Preliminary evidence of functional compensation in premanifest Huntington’s disease using a novel visuospatial working memory task

AbstractPresymptomatic Huntington’s disease (pre-HD) individuals tend to increase functional brain activity to compensate for HD-related brain anomalies. We used a quantitative model of compensation, known as the CRUNCH (Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis) to explicitly characterise compensation in pre-HD. We acquired functionalmagnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data (n = 15 pre-HD; n = 15 controls) during performance of an 18-minute fMRI visuospatial working memory task with low, intermediate-1, intermediate-2, and high memory loads. Consistent with the CRUNCH prediction, pre-HD individuals showed decreased fMRI activity in left intraparietal sulcus at high memory load, compared to healthy controls who showed increased fMRI activity in left intraparietal sulcus at high memory load. Contrary to the other CRUNCH prediction, the pre-HD group did not show compensatory increase in fMRI activity at lower levels of memory loads in left intraparietal sulcus. Our findings provide partial support for the validity of CRUNCH in pre-HD.HighlightsVisuospatial working memory deficits in pre-HD occur 25 years prior to predicted disease onsetTask demands differentially affect fMRI activity in left intraparietal sulcusCRUNCH can partially apply in Huntington’s disease

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Brain compensation during visuospatial working memory in premanifest Huntington's disease

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107262 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 136 ◽

pp. 107262

Author(s):

Maria V. Soloveva ◽

Sharna D. Jamadar ◽

Dennis Velakoulis ◽

Govinda Poudel ◽

Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Visuospatial Working Memory

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Egocentric and allocentric visuospatial working memory in premotor Huntington's disease: A double dissociation with caudate and hippocampal volumes

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.022 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 101 ◽

pp. 57-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Katherine L. Possin ◽

Hosung Kim ◽

Michael D. Geschwind ◽

Tacie Moskowitz ◽

Erica T. Johnson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Visuospatial Working Memory ◽

Double Dissociation

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Basal Ganglia Circuit integrity Assessed in Working Memory in Huntington's Disease

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(09)71054-7 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. S115

Author(s):

R.K. Pierson ◽

L.J. Beglinger ◽

V.A. Magnotta ◽

J. Vaidya ◽

H. Johnson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Basal Ganglia ◽

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease

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Working Memory-Related Effective Connectivity in Huntington’s Disease Patients

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2018.00370 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jacob Lahr ◽

Lora Minkova ◽

Sarah J. Tabrizi ◽

Julie C. Stout ◽

Stefan Klöppel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Effective Connectivity

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Visual Working Memory Impairment in Premanifest Gene-Carriers and Early Huntington's Disease

Journal of Huntington s Disease ◽

10.3233/jhd-2012-120010 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 97-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Eve M. Dumas ◽

Miranda J. Say ◽

Rebecca Jones ◽

Izelle Labuschagne ◽

Alison M. O'Regan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Memory Impairment ◽

Gene Carriers

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Representational Pseudoneglect in an Auditory-Driven Spatial Working Memory Task

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2011.575948 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 64 (11) ◽

pp. 2168-2180 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Joanna L. Brooks ◽

Robert H. Logie ◽

Robert McIntosh ◽

Sergio Della Sala

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Mental Representations ◽

Memory Task ◽

Visuospatial Working Memory ◽

Verbal Descriptions ◽

The Matrix ◽

The Right ◽

Healthy Participants

Two experiments explored lateralized biases in mental representations of matrix patterns formed from aural verbal descriptions. Healthy participants listened, either monaurally or binaurally, to verbal descriptions of 6 by 3 matrix patterns and were asked to form a mental representation of each pattern. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to judge which half of the matrix, left or right, contained more filled cells and to rate the certainty of their judgement. Participants tended to judge that the left side was fuller than the right and showed significantly greater certainty when judging patterns that were fuller on the left. This tendency was particularly strong for left-ear presentation. In Experiment 2, participants conducted the same task as that in Experiment 1 but were also asked to recall the pattern for the side judged as fuller. Participants were again more certain in judging patterns that were fuller on the left—particularly for left-ear presentation—but were no more accurate in remembering the details from the left. These results suggest that the left side of the mental representation was represented more saliently but it was not remembered more accurately. We refer to this lateralized bias as “representational pseudoneglect”. Results are discussed in terms of theories of visuospatial working memory.

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Temporal order memory deficits prior to clinical diagnosis in Huntington’s disease

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617709990427 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 662-670 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

EVA PIROGOVSKY ◽

JODY GOLDSTEIN ◽

GUERRY PEAVY ◽

MARK W. JACOBSON ◽

JODY COREY-BLOOM ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Clinical Diagnosis ◽

Temporal Order ◽

Random Sequence ◽

Memory Task ◽

Study Phase ◽

Phase Sequence ◽

Choice Phase ◽

Temporal Order Memory

AbstractThe current study examined temporal order memory in preclinical Huntington’s disease (pre-HD). Participants were separated into less than 5 years (pre-HD near) and more than 5 years (pre-HD far) from estimated age of clinical diagnosis. Participants completed a temporal order memory task on a computerized radial eight-arm maze. On the study phase of each trial, participants viewed a random sequence of circles appearing one at a time at the end of each arm. On the choice phase, participants viewed two circles at the end of the study phase arms and chose the circle occurring earliest in the sequence. The task involved manipulations of the temporal lag, defined as the number of arms occurring in the sample phase sequence between the two choice phase arms. Research suggests that there is more interference for temporally proximal stimuli relative to temporally distal stimuli. There were no significant differences between the pre-HD far group and controls on the temporal order memory task. The pre-HD near group demonstrated significant impairments relative to the other groups on closer temporal lags, but were normal on the furthest temporal lag. Therefore, temporal order memory declines with increased temporal interference in pre-HD close to estimated diagnosis of HD. (JINS, 2009, 15, 662–670.)

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