Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

Experimental data suggesting a co-evolutionary relationship between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking, and cognition and language remain limited to indirect findings of neurophysiological studies. Furthermore, retouch and quartz flaking remain uninvestigated. We recruited thirteen subjects and taught them to produce quartz choppers and chert sidescrapers in either a verbal or gestural condition. Two raters rated on a 5-point scale the subjects’ performances on specific steps of the two stone toolmaking tasks. Subjects also performed on a neuropsychological battery encompassing visuospatial, executive functioning, and linguistic tasks. Given the small sample size, the results should be regarded as exploratory and preliminary. There was only limited evidence that verbal compared to gestural teaching facilitated acquisition. Quartz chopper manufacture was not associated with cognitive performance. Conversely, chert flaking and retouch were moderately and strongly associated with visuospatial working memory and executive functioning. Specific aspects of chert flaking were also associated with verbal fluency performance, showing, among others, moderate and strong positive associations with the productivity and rate of production of syntactically transitive verbs on action fluency. Controversially assuming similar results would have been obtained by testing extinct hominins, our results possibly suggest Oldowan hominins relied on modern-like visuospatial working memory and executive functioning during chert knapping. Furthermore, some prerequisites for aspects of action language and syntactic transitivity in modern humans might have been to some degree present in Oldowan hominin populations. We conclude by proposing that the quality of performance on Oldowan knapping may not reflect the full level of cognitive capacities of Oldowan populations.

Cognitive functions and reading speed in schoolchildren with typical development and mild mental retardation

The article presents the results of an empirical study of the relationship between indicators of cognitive functioning and the success in reading in groups of schoolchildren with typical development and mild mental retardation (F70.0; ICD — 10). Information processing speed, visuospatial working memory and non-verbal intelligence were considered as indicators of cognitive development. To assess the reading speed, a check was used on the technique of reading texts in accordance with the Federal State Standard of General Education. The study involved 212 schoolchildren (39% girls) enrolled in Grades 1 — 9 of (1) a public school implementing programs of a special (correctional) school of type VIII and (2) a public school. The results revealed that age-related changes in the success of reading during compulsory schooling are characterized by a nonlinear pattern in children with typical development and a linear pattern in children with mild mental retardation. The differences between schoolchildren with typical and atypical development in reading speed increase from Grades 1 to 7, and then from Grades 7 to 9 may decrease. The regression analysis confirmed the differences in the direct effects of the influence of non-verbal intelligence, information processing speed and visuospatial working memory on the reading speed. These differences in effects depend on the type of mental development and the level of schooling. Mediation analysis showed that no more than 17% of the differences in the success of reading between schoolchildren with typical and atypical development can explain by cognitive functioning.

Locomotion and Topographical Working Memory in Children With Myelomeningocele and Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita

Background: In children with myelomeningocele (MMC) and arthrogryposis multiplex congenital (AMC), adequate rehabilitation measures are accessible with the goal of attaining the utmost motor development. However, there is a lack of knowledge as to how children develop navigation utilizing their locomotion abilities. The aim of the present study was to explore topographic working memory in children with MMC and AMC.Methods: For this purpose, we assessed 41 children with MMC and AMC, assigned an ambulation group, and 120 typical developing (TD) children, with mean ages of 11.9, 10.6, and 9.9 years, respectively. All groups performed a topographic working memory test while moving in a walking space and a visuospatial working memory test in a reaching space. Children with MMC and AMC also performed a test to measure their ability to reason on visuospatial material, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices.Results: The topographic working memory span was shorter in the MMC group than in the TD group. In general, all ambulation groups had a shorter topographic working memory span than the TD group. The visuospatial working memory span was shorter in the non-ambulation group than in the TD group. Scores from the visuospatial reasoning test were lower in the non-ambulation group than in the community ambulation group.Conclusions: Even though a higher cognitive score was found in the community ambulation group than in the non-ambulation group, topographic working memory was affected similarly in both groups. Including children who develop community ambulation in therapy programs containing aspects of navigation may gain even children with low levels of MMC and AMC. These results evidenced the importance of motor development and navigational experience gained through direct exploration of the environment on topographic memory.

Visuospatial working memory and the construction of a spatial situation model in listening comprehension: An examination using a spatial tapping task

The present study investigated how visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is involved in the construction of a spatial situation model for spatial passages presented auditorily. A simple spatial tapping condition, a complex tapping condition as a target-tracking task, and a control condition, were used to analyze the role of VSWM. To understand how individuals who differ in verbal working memory (VWM) capacity (determined with a listening span test) process spatial text during dual-task performance, individual differences in VWM capacity were analyzed. In two experiments, the participants listened to a spatial text at the same time as performing a spatial concurrent task or no concurrent task. The results of the free recall test in Experiment 1 showed that there were no differences between the tapping conditions in the high VWM capacity group; the low VWM capacity group had a lower performance in both spatial tapping tasks compared to the control condition. The results of the map drawing test in Experiment 2 showed that complex spatial tapping impaired performance in comparison to simple spatial tapping and the control condition in the high VWM capacity group; in the low VWM capacity group, both spatial tapping tasks impaired recall performance. In addition, the participants with high VWM capacity demonstrated better performance. Overall, the results suggest that individuals with high VWM capacity have more resources to process verbal and spatial information than those with low VWM capacity, indicating that VWM capacity is related to the degree of the involvement of VSWM.

Memantine for the Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: A Pharmacological fMRI Study

Background:Mild cognitive impairment of Parkinson’s disease (PD-MCI) represents increased risk of future cognitive decline. The characteristics of PD-MCI are impairments in executive function and visuospatial recognition. The visuospatial n-back test has a merit that it can assess both cognitive domains. Concerning the treatment of PD-MCI and dementia in PD (PDD), many studies have reported efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors. Similarly, some studies reported efficacy of memantine for PDD, showing that it improved clinical status or behavioral symptoms. However, therapeutic evidence of memantine for PD-MCI has not been unestablished. Methods: We aimed to investigate whether memantine can alter brain function of the patients with PD-MCI, using functional MRI. In comparison between memantine and placebo, we explored the difference in regions associated with visuospatial n-back test. The 0-back test reflects visuospatial recognition, and the 1-back and 2-back tests reflect visuospatial working memory. This study followed a randomized double-blind crossover design. Patients in the memantine group were given memantine at 5 mg/day in the first week, and the dose was increased by 5 mg/day per week, with the final dose of 20 mg/day. The patients in the placebo group were given a placebo following the same regimen. The population in this study constitutes 10 patients who completed follow-up. During maximum dose administration, fMRI scanning and neuropsychological tests were performed. Group comparisons between memantine and placebo were performed.Results: There were no significant regions enhanced by memantine comparing with placebo at any load of n-back tests. In contrast, exploring regions reduced by memantine, we found significant reduction of activations within right lingual gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus in comparison between 2-back and 0-back test. A number of correct answers of the 2-back test and time to complete Trail Making Test-A were worse at memantine intervention. Reduced brain activations were associated with worse visuo-spatial working memory caused by memantine.Conclusions:This study reports memantine did not improve visuospatial working memory of the patients with PD-MCI. Treatment of PD should be planned carefully considering the impact for cognitive function. Further study is needed to establish new therapeutic strategy of the patients with PD-MCI.