Decreased working memory and processing speed mediate cognitive impairment in geriatric depression

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 679-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. NEBES ◽  
M. A. BUTTERS ◽  
B. H. MULSANT ◽  
B. G. POLLOCK ◽  
M. D. ZMUDA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Neuropsychological Functioning ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Geriatric Depression ◽  
Information Processing Speed ◽  
Neuropsychological Dysfunction ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Processing Resources

Background. While neuropsychological dysfunction is common in geriatric depression, not all aspects of cognition are equally affected. It has been suggested that depressed patients are impaired only in tasks that make heavy demands on processing resources and that a resource decrement therefore underlies the neuropsychological decrements seen in geriatric depression. The present study examined whether processing resources in the form of working memory and information processing speed are decreased in depression and whether a decrease in these resources actually mediates neuropsychological impairment.Methods. Measures of processing resources were administered to elderly depressed patients prior to treatment and to age-matched controls. Patients whose depression remitted were retested as were the controls. Subjects also received neuropsychological tests of episodic memory and visuospatial performance.Results. Depressed patients performed significantly worse on measures of both processing speed and working memory. While performance on these measures improved in patients whose depression remitted, the amount of improvement was no greater than that seen in the controls with repeat testing. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that depression explained a significant amount of variance on the neuropsychological tasks. However, if the variance associated with processing resources was removed first, depression no longer accounted for a significant amount of neuropsychological variance.Conclusions. Processing resources are decreased in elderly depressed patients and this decrease in resources appears to mediate impairments in several areas of neuropsychological functioning including episodic memory and visuospatial performance. The resource decrement persists after remission of the depression and thus may be a trait marker of geriatric depression.

scholarly journals Do Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Disease Explain Sex Differences in Cognitive Functioning in Old Age?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Maria van Zutphen ◽  
Judith Johanna Maria Rijnhart ◽  
Didericke Rhebergen ◽  
Majon Muller ◽  
Martijn Huisman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Cardiovascular Risk ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Information Processing Speed

Background: Sex differences in cognitive functioning in old age are known to exist yet are still poorly understood. Objective: This study examines to what extent differences in cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease between men and women explain sex differences in cognitive functioning. Methods: Data from 2,724 older adults from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam were used. Information processing speed and episodic memory, measured three times during six years of follow-up, served as outcomes. The mediating role of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease was examined in single and multiple mediator models. Determinant-mediator effects were estimated using linear or logistic regression, and determinant-outcome and mediator-outcome effects were estimated using linear mixed models. Indirect effects were estimated using the product-of-coefficients estimator. Results: Women scored 1.58 points higher on information processing speed and 1.53 points higher on episodic memory. Several cardiovascular risk factors had small mediating effects. The sex difference in information processing speed was mediated by smoking, depressive symptoms, obesity, and systolic blood pressure. The sex difference in episodic memory was mediated by smoking, physical activity, and depressive symptoms. Effects of smoking, LDL cholesterol, and diabetes mellitus on information processing speed differed between men and women. Conclusion: Differences in cardiovascular risk factors between women and men partially explained why women had better cognitive functioning. A healthy cardiovascular lifestyle seems beneficial for cognition and sex-specific strategies may be important to preserve cognitive functioning at older age.

scholarly journals THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EXPERIENCE OF SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL EVENTS AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION AMONG OLDER ADULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S936-S937
Author(s):  
Stephanie M Bergren ◽  
Gabriella Dong
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Chinese Older Adults ◽  
Global Cognition ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Research has found relationships between experiencing stressful events and lower cognitive function in late life. However, there is little research about the cumulative experiences of significant historical events and cognitive function. Historical events may be unique compared to other life events due to their potential distal relationship to the individual. This study aims to examine the relationship between experiencing significant historical events and cognitive function among Chinese older adults. Data were drawn from the PINE Study, a cohort study of 3,126 US Chinese older adults collected from 2017-2019. Participants were asked if they experienced the Japanese invasion, famine, Great Leap Forward, Vietnam War, Cultural Revolution, and the Tian’anmen Square Protests. A composite score of 0-6 was calculated to count the number experienced. Cognitive function was measured through global cognition, episodic memory, working memory, processing speed, and Chinese MMSE. Linear and quantile regression were performed. Among the participants, 1908 (61.04%) were female with mean age of 75.33 (SD=8.22) years. The average number of historical events experienced was 2.36 (SD=1.44). After adjusting for covariates, every one additional historical event experience was associated with better global cognition (b=0.26, SE=0.009, p<.01), episodic memory (b = 0.045, SE=0.012, p<.001), and processing speed (b=0.383, SE=0.135, p<.01). Number of historical events was not significantly associated with working memory or C-MMSE. The positive relationship between historical events and some cognitive domains suggests a potential resilience effect after experiencing historical events. Future research should examine whether participants found events stressful and whether there are differential relationships to cognitive function.

scholarly journals The Reliability and Validity of the Action Fluency Test in Healthy College Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1175-1191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P Ross ◽  
Sydne O’Connor ◽  
Graham Holmes ◽  
Brittany Fuller ◽  
Megan Henrich
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Information Processing Speed ◽  
Perceptual Reasoning ◽  
Fluency Test

Abstract Objective This study examined the test–retest reliability and construct validity of the Action Fluency Test (AFT) as a measure of executive functioning. Method Using a correlational design, 128 healthy college students (M Age = 19.24, SD = 2.01; M education = 13.29 years, SD = 0.81) completed the AFT, and measures of verbal and figural fluency, executive functioning and other relevant constructs (e.g., vocabulary, working memory, and attention). Results Coefficients of stability were acceptable for AFT correct words (r = .76; p < .01), but not for errors (r = .41) or perseverations (r = .14). No practice effects were observed upon repeat testing (M interval = 39.21 days). Divergent validity evidence was mixed. AFT scores were unrelated to working memory and perceptual-reasoning abilities; however, correlations with vocabulary (r = .32; p < .01) and information-processing speed (r = .30; p < .01) were greater than associations between AFT scores and executive measures. Regarding convergent validity, AFT scores correlated with other fluency tasks (r = .4 range), but correlations with measures of executive functioning were absent or small. Action and letter fluency correlated with measures of attentional control and inhibition; however, these associations were no longer significant after controlling for shared variance with information-processing speed. Conclusions Findings are consistent with previous research suggesting vocabulary and information-processing speed underlie effective fluency performance to a greater extent than executive functioning. The AFT measures unique variance not accounted for by semantic and letter fluency tasks, and therefore may be used for a variety of research and clinical purposes.

scholarly journals T1 Relaxation Times in the Cortex and Thalamus Are Associated With Working Memory and Information Processing Speed in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Thaler ◽  
Isabelle Hartramph ◽  
Jan-Patrick Stellmann ◽  
Christoph Heesen ◽  
Maxim Bester ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
T1 Mapping ◽  
Relaxation Times ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Information Processing Speed ◽  
T1 Relaxation

Background: Cortical and thalamic pathologies have been associated with cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).Objective: We aimed to quantify cortical and thalamic damage in patients with MS using a high-resolution T1 mapping technique and to evaluate the association of these changes with clinical and cognitive impairment.Methods: The study group consisted of 49 patients with mainly relapsing-remitting MS and 17 age-matched healthy controls who received 3T MRIs including a T1 mapping sequence (MP2RAGE). Mean T1 relaxation times (T1-RT) in the cortex and thalami were compared between patients with MS and healthy controls. Additionally, correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between MRI parameters and clinical and cognitive disability.Results: Patients with MS had significantly decreased normalized brain, gray matter, and white matter volumes, as well as increased T1-RT in the normal-appearing white matter, compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001). Partial correlation analysis with age, sex, and disease duration as covariates revealed correlations for T1-RT in the cortex (r = −0.33, p < 0.05), and thalami (right thalamus: r = −0.37, left thalamus: r = −0.50, both p < 0.05) with working memory and information processing speed, as measured by the Symbol-Digit Modalities Test.Conclusion: T1-RT in the cortex and thalamus correlate with information processing speed in patients with MS.

Neuropsychological Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Hansen ◽  
Stefan Lautenbacher
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Diagnostic Procedures ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Information Processing Speed ◽  
The Past ◽  
Extensive Test ◽  
Screening Procedures

Abstract. Neuropsychological deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS) are common. Over the past decades, many different procedures have been employed in diagnosing these deficits. Even though certain aspects of cognitive performance such as information processing speed and working memory may be affected more frequently than other cognitive functions, no specific deficit profile has been established in MS. This article provides an overview of the neuropsychological diagnostic procedures in MS and allows the reader to reach an informed decision on the applicability of specific procedures and the availability of study data in the context of MS. Additionally, it makes recommendations on the compilation of both screening procedures and extensive test batteries.

Latent Change Models of Adult Cognition: Are Changes in Processing Speed and Working Memory Associated With Changes in Episodic Memory?

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hertzog ◽  
Roger A. Dixon ◽  
David F. Hultsch ◽  
Stuart W. S. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Adult Cognition
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document