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PubMedDate not supplied

Cognitive function effects of suppressing ovarian hormones in young women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a pharmacologically induced, temporary suppression of ovarian hormones on healthy young women's cognitive functioning. DESIGN: Sixteen healthy women with normal menstrual cycles completed the California Verbal Learning Test, a digit span test, and a verbal fluency test in the follicular phase of a normal menstrual cycle and a second time after four monthly injections of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist. Women were randomly assigned to complete a third testing either after resuming cycles in the follicular phase or after three more injections of the GnRH agonist and while wearing an estradiol patch. The control group consisted of 10 women who were tested three times in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycles. RESULTS: Results showed no change in cognitive functioning across sessions or groups in women with suppressed ovarian function. Women who had the highest levels of menopausal symptoms when taking the GnRH agonist did not have significantly lower cognitive functioning. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not find any effect of suppression in ovarian hormones on cognitive performance of young women.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The behavioural phenotype in velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS): from infancy to adolescence.

In this contribution the current status and recent findings of the behavioural phenotype in VCFS (22q11 deletion) are discussed with regard to motor development, cognition and neurodevelopment, and behaviour and temperament. Motor: hypotonia in infancy, gross-motor milestones are delayed, problems with coordination and balance from preschool age on, problems with tempo/speed during adolescence. Cognition and neurodevelopment: learning disabilities (82-100%), intellectual disability (45%), better verbal abilities than performal abilities, poor attention and concentration, visuo-perceptual-spatia problems, good (auditory) memory. An important subgroup of children (55%) has a non-verbal learning disability (NLD). Behaviour and social-emotional development AD(H)D, withdrawn and shy, person-dependent social problems in relationships with peers, anxious, risk for child psychiatric problems as well as for the development of psychiatric problems during adolescence and early adulthood. Information on the behavioural phenotype in VCFS (22q11 deletion) is of great importance to clinicians as an aid to syndrome diagnosis, but even more to parents because it offers immense direct practical value to the management of the behaviour of their child. Appropriate counseling and information on the long-term expectations, and better insight in the behaviour will lead to the development of realistic ways of coping with their child.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Malingering, coaching, and the serial position effect.

The normal pattern of performance on list-learning tasks is to recall more words from the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of the list. This pattern is also seen in patients with closed head injury, but malingerers tend to recall less words from the beginning of word lists, leading to a suppressed primacy effect. The present study examined this pattern on both learning trials and delayed recall of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) in 34 persons performing with normal effort, 38 naive malingerers, 33 warned malingerers, and 29 head-injured patients. Both malingering groups had lower scores on the primacy portion of the list during learning trials, while normals and head-injured patients had normal serial position curves. During delayed recall, normals and head-injured patients did better than the two malingering groups on middle and recency portions of the list. Findings suggest that the serial position effect during learning trials may be a useful pattern of performance to watch for when suspicious of malingering.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Sex differences on the WMS-III: findings concerning verbal paired associates and faces.

Previous research suggests that women have better verbal learning than men, whereas there is little evidence of sex differences in nonverbal learning. The present study examined whether sex differences occur on subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (Wechsler, 1997). Verbal Paired Associates I & II (VPA) and Faces I & II were administered to 26 male and 26 female undergraduates. A measure of visual-spatial perception, the Judgment of Line Orientation Test, (JLO) was also administered. This was done to place the study within the context of an established literature concerning sex differences in cognition. To rule out potential confounds due to intelligence, WAIS-R FSIQs were estimated and used as covariates in statistical analyses. Women outperformed men on several VPA indices, with men scoring at the 25th percentile and women scoring at the 50th percentile. Although no differences were observed on Faces I & II, men outperformed women on JLO. Implications and recommendations concerning the clinical use of VPA are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

A comparison of the effect of lorazepam on memory in heavy and low social drinkers.

The cognitive deficits, particularly memory impairment, observed in association with organic brain damage caused by chronic alcohol ingestion, are consistent with the profile of benzodiazepine-induced amnesia. This study examined the cognitive capabilities of a group of heavy social drinkers (n = 11) and a group of low social drinkers (n = 11) under the influence of a pharmacological challenge (lorazepam 2 mg) and a placebo treatment. Lorazepam impaired visual memory and verbal learning in both groups, but the effect of lorazepam was exacerbated in the heavy social drinkers for delayed recall of verbal material. Heavy social drinkers had lower verbal fluency scores and were less able to copy complex figures than low social drinkers whether or not the pharmacological challenge was present. Lorazepam induced deficits, in both groups, which confirmed to the classic profile of those observed in benzodiazepine-induced amnesia. The deficits, both in the absence and presence of lorazepam, shown by heavy social drinkers suggest that changes may have occurred in their brain functioning.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Mild cognitive impairment: applicability of research criteria in a memory clinic and characterization of cognitive profile.

BACKGROUND: We explored the applicability of recently proposed research criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a memory clinic and changes in case definition related to which memory tests are used and the status of general cognitive function in MCI. METHOD: A total of 166 consecutive GP referrals to the Cambridge Memory Clinic underwent comprehensive neuropsychological and psychiatric evaluation. RESULTS: Of 166 cases, 42 were excluded (significant depression 8, established dementia 29 and other disorders 5). Of 124 non-demented, non-depressed patients, 72 fulfilled Petersen's criteria for amnestic MCI based upon verbal memory performance [the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT)] and 90 met criteria if performance on verbal and/or non-verbal memory tests [the Rey figure recall or the Paired Associates Learning test (PAL)] was considered. Of the 90 broadly defined MCI cases, only 25 had pure amnesia: other subtle semantic and/or attention deficits were typically present. A further 12 were classed as non-amnestic MCI and 22 as 'worried well'. CONCLUSIONS: Definition of MCI varies considerably dependent upon the tests used for case definition. The majority have other cognitive deficits despite normal performance on the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and intact activities of daily living (ADL) and fit within multi-domain MCI. Pure amnesic MCI is rare.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Cognitive effects of antipsychotic agents in persons with traumatic brain injury.

Over 1 million survivors of traumatic brain injury receive maintenance pharmacotherapy, of which a substantial number receive antipsychotic agents for the treatment of psychoses, agitation and aggression, and other maladaptive behaviours. In spite of the common clinical uses of antipsychotics, the cognitive risks versus benefits are unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in cognitive functioning before, during, and after discontinuation of antipsychotic agents in inpatients undergoing rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychiatric tests (Reys Auditory-Verbal Learning, Trail Making A&B, Digit Span Forwards and Backward) evaluating cognitive skills of verbal ability, visuomotor speed, memory, learning, attention, and spatial ability were administered to each subject at baseline (immediately prior to tapering or discontinuing antipsychotic), when taper reached 50% of baseline dose, 1 week after antipsychotic discontinuation, and 3 weeks after discontinuation. These data suggest that select areas of cognition improve after antipsychotic discontinuation in subjects with traumatic brain injury. The magnitude of improvement appeared to be greater after discontinuation with thioridazine, a low-potency agent, compared to haloperidol, a high-potency agent. Results, although very preliminary, support the hypothesis of cholinergic involvement in regulating cognitive processes, and this underscores the need for more systematic research in this area.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Deficits in memory strategy use are related to verbal memory impairments in adolescents with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the nature of learning and verbal memory deficits in adolescents with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SzS) (i.e., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophreniform disorder). METHOD: Sixty patients with SzS (mean age=16.1 years, S.D. = 2.2) and 60 age- and gender-matched diagnosis-free healthy volunteers were assessed using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Planned analyses were conducted to assess the following aspects of memory: span of apprehension, verbal learning, short-term and long-term memory, rate of forgetting, interference, and organizational strategies. Adolescents with schizophrenia (Sz) were compared to those with schizoaffective disorder (SzA). Second, patients' test profiles were compared to those of controls. Relationships between initial learning and overall verbal learning with organizational strategy were explored. RESULTS: Neurocognitive profiles did not significantly differ between Sz and SzA participants. Patients performed significantly worse than healthy comparison subjects on measures of span of apprehension, verbal learning, short- and long-term memory, and organizational strategies after adjusting for differences in premorbid intelligence. No group differences were found in rate of forgetting or susceptibility to proactive or retroactive interference. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with SzS are characterized by significant verbal memory dysfunction similar to what has been observed in adults with first-episode schizophrenia. Deficits in consistency of learning over several trials, as well as a strong relationship between semantic organizational strategies and reduced learning capacity, implicate dysfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as a contributor to verbal memory deficits in adolescents with SzS.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Dynamic testing in schizophrenia: does training change the construct validity of a test?

Dynamic testing typically involves specific interventions for a test to assess the extent to which test performance can be modified, beyond level of baseline (static) performance. This study used a dynamic version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) that is based on cognitive remediation techniques within a test-training-test procedure. From results of previous studies with schizophrenia patients, we concluded that the dynamic and static versions of the WCST should have different construct validity. This hypothesis was tested by examining the patterns of correlations with measures of executive functioning, secondary verbal memory, and verbal intelligence. Results demonstrated a specific construct validity of WCST dynamic (i.e., posttest) scores as an index of problem solving (Tower of Hanoi) and secondary verbal memory and learning (Auditory Verbal Learning Test), whereas the impact of general verbal capacity and selective attention (Verbal IQ, Stroop Test) was reduced. It is concluded that the construct validity of the test changes with dynamic administration and that this difference helps to explain why the dynamic version of the WCST predicts functional outcome better than the static version.

Cognition Disorders↗
PubMed2005

Mayo's older African American normative studies: confirmatory factor analysis of a core battery.

Covariance structure analyses of a core neuropsychological test battery consisting of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, and Auditory Verbal Learning Test have previously identified a 5-factor model in a sample of cognitively normal White volunteers from Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS). The present study sought to replicate this factor structure in a sample of 289 cognitively normal, community-dwelling African American elders from Mayo's Older African Americans Normative Studies (MOAANS). The original 5-factor model was tested against 2 alternative 4-factor models and a 6-factor model generated on a substantive basis. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the construct validity of this core battery in older African Americans by replicating the original 5-factor model of Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Attention/Concentration, Learning, and Retention as viable in the present sample.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1992

Total amount learned versus learning rate of verbal and nonverbal information, in differentiating left-from right-brain injured patients.

Twenty Left-Brain Damaged (LBD), 20 Right-Brain Damaged (RBD), and 20 control subjects were compared on three different learning tasks: (a) verbal, the Paired Associate Learning subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale; (b) figural, the Gollin Incomplete Figures task, which can be easily verbalized, and (c) spatial, the Stylus Maze. When learning ability was measured, by assessing the total amount learned (sum of items learned in all trials), the results showed that, on all three tasks, the control group's performance significantly surpassed that of the patient groups. The RBD group performed better than the LBD group on the verbal learning task, while LBD subjects performed better than their RBD counterparts on the spatial learning task. No significant difference between the two patient groups was detected on the figural task, suggesting that a task using visually and verbally codable stimuli is not useful in differentiating between LBD and RBD groups. When the learning rate was measured, similar results were obtained in the verbal and figural task. However, in the spatial task, the learning rates of the three groups did not significantly differ, probably because the specific task used required procedural learning, which is normally preserved in amnesics.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

A model for conceptual processing of naturalistic scenes.

Are there fundamental differences in the way in which a list of pictures and a list of words are processed? We report three experiments that examine serial position effects for rapidly-presented naturalistic scenes. The experiments provide a basis for comparison with the U-shaped serial position curve and list-length effect which typically result from verbal learning experiments. In contrast to the U-shaped verbal serial position function, our results show a flat function at the beginning serial positions and a recency effect which is small and limited to the last serial position. There is a set-size effect. Results suggest that the processing leading to a memory representation for visual stimuli such as pictures and linguistic stimuli such as words is qualitatively dissimilar. The findings can be accounted for by a serial processing model whose main parameter is the probability that the subject will switch attention from one picture to the next.

Attention↗
PubMed1991

Hippocampal contribution to verbal recent memory following dominant-hemisphere temporal lobectomy.

The effects of hippocampal encroachment in the language dominant-hemisphere were studied in 41 patients who underwent previous temporal lobectomy (TL). Patients undergoing dominant-hemisphere TL including anterior hippocampus (n = 13) performed significantly worse than nondominant TL patients (n = 16) on a verbal learning test (Selective Reminding; p less than or equal to .00001), thereby confirming the sensitivity of this procedure to lateralized temporal-lobe dysfunction. However, no significant difference was present on this or other primary measures of material-specific memory when contrasting dominant TL patients in whom the anterior hippocampus was spared (n = 12) to those in whom anterior hippocampus was resected. These data suggest that more extensive and posterior mesial temporal-lobe resection is not necessarily associated with a greater verbal material-specific memory deficit following dominant-hemisphere temporal lobectomy.

Adult↗