Clinical Neuropsychologist

Objective : For over half a century, studies of rare diseases using in-person cognitive tools have faced challenges, such as long study periods and small sample sizes (e.g. n  = 10). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was widely employed to assess mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aimed to validate a modified online version of the MoCA in a large sample of a rare disease (population prevalence < .01%). Method : First, we analyzed 20 previous findings ( n  = 1,377), comparing the MoCA scores between large groups of neurotypically healthy (NH; n  = 837) and cerebellar ataxia (CA; n  = 540), where studies were conducted in-person...

Objective: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited hematologic disorder that impacts approximately 100,000 Americans. This disease is associated with progressive organ damage, cerebral vascular accident, and neurocognitive deficits. Recent guidelines from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) recommend cognitive screening with a psychologist to help manage cerebrovascular risk and cognitive impairment in this population. SCD patients benefit from neuropsychology services and several institutions already have programs in place to monitor cognitive risk...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Objective: The current study examined the longitudinal relationship between cognitive reserve (CR), depression, and executive function (EF) in a cohort of older adults. Methods : 416 participants were selected from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention. They were native English speakers, aged ≥50+, and cognitively unimpaired at baseline, with no history of neurological or other psychiatric disorders aside from depression. Depression was assessed with the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)...

Objective: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has had a profound global impact on individual health and well-being in adults and children. While most fully recover from COVID-19, a relatively large subgroup continues to experience persistent physical, cognitive, and emotional/behavioral symptoms beyond the initial infection period. The World Health Organization has termed this phenomenon "Post-COVID-19 Condition" (PCC), better known as "Long COVID...

Objective: Latino adults are at increased risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and have lower rates of health insurance (HI) coverage. Although inadequate HI coverage and MetS have been independently linked to poor cognition, their potential interactive effects have not yet been examined. The present study explored whether HI moderated the association between MetS and cognition. We hypothesized that Latinos with MetS that did not have HI would demonstrate poorer cognition than those with HI, whereas there would be minimal differences in cognition across HI status in those without MetS...

Objective: Hashimoto's encephalopathy (HE), a rare immune-mediated disorder, manifests as altered mental state, cognitive and psychological dysfunction, seizures, and myoclonus. Little is known, however, about the neuropsychological profiles of individuals with HE due to the sparse amount of research. This report overviews HE, summarizes findings from available published neuropsychological evaluations, and details neuropsychological examinations of a 57-year-old White woman with a confirmed HE diagnosis evidencing persistent neuropsychological impairment at two discrete timepoints...

Objective: This study examined the performance validity test (PVT) pass/fail rate in a sample of presurgical epilepsy candidates; assessed whether performance validity was associated with reduced performance across cognitive domains; investigated the relationship between performance validity and self-report mood questionnaires; and assessed whether PVT performance was associated with demographic or clinical factors (i.e. sex, race/ethnicity, age, years of education, reported history of special education, seizure longevity, and number of anti-seizure medications)...

Background: Knowledge is still lacking regarding the preferred method for evaluation of learning in the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Validity of different methods was examined by the effect size in differentiating diagnostic stages in memory clinic patients versus healthy adults and the strength of association between RAVLT performance and brain atrophy. Method: The study included individuals with dementia ( n  = 247), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI, n  = 709), Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI, n  = 175) and cognitively unimpaired adults serving as healthy controls (HC, n  = 102)...

Objective: In patients with epilepsy, the insula has been increasingly recognized as a common site of seizures. There is growing interest in understanding the cognitive and psychological consequences of insular epilepsy to help provide clinical recommendations to support patient's cognitive and psychosocial functioning, and to help identify candidates for epilepsy resective surgery. The aim of this scoping review was to describe the cognitive and behavioural characteristics associated with insular epilepsy in children and adults...

OBJECTIVE: The values of a field are reflected in the science it publishes. The goal of this study was to present a historical analysis of the extent to which the field of clinical neuropsychology publishes journals with titles that address culture in the context of brain function and behavior between 2010 and 2020. METHODS: Titles from articles published in 13 neuropsychology journals from 2010-2020 were collected and coded with regard to culture and multicultural content...

Objective This study aimed to evaluate prevalence rates (PRs) of neurocognitive impairment and its potential moderators among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Method A systematic review of the available literature and data extraction was undertaken on 6 August 2021, with the update by 14 September 2023, by two reviewers independently. Literature was screened for reported rates of prevalence of neurocognitive impairment in RA patients. The meta-analysis was performed using RStudio with the "meta" library...

Objective: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is an important part of the aging process and may be a sign of neurodegenerative disease. Current measures of SCD are subject to the limits of retrospective recall of symptoms over a long span of time, which might be addressed by using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods. However, there are no currently available measures of SCD validated for use in EMA. Thus, our goal was to develop and pilot test the mobile Everyday Cognition Scale (mECog). Method: 31 community-dwelling older adults completed in lab measures of cognition and mental health symptoms, followed by daily mECog ratings on a smart phone for 28 days...

Objective: Reports of financial exploitation have steadily increased among older adults. Few studies have examined neuropsychological profiles for individuals vulnerable to financial exploitation, and existing studies have focused on susceptibility to scams, one specific type of financial exploitation. The current study therefore examines whether a general measure of financial exploitation vulnerability is associated with neuropsychological performance in a community sample. Methods : A sample ( n  = 116) of adults aged 50 or older without dementia completed a laboratory visit that measures physical and psychological functioning and a neuropsychological assessment, the Uniform Data Set-3 (UDS-3) and California Verbal Learning Test-II...

Objective: Performance below the actual abilities of the examinee can be measured using performance validity tests (PVTs). PVT failure negatively impacts the quality of the neuropsychological assessment. In our study, we addressed this issue by providing a brief corrective statement regarding invalidity to improve test-taking behavior. Methods: This study is a multisite single-blind randomized controlled trial in a consecutive sample of clinically referred adult patients ( N  = 196) in a general hospital setting...

Objective: The pediatric patient populations in the United States are becoming increasingly diverse in culture. In addition to medical factors, a variety of sociocultural factors (including educational systems, language, immigration status, etc.) can impact a child's cognitive development, performance on traditional neuropsychological measures, provider interactions, differential diagnosis, and recommendations. A culturally-informed neuropsychological evaluation aims to understand the impact of sociocultural factors and integrate them into the assessment approach...

OBJECTIVE: We examined the performance validity test (PVT) security risk presented by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots asking questions about neuropsychological evaluation and PVTs on two popular generative AI sites. METHOD: In 2023 and 2024, multiple questions were posed to ChatGPT-3 and Bard (now Gemini). One set started generally and refined follow-up questions based on AI responses. A second set asked how to feign, fake, or cheat. Responses were aggregated and independently rated for inaccuracy and threat...

Objective: It is unclear how self-reported severe fatigue and difficulty concentrating after SARS-CoV-2 infection relate to objective neuropsychological functioning. The study aimed to compare neuropsychological functioning between individuals with and without these persistent subjective complaints. Method : Individuals with and without persistent severe fatigue (Checklist Individual Strength (CIS) fatigue ≥ 35) and difficulty concentrating (CIS concentration ≥ 18) at least 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection were included...

Objective: To (1) examine the distribution of Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status modified (TICS-m) scores in oldest-old individuals (age 85 and above) identified as cognitively healthy by a previously validated electronic health records-based computable phenotype (CP) and (2) to compare different cutoff scores for cognitive impairment in this population. Method: CP identified 24,024 persons, 470 were contacted and 252 consented and completed the assessment. Associations of TICS-m score with age, sex, and educational categories (<10 years, 11-15 years, and >16 years) were examined...

Introduction: Social determinants of health and adversity, including poverty, maltreatment, and neighborhood deprivation, are individual-level factors that may significantly affect baseline neurocognitive testing and management that have yet to be thoroughly explored within the computerized neurocognitive assessment. Objectives: Examine individual-level experiences of poverty, abuse, neighborhood deprivation, and social mobility on computerized cognitive testing. Methods: The sample included 3,845 student-athletes who completed a baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) and were enrolled in the Child-Household Integrated Longitudinal Data database...