Sex-related differences in the relationship between β-amyloid and cognitive trajectories in older adults.
Objective: We aimed to test the hypothesis that elevated neocortical β-amyloid (Aβ), a hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), predicts sex-specific cognitive trajectories in clinically normal older adults, with women showing greater risk of decline than men. Method: Florbetapir Aβ positron emission tomography (PET) was acquired in 149 clinically normal older adults (52% female, Mage = 74). Participants underwent cognitive testing at baseline and during annual follow-up visits over a timespan of up to 5.14 years. Mixed-effects regression models evaluated whether relations between baseline neocortical Standardize...
Source: Neuropsychology - October 8, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Evidence for a robust, estradiol-associated sex difference in narrative-writing fluency.
Conclusions: When verbal fluency is assessed through narrative writing, a robust female advantage becomes evident. It is associated with the reproductive life stage and variations in current estradiol concentrations, particularly in individuals prenatally exposed to relatively more estradiol than testosterone. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - September 24, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Impaired mechanism of visual focal attention in posterior cortical atrophy.
Conclusions: Results only partially support the hypothesis according to which simultanagnosia is driven by an impairment in processing low-spatial frequencies. Data indicate a deficit in the flexibility of focal attention that prevents PCA patients from adapting the attentional window to the stimulus features. Simultanagnosia in PCA can be conceptualized as a complex result of a deficit involving visuoperceptual and exogenous attentional mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - September 17, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Default mode network connections supporting intra-individual variability in typically developing primary school children: An EEG study.
Objective: Intraindividual variability in response time (RT) provides information about attention abilities beyond accuracy and mean RT. It could be an endophenotype for a wide range of clinical disorders and a general marker of neurological health or maladaptation. The default mode network (DMN) and the central executive and the salience networks (CEN + SN) support response stability in adults. The aim of this study was to explore the associations of resting-state connectivity of the DMN and the CEN + SN with lapses of attention in typically developing primary schoolchildren. Method: RT variability was measured by RT stan...
Source: Neuropsychology - September 14, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Investigating the interplay of working memory, affective symptoms, and coping with stress in offspring of parents with Huntington’s disease.
Conclusion: Secondary control coping skills are an important factor in understanding the relationship between working memory and symptoms of anxiety/depression in the offspring of parents with HD. Future longitudinal research is needed to establish the direction of these associations. Working memory and coping skills represent potential targets for intervention to reduce the risk of anxiety/depression in this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - August 6, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Everyday discrimination and subsequent cognitive abilities across five domains.
Conclusions: This national longitudinal study in the United States provides evidence for broad and enduring effects of everyday discrimination on cognitive aging, which appear to be partially mediated by mental and physical health. Future research should examine additional mechanisms as well as moderators of these associations to better understand points of intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - August 3, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Expectancy effects of placebo neurofeedback in ADHD treatment seekers: A neuropsychological investigation.
Objective: Though there is evidence to suggest that expectancies can impact outcomes of various medical and psychological treatments, little is known about the role of expectancy effects in neurocognitive interventions, such as neurofeedback for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present study investigated the effects of treatment expectancies on ADHD symptom report and neuropsychological performance by using an expectancy manipulation in the context of placebo neurofeedback. Method: Eighty-five young adults seeking treatment for ADHD were administered 1 session of placebo neurofeedback and randomly assig...
Source: Neuropsychology - July 30, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Interpreting high scores on the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery: Potential utility for detecting cognitive decline in high-functioning individuals.
Conclusion: High scores occurred commonly among the NIHTB-CB normative sample and increased in frequency with greater education and crystallized ability. These base rates could inform the neuropsychological assessment of high-functioning individuals, in whom the absence of high scores, as opposed to the presence of low scores, may indicate a decline in cognitive functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - July 30, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Differential impairments in irony comprehension in brain-damaged individuals: Insight from contextual processing, theory of mind, and executive functions.
Conclusion: These results have important clinical implications for the evaluation and therapy of pragmatic disorders in individuals with ABI. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - July 27, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Attention, impulsivity, and vigilance in agenesis of the corpus callosum.
Conclusion: These results suggest moderate levels of difficulties in sustained attention in AgCC, particularly in maintaining response inhibition and in vigilance, that are modulated by age and sex. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - July 23, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Influence of blast exposure on cognitive functioning in combat veterans.
Objective: We evaluated the contribution of blast-pressure severity to cognitive functioning beyond posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: Post-9/11 veterans (N = 254, 86.22% male) completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) and Trail Making Test (TMT). The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5), Mid-Atlantic MIRECC Assessment of TBI, and the Salisbury Blast Interview evaluated PTSD diagnosis/severity, deployment TBI history/severity, and blast-exposure history/severity, respectively. Results: Veterans with mild deployment TBI had overall significantly lowe...
Source: Neuropsychology - July 16, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Effects of 4-week mindfulness training versus adaptive cognitive training on processing speed and working memory in multiple sclerosis.
Conclusions: In PwMS, 4 weeks of mindfulness meditation training improved processing speed above and beyond aCT and WL. More rapid change in awareness during mindfulness training may be associated with greater gains in working memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - April 30, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Functional MRI (fMRI) human mapping for indicating hippocampal content-specific responsivity and laterality.
Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the utility of the VPA and OLL tests to delineate domain-specific activity and laterality and, as such, may provide supportive evidence to strengthen links between presurgical neuropsychological assessment and memory fMRI mapping for epilepsy surgery. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - April 30, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
Using intraindividual variability as an indicator of cognitive improvement in a physical exercise intervention of older women with mild cognitive impairment.
Conclusions: Physical exercise resulted in improved IIV in older adults with probable MCI, showing that IIV is modifiable by lifestyle engagement. IIV may be a useful complementary index of cognitive plasticity particularly among those with cognitive impairment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - April 27, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
The thin line between reality and imagination: The imagination inflation effect in Korsakoff’s syndrome.
Discussion: Our findings suggest that patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome are prone to the imagination inflation effect, an effect that can be attributed to difficulties with source monitoring. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Neuropsychology)
Source: Neuropsychology - April 13, 2020 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
