Neuropsychology最新文献

Objective: Poststroke motor deficits often result in diminished or degraded sensorimotor input, potentially disrupting how patients attribute actions and affecting their sense of agency (SoA)-that is, the experience of controlling one's own actions. SoA emerges from the integration of sensorimotor cues (e.g., prediction errors between internal prediction and sensory feedback) and cognitive cues (e.g., thoughts or beliefs). However, the integration mechanism of these cues remains unclear.

Method: Twenty poststroke patients with sensorimotor deficits but no marked cognitive impairments, along with 10 healthy control participants, performed sinusoidal movements. During the movement, participants observed a cursor that either matched or deviated from their actual movements and judged whether the cursor reflected their own movement. We combined this task with questionnaires assessing reliance on cognitive cues and subjective SoA.

Results: Patients with more severe motor deficits made more erroneous self-attributions (ps = .015, Cohen's ds = 1.27) and showed weaker correlation between pen-cursor distance and self-other judgment (β_dif = .23, p = .017), suggesting lower sensitivity to prediction error. Erroneous self-attribution correlated with greater reliance on cognitive cues (r = .76, p = .010). Although SoA generally decreased with motor deficit severity (βs = .67, ps < .001), patients with more severe deficits exhibited higher SoA when showing higher cognitive cue reliance (β = .58, p = .010) or longer time since stroke (β = .62, p = .004).

Conclusions: Patients with more severe motor deficits may adopt compensatory cue-weighting strategies that rely more on cognitive than sensorimotor cues during agency registration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: The present study characterized how language dominance and language of testing affect word list learning in older bilinguals, using picture naming in the two languages as a continuous objective measure of bilingual proficiency level. No previous study examined language dominance effects on list learning in older bilinguals or provided detailed information about language dominance effects over multiple learning trials, even though these measures provide critical diagnostic information.

Method: Forty older Spanish-English bilinguals were tested on two 10-word lists in each language, with two learning trials for each list, and with language of testing order counterbalanced between participants.

Results: Bilinguals recalled fewer words in both primacy and recency regions in the nondominant than in the dominant language, especially on Trial 1 (language dominance effects were 8.5 times larger on Trial 1 than Trial 2, after adjusting proportionally for baseline recall). The extent of language dominance was significantly correlated across picture naming and list learning, but only on Trial 1. Finally, language dominance effects were proportionally weaker on list learning (even on Trial 1) than in picture naming.

Conclusions: List learning is a hybrid comprehension/production task that is less affected by bilingualism than pure production tasks. However, testing list learning in a nondominant language can distort assessment of memory, particularly on some critical measures. Use of an independent objective measure of language proficiency provides a more precise indication of the extent to which language dominance should affect list learning in older bilinguals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Trial-to-trial variability in response times (RT inconsistency; RTI) has emerged as an important dimension of performance for characterizing cognitive function and cognitive status. The present study explores whether (a) RT inconsistency is associated with attention switching performance between-persons and within-persons over time, (b) RTI-attention switching associations differ as a function of cognitive impairment status, and (c) RTI-attention switching associations change longitudinally over 4 years.

Method: A sample of 304 adults (64-92 years) at baseline completed measures of attention switching and a 1-back choice response time task weekly for 4-5 weeks, repeating this protocol and a basic neuropsychological assessment annually for 4 years. Three cognitive status subgroups were identified at baseline: healthy controls (HC), as well as cognitive impairment-no dementia (CIND) status based upon single (CIND-S) and multiple (CIND-M) domains.

Results: Greater RTI was associated with significantly slower attention switching performance between-persons and within-persons over time. Importantly, RTI-attention switching associations were specific to individuals exhibiting cognitive impairment. Specifically, within-person associations were evident among CIND-M participants, while between-person associations emerged for CIND-S and CIND-M participants. RTI-attention switching associations did not reliably change over time. All associations were independent of age, education, chronic health conditions, and mean RT.

Conclusions: RTI confers a unique information about cognitive function and status and holds promise as a functional indicator of pathological cognitive aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Evaluate the relations of left ventricular mass (LVM) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) to cognitive function in midlife adults and examine potential moderating influences of self-identified race and poverty status.

Method: Participants were 1,107 African American and White urban-dwelling adults (M_age = 52.19, 60.4% female, 56.5% African American, 34% below 125% of the poverty line) from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study. Multivariable linear regressions examined up to three-way interactions of LVM (and LVH), race, and poverty status to tests of attention, memory, executive function, verbal abilities, and perceptuo-motor speed. Covariates included demographic variables and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Results: There were no significant three- or two-way interactions of LVM (or LVH), race, or poverty status for any cognitive outcome. Backward elimination identified significant main effects of LVM on the Brief Test of Attention (β = -0.089, p = .010) and Trails Making Test (TMT)-B (β = 0.072, p = .021). Main effects of LVH were significant for the Brief Test of Attention (β = -0.075, p = .017), TMT-B (β = 0.071, p = .012), TMT-A (β = 0.078, p = .009), and Verbal Fluency (β = -0.067, p = .027). Both LVM and LVH were negatively associated with performance.

Conclusions: In the presence of nonsignificant interactions, those with higher LVM (and LVH) displayed poorer performance on tests of divided attention, executive function, semantic verbal fluency, and perceptuo-motor speed. Findings may reflect the early emergence of neurocognitive changes associated with elevated cardiovascular risk in this largely middle-aged sample. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: The inhibition deficit hypothesis postulates that inhibitory functioning declines with age, which negatively impacts other cognitive abilities. Yet still, the impact of healthy aging on inhibitory functioning remains unclear, with the multifaceted nature of inhibition often an overlooked factor. Moreover, no prior study has empirically tested whether inhibitory subcomponents explain differential age effects in sustained attention-an open question that this work aimed to address.

Method: We cross-sectionally investigated the inhibition deficit hypothesis in 80 healthy older adults (M_age = 67.78 years, 44 female). We utilized the PsyToolkit platform to administer three inhibition tasks (i.e., flanker, Stroop, and go/no-go), each targeting a distinct subcomponent process, along with the Sustained Attention to Response Task.

Results: The flanker task had low internal consistency and was deemed unreliable. Semipartial correlations of the remaining inhibition measures with age resulted in significant positive relationships with task performance on the Stroop (errors: ρ = 0.337, p = .014; reaction time: ρ = 0.313, p = .028) and a negative association with the go/no-go (balanced integrated score: ρ = -0.471, p < .001), such that older individuals had more pronounced Stroop effects and worse overall go/no-go performance. Finally, go/no-go performance completely mediated the relationship between aging and sustained attention performance (t = -2.30, 95% CI [-0.05, -0.01]), while Stroop effects partially mediated this association (t = -2.16, 95% CI [-0.03, -0.002]).

Conclusions: Age-related declines were observed across reliable inhibition tasks, lending support for the inhibition deficit hypothesis. The mediation findings demonstrate that inhibitory subcomponents account for age-related declines in sustained attention, over and beyond aging itself via an indirect path, representing an important cognitive domain to maintain throughout aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Identical information can be perceived differently depending on the framing in which it is presented. Consequently, individuals may exhibit varying degrees of inequity aversion toward objectively inequitable allocations depending on the proposer features. However, a precise characterization is still lacking regarding the role of proposer features in maintaining social fairness norms and their influence on the temporal dynamics of inequity aversion processing.

Method: In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of event-related potential studies that explored the influence of proposer features on inequity aversion using the ultimatum game. This meta-analysis aimed to provide more temporal evidence for the underlying neural mechanisms and offer more support to the dual-system processing theory.

Results: Using the fixed-effect model, the results revealed that proposer features induced significant amplitude changes of the feedback-related negativity (early, rapid processing of norm violations) and P300 (late, deeper processing) components. These two components respectively mapped the intuitive system (System 1) for automated processing and the deliberate system (System 2) for elaborate processing. In addition, subgroup analysis indicated that specific proposer features led to different processing patterns, which had different impacts on the feedback-related negativity and P300.

Conclusions: Taken together, proposer features significantly regulated the processing of the early and late stages of inequity aversion. Following processing by both intuitive and deliberate systems, proposer features facilitated more flexible decision making in fairness-related scenarios. These findings provided more evidence for the neural mechanism of inequity aversion and supported the dual-system processing theory of unfair decision making. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition that affects physical, cognitive, and emotional functions, significantly impacting quality of life (QoL) even in its early stages. Beyond the typical motor, sensory, visual, and brainstem disorders usually assessed by the Expanded Disability Status Scale, MS also impairs functional body representations and interoception, diminishing overall functioning and QoL. In this study, we aim to explore the relationships between functional body representations, interoceptive processes, and major clinical outcomes, including physical disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale), fatigue severity, and health-related QoL in people with MS.

Method: Fifty-nine people with MS were assessed with tasks assessing body representations, action-oriented and nonaction-oriented, and interoception.

Results: Action-oriented and nonaction-oriented body representation performance was significantly associated with fatigue severity (r = -.337 and r = .301, respectively; ps ≤ .021), suggesting that body representations are particularly vulnerable to perceived fatigue in MS. In addition, fatigue severity and bowel/vesical dysfunction were positively correlated with the tendency to overestimate one's own interoceptive capabilities (r = .335 and r = .311, respectively; ps ≤ .017), highlighting the role of MS-related disability in interoception.

Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of integrating assessments of body representation and interoception into clinical practice to guide therapeutic interventions aimed at improving people with MS outcomes and QoL. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Slower processing speed is implicated in memory impairment in both aging and multiple sclerosis (MS). Cognitive reserve serves as a buffer against memory decline and dementia, but no studies have reported on its mediating effect on the associations between processing speed and memory. Therefore, we investigated whether cognitive reserve mediated the relationship between processing speed and verbal memory in older adults and whether the presence of MS modified this association.

Method: Older adults with MS (n = 104; M_age = 64.84 ± 4.36 years) and healthy controls (HCs: n = 105; M_age = 68.33 ± 7.24 years) underwent neuropsychological testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging. Cognitive reserve was derived using residuals from a regression model predicting a modified total score of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status from demographic and brain integrity variables. Processing speed was assessed via the oral Symbol Digit Modalities Test, and memory via the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised.

Results: Cognitive reserve fully mediated the association of Symbol Digit Modalities Test on Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised: immediate recall when fully adjusted for covariates (indirect effect: b = 0.221, 95% bootstrap CI [0.120, 0.322]). For delayed recall, cognitive reserve partially mediated this association in adjusted models (b = 0.221, 95% bootstrap CI [0.124, 0.322]). Group status (i.e., older adults with MS vs. HC) did not significantly moderate the mediating effect of cognitive reserve on either outcome.

Conclusions: Cognitive reserve mediated associations between processing speed and memory performance in older adults with and without MS, highlighting its protective role against memory decline. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Emerging literature suggests later life adversity increases susceptibility to cognitive disorders, whereas structural support (defined here as social networks/contacts) and life satisfaction benefit cognitive health. However, evidence for these associations remains limited in low- and middle-income countries. To address this gap, the present study examined the associations of later life adverse (recent stressful events, neighborhood disadvantages, and multimorbidity) and favorable (structural support and life satisfaction) factors with cognitive outcomes in Brazil.

Method: This population-based study utilized a nationally representative sample of 6,564 adults aged 50 and over, drawn from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging. Survey-weighted generalized linear models characterized the association of each relevant factor with cognitive performance, assessed through a global composite score derived from performance on tasks designed to measure temporal orientation, immediate and delayed memory recall, semantic fluency, and prospective memory. Two-way interaction models tested whether sex, race, or household income extreme quintiles modified significant associations.

Results: In the multivariable model, greater structural support (0.030, 95% CI [0.021, 0.040]) and life satisfaction (0.014, 95% CI [0.008, 0.019]) were strongly associated with better cognitive function, independent of demographic characteristics and the adverse factors investigated. Notably, the protective association of structural support on cognition was twice as strong among individuals self-identified as Black/Brown (0.039, 95% CI [0.025, 0.052]) compared to White participants (0.019, 95% CI [0.007, 0.032]) and over 2.5 times stronger for individuals in the lowest household income quintile (0.048, 95% CI [0.028, 0.069]) relative to those in the highest quintile (0.018, 95% CI [0.000, 0.035]). Among adverse experiences, only recent severe illness (-0.057, 95% CI [-0.090, -0.023]) was significantly associated with poorer cognition, potentially reflecting a combination of biological and psychosocial mechanisms.

Conclusions: Public health initiatives should prioritize building community-based support structures and endeavor to target Black/Brown and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities while addressing factors that contribute to life satisfaction in later adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: People with a psychotic disorder often experience financial challenges. Financial competence problems might underlie these challenges, yet little is known about the extent and type of these problems, particularly in the recent-onset phase of psychosis. This study aimed to examine differences in financial competence between people with recent-onset psychosis and matched controls without psychosis. In addition, we assessed participants' financial situation and context. Last, we investigated cognitive functioning and its potential mediating role in group differences in financial competence.

Method: Thirty-six people with recent-onset psychosis and 40 matched controls completed a comprehensive and standardized financial and cognitive test battery.

Results: Compared to controls, people with recent-onset psychosis performed more poorly on most aspects of financial competence. They also reported less favorable outcomes in their financial situation and context. Mediation analyses did not support a robust mediating role of cognitive functioning in explaining group differences in financial competence.

Conclusions: Problems in financial competence, as well as a less favorable financial situation and context, may already be present in the recent-onset phases of psychosis. These difficulties appear to be multifaceted and cannot be explained by cognitive functioning. These findings highlight the need for assessment tools that go beyond cognitive assessment and are specifically designed to evaluate everyday competences such as financial competence. Integrating such assessments into clinical practice could support timely recognition of problems in financial competence and more appropriate, tailored referrals to financial support services for people in the recent-onset phases of psychosis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).