Neuropsychology最新文献

Objective: Alexithymia, a deficit in identifying and describing feelings, is prevalent in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sometimes referred to as "emotional unawareness," we sought to investigate whether alexithymia after TBI was related to, or distinct from, impaired self-awareness (ISA) and whether the two predicted differentiable emotional and aggression profiles. Further, the mediating role of frontal system behaviors (disinhibition, dysexecutive function, apathy) was explored.

Method: Participants with TBI (N = 40) from diverse backgrounds completed self-report measures of alexithymia, emotional distress, aggression, and frontal system behaviors. For the assessment of ISA, significant other ratings were obtained to identify discrepancies from self-ratings. Data were analyzed quantitatively using independent samples t tests, correlations, partial correlations, and simple mediation.

Results: There was a negative correlation between alexithymia and ISA. Alexithymia, but not ISA, was associated with higher expressions of emotional distress and aggression even after controlling for the effects of ISA via partial correlations. Exploratory analyses found that frontal system behaviors mediated the relationships between alexithymia and aggression and alexithymia and emotional distress.

Conclusions: Alexithymia is more accurately conceptualized as an emotional processing deficit than an awareness deficit. Indeed, self-awareness may be a prerequisite for the ability to identify alexithymic tendencies. Negative psychological effects of alexithymia are compounded by poorer executive function and disinhibition and call for the development of TBI-specific alexithymia screening tools and interventions. Alexithymia interventions are best delivered in conjunction with rehabilitation of emotion regulation and executive function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: To examine cognitive effects of neurofeedback (NF) for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a secondary outcome of a randomized clinical trial.

Method: In a double-blind randomized clinical trial (NCT02251743), 133 7-10-year olds with ADHD received either 38 sessions of NF (n = 78) or control treatment (n = 55) and performed an integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test at baseline, mid- and end-treatment. We used the diffusion decision model to decompose integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test performance at each assessment into cognitive components: efficiency of integrating stimulus information (v), context sensitivity (c_v), response cautiousness (a), response bias (z/a), and nondecision time for perceptual encoding and response execution (T_er). Based on prior findings, we tested whether the components known to be deficient improved with NF and explored whether other cognitive components improved using linear mixed modeling.

Results: Before NF, children with ADHD showed main deficits in integrating stimulus information (v), which led to less accurate and slower responses than healthy controls (p = .008). The NF group showed significantly more improvement in integrating auditory stimulus information (v) than control treatment (significant group-by-time-by-modality effect: p = .044).

Conclusions: NF seems to improve v, deficient in ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: To investigate whether intraindividual variability (IIV) in reaction time (RT) over monthly administered cognitive tasks is increased in cognitively unimpaired older adults who are at risk for cognitive decline, and whether this is independent of mean RT performance.

Method: N = 109 cognitively unimpaired individuals (age 77.4 ± 5.0, 61.5% female, Mini-Mental State Examination 29.1 ± 1.3) from the Harvard Aging Brain Study completed the self-administered Computerized Cognitive Composite (C3) monthly at home for up to 1 year (12.7 ± 3.2 C3 assessments). Baseline C3 assessment coincided with routine in-clinic visits, including amyloid and tau positron emission tomography imaging and standardized cognitive testing, with cognitive testing repeated annually (1.6 ± 1.2 years follow-up). The C3 includes two simple RT tasks and two complex RT tasks. IIV estimates were derived by computing intraindividual standard deviations on residual RT scores after regressing out age and session order effects. Cross-sectional associations of IIV with cognition (global cognition, memory, executive functions [EF], processing speed) and amyloid and tau burden were examined using linear regression analyses correcting for demographics and mean RT. The association between IIV and cognitive decline was assessed using linear mixed models correcting for demographic factors, mean RT, and amyloid burden.

Results: After adjusting for mean RT, increased IIV on complex RT tasks was independently associated with worse EF performance (β = -0.10, 95% CI [-.16, -0.03], p = .004), greater inferior-temporal tau deposition (β = 0.18, 95% CI [0.02, 0.34], p = .024), and faster cognitive decline in those with elevated amyloid (β = -0.62, 95% CI [-1.18, -0.06], p = .033).

Conclusions: Increased variability in monthly RT may reflect subtle EF deficits and provide unique information about short-term cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, resulting in a range of potential motor and cognitive impairments. The latter can affect both executive functions that orchestrate general goal-directed behavior and social cognitive processes that support our ability to interact with others and maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. Despite a long history of research into the cognitive symptoms of MS, it remains uncertain if social cognitive disruptions occur independently of, or reflect underlying disturbances to, more foundational executive functions. The present preregistered study investigated this directly.

Method: Employing an experimental design, we administered a battery of computerized tasks online to a large sample comprising 134 individuals with MS and 134 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). Three tasks measured elements of executive function (working memory, response inhibition, and switching) and two assessed components of social cognition disrupted most commonly in MS (emotion perception and theory of mind).

Results: Individuals with MS exhibited poorer working memory (d = .31), response inhibition (d = -.26), emotion perception (d = .32), and theory of mind (d = .35) compared with matched HCs. Furthermore, exploratory mediation analyses revealed that working memory performance accounted for approximately 20% of the group differences in both measures of social cognition.

Conclusions: Disruptions to working memory appear to serve as one of the mechanisms underpinning disturbances to social cognition in MS. Future research should examine if the benefits of cognitive rehabilitation programs that incorporate working memory training transfer to these social cognitive processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Persistent cognitive symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) often do not correlate with objective neuropsychological performance. Catastrophizing (i.e., excessively negative interpretations of symptoms) may help explain this discrepancy. We hypothesize that symptom catastrophizing will be associated with greater cognitive symptom reporting relative to neuropsychological test performance in people seeking treatment for mTBI.

Method: Secondary analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial. Adults with mTBI (N = 77) were recruited from two outpatient mTBI clinics in British Columbia, Canada. Questionnaires and assessments were administered at baseline (M = 17.7 weeks postinjury). The sample was 64% women with a mean age of 42 years (SD = 11.5). Validated questionnaires were used to assess catastrophizing, cognitive symptoms, and affective distress. Neuropsychological performance was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition Battery. Discrepancies between cognitive symptoms and cognitive functioning were operationalized using standard residuals from neuropsychological test performance scores regressed on cognitive symptom scores. Generalized linear models were run to measure the association between symptom catastrophizing, cognitive variables, and their discrepancy, with affective distress as a covariate.

Results: Symptom catastrophizing was associated with more severe cognitive symptoms when controlling for neuropsychological performance (β = 0.44, 95% CI [0.23, 0.65]). Symptom catastrophizing was also associated with higher subjective-objective cognition residuals (β = 0.43, 95% CI [0.22, 0.64]). Catastrophizing remained a significant predictor after affective distress was introduced as a covariate.

Conclusions: Catastrophizing is associated with misperceptions of cognitive functioning following mTBI, specifically overreporting cognitive symptoms relative to neuropsychological performance. Symptom catastrophizing may be an important determinant of cognitive symptom reporting months after mTBI. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Unsupervised remote digital cognitive assessment makes frequent testing feasible and allows for measurement of learning over repeated evaluations on participants' own devices. This provides the opportunity to derive individual multiday learning curve scores over short intervals. Here, we report feasibility, reliability, and validity, of a 7-day cognitive battery from the Boston Remote Assessment for Neurocognitive Health (Multiday BRANCH), an unsupervised web-based assessment.

Method: Multiday BRANCH was administered remotely to 181 cognitively unimpaired older adults using their own electronic devices. For 7 consecutive days, participants completed three tests with associative memory components (Face-Name, Groceries-Prices, Digit Signs), using the same stimuli, to capture multiday learning curves for each test. We assessed the feasibility of capturing learning curves across the 7 days. Additionally, we examined the reliability and associations of learning curves with demographics, and traditional cognitive and subjective report measures.

Results: Multiday BRANCH was feasible with 96% of participants completing all study assessments; there were no differences dependent on type of device used (t = 0.71, p = .48) or time of day completed (t = -0.08, p = .94). Psychometric properties of the learning curves were sound including good test-retest reliability of individuals' curves (intraclass correlation = 0.94). Learning curves were positively correlated with in-person cognitive tests and subjective report of cognitive complaints.

Conclusions: Multiday BRANCH is a feasible, reliable, and valid cognitive measure that may be useful for identifying subtle changes in learning and memory processes in older adults. In the future, we will determine whether Multiday BRANCH is predictive of the presence of preclinical Alzheimer's disease. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: Executive functions (EFs) are a multifaceted construct, important for several outcomes throughout life. The most commonly addressed executive components are inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. To map how other executive components are addressed conceptually and methodologically in the literature, a scoping review was carried out.

Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guideline was used. The database search (2017-2022) was carried out on the APA PsycInfo, Medline, Scopus, LILACS, and SciELO databases. A total of 3,473 articles were identified; 1,302 remained after screening. Given the large number of articles, a sample calculation was performed (95% CI and 5% error), with 297 articles randomly selected for full-text reading and 242 studies included for analysis.

Results: There was a predominance of health application studies in adults and older adults and in developed countries. There is relative conceptual consensus that EF are a multidimensional construct; however, there is no explicit identification of the theoretical model used in the studies. A diversity of EF was evidenced, which broadens the understanding of the construct, its assessment, and intervention targets. Furthermore, there was a variety of instruments used to assess these skills, with a predominance of performance tests, often with construct-instrument ambivalence between studies.

Conclusions: The mapping showed a diversity of skills referred to as EF in addition to the core components and identified the instruments used in their assessment. Greater conceptual and structural clarity and greater methodological care are fundamental to support the assessment of EF and their intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).