Racial Discrimination and Core Executive Functions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Keating ◽  
Amandeep Kaur ◽  
Miguel Mendieta ◽  
Colleen Gleason ◽  
Gina Basello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Core Executive

scholarly journals Can inhibition or shifting training enhance cognitive abilities in emerging adults?

2021 ◽  
pp. 138-152
Author(s):  
Anja Podlesek ◽  
Marina Martinčević ◽  
Andrea Vranić
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Far Transfer ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Cognitive Activities ◽  
Transfer Tasks ◽  
Inhibition Training

Executive functions enable and support most of our daily cognitive functioning. Within the number of executive functions proposed, updating, inhibition and shifting are most often considered as the three core executive functions. Cognitive training paradigms provide a platform for a possible enhancement of these functions. Since updating training has been studied to a greater extent, we wanted to investigate the effectiveness of inhibition and shifting training in this study. Emerging adults (psychology students) were randomly assigned either to the inhibition training (based on the Simon task; n = 36) or to the shifting training (based on the task switching paradigm; n = 35). Both groups underwent twelve 20-minute sessions distributed over four weeks. Measurements before and after the training included criterion tasks (i.e. the training tasks), near-transfer tasks (i.e. tasks that address the trained functions but use different types of stimuli or rules to respond), and far-transfer tasks (i.e., tasks that address untrained cognitive functions). The control participants (n = 36) were tested with a combination of these tasks. Both training groups improved their criteria task performance over time, while convincing training-related gains were not found in either near- or far-transfer tasks. This study raises some conceptual questions for the training of executive functions with respect to a sample of emerging adults with above-average cognitive abilities, motivational elements of training, and the role of executive functions in more complex everyday cognitive activities.

When less is more: Structural correlates of core executive functions in young adults – A VBM and cortical thickness study

NeuroImage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 896-903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Weise ◽  
Tobias Bachmann ◽  
Matthias L. Schroeter ◽  
Dorothee Saur
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
Core Executive

scholarly journals Allostatic load and executive functions in overweight adults

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonatan Ottino-González ◽  
María Ángeles Jurado ◽  
Isabel García-García ◽  
Xavier Caldú ◽  
Xavier Prats-Soteras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Load Increase ◽  
Overweight Group ◽  
Neuroendocrine Responses

Background/objective: Overweight is linked to inflammatory and neuroendocrine responses potentially prompting deregulations in biological systems harmful to the brain, particularly to the prefrontal cortex. This structure is crucial for executive performance, ultimately supervising behaviour. Thus, in the present work, we aimed to test the relationship between allostatic load increase, a surrogate of chronic physiological stress, and core executive functions, such as cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory. Method: Forty-seven healthy-weight and 56 overweight volunteers aged from 21 to 40 underwent medical and neuropsychological examination. Results: Overweight subjects exhibited a greater allostatic load index than healthy-weight individuals. Moreover, the allostatic load index was negatively related to inhibitory control. When separated, the link between allostatic load index and cognitive flexibility was more marked in the overweight group. Conclusions: An overweight status was linked to chronic physiological stress. The inverse relationship between the allostatic load index and cognitive flexibility proved stronger in this group. Set-shifting alterations could sustain rigid-like behaviours and attitudes towards food.

scholarly journals Progressive dysexecutive syndrome due to Alzheimer’s disease: a description of 55 cases and comparison to other phenotypes

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan A Townley ◽  
Jonathan Graff-Radford ◽  
William G Mantyh ◽  
Hugo Botha ◽  
Angelina J Polsinelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Positron Emission Tomography ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Clinical Presentation ◽  
Emission Tomography ◽  
Dysexecutive Syndrome ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
The Mean

Abstract We report a group of patients presenting with a progressive dementia syndrome characterized by predominant dysfunction in core executive functions, relatively young age of onset and positive biomarkers for Alzheimer’s pathophysiology. Atypical frontal, dysexecutive/behavioural variants and early-onset variants of Alzheimer’s disease have been previously reported, but no diagnostic criteria exist for a progressive dysexecutive syndrome. In this retrospective review, we report on 55 participants diagnosed with a clinically defined progressive dysexecutive syndrome with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers available. Sixty-two per cent of participants were female with a mean of 15.2 years of education. The mean age of reported symptom onset was 53.8 years while the mean age at diagnosis was 57.2 years. Participants and informants commonly referred to initial cognitive symptoms as ‘memory problems’ but upon further inquiry described problems with core executive functions of working memory, cognitive flexibility and cognitive inhibitory control. Multi-domain cognitive impairment was evident in neuropsychological testing with executive dysfunction most consistently affected. The frontal and parietal regions which overlap with working memory networks consistently demonstrated hypometabolism on positron emission tomography. Genetic testing for autosomal dominant genes was negative in all eight participants tested and at least one APOE ε4 allele was present in 14/26 participants tested. EEG was abnormal in 14/17 cases with 13 described as diffuse slowing. Furthermore, CSF or neuroimaging biomarkers were consistent with Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiology, although CSF p-tau was normal in 24% of cases. Fifteen of the executive predominate participants enrolled in research neuroimaging protocols and were compared to amnestic (n = 110), visual (n = 18) and language (n = 7) predominate clinical phenotypes of Alzheimer’s disease. This revealed a consistent pattern of hypometabolism in parieto-frontal brain regions supporting executive functions with relative sparing of the medial temporal lobe (versus amnestic phenotype), occipital (versus visual phenotype) and left temporal (versus language phenotype). We propose that this progressive dysexecutive syndrome should be recognized as a distinct clinical phenotype disambiguated from behavioural presentations and not linked specifically to the frontal lobe or a particular anatomic substrate without further study. This clinical presentation can be due to Alzheimer’s disease but is likely not specific for any single aetiology. Diagnostic criteria are proposed to facilitate additional research into this understudied clinical presentation.

scholarly journals Listening Effort: Order Effects and Core Executive Functions

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (08) ◽  
pp. 734-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Jonas Brännström ◽  
Elisabeth Karlsson ◽  
Sebastian Waechter ◽  
Tobias Kastberg
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Babble Noise ◽  
Listening Task

AbstractListening effort seems to depend on input-related listening demands and several factors internal to the individual listener. Input-related demands may be listening in noise compared with listening in quiet, and internal factors may be cognitive functions.The purpose was to apply measures of listening effort and perceived listening effort in participants with normal hearing, to determine if there are any presentation order effects, and to explore the relationship between listening effort measured as accuracy, response times, efficiency of information encoding into long-term memory, perceived listening effort, and core executive functions.A within-subject design with repeated measures was used and a study of relationships between variables was made.Thirty-two healthy adults with normal hearing.Participants were tested individually by a listening task using a dual-task paradigm. The listening task was performed in quiet and in multitalker babble noise at 10 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Perceived listening effort and core executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) were also assessed.The measures of listening effort (correct responses, response times, and immediate and delayed listening comprehension) failed to demonstrate increased listening effort in multitalker babble noise (10 dB SNR) compared with quiet, although a significant test order effect was seen for correct responses indicating that participants who first listened in noise did not improve in quiet. Perceived listening effort increased significantly in noise compared with quiet. No relationship was found between measures of listening effort and ratings of perceived listening effort. Working memory and cognitive flexibility were not related to ratings of perceived listening effort. In contrast, better inhibitory control was related to higher ratings in both quiet and in noise.It is possible that the SNR and measures used were not as sensitive as required to measure listening effort behaviorally. In the present experimental setup, prior noise exposure impedes the beneficial effects of performing a task in quiet. Self-reports seem to provide a valid measure of perceived listening effort that is related to the individual’s inhibitory control. The present findings suggest that participants with better inhibitory control are more susceptible to the task demand level both in quiet and in noise.

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