Verbal learning

Synaptic loss is a primary pathology in Alzheimer's disease and correlates best with cognitive impairment as found in post-mortem studies. Previously, we observed in vivo reductions of synaptic density with [11 C]UCB-J PET (radiotracer for synaptic vesicle protein 2A) throughout the neocortex and medial temporal brain regions in early Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we applied independent component analysis to synaptic vesicle protein 2A-PET data to identify brain networks associated with cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease in a blinded data-driven manner...

BACKGROUND: The current study examined the sensitivity of two memory subtests and their corresponding learning slope metrics derived from the African Neuropsychology Battery (ANB) to detect amyloid pathology and APOEε4 status in adults from Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. METHODS: 85 participants were classified for the presence of β-amyloid pathology and based on allelic presence of APOEε4 using Simoa. All participants were screened using CSID and AQ, underwent verbal and visuospatial memory testing from ANB, and provided blood samples for plasma Aβ42 , Aβ40 , and APOE proteotype...

BACKGROUND: Deterioration of neurocognitive function in adult patients with a primary brain tumor is the most concerning side effect of radiotherapy. This study was aimed to develop and evaluate Normal-Tissue Complication Probability (NTCP) models using clinical and dose-volume measures for 6-month, 1-year and 2-year Neurocognitive Decline (ND) post-radiotherapy. METHODS: A total of 219 patients with a primary brain tumor treated with radical photon and/or proton radiotherapy (RT) between 2019 and 2022 were included...

In face-to-face interactions with infants, human adults exhibit a species-specific communicative signal. Adults present a distinctive "social ensemble": they use infant-directed speech (parentese), respond contingently to infants' actions and vocalizations, and react positively through mutual eye-gaze and smiling. Studies suggest that this social ensemble is essential for initial language learning. Our hypothesis is that the social ensemble attracts attentional systems to speech and that sensorimotor systems prepare infants to respond vocally, both of which advance language learning...

Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in processing visuospatial information but with age-appropriate verbal skills. This cognitive profile has been hypothesized to be associated with atypical white matter, but at the present there is a lack of evidence for this hypothesis. Currently, the condition is not characterized within the main diagnostic systems, in part because no clear set of criteria for characterizing the disorder exists. This report is the first attempt to estimate NVLD prevalence, using two sets of diagnostic criteria, in a large sample of over 11,000 children who were selected without regards to problems of specific nature, either psychological, neurological, physical and/or social...

According to the cycle/trial (C/T) rule, the rate of associative learning is a function of the ratio between the overall rate of U.S. presentation (C) and its rate in the presence of the conditioned stimulus (CS; [T]). This rule is well supported in studies with nonhumans. The present study was conducted to test whether it also applies to human contingency learning. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to rapid streams of trials. Sensitivity to the cue-outcome contingency varied with both intertrial interval (ITI, which captures C) and cue duration, but the C/T rule was not respected, notably because the effect of ITI was much larger than the effect of cue duration...

BACKGROUND: Auditory system plasticity is a promising target for neuromodulation, cognitive rehabilitation and therapeutic development in schizophrenia (SZ). Auditory-based targeted cognitive training (TCT) is a 'bottom up' intervention designed to enhance the speed and accuracy of auditory information processing, which has been shown to improve neurocognition in certain SZ patients. However, the dynamics of TCT learning as a function of training exercises and their impact on neurocognitive functioning and therapeutic outcomes are unknown...

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) negatively impacts cognition and has been associated with deficits in social cognition, including emotion recognition. There is a lack of research examining emotion recognition from multiple modalities in MS. The present study aimed to employ a clinically available measure to assess multimodal emotion recognition abilities among individuals with MS. METHOD: Thirty-one people with MS and 21 control participants completed the Advanced Clinical Solutions Social Perceptions Subtest (ACS-SP), BICAMS, and measures of premorbid functioning, mood, and fatigue...

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Uniform Data Set (UDS) 2 battery in distinguishing between individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) attributable to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD) and those with MCI due to other causes (MCI-nonAD), based on contemporary AT(N) biomarker criteria. Despite the implementation of the novel UDS 3 battery, the UDS 2 battery is still used in several non-English-speaking countries. METHODS: We employed a cross-sectional design...

BACKGROUND: Abnormal cerebellar functional connectivity (FC) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). However, the patterns of cerebellar dysconnectivity in these two disorders and their association with cognitive functioning and clinical symptoms have not been fully clarified. In this study, we examined cerebellar FC alterations in SCZ and BD-I and their association with cognition and psychotic symptoms. METHODS: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data of 39 SCZ, 43 BD-I, and 61 healthy controls from the Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics dataset were examined...

Significant improvements in treatments for children with cancer have resulted in a growing population of childhood cancer survivors who may face long-term adverse outcomes. Here, we aimed to diagnose high-dose methotrexate-induced brain injury on [18 F]FDG PET/MRI and correlate the results with cognitive impairment identified by neurocognitive testing in pediatric cancer survivors. Methods: In this prospective, single-center pilot study, 10 children and young adults with sarcoma ( n = 5), lymphoma ( n = 4), or leukemia ( n = 1) underwent dedicated brain [18 F]FDG PET/MRI and a 2-h expert neuropsychologic evaluation on the same day, including the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, second edition, for intellectual functioning; Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS) for executive functioning; and Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, second edition (WRAML), for verbal and visual memory...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia, are associated with cognitive decline later in life among U.S. Hispanic/Latina individuals. METHODS: The HCHS/SOL (Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos) is a prospective population-based study of Hispanic/Latino individuals aged 18-74 years from four U.S. communities. This analysis included parous individuals aged 45 years or older who participated in the HCHS/SOL clinic study visit 1 (2008-2011) neurocognitive assessment and subsequently completed a repeat neurocognitive assessment as part of the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging ancillary study visit 2 (2015-2018)...

The use of virtual reality in social skills training for high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) youth has been found to be engaging and enjoyable. Despite the promising results, previous literature indicates that there has been no consensus on the social skills target in the training content. There is also limited research on how evidence-based strategies like cognitive and behaviour techniques are instantiated into the VR environment to teach social skills. The aim of this study is to determine the key components to design a social skills training content using virtual reality for youths with HFASD...

Prior research has shown that visual working memory capacity is enhanced for meaningful stimuli (i.e., real-world objects) compared to abstract shapes (i.e., colored circles). Here, we hypothesized that the shape of meaningful objects would be better remembered incidentally than the shape of nonmeaningful objects in a color memory task where the shape of the objects is task-irrelevant. We used a surprise-trial paradigm in which participants performed a color memory task for several trials before being probed with a surprise trial that asked them about the shape of the last object they saw...

INTRODUCTION: SuperAgers (SA) are older adults who exhibit cognitive capacities comparable to individuals who are three or more decades younger than them. The current study aimed to identify the characteristics of Indian SA by categorizing 55 older adults into SA and Typical Older Adults (TOA) and comparing their performance with a group of 50 younger participants (YP) (aged 25-50). METHODS: A total of 105 participants were recruited after obtaining informed written consent...

BACKGROUND: A broadened clinical spectrum of concomitant complications emerges among the escalating incidence of substance use, particularly within the 'chemsex' context. This case exemplifies the profound neurotoxic repercussions and neurological risk of chemsex in a young HIV-positive male and addresses the multifaceted challenges of such evolving paradigms in substance utilization. CLINICAL FINDING: After consuming cannabis, poppers, methamphetamine, and cocaine, a 28-year-old HIV-positive male exhibited significant neurological and cognitive impairment...

PURPOSE: To illustrate the processes of development within the behavioral theory and the corresponding expansion of the areas in which it is applied, especially the advancement (conceptual developments) of the functional analysis of language inspired by Relational Frame Theory (RFT) research. VIEWS: Classical and operant conditioning are well-established behavioral learning processes, discovered and described at the beginning of the twentieth century. They provide the tools for analyzing, establishing and modifying the functions of stimuli and responses of the organisms through manipulation of the environment...

BACKGROUND: Hospitalization can be an extremely distressing experience for seriously ill and injured children. Art therapy has a well-established clinical history, and recent research has begun to demonstrate its effectiveness in somatic pediatric wards. Descriptive and statistical research indicates that art therapy can alleviate anxiety and fear, improve mood, and enhance communication among children, parents, and healthcare professionals. This study aims to enhance our understanding of the specific elements of art therapy that facilitate a connection with the healthier aspects of the self...

Mounting evidence supports the efficacy of mental imagery for verbal information retention. Motor imagery, imagining oneself interacting physically with the object to be learned, emerges as an optimal form compared to less physically engaging imagery. Yet, when engaging in mental imagery, it occurs within a specific context that may affect imagined actions and consequently impact the mnemonic benefits of mental imagery. In a first study, participants were given instructions for incidental learning: mental rehearsal, visual imagery, motor imagery or situated motor imagery...

RATIONALE: Children with new-onset epilepsies often exhibit co-morbidities including cognitive dysfunction, which adversely affects academic performance. Application of unsupervised machine learning techniques has demonstrated the presence of discrete cognitive phenotypes at or near the time of diagnosis, but there is limited knowledge of their longitudinal trajectories. Here we investigate longitudinally the presence and progression of cognitive phenotypes and academic status in youth with new-onset seizures as sibling controls...