Journal of Neuropsychology最新文献

Dissonant approaches for measuring persisting symptoms after concussion (PSaC) make it difficult to predict who will experience prolonged symptoms. We sought to identify medical and sociodemographic characteristics associated with symptom burden and assess how such factors shape symptom evolution and PSaC classification after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This analysis involved 1947 Post-Concussion Symptom Scale reports from 1117 youths (11-21 years): 380 with mTBI, 737 without mTBI (194 healthy non-mTBI; 543 non-mTBI with underlying medical conditions). Multivariate regressions were used to assess the relationship of symptom burden with medical and sociodemographic factors among non-mTBI youths, and interrogate how these factors impacted longitudinal symptom burden among mTBI participants. PSaC rates were characterized in the mTBI group 30 days after injury using 5 definitions: symptom burden, symptom severity, simple change in symptom burden and severity, and response to, 'What percent of normal do you feel?' In the absence of mTBI (i.e. baseline), symptom burden was associated with female sex, neuropsychiatric history, BMI and orthopaedic injury. In the 30 days following mTBI, age, sex and neuropsychiatric history were associated with symptom burden. Smaller household size, sports participation and parent education were protective. Rates of PSaC were 14.7-18.9%, displaying 84% agreement across the 5 definitions. However, PSaC misclassification was high among non-mTBI youths with underlying medical conditions (37.2-50.6%), especially with the single-item screener. Medical and sociodemographic factors affect concussion symptom reports and influence PSaC rates. A single-item screener for PSaC may be useful but risks over-detection among certain youths.

Social adaptation difficulties in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are frequently associated with impairments in social cognition, including theory of mind and emotion recognition. However, social problem-solving (SPS) may also be a crucial yet understudied component of these deficits. This study aimed to develop and conduct an exploratory evaluation of the Interactive Social Problem-Solving Assessment for Alzheimer's Disease (ISPA-AD), an experimental tool addressing the lack of instruments to evaluate SPS in AD. ISPA-AD presents interactive scenarios designed to evaluate verbal and non-verbal components of SPS. Forty-one participants (19 AD patients and 22 healthy controls) completed the task. Psychometric analyses examined internal consistency, construct validity and discriminative ability. ISPA-AD showed good internal consistency (α = .811), strong construct validity and excellent accuracy in distinguishing AD participants from controls (AUC = .906). AD patients exhibited significantly lower SPS performance, revealing a specific pattern of deficits across the task dimensions. ISPA-AD provides a novel, ecologically grounded approach to assessing SPS in AD. These preliminary findings support its clinical relevance and suggest that the tool may offer valuable insights into the social cognitive mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviour in AD. Further validation in larger and more diverse samples, including reliability studies, is warranted.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with negative social outcomes and with impaired social competence in general. There is a wealth of research on cognitive factors that underpin these social challenges. Social cognition is perhaps the most studied contributor to social challenges; however, the lack of ecologically valid assessment tools raises questions about the translation of study results to everyday social functioning. Research has also primarily focussed on categorical approaches to social cognition (i.e. clinical versus control groups). However, there is growing evidence for the utility of a dimensional approach to research, where ASD symptomology is investigated across all children on a continuum, regardless of diagnosis. We adopted a dimensional framework and novel assessment tools from the Test for the Evaluation of Emotions and Socialisation (TEEMS) platform to investigate the relationship between social cognition, everyday social competence and autism symptomology in a sample of 668 children aged 4-18 years. Structural equation modelling showed that social cognition test errors predicted poor social competence. This relationship diminished when intelligence (IQ) and autism symptomology were included as predictors, suggesting a potential moderating effect of IQ and autism symptomology on the association between social cognition and social competence. Furthermore, social cognition errors predicted autism symptomology, which in turn predicted social competence. These findings support the use of a dimensional approach - focussing on symptomology across all children, regardless of diagnosis, rather than clinical samples alone. The findings demonstrate further evidence for the utility of TEEMS as a measure of social cognition.

Neurodevelopmental assessment in childhood is essential in educational, clinical, and research contexts to establish benchmarks and detect early signs of neurodevelopmental disorders. The Developmental Profile 3 (DP-3) is a parent-reported screening tool for measuring neurodevelopment in the general population, though its Spanish adaptation has not been independently assessed. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Spanish DP-3 in 440 toddlers (47.7% female; 78.4% European ethnicity; mean age 29.8 months) from Barcelona, Spain, based on data collected between March 2022 and March 2024. The DP-3 demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > .7) and acceptable to moderate internal structure fit (CFI = .924, TLI = .848). High sensitivity to developmental change across all scales was observed in repeated assessments of a subset of participants. Construct validity was supported by associations with child age, number of siblings, maternal logical reasoning and educational level, and breastfeeding, along with moderate correlations with the corresponding subscales of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III (r = -.01; .48). These findings support the Spanish version of the DP-3 as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing neurodevelopment in Spanish toddlers.

This study examines the relationship between executive functions (EFs) and self-concept (SC) in children referred for neuropsychological group rehabilitation due to EF deficits, compared with typically developing (TD) children. EFs and SC are vital for academic performance and social interactions, yet the link between them in clinical populations remains underexplored. The study involved 42 children aged 7-13 with confirmed EF deficits and 104 TD children. EF was assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF), while SC was measured with the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale for Children (P-H2). Statistical analyses, including Mann-Whitney tests, Spearman correlations and hierarchical regression, were conducted to explore group differences and associations between EF and SC. Results indicated that children referred for EF intervention exhibited significantly lower SC across all domains compared with TD peers. Despite EF difficulties generally correlating with negative SC, significant associations were primarily observed in TD children, particularly in metacognition-related domains. Gender and age influenced SC, with girls showing more positive SC than boys, and older children experiencing more SC challenges. Learning support levels also impacted SC, with intensified support linked to more negative SC. In conclusion, EF deficits are associated with negative SC in school-aged children, with a more pronounced relationship in TD children than those referred for intervention. The study highlights the importance of considering individual variation in SC among children with EF challenges and suggests that future research should explore developmental trajectories and mediators between EF and SC, emphasizing tailored interventions to enhance positive SC in clinical populations.

People with Parkinson disease (PD) after surgery for deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) often decline in animal fluency due to impairments in executive functions and/or language. Item-based measures of animal fluency may shed light on the specific nature of this decline, and into the strategies used when performing this task. We aimed to investigate the mechanisms of decline in animal fluency by revealing impairments in language and/or executive functions in people with PD before and after STN-DBS by using item-based characteristics, the total number of correct words, average cluster size, number of switches and scores on tests for language and executive functions. People with PD (N = 61) produced fewer words and switches than healthy controls (N = 40) before and after STN-DBS surgery. After surgery they additionally produced smaller clusters and shorter words than healthy controls. Comparing pre- and post-surgery, people with PD produced fewer words, fewer switches, smaller clusters, more frequent and earlier-acquired words after surgery. Average cluster size predicted total number of words before surgery. No item-based measures predicted total number of words after surgery. Average cluster size before surgery correlated with object naming, not with executive functions. Item-based measures indicated difficulties in executive functions and language processing. New to the literature, the correlation of cluster size with object naming may stress difficulties in lexical retrieval before surgery. Finding no item-based measures predicting the total number of words after surgery may indicate a different type of impairment not accounted for in our analyses. Replication is needed.

There remains a lack of appropriately adapted neuropsychological tests for culturally, linguistically and educationally diverse populations, particularly for the evaluation of social cognition, as its assessment is essential for the early diagnosis of diseases such as frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. To address this gap, we designed the TIE-93, an emotion recognition test based on Ekman's emotion recognition test, which was adapted to be better suited for culturally, linguistically and educationally diverse populations. However, in a previous study, we found that despite modifications to the test format, culture still had a significant effect on TIE-93 test performance. The present study aimed to further investigate this effect by comparing performances and analysing item-level accuracy and error patterns between participants from individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In total, 205 participants from individualistic countries and 91 participants from collectivistic countries, aged 50 to 90, were included in this study. Results were mostly consistent with existing research literature and showed that the individualistic group performed significantly better than the collectivistic group. However, unlike our previous findings, education-rather than culture-accounted for the largest proportion of variance (34.91%), followed by age (14.94%) and, finally, cultural group (4.2%). This study highlights the importance of considering both educational and cultural factors in the development of emotion recognition tests for diverse populations.

Psychometric properties of Tommy's Quest (TQ), a novel serious game to evaluate Theory of Mind (ToM) and the pen-and-paper Faux Pas Test (FPT) were assessed. Results from 67 cognitively unimpaired individuals indicated that TQ had adequate construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Participants performed worse on TQ compared to the FPT, suggesting greater sensitivity to subtle deficits. These findings support serious games like TQ as a promising tool for ToM assessment, highlighting the need for clinical validation.

This study investigated Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits in patients with suspected idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH), a condition affecting motor, cognitive and autonomic functions. Given the overlap between ToM-related neural networks and those affected in iNPH, we examined whether ToM impairments are a feature of the disease. Thirty-eight patients with possible/probable iNPH and 25 healthy controls completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) along with typically administered neuropsychological tests in this population. Group differences were analysed while controlling for age and education. Pre- and post-lumbar puncture (LP) cognitive changes were also examined, and regression analyses explored cognitive and disease-specific predictors of ToM performance. Compared to the controls, patients performed significantly worse on all cognitive tests (p > .005), including the RMET [F(1, 59) = 7.209, p < .012, partial η² = .102, 95% CI [0.009, 0.278])]. Evans Index and education were significant predictors of ToM performance (p =.005). Post-LP, while a subset of patients improved in gait and verbal fluency, their ToM scores remained unchanged. ToM deficits are part of the cognitive profile of iNPH. The association between ventricular enlargement and ToM impairment necessitates further research into the neural mechanisms underlying social cognitive dysfunction in iNPH. Incorporating ToM measures in neuropsychological evaluations may aid early identification of patients with social cognitive deficits and facilitate targeted interventions.