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PubMed1991

The influence of gender, handedness, and performance level on specialized cognitive functioning.

Individual differences in performance on neuropsychological tests were analyzed across age (prepubertal to adult), gender, and handedness groups and examined for performance level as a moderating variable. No differences were observed for the factor structure of these tests across ages and between genders, suggesting similar cognitive structures among these groups. Significant differences in performance were observed between males and females and, to a lesser extent, between right and left handers. Of interest, were significant Gender x Handedness and Gender x Handedness x Level (of performance) interactions seen especially in the older (postpubertal and adult) subjects. High performing, right handed males and left handed females performed better on visuospatial tasks while left handed males and right handed females performed better on verbosequential tasks.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Auditory/verbal and visual/spatial memory in children with complex partial epilepsy of temporal lobe origin.

Two groups of epileptic children and a normal control group were administered a Comprehensive Children's Memory Scale (Experimental Edition) which is presently being developed by this author. The first experimental group consisted of 12 children having complex partial seizures of left temporal origin and the second group consisted of 12 children having partial complex seizures of right temporal lobe origin based upon clinical description and EEG/neuroimaging verification. Results indicated: (a) Children with left temporal lobe epilepsy demonstrated significantly lower performance than controls on auditory/verbal memory testing. (b) Children with right temporal lobe epilepsy demonstrated significantly lower performance than controls on visual/spatial memory testing. (c) For the most part, the right and left temporal lobe groups did not significantly differ from each other. However, their performance was in the expected direction; i.e., children with left temporal lobe epilepsy scored lower than right temporal lobe epileptics on auditory/verbal memory testing, and children with right temporal lobe epilepsy scored lower than left temporal lobe epileptics on visual/spatial memory testing.

Attention↗
PubMed1986

The effects of response parameters on CNV amplitude.

The contingent negative variation (CNV) was recorded using an inter-stimulus interval of 4 sec in the context of variations in the parameters of button press responses to be performed following S2. The response parameters manipulated were response duration, the number of fingers used, the number of discrete movements and the complexity of response sequences. The CNVs were averaged with reference to both the stimuli and the response. Variations in response parameters were apparent only in measures of response averaged CNVs. Negativity following response onset was also related to response parameters, again only for response-locked averages. These results support the contention that the CNV, like the Bereitschaftspotential (BP), is primarily related to response factors, and hence that the CNV and the BP are essentially the same phenomenon. It is suggested that the results indicate that negativity prior to, and possibly following, response onset represents the formulation of response-specific motor programs.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Facial and jaw-elevator EMG activity in relation to changes in performance level during a sustained information processing task.

This study was undertaken as a further evaluation of spontaneous facial EMG activity as an index of mental effort. We investigated whether concordant alterations in task performance level and EMG amplitude existed during a sustained information processing task. The EMG of six different facial and jaw-elevator muscles was recorded in 21 subjects performing a 20 min externally paced visual two-choice serial reaction task and in 24 other subjects performing a self-paced version of this task. In both conditions, a post-hoc division was made between subjects with stable task performance parameters and subjects with a decline in performance throughout the task period. In all subject groups, there was a gradual increase in EMG activity of frontalis, corrugator, and orbicularis oris inferior muscles following task onset. As in earlier studies, this increase was interpreted as a sign of growing compensatory mental effort. In the subject groups with declining performance, however, the initial EMG increase passed into a decreasing trend towards the end of the task period whereas in the groups with stable performance, EMG increased uninterruptedly. These results were interpreted as further support for the hypothesis that EMG activity in particular facial muscles is related to the mobilization of aspecific energetic resources.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

PASAT performance and the pattern of uptake of 99mTc-exametazime in brain estimated with single photon emission tomography.

The effect of the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT) on the regional uptake of 99mTc-exametazime was determined by single photon emission computed tomography. Twenty insulin-treated diabetic outpatients were scanned at rest and during the performance of the PASAT task using split-dose injection of tracer. When resting and activation scans were compared there were significant decreases in tracer uptake in the right anterior cingulate and left posterior cingulate areas during PASAT activation. The findings are compared with previous studies which had implicated the anterior cingulate area in the mechanisms of attention in humans and other animals. The potentially confounding role of anxiety during attentional tasks is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Subject versus experimenter control in the reaction to pain.

Although perceived control has been used as a means of reducing the reaction to pain, conceptually, much is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of control as a mediating variable in the reaction to pain as a function of the predispositional variables of perceived self-efficacy and trait anxiety. Self-efficacy refers to the subject's premeasured, perceived ability to control his pain. The type of control provided either to the subject or the experimenter was varied over 5 independent groups. Predictability of occurrence of the pain stimulation was varied on a within-subject basis. Results mirrored the complexity of the problem. Overall, when subjects were given decisional control alone the largest reactions to pain were obtained. Subjects given decisional plus behavioral control yielded the lowest reactions to pain. Both self-efficacy and trait anxiety significantly were predictive of outcomes. Unexpectedly, experimenter control reduced the reaction to pain among those with high self-efficacy, but increased the reaction among those with low self-efficacy. Results of trait anxiety appear to indicate the need to keep anxiety within bounds. Adding responsibility such as control to an individual who is already anxious may increase the reaction to pain. In general, it appears that control that is perceived as inadequate may be worse than not having any control. The theoretical and methodological implications of these results were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

No difference in cognitive performance between phases of the menstrual cycle.

No differences were seen in performance on either verbosequential or visuospatial neuropsychological tests among three groups of women. There were also no differences among the phases of the menstrual cycle on any of the tests. The design of this study was to sample performance of women on verbosequential and visuospatial neuropsychological tests during phases of the normal menstrual cycle in regularly menstruating women, and at comparable time points among women taking oral contraceptives and among those who had amenorrhea. Serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol, and progesterone were assayed to document these hormone levels at each time point for each group. These data are consistent with previous results in our laboratory but conflict with other reports in which shifts in cognitive function were related to fluctuations in estrogen. The only indications of positive results were weak correlations with gonadotropins and cognitive function across subjects. While some of these correlations replicated previous results, they were weak and should be considered with caution.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Effects of marijuana on the task-elicited physiological response.

Ten healthy male marijuana users smoked either a placebo or active (1.8% delta 9-THC) marijuana cigarette during five daily testing sessions. Ten minutes after drug administration, six subjects (Group I) performed a 10-min serial acquisition task and four subjects (Group II) rested quietly. Blood pressure was sampled at 2-min intervals and heart rate (HR) was recorded continuously. Marijuana alone increased HR by 18 beats/min and mean arterial pressure (MAP) by 3 mmHg, while task performance alone increased HR by 4 beats/min and MAP by 5 mmHg. The combination of drug and task performance had greater cardiovascular effects than either task performance or marijuana alone, with HR increased by 29 beats/min and MAP increased by 15 mmHg. These results suggest that marijuana smoking may increase cardiovascular responsivity.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

An attempt to improve auditory short-term memory in Down's syndrome individuals through reducing distractions.

Down's syndrome (DS) individuals, relative to nonretarded individuals, have greater difficulty remembering brief sequences of verbal information presented auditorily. Previous research suggests at least two possible attentional explanations of their difficulty: They are especially susceptible to both auditory distraction and off-task glancing during laboratory tasks. DS, non-DS mentally retarded and nonretarded persons listened to, looked at, and attempted to remember sequences of digits. Although the three groups did not differ in their recall of visually-presented stimuli, DS subjects showed significantly poorer recall of auditorially-presented stimuli than the other two groups (which did not differ). Furthermore, the poor auditory memory of DS subjects did not improve under testing conditions designed to minimize auditory and visual distractions. It was suggested that poor auditory short-term memory for verbal information is tied more closely to Down's syndrome than to low intelligence and does not seem to be caused by a special susceptibility of Down's syndrome individuals to attentional distractors.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Behavioral decrements persist in rhesus monkeys trained on a serial probe recognition task despite protection against soman lethality by butyrylcholinesterase.

Recently, it has been demonstrated that an exogenously administered enzyme such as butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) can prevent death in rhesus monkeys exposed to multiple-lethal doses of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor soman when the enzyme is given prior to soman exposure (3). We report that despite BuChE protecting against soman-induced lethality, behavioral effects are seen in these monkeys which last for at least 6 days as measured by performance on a serial probe recognition (SPR) task. Analyses of the serial position curves showed that performance was lower on the probe trials when the probe items were from the middle of the list than when the probe items were from the beginning or end of the list which were unaffected. BuChE given alone also produced behavioral effects, causing all animals not to respond on the probe trials until 8 h following BuChE administration. Taken together, these findings suggest that the BuChE is not completely binding all of the soman and that a concentration of soman which is capable of causing behavioral effects may be entering the CNS.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Effects of single and repeated administration of vigabatrin on the performance of rats in a 5-choice serial reaction time task.

The present study investigated whether pharmacological stimulation of the GABAergic system can affect attention. The effects of vigabatrin, a novel antiepileptic drug, on the performance of rats in a 5-choice serial reaction time task assessing selective attention were studied. The effects of acute (100, 300, 500 and 1000 mg/kg) and subchronic (50, 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg/day) administration of vigabatrin were investigated. Previous studies have shown that with acute administration of 300-500 mg/kg or subchronic administration of 50-200 mg/kg/day vigabatrin has anticonvulsant activity. At acute doses of 100 and 300 mg/kg or subchronic administration of 50-200 mg/kg/day vigabatrin had no effect on selective attention. At acute dosing of 500 mg/kg, vigabatrin slightly decreased behavioral activity of rats through decreasing the number of trials completed and percent of correct responses. The highest doses used caused an overall behavioral impairment with no marked depletion of any particular function. The results showed that administration of vigabatrin at antiepileptic doses produced no or slight impairment in attentional function. The deficits seen with higher doses were possibly due to a decrease in behavioral activity.

Aminocaproates↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Distractibility and recall capability in schizophrenics. A 4 year longitudinal study of stability in cognitive performance.

Longitudinal study is a well suited, but so far not much used, research strategy to elucidate which cognitive deficits are markers of vulnerability and which are symptom-linked states in schizophrenia. In the present study, 14 schizophrenics, eight non-psychotic psychiatric controls and 20 normals were assessed on recall performance and distractibility twice, at an interval of 4 years. The method was a digit-span test with neutral and distractor condition strings. Results showed that schizophrenics, primarily non-paranoid schizophrenics, were inferior to normals with respect to short-term recall at both instances of assessment, a finding which indicates recall deficiency to be a vulnerability-linked factor in this sub-group of schizophrenics. Paranoid schizophrenics performed better on the distractor strings than on the matched neutral strings at the first assessment, but not at the second. Non-paranoid schizophrenics, as well as the control groups, showed a relatively stable pattern of performance with respect to distractibility. How distracting stimuli are dealt with may thus be a symptom-linked factor in schizophrenia, since most of the paranoid schizophrenics changed symptomatology from the first to the second assessment. The present data cannot, however, be used to draw a definite conclusion on this point.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Auditory and visual distractibility in schizophrenia. Clinical and medication status correlations.

Medicated and unmedicated schizophrenics were compared (both n = 18) on visual and auditory digit serial recall tasks with interspersed distraction. It was found that both medicated and unmedicated schizophrenics were distractible auditorally, but that only unmedicated schizophrenics were distractible on visually presented information. Positive, but not negative thought disorder predicted poorer auditory, but not visual, distraction performance for the medicated patients. For the unmedicated patients, positive thought disorder was also associated with auditory, but not visual distraction performance. Negative thought disorder was also a predictor of distraction performance, both visual and auditory, for the unmedicated patients. These results are interpreted in terms of their implications for the effects of medication on absolute performance levels in laboratory tasks and on associations between laboratory and clinical indices.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The effects of cognitive complexity on a social sequencing task in schizophrenia.

Information processing research has suggested that the schizophrenia patient's performance on cognitive tasks is significantly diminished by the complexity of that task. The effects of cognitive complexity on a social cognitive task-sequencing actions that describe a social situation-were examined in this study. A task comprising short and long temporal sequences was administered to 26 subjects with DSM III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia. Differences in discriminating power across the short and long sequences in this task were diminished using standardization and cross-validation samples of normal control subjects. Results showed that schizophrenia patients earned significantly lower scores on the longer sequences. Additional analyses showed that the differential deficit was significantly associated with negative symptoms of social withdrawal and retardation but not with thinking disturbances associated with positive symptoms. Understanding deficits in processing situational schemata may lead to better models of the cognitive underpinnings of social functioning in schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Attentional predictors of clinical change during neuroleptic treatment in schizophrenia.

Improvement in auditory selective attention performance was examined in acute schizophrenic inpatients (n = 13) both off and on medication using the digit span distraction task. Subjects were tested at drug-free baseline and weekly for three weeks during treatment with haloperidol. Improvements in distractability preceded and predicted clinical improvements. A control group of stable schizophrenic outpatients (n = 12) medicated at all testing intervals were examined during the same time period. No significant clinical or attentional changes were found in the control group over the four testing intervals. These results suggest that specific types of attentional functions are intrinsically related to the biological processes affected by neuroleptic treatment and lend preliminary support to the contention that schizophrenic symptoms are mediated by attentional impairment.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The effects of inferior temporal and dorsolateral frontal lesions on serial-order behavior and visual imagery in monkeys.

Four monkeys were trained preoperatively on a serial-order task to respond to a set of five visual stimuli in a fixed sequence independent of their location. They were then given a test of visual imagery in which only two of the five stimuli appeared at a time, and the animals were required to respond to them in the order in which they appeared in the original sequence. The monkeys then received bilateral lesions of either inferior temporal cortex or dorsolateral frontal cortex. Dorsolateral frontal lesions had no effect on either serial-order behavior or visual imagery. In contrast, inferior temporal lesions severely impaired serial-order behavior. Once the serial-order task was relearned, however, the inferior temporal animals were completely normal on the test of visual imagery.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Differential involvement of internal clock and working memory in the production and reproduction of duration: a study on older adults.

The present study uses the inter-individual variability in time perception of a group of elderly participants to differentiate the processes underlying time production and time reproduction. Participants performed duration production and reproduction tasks. They were also administered working memory tests and a spontaneous motor tempo task. The findings suggest that duration production and duration reproduction involve different mechanisms. Correlational analyses revealed a double dissociation: production was only correlated with spontaneous motor tempo and reproduction only with working memory measures. These findings suggest that the internal clock rate modulates the production of duration and that reproduced duration varies according to working memory capacities.

Aged↗