Cognitive Performance, Aerobic Fitness, Motor Proficiency, and Brain Function Among Children Newly Diagnosed With Craniopharyngioma

AbstractObjectives: Craniopharyngioma survivors experience cognitive deficits that negatively impact quality of life. Aerobic fitness is associated with cognitive benefits in typically developing children and physical exercise promotes recovery following brain injury. Accordingly, we investigated cognitive and neural correlates of aerobic fitness in a sample of craniopharyngioma patients. Methods: Patients treated for craniopharyngioma [N=104, 10.0±4.6 years, 48% male] participated in fitness, cognitive and fMRI (n=51) assessments following surgery but before proton radiation therapy. Results: Patients demonstrated impaired aerobic fitness [peak oxygen uptake (PKVO2)=23.9±7.1, 41% impaired (i.e., 1.5 SD<normative mean)], motor proficiency [Bruininks-Oseretsky (BOT2)=38.6±9.0, 28% impaired], and executive functions (e.g., WISC-IV Working Memory Index (WMI)=96.0±15.3, 11% impaired). PKVO2 correlated with better executive functions (e.g., WISC-IV WMI r=.27, p=.02) and academic performance (WJ-III Calculation r=.24, p=.04). BOT2 correlated with better attention (e.g., CPT-II omissions r=.26, p=.04) and executive functions (e.g., WISC-IV WMI r=.32, p=.01). Areas of robust neural activation during an n-back task included superior parietal lobule, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and middle and superior frontal gyri (p<.05, corrected). Higher network activation was associated with better working memory task performance and better BOT2 (p<.001). Conclusions: Before adjuvant therapy, children with craniopharyngioma demonstrate significantly reduced aerobic fitness, motor proficiency, and working memory. Better aerobic fitness and motor proficiency are associated with better attention and executive functions, as well as greater activation of a well-established working memory network. These findings may help explain differential risk/resiliency with respect to acute cognitive changes that may portend cognitive late effects. (JINS, 2019, 25, 413–425)

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Task Monitoring and Working Memory as Executive Components Predictive of General and Specific Academic Achievements in 6–9-Year-Old Children

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18136681 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (13) ◽

pp. 6681

Author(s):

Alberto Quílez-Robres ◽

Nieves Moyano ◽

Alejandra Cortés-Pascual

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Working Memory ◽

Academic Performance ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Language Arts ◽

Memory Task ◽

Academic Achievements ◽

Predictive Role ◽

And Mathematics ◽

The Relationship

Academic achievement has been linked to executive functions. However, it is necessary to clarify the different predictive role that executive functions have on general and specific academic achievement and to determine the most predictive executive factor of this academic achievement. The relationship and predictive role between executive functions and their components (initiative, working memory, task monitoring, organization of materials, flexibility, emotional control, inhibition, self-monitoring) with academic achievement are analyzed in this study, both globally and specifically in the areas of Language Arts and Mathematics, in 133 students from 6 to 9 years of age. The relationship obtained in Pearson’s correlation analysis does not differ substantially between overall achievement (r = 0.392) and specific achievement (r = 0.361, r = 0.361), but task monitoring (r = 0.531, r = 0.455, r = 0.446) and working memory (r = 0.512, r = 0.475, r = 0.505) had a greater relationship with general and specific achievement. Finally, regression analyses based on correlation results indicate that executive functions predict general academic performance (14.7%) and specific performance (12.3%, 12.2%) for Language Arts and Mathematics, respectively. Furthermore, working memory and task supervision represent 32.5% of general academic performance, 25.5% of performance in Language Arts, and 27.1% of performance in Mathematics. In conclusion, this study yielded exploratory data on the possible executive functions (task supervision and working memory) responsible for good general academic achievements and specific academic achievements in Mathematics and Language Arts.

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Working memory task induced neural activation: a simultaneous PET/fMRI study

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118131 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 118131

Author(s):

Isabelle KD Ripp ◽

Lara A Wallenwein ◽

Qiong Wu ◽

Monica Emch ◽

Kathrin Koch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Memory Task ◽

Neural Activation ◽

Fmri Study

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Acute and Subacute Changes in Neural Activation during the Recovery from Sport-Related Concussion

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617713000702 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 19 (8) ◽

pp. 863-872 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Thomas A. Hammeke ◽

Michael McCrea ◽

Sarah M. Coats ◽

Matthew D. Verber ◽

Sally Durgerian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Rating Scales ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Memory Task ◽

Cognitive Test ◽

Cognitive Changes ◽

Acute Period ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Postconcussive Symptoms ◽

Injured Athletes

AbstractTo study the natural recovery from sports concussion, 12 concussed high school football athletes and 12 matched uninjured teammates were evaluated with symptom rating scales, tests of postural balance and cognition, and an event-related fMRI study during performance of a load-dependent working memory task at 13 h and 7 weeks following injury. Injured athletes showed the expected postconcussive symptoms and cognitive decline with decreased reaction time (RT) and increased RT variability on a working memory task during the acute period and an apparent full recovery 7 weeks later. Brain activation patterns showed decreased activation of right hemisphere attentional networks in injured athletes relative to controls during the acute period with a reversed pattern of activation (injured > controls) in the same networks at 7 weeks following injury. These changes coincided with a decrease in self-reported postconcussive symptoms and improved cognitive test performance in the injured athletes. Results from this exploratory study suggest that decreased activation of right hemisphere attentional networks mediate the cognitive changes and postconcussion symptoms observed during the acute period following concussion. Conversely, improvement in cognitive functioning and postconcussive symptoms during the subacute period may be mediated by compensatory increases in activation of this same attentional network. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–10)

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Physical activity, aerobic fitness and brain white matter: their role for executive functions in adolescence

10.1101/674846 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ilona Ruotsalainen ◽

Tetiana Gorbach ◽

Jaana Perkola ◽

Ville Renvall ◽

Heidi J. Syväoja ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Working Memory ◽

White Matter ◽

Corpus Callosum ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Fractional Anisotropy ◽

Aerobic Fitness ◽

The Body ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Brain

AbstractPhysical activity and exercise beneficially link to brain properties and cognitive functions in older adults, but it is unclear how these results generalise to other age groups. During adolescence, the brain undergoes significant changes, which are especially pronounced in white matter. Existing studies provide contradictory evidence regarding the influence of physical activity or aerobic-exercise on executive functions in youth. Little is also known about the link between both aerobic fitness and physical activity with white matter during puberty. For this reason, we investigated the connection between both aerobic fitness (20-m shuttle run) and physical activity (moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity) with white matter in 59 adolescents (12.7–16.2 years). We further determined whether white matter interacts with the connection of fitness or physical activity with three core executive functions (sustained attention, spatial working memory and response inhibition). Our results showed that only the level of aerobic fitness, but not of physical activity was related to white matter properties. Furthermore, the white matter of specific tracts also moderated the links of aerobic fitness and physical activity with working memory. Our results suggest that aerobic fitness and physical activity have an unequal contribution to the properties of white matter in adolescent brains. We propose that the differences in white matter properties could underlie the variations in the relationship between either physical activity or aerobic fitness with working memory.HighlightsAerobic fitness level, but not physical activity, is associated with white matter properties in several white matter tracts in the brain.The relationship between aerobic fitness and working memory was moderated by fractional anisotropy of the body of corpus callosum and in the right superior corona radiata.The relationship between physical activity and working memory was moderated by fractional anisotropy of the body and genu of corpus callosum.

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A Review of Cognitive Changes During Acute Aerobic Exercise

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.653158 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Julie A. Cantelon ◽

Grace E. Giles

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Response Time ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Aerobic Exercise ◽

Cognitive Flexibility ◽

Cognitive Domain ◽

Moderate Intensity ◽

Motor Speed ◽

Cognitive Changes ◽

Vigorous Intensity

A growing body of work has investigated the effects of acute, or single bouts of, aerobic exercise on cognitive function. However, review of this research has largely focused on changes following exercise, with less focus on cognitive changes during exercise. The purpose of this review is to discuss the critical characteristics of this literature to date, including: (1) what has been done, (2) what has been found, and (3) what is next. Furthermore, previous meta-analytic reviews have demonstrated there is a small positive effect on cognition when measured during exercise, with executive functions showing the largest effects. However, these reviews group executive functions together. Here we explore how inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility are individually impacted by factors such as exercise intensity or duration. Searches of electronic databases and reference lists from relevant studies resulted in 73 studies meeting inclusion criteria. Studies were grouped by executive and non-executive cognitive domains, intensity and duration of exercise bouts. Within the executive domain, we found that effects on working memory and cognitive flexibility remain mixed, effects on inhibition are clearer. Moderate intensity exercise improves response time, vigorous intensity impairs accuracy. Moderate to vigorous intensity improves response time across non-executive domains of attention, motor speed and information processing, with no significant effects on accuracy. Memory processes are consistently improved during exercise. Effects of exercise duration on response time and accuracy are nuanced and vary by cognitive domain. Studies typically explore durations of 45 min or less, extended exercise durations remain largely unexplored. We highlight factors to consider when assessing exercise-cognition relationships, as well as current gaps and future directions for work in this field.

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The Effect of Spatial Working Memory Deterioration on Strategic Visuomotor Learning across Aging

Behavioural Neurology ◽

10.1155/2015/512617 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Luis A. Uresti-Cabrera ◽

Rosalinda Diaz ◽

Israel Vaca-Palomares ◽

Juan Fernandez-Ruiz

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Visual Memory ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Memory Task ◽

Strategic Learning ◽

Strategic Control ◽

Visuomotor Learning ◽

Cognitive Changes ◽

Age Related ◽

Effect Of Age

Objective. To evaluate the effect of age-related cognitive changes in a visuomotor learning task that depends on strategic control and contrast it with the effect in a task principally depending on visuomotor recalibration.Methods. Participants performed a ball throwing task while donning either a reversing dove prism or a displacement wedge prism, which mainly depend on strategic control or visuomotor recalibration, respectively. Visuomotor performance was then analysed in relation to rule acquisition and reversal, recognition memory, visual memory, spatial planning, and spatial working memory with tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB).Results. The results confirmed previous works showing a detrimental effect of age on visuomotor learning. The analyses of the cognitive changes observed across age showed that both strategic control and visuomotor recalibration had significant negative correlations only with the number of errors in the spatial working memory task. However, when the effect of aging was controlled, the only significant correlation remaining was between the reversal adaptation magnitude and spatial working memory.Discussion. These results suggest that spatial working memory decline across aging could contribute to age-dependent deterioration in both visuomotor learning processes. However, spatial working memory integrity seems to affect strategic learning decline even after controlling for aging.

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Sex Effects on Development of Brain Structure and Executive Functions: Greater Variance than Mean Effects

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01375 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 730-753 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Lara M. Wierenga ◽

Marieke G. N. Bos ◽

Fabienne van Rossenberg ◽

Eveline A. Crone

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Reading Comprehension ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Brain Development ◽

Brain Structure ◽

Memory Task ◽

Data Set ◽

Sex Effects ◽

Brain Age

Although male brains have consistently reported to be 8–10% larger than female brains, it remains not well understood whether there are differences between sexes (average or variance) in developmental trajectories. Furthermore, if sex differences in average brain growth or variance are observed, it is unknown whether these sex differences have behavioral relevance. The present longitudinal study aimed to unravel sex effects in cortical brain structure, development, and variance, in relation to the development of educationally relevant cognitive domains and executive functions (EFs). This was assessed with three experimental tasks including working memory, reading comprehension, and fluency. In addition, real-life aspects of EF were assessed with self- and parent-reported Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function scores. The full data set included 271 participants (54% female) aged between 8 and 29 years of which three waves were collected at 2-year intervals, resulting in 680 T1-weighted MRI scans and behavioral measures. Analyses of average trajectories confirmed general age-related patterns of brain development but did not support the hypothesis of sex differences in brain development trajectories, except for left banks STS where boys had a steeper decline in surface area than girls. Also, our brain age prediction model (including 270 brain measures) did not indicate delayed maturation in boys compared with girls. Interestingly, support was found for greater variance in male brains than female brains in both structure and development, consistent with prior cross-sectional studies. Behaviorally, boys performed on average better on a working memory task with a spatial aspect and girls performed better on a reading comprehension task, but there was no relation between brain development and cognitive performance, neither for average brain measures, brain age, or variance measures. Taken together, we confirmed the hypothesis of greater males within-group variance in brain structures compared with females, but these were not related to EF. The sex differences observed in EF were not related to brain development, possibly suggesting that these are related to experiences and strategies rather than biological development.

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Dynamic shifts in brain network activation during supracapacity working memory task performance

Human Brain Mapping ◽

10.1002/hbm.22699 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 1245-1264 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Jared X. Van Snellenberg ◽

Mark Slifstein ◽

Christina Read ◽

Jochen Weber ◽

Judy L. Thompson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Task Performance ◽

Memory Task ◽

Brain Network ◽

Network Activation

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The impact of bilingualism on executive functions and working memory in young adults

10.1101/449827 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eneko Antón ◽

Manuel Carreiras ◽

Jon Andoni Duñabeitia

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Memory Task ◽

Domain Specificity ◽

Bilingual Advantage ◽

Potential Impact ◽

Socio Demographic Factors ◽

The Impact ◽

Large Groups ◽

Matched Samples

AbstractA bilingual advantage in a form of a better performance of bilinguals in tasks tapping into executive function abilities has been reported repeatedly in the literature. However, recent research defends that this advantage does not stem from bilingualism, but from uncontrolled factors or imperfectly matched samples. In this study we explored the potential impact of bilingualism on executive functioning abilities by testing large groups of young adult bilinguals and monolinguals in the tasks that were most extensively used when the advantages were reported. Importantly, the recently identified factors that could be disrupting the between groups comparisons were controlled for, and both groups were matched. We found no differences between groups in their performance. Additional bootstrapping analyses indicated that, when the bilingual advantage appeared, it very often co-occurred with unmatched socio-demographic factors. The evidence presented here indicates that the bilingual advantage might indeed be caused by spurious uncontrolled factors rather than bilingualism per se. Secondly, bilingualism has been argued to potentially affect working memory also. Therefore, we tested the same participants in both a forward and a backward version of a visual and an auditory working memory task. We found no differences between groups in either of the forward versions of the tasks, but bilinguals systematically outperformed monolinguals in the backward conditions. The results are analyzed and interpreted taking into consideration different perspectives in the domain-specificity of the executive functions and working memory.

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Aberrant modulation of brain activity underlies impaired working memory following traumatic brain injury

10.1101/2021.03.23.436708 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Abbie S. Taing ◽

Matthew E. Mundy ◽

Jennie L. Ponsford ◽

Gershon Spitz

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Working Memory ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Memory Task ◽

Task Demands ◽

Neural Activation ◽

Neural Processing ◽

Specific Working

AbstractImpaired working memory capacity is a common and disabling consequence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that is caused by aberrant neural processing. However, due to high heterogeneity in results across studies, it is challenging to conclude whether impaired working memory in this population is driven by neural hypo- or hyper-activation, and the extent to which deficits are perpetuated by specific working memory subprocesses. Using a combined functional magnetic resonance imaging and working memory paradigm, we tested the hypothesis that the pattern of neural activation subserving working memory following TBI would interact with both task demands and specific working memory subcomponents: encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Behaviourally, we found that working memory deficits were confined to the high cognitive load trials. Our results confirmed our key prediction. Overall, TBI participants showed reduced brain activity while performing the working memory task. However, interrogation of the subcomponents of working memory revealed a more nuanced pattern of activation. When we simply averaged across all task trials, regardless of cognitive load or subcomponent, TBI participants showed reduced neural activation. When examined more closely, patterns of brain activity following TBI were found to interact with both task demands and working memory subcomponent. Participants with TBI demonstrated an inability to appropriately modulate brain activity between low and high demand conditions necessary during encoding and maintenance stages. Therefore, we demonstrate that conclusions about aberrant neural processing are dependent upon the level of analysis and the extent to which general cognitive domains can be parcellated into its constituent parts.

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