Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology最新文献

This study investigates visual working memory (WM) performance in children aged 7-12 years with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to typically developing (TD) peers, focusing on face stimuli to evaluate social-relevant memory processing. The research aims to identify differences in visual WM functioning and determine whether errors in recall stem from reduced precision or increased random guessing. Participants completed a visual WM task requiring them to memorize and reproduce the orientations of faces presented on a screen. Results demonstrated that children with ASD exhibited significantly poorer overall visual WM accuracy than TD children. A fine-grained analysis of error patterns revealed that the ASD group showed markedly lower precision in recalling spatial details of the stimuli, indicating less stable or detailed memory representations. However, rates of random guessing-a measure of attentional lapses or task disengagement-did not differ significantly between groups. These findings underscore that visual WM deficits in ASD are primarily driven by reduced precision rather than fluctuations in attention or motivation. The study highlights the importance of precision-based mechanisms in understanding atypical cognitive profiles in ASD, offering insights into potential interventions targeting memory consolidation or perceptual encoding strategies to enhance functional outcomes. By isolating precision as a key deficit, this work advances theoretical models of visual WM and informs tailored approaches to support memory-related challenges in ASD.

Objective: Neuropsychological baseline evaluations in youth are critical in the context of sport concussion management. Youth athletes typically undergo annual baseline evaluations to account for the rapid cognitive development that occurs throughout childhood. However, the reliability of measures used in baseline evaluations at an interval greater than one year is relatively unknown. This study examined the test-retest reliability of non-computerized neuropsychological assessments administered at different time points and aimed to provide neuropsychologists with data to inform their decisions in test selection and clinical interpretation.

Method: Healthy youth male athletes (n = 28, M_age = 11.24 years) completed two comprehensive baseline evaluations on average 22.67 months apart. The intraclass correlation coefficient measured test-retest reliability, and a mixed effects model examined the degree of improvement in test scores and within-subject variability across administrations using both raw and normative scores.

Results: Measures of visuoconstruction, cognitive switching, working memory, contextualized verbal memory, inhibition, and simple attention produced good reliability (>.75), while a measure of visual memory demonstrated poor reliability (<.50) for both normed and raw scores. The authors observed significant interactions between age and time elapsed between baseline administrations for measures of visuoconstruction, visual processing speed, and cognitive switching. Normed scores for measures of working memory, simple attention, and inhibition showed more within-subject variability than raw scores.

Conclusions: All measures, except NEPSY-II Memory for Designs, demonstrated moderate to good test-retest reliability for both absolute and normed scores over an average 22-month interval between baseline administrations. However, clinicians should not overlook potential practice effects when interpreting a youth athlete's second baseline performance. The authors also underscore the value of examining raw data in understanding of cognitive maturation across cognitive domains. Future research should examine the reliability of baseline evaluations incorporating both non-computerized and computerized measures, and replicate findings in a larger sample of youth athletes.

Introduction: Despite the recognized importance of social cognition in predicting functional outcomes in schizophrenia, there is a lack of widely accepted measures that assess this broad domain while possessing psychometric validity and predictive utility. This study aimed to address this gap by providing incremental validity data for a promising social cognitive measure assessing facial affect recognition in patients presenting with treatment-resistant psychosis.

Method: Using a clinical archival dataset comprising 59 consecutive admissions to an inpatient treatment-resistant psychosis unit, this study examined facial affect naming performance from the Advanced Clinical Solutions-Social Perception (ACS-SP) affect naming subtest, and the association with neuropsychological functioning and symptom severity. Hierarchical regression models were used to assess whether facial affect recognition predicted daily functioning, including measures of functional capacity and functional performance.

Results: The ACS-SP affect naming measure showed limited sensitivity for impairment relative to other cognitive domains. Affect naming showed weak to moderate correlations with a broad range of non-memory cognitive functions, and no association with symptom severity. After controlling for cognitive functioning and symptoms, the ACS-SP affect naming task predicted poorer functioning with regard to functional performance but not functional capacity.

Conclusions: The ACS-SP affect naming task associates weakly to moderately with other measures of cognition, but also likely taps into social cognitive skills not measured by typical neuropsychological tests. This measure was predictive of some aspects of functional outcomes in patients with treatment-resistant psychosis, and therefore may be a useful tool to incorporate into routine neuropsychological assessments in such treatment settings.

Background: Inflammation, chronic pain, and hypertension have been identified as risk factors for cognitive decline; few studies have examined the interplay between multiple risk factors and even fewer have considered these factors in underserved rural populations.

Objective: This study analyzed the relationships between inflammation, chronic pain, and hypertension with cognitive functioning in an underserved, primarily Hispanic, rural population from Project FRONTIER (Facing Rural Obstacles to Healthcare Now Through Intervention, Education, & Research).

Methods: This epidemiological study enrolled 1,864 participants (M_age = 59.68 years, SD_age = 12.21) living in five rural counties in West Texas. Consented participants disclosed medical diagnoses (e.g. chronic pain), completed five cognitive evaluations (i.e. the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, the Trails Making Test A and B, and Clock Drawing 1 and 2), and attended a medical examination during which a physician confirmed existing medical conditions (e.g. hypertension) and collected a blood sample for further analysis (e.g. inflammation markers).

Results: Analysis via MANOVA revealed a multivariate effect of inflammation (V = .02, F(4, 969) = 3.72, p = .006) and a multivariate effect of hypertension (V = .03, F(4, 969) = 6.69, p < .001). There was no multivariate effect for chronic pain (V = .01, F(4,969) = 2.18, p = .07) and no significant two way or three way interaction. Post-hoc ANOVAs further illustrated the relationships between specific cognitive functioning domains and inflammation or hypertension.

Conclusions: The current study findings suggest that underserved rural populations have unique epidemiological experiences that are distinct from prior findings in urban populations. Inflammation and hypertension are important clinical considerations as risk factors for cognitive decline. Future research should explore interventions that support rural-dwelling individuals impacted by provider shortages.

Objective: The study aims to update normative data for three of the tests which are most widely used in the Italian clinical services for dementia screening: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test, the Coloured Progressive Matrices test and the Controlled Oral Word Association test. In fact, the obsolescence of normative data is a crucial problem for cognitive tests, and their periodical updating is recommended because of the Flynn Effect: the longer the time which has passed since standardization, the greater the likelihood is that scores will overestimate real abilities.

Methods: A total of 364 neurologically healthy individuals (130 males/234 females; age ≥ 40, mean = 65.67 ± 10.29 years, education = 12.98 ± 3.88 years; MMSE score = 29.32 ± 1.11) were recruited from Rome and the surrounding area and divided into 8 groups by five-year age intervals (range 40-85 years). Linear models with modulating effects for age, education, and gender were applied to obtain the correction scores. Percentiles and Equivalent Scores were calculated as well.

Results: Normative data corrected for age, gender and education were obtained for the three tests. Decremental effects of age and incremental effects of education were confirmed, while mixed results were found for gender. When compared with previous Italian normative studies, a global increase in the mean scores was recorded.

Conclusions: The study provides updated scores for the Italian population for three tests widely used in clinical and experimental settings. The effects of aging, education, and gender on cognitive performance are confirmed, as well as the Flynn effect and the necessity for periodical updating of normative data for neuropsychological tests.

Introduction: A bacterial brain abscess (BA) is a localized cerebral infection that requires prompt neurosurgical intervention, although the implementation of treatment may take several days. Approximately half of BA patients exhibit neurological signs, while less is known about cognitive abnormalities following BA from the acute to chronic phases. This case series study aimed to investigate cognitive impairments in patients with BA during the acute phase and evaluate post-acute selective cognitive deficits that align with BA location in neuropsychological profiles during the first year following neurosurgery.

Methods: A case series study of six patients with BA (ages 24-71, 50% female) who underwent neuropsychological evaluations during admission to the neurosurgical department (acute phase), at 8 weeks (subacute phase) and 1 year (chronic phase) post-neurosurgery. Acute phase cognitive impairments were considered as at least two z-scores ≤-1.50 in a brief test battery assessing language, attention, memory, psychomotor speed, and executive functions. Post-acute selective cognitive deficits were considered in a comprehensive test battery as discrepancies aligning with BA location between verbal vs. visual intellectual functions, memory, and attention, as well as right vs. left motor speed functions, of ≥2 SD between or alpha level < .05 using WAIS-IV software.

Results: Five cases had cognitive impairments during the acute phase, whereof three had lateralized neurological deficits (e.g. homonymous hemianopsia, hemiparesis). Four cases had selective cognitive deficits both at 8 weeks and 1 year.

Conclusions: BA patients may exhibit cognitive impairments during admission to acute medical care despite having normal neurological status. A brief neuropsychological test battery should be considered in the post-surgical treatment of BA patients to assist in patient management and planning. Selective cognitive deficits may be a long-term consequence of BA. This study highlights the cognitive impact of BA and illustrates the necessity of expediting the diagnostic process and treatment.

Objective: Emotional priming is modulated by word concreteness, yet the literature is inconsistent. This study investigates the effects of affect, lexical features, depressive symptoms, and rumination on emotional priming for abstract and concrete words.

Methods: Eighty-one healthy participants (48 female, age = 24.12 ± 8.56 years) completed a valence categorization task in which they were asked to decide whether a target word, presented for 500 ms following a 65 ms prime, was pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. Priming effect (PE) was defined as the RT difference between incongruent and congruent conditions for pleasant and unpleasant primes. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess priming effects and error rates, with fixed effects for prime valence, concreteness, subscales of Positive and Negative Affect Scale, Beck Depression Inventory score, subscales of Rumination Response Scale, semantic relatedness and Levenshtein distance (LD). Model selection was performed using the buildmer algorithm. Post-hoc analyses of interactions and continuous predictor trends across categorical levels were performed using emmeans and emtrends. All statistical analyses were conducted by R 4.4.3.

Results: PEs were stronger for concrete than abstract words, irrespective of prime valence. Positive affect predicted higher error rates for unpleasant targets and enhanced PEs for unpleasant primes, particularly in abstract words. Depressive symptoms were associated with fewer errors for unpleasant targets but did not predict PE. Brooding was associated with larger PEs for abstract words, independent of valence. Lastly, greater semantic relatedness amplified PEs for abstract items, whereas smaller LD both strengthened PEs and increased errors in valence‑incongruent trials.

Conclusion: This study highlights the role of emotional and clinical traits in word processing, showing that abstract word priming is driven by the interaction of affect and stimulus value. Future studies examining biases in abstract emotional word processing may guide the development of methods to identify individuals at risk for depression.

Introduction: Three symptom validity indices have recently been developed for the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). To date, these validity indices have been examined in North American research and clinical samples, generally with promising results. The current study aimed to cross-validate the symptom validity indices in a cross-cultural forensic sample.

Method: Examinees (N = 79) were Balkan (Macedonian, Kosovar, and Serbian) contractors previously employed at United States military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. Examinees claimed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) secondary to alleged adverse experiences, and they were pursuing Federal Workers' Compensation claims for PTSD under the auspices of the Defense Base Act. In this study, validity status was determined via outcome on the Inventory of Problems-29.

Results: There were no significant differences between most demographic and background variables when groups were divided by validity status. Conversely, scores on all validity tests were significantly different between the group of examinees who were likely credibly presenting and the group that was likely noncredibly responding; medium to large effect sizes were observed. Area under the curve statistics ranged from .73 to .77. Sensitivity rates ranged from .33 to .47 when specificity was held at .90 or higher.

Conclusions: The findings converge well with prior research results, extending the use of PCL-5 symptom validity indices to a cross-cultural forensic sample.

Introduction: Approximately 5-10% of the population faces learning disorders (LDs) and encounter difficulties with tasks like reading, writing, and processing auditory information. One method used to assess auditory information processing in the brain is by measuring cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs). This study aims to explore whether abnormalities in CAEPs could serve as clinical indicator for the early diagnosis of LDs, and if modifications in these components could be beneficial in tracking neural changes following intervention in individuals with LDs.

Method: The systematic literature search followed the PRISMA guideline. Two independent reviewers searched five electronic databases (Medline, Science Direct, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and ProQuest) from their inception to 16 April 2024, using relevant keywords.

Results: Upon assessing the quality of articles and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 22 studies were selected for analysis. The majority of these studies observed delayed latency and reduced amplitude of CAEP components in individuals with LDs. The results of the meta-analysis emphasized delayed latency, particularly a significant delay in the N2 component, as the most prominent distinction between the LD and control groups. Additionally, certain studies have reported therapeutic interventions resulting in improved latency and amplitude of CAEPs in the LD population.

Conclusion: Based on the findings, the presence of an abnormal CAEP pattern, characterized by delayed component latencies, may serve as a potential indicator for LDs, assisting in the early identification of this disorder, and assessment of CAEPs can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for individuals with LDs.

This study aimed to model PIU (Problematic Internet Use) based on executive functions, interpersonal needs, depression, and fear of missing out in adolescents aged 15 to 19 residing in Tehran. The sample size included 200 girls and boys selected through convenience sampling. Participants completed the computerized Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Fear of Missing Out scale (FOMOS), and Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with SPSS 26 and AMOS 24 software. According to the results, executive functions directly and through the mediating effects of depression and the fear of missing out, predicted PIU. Thwarted belongingness through the mediating effect of depression and the fear of missing out had an effect on PIU. Perceived burdensomeness predicted PIU directly and indirectly through the mediating effect of depression. The relationship between perceived burdensomeness and fear of missing out was not significant in this study. Overall, the fit indices indicated that the proposed research model is a good fit, and executive functions, depression, interpersonal needs, and fear of missing out can predict PIU. Moreover, executive functions, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness were able to predict depression, and executive functions, along with thwarted belongingness, could predict fear of missing out.