scholarly journals Low-Resolution Neurocognitive Aging and Cognition: An Embodied Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Mille ◽  
Simona M. Brambati ◽  
Marie Izaute ◽  
Guillaume T. Vallet

Consistent with embodied cognition, a growing evidence in young adults show that sensorimotor processing is at the core of cognition. Considering that this approach predicts direct interaction between sensorimotor processing and cognition, embodied cognition may thus be particularly relevant to study aging, since this population is characterized by concomitant changes in sensorimotor and cognitive processing. The present perspective aims at showing the value and interest to explore normal aging throughout embodiment by focusing on the neurophysiological and cognitive changes occurring in aging. To this end, we report some of the neurophysiological substrates underpinning the perceptual and memory interactions in older adults, from the low and high perceptual processing to the conjunction in the medial temporal lobe. We then explore how these changes could explain more broadly the cognitive changes associated with aging in terms of losses and gains.

Author(s):  
Spencer W. Liebel ◽  
Lawrence H. Sweet

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects approximately 44 million American adults older than age 60 years and remains the leading cause of death in the United States, with approximately 610,000 each year. With improved survival from acute cardiac events, older adults are often faced with the prospect of living with CVD, which causes significant psychological, social, and economic hardship. The various disease processes that constitute CVD also exert a deleterious effect on neurocognitive functioning. Although existing knowledge of neurocognitive functioning in CVD and its subtypes is substantial, a review of these findings by CVD type and neurocognitive domain does not exist, despite the potential impact of this information for patients, health care providers, and clinical researchers. This chapter provides a resource for clinicians and researchers on the epidemiology, mechanisms, and neurocognitive effects of CVDs. This chapter includes a discussion of neurocognitive consequences of CVD subtypes by neuropsychological domain and recommendations for assessment. Overall, the CVD subtypes that have the most findings available on specific neurocognitive domains are heart failure, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation. Despite a large discrepancy between the number of available studies across CVD subtypes, existing literature on neurocognitive effects by domain is consistent with the literature on the neurocognitive sequelae of unspecified CVD. Specifically, the research literature suggests that cognitive processing speed, attention, executive functioning, and memory are the domains most frequently affected. Given the prevalence of CVDs, neuropsychological assessment of older adults should include instruments that allow consideration of these potential neurocognitive consequences of CVD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 731-731
Author(s):  
Anne Dickerson

Abstract For older adults living in rural/suburban communities, driving is often their only means of transportation. Although considered safe drivers, drivers older than 70 years have higher crash rates with fatality rates amplified due to the increased frailty/fragility. However, research evidence clearly indicates that cognitive factors contribute to driving impairment in older adults. Occupational therapists, as experts in observation of functional performance, use the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS), for measurement of performance in everyday activities using two scales (motor and process). Previously demonstrated as a sensitive tool for cognitive changes, this presentation will summarize the research outcomes between older adults with cognitive impairment (N=57+) and without (N=53) who completed a comprehensive driving evaluation. Analysis of the two samples using receiving operating curves suggests the AMPS has potentially excellent specificity and sensitivity, specifically AUC = 0.826(0.73-0.92) for motor, AUC = 0.909(0.84-0.98) for process, and AUC = 0.936(0.88-0.99) together. Part of a symposium sponsored by Transportation and Aging Interest Group.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 291-292
Author(s):  
Jennie Dorris ◽  
Juleen Rodakowski

Abstract Older adults with cognitive changes need stimulating programming to maximize their cognitive abilities. One area to maximize includes spatial skills, its decline can lead to disorientation and wandering. Music has potential to maximize spatial skills: reading music’s notation is associated with enhanced spatial skills in children and professional musicians. It’s critical to understand the potential impact of a spatially focused music program for older adults with changing cognition; if successful, future music programs could support people staying orientated in their environments and living independently longer. We developed and assessed a six-week marimba program focused on reading music with 15 older adults ages 65-89 with changes in cognition. We compared their scores on the Orientation Test from the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills pre- and post-intervention and assessed if participants self-selected to read music notation. Participants scored an average Modified Mini Mental State Examination (3MSE) score of 81.3 (SD = 11.0). On average, participants’ scores on the Orientation Test moved from 13.4 (SD =1.9) to 14.1 (SD= 2.7), providing a cohen’s d effect size of 0.3. Over the six weeks, 11 out of the 15 participants selected to read music for at least one class, indicating a statistically significant change using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (Z = -3.16, p < 0.01), suggesting that older adults with cognitive changes may be able to learn to read music. This is important, as a spatially focused music program may maximize spatial skills that older adults need to successfully navigate their world safely and independently.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ondrej Lerch ◽  
Martina Pařízková ◽  
Martin Vyhnálek ◽  
Zuzana Nedelská ◽  
Jakub Hort ◽  
...  

Background: Cholinergic deficit and medial temporal lobe (MTL) atrophy are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) leading to early allocentric spatial navigation (aSN) impairment. APOE ɛ4 allele (E4) is a major genetic risk factor for late-onset AD and contributes to cholinergic dysfunction. Basal forebrain (BF) nuclei, the major source of acetylcholine, project into multiple brain regions and, along with MTL and prefrontal cortex (PFC), are involved in aSN processing. Objective: We aimed to determine different contributions of individual BF nuclei atrophy to aSN in E4 positive and E4 negative older adults without dementia and assess whether they operate on aSN through MTL and PFC or independently from these structures. Methods: 120 participants (60 E4 positive, 60 E4 negative) from the Czech Brain Aging Study underwent structural MRI and aSN testing in real-space arena setting. Hippocampal and BF nuclei volumes and entorhinal cortex and PFC thickness were obtained. Associations between brain regions involved in aSN were assessed using MANOVA and complex model of mutual relationships was built using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Path analysis based on SEM modeling revealed that BF Ch1-2, Ch4p, and Ch4ai nuclei volumes were indirectly associated with aSN performance through MTL (pch1 - 2 = 0.039; pch4p = 0.042) and PFC (pch4ai = 0.044). In the E4 negative group, aSN was indirectly associated with Ch1-2 nuclei volumes (p = 0.015), while in the E4 positive group, there was indirect effect of Ch4p nucleus (p = 0.035). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that in older adults without dementia, BF nuclei affect aSN processing indirectly, through MTL and PFC, and that APOE E4 moderates these associations.


AGE ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Gallagher ◽  
Carlo Colantuoni ◽  
Howard Eichenbaum ◽  
Rebecca P. Haberman ◽  
Peter R. Rapp ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 150 (6) ◽  
pp. 1411-1422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Sheng Li ◽  
Craig Montell

The light response in Drosophila photoreceptor cells is mediated by a series of proteins that assemble into a macromolecular complex referred to as the signalplex. The central player in the signalplex is inactivation no afterpotential D (INAD), a protein consisting of a tandem array of five PDZ domains. At least seven proteins bind INAD, including the transient receptor potential (TRP) channel, which depends on INAD for localization to the phototransducing organelle, the rhabdomere. However, the determinants required for localization of INAD are not known. In this work, we showed that INAD was required for retention rather than targeting of TRP to the rhabdomeres. In addition, we demonstrated that TRP bound to INAD through the COOH terminus, and this interaction was required for localization of INAD. Other proteins that depend on INAD for localization, phospholipase C and protein kinase C, also mislocalized. However, elimination of any other member of the signalplex had no impact on the spatial distribution of INAD. A direct interaction between TRP and INAD did not appear to have a role in the photoresponse independent of localization of multiple signaling components. Rather, the primary function of the TRP/ INAD complex is to form the core unit required for localization of the signalplex to the rhabdomeres.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1405-1407
Author(s):  
Viviana M. Wuthrich

It is well-established that as people age, deterioration in cognitive abilities including processing speed, memory, and cognitive flexibility occurs, although vast individual differences occur in the rate and consequences of this decline (Christensen, 2001). Anxiety and depression in late life are also associated with specific cognitive deficits in memory and executive functioning that may impact on new learning (Yochim et al., 2013). Therefore, it is possible that cognitive changes make it more difficult for older adults to learn how to change their thinking particularly in the context of psychological therapy.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. e0195549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prabha Siddarth ◽  
Alison C. Burggren ◽  
Harris A. Eyre ◽  
Gary W. Small ◽  
David A. Merrill

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tolulope Adeniji ◽  
Adetoyeje Y. Oyeyemi

Purpose This study aims at translating and adapting a common and widely used proxy rated cognitive screening tool – Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) into Hausa language and also to evaluate the instrument’s psychometric properties. Design/methodology/approach IQCODE was translated and adapted using a qualitative process involving experts and the adapted version was then evaluated against a gold standard (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder V criteria for neurocognitive disorders) with older adults subjects (N = 100), while its reliability (internal consistency) was also evaluated. Descriptive statistics of mean and frequencies, and inferential statistic of receiver operating curve analysis and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used for data analysis at an alpha level set at 0.05. Findings The Hausa IQCODE has a sensitivity value of 73.3%, specificity value of 71.8% and optimal cut-off values of between 3.2 and 3.3. For his adapted instrument the area under the Curve (AUC) curve is 0.79 (95% CI: 0.663–0.919; std. err: 0.066; P = 0.000), and Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.819 was obtained indicating that the adapted instrument has good internal consistency. Research limitations/implications The adapted IQCODE is a valid and reliable proxy based cognitive screening tool for the older adult Hausa speakers in Maiduguri. However, clinician and researcher might want to consider different optimal cut-off points when using this tool to screen or to monitor cognitive changes among older adults. Originality/value This research paper translated and adapted Hausa IQCODE into Hausa language. And it gives information on the validity and reliability of the adapted tool alongside with new optimal cut-off for cognitive screening by proxy among older adult patients in Nigeria.


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