli and memory for spatial context in schizophrenic patients and healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; David, Anthony S; Pilowsky, Lyn S; Jones, Hugh

2004-11-01

Verbal and visual recognition tasks were administered to 40 patients with schizophrenia and 40 healthy comparison subjects. The verbal recognition task consisted of discriminating between 16 target words and 16 new words. The visual recognition task consisted of discriminating between 16 target pictures (8 black-and-white and 8 color) and 16 new pictures (8 black-and-white and 8 color). Visual recognition was followed by a spatial context discrimination task in which subjects were required to remember the spatial location of the target pictures at encoding. Results showed that recognition deficit in patients was similar for verbal and visual material. In both schizophrenic and healthy groups, men, but not women, obtained better recognition scores for the colored than for the black-and-white pictures. However, men and women similarly benefited from color to reduce spatial context discrimination errors. Patients showed a significant deficit in remembering the spatial location of the pictures, independently of accuracy in remembering the pictures themselves. These data suggest that patients are impaired in the amount of visual information that they can encode. With regards to the perceptual attributes of the stimuli, memory for spatial information appears to be affected, but not processing of color information.

Neuronal correlate of visual associative long-term memory in the primate temporal cortex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyashita, Yasushi

1988-10-01

In human long-term memory, ideas and concepts become associated in the learning process1. No neuronal correlate for this cognitive function has so far been described, except that memory traces are thought to be localized in the cerebral cortex; the temporal lobe has been assigned as the site for visual experience because electric stimulation of this area results in imagery recall,2 and lesions produce deficits in visual recognition of objects3-9. We previously reported that in the anterior ventral temporal cortex of monkeys, individual neurons have a sustained activity that is highly selective for a few of the 100 coloured fractal patterns used in a visual working-memory task10. Here I report the development of this selectivity through repeated trials involving the working memory. The few patterns for which a neuron was conjointly selective were frequently related to each other through stimulus-stimulus association imposed during training. The results indicate that the selectivity acquired by these cells represents a neuronal correlate of the associative long-term memory of pictures.

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.

Episodic Visual Learning/Memory and Attentional Flexibility in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder After Clinically Effective Electroconvulsive Therapy.

PubMed

Kalogerakou, Stamatina; Oulis, Panagiotis; Anyfandi, Eleni; Konstantakopoulos, George; Papakosta, Vasiliki-Maria; Kontis, Dimitrios; Theochari, Eirini; Angelopoulos, Elias; Zervas, Ioannis M; Mellon, Robert C; Papageorgiou, Charalambos C; Tsaltas, Eleftheria

2015-12-01

This study is a follow-up of a previous one reporting that the neuropsychological profile of pharmacoresistant patients with major depressive disorder referred for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, ECT group) contrasted with that of their pharmacorespondent counterparts (NECT group). The NECT group exhibited severe visuospatial memory and minor executive deficits; the ECT group presented the reverse pattern. In that same ECT group, the current follow-up study examined the effects of clinically effective ECT on both cognitive domains 2 months later. Fifteen ECT patients were administered Hamilton Depression (HAMD-24), Hamilton Anxiety (HAMA), Mini-Mental State Examination Scales and 5 tests of Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery at intake (pre-ECT), end of ECT course (post-ECT), and 2 months thereafter (follow-up). Electroconvulsive therapy was effective in relieving clinical depression. After a post-ECT decline, the patients exhibited significant improvement in both Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, paired associate learning, and Stockings of Cambridge. By contrast, their major pre-ECT deficit in intra/extradimensional set shifting remained virtually unaffected. Our findings suggest that attentional flexibility deficits may constitute a neuropsychological trait-like feature of pharmacoresistant, ECT-referred major depressive disorder patients. However, this deficit does not seem generalized, given patient improvement in episodic visual learning/memory and some indication of improvement in spatial planning after ECT.

Brief report: visual-spatial deficit in a 16-year-old girl with maternally derived duplication of proximal 15q.

PubMed

Cohen, David; Martel, Claire; Wilson, Anna; Déchambre, Nicole; Amy, Céline; Duverger, Ludovic; Guile, Jean-Marc; Pipiras, Eva; Benzacken, Brigitte; Cavé, Hélène; Cohen, Laurent; Héron, Delphine; Plaza, Monique

2007-09-01

Duplications of chromosome 15 may be one of the most common single genetic causes of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), aside from fragile X. Most of the cases are associated with maternally derived interstitial duplication involving 15q11-13. This case report describes a female proband with a maternally derived interstitial duplication of proximal 15q. She did not exhibit any symptoms of ASD apart from some developmental delay. By adolescence, she showed mild dysmorphism, a discrepant profile on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Verbal IQ = 87; Performance IQ = 65) and a major deficit in visual-spatial abilities affecting fine motor skills, mathematical reasoning, visual memory and some global reading tasks. This is one of the first reports of a child with a maternal duplication who exhibits a visual-spatial deficit without ASD.

Perceptual and academic patterns of learning-disabled/gifted students.

PubMed

Waldron, K A; Saphire, D G

1992-04-01

This research explored ways gifted children with learning disabilities perceive and recall auditory and visual input and apply this information to reading, mathematics, and spelling. 24 learning-disabled/gifted children and a matched control group of normally achieving gifted students were tested for oral reading, word recognition and analysis, listening comprehension, and spelling. In mathematics, they were tested for numeration, mental and written computation, word problems, and numerical reasoning. To explore perception and memory skills, students were administered formal tests of visual and auditory memory as well as auditory discrimination of sounds. Their responses to reading and to mathematical computations were further considered for evidence of problems in visual discrimination, visual sequencing, and visual spatial areas. Analyses indicated that these learning-disabled/gifted students were significantly weaker than controls in their decoding skills, in spelling, and in most areas of mathematics. They were also significantly weaker in auditory discrimination and memory, and in visual discrimination, sequencing, and spatial abilities. Conclusions are that these underlying perceptual and memory deficits may be related to students' academic problems.

MRI morphometry of mamillary bodies, caudate nuclei, and prefrontal cortices after chemotherapy for childhood leukemia: multivariate models of early and late developing memory subsystems.

PubMed

Ciesielski, K T; Lesnik, P G; Benzel, E C; Hart, B L; Sanders, J A

1999-06-01

Neurotoxic intrathecal chemotherapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) affects developing structures and functions of memory and learning subsystems selectively. Results show significant reductions in magnetic resonance imaging morphometry of mamillary bodies, components of the corticolimbic-diencephalic subsystem subserving functionally later developing, single-trial memory, nonsignificant changes in bilateral heads of the caudate nuclei, components of the corticostriatal subsystem subserving functionally earlier developing, multitrial learning, significant reductions in prefrontal cortical volume, visual and verbal single-trial memory deficits, and visuospatial, but not verbal, multitrial learning deficits. Multiple regression models provide evidence for partial dissociation and connectivity between the subsystems, and suggest that greater involvement of caudate may compensate for inefficient corticolimbic-diencephalic components.

Working, declarative and procedural memory in specific language impairment

PubMed Central

Lum, Jarrad A.G.; Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Page, Debra; Ullman, Michael T.

2012-01-01

According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis (PDH), abnormalities of brain structures underlying procedural memory largely explain the language deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI). These abnormalities are posited to result in core deficits of procedural memory, which in turn explain the grammar problems in the disorder. The abnormalities are also likely to lead to problems with other, non-procedural functions, such as working memory, that rely at least partly on the affected brain structures. In contrast, declarative memory is expected to remain largely intact, and should play an important compensatory role for grammar. These claims were tested by examining measures of working, declarative and procedural memory in 51 children with SLI and 51 matched typically-developing (TD) children (mean age 10). Working memory was assessed with the Working Memory Test Battery for Children, declarative memory with the Children’s Memory Scale, and procedural memory with a visuo-spatial Serial Reaction Time task. As compared to the TD children, the children with SLI were impaired at procedural memory, even when holding working memory constant. In contrast, they were spared at declarative memory for visual information, and at declarative memory in the verbal domain after controlling for working memory and language. Visuo-spatial short-term memory was intact, whereas verbal working memory was impaired, even when language deficits were held constant. Correlation analyses showed neither visuo-spatial nor verbal working memory was associated with either lexical or grammatical abilities in either the SLI or TD children. Declarative memory correlated with lexical abilities in both groups of children. Finally, grammatical abilities were associated with procedural memory in the TD children, but with declarative memory in the children with SLI. These findings replicate and extend previous studies of working, declarative and procedural memory in SLI. Overall, we suggest that the evidence largely supports the predictions of the PDH. PMID:21774923

The contribution of acetylcholine and dopamine to subprocesses of visual working memory--what patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Parkinson׳s disease can tell us.

PubMed

Blatt, Joana; Vellage, Anne; Baier, Bernhard; Müller, Notger G

2014-08-01

Attentional selection, i.e. filtering out of irrelevant sensory input and information storage are two crucial components of working memory (WM). It has been proposed that the two processes are mediated by different neurotransmitters, namely acetylcholine for attentional selection and dopamine for memory storage. However, this hypothesis has been challenged by others, who for example linked a lack in dopamine levels in the brain to filtering deficits. Here we tested the above mentioned hypothesis in two patient cohorts which either served as a proxy for a cholinergic or a dopaminergic deficit. The first group comprised 18 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), the second 22 patients with Parkinson׳s disease (PD). The two groups did not differ regarding their overall cognitive abilities. Both patient groups as well as a control group without neurological deficits (n=25) performed a visuo-spatial working memory task in which both the necessity to filter out irrelevant information and memory load, i.e. the number of items to be held in memory, were manipulated. In accordance with the primary hypothesis, aMCI patients displayed problems with filtering, i.e., were especially impaired when the task required ignoring distracting stimuli. PD patients on the other hand showed difficulties when memory load was increased suggesting that they mainly suffered from a storage deficit. In sum, this study underlines how the investigation of neurologic patients with a presumed neurotransmitter deficit can aid to clarify these neurotransmitters׳ contribution to specific cognitive functions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Further evidence for a deficit in switching attention in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Smith, G L; Large, M M; Kavanagh, D J; Karayanidis, F; Barrett, N A; Michie, P T; O'Sullivan, B T

1998-08-01

In this study, sustained, selective, divided, and switching attention, and reloading of working memory were investigated in schizophrenia by using a newly developed Visual Attention Battery (VAB). Twenty-four outpatients with schizophrenia and 24 control participants were studied using the VAB. Performance on VAB components was correlated with performance of standard tests. Patients with schizophrenia were significantly impaired on VAB tasks that required switching of attention and reloading of working memory but had normal performance on tasks involving sustained attention or attention to multiple stimulus features. Switching attention and reloading of working memory were highly correlated with Trails (B-A) score for patients. The decline in performance on the switching-attention task in patients with schizophrenia met criteria for a differential deficit in switching attention. Future research should examine the neurophysiological basis of the switching deficit and its sensitivity and specificity to schizophrenia.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a case study and literature review

PubMed Central

Miguel, Carmen Sílvia; Chaim-Avancini, Tiffany M; Silva, Maria Aparecida; Louzã, Mario Rodrigues

2015-01-01

Background The cognitive profile of children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been well characterized, but few studies have evaluated the cognitive abilities of adults with NF1 and ADHD. Objectives We investigated 1) the cognitive profile of an adult patient with NF1 and inattention problems, 2) changes in his cognition after 14 months of follow-up, and 3) whether the patient exhibited comorbid NF1 and ADHD or secondary ADHD-like symptoms. Methods We administered neuropsychological tests of executive function, attention, verbal and visual memory, visuospatial function, and language during two evaluations separated by 14 months. Results We found no changes in sustained attention, language, or verbal memory. Visual memory, verbal learning, selective attention inhibitory control, and problem solving declined over time, whereas visual search, psychomotor speed, visuospatial function, and mental flexibility improved. Conclusion Our patient exhibited a cognitive profile characteristic of both NF1 and ADHD, leading to the hypothesis that the patient had comorbid ADHD instead of secondary ADHD-like symptoms. More studies are necessary to characterize the cognition of patients with NF1 and ADHD. PMID:25848279

Double Dissociation of Pharmacologically Induced Deficits in Visual Recognition and Visual Discrimination Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turchi, Janita; Buffalari, Deanne; Mishkin, Mortimer

2008-01-01

Monkeys trained in either one-trial recognition at 8- to 10-min delays or multi-trial discrimination habits with 24-h intertrial intervals received systemic cholinergic and dopaminergic antagonists, scopolamine and haloperidol, respectively, in separate sessions. Recognition memory was impaired markedly by scopolamine but not at all by…

Modality specific semantic knowledge loss for unique items.

PubMed

Kartsounis, L D; Shallice, T

1996-03-01

We report the case of a man who, following a major myocardial infarction, suffered anoxia followed by significant event memory impairment. Investigations indicated that his semantic memory for word concepts and object meanings was well preserved. However, he had great difficulty in identifying in the visual (but not verbal) modality historically known people, such as Queen Elizabeth I and Napoleon, and well known world and London landmarks, such as the Parthenon and Buckingham Palace. This selective impairment could not be accounted for in terms of prosopagnosia or high level visual perceptual deficits and we interpret it as a modality specific semantic memory loss for unique objects.

Affective symptoms in schizophrenia are strongly associated with neurocognitive deficits indicating disorders in executive functions, visual memory, attention and social cognition.

PubMed

Kanchanatawan, Buranee; Thika, Supaksorn; Anderson, George; Galecki, Piotr; Maes, Michael

2018-01-03

The aim of this study was to assess the neurocognitive correlates of affective symptoms in schizophrenia. Towards this end, 40 healthy controls and 80 schizophrenia patients were investigated with six tests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), assessing spatial working memory, paired-association learning, one touch stocking, rapid visual information (RVP), emotional recognition test and intra/extradimensional set shifting. The Hamilton Depression (HDRS) and Anxiety (HAMA) Rating Scales and the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) as well as the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) were also used. There were highly significant associations between all 6 CANTAB tests and HDRS, HAMA and CDSS (except RVP) scores. The most significant items associating with neurocognitive impairments in schizophrenia were self-depreciation (CDSS), fatigue, psychomotor retardation and agitation, psychic and somatic anxiety (HDRS), fears, cognitive symptoms, somatic-muscular, genito-urinary and autonomic symptoms and anxious behavior (HAMA). The selected HDRS and HAMA symptoms indicate fatigue, fears, anxiety, agitation, retardation, somatization and subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) and are therefore labeled "FAARS". Up to 28.8% of the variance in the 6 CANTAB measurements was explained by FAARS, which are better predictors of neurocognitive impairments than the PANSS negative subscale score. Neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia are best predicted by FAARS combined with difficulties in abstract thinking. In conclusion, depression and anxiety symptoms accompanying the negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with neurocognitive deficits indicating disorders in executive functions, attention, visual memory, and social cognition. Neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenia reflect difficulties in abstract thinking and FAARS, including subjective cognitive complaints. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Associative Visual Agnosia: A Case Study

PubMed Central

Charnallet, A.; Carbonnel, S.; David, D.; Moreaud, O.

2008-01-01

We report a case of massive associative visual agnosia. In the light of current theories of identification and semantic knowledge organization, a deficit involving both levels of structural description system and visual semantics must be assumed to explain the case. We suggest, in line with a previous case study [1], an alternative account in the framework of (non abstractive) episodic models of memory [4]. PMID:18413915

Eye movements during object recognition in visual agnosia.

PubMed

Charles Leek, E; Patterson, Candy; Paul, Matthew A; Rafal, Robert; Cristino, Filipe

2012-07-01

This paper reports the first ever detailed study about eye movement patterns during single object recognition in visual agnosia. Eye movements were recorded in a patient with an integrative agnosic deficit during two recognition tasks: common object naming and novel object recognition memory. The patient showed normal directional biases in saccades and fixation dwell times in both tasks and was as likely as controls to fixate within object bounding contour regardless of recognition accuracy. In contrast, following initial saccades of similar amplitude to controls, the patient showed a bias for short saccades. In object naming, but not in recognition memory, the similarity of the spatial distributions of patient and control fixations was modulated by recognition accuracy. The study provides new evidence about how eye movements can be used to elucidate the functional impairments underlying object recognition deficits. We argue that the results reflect a breakdown in normal functional processes involved in the integration of shape information across object structure during the visual perception of shape. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contributions of Feature Binding During Encoding and Functional Connectivity of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures to Episodic Memory Deficits Across the Prodromal and First-Episode Phases of Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Haut, Kristen M.; van Erp, Theo G. M.; Knowlton, Barbara; Bearden, Carrie E.; Subotnik, Kenneth; Ventura, Joseph; Nuechterlein, Keith H.; Cannon, Tyrone D.

2014-01-01

Patients with and at risk for psychosis may have difficulty using associative strategies to facilitate episodic memory encoding and recall. In parallel studies, patients with first-episode schizophrenia (n = 27) and high psychosis risk (n = 28) compared with control participants (n = 22 and n = 20, respectively) underwent functional MRI during a remember-know memory task. Psychophysiological interaction analyses, using medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures as regions of interest, were conducted to measure functional connectivity patterns supporting successful episodic memory. During encoding, patients with first-episode schizophrenia demonstrated reduced functional coupling between MTL regions and regions involved in stimulus representations, stimulus selection, and cognitive control. Relative to control participants and patients with high psychosis risk who did not convert to psychosis, patients with high psychosis risk who later converted to psychosis also demonstrated reduced connectivity between MTL regions and auditory-verbal and visual-association regions. These results suggest that episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia are related to inefficient recruitment of cortical connections involved in associative memory formation; such deficits precede the onset of psychosis among those individuals at high clinical risk. PMID:25750836

Contributions of Feature Binding During Encoding and Functional Connectivity of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures to Episodic Memory Deficits Across the Prodromal and First-Episode Phases of Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Haut, Kristen M; van Erp, Theo G M; Knowlton, Barbara; Bearden, Carrie E; Subotnik, Kenneth; Ventura, Joseph; Nuechterlein, Keith H; Cannon, Tyrone D

2015-03-01

Patients with and at risk for psychosis may have difficulty using associative strategies to facilitate episodic memory encoding and recall. In parallel studies, patients with first-episode schizophrenia ( n = 27) and high psychosis risk ( n = 28) compared with control participants ( n = 22 and n = 20, respectively) underwent functional MRI during a remember-know memory task. Psychophysiological interaction analyses, using medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures as regions of interest, were conducted to measure functional connectivity patterns supporting successful episodic memory. During encoding, patients with first-episode schizophrenia demonstrated reduced functional coupling between MTL regions and regions involved in stimulus representations, stimulus selection, and cognitive control. Relative to control participants and patients with high psychosis risk who did not convert to psychosis, patients with high psychosis risk who later converted to psychosis also demonstrated reduced connectivity between MTL regions and auditory-verbal and visual-association regions. These results suggest that episodic memory deficits in schizophrenia are related to inefficient recruitment of cortical connections involved in associative memory formation; such deficits precede the onset of psychosis among those individuals at high clinical risk.

Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN)

MedlinePlus

... all AMN patients. These patients have a significantly better prognosis than those with cerebral involvement. In general, neuropsychological function is normal except for mild deficits in motor speed and visual memory. Physical therapy, management of the problems with urinary ...

Short-term Memory in Childhood Dyslexia: Deficient Serial Order in Multiple Modalities.

PubMed

Cowan, Nelson; Hogan, Tiffany P; Alt, Mary; Green, Samuel; Cabbage, Kathryn L; Brinkley, Shara; Gray, Shelley

2017-08-01

In children with dyslexia, deficits in working memory have not been well-specified. We assessed second-grade children with dyslexia, with and without concomitant specific language impairment, and children with typical development. Immediate serial recall of lists of phonological (non-word), lexical (digit), spatial (location) and visual (shape) items were included. For the latter three modalities, we used not only standard span but also running span tasks, in which the list length was unpredictable to limit mnemonic strategies. Non-word repetition tests indicated a phonological memory deficit in children with dyslexia alone compared with those with typical development, but this difference vanished when these groups were matched for non-verbal intelligence and language. Theoretically important deficits in serial order memory in dyslexic children, however, persisted relative to matched typically developing children. The deficits were in recall of (1) spoken digits in both standard and running span tasks and (2) spatial locations, in running span only. Children with dyslexia with versus without language impairment, when matched on non-verbal intelligence, had comparable serial order memory, but differed in phonology. Because serial orderings of verbal and spatial elements occur in reading, the careful examination of order memory may allow a deeper understanding of dyslexia and its relation to language impairment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Predictors of memory performance among Taiwanese postmenopausal women with heart failure.

PubMed

Chou, Cheng-Chen; Pressler, Susan J; Giordani, Bruno

2014-09-01

There are no studies describing the nature of memory deficits among women with heart failure (HF). The aims of this study were to examine memory performance among Taiwanese women with HF compared with age- and education-matched healthy women, and to evaluate factors that explain memory performance in women with HF. Seventy-six women with HF and 64 healthy women were recruited in Taiwan. Women completed working, verbal, and visual memory tests; HF severity was collected from the medical records. Women with HF performed significantly worse than healthy women on tests of working memory and verbal memory. Among women with HF, older age explained poorer working memory, and older age, higher HF severity, more comorbidities, and systolic HF explained poorer verbal memory. Menopausal symptoms were not associated with memory performance. Results of the study validate findings of memory loss in HF patients from the United States and Europe in a culturally different sample of women. Working memory and verbal memory were worse in Taiwanese women with HF compared with healthy participants. Studies are needed to determine mechanisms of memory deficits in these women and develop interventions to improve memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attention and material-specific memory in children with lateralized epilepsy.

PubMed

Engle, Jennifer A; Smith, Mary Lou

2010-01-01

Epilepsy is frequently associated with attention and memory problems. In adults, lateralization of seizure focus impacts the type of memory affected (left-sided lesions primarily impact verbal memory, while right-sided lesions primarily impact visual memory), but the relationship between seizure focus and the nature of the memory impairment is less clear in children. The current study examines the correlation between parent-reported attention problems and material-specific memory (verbal or visual-spatial) in 65 children (ages 6-16) with medically intractable lateralized epilepsy. There were no significant differences in attention and memory between those with left-lateralized epilepsy (n=25) and those with right-lateralized epilepsy (n=40). However, in the left-lateralized group attention problems were significantly negatively correlated only with delayed visual memory (r=-.450, p<.05), while the right-lateralized group demonstrated the opposite pattern (attention problems significantly negatively correlated with delayed verbal memory; r=-.331, p<.05). These findings suggest that lateralization of seizure focus may in fact impact children's memory in a material-specific manner, while problems with attention may impact memory more globally. Therefore, interventions designed to improve attention in children with epilepsy may have utility in improving certain aspects of memory, but further suggest that in children with lateralized epilepsy, material-specific memory deficits may not resolve with such interventions.

Self-Imagining Enhances Recognition Memory in Memory-Impaired Individuals with Neurological Damage

PubMed Central

Grilli, Matthew D.; Glisky, Elizabeth L.

2010-01-01

Objective The ability to imagine an elaborative event from a personal perspective relies on a number of cognitive processes that may potentially enhance subsequent memory for the event, including visual imagery, semantic elaboration, emotional processing, and self-referential processing. In an effort to find a novel strategy for enhancing memory in memory-impaired individuals with neurological damage, the present study investigated the mnemonic benefit of a method we refer to as “self-imagining” – or the imagining of an event from a realistic, personal perspective. Method Fourteen individuals with neurologically-based memory deficits and fourteen healthy control participants intentionally encoded neutral and emotional sentences under three instructions: structural-baseline processing, semantic processing, and self-imagining. Results Findings revealed a robust “self-imagination effect” as self-imagination enhanced recognition memory relative to deep semantic elaboration in both memory-impaired individuals, F (1, 13) = 32.11, p < .001, η2 = .71, and healthy controls, F (1, 13) = 5.57, p < .05, η2 = .30. In addition, results indicated that mnemonic benefits of self-imagination were not limited by severity of the memory disorder nor were they related to self-reported vividness of visual imagery, semantic processing, or emotional content of the materials. Conclusions The findings suggest that the self-imagination effect may depend on unique mnemonic mechanisms possibly related to self-referential processing, and that imagining an event from a personal perspective makes that event particularly memorable even for those individuals with severe memory deficits. Self-imagining may thus provide an effective rehabilitation strategy for individuals with memory impairment. PMID:20873930

Dopaminergic and cholinergic modulations of visual-spatial attention and working memory: insights from molecular genetic research and implications for adult cognitive development.

PubMed

Störmer, Viola S; Passow, Susanne; Biesenack, Julia; Li, Shu-Chen

2012-05-01

Attention and working memory are fundamental for selecting and maintaining behaviorally relevant information. Not only do both processes closely intertwine at the cognitive level, but they implicate similar functional brain circuitries, namely the frontoparietal and the frontostriatal networks, which are innervated by cholinergic and dopaminergic pathways. Here we review the literature on cholinergic and dopaminergic modulations of visual-spatial attention and visual working memory processes to gain insights on aging-related changes in these processes. Some extant findings have suggested that the cholinergic system plays a role in the orienting of attention to enable the detection and discrimination of visual information, whereas the dopaminergic system has mainly been associated with working memory processes such as updating and stabilizing representations. However, since visual-spatial attention and working memory processes are not fully dissociable, there is also evidence of interacting cholinergic and dopaminergic modulations of both processes. We further review gene-cognition association studies that have shown that individual differences in visual-spatial attention and visual working memory are associated with acetylcholine- and dopamine-relevant genes. The efficiency of these 2 transmitter systems declines substantially during healthy aging. These declines, in part, contribute to age-related deficits in attention and working memory functions. We report novel data showing an effect of dopamine COMT gene on spatial updating processes in older but not in younger adults, indicating potential magnification of genetic effects in old age.

Windows to the soul: vision science as a tool for studying biological mechanisms of information processing deficits in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Yoon, Jong H; Sheremata, Summer L; Rokem, Ariel; Silver, Michael A

2013-10-31

Cognitive and information processing deficits are core features and important sources of disability in schizophrenia. Our understanding of the neural substrates of these deficits remains incomplete, in large part because the complexity of impairments in schizophrenia makes the identification of specific deficits very challenging. Vision science presents unique opportunities in this regard: many years of basic research have led to detailed characterization of relationships between structure and function in the early visual system and have produced sophisticated methods to quantify visual perception and characterize its neural substrates. We present a selective review of research that illustrates the opportunities for discovery provided by visual studies in schizophrenia. We highlight work that has been particularly effective in applying vision science methods to identify specific neural abnormalities underlying information processing deficits in schizophrenia. In addition, we describe studies that have utilized psychophysical experimental designs that mitigate generalized deficit confounds, thereby revealing specific visual impairments in schizophrenia. These studies contribute to accumulating evidence that early visual cortex is a useful experimental system for the study of local cortical circuit abnormalities in schizophrenia. The high degree of similarity across neocortical areas of neuronal subtypes and their patterns of connectivity suggests that insights obtained from the study of early visual cortex may be applicable to other brain regions. We conclude with a discussion of future studies that combine vision science and neuroimaging methods. These studies have the potential to address pressing questions in schizophrenia, including the dissociation of local circuit deficits vs. impairments in feedback modulation by cognitive processes such as spatial attention and working memory, and the relative contributions of glutamatergic and GABAergic deficits.

Concussion Baseline Testing: Preexisting Factors, Symptoms, and Neurocognitive Performance.

PubMed

Cottle, Jordan E; Hall, Eric E; Patel, Kirtida; Barnes, Kenneth P; Ketcham, Caroline J

2017-02-01

Neurocognitive test scores are often considered an important aspect of concussion management. To best use these data, clinicians must understand potential factors that may influence baseline performance on these tests. To determine preexisting factors that may influence performance on the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT). Cross-sectional study. Research laboratory. A total of 486 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate student-athletes. To determine neurocognitive functioning and total symptom score at baseline, ImPACT was administered. Outcomes were verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed, reaction time, and total symptom score. A self-report demographic section at the beginning of ImPACT was used to gather information concerning previous treatment for headaches, migraines, and psychiatric conditions; diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and exposure to previous strenuous exercise. We conducted multivariate analyses of variance to determine if the ImPACT composite and total symptom scores differed according to preexisting factors (P < .0083). Sex showed an effect on verbal memory (P = .001), visual motor speed (P < .001), and reaction time (P = .006), with women performing better than men. A previous diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affected visual motor speed (P = .008). Previous treatment for headaches (P < .001), migraines (P = .001), a psychiatric condition (P < .001), or a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (P < .001) all showed effects on the total symptom score. Strenuous exercise did not affect neurocogntive performance or total symptom score. Based on our findings and the previous literature, we suggest that many preexisting factors influence baseline neurocognitive data. Baseline testing is an important aspect of concussion management. Sports medicine professionals should be cognizant of these factors when developing concussion-management protocols.

Concussion Baseline Testing: Preexisting Factors, Symptoms, and Neurocognitive Performance

PubMed Central

Cottle, Jordan E.; Hall, Eric E.; Patel, Kirtida; Barnes, Kenneth P.; Ketcham, Caroline J.

2017-01-01

Context: Neurocognitive test scores are often considered an important aspect of concussion management. To best use these data, clinicians must understand potential factors that may influence baseline performance on these tests. Objective: To determine preexisting factors that may influence performance on the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 486 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate student-athletes. Main Outcome Measure(s): To determine neurocognitive functioning and total symptom score at baseline, ImPACT was administered. Outcomes were verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed, reaction time, and total symptom score. A self-report demographic section at the beginning of ImPACT was used to gather information concerning previous treatment for headaches, migraines, and psychiatric conditions; diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and exposure to previous strenuous exercise. We conducted multivariate analyses of variance to determine if the ImPACT composite and total symptom scores differed according to preexisting factors (P < .0083). Results: Sex showed an effect on verbal memory (P = .001), visual motor speed (P < .001), and reaction time (P = .006), with women performing better than men. A previous diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder affected visual motor speed (P = .008). Previous treatment for headaches (P < .001), migraines (P = .001), a psychiatric condition (P < .001), or a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (P < .001) all showed effects on the total symptom score. Strenuous exercise did not affect neurocogntive performance or total symptom score. Conclusions: Based on our findings and the previous literature, we suggest that many preexisting factors influence baseline neurocognitive data. Baseline testing is an important aspect of concussion management. Sports medicine professionals should be cognizant of these factors when developing concussion-management protocols. PMID:28071936

A quantitative meta-analysis of neurocognitive functioning in posttraumatic stress disorder

PubMed Central

Scott, J. Cobb; Matt, Georg E.; Wrocklage, Kristen M.; Crnich, Cassandra; Jordan, Jessica; Southwick, Steven M.; Krystal, John H.; Schweinsburg, Brian C.

2014-01-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with regional alterations in brain structure and function that are hypothesized to contribute to symptoms and cognitive deficits associated with the disorder. We present here the first systematic meta-analysis of neurocognitive outcomes associated with PTSD to examine a broad range of cognitive domains and describe the profile of cognitive deficits, as well as modifying clinical factors and study characteristics. This report is based on data from 60 studies totaling 4,108 participants, including 1,779with PTSD, 1,446 trauma-exposed comparison participants, and 895 healthy comparison participants without trauma exposure. Effect size estimates were calculated using a mixed-effects meta-analysis for nine cognitive domains: attention/working memory, executive functions, verbal learning, verbal memory, visual learning, visual memory, language, speed of information processing, and visuospatial abilities. Analyses revealed significant neurocognitive effects associated with PTSD, although these ranged widely in magnitude, with the largest effect sizes in verbal learning (d =−.62), speed of information processing (d =−.59), attention/working memory (d =−.50), and verbal memory (d =−.46). Effect size estimates were significantly larger in treatment-seeking than community samples and in studies that did not exclude participants with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and effect sizes were affected by between-group IQ discrepancies and the gender composition of the PTSD groups. Our findings indicate that consideration of neuropsychological functioning in attention, verbal memory, and speed of information processing may have important implications for the effective clinical management of persons with PTSD. Results are further discussed in the context of cognitive models of PTSD and the limitations of this literature. PMID:25365762

Visual Memory in Post-Anterior Right Temporal Lobectomy Patients and Adult Normative Data for the Brown Location Test (BLT)

PubMed Central

Brown, Franklin C.; Tuttle, Erin; Westerveld, Michael; Ferraro, F. Richard; Chmielowiec, Teresa; Vandemore, Michelle; Gibson-Beverly, Gina; Bemus, Lisa; Roth, Robert M.; Blumenfeld, Hal; Spencer, Dennis D.; Spencer, Susan S

2010-01-01

Several large and meta-analytic studies have failed to support a consistent relationship between visual or “nonverbal” memory deficits and right mesial temporal lobe changes. However, the Brown Location Test (BLT) is a recently developed dot location learning and memory test that uses a nonsymmetrical array and provides control over many of the confounding variables (e.g., verbal influence and drawing requirements) inherent in other measures of visual memory. In the present investigation, we evaluated the clinical utility of the BLT in patients who had undergone left or right anterior mesial temporal lobectomies. We also provide adult normative data of 298 healthy adults in order to provide standardized scores. Results revealed significantly worse performance on the BLT in the right as compared to left lobectomy group and the healthy adult normative sample. The present findings support a role for the right anterior-mesial temporal lobe in dot location learning and memory. PMID:20056493

Deficits in visual working-memory capacity and general cognition in African Americans with psychosis.

PubMed

Mathias, Samuel R; Knowles, Emma E M; Barrett, Jennifer; Beetham, Tamara; Leach, Olivia; Buccheri, Sebastiano; Aberizk, Katrina; Blangero, John; Poldrack, Russell A; Glahn, David C

2018-03-01

On average, patients with psychosis perform worse than controls on visual change-detection tasks, implying that psychosis is associated with reduced capacity of visual working memory (WM). In the present study, 79 patients diagnosed with various psychotic disorders and 166 controls, all African Americans, completed a change-detection task and several other neurocognitive measures. The aims of the study were to (1) determine whether we could observe a between-group difference in performance on the change-detection task in this sample; (2) establish whether such a difference could be specifically attributed to reduced WM capacity (k); and (3) estimate k in the context of the general cognitive deficit in psychosis. Consistent with previous studies, patients performed worse than controls on the change-detection task, on average. Bayesian hierarchical cognitive modeling of the data suggested that this between-group difference was driven by reduced k in patients, rather than differences in other psychologically meaningful model parameters (guessing behavior and lapse rate). Using the same modeling framework, we estimated the effect of psychosis on k while controlling for general intellectual ability (g, obtained from the other neurocognitive measures). The results suggested that reduced k in patients was stronger than predicted by the between-group difference in g. Moreover, a mediation analysis suggested that the relationship between psychosis and g (i.e., the general cognitive deficit) was mediated by k. The results were consistent with the idea that reduced k is a specific deficit in psychosis, which contributes to the general cognitive deficit. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

2013-01-01

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

Improving Dorsal Stream Function in Dyslexics by Training Figure/Ground Motion Discrimination Improves Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory

PubMed Central

Lawton, Teri

2016-01-01

There is an ongoing debate about whether the cause of dyslexia is based on linguistic, auditory, or visual timing deficits. To investigate this issue three interventions were compared in 58 dyslexics in second grade (7 years on average), two targeting the temporal dynamics (timing) of either the auditory or visual pathways with a third reading intervention (control group) targeting linguistic word building. Visual pathway training in dyslexics to improve direction-discrimination of moving test patterns relative to a stationary background (figure/ground discrimination) significantly improved attention, reading fluency, both speed and comprehension, phonological processing, and both auditory and visual working memory relative to controls, whereas auditory training to improve phonological processing did not improve these academic skills significantly more than found for controls. This study supports the hypothesis that faulty timing in synchronizing the activity of magnocellular with parvocellular visual pathways is a fundamental cause of dyslexia, and argues against the assumption that reading deficiencies in dyslexia are caused by phonological deficits. This study demonstrates that visual movement direction-discrimination can be used to not only detect dyslexia early, but also for its successful treatment, so that reading problems do not prevent children from readily learning. PMID:27551263

Age-Related Deficits in Intentional Memory for Spatial Location in Small-Scale Space: A Meta-Analysis and Methodological Critique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foisy, Pierre

1994-01-01

Meta analysis of 22 studies testing 1,598 subjects revealed that aging has a great effect on intentional memory for spatial location. However, methodological limits were found: fewer than half of the studies controlled for age differences in visual acuity or did not use a test phase of fixed duration. (SK)

Visual selective attention in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

McLaughlin, Paula M; Anderson, Nicole D; Rich, Jill B; Chertkow, Howard; Murtha, Susan J E

2014-11-01

Subtle deficits in visual selective attention have been found in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, few studies have explored performance on visual search paradigms or the Simon task, which are known to be sensitive to disease severity in Alzheimer's patients. Furthermore, there is limited research investigating how deficiencies can be ameliorated with exogenous support (auditory cues). Sixteen individuals with aMCI and 14 control participants completed 3 experimental tasks that varied in demand and cue availability: visual search-alerting, visual search-orienting, and Simon task. Visual selective attention was influenced by aMCI, auditory cues, and task characteristics. Visual search abilities were relatively consistent across groups. The aMCI participants were impaired on the Simon task when working memory was required, but conflict resolution was similar to controls. Spatially informative orienting cues improved response times, whereas spatially neutral alerting cues did not influence performance. Finally, spatially informative auditory cues benefited the aMCI group more than controls in the visual search task, specifically at the largest array size where orienting demands were greatest. These findings suggest that individuals with aMCI have working memory deficits and subtle deficiencies in orienting attention and rely on exogenous information to guide attention. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Infant information processing and family history of specific language impairment: converging evidence for RAP deficits from two paradigms

PubMed Central

Choudhury, Naseem; Leppanen, Paavo H.T.; Leevers, Hilary J.; Benasich, April A.

2007-01-01

An infant’s ability to process auditory signals presented in rapid succession (i.e. rapid auditory processing abilities [RAP]) has been shown to predict differences in language outcomes in toddlers and preschool children. Early deficits in RAP abilities may serve as a behavioral marker for language-based learning disabilities. The purpose of this study is to determine if performance on infant information processing measures designed to tap RAP and global processing skills differ as a function of family history of specific language impairment (SLI) and/or the particular demand characteristics of the paradigm used. Seventeen 6- to 9-month-old infants from families with a history of specific language impairment (FH+) and 29 control infants (FH−) participated in this study. Infants’ performance on two different RAP paradigms (head-turn procedure [HT] and auditory-visual habituation/recognition memory [AVH/RM]) and on a global processing task (visual habituation/recognition memory [VH/RM]) was assessed at 6 and 9 months. Toddler language and cognitive skills were evaluated at 12 and 16 months. A number of significant group differences were seen: FH+ infants showed significantly poorer discrimination of fast rate stimuli on both RAP tasks, took longer to habituate on both habituation/recognition memory measures, and had lower novelty preference scores on the visual habituation/recognition memory task. Infants’ performance on the two RAP measures provided independent but converging contributions to outcome. Thus, different mechanisms appear to underlie performance on operantly conditioned tasks as compared to habituation/recognition memory paradigms. Further, infant RAP processing abilities predicted to 12- and 16-month language scores above and beyond family history of SLI. The results of this study provide additional support for the validity of infant RAP abilities as a behavioral marker for later language outcome. Finally, this is the first study to use a battery of infant tasks to demonstrate multi-modal processing deficits in infants at risk for SLI. PMID:17286846

Preserved memory-based orienting of attention with impaired explicit memory in healthy ageing

PubMed Central

Salvato, Gerardo; Patai, Eva Z.; Nobre, Anna C.

2016-01-01

It is increasingly recognised that spatial contextual long-term memory (LTM) prepares neural activity for guiding visuo-spatial attention in a proactive manner. In the current study, we investigated whether the decline in explicit memory observed in healthy ageing would compromise this mechanism. We compared the behavioural performance of younger and older participants on learning new contextual memories, on orienting visual attention based on these learnt contextual associations, and on explicit recall of contextual memories. We found a striking dissociation between older versus younger participants in the relationship between the ability to retrieve contextual memories versus the ability to use these to guide attention to enhance performance on a target-detection task. Older participants showed significant deficits in the explicit retrieval task, but their behavioural benefits from memory-based orienting of attention were equivalent to those in young participants. Furthermore, memory-based orienting correlated significantly with explicit contextual LTM in younger adults but not in older adults. These results suggest that explicit memory deficits in ageing might not compromise initial perception and encoding of events. Importantly, the results also shed light on the mechanisms of memory-guided attention, suggesting that explicit contextual memories are not necessary. PMID:26649914

Visual memory transformations in dyslexia.

PubMed

Barnes, James; Hinkley, Lisa; Masters, Stuart; Boubert, Laura

2007-06-01

Representational Momentum refers to observers' distortion of recognition memory for pictures that imply motion because of an automatic mental process which extrapolates along the implied trajectory of the picture. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that activity in the magnocellular visual pathway is necessary for representational momentum to occur. It has been proposed that individuals with dyslexia have a magnocellular deficit, so it was hypothesised that these individuals would show reduced or absent representational momentum. In this study, 30 adults with dyslexia and 30 age-matched controls were compared on two tasks, one linear and one rotation, which had previously elicited the representational momentum effect. Analysis indicated significant differences in the performance of the two groups, with the dyslexia group having a reduced susceptibility to representational momentum in both linear and rotational directions. The findings highlight that deficits in temporal spatial processing may contribute to the perceptual profile of dyslexia.

Detecting spatial memory deficits beyond blindness in tg2576 Alzheimer mice.

PubMed

Yassine, Nour; Lazaris, Anelise; Dorner-Ciossek, Cornelia; Després, Olivier; Meyer, Laurence; Maitre, Michel; Mensah-Nyagan, Ayikoe Guy; Cassel, Jean-Christophe; Mathis, Chantal

2013-03-01

The retinal degeneration Pde6b(rd1) (rd) mutation can be a major pitfall in behavioral studies using tg2576 mice bred on a B6:SJL genetic background, 1 of the most widely used models of Alzheimer's disease. After a pilot study in wild type mice, performance of 8- and 16-month-old tg2576 mice were assessed in several behavioral tasks with the challenge of selecting 1 or more task(s) showing robust memory deficits on this genetic background. Water maze acquisition was impossible in rd homozygotes, whereas Y-maze alternation, object recognition, and olfactory discrimination were unaffected by both the transgene and the rd mutation. Spatial memory retention of 8- and 16-month-old tg2576 mice, however, was dramatically affected independently of the rd mutation when mice had to recognize a spatial configuration of objects or to perform the Barnes maze. Thus, the latter tasks appear extremely useful to evaluate spatial memory deficits and to test cognitive therapies in tg2576 mice and other mouse models bred on a background susceptible to visual impairment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Histamine H1 receptor antagonist cetirizine impairs working memory processing speed, but not episodic memory.

PubMed

van Ruitenbeek, P; Vermeeren, A; Riedel, W J

2010-09-01

The histaminergic neurotransmitter system is currently under investigation as a target for drug treatment of cognitive deficits in clinical disorders. The therapeutic potential of new drugs may initially be screened using a model of histaminergic dysfunction, for example, as associated with the use of centrally active antihistamines. Of the selective second generation antihistamines, cetirizine has been found to have central nervous system effects. The aim of the present study was to determine whether cetirizine can be used as a tool to model cognitive deficits associated with histaminergic hypofunction. The study was conducted according to a three-way, double-blind, cross-over design. Treatments were single oral doses of cetirizine 10 and 20 mg and placebo. Effects on cognition were assessed using tests of word learning, memory scanning, vigilance, divided attention, tracking and visual information processing speed. Cetirizine 10 mg impaired tracking performance and both doses impaired memory scanning speed. None of the other measures indicated impaired performance. Cetirizine affects information processing speed, but these effects were not sufficient to serve as a model for cognitive deficits in clinical disorders.

Recognition memory span in autopsy-confirmed Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Salmon, David P; Heindel, William C; Hamilton, Joanne M; Vincent Filoteo, J; Cidambi, Varun; Hansen, Lawrence A; Masliah, Eliezer; Galasko, Douglas

2015-08-01

Evidence from patients with amnesia suggests that recognition memory span tasks engage both long-term memory (i.e., secondary memory) processes mediated by the diencephalic-medial temporal lobe memory system and working memory processes mediated by fronto-striatal systems. Thus, the recognition memory span task may be particularly effective for detecting memory deficits in disorders that disrupt both memory systems. The presence of unique pathology in fronto-striatal circuits in Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) compared to AD suggests that performance on the recognition memory span task might be differentially affected in the two disorders even though they have quantitatively similar deficits in secondary memory. In the present study, patients with autopsy-confirmed DLB or AD, and Normal Control (NC) participants, were tested on separate recognition memory span tasks that required them to retain increasing amounts of verbal, spatial, or visual object (i.e., faces) information across trials. Results showed that recognition memory spans for verbal and spatial stimuli, but not face stimuli, were lower in patients with DLB than in those with AD, and more impaired relative to NC performance. This was despite similar deficits in the two patient groups on independent measures of secondary memory such as the total number of words recalled from long-term storage on the Buschke Selective Reminding Test. The disproportionate vulnerability of recognition memory span task performance in DLB compared to AD may be due to greater fronto-striatal involvement in DLB and a corresponding decrement in cooperative interaction between working memory and secondary memory processes. Assessment of recognition memory span may contribute to the ability to distinguish between DLB and AD relatively early in the course of disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recognition Memory Span in Autopsy-Confirmed Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s Disease

PubMed Central

Salmon, David P.; Heindel, William C.; Hamilton, Joanne M.; Filoteo, J. Vincent; Cidambi, Varun; Hansen, Lawrence A.; Masliah, Eliezer; Galasko, Douglas

2016-01-01

Evidence from patients with amnesia suggests that recognition memory span tasks engage both long-term memory (i.e., secondary memory) processes mediated by the diencephalic-medial temporal lobe memory system and working memory processes mediated by fronto-striatal systems. Thus, the recognition memory span task may be particularly effective for detecting memory deficits in disorders that disrupt both memory systems. The presence of unique pathology in fronto-striatal circuits in Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) compared to AD suggests that performance on the recognition memory span task might be differentially affected in the two disorders even though they have quantitatively similar deficits in secondary memory. In the present study, patients with autopsy-confirmed DLB or AD, and normal control (NC) participants, were tested on separate recognition memory span tasks that required them to retain increasing amounts of verbal, spatial, or visual object (i.e., faces) information across trials. Results showed that recognition memory spans for verbal and spatial stimuli, but not face stimuli, were lower in patients with DLB than in those with AD, and more impaired relative to NC performance. This was despite similar deficits in the two patient groups on independent measures of secondary memory such as the total number of words recalled from Long-Term Storage on the Buschke Selective Reminding Test. The disproportionate vulnerability of recognition memory span task performance in DLB compared to AD may be due to greater fronto-striatal involvement in DLB and a corresponding decrement in cooperative interaction between working memory and secondary memory processes. Assessment of recognition memory span may contribute to the ability to distinguish between DLB and AD relatively early in the course of disease. PMID:26184443

Common and unique gray matter correlates of episodic memory dysfunction in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Irish, Muireann; Piguet, Olivier; Hodges, John R; Hornberger, Michael

2014-04-01

Conflicting evidence exists regarding the integrity of episodic memory in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Recent converging evidence suggests that episodic memory in progressive cases of bvFTD is compromised to the same extent as in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The underlying neural substrates of these episodic memory deficits, however, likely differ contingent on dementia type. In this study we sought to elucidate the neural substrates of episodic memory performance, across recall and recognition tasks, in both patient groups using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses. We predicted that episodic memory dysfunction would be apparent in both patient groups but would relate to divergent patterns of neural atrophy specific to each dementia type. We assessed episodic memory, across verbal and visual domains, in 19 bvFTD, 18 AD patients, and 19 age- and education-matched controls. Behaviorally, patient groups were indistinguishable for immediate and delayed recall, across verbal and visual domains. Whole-brain VBM analyses revealed regions commonly implicated in episodic retrieval across groups, namely the right temporal pole, right frontal lobe, left paracingulate gyrus, and right anterior hippocampus. Divergent neural networks specific to each group were also identified. Whereas a widespread network including posterior regions such as the posterior cingulate cortex, parietal and occipital cortices was exclusively implicated in AD, the frontal and anterior temporal lobes underpinned the episodic memory deficits in bvFTD. Our results point to distinct neural changes underlying episodic memory decline specific to each dementia syndrome. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Forms of Memory for Representation of Visual Objects

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-04-15

neuropsychological syndromes that involve disruption of perceptual representation systems should pay rich dividends for implicit memory research (Schacter et al...BLACKORDi. 1988b. Deficits in the implicit retention of new associations by alcoholic Korsakoff patients. Brain and Cognition 7: 145-156. COFER, C. C...MOREINES & N. BUTTERS. 1973. Retrieving information from Korsakoff patients: Effects of categorical cues and reference to the task. Cortex 9: 165

Creativity, Comprehension, Conversation and the Hippocampal Region: New Data and Theory

PubMed Central

MacKay, Donald G.; Goldstein, Rutherford

2017-01-01

Present findings indicate that hippocampal region (HR) damage impairs aspects of everyday language comprehension and production that require creativity ___ defined as the ability to form new internal representations that satisfy relevant constraints for being useful or valuable in the real world. In two studies, seventeen people participated in extensive face-to-face interviews: sixteen normal individuals and H.M., an amnesic with cerebellar and HR damage but virtually no neocortical damage. Study 1 demonstrated deficits in H.M.’s comprehension of creative but not routine aspects of the interviews ___ extending to the real world twelve prior demonstrations that H.M. understands routine but not novel aspects of experimentally constructed sentences, deficits that reflected his HR damage, but not his cerebellar damage, his explicit or declarative memory problems, inability to comprehend or recall the instructions, forgetting, poor visual acuity, motoric slowing, time pressure, deficits in visual scanning or attentional allocation, lack of motivation, and excessive memory load in the tasks. Study 2 demonstrated similar deficits in H.M.’s ability to produce creative but not routine aspects of conversational discourse, extending findings in five prior sentence production experiments to real-world creativity. We discuss conceptual frameworks for explaining relations between new-and-useful creativity and the HR. PMID:29130066

Olfactory identification deficits and associated response inhibition in obsessive-compulsive disorder: on the scent of the orbitofronto-striatal model.

PubMed

Bersani, Giuseppe; Quartini, Adele; Ratti, Flavia; Pagliuca, Giulio; Gallo, Andrea

2013-11-30

Olfactory identification ability implicates the integrity of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The fronto-striatal circuits including the OFC have been involved in the neuropathology of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). However, only a few studies have examined olfactory function in patients with OCD. The Brief Smell Identification Test (B-SIT) and tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Battery (CANTAB) were administered to 25 patients with OCD and to 21 healthy matched controls. OCD patients showed a significant impairment in olfactory identification ability as well as widely distributed cognitive deficits in visual memory, executive functions, attention, and response inhibition. The degree of behavioural impairment on motor impulsivity (prolonged response inhibition Stop-Signal Reaction Time) strongly correlated with the B-SIT score. Our study is the first to indicate a shared OFC pathological neural substrate underlying olfactory identification impairment, impulsivity, and OCD. Deficits in visual memory, executive functions and attention further indicate that regions outside of the orbitofronto-striatal loop may be involved in this disorder. Such results may help delineate the clinical complexity of OCD and support more targeted investigations and interventions. In this regard, research on the potential diagnostic utility of olfactory identification deficits in the assessment of OCD would certainly be useful. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Some Surprising Findings on the Involvement of the Parietal Lobe in Human Memory

PubMed Central

Olson, Ingrid R.; Berryhill, Marian

2009-01-01

The posterior parietal lobe is known to play some role in a far-flung list of mental processes: linking vision to action (saccadic eye movements, reaching, grasping), attending to visual space, numerical calculation, and mental rotation. Here we review findings from humans and monkeys that illuminate an untraditional function of this region: memory. Our review draws on neuroimaging findings that have repeatedly identified parietal lobe activations associated with short-term or working memory and episodic memory. We also discuss recent neuropsychological findings showing that individuals with parietal lobe damage exhibit both working memory and long-term memory deficits. These deficits are not ubiquitous; they are only evident under certain retrieval demands. Our review elaborates on these findings and evaluates various theories about the mechanistic role of the posterior parietal lobe in memory. The available data point towards the conclusion that the posterior parietal lobe plays an important role in memory retrieval irrespective of elapsed time. The two models that are best supported by existing data are the Attention to Memory Model and the Subjective Memory Model. We conclude by formalizing several open questions that are intended to encourage future research. PMID:18848635

Neuropsychological function in individuals with morbid obesity: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Sargénius, Hanna L; Lydersen, Stian; Hestad, Knut

2017-01-01

Previous research has shown cognitive dysfunction to be present in a significant number of individuals with obesity. The objective of this study was to assess the neuropsychological profile of morbidly obese patients referred to weight-loss treatment. An extensive battery of neuropsychological tests with well-known normative data covering various cognitive domains was administered to 96 patients. The test results were transformed to z-scores for comparisons with normative data. As a means of determining level of cognitive impairment within the group, deficit scores were applied. Group comparisons on the different cognitive domains were conducted between patients with depressive symptoms and patients reporting no such symptoms. As illustrated in mean z-scores, the patients demonstrated lower performance compared to normative data on visual memory (mean -.26, CI -.43 to -.09, p  = .003), speed of information processing (mean -.22, CI -.34 to -.09, p  = .001), executive functions (mean -.28, CI -.40 to -.16, p  < .001), and attention/vigilance (mean -.25, CI -.37 to -.13, p  < .001). Their performance was good on verbal fluency (mean .24, CI .04 to .44, p  = .016) and verbal memory (mean .55, CI .38 to .72, p  < .001). No significant performance differences were observed in the cognitive domains of visuospatial ability, motor function, and working memory. The deficit scores, however, revealed working memory and motor function to be significantly impaired within the group as well. Patients with depressive symptoms differed from patients without such symptoms on visual memory (mean .43, CI .07 to .80, p  = .021). Some characteristic cognitive weaknesses and strengths were evident at the group level, although pronounced variation was observed. Deficits in executive functions, information processing, and attention should be taken into consideration in clinical practice.

The importance of working memory for school achievement in primary school children with intellectual or learning disabilities.

PubMed

Maehler, Claudia; Schuchardt, Kirsten

2016-11-01

Given the well-known relation between intelligence and school achievement we expect children with normal intelligence to perform well at school and those with intelligence deficits to meet learning problems. But, contrary to these expectations, some children do not perform according to these predictions: children with normal intelligence but sub-average school achievement and children with lower intelligence but average success at school. Yet, it is an open question how the unexpected failure or success can be explained. This study examined the role of working memory sensu Baddeley (1986) for school achievement, especially for unexpected failure or success. An extensive working memory battery with a total of 14 tasks for the phonological loop, the visual-spatial sketchpad and central executive skills was presented in individual sessions to four groups of children differing in IQ (normal vs. low) and school success (good vs. poor). Results reveal that children with sub-average school achievement showed deficits in working memory functioning, irrespective of intelligence. By contrast, children with regular school achievement did not show deficits in working memory, again irrespective of intelligence. Therefore working memory should be considered an important predictor of academic success that can lead both to unexpected overachievement and failure at school. Individual working memory competencies should be taken into account with regard to diagnosis and intervention for children with learning problems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Componential Analysis of Visual Attention in Children With ADHD.

PubMed

McAvinue, Laura P; Vangkilde, Signe; Johnson, Katherine A; Habekost, Thomas; Kyllingsbæk, Søren; Bundesen, Claus; Robertson, Ian H

2015-10-01

Inattentive behaviour is a defining characteristic of ADHD. Researchers have wondered about the nature of the attentional deficit underlying these symptoms. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine this attentional deficit using a novel paradigm based upon the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA). The TVA paradigm enabled a componential analysis of visual attention through the use of a mathematical model to estimate parameters relating to attentional selectivity and capacity. Children's ability to sustain attention was also assessed using the Sustained Attention to Response Task. The sample included a comparison between 25 children with ADHD and 25 control children aged 9-13. Children with ADHD had significantly impaired sustained attention and visual processing speed but intact attentional selectivity, perceptual threshold and visual short-term memory capacity. The results of this study lend support to the notion of differential impairment of attentional functions in children with ADHD. © 2012 SAGE Publications.

Progression of multiple behavioral deficits with various ages of onset in a murine model of Hurler syndrome.

PubMed

Pan, Dao; Sciascia, Anthony; Vorhees, Charles V; Williams, Michael T

2008-01-10

Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) is one of the most common lysosomal storage diseases with progressive neurological dysfunction. To characterize the chronological behavioral profiles and identify the onset of functional deficits in a MPS I mouse model (IDUA(-/-)), we evaluated anxiety, locomotor behavior, startle, spatial learning and memory with mice at 2, 4, 6 and 8 months of age. In automated open-field test, IDUA(-/-) mice showed hypoactivity as early as 2 months of age and altered anxiety starting from 6 months of age during the initial exploratory phase, even though normal habituation was observed at all ages. In the marble-burying task, the anxiety-like compulsive behavior was normal in IDUA(-/-) mice at almost all tested ages, but significantly reduced in 8-month old male IDUA(-/-) mice which coincided with the rapid death of IDUA(-/-) males starting from 7 months of age. In the Morris water maze, IDUA(-/-) mice exhibited impaired proficient learning only at 4 months of age during the acquisition phase. Spatial memory deficits were observed in IDUA(-/-) mice during both 1 and 7 days probe trials at 4 and 8 months of age. The IDUA(-/-) mice performed normally in a novel object recognition task at younger ages until 8 months old when reduced visual cognitive memory retention was noted in the IDUA(-/-) mice. In addition, 8-month-old IDUA(-/-) mice failed to habituate to repeated open-field exposure, suggesting deficits in non-aversive and non-associative memory. In acoustic startle assessment, significantly more non-responders were found in IDUA(-/-) mice, but normal performance was seen in those that did show a response. These results presented a temporal evaluation of phenotypic behavioral dysfunctions in IDUA(-/-) mice from adolescence to maturity, indicating the impairments, with different ages of onset, in locomotor and anxiety-like compulsive behaviors, spatial learning and memory, visual recognition and short-term non-associative memory retention. This study would also provide guidelines for the experimental designs of behavioral evaluation on innovative therapies for the treatment of MPS type I.

TVA-based assessment of visual attentional functions in developmental dyslexia

PubMed Central

Bogon, Johanna; Finke, Kathrin; Stenneken, Prisca

2014-01-01

There is an ongoing debate whether an impairment of visual attentional functions constitutes an additional or even an isolated deficit of developmental dyslexia (DD). Especially performance in tasks that require the processing of multiple visual elements in parallel has been reported to be impaired in DD. We review studies that used parameter-based assessment for identifying and quantifying impaired aspect(s) of visual attention that underlie this multi-element processing deficit in DD. These studies used the mathematical framework provided by the “theory of visual attention” (Bundesen, 1990) to derive quantitative measures of general attentional resources and attentional weighting aspects on the basis of behavioral performance in whole- and partial-report tasks. Based on parameter estimates in children and adults with DD, the reviewed studies support a slowed perceptual processing speed as an underlying primary deficit in DD. Moreover, a reduction in visual short term memory storage capacity seems to present a modulating component, contributing to difficulties in written language processing. Furthermore, comparing the spatial distributions of attentional weights in children and adults suggests that having limited reading and writing skills might impair the development of a slight leftward bias, that is typical for unimpaired adult readers. PMID:25360129

Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) benefits more to patients with schizophrenia with low initial memory performances.

PubMed

Pillet, Benoit; Morvan, Yannick; Todd, Aurelia; Franck, Nicolas; Duboc, Chloé; Grosz, Aimé; Launay, Corinne; Demily, Caroline; Gaillard, Raphaël; Krebs, Marie-Odile; Amado, Isabelle

2015-01-01

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia mainly affect memory, attention and executive functions. Cognitive remediation is a technique derived from neuropsychology, which aims to improve or compensate for these deficits. Working memory, verbal learning, and executive functions are crucial factors for functional outcome. Our purpose was to assess the impact of the cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) program on cognitive difficulties in patients with schizophrenia, especially on working memory, verbal memory, and cognitive flexibility. We collected data from clinical and neuropsychological assessments in 24 patients suffering from schizophrenia (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders-Fourth Edition, DSM-IV) who followed a 3-month (CRT) program. Verbal and visuo-spatial working memory, verbal memory, and cognitive flexibility were assessed before and after CRT. The Wilcoxon test showed significant improvements on the backward digit span, on the visual working memory span, on verbal memory and on flexibility. Cognitive improvement was substantial when baseline performance was low, independently from clinical benefit. CRT is effective on crucial cognitive domains and provides a huge benefit for patients having low baseline performance. Such cognitive amelioration appears highly promising for improving the outcome in cognitively impaired patients.

Executive function deficits in team sport athletes with a history of concussion revealed by a visual-auditory dual task paradigm.

PubMed

Tapper, Anthony; Gonzalez, Dave; Roy, Eric; Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study was to examine executive functions in team sport athletes with and without a history of concussion. Executive functions comprise many cognitive processes including, working memory, attention and multi-tasking. Past research has shown that concussions cause difficulties in vestibular-visual and vestibular-auditory dual-tasking, however, visual-auditory tasks have been examined rarely. Twenty-nine intercollegiate varsity ice hockey athletes (age = 19.13, SD = 1.56; 15 females) performed an experimental dual-task paradigm that required simultaneously processing visual and auditory information. A brief interview, event description and self-report questionnaires were used to assign participants to each group (concussion, no-concussion). Eighteen athletes had a history of concussion and 11 had no concussion history. The two tests involved visuospatial working memory (i.e., Corsi block test) and auditory tone discrimination. Participants completed both tasks individually, then simultaneously. Two outcome variables were measured, Corsi block memory span and auditory tone discrimination accuracy. No differences were shown when each task was performed alone; however, athletes with a history of concussion had a significantly worse performance on the tone discrimination task in the dual-task condition. In conclusion, long-term deficits in executive functions were associated with a prior history of concussion when cognitive resources were stressed. Evaluations of executive functions and divided attention appear to be helpful in discriminating participants with and without a history concussion.

Achilles' ear? Inferior human short-term and recognition memory in the auditory modality.

PubMed

Bigelow, James; Poremba, Amy

2014-01-01

Studies of the memory capabilities of nonhuman primates have consistently revealed a relative weakness for auditory compared to visual or tactile stimuli: extensive training is required to learn auditory memory tasks, and subjects are only capable of retaining acoustic information for a brief period of time. Whether a parallel deficit exists in human auditory memory remains an outstanding question. In the current study, a short-term memory paradigm was used to test human subjects' retention of simple auditory, visual, and tactile stimuli that were carefully equated in terms of discriminability, stimulus exposure time, and temporal dynamics. Mean accuracy did not differ significantly among sensory modalities at very short retention intervals (1-4 s). However, at longer retention intervals (8-32 s), accuracy for auditory stimuli fell substantially below that observed for visual and tactile stimuli. In the interest of extending the ecological validity of these findings, a second experiment tested recognition memory for complex, naturalistic stimuli that would likely be encountered in everyday life. Subjects were able to identify all stimuli when retention was not required, however, recognition accuracy following a delay period was again inferior for auditory compared to visual and tactile stimuli. Thus, the outcomes of both experiments provide a human parallel to the pattern of results observed in nonhuman primates. The results are interpreted in light of neuropsychological data from nonhuman primates, which suggest a difference in the degree to which auditory, visual, and tactile memory are mediated by the perirhinal and entorhinal cortices.

Memory-guided force control in healthy younger and older adults.

PubMed

Neely, Kristina A; Samimy, Shaadee; Blouch, Samantha L; Wang, Peiyuan; Chennavasin, Amanda; Diaz, Michele T; Dennis, Nancy A

2017-08-01

Successful performance of a memory-guided motor task requires participants to store and then recall an accurate representation of the motor goal. Further, participants must monitor motor output to make adjustments in the absence of visual feedback. The goal of this study was to examine memory-guided grip force in healthy younger and older adults and compare it to performance on behavioral tasks of working memory. Previous work demonstrates that healthy adults decrease force output as a function of time when visual feedback is not available. We hypothesized that older adults would decrease force output at a faster rate than younger adults, due to age-related deficits in working memory. Two groups of participants, younger adults (YA: N = 32, mean age 21.5 years) and older adults (OA: N = 33, mean age 69.3 years), completed four 20-s trials of isometric force with their index finger and thumb, equal to 25% of their maximum voluntary contraction. In the full-vision condition, visual feedback was available for the duration of the trial. In the no vision condition, visual feedback was removed for the last 12 s of each trial. Participants were asked to maintain constant force output in the absence of visual feedback. Participants also completed tasks of word recall and recognition and visuospatial working memory. Counter to our predictions, when visual feedback was removed, younger adults decreased force at a faster rate compared to older adults and the rate of decay was not associated with behavioral performance on tests of working memory.

Examination of Cognitive Function During Six Months of Calorie Restriction: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Martin, Corby K.; Anton, Stephen D.; Han, Hongmei; York-Crowe, Emily; Redman, Leanne M.; Ravussin, Eric; Williamson, Donald A.

2009-01-01

Background Calorie restriction increases longevity in many organisms, and calorie restriction or its mimetic might increase longevity in humans. It is unclear if calorie restriction/dieting contributes to cognitive impairment. During this randomized controlled trial, the effect of 6 months of calorie restriction on cognitive functioning was tested. Methods Participants (n = 48) were randomized to one of four groups: (1) control (weight maintenance), (2) calorie restriction (CR; 25% restriction), (3) CR plus structured exercise (CR + EX, 12.5% restriction plus 12.5% increased energy expenditure via exercise), or (4) low-calorie diet (LCD; 890 kcal/d diet until 15% weight loss, followed by weight maintenance). Cognitive tests (verbal memory, visual memory, attention/concentration) were conducted at baseline and months 3 and 6. Mixed linear models tested if cognitive function changed significantly from baseline to months 3 and 6, and if this change differed by group. Correlation analysis was used to determine if average daily energy deficit (quantified from change in body energy stores) was associated with change in cognitive test performance for the three dieting groups combined. Results No consistent pattern of verbal memory, visual retention/memory, or attention/concentration deficits emerged during the trial. Daily energy deficit was not significantly associated with change in cognitive test performance. Conclusions This randomized controlled trial suggests that calorie restriction/dieting was not associated with a consistent pattern of cognitive impairment. These conclusions must be interpreted in the context of study limitations, namely small sample size and limited statistical power. Previous reports of cognitive impairment might reflect sampling biases or information processing biases. PMID:17518698

Preserved memory-based orienting of attention with impaired explicit memory in healthy ageing.

PubMed

Salvato, Gerardo; Patai, Eva Z; Nobre, Anna C

2016-01-01

It is increasingly recognised that spatial contextual long-term memory (LTM) prepares neural activity for guiding visuo-spatial attention in a proactive manner. In the current study, we investigated whether the decline in explicit memory observed in healthy ageing would compromise this mechanism. We compared the behavioural performance of younger and older participants on learning new contextual memories, on orienting visual attention based on these learnt contextual associations, and on explicit recall of contextual memories. We found a striking dissociation between older versus younger participants in the relationship between the ability to retrieve contextual memories versus the ability to use these to guide attention to enhance performance on a target-detection task. Older participants showed significant deficits in the explicit retrieval task, but their behavioural benefits from memory-based orienting of attention were equivalent to those in young participants. Furthermore, memory-based orienting correlated significantly with explicit contextual LTM in younger adults but not in older adults. These results suggest that explicit memory deficits in ageing might not compromise initial perception and encoding of events. Importantly, the results also shed light on the mechanisms of memory-guided attention, suggesting that explicit contextual memories are not necessary. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The selective M1 muscarinic cholinergic agonist CDD-0102A enhances working memory and cognitive flexibility.

PubMed

Ragozzino, Michael E; Artis, Sonja; Singh, Amritha; Twose, Trevor M; Beck, Joseph E; Messer, William S

2012-03-01

Various neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders are marked by alterations in brain cholinergic function and cognitive deficits. Efforts to alleviate such deficits have been limited by a lack of selective M(1) muscarinic agonists. 5-(3-Ethyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-yl)-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine hydrochloride (CDD-0102A) is a partial agonist at M(1) muscarinic receptors with limited activity at other muscarinic receptor subtypes. The present studies investigated the effects of CDD-0102A on working memory and strategy shifting in rats. CDD-0102A administered intraperitoneally 30 min before testing at 0.1, 0.3, and 1 mg/kg significantly enhanced delayed spontaneous alternation performance in a four-arm cross maze, suggesting improvement in working memory. In separate experiments, CDD-0102A had potent enhancing effects on learning and switching between a place and visual cue discrimination. Treatment with CDD-0102A did not affect acquisition of either a place or visual cue discrimination. In contrast, CDD-0102A at 0.03 and 0.1 mg/kg significantly enhanced a shift between a place and visual cue discrimination. Analysis of the errors in the shift to the place or shift to the visual cue strategy revealed that in both cases CDD-0102A significantly increased the ability to initially inhibit a previously relevant strategy and maintain a new, relevant strategy once selected. In anesthetized rats, the minimum dose required to induce salivation was approximately 0.3 mg/kg i.p. Salivation increased with dose, and the estimated ED(50) was 2.0 mg/kg. The data suggest that CDD-0102A has unique memory and cognitive enhancing properties that might be useful in the treatment of neurological disorders at doses that do not produce adverse effects such as salivation.

Age-related impairment of visual recognition memory correlates with impaired synaptic distribution of GluA2 and protein kinase Mζ in the dentate gyrus.

PubMed

Aicardi, Giorgio

2012-10-01

Age-related functional alterations in the perforant path projection from the entorhinal cortex to the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus play a major role in age-related memory impairments, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for these changes. In a recent study, young and aged monkeys were tested on the visual recognition memory test "delayed nonmatching-to-sample"; then, electron microscopic immunocytochemistry was performed in the hippocampal DG to determine the subcellular localization of the GluA2 subunit of the glutamate α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4- isoxazole-propionic acid receptor (AMPAR) and protein kinase Mζ (PKMζ), which promotes memory storage by regulating GluA2-containing AMPAR trafficking. The results obtained suggest that age-related deficits in visual recognition memory are coupled with impairment in PKMζ-dependent maintenance of GluA2 at the synapse. Together with previous evidences of the critical role of PKMζ in memory consolidation, these data render this enzyme an attractive potential therapeutic target for treating age-related memory decline, and support the view that the pharmacological manipulation of AMPAR trafficking in the synapses may provide new insights in the search of memory enhancers for aged individuals, including those affected by Alzheimer disease.

Which neuropsychological functions predict various processing speed components in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?

PubMed

Vadnais, Sarah A; Kibby, Michelle Y; Jagger-Rickels, Audreyana C

2018-01-01

We identified statistical predictors of four processing speed (PS) components in a sample of 151 children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Performance on perceptual speed was predicted by visual attention/short-term memory, whereas incidental learning/psychomotor speed was predicted by verbal working memory. Rapid naming was predictive of each PS component assessed, and inhibition predicted all but one task, suggesting a shared need to identify/retrieve stimuli rapidly and inhibit incorrect responding across PS components. Hence, we found both shared and unique predictors of perceptual, cognitive, and output speed, suggesting more specific terminology should be used in future research on PS in ADHD.

The nature of short-term consolidation in visual working memory.

PubMed

Ricker, Timothy J; Hardman, Kyle O

2017-11-01

Short-term consolidation is the process by which stable working memory representations are created. This process is fundamental to cognition yet poorly understood. The present work examines short-term consolidation using a Bayesian hierarchical model of visual working memory recall to determine the underlying processes at work. Our results show that consolidation functions largely through changing the proportion of memory items successfully maintained until test. Although there was some evidence that consolidation affects representational precision, this change was modest and could not account for the bulk of the consolidation effect on memory performance. The time course of the consolidation function and selective influence of consolidation on specific serial positions strongly indicates that short-term consolidation induces an attentional blink. The blink leads to deficits in memory for the immediately following item when time pressure is introduced. Temporal distinctiveness accounts of the consolidation process are tested and ruled out. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of encoding condition on free recall in Parkinson's disease: incidental and intentional memory are equally affected.

PubMed

Ellfolk, Ulla; Huurinainen, Salla; Joutsa, Juho; Karrasch, Mira

2012-01-01

Free recall memory deficits are common at early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD). As most studies have used intentional memory tasks, there is little information on how non-intentional, incidental encoding conditions affect memory performance in PD. We studied possible differences between PD patients and controls on free recall using incidental and intentional visual memory tasks. Free recall was examined in relation to attentive/executive functioning and subjective memory complaints. A total of 29 non-demented, medicated PD patients (age 60, disease duration 19 months) and 29 healthy controls (age 61) participated in the study. Incidental free recall was studied using a memory-modification of the Boston naming test (Memo-BNT) and intentional free recall with the 20 Objects test. There was a significant main effect for group due to worse free recall performances in the PD group. No statistically significant interaction between group and encoding condition was observed. The free recall deficit in the PD group was related to cognitive/psychomotor slowing, but not to attentive/executive task demands, or to subjective memory complaints. The results indicate that PD patients are impaired on free recall irrespective of encoding condition.

Altered strategy in short-term memory for pictures in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a near-infrared spectroscopy study.

PubMed

Sanefuji, Masafumi; Yamashita, Hiroshi; Torisu, Hiroyuki; Takada, Yui; Imanaga, Hisako; Matsunaga, Mayumi; Ishizaki, Yoshito; Sakai, Yasunari; Yoshida, Keiko; Hara, Toshiro

2014-07-30

Strategy in short-term memory for serially presented pictures shifts gradually from a non-phonological to a phonological method as memory ability increases during typical childhood development. However, little is known about the development of this strategic change in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To understand the neural basis of ADHD, we investigated short-term memory strategies using near-infrared spectroscopy. ADHD children aged from 6 to 12 years and age- and sex-matched control children were assessed in this study. Regional activity was monitored in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex to assess strategies used during short-term memory for visual or phonological objects. We examined the hypothesis that the strategic methods used would be correlated with memory ability. Higher memory ability and the phonological strategy were significantly correlated in the control group but not in the ADHD group. Intriguingly, ADHD children receiving methylphenidate treatment exhibited increased use of phonological strategy compared with those without. In conclusion, we found evidence of an altered strategy in short-term memory in ADHD children. The modulatory effect of methylphenidate indicates its therapeutic efficacy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does atrioventricular reentry tachycardia (AVRT) or atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT) in children affect their cognitive and emotional development?

PubMed

Maryniak, Agnieszka; Bielawska, Alicja; Bieganowska, Katarzyna; Miszczak-Knecht, Maria; Walczak, Franciszek; Szumowski, Lukasz

2013-04-01

The current study sought to assess cognitive and emotional functions among children and adolescents with atrioventricular reentry tachycardia (AVRT) and atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT). 113 patients (62 girls and 51 boys ages, 9-18 years) scheduled for radiofrequency ablation due to AVRT or AVNRT underwent neuropsychologic examination. The study excluded patients who had experienced cardiac arrest, congenital heart defects, neurologic disorders, or other diseases affecting cognitive or emotional development. Standardized tests for examining verbal and visual memory as well as visual-spatial functioning were performed. For patients exhibiting deficits in two or more tests, a diagnosis of "cognitive deficits" was determined. Levels of anxiety were tested using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Cognitive deficits were found in 47.8 % of the patients. The age at first arrhythmia attack was related to memory dysfunction. The mean age at which the first symptoms occurred was significantly lower for patients with deficits (8.3 years) than for patients who had no deficit (10.2 years) (t = 2.15; p = 0.03). Boys exhibited a significantly higher level of trait anxiety than girls (t = 3.42; p = 0.0009). A significant negative correlation was found between anxiety and the age at appearance of the first symptoms (r = -0.26; p = 0.005). These findings led us to conclude that cognitive and emotional developments can be negatively affected by AVNRT and AVRT, particularly if tachycardia appears early in life.

Brain Information Sharing During Visual Short-Term Memory Binding Yields a Memory Biomarker for Familial Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Parra, Mario A; Mikulan, Ezequiel; Trujillo, Natalia; Sala, Sergio Della; Lopera, Francisco; Manes, Facundo; Starr, John; Ibanez, Agustin

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) as a disconnection syndrome which disrupts both brain information sharing and memory binding functions. The extent to which these two phenotypic expressions share pathophysiological mechanisms remains unknown. To unveil the electrophysiological correlates of integrative memory impairments in AD towards new memory biomarkers for its prodromal stages. Patients with 100% risk of familial AD (FAD) and healthy controls underwent assessment with the Visual Short-Term Memory binding test (VSTMBT) while we recorded their EEG. We applied a novel brain connectivity method (Weighted Symbolic Mutual Information) to EEG data. Patients showed significant deficits during the VSTMBT. A reduction of brain connectivity was observed during resting as well as during correct VSTM binding, particularly over frontal and posterior regions. An increase of connectivity was found during VSTM binding performance over central regions. While decreased connectivity was found in cases in more advanced stages of FAD, increased brain connectivity appeared in cases in earlier stages. Such altered patterns of task-related connectivity were found in 89% of the assessed patients. VSTM binding in the prodromal stages of FAD are associated to altered patterns of brain connectivity thus confirming the link between integrative memory deficits and impaired brain information sharing in prodromal FAD. While significant loss of brain connectivity seems to be a feature of the advanced stages of FAD increased brain connectivity characterizes its earlier stages. These findings are discussed in the light of recent proposals about the earliest pathophysiological mechanisms of AD and their clinical expression. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Episodic, semantic and procedural memory in a case of amnesia at an early age.

PubMed

Ostergaard, A L

1987-01-01

The patient C.C. developed an amnesic syndrome at the age of 10 yr. Like adult amnesics, C.C. demonstrated impaired episodic memory for both verbal and visual materials although immediate memory span was spared. However, striking deficits were also observed on a wide variety of semantic memory tasks, including reading vocabulary and verbal fluency tests, semantic classification and lexical decision tasks and tests of verbal intelligence. On the other hand, C.C. showed normal learning and retention of two procedural tasks. It was argued that this evidence is inconsistent with the view that the amnesic syndrome represents a selective defect of episodic memory that leaves semantic memory relatively unaffected.

Working memory in children and adolescents with Down syndrome: evidence from a colour memory experiment.

PubMed

Laws, Glynis

2002-03-01

This paper reports information on the visual and verbal short-term memory of individuals with Down syndrome. Colour memory in 16 children and adolescents with Down syndrome was compared with that of 16 typically developing children matched for receptive vocabulary. It was suggested that focal colours should be remembered more successfully than non-focal colours on the basis that the former could be remembered using a verbal recoding strategy. However, children with Down syndrome, for whom a deficit in verbal short-term memory makes the use of such a strategy unlikely, should remember focal and non-focal colours equally well. More importantly, if individuals with Down syndrome have more developed visual memory abilities than control children, they should outperform them in recognising non-focal colours. Although the group with Down syndrome demonstrated significantly better Corsi blocks performance than controls, and displayed similar levels of colour knowledge, no advantage for colour memory was found. Non-focal colours were remembered by individuals with Down syndrome as successfully as focal colours but there was no indication of a visual memory advantage over controls. Focal colours were remembered significantly more successfully than non-focal colours by the typically developing children. Their focal colour memory was significantly related to digit span, but only Corsi span was related to focal colour memory in the group with Down syndrome.

[Subjective cognition in schizophrenia].

PubMed

Potvin, S; Aubin, G; Stip, E

2017-02-01

Given the extent, magnitude and functional significance of the neurocognitive deficits of schizophrenia, growing attention has been paid recently to patients' self-awareness of their own deficits. Thus far, the literature has shown either that patients fail to recognize their cognitive deficits or that the association between subjective and objective cognition is weak in schizophrenia. The reasons for this lack of consistency remain unexplained but may have to do, among others, with the influence of potential confounding clinical variables and the choice of the scale used to measure self-awareness of cognitive deficits. In the current study, we sought to examine the relationships between subjective and objective cognitive performance in schizophrenia, while controlling for the influence of sociodemographic and psychiatric variables. Eighty-two patients with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder (DSM-IV criteria) were recruited. Patients' subjective cognitive complaints were evaluated with the Subjective Scale to Investigate Cognition in Schizophrenia (SSTICS), the most frequently used scale to measure self-awareness of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Neurocognition was evaluated with working memory, planning and visual learning tasks taken from Cambridge Neuropsychological Tests Automated Battery. The Stroop Color-Word test was also administered. Psychiatric symptoms were evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia. The relationships between subjective and objective cognition were evaluated with multivariate hierarchic linear regression analyses, taking into consideration potential confounders such as sociodemographic and psychiatric variables. Finally, a factor analysis of the SSTICS was performed. For the SSTICS total score, the regression analysis produced a model including two predictors, namely visual learning and Stoop interference performance, explaining a moderate portion of the variance. Visual learning performance was the most consistent predictor of most SSTICS subscores (e.g. episodic memory, attention, executive functioning, language and praxis). Modest associations were found between the PANSS cognitive factor and objective cognition (e.g. Stroop interference, visual learning, and working memory). Finally, the factor analysis revealed a 6-factor solution that echoes the classification of the items of the SSTICS based on the neuropsychological literature. Using a scale having good internal validity, as shown by the factor analysis, the current study highlighted modest associations between subjective and objective cognitive performance, which suggests that schizophrenia patients are only partially aware of their own cognitive deficits. The results also showed a lack of correspondence between the impaired cognitive domain and the domain of cognitive awareness. It should be noted that clinicians were not better than patients at evaluating their cognitive deficits. Future research will need to determine if the observations reported here are schizophrenia-specific or not. Copyright © 2016 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Neuropsychological functioning in children with Tourette syndrome (TS).

PubMed

Rasmussen, Carmen; Soleimani, Maryam; Carroll, Alan; Hodlevskyy, Oleksander

2009-11-01

We examined whether children with Tourette syndrome (TS) displayed a unique pattern of neuropsychological deficits on the CANTAB relative to control children. We also looked at whether children with TS and other comorbidities had more neuropsychological impairments than those with uncomplicated TS and how age was related to the profile of neuropsychological deficits in TS. Participants included 38 children with TS (aged 7 to 13 years) and 38 control children (aged 6 to 12 years). All children were administered 8 subtests from the CANTAB and parents and teachers completed the BRIEF rating scale on children in the TS group. Children with TS displayed deficits relative to control children on measures of visual memory, executive functioning, and attention from the CANTAB. Among the TS group, age was negatively correlated with performance on measures of executive functioning, speed of response and working memory. Identifying the pattern of neuropsychological deficits in children with TS on the CANTAB is important for highlighting areas of deficit that can be targeted for intervention and teaching strategies. With further research, the CANTAB may prove to be a useful resource in the assessment and treatment of children with TS.

Similar profile of cognitive impairment and recovery for Aboriginal Australians in treatment for episodic or chronic alcohol use.

PubMed

Dingwall, Kylie M; Maruff, Paul; Cairney, Sheree

2011-08-01

The cognitive impairment and recovery associated with chronic alcohol abuse and subsequent abstinence is well understood. However, the recovery profile following heavy episodic or 'binge' use, which is common among some Australian Aboriginal users, has not been investigated thoroughly and no empirical studies have examined chronic use in this population. The aim of this study was to identify and compare cognitive impairment and recovery associated with chronic and episodic alcohol use among Aboriginal Australians. Longitudinal case-control design. Residential alcohol treatment programmes in northern Australia. Forty chronic alcohol users, 24 episodic users and 41 healthy controls [mean age = 34.24; standard deviation (SD) = 9.73]. Cognitive assessments of visual motor, attention, memory, learning and executive functions at baseline (start of treatment), then 4 weeks and 8 weeks later. Reassessment of 31% of participants an average of 11 months later (SD = 4.4) comparing those who remained abstinent (n = 5), those who relapsed (n = 11) and healthy controls (n = 19). At baseline, chronic and episodic alcohol users showed impaired visual motor, learning, memory and executive functions. With the exception of visual motor impairment, all deficits had improved to normal levels within 4 weeks. Visual motor deficits had normalized within 11 months. Performances did not differ at any time between chronic and episodic alcohol groups. In Aboriginal Australians, episodic drinking is associated with similar patterns of impairment and recovery as chronic alcohol use. Most cognitive deficits appear to recover within the first month of abstinence, while persisting visual motor problems recover within 1 year. © 2011 The Authors, Addiction © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Evidence for perceptual deficits in associative visual (prosop)agnosia: a single-case study.

PubMed

Delvenne, Jean François; Seron, Xavier; Coyette, Françoise; Rossion, Bruno

2004-01-01

Associative visual agnosia is classically defined as normal visual perception stripped of its meaning [Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten 21 (1890) 22/English translation: Cognitive Neuropsychol. 5 (1988) 155]: these patients cannot access to their stored visual memories to categorize the objects nonetheless perceived correctly. However, according to an influential theory of visual agnosia [Farah, Visual Agnosia: Disorders of Object Recognition and What They Tell Us about Normal Vision, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1990], visual associative agnosics necessarily present perceptual deficits that are the cause of their impairment at object recognition Here we report a detailed investigation of a patient with bilateral occipito-temporal lesions strongly impaired at object and face recognition. NS presents normal drawing copy, and normal performance at object and face matching tasks as used in classical neuropsychological tests. However, when tested with several computer tasks using carefully controlled visual stimuli and taking both his accuracy rate and response times into account, NS was found to have abnormal performances at high-level visual processing of objects and faces. Albeit presenting a different pattern of deficits than previously described in integrative agnosic patients such as HJA and LH, his deficits were characterized by an inability to integrate individual parts into a whole percept, as suggested by his failure at processing structurally impossible three-dimensional (3D) objects, an absence of face inversion effects and an advantage at detecting and matching single parts. Taken together, these observations question the idea of separate visual representations for object/face perception and object/face knowledge derived from investigations of visual associative (prosop)agnosia, and they raise some methodological issues in the analysis of single-case studies of (prosop)agnosic patients.

Double dissociation of pharmacologically induced deficits in visual recognition and visual discrimination learning

PubMed Central

Turchi, Janita; Buffalari, Deanne; Mishkin, Mortimer

2008-01-01

Monkeys trained in either one-trial recognition at 8- to 10-min delays or multi-trial discrimination habits with 24-h intertrial intervals received systemic cholinergic and dopaminergic antagonists, scopolamine and haloperidol, respectively, in separate sessions. Recognition memory was impaired markedly by scopolamine but not at all by haloperidol, whereas habit formation was impaired markedly by haloperidol but only minimally by scopolamine. These differential drug effects point to differences in synaptic modification induced by the two neuromodulators that parallel the contrasting properties of the two types of learning, namely, fast acquisition but weak retention of memories versus slow acquisition but durable retention of habits. PMID:18685146

Double dissociation of pharmacologically induced deficits in visual recognition and visual discrimination learning.

PubMed

Turchi, Janita; Buffalari, Deanne; Mishkin, Mortimer

2008-08-01

Monkeys trained in either one-trial recognition at 8- to 10-min delays or multi-trial discrimination habits with 24-h intertrial intervals received systemic cholinergic and dopaminergic antagonists, scopolamine and haloperidol, respectively, in separate sessions. Recognition memory was impaired markedly by scopolamine but not at all by haloperidol, whereas habit formation was impaired markedly by haloperidol but only minimally by scopolamine. These differential drug effects point to differences in synaptic modification induced by the two neuromodulators that parallel the contrasting properties of the two types of learning, namely, fast acquisition but weak retention of memories versus slow acquisition but durable retention of habits.

Persistent non-verbal memory impairment in remitted major depression - caused by encoding deficits?

PubMed

Behnken, Andreas; Schöning, Sonja; Gerss, Joachim; Konrad, Carsten; de Jong-Meyer, Renate; Zwanzger, Peter; Arolt, Volker

2010-04-01

While neuropsychological impairments are well described in acute phases of major depressive disorders (MDD), little is known about the neuropsychological profile in remission. There is evidence for episodic memory impairments in both acute depressed and remitted patients with MDD. Learning and memory depend on individuals' ability to organize information during learning. This study investigates non-verbal memory functions in remitted MDD and whether nonverbal memory performance is mediated by organizational strategies whilst learning. 30 well-characterized fully remitted individuals with unipolar MDD and 30 healthy controls matching in age, sex and education were investigated. Non-verbal learning and memory were measured by the Rey-Osterrieth-Complex-Figure-Test (RCFT). The RCFT provides measures of planning, organizational skills, perceptual and non-verbal memory functions. For assessing the mediating effects of organizational strategies, we used the Savage Organizational Score. Compared to healthy controls, participants with remitted MDD showed more deficits in their non-verbal memory function. Moreover, participants with remitted MDD demonstrated difficulties in organizing non-verbal information appropriately during learning. In contrast, no impairments regarding visual-spatial functions in remitted MDD were observed. Except for one patient, all the others were taking psychopharmacological medication. The neuropsychological function was solely investigated in the remitted phase of MDD. Individuals with MDD in remission showed persistent non-verbal memory impairments, modulated by a deficient use of organizational strategies during encoding. Therefore, our results strongly argue for additional therapeutic interventions in order to improve these remaining deficits in cognitive function. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deficits in Visual System Functional Connectivity after Blast-Related Mild TBI are Associated with Injury Severity and Executive Dysfunction

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-24

participation, participants were also asked whether they had experienced memory problems, poor balance, irritability, tinnitus , sensitivity to light/noise...of consciousness (LOC) less than 30 min, post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) up to 24 h, and neurological symptoms (e.g., headache, tinnitus , nausea...unavailable for all subjects). 3A total of eight postconcussive symptoms were assessed: memory problems, poor balance, irritability, tinnitus , sensitivity

[Language and executive functioning skills of students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and in reading comprehension difficulties (RCD)].

PubMed

Miranda Casas, Ana; Fernández Andrés, María Inmaculada; García Castellar, Rosa; Roselló Miranda, Belén; Colomer Diago, Carla

2011-11-01

The aim of this work was to study the specificity of deficits in linguistic and executive functioning of students with ADHD and with RCD and to determine the profile of deficits in the comorbid group (ADHD+RCD). Participants in the study were 84 students, ages 12-16 years divided into four groups with an equal number of subjects (N= 21): ADHD, RCD, ADHD+RCD and comparison group (without ADHD and without RCD). We measured vocabulary, oral comprehension, lexical access, verbal and visual working memory, inhibition and attention. The results show that the ADHD+RCD group presents the most important linguistic deficits, followed by the RCD group. On the other hand, the three clinical groups (ADHD, RCD and ADHD+RCD) display greater performance problems in working memory than the comparison group, whereas the two groups with ADHD had more problems in attention and inhibition. These results suggest the dissociation of linguistic and executive deficits that affect the RCD group and ADHD group to a greater extent, respectively. Lastly, the comorbid group showed deficits both in language and in executive skills. We discuss the implications of these findings for designing interventions.

Deficits in visual short-term memory binding in children at risk of non-verbal learning disabilities.

PubMed

Garcia, Ricardo Basso; Mammarella, Irene C; Pancera, Arianna; Galera, Cesar; Cornoldi, Cesare

2015-01-01

It has been hypothesized that learning disabled children meet short-term memory (STM) problems especially when they must bind different types of information, however the hypothesis has not been systematically tested. This study assessed visual STM for shapes and colors and the binding of shapes and colors, comparing a group of children (aged between 8 and 10 years) at risk of non-verbal learning disabilities (NLD) with a control group of children matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. Results revealed that groups did not differ in retention of either shapes or colors, but children at risk of NLD were poorer than controls in memory for shape-color bindings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Support for distinct subcomponents of spatial working memory: a double dissociation between spatial-simultaneous and spatial-sequential performance in unilateral neglect.

PubMed

Wansard, Murielle; Bartolomeo, Paolo; Bastin, Christine; Segovia, Fermín; Gillet, Sophie; Duret, Christophe; Meulemans, Thierry

2015-01-01

Over the last decade, many studies have demonstrated that visuospatial working memory (VSWM) can be divided into separate subsystems dedicated to the retention of visual patterns and their serial order. Impaired VSWM has been suggested to exacerbate left visual neglect in right-brain-damaged individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the segregation between spatial-sequential and spatial-simultaneous working memory in individuals with neglect. We demonstrated that patterns of results on these VSWM tasks can be dissociated. Spatial-simultaneous and sequential aspects of VSWM can be selectively impaired in unilateral neglect. Our results support the hypothesis of multiple VSWM subsystems, which should be taken into account to better understand neglect-related deficits.

A stroke patient with impairment of auditory sensory (echoic) memory.

PubMed

Kojima, T; Karino, S; Yumoto, M; Funayama, M

2014-04-01

A 42-year-old man suffered damage to the left supra-sylvian areas due to a stroke and presented with verbal short-term memory (STM) deficits. He occasionally could not recall even a single syllable that he had heard one second before. A study of mismatch negativity using magnetoencephalography suggested that the duration of auditory sensory (echoic) memory traces was reduced on the affected side of the brain. His maximum digit span was four with auditory presentation (equivalent to the 1st percentile for normal subjects), whereas it was up to six with visual presentation (almost within the normal range). He simply showed partial recall in the digit span task, and there was no self correction or incorrect reproduction. From these findings, reduced echoic memory was thought to have affected his verbal short-term retention. Thus, the impairment of verbal short-term memory observed in this patient was "pure auditory" unlike previously reported patients with deficits of the phonological short-term store (STS), which is the next higher-order memory system. We report this case to present physiological and behavioral data suggesting impaired short-term storage of verbal information, and to demonstrate the influence of deterioration of echoic memory on verbal STM.

Right-sided representational neglect after left brain damage in a case without visuospatial working memory deficits.

PubMed

van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Gevers, Wim; Lafosse, Christophe; Fias, Wim

2013-10-01

Brain damaged patients suffering from representational neglect (RN) fail to report, orient to, or verbally describe contra-lesional elements of imagined environments or objects. So far this disorder has only been reported after right brain damage, leading to the idea that only the right hemisphere is involved in this deficit. A widely accepted account attributes RN to a lateralized impairment in the visuospatial component of working memory. So far, however, this hypothesis has not been tested in detail. In the present paper, we describe, for the first time, the case of a left brain damaged patient suffering from right-sided RN while imagining both known and new environments and objects. An in-depth evaluation of her visuospatial working memory abilities, with special focus on the presence of a lateralized deficit, did not reveal any abnormality. In sharp contrast, her ability to memorize visual information was severely compromised. The implications of these results are discussed in the light of recent insights in the neglect syndrome. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing Iconic Memory in Children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

PubMed Central

Ahmadi, Nastaran; Goodarzi, Mohammad Ali; Hadianfard, Habib; Mohamadi, Norolah; Farid, Daryush; Kholasehzadeh, Golrasteh; Sakhvidi, Mohammad Nadi

2013-01-01

Objective Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not process most information due to inattention and loss of the opportunity to save and retrieve information. Therefore, these children experience memory impairment. Although visual memory has been previously studied in children with ADHD, iconic memory in these children has been less evaluated. We aimed to study the possibility of iconic memory impairment in children with ADHD, and compare the results with that of children without ADHD. Methods The experimental group of this study were 6-9 year-old children who referred to the Imam Hosein Clinic and were diagnosed as having ADHD by a psychiatrist during 2011-2012 (n = 30).The subjects were interviewed clinically by a psychologist; and in order to diagnose ADHD, their parents and teachers were asked to complete the child symptom inventory-4 (CSI-4). The comparison group were 6-9 year-old children without ADHD who studied in 1st and 2nd educational district of Yazd (n = 30). Subjects’ iconic memory was assessed using an iconic memory task. Repeated measure ANOVA was used for data analysis. Results Based on the iconic memory test, the mean score of ADHD children was significantly lower than that of children without ADHD (P < 0.001). Moreover, the performance of the experimental group differed significantly when the duration of the presentation differed from 50 ms to 100 ms as compared to the control group (P < 0.001). The number of correct answers increased in the experimental group as the duration of presentation increased. However, children with ADHD scored less than children without ADHD at 50 ms as well as 100 ms. The means of ADHD children increased as the duration of the presentation increased from 50 ms to 100 ms to 300 ms (P < 0.001). Conclusion Visual memory is weaker in children with ADHD, and they have weaker performance than normal children in both visual and auditory symbols at presentation durations of 50 and 100 ms. The performance of ADHD children improves as the stimulation time increases PMID:24454422

Comparing Iconic Memory in Children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Ahmadi, Nastaran; Goodarzi, Mohammad Ali; Hadianfard, Habib; Mohamadi, Norolah; Farid, Daryush; Kholasehzadeh, Golrasteh; Sakhvidi, Mohammad Nadi; Hemyari, Camellia

2013-08-01

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not process most information due to inattention and loss of the opportunity to save and retrieve information. Therefore, these children experience memory impairment. Although visual memory has been previously studied in children with ADHD, iconic memory in these children has been less evaluated. We aimed to study the possibility of iconic memory impairment in children with ADHD, and compare the results with that of children without ADHD. The experimental group of this study were 6-9 year-old children who referred to the Imam Hosein Clinic and were diagnosed as having ADHD by a psychiatrist during 2011-2012 (n = 30).The subjects were interviewed clinically by a psychologist; and in order to diagnose ADHD, their parents and teachers were asked to complete the child symptom inventory-4 (CSI-4). The comparison group were 6-9 year-old children without ADHD who studied in 1st and 2nd educational district of Yazd (n = 30). Subjects' iconic memory was assessed using an iconic memory task. Repeated measure ANOVA was used for data analysis. Based on the iconic memory test, the mean score of ADHD children was significantly lower than that of children without ADHD (P < 0.001). Moreover, the performance of the experimental group differed significantly when the duration of the presentation differed from 50 ms to 100 ms as compared to the control group (P < 0.001). The number of correct answers increased in the experimental group as the duration of presentation increased. However, children with ADHD scored less than children without ADHD at 50 ms as well as 100 ms. The means of ADHD children increased as the duration of the presentation increased from 50 ms to 100 ms to 300 ms (P < 0.001). Visual memory is weaker in children with ADHD, and they have weaker performance than normal children in both visual and auditory symbols at presentation durations of 50 and 100 ms. The performance of ADHD children improves as the stimulation time increases.

Cognitive psychopathology in Schizophrenia: Comparing memory performances with Obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and normal subjects on the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV.

PubMed

Cammisuli, Davide Maria; Sportiello, Marco Timpano

2016-06-01

Memory system turns out to be one of the cognitive domains most severely impaired in schizophrenia. Within the theoretical framework of cognitive psychopathology, we compared the performance of schizophrenia patients on the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV with that in matched patients with Obsessive-compulsive disorder and that in healthy control subjects to establish the specific nature of memory deficits in schizophrenia. 30 schizophrenia patients, 30 obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and 40 healthy controls completed the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV. Schizophrenia symptom severity was assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Performances on memory battery including Indexes and subtests scores were compared by a One-Way ANOVA (Scheffé post-hoc test). Spearman Rank correlations were performed between scores on PANSS subscales and symptoms and WMS-IV Indexes and subtests, respectively. Schizophrenia patients showed a memory profile characterized by mild difficulties in auditory memory and visual working memory and poor functioning of visual, immediate and delayed memory. As expected, schizophrenia patients scored lower than healthy controls on all WMS-IV measures. With regard to the WMS-IV Indexes, schizophrenia patients performed worse on Auditory Memory, Visual Memory, Immediate and Delayed Memory than Obsessive-compulsive disorder patients but not on Visual Working Memory. Such a pattern was made even clearer for specific tasks such as immediate and delayed recall and spatial recall and memory for visual details, as revealed by the lowest scores on Logical Memory (immediate and delayed conditions) and Designs (immediate condition) subtests, respectively. Significant negative correlations between Logical Memory I and II were found with PANSS Excitement symptom as well as between DE I and PANSS Tension symptom. Significant positive correlations between LM II and PANSS Blunted affect and Poor rapport symptoms as well as DE I and PANSS Blunted affect and Mannerism and Posturing symptoms, were found too. Memory damage observed in schizophrenia patients was more severe and wider than that of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, except for visual working memory. Memory dysfunction, mainly related to episodic memory damage and reduced efficiency of central executive, is intimately connected to the specific psychopathological processes characterizing schizophrenia. Implications for therapeutics and cognitive remediation techniques are discussed.

[Executive dysfunctions in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder].

PubMed

Rodriguez-Jiménez, R; Cubillo, A; Jiménez-Arriero, M A; Ponce, G; Aragüés-Figuero, M; Palomo, T

Several different follow-up studies have shown that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can persist into adulthood. To review the findings in adults with ADHD related to alterations in the executive functions. Research conducted among children with ADHD has revealed the existence of alterations in different tasks that evaluate the executive functions, such as the planning test, sustained attention tasks, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency and working memory tasks, as well as several inhibition response tasks. In adults with ADHD, despite the lower number of reports in the literature and the methodological shortcomings that exist in some studies, analogous results have also been described with respect to executive functioning, namely, disorders affecting inhibition response, the capacity for planning, difficulties in cognitive flexibility and verbal fluency, and problems with working memory, which include aspects of spatial working memory, logical or visual memory. The findings we have available at present enable us to confirm the persistence of executive dysfunctions in adult patients with ADHD that are similar to those observed in children with ADHD.

"Life-span development of visual working memory: When is feature binding difficult?": Correction to Cowan et al. (2006).

PubMed

2016-10-01

Reports an error in "Life-span development of visual working memory: When is feature binding difficult?" by Nelson Cowan, Moshe Naveh-Benjamin, Angela Kilb and J. Scott Saults ( Developmental Psychology , 2006[Nov], Vol 42[6], 1089-1102). In the article, there were two errors in experiment 1a. The mean for color item information in older adults was incorrectly calculated. As a result, Figure 3 shows a mean of over .70. The true mean was .63 ( SEM =.04). This change diminishes the magnitude of the aging deficit for associative information, although this deficit still appears to remain, to a smaller extent. (For a conceptual replication see Peterson & Naveh-Benjamin, 2016). There also was an error in the experimental procedure of Experiment 1a. The older adults in that experiment received only half the number of trials specified in the methods section, and half as much as the other groups. For all groups, when there were 4 or 6 items and the probe was a binding change, the probed location was matched by the same color at 1 other location but, when there were 8 or 10 squares, the probed location was matched by the same color at 1, 2, or 3 other locations. For 8 squares the number of trials was identical for these three trial subtypes whereas, for 10 squares, most of the trials had the same color at just 1 other location. These errors suggest that the experiment should be taken as only preliminary evidence that there is an aging deficit in color-location binding in visual working memory when color and binding trials are mixed in the same trial blocks. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-20488-009.) We asked whether the ability to keep in working memory the binding between a visual object and its spatial location changes with development across the life span more than memory for item information. Paired arrays of colored squares were identical or differed in the color of one square, and in the latter case, the changed color was unique on that trial (item change) or was duplicated elsewhere in the array (color-location binding change). Children (8-10 and 11-12 years old) and older adults (65-85 years old) showed deficits relative to young adults. These were only partly simulated by dividing attention in young adults. The older adults had an additional deficiency, specifically in binding information, which was evident only when item- and binding-change trials were mixed together. In that situation, the older adults often overlooked the more subtle, binding-type changes. Some working memory processes related to binding undergo life-span development in an inverted-U shape, whereas other, bias- and salience-related processes that influence the use of binding information seem to develop monotonically. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

Reduced Hippocampal Functional Connectivity During Episodic Memory Retrieval in Autism

PubMed Central

Cooper, Rose A.; Richter, Franziska R.; Bays, Paul M.; Plaisted-Grant, Kate C.; Baron-Cohen, Simon

2017-01-01

Abstract Increasing recent research has sought to understand the recollection impairments experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we tested whether these memory deficits reflect a reduction in the probability of retrieval success or in the precision of memory representations. We also used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural mechanisms underlying memory encoding and retrieval in ASD, focusing particularly on the functional connectivity of core episodic memory networks. Adults with ASD and typical control participants completed a memory task that involved studying visual displays and subsequently using a continuous dial to recreate their appearance. The ASD group exhibited reduced retrieval success, but there was no evidence of a difference in retrieval precision. fMRI data revealed similar patterns of brain activity and functional connectivity during memory encoding in the 2 groups, though encoding-related lateral frontal activity predicted subsequent retrieval success only in the control group. During memory retrieval, the ASD group exhibited attenuated lateral frontal activity and substantially reduced hippocampal connectivity, particularly between hippocampus and regions of the fronto-parietal control network. These findings demonstrate notable differences in brain function during episodic memory retrieval in ASD and highlight the importance of functional connectivity to understanding recollection-related retrieval deficits in this population. PMID:28057726

Cognitive Changes in Presymptomatic Parkinson’s Disease

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

frontation naming (e.g., Boston Naming Test), verbal flu- Tramadol (analgesic) 1 ency (e.g., COWA), or memory for either verbal or visual- Benzodiazapine...underlie mental rotation deficits in PD. Men help elucidate the nature of these relationships. typically perform better than women on tests of mental

Hot and cold cognition in unmedicated depressed subjects with bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Roiser, Jonathan P; Cannon, Dara M; Gandhi, Shilpa K; Taylor Tavares, Joana; Erickson, Kristine; Wood, Suzanne; Klaver, Jacqueline M; Clark, Luke; Zarate, Carlos A; Sahakian, Barbara J; Drevets, Wayne C

2009-03-01

Neuropsychological studies in subjects with bipolar disorder (BD) have reported deficits on a variety of cognitive measures. However, because the majority of subjects were medicated at the time of testing in previous studies, it is currently unclear whether the pattern of deficits reported is related to BD itself or to psychotropic medication. We addressed this issue by examining cognitive performance in a group of unmedicated, currently depressed subjects with BD. Forty-nine unmedicated subjects who met DSM-IV criteria for BD, depressed phase, and 55 control subjects participated in this study. Most patients were diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. Performance on emotion-dependent, or 'hot', and emotion-independent, or 'cold', cognitive tasks was assessed using tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. The groups were well matched with respect to general intelligence and demographic variables. Deficits in the unmedicated depressed BD group were apparent on tests tapping 'hot' cognitive processing, for example the Cambridge Gamble task and the Probabilistic Reversal Learning task. However, other than a deficit on the Spatial Span test in the depressed BD subjects, the groups performed equivalently on most measures of 'cold' cognitive processing, for example visual memory, attention, and working memory. These data suggest that deficits on tests involving reward processing, short-term spatial memory storage, and sensitivity to negative feedback in depressed BD subjects represent an effect of the illness itself and not mood-stabilizing medication.

Muscarinic and nicotinic receptors synergistically modulate working memory and attention in humans.

PubMed

Ellis, Julia R; Ellis, Kathryn A; Bartholomeusz, Cali F; Harrison, Ben J; Wesnes, Keith A; Erskine, Fiona F; Vitetta, Luis; Nathan, Pradeep J

2006-04-01

Functional abnormalities in muscarinic and nicotinic receptors are associated with a number of disorders including Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. While the contribution of muscarinic receptors in modulating cognition is well established in humans, the effects of nicotinic receptors and the interactions and possible synergistic effects between muscarinic and nicotinic receptors have not been well characterized in humans. The current study examined the effects of selective and simultaneous muscarinic and nicotinic receptor antagonism on a range of cognitive processes. The study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated measures design in which 12 healthy, young volunteers completed cognitive testing under four acute treatment conditions: placebo (P); mecamylamine (15 mg) (M); scopolamine (0.4 mg i.m.) (S); mecamylamine (15 mg)/scopolamine (0.4 mg i.m.) (MS). Muscarinic receptor antagonism with scopolamine resulted in deficits in working memory, declarative memory, sustained visual attention and psychomotor speed. Nicotinic antagonism with mecamylamine had no effect on any of the cognitive processes examined. Simultaneous antagonism of both muscarinic and nicotinic receptors with mecamylamine and scopolamine impaired all cognitive processes impaired by scopolamine and produced greater deficits than either muscarinic or nicotinic blockade alone, particularly on working memory, visual attention and psychomotor speed. These findings suggest that muscarinic and nicotinic receptors may interact functionally to have synergistic effects particularly on working memory and attention and suggests that therapeutic strategies targeting both receptor systems may be useful in improving selective cognitive processes in a number of disorders.

Analysis of memory deficits following chemotherapy in breast cancer survivors: evidence from the doors and people test.

PubMed

Prokasheva, Svetlana; Faran, Yifat; Cwikel, Julie; Geffen, David B

2011-01-01

Studies of cognitive effects of chemotherapy among breast cancer patients show that not all women who are exposed to chemotherapy develop cognitive dysfunction and that the observed declines in cognitive functioning may be quite subtle. The use of measures that are sensitive to subtle cognitive decline are recommended yet rarely used among clinical populations. The purpose of this study is to specify the types of memory changes observed among breast cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy and tamoxifen, by using an analytic test of memory, the Doors and People test, which uses age-adjusted norms. The participants were 40 women who were survivors of breast cancer, 20 of whom had completed chemotherapy treatment and 20 women who were treated only with tamoxifen. There were no significant differences between the two groups in overall scores and in all four subtests: visual memory, verbal memory, recall, and recognition measured by age-adjusted scores. Forty percent of patients in both of the groups were classified as having mild impairment in episodic memory. No between-group differences were found in the frequency of subjective, cognitive complaints. Subjective complaints were reported by 69% of patients but were unrelated to objective performance. Memory deficits were observed in breast cancer patients who receive either chemotherapy or tamoxifen alone compared to age-adjusted norms. The Doors and People Test is a sensitive measure of memory deficits that is feasible for use with clinical populations of breast cancer patients in order to monitor changes in cognitive function.

Stability of executive function deficits into young adult years: a prospective longitudinal follow-up study of grown up males with ADHD.

PubMed

Biederman, J; Petty, C R; Fried, R; Doyle, A E; Spencer, T; Seidman, L J; Gross, L; Poetzl, K; Faraone, S V

2007-08-01

Although individuals with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) commonly exhibit deficits in executive functions that greatly increase the morbidity of the disorder, all available information on the subject is cross sectional. Males (n = 85) 9-22 years with ADHD followed over 7 years into young adulthood were assessed on measures of sustained attention/vigilance, planning and organization, response inhibition, set shifting and categorization, selective attention and visual scanning, verbal and visual learning, and memory. A binary definition of executive function deficits (EFDs) was defined based on a subject manifesting at least two abnormal tests 1.5 standard deviations from controls. The majority of subjects maintained EFDs over time (kappa: 0.41, P < 0.001; sensitivity: 55%, specificity: 85%, positive predictive value: 69%, and negative predictive value: 75%). Considering the morbidity of EFDs, these findings stress the importance of their early recognition for prevention and early intervention strategies. EFDs are stable over time.

Attention Contributes to Arithmetic Deficits in New-Onset Childhood Absence Epilepsy.

PubMed

Cheng, Dazhi; Yan, Xiuxian; Gao, Zhijie; Xu, Keming; Chen, Qian

2017-01-01

Neuropsychological studies indicate that new-onset childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is associated with deficits in attention and executive functioning. However, the contribution of these deficits to impaired academic performance remains unclear. We aimed to examine whether attention and executive functioning deficits account for the academic difficulties prevalent in patients with new-onset CAE. We analyzed cognitive performance in several domains, including language, mathematics, psychomotor speed, spatial ability, memory, general intelligence, attention, and executive functioning, in 35 children with new-onset CAE and 33 control participants. Patients with new-onset CAE exhibited deficits in mathematics, general intelligence, attention, and executive functioning. Furthermore, attention deficits, as measured by a visual tracing task, accounted for impaired arithmetic performance in the new-onset CAE group. Therefore, attention deficits, rather than impaired general intelligence or executive functioning, may be responsible for arithmetic performance deficits in patients with new-onset CAE.

The functional neuroanatomy of multitasking: combining dual tasking with a short term memory task.

PubMed

Deprez, Sabine; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Peeters, Ron; Emsell, Louise; Amant, Frederic; Sunaert, Stefan

2013-09-01

Insight into the neural architecture of multitasking is crucial when investigating the pathophysiology of multitasking deficits in clinical populations. Presently, little is known about how the brain combines dual-tasking with a concurrent short-term memory task, despite the relevance of this mental operation in daily life and the frequency of complaints related to this process, in disease. In this study we aimed to examine how the brain responds when a memory task is added to dual-tasking. Thirty-three right-handed healthy volunteers (20 females, mean age 39.9 ± 5.8) were examined with functional brain imaging (fMRI). The paradigm consisted of two cross-modal single tasks (a visual and auditory temporal same-different task with short delay), a dual-task combining both single tasks simultaneously and a multi-task condition, combining the dual-task with an additional short-term memory task (temporal same-different visual task with long delay). Dual-tasking compared to both individual visual and auditory single tasks activated a predominantly right-sided fronto-parietal network and the cerebellum. When adding the additional short-term memory task, a larger and more bilateral frontoparietal network was recruited. We found enhanced activity during multitasking in components of the network that were already involved in dual-tasking, suggesting increased working memory demands, as well as recruitment of multitask-specific components including areas that are likely to be involved in online holding of visual stimuli in short-term memory such as occipito-temporal cortex. These results confirm concurrent neural processing of a visual short-term memory task during dual-tasking and provide evidence for an effective fMRI multitasking paradigm. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Famous face identification in temporal lobe epilepsy: Support for a multimodal integration model of semantic memory

PubMed Central

Drane, Daniel L.; Ojemann, Jeffrey G.; Phatak, Vaishali; Loring, David W.; Gross, Robert E.; Hebb, Adam O.; Silbergeld, Daniel L.; Miller, John W.; Voets, Natalie L.; Saindane, Amit M.; Barsalou, Lawrence; Meador, Kimford J.; Ojemann, George A.; Tranel, Daniel

2012-01-01

This study aims to demonstrate that the left and right anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) perform critical but unique roles in famous face identification, with damage to either leading to differing deficit patterns reflecting decreased access to lexical or semantic concepts but not their degradation. Famous face identification was studied in 22 presurgical and 14 postsurgical temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients and 20 healthy comparison subjects using free recall and multiple choice (MC) paradigms. Right TLE patients exhibited presurgical deficits in famous face recognition, and postsurgical deficits in both famous face recognition and familiarity judgments. However, they did not exhibit any problems with naming before or after surgery. In contrast, left TLE patients demonstrated both pre-and postsurgical deficits in famous face naming but no significant deficits in recognition or familiarity. Double dissociations in performance between groups were alleviated by altering task demands. Postsurgical right TLE patients provided with MC options correctly identified greater than 70% of famous faces they initially rated as unfamiliar. Left TLE patients accurately chose the name for nearly all famous faces they recognized (based on their verbal description) but initially failed to name, although they tended to rapidly lose access to this name. We believe alterations in task demands activate alternative routes to semantic and lexical networks, demonstrating that unique pathways to such stored information exist, and suggesting a different role for each ATL in identifying visually presented famous faces. The right ATL appears to play a fundamental role in accessing semantic information from a visual route, with the left ATL serving to link semantic information to the language system to produce a specific name. These findings challenge several assumptions underlying amodal models of semantic memory, and provide support for the integrated multimodal theories of semantic memory and a distributed representation of concepts. PMID:23040175

Famous face identification in temporal lobe epilepsy: support for a multimodal integration model of semantic memory.

PubMed

Drane, Daniel L; Ojemann, Jeffrey G; Phatak, Vaishali; Loring, David W; Gross, Robert E; Hebb, Adam O; Silbergeld, Daniel L; Miller, John W; Voets, Natalie L; Saindane, Amit M; Barsalou, Lawrence; Meador, Kimford J; Ojemann, George A; Tranel, Daniel

2013-06-01

This study aims to demonstrate that the left and right anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) perform critical but unique roles in famous face identification, with damage to either leading to differing deficit patterns reflecting decreased access to lexical or semantic concepts but not their degradation. Famous face identification was studied in 22 presurgical and 14 postsurgical temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients and 20 healthy comparison subjects using free recall and multiple choice (MC) paradigms. Right TLE patients exhibited presurgical deficits in famous face recognition, and postsurgical deficits in both famous face recognition and familiarity judgments. However, they did not exhibit any problems with naming before or after surgery. In contrast, left TLE patients demonstrated both pre- and postsurgical deficits in famous face naming but no significant deficits in recognition or familiarity. Double dissociations in performance between groups were alleviated by altering task demands. Postsurgical right TLE patients provided with MC options correctly identified greater than 70% of famous faces they initially rated as unfamiliar. Left TLE patients accurately chose the name for nearly all famous faces they recognized (based on their verbal description) but initially failed to name, although they tended to rapidly lose access to this name. We believe alterations in task demands activate alternative routes to semantic and lexical networks, demonstrating that unique pathways to such stored information exist, and suggesting a different role for each ATL in identifying visually presented famous faces. The right ATL appears to play a fundamental role in accessing semantic information from a visual route, with the left ATL serving to link semantic information to the language system to produce a specific name. These findings challenge several assumptions underlying amodal models of semantic memory, and provide support for the integrated multimodal theories of semantic memory and a distributed representation of concepts. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental amnesia: Fractionation of developing memory systems.

PubMed

Temple, Christine M; Richardson, Paul

2006-07-01

Study of the developmental amnesias utilizing a cognitive neuropsychological methodology has highlighted the dissociations that may occur between the development of components of memory. M.M., a new case of developmental amnesia, was identified after screening from the normal population on cognitive and memory measures. Retrospective investigation found that he was of low birthweight. M.M. had impaired semantic memory for knowledge of facts and words. There was impaired episodic memory for words and stories but intact episodic memory for visual designs and features. This forms a double dissociation with Dr S. (Temple, 1992), who had intact verbal but impaired visual episodic memory. M.M. also had impaired autobiographical episodic memory. Nevertheless, learning over repeated trials occurred, consistent with previous theorizing that learning is not simply the effect of recurrent episodic memory. Nor is it the same as establishing semantic memory, since for M.M. semantic memory is also impaired. Within reading, there was an impaired lexico-semantic system, elevated levels of homophone confusion, but intact phonological reading, consistent with surface dyslexia and raising issues about the interrelationship of the semantic system and literacy development. The results are compatible with discrete semi-independent components within memory development, whereby deficits are associated with residual normality, but there may also be an explicit relationship between the semantic memory system and both vocabulary and reading acquisition.

Using visual lateralization to model learning and memory in zebrafish larvae

PubMed Central

Andersson, Madelene Åberg; Ek, Fredrik; Olsson, Roger

2015-01-01

Impaired learning and memory are common symptoms of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. Present, there are several behavioural test employed to assess cognitive functions in animal models, including the frequently used novel object recognition (NOR) test. However, although atypical functional brain lateralization has been associated with neuropsychiatric conditions, spanning from schizophrenia to autism, few animal models are available to study this phenomenon in learning and memory deficits. Here we present a visual lateralization NOR model (VLNOR) in zebrafish larvae as an assay that combines brain lateralization and NOR. In zebrafish larvae, learning and memory are generally assessed by habituation, sensitization, or conditioning paradigms, which are all representatives of nondeclarative memory. The VLNOR is the first model for zebrafish larvae that studies a memory similar to the declarative memory described for mammals. We demonstrate that VLNOR can be used to study memory formation, storage, and recall of novel objects, both short and long term, in 10-day-old zebrafish. Furthermore we show that the VLNOR model can be used to study chemical modulation of memory formation and maintenance using dizocilpine (MK-801), a frequently used non-competitive antagonist of the NMDA receptor, used to test putative antipsychotics in animal models. PMID:25727677

Iconic Memory Deficit of Mildly Mentally Retarded Individuals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornstein, Henry A.; Mosley, James L.

1987-01-01

Ten mildly retarded young adult males and nonretarded subjects matched for chronological age or mental age were required to recognize both verbal and nonverbal stimuli presented tachistoscopically. Results of a backward visual masking paradigm varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) indicated the retarded subjects performed poorer at the longest…

Benign childhood epilepsy with occipital paroxysms: neuropsychological findings.

PubMed

Germanò, Eva; Gagliano, Antonella; Magazù, Angela; Sferro, Caterina; Calarese, Tiziana; Mannarino, Erminia; Calamoneri, Filippo

2005-05-01

Benign childhood epilepsy with occipital paroxysms is classified among childhood benign partial epilepsies. The absence of neurological and neuropsychological deficits has long been considered as a prerequisite for a diagnosis of benign childhood partial epilepsy. Much evidence has been reported in literature in the latest years suggesting a neuropsychological impairment in this type of epilepsy, particularly in the type with Rolandic paroxysms. The present work examines the neuropsychological profiles of a sample of subjects affected by the early-onset benign childhood occipital seizures (EBOS) described by Panayotopulos. The patient group included 22 children (14 males and 8 females; mean age 10.1+/-3.3 years) diagnosed as having EBOS. The patients were examined with a set of tests investigating neuropsychological functions: memory, attention, perceptive, motor, linguistic and academic (reading, writing, arithmetic) abilities. The same instruments have been given to a homogeneous control group as regards sex, age, level of education and socio-economic background. None of the subjects affected by EBOS showed intellectual deficit (mean IQ in Wechsler Full Scale 91.7; S.D. 8.9). Results show a widespread cognitive dysfunction in the context of a focal epileptogenic process in EBOS. In particular, children with EBOS show a significant occurrence of specific learning disabilities (SLD) and other subtle neuropsychological deficits. We found selective dysfunctions relating to perceptive-visual attentional ability (p<0.05), verbal and visual-spatial memory abilities (p<0.01), visual perception and visual-motor integration global abilities (p<0.01), manual dexterity tasks (p<0.05), some language tasks (p<0.05), reading and writing abilities (p<0.01) and arithmetic ability (p<0.01). The presence of cognitive dysfunctions in subjects with EBOS supports the hypothesis that epilepsy itself plays a role in the development of neuropsychological impairment. Supported by other studies that have documented subtle neuropsychological deficits in benign partial epilepsy, we stress the importance of reconsidering its supposed "cognitive benignity", particularly in occipital types.

Hippocampus, perirhinal cortex, and complex visual discriminations in rats and humans

PubMed Central

Hales, Jena B.; Broadbent, Nicola J.; Velu, Priya D.

2015-01-01

Structures in the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex, are known to be essential for the formation of long-term memory. Recent animal and human studies have investigated whether perirhinal cortex might also be important for visual perception. In our study, using a simultaneous oddity discrimination task, rats with perirhinal lesions were impaired and did not exhibit the normal preference for exploring the odd object. Notably, rats with hippocampal lesions exhibited the same impairment. Thus, the deficit is unlikely to illuminate functions attributed specifically to perirhinal cortex. Both lesion groups were able to acquire visual discriminations involving the same objects used in the oddity task. Patients with hippocampal damage or larger medial temporal lobe lesions were intact in a similar oddity task that allowed participants to explore objects quickly using eye movements. We suggest that humans were able to rely on an intact working memory capacity to perform this task, whereas rats (who moved slowly among the objects) needed to rely on long-term memory. PMID:25593294

Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin Increase Grey Matter Volume in Older Adults: A Brain Imaging Study.

PubMed

Tao, Jing; Liu, Jiao; Liu, Weilin; Huang, Jia; Xue, Xiehua; Chen, Xiangli; Wu, Jinsong; Zheng, Guohua; Chen, Bai; Li, Ming; Sun, Sharon; Jorgenson, Kristen; Lang, Courtney; Hu, Kun; Chen, Shanjia; Chen, Lidian; Kong, Jian

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare how 12-weeks of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise can modulate brain structure and memory function in older adults. Magnetic resonance imaging and memory function measurements (Wechsler Memory Scale-Chinese revised, WMS-CR) were applied at both the beginning and end of the study. Results showed that both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin could significantly increase grey matter volume (GMV) in the insula, medial temporal lobe, and putamen after 12-weeks of exercise. No significant differences were observed in GMV between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups. We also found that compared to healthy controls, Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin significantly improved visual reproduction subscores on the WMS-CR. Baduanjin also improved mental control, recognition, touch, and comprehension memory subscores of the WMS-CR compared to the control group. Memory quotient and visual reproduction subscores were both associated with GMV increases in the putamen and hippocampus. Our results demonstrate the potential of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise for the prevention of memory deficits in older adults.

Reading disabilities in children: A selective meta-analysis of the cognitive literature.

PubMed

Kudo, Milagros F; Lussier, Cathy M; Swanson, H Lee

2015-05-01

This article synthesizes literature that compares the academic, cognitive, and behavioral performance of children with and without reading disabilities (RD). Forty-eight studies met the criteria for the meta-analysis, yielding 735 effect sizes (ESs) with an overall weighted ES of 0.98. Small to high ESs in favor of children without RD emerged on measures of cognition (rapid naming [ES = 0.89], phonological awareness [ES = 1.00], verbal working memory [ES = 0.79], short-term memory [ES = 0.56], visual-spatial memory [ES = 0.48], and executive processing [ES = 0.67]), academic achievement (pseudoword reading [ES = 1.85], math [ES = 1.20], vocabulary [ES = 0.83], spelling [ES = 1.25], and writing [ES = 1.20]), and behavior skills (ES = 0.80). Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that specific cognitive process measures (verbal working memory, visual-spatial memory, executive processing, and short-term memory) and intelligence measures (general and verbal intelligence) significantly moderated overall group effect size differences. Overall, the results supported the assumption that cognitive deficits in children with RD are persistent. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Doors and People Test: The Effect of Frontal Lobe Lesions on Recall and Recognition Memory Performance

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Objective: Memory deficits in patients with frontal lobe lesions are most apparent on free recall tasks that require the selection, initiation, and implementation of retrieval strategies. The effect of frontal lesions on recognition memory performance is less clear with some studies reporting recognition memory impairments but others not. The majority of these studies do not directly compare recall and recognition within the same group of frontal patients, assessing only recall or recognition memory performance. Other studies that do compare recall and recognition in the same frontal group do not consider recall or recognition tests that are comparable for difficulty. Recognition memory impairments may not be reported because recognition memory tasks are less demanding. Method: This study aimed to investigate recall and recognition impairments in the same group of 47 frontal patients and 78 healthy controls. The Doors and People Test was administered as a neuropsychological test of memory as it assesses both verbal and visual recall and recognition using subtests that are matched for difficulty. Results: Significant verbal and visual recall and recognition impairments were found in the frontal patients. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that when frontal patients are assessed on recall and recognition memory tests of comparable difficulty, memory impairments are found on both types of episodic memory test. PMID:26752123

The Doors and People Test: The effect of frontal lobe lesions on recall and recognition memory performance.

PubMed

MacPherson, Sarah E; Turner, Martha S; Bozzali, Marco; Cipolotti, Lisa; Shallice, Tim

2016-03-01

Memory deficits in patients with frontal lobe lesions are most apparent on free recall tasks that require the selection, initiation, and implementation of retrieval strategies. The effect of frontal lesions on recognition memory performance is less clear with some studies reporting recognition memory impairments but others not. The majority of these studies do not directly compare recall and recognition within the same group of frontal patients, assessing only recall or recognition memory performance. Other studies that do compare recall and recognition in the same frontal group do not consider recall or recognition tests that are comparable for difficulty. Recognition memory impairments may not be reported because recognition memory tasks are less demanding. This study aimed to investigate recall and recognition impairments in the same group of 47 frontal patients and 78 healthy controls. The Doors and People Test was administered as a neuropsychological test of memory as it assesses both verbal and visual recall and recognition using subtests that are matched for difficulty. Significant verbal and visual recall and recognition impairments were found in the frontal patients. These results demonstrate that when frontal patients are assessed on recall and recognition memory tests of comparable difficulty, memory impairments are found on both types of episodic memory test. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Neuropsychological function and suicidal behavior: attention control, memory and executive dysfunction in suicide attempt.

PubMed

Keilp, J G; Gorlyn, M; Russell, M; Oquendo, M A; Burke, A K; Harkavy-Friedman, J; Mann, J J

2013-03-01

Executive dysfunction, distinct from other cognitive deficits in depression, has been associated with suicidal behavior. However, this dysfunction is not found consistently across samples. Medication-free subjects with DSM-IV major depressive episode (major depressive disorder and bipolar type I disorder) and a past history of suicidal behavior (n = 72) were compared to medication-free depressed subjects with no history of suicidal behavior (n = 80) and healthy volunteers (n = 56) on a battery of tests assessing neuropsychological functions typically affected by depression (motor and psychomotor speed, attention, memory) and executive functions reportedly impaired in suicide attempters (abstract/contingent learning, working memory, language fluency, impulse control). All of the depressed subjects performed worse than healthy volunteers on motor, psychomotor and language fluency tasks. Past suicide attempters, in turn, performed worse than depressed non-attempters on attention and memory/working memory tasks [a computerized Stroop task, the Buschke Selective Reminding Task (SRT), the Benton Visual Retention Test (VRT) and an N-back task] but not on other executive function measures, including a task associated with ventral prefrontal function (Object Alternation). Deficits were not accounted for by current suicidal ideation or the lethality of past attempts. A small subsample of those using a violent method in their most lethal attempt showed a pattern of poor executive performance. Deficits in specific components of attention control, memory and working memory were associated with suicidal behavior in a sample where non-violent attempt predominated. Broader executive dysfunction in depression may be associated with specific forms of suicidal behavior, rather than suicidal behavior per se.

Visual and auditory socio-cognitive perception in unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy in children and adolescents: a prospective controlled study.

PubMed

Laurent, Agathe; Arzimanoglou, Alexis; Panagiotakaki, Eleni; Sfaello, Ignacio; Kahane, Philippe; Ryvlin, Philippe; Hirsch, Edouard; de Schonen, Scania

2014-12-01

A high rate of abnormal social behavioural traits or perceptual deficits is observed in children with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy. In the present study, perception of auditory and visual social signals, carried by faces and voices, was evaluated in children or adolescents with temporal lobe epilepsy. We prospectively investigated a sample of 62 children with focal non-idiopathic epilepsy early in the course of the disorder. The present analysis included 39 children with a confirmed diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. Control participants (72), distributed across 10 age groups, served as a control group. Our socio-perceptual evaluation protocol comprised three socio-visual tasks (face identity, facial emotion and gaze direction recognition), two socio-auditory tasks (voice identity and emotional prosody recognition), and three control tasks (lip reading, geometrical pattern and linguistic intonation recognition). All 39 patients also benefited from a neuropsychological examination. As a group, children with temporal lobe epilepsy performed at a significantly lower level compared to the control group with regards to recognition of facial identity, direction of eye gaze, and emotional facial expressions. We found no relationship between the type of visual deficit and age at first seizure, duration of epilepsy, or the epilepsy-affected cerebral hemisphere. Deficits in socio-perceptual tasks could be found independently of the presence of deficits in visual or auditory episodic memory, visual non-facial pattern processing (control tasks), or speech perception. A normal FSIQ did not exempt some of the patients from an underlying deficit in some of the socio-perceptual tasks. Temporal lobe epilepsy not only impairs development of emotion recognition, but can also impair development of perception of other socio-perceptual signals in children with or without intellectual deficiency. Prospective studies need to be designed to evaluate the results of appropriate re-education programs in children presenting with deficits in social cue processing.

Parahippocampectomy as a New Surgical Approach to Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Caused By Hippocampal Sclerosis: A Pilot Randomized Comparative Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Alonso-Vanegas, Mario Arturo; Freire Carlier, Iván D; San-Juan, Daniel; Martínez, Alma Rosa; Trenado, Carlos

2018-02-01

The parahippocampal gyrus plays an important role in the epileptogenic pathways of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis (mTLE-HS); its resection could prevent epileptic seizures with fewer complications. This study evaluates the initial efficacy and safety of anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL), selective amygdalohipppocampectomy (SAH), and parahippocampectomy (PHC) surgical approaches in mTLE-HS. A randomized comparative pilot clinical trial (2008-2011) was performed that included patients with mTLE-HS who underwent ATL, trans-T3 SAH, and trans-T3 PHC. Their sociodemographic characteristics, visual field profiles, verbal and visual memory profiles, and Engel scale outcome at baseline and at 1 and 5 years are described, using descriptive statistics along with parametric and nonparametric tests. Forty-three patients with a mean age of 35.2 years (18-56 years), 65% female, were analyzed: 14 underwent PHC, 14 ATL, and 15 SAH. The following percentages refer to those patients who were seizure free (Engel class IA) at 1-year and 5-year follow-up, respectively: 42.9% PHC, 71.4% ATL, and 60% SAH (P = 0.304); 28.6% PHC, 50% ATL, and 53.3% SAH (P = 0.353). Postoperative visual field deficits were 0% PHC, 85.7% ATL, and 46.7% SAH (P = 0.001). Verbal and/or visual memory worsening were present in 21.3% PHC, 42.8% ATL, and 33.4% SAH (P = 0.488) and preoperative and postoperative visual memory scores were significantly different in the SAH group only (P = 0.046). PHC, ALT, and SAH show a preliminary similar efficacy in short-term seizure-free rates in patients with mTLE-HS. However, PHC efficacy in the long-term decreases compared with the other surgical techniques. PHC does not produce postoperative visual field deficits. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatial working memory function in twins with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Pirkola, Tiia; Tuulio-Henriksson, Annamari; Glahn, David; Kieseppä, Tuula; Haukka, Jari; Kaprio, Jaakko; Lönnqvist, Jouko; Cannon, Tyrone D

2005-12-15

Family studies are in conflict as to whether schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have independent genetic etiologies. Given the relatively low prevalence (approximately 1%) of these disorders, the use of quantitative endophenotypic markers of genetic liability might provide a more sensitive strategy for evaluating their genetic overlap. We have previously demonstrated that spatial working memory deficits increase in a dose-dependent fashion with increasing genetic proximity to a proband among the unaffected co-twins of schizophrenic patients. Here, we evaluated whether such deficits might also mark genetic susceptibility to bipolar disorder. The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Visual Memory Span and Digit Span subtests were administered to 46 schizophrenic patients, 32 of their unaffected co-twins, 22 bipolar patients, 16 of their unaffected co-twins, and 100 control twins, representing unselectively nationwide twin samples. Schizophrenic patients and their unaffected co-twins performed significantly worse than control subjects on the spatial working memory task, whereas only the schizophrenic patients performed significantly below the control subjects on the verbal working memory task. Neither bipolar patients nor their unaffected co-twins differed from control subjects on these measures. Our findings support the hypothesis that impairment in spatial working memory might effectively reflect an expression of genetic liability to schizophrenia but less clearly to bipolar disorder.

Functional neural substrates of posterior cortical atrophy patients.

PubMed

Shames, H; Raz, N; Levin, Netta

2015-07-01

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome in which the most pronounced pathologic involvement is in the occipito-parietal visual regions. Herein, we aimed to better define the cortical reflection of this unique syndrome using a thorough battery of behavioral and functional MRI (fMRI) tests. Eight PCA patients underwent extensive testing to map their visual deficits. Assessments included visual functions associated with lower and higher components of the cortical hierarchy, as well as dorsal- and ventral-related cortical functions. fMRI was performed on five patients to examine the neuronal substrate of their visual functions. The PCA patient cohort exhibited stereopsis, saccadic eye movements and higher dorsal stream-related functional impairments, including simultant perception, image orientation, figure-from-ground segregation, closure and spatial orientation. In accordance with the behavioral findings, fMRI revealed intact activation in the ventral visual regions of face and object perception while more dorsal aspects of perception, including motion and gestalt perception, revealed impaired patterns of activity. In most of the patients, there was a lack of activity in the word form area, which is known to be linked to reading disorders. Finally, there was evidence of reduced cortical representation of the peripheral visual field, corresponding to the behaviorally assessed peripheral visual deficit. The findings are discussed in the context of networks extending from parietal regions, which mediate navigationally related processing, visually guided actions, eye movement control and working memory, suggesting that damage to these networks might explain the wide range of deficits in PCA patients.

Treatment Effects of Methylphenidate on Cognitive Functioning in Children with Mental Retardation and ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearson, Deborah A.; Santos, Cynthia W.; Casat, Charles D.; Lane, David M.; Jerger, Susan W.; Roache, John D.; Loveland, Katherine A.; Lachar, David; Faria, Laura P.; Payne, Christa D.; Cleveland, Lynne A.

2004-01-01

Objective: Cognitive effects of stimulant medication were investigated in children with mental retardation (MR) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: Performance on tasks tapping sustained attention, visual and auditory selective attention, inhibition, and immediate memory was assessed for 24 children (mean age 10.9 years)…

Errors, error detection, error correction and hippocampal-region damage: data and theories.

PubMed

MacKay, Donald G; Johnson, Laura W

2013-11-01

This review and perspective article outlines 15 observational constraints on theories of errors, error detection, and error correction, and their relation to hippocampal-region (HR) damage. The core observations come from 10 studies with H.M., an amnesic with cerebellar and HR damage but virtually no neocortical damage. Three studies examined the detection of errors planted in visual scenes (e.g., a bird flying in a fish bowl in a school classroom) and sentences (e.g., I helped themselves to the birthday cake). In all three experiments, H.M. detected reliably fewer errors than carefully matched memory-normal controls. Other studies examined the detection and correction of self-produced errors, with controls for comprehension of the instructions, impaired visual acuity, temporal factors, motoric slowing, forgetting, excessive memory load, lack of motivation, and deficits in visual scanning or attention. In these studies, H.M. corrected reliably fewer errors than memory-normal and cerebellar controls, and his uncorrected errors in speech, object naming, and reading aloud exhibited two consistent features: omission and anomaly. For example, in sentence production tasks, H.M. omitted one or more words in uncorrected encoding errors that rendered his sentences anomalous (incoherent, incomplete, or ungrammatical) reliably more often than controls. Besides explaining these core findings, the theoretical principles discussed here explain H.M.'s retrograde amnesia for once familiar episodic and semantic information; his anterograde amnesia for novel information; his deficits in visual cognition, sentence comprehension, sentence production, sentence reading, and object naming; and effects of aging on his ability to read isolated low frequency words aloud. These theoretical principles also explain a wide range of other data on error detection and correction and generate new predictions for future test. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neurocognitive Deficits in Borderline Personality Disorder: Associations With Childhood Trauma and Dimensions of Personality Psychopathology.

PubMed

Thomsen, Marianne S; Ruocco, Anthony C; Carcone, Dean; Mathiesen, Birgit B; Simonsen, Erik

2017-08-01

The present study evaluates the severity of neurocognitive deficits and assesses their relations with self-reported childhood trauma and dimensions of personality psychopathology in 45 outpatients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) matched to 56 non-psychiatric controls. Participants completed a comprehensive battery of neurocognitive tests, a retrospective questionnaire on early life trauma and a dimensional measure of personality psychopathology. Patients with BPD primarily showed deficits in verbal comprehension, sustained visual attention, working memory and processing speed. Comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and an elevated childhood history of physical trauma were each accompanied by more severe neurocognitive deficits. There were no statistically significant associations between neurocognitive function and dimensions of personality psychopathology. These results suggest that patients with BPD display deficits mainly in higher-order thinking abilities that may be exacerbated by PTSD and substantial early life trauma. Potential relationships between neurocognitive deficits and dimensions of personality psychopathology in BPD need further examination.

From amusic to musical?--Improving pitch memory in congenital amusia with transcranial alternating current stimulation.

PubMed

Schaal, Nora K; Pfeifer, Jasmin; Krause, Vanessa; Pollok, Bettina

2015-11-01

Brain imaging studies highlighted structural differences in congenital amusia, a life-long perceptual disorder that is associated with pitch perception and pitch memory deficits. A functional anomaly characterized by decreased low gamma oscillations (30-40 Hz range) in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during pitch memory has been revealed recently. Thus, the present study investigates whether applying transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 35 Hz to the right DLPFC would improve pitch memory. Nine amusics took part in two tACS sessions (either 35 Hz or 90 Hz) and completed a pitch and visual memory task before and during stimulation. 35 Hz stimulation facilitated pitch memory significantly. No modulation effects were found with 90 Hz stimulation or on the visual task. While amusics showed a selective impairment of pitch memory before stimulation, the performance during 35 Hz stimulation was not significantly different to healthy controls anymore. Taken together, the study shows that modulating the right DLPFC with 35 Hz tACS in congenital amusia selectively improves pitch memory performance supporting the hypothesis that decreased gamma oscillations within the DLPFC are causally involved in disturbed pitch memory and highlight the potential use of tACS to interact with cognitive processes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Short-term memory binding deficits in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Parra, Mario A; Abrahams, Sharon; Fabi, Katia; Logie, Robert; Luzzi, Simona; Della Sala, Sergio

2009-04-01

Alzheimer's disease impairs long term memories for related events (e.g. faces with names) more than for single events (e.g. list of faces or names). Whether or not this associative or 'binding' deficit is also found in short-term memory has not yet been explored. In two experiments we investigated binding deficits in verbal short-term memory in Alzheimer's disease. Experiment 1: 23 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 23 age and education matched healthy elderly were recruited. Participants studied visual arrays of objects (six for healthy elderly and four for Alzheimer's disease patients), colours (six for healthy elderly and four for Alzheimer's disease patients), unbound objects and colours (three for healthy elderly and two for Alzheimer's disease patients in each of the two categories), or objects bound with colours (three for healthy elderly and two for Alzheimer's disease patients). They were then asked to recall the items verbally. The memory of patients with Alzheimer's disease for objects bound with colours was significantly worse than for single or unbound features whereas healthy elderly's memory for bound and unbound features did not differ. Experiment 2: 21 Alzheimer's disease patients and 20 matched healthy elderly were recruited. Memory load was increased for the healthy elderly group to eight items in the conditions assessing memory for single or unbound features and to four items in the condition assessing memory for the binding of these features. For Alzheimer's disease patients the task remained the same. This manipulation permitted the performance to be equated across groups in the conditions assessing memory for single or unbound features. The impairment in Alzheimer's disease patients in recalling bound objects reported in Experiment 1 was replicated. The binding cost was greater than that observed in the healthy elderly group, who did not differ in their performance for bound and unbound features. Alzheimer's disease grossly impairs the mechanisms responsible for holding integrated objects in verbal short-term memory.

Heterogeneity in development of aspects of working memory predicts longitudinal attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptom change.

PubMed

Karalunas, Sarah L; Gustafsson, Hanna C; Dieckmann, Nathan F; Tipsord, Jessica; Mitchell, Suzanne H; Nigg, Joel T

2017-08-01

The role of cognitive mechanisms in the clinical course of neurodevelopmental disorders is poorly understood. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is emblematic in that numerous alterations in cognitive development are apparent, yet how they relate to changes in symptom expression with age is unclear. To resolve the role of cognitive mechanisms in ADHD, a developmental perspective that takes into account expected within-group heterogeneity is needed. The current study uses an accelerated longitudinal design and latent trajectory growth mixture models in a sample of children ages 7-13 years carefully characterized as with (n = 437) and without (n = 297) ADHD to (a) identify heterogeneous developmental trajectories for response inhibition, visual spatial working memory maintenance, and delayed reward discounting and (b) to assess the relationships between these cognitive trajectories and ADHD symptom change. Best-fitting models indicated multiple trajectory classes in both the ADHD and typically developing samples, as well as distinct relationships between each cognitive process and ADHD symptom change. Developmental change in response inhibition and delayed reward discounting were unrelated to ADHD symptom change, while individual differences in the rate of visual spatial working memory maintenance improvement predicted symptom remission in ADHD. Characterizing heterogeneity in cognitive development will be crucial for clarifying mechanisms of symptom persistence and recovery. Results here suggest working memory maintenance may be uniquely related to ADHD symptom improvement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive processes in children's reading and attention: the role of working memory, divided attention, and response inhibition.

PubMed

Savage, Robert; Cornish, Kim; Manly, Tom; Hollis, Chris

2006-08-01

Children experiencing attention difficulties have documented cognitive deficits in working memory (WM), response inhibition and dual tasks. Recent evidence suggests however that these same cognitive processes are also closely associated with reading acquisition. This paper therefore explores whether these variables predicted attention difficulties or reading among 123 children with and without significant attention problems sampled from the school population. Children were screened using current WM and attention task measures. Three factors explained variance in WM and attention tasks. Response inhibition tasks loaded mainly with central executive measures, but a dual processing task loaded with the visual-spatial WM measures. Phonological loop measures loaded independently of attention measures. After controls for age, IQ and attention-group membership, phonological loop and 'central processing' measures both predicted reading ability. A 'visual memory/dual-task' factor predicted attention group membership after controls for age, IQ and reading ability. Results thus suggest that some of the processes previously assumed to be predictive of attention problems may reflect processes involved in reading acquisition. Visual memory and dual-task functioning are, however, purer indices of cognitive difficulty in children experiencing attention problems.

Dissociable spatial and non-spatial attentional deficits after circumscribed thalamic stroke.

PubMed

Kraft, Antje; Irlbacher, Kerstin; Finke, Kathrin; Kaufmann, Christian; Kehrer, Stefanie; Liebermann, Daniela; Bundesen, Claus; Brandt, Stephan A

2015-03-01

Thalamic nuclei act as sensory, motor and cognitive relays between multiple subcortical areas and the cerebral cortex. They play a crucial role in cognitive functions such as executive functioning, memory and attention. In the acute period after thalamic stroke attentional deficits are common. The precise functional relevance of specific nuclei or vascular sub regions of the thalamus for attentional sub functions is still unclear. The theory of visual attention (TVA) allows the measurement of four independent attentional parameters (visual short term memory storage capacity (VSTM), visual perceptual processing speed, selective control and spatial weighting). We combined parameter-based assessment based on TVA with lesion symptom mapping in standard stereotactic space in sixteen patients (mean age 41.2 ± 11.0 SD, 6 females), with focal thalamic lesions in the medial (N = 9), lateral (N = 5), anterior (N = 1) or posterior (N = 1) vascular territories of the thalamus. Compared with an age-matched control group of 52 subjects (mean age 40.1 ± 6.4, 35 females), the patients with thalamic lesions were, on the group level, mildly impaired in visual processing speed and VSTM. Patients with lateral thalamic lesions showed a deficit in processing speed while all other TVA parameters were within the normal range. Medial thalamic lesions can be associated with a spatial bias and extinction of targets either in the ipsilesional or the contralesional field. A posterior case with a thalamic lesion of the pulvinar replicated a finding of Habekost and Rostrup (2006), demonstrating a spatial bias to the ipsilesional field, as suggested by the neural theory of visual attention (NTVA) (Bundesen, Habekost, & Kyllingsbæk, 2011). A case with an anterior-medial thalamic lesion showed reduced selective attentional control. We conclude that lesions in distinct vascular sub regions of the thalamus are associated with distinct attentional syndromes (medial = spatial bias, lateral = processing speed). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fragmented Perception: Slower Space-Based but Faster Object-Based Attention in Recent-Onset Psychosis with and without Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Smid, Henderikus G. O. M.; Bruggeman, Richard; Martens, Sander

2013-01-01

Background Schizophrenia is associated with impairments of the perception of objects, but how this affects higher cognitive functions, whether this impairment is already present after recent onset of psychosis, and whether it is specific for schizophrenia related psychosis, is not clear. We therefore tested the hypothesis that because schizophrenia is associated with impaired object perception, schizophrenia patients should differ in shifting attention between objects compared to healthy controls. To test this hypothesis, a task was used that allowed us to separately observe space-based and object-based covert orienting of attention. To examine whether impairment of object-based visual attention is related to higher order cognitive functions, standard neuropsychological tests were also administered. Method Patients with recent onset psychosis and normal controls performed the attention task, in which space- and object-based attention shifts were induced by cue-target sequences that required reorienting of attention within an object, or reorienting attention between objects. Results Patients with and without schizophrenia showed slower than normal spatial attention shifts, but the object-based component of attention shifts in patients was smaller than normal. Schizophrenia was specifically associated with slowed right-to-left attention shifts. Reorienting speed was significantly correlated with verbal memory scores in controls, and with visual attention scores in patients, but not with speed-of-processing scores in either group. Conclusions deficits of object-perception and spatial attention shifting are not only associated with schizophrenia, but are common to all psychosis patients. Schizophrenia patients only differed by having abnormally slow right-to-left visual field reorienting. Deficits of object-perception and spatial attention shifting are already present after recent onset of psychosis. Studies investigating visual spatial attention should take into account the separable effects of space-based and object-based shifting of attention. Impaired reorienting in patients was related to impaired visual attention, but not to deficits of processing speed and verbal memory. PMID:23536901

Fragmented perception: slower space-based but faster object-based attention in recent-onset psychosis with and without Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Smid, Henderikus G O M; Bruggeman, Richard; Martens, Sander

2013-01-01

Schizophrenia is associated with impairments of the perception of objects, but how this affects higher cognitive functions, whether this impairment is already present after recent onset of psychosis, and whether it is specific for schizophrenia related psychosis, is not clear. We therefore tested the hypothesis that because schizophrenia is associated with impaired object perception, schizophrenia patients should differ in shifting attention between objects compared to healthy controls. To test this hypothesis, a task was used that allowed us to separately observe space-based and object-based covert orienting of attention. To examine whether impairment of object-based visual attention is related to higher order cognitive functions, standard neuropsychological tests were also administered. Patients with recent onset psychosis and normal controls performed the attention task, in which space- and object-based attention shifts were induced by cue-target sequences that required reorienting of attention within an object, or reorienting attention between objects. Patients with and without schizophrenia showed slower than normal spatial attention shifts, but the object-based component of attention shifts in patients was smaller than normal. Schizophrenia was specifically associated with slowed right-to-left attention shifts. Reorienting speed was significantly correlated with verbal memory scores in controls, and with visual attention scores in patients, but not with speed-of-processing scores in either group. deficits of object-perception and spatial attention shifting are not only associated with schizophrenia, but are common to all psychosis patients. Schizophrenia patients only differed by having abnormally slow right-to-left visual field reorienting. Deficits of object-perception and spatial attention shifting are already present after recent onset of psychosis. Studies investigating visual spatial attention should take into account the separable effects of space-based and object-based shifting of attention. Impaired reorienting in patients was related to impaired visual attention, but not to deficits of processing speed and verbal memory.

Classification deficits in Alzheimer's disease with special reference to living and nonliving things.

PubMed

Montanes, P; Goldblum, M C; Boller, F

1996-08-01

The present study was conducted to assess the hypothesis that visual similarity between exemplars within a semantic category may affect differentially the recognition process of living and nonliving things, according to task demands, in patients with semantic memory disorders. Thirty-nine Alzheimer's patients and 39 normal elderly subjects were presented with a task in which they had to classify pictures and words, depicting either living or nonliving things, at two levels of classification: subordinate (e.g., mammals versus birds or tools versus vehicles) and attribute (e.g., wild versus domestic animals or fast versus slow vehicles). Contrary to previous results (Montañes, Goldblum, & Boller, 1995) in a naming task, but as expected, living things were better classified than nonliving ones by both controls and patients. As expected, classifications at the subordinate level also gave rise to better performance than classifications at the attribute level. Although (and somewhat unexpectedly) no advantage of picture over word classification emerged, some effects consistent with the hypothesis that visual similarity affects picture classification emerged, in particular within a subgroup of patients with predominant verbal deficits and the most severe semantic memory disorders. This subgroup obtained a better score on classification of pictures than of words depicting living items (that share many visual features) when classification is at the subordinate level (for which visual similarity is a reliable clue to classification), but met with major difficulties when classifying those pictures at the attribute level (for which shared visual features are not reliable clues to classification). These results emphasize the fact that some "normal" effects specific to items in living and nonliving categories have to be considered among the factors causing selective category-specific deficits in patients, as well as their relevance in achieving tasks which require either differentiation between competing exemplars in the same semantic category (naming) or detection of resemblance between those exemplars (categorization).

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

PubMed

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

2016-02-01

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

Job burnout is associated with dysfunctions in brain mechanisms of voluntary and involuntary attention.

PubMed

Sokka, Laura; Leinikka, Marianne; Korpela, Jussi; Henelius, Andreas; Ahonen, Lauri; Alain, Claude; Alho, Kimmo; Huotilainen, Minna

2016-05-01

Individuals with job burnout symptoms often report having cognitive difficulties, but related electrophysiological studies are scarce. We assessed the impact of burnout on performing a visual task with varying memory loads, and on involuntary attention switch to distractor sounds using scalp recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs). Task performance was comparable between burnout and control groups. The distractor sounds elicited a P3a response, which was reduced in the burnout group. This suggests burnout-related deficits in processing novel and potentially important events during task performance. In the burnout group, we also observed a decrease in working-memory related P3b responses over posterior scalp and increase over frontal areas. These results suggest that burnout is associated with deficits in cognitive control needed to monitor and update information in working memory. Successful task performance in burnout might require additional recruitment of anterior regions to compensate the decrement in posterior activity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Orexin-1 receptors in the rostral ventromedial medulla are involved in the modulation of capsaicin evoked pulpal nociception and impairment of learning and memory.

PubMed

Shahsavari, F; Abbasnejad, M; Esmaeili-Mahani, S; Raoof, M

2018-06-01

To investigate the role of rostral ventromedial medulla orexin-1 receptors in the modulation of orofacial nociception as well as nociception-induced learning and memory impairment in adult male rats. Pulpal nociception was induced by intradental application of capsaicin (100 μg) into the incisors of rats. orexin-1 receptors agonist (orexin-A, 10, 25 and 50 pM/rat) and antagonist (SB-334867-A, 40 and 80 nM/rat) were microinjected into rostral ventromedial medulla prior to capsaicin administration. Total time spent on nocifensive behavior was recorded by direct visualization of freely moving rats while learning and memory were evaluated by the Morris Water Maze test. One-way analysis of variance and repeated-measures were used for the statistical analysis. Capsaicin-treated rats had a significant increase of nocifensive behaviors (P<0.001), as well as learning and memory impairment (P<0.001). However, intra-ventromedial medulla prior microinjection of orexin-A (50 pM/rat) significantly reduced the nociceptive behavior (P<0.001). This effect was blocked by pre-treatment with SB334867-A (80 nM/rat). Orexin-A (50 pM/rat) also inhibited nociception-induced learning and memory deficits. Moreover, administration of SB-334867-A (80 nM/rat) plus orexin-A (50 pM/rat) had no effect on learning and memory deficits induced by capsaicin. The data suggests that rostral ventromedial medulla orexin-A receptors are involved in pulpal nociceptive modulation and improvement of learning and memory deficits induced by intradental application of capsaicin. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Functional neuroanatomical associations of working memory in early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Kobylecki, Christopher; Haense, Cathleen; Harris, Jennifer M; Stopford, Cheryl L; Segobin, Shailendra H; Jones, Matthew; Richardson, Anna M T; Gerhard, Alexander; Anton-Rodriguez, José; Thompson, Jennifer C; Herholz, Karl; Snowden, Julie S

2018-01-01

To characterize metabolic correlates of working memory impairment in clinically defined subtypes of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Established models of working memory suggest a key role for frontal lobe function, yet the association in Alzheimer's disease between working memory impairment and visuospatial and language symptoms suggests that temporoparietal neocortical dysfunction may be responsible. Twenty-four patients with predominantly early-onset Alzheimer's disease were clinically classified into groups with predominantly amnestic, multidomain or visual deficits. Patients underwent neuropsychological evaluation focused on the domains of episodic and working memory, T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and brain fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography data were analysed by using a region-of-interest approach. Patients with multidomain and visual presentations performed more poorly on tests of working memory compared with amnestic Alzheimer's disease. Working memory performance correlated with glucose metabolism in left-sided temporoparietal, but not frontal neocortex. Carriers of the apolipoprotein E4 gene showed poorer episodic memory and better working memory performance compared with noncarriers. Our findings support the hypothesis that working memory changes in early-onset Alzheimer's disease are related to temporoparietal rather than frontal hypometabolism and show dissociation from episodic memory performance. They further support the concept of subtypes of Alzheimer's disease with distinct cognitive profiles due to prominent neocortical dysfunction early in the disease course. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Visual short-term memory binding deficit in familial Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Liang, Yuying; Pertzov, Yoni; Nicholas, Jennifer M; Henley, Susie M D; Crutch, Sebastian; Woodward, Felix; Leung, Kelvin; Fox, Nick C; Husain, Masud

2016-05-01

Long-term episodic memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are well characterised but, until recently, short-term memory (STM) function has attracted far less attention. We employed a recently-developed, delayed reproduction task which requires participants to reproduce precisely the remembered location of items they had seen only seconds previously. This paradigm provides not only a continuous measure of localization error in memory, but also an index of relational binding by determining the frequency with which an object is misplaced to the location of one of the other items held in memory. Such binding errors in STM have previously been found on this task to be sensitive to medial temporal lobe (MTL) damage in focal lesion cases. Twenty individuals with pathological mutations in presenilin 1 or amyloid precursor protein genes for familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) were tested together with 62 healthy controls. Participants were assessed using the delayed reproduction memory task, a standard neuropsychological battery and structural MRI. Overall, FAD mutation carriers were worse than controls for object identity as well as in gross localization memory performance. Moreover, they showed greater misbinding of object identity and location than healthy controls. Thus they would often mislocalize a correctly-identified item to the location of one of the other items held in memory. Significantly, asymptomatic gene carriers - who performed similarly to healthy controls on standard neuropsychological tests - had a specific impairment in object-location binding, despite intact memory for object identity and location. Consistent with the hypothesis that the hippocampus is critically involved in relational binding regardless of memory duration, decreased hippocampal volume across FAD participants was significantly associated with deficits in object-location binding but not with recall precision for object identity or localization. Object-location binding may therefore provide a sensitive cognitive biomarker for MTL dysfunction in a range of diseases including AD. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Neuropsychological findings in a patient with Kernohan's notch.

PubMed

Clement, V L; Sherer, M

1996-05-01

This case report describes the use of neuropsychological testing to Iocalize and diagnose lesions The testing was instrumental in disentangling contradictory symptoms to reveal a Kernohan's notch (later confirmed by MRI), thus ruling out incorrect diagnoses We describe the case of a 36-year-old right-handed man who developed a left epidural hematoma after suffering head trauma from a blunt instrument Sequelae 2 months post-injury included left hemiparesis (ipsilateral to the lesion), dysphonic speech, severe naming/word-finding deficits, and severe memory impairment This patient's symptom pattern presented somewhat of a mystery as his cognitive deficits appeared consistent with left hemisphere damage, while his left motor symptoms suggested right hemisphere damage Medical records were inconsistent Deficits on neuropsychological testing at 3 months post-injury included impairment in verbal and visual memory, confrontation naming, and left-sided motor function Attention, visual-spatial skills, nonverbal problem solving, and right motor speed and coordination were intact A herniation syndrome, Kernohan's notch, was considered to be the most likely explanation This phenomenon occurs when a mass occupying lesion causes significant midline shift of the midbrain, pressing the contralateral cerebral peduncle against the tentorium This pressure produces an ischemic infact in the region of the corticospinal (motor) pathways Subsequent MRI confirmed a lesion in the right cerebral crus The pattern of neuropsychological finding in this patient is discussed.

Impact of co-morbid attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder on cognitive function in male children with Tourette syndrome: A controlled study.

PubMed

Termine, Cristiano; Luoni, Chiara; Fontolan, Stefania; Selvini, Claudia; Perego, Livia; Pavone, Francesca; Rossi, Giorgio; Balottin, Umberto; Cavanna, Andrea E

2016-09-30

Tourette syndrome (TS) and attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are co-morbid neurodevelopmental conditions affecting more commonly male patients. We set out to determine the impact of co-morbid ADHD on cognitive function in male children with TS by conducting a controlled study. Participants included four matched groups of unmedicated children (age range 6-15 years): TS (n=13), TS+ADHD (n=8), ADHD (n=39), healthy controls (n=66). Following clinical assessment, each participant completed a battery of tests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III, the Italian Battery for ADHD, the Tower of London test, the Corsi test, and the Digit Span test. All patient groups reported significantly lower scores than healthy controls across the neuropsychological tests involving executive functions. The TS+ADHD group was the most severely affected, followed by the ADHD group and the TS group, particularly in the tests assessing planning ability, inhibitory function, working memory and visual attention, but not auditory attention. Problems in executive functions are more common in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders than controls. Deficits in planning ability, inhibitory function, working memory and visual attention reported by children with TS appear to be more strongly related to the presence of co-morbid ADHD symptoms than core TS symptoms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Functional double dissociation within the entorhinal cortex for visual scene-dependent choice behavior

PubMed Central

Yoo, Seung-Woo; Lee, Inah

2017-01-01

How visual scene memory is processed differentially by the upstream structures of the hippocampus is largely unknown. We sought to dissociate functionally the lateral and medial subdivisions of the entorhinal cortex (LEC and MEC, respectively) in visual scene-dependent tasks by temporarily inactivating the LEC and MEC in the same rat. When the rat made spatial choices in a T-maze using visual scenes displayed on LCD screens, the inactivation of the MEC but not the LEC produced severe deficits in performance. However, when the task required the animal to push a jar or to dig in the sand in the jar using the same scene stimuli, the LEC but not the MEC became important. Our findings suggest that the entorhinal cortex is critical for scene-dependent mnemonic behavior, and the response modality may interact with a sensory modality to determine the involvement of the LEC and MEC in scene-based memory tasks. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21543.001 PMID:28169828

Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin increase grey matter volume in older adults: a brain imaging study

PubMed Central

Tao, Jing; Liu, Jiao; Liu, Weilin; Huang, Jia; Xue, Xiehua; Chen, Xiangli; Wu, Jinsong; Zheng, Guohua; Chen, Bai; Li, Ming; Sun, Sharon; Jorgenson, Kristen; Lang, Courtney; Hu, Kun; Chen, Shanjia; Chen, Lidian; Kong, Jian

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare how 12-weeks of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise can modulate brain structure and memory function in older adults. Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) and memory function measurements (Wechsler Memory Scale-Chinese revised, WMS-CR)were applied at both the beginning and end of the study. Results showed that both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin could significantly increase grey matter volume (GMV) in the insula, medial temporal lobe (MTL), and putamen after 12-weeks of exercise. No significant differences were observed in grey matter volume (GMV) between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups. We also found that compared to healthy controls, Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin significantly improved visual reproduction subscores on the WMS-CR. Baduanjin also improved mental control, recognition, touch and comprehension memory subscores of the WMS-CR compared to the control group. Memory quotient (MQ)and visual reproduction subscores were both associated with GMV increases in the putamen and hippocampus. Our results demonstrate the potential of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise for the prevention of memory deficits in older adults. PMID:28869478

HT1001, a proprietary North American ginseng extract, improves working memory in schizophrenia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

PubMed

Chen, Eric Y H; Hui, Christy L M

2012-08-01

Evidence suggests that HT1001™, a proprietary North American ginseng extract containing known levels of active ginsenosides, may improve cognitive function. Importantly, individuals with schizophrenia show marked deficits in working memory, which are believed to be predictive of functional outcome in this population. The present study aimed to characterize the effect of HT1001 on working memory in a group of stable individuals with schizophrenia. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study design, a total of 64 individuals satisfying DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were randomly assigned to receive either HT100 or placebo for 4 weeks. Verbal working memory and visual working memory were assessed at baseline and again at the end of the treatment phase using the Letter-Number Span Test and Visual Pattern Test, respectively. Symptoms and medication side effects were also measured at baseline and post-treatment. Visual working memory was significantly improved in the HT1001 group, but not in the placebo group. Furthermore, extrapyramidal symptoms were significantly reduced after 4 weeks treatment with HT1001, whereas no difference in extrapyramidal effects was observed in the placebo group. These results provide a solid foundation for the further investigation of HT1001 as an adjunct therapy in schizophrenia, as an improvement in working memory and a reduction in medication-related side effects has considerable potential to improve functional outcome in this population. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adjunctive Pregnenolone Ameliorates the Cognitive Deficits in Recent-Onset Schizophrenia: An 8-Week, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Kreinin, Anatoly; Bawakny, Nisham; Ritsner, Michael S

This study aimed to examine the effect of add-on treatment with the neurosteroid pregnenolone (PREG) on neurocognitive dysfunctions of patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (SZ) and schizoaffective disorder (SA). Sixty out- and inpatients that met DSM-IV criteria for SZ/SA were randomized to an 8-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, 2-center trial. Participants received either pregnenolone (50 mg/d) or placebo added on to antipsychotic medications. Computerized Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery measures were administered at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. ANOVA and paired t- or z-tests were applied to examine between- and within-group differences over time. Compared to placebo, adjunctive PREG significantly reduced the deficits in visual attention measured with the Matching to Sample Visual Search task (p=0.002), with moderate effect sizes (d=0.42). In addition, a significant improvement was observed from baseline to end-of-study with respect to the visual (p=0.008) and sustained attention (Rapid Visual Information Processing, p=0.038) deficits, and executive functions (Stockings of Cambridge, p=0.049; Spatial Working Memory, p<0.001) among patients receiving PREG but not among those receiving placebo (all p's>0.05). This beneficial effect of PREG was independent of the type of antipsychotic agents, gender, age, education, and illness duration. Pregnenolone augmentation demonstrated significant amelioration of the visual attention deficit in recent-onset SZ/SA. Long-term, large-scale studies are required to obtain greater statistical significance and more confident clinical generalization.

Poorer Visual Acuity Is Associated with Declines in Cognitive Performance Across Multiple Cognitive Domains: The Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Dearborn, Peter J; Elias, Merrill F; Sullivan, Kevin J; Sullivan, Cara E; Robbins, Michael A

2018-06-21

Prior studies have found associations between visual acuity (VA) and cognitive function. However, these studies used a limited range of cognitive measures and did not control for cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVD-RFs) and baseline function. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the associations of VA and cognitive performance using a thorough neuropsychological test battery. This study used community-dwelling sample data across the sixth (2001-2006) and seventh (2006-2010) waves of the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (n=655). Wave 6 VA as measured by the Snellen Eye Test was the primary predictor of wave 6 and wave 7 Global cognitive performance, Visual-Spatial Organization and Memory, Verbal Episodic Memory, Working Memory, Scanning and Tracking, and Executive Function. Additionally, VA was used to predict longitudinal changes in wave 7 cognitive performance (wave 6 performance adjusted). We analyzed these relationships with multiple linear and logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, ethnicity, depressive symptoms, physical function deficits in addition to CVD-RFs, chronic kidney disease, homocysteine, continuous systolic blood pressure, and hypertension status. Adjusted for demographic covariates and CVD-RFs, poorer VA was associated with concurrent and approximate 5-year declines in Global cognitive function, Visual-Spatial Organization and Memory, and Verbal Episodic Memory. VA may be used in combination with other screening measures to determine risk for cognitive decline. (JINS, 2018, 24, 1-9).

Visual function and cognitive speed of processing mediate age-related decline in memory span and fluid intelligence

PubMed Central

Clay, Olivio J.; Edwards, Jerri D.; Ross, Lesley A.; Okonkwo, Ozioma; Wadley, Virginia G.; Roth, David L.; Ball, Karlene K.

2010-01-01

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between sensory and cognitive decline, particularly with respect to speed of processing, memory span, and fluid intelligence. Additionally, the common cause, sensory degradation and speed of processing hypotheses were compared. Methods: Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the complex relationships among age-related decrements in these areas. Results: Cross-sectional data analyses included 842 older adult participants (M = 73 years). After accounting for age-related declines in vision and processing speed, the direct associations between age and memory span and between age and fluid intelligence were nonsignificant. Older age was associated with visual decline, which was associated with slower speed of processing, which in turn was associated with greater cognitive deficits. Discussion: The findings support both the sensory degradation and speed of processing accounts of age-related cognitive decline. Further, the findings highlight positive aspects of normal cognitive aging in that older age may not be associated with a loss of fluid intelligence if visual sensory functioning and processing speed can be maintained. PMID:19436063

Extent of resection in temporal lobectomy for epilepsy. II. Memory changes and neurologic complications.

PubMed

Katz, A; Awad, I A; Kong, A K; Chelune, G J; Naugle, R I; Wyllie, E; Beauchamp, G; Lüders, H

1989-01-01

We present correlations of extent of temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy with postoperative memory changes (20 cases) and abnormalities of visual field and neurologic examination (45 cases). Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the coronal plane was used to quantify anteroposterior extent of resection of various quadrants of the temporal lobe, using a 20-compartment model of that structure. The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) was administered preoperatively and postoperatively. Postoperative decrease in percentage of retention of verbal material correlated with extent of medial resection of left temporal lobe, whereas decrease in percentage of retention of visual material correlated with extent of medial resection of right temporal lobe. These correlations approached but did not reach statistical significance. Extent of resection correlated significantly with the presence of visual field defect on perimetry testing but not with severity, denseness, or congruity of the defect. There was no correlation between postoperative dysphasia and extent of resection in any quadrant. Assessment of extent of resection after temporal lobectomy allows a rational interpretation of postoperative neurologic deficits in light of functional anatomy of the temporal lobe.

Developmental plateau in visual object processing from adolescence to adulthood in autism

PubMed Central

O'Hearn, Kirsten; Tanaka, James; Lynn, Andrew; Fedor, Jennifer; Minshew, Nancy; Luna, Beatriz

2016-01-01

A lack of typical age-related improvement from adolescence to adulthood contributes to face recognition deficits in adults with autism on the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). The current studies examine if this atypical developmental trajectory generalizes to other tasks and objects, including parts of the face. The CFMT tests recognition of whole faces, often with a substantial delay. The current studies used the immediate memory (IM) task and the parts-whole face task from the Let's Face It! battery, which examines whole faces, face parts, and cars, without a delay between memorization and test trials. In the IM task, participants memorize a face or car. Immediately after the target disappears, participants identify the target from two similar distractors. In the part-whole task, participants memorize a whole face. Immediately after the face disappears, participants identify the target from a distractor with different eyes or mouth, either as a face part or a whole face. Results indicate that recognition deficits in autism become more robust by adulthood, consistent with previous work, and also become more general, including cars. In the IM task, deficits in autism were specific to faces in childhood, but included cars by adulthood. In the part-whole task, deficits in autism became more robust by adulthood, including both eyes and mouths as parts and in whole faces. Across tasks, the deficit in autism increased between adolescence and adulthood, reflecting a lack of typical improvement, leading to deficits with non-face stimuli and on a task without a memory delay. These results suggest that brain maturation continues to be affected into adulthood in autism, and that the transition from adolescence to adulthood is a vulnerable stage for those with autism. PMID:25019999

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

PubMed

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

2016-01-01

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

Visual and Verbal Learning Deficits in Veterans with Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Bell, Morris D.; Vissicchio, Nicholas A.; Weinstein, Andrea J.

2015-01-01

Background This study examined visual and verbal learning in the early phase of recovery for 48 Veterans with alcohol use (AUD) and substance use disorders (SUD, primarily cocaine and opiate abusers). Previous studies have demonstrated visual and verbal learning deficits in AUD, however little is known about the differences between AUD and SUD on these domains. Since the DSM-5 specifically identifies problems with learning in AUD and not in SUD, and problems with visual and verbal learning have been more prevalent in the literature for AUD than SUD, we predicted that people with AUD would be more impaired on measures of visual and verbal learning than people with SUD. Methods: Participants were enrolled in a comprehensive rehabilitation program and were assessed within the first 5 weeks of abstinence. Verbal learning was measured using the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) and visual learning was assessed using the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT). Results Results indicated significantly greater decline in verbal learning on the HVLT across the three learning trials for AUD participants but not for SUD participants (F=4.653, df =48, p=.036). Visual learning was less impaired than verbal learning across learning trials for both diagnostic groups (F=0.197, df=48, p=.674); there was no significant difference between groups on visual learning (F=0.401, df=14, p=.538). Discussion Older Veterans in the early phase of recovery from AUD may have difficulty learning new verbal information. Deficits in verbal learning may reduce the effectiveness of verbally-based interventions such as psycho-education. PMID:26684868

Visual and verbal learning deficits in Veterans with alcohol and substance use disorders.

PubMed

Bell, Morris D; Vissicchio, Nicholas A; Weinstein, Andrea J

2016-02-01

This study examined visual and verbal learning in the early phase of recovery for 48 Veterans with alcohol use (AUD) and substance use disorders (SUD, primarily cocaine and opiate abusers). Previous studies have demonstrated visual and verbal learning deficits in AUD, however little is known about the differences between AUD and SUD on these domains. Since the DSM-5 specifically identifies problems with learning in AUD and not in SUD, and problems with visual and verbal learning have been more prevalent in the literature for AUD than SUD, we predicted that people with AUD would be more impaired on measures of visual and verbal learning than people with SUD. Participants were enrolled in a comprehensive rehabilitation program and were assessed within the first 5 weeks of abstinence. Verbal learning was measured using the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) and visual learning was assessed using the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT). Results indicated significantly greater decline in verbal learning on the HVLT across the three learning trials for AUD participants but not for SUD participants (F=4.653, df=48, p=0.036). Visual learning was less impaired than verbal learning across learning trials for both diagnostic groups (F=0.197, df=48, p=0.674); there was no significant difference between groups on visual learning (F=0.401, df=14, p=0.538). Older Veterans in the early phase of recovery from AUD may have difficulty learning new verbal information. Deficits in verbal learning may reduce the effectiveness of verbally-based interventions such as psycho-education. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

[Evaluation of memory in acquired brain injury: a comparison between the Wechsler Memory Scale and the Rivermead Behaviour Memory Test].

PubMed

Guinea-Hidalgo, A; Luna-Lario, P; Tirapu-Ustárroz, J

Learning processes and memory are frequently compromised in acquired brain injury (ABI), while at the same time such involvement is often heterogeneous and a source of deficits in other cognitive capacities and significant functional limitations. A good neuropsychological evaluation of memory is designed to study not only the type, intensity and nature of the problems, but also the way they manifest in daily life. This study examines the correlation between a traditional memory test, the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III), and a memory test that is considered to be functional, the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT), in a sample of 60 patients with ABI. All the correlations that were observed were moderate. Greater correlations were found among the verbal memory subtests than among the visual memory tests. An important number of subjects with below-normal scalar scores on the WMS-III correctly performed (either fully or partially) the corresponding test in the RBMT. The joint use of the WMS-III and RBMT in evaluation can provide a more comprehensive analysis of the memory deficits and their rehabilitation. The lower scores obtained in the WMS-III compared to those of the RBMT indicate greater sensitivity of the former. Nevertheless, further testing needs to be carried out in the future to compare the performance in the tests after the patients and those around them have subjectively assessed their functional limitations. This would make it possible to determine which of the two tests offers the best balance between sensitivity and specificity, as well as a higher predictive value.

Detecting allocentric and egocentric navigation deficits in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder using virtual reality.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Alireza; Hesami, Ehsan; Kargar, Mahmoud; Shams, Jamal

2018-04-01

Present evidence suggests that the use of virtual reality has great advantages in evaluating visuospatial navigation and memory for the diagnosis of psychiatric or other neurological disorders. There are a few virtual reality studies on allocentric and egocentric memories in schizophrenia, but studies on both memories in bipolar disorder are lacking. The objective of this study was to compare the performance of allocentric and egocentric memories in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. For this resolve, an advanced virtual reality navigation task (VRNT) was presented to distinguish the navigational performances of these patients. Twenty subjects with schizophrenia and 20 bipolar disorder patients were compared with 20 healthy-matched controls on the newly developed VRNT consisting of a virtual neighbourhood (allocentric memory) and a virtual maze (egocentric memory). The results demonstrated that schizophrenia patients were significantly impaired on all allocentric, egocentric, visual, and verbal memory tasks compared with patients with bipolar disorder and normal subjects. Dissimilarly, the performance of patients with bipolar disorder was slightly lower than that of control subjects in all these abilities, but no significant differences were observed. It was concluded that allocentric and egocentric navigation deficits are detectable in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder using VRNT, and this task along with RAVLT and ROCFT can be used as a valid clinical tool for distinguishing these patients from normal subjects.

Frontal and parietal theta burst TMS impairs working memory for visual-spatial conjunctions

PubMed Central

Morgan, Helen M.; Jackson, Margaret C.; van Koningsbruggen, Martijn G.; Shapiro, Kimron L.; Linden, David E.J.

2013-01-01

In tasks that selectively probe visual or spatial working memory (WM) frontal and posterior cortical areas show a segregation, with dorsal areas preferentially involved in spatial (e.g. location) WM and ventral areas in visual (e.g. object identity) WM. In a previous fMRI study [1], we showed that right parietal cortex (PC) was more active during WM for orientation, whereas left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was more active during colour WM. During WM for colour-orientation conjunctions, activity in these areas was intermediate to the level of activity for the single task preferred and non-preferred information. To examine whether these specialised areas play a critical role in coordinating visual and spatial WM to perform a conjunction task, we used theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce a functional deficit. Compared to sham stimulation, TMS to right PC or left IFG selectively impaired WM for conjunctions but not single features. This is consistent with findings from visual search paradigms, in which frontal and parietal TMS selectively affects search for conjunctions compared to single features, and with combined TMS and functional imaging work suggesting that parietal and frontal regions are functionally coupled in tasks requiring integration of visual and spatial information. Our results thus elucidate mechanisms by which the brain coordinates spatially segregated processing streams and have implications beyond the field of working memory. PMID:22483548

Frontal and parietal theta burst TMS impairs working memory for visual-spatial conjunctions.

PubMed

Morgan, Helen M; Jackson, Margaret C; van Koningsbruggen, Martijn G; Shapiro, Kimron L; Linden, David E J

2013-03-01

In tasks that selectively probe visual or spatial working memory (WM) frontal and posterior cortical areas show a segregation, with dorsal areas preferentially involved in spatial (e.g. location) WM and ventral areas in visual (e.g. object identity) WM. In a previous fMRI study [1], we showed that right parietal cortex (PC) was more active during WM for orientation, whereas left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was more active during colour WM. During WM for colour-orientation conjunctions, activity in these areas was intermediate to the level of activity for the single task preferred and non-preferred information. To examine whether these specialised areas play a critical role in coordinating visual and spatial WM to perform a conjunction task, we used theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce a functional deficit. Compared to sham stimulation, TMS to right PC or left IFG selectively impaired WM for conjunctions but not single features. This is consistent with findings from visual search paradigms, in which frontal and parietal TMS selectively affects search for conjunctions compared to single features, and with combined TMS and functional imaging work suggesting that parietal and frontal regions are functionally coupled in tasks requiring integration of visual and spatial information. Our results thus elucidate mechanisms by which the brain coordinates spatially segregated processing streams and have implications beyond the field of working memory. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Working Memory Differences Between Children Living in Rural and Urban Poverty

PubMed Central

Tine, Michele

2014-01-01

This study was designed to investigate if the working memory profiles of children living in rural poverty are distinct from the working memory profiles of children living in urban poverty. Verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks were administered to sixth-grade students living in low-income rural, low-income urban, high-income rural, and high-income urban developmental contexts. Both low-income rural and low-income urban children showed working memory deficits compared with their high-income counterparts, but their deficits were distinct. Low-income urban children exhibited symmetrical verbal and visuospatial working memory deficits compared with their high-income urban counterparts. Meanwhile, low-income rural children exhibited asymmetrical deficits when compared with their high-income rural counterparts, with more extreme visuospatial working memory deficits than verbal working memory deficits. These results suggest that different types of poverty are associated with different working memory abilities. PMID:25554726

Working Memory Differences Between Children Living in Rural and Urban Poverty.

PubMed

Tine, Michele

2014-10-02

This study was designed to investigate if the working memory profiles of children living in rural poverty are distinct from the working memory profiles of children living in urban poverty. Verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks were administered to sixth-grade students living in low-income rural, low-income urban, high-income rural, and high-income urban developmental contexts. Both low-income rural and low-income urban children showed working memory deficits compared with their high-income counterparts, but their deficits were distinct. Low-income urban children exhibited symmetrical verbal and visuospatial working memory deficits compared with their high-income urban counterparts. Meanwhile, low-income rural children exhibited asymmetrical deficits when compared with their high-income rural counterparts, with more extreme visuospatial working memory deficits than verbal working memory deficits. These results suggest that different types of poverty are associated with different working memory abilities.

Grip Strength Is Associated With Cognitive Performance in Schizophrenia and the General Population: A UK Biobank Study of 476559 Participants.

PubMed

Firth, Joseph; Stubbs, Brendon; Vancampfort, Davy; Firth, Josh A; Large, Matthew; Rosenbaum, Simon; Hallgren, Mats; Ward, Philip B; Sarris, Jerome; Yung, Alison R

2018-06-06

Handgrip strength may provide an easily-administered marker of cognitive functional status. However, further population-scale research examining relationships between grip strength and cognitive performance across multiple domains is needed. Additionally, relationships between grip strength and cognitive functioning in people with schizophrenia, who frequently experience cognitive deficits, has yet to be explored. Baseline data from the UK Biobank (2007-2010) was analyzed; including 475397 individuals from the general population, and 1162 individuals with schizophrenia. Linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models were used to assess the relationship between grip strength and 5 cognitive domains (visual memory, reaction time, reasoning, prospective memory, and number memory), controlling for age, gender, bodyweight, education, and geographical region. In the general population, maximal grip strength was positively and significantly related to visual memory (coefficient [coeff] = -0.1601, standard error [SE] = 0.003), reaction time (coeff = -0.0346, SE = 0.0004), reasoning (coeff = 0.2304, SE = 0.0079), number memory (coeff = 0.1616, SE = 0.0092), and prospective memory (coeff = 0.3486, SE = 0.0092: all P < .001). In the schizophrenia sample, grip strength was strongly related to visual memory (coeff = -0.155, SE = 0.042, P < .001) and reaction time (coeff = -0.049, SE = 0.009, P < .001), while prospective memory approached statistical significance (coeff = 0.233, SE = 0.132, P = .078), and no statistically significant association was found with number memory and reasoning (P > .1). Grip strength is significantly associated with cognitive functioning in the general population and individuals with schizophrenia, particularly for working memory and processing speed. Future research should establish directionality, examine if grip strength also predicts functional and physical health outcomes in schizophrenia, and determine whether interventions which improve muscular strength impact on cognitive and real-world functioning.

Post-stroke unilateral spatial neglect: virtual reality-based navigation and detection tasks reveal lateralized and non-lateralized deficits in tasks of varying perceptual and cognitive demands.

PubMed

Ogourtsova, Tatiana; Archambault, Philippe S; Lamontagne, Anouk

2018-04-23

Unilateral spatial neglect (USN), a highly prevalent and disabling post-stroke impairment, has been shown to affect the recovery of locomotor and navigation skills needed for community mobility. We recently found that USN alters goal-directed locomotion in conditions of different cognitive/perceptual demands. However, sensorimotor post-stroke dysfunction (e.g. decreased walking speed) could have influenced the results. Analogous to a previously used goal-directed locomotor paradigm, a seated, joystick-driven navigation experiment, minimizing locomotor demands, was employed in individuals with and without post-stroke USN (USN+ and USN-, respectively) and healthy controls (HC). Participants (n = 15 per group) performed a seated, joystick-driven navigation and detection time task to targets 7 m away at 0°, ±15°/30° in actual (visually-guided), remembered (memory-guided) and shifting (visually-guided with representational updating component) conditions while immersed in a 3D virtual reality environment. Greater end-point mediolateral errors to left-sided targets (remembered and shifting conditions) and overall lengthier onsets in reorientation strategy (shifting condition) were found for USN+ vs. USN- and vs. HC (p < 0.05). USN+ individuals mostly overshot left targets (- 15°/- 30°). Greater delays in detection time for target locations across the visual spectrum (left, middle and right) were found in USN+ vs. USN- and HC groups (p < 0.05). USN-related attentional-perceptual deficits alter navigation abilities in memory-guided and shifting conditions, independently of post-stroke locomotor deficits. Lateralized and non-lateralized deficits in object detection are found. The employed paradigm could be considered in the design and development of sensitive and functional assessment methods for neglect; thereby addressing the drawbacks of currently used traditional paper-and-pencil tools.

Executive Functioning Skills in Preschool-Age Children With Cochlear Implants

PubMed Central

Beer, Jessica; Kronenberger, William G.; Castellanos, Irina; Colson, Bethany G.; Henning, Shirley C.; Pisoni, David B.

2014-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether deficits in executive functioning (EF) in children with cochlear implants (CIs) emerge as early as the preschool years. Method Two groups of children ages 3 to 6 years participated in this cross-sectional study: 24 preschoolers who had CIs prior to 36 months of age and 21 preschoolers with normal hearing (NH). All were tested on normed measures of working memory, inhibition-concentration, and organization-integration. Parents completed a normed rating scale of problem behaviors related to EF. Comparisons of EF skills of children with CIs were made to peers with NH and to published nationally representative norms. Results Preschoolers with CIs showed significantly poorer performance on inhibition-concentration and working memory compared with peers with NH and with national norms. No group differences were found in visual memory or organization-integration. When data were controlled for language, differences in performance measures of EF remained, whereas differences in parent-reported problems with EF were no longer significant. Hearing history was generally unrelated to EF. Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate that EF deficits found in older children with CIs begin to emerge as early as preschool years. The ability to detect these deficits early has important implications for early intervention and habilitation after cochlear implantation. PMID:24686747

Oxidative stress induced NMDA receptor alteration leads to spatial memory deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy: ameliorative effects of Withania somnifera and Withanolide A.

PubMed

Soman, Smijin; Korah, P K; Jayanarayanan, S; Mathew, Jobin; Paulose, C S

2012-09-01

In the present study we investigate the effect of Withania somnifera (WS) root extract and Withanolide A (WA) in restoring spatial memory deficit by inhibiting oxidative stress induced alteration in glutamergic neurotransmission. We demonstrate significant cellular loss in hippocampus of epileptic rats, visualized through decreased TOPRO stained neurons. Impaired spatial memory was observed in epileptic rats after Radial arm maze test. Treatment with WS and WA has resulted in increased number of TOPRO stained neurons. Enhanced performance of epileptic rats treated with WS and WA was observed in Radial arm maze test. The antioxidant activity of WS and WA was studied using superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT) assays in the hippocampus of experimental rats. The SOD activity and CAT activity decreased significantly in epileptic group, treatment with WS and WA significantly reversed the enzymatic activities to near control. Real time gene expression studies of SOD and GPx showed significant up-regulation in epileptic group compared to control. Treatment with WS and WA showed significant reversal to near control. Lipid peroxidation quantified using TBARS assay, significantly increased in epileptic rats. Treatment with WS and WA showed significant reversal to near control. NMDA receptor expression decreased in epileptic rats. The treatment with WS and WA resulted in physiological expression of NMDA receptors. This data suggests that oxidative stress effects membrane constitution resulting in decreased NMDA receptor density leading to impaired spatial memory. Treatment with WS and WA has ameliorated spatial memory deficits by enhancing antioxidant system and restoring altered NMDA receptor density.

Self-initiated encoding facilitates object working memory in schizophrenia: implications for the etiology of working memory deficit.

PubMed

Kim, Jejoong; Park, Sohee; Shin, Yong-Wook; Jin Lee, Kyung; Kwon, Jun Soo

2006-02-15

Working memory (WM) deficit is present in a majority of patients with schizophrenia but it is unclear which components of WM are impaired. Past studies suggest that encoding may be compromised. One important determinant of encoding is the deployment of selective attention to the target stimulus. In addition, attention and encoding are modulated by motivational factors. In this study, we investigated the effects of self-initiated encoding (i.e., voluntary attention) on WM. 19 patients with schizophrenia and 19 matched control subjects participated in visual WM and control tasks. Encoding was manipulated by asking subjects to select from two face targets and memorize 1) one of the two identical faces (Non-preference condition), 2) one that is marked (Non-choice condition), and 3) one they prefer (Preference condition). WM accuracy for both location (spatial) and identity (object) was measured. Overall, patients with schizophrenia were less accurate and slower than the control subjects but the deficit was greater for object WM. However, patients were more accurate in object WM when they selected a preferred face as their target during encoding (preference condition) compared with the other two conditions. This effect was not significant for spatial WM. These results suggest that voluntary, self-initiated attention may facilitate object encoding especially if the selection of the target involves affective choice, and that attention may play different roles in encoding 'what' versus 'where' in WM. Since encoding affects all forms of memory, these results may have a more general implication for memory.

Dyslexia and reasoning: the importance of visual processes.

PubMed

Bacon, Alison M; Handley, Simon J

2010-08-01

Recent research has suggested that individuals with dyslexia rely on explicit visuospatial representations for syllogistic reasoning while most non-dyslexics opt for an abstract verbal strategy. This paper investigates the role of visual processes in relational reasoning amongst dyslexic reasoners. Expt 1 presents written and verbal protocol evidence to suggest that reasoners with dyslexia generate detailed representations of relational properties and use these to make a visual comparison of objects. Non-dyslexics use a linear array of objects to make a simple transitive inference. Expt 2 examined evidence for the visual-impedance effect which suggests that visual information detracts from reasoning leading to longer latencies and reduced accuracy. While non-dyslexics showed the impedance effects predicted, dyslexics showed only reduced accuracy on problems designed specifically to elicit imagery. Expt 3 presented problems with less semantically and visually rich content. The non-dyslexic group again showed impedance effects, but dyslexics did not. Furthermore, in both studies, visual memory predicted reasoning accuracy for dyslexic participants, but not for non-dyslexics, particularly on problems with highly visual content. The findings are discussed in terms of the importance of visual and semantic processes in reasoning for individuals with dyslexia, and we argue that these processes play a compensatory role, offsetting phonological and verbal memory deficits.

Set shifting deficits in melancholic vs. non-melancholic depression: preliminary findings.

PubMed

Michopoulos, I; Zervas, I M; Papakosta, V M; Tsaltas, E; Papageorgiou, C; Manessi, T; Papakostas, Y G; Lykouras, L; Soldatos, C R

2006-09-01

Twenty-two patients with major depressive disorder, 11 of them with melancholic features, and 11 controls were investigated with CANTAB subtests focusing in visual memory/learning and executive functions. Melancholic patients performed worse than the other groups in all tasks and manifested a significant impairment in set shifting. The results are discussed in association with prefrontal dysfunction.

Category-Specific Naming and Recognition Deficits in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgical Patients

PubMed Central

Drane, Daniel L.; Ojemann, George A.; Aylward, Elizabeth; Ojemann, Jeffrey G.; Johnson, L. Clark; Silbergeld, Daniel L.; Miller, John W.; Tranel, Daniel

2008-01-01

Objective Based upon Damasio's “Convergence Zone” model of semantic memory, we predicted that epilepsy surgical patients with anterior temporal lobe (TL) seizure onset would exhibit a pattern of category-specific naming and recognition deficits not observed in patients with seizures arising elsewhere. Methods We assessed epilepsy patients with unilateral seizure onset of anterior TL or other origin (n = 22), pre- or postoperatively, using a set of category-specific items and a conventional measure of visual naming (Boston Naming Test: BNT). Results Category-specific naming deficits were exhibited by patients with dominant anterior TL seizure onset/resection for famous faces and animals, while category-specific recognition deficits for these same categories were exhibited by patients with nondominant anterior TL onset/resection. Patients with other seizure onset did not exhibit category-specific deficits. Naming and recognition deficits were frequently not detected by the BNT, which samples only a limited range of stimuli. Interpretation Consistent with the “convergence zone” framework, results suggest that the nondominant anterior TL plays a major role in binding sensory information into conceptual percepts for certain stimuli, while dominant TL regions function to provide a link to verbal labels for these percepts. Although observed category-specific deficits were striking, they were often missed by the BNT, suggesting that they are more prevalent than recognized in both pre- and postsurgical epilepsy patients. Systematic investigation of these deficits could lead to more refined models of semantic memory, aid in the localization of seizures, and contribute to modifications in surgical technique and patient selection in epilepsy surgery to improve neurocognitive outcome. PMID:18206185

Fine Motor Skill Mediates Visual Memory Ability with Microstructural Neuro-correlates in Cerebellar Peduncles in Prematurely Born Adolescents.

PubMed

Thomas, Alyssa R; Lacadie, Cheryl; Vohr, Betty; Ment, Laura R; Scheinost, Dustin

2017-01-01

Adolescents born preterm (PT) with no evidence of neonatal brain injury are at risk of deficits in visual memory and fine motor skills that diminish academic performance. The association between these deficits and white matter microstructure is relatively unexplored. We studied 190 PTs with no brain injury and 92 term controls at age 16 years. The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF), the Beery visual-motor integration (VMI), and the Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT) were collected for all participants, while a subset (40 PTs and 40 terms) underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. PTs performed more poorly than terms on ROCF, VMI, and GPT (all P < 0.01). Mediation analysis showed fine motor skill (GPT score) significantly mediates group difference in ROCF and VMI (all P < 0.001). PTs showed a negative correlation (P < 0.05, corrected) between fractional anisotropy (FA) in the bilateral middle cerebellar peduncles and GPT score, with higher FA correlating to lower (faster task completion) GPT scores, and between FA in the right superior cerebellar peduncle and ROCF scores. PTs also had a positive correlation (P < 0.05, corrected) between VMI and left middle cerebellar peduncle FA. Novel strategies to target fine motor skills and the cerebellum may help PTs reach their full academic potential. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Visual integration enhances associative memory equally for young and older adults without reducing hippocampal encoding activation.

PubMed

Memel, Molly; Ryan, Lee

2017-06-01

The ability to remember associations between previously unrelated pieces of information is often impaired in older adults (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000). Unitization, the process of creating a perceptually or semantically integrated representation that includes both items in an associative pair, attenuates age-related associative deficits (Bastin et al., 2013; Ahmad et al., 2015; Zheng et al., 2015). Compared to non-unitized pairs, unitized pairs may rely less on hippocampally-mediated binding associated with recollection, and more on familiarity-based processes mediated by perirhinal cortex (PRC) and parahippocampal cortex (PHC). While unitization of verbal materials improves associative memory in older adults, less is known about the impact of visual integration. The present study determined whether visual integration improves associative memory in older adults by minimizing the need for hippocampal (HC) recruitment and shifting encoding to non-hippocampal medial temporal structures, such as the PRC and PHC. Young and older adults were presented with a series of objects paired with naturalistic scenes while undergoing fMRI scanning, and were later given an associative memory test. Visual integration was varied by presenting the object either next to the scene (Separated condition) or visually integrated within the scene (Combined condition). Visual integration improved associative memory among young and older adults to a similar degree by increasing the hit rate for intact pairs, but without increasing false alarms for recombined pairs, suggesting enhanced recollection rather than increased reliance on familiarity. Also contrary to expectations, visual integration resulted in increased hippocampal activation in both age groups, along with increases in PRC and PHC activation. Activation in all three MTL regions predicted discrimination performance during the Separated condition in young adults, while only a marginal relationship between PRC activation and performance was observed during the Combined condition. Older adults showed less overall activation in MTL regions compared to young adults, and associative memory performance was most strongly predicted by prefrontal, rather than MTL, activation. We suggest that visual integration benefits both young and older adults similarly, and provides a special case of unitization that may be mediated by recollective, rather than familiarity-based encoding processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Neuropsychology of mildly disabled patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis].

PubMed

Santiago Rolanía, Olga; Guàrdia Olmos, Joan; Arbizu Urdiain, Txomin

2006-02-01

Previous papers have mainly demonstrated the presence of cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), these changes have been traditionally associated with the later stages of the disease. In the current study, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 216 relapsing-remitting MS patients with mild clinical disability (EDSS

Cognitive impairment and memory loss associated with histoplasmosis: a case study.

PubMed

Loughan, Ashlee R; Perna, Robert; Hertza, Jeremy

2014-01-01

Histoplasmosis is a rare disease caused by inhalation of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. It can spread via cerebral circulation to the central nervous system as a manifestation of a disseminated infection; particularly in patients with immune suppression, which can result in isolated ring-enhancing lesions and inflammation in the brain. Of the reported disseminated histoplasmosis cases (approximately 1 in 2000 per year), only 5-20% have evidence of central nervous system involvement. This paper reviews a single case study of a 57-year-old female diagnosed with disseminated CNS histoplasmosis. Patient's complaints included reduced short-term memory, word-finding problems, and difficulty organizing, making decisions, getting lost while driving, recalling names, retaining information while reading, and slowed processing speed. There was also a history of mild depression and anxiety. Direct testing revealed deficits in multiple cognitive domains including complex attention, processing speed, semantic fluency, visual scanning, motor speed, set-shifting, naming, nonverbal memory, and verbal memory. Neuropsychological deficits suggest cortical and subcortical brain dysfunction, including anterior, temporal, and mesial-temporal regions. This case illustrates the need for neuropsychologists to understand histoplasmosis, the related pathophysiology, and the neuropsychological impact; particularly with the potential for delayed progression.

Visual paired-associate learning: in search of material-specific effects in adult patients who have undergone temporal lobectomy.

PubMed

Smith, Mary Lou; Bigel, Marla; Miller, Laurie A

2011-02-01

The mesial temporal lobes are important for learning arbitrary associations. It has previously been demonstrated that left mesial temporal structures are involved in learning word pairs, but it is not yet known whether comparable lesions in the right temporal lobe impair visually mediated associative learning. Patients who had undergone left (n=16) or right (n=18) temporal lobectomy for relief of intractable epilepsy and healthy controls (n=13) were administered two paired-associate learning tasks assessing their learning and memory of pairs of abstract designs or pairs of symbols in unique locations. Both patient groups had deficits in learning the designs, but only the right temporal group was impaired in recognition. For the symbol location task, differences were not found in learning, but again a recognition deficit was found for the right temporal group. The findings implicate the mesial temporal structures in relational learning. They support a material-specific effect for recognition but not for learning and recall of arbitrary visual and visual-spatial associative information. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Life-span development of visual working memory: when is feature binding difficult?

PubMed

Cowan, Nelson; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe; Kilb, Angela; Saults, J Scott

2006-11-01

We asked whether the ability to keep in working memory the binding between a visual object and its spatial location changes with development across the life span more than memory for item information. Paired arrays of colored squares were identical or differed in the color of one square, and in the latter case, the changed color was unique on that trial (item change) or was duplicated elsewhere in the array (color-location binding change). Children (8-10 and 11-12 years old) and older adults (65-85 years old) showed deficits relative to young adults. These were only partly simulated by dividing attention in young adults. The older adults had an additional deficiency, specifically in binding information, which was evident only when item- and binding-change trials were mixed together. In that situation, the older adults often overlooked the more subtle, binding-type changes. Some working memory processes related to binding undergo life-span development in an inverted-U shape, whereas other, bias- and salience-related processes that influence the use of binding information seem to develop monotonically.

Dyslexia and dyscalculia: two learning disorders with different cognitive profiles.

PubMed

Landerl, Karin; Fussenegger, Barbara; Moll, Kristina; Willburger, Edith

2009-07-01

This study tests the hypothesis that dyslexia and dyscalculia are associated with two largely independent cognitive deficits, namely a phonological deficit in the case of dyslexia and a deficit in the number module in the case of dyscalculia. In four groups of 8- to 10-year-olds (42 control, 21 dyslexic, 20 dyscalculic, and 26 dyslexic/dyscalculic), phonological awareness, phonological and visual-spatial short-term and working memory, naming speed, and basic number processing skills were assessed. A phonological deficit was found for both dyslexic groups, irrespective of additional arithmetic deficits, but not for the dyscalculia-only group. In contrast, deficits in processing of symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitudes were observed in both groups of dyscalculic children, irrespective of additional reading difficulties, but not in the dyslexia-only group. Cognitive deficits in the comorbid dyslexia/dyscalculia group were additive; that is, they resulted from the combination of two learning disorders. These findings suggest that dyslexia and dyscalculia have separable cognitive profiles, namely a phonological deficit in the case of dyslexia and a deficient number module in the case of dyscalculia.

Slow perceptual processing at the core of developmental dyslexia: a parameter-based assessment of visual attention.

PubMed

Stenneken, Prisca; Egetemeir, Johanna; Schulte-Körne, Gerd; Müller, Hermann J; Schneider, Werner X; Finke, Kathrin

2011-10-01

The cognitive causes as well as the neurological and genetic basis of developmental dyslexia, a complex disorder of written language acquisition, are intensely discussed with regard to multiple-deficit models. Accumulating evidence has revealed dyslexics' impairments in a variety of tasks requiring visual attention. The heterogeneity of these experimental results, however, points to the need for measures that are sufficiently sensitive to differentiate between impaired and preserved attentional components within a unified framework. This first parameter-based group study of attentional components in developmental dyslexia addresses potentially altered attentional components that have recently been associated with parietal dysfunctions in dyslexia. We aimed to isolate the general attentional resources that might underlie reduced span performance, i.e., either a deficient working memory storage capacity, or a slowing in visual perceptual processing speed, or both. Furthermore, by analysing attentional selectivity in dyslexia, we addressed a potential lateralized abnormality of visual attention, i.e., a previously suggested rightward spatial deviation compared to normal readers. We investigated a group of high-achieving young adults with persisting dyslexia and matched normal readers in an experimental whole report and a partial report of briefly presented letter arrays. Possible deviations in the parametric values of the dyslexic compared to the control group were taken as markers for the underlying deficit. The dyslexic group showed a striking reduction in perceptual processing speed (by 26% compared to controls) while their working memory storage capacity was in the normal range. In addition, a spatial deviation of attentional weighting compared to the control group was confirmed in dyslexic readers, which was larger in participants with a more severe dyslexic disorder. In general, the present study supports the relevance of perceptual processing speed in disorders of written language acquisition and demonstrates that the parametric assessment provides a suitable tool for specifying the underlying deficit within a unitary framework. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Association between cognitive impairments and obsessive-compulsive spectrum presentations following traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Rydon-Grange, Michelle; Coetzer, Rudi

2017-01-02

This study examined the association between self-reported obsessive-compulsive spectrum symptomatology and cognitive performance in a sample of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Twenty-four adults with a moderate-severe TBI accessing a community brain injury rehabilitation service were recruited. Age ranged between 19 and 69 years. Participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tasks assessing memory, executive functioning, and speed of information processing. Self-report questionnaires assessing obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) traits were also completed. Correlational analyses revealed that deficits in cognitive flexibility were associated with greater self-reported OC symptomatology and severity. Greater OC symptom severity was significantly related to poorer performance on a visual memory task. Verbal memory and speed of information processing impairments were unrelated to OC symptoms. Performance on tasks of memory, executive functioning, and speed of information processing were not associated with OCPD traits. Overall, results indicate that greater OC symptomatology and severity were associated with specific neuropsychological functions (i.e., cognitive flexibility, visual memory). OCPD personality traits were unrelated to cognitive performance. Further research is needed to examine the potential causal relationship and longer-term interactions between cognitive sequelae and obsessive-compulsive spectrum presentations post-TBI.

Negative modulation of α5 GABAA receptors in rats may partially prevent memory impairment induced by MK-801, but not amphetamine- or MK-801-elicited hyperlocomotion

PubMed Central

Stamenić, Tamara Timić; Joksimović, Srdjan; Biawat, Poonam; Stanković, Tamara; Marković, Bojan; Cook, James M; Savić, Miroslav M

2016-01-01

Reportedly, negative modulation of α5 GABAA receptors may improve cognition in normal and pharmacologically-impaired animals, and such modulation has been proposed as an avenue for treatment of cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia. This study assessed the actions of PWZ-029, administered at doses (2, 5 and 10 mg/kg) at which it reached micromolar concentrations in brain tissue with estimated free concentrations adequate for selective modulation of α5 GABAA receptors, in three cognitive tasks in male Wistar rats acutely treated with the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate – receptor antagonist, MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg), as well in tests of locomotor activity potentiated by MK-801 (0.2 mg/kg) or amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg). In a hormetic-like manner, only 5 mg/kg PWZ-029 reversed MK-801-induced deficits in novel object recognition test (visual recognition memory), whereas in the Morris water maze, the 2 mg/kg dose of PWZ-029 exerted partial beneficial effects on spatial learning impairment. PWZ-029 did not affect recognition memory deficits in social novelty discrimination procedure. Motor hyperactivity induced with MK-801 or amphetamine was not preventable by PWZ-029. Our results show that certain MK-801-induced memory deficits can be ameliorated by negative modulation of α5 GABAA receptors, and point to the need for further elucidation of their translational relevance to cognitive deterioration in schizophrenia. PMID:26105958

Increased functional connectivity in the default mode network in mild cognitive impairment: a maladaptive compensatory mechanism associated with poor semantic memory performance.

PubMed

Gardini, Simona; Venneri, Annalena; Sambataro, Fabio; Cuetos, Fernando; Fasano, Fabrizio; Marchi, Massimo; Crisi, Girolamo; Caffarra, Paolo

2015-01-01

Semantic memory decline and changes of default mode network (DMN) connectivity have been reported in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Only a few studies, however, have investigated the role of changes of activity in the DMN on semantic memory in this clinical condition. The present study aimed to investigate more extensively the relationship between semantic memory impairment and DMN intrinsic connectivity in MCI. Twenty-one MCI patients and 21 healthy elderly controls matched for demographic variables took part in this study. All participants underwent a comprehensive semantic battery including tasks of category fluency, visual naming and naming from definition for objects, actions and famous people, word-association for early and late acquired words and reading. A subgroup of the original sample (16 MCI patients and 20 healthy elderly controls) was also scanned with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and DMN connectivity was estimated using a seed-based approach. Compared with healthy elderly, patients showed an extensive semantic memory decline in category fluency, visual naming, naming from definition, words-association, and reading tasks. Patients presented increased DMN connectivity between the medial prefrontal regions and the posterior cingulate and between the posterior cingulate and the parahippocampus and anterior hippocampus. MCI patients also showed a significant negative correlation of medial prefrontal gyrus connectivity with parahippocampus and posterior hippocampus and visual naming performance. Our findings suggest that increasing DMN connectivity may contribute to semantic memory deficits in MCI, specifically in visual naming. Increased DMN connectivity with posterior cingulate and medio-temporal regions seems to represent a maladaptive reorganization of brain functions in MCI, which detrimentally contributes to cognitive impairment in this clinical population.

Spatial working memory for locations specified by vision and audition: testing the amodality hypothesis.

PubMed

Loomis, Jack M; Klatzky, Roberta L; McHugh, Brendan; Giudice, Nicholas A

2012-08-01

Spatial working memory can maintain representations from vision, hearing, and touch, representations referred to here as spatial images. The present experiment addressed whether spatial images from vision and hearing that are simultaneously present within working memory retain modality-specific tags or are amodal. Observers were presented with short sequences of targets varying in angular direction, with the targets in a given sequence being all auditory, all visual, or a sequential mixture of the two. On two thirds of the trials, one of the locations was repeated, and observers had to respond as quickly as possible when detecting this repetition. Ancillary detection and localization tasks confirmed that the visual and auditory targets were perceptually comparable. Response latencies in the working memory task showed small but reliable costs in performance on trials involving a sequential mixture of auditory and visual targets, as compared with trials of pure vision or pure audition. These deficits were statistically reliable only for trials on which the modalities of the matching location switched from the penultimate to the final target in the sequence, indicating a switching cost. The switching cost for the pair in immediate succession means that the spatial images representing the target locations retain features of the visual or auditory representations from which they were derived. However, there was no reliable evidence of a performance cost for mixed modalities in the matching pair when the second of the two did not immediately follow the first, suggesting that more enduring spatial images in working memory may be amodal.

Attention and memory deficits in breast cancer survivors: implications for nursing practice and research.

PubMed

Frank, Jennifer Sandson; Vance, David E; Jukkala, Angela; Meneses, Karen M

2014-10-01

Breast cancer survivors (BCSs) commonly report deficits in attention and memory, cognitive functions crucial for daily optimal functioning. Perceived deficits are reported before, during, and after adjuvant therapy and affect quality of life throughout survivorship. Deficits of attention and memory are particularly disruptive for BCSs working or attending school who report that subtle impairment diminishes their confidence and their performance at all levels of occupation. Chemotherapy and endocrine therapy contribute to attention and memory deficits, but research findings have not fully established the extent or timing of that influence. Fortunately, potential interventions for attention and memory deficits in BCSs are promising. These include cognitive remediation therapies aimed at training for specific areas of deficit, cognitive behavioral therapies aimed at developing compensatory strategies for areas of deficit, complementary therapies, and pharmacologic therapies.

A Low Vision Rehabilitation Program for Patients with Mild Cognitive Deficits

PubMed Central

Whitson, Heather E.; Whitaker, Diane; Potter, Guy; McConnell, Eleanor; Tripp, Fay; Sanders, Linda L.; Muir, Kelly W.; Cohen, Harvey J.; Cousins, Scott W.

2012-01-01

Objective To design and pilot test a low vision rehabilitation program for patients with macular disease and cognitive deficits. Methods The Memory or Reasoning Enhanced Low Vision Rehabilitation (MORE-LVR) program was created by a team representing optometry, occupational therapy, ophthalmology, neuropsychology, and geriatrics. Key components of MORE-LVR are: 1) repetitive training with a therapist twice weekly over a 6-week period, 2) simplified training experience addressing no more than three individualized goals in a minimally distracting environment, 3) involvement of an informal companion (friend or family member). Eligible patients were recruited from an LVR clinic; measures were compared before and after the 6 week program. Results Twelve non-demented patients (mean age 84.5 years, 75% female) who screened positive for cognitive deficits completed the MORE-LVR intervention. Participants demonstrated improved scores on the National Eye Institute’s Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) composite score (47.2±16.3 to 54.8±13.8, p=0.01) and near activities score (21.5±14.0 to 41.0±23.1, p=0.02), timed performance measures (writing a grocery list [p=0.03], filling in a crossword puzzle answer [p=0.003]), a score indicating satisfaction with independence (p=0.05), and logical memory (p=0.02). All patients and companions reported progress toward at least one individualized goal; >70% reported progress toward all three goals. Conclusions This pilot study demonstrates feasibility of an LVR program for macular disease patients with mild cognitive deficits. Participants demonstrated improvements in vision-related function and cognitive measures and expressed high satisfaction. Future work is needed to determine if MORE-LVR is superior to usual outpatient LVR for persons with co-existing visual and cognitive impairments. PMID:23619914

Combined uridine and choline administration improves cognitive deficits in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

PubMed

De Bruin, N M W J; Kiliaan, A J; De Wilde, M C; Broersen, L M

2003-07-01

Rationale. Hypertension is considered a risk factor for the development of cognitive disorders, because of its negative effects on cerebral vasculature and blood flow. Genetically induced hypertension in rats has been associated with a range of cognitive impairments. Therefore, spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) can potentially be used as a model for cognitive deficits in human subjects. Consecutively, it can be determined whether certain food components can improve cognition in these rats. Objective. The present study aimed to determine whether SHR display specific deficits in attention, learning, and memory function. Additionally, effects of chronic uridine and choline administration were studied. Methods. 5-7 months old SHR were compared with normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. (a) The operant delayed non-matching-to-position (DNMTP) test was used to study short-term memory function. (b) The five-choice serial reaction time (5-CSRT) task was used to assess selective visual attention processes. (c) Finally, the Morris water maze (MWM) acquisition was used as a measure for spatial learning and mnemonic capabilities. Results. (1) SHR exhibited significantly impaired performance in the 5-CSRT test in comparison with the two other rat strains. Both the SHR and WKY showed deficits in spatial learning when compared with the SD rats. (2) Uridine and choline supplementation normalized performance of SHR in the 5-CSRT test. (3) In addition, uridine and choline treatment improved MWM acquisition in both WKY and SHR rats. Conclusion. The present results show that the SHR have a deficiency in visual selective attention and spatial learning. Therefore, the SHR may provide an interesting model in the screening of substances with therapeutic potential for treatment of cognitive disorders. A combination of uridine and choline administration improved selective attention and spatial learning in SHR.

The sounds of silence: language, cognition, and anxiety in selective mutism.

PubMed

Manassis, Katharina; Tannock, Rosemary; Garland, E Jane; Minde, Klaus; McInnes, Alison; Clark, Sandra

2007-09-01

To determine whether oral language, working memory, and social anxiety differentiate children with selective mutism (SM), children with anxiety disorders (ANX), and normal controls (NCs) and explore predictors of mutism severity. Children ages 6 to 10 years with SM (n = 44) were compared with children with ANX (n = 28) and NCs (n = 19) of similar age on standardized measures of language, nonverbal working memory, and social anxiety. Variables correlating with mutism severity were entered in stepwise regressions to determine predictors of mute behavior in SM. Children with SM scored significantly lower on standardized language measures than children with ANX and NCs and showed greater visual memory deficits and social anxiety relative to these two groups. Age and receptive grammar ability predicted less severe mutism, whereas social anxiety predicted more severe mutism. These factors accounted for 38% of the variance in mutism severity. Social anxiety and language deficits are evident in SM, may predict mutism severity, and should be evaluated in clinical assessment. Replication is indicated, as are further studies of cognition and of intervention in SM, using large, diverse samples.

Comparison of baseline and post-concussion ImPACT test scores in young athletes with stimulant-treated and untreated ADHD.

PubMed

Gardner, Ryan M; Yengo-Kahn, Aaron; Bonfield, Christopher M; Solomon, Gary S

2017-02-01

Baseline and post-concussion neurocognitive testing is useful in managing concussed athletes. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and stimulant medications are recognized as potential modifiers of performance on neurocognitive testing by the Concussion in Sport Group. Our goal was to assess whether individuals with ADHD perform differently on post-concussion testing and if this difference is related to the use of stimulants. Retrospective case-control study in which 4373 athletes underwent baseline and post-concussion testing using the ImPACT battery. 277 athletes self-reported a history of ADHD, of which, 206 reported no stimulant treatment and 69 reported stimulant treatment. Each group was matched with participants reporting no history of ADHD or stimulant use on several biopsychosocial characteristics. Non-parametric tests were used to assess ImPACT composite score differences between groups. Participants with ADHD had worse verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed, and reaction time scores than matched controls at baseline and post-concussion, all with p ≤ .001 and |r|≥ 0.100. Athletes without stimulant treatment had lower verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed, and reaction time scores than controls at baseline (p ≤ 0.01, |r|≥ 0.100 [except verbal memory, r = -0.088]) and post-concussion (p = 0.000, |r|> 0.100). Athletes with stimulant treatment had lower verbal memory (Baseline: p = 0.047, r = -0.108; Post-concussion: p = 0.023, r = -0.124) and visual memory scores (Baseline: p = 0.013, r = -0.134; Post-concussion: p = 0.003, r = -0.162) but equivalent visual motor speed and reaction time scores versus controls at baseline and post-concussion. ADHD-specific baseline and post-concussion neuropsychological profiles, as well as stimulant medication status, may need to be considered when interpreting ImPACT test results. Further investigation into the effects of ADHD and stimulant use on recovery from sport-related concussion (SRC) is warranted.

Study of Cognitive Impairments Following Clipping of Ruptured Anterior Circulation Aneurysms.

PubMed

Mohanty, Manju; Dhandapani, Sivashanmugam; Gupta, Sunil Kumar; Shahid, Adnan Hussain; Patra, Debi Prasad; Sharma, Anchal; Mathuriya, Suresh Narayan

2018-06-16

The cognitive impairments following treatment of ruptured aneurysms have often been underestimated. This study was to assess their prevalence and analyze various associated factors. Patients who were operated for ruptured anterior circulation aneurysms and discharged in Glasgow outcome scale 4-5 were studied at 3 months for various cognitive impairments. Continuous scales of memory (recent, remote, verbal, visual and overall memory), verbal fluency (phonemic and category fluency) and others were studied in relation to various factors. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using SPSS21. There were a total of 87 patients included in our study. Phonemic fluency was the most affected noted in 66% of patients. While 56% had some memory related impairments, 13 (15%) and 6 (7%) had moderate and severe deficits in recent memory, and 19 (22%) and 12 (14%) had moderate and severe deficits in remote memory respectively. Patients operated for anterior cerebral artery (ACA) aneurysms have significantly greater impairments in recent (34% vs 8%) and remote memory (43% vs 28%) compared to the rest, both in univariate (P values 0.01 & 0.002 respectively) and multivariate analyses (P values 0.01 & 0.03 respectively). ACA related aneurysms also had significantly greater independent impairments in phonemic fluency (P-value 0.04), compared to others. The clinical grade had a significant independent impact only on remote memory (P-value 0.01). Cognitive impairments are frequent following treatment of ruptured anterior circulation aneurysms. Impairments in recent memory, remote memory, and phonemic fluency are significantly greater following treatment of ACA related aneurysms, compared to others, independent of other factors. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A family at risk: congenital prosopagnosia, poor face recognition and visuoperceptual deficits within one family.

PubMed

Johnen, Andreas; Schmukle, Stefan C; Hüttenbrink, Judith; Kischka, Claudia; Kennerknecht, Ingo; Dobel, Christian

2014-05-01

Congenital prosopagnosia (CP) describes a severe face processing impairment despite intact early vision and in the absence of overt brain damage. CP is assumed to be present from birth and often transmitted within families. Previous studies reported conflicting findings regarding associated deficits in nonface visuoperceptual tasks. However, diagnostic criteria for CP significantly differed between studies, impeding conclusions on the heterogeneity of the impairment. Following current suggestions for clinical diagnoses of CP, we administered standardized tests for face processing, a self-report questionnaire and general visual processing tests to an extended family (N=28), in which many members reported difficulties with face recognition. This allowed us to assess the degree of heterogeneity of the deficit within a large sample of suspected CPs of similar genetic and environmental background. (a) We found evidence for a severe face processing deficit but intact nonface visuoperceptual skills in three family members - a father and his two sons - who fulfilled conservative criteria for a CP diagnosis on standardized tests and a self-report questionnaire, thus corroborating findings of familial transmissions of CP. (b) Face processing performance of the remaining family members was also significantly below the mean of the general population, suggesting that face processing impairments are transmitted as a continuous trait rather than in a dichotomous all-or-nothing fashion. (c) Self-rating scores of face recognition showed acceptable correlations with standardized tests, suggesting this method as a viable screening procedure for CP diagnoses. (d) Finally, some family members revealed severe impairments in general visual processing and nonface visual memory tasks either in conjunction with face perception deficits or as an isolated impairment. This finding may indicate an elevated risk for more general visuoperceptual deficits in families with prosopagnosic members. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of cholinergic deafferentation of the rhinal cortex on visual recognition memory in monkeys.

PubMed

Turchi, Janita; Saunders, Richard C; Mishkin, Mortimer

2005-02-08

Excitotoxic lesion studies have confirmed that the rhinal cortex is essential for visual recognition ability in monkeys. To evaluate the mnemonic role of cholinergic inputs to this cortical region, we compared the visual recognition performance of monkeys given rhinal cortex infusions of a selective cholinergic immunotoxin, ME20.4-SAP, with the performance of monkeys given control infusions into this same tissue. The immunotoxin, which leads to selective cholinergic deafferentation of the infused cortex, yielded recognition deficits of the same magnitude as those produced by excitotoxic lesions of this region, providing the most direct demonstration to date that cholinergic activation of the rhinal cortex is essential for storing the representations of new visual stimuli and thereby enabling their later recognition.

Parietal substrates for dimensional effects in visual search: evidence from lesion-symptom mapping

PubMed Central

Humphreys, Glyn W.; Chechlacz, Magdalena

2013-01-01

In visual search, the detection of pop-out targets is facilitated when the target-defining dimension remains the same compared with when it changes across trials. We tested the brain regions necessary for these dimensional carry-over effects using a voxel-based morphometry study with brain-lesioned patients. Participants had to search for targets defined by either their colour (red or blue) or orientation (right- or left-tilted), and the target dimension either stayed the same or changed on consecutive trials. Twenty-five patients were categorized according to whether they showed an effect of dimensional change on search or not. The two groups did not differ with regard to their performance on several working memory tasks, and the dimensional carry-over effects were not correlated with working memory performance. With spatial, sustained attention and working memory deficits as well as lesion volume controlled, damage within the right inferior parietal lobule (the angular and supramarginal gyri) extending into the intraparietal sulcus was associated with an absence of dimensional carry-over (P < 0.001, cluster-level corrected for multiple comparisons). The data suggest that these regions of parietal cortex are necessary to implement attention shifting in the context of visual dimensional change. PMID:23404335

Cross-training in hemispatial neglect: auditory sustained attention training ameliorates visual attention deficits.

PubMed

Van Vleet, Thomas M; DeGutis, Joseph M

2013-03-01

Prominent deficits in spatial attention evident in patients with hemispatial neglect are often accompanied by equally prominent deficits in non-spatial attention (e.g., poor sustained and selective attention, pronounced vigilance decrement). A number of studies now show that deficits in non-spatial attention influence spatial attention. Treatment strategies focused on improving vigilance or sustained attention may effectively remediate neglect. For example, a recent study employing Tonic and Phasic Alertness Training (TAPAT), a task that requires monitoring a constant stream of hundreds of novel scenes, demonstrated group-level (n=12) improvements after training compared to a test-retest control group or active treatment control condition on measures of visual search, midpoint estimation and working memory (DeGutis and Van Vleet, 2010). To determine whether the modality of treatment or stimulus novelty are key factors to improving hemispatial neglect, we designed a similar continuous performance training task in which eight patients with chronic and moderate to severe neglect were challenged to rapidly and continuously discriminate a limited set of centrally presented auditory tones once a day for 9 days (36-min/day). All patients demonstrated significant improvement in several, untrained measures of spatial and non-spatial visual attention, and as a group failed to demonstrate a lateralized attention deficit 24-h post-training compared to a control group of chronic neglect patients who simply waited during the training period. The results indicate that TAPAT-related improvements in hemispatial neglect are likely due to improvements in the intrinsic regulation of supramodal, non-spatial attentional resources. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Preterm Infant Hippocampal Volumes Correlate with Later Working Memory Deficits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beauchamp, Miriam H.; Thompson, Deanne K.; Howard, Kelly; Doyle, Lex W.; Egan, Gary F.; Inder, Terrie E.; Anderson, Peter J.

2008-01-01

Children born preterm exhibit working memory deficits. These deficits may be associated with structural brain changes observed in the neonatal period. In this study, the relationship between neonatal regional brain volumes and working memory deficits at age 2 years were investigated, with a particular interest in the dorsolateral prefrontal…

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

PubMed

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

2015-02-01

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

Physical exercise prevents short and long-term deficits on aversive and recognition memory and attenuates brain oxidative damage induced by maternal deprivation.

PubMed

Neves, Ben-Hur; Menezes, Jefferson; Souza, Mauren Assis; Mello-Carpes, Pâmela B

2015-12-01

It is known from previous research that physical exercise prevents long-term memory deficits induced by maternal deprivation in rats. But we could not assume similar effects of physical exercise on short-term memory, as short- and long-term memories are known to result from some different memory consolidation processes. Here we demonstrated that, in addition to long-term memory deficit, the short-term memory deficit resultant from maternal deprivation in object recognition and aversive memory tasks is also prevented by physical exercise. Additionally, one of the mechanisms by which the physical exercise influences the memory processes involves its effects attenuating the oxidative damage in the maternal deprived rats' hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

The contralateral delay activity as a neural measure of visual working memory

PubMed Central

Luria, Roy; Balaban, Halely; Awh, Edward; Vogel, Edward K.

2016-01-01

The contralateral delay activity (CDA) is a negative slow wave sensitive to the number of objects maintained in visual working memory (VWM). In recent years, a growing number of labs started to use the CDA in order to investigate VWM, leading to many fascinating discoveries. Here, we discuss the recent developments and contribution of the CDA in various research fields. Importantly, we report two meta-analyses that unequivocally validate the relationship between the set-size increase in the CDA amplitude and the individual VWM capacity, and between the CDA and filtering efficiency. We further discuss how the CDA was used to study the role of VWM in visual search, multiple object tracking, grouping, binding, and whether VWM capacity allocation is determined by the items’ resolution or instead by the number of objects regardless of their complexity. In addition, we report how the CDA has been used to characterize specific VWM deficits in special populations. PMID:26802451

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

PubMed

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

2007-09-01

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

The effect of visual arrangement on visuospatial short-term memory: Insights from children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

PubMed

Attout, Lucie; Noël, Marie-Pascale; Rousselle, Laurence

2018-04-11

Recent models of visuospatial (VSSP) short-term memory postulate the existence of two dissociable mechanisms depending on whether VSSP information is presented simultaneously or sequentially. However, they do not specify to what extent VSSP short-term memory is under the influence of general VSSP processing. This issue was examined in people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a genetic condition involving a VSSP deficit. The configuration of VSSP information was manipulated (structured vs. unstructured) to explore the impact of arrangement on VSSP short-term memory. Two presentation modes were used to see whether the VSSP arrangement has the same impact on simultaneous and sequential short-term memory. Compared to children matched on chronological age, children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome showed impaired performance only for structured arrangement, regardless of the presentation mode, suggesting an influence of VSSP processing on VSSP short-term memory abilities. A revised cognitive architecture for a model of VSSP short-term memory is proposed.

Neural hyperactivity related to working memory in drug-naive boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Li, Yuanyuan; Li, Fei; He, Ning; Guo, Lanting; Huang, Xiaoqi; Lui, Su; Gong, Qiyong

2014-08-04

Impaired working memory is thought to be a core feature of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous imaging studies investigating working memory in ADHD have used tasks involving different cognitive resources and ignoring the categorical judgments about objects that are essential parts of performance in visual working memory tasks, thus complicating the interpretation of their findings. In the present study, we explored differential neural activation in children and adolescents with ADHD and in healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with the categorical n-back task (CN-BT), which maximized demands for executive reasoning while holding memory demands constant. A total of 33 drug-naive, right-handed male ADHD without comorbidity (mean age 9.9±2.4 years) and 27 right-handed, healthy male controls (mean age 10.9±2.7 years) were recruited in the present study. Event-related fMRI was used to study differences in brain activity during the CN-BT between the two groups. The two groups did not differ in their accuracy in the CN-BT, although the ADHD patients showed significantly shorter reaction times to correct responses than did the controls. During the CN-BT, both ADHD patients and controls showed significant positive and negative activations by the correct responses, mainly in the sensory-motor pathways and the striato-cerebellum circuit. Additionally, the ADHD patients showed significantly higher activation in the bilateral globus pallidus and the right hippocampus compared with the controls. There was also a positive correlation between hyperactivation of the left globus pallidus and the reaction time to correct responses in ADHD. In contrast to controls, ADHD patients showed neural hyperactivation in the striatum and mediotemporal areas during a working memory task involving categorization. Hyperfunction in these areas might be the pathophysiological foundation of ADHD, related to the deficits of working memory and the impulsive symptoms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impaired Contingent Attentional Capture Predicts Reduced Working Memory Capacity in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Mayer, Jutta S.; Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K.; Park, Sohee

2012-01-01

Although impairments in working memory (WM) are well documented in schizophrenia, the specific factors that cause these deficits are poorly understood. In this study, we hypothesized that a heightened susceptibility to attentional capture at an early stage of visual processing would result in working memory encoding problems. 30 patients with schizophrenia and 28 demographically matched healthy participants were presented with a search array and asked to report the orientation of the target stimulus. In some of the trials, a flanker stimulus preceded the search array that either matched the color of the target (relevant-flanker capture) or appeared in a different color (irrelevant-flanker capture). Working memory capacity was determined in each individual using the visual change detection paradigm. Patients needed considerably more time to find the target in the no-flanker condition. After adjusting the individual exposure time, both groups showed equivalent capture costs in the irrelevant-flanker condition. However, in the relevant-flanker condition, capture costs were increased in patients compared to controls when the stimulus onset asynchrony between the flanker and the search array was high. Moreover, the increase in relevant capture costs correlated negatively with working memory capacity. This study demonstrates preserved stimulus-driven attentional capture but impaired contingent attentional capture associated with low working memory capacity in schizophrenia. These findings suggest a selective impairment of top-down attentional control in schizophrenia, which may impair working memory encoding. PMID:23152783

Impaired contingent attentional capture predicts reduced working memory capacity in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Mayer, Jutta S; Fukuda, Keisuke; Vogel, Edward K; Park, Sohee

2012-01-01

Although impairments in working memory (WM) are well documented in schizophrenia, the specific factors that cause these deficits are poorly understood. In this study, we hypothesized that a heightened susceptibility to attentional capture at an early stage of visual processing would result in working memory encoding problems. 30 patients with schizophrenia and 28 demographically matched healthy participants were presented with a search array and asked to report the orientation of the target stimulus. In some of the trials, a flanker stimulus preceded the search array that either matched the color of the target (relevant-flanker capture) or appeared in a different color (irrelevant-flanker capture). Working memory capacity was determined in each individual using the visual change detection paradigm. Patients needed considerably more time to find the target in the no-flanker condition. After adjusting the individual exposure time, both groups showed equivalent capture costs in the irrelevant-flanker condition. However, in the relevant-flanker condition, capture costs were increased in patients compared to controls when the stimulus onset asynchrony between the flanker and the search array was high. Moreover, the increase in relevant capture costs correlated negatively with working memory capacity. This study demonstrates preserved stimulus-driven attentional capture but impaired contingent attentional capture associated with low working memory capacity in schizophrenia. These findings suggest a selective impairment of top-down attentional control in schizophrenia, which may impair working memory encoding.

Hue-specific colour memory impairment in an individual with intact colour perception and colour naming.

PubMed

Jakobson, L S; Pearson, P M; Robertson, B

2008-01-15

Cases of hue-selective dyschomatopsias, together with the results of recent optical imaging studies [Xiao, Y., Casti, A. R. R., Xiao, J., & Kaplan, E. (2006). A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque primary visual cortex. Perception, 35, ECVP Abstract Supplement; Xiao, Y., Wang, Y., & Felleman, D. J. (2003). A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque cortical area V2. Nature, 421, 535-539], have provided support for the idea that different colours are processed in spatially distinct regions of extrastriate cortex. In the present report, we provide evidence suggesting that a similar, but distinct, map may exist for representations of colour in memory. This evidence comes from observations of a young woman (QP) who demonstrates an isolated deficit in colour memory secondary to a concussive episode. Despite having normal colour perception and colour naming skills, and above-average memory skills in other domains, QP's ability to recall visually encoded colour information over short retention intervals is dramatically impaired. Her long-term memory for colour and her colour imagery skills are also abnormal. Surprisingly, however, these impairments are not seen with all hues; specifically, her ability to remember or imagine blue shades is spared. This interesting case contributes to the literature suggesting that colour perception, naming, and memory can be clinically dissociated, and provides insights into the organization of colour information in memory.

Proactive interference and concurrent inhibitory processes do not differentially affect item and associative recognition: Implication for the age-related associative memory deficit.

PubMed

Guez, Jonathan; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2016-09-01

Previous studies have suggested an associative deficit hypothesis [Naveh-Benjamin, M. ( 2000 ). Adult age differences in memory performance: Tests of an associative deficit hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 1170-1187] to explain age-related episodic memory declines. The hypothesis attributes part of the deficient episodic memory performance in older adults to a difficulty in creating and retrieving cohesive episodes. In this article, we further evaluate this hypothesis by testing two alternative processes that potentially mediate associative memory deficits in older adults. Four experiments are presented that assess whether failure of inhibitory processes (proactive interference in Experiments 1 and 2), and concurrent inhibition (in Experiments 3 and 4) are mediating factors in age-related associative deficits. The results suggest that creating conditions that require the operation of inhibitory processes, or that interfere with such processes, cannot simulate associative memory deficit in older adults. Instead, such results support the idea that associative memory deficits reflect a unique binding failure in older adults. This failure seems to be independent of other cognitive processes, including inhibitory and other resource-demanding processes.

Mathematics skills in good readers with hydrocephalus.

PubMed

Barnes, Marcia A; Pengelly, Sarah; Dennis, Maureen; Wilkinson, Margaret; Rogers, Tracey; Faulkner, Heather

2002-01-01

Children with hydrocephalus have poor math skills. We investigated the nature of their arithmetic computation errors by comparing written subtraction errors in good readers with hydrocephalus, typically developing good readers of the same age, and younger children matched for math level to the children with hydrocephalus. Children with hydrocephalus made more procedural errors (although not more fact retrieval or visual-spatial errors) than age-matched controls; they made the same number of procedural errors as younger, math-level matched children. We also investigated a broad range of math abilities, and found that children with hydrocephalus performed more poorly than age-matched controls on tests of geometry and applied math skills such as estimation and problem solving. Computation deficits in children with hydrocephalus reflect delayed development of procedural knowledge. Problems in specific math domains such as geometry and applied math, were associated with deficits in constituent cognitive skills such as visual spatial competence, memory, and general knowledge.

Visual Processing during Short-Term Memory Binding in Mild Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Fernández, Gerardo; Orozco, David; Agamennoni, Osvaldo; Schumacher, Marcela; Sañudo, Silvana; Biondi, Juan; Parra, Mario A

2018-01-01

Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) typically present with attentional and oculomotor abnormalities that can have an impact on visual processing and associated cognitive functions. Over the last few years, we have witnessed a shift toward the analyses of eye movement behaviors as a means to further our understanding of the pathophysiology of common disorders such as AD. However, little work has been done to unveil the link between eye moment abnormalities and poor performance on cognitive tasks known to be markers for AD patients, such as the short-term memory-binding task. We analyzed eye movement fixation behaviors of thirteen healthy older adults (Controls) and thirteen patients with probable mild AD while they performed the visual short-term memory binding task. The short-term memory binding task asks participants to detect changes across two consecutive arrays of two bicolored object whose features (i.e., colors) have to be remembered separately (i.e., Unbound Colors), or combined within integrated objects (i.e., Bound Colors). Patients with mild AD showed the well-known pattern of selective memory binding impairments. This was accompanied by significant impairments in their eye movements only when they processed Bound Colors. Patients with mild AD remarkably decreased their mean gaze duration during the encoding of color-color bindings. These findings open new windows of research into the pathophysiological mechanisms of memory deficits in AD patients and the link between its phenotypic expressions (i.e., oculomotor and cognitive disorders). We discuss these findings considering current trends regarding clinical assessment, neural correlates, and potential avenues for robust biomarkers.

The role of reduced working memory storage and processing resources in the associative memory deficit of older adults: simulation studies with younger adults.

PubMed

Hara, Yoko; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2015-01-01

Previous research indicates that relative to younger adults, older adults show a larger decline in long-term memory (LTM) for associations than for the components that make up these associations. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether we can impair associative memory performance in young adults by reducing their working memory (WM) resources, hence providing potential clues regarding the underlying causes of the associative memory deficit in older adults. With two experiments, we investigated whether we can reduce younger adults' long-term associative memory using secondary tasks in which either storage or processing WM loads were manipulated, while participants learned name-face pairs and then remembered the names, the faces, and the name-face associations. Results show that reducing either the storage or the processing resources of WM produced performance patterns of an associative long-term memory deficit in young adults. Furthermore, younger adults' associative memory deficit was a function of their performance on a working memory span task. These results indicate that one potential reason older adults have an associative deficit is a reduction in their WM resources but further research is needed to assess the mechanisms involved in age-related associative memory deficits.

Sleep Restores Daytime Deficits in Procedural Memory in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prehn-Kristensen, Alexander; Molzow, Ina; Munz, Manuel; Wilhelm, Ines; Muller, Kathrin; Freytag, Damaris; Wiesner, Christian D.; Baving, Lioba

2011-01-01

Sleep supports the consolidation of declarative and procedural memory. While prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity supports the consolidation of declarative memory during sleep, opposite effects of PFC activity are reported with respect to the consolidation of procedural memory during sleep. Patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)…

Oculomotor evidence for neocortical systems but not cerebellar dysfunction in autism

PubMed Central

Minshew, Nancy J.; Luna, Beatriz; Sweeney, John A.

2010-01-01

Objective To investigate the functional integrity of cerebellar and frontal system in autism using oculomotor paradigms. Background Cerebellar and neocortical systems models of autism have been proposed. Courchesne and colleagues have argued that cognitive deficits such as shifting attention disturbances result from dysfunction of vermal lobules VI and VII. Such a vermal deficit should be associated with dysmetric saccadic eye movements because of the major role these areas play in guiding the motor precision of saccades. In contrast, neocortical models of autism predict intact saccade metrics, but impairments on tasks requiring the higher cognitive control of saccades. Methods A total of 26 rigorously diagnosed nonmentally retarded autistic subjects and 26 matched healthy control subjects were assessed with a visually guided saccade task and two volitional saccade tasks, the oculomotor delayed-response task and the antisaccade task. Results Metrics and dynamic of the visually guided saccades were normal in autistic subjects, documenting the absence of disturbances in cerebellar vermal lobules VI and VII and in automatic shifts of visual attention. Deficits were demonstrated on both volitional saccade tasks, indicating dysfunction in the circuitry of prefrontal cortex and its connections with the parietal cortex, and associated cognitive impairments in spatial working memory and in the ability to voluntarily suppress context-inappropriate responses. Conclusions These findings demonstrate intrinsic neocortical, not cerebellar, dysfunction in autism, and parallel deficits in higher order cognitive mechanisms and not in elementary attentional and sensorimotor systems in autism. PMID:10102406

Muscarinic Receptor-Dependent Long Term Depression in the Perirhinal Cortex and Recognition Memory are Impaired in the rTg4510 Mouse Model of Tauopathy.

PubMed

Scullion, Sarah E; Barker, Gareth R I; Warburton, E Clea; Randall, Andrew D; Brown, Jonathan T

2018-02-26

Neurodegenerative diseases affecting cognitive dysfunction, such as Alzheimer's disease and fronto-temporal dementia, are often associated impairments in the visual recognition memory system. Recent evidence suggests that synaptic plasticity, in particular long term depression (LTD), in the perirhinal cortex (PRh) is a critical cellular mechanism underlying recognition memory. In this study, we have examined novel object recognition and PRh LTD in rTg4510 mice, which transgenically overexpress tau P301L . We found that 8-9 month old rTg4510 mice had significant deficits in long- but not short-term novel object recognition memory. Furthermore, we also established that PRh slices prepared from rTg4510 mice, unlike those prepared from wildtype littermates, could not support a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor-dependent form of LTD, induced by a 5 Hz stimulation protocol. In contrast, bath application of the muscarinic agonist carbachol induced a form of chemical LTD in both WT and rTg4510 slices. Finally, when rTg4510 slices were preincubated with the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil, the 5 Hz stimulation protocol was capable of inducing significant levels of LTD. These data suggest that dysfunctional cholinergic innervation of the PRh of rTg4510 mice, results in deficits in synaptic LTD which may contribute to aberrant recognition memory in this rodent model of tauopathy.

Cognitive Impairment in Euthymic Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Elias, Liana R; Miskowiak, Kamilla W; Vale, Antônio M O; Köhler, Cristiano A; Kjærstad, Hanne L; Stubbs, Brendon; Kessing, Lars V; Vieta, Eduard; Maes, Michael; Goldstein, Benjamin I; Carvalho, André F

2017-04-01

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies investigating neurocognition in euthymic youths with bipolar disorder (BD) compared to healthy controls (HCs). A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases from inception up until March 23, 2016, for original peer-reviewed articles that investigated neurocognition in euthymic youths with BD compared to HCs. Effect sizes (ES) for individual tests were extracted. In addition, results were grouped according to cognitive domain. This review complied with the PRISMA statement guidelines. A total of 24 studies met inclusion criteria (N = 1,146; 510 with BD). Overall, euthymic youths with BD were significantly impaired in verbal learning, verbal memory, working memory, visual learning, and visual memory, with moderate to large ESs (Hedge's g 0.76-0.99); significant impairments were not observed for attention/vigilance, reasoning and problem solving, and/or processing speed. Heterogeneity was moderate to large (I 2  ≥ 50%) for most ES estimates. Differences in the definition of euthymia across studies explained the heterogeneity in the ES estimate for verbal learning and memory. We also found evidence for other potential sources of heterogeneity in several ES estimates including co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety disorders, and the use of medications. In addition, the use of different neuropsychological tests appeared to contribute to heterogeneity of some estimates (e.g., attention/vigilance domain). Euthymic youths with BD exhibit significant cognitive dysfunction encompassing verbal learning and memory, working memory, and/or visual learning and memory domains. These data indicate that for a subset of individuals with BD, neurodevelopmental factors may contribute to cognitive dysfunction. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An electrophysiological insight into visual attention mechanisms underlying schizotypy.

PubMed

Fuggetta, Giorgio; Bennett, Matthew A; Duke, Philip A

2015-07-01

A theoretical framework has been put forward to understand attention deficits in schizophrenia (Luck SJ & Gold JM. Biological Psychiatry. 2008; 64:34-39). We adopted this framework to evaluate any deficits in attentional processes in schizotypy. Sixteen low schizotypal (LoS) and 16 high schizotypal (HiS) individuals performed a novel paradigm combining a match-to-sample task, with inhibition of return (using spatially uninformative cues) and memory-guided efficient visual-search within one trial sequence. Behavioural measures and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Behaviourally, HiS individuals exhibited a spatial cueing effect while LoS individuals showed the more typical inhibition of return effect. These results suggest HiS individuals have a relative deficit in rule selection - the endogenous control process involved in disengaging attention from the uninformative location cue. ERP results showed that the late-phase of N2pc evoked by the target stimulus had greater peak latency and amplitude in HiS individuals. This suggests a relative deficit in the implementation of selection - the process of focusing attention onto target features that enhances relevant/suppresses irrelevant inputs. This is a different conclusion than when the same theoretical framework has been applied to schizophrenia, which argues little or no deficit in implementation of selection amongst patients. Also, HiS individuals exhibited earlier onset and greater amplitude of the mismatch-triggered negativity component. In summary, our results indicate deficits of both control and implementation of selection in HiS individuals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robust training attenuates TBI-induced deficits in reference and working memory on the radial 8-arm maze

PubMed Central

Sebastian, Veronica; Diallo, Aissatou; Ling, Douglas S. F.; Serrano, Peter A.

2013-01-01

Globally, it is estimated that nearly 10 million people sustain severe brain injuries leading to hospitalization and/or death every year. Amongst survivors, traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in a wide variety of physical, emotional and cognitive deficits. The most common cognitive deficit associated with TBI is memory loss, involving impairments in spatial reference and working memory. However, the majority of research thus far has characterized the deficits associated with TBI on either reference or working memory systems separately, without investigating how they interact within a single task. Thus, we examined the effects of TBI on short-term working and long-term reference memory using the radial 8-arm maze (RAM) with a sequence of four baited and four unbaited arms. Subjects were given 10 daily trials for 6 days followed by a memory retrieval test 2 weeks after training. Multiple training trials not only provide robust training, but also test the subjects' ability to frequently update short-term memory while learning the reference rules of the task. Our results show that TBI significantly impaired short-term working memory function on previously acquired spatial information but has little effect on long-term reference memory. Additionally, TBI significantly increased working memory errors during acquisition and reference memory errors during retention testing 2 weeks later. With a longer recovery period after TBI, the robust RAM training mitigated the reference memory deficit in retention but not the short-term working memory deficit during acquisition. These results identify the resiliency and vulnerabilities of short-term working and long-term reference memory to TBI in the context of robust training. The data highlight the role of cognitive training and other behavioral remediation strategies implicated in attenuating deficits associated with TBI. PMID:23653600

Long term neurocognitive improvement after "late" right hemispherectomy: case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Moletto, Alessandra; Bagnasco, Irene; Dassi, Patrizia; Vigliano, Piernanda

2018-03-21

To study the long-term neurocognitive changes of a right-handed girl with intractable epilepsy after late right hemispherectomy and compare them with data in the literature. The girl was affected by an epileptic encephalopathy associated with right fronto-temporo-parietal polymicrogyria; she was submitted to right hemispherectomy at the age of 5 and examined with cognitive and neuropsychological tests at the age of 17 years. The girl took advantage of neurocognitive rehabilitation for several years; she is currently seizure-free and off therapy. At the end of the follow-up, the full-scale IQ is stable and within the normal range (p = 88). As the discrepancy between verbal IQ (pp = 120) and performance IQ (pp = 71) is significantly high, the girl was subjected to neurocognitive evaluation with the following results: verbal problem solving, verbal short- and long-term memory, and executive functions are within normal range. The most fragile functional areas are visual and spatial reasoning, verbal working memory, short-term visuospatial memory, visual attention, and processing speed, all > 2 SD. The spatial tests, such as coding, matrix reasoning, picture concepts, and arithmetic reasoning (which are favored by other functions such as associative memory and learning ability), are less severely impaired. These findings show that good conceptual skills and verbal reasoning can compensate for some deficits in visual-perceptual and visuospatial functions.

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

PubMed

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

2016-02-01

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

Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crane, Laura; Goddard, Lorna

2008-01-01

Episodic and semantic autobiographical memories were examined in a group of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and a control group matched for age, gender and IQ. Results demonstrated a personal episodic memory deficit in the ASD group in the absence of a personal semantic memory deficit, suggesting a deficit dissociation between these…

Factor Structure of ImPACT® in Adolescent Student Athletes.

PubMed

Gerrard, Paul B; Iverson, Grant L; Atkins, Joseph E; Maxwell, Bruce A; Zafonte, Ross; Schatz, Philip; Berkner, Paul D

2017-02-01

ImPACT ® (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is a computerized neuropsychological screening battery, which is widely used to measure the acute effects of sport-related concussion and to monitor recovery from injury. This study examined the factor structure of ImPACT ® in several samples of high school student athletes. We hypothesized that a 2-factor structure would be present in all samples. A sample of 4,809 adolescent student athletes was included, and subgroups with a history of treatment for headaches or a self-reported history of learning problems or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were analyzed separately. Exploratory principal axis factor analyses with Promax rotations were used. As hypothesized, both the combination of Verbal Memory and Visual Memory Composite scores loaded on one (Memory) factor, while Visual Motor Speed and Reaction Time loaded on a different (Speed) factor, in the total sample and in all subgroups. These results provide reasonably compelling evidence, across multiple samples, which ImPACT ® measures 2 distinct factors: memory and speed. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A flavanoid component of chocolate quickly reverses an imposed memory deficit.

PubMed

Knezevic, Bogdan; Komatsuzaki, Yoshimasa; de Freitas, Emily; Lukowiak, Ken

2016-03-01

The ability to remember is influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors, such as stress and diet. A flavanol contained in chocolate, epicatechin (Epi), has been shown to enhance long-term memory (LTM) formation in Lymnaea. Combining two stressors (low-calcium pond water and crowding) blocks learning and all forms of memory; that is, this combination of environmentally relevant stressors creates a memory-unfriendly state. We tested the hypothesis that Epi will immediately reverse the memory-unfriendly state, i.e. that snails in the memory-deficit state when trained in Epi will immediately become competent to learn and form memory. We found that Epi not only reverses the memory-deficit state but also further enhances LTM formation. Thus, a naturally occurring bioactive plant compound can overcome a memory-unfriendly state. This supports the idea that bioactive substances may mitigate memory-making deficits that, for example, occur with ageing. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Visual hallucinations of autobiographic memory and asomatognosia: a case of epilepsy due to brain cysticercosis.

PubMed

Orjuela-Rojas, Juan Manuel; Ramírez-Bermúdez, Jesús; Martínez-Juárez, Iris E; Kerik, Nora Estela; Diaz Meneses, Iván; Pérez-Gay, Fernanda Juárez

2015-01-01

The current study describes the case of a woman with symptomatic epilepsy due to brain cysticercosis acquired during childhood. During her adolescence, she developed seizures characterized by metamorphopsia, hallucinations of autobiographic memory and, finally, asomatognosia. Magnetic brain imaging showed a calcified lesion in the right occipitotemporal cortex, and positron emission tomography imaging confirmed the presence of interictal hypometabolism in two regions: the right parietal cortex and the right lateral and posterior temporal cortex. We discuss the link between these brain areas and the symptoms described under the concepts of epileptogenic lesion, epileptogenic zone, functional deficit zone, and symptomatogenic zone.

Assessing the associative deficit of older adults in long-term and short-term/working memory.

PubMed

Chen, Tina; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2012-09-01

Older adults exhibit a deficit in associative long-term memory relative to younger adults. However, the literature is inconclusive regarding whether this deficit is attenuated in short-term/working memory. To elucidate the issue, three experiments assessed younger and older adults' item and interitem associative memory and the effects of several variables that might potentially contribute to the inconsistent pattern of results in previous studies. In Experiment 1, participants were tested on item and associative recognition memory with both long-term and short-term retention intervals in a single, continuous recognition paradigm. There was an associative deficit for older adults in the short-term and long-term intervals. Using only short-term intervals, Experiment 2 utilized mixed and blocked test designs to examine the effect of test event salience. Blocking the test did not attenuate the age-related associative deficit seen in the mixed test blocks. Finally, an age-related associative deficit was found in Experiment 3, under both sequential and simultaneous presentation conditions. Even while accounting for some methodological issues, the associative deficit of older adults is evident in short-term/working memory.

Correlates of self-reported, autobiographical, and mini-mental status examination defined memory deficits following electroconvulsive therapy in South India.

PubMed

Rajkumar, Anto P; Petit, Cheryl P; Rachana, Arun; Deinde, Funmi; Shyamsundar, G; Thangadurai, P; Jacob, Kuruthukulangara S

2018-04-01

Cognitive deficits, self-reported or found following electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and their correlates are diverse. Despite the characteristics of people receiving ECT in Asia differ widely from the west, pertinent research from Asia remains sparse. We investigated the correlates of self-reported, mini-mental status examination (MMSE) defined, and autobiographical memory deficits in a cohort that received ECT in a south Indian tertiary-care setting. 76 consecutive consenting people were recruited within seven days of completing their ECT course. Memory was assessed by a subjective Likert scale, MMSE, and an autobiographical memory scale (AMS). Psychopathology was assessed by brief psychiatric rating scale, and serum cortisol levels were estimated by chemi-luminescence immunoassays. Relevant sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from the participants, and their medical records. The correlates were analysed using generalised linear models after adjusting for the effects of potential confounders. Self-reported, MMSE-defined, and autobiographical memory deficits were present in 27.6% (95%CI 17.6-37.7%), 42.1% (95%CI 31.0-53.2%), and 36.8% (95%CI 26.0-47.7%) of participants, respectively. Agreement between the memory deficits was poor. Age, less education, duration of illness, hypothyroidism, and past history of another ECT course were significantly associated with MMSE-defined deficits. Age, anaemia, past ECT course, and pre-ECT blood pressure were significantly associated with autobiographical memory deficits, while residual psychopathology and cortisol levels were significantly associated with self-reported memory deficits. Self-reported, MMSE-defined, and autobiographical memory deficits are common at the completion of ECT course, and their correlates differ. All service users receiving ECT need periodic cognitive assessments evaluating multiple cognitive domains. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neurocognitive status in patients with newly-diagnosed brain tumors in good neurological condition: The impact of tumor type, volume, and location.

PubMed

Hendrix, Philipp; Hans, Elisa; Griessenauer, Christoph J; Simgen, Andreas; Oertel, Joachim; Karbach, Julia

2017-05-01

Neurocognitive function is of great importance in patients with brain tumors. Even patients in good neurological condition may suffer from neurocognitive dysfunction that affects their daily living. The purpose of the present study was to identify risk factors for neurocognitive dysfunction in patients suffering from common supratentorial brain tumors with minor neurological deficits. A prospective study evaluating neurocognitive dysfunction in patients with a newly-diagnosed brain tumor in good neurological condition was performed at a major German academic institution. Patients underwent extensive neurocognitive testing assessing perceptual speed, executive function, visual-spatial and verbal working memory, short- and long-term memory, verbal fluency, fluid intelligence, anxiety, and depression. For each patient, a healthy control was pair-matched based on age, sex, handedness, and profession. A total of 46 patients and 46 healthy controls underwent neurocognitive testing. Patients suffered from glioblastoma multiforme (10), cerebral metastasis (10), pituitary adenoma (13), or meningioma (13). There was neither any difference in age, educational level, fluid intelligence, neurological deficits, and anxiety nor in any depression scores between tumor subgroups. Overall, neurocognitive performance was significantly worse in patients compared to healthy controls. Larger tumor volume, frontal location, and left/dominant hemisphere were associated with worse executive functioning and verbal fluency. Additionally, larger tumors and left/dominant location correlated with impairments on perceptual speed tasks. Frontal tumor location was related to worse performance in visual-spatial and short- and long-term memory. Tumor type, clinical presentation, and patient self-awareness were not associated with specific neurocognitive impairments. Patients suffering from newly-diagnosed brain tumors presenting in good neurological condition display neurocognitive impairments in various domains. Larger tumor volumes, frontal location, and left/dominant hemisphere are important predictors for potential neurocognitive deficits. Tumor type, clinical presentation, or self-awareness are less significant at the time of diagnosis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigating the Improvement of Decoding Abilities and Working Memory in Children with Incremental or Entity Personal Conceptions of Intelligence: Two Case Reports

PubMed Central

Alesi, Marianna; Rappo, Gaetano; Pepi, Annamaria

2016-01-01

One of the most significant current discussions has led to the hypothesis that domain-specific training programs alone are not enough to improve reading achievement or working memory abilities. Incremental or Entity personal conceptions of intelligence may be assumed to be an important prognostic factor to overcome domain-specific deficits. Specifically, incremental students tend to be more oriented toward change and autonomy and are able to adopt more efficacious strategies. This study aims at examining the effect of personal conceptions of intelligence to strengthen the efficacy of a multidimensional intervention program in order to improve decoding abilities and working memory. Participants included two children (M age = 10 years) with developmental dyslexia and different conceptions of intelligence. The children were tested on a whole battery of reading and spelling tests commonly used in the assessment of reading disabilities in Italy. Afterwards, they were given a multimedia test to measure motivational factors such as conceptions of intelligence and achievement goals. The children took part in the T.I.R.D. Multimedia Training for the Rehabilitation of Dyslexia (Rappo and Pepi, 2010) reinforced by specific units to improve verbal working memory for 3 months. This training consisted of specific tasks to rehabilitate both visual and phonological strategies (sound blending, word segmentation, alliteration test and rhyme test, letter recognition, digraph recognition, trigraph recognition, and word recognition as samples of visual tasks) and verbal working memory (rapid words and non-words recognition). Posttest evaluations showed that the child holding the incremental theory of intelligence improved more than the child holding a static representation. On the whole this study highlights the importance of treatment programs in which both specificity of deficits and motivational factors are both taken into account. There is a need to plan multifaceted intervention programs based on a transverse approach, considering both cognitive and motivational factors. PMID:26779069

The impact of ageing and gender on visual mental imagery processes: A study of performance on tasks from the Complete Visual Mental Imagery Battery (CVMIB).

PubMed

Palermo, Liana; Piccardi, Laura; Nori, Raffaella; Giusberti, Fiorella; Guariglia, Cecilia

2016-09-01

In this study we aim to evaluate the impact of ageing and gender on different visual mental imagery processes. Two hundred and fifty-one participants (130 women and 121 men; age range = 18-77 years) were given an extensive neuropsychological battery including tasks probing the generation, maintenance, inspection, and transformation of visual mental images (Complete Visual Mental Imagery Battery, CVMIB). Our results show that all mental imagery processes with the exception of the maintenance are affected by ageing, suggesting that other deficits, such as working memory deficits, could account for this effect. However, the analysis of the transformation process, investigated in terms of mental rotation and mental folding skills, shows a steeper decline in mental rotation, suggesting that age could affect rigid transformations of objects and spare non-rigid transformations. Our study also adds to previous ones in showing gender differences favoring men across the lifespan in the transformation process, and, interestingly, it shows a steeper decline in men than in women in inspecting mental images, which could partially account for the mixed results about the effect of ageing on this specific process. We also discuss the possibility to introduce the CVMIB in clinical assessment in the context of theoretical models of mental imagery.

Reproduction of auditory and visual standards in monochannel cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Kanabus, Magdalena; Szelag, Elzbieta; Kolodziejczyk, Iwona; Szuchnik, Joanna

2004-01-01

The temporal reproduction of standard durations ranging from 1 to 9 seconds was investigated in monochannel cochlear implant (CI) users and in normally hearing subjects for the auditory and visual modality. The results showed that the pattern of performance in patients depended on their level of auditory comprehension. Results for CI users, who displayed relatively good auditory comprehension, did not differ from that of normally hearing subjects for both modalities. Patients with poor auditory comprehension significantly overestimated shorter auditory standards (1, 1.5 and 2.5 s), compared to both patients with good comprehension and controls. For the visual modality the between-group comparisons were not significant. These deficits in the reproduction of auditory standards were explained in accordance with both the attentional-gate model and the role of working memory in prospective time judgment. The impairments described above can influence the functioning of the temporal integration mechanism that is crucial for auditory speech comprehension on the level of words and phrases. We postulate that the deficits in time reproduction of short standards may be one of the possible reasons for poor speech understanding in monochannel CI users.

Microstructural white matter alterations and hippocampal volumes are associated with cognitive deficits in craniopharyngioma.

PubMed

Fjalldal, S; Follin, C; Svärd, D; Rylander, L; Gabery, S; Petersén, Å; van Westen, D; Sundgren, P C; Björkman-Burtscher, I M; Lätt, J; Ekman, B; Johanson, A; Erfurth, E M

2018-06-01

Patients with craniopharyngioma (CP) and hypothalamic lesions (HL) have cognitive deficits. Which neural pathways are affected is unknown. To determine whether there is a relationship between microstructural white matter (WM) alterations detected with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and cognition in adults with childhood-onset CP. A cross-sectional study with a median follow-up time of 22 (6-49) years after operation. The South Medical Region of Sweden (2.5 million inhabitants). Included were 41 patients (24 women, ≥17 years) surgically treated for childhood-onset CP between 1958-2010 and 32 controls with similar age and gender distributions. HL was found in 23 patients. Subjects performed cognitive tests and magnetic resonance imaging, and images were analyzed using DTI of uncinate fasciculus, fornix, cingulum, hippocampus and hypothalamus as well as hippocampal volumetry. Right uncinate fasciculus was significantly altered ( P  ≤ 0.01). Microstructural WM alterations in left ventral cingulum were significantly associated with worse performance in visual episodic memory, explaining approximately 50% of the variation. Alterations in dorsal cingulum were associated with worse performance in immediate, delayed recall and recognition, explaining 26-38% of the variation, and with visuospatial ability and executive function, explaining 19-29%. Patients who had smaller hippocampal volume had worse general knowledge ( P  = 0.028), and microstructural WM alterations in hippocampus were associated with a decline in general knowledge and episodic visual memory. A structure to function relationship is suggested between microstructural WM alterations in cingulum and in hippocampus with cognitive deficits in CP. © 2018 The authors.

Effects of manganese exposure on visuoperception and visual memory in schoolchildren.

PubMed

Hernández-Bonilla, D; Escamilla-Núñez, C; Mergler, D; Rodríguez-Dozal, S; Cortez-Lugo, M; Montes, S; Tristán-López, L A; Catalán-Vázquez, M; Schilmann, A; Riojas-Rodriguez, Horacio

2016-12-01

Manganese (Mn) is an essential metal involved in multiple physiological functions. Environmental exposure to airborne Mn is associated with neurocognitive deficits in humans. Children, whose nervous system is in development, are particularly susceptible to Mn neurotoxicity. The objective of this study was to assess the association between Mn environmental exposure, and effects on visuoperception and visual memory in schoolchildren. We assessed schoolchildren between 7 and 11 years old, with similar socioeconomic status, from the mining district of Molango (n=148) and Agua Blanca (n=119, non-mining area) in Hidalgo state, Mexico. The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) test was used to assess visuoperception and short-term visual memory. Hair manganese (MnH) concentrations were determined. Linear regression models were constructed to estimate the associations between MnH and ROCF scores, adjusted for potential confounders. The geometric mean MnH was nine times higher in schoolchildren from the Mn mining area (5.25μg/g) than in schoolchildren from the non-mining area (0.55μg/g). For the ROCF Copy trial, MnH was significantly associated with an increase in distortion errors (tangency, closure), angle errors, overtracing (partial overtracing). In the Immediate Recall trial, MnH was significantly associated with increased overtracing (partial overtracing) and omissions, and negatively associated with the number of perceptual drawn units, total score and percentage immediate recall. MnH is associated with alterations in visuoperception and short-term visual memory in schoolchildren exposed to airborne Mn. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of Neuropsychological Functioning Between Adults With Early- and Late-Onset DSM-5 ADHD.

PubMed

Lin, Yu-Ju; Gau, Susan Shur-Fen

2017-09-01

We aimed to compare the visually dependent neuropsychological functioning among adults with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) ADHD who recalled symptom onset by and after age 7 and non-ADHD controls. We divided the participants, aged 17 to 40 years, into three groups-(a) ADHD, onset <7 years (early-onset, n = 142); (b) ADHD, onset between 7 and <12 years (late-onset, n = 41); (c) non-ADHD controls ( n = 148)-and compared their neuropsychological functioning, measured by the Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery. Both ADHD groups had deficits in attention and signal detectability, spatial working memory, and short-term spatial memory, but only the early-onset group showed deficits in alertness, set-shifting, and planning after controlling for age, sex, and psychiatric comorbidities. There was no statistical difference between the two ADHD groups in neuropsychological functioning. DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing adult ADHD are not too lax regarding neuropsychological functioning.

Neuropsychological profiles of three sisters homozygous for the fragile X premutation

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

Mazzocco, M.M.M.; Holden, J.J.A.

1996-08-09

Fragile X syndrome (fraX) is associated with an amplification of a CGG repeat within the fraX mental retardation (FMR-1) gene. We describe an exceptional family in which 3 adult sisters are homozygous for the FMR-1 premutation. Each sister inherited 2 premutation alleles (ca. 80 CGG repeats) from their biologically unrelated parents. The 3 sisters were administered measures of executive function, visual spatial, memory, and verbal skills. Deficiencies in the first 2 of these domains have been reported among females with the full mutation. The sisters` performances were compared with available normative data and with published group means for females affectedmore » by fraX. These women did not appear to have verbal or memory difficulties. None of the women demonstrated a global executive function deficit, and none had global deficits in spatial ability. The profiles of these sisters are consistent with reports that the fragile X premutation does not affect cognitive performance. 31 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs.« less

Recognition and context memory for faces from own and other ethnic groups: a remember-know investigation.

PubMed

Horry, Ruth; Wright, Daniel B; Tredoux, Colin G

2010-03-01

People are more accurate at recognizing faces from their own ethnic group than at recognizing faces from other ethnic groups. This other-ethnicity effect (OEE) in recognition may be produced by a deficit in recollective memory for other-ethnicity faces. In a single study, White and Black participants saw White and Black faces presented within several different visual contexts. The participants were then given an old/new recognition task. Old responses were followed by remember-know-guess judgments and context judgments. Own-ethnicity faces were recognized more accurately, were given more remember responses, and produced more accurate context judgments than did other-ethnicity faces. These results are discussed in a dual-process framework, and implications for eyewitness memory are considered.

Neuropsychological correlates of sustained attention in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Chen, E Y; Lam, L C; Chen, R Y; Nguyen, D G; Chan, C K; Wilkins, A J

1997-04-11

We employed a simple and relatively undemanding task of monotone counting for the assessment of sustained attention in schizophrenic patients. The monotone counting task has been validated neuropsychologically and is particularly sensitive to right prefrontal lesions. We compared the performance of schizophrenic patients with age- and education-matched controls. We then explored the extent to which a range of commonly employed neuropsychological tasks in schizophrenia research are related to attentional impairment as measured in this way. Monotone counting performance was found to be correlated with digit span (WAIS-R-HK), information (WAIS-R-HK), comprehension (WAIS-R-HK), logical memory (immediate recall) (Weschler Memory Scale, WMS), and visual reproduction (WMS). Multiple regression analysis also identified visual reproduction, digit span and comprehension as significant predictors of attention performance. In contrast, logical memory (delay recall) (WMS), similarity (WAIS-R-HK), semantic fluency, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (perseverative errors) were not correlated with attention. In addition, no significant correlation between sustained attention and symptoms was found. These findings are discussed in the context of a weakly modular cognitive system where attentional impairment may contribute selectively to a range of other cognitive deficits.

Residual memory dysfunction in recurrent major depressive disorder--a longitudinal study from Juntendo University Mood Disorder Project.

PubMed

Maeshima, Hitoshi; Baba, Hajime; Nakano, Yoshiyuki; Satomura, Emi; Namekawa, Yuki; Takebayashi, Naoko; Suzuki, Toshihito; Mimura, Masaru; Arai, Heii

2012-12-20

Depression may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Large cohort studies have shown that recurrent depression is associated with a risk of developing dementia. Other studies have documented smaller hippocampal volume in patients with recurrent depression. It is speculative that a greater risk of developing dementia may result from a higher number of previous depressive episodes. This study compared patients with recurrent and single-episode depression in the remitted stage, and healthy controls to elucidate the impact of the number of depressive episodes on memory. Logical memory and visual reproduction subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised were given to 68 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) (30 patients with a single episode and residual 38 patients with recurrent multiple episodes) and 57 healthy controls. The patients with MDD received memory assessment at the time of initial remission and at the follow-up period 3 years after remission. At the time of initial remission, scores of both logical memory and visual reproduction subtests were significantly lower in both patient groups compared with healthy controls. At follow-up, memory dysfunction of the single-episode group disappeared, whereas scores in the recurrent group remained significantly lower than those of the single-episode group and controls. All patients in the present study were on antidepressant medications. Patients with recurrent MDD with multiple depressive episodes showed residual memory dysfunction even after 3 years of remission. Persistence of memory deficits in the recurrent depression may be a risk factor for developing dementia. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neuropsychological functioning in older people with type 2 diabetes: the effect of controlling for confounding factors.

PubMed

Asimakopoulou, K G; Hampson, S E; Morrish, N J

2002-04-01

Neuropsychological functioning was examined in a group of 33 older (mean age 62.40 +/- 9.62 years) people with Type 2 diabetes (Group 1) and 33 non-diabetic participants matched with Group 1 on age, sex, premorbid intelligence and presence of hypertension and cardio/cerebrovascular conditions (Group 2). Data statistically corrected for confounding factors obtained from the diabetic group were compared with the matched control group. The results suggested small cognitive deficits in diabetic people's verbal memory and mental flexibility (Logical Memory A and SS7). No differences were seen between the two samples in simple and complex visuomotor attention, sustained complex visual attention, attention efficiency, mental double tracking, implicit memory, and self-reported memory problems. These findings indicate minimal cognitive impairment in relatively uncomplicated Type 2 diabetes and demonstrate the importance of control and matching for confounding factors.

Working and strategic memory deficits in schizophrenia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stone, M.; Gabrieli, J. D.; Stebbins, G. T.; Sullivan, E. V.

1998-01-01

Working memory and its contribution to performance on strategic memory tests in schizophrenia were studied. Patients (n = 18) and control participants (n = 15), all men, received tests of immediate memory (forward digit span), working memory (listening, computation, and backward digit span), and long-term strategic (free recall, temporal order, and self-ordered pointing) and nonstrategic (recognition) memory. Schizophrenia patients performed worse on all tests. Education, verbal intelligence, and immediate memory capacity did not account for deficits in working memory in schizophrenia patients. Reduced working memory capacity accounted for group differences in strategic memory but not in recognition memory. Working memory impairment may be central to the profile of impaired cognitive performance in schizophrenia and is consistent with hypothesized frontal lobe dysfunction associated with this disease. Additional medial-temporal dysfunction may account for the recognition memory deficit.

Top-down modulation of visual and auditory cortical processing in aging.

PubMed

Guerreiro, Maria J S; Eck, Judith; Moerel, Michelle; Evers, Elisabeth A T; Van Gerven, Pascal W M

2015-02-01

Age-related cognitive decline has been accounted for by an age-related deficit in top-down attentional modulation of sensory cortical processing. In light of recent behavioral findings showing that age-related differences in selective attention are modality dependent, our goal was to investigate the role of sensory modality in age-related differences in top-down modulation of sensory cortical processing. This question was addressed by testing younger and older individuals in several memory tasks while undergoing fMRI. Throughout these tasks, perceptual features were kept constant while attentional instructions were varied, allowing us to devise all combinations of relevant and irrelevant, visual and auditory information. We found no top-down modulation of auditory sensory cortical processing in either age group. In contrast, we found top-down modulation of visual cortical processing in both age groups, and this effect did not differ between age groups. That is, older adults enhanced cortical processing of relevant visual information and suppressed cortical processing of visual distractors during auditory attention to the same extent as younger adults. The present results indicate that older adults are capable of suppressing irrelevant visual information in the context of cross-modal auditory attention, and thereby challenge the view that age-related attentional and cognitive decline is due to a general deficits in the ability to suppress irrelevant information. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential performance on tasks of affective processing and decision-making in patients with Panic Disorder and Panic Disorder with comorbid Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Kaplan, Johanna S; Erickson, Kristine; Luckenbaugh, David A; Weiland-Fiedler, Petra; Geraci, Marilla; Sahakian, Barbara J; Charney, Dennis; Drevets, Wayne C; Neumeister, Alexander

2006-10-01

Neuropsychological studies have provided evidence for deficits in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders. However, neuropsychological function in Panic Disorder (PD) or PD with a comorbid diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has not been comprehensively studied. The present study investigated neuropsychological functioning in patients with PD and PD + MDD by focusing on tasks that assess attention, psychomotor speed, executive function, decision-making, and affective processing. Twenty-two unmedicated patients with PD, eleven of whom had a secondary diagnosis of MDD, were compared to twenty-two healthy controls, matched for gender, age, and intelligence on tasks of attention, memory, psychomotor speed, executive function, decision-making, and affective processing from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), Cambridge Gamble Task, and Affective Go/No-go Task. Relative to matched healthy controls, patients with PD + MDD displayed an attentional bias toward negatively-valenced verbal stimuli (Affective Go/No-go Task) and longer decision-making latencies (Cambridge Gamble Task). Furthermore, the PD + MDD group committed more errors on a task of memory and visual discrimination compared to their controls. In contrast, no group differences were found for PD patients relative to matched control subjects. The sample size was limited, however, all patients were drug-free at the time of testing. The PD + MDD patients demonstrated deficits on a task involving visual discrimination and working memory, and an attentional bias towards negatively-valenced stimuli. In addition, patients with comorbid depression provided qualitatively different responses in the areas of affective and decision-making processes.

Prospective analysis of neuropsychological deficits following resection of benign skull base meningiomas.

PubMed

Zweckberger, Klaus; Hallek, Eveline; Vogt, Lidia; Giese, Henrik; Schick, Uta; Unterberg, Andreas W

2017-12-01

OBJECTIVE Resection of skull base tumors is challenging. The introduction of alternative treatment options, such as radiotherapy, has sparked discussion regarding outcome in terms of quality of life and neuropsychological deficits. So far, however, no prospective data are available on this topic. METHODS A total of 58 patients with skull base meningiomas who underwent surgery for the first time were enrolled in this prospective single-center trial. The average age of the patients was 56.4 ± 12.5 years. Seventy-nine percent of the tumors were located within the anterior skull base. Neurological examinations and neuropsychological testing were performed at 3 time points: 1 day prior to surgery (T1), 3-5 months after surgery (T2), and 9-12 months after surgery (T3). The average follow-up duration was 13.8 months. Neuropsychological assessment consisted of quality of life, depression and anxiety, verbal learning and memory, cognitive speed, attention and concentration, figural memory, and visual-motor speed. RESULTS Following surgery, 23% of patients showed transient neurological deficits and 12% showed permanent new neurological deficits with varying grades of manifestation. Postoperative quality of life, however, remained stable and was slightly improved at follow-up examinations at T3 (60.6 ± 21.5 vs 63.6 ± 24.1 points), and there was no observed effect on anxiety and depression. Long-term verbal memory, working memory, and executive functioning were slightly affected within the first months following surgery and appeared to be the most vulnerable to impairment by the tumor or the resection but were stable or improved in the majority of patients at long-term follow-up examinations after 1 year. CONCLUSIONS This report describes the first prospective study of neuropsychological outcomes following resection of skull base meningiomas and, as such, contributes to a better understanding of postoperative impairment in these patients. Despite deterioration in a minority of patients on subscales of the measures used, the majority demonstrated stable or improved outcome at follow-up assessments.

Cognitive predictors of sequential motor impairments in children with dyslexia and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Marchand-Krynski, Marie-Ève; Bélanger, Anne-Marie; Morin-Moncet, Olivier; Beauchamp, Miriam H; Leonard, Gabriel

2018-01-01

This study examined cognitive predictors of sequential motor skills in 215 children with dyslexia and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Visual working memory and math fluency abilities contributed significantly to performance of sequential motor abilities in children with dyslexia (N = 67), ADHD (N = 66) and those with a comorbid diagnosis (N = 82), generally without differentiation between groups. In addition, primary diagnostic features of each disorder, such as reading and inattention, did not contribute to the variance in motor skill performance of these children. The results support a unifying framework of motor impairment in children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as dyslexia and ADHD.

Face-Name Associative Recognition Deficits in Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

PubMed

Polcher, Alexandra; Frommann, Ingo; Koppara, Alexander; Wolfsgruber, Steffen; Jessen, Frank; Wagner, Michael

2017-01-01

There is a need for more sensitive neuropsychological tests to detect subtle cognitive deficits emerging in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Associative memory is a cognitive function supported by the hippocampus and affected early in the process of AD. We developed a short computerized face-name associative recognition test (FNART) and tested whether it would detect memory impairment in memory clinic patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD). We recruited 61 elderly patients with either SCD (n = 32) or MCI (n = 29) and 28 healthy controls (HC) and compared performance on FNART, self-reported cognitive deterioration in different domains (ECog-39), and, in a reduced sample (n = 46), performance on the visual Paired Associates Learning of the CANTAB battery. A significant effect of group on FNART test performance in the total sample was found (p < 0.001). Planned contrasts indicated a significantly lower associative memory performance in the SCD (p = 0.001, d = 0.82) and MCI group (p < 0.001, d = 1.54), as compared to HCs, respectively. The CANTAB-PAL discriminated only between HC and MCI, possibly because of reduced statistical power. Adjusted for depression, performance on FNART was significantly related to ECog-39 Memory in SCD patients (p = 0.024) but not in MCI patients. Associative memory is substantially impaired in memory clinic patients with SCD and correlates specifically with memory complaints at this putative preclinical stage of AD. Further studies will need to examine the predictive validity of the FNART in SCD patients with regard to longitudinal (i.e., conversion to MCI/AD) and biomarker outcomes.

Long-term effects of cannabis on oculomotor function in humans.

PubMed

Huestegge, L; Radach, R; Kunert, H J

2009-08-01

Cannabis is known to affect human cognitive and visuomotor skills directly after consumption. Some studies even point to rather long-lasting effects, especially after chronic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) abuse. However, it is still unknown whether long-term effects on basic visual and oculomotor processing may exist. In the present study, the performance of 20 healthy long-term cannabis users without acute THC intoxication and 20 control subjects were examined in four basic visuomotor paradigms to search for specific long-term impairments. Subjects were asked to perform: 1) reflexive saccades to visual targets (prosaccades), including gap and overlap conditions, 2) voluntary antisaccades, 3) memory-guided saccades and 4) double-step saccades. Spatial and temporal parameters of the saccades were subsequently analysed. THC subjects exhibited a significant increase of latency in the prosaccade and antisaccade tasks, as well as prolonged saccade amplitudes in the antisaccade and memory-guided task, compared with the control subjects. The results point to substantial and specific long-term deficits in basic temporal processing of saccades and impaired visuo-spatial working memory. We suggest that these impairments are a major contributor to degraded performance of chronic users in a vital everyday task like visual search, and they might potentially also affect spatial navigation and reading.

Implicit and explicit motor sequence learning in children born very preterm.

PubMed

Jongbloed-Pereboom, Marjolein; Janssen, Anjo J W M; Steiner, K; Steenbergen, Bert; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W G

2017-01-01

Motor skills can be learned explicitly (dependent on working memory (WM)) or implicitly (relatively independent of WM). Children born very preterm (VPT) often have working memory deficits. Explicit learning may be compromised in these children. This study investigated implicit and explicit motor learning and the role of working memory in VPT children and controls. Three groups (6-9 years) participated: 20 VPT children with motor problems, 20 VPT children without motor problems, and 20 controls. A nine button sequence was learned implicitly (pressing the lighted button as quickly as possible) and explicitly (discovering the sequence via trial-and-error). Children learned implicitly and explicitly, evidenced by decreased movement duration of the sequence over time. In the explicit condition, children also reduced the number of errors over time. Controls made more errors than VPT children without motor problems. Visual WM had positive effects on both explicit and implicit performance. VPT birth and low motor proficiency did not negatively affect implicit or explicit learning. Visual WM was positively related to both implicit and explicit performance, but did not influence learning curves. These findings question the theoretical difference between implicit and explicit learning and the proposed role of visual WM therein. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Everyday and prospective memory deficits in ecstasy/polydrug users.

PubMed

Hadjiefthyvoulou, Florentia; Fisk, John E; Montgomery, Catharine; Bridges, Nikola

2011-04-01

The impact of ecstasy/polydrug use on real-world memory (i.e. everyday memory, cognitive failures and prospective memory [PM]) was investigated in a sample of 42 ecstasy/polydrug users and 31 non-ecstasy users. Laboratory-based PM tasks were administered along with self-reported measures of PM to test whether any ecstasy/polydrug-related impairment on the different aspects of PM was present. Self-reported measures of everyday memory and cognitive failures were also administered. Ecstasy/polydrug associated deficits were observed on both laboratory and self-reported measures of PM and everyday memory. The present study extends previous research by demonstrating that deficits in PM are real and cannot be simply attributed to self-misperceptions. The deficits observed reflect some general capacity underpinning both time- and event-based PM contexts and are not task specific. Among this group of ecstasy/polydrug users recreational use of cocaine was also prominently associated with PM deficits. Further research might explore the differential effects of individual illicit drugs on real-world memory.

Suppressing Irrelevant Information from Working Memory: Evidence for Domain-Specific Deficits in Poor Comprehenders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pimperton, Hannah; Nation, Kate

2010-01-01

Previous research has suggested that children with specific reading comprehension deficits (poor comprehenders) show an impaired ability to suppress irrelevant information from working memory, with this deficit detrimentally impacting on their working memory ability, and consequently limiting their reading comprehension performance. However, the…

Associative memory advantage in grapheme-color synesthetes compared to older, but not young adults

PubMed Central

Pfeifer, Gaby; Rothen, Nicolas; Ward, Jamie; Chan, Dennis; Sigala, Natasha

2014-01-01

People with grapheme-color synesthesia perceive enriched experiences of colors in response to graphemes (letters, digits). In this study, we examined whether these synesthetes show a generic associative memory advantage for stimuli that do not elicit a synesthetic color. We used a novel between group design (14 young synesthetes, 14 young, and 14 older adults) with a self-paced visual associative learning paradigm and subsequent retrieval (immediate and delayed). Non-synesthesia inducing, achromatic fractal pair-associates were manipulated in visual similarity (high and low) and corresponded to high and low memory load conditions. The main finding was a learning and retrieval advantage of synesthetes relative to older, but not to younger, adults. Furthermore, the significance testing was supported with effect size measures and power calculations. Differences between synesthetes and older adults were found during dissimilar pair (high memory load) learning and retrieval at immediate and delayed stages. Moreover, we found a medium size difference between synesthetes and young adults for similar pair (low memory load) learning. Differences between young and older adults were also observed during associative learning and retrieval, but were of medium effect size coupled with low power. The results show a subtle associative memory advantage in synesthetes for non-synesthesia inducing stimuli, which can be detected against older adults. They also indicate that perceptual mechanisms (enhanced in synesthesia, declining as part of the aging process) can translate into a generic associative memory advantage, and may contribute to associative deficits accompanying healthy aging. PMID:25071664

Cognitive processes involved in smooth pursuit eye movements: behavioral evidence, neural substrate and clinical correlation

PubMed Central

Fukushima, Kikuro; Fukushima, Junko; Warabi, Tateo; Barnes, Graham R.

2013-01-01

Smooth-pursuit eye movements allow primates to track moving objects. Efficient pursuit requires appropriate target selection and predictive compensation for inherent processing delays. Prediction depends on expectation of future object motion, storage of motion information and use of extra-retinal mechanisms in addition to visual feedback. We present behavioral evidence of how cognitive processes are involved in predictive pursuit in normal humans and then describe neuronal responses in monkeys and behavioral responses in patients using a new technique to test these cognitive controls. The new technique examines the neural substrate of working memory and movement preparation for predictive pursuit by using a memory-based task in macaque monkeys trained to pursue (go) or not pursue (no-go) according to a go/no-go cue, in a direction based on memory of a previously presented visual motion display. Single-unit task-related neuronal activity was examined in medial superior temporal cortex (MST), supplementary eye fields (SEF), caudal frontal eye fields (FEF), cerebellar dorsal vermis lobules VI–VII, caudal fastigial nuclei (cFN), and floccular region. Neuronal activity reflecting working memory of visual motion direction and go/no-go selection was found predominantly in SEF, cerebellar dorsal vermis and cFN, whereas movement preparation related signals were found predominantly in caudal FEF and the same cerebellar areas. Chemical inactivation produced effects consistent with differences in signals represented in each area. When applied to patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), the task revealed deficits in movement preparation but not working memory. In contrast, patients with frontal cortical or cerebellar dysfunction had high error rates, suggesting impaired working memory. We show how neuronal activity may be explained by models of retinal and extra-retinal interaction in target selection and predictive control and thus aid understanding of underlying pathophysiology. PMID:23515488

Trajectories of cognitive development during adolescence among youth at-risk for schizophrenia.

PubMed

Dickson, Hannah; Cullen, Alexis E; Jones, Rebecca; Reichenberg, Abraham; Roberts, Ruth E; Hodgins, Sheilagh; Morris, Robin G; Laurens, Kristin R

2018-04-23

Among adults with schizophrenia, evidence suggests that premorbid deficits in different cognitive domains follow distinct developmental courses during childhood and adolescence. The aim of this study was to delineate trajectories of adolescent cognitive functions prospectively among different groups of youth at-risk for schizophrenia, relative to their typically developing (TD) peers. Using linear mixed models adjusted for sex, ethnicity, parental occupation and practice effects, cognitive development between ages 9 and 16 years was compared for youth characterised by a triad of well-replicated developmental antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz; N = 32) and youth with a least one affected relative with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (FHx; N = 29), relative to TD youth (N = 45). Participants completed measures of IQ, scholastic achievement, memory and executive function at three time-points, separated by approximately 24-month intervals. Compared to TD youth, both ASz and FHx youth displayed stable developmental deficits in verbal working memory and inhibition/switching executive functions. ASz youth additionally presented with stable deficits in measures of vocabulary (IQ), word reading, numerical operations, and category fluency executive function, and a slower rate of growth (developmental lag) on spelling from 9 to 16 years than TD peers. Conversely, faster rates of growth relative to TD peers (developmental delay) were observed on visual and verbal memory, and on category fluency executive function (ASz youth only) and on matrix reasoning (IQ) and word reading (FHx youth only). These differential patterns of deviation from normative adolescent cognitive development among at-risk youth imply potential for cognitive rehabilitation targeting of specific cognitive deficits at different developmental phases. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Work capability during isolation.

PubMed

Gushin, V I; Efimov, V A; Smirnova, T M

1996-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prolonged isolation on the higher psychic functions, like working memory, attention concentration, and intellect (problem solving and decision making), and on sensory-motor skills and stress resistance. Previous Soviet simulation studies and the ISEMSI isolation experiment have indicated that prolonged isolation can affect higher psychic functions. A set of psychological tests in the form of a computer game was presented each workday to the chamber crew and to the ground crew serving as a control group. In analyzing the data it was taken into account that performance can be affected not only by the influence of isolation, but also by a learning process and by subject motivation. In addition, a distinction was made between absolute score and stability (range) of the score. Analysis of the chamber crew's work capability as a function of time showed the occurrence of three distinct periods of adaptation: (1) a period of acute adaptation in week 1, (2) a period of stable adaptation during weeks 3-6, and (3) a period of "final effort" in weeks 8-9. While in general the effect of isolation on the absolute scores was minor, larger ranges for the scores in "working memory," "attention concentration," and "calculation under time deficit" tests are an indication of increased instability, probably due to stress resistance. The 4 female subjects of the combined groups scored significantly higher than the 5 males in "attention concentration/distribution," "spatial orientation," "intuition in visual search," and "logical decision making under time deficit." Males presented higher scores in "calculation under time deficit" and working memory, and higher stability in "attention concentration" and "calculation under time deficit."

Déjà vu in unilateral temporal-lobe epilepsy is associated with selective familiarity impairments on experimental tasks of recognition memory.

PubMed

Martin, Chris B; Mirsattari, Seyed M; Pruessner, Jens C; Pietrantonio, Sandra; Burneo, Jorge G; Hayman-Abello, Brent; Köhler, Stefan

2012-11-01

In déjà vu, a phenomenological impression of familiarity for the current visual environment is experienced with a sense that it should in fact not feel familiar. The fleeting nature of this phenomenon in daily life, and the difficulty in developing experimental paradigms to elicit it, has hindered progress in understanding déjà vu. Some neurological patients with temporal-lobe epilepsy (TLE) consistently experience déjà vu at the onset of their seizures. An investigation of such patients offers a unique opportunity to shed light on its possible underlying mechanisms. In the present study, we sought to determine whether unilateral TLE patients with déjà vu (TLE+) show a unique pattern of interictal memory deficits that selectively affect familiarity assessment. In Experiment 1, we employed a Remember-Know paradigm for categorized visual scenes and found evidence for impairments that were limited to familiarity-based responses. In Experiment 2, we administered an exclusion task for highly similar categorized visual scenes that placed both recognition processes in opposition. TLE+ patients again displayed recognition impairments, and these impairments spared their ability to engage recollective processes so as to counteract familiarity. The selective deficits we observed in TLE+ patients contrasted with the broader pattern of recognition-memory impairments that was present in a control group of unilateral patients without déjà vu (TLE-). MRI volumetry revealed that ipsilateral medial temporal structures were less broadly affected in TLE+ than in TLE- patients, with a trend for more focal volume reductions in the rhinal cortices of the TLE+ group. The current findings establish a first empirical link between déjà vu in TLE and processes of familiarity assessment, as defined and measured in current cognitive models. They also reveal a pattern of selectivity in recognition impairments that is rarely observed and, thus, of significant theoretical interest to the memory literature at large. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Low-Cost Robotic Assessment of Visuo-Motor Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Bartoli, Eleonora; Caso, Francesca; Magnani, Giuseppe; Baud-Bovy, Gabriel

2017-07-01

A low-cost robotic interface was used to assess the visuo-motor performance of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty AD patients and twenty age-matched controls participated in this work. The battery of tests included simple reaction times, position tracking, and stabilization tasks performed with both hands. The regularity, velocity, visual and haptic feedback were manipulated to vary movement complexity. Reaction times and movement tracking error were analyzed. Results show a marked group effect on a subset of conditions, in particular when the patients could not rely on the visual feedback of hand movement. The visuo-motor performance correlated with the measures of global cognitive functioning and with different memory-related abilities. Our results support the hypothesis that the ability to recall and use visuo-spatial associations might underlie the impairment in complex motor behavior that has been reported in AD patients. Importantly, the patients had preserved learning effects across sessions, which might relate to visuo-motor deficits being less evident in every-day life and clinical assessments. This robotic assessment, lasting less than 1 h, provides detailed information about the integrity of visuo-motor abilities. The data can aid the understanding of the complex pattern of deficits that characterizes this pervasive disease.

How does aging affect the types of error made in a visual short-term memory ‘object-recall’ task?

PubMed Central

Sapkota, Raju P.; van der Linde, Ian; Pardhan, Shahina

2015-01-01

This study examines how normal aging affects the occurrence of different types of incorrect responses in a visual short-term memory (VSTM) object-recall task. Seventeen young (Mean = 23.3 years, SD = 3.76), and 17 normally aging older (Mean = 66.5 years, SD = 6.30) adults participated. Memory stimuli comprised two or four real world objects (the memory load) presented sequentially, each for 650 ms, at random locations on a computer screen. After a 1000 ms retention interval, a test display was presented, comprising an empty box at one of the previously presented two or four memory stimulus locations. Participants were asked to report the name of the object presented at the cued location. Errors rates wherein participants reported the names of objects that had been presented in the memory display but not at the cued location (non-target errors) vs. objects that had not been presented at all in the memory display (non-memory errors) were compared. Significant effects of aging, memory load and target recency on error type and absolute error rates were found. Non-target error rate was higher than non-memory error rate in both age groups, indicating that VSTM may have been more often than not populated with partial traces of previously presented items. At high memory load, non-memory error rate was higher in young participants (compared to older participants) when the memory target had been presented at the earliest temporal position. However, non-target error rates exhibited a reversed trend, i.e., greater error rates were found in older participants when the memory target had been presented at the two most recent temporal positions. Data are interpreted in terms of proactive interference (earlier examined non-target items interfering with more recent items), false memories (non-memory items which have a categorical relationship to presented items, interfering with memory targets), slot and flexible resource models, and spatial coding deficits. PMID:25653615

How does aging affect the types of error made in a visual short-term memory 'object-recall' task?

PubMed

Sapkota, Raju P; van der Linde, Ian; Pardhan, Shahina

2014-01-01

This study examines how normal aging affects the occurrence of different types of incorrect responses in a visual short-term memory (VSTM) object-recall task. Seventeen young (Mean = 23.3 years, SD = 3.76), and 17 normally aging older (Mean = 66.5 years, SD = 6.30) adults participated. Memory stimuli comprised two or four real world objects (the memory load) presented sequentially, each for 650 ms, at random locations on a computer screen. After a 1000 ms retention interval, a test display was presented, comprising an empty box at one of the previously presented two or four memory stimulus locations. Participants were asked to report the name of the object presented at the cued location. Errors rates wherein participants reported the names of objects that had been presented in the memory display but not at the cued location (non-target errors) vs. objects that had not been presented at all in the memory display (non-memory errors) were compared. Significant effects of aging, memory load and target recency on error type and absolute error rates were found. Non-target error rate was higher than non-memory error rate in both age groups, indicating that VSTM may have been more often than not populated with partial traces of previously presented items. At high memory load, non-memory error rate was higher in young participants (compared to older participants) when the memory target had been presented at the earliest temporal position. However, non-target error rates exhibited a reversed trend, i.e., greater error rates were found in older participants when the memory target had been presented at the two most recent temporal positions. Data are interpreted in terms of proactive interference (earlier examined non-target items interfering with more recent items), false memories (non-memory items which have a categorical relationship to presented items, interfering with memory targets), slot and flexible resource models, and spatial coding deficits.

Lesions affecting the right hippocampal formation differentially impair short-term memory of spatial and nonspatial associations.

PubMed

Braun, Mischa; Weinrich, Christiane; Finke, Carsten; Ostendorf, Florian; Lehmann, Thomas-Nicolas; Ploner, Christoph J

2011-03-01

Converging evidence from behavioral and imaging studies suggests that within the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) the hippocampal formation may be particularly involved in recognition memory of associative information. However, it is unclear whether the hippocampal formation processes all types of associations or whether there is a specialization for processing of associations involving spatial information. Here, we investigated this issue in six patients with postsurgical lesions of the right MTL affecting the hippocampal formation and in ten healthy controls. Subjects performed a battery of delayed match-to-sample tasks with two delays (900/5,000 ms) and three set sizes. Subjects were requested to remember either single features (colors, locations, shapes, letters) or feature associations (color-location, color-shape, color-letter). In the single-feature conditions, performance of patients did not differ from controls. In the association conditions, a significant delay-dependent deficit in memory of color-location associations was found. This deficit was largely independent of set size. By contrast, performance in the color-shape and color-letter conditions was normal. These findings support the hypothesis that a region within the right MTL, presumably the hippocampal formation, does not equally support all kinds of visual memory but rather has a bias for processing of associations involving spatial information. Recruitment of this region during memory tasks appears to depend both on processing type (associative/nonassociative) and to-be-remembered material (spatial/nonspatial). Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The antibody rHIgM22 facilitates hippocampal remyelination and ameliorates memory deficits in the cuprizone mouse model of demyelination.

PubMed

Cui, Charlene; Wang, Jing; Mullin, Ariana P; Caggiano, Anthony O; Parry, Tom J; Colburn, Raymond W; Pavlopoulos, Elias

2018-05-15

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory demyelinating disease of the CNS. In addition to motor, sensory and visual deficits, MS is also characterized by hippocampal demyelination and memory impairment. We recently demonstrated that a recombinant human-derived monoclonal IgM antibody, which is designated rHIgM22 and currently in clinical development for people with MS, accelerates remyelination of the corpus callosum in the brains of cuprizone-treated mice. Here, we investigated the effects of rHIgM22 in the hippocampus and on hippocampal-dependent learning and memory in the same mouse model of cuprizone-induced demyelination and spontaneous remyelination. The degree of hippocampal myelination of cuprizone-fed mice treated with a single dose of rHIgM22 (10 mg/kg of body weight) was examined immediately after the end of the cuprizone diet as well as at different time points during the recovery period with regular food, and compared with that of cuprizone-fed animals treated with either vehicle or human IgM isotype control antibody. Mice fed only regular food were used as controls. Four or five mice per treatment group were examined for each time point. We demonstrate that treatment with rHIgM22 accelerated remyelination of the demyelinated hippocampus. Using two additional cohorts of mice and eight animals per treatment group for each cohort, we also demonstrate that the enhancing effects of rHIgM22 on hippocampal remyelination were accompanied by improved performance in the Morris water maze and amelioration of the memory deficits induced by cuprizone. These results further confirm the remyelination-promoting capabilities of rHIgM22 and support additional investigation of its therapeutic potential in MS. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Exploring the Effects of Working Memory on Time Perception in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Lee, Hom-Yi; Yang, En-Lin

2018-01-01

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often reported to have deficits of time perception. However, there is a strong relation between performance on tasks of working memory and time perception. Thus, it is possible that the poor performance of children with ADHD on time perception results from their deficit of working memory. In this study, the working memory of participants was separately assessed; therefore, we could explore the relationship between working memory and time perception of children with ADHD. Fifty-six children with ADHD and those of healthy controls completed tasks measuring working memory and time perception. The results showed that the time discrimination ability of children with ADHD was poorer than that of controls. However, there was a strong association between time perception and working memory. After controlling working memory and intelligence, the time discrimination ability of children with ADHD was not significantly poorer than that of controls. We suggest that there is an interdependent relationship between time perception and working memory for children with ADHD.

Inhibiting corticosterone synthesis during fear memory formation exacerbates cued fear extinction memory deficits within the single prolonged stress model.

PubMed

Keller, Samantha M; Schreiber, William B; Stanfield, Briana R; Knox, Dayan

2015-01-01

Using the single prolonged stress (SPS) animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), previous studies suggest that enhanced glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression leads to cued fear extinction retention deficits. However, it is unknown how the endogenous ligand of GRs, corticosterone (CORT), may contribute to extinction retention deficits in the SPS model. Given that CORT synthesis during fear learning is critical for fear memory consolidation and SPS enhances GR expression, CORT synthesis during fear memory formation could strengthen fear memory in SPS rats by enhancing GR activation during fear learning. In turn, this could lead to cued fear extinction retention deficits. We tested the hypothesis that CORT synthesis during fear learning leads to cued fear extinction retention deficits in SPS rats by administering the CORT synthesis inhibitor metyrapone to SPS and control rats prior to fear conditioning, and observed the effect this had on extinction memory. Inhibiting CORT synthesis during fear memory formation in control rats tended to decrease cued freezing, though this effect never reached statistical significance. Contrary to our hypothesis, inhibiting CORT synthesis during fear memory formation disrupted extinction retention in SPS rats. This finding suggests that even though SPS exposure leads to cued fear extinction memory deficits, CORT synthesis during fear memory formation enhances extinction retention in SPS rats. This suggests that stress-induced CORT synthesis in previously stressed rats can be beneficial. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tc1 mouse model of trisomy-21 dissociates properties of short- and long-term recognition memory.

PubMed

Hall, Jessica H; Wiseman, Frances K; Fisher, Elizabeth M C; Tybulewicz, Victor L J; Harwood, John L; Good, Mark A

2016-04-01

The present study examined memory function in Tc1 mice, a transchromosomic model of Down syndrome (DS). Tc1 mice demonstrated an unusual delay-dependent deficit in recognition memory. More specifically, Tc1 mice showed intact immediate (30sec), impaired short-term (10-min) and intact long-term (24-h) memory for objects. A similar pattern was observed for olfactory stimuli, confirming the generality of the pattern across sensory modalities. The specificity of the behavioural deficits in Tc1 mice was confirmed using APP overexpressing mice that showed the opposite pattern of object memory deficits. In contrast to object memory, Tc1 mice showed no deficit in either immediate or long-term memory for object-in-place information. Similarly, Tc1 mice showed no deficit in short-term memory for object-location information. The latter result indicates that Tc1 mice were able to detect and react to spatial novelty at the same delay interval that was sensitive to an object novelty recognition impairment. These results demonstrate (1) that novelty detection per se and (2) the encoding of visuo-spatial information was not disrupted in adult Tc1 mice. The authors conclude that the task specific nature of the short-term recognition memory deficit suggests that the trisomy of genes on human chromosome 21 in Tc1 mice impacts on (perirhinal) cortical systems supporting short-term object and olfactory recognition memory. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The acute and medium-term effects of treatment with electroconvulsive therapy on memory in patients with major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Maric, N P; Stojanovic, Z; Andric, S; Soldatovic, I; Dolic, M; Spiric, Z

2016-03-01

Current literature provides insufficient information on the degree of cognitive impairment during and after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), mostly due to the fact that applied tests lacked sensitivity and flexibility. Our goal was to evaluate cognitive functioning in adult depressed patients treated with bi-temporal ECT, using tests sensitive for detection of possible acute and medium-term memory changes. Thirty adult patients with major depressive disorder, treated with a course of bi-temporal ECT, underwent clinical and cognitive measurements three times: at baseline, immediately after a course of ECT, and 1 month later. For cognition assessment, we used learning and visual, spatial and figural memory tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Bi-temporal ECT has proven to be an effective treatment. The linear mixed model, used to analyze changes in depression severity and patients' cognitive performances over time and to assess dynamic correlations between aforementioned features, did not show any significant memory impairment as a potential acute or medium-term ECT effect. However, it yielded significant improvement on visual memory and learning at the follow-up, which positively correlated with the improvement of depression. Good progress is being made in the search for ECT-related acute and medium-term cognitive side-effects by using the tests sensitive to detect memory dysfunction with parallel forms of the tasks (to counter practice effects on repeat testing). Our results on learning and memory in relation to ECT during treatment of depression did not bring forth any prolonged and significant bi-temporal ECT-related memory deficit.

NEONATAL VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING IN COCAINE-EXPOSED AND NON-EXPOSED INFANTS

PubMed Central

Singer, Lynn T.; Arendt, Robert; Fagan, Joseph; Minnes, Sonia; Salvator, Ann; Bolek, Tina; Becker, Michael

2014-01-01

This study investigated early neonatal visual preferences in 267 poly drug exposed neonates (131 cocaine-exposed and 136 non-cocaine exposed) whose drug exposure was documented through interviews and urine and meconium drug screens. Infants were given four visual recognition memory tasks comparing looking time to familiarized stimuli of lattices and rectangular shapes to novel stimuli of a schematic face and curved hourglass and bull’s eye forms. Cocaine-exposed infants performed more poorly, after consideration of confounding factors, with a relationship of severity of cocaine exposure to lower novelty score found for both self-report and biologic measures of exposure, Findings support theories which link prenatal cocaine exposure to deficits in information processing entailing attentional and arousal organizational systems. Neonatal visual discrimination and attention tasks should be further explored as potentially sensitive behavioral indicators of teratologic effects. PMID:25717215

Promoting Sleep Oscillations and Their Functional Coupling by Transcranial Stimulation Enhances Memory Consolidation in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

PubMed

Ladenbauer, Julia; Ladenbauer, Josef; Külzow, Nadine; de Boor, Rebecca; Avramova, Elena; Grittner, Ulrike; Flöel, Agnes

2017-07-26

Alzheimer's disease (AD) not only involves loss of memory functions, but also prominent deterioration of sleep physiology, which is already evident at the stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Cortical slow oscillations (SO; 0.5-1 Hz) and thalamocortical spindle activity (12-15 Hz) during sleep, and their temporal coordination, are considered critical for memory formation. We investigated the potential of slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation (so-tDCS), applied during a daytime nap in a sleep-state-dependent manner, to modulate these activity patterns and sleep-related memory consolidation in nine male and seven female human patients with MCI. Stimulation significantly increased overall SO and spindle power, amplified spindle power during SO up-phases, and led to stronger synchronization between SO and spindle power fluctuations in EEG recordings. Moreover, visual declarative memory was improved by so-tDCS compared with sham stimulation and was associated with stronger synchronization. These findings indicate a well-tolerated therapeutic approach for disordered sleep physiology and memory deficits in MCI patients and advance our understanding of offline memory consolidation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In the light of increasing evidence that sleep disruption is crucially involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), sleep appears as a promising treatment target in this pathology, particularly to counteract memory decline. This study demonstrates the potential of a noninvasive brain stimulation method during sleep in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor of AD, and advances our understanding of its mechanism. We provide first time evidence that slow oscillatory transcranial stimulation amplifies the functional cross-frequency coupling between memory-relevant brain oscillations and improves visual memory consolidation in patients with MCI. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/377111-14$15.00/0.

Working memory training in survivors of pediatric cancer: a randomized pilot study.

PubMed

Hardy, Kristina K; Willard, Victoria W; Allen, Taryn M; Bonner, Melanie J

2013-08-01

Survivors of pediatric brain tumors and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are at increased risk for neurocognitive deficits, but few empirically supported treatment options exist. We examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a home-based, computerized working memory training program, CogmedRM, with survivors of childhood cancer. Survivors of brain tumors or ALL (n = 20) with identified deficits in attention and/or working memory were randomized to either the success-adapted computer intervention or a non-adaptive, active control condition. Specifically, children in the adaptive condition completed exercises that became more challenging with each correct trial, whereas those in the non-adaptive version trained with exercises that never increased in difficulty. All participants were asked to complete 25 training sessions at home, with weekly, phone-based coaching support. Brief assessments were completed pre-intervention and post-intervention; outcome measures included both performance-based and parent-report measures of working memory and attention. Eighty-five percent of survivors were compliant with the intervention, with no adverse events reported. After controlling for baseline intellectual functioning, survivors who completed the intervention program evidenced significant post-training improvements in their visual working memory and in parent-rated learning problems compared with those in the active control group. No differences in verbal working memory functioning were evident between groups, however. Home-based, computerized cognitive training demonstrates good feasibility and acceptability in our sample. Children with higher intellectual functioning at baseline appeared to benefit more from the training, although further study is needed to clarify the strength, scope, and particularly the generalizability of potential treatment effects. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Medial Temporal Lobe Damage Causes Deficits in Episodic Memory and Episodic Future Thinking Not Attributable to Deficits in Narrative Construction

PubMed Central

Race, Elizabeth; Keane, Margaret M.; Verfaellie, Mieke

2015-01-01

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) makes critical contributions to episodic memory, but its contributions to episodic future thinking remain a matter of debate. By one view, imagining future events relies on MTL mechanisms that also support memory for past events. Alternatively, it has recently been suggested that future thinking is independent of MTL-mediated processes and can be supported by regions outside the MTL. The current study investigated the nature and necessity of MTL involvement in imagining the future and tested the novel hypothesis that the MTL contributes to future thinking by supporting online binding processes related to narrative construction. Human amnesic patients with well-characterized MTL damage and healthy controls constructed narratives about (a) future events, (b) past events, and (c) visually-presented pictures. While all three tasks place similar demands on narrative construction, only the past and future conditions require memory/future thinking to mentally generate relevant narrative information. Patients produced impoverished descriptions of both past and future events but were unimpaired at producing detailed picture narratives. In addition, future-thinking performance positively correlated with episodic memory performance but did not correlate with picture narrative performance. Finally, future-thinking impairments were present when MTL lesions were restricted to the hippocampus and did not depend on the presence of neural damage outside the MTL. These results indicate that the ability to generate and maintain a detailed narrative is preserved in amnesia and suggest that a common MTL mechanism supports both episodic memory and episodic future thinking. PMID:21753003

Medial temporal lobe damage causes deficits in episodic memory and episodic future thinking not attributable to deficits in narrative construction.

PubMed

Race, Elizabeth; Keane, Margaret M; Verfaellie, Mieke

2011-07-13

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) makes critical contributions to episodic memory, but its contributions to episodic future thinking remain a matter of debate. By one view, imagining future events relies on MTL mechanisms that also support memory for past events. Alternatively, it has recently been suggested that future thinking is independent of MTL-mediated processes and can be supported by regions outside the MTL. The current study investigated the nature and necessity of MTL involvement in imagining the future and tested the novel hypothesis that the MTL contributes to future thinking by supporting online binding processes related to narrative construction. Human amnesic patients with well characterized MTL damage and healthy controls constructed narratives about (1) future events, (2) past events, and (3) visually presented pictures. While all three tasks place similar demands on narrative construction, only the past and future conditions require memory/future thinking to mentally generate relevant narrative information. Patients produced impoverished descriptions of both past and future events but were unimpaired at producing detailed picture narratives. In addition, future-thinking performance positively correlated with episodic memory performance but did not correlate with picture narrative performance. Finally, future-thinking impairments were present when MTL lesions were restricted to the hippocampus and did not depend on the presence of neural damage outside the MTL. These results indicate that the ability to generate and maintain a detailed narrative is preserved in amnesia and suggest that a common MTL mechanism supports both episodic memory and episodic future thinking.

Cognitive Training for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Meta-Analysis of Clinical and Neuropsychological Outcomes From Randomized Controlled Trials

PubMed Central

Cortese, Samuele; Ferrin, Maite; Brandeis, Daniel; Buitelaar, Jan; Daley, David; Dittmann, Ralf W.; Holtmann, Martin; Santosh, Paramala; Stevenson, Jim; Stringaris, Argyris; Zuddas, Alessandro; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J.S.

2015-01-01

Objective The authors performed meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials to examine the effects of cognitive training on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, neuropsychological deficits, and academic skills in children/adolescents with ADHD. Method The authors searched Pubmed, Ovid, Web of Science, ERIC, and CINAHAL databases through May 18, 2014. Data were aggregated using random-effects models. Studies were evaluated with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results Sixteen of 695 nonduplicate records were analyzed (759 children with ADHD). When all types of training were considered together, there were significant effects on total ADHD (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.09–0.66) and inattentive symptoms (SMD = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.14–0.80) for reports by raters most proximal to the treatment setting (i.e., typically unblinded). These figures decreased substantially when the outcomes were provided by probably blinded raters (ADHD total: SMD = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.01–0.40; inattention: SMD = 0.32, 95% CI = −0.01 to 0.66). Effects on hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms were not significant. There were significant effects on laboratory tests of working memory (verbal: SMD = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.24–0.80; visual: SMD = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.23–0.70) and parent ratings of executive function (SMD = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.08–0.61). Effects on academic performance were not statistically significant. There were no effects of working memory training, specifically on ADHD symptoms. Interventions targeting multiple neuropsychological deficits had large effects on ADHD symptoms rated by most proximal assessors (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.46–1.12). Conclusion Despite improving working memory performance, cognitive training had limited effects on ADHD symptoms according to assessments based on blinded measures. Approaches targeting multiple neuropsychological processes may optimize the transfer of effects from cognitive deficits to clinical symptoms. PMID:25721181

Cognitive training for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: meta-analysis of clinical and neuropsychological outcomes from randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Cortese, Samuele; Ferrin, Maite; Brandeis, Daniel; Buitelaar, Jan; Daley, David; Dittmann, Ralf W; Holtmann, Martin; Santosh, Paramala; Stevenson, Jim; Stringaris, Argyris; Zuddas, Alessandro; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J S

2015-03-01

The authors performed meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials to examine the effects of cognitive training on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, neuropsychological deficits, and academic skills in children/adolescents with ADHD. The authors searched Pubmed, Ovid, Web of Science, ERIC, and CINAHAL databases through May 18, 2014. Data were aggregated using random-effects models. Studies were evaluated with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Sixteen of 695 nonduplicate records were analyzed (759 children with ADHD). When all types of training were considered together, there were significant effects on total ADHD (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.09-0.66) and inattentive symptoms (SMD = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.14-0.80) for reports by raters most proximal to the treatment setting (i.e., typically unblinded). These figures decreased substantially when the outcomes were provided by probably blinded raters (ADHD total: SMD = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.01-0.40; inattention: SMD = 0.32, 95% CI = -0.01 to 0.66). Effects on hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms were not significant. There were significant effects on laboratory tests of working memory (verbal: SMD = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.24-0.80; visual: SMD = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.23-0.70) and parent ratings of executive function (SMD = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.08-0.61). Effects on academic performance were not statistically significant. There were no effects of working memory training, specifically on ADHD symptoms. Interventions targeting multiple neuropsychological deficits had large effects on ADHD symptoms rated by most proximal assessors (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.46-1.12). Despite improving working memory performance, cognitive training had limited effects on ADHD symptoms according to assessments based on blinded measures. Approaches targeting multiple neuropsychological processes may optimize the transfer of effects from cognitive deficits to clinical symptoms. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Word frequency influences on the list length effect and associative memory in young and older adults.

PubMed

Badham, Stephen P; Whitney, Cora; Sanghera, Sumeet; Maylor, Elizabeth A

2017-07-01

Many studies show that age deficits in memory are smaller for information supported by pre-experimental experience. Many studies also find dissociations in memory tasks between words that occur with high and low frequencies in language, but the literature is mixed regarding the extent of word frequency effects in normal ageing. We examined whether age deficits in episodic memory could be influenced by manipulations of word frequency. In Experiment 1, young and older adults studied short and long lists of high- and low-frequency words for free recall. The list length effect (the drop in proportion recalled for longer lists) was larger in young compared to older adults and for high- compared to low-frequency words. In Experiment 2, young and older adults completed item and associative recognition memory tests with high- and low-frequency words. Age deficits were greater for associative memory than for item memory, demonstrating an age-related associative deficit. High-frequency words led to better associative memory performance whilst low-frequency words resulted in better item memory performance. In neither experiment was there any evidence for age deficits to be smaller for high- relative to low-frequency words, suggesting that word frequency effects on memory operate independently from effects due to cognitive ageing.

[Memory characteristic in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder comorbid learning disability].

PubMed

Wu, Zhaomin; Wang, Na; Qian, Qiujin; Yang, Li; Qian, Ying; Liu, Lu; Liu, Yuxin; Cheng, Jia; Sun, Li; Cao, Qingjiu; Wang, Yufeng

2014-06-10

To explore the memory characteristic in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) plus learning disability (LD). A total of 97 ADHD boys with comorbid LD (ADHD+LD), 97 ADHD boys without comorbid LD (ADHD-LD) and 97 healthy controls (based on the criteria of DSM-IV) were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Peking University Sixth Hospital from December 2003 to September 2012. Individuals across three groups were matched by ages, intelligence quotient (IQ) and ADHD subtypes. The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) was used to access the characteristics of several memory domains. ADHD +LD group performed the worst and control group the best in memory quotient (MQ) (90 ± 15 vs 98 ± 14 & 104 ± 14) and long-term memory domain ((36.0 ± 10.2) vs (42.1 ± 7.8) & (45.6 ± 6.7) score, all P < 0.05) . ADHD+LD group scored significantly lower than the control group in short-term memory ( (53.0 ± 9.2) vs (58.0 ± 9.7) score, P < 0.05) and immediate memory domains ((10.0 ± 3.3) vs (11.3 ± 3.5) score, P < 0.05). However, ADHD+LD group scored slightly but not significantly lower than the ADHD-LD group ((54.9 ± 10.7),(10.8 ± 3.2) score, P > 0.05). In most subscales of WMS, ADHD+LD group scored significantly lower than both ADHD-LD and control group in current information and orientation, mental control (1→100) , mental control (100→1) and associate learning subscales ( (8.8 ± 3.1) vs (10.0 ± 3.0) & (9.9 ± 2.3) score, (8.7 ± 4.1) vs (10.0 ± 3.9) & (11.1 ± 3.6) score, (10.7 ± 3.9) vs (12.9 ± 2.8) & (13.7 ± 2.2) score, (9.8 ± 3.1) vs (10.8 ± 2.6) & (11.1 ± 2.1) score, all P < 0.05) . In mental control (accumulation) subscale, all pairwise comparisons were statistically significant (all P < 0.05) . In subscales of figure memory, visual reproduction and digit span, ADHD+LD scored significantly lower than the control group (all P < 0.05), but not the ADHD-LD group (all P > 0.05). Boys with ADHD comorbid LD show deficits in overall memory function and long-term memory while short-term memory is partially damaged. Impairment in immediate memory is not detected.

Cancer 'survivor-care': II. Disruption of prefrontal brain activation top-down control of working memory capacity as possible mechanism for chemo-fog/brain (chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment).

PubMed

Raffa, R B

2013-08-01

Cancer chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairments (termed 'chemo-fog' or 'chemo-brain'), particularly in memory, have been self-reported or identified in cancer survivors previously treated with chemotherapy. Although a variety of deficits have been detected, a consistent theme is a detriment in visuospatial working memory. The parietal cortex, a major site of storage of such memory, is implicated in chemotherapy-induced damage. However, if the findings of two recent publications are combined, the (pre)frontal cortex might be an equally viable target. Two recent studies, one postulating a mechanism for 'top-down control' of working memory capacity and another visualizing chemotherapy-induced alterations in brain activation during working memory processing, are reviewed and integrated. A computational model and the proposal that the prefrontal cortex plays a role in working memory via top-down control of parietal working memory capacity is consistent with a recent demonstration of decreased frontal hyperactivation following chemotherapy. Chemotherapy-associated impairment of visuospatial working memory might include the (pre)frontal cortex in addition to the parietal cortex. This provides new opportunity for basic science and clinical investigation. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Do Chinese Children With Math Difficulties Have a Deficit in Executive Functioning?

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaochen; Georgiou, George K.; Li, Qing; Tavouktsoglou, Athanasios

2018-01-01

Several studies have shown that Executive Functioning (EF) is a unique predictor of mathematics performance. However, whether or not children with mathematics difficulties (MD) experience deficits in EF remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine if Chinese children with MD experience deficits in EF. We assessed 23 children with MD (9 girls, mean age = 10.40 years), 30 children with reading difficulties and MD (RDMD; 12 girls, mean age = 10.82 years), and 31 typically-developing (TD) peers (16 girls, mean age = 10.41 years) on measures of inhibition (Color-Word Stroop, Inhibition), shifting of attention (Planned Connections, Rapid Alternating Stimuli), working memory (Digit Span Backwards, Listening Span), processing speed (Visual Matching, Planned Search), reading (Character Recognition, Sentence Verification), and mathematics (Addition and Subtraction Fluency, Math Standard Achievement Test). The results of MANOVA analyses showed first that the performance of the MD children in all EF tasks was worse than their TD peers. Second, with the exception of the shifting tasks in which the MD children performed better than the RDMD children, the performance of the two groups was similar in all measures of working memory and inhibition. Finally, covarying for the effects of processing speed eliminated almost all differences between the TD and MD groups (the only exception was Listening Span) as well as the differences between the MD and RDMD groups in shifting of attention. Taken together, our findings suggest that although Chinese children with MD (with or without comorbid reading difficulties) experience significant deficits in all EF skills, most of their deficits can be accounted by lower-level deficits in processing speed. PMID:29928246

Exploring the role of task performance and learning style on prefrontal hemodynamics during a working memory task.

PubMed

Anderson, Afrouz A; Parsa, Kian; Geiger, Sydney; Zaragoza, Rachel; Kermanian, Riley; Miguel, Helga; Dashtestani, Hadis; Chowdhry, Fatima A; Smith, Elizabeth; Aram, Siamak; Gandjbakhche, Amir H

2018-01-01

Existing literature outlines the quality and location of activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during working memory (WM) tasks. However, the effects of individual differences on the underlying neural process of WM tasks are still unclear. In this functional near infrared spectroscopy study, we administered a visual and auditory n-back task to examine activation in the PFC while considering the influences of task performance, and preferred learning strategy (VARK score). While controlling for age, results indicated that high performance (HP) subjects (accuracy > 90%) showed task dependent lower activation compared to normal performance subjects in PFC region Specifically HP groups showed lower activation in left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) region during performance of auditory task whereas during visual task they showed lower activation in the right DLPFC. After accounting for learning style, we found a correlation between visual and aural VARK score and level of activation in the PFC. Subjects with higher visual VARK scores displayed lower activation during auditory task in left DLPFC, while those with higher visual scores exhibited higher activation during visual task in bilateral DLPFC. During performance of auditory task, HP subjects had higher visual VARK scores compared to NP subjects indicating an effect of learning style on the task performance and activation. The results of this study show that learning style and task performance can influence PFC activation, with applications toward neurological implications of learning style and populations with deficits in auditory or visual processing.

Exploring the role of task performance and learning style on prefrontal hemodynamics during a working memory task

PubMed Central

Anderson, Afrouz A.; Parsa, Kian; Geiger, Sydney; Zaragoza, Rachel; Kermanian, Riley; Miguel, Helga; Chowdhry, Fatima A.; Smith, Elizabeth; Aram, Siamak; Gandjbakhche, Amir H.

2018-01-01

Existing literature outlines the quality and location of activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during working memory (WM) tasks. However, the effects of individual differences on the underlying neural process of WM tasks are still unclear. In this functional near infrared spectroscopy study, we administered a visual and auditory n-back task to examine activation in the PFC while considering the influences of task performance, and preferred learning strategy (VARK score). While controlling for age, results indicated that high performance (HP) subjects (accuracy > 90%) showed task dependent lower activation compared to normal performance subjects in PFC region Specifically HP groups showed lower activation in left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) region during performance of auditory task whereas during visual task they showed lower activation in the right DLPFC. After accounting for learning style, we found a correlation between visual and aural VARK score and level of activation in the PFC. Subjects with higher visual VARK scores displayed lower activation during auditory task in left DLPFC, while those with higher visual scores exhibited higher activation during visual task in bilateral DLPFC. During performance of auditory task, HP subjects had higher visual VARK scores compared to NP subjects indicating an effect of learning style on the task performance and activation. The results of this study show that learning style and task performance can influence PFC activation, with applications toward neurological implications of learning style and populations with deficits in auditory or visual processing. PMID:29870536

Visual agnosia and focal brain injury.

PubMed

Martinaud, O

Visual agnosia encompasses all disorders of visual recognition within a selective visual modality not due to an impairment of elementary visual processing or other cognitive deficit. Based on a sequential dichotomy between the perceptual and memory systems, two different categories of visual object agnosia are usually considered: 'apperceptive agnosia' and 'associative agnosia'. Impaired visual recognition within a single category of stimuli is also reported in: (i) visual object agnosia of the ventral pathway, such as prosopagnosia (for faces), pure alexia (for words), or topographagnosia (for landmarks); (ii) visual spatial agnosia of the dorsal pathway, such as cerebral akinetopsia (for movement), or orientation agnosia (for the placement of objects in space). Focal brain injuries provide a unique opportunity to better understand regional brain function, particularly with the use of effective statistical approaches such as voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM). The aim of the present work was twofold: (i) to review the various agnosia categories according to the traditional visual dual-pathway model; and (ii) to better assess the anatomical network underlying visual recognition through lesion-mapping studies correlating neuroanatomical and clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Working Memory Deficits in Boys with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): The Contribution of Central Executive and Subsystem Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapport, Mark D.; Alderson, R. Matt; Kofler, Michael J.; Sarver, Dustin E.; Bolden, Jennifer; Sims, Valerie

2008-01-01

The current study investigated contradictory findings from recent experimental and meta-analytic studies concerning working memory deficits in ADHD. Working memory refers to the cognitive ability to temporarily store and mentally manipulate limited amounts of information for use in guiding behavior. Phonological (verbal) and visuospatial…

Association between Early Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms and Current Verbal and Visuo-Spatial Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gau, Susan Shur-Fen; Chiang, Huey-Ling

2013-01-01

Deficits in short-term memory are common in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but their current ADHD symptoms cannot well predict their short-term performance. Taking a developmental perspective, we wanted to clarify the association between ADHD symptoms at early childhood and short-term memory in late childhood and…

The neuropsychology of emerging psychosis and the role of working memory in episodic memory encoding.

PubMed

Pflueger, Marlon O; Calabrese, Pasquale; Studerus, Erich; Zimmermann, Ronan; Gschwandtner, Ute; Borgwardt, Stefan; Aston, Jacqueline; Stieglitz, Rolf-Dieter; Riecher-Rössler, Anita

2018-01-01

Episodic memory encoding and working memory (WM) deficits are among the first cognitive signs and symptoms in the course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, it is not clear whether the deficit pattern is generalized or specific in nature. We hypothesized that encoding deficits at an early stage of the disease might be due to the more fundamental WM deficits. We examined episodic memory encoding and WM by administering the California Verbal Learning Test, a 2-back task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in 90 first-episode psychosis (FE) patients and 116 individuals with an at-risk mental state for psychosis (ARMS) compared to 57 healthy subjects. Learning progress, but not span of apprehension, was diminished to a similar extent in both the ARMS and the FE. We showed that this was due to WM impairment by applying a structural equation approach. Thus, we conclude that verbal memory encoding deficits are secondary to primary WM impairment in emerging psychosis.

Male veterans with PTSD exhibit aberrant neural dynamics during working memory processing: an MEG study

PubMed Central

McDermott, Timothy J.; Badura-Brack, Amy S.; Becker, Katherine M.; Ryan, Tara J.; Khanna, Maya M.; Heinrichs-Graham, Elizabeth; Wilson, Tony W.

2016-01-01

Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with executive functioning deficits, including disruptions in working memory. In this study, we examined the neural dynamics of working memory processing in veterans with PTSD and a matched healthy control sample using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Methods Our sample of recent combat veterans with PTSD and demographically matched participants without PTSD completed a working memory task during a 306-sensor MEG recording. The MEG data were preprocessed and transformed into the time-frequency domain. Significant oscillatory brain responses were imaged using a beamforming approach to identify spatiotemporal dynamics. Results Fifty-one men were included in our analyses: 27 combat veterans with PTSD and 24 controls. Across all participants, a dynamic wave of neural activity spread from posterior visual cortices to left frontotemporal regions during encoding, consistent with a verbal working memory task, and was sustained throughout maintenance. Differences related to PTSD emerged during early encoding, with patients exhibiting stronger α oscillatory responses than controls in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Differences spread to the right supramarginal and temporal cortices during later encoding where, along with the right IFG, they persisted throughout the maintenance period. Limitations This study focused on men with combat-related PTSD using a verbal working memory task. Future studies should evaluate women and the impact of various traumatic experiences using diverse tasks. Conclusion Posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with neurophysiological abnormalities during working memory encoding and maintenance. Veterans with PTSD engaged a bilateral network, including the inferior prefrontal cortices and supramarginal gyri. Right hemispheric neural activity likely reflects compensatory processing, as veterans with PTSD work to maintain accurate performance despite known cognitive deficits associated with the disorder. PMID:26645740

Working memory and the identification of facial expression in patients with left frontal glioma.

PubMed

Mu, Yong-Gao; Huang, Ling-Juan; Li, Shi-Yun; Ke, Chao; Chen, Yu; Jin, Yu; Chen, Zhong-Ping

2012-09-01

Patients with brain tumors may have cognitive dysfunctions including memory deterioration, such as working memory, that affect quality of life. This study was to explore the presence of defects in working memory and the identification of facial expressions in patients with left frontal glioma. This case-control study recruited 11 matched pairs of patients and healthy control subjects (mean age ± standard deviation, 37.00 ± 10.96 years vs 36.73 ± 11.20 years; 7 male and 4 female) from March through December 2011. The psychological tests contained tests that estimate verbal/visual-spatial working memory, executive function, and the identification of facial expressions. According to the paired samples analysis, there were no differences in the anxiety and depression scores or in the intelligence quotients between the 2 groups (P > .05). All indices of the Digit Span Test were significantly worse in patients than in control subjects (P < .05), but the Tapping Test scores did not differ between patient and control groups. Of all 7 Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) indexes, only the Preservative Response was significantly different between patients and control subjects (P < .05). Patients were significantly less accurate in detecting angry facial expressions than were control subjects (30.3% vs 57.6%; P < .05) but showed no deficits in the identification of other expressions. The backward indexes of the Digit Span Test were associated with emotion scores and tumor size and grade (P < .05). Patients with left frontal glioma had deficits in verbal working memory and the ability to identify anger. These may have resulted from damage to functional frontal cortex regions, in which roles in these 2 capabilities have not been confirmed. However, verbal working memory performance might be affected by emotional and tumor-related factors.

Neuropsychological comparison of alcohol-exposed children with or without physical features of fetal alcohol syndrome.

PubMed

Mattson, S N; Riley, E P; Gramling, L; Delis, D C; Jones, K L

1998-01-01

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is associated with behavioral and cognitive deficits. However, the majority of children born to alcohol-abusing women do not meet the formal criteria for FAS and it is not known if the cognitive abilities of these children differ from those of children with FAS. Using a set of neuropsychological tests, 3 groups were compared: (a) children with FAS, (b) children without FAS who were born to alcohol-abusing women (the PEA group), and (c) normal controls. The results indicated that, relative to controls, both the FAS and the PEA groups were impaired on tests of language, verbal learning and memory, academic skills, fine-motor speed, and visual-motor integration. These data suggest that heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is related to a consistent pattern of neuropsychological deficits and the degree of these deficits may be independent of the presence of physical features associated with FAS.

Sleep Disorders as a Risk to Language Learning and Use.

PubMed

McGregor, Karla K; Alper, Rebecca M

2015-05-01

Are people with sleep disorders at higher risk for language learning deficits than healthy sleepers? Scoping Review. PubMed, Google Scholar, Trip Database, ClinicalTrials.gov. sleep disorders AND language AND learning; sleep disorders language learning -deprivation -epilepsy; sleep disorders AND verbal learning. 36. Children and adults with sleep disorders were at a higher risk for language problems than healthy sleepers. The language problems typically co-occurred with problems of attention and executive function (in children and adults), behavior (in children), and visual-spatial processing (in adults). Effects were typically small. Language problems seldom rose to a level of clinical concern but there were exceptions involving phonological deficits in children with sleep-disordered breathing and verbal memory deficits among adults with sleep-disordered breathing or idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder. Case history interviews should include questions about limited sleep, poor-quality sleep, snoring, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Medical referrals for clients with suspected sleep disorders are prudent.

Syntactic Versus Memory Accounts of the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of Specific Language Impairment: Looking Back, Looking Ahead.

PubMed

Montgomery, James W; Gillam, Ronald B; Evans, Julia L

2016-12-01

Compared with same-age typically developing peers, school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit significant deficits in spoken sentence comprehension. They also demonstrate a range of memory limitations. Whether these 2 deficit areas are related is unclear. The present review article aims to (a) review 2 main theoretical accounts of SLI sentence comprehension and various studies supporting each and (b) offer a new, broader, more integrated memory-based framework to guide future SLI research, as we believe the available evidence favors a memory-based perspective of SLI comprehension limitations. We reviewed the literature on the sentence comprehension abilities of English-speaking children with SLI from 2 theoretical perspectives. The sentence comprehension limitations of children with SLI appear to be more fully captured by a memory-based perspective than by a syntax-specific deficit perspective. Although a memory-based view appears to be the better account of SLI sentence comprehension deficits, this view requires refinement and expansion. Current memory-based perspectives of adult sentence comprehension, with proper modification, offer SLI investigators new, more integrated memory frameworks within which to study and better understand the sentence comprehension abilities of children with SLI.

Syntactic Versus Memory Accounts of the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of Specific Language Impairment: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

PubMed Central

Gillam, Ronald B.; Evans, Julia L.

2016-01-01

Purpose Compared with same-age typically developing peers, school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit significant deficits in spoken sentence comprehension. They also demonstrate a range of memory limitations. Whether these 2 deficit areas are related is unclear. The present review article aims to (a) review 2 main theoretical accounts of SLI sentence comprehension and various studies supporting each and (b) offer a new, broader, more integrated memory-based framework to guide future SLI research, as we believe the available evidence favors a memory-based perspective of SLI comprehension limitations. Method We reviewed the literature on the sentence comprehension abilities of English-speaking children with SLI from 2 theoretical perspectives. Results The sentence comprehension limitations of children with SLI appear to be more fully captured by a memory-based perspective than by a syntax-specific deficit perspective. Conclusions Although a memory-based view appears to be the better account of SLI sentence comprehension deficits, this view requires refinement and expansion. Current memory-based perspectives of adult sentence comprehension, with proper modification, offer SLI investigators new, more integrated memory frameworks within which to study and better understand the sentence comprehension abilities of children with SLI. PMID:27973643

Memory Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis is Due to a Core Deficit in Initial Learning

PubMed Central

DeLuca, John; Leavitt, Victoria M.; Chiaravalloti, Nancy; Wylie, Glenn

2013-01-01

Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) suffer memory impairment, but research on the nature of MS-related memory problems is mixed. Some have argued for a core deficit in retrieval, while others have identified deficient initial learning as the core deficit. We used a selective reminding paradigm to determine whether deficient initial learning or delayed retrieval represents the primary memory deficit in 44 persons with MS. Brain atrophy was measured from high-resolution MRIs. Regression analyses examined the impact of brain atrophy on (a) initial learning and delayed retrieval separately, and then (b) delayed retrieval controlling for initial learning. Brain atrophy was negatively associated with both initial learning and delayed retrieval (ps < .01), but brain atrophy was unrelated to retrieval when controlling for initial learning (p > .05). In addition, brain atrophy was associated with inefficient learning across initial acquisition trials, and brain atrophy was unrelated to delayed recall among MS subjects who successfully acquired the word list (although such learning frequently required many exposures). Taken together, memory deficits in MS are a result of deficits in initial learning; moreover, initial learning mediates the relationship between brain atrophy and subsequent retrieval, thereby supporting the core learning-deficit hypothesis of memory impairment in MS. PMID:23832311

Apolipoprotein E4 causes age- and Tau-dependent impairment of GABAergic interneurons, leading to learning and memory deficits in mice.

PubMed

Andrews-Zwilling, Yaisa; Bien-Ly, Nga; Xu, Qin; Li, Gang; Bernardo, Aubrey; Yoon, Seo Yeon; Zwilling, Daniel; Yan, Tonya Xue; Chen, Ligong; Huang, Yadong

2010-10-13

Apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) is the major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. We found that female apoE4 knock-in (KI) mice had an age-dependent decrease in hilar GABAergic interneurons that correlated with the extent of learning and memory deficits, as determined in the Morris water maze, in aged mice. Treating apoE4-KI mice with daily peritoneal injections of the GABA(A) receptor potentiator pentobarbital at 20 mg/kg for 4 weeks rescued the learning and memory deficits. In neurotoxic apoE4 fragment transgenic mice, hilar GABAergic interneuron loss was even more pronounced and also correlated with the extent of learning and memory deficits. Neurodegeneration and tauopathy occurred earliest in hilar interneurons in apoE4 fragment transgenic mice; eliminating endogenous Tau prevented hilar GABAergic interneuron loss and the learning and memory deficits. The GABA(A) receptor antagonist picrotoxin abolished this rescue, while pentobarbital rescued learning deficits in the presence of endogenous Tau. Thus, apoE4 causes age- and Tau-dependent impairment of hilar GABAergic interneurons, leading to learning and memory deficits in mice. Consequently, reducing Tau and enhancing GABA signaling are potential strategies to treat or prevent apoE4-related Alzheimer's disease.

Expressive writing in people with traumatic brain injury and learning disability.

PubMed

Wheeler, Lisa; Nickerson, Sherry; Long, Kayla; Silver, Rebecca

2014-01-01

There is a dearth of systematic studies of expressive writing disorder (EWD) in persons with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It is unclear if TBI survivors' written expression differs significantly from that experienced by persons with learning disabilities. It is also unclear which cognitive or neuropsychological variables predict problems with expressive writing (EW) or the EWD. This study investigated the EW skill, and the EWD in adults with mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI) relative to those with learning disabilities (LD). It also determined which of several cognitive variables predicted EW and EWD. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) of writing samples from 28 LD participants and 28 TBI survivors revealed four components of expressive writing skills: Reading Ease, Sentence Fluency, Grammar and Spelling, and Paragraph Fluency. There were no significant differences between the LD and TBI groups on any of the expressive writing components. Several neuropsychological variables predicted skills of written expression. The best predictors included measures of spatial perception, verbal IQ, working memory, and visual memory. TBI survivors and persons with LD do not differ markedly in terms of expressive writing skill. Measures of spatial perception, visual memory, verbal intelligence, and working memory predict writing skill in both groups. Several therapeutic interventions are suggested that are specifically designed to improve deficits in expressive writing skills in individuals with TBI and LD.

Nicotinic α4β2 acetylcholine receptors and cognitive function in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Lorenz, R; Samnick, S; Dillmann, U; Schiller, M; Ong, M F; Faßbender, K; Buck, A; Spiegel, J

2014-09-01

Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) is characterized by the clinical motor symptoms of hypokinesia, rigidity, and tremor. Apart from these motor symptoms, cognitive deficits often occur in IPD. The positive effect of cholinesterase inhibitors on cognitive deficits in IPD and findings of earlier molecular imaging studies suggest that the cholinergic system plays an important role in the origin of cognitive decline in IPD. Twenty-five non-demented patients with IPD underwent a 5-[123I]iodo-3-[2(S)-2-azetidinylmethoxy]pyridine (5-I-A-85380) SPECT to visualize α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchR) and cognitive testing with the CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) battery to identify domains of cognitive dysfunction. In the CERAD, the IPD patients exhibited deficits in non-verbal memory, attention, psychomotor velocity, visuoconstructive ability, and executive functions. After Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, we found significant correlations between performance of the CERAD subtests Boston Naming Test (a specific test for visual perception and for detection of word-finding difficulties) and Word List Intrusions (a specific test for learning capacity and memory for language information) vs binding of α4β2 nAchR in cortical (the right superior parietal lobule) and subcortical areas (the left thalamus, the left posterior subcortical region, and the right posterior subcortical region). These significant correlations between the results of the CERAD subtests and the cerebral α4β2 nAchR density, as assessed by 5-I-A-85380 SPECT, indicate that cerebral cholinergic pathways are relevant to cognitive processing in IPD. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Schizophrenia, smoking status, and performance on the matrics Cognitive Consensus Battery.

PubMed

Reed, Alexandra C; Harris, Josette G; Olincy, Ann

2016-12-30

Cognitive deficits and high rates of nicotine dependence are consistently documented in the schizophrenia literature. However, there is currently no consensus about how regular smoking influences cognition in schizophrenia or which cognitive domains are most affected by chronic smoking. Previous studies have also failed to disambiguate the effects of chronic nicotine from those of acute exposure. The current study uses a novel approach to testing nicotine addicted patients at a time-point between acute enhancement and withdrawal and implements the MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Battery (MCCB) to compare the overall cognitive performance of regular smokers (n=40) and nonsmokers (n=36) with schizophrenia. Controlling for age, gender, and education, smokers with schizophrenia were significantly more impaired on a visual learning task, the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), than their nonsmoking peers. Among smokers, smoking behavior (i.e., exhaled carbon monoxide levels of smokers) predicted BVMT-R T score; greater smoking was associated with more impaired visual learning. Negative symptom severity was not predictive of greater visual learning deficits in smokers or nonsmokers. Future longitudinal research will be required to determine if there is a dose-response relationship between chronic nicotine and visual learning impairment in patients at various stages of psychotic illness. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dissociation Between Working Memory Performance and Proactive Interference Control in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PubMed Central

Swick, Diane; Cayton, Julien; Ashley, Victoria; Turken, And U.

2017-01-01

Deficits in working memory (WM) and cognitive control processes have been reported in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in addition to clinical symptoms such as hypervigilance, re-experiencing, and avoidance of trauma reminders. Given the uncontrollable nature of intrusive memories, an important question is whether PTSD is associated with altered control of interference in WM. Some studies also suggest that episodic memory shows a material-specific dissociation in PTSD, with greater impairments in verbal memory and relative sparing of nonverbal memory. It is unclear whether this dissociation applies to WM, as no studies have used identical task parameters across material. Here we tested 29 combat Veterans with PTSD and 29 age-matched control Veterans on a recent probes WM task with words and visual patterns in separate blocks. Participants studied four-item sets, followed by a probe stimulus that had been presented in the previous set (recent probe) or not (nonrecent probe). Participants with PTSD made more errors than controls, and this decrement was similar for verbal and visual stimuli. Proactive interference from items recently presented, but no longer relevant, was not significantly different in the PTSD group and showed no relationship to re-experiencing symptom severity. These results demonstrate that PTSD is not reliably associated with increased intrusions of irrelevant representations into WM when non-emotional stimuli are used. Future studies that use trauma-related material may provide insight into the flashbacks and intrusive thoughts that plague those with PTSD. PMID:28077328

Dissociation between working memory performance and proactive interference control in post-traumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Swick, Diane; Cayton, Julien; Ashley, Victoria; Turken, And U

2017-02-01

Deficits in working memory (WM) and cognitive control processes have been reported in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in addition to clinical symptoms such as hypervigilance, re-experiencing, and avoidance of trauma reminders. Given the uncontrollable nature of intrusive memories, an important question is whether PTSD is associated with altered control of interference in WM. Some studies also suggest that episodic memory shows a material-specific dissociation in PTSD, with greater impairments in verbal memory and relative sparing of nonverbal memory. It is unclear whether this dissociation applies to WM, as no studies have used identical task parameters across material. Here we tested 29 combat Veterans with PTSD and 29 age-matched control Veterans on a recent probes WM task with words and visual patterns in separate blocks. Participants studied four-item sets, followed by a probe stimulus that had been presented in the previous set (recent probe) or not (nonrecent probe). Participants with PTSD made more errors than controls, and this decrement was similar for verbal and visual stimuli. Proactive interference from items recently presented, but no longer relevant, was not significantly different in the PTSD group and showed no relationship to re-experiencing symptom severity. These results demonstrate that PTSD is not reliably associated with increased intrusions of irrelevant representations into WM when non-emotional stimuli are used. Future studies that use trauma-related material may provide insight into the flashbacks and intrusive thoughts that plague those with PTSD. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Salience of working-memory maintenance and manipulation deficits in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Hill, S. K.; Griffin, G. B.; Miura, T. Kazuto; Herbener, E. S.; Sweeney, J. A.

2011-01-01

Background Encoding and maintenance of information in working memory, followed by internal manipulation of that information for planning adaptive behavior, are two key components of working-memory systems. Both processes have been reported to be impaired in schizophrenia, but few studies have directly compared the relative severity of these abnormalities, or the degree to which manipulation deficits might be secondary to alterations in maintenance processes. Method Clinically stable schizophrenia patients (n=25) and a demographically similar healthy comparison group (n=24) were administered a verbal span task with three levels of working-memory load. Maintenance was assessed using sequential position questions. Manipulation processes were assessed by requiring comparison of the relative sequential position of test items, which entailed simultaneous serial search strategies regarding item order. Results Both groups showed reduced accuracy and increased reaction time for manipulation compared with maintenance processing. There were significant patient impairments across working-memory loads. There was no differential deficit in manipulation processing, and effect sizes of relative deficit in the patient group were higher for maintenance than manipulation processing. Conclusions The strong correlation for maintenance and manipulation deficits suggest that impairments in the ability to internally manipulate information stored in working-memory systems are not greater than alterations in the encoding and maintaining of information in working memory and that disturbances in maintenance processing may contribute to deficits in higher-order working-memory operations. PMID:20214839

Faster forgetting contributes to impaired spatial memory in the PDAPP mouse: Deficit in memory retrieval associated with increased sensitivity to interference?

PubMed Central

Daumas, Stephanie; Sandin, Johan; Chen, Karen S.; Kobayashi, Dione; Tulloch, Jane; Martin, Stephen J.; Games, Dora; Morris, Richard G.M.

2008-01-01

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the possibility of faster forgetting by PDAPP mice (a well-established model of Alzheimer’s disease as reported by Games and colleagues in an earlier paper). Experiment 1, using mice aged 13–16 mo, confirmed the presence of a deficit in a spatial reference memory task in the water maze by hemizygous PDAPP mice relative to littermate controls. However, after overtraining to a criterion of equivalent navigational performance, a series of memory retention tests revealed faster forgetting in the PDAPP group. Very limited retraining was sufficient to reinstate good memory in both groups, indicating that their faster forgetting may be due to retrieval failure rather than trace decay. In Experiment 2, 6-mo-old PDAPP and controls were required to learn each of a series of spatial locations to criterion with their memory assessed 10 min after learning each location. No memory deficit was apparent in the PDAPP mice initially, but a deficit built up through the series of locations suggestive of increased sensitivity to interference. Faster forgetting and increased interference may each reflect a difficulty in accessing memory traces. This interpretation of one aspect of the cognitive deficit in human mutant APP mice has parallels to deficits observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, further supporting the validity of transgenic models of the disease. PMID:18772249

Hippocampal atrophy in people with memory deficits: results from the population-based IPREA study.

PubMed

Ferrarini, Luca; van Lew, Baldur; Reiber, Johan H C; Gandin, Claudia; Galluzzo, Lucia; Scafato, Emanuele; Frisoni, Giovanni B; Milles, Julien; Pievani, Michela

2014-07-01

Clinical studies have shown that hippocampal atrophy is present before dementia in people with memory deficits and can predict dementia development. The question remains whether this association holds in the general population. This is of interest for the possible use of hippocampal atrophy to screen population for preventive interventions. The aim of this study was to assess hippocampal volume and shape abnormalities in elderly adults with memory deficits in a cross-sectional population-based study. We included individuals participating in the Italian Project on the Epidemiology of Alzheimer Disease (IPREA) study: 75 cognitively normal individuals (HC), 31 individuals with memory deficits (MEM), and 31 individuals with memory deficits not otherwise specified (MEMnos). Hippocampal volumes and shape were extracted through manual tracing and the growing and adaptive meshes (GAMEs) shape-modeling algorithm. We investigated between-group differences in hippocampal volume and shape, and correlations with memory deficits. In MEM participants, hippocampal volumes were significantly smaller than in HC and were mildly associated with worse memory scores. Memory-associated shape changes mapped to the anterior hippocampus. Shape-based analysis detected no significant difference between MEM and HC, while MEMnos showed shape changes in the posterior hippocampus compared with HC and MEM groups. These findings support the discriminant validity of hippocampal volumetry as a biomarker of memory impairment in the general population. The detection of shape changes in MEMnos but not in MEM participants suggests that shape-based biomarkers might lack sensitivity to detect Alzheimer's-like pathology in the general population.

Short-term and working memory impairments in aphasia.

PubMed

Potagas, Constantin; Kasselimis, Dimitrios; Evdokimidis, Ioannis

2011-08-01

The aim of the present study is to investigate short-term memory and working memory deficits in aphasics in relation to the severity of their language impairment. Fifty-eight aphasic patients participated in this study. Based on language assessment, an aphasia score was calculated for each patient. Memory was assessed in two modalities, verbal and spatial. Mean scores for all memory tasks were lower than normal. Aphasia score was significantly correlated with performance on all memory tasks. Correlation coefficients for short-term memory and working memory were approximately of the same magnitude. According to our findings, severity of aphasia is related with both verbal and spatial memory deficits. Moreover, while aphasia score correlated with lower scores in both short-term memory and working memory tasks, the lack of substantial difference between corresponding correlation coefficients suggests a possible primary deficit in information retention rather than impairment in working memory. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Salient cues improve prospective remembering in Korsakoff's syndrome.

PubMed

Altgassen, Mareike; Ariese, Laura; Wester, Arie J; Kessels, Roy P C

2016-06-01

Korsakoff's syndrome is characterized by deficits in episodic memory and executive functions. Both cognitive functions are needed to remember to execute delayed intentions (prospective memory, PM), an ability that is crucial for independent living in everyday life. So far, PM has only been targeted by one study in Korsakoff's syndrome. This study explored the effects of executive control demands on PM to shed further light on a possible interdependence of memory and executive functions in Korsakoff's syndrome, Twenty-five individuals with Korsakoff's syndrome and 23 chronic alcoholics (without amnesia) performed a categorization task into which a PM task was embedded that put either high or low demands on executive control processes (using low vs. high salient cues). Overall, Korsakoff patients had fewer PM hits than alcoholic controls. Across groups, participants had fewer PM hits when cues were low salient as compared to high salient. Korsakoff patients performed better on PM when highly salient cues were presented than cues of low salience, while there were no differential effects for alcoholic controls. While overall Korsakoff patients' showed a global PM deficit, the extent of this deficit was moderated by the executive control demands of the task applied. This indicated further support for an interrelation of executive functions and memory performance in Korsakoff. Positive clinical implications of the work Prospective memory (PM) performance in Korsakoff's syndrome is related to executive control load. Increasing cues' salience improves PM performance in Korsakoff's syndrome. Salient visual aids may be used in everyday life to improve Korsakoff individuals' planning and organization skills. Cautions or limitations of the study Results were obtained in a structured laboratory setting and need to be replicated in a more naturalistic setting to assess their transferability to everyday life. Given the relatively small sample size, individual predictors of PM performance should be determined in larger samples. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

5-HTTLPR Genotype Moderates the Effects of Past Ecstasy Use on Verbal Memory Performance in Adolescent and Emerging Adults: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Wright, Natasha E; Strong, Judith A; Gilbart, Erika R; Shollenbarger, Skyler G; Lisdahl, Krista M

2015-01-01

Ecstasy use is associated with memory deficits. Serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms have been linked with memory function in healthy samples. The present pilot study investigated the influence of 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms on memory performance in ecstasy users, marijuana-using controls, and non-drug-using controls, after a minimum of 7 days of abstinence. Data were collected from 116 young adults (18-25 years-old), including 45 controls, 42 marijuana users, and 29 ecstasy users, and were balanced for 5-HTTLPR genotype. Participants were abstinent seven days prior to completing memory testing. Three MANCOVAs and one ANCOVA were run to examine whether drug group, 5-HTTLPR genotype, and their interactions predicted verbal and visual memory after controlling for gender, past year alcohol use, other drug use, and nicotine cotinine levels. MANCOVA and ANCOVA analysis revealed a significant interaction between drug group and genotype (p = .03) such that ecstasy users with the L/L genotype performed significantly worse on CVLT-2 total recall (p = .05), short (p = .008) and long delay free recall (p = .01), and recognition (p = .006), with the reverse pattern found in controls. Ecstasy did not significantly predict visual memory. 5-HTTLPR genotype significantly predicted memory for faces (p = .02); short allele carriers performed better than those with L/L genotype. 5-HTTLPR genotype moderated the effects of ecstasy on verbal memory, with L/L carriers performing worse compared to controls. Future research should continue to examine individual differences in ecstasy's impact on neurocognitive performance as well as relationships with neuronal structure. Additional screening and prevention efforts focused on adolescents and emerging adults are necessary to prevent ecstasy consumption.

5-HTTLPR Genotype Moderates the Effects of Past Ecstasy Use on Verbal Memory Performance in Adolescent and Emerging Adults: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Wright, Natasha E.; Strong, Judith A.; Gilbart, Erika R.; Shollenbarger, Skyler G.; Lisdahl, Krista M.

2015-01-01

Objective Ecstasy use is associated with memory deficits. Serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms have been linked with memory function in healthy samples. The present pilot study investigated the influence of 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms on memory performance in ecstasy users, marijuana-using controls, and non-drug-using controls, after a minimum of 7 days of abstinence. Method Data were collected from 116 young adults (18–25 years-old), including 45 controls, 42 marijuana users, and 29 ecstasy users, and were balanced for 5-HTTLPR genotype. Participants were abstinent seven days prior to completing memory testing. Three MANCOVAs and one ANCOVA were run to examine whether drug group, 5-HTTLPR genotype, and their interactions predicted verbal and visual memory after controlling for gender, past year alcohol use, other drug use, and nicotine cotinine levels. Results MANCOVA and ANCOVA analysis revealed a significant interaction between drug group and genotype (p = .03) such that ecstasy users with the L/L genotype performed significantly worse on CVLT-2 total recall (p = .05), short (p = .008) and long delay free recall (p = .01), and recognition (p = .006), with the reverse pattern found in controls. Ecstasy did not significantly predict visual memory. 5-HTTLPR genotype significantly predicted memory for faces (p = .02); short allele carriers performed better than those with L/L genotype. Conclusions 5-HTTLPR genotype moderated the effects of ecstasy on verbal memory, with L/L carriers performing worse compared to controls. Future research should continue to examine individual differences in ecstasy’s impact on neurocognitive performance as well as relationships with neuronal structure. Additional screening and prevention efforts focused on adolescents and emerging adults are necessary to prevent ecstasy consumption. PMID:26231032

Reference memory, anxiety and estrous cyclicity in C57BL/6NIA mice are affected by age and sex.

PubMed

Frick, K M; Burlingame, L A; Arters, J A; Berger-Sweeney, J

2000-01-01

Age-related changes in learning and memory are common in rodents. However, direct comparisons of the effects of aging on learning and memory in both males and females are lacking. The present study examined whether memory deteriorates with increasing age in C57BL/6NIA mice, and whether age-related changes in learning and memory are similar in both sexes. Male and female mice (five, 17 and 25 months of age) were tested in a battery of behavioral tasks including the Morris water maze (spatial and non-spatial reference memory), simple odor discrimination (olfactory reference memory), plus maze (anxiety/exploration), locomotor activity, and basic reflexes. Five-month-old mice learned the water maze and odor discrimination tasks rapidly. Relative to five-month-old mice, 25-month-old mice exhibited impaired spatial and olfactory reference memory, but intact non-spatial reference memory. The spatial reference memory of 17-month-old mice was also impaired, but less so than 25-month mice. Seventeen-month-old mice exhibited intact non-spatial (visual and olfactory) reference memory. Five and 25-month-old mice had similar levels of plus maze exploration and locomotor activity, whereas 17-month-old mice were more active than both groups and were slightly less exploratory than five-month-old mice. Although sex differences were not observed in the five- and 25-month groups, 17-month-old females exhibited more impaired spatial reference memory and increased anxiety relative to 17-month-old males. Estrous cycling in females deteriorated significantly with increased age; all 25-month-old females had ceased cycling and 80% of 17-month-old females displayed either irregular or absent estrous cycling. This study is the first to directly compare age-related mnemonic decline in male and female mice. The results suggest that: (i) aged mice exhibit significant deficits in spatial and olfactory reference memory relative to young mice, whereas middle-aged mice exhibit only a moderate spatial memory deficit and; (ii) spatial reference memory decline begins at an earlier age in females than in males, a finding that may be related to the cessation of estrous cycling.

Apolipoprotein E ε4 influences on episodic recall and brain structures in aging pilots

PubMed Central

Adamson, Maheen M.; Landy, Kelly M.; Duong, Susan; Fox-Bosetti, Sabrina; Ashford, J. Wesson; Murphy, Greer M.; Weiner, Michael; Taylor, Joy L.

2008-01-01

The apolipoprotein (APOE) ε4 allele is associated with cognitive deficits and hippocampal atrophy in nondemented middle-aged and older adults. It is not known to what extent this genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) impacts performance in late middle-aged and older workers in cognitively demanding occupations. This cross-sectional analysis examines brain–cognitive–genetic relationships in actively flying general aviation pilots, half of whom are APOE ε4 carriers. Fifty pilots were studied with structural MRI and memory tasks. Average visual paired associate memory recall performance was lower in APOE ε4 carriers than non-carriers. Memory performance correlated positively with hippocampal volume, but no structural differences were found in hippocampal or frontal volumes with respect to APOE ε4 allele. These results were evident in healthy professionals without any presenting memory problems and without selection for a family history of AD. These findings point to basic memory testing as a sensitive tool for detecting APOE ε4 -related influences on memory in aging workers. PMID:18760504

Apolipoprotein E epsilon4 influences on episodic recall and brain structures in aging pilots.

PubMed

Adamson, Maheen M; Landy, Kelly M; Duong, Susan; Fox-Bosetti, Sabrina; Ashford, J Wesson; Murphy, Greer M; Weiner, Michael; Taylor, Joy L

2010-06-01

The apolipoprotein (APOE) epsilon4 allele is associated with cognitive deficits and hippocampal atrophy in nondemented middle-aged and older adults. It is not known to what extent this genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) impacts performance in late middle-aged and older workers in cognitively demanding occupations. This cross-sectional analysis examines brain-cognitive-genetic relationships in actively flying general aviation pilots, half of whom are APOE epsilon4 carriers. Fifty pilots were studied with structural MRI and memory tasks. Average visual paired associate memory recall performance was lower in APOE epsilon4 carriers than non-carriers. Memory performance correlated positively with hippocampal volume, but no structural differences were found in hippocampal or frontal volumes with respect to APOE epsilon4 allele. These results were evident in healthy professionals without any presenting memory problems and without selection for a family history of AD. These findings point to basic memory testing as a sensitive tool for detecting APOE epsilon4-related influences on memory in aging workers. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Metamemory in children with autism: exploring "feeling-of-knowing" in episodic and semantic memory.

PubMed

Wojcik, Dominika Z; Moulin, Chris J A; Souchay, Celine

2013-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily affecting social function and communication. Recently, there has been an interest in whether people with ASD also show memory deficits. Studies in ASD have revealed subtle impairments on tasks requiring participants to learn new information (episodic memory), but intact performance on general knowledge tasks (semantic memory). The novelty of this study was to explore metamemory (i.e., awareness of memory performance) and to examine whether children with ASD suffer from a generalized metamemory deficit common to all forms of memory, or would only present deficits on episodic metamemory tasks. To assess metamemory functioning we administered 2 feeling-of-knowing (FOK) tasks, 1 for episodic and 1 for semantic materials. In these tasks, participants are asked to predict the likelihood of subsequently recognizing currently unrecalled information. It was found that children with autism made inaccurate FOK predictions, but only for episodic materials. A specific deficit in meta-cognition emerges for only one set of materials. We argue that this deficit can be conceived of as reflecting a deficit in recollection, stemming from an inability to cast the self in the past and retrieve information about the study episode.

The Mental Status Expert (MSE): an expert system for scoring and interpreting the mental status examination.

PubMed Central

Hier, D. B.; Jao, C. S.; Brint, S. U.

1994-01-01

The mental status examination is the most difficult and time-consuming portion of the neurological examination. A complete mental status examination requires the examiner to assess alertness, memory, language, praxis, gnosis, attention, and visual-spatial functions. Findings of the mental status need to be interpreted in terms of severity of deficits, nature of the deficits, likely etiology, and likely area of corresponding brain injury. The performance of an accurate, complete, and detailed mental status examination is a daunting task for the medical student or resident in training. Traditional mental status examinations show considerable inter-examiner variability for items administered and for interpretation of abnormalities. Even in academic settings, mental status examinations have little educational content. PMID:7949891

The Effect of Synchronized Forced Running with Chronic Stress on Short, Mid and Long- term Memory in Rats.

PubMed

Radahmadi, Maryam; Alaei, Hojjatallah; Sharifi, Mohammad-Reza; Hosseini, Nasrin

2013-03-01

Impairment of learning and memory processes has been demonstrated by many studies using different stressors. Other reports suggested that exercise has a powerful behavioral intervention to improve cognitive function and brain health. In this research, we investigated protective effects of treadmill running on chronic stress-induced memory deficit in rats. Fifty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n=10) as follows: Control (Co), Sham (Sh), Stress (St), Exercise (Ex) and Stress and Exercise (St & Ex) groups. Chronic restraint stress was applied by 6h/day/21days and also treadmill running at a speed 20-21m/min for 1h/day/21days. Memory function was evaluated by the passive avoidance test in different intervals (1, 7 and 21 days) after foot shock. OUR RESULTS SHOWED THAT: 1) Although exercise alone showed beneficial effects especially on short and mid-term memory (P<0.05) in comparison with control group, but synchronized exercise with stress had not significantly improved short, mid and long-term memory deficit in stressed rats. 2) Short and mid-term memory deficit was significantly (P<0.05) observed in synchronized exercise with stress and stress groups with respect to normal rats. 3) Memory deficit in synchronized exercise with stress group was nearly similar to stressed rats. 4) Helpful effects of exercise were less than harmful effects of stress when they were associated together. The data correspond to the possibility that although treadmill running alone has helpful effects on learning and memory consolidation, but when it is synchronized with stress there is no significant benefit and protective effects in improvement of memory deficit induced by chronic stress. However, it is has a better effect than no training on memory deficit in stressed rats.

Increased functional connectivity within memory networks following memory rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Leavitt, Victoria M; Wylie, Glenn R; Girgis, Peter A; DeLuca, John; Chiaravalloti, Nancy D

2014-09-01

Identifying effective behavioral treatments to improve memory in persons with learning and memory impairment is a primary goal for neurorehabilitation researchers. Memory deficits are the most common cognitive symptom in multiple sclerosis (MS), and hold negative professional and personal consequences for people who are often in the prime of their lives when diagnosed. A 10-session behavioral treatment, the modified Story Memory Technique (mSMT), was studied in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Behavioral improvements and increased fMRI activation were shown after treatment. Here, connectivity within the neural networks underlying memory function was examined with resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in a subset of participants from the clinical trial. We hypothesized that the treatment would result in increased integrity of connections within two primary memory networks of the brain, the hippocampal memory network, and the default network (DN). Seeds were placed in left and right hippocampus, and the posterior cingulate cortex. Increased connectivity was found between left hippocampus and cortical regions specifically involved in memory for visual imagery, as well as among critical hubs of the DN. These results represent the first evidence for efficacy of a behavioral intervention to impact the integrity of neural networks subserving memory functions in persons with MS.

Cognitive Predictors of Verbal Memory in a Mixed Clinical Pediatric Sample

PubMed Central

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

2013-01-01

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

Visual associations to retrieve episodic memory across healthy elderly, mild cognitive impairment, and patients with Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Meyer, Sascha R A; De Jonghe, Jos F M; Schmand, Ben; Ponds, Rudolf W H M

2018-05-16

Episodic memory tests need to determine the degree to which patients with moderate to severe memory deficits can still benefit from retrieval support. Especially in the case of Alzheimer's disease (AD), this may support health care to be more closely aligned with patients' memory capacities. We investigated whether the different measures of episodic memory of the Visual Association Test-Extended (VAT-E) can provide a more detailed and informative assessment on memory disturbances across a broad range of cognitive decline, from normal to severe impairment as seen in AD, by examining differences in floor effects. The VAT-E consists of 24 pairs of black-and-white line drawings. In a within-group design, we compared score distributions of VAT-E subtests in healthy elderly controls, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD (n = 144), as well as in relation to global cognitive impairment. Paired associate recall showed a floor effect in 41% of MCI patients and 62% of AD patients. Free recall showed a floor effect in 73% of MCI patients and 84% of AD patients. Multiple-choice cued recognition did not show a floor effect in either of the patient groups. We conclude that the VAT-E covers a broad range of episodic memory decline in patients. As expected, paired associate recall was of intermediate difficulty, free recall was most difficult, and multiple-choice cued recognition was least difficult for patients. These varying levels of difficulty enable a more accurate determination of the level of retrieval support that can still benefit patients across a broad range of cognitive decline.

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

PubMed

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

2008-04-01

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

Face Recognition Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Are Both Domain Specific and Process Specific

PubMed Central

Weigelt, Sarah; Koldewyn, Kami; Kanwisher, Nancy

2013-01-01

Although many studies have reported face identity recognition deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), two fundamental question remains: 1) Is this deficit “process specific” for face memory in particular, or does it extend to perceptual discrimination of faces as well? And 2) Is the deficit “domain specific” for faces, or is it found more generally for other social or even nonsocial stimuli? The answers to these questions are important both for understanding the nature of autism and its developmental etiology, and for understanding the functional architecture of face processing in the typical brain. Here we show that children with ASD are impaired (compared to age and IQ-matched typical children) in face memory, but not face perception, demonstrating process specificity. Further, we find no deficit for either memory or perception of places or cars, indicating domain specificity. Importantly, we further showed deficits in both the perception and memory of bodies, suggesting that the relevant domain of deficit may be social rather than specifically facial. These results provide a more precise characterization of the cognitive phenotype of autism and further indicate a functional dissociation between face memory and face perception. PMID:24040276

Effects of selective phosphodiesterases-4 inhibitors on learning and memory: a review of recent research.

PubMed

Peng, Sheng; Sun, Haiyan; Zhang, Xiaoqing; Liu, Gongjian; Wang, Guanglei

2014-09-01

Phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) regulates the intracellular level of cyclic adenosine monophosphate. Recent studies demonstrated that PDE-4 inhibitors can counteract deficits in long-term memory caused by aging or increased expression of mutant forms of human amyloid precursor proteins, and can influence the process of memory function and cognitive enhancement. Therapeutics, such as ketamine, a drug used in clinical anesthesia, can also cause memory deficits as adverse effects. Targeting PDE-4 with selective inhibitors may offer a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent, slow the progress, and, eventually, treat memory deficits.

Component processes of memory in alcoholism: pattern of compromise and neural substrates.

PubMed

Pitel, Anne-Lise; Eustache, Francis; Beaunieux, Helene

2014-01-01

Initially, alcohol-related memory deficits were considered only through the prism of Korsakoff's syndrome (KS). It is now clear, however, that chronic alcohol consumption results in memory disorders in alcoholics without ostensible neurologic complications, such as Wernicke's encephalopathy and KS. Most of the principal memory components are affected, including working memory, episodic memory, semantic memory, perceptual memory, and procedural memory. The extent of those cognitive impairments depends on several factors, such as age, gender, nutritional status, and psychiatric comorbidity. While memory disorders, especially episodic memory deficits, are largely definitive in patients with KS, recovery of memory abilities has been described with abstinence in uncomplicated alcoholics. Neuropsychologic impairments, and especially memory disorders, must be evaluated at alcohol treatment entry because they could impede patients from benefiting fully from cognitive and behavioral treatment approaches for alcohol dependence. Screening of memory deficits could also enable clinicians to detect, among alcoholics without ostensible neurologic complications, those at risk of developing permanent and debilitating amnesia that features KS. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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

2008-12-01

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

Structural correlates of subjective and objective memory performance in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Pardini, Matteo; Bergamino, Maurizio; Bommarito, Giulia; Bonzano, Laura; Luigi Mancardi, Gian; Roccatagliata, Luca

2014-04-01

Subjective and objective memory deficits represent a frequent and ill-understood aspect of multiple sclerosis (MS), and a significant cause of disability and quality of life reduction. The aim of the study is to verify the role of hippocampal and temporal associative fibers' damage in MS-related memory complaints. To reach this aim, 25 patients with low disability relapsing-remitting MS and 19 healthy controls were included in the study. All subjects underwent 3D T1 structural imaging and Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Additionally, MS patients underwent neuropsychological evaluation of objective (Selective Reminding Test and Spatial Recall Test) and of subjective (Perceived Deficit Questionnaire, Retrospective and Prospective Memory Subscales) memory deficits. Normalized hippocampal volume (NHV) and mean Fractional Anisotropy (FA) for the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and for the ventral division of the cingulum bundle (VCB) were calculated for all subjects. We showed that, compared to controls, MS subjects presented with reduced right NHV and with reduced mean FA bilaterally in the UF and the VCB. In the MS group, verbal memory scores correlated with left NHV, spatial memory scores correlated with right NHV, while perceived retrospective and prospective memory deficits correlated with left VCB and left UF mean FA respectively. Our data confirm an early involvement of memory-related brain structures in MS patients. Our data suggest that verbal and nonverbal memory as well as perceived retrospective and prospective memory deficits are related to alterations of discrete anatomical structures in the low-disability phase of MS. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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

PubMed

Gropper, Rachel J; Tannock, Rosemary

2009-05-01

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

Metamemory in schizophrenia: retrospective confidence ratings interact with neurocognitive deficits.

PubMed

Eifler, Sarah; Rausch, Franziska; Schirmbeck, Frederike; Veckenstedt, Ruth; Mier, Daniela; Esslinger, Christine; Englisch, Susanne; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Kirsch, Peter; Zink, Mathias

2015-02-28

Prior studies with schizophrenia patients described a reduced ability to discriminate between correct and false memories in terms of confidence compared to control groups. This metamemory bias has been associated with the emergence and maintenance of delusions. The relation to neuropsychological performance and other clinical dimensions is incompletely understood. In a cross-sectional study, metamemory functioning was explored in 32 schizophrenia patients and 25 healthy controls. Metamemory was assessed using a verbal recognition task combined with retrospective confidence level ratings. Associations of metamemory performance with six neuropsychological domains (executive functioning/problem solving, speed of processing, working memory, verbal and visual learning, and attention/vigilance) and psychopathological measures were analyzed. Results revealed a significantly smaller discrepancy between confidence ratings for correct and incorrect recognitions in the patient group. Furthermore, patients showed significantly lower recognition accuracy in the metamemory task and marked deficits in all neuropsychological domains. Across all participants, metamemory performance significantly correlated with executive functioning and working memory. No associations with delusions were found. This data confirms prior findings of metamemory biases in schizophrenia. Selective neuropsychological abilities seem to be modulating factors of metamemory functioning. Longitudinal studies in at risk mental state and first-episode patients are needed to reveal causal interrelations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working memory - not processing speed - mediates fluid intelligence deficits associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

PubMed

Brydges, Christopher R; Ozolnieks, Krista L; Roberts, Gareth

2017-09-01

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychological condition characterized by inattention and hyperactivity. Cognitive deficits are commonly observed in ADHD patients, including impaired working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, the three of which are theorized to be closely associated with one another. In this study, we aimed to determine if decreased fluid intelligence was associated with ADHD, and was mediated by deficits in working memory and processing speed. This study tested 142 young adults from the general population on a range of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence tasks, and an ADHD self-report symptoms questionnaire. Results showed that total and hyperactive ADHD symptoms correlated significantly and negatively with fluid intelligence, but this association was fully mediated by working memory. However, inattentive symptoms were not associated with fluid intelligence. Additionally, processing speed was not associated with ADHD symptoms at all, and was not uniquely predictive of fluid intelligence. The results provide implications for working memory training programs for ADHD patients, and highlight potential differences between the neuropsychological profiles of ADHD subtypes. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

The diagnostic utility of behavioral checklists in identifying children with ADHD and children with working memory deficits.

PubMed

Alloway, Tracy Packiam; Gathercole, Susan E; Holmes, Joni; Place, Maurice; Elliott, Julian G; Hilton, Kerry

2009-09-01

The present study investigated whether children with ADHD and those with working memory impairments have a common behavioral profile in the classroom. Three teacher checklists were used: the Conners' teacher rating scale (CTRS), the behavior rating inventory of executive function (BRIEF), and the working memory rating scale. The Conners' continuous performance test (CPT) was also included to determine whether there is a correspondence between performance on this widely used cognitive measure of attention deficits and teacher ratings of classroom behavior. All three behavior scales, but not the CPT, were able to successfully discriminate children with ADHD and those with working memory deficits from typically-developing children. Both the CTRS and the BRIEF discriminated a significant proportion of the children with ADHD from those with working memory deficits, indicating that while both groups exhibit behavioral problems in the classroom, they are characterized by differential attention profiles. The children with ADHD were identified on the basis of oppositional and hyperactive behavior, while those with working memory deficits were more inattentive.

[Analysis of intrusion errors in free recall].

PubMed

Diesfeldt, H F A

2017-06-01

Extra-list intrusion errors during five trials of the eight-word list-learning task of the Amsterdam Dementia Screening Test (ADST) were investigated in 823 consecutive psychogeriatric patients (87.1% suffering from major neurocognitive disorder). Almost half of the participants (45.9%) produced one or more intrusion errors on the verbal recall test. Correct responses were lower when subjects made intrusion errors, but learning slopes did not differ between subjects who committed intrusion errors and those who did not so. Bivariate regression analyses revealed that participants who committed intrusion errors were more deficient on measures of eight-word recognition memory, delayed visual recognition and tests of executive control (the Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale and the ADST-Graphical Sequences as measures of response inhibition). Using hierarchical multiple regression, only free recall and delayed visual recognition retained an independent effect in the association with intrusion errors, such that deficient scores on tests of episodic memory were sufficient to explain the occurrence of intrusion errors. Measures of inhibitory control did not add significantly to the explanation of intrusion errors in free recall, which makes insufficient strength of memory traces rather than a primary deficit in inhibition the preferred account for intrusion errors in free recall.

Altered brain response for semantic knowledge in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Wierenga, Christina E; Stricker, Nikki H; McCauley, Ashley; Simmons, Alan; Jak, Amy J; Chang, Yu-Ling; Nation, Daniel A; Bangen, Katherine J; Salmon, David P; Bondi, Mark W

2011-02-01

Word retrieval deficits are common in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are thought to reflect a degradation of semantic memory. Yet, the nature of semantic deterioration in AD and the underlying neural correlates of these semantic memory changes remain largely unknown. We examined the semantic memory impairment in AD by investigating the neural correlates of category knowledge (e.g., living vs. nonliving) and featural processing (global vs. local visual information). During event-related fMRI, 10 adults diagnosed with mild AD and 22 cognitively normal (CN) older adults named aloud items from three categories for which processing of specific visual features has previously been dissociated from categorical features. Results showed widespread group differences in the categorical representation of semantic knowledge in several language-related brain areas. For example, the right inferior frontal gyrus showed selective brain response for nonliving items in the CN group but living items in the AD group. Additionally, the AD group showed increased brain response for word retrieval irrespective of category in Broca's homologue in the right hemisphere and rostral cingulate cortex bilaterally, which suggests greater recruitment of frontally mediated neural compensatory mechanisms in the face of semantic alteration. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Touchscreen learning deficits in Ube3a, Ts65Dn and Mecp2 mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Leach, P T; Crawley, J N

2017-12-20

Mutant mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities provide useful translational research tools, especially in cases where robust cognitive deficits are reproducibly detected. However, motor, sensory and/or health issues consequent to the mutation may introduce artifacts that preclude testing in some standard cognitive assays. Touchscreen learning and memory tasks in small operant chambers have the potential to circumvent these confounds. Here we use touchscreen visual discrimination learning to evaluate performance in the maternally derived Ube3a mouse model of Angelman syndrome, the Ts65Dn trisomy mouse model of Down syndrome, and the Mecp2 Bird mouse model of Rett syndrome. Significant deficits in acquisition of a 2-choice visual discrimination task were detected in both Ube3a and Ts65Dn mice. Procedural control measures showed no genotype differences during pretraining phases or during acquisition. Mecp2 males did not survive long enough for touchscreen training, consistent with previous reports. Most Mecp2 females failed on pretraining criteria. Significant impairments on Morris water maze spatial learning were detected in both Ube3a and Ts65Dn, replicating previous findings. Abnormalities on rotarod in Ube3a, and on open field in Ts65Dn, replicating previous findings, may have contributed to the observed acquisition deficits and swim speed abnormalities during water maze performance. In contrast, these motor phenotypes do not appear to have affected touchscreen procedural abilities during pretraining or visual discrimination training. Our findings of slower touchscreen learning in 2 mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities indicate that operant tasks offer promising outcome measures for the preclinical discovery of effective pharmacological therapeutics. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

Beneficial effects of semantic memory support on older adults' episodic memory: Differential patterns of support of item and associative information.

PubMed

Mohanty, Praggyan Pam; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe; Ratneshwar, Srinivasan

2016-02-01

The effects of two types of semantic memory support-meaningfulness of an item and relatedness between items-in mitigating age-related deficits in item and associative, memory are examined in a marketing context. In Experiment 1, participants studied less (vs. more) meaningful brand logo graphics (pictures) paired with meaningful brand names (words) and later were assessed by item (old/new) and associative (intact/recombined) memory recognition tests. Results showed that meaningfulness of items eliminated age deficits in item memory, while equivalently boosting associative memory for older and younger adults. Experiment 2, in which related and unrelated brand logo graphics and brand name pairs served as stimuli, revealed that relatedness between items eliminated age deficits in associative memory, while improving to the same degree item memory in older and younger adults. Experiment 2 also provided evidence for a probable boundary condition that could reconcile seemingly contradictory extant results. Overall, these experiments provided evidence that although the two types of semantic memory support can improve both item and associative memory in older and younger adults, older adults' memory deficits can be eliminated when the type of support provided is compatible with the type of information required to perform well on the test. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Short-term memory impairment after isoflurane in mice is prevented by the α5 γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor inverse agonist L-655,708.

PubMed

Saab, Bechara J; Maclean, Ashley J B; Kanisek, Marijana; Zurek, Agnieszka A; Martin, Loren J; Roder, John C; Orser, Beverley A

2010-11-01

Memory blockade is an essential component of the anesthetic state. However, postanesthesia memory deficits represent an undesirable and poorly understood adverse effect. Inhibitory α5 subunit-containing γ-aminobutyric acid subtype A receptors (α5GABAA) are known to play a critical role in memory processes and are highly sensitive to positive modulation by anesthetics. We postulated that inhibiting the activity of α5GABAA receptors during isoflurane anesthesia would prevent memory deficits in the early postanesthesia period. Mice were pretreated with L-655,708, an α5GABAA receptor-selective inverse agonist, or vehicle. They were then exposed to isoflurane for 1 h (1.3%, or 1 minimum alveolar concentration, or air-oxygen control). Then, either 1 or 24 h later, mice were conditioned in fear-associated contextual and cued learning paradigms. In addition, the effect of L-655,708 on the immobilizing dose of isoflurane was studied. Motor coordination, sedation, anxiety, and the concentration of isoflurane in the brain at 5 min, 1 h, and 24 h after isoflurane were also examined. Motor and sensory function recovered within minutes after termination of isoflurane administration. In contrast, a robust deficit in contextual fear memory persisted for at least 24 h. The α5GABAA receptor inverse agonist, L-655,708, completely prevented memory deficits without changing the immobilizing dose of isoflurane. Trace concentrations of isoflurane were measured in the brain 24 h after treatment. Memory deficits occurred long after the sedative, analgesic, and anxiolytic effects of isoflurane subsided. L-655,708 prevented memory deficit, suggesting that an isoflurane interaction at α5GABAA receptors contributes to memory impairment during the early postanesthesia period.

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

PubMed

Edwards, Lindsey; Aitkenhead, Lynne; Langdon, Dawn

2016-11-01

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

Memory Before and After Sleep in Patients with Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea

PubMed Central

Kloepfer, Corinna; Riemann, Dieter; Nofzinger, Eric A.; Feige, Bernd; Unterrainer, Josef; O'Hara, Ruth; Sorichter, Stephan; Nissen, Christoph

2009-01-01

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on procedural and declarative memory encoding in the evening prior to sleep, on memory consolidation during subsequent sleep, and on retrieval in the morning after sleep. Methods: Memory performance (procedural mirror-tracing task, declarative visual and verbal memory task) and general neuropsychological performance were assessed before and after one night of polysomnographic monitoring in 15 patients with moderate OSA and 20 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched healthy subjects. Results: Encoding levels prior to sleep were similar across groups for all tasks. Conventional analyses of averaged mirror tracing performance suggested a significantly reduced overnight improvement in OSA patients. Single trial analyses, however, revealed that this effect was due to significantly flattened learning curves in the evening and morning session in OSA patients. OSA patients showed a significantly lower verbal retention rate and a non-significantly reduced visual retention rate after sleep compared to healthy subjects. Polysomnography revealed a significantly reduced REM density, increased frequency of micro-arousals, elevated apnea-hypopnea index, and subjectively disturbed sleep quality in OSA patients compared to healthy subjects. Conclusions: The results suggest that moderate OSA is associated with a significant impairment of procedural and verbal declarative memory. Future work is needed to further determine the contribution of structural or functional alterations in brain circuits relevant for memory, and to test whether OSA treatment improves or normalizes the observed deficits in learning. Citation: Kloepfer C; Riemann D; Nofzinger EA; Feige B; Unterrainer J; O'Hara R; Sorichter S; Nissen C. Memory before and after sleep in patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea. J Clin Sleep Med 2009;5(6):540-548. PMID:20465021

Deletion of the γ-secretase subunits Aph1B/C impairs memory and worsens the deficits of knock-in mice modeling the Alzheimer-like familial Danish dementia

PubMed Central

Biundo, Fabrizio; Ishiwari, Keita; Del Prete, Dolores; D'Adamio, Luciano

2016-01-01

Mutations in BRI2/ITM2b genes cause Familial British and Danish Dementias (FBD and FDD), which are pathogenically similar to Familial Alzheimer Disease (FAD). BRI2 inhibits processing of Amyloid precursor protein (APP), a protein involved in FAD pathogenesis. Accumulation of a carboxyl-terminal APP metabolite –β-CTF- causes memory deficits in a knock-in mouse model of FDD, called FDDKI. We have investigated further the pathogenic function of β-CTF studying the effect of Aph1B/C deletion on FDDKI mice. This strategy is based on the evidence that deletion of Aph1B/C proteins, which are components of the γ-secretase that cleaves β-CTF, results in stabilization of β-CTF and a reduction of Aβ. We found that both the FDD mutation and the Aph1B/C deficiency mildly interfered with spatial long term memory, spatial working/short-term memory and long-term contextual fear memory. In addition, the Aph1BC deficiency induced deficits in long-term cued fear memory. Moreover, the two mutations have additive adverse effects as they compromise the accuracy of spatial long-term memory and induce spatial memory retention deficits in young mice. Overall, the data are consistent with a role for β-CTF in the genesis of memory deficits. PMID:26942869

Deletion of the γ-secretase subunits Aph1B/C impairs memory and worsens the deficits of knock-in mice modeling the Alzheimer-like familial Danish dementia.

PubMed

Biundo, Fabrizio; Ishiwari, Keita; Del Prete, Dolores; D'Adamio, Luciano

2016-03-15

Mutations in BRI2/ITM2b genes cause Familial British and Danish Dementias (FBD and FDD), which are pathogenically similar to Familial Alzheimer Disease (FAD). BRI2 inhibits processing of Amyloid precursor protein (APP), a protein involved in FAD pathogenesis. Accumulation of a carboxyl-terminal APP metabolite -ß-CTF- causes memory deficits in a knock-in mouse model of FDD, called FDDKI.We have investigated further the pathogenic function of ß-CTF studying the effect of Aph1B/C deletion on FDDKI mice. This strategy is based on the evidence that deletion of Aph1B/C proteins, which are components of the γ-secretase that cleaves ß-CTF, results in stabilization of ß-CTF and a reduction of Aβ. We found that both the FDD mutation and the Aph1B/C deficiency mildly interfered with spatial long term memory, spatial working/short-term memory and long-term contextual fear memory. In addition, the Aph1BC deficiency induced deficits in long-term cued fear memory. Moreover, the two mutations have additive adverse effects as they compromise the accuracy of spatial long-term memory and induce spatial memory retention deficits in young mice. Overall, the data are consistent with a role for β-CTF in the genesis of memory deficits.

Traditional test administration and proactive interference undermine visual-spatial working memory performance in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Girard, Todd A; Wilkins, Leanne K; Lyons, Kathleen M; Yang, Lixia; Christensen, Bruce K

2018-05-31

Introduction Working-memory (WM) is a core cognitive deficit among individuals with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD). However, the underlying cognitive mechanisms of this deficit are less known. This study applies a modified version of the Corsi Block Test to investigate the role of proactive interference in visuospatial WM (VSWM) impairment in SSD. Methods Healthy and SSD participants completed a modified version of the Corsi Block Test involving both high (typical ascending set size from 4 to 7 items) and low (descending set size from 7 to 4 items) proactive interference conditions. Results The results confirmed that the SSD group performed worse overall relative to a healthy comparison group. More importantly, the SSD group demonstrated greater VSWM scores under low (Descending) versus high (Ascending) proactive interference; this pattern is opposite to that of healthy participants. Conclusions This differential pattern of performance supports that proactive interference associated with the traditional administration format contributes to VSWM impairment in SSD. Further research investigating associated neurocognitive mechanisms and the contribution of proactive interference across other domains of cognition in SSD is warranted.

Dissociative tendencies and individual differences in high hypnotic suggestibility.

PubMed

Terhune, Devin Blair; Cardeña, Etzel; Lindgren, Magnus

2011-03-01

Inconsistencies in the relationship between dissociation and hypnosis may result from heterogeneity among highly suggestible individuals, in particular the existence of distinct highly suggestible subtypes that are of relevance to models of psychopathology and the consequences of trauma. This study contrasted highly suggestible subtypes high or low in dissociation on measures of hypnotic responding, cognitive functioning, and psychopathology. Twenty-one low suggestible (LS), 19 low dissociative highly suggestible (LDHS), and 11 high dissociative highly suggestible (HDHS) participants were administered hypnotic suggestibility scales and completed measures of free recall, working memory capacity, imagery, fantasy-proneness, psychopathology, and exposure to stressful life events. HDHS participants were more responsive to positive and negative hallucination suggestions and experienced greater involuntariness during hypnotic responding. They also exhibited impaired working memory capacity, elevated pathological fantasy and dissociative symptomatology, and a greater incidence of exposure to stressful life events. In contrast, LDHS participants displayed superior object visual imagery. These results provide further evidence for two highly suggestible subtypes: a dissociative subtype characterised by deficits in executive functioning and a predisposition to psychopathology, and a subtype that exhibits superior imagery and no observable deficits in functioning.

Temporal lobe epilepsy in patients with nonlesional MRI and normal memory: an SEEG study.

PubMed

Suresh, Suraj; Sweet, Jennifer; Fastenau, Philip S; Lüders, Hans; Landazuri, Patrick; Miller, Jonathan

2015-12-01

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in the absence of MRI abnormalities and memory deficits is often presumed to have an extramesial or even extratemporal source. In this paper the authors report the results of a comprehensive stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) analysis in patients with TLE with normal MRI images and memory scores. Eighteen patients with medically refractory epilepsy who also had unremarkable MR images and normal verbal and visual memory scores on neuropsychological testing were included in the study. All patients had seizure semiology and video electroencephalography (EEG) findings suggestive of TLE. A standardized SEEG investigation was performed for each patient with electrodes implanted into the mesial and lateral temporal lobe, temporal tip, posterior temporal neocortex, orbitomesiobasal frontal lobe, posterior cingulate gyrus, and insula. This information was used to plan subsequent surgical management. Interictal SEEG abnormalities were observed in the mesial temporal structures in 17 patients (94%) and in the temporal tip in 6 (33%). Seizure onset was exclusively from mesial structures in 13 (72%), exclusively from lateral temporal cortex and/or temporal tip structures in 2 (11%), and independently from mesial and neocortical foci in 3 (17%). No seizure activity was observed arising from any extratemporal location. All patients underwent surgical intervention targeting the temporal lobe and tailored to the SEEG findings, and all experienced significant improvement in seizure frequency with a postoperative follow-up observation period of at least 1 year. This study demonstrates 3 important findings: 1) normal memory does not preclude mesial temporal seizure onset; 2) onset of seizures exclusively from mesial temporal structures without early neocortical involvement is common, even in the absence of memory deficits; and 3) extratemporal seizure onset is rare when video EEG and semiology are consistent with focal TLE.

Working Memory, Reading, and Mathematical Skills in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alloway, Tracy Packiam

2007-01-01

The aim of the present study was investigate the relationship between working memory and reading and mathematical skills in 55 children diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The findings indicate a pervasive memory deficit in all memory measures. In particular, deficits observed in visuospatial short-term and working memory…

Working Memory Involved in Predicting Future Outcomes Based on Past Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dretsch, Michael N.; Tipples, Jason

2008-01-01

Deficits in working memory have been shown to contribute to poor performance on the Iowa Gambling Task [IGT: Bechara, A., & Martin, E.M. (2004). "Impaired decision making related to working memory deficits in individuals with substance addictions." "Neuropsychology," 18, 152-162]. Similarly, a secondary memory load task has been shown to impair…

Preventive and therapeutic effect of treadmill running on chronic stress-induced memory deficit in rats.

PubMed

Radahmadi, Maryam; Alaei, Hojjatallah; Sharifi, Mohammad Reza; Hosseini, Nasrin

2015-04-01

Previous results indicated that stress impairs learning and memory. In this research, the effects of preventive, therapeutic and regular continually running activity on chronic stress-induced memory deficit in rats were investigated. 70 male rats were randomly divided into seven groups as follows: Control, Sham, Stress-Rest, Rest-Stress, Stress-Exercise, Exercise-Stress and Exercise-Stress & Exercise groups. Chronic restraint stress was applied 6 h/day for 21days and treadmill running 1 h/day. Memory function was evaluated by the passive avoidance test. The results revealed that running activities had therapeutic effect on mid and long-term memory deficit and preventive effects on short and mid-term memory deficit in stressed rats. Regular continually running activity improved mid and long-term memory compared to Exercise-Stress group. The beneficial effects of exercise were time-dependent in stress conditions. Finally, data corresponded to the possibility that treadmill running had a more important role on treatment rather than on prevention on memory impairment induced by stress. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Memory deficit in patients with schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder: relational vs item-specific memory

PubMed Central

Jung, Wookyoung; Lee, Seung-Hwan

2016-01-01

It has been well established that patients with schizophrenia have impairments in cognitive functioning and also that patients who experienced traumatic events suffer from cognitive deficits. Of the cognitive deficits revealed in schizophrenia or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, the current article provides a brief review of deficit in episodic memory, which is highly predictive of patients’ quality of life and global functioning. In particular, we have focused on studies that compared relational and item-specific memory performance in schizophrenia and PTSD, because measures of relational and item-specific memory are considered the most promising constructs for immediate tangible development of clinical trial paradigm. The behavioral findings of schizophrenia are based on the tasks developed by the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) initiative and the Cognitive Neuroscience Test Reliability and Clinical Applications for Schizophrenia (CNTRACS) Consortium. The findings we reviewed consistently showed that schizophrenia and PTSD are closely associated with more severe impairments in relational memory compared to item-specific memory. Candidate brain regions involved in relational memory impairment in schizophrenia and PTSD are also discussed. PMID:27274250

The effect of phosphatidylserine administration on memory and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

PubMed

Hirayama, S; Terasawa, K; Rabeler, R; Hirayama, T; Inoue, T; Tatsumi, Y; Purpura, M; Jäger, R

2014-04-01

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed behavioural disorder of childhood, affecting 3-5% of school-age children. The present study investigated whether the supplementation of soy-derived phosphatidylserine (PS), a naturally occurring phospholipid, improves ADHD symptoms in children. Thirty six children, aged 4-14 years, who had not previously received any drug treatment related to ADHD, received placebo (n = 17) or 200 mg day(-1) PS (n = 19) for 2 months in a randomised, double-blind manner. Main outcome measures included: (i) ADHD symptoms based on DSM-IV-TR; (ii) short-term auditory memory and working memory using the Digit Span Test of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; and (iii) mental performance to visual stimuli (GO/NO GO task). PS supplementation resulted in significant improvements in: (i) ADHD (P < 0.01), AD (P < 0.01) and HD (P < 0.01); (ii) short-term auditory memory (P < 0.05); and (iii) inattention (differentiation and reverse differentiation, P < 0.05) and inattention and impulsivity (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in other measurements and in the placebo group. PS was well-tolerated and showed no adverse effects. PS significantly improved ADHD symptoms and short-term auditory memory in children. PS supplementation might be a safe and natural nutritional strategy for improving mental performance in young children suffering from ADHD. © 2013 The Authors Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics © 2013 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Objective instrumental memory and performance tests for evaluation of patients with brain damage: a search for a behavioral diagnostic tool.

PubMed

Harness, B Z; Bental, E; Carmon, A

1976-03-01

Cognition and performance of patients with localized and diffuse brain damage was evaluated through the application of objective perceptual testing. A series of visual perceptual and verbal tests, memory tests, as well as reaction time tasks were administered to the patients by logic programming equipment. In order to avoid a bias due to communicative disorders, all responses were motor, and achievement was scored in terms of correct identification and latencies of response. Previously established norms based on a large sample of non-brain-damaged hospitalized patients served to standardize the performance of the brain-damaged patient since preliminary results showed that age and educational level constitute an important variable affecting performance of the control group. The achievement of brain-damaged patients, corrected for these factors, was impaired significantly in all tests with respect to both recognition and speed of performance. Lateralized effects of brain damage were not significantly demonstrated. However, when the performance was analyzed with respect to the locus of visual input, it was found that patients with right hemispheric lesions showed impairment mainly on perception of figurative material, and that this deficit was more apparent in the left visual field. Conversely, patients with left hemispheric lesions tended to show impairment on perception of visually presented verbal material when the input was delivered to the right visual field.

Dorso- and ventro-lateral prefrontal volume and spatial working memory in schizotypal personality disorder.

PubMed

Goldstein, Kim E; Hazlett, Erin A; Savage, Kimberley R; Berlin, Heather A; Hamilton, Holly K; Zelmanova, Yuliya; Look, Amy E; Koenigsberg, Harold W; Mitsis, Effie M; Tang, Cheuk Y; McNamara, Margaret; Siever, Larry J; Cohen, Barry H; New, Antonia S

2011-04-15

Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) individuals and borderline personality disorder (BPD) individuals have been reported to show neuropsychological impairments and abnormalities in brain structure. However, relationships between neuropsychological function and brain structure in these groups are not well understood. This study compared visual-spatial working memory (SWM) and its associations with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) gray matter volume in 18 unmedicated SPD patients with no BPD traits, 18 unmedicated BPD patients with no SPD traits, and 16 healthy controls (HC). Results showed impaired SWM in SPD but not BPD, compared with HC. Moreover, among the HC group, but not SPD patients, better SWM performance was associated with larger VLPFC (BA44/45) gray matter volume (Fisher's Z p-values <0.05). Findings suggest spatial working memory impairments may be a core neuropsychological deficit specific to SPD patients and highlight the role of VLPFC subcomponents in normal and dysfunctional memory performance. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Mutation of Dcdc2 in mice leads to impairments in auditory processing and memory ability.

PubMed

Truong, D T; Che, A; Rendall, A R; Szalkowski, C E; LoTurco, J J; Galaburda, A M; Holly Fitch, R

2014-11-01

Dyslexia is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired reading ability despite normal intellect, and is associated with specific difficulties in phonological and rapid auditory processing (RAP), visual attention and working memory. Genetic variants in Doublecortin domain-containing protein 2 (DCDC2) have been associated with dyslexia, impairments in phonological processing and in short-term/working memory. The purpose of this study was to determine whether sensory and behavioral impairments can result directly from mutation of the Dcdc2 gene in mice. Several behavioral tasks, including a modified pre-pulse inhibition paradigm (to examine auditory processing), a 4/8 radial arm maze (to assess/dissociate working vs. reference memory) and rotarod (to examine sensorimotor ability and motor learning), were used to assess the effects of Dcdc2 mutation. Behavioral results revealed deficits in RAP, working memory and reference memory in Dcdc2(del2/del2) mice when compared with matched wild types. Current findings parallel clinical research linking genetic variants of DCDC2 with specific impairments of phonological processing and memory ability. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

Ecstasy Exposure & Gender: Examining Components of Verbal Memory Functioning

PubMed Central

Price, Jenessa S.; Shear, Paula; Lisdahl, Krista M.

2014-01-01

Objective Studies have demonstrated verbal memory deficits associated with past year ecstasy use, although specific underlying components of these deficits are less understood. Further, prior research suggests potential gender differences in ecstasy-induced serotonergic changes. Therefore, the current study investigated whether gender moderated the relationship between ecstasy exposure and components of verbal memory after controlling for polydrug use and confounding variables. Method Data were collected from 65 polydrug users with a wide range of ecstasy exposure (ages 18–35; 48 ecstasy and 17 marijuana users; 0–2310 ecstasy tablets). Participants completed a verbal learning and memory task, psychological questionnaires, and a drug use interview. Results Increased past year ecstasy exposure predicted poorer short and long delayed free and cued recalls, retention, and recall discrimination. Male ecstasy users were more susceptible to dose-dependent deficits in retention than female users. Conclusion Past year ecstasy consumption was associated with verbal memory retrieval, retention, and discrimination deficits in a dose-dependent manner in a sample of healthy young adult polydrug users. Male ecstasy users were at particular risk for deficits in retention following a long delay. Gender difference may be reflective of different patterns of polydrug use as well as increased hippocampal sensitivity. Future research examining neuronal correlates of verbal memory deficits in ecstasy users are needed. PMID:25545890

Ecstasy exposure & gender: examining components of verbal memory functioning.

PubMed

Price, Jenessa S; Shear, Paula; Lisdahl, Krista M

2014-01-01

Studies have demonstrated verbal memory deficits associated with past year ecstasy use, although specific underlying components of these deficits are less understood. Further, prior research suggests potential gender differences in ecstasy-induced serotonergic changes. Therefore, the current study investigated whether gender moderated the relationship between ecstasy exposure and components of verbal memory after controlling for polydrug use and confounding variables. Data were collected from 65 polydrug users with a wide range of ecstasy exposure (ages 18-35; 48 ecstasy and 17 marijuana users; 0-2310 ecstasy tablets). Participants completed a verbal learning and memory task, psychological questionnaires, and a drug use interview. Increased past year ecstasy exposure predicted poorer short and long delayed free and cued recalls, retention, and recall discrimination. Male ecstasy users were more susceptible to dose-dependent deficits in retention than female users. Past year ecstasy consumption was associated with verbal memory retrieval, retention, and discrimination deficits in a dose-dependent manner in a sample of healthy young adult polydrug users. Male ecstasy users were at particular risk for deficits in retention following a long delay. Gender difference may be reflective of different patterns of polydrug use as well as increased hippocampal sensitivity. Future research examining neuronal correlates of verbal memory deficits in ecstasy users are needed.

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.

Effects of dimethylaminoethanol pyroglutamate (DMAE p-Glu) against memory deficits induced by scopolamine: evidence from preclinical and clinical studies.

PubMed

Blin, Olivier; Audebert, Christine; Pitel, Séverine; Kaladjian, Arthur; Casse-Perrot, Catherine; Zaim, Mohammed; Micallef, Joelle; Tisne-Versailles, Jacky; Sokoloff, Pierre; Chopin, Philippe; Marien, Marc

2009-12-01

Dimethylaminoethanol pyroglutamate (DMAE p-Glu) is a compound resulting from the reaction between dimethylaminoethanol (an indirect precursor of acetylcholine) and pyroglutamic acid (a cyclic derivative of glutamic acid having procholinergic properties and promnesic effects in both animals and man). The present study undertook preclinical and clinical evaluations to test a potential therapeutic utility for DMAE p-Glu in cognitive impairments related to central cholinergic deficit. In preclinical study, DMAE p-Glu was studied in rats by intracerebral microdialysis in conscious freely moving animals, on performance of rats in the Morris water maze test of spatial memory, and on the deficit in passive avoidance behavior induced by scopolamine. The clinical study examined the effect of DMAE p-Glu on cognitive deficits induced by an intravenous injection of scopolamine in healthy young male subjects. In rat experiments, DMAE p-Glu increased the extracellular levels of choline and acetylcholine in the medial prefrontal cortex, as assessed by intracerebral microdialysis, improved performance in a test of spatial memory, and reduced scopolamine-induced memory deficit in passive avoidance behavior. Clinical study results show that scopolamine induced a memory deficit and that DMAE p-Glu produced a significant positive effect on scores in the Buschke test, as well as a slight but significant difference on choice reaction time. These results indicate that DMAE p-Glu reduces the deleterious effect of scopolamine on long-term memory in healthy volunteers and suggest that DMAE p-Glu might be effective in reducing memory deficits in patients with cognitive impairment.

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.

Processing deficits in monitoring analog and digital displays: Implications for attentional theory and mental-state estimation research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Payne, David G.; Gunther, Virginia A. L.

1988-01-01

Subjects performed short term memory tasks, involving both spatial and verbal components, and a visual monitoring task involving either analog or digital display formats. These two tasks (memory vs. monitoring) were performed both singly and in conjunction. Contrary to expectations derived from multiple resource theories of attentional processes, there was no evidence that when the two tasks involved the same cognitive codes (i.e., either both spatial or both verbal/linguistics) there was more of a dual task performance decrement than when the two tasks employed different cognitive codes/processes. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of attentional processes and also for research in mental state estimation.

Memantine Protects Rats Treated with Intrathecal Methotrexate from Developing Spatial Memory Deficits

PubMed Central

Cole, Peter D.; Vijayanathan, Veena; Ali, Nafeeza F.; Wagshul, Mark E.; Tanenbaum, Eric J.; Price, Jeremy; Dalal, Vidhi; Gulinello, Maria E.

2014-01-01

Purpose To test whether memantine can prevent methotrexate-induced cognitive deficits in a preclinical model. Experimental Design After noting that methotrexate exposure induces prolonged elevations of the glutamate analog homocysteic acid (HCA) within cerebrospinal fluid, we tested whether intrathecal injection of HCA would produce memory deficits similar to those observed after intrathecal methotrexate. We then tested whether memantine, an antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subclass of glutamate receptors, could protect animals treated with clinically relevant doses of intrathecal methotrexate against developing memory deficits. Finally, we asked whether memantine affected this pathway beyond inhibiting the NMDA receptor by altering expression of the NMDA receptor or affecting concentrations of HCA or glutamate within the central nervous system. Results Four intrathecal doses of methotrexate induced deficits in spatial memory, persisting at least one month following the final injection. Intrathecal HCA was sufficient to reproduce this deficit. Concurrent administration of memantine during the period of methotrexate exposure was protective, decreasing the incidence of methotrexate-induced spatial memory deficits from 56% to 20% (P < 0.05). Memantine neither altered expression of NMDA receptors within the hippocampus nor blunted the methotrexate-induced increases in glutamate or HCA. Conclusions Excitotoxic glutamate analogs including HCA contribute to cognitive deficits observed after intrathecal methotrexate. Memantine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, reduces the incidence of cognitive deficits in rats treated with intrathecal methotrexate, and may therefore benefit patients with cancer receiving similar treatment. PMID:23833301

[Implications of mental image processing in the deficits of verbal information coding during normal aging].

PubMed

Plaie, Thierry; Thomas, Delphine

2008-06-01

Our study specifies the contributions of image generation and image maintenance processes occurring at the time of imaginal coding of verbal information in memory during normal aging. The memory capacities of 19 young adults (average age of 24 years) and 19 older adults (average age of 75 years) were assessed using recall tasks according to the imagery value of the stimuli to learn. The mental visual imagery capacities are assessed using tasks of image generation and temporary storage of mental imagery. The variance analysis indicates a more important decrease with age of the concretness effect. The major contribution of our study rests on the fact that the decline with age of dual coding of verbal information in memory would result primarily from the decline of image maintenance capacities and from a slowdown in image generation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).

The full-length form of the Drosophila amyloid precursor protein is involved in memory formation.

PubMed

Bourdet, Isabelle; Preat, Thomas; Goguel, Valérie

2015-01-21

The APP plays a central role in AD, a pathology that first manifests as a memory decline. Understanding the role of APP in normal cognition is fundamental in understanding the progression of AD, and mammalian studies have pointed to a role of secreted APPα in memory. In Drosophila, we recently showed that APPL, the fly APP ortholog, is required for associative memory. In the present study, we aimed to characterize which form of APPL is involved in this process. We show that expression of a secreted-APPL form in the mushroom bodies, the center for olfactory memory, is able to rescue the memory deficit caused by APPL partial loss of function. We next assessed the impact on memory of the Drosophila α-secretase kuzbanian (KUZ), the enzyme initiating the nonamyloidogenic pathway that produces secreted APPLα. Strikingly, KUZ overexpression not only failed to rescue the memory deficit caused by APPL loss of function, it exacerbated this deficit. We further show that in addition to an increase in secreted-APPL forms, KUZ overexpression caused a decrease of membrane-bound full-length species that could explain the memory deficit. Indeed, we observed that transient expression of a constitutive membrane-bound mutant APPL form is sufficient to rescue the memory deficit caused by APPL reduction, revealing for the first time a role of full-length APPL in memory formation. Our data demonstrate that, in addition to secreted APPL, the noncleaved form is involved in memory, raising the possibility that secreted and full-length APPL act together in memory processes. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/351043-09$15.00/0.

Long-Term Episodic Memory in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skowronek, Jeffrey S.; Leichtman, Michelle D.; Pillemer, David B.

2008-01-01

Twenty-nine grade-matched 4th-8th-grade males, 12 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (age M = 12.2 years, SD = 1.48), and 17 without (age M = 11.5, SD = 1.59), completed two working memory tasks (digit span and the Simon game) and three long-term episodic memory tasks (a personal event memory task, story memory task, and picture…

SU30. Long-Term Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia: Are All Things Equal?

PubMed Central

Rossell, Susan

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Kraepelin and Bleulernoted that patients with schizophrenia had significant cognitive deficits over a century ago; however, their observations with regard to long-term memory have not born out within empirical studies. They reported that episodic memory was intact but indicated that organization of memories, or semantic memory, was disordered. This study aimed to synthesize a century of research in the 2 long-term memory processes of episodic and semantic memory across the psychosis continuum: chronic patients, first-episode patients, high risk for psychosis cohorts, and persons with high schizotypy. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was completed within the 2 domains of long-term memory across the psychosis continuum. Search terms included long-term memory, episodic, semantic, and derivations of these terms. The data were synthesized independently for episodic and semantic memory. Four independent populations were investigated: chronic patients, first-episode patients, high risk for psychosis cohorts, and persons with high schizotypy. Our approach followed the PRISMA guidelines. Thus, the pooled mean effect sizes are reported for 8 analyses. These effect sizes represent case cohort in comparison to a healthy control cohort. Results: The results were as follows, for episodic memory: chronic patients d = 1.12, first-episode patients d = 1.12, high risk d = 1.14, and high schizotypy d = 0.13. Thus, establishing that there is poor evidence of episodic memory deficits in persons with high schizotypy. For semantic memory, the literature showed a different pattern: chronic patients d = 1.2, first-episode patients d = 1.08, high risk d = 1.16, and high schizotypy d = 0.95. Thus, a consistent degree of semantic memory deficits across the continuum. Conclusion: The literature suggests a dissociated pattern of long-term memory deficits; whereby semantic memory abnormalities are more likely to be considered endophenotypes or cognitive markers for schizophrenia than episodic memory deficits. Differential patterns of semantic memory organization are argued to be present prior to the onset of the disorder. There is additional evidence to suggest that idiosyncratic storage of semantic material underlies the development of the usual beliefs and speech patterns present in the forms of delusions and formal thought disorder. Consequently, semantic memory might be a useful target for cognitive remediation.

Neuropsychological Comparison of Children with Heavy Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and an IQ-Matched Comparison Group

PubMed Central

Vaurio, Linnea; Riley, Edward P.; Mattson, Sarah N.

2012-01-01

An objective in current research on children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is to determine neurobehavioral profiles to identify affected individuals. Deficits observed when children with FASD are compared to typically developing controls may be confounded by lower IQ scores in the subjects with FASD. To determine if prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with neurobehavioral deficits after controlling for IQ differences, multivariate analyses were conducted to compare alcohol-exposed (ALC) subjects to a comparison group closely matched on IQ (IQC). The initial analysis included a broad neuropsychological battery with measures of language, executive function, visual–motor integration, motor ability, and academic achievement. Additional, in depth comparisons focused on visual sustained attention, verbal learning and memory and parent/guardian-reported behavior problems. Group differences (ALC < IQC) were found on verbal learning and parent-rated behavior problems. Group differences were marginally significant (measures within the broad neuropsychological comparison) or not significant (visual attention, retention of verbal material) on the remaining comparisons. Therefore, some deficits (e.g., verbal learning and behavior problems) in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure cannot be explained by the lower FSIQ observed in the population. These areas of relative weakness could be useful in distinguishing children with FASD from other children with lowered IQ. PMID:21349236

Source Memory in Korsakoff Syndrome: Disentangling the Mechanisms of Temporal Confusion.

PubMed

Brion, Mélanie; de Timary, Philippe; Pitel, Anne-Lise; Maurage, Pierre

2017-03-01

Korsakoff syndrome (KS), most frequently resulting from alcohol dependence (ALC), is characterized by severe anterograde amnesia. It has been suggested that these deficits may extend to other memory components, and notably source memory deficits involved in the disorientation and temporal confusion frequently observed in KS. However, the extent of this source memory impairment in KS and its usefulness for the differential diagnosis between ALC and KS remain unexplored. Nineteen patients with KS were compared with 19 alcohol-dependent individuals and 19 controls in a source memory test exploring temporal context confusions ("continuous recognition task"). Episodic memory and psychopathological comorbidities were controlled for. While no source memory deficit was observed in ALC, KS was associated with a significant presence of temporal context confusion, even when the influence of comorbidities was taken into account. This source memory impairment did not appear to be related to performances on episodic memory or executive functions. Patients with KS displayed source memory deficits, as indexed by temporal context confusions. The absence of a relationship with episodic memory performances seems to indicate that source memory impairment is not a mere by-product of amnesia. As ALC was associated with preserved source memory, the presence of temporal context confusion may serve as a complementary tool for the differential diagnosis between ALC and KS. Copyright © 2017 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

48. Associations Between Electrophysiological Measures of Selective Attention and Neurocognitive Measures of Working Memory and Attention in Antipsychotic-Naive, First-Episode Schizophrenia Patients

PubMed Central

Kruiper, Caitlyn; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Nielsen, Mette Ø.; Düring, Signe; Jensen, Maria H.; Ebdrup, Bjørn H.; Glenthøj, Birte Y.; Oranje, Bob

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Deficits in attention and working memory are already present in early stages of schizophrenia. The P3a and b event related brain potentials (ERPs) are believed to underlie processes of attention and working memory, but, only limited research has been performed on the associations between these psychophysiological and cognitive deficits, particularly in the early stages of schizophrenia. We aimed to investigate associations between P3a and P3b amplitudes and measures of attention and working memory in a large cohort of antipsychotic-naive, first-episode schizophrenia patients (AN-FES) and age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Methods: Eighty-three AN-FES patients and 108 HC, matched for age and gender, were assessed for their P3a and b amplitude and latency with the selective attention paradigm from the Copenhagen Psychophysiological Test Battery (CPTB). In addition, the Spatial Working Memory (SWM) and Rapid Visual Information Processing test (RVP) from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were used to assess working memory and attention. Outcome measure for the SWM was Strategy, wherein a low score represents a more effective strategy. For the RVP, we used the A’ measure as outcome. This measure represents how well the participant is able to detect target sequences. Results: P3a and P3b amplitudes were significantly reduced in our AN-FES patients compared to HC. In addition, the P3a peak latency was earlier in the AN-FES patients than in HC, while P3b latency did not differ between the groups. Furthermore, AN-FES patients scored significantly lower on the SWM task and the RVP compared to HC. A positive association was found between RVP and P3b in our total group. However, this effect disappeared when split into the two subgroups. In contrast, SWM was positively associated with P3b in HC, while this effect was neither present in AN-FES nor in the total group. Conclusion: Our results provide evidence for P3a and P3b amplitude reductions as well as neurocognitive deficits in AN-FES patients compared to age and gender matched HC. This supports previous data that electrophysiological and neurocognitive deficits already exist in early stages of schizophrenia, and are not due to use of antipsychotics. Our data support significant yet rather weak associations between P3b amplitude and both working memory and attention, although the association between working memory and P3b was only found in HC and not in AN-FES.

The role of short-term memory impairment in nonword repetition, real word repetition, and nonword decoding: A case study.

PubMed

Peter, Beate

2018-01-01

In a companion study, adults with dyslexia and adults with a probable history of childhood apraxia of speech showed evidence of difficulty with processing sequential information during nonword repetition, multisyllabic real word repetition and nonword decoding. Results suggested that some errors arose in visual encoding during nonword reading, all levels of processing but especially short-term memory storage/retrieval during nonword repetition, and motor planning and programming during complex real word repetition. To further investigate the role of short-term memory, a participant with short-term memory impairment (MI) was recruited. MI was confirmed with poor performance during a sentence repetition and three nonword repetition tasks, all of which have a high short-term memory load, whereas typical performance was observed during tests of reading, spelling, and static verbal knowledge, all with low short-term memory loads. Experimental results show error-free performance during multisyllabic real word repetition but high counts of sequence errors, especially migrations and assimilations, during nonword repetition, supporting short-term memory as a locus of sequential processing deficit during nonword repetition. Results are also consistent with the hypothesis that during complex real word repetition, short-term memory is bypassed as the word is recognized and retrieved from long-term memory prior to producing the word.

Negative modulation of α₅ GABAA receptors in rats may partially prevent memory impairment induced by MK-801, but not amphetamine- or MK-801-elicited hyperlocomotion.

PubMed

Timić Stamenić, Tamara; Joksimović, Srdjan; Biawat, Poonam; Stanković, Tamara; Marković, Bojan; Cook, James M; Savić, Miroslav M

2015-09-01

Reportedly, negative modulation of α5 GABAA receptors may improve cognition in normal and pharmacologically-impaired animals, and such modulation has been proposed as an avenue for treatment of cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia. This study assessed the actions of PWZ-029, administered at doses (2, 5, and 10 mg/kg) at which it reached micromolar concentrations in brain tissue with estimated free concentrations adequate for selective modulation of α5 GABAA receptors, in three cognitive tasks in male Wistar rats acutely treated with the noncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg), as well in tests of locomotor activity potentiated by MK-801 (0.2 mg/kg) or amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg). In a hormetic-like manner, only 5 mg/kg PWZ-029 reversed MK-801-induced deficits in novel object recognition test (visual recognition memory), whereas in the Morris water maze, the 2 mg/kg dose of PWZ-029 exerted partial beneficial effects on spatial learning impairment. PWZ-029 did not affect recognition memory deficits in social novelty discrimination procedure. Motor hyperactivity induced with MK-801 or amphetamine was not preventable by PWZ-029. Our results show that certain MK-801-induced memory deficits can be ameliorated by negative modulation of α5 GABAA receptors, and point to the need for further elucidation of their translational relevance to cognitive deterioration in schizophrenia. © The Author(s) 2015.

Normal Aging and the Dissociable Prototype Learning Systems

PubMed Central

Glass, Brian D.; Chotibut, Tanya; Pacheco, Jennifer; Schnyer, David M.; Maddox, W. Todd

2011-01-01

Dissociable prototype learning systems have been demonstrated behaviorally and with neuroimaging in younger adults as well as with patient populations. In A/not-A (AN) prototype learning, participants are shown members of category A during training, and during test are asked to decide whether novel items are in category A or are not in category A. Research suggests that AN learning is mediated by a perceptual learning system. In A/B (AB) prototype learning, participants are shown members of category A and B during training, and during test are asked to decide whether novel items are in category A or category B. In contrast to AN, research suggests that AB learning is mediated by a declarative memory system. The current study examined the effects of normal aging on AN and AB prototype learning. We observed an age-related deficit in AB learning, but an age-related advantage in AN learning. Computational modeling supports one possible interpretation based on narrower selective attentional focus in older adults in the AB task and broader selective attention in the AN task. Neuropsychological testing in older participants suggested that executive functioning and attentional control were associated with better performance in both tasks. However, nonverbal memory was associated with better AN performance, while visual attention was associated with worse AB performance. The results support an interactive memory systems approach and suggest that age-related declines in one memory system can lead to deficits in some tasks, but to enhanced performance in others. PMID:21875215

Specific deficit of colour-colour short-term memory binding in sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Parra, Mario A; Sala, Sergio Della; Abrahams, Sharon; Logie, Robert H; Méndez, Luis Guillermo; Lopera, Francisco

2011-06-01

Short-term memory binding of visual features which are processed across different dimensions (shape-colour) is impaired in sporadic Alzheimer's disease, familial Alzheimer's disease, and in asymptomatic carriers of familial Alzheimer's disease. This study investigated whether Alzheimer's disease also impacts on within-dimension binding processes. The study specifically explored whether visual short-term memory binding of features of the same type (colour-colour) is sensitive to Alzheimer's disease. We used a neuropsychological battery and a short-term memory binding task to assess patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (Experiment 1), familial Alzheimer's disease (Experiment 2) due to the mutation E280A of the Presenilin-1 gene and asymptomatic carriers of the mutation. The binding task assessed change detection within arrays of unicoloured objects (Colour Only) or bicoloured objects the colours of which had to be remembered separately (Unbound Colours) or together (Bound Colours). Performance on the Bound Colours condition (1) explained the largest proportion of variance between patients (sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease), (2) combined more sensitivity and specificity for the disease than other more traditional neuropsychological tasks, (3) identified asymptomatic carriers of the mutation even when traditional neuropsychological measures and other measures of short-term memory did not and, (4) contrary to shape-colour binding, correlated with measures of hippocampal functions. Colour-colour binding and shape-colour binding both appear to be sensitive to AD even though they seem to rely on different brain mechanisms. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. 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…

Duration of Auditory Sensory Memory in Parents of Children with SLI: A Mismatch Negativity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barry, Johanna G.; Hardiman, Mervyn J.; Line, Elizabeth; White, Katherine B.; Yasin, Ifat; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

2008-01-01

In a previous behavioral study, we showed that parents of children with SLI had a subclinical deficit in phonological short-term memory. Here, we tested the hypothesis that they also have a deficit in nonverbal auditory sensory memory. We measured auditory sensory memory using a paradigm involving an electrophysiological component called the…

Contrasting deficits on executive functions in Chinese delinquent adolescents with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder symptoms and/or reading disability.

PubMed

Poon, Kean; Ho, Connie S-H

2014-11-01

Many studies reported high prevalence of reading disability (RD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among delinquent adolescents. Very few have examined their cognitive profile. The present study compared the executive functions (EFs) and severity of delinquency in delinquent adolescents with RD and/or ADHD symptoms (AS). Delinquents with AS (n=29), RD (n=24), comorbidity AS+RD (n=35) were recruited from juvenile institutions along with typically developing controls (n=29) from local schools; all completed EF assessments and self-report questionnaires on delinquency. Results showed that pure AS group exhibited impaired inhibition while the pure RD group was weak in processing speed and visual memory. The comorbidity group showed unique impairments in interference control and significantly higher delinquency severity. The present findings suggest that comorbidity AS+RD may influence delinquency severity. It also provides a more comprehensive picture of the unique EF deficits associated with different groups, allowing for better matching for future identification and intervention programme. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Verbal memory in drug-naive, newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease. The retrieval deficit hypothesis revisited.

PubMed

Brønnick, Kolbjørn; Alves, Guido; Aarsland, Dag; Tysnes, Ole-Bjørn; Larsen, Jan Petter

2011-01-01

The retrieval deficit hypothesis on memory impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) implies a selective impairment in recall of learned material with normal encoding, retention, and recognition. This hypothesis has been challenged by new data. We have therefore investigated verbal memory and learning in a large sample of newly diagnosed, drug naïve, non-demented patients with PD. From a sample of patients with PD from the Norwegian ParkWest study, 133 PD patients and 133 controls matched on sex, age, and education were included. The California Verbal Learning Test-2 (CVLT-2) was used to assess verbal memory. Patients performed significantly worse than controls on free and cued recall as well as on recognition memory. Patients used the semantic clustering learning strategy significantly less extensively than the controls and the learning slope of the PD patients was significantly less steep. There was no difference in retention when controlling for encoding. Patients did not perform better on the recognition measure or on cued recall (d-prime), as compared to free recall. Executive functions explained a substantial part of the memory deficits. This study suggests that memory impairment in drug naïve early PD to a large degree is a deficit of learning/ encoding and not of retention or retrieval. An implication is that the retrieval deficit hypothesis should be moderated in its general form. Executive deficits and less extensive use of the efficient semantic clustering learning strategy had a strong impact on learning and memory. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Visual naming deficits in dyslexia: An ERP investigation of different processing domains.

PubMed

Araújo, Susana; Faísca, Luís; Reis, Alexandra; Marques, J Frederico; Petersson, Karl Magnus

2016-10-01

Naming speed deficits are well documented in developmental dyslexia, expressed by slower naming times and more errors in response to familiar items. Here we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine at what processing level the deficits in dyslexia emerge during a discrete-naming task. Dyslexic and skilled adult control readers performed a primed object-naming task, in which the relationship between the prime and the target was manipulated along perceptual, semantic and phonological dimensions. A 3×2 design that crossed Relationship Type (Visual, Phonemic Onset, and Semantic) with Relatedness (Related and Unrelated) was used. An attenuated N/P190 - indexing early visual processing - and N300 - which index late visual processing - was observed to pictures preceded by perceptually related (vs. unrelated) primes in the control but not in the dyslexic group. These findings suggest suboptimal processing in early stages of object processing in dyslexia, when integration and mapping of perceptual information to a more form-specific percept in memory take place. On the other hand, both groups showed an N400 effect associated with semantically related pictures (vs. unrelated), taken to reflect intact integration of semantic similarities in both dyslexic and control readers. We also found an electrophysiological effect of phonological priming in the N400 range - that is, an attenuated N400 to objects preceded by phonemic related primes vs. unrelated - while it showed a more widespread distributed and more pronounced over the right hemisphere in the dyslexics. Topographic differences between groups might have originated from a word form encoding process with different characteristics in dyslexics compared to control readers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fornix and medial temporal lobe lesions lead to comparable deficits in complex visual perception.

PubMed

Lech, Robert K; Koch, Benno; Schwarz, Michael; Suchan, Boris

2016-05-04

Recent research dealing with the structures of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) has shifted away from exclusively investigating memory-related processes and has repeatedly incorporated the investigation of complex visual perception. Several studies have demonstrated that higher level visual tasks can recruit structures like the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex in order to successfully perform complex visual discriminations, leading to a perceptual-mnemonic or representational view of the medial temporal lobe. The current study employed a complex visual discrimination paradigm in two patients suffering from brain lesions with differing locations and origin. Both patients, one with extensive medial temporal lobe lesions (VG) and one with a small lesion of the anterior fornix (HJK), were impaired in complex discriminations while showing otherwise mostly intact cognitive functions. The current data confirmed previous results while also extending the perceptual-mnemonic theory of the MTL to the main output structure of the hippocampus, the fornix. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Episodic Memory in Alzheimer Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Dementia With Lewy Bodies/Parkinson Disease Dementia: Disentangling Retrieval From Consolidation.

PubMed

Economou, Alexandra; Routsis, Christopher; Papageorgiou, Sokratis G

2016-01-01

Differences in episodic memory performance in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)/Parkinson disease with dementia (PDD) are inconsistent and task dependent. The inconsistencies may be attributed to the different tasks drawing on different memory processes. Few studies have examined episodic memory impairment in the above groups using memory tests that facilitate encoding, to distinguish memory deficits due to impairment of specific processes. We examined the memory performance of 106 AD patients, 51 FTD patients, 26 DLB/PDD patients, and 37 controls using the Five-Words Test, a 5-item memory test that facilitates encoding. The patient groups did not differ in modified Mini Mental State Examination scores. AD patients scored lowest on the Five-Words Test overall, and showed the greatest reduction from immediate total recall to delayed free recall relative to the other 2 groups, consistent with a predominantly consolidation deficit. DLB/PDD patients showed the largest improvement from delayed free to delayed total recall relative to the other 2 groups, consistent with a predominantly retrieval deficit. Deficits in both consolidation and retrieval underlie the memory impairment of the patients, to different extents, and contribute to the theoretical understanding of the nature of the memory impairment of the patient groups.

Cortical Thickness and Episodic Memory Impairment in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

PubMed

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

2017-01-01

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

Short-term exposure to a diet high in fat and sugar, or liquid sugar, selectively impairs hippocampal-dependent memory, with differential impacts on inflammation.

PubMed

Beilharz, J E; Maniam, J; Morris, M J

2016-06-01

Chronic high-energy diets are known to induce obesity and impair memory; these changes have been associated with inflammation in brain areas crucial for memory. In this study, we investigated whether inflammation could also be related to diet-induced memory deficits, prior to obesity. We exposed rats to chow, chow supplemented with a 10% sucrose solution (Sugar) or a diet high in fat and sugar (Caf+Sugar) and assessed hippocampal-dependent and perirhinal-dependent memory at 1 week. Both high-energy diet groups displayed similar, selective hippocampal-dependent memory deficits despite the Caf+Sugar rats consuming 4-5 times more energy, and weighing significantly more than the other groups. Extreme weight gain and excessive energy intake are therefore not necessary for deficits in memory. Weight gain across the diet period however, was correlated with the memory deficits, even in the Chow rats. The Sugar rats had elevated expression of a number of inflammatory genes in the hippocampus and WAT compared to Chow and Caf+Sugar rats but not in the perirhinal cortex or hypothalamus. Blood glucose concentrations were also elevated in the Sugar rats, and were correlated with the hippocampal inflammatory markers. Together, these results indicate that liquid sugar can rapidly elevate markers of central and peripheral inflammation, in association with hyperglycemia, and this may be related to the memory deficits in the Sugar rats. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Qualitative Impairment in Face Perception in Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence from a Reduced Face Inversion Effect.

PubMed

Lavallée, Marie Maxime; Gandini, Delphine; Rouleau, Isabelle; Vallet, Guillaume T; Joannette, Maude; Kergoat, Marie-Jeanne; Busigny, Thomas; Rossion, Bruno; Joubert, Sven

2016-01-01

Prevalent face recognition difficulties in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have typically been attributed to the underlying episodic and semantic memory impairment. The aim of the current study was to determine if AD patients are also impaired at the perceptual level for faces, more specifically at extracting a visual representation of an individual face. To address this question, we investigated the matching of simultaneously presented individual faces and of other nonface familiar shapes (cars), at both upright and inverted orientation, in a group of mild AD patients and in a group of healthy older controls matched for age and education. AD patients showed a reduced inversion effect (i.e., larger performance for upright than inverted stimuli) for faces, but not for cars, both in terms of error rates and response times. While healthy participants showed a much larger decrease in performance for faces than for cars with inversion, the inversion effect did not differ significantly for faces and cars in AD. This abnormal inversion effect for faces was observed in a large subset of individual patients with AD. These results suggest that AD patients have deficits in higher-level visual processes, more specifically at perceiving individual faces, a function that relies on holistic representations specific to upright face stimuli. These deficits, combined with their memory impairment, may contribute to the difficulties in recognizing familiar people that are often reported in patients suffering from the disease and by their caregivers.

Effects of olanzapine, sertindole and clozapine on MK-801 induced visual memory deficits in mice.

PubMed

Mutlu, Oguz; Ulak, Güner; Celikyurt, Ipek Komsuoglu; Akar, Füruzan Yildiz; Erden, Faruk; Tanyeri, Pelin

2011-10-01

We investigated the effects of the second generation antipsychotics olanzapine, sertindole and clozapine on visual recognition memory using the novel object recognition (NOR) test in naive and MK-801-treated animals. The effects of drug treatment on locomotion and anxiety were also determined using the open field test. Male Balb-c mice were treated with olanzapine (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg/kg; i.p.), sertindole (0.63, 1.3 and 2.5mg/kg; s.c.) or clozapine (0.5 and 1mg/kg; i.p.), and cognitive deficits were induced by MK-801 (0.2mg/kg; i.p.) administration. Olanzapine treatment decreased the ratio index in the NOR test, whereas sertindole and clozapine had no effect in naive mice. MK-801-induced cognitive impairment was reversed by treatment with olanzapine, sertindole or clozapine. While olanzapine, sertindole and clozapine had no effect on the anxiety of naive mice as determined by the open field test, MK-801 significantly increased the total distance traveled, time spent in the center zone and the velocity of the animals. MK-801-induced effects on locomotion and anxiety in the open field test were reversed by olanzapine, sertindole or clozapine treatment. The results of the present study demonstrated that olanzapine, sertindole and clozapine improved cognition in MK-801 treated mice, and indicate that these drugs have a potential to improve cognition in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vision after 53 years of blindness.

PubMed

Sikl, Radovan; Simecček, Michal; Porubanová-Norquist, Michaela; Bezdíček, Ondřej; Kremláček, Jan; Stodůlka, Pavel; Fine, Ione; Ostrovsky, Yuri

2013-01-01

Several studies have shown that visual recovery after blindness that occurs early in life is never complete. The current study investigated whether an extremely long period of blindness might also cause a permanent impairment of visual performance, even in a case of adult-onset blindness. We examined KP, a 71-year-old man who underwent a successful sight-restoring operation after 53 years of blindness. A set of psychophysical tests designed to assess KP's face perception, object recognition, and visual space perception abilities were conducted six months and eight months after the surgery. The results demonstrate that regardless of a lengthy period of normal vision and rich pre-accident perceptual experience, KP did not fully integrate this experience, and his visual performance remained greatly compromised. This was particularly evident when the tasks targeted finer levels of perceptual processing. In addition to the decreased robustness of his memory representations, which was hypothesized as the main factor determining visual impairment, other factors that may have affected KP's performance were considered, including compromised visual functions, problems with perceptual organization, deficits in the simultaneous processing of visual information, and reduced cognitive abilities.

Clinical and Cognitive Phenotype of Mild Cognitive Impairment Evolving to Dementia with Lewy Bodies

PubMed Central

Cagnin, Annachiara; Bussè, Cinzia; Gardini, Simona; Jelcic, Nela; Guzzo, Caterina; Gnoato, Francesca; Mitolo, Micaela; Ermani, Mario; Caffarra, Paolo

2015-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to determine which characteristics could better distinguish dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) at the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage, with particular emphasis on visual space and object perception abilities. Methods Fifty-three patients with mild cognitive deficits that were eventually diagnosed with probable DLB (MCI-DLB: n = 25) and AD (MCI-AD: n = 28) at a 3-year follow-up were retrospectively studied. At the first visit, the patients underwent cognitive assessment including the Qualitative Scoring Mini Mental State Examination Pentagon Test and the Visual Object and Space Perception Battery. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and questionnaires for cognitive fluctuations and sleep disorders were also administered. Results The best clinical predictor of DLB was the presence of soft extrapyramidal signs (mean UPDRS score: 4.04 ± 5.9) detected in 72% of patients, followed by REM sleep behavior disorder (60%) and fluctuations (60%). Wrong performances in the pentagon's number of angles were obtained in 44% of DLB and 3.7% of AD patients and correlated with speed of visual attention. Executive functions, visual attention and visuospatial abilities were worse in DLB, while verbal episodic memory impairment was greater in AD. Deficits in the visual-perceptual domain were present in both MCI-DLB and AD. Conclusions Poor performance in the pentagon's number of angles is specific of DLB and correlates with speed of visual attention. The dorsal visual stream seems specifically more impaired in MCI-DLB with respect to the ventral visual stream, the latter being involved in both DLB and AD. These cognitive features, associated with subtle extrapyramidal signs, should alert clinicians to a diagnostic hypothesis of DLB. PMID:26674638

Media multitasking and implicit learning.

PubMed

Edwards, Kathleen S; Shin, Myoungju

2017-07-01

Media multitasking refers to the simultaneous use of different forms of media. Previous research comparing heavy media multitaskers and light media multitaskers suggests that heavy media multitaskers have a broader scope of attention. The present study explored whether these differences in attentional scope would lead to a greater degree of implicit learning for heavy media multitaskers. The study also examined whether media multitasking behaviour is associated with differences in visual working memory, and whether visual working memory differentially affects the ability to process contextual information. In addition to comparing extreme groups (heavy and light media multitaskers) the study included analysis of people who media multitask in moderation (intermediate media multitaskers). Ninety-four participants were divided into groups based on responses to the media use questionnaire, and completed the contextual cueing and n-back tasks. Results indicated that the speed at which implicit learning occurred was slower in heavy media multitaskers relative to both light and intermediate media multitaskers. There was no relationship between working memory performance and media multitasking group, and no relationship between working memory and implicit learning. There was also no evidence for superior performance of intermediate media multitaskers. A deficit in implicit learning observed in heavy media multitaskers is consistent with previous literature, which suggests that heavy media multitaskers perform more poorly than light media multitaskers in attentional tasks due to their wider attentional scope.

Effects of medicinal plants on Alzheimer's disease and memory deficits

PubMed Central

Akram, Muhammad; Nawaz, Allah

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory deficits. Various studies have been carried out to find therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer's disease. However, the proper treatment option is still not available. There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, but symptomatic treatment may improve the memory and other dementia related problems. Traditional medicine is practiced worldwide as memory enhancer since ancient times. Natural therapy including herbs and medicinal plants has been used in the treatment of memory deficits such as dementia, amnesia, as well as Alzheimer's disease since a long time. Medicinal plants have been used in different systems of medicine, particularly Unani system of medicines and exhibited their powerful roles in the management and cure of memory disorders. Most of herbs and plants have been chemically evaluated and their efficacy has also been proven in clinical trials. However, the underlying mechanisms of actions are still on the way. In this paper, we have reviewed the role of different medicinal plants that play an important role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and memory deficits using conventional herbal therapy. PMID:28553349

CCR5 is a suppressor for cortical plasticity and hippocampal learning and memory

PubMed Central

Zhou, Miou; Greenhill, Stuart; Huang, Shan; Silva, Tawnie K; Sano, Yoshitake; Wu, Shumin; Cai, Ying; Nagaoka, Yoshiko; Sehgal, Megha; Cai, Denise J; Lee, Yong-Seok; Fox, Kevin; Silva, Alcino J

2016-01-01

Although the role of CCR5 in immunity and in HIV infection has been studied widely, its role in neuronal plasticity, learning and memory is not understood. Here, we report that decreasing the function of CCR5 increases MAPK/CREB signaling, long-term potentiation (LTP), and hippocampus-dependent memory in mice, while neuronal CCR5 overexpression caused memory deficits. Decreasing CCR5 function in mouse barrel cortex also resulted in enhanced spike timing dependent plasticity and consequently, dramatically accelerated experience-dependent plasticity. These results suggest that CCR5 is a powerful suppressor for plasticity and memory, and CCR5 over-activation by viral proteins may contribute to HIV-associated cognitive deficits. Consistent with this hypothesis, the HIV V3 peptide caused LTP, signaling and memory deficits that were prevented by Ccr5 knockout or knockdown. Overall, our results demonstrate that CCR5 plays an important role in neuroplasticity, learning and memory, and indicate that CCR5 has a role in the cognitive deficits caused by HIV. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20985.001 PMID:27996938

Congenital amusia: a short-term memory deficit for non-verbal, but not verbal sounds.

PubMed

Tillmann, Barbara; Schulze, Katrin; Foxton, Jessica M

2009-12-01

Congenital amusia refers to a lifelong disorder of music processing and is linked to pitch-processing deficits. The present study investigated congenital amusics' short-term memory for tones, musical timbres and words. Sequences of five events (tones, timbres or words) were presented in pairs and participants had to indicate whether the sequences were the same or different. The performance of congenital amusics confirmed a memory deficit for tone sequences, but showed normal performance for word sequences. For timbre sequences, amusics' memory performance was impaired in comparison to matched controls. Overall timbre performance was found to be correlated with melodic contour processing (as assessed by the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia). The present findings show that amusics' deficits extend to non-verbal sound material other than pitch, in this case timbre, while not affecting memory for verbal material. This is in line with previous suggestions about the domain-specificity of congenital amusia.

Poor comprehenders in the classroom: teacher ratings of behavior in children with poor reading comprehension and its relationship with individual differences in working memory.

PubMed

Pimperton, Hannah; Nation, Kate

2014-01-01

Differing etiological explanations have been proposed to account for poor comprehenders' difficulties with reading comprehension, with some researchers emphasizing working memory deficits and others arguing for oral language weaknesses playing a key causal role. The authors contrasted these two theoretical accounts using data obtained from direct measures of working memory and from teacher ratings of poor comprehenders' behavior in the classroom. At the group level, poor comprehenders showed weaknesses on verbal but not nonverbal working memory tasks, in keeping with the "language account." However, they also showed evidence of elevated levels of problem behaviors specifically associated with working memory deficits. Further analysis revealed that these group differences in working-memory-related problem behaviors were carried by a small subgroup of poor comprehenders who also displayed domain-general (verbal and nonverbal) working memory problems, argued to be reflective of "genuine" underlying working memory deficits.

Encoding, Memory, and Transcoding Deficits in Childhood Apraxia of Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shriberg, Lawrence D.; Lohmeier, Heather L.; Strand, Edythe A.; Jakielski, Kathy J.

2012-01-01

A central question in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is whether the core phenotype is limited to transcoding (planning/programming) deficits or if speakers with CAS also have deficits in auditory-perceptual "encoding" (representational) and/or "memory" (storage and retrieval of representations) processes. We addressed this and other questions…

Measuring Working Memory Deficits in Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayer, Jamie F.; Murray, Laura L.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Many adults with aphasia demonstrate concomitant deficits in working memory (WM), but such deficits are difficult to quantify because of a lack of validated measures as well as the complex interdependence between language and WM. We examined the feasibility, reliability, and internal consistency of an "n"-back task for…

Computerized Training of Working Memory in Children with ADHD-A Randomized, Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klingberg, Torkel; Fernell, Elisabeth; Olesen, Pernille J.; Johnson, Mats; Gustafsson, Per; Dahlstrom, Kerstin; Gillberg, Christopher G.; Forssberg, Hans; Westerberg, Helena

2005-01-01

Objective: Deficits in executive functioning, including working memory (WM) deficits, have been suggested to be important in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). During 2002 to 2003, the authors conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled, double-blind trial to investigate the effect of improving WM by computerized, systematic…

Phonological Storage and Executive Function Deficits in Children with Mathematics Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Peng; Congying, Sun; Beilei, Li; Sha, Tao

2012-01-01

Children with mathematics difficulties suffer from working memory deficits. This study investigated the deficit profile of phonological storage and executive functions in working memory among children with mathematics difficulties. Based on multiple instruments and two assessment points, 68 children were screened out of 805 fifth graders. Of these…

Visual Memories Bypass Normalization.

PubMed

Bloem, Ilona M; Watanabe, Yurika L; Kibbe, Melissa M; Ling, Sam

2018-05-01

How distinct are visual memory representations from visual perception? Although evidence suggests that briefly remembered stimuli are represented within early visual cortices, the degree to which these memory traces resemble true visual representations remains something of a mystery. Here, we tested whether both visual memory and perception succumb to a seemingly ubiquitous neural computation: normalization. Observers were asked to remember the contrast of visual stimuli, which were pitted against each other to promote normalization either in perception or in visual memory. Our results revealed robust normalization between visual representations in perception, yet no signature of normalization occurring between working memory stores-neither between representations in memory nor between memory representations and visual inputs. These results provide unique insight into the nature of visual memory representations, illustrating that visual memory representations follow a different set of computational rules, bypassing normalization, a canonical visual computation.

Visual Memories Bypass Normalization

PubMed Central

Bloem, Ilona M.; Watanabe, Yurika L.; Kibbe, Melissa M.; Ling, Sam

2018-01-01

How distinct are visual memory representations from visual perception? Although evidence suggests that briefly remembered stimuli are represented within early visual cortices, the degree to which these memory traces resemble true visual representations remains something of a mystery. Here, we tested whether both visual memory and perception succumb to a seemingly ubiquitous neural computation: normalization. Observers were asked to remember the contrast of visual stimuli, which were pitted against each other to promote normalization either in perception or in visual memory. Our results revealed robust normalization between visual representations in perception, yet no signature of normalization occurring between working memory stores—neither between representations in memory nor between memory representations and visual inputs. These results provide unique insight into the nature of visual memory representations, illustrating that visual memory representations follow a different set of computational rules, bypassing normalization, a canonical visual computation. PMID:29596038

Deficits in temporal order memory induced by interferon-alpha (IFN-α) treatment are rescued by aerobic exercise.

PubMed

Barlow, Sally; Fahey, Briana; Smith, Kimberley J; Passecker, Johannes; Della-Chiesa, Andrea; Hok, Vincent; Day, Jennifer S; Callaghan, Charlotte K; O'Mara, Shane M

2018-05-18

Patients receiving cytokine immunotherapy with IFN-α frequently present with neuropsychiatric consequences and cognitive impairments, including a profound depressive-like symptomatology. While the neurobiological substrates of the dysfunction that leads to adverse events in IFN-α-treated patients remains ill-defined, dysfunctions of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are strong possibilities. To date, hippocampal deficits have been well-characterised; there does however remain a lack of insight into the nature of prefrontal participation. Here, we used a PFC-supported temporal order memory paradigm to examine if IFN-α treatment induced deficits in performance; additionally, we used an object recognition task to assess the integrity of the perirhinal cortex (PRH). Finally, the utility of exercise as an ameliorative strategy to recover temporal order deficits in rats was also explored. We found that IFN-α-treatment impaired temporal order memory discriminations, whereas recognition memory remained intact, reflecting a possible dissociation between recognition and temporal order memory processing. Further characterisation of temporal order memory impairments using a longitudinal design revealed that deficits persisted for 10 weeks following cessation of IFN-α-treatment. Finally, a 6 week forced exercise regime reversed IFN-α-induced deficits in temporal order memory. These data provide further insight into the circuitry involved in cognitive impairments arising from IFN-α-treatment. Here we suggest that PFC (or the hippocampo-prefrontal pathway) may be compromised whilst the function of the PRH is preserved. Deficits may persist after cessation of IFN-α-treatment which suggests that extended patient monitoring is required. Aerobic exercise may be restorative and could prove beneficial for patients treated with IFN-α. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The relation between working memory components and ADHD symptoms from a developmental perspective.

PubMed

Tillman, Carin; Eninger, Lilianne; Forssman, Linda; Bohlin, Gunilla

2011-01-01

The objective was to examine the relations between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and four working memory (WM) components (short-term memory and central executive in verbal and visuospatial domains) in 284 6-16-year-old children from the general population. The results showed that verbal and visuospatial short-term memory and verbal central executive uniquely contributed to inattention symptoms. Age interacted with verbal short-term memory in predicting inattention, with the relation being stronger in older children. These findings support the notion of ADHD as a developmental disorder, with changes in associated neuropsychological deficits across time. The results further indicate ADHD-related deficits in several specific WM components.

Modafinil improves methamphetamine-induced object recognition deficits and restores prefrontal cortex ERK signaling in mice.

PubMed

González, Betina; Raineri, Mariana; Cadet, Jean Lud; García-Rill, Edgar; Urbano, Francisco J; Bisagno, Veronica

2014-12-01

Chronic use of methamphetamine (METH) leads to long-lasting cognitive dysfunction in humans and in animal models. Modafinil is a wake-promoting compound approved for the treatment of sleeping disorders. It is also prescribed off label to treat METH dependence. In the present study, we investigated whether modafinil could improve cognitive deficits induced by sub-chronic METH treatment in mice by measuring visual retention in a Novel Object Recognition (NOR) task. After sub-chronic METH treatment (1 mg/kg, once a day for 7 days), mice performed the NOR task, which consisted of habituation to the object recognition arena (5 min a day, 3 consecutive days), training session (2 equal objects, 10 min, day 4), and a retention session (1 novel object, 5 min, day 5). One hour before the training session, mice were given a single dose of modafinil (30 or 90 mg/kg). METH-treated mice showed impairments in visual memory retention, evidenced by equal preference of familiar and novel objects during the retention session. The lower dose of modafinil (30 mg/kg) had no effect on visual retention scores in METH-treated mice, while the higher dose (90 mg/kg) rescued visual memory retention to control values. We also measured extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), hippocampus, and nucleus accumbens (NAc) of METH- and vehicle-treated mice that received modafinil 1 h before exposure to novel objects in the training session, compared to mice placed in the arena without objects. Elevated ERK phosphorylation was found in the mPFC of vehicle-treated mice, but not in METH-treated mice, exposed to objects. The lower dose of modafinil had no effect on ERK phosphorylation in METH-treated mice, while 90 mg/kg modafinil treatment restored the ERK phosphorylation induced by novelty in METH-treated mice to values comparable to controls. We found neither a novelty nor treatment effect on ERK phosphorylation in hippocampus or NAc of vehicle- and METH-treated mice receiving acute 90 mg/kg modafinil treatment. Our results showed a palliative role of modafinil against METH-induced visual cognitive impairments, possibly by normalizing ERK signaling pathways in mPFC. Modafinil may be a valuable pharmacological tool for the treatment of cognitive deficits observed in human METH abusers as well as in other neuropsychiatric conditions. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'CNS Stimulants'. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dopaminergic basis for deficits in working memory but not attentional set-shifting in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Lewis, Simon J G; Slabosz, Aleksandra; Robbins, Trevor W; Barker, Roger A; Owen, Adrian M

2005-01-01

Although Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterised by its motoric symptoms, there is an increasing recognition of accompanying impairments in cognition that have a profound impact on the quality of life of these patients. These deficits predominantly affect executive function and impairments of working memory have been frequently reported. However, the underlying neurochemical and pathological basis for these deficits are not well understood. In this study, 20 patients were tested 'on' and 'off' levodopa (L-dopa) medication on a task that allowed different aspects of working memory function such as maintenance, retrieval and manipulation to be tested within the same general paradigm as well as on an unrelated test of attentional set-shifting, which is known to be sensitive to deficits in early Parkinson's disease. Compared to healthy volunteers, PD patients were impaired at manipulation more than maintenance or retrieval of information within working memory. The patients were also impaired at the attentional set-shifting task. However, whereas L-dopa ameliorated the working memory deficit in manipulation (improving both accuracy and cognitive response time), it had no effect on the attentional set-shifting impairment. These results confirm that working memory deficits in PD are both psychologically specific and related to dopamine depletion. It is anticipated that greater understanding of these mechanisms will lead to future therapeutic improvements.