scholarly journals Prenatal Exposure to Chemical Mixtures and Cognitive Flexibility among Adolescents

Toxics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Anna V. Oppenheimer ◽  
David C. Bellinger ◽  
Brent A. Coull ◽  
Marc G. Weisskopf ◽  
Susan A. Korrick
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Prenatal Exposure ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Effect Modification ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Chemical Mixture ◽  
Score Difference ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Multivariable Regression

Cognitive flexibility, the ability to smoothly adapt to changing circumstances, is a skill that is vital to higher-level executive functions such as problem-solving, planning, and reasoning. As it undergoes substantial development during adolescence, decrements in cognitive flexibility may not become apparent until this time. There is evidence that prenatal exposure to individual chemicals may adversely impact executive functions in children, but few studies have explored the association of co-exposure to multiple chemicals with cognitive flexibility specifically among adolescents. We investigated this association among a diverse group of adolescents living near a Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Specifically, using Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) and multivariable regression analyses, we investigated the association of biomarkers of prenatal exposure to organochlorines (DDE, HCB, PCBs) and metals (lead, manganese) with cognitive flexibility, measured with four subtests of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System. In BKMR models, we observed adverse joint associations of the chemical mixture with two of the four cognitive flexibility subtests. In covariate-adjusted linear regression models, a two-fold increase in cord blood Mn was associated with poorer performance on two of the subtests: Trail-Making (scaled score difference = −0.60; 95% CI: −1.16, −0.05 points) and Color-Word Interference (scaled score difference = −0.53; 95% CI: −1.08, 0.01 points). These adverse Mn-cognitive flexibility associations were supported by the results of the BKMR. There was little evidence of effect modification by sex and some evidence of effect modification by a measure of social disadvantage, particularly for the associations between HCB and cognitive flexibility. This study is among the first to provide evidence of an adverse association of prenatal exposure to a chemical mixture with cognitive flexibility in adolescence.

Latent Structure of a Brief Clinical Battery of Neuropsychological Tests Administered In-Home Via Telephone

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Matchanova ◽  
Michelle A Babicz ◽  
Luis D Medina ◽  
Samina Rahman ◽  
Briana Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Neuropsychological Battery ◽  
Memory And Attention ◽  
Sociodemographic Correlates ◽  
List Learning ◽  
Trail Making

Abstract Objective To examine the factor structure and sociodemographic correlates of a battery of clinical neuropsychological tests administered in-home and via telephone. Method Participants included 280 healthy adults who completed a 35–40 min battery consisting of seven auditory-verbal neuropsychological tests (i.e., 10 variables) that included digit span, list learning and memory, prospective memory, verbal fluency, and oral trail making. Results After removing oral trail making part A, a three-factor model comprised of executive functions, memory and attention demonstrated the best fit to the data. Nevertheless, the shared variance between the nine remaining neuropsychological variables was also adequately explained by a single-factor model and a two-factor model comprised of executive functions and memory. Factor scores were variably associated with education, race/ethnicity, and IQ, but not with sex or age. Conclusions Findings provide preliminary support for the feasibility and factor structure and sociodemographic correlates of a brief telephone-based screening neuropsychological battery comprised mostly of commonly administered clinical measures. Future studies are needed to determine the test–retest reliability, sensitivity, and ecological relevance of this battery, as well as equivalency to in-person assessment.

scholarly journals Executive Functions and Domain-Specific Cognitive Skills in Climbers

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Florian Heilmann
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Specific Test ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Sport Climbing ◽  
Novices And Experts ◽  
General Physical

Athletes in a particular sport have specific cognitive skills acquired due to regular confrontation with sport-specific requirements. Studies show that the particular type of sport carried out and fostered by general physical activity impacts executive functions (EFs) such as inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. There are inconsistent results on the connections between domain-specific cognitive skills and executive functions. This study aimed to evaluate the relations between EFs and domain-specific cognitive skills in climbing. Due to that, we examined the executive functions (neuropsychological tests) and domain-specific cognitive skills (climbing-specific test: a preview of the route vs. climbed moves; climbed moves vs. recognition of moves) of 19 climbers (10 novices, 9 experts, grades 5 to 6a vs. 6c+ to 7b). The inter-subject effects analysis shows that novices and experts in sport climbing do not differ in executive functions in this particular case. Concerning domain-specific cognitive skills, there are differences between experts and novices. Experts show a significantly higher level in planning performance or route idea (p < 0.001) as well as in memorizing of climbed moves (p = 0.004). There are no relations between executive functions and domain-specific cognitive skills in climbers.

scholarly journals Contribution to the evaluation of language disturbances in subcortical lesions: a piloty study

2004 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márcia Radanovic ◽  
Letícia Lessa Mansur ◽  
Mariana Jardim Azambuja ◽  
Cláudia Sellitto Porto ◽  
Milberto Scaff
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test ◽  
Cognitive Networks ◽  
Vascular Lesions ◽  
Card Sorting ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Boston Naming Test ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Trail Making

Subcortical structures are in a strategic functional position within the cognitive networks and their lesion can interfere with a great number of functions. In this study, we describe fourteen subjects with exclusively subcortical vascular lesions (eight in the basal ganglia and six in the thalamus) and the interrelation between their language alterations and other cognitive abilities, as attention, memory and frontal executive functions. All patients were evaluated through the following batteries: Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, Boston Naming Test, Token Test, Benton Visual Retention Test, Trail Making, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and a frontal scripts task. All patients underwent MRI and twelve underwent SPECT. Results show that these patients present impairment in several cognitive domains, especially attention and executive functions. These alterations affect language abilities, and this fact must be considered in the rehabilitation efforts.

scholarly journals Cultural variation in cognitive flexibility reveals diversity in the development of executive functions

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristine H. Legare ◽  
Michael T. Dale ◽  
Sarah Y. Kim ◽  
Gedeon O. Deák
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Cultural Variation

scholarly journals Executive Functions of Swedish Counterterror Intervention Unit Applicants and Police Officer Trainees Evaluated With Design Fluency Test

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjörn Vestberg ◽  
Peter G. Tedeholm ◽  
Martin Ingvar ◽  
Agneta C. Larsson ◽  
Predrag Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Expected Improvement ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Design Fluency ◽  
Successful Behavior

Executive functions (EF) represent higher order top-down mechanisms regulating information processing. While suboptimal EF have been studied in various patient groups, their impact on successful behavior is still not well described. Previously, it has been suggested that design fluency (DF)—a test including several simultaneous EF components mainly related to fluency, cognitive flexibility, and creativity—predicts successful behavior in a quickly changing environment where fast and dynamic adaptions are required, such as ball sports. We hypothesized that similar behaviors are of importance in the selection process of elite police force applicants. To test this hypothesis, we compared elite police force applicants (n = 45) with a control group of police officer trainees (n = 30). Although both groups were better than the norm, the elite police force applicants had a significantly better performance in DF total correct when adjusting for sex and age [F(1,71) = 18.98, p &lt; 0.001]. To understand how this capacity was altered by stress and tiredness, we re-tested the elite police force applicants several days during an extreme field assessment lasting 10 days. The results suggested that there was a lower than expected improvement in DF total correct and a decline in the DF3-subtest that includes a larger component of cognitive flexibility than the other subtests (DF1 and DF2). Although there was a positive correlation between the baseline session and the re-test in DF3 [r(40) = 0.49, p = 0.001], the applicants having the highest scores in the baseline test also displayed the largest percentage decline in the re-test [r(40) = −0.46, p = 0.003]. In conclusion, our result suggests that higher order EF (HEF) that include cognitive flexibility and creativity are of importance in the application for becoming an elite police officer but relatively compromised in a stressful situation. Moreover, as the decline is different between the individuals, the results suggest that applicants should be tested during baseline conditions and during stressful conditions to describe their cognitive capacity fully.

scholarly journals COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS CONDITION OF POST-STROKE PATIENTS

2019 ◽  
pp. 16-21
Author(s):  
V. R. Gerasymchuk ◽  
I. F. Uwa-Agbonikhena ◽  
L. T. Maksymchuk ◽  
M. Yu. Kupnovytska-Sabadosh ◽  
T. I. Nehrych ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Mini Mental State Examination ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Clock Drawing Test ◽  
Drawing Test ◽  
Status Assessment ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
State Examination ◽  
Moca Score

60 patients after a hemispheric ischemic stroke (IS) were examined. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), Trail Making Test A and B (TMT), and the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) were used for the cognitive status assessment. A decrease in the MMSE, FAB and MoCA score compared to the control group (CG) (p<0.05) was observed, with probable differences mainly in the domains of attention (p<0.05) and executive functions (p<0.05). An increase in the time of task execution by 45.5% was detected for TMT A (p <0.05) and 61.9% for TMT B (p <0.01), and violation of CDT performance compared to the CG (p<0.05). Thus, the study of cognitive status using TMT and CDT may be recommended for timely detection of the initial executive functions impairment.

scholarly journals Relation between executive functions and polymorphisms in COMT, MAO-A, HTTLPR, SLC1A1 and HT2A in a sample of children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Enrique Avila Campos ◽  
María Cristina Pinto Dussan ◽  
Ángela María Polanco Barreto ◽  
Esneyder Manuel Guerrero ◽  
Rafael Antonio Vásquez Rojas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test ◽  
Card Sorting ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Mao A ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Sorting Test

AbstractBackgroundObsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has a complex etiology related to multiple neuropsychological factors. OCD is associated with several candidate genes but results are discordant. The objective was to explore the association between five polymorphisms related to neurotransmitters, the risk of an OCD diagnosis and the performance in four executive functions tests done with Colombian patients diagnosed with this condition.Methods63 patients and 65 controls matched by gender and age were genetically analyzed. For the study of the relation between cognitive function and phenotypes, a subsample of 33 patients and 31 controls was used. The Stroop test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Tower of London and Trail Making Test (TMT) for executive function assessment were applied and the SNPs analyzed were: COMT (rs4680), MAO-A (rs6323), HTTLPR (rs25531), HT2A (rs6315) and SLC1A1 (rs301434).ResultsDifferences in the conceptualization of the WCST test (p = 0.023) and Stroop interference score (p = 0.041) between cases and controls were obtained. After analyzing the relationship between genotypes and sub-scores of the tests, associations between the presence of MAO-A, SLAC1A1, HTTLPR and HT2A alleles and tests sub-scores were found.DiscussionThis characterization of children with OCD is a new field of work in Colombia and one of the first works performed in Latin America. The sample size and the number of polymorphisms analyzed in this population should be increased.

A-197 Trail Making Test Normative Data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center: A Comparison of Regression and Non-Regression Methods

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1252-1252
Author(s):  
Saranya Patel ◽  
Jeffrey Schaffert ◽  
Anne Carlew ◽  
Michael Conley ◽  
Heidi Rossetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Normative Data ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Neuropsychological Measures ◽  
Regression Methods ◽  
T Score ◽  
Score Difference ◽  
Trail Making

Abstract Objective Various methods are used to derive normative data for neuropsychological assessment measures. The National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) regression norms (2011) are frequently used within Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers, yet little research exists comparing these norms to similar regression/non-regression-based norms. Normative data for the widely-used Trail Making Test (TMTA&B) was compared between two regression-based normative data methods (Mitrushina and NACC) and traditional normative methods (i.e., Mayo’s Older Americans Normative Studies [MOANS]). Method TMTA&B data were obtained from 14,873 cognitively normal NACC participants (ages: 50–89; education: M = 15.81, SD = 2.90). T-scores for TMTA&B scores based on Mitrushina, NACC, and MOANS norms were computed. T-scores for regression norms were bounded from 20 to 80. Cohen’s d effect sizes were used to compare differences in scores. Results MOANS and Mitrushina norms produced similar normative scores in the overall sample (TMTA T-score difference = 1.06, d = 0.112, TMTB T-score difference = 1.4, d = 0.144). NACC-derived scores were ~ 0.5 SD below MOANS (TMTA T-score difference = −5.3, d = 0.553, TMTB T-score difference = −4.1, d = 0.427) and Mitrushina scores (TMTA T-score difference = −6.3, d = 0.736, TMTB T-score difference = −5.6, d = 0.615). NACC data produced the lowest average TMTA&B T-scores across all 5-year age band groups. Conclusions Significantly lower TMT scores were obtained using NACC’s regression-based norms compared to both MOANS norms and Mitrushina regression norms. These results underscore that the choice of norms may under and/or overestimate cognitive functioning, and comparison norms must be chosen carefully when making decisions about patients’ cognitive status. Future research applying NACC’s regression-based norms to other commonly used neuropsychological measures is warranted.

scholarly journals School performance at the end of elementary school: Contributions of intelligence, language, and executive functions

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natália Martins DIAS ◽  
Alessandra Gotuzo SEABRA
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
School Year ◽  
Several Variables ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
5Th Grade

Abstract There are several variables that are associated with and that can influence school performance. The present study investigated the following: 1) the relationship between school performance and intelligence, language, and executive functions; 2) explanatory models for school performance. A total of 87 students in 5th grade of elementary school, attending a public school in São Paulo State, Brazil (mean age = 9.72, standard deviation = 0.58), participated in this study. The participants were evaluated in terms of intelligence, language (phonological awareness and vocabulary), and executive functions (attention, cognitive flexibility, and working memory). Bimonthly grades were collected at the end of the school year. Results revealed significant correlations between school performance and all measures, except for attention. Students’ performance on the cognitive tests explained up to 66% of their grades. Intelligence, language, and executive functions are associated with school performance, but language and executive functions, especially cognitive flexibility, can be considered as stronger predictors of performance in 5th grade. These findings can assist in the design and implementation of intervention programs to promote these skills.

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