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PubMed2001

Effects of tryptophan loading on verbal, spatial and affective working memory functions in healthy adults.

Serotonin (5-HT) appears to modulate affective behaviours by providing a homeostatic threshold around which other transmitters respond. This general principle of activity should hold for other types of behaviour, including cognition, but has not been extensively examined. We hypothesized, based on past findings, that increased 5-HT would constrain prefrontally guided working memory functions that are mediated by catecholamine neurotransmitters. Healthy adults ingested amino acid compounds designed to deplete and load systemic tryptophan levels in a repeated-measures crossover design. Outcome variables included total plasma tryptophan, serum prolactin levels and self-report measures of mood, as well as measures of motor skill, attention, memory span and working memory for verbal, spatial and affective stimuli. Our findings indicate decrements in working memory for verbal and affective stimuli following tryptophan loading versus depletion, as well as subtle changes in vigilant attention and motor coordination. Implications for the aetiology and treatment of affective disorders and psychosis are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Effects of rapid tryptophan depletion on salivary and plasma cortisol in Alzheimer's disease and the healthy elderly.

Serotonergic function is reduced in dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) and abnormalities in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are also common. There is considerable interaction between the two systems. Effects of lowering brain serotonin on salivary and plasma cortisol were assessed in patients with DAT and in control subjects. A double-blind, cross-over design involving administration of two nutritionally balanced amino acid mixtures with or without tryptophan was used. Salivary and plasma cortisol were measured at intervals before and after the drink. DAT patients had higher salivary cortisol than controls. Despite a reduction of approximately 70% in plasma free tryptophan after 4 h in both groups, there was no effect on salivary or plasma cortisol. We conclude that, in subjects with DAT and healthy elderly subjects, acute tryptophan depletion had no effect on cortisol secretion.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Effects of hydrocortisone administration on cognitive function in the elderly.

Previous studies have found adverse effects of both acute and chronic elevations of corticosteroids on cognitive function in humans and that cortisol levels may predict cognitive decline in elderly subjects. However, no previous studies have directly investigated the effects of hydrocortisone on cognitive functioning in the healthy elderly. Sixteen healthy elderly subjects took part in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over trial. Hydrocortisone 20 mg or placebo was administered twice, 12 h and 1 h before cognitive testing. On each occasion, a battery of neuropsychological tests was performed which included tests of attention, working memory, declarative memory and executive function. Salivary cortisol levels at the time of testing were elevated approximately 10-fold following hydrocortisone compared with placebo. No significant effects were found on memory or a range of other cognitive functions. The lack of effect of this regime of hydrocortisone is in contrast to studies in younger subjects. The elderly may be less sensitive to cognitive effects of short-term increases in cortisol levels, possibly due to an age-related downregulation of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

A new measure of conversational experience: the speaking extent and comfort scale (SPEACS).

Few measures exist which directly assess aspects of conversational experience. We present and provide a psychometric assessment of the Speaking Extent and Comfort Scale (SPEACS), a new 20-item measure which assesses four aspects of past conversational experience: the extent and comfort of both general conversations and in conversations specifically about the self. All four SPEACS subscales exhibited good test-retest reliability. As predicted, the subscales related positively to social competence, disclosure, assertiveness, and perceived availability of someone to talk to, and negatively to social avoidance and social anxiety, providing support for their construct validity. Internal consistency data demonstrated that people tend to vary in how often and how comfortable they feel having conversations with different people. SPEACS offers a range of potential applications in areas with a focus on social networks, social experience and interaction, and the possibility of extension to other dimensions of conversational experience.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Children with autism display more social behaviors after repeated imitation sessions.

Based on earlier studies, an adult's imitations of the behaviors of children with autism lead to increased social behavior in the children. The present study explored the effects of repeated sessions of imitation. Twenty children were recruited from a school for children with autism to attend three sessions during which an adult either imitated all of the children's behaviors or simply played with the child. During the second session the children in the imitation group spent a greater proportion of time showing distal social behaviors toward the adult including: (1) looking; (2) vocalizing; (3) smiling; and (4) engaging in reciprocal play. During the third session, the children in the imitation group spent a greater proportion of time showing proximal social behaviors toward the adult including: (1) being close to the adult; (2) sitting next to the adult; and (3) touching the adult. These data suggest the potential usefulness of adult imitative behavior as an early intervention.

Attention↗
PubMed1991

The World Health Organization's cross-cultural study on neuropsychiatric aspects of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). Preparation and pilot phase.

The WHO launched a multicentre study to explore the nature and prevalence of HIV-1-associated neurological, psychiatric, and neuropsychological abnormalities in persons living in different geographical and sociocultural contexts. The study is being conducted in Brazil, Germany, Kenya, Thailand, the United States of America, and Zaire. A comprehensive instrument for the collection of neuropsychiatric data (including a battery of neuropsychological tests suitable for cross-cultural use) has been developed, and the feasibility of the recruitment and assessment procedure designed for the main phase has now been demonstrated.

Attention↗
PubMed1995

Regional brain activity in chronic schizophrenic patients during the performance of a verbal fluency task.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the pattern of cerebral blood flow observed in chronic schizophrenic patients while they performed a paced verbal fluency task. Such tasks engage a distributed brain system associated with willed action. Since willed action is impaired in many chronic schizophrenic patients we hypothesised that task performance would be associated with an abnormal pattern of blood flow. METHOD: Positron emission tomography (PET) was applied to 18 chronic schizophrenic patients stratified into three groups on the basis of verbal fluency performance and current symptoms. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured while the patients performed (a) verbal fluency, (b) word categorisation, and (c) word repetition. Results were compared with six normal controls matched for age, sex and premorbid IQ. Analysis was restricted to six brain regions previously identified in studies of normal volunteers. RESULTS: In five brain areas, including the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the patients showed the same pattern of activation as control subjects. However, in the left superior temporal cortex, all patient groups failed to show the normal decrease in blood flow when verbal fluency was compared with word repetition. CONCLUSION: These observations suggest that (a) chronic schizophrenic patients can show a normal magnitude of frontal activation when matched for performance with controls, and (b) they fail to show the expected reductions of activity in the superior temporal cortex. This latter result may reflect abnormal functional connectivity between frontal and temporal cortex.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Avoidance and processing as predictors of symptom change and positive growth in an integrative therapy for depression.

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and can worsen the course of a variety of medical illnesses. There is a clear need to develop more potent treatments for this debilitating disorder and prevent its return. We are developing a promising psychotherapy that integrates components of current, empirically supported therapies for depression and also teaches healthy lifestyle and emotion regulation habits to promote psychological health. In the 1st open trial, growth curve analyses revealed a significant linear decrease in symptoms of depression in a sample of 29 clients who completed the therapy. Participants wrote essays about their depression each week, and the content was analyzed using a new coding system of change processes. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed that peak levels of processing in the essays were associated with more improvement in depression and with the expression of more hope and of both negative and positive views of the self, presumably as clients explored their depressive views of self. Peak levels of avoidance were associated with less improvement in depression and with more hopelessness and negative views of the self. These preliminary results suggest possible targets of change that can facilitate symptom reduction and perhaps also promote psychological health.

Affect↗
PubMed1983

The Cognitive Bias Questionnaire: further evidence.

Provided further evidence for the validity of the Cognitive Bias Questionnaire (Krantz & Hammen, 1979) as a measure of depressive cognitions. Forty depressed students completed the Cognitive Bias Questionnaire as well as general measures of depression and measures of depressed mood. In addition, independent raters counted frequency of negative and positive self-statements generated during a tape recorded self-description, and rated Concurrent depressive tone, The results replicate previous findings of convergent and discriminant validity for the Cognitive Bias Questionnaire. Furthermore, depressed-distorted responses and nondepressed-nondistorted responses were significantly correlated with independently assessed depressive verbal behaviors.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Longitudinal changes in verbal memory in older adults: distinguishing the effects of age from repeat testing.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the relationship between age-related memory change and repeat testing using serial administrations of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) in 385 nondemented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants aged 55 and older with two or more memory assessments. METHODS: The authors investigated longitudinal change and the effects of age, sex, education, and repeat testing on new learning and recall by analyzing measures of learning and interference, short- and long-delay free and cued recall, and recognition hits in separate mixed-effects regressions. RESULTS: The authors found cross-sectional effects of age (p < or = 0.001) and sex (p < or = 0.05) on learning and interference, regardless of baseline performance. Younger adults outperformed older adults, and women outperformed men. Longitudinal age changes were documented across total learning and long-delay free and cued recall regardless of baseline scores (p < or = 0.05). In addition, controlling for baseline scores enhanced the sensitivity for detection of longitudinal age changes on Trial 5, short-delay cued recall and recognition hits (p < or = 0.05). The influence of repeated administrations changed with advancing baseline age for total learning and short- and long-delay recall such that younger baseline age was associated with improvement over time whereas older baseline age was associated with decline over time. CONCLUSION: Longitudinal declines in CVLT performance exist in normal aging and are influenced by baseline age. Furthermore, failure to account for the influence of repeat testing with aging may decrease sensitivity to detect pathologic decline.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pets as therapy: effects on social interaction in long-stay psychiatry.

Many studies have suggested that health and social benefits may be derived from pet ownership or visitation upon interaction levels within severely mentally ill populations. The study featured in this article aimed to examine further this relationship while attempting to control for the effects of an extraneous variable (the human dog handler) using an A-B-C-A reversal design. The article concludes that the presence of a pet does, indeed, promote social interactions within a long-stay psychiatric population.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

The identification of the social sex-role stereotypes.

The purpose of this study was to identify the social sex-role stereotypes that exist in the nation. The hypothesis for this study was that the stereotypes for femininity and masculinity are dimorphous. To determine the extent of dimorphism, four social sex-role stereotypes were examined: masculine men, feminine women, feminine men, and masculine women. Three hundred female and male respondents from all regions of the nation, who varied in age, ethnicity, education, sexual orientation, and social sex-role, completed a questionnaire by listing the characteristics people expected a masculine man, a feminine woman, a feminine man, and a masculine woman to have. The results supported the hypothesis that the stereotypes for femininity and masculinity are dimorphous.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Regression equations for predicting scores of persons over 65 on the rey auditory verbal learning test, the mini-mental state examination, the trail making test and semantic fluency measures.

OBJECTIVES: Scores on neuropsychological tests are often used to detect abnormal changes in cognition in older persons. Accordingly, it is important to have normative data that allow the abnormality of a test score to be determined precisely and accurately. Regression equations that estimate an expected score based on demographic or premorbid factors can be an efficient method of making normative comparisons. Our aim was to compute regression equations with age, gender and estimated premorbid IQ as predictors of scores on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), the Trail Making Test (TMT), Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and measures of semantic fluency. DESIGN: All measures were administered to a group of 272 healthy older persons aged between 65 and 90 during the pre-treatment phase of a study evaluating the effect of nutritional supplements on cognition. Premorbid IQ was estimated using the National Ault Reading Test (NART). Stepwise multiple regression procedures were used to determine the weights to be applied to the predictor variables. RESULTS: Age and premorbid IQ were found to be significantly correlated with all test variables; gender correlated significantly with most scores. Regression equations based on the 3 predictor variables explained between 10% and 30% of the variance of the range of test scores. The use of these equations in clinical practice was illustrated. CONCLUSION: The significant correlations between the predictor variables and test scores justified computing a set of equations for use in interpreting data from older persons. The abnormality of the difference between predicted and obtained scores provides a convenient index of an individual's current level of neuropsychological functioning.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Parents' reports of young people with Down syndrome talking out loud to themselves.

Despite parental concerns about young people with Down syndrome talking out loud to themselves (using private speech), there is virtually no research literature on this behavior. In that which exists, investigators have largely interpreted the behavior within a pathological framework. An alternative perspective is that self-talk is developmentally appropriate for these young people. Parents of 78 young people with Down syndrome, age 17 to 24 years, were asked whether their offspring had ever used private speech. Results confirm the universality of private speech and its developmental pattern. No association was found between private speech and behavior problems, communication difficulties, or social isolation. Talking out loud to self by young people with Down syndrome should be seen as adaptive, and not an indication of pathology.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Communication patterns of youth with mental retardation with and without their speech-output communication devices.

The communication skills of 13 youth with moderate or severe mental retardation were compared while they communicated with a "standard partner" with and without access to their communication devices. When participants employed the communication device, they were able to convey more appropriate information as well as clearer and more specific information to an unfamiliar adult partner than they were able to convey without the device. These findings highlight the distinct contributions the participants' use of an augmented communication device make to the overall communicative interaction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Conversational characteristics of children with fragile X syndrome: tangential language.

The production of tangential language during conversations was studied with people who have fragile X syndrome, autistic disorder, or mental retardation not caused by fragile X. Tangential language was found to be more prevalent among those with fragile X, compared to the control groups, especially within unsolicited comments. These results support our hypothesis that the tangential language seen in fragile X is not the result of either general developmental delay or undiagnosed autistic disorder. We offer a possible interpretation of these results based upon such phenotypic characteristics as social anxiety, hypersensitivity to social and sensory stimuli, and inhibitory control deficits.

Adolescent↗