scholarly journals B-70 The Effect of Bilingualism on Trail Making Test Performance in Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors and Healthy Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1018-1018
Author(s):  
P Litvin ◽  
R Rugh-Fraser ◽  
W Lopez-Hernandez ◽  
J Knight ◽  
R Cervantes ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with a number of cognitive deficits. Language factors also impact neurocognitive performance. We examined the effects of TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on a test of attention and executive functioning (Trail Making Test; TMT). Method The sample (N = 96) consisted of 36 healthy controls (19 bilingual; 17 monolingual), 34 acute TBI participants (12 bilingual; 21 monolingual), and 27 chronic TBI participants (16 bilingual; 11 monolingual). Acute TBI participants were tested 6 months post-injury and chronic TBI participants were tested 12 months or more post-injury. 3X2 ANOVAs were conducted to determine the effect of TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on TMT part A and B. Results Main effects were found between groups (i.e., control and TBI groups) on TMT A, p < .001, ηp² = .17 and TMT B, p < .05, ηp² = .09. Pairwise comparisons revealed a difference only between the control group and the 6-month TBI group, with the latter performing worse. Main effects were found for bilingualism/monolingualism on TMT A, p < .05, ηp² = .04 and TMT B, p < .05, ηp² = .05; monolingual participants performed better than bilingual participants. No interactions emerged. Conclusion Relative to monolinguals, bilingual participants demonstrated worse attention and executive functioning performances 6 months post-TBI; however, 12 months post-TBI, the difference was negligible.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1017-1017
Author(s):  
R Rugh-Fraser ◽  
P Litvin ◽  
W Lopez Hernandez ◽  
J Knight ◽  
A Arzuyan ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors exhibit cognitive deficits. Language factors can also influence neurocognitive performance. We examined the effects of TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on a test of attention and cognitive speed (i.e., Symbol Digit Modalities Test; SDMT). Method The sample (N = 98) consisted of 37 controls (19 bilingual; 18 monolingual), 34 acute TBI participants (12 bilingual; 22 monolingual), and 27 chronic TBI participants (16 bilingual; 11 monolingual). Acute TBI participants were tested 6 months post-injury; chronic TBI participants were tested 12 months or more post-injury. All participants passed performance validity testing. 3X2 ANOVAs were conducted to determine the effect of TBI and language on SDMT written and oral performance. Results A main effect was found between groups (control and TBI groups) on SDMT written, p < .001, ηp² = .19 and SDMT oral p < .001, ηp² = .16. Pairwise comparisons revealed a difference between the control group and TBI groups, with TBI groups performing worse. A main effect for bilingualism/monolingualism was not found; interaction effects emerged between TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on SDMT written, p < .05, ηp² = .07 and SDMT oral p < .05, ηp² = .07. Conclusion TBI groups performed worse than controls on the SDMT. Relative to monolinguals with TBI, our findings suggest better cognitive recovery of verbal attention and cognitive speed in bilingual TBI participants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 939-939
Author(s):  
Olmos W ◽  
Lopez-Hernandez D ◽  
Knight J ◽  
Saravia S ◽  
Litvin P ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective We examined the effects of attention/processing speed (APS) and executive functioning (EF) in Hispanic and Caucasian traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors and healthy comparison participants (HC). Method The sample consisted of 45 HC (21 Hispanics & 24 Caucasian), 28 acute TBI (ATBI; 10 Hispanics & 18 Caucasians), and 26 chronic TBI (CTBI; 9 Hispanics; 17 Caucasians) participants. ATBI participants were tested 6 months post-injury; CTBI participants were tested 12 months or more post-injury. Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) Oral, SDMT Written, Stroop Word, Stroop Color, and Trail Making Test (TMT) part A were used to create an APS composite (APSC) score. Stroop color-word, TMT part B, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System verbal fluency composite score, and design fluency composite score were used to create an EF composite (EFC) score. Results ANOVAs were used to evaluate group differences. Main effects were found on APSC, p = .000, with HC and CTBI outperforming the ATBI group. Also, we found the HC group outperformed both TBI groups on EFC, p = .000. Furthermore, we found differences between racial/ethnic groups, with Caucasians outperforming Hispanics on EFC performance, p = .029. No interactions were found. Conclusion Overall, HC demonstrated better EF compared to both TBI groups, but only APS compared to the ATBI group. Also, CTBI survivors demonstrated better APS abilities compared to ATBI survivors. Our findings suggest improvement in APS during the later stages of TBI recovery. Finally, Caucasians demonstrated better EF compared to Hispanics.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 556-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel N. Allen ◽  
Nicholas S. Thaler ◽  
Erik N. Ringdahl ◽  
Sally J. Barney ◽  
Joan Mayfield

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1016-1016
Author(s):  
J Knight ◽  
A Arzuyan ◽  
W Lopez-Hernandez ◽  
P Litvin ◽  
R Cervante ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects neurocognition. Speaking multiple languages can also influence cognitive test performances. We examined the relationship between TBI and monolingualism/bilingualism on a task of attention and response inhibition (Stroop Color Word Test; SCWT). Method The sample (N = 96) consisted of 37 healthy controls (19 bilingual; 18 monolingual), 32 acute TBI participants (12 bilingual; 20 monolingual), and 27 chronic TBI participants (16 bilingual; 11 monolingual). Acute TBI participants were tested 6 months post-injury and chronic TBI participants were tested 12 months or more post-injury. The SCWT included the word (SCWT-W), color (SCWT-C), and color-word interference (SCWT-I) conditions. All participants passed performance validity testing. 3X2 ANOVAs were conducted to examine the relationship between TBI and monolingualism/bilingualism on SCWT performances. Results Group effects (control and TBI groups) were found for all Stroop measures. We found main effects of TBI on SCWT-W, p = .013, ηp² = .09, SCWT-C, p = .001, ηp² = .14, and SCWT-I, p = .022, ηp² = .08, with the controls outperforming acute TBI survivors on SCWT-I, chronic TBI survivors on SCWT-W, and both TBI groups on SCWT-C. We also observed main effects of language for SCWT-C, p = .012, ηp² = .07, and SCWT-I, p = .003, ηp² = .09, with the monolinguals outperforming bilinguals on SCWT-C and SCWT-I. However, no significant interactions between TBI and language were found. Conclusion As expected, the control group outperformed TBI survivors on the SCWT. Monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on all Stroop measures except SCWT-W condition. Our findings seem to suggest that monolingual speakers may have better attention and response inhibition abilities that resulted in better SCWT performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1015-1015
Author(s):  
R Cervantes ◽  
W Lopez Hernandez ◽  
J Knight ◽  
P Litvin ◽  
A Bueno ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors often exhibit problems with executive function (EF). Language use can also impact EF test performances. We examined the effects of TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on several EF tests. Method The sample (N = 94) consisted of 37 healthy controls (19 bilingual; 18 monolingual), 30 acute TBI participants (10 bilingual; 20 monolingual), and 27 chronic TBI participants (16 bilingual; 11 monolingual). Acute TBI participants were tested 6 months post-injury and chronic TBI participants were tested 12 months or more post-injury. Stroop Color-Word (SCW), Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Letter Fluency (DKEFS-LF), Trail Making Test part B (TMT-B) and a EF global composite (EF-GC) were used to assess EF. All participants passed performance validity testing. 3X2 ANOVAs were conducted to determine the effect of TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on EF performances. Results Main effects were found between groups (control and TBI groups) on SCW, p = .046, ηp² = .07, TMT-B, p = .042, ηp² = .07, and EF-GC, p = .005, ηp² = .13; the 6-month TBI group performed worse than controls on TMT-B and EF-GC. Main effects were found for bilingualism/ monolingualism on SCW, p = .012, ηp² = .07, and TMT-B, p = .034, ηp² = .05; monolingual participants performed better than bilingual participants. No significant interactions between TBI and language were found. Conclusion The TBI group underperformed on SCW, TMT-B, and EF-GC compared to controls; relative to monolinguals, bilinguals underperformed on the SCW and TMT-B only. In conclusion, our findings seem to suggest that monolinguals have better cognitive flexibility compared to bilinguals that result in better EF performances.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1175-1175
Author(s):  
Raelynn Munoz ◽  
Daniel W Lopez-Hernandez ◽  
Rachel A Rugh-Fraser ◽  
Jasman Sidhu ◽  
Pavel Y Litvin ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors exhibit cognitive deficits. Research suggests that multilingualism can influence neurocognitive performance. We examined the effects of TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism on a test of attention and cognitive speed (i.e., Symbol Digit Modalities Test; SDMT). Method The sample consisted of 55 healthy comparison (27 Spanish-English bilinguals; 28 English-monolinguals), 34 acute TBI (14 Spanish-English bilinguals; 23 English-monolinguals), and 27 chronic TBI (13 Spanish-English bilinguals; 12 English-monolinguals) participants. Acute TBI participants were tested 6 months post-injury; chronic TBI participants were tested 12 months or more post-injury. A series of 3X2 ANOVAs were conducted to determine the effect of TBI and language on SDMT written and oral performance. Results ANOVAs revealed the healthy comparison group outperformed both TBI groups on SDMT written, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.21. Also, the healthy comparison and chronic TBI groups outperformed the acute TBI group on SDMT oral, p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.13. Interaction effects emerged between TBI and bilingualism/monolingualism. On SDMT written and oral, acute TBI English-monolinguals outperformed acute TBI Spanish-English bilinguals; meanwhile, chronic TBI Spanish-English bilinguals outperformed chronic TBI English-monolinguals, p &lt; 0.05, ηp2 = 0.09–0.10. Conclusion The acute TBI group performed worse than healthy comparison adults on both SDMT tasks. Furthermore, the chronic TBI group demonstrated better SDMT oral abilities compared to the acute TBI group. Relative to monolinguals with TBI, our findings suggest better cognitive recovery of attention and cognitive speed in bilingual TBI participants. Future studies with larger sample sizes should examine if learning English first or second impacts Spanish-English bilingual TBI survivors’ SDMT performance compared to English-monolingual TBI survivors.


2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 798-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. S. Thaler ◽  
J. F. Linck ◽  
D. J. Heyanka ◽  
N. J. Pastorek ◽  
B. Miller ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. e0124345 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Woods ◽  
John M. Wyma ◽  
Timothy J. Herron ◽  
E. William Yund

Author(s):  
Sara M. Lippa ◽  
Jessica Gill ◽  
Tracey A. Brickell ◽  
Louis M. French ◽  
Rael T. Lange

Abstract Objective: This study examines the relationship of serum total tau, neurofilament light (NFL), ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) with neurocognitive performance in service members and veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: Service members (n = 488) with a history of uncomplicated mild (n = 172), complicated mild, moderate, severe, or penetrating TBI (sTBI; n = 126), injured controls (n = 116), and non-injured controls (n = 74) prospectively enrolled from Military Treatment Facilities. Participants completed a blood draw and neuropsychological assessment a year or more post-injury. Six neuropsychological composite scores and presence/absence of mild neurocognitive disorder (MNCD) were evaluated. Within each group, stepwise hierarchical regression models were conducted. Results: Within the sTBI group, increased serum UCH-L1 was related to worse immediate memory and delayed memory (R2Δ = .065–.084, ps < .05) performance, while increased GFAP was related to worse perceptual reasoning (R2Δ = .030, p = .036). Unexpectedly, within injured controls, UCH-L1 and GFAP were inversely related to working memory (R2Δ = .052–.071, ps < .05), and NFL was related to executive functioning (R2Δ = .039, p = .021) and MNCD (Exp(B) = 1.119, p = .029). Conclusions: Results suggest GFAP and UCH-L1 could play a role in predicting poor cognitive outcome following complicated mild and more severe TBI. Further investigation of blood biomarkers and cognition is warranted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1051-1051
Author(s):  
Kendra L Pizzonia ◽  
Andrew M Bryant ◽  
Leatha A Clark ◽  
Brian C Clark ◽  
Julie A Suhr

Abstract Objective ApoE is a well-known gene carrying risk for Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with memory performance while the COMT gene is associated with executive functioning but is understudied. The present study investigated these gene interactions across cognitive domains. Method A larger study on gait and aging recruited 89 healthy community-dwelling adults over the age of 60. The primary analyses included 82 participants (67% female, mean age = 74.61, SD = 6.71). The analyses on executive functioning included 72 participants (65% female, mean age = 73.02, SD = 4.99) who completed all measures of interest. ApoE status was defined as presence/absence of Ɛ4. The rs4680 gene on the COMT allele was classified into Val/Met, Val/Val, and Met/Met genotypes. Biological sex was included as a binary term (i.e., male/female). Index variables and age corrected standard scores on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, verbal fluency, and Trail Making Test were included. Results Gene–gene interactions were found for overall cognitive functioning, immediate memory, and semantic fluency. There were main effects of sex for overall cognitive functioning, immediate memory, delayed memory, and semantic fluency. There were main effects for COMT for delayed memory and a main effect for both COMT and ApoE for visuospatial functioning, coding, and verbal fluency (all p’s &lt; 0.05). There were no ApoE x COMT x Sex interactions and Trail Making Test B was not related to either gene or sex. Conclusion(s) Our findings suggest that both COMT and ApoE (and their interaction) influence cognition. Future research should investigate gene–gene interactions in larger samples with more comprehensive cognitive batteries.


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