A-104 Examining Methods of Executive Ability from Trail Making Test Part B in Retired Football Players

Introduction Repeated sports-related concussions have been associated with cognitive deficits, similar to other forms of traumatic brain injury. We investigated three different measures of executive ability derived from the Trail Making Test part B (TMT-B) in healthy comparison (HC) adults and retired football players. Methods The sample consisted of 32 HC, 15 retired football speed players (FSP; e.g., quarterbacks), and 53 retired football non-speed players (FNP) participants. Participants were administered both TMT part A (TMT-A) and TMT-B, and total time for completion was recorded. A series of ANCOVAs, controlling for age and education were conducted to evaluate group differences in executive abilities. Executive measures included the TMT-B raw score (i.e., seconds to complete TMT-B), the raw score difference (in seconds) between TMT-A and TMT-B (TMT-BA), and the difference between a predicted TMT-B score (TMT-BP) and the obtained TMT-B score (TMT-BBP). Correlations between TMT-B, TMT-BA, and TMT-BBP and other executive functioning tests (i.e., letter fluency and animal naming) were evaluated. Results Results revealed that the HC group outperformed both retired football player groups on all measures of executive ability derived from TMT-B, p’s < 0.05, ηps2 = 0.18–0.45. Furthermore, the retired FNP TMT-B and TMT-BA were significantly correlated with both letter fluency and animal naming, r’s = −0.40 to −0.36, p’s < 0.05. Discussion We found that the HC group outperformed both retired football player groups on all three TMT variables. In our retired FNP sample, more TMT variables correlated with executive functioning measures which suggests that TMT-B and TMT-BA are likely better measures of executive ability than TMT-BBP.

The Impact of Risk Preference in Decision Behavior on Urban Expansion Morphology

With the rapid development of urbanization, the urban expansion morphology has been changing with complex driving mechanisms behind the urban evolution process. This article simulates the results of urban land development contingent upon decision-makers’ risk preferences and reveals the inherent law of the effect of risk preferences on urban expansion morphology. Results show that cautious decision-makers lead to the urban expansion morphology being relatively compact, and the reckless decision-makers lead the urban expansion to sprawl. Moreover, there are obvious differences in strengths of planning constraints on the decision-makers with different risk preferences. The reckless decision-makers, driven by the economic interests, are more likely to break through the planning, especially when the planning is not reasonable. It is also found that enhancing executive ability of planning for the reckless decision-makers can promote compactness of the urban expansion morphology. However, the effect of enhancing executive ability of planning on the cautious decision-makers is limited. Thus, in the case of unreasonable planning, the executive ability of planning to the reckless decision-makers should be enhanced so as to avoid urban sprawl.

Consequences of Executive Focus on Support Activities: Evidence from Executive Influence on Firm Tax Strategy

Should executives solely focus on core activities of the firm? Or is it beneficial to focus on both core and support activities? If core and support activities are substitutes, focusing on both activities will take energy and attention away from core activities. If core and support activities are complements, focusing on both activities may lead to synergies and knowledge spillover. Further, it could be the case that individual executive characteristics impact these relations. Using executive influence on firm tax strategy as a proxy for executive focus on support activities, I find that executive focus on support activities is associated with poorer firm performance and negative executive labor market consequences. These results are partially moderated by executive ability and background. Overall, the results suggest top executives perform best when focused solely on core activities, consistent with core and support activities being substitutes.

Age-Related Changes in Audiovisual Simultaneity Perception and Their Relationship With Working Memory

Objectives Perceiving simultaneity of a visual and an auditory signal is critical for humans to integrate these multisensory inputs effectively and respond properly. We examined age-related changes in audiovisual simultaneity perception, and the relationships between this perception and working memory performances with aging. Methods Audiovisual simultaneity perception of young, middle-aged, and older adults was measured using a simultaneity judgment (SJ) task, in which a flash and a beep were presented at 1 of 11 stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs). Participants judged whether these two stimuli were perceived simultaneously. Precision of simultaneity perception, the SOA corresponding to the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS), and response errors at each SOA were estimated using model fitting. The precision and PSS are associated with multisensory perception per se, whereas the response error reflects executive ability when performing the SJ task. Visual working memory of the same middle-aged and older adults was measured using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) beforehand. Results Compared to young adults’ performances, middle-aged and older adults showed a decreased precision, a shift of PSS toward the visual-leading SOAs, and increased response errors at the visual-leading SOAs. Among these changes, only the increased response errors correlated with worse spatial recognition memory in middle-aged and older adults. Discussion Age-related decrements in audiovisual simultaneity perception start from middle age and are manifested in both perceptual and executive parameters. Furthermore, higher-order executive ability is plausibly a common cause for age-related degenerations in the audiovisual simultaneity perception and visual working memory.

Roald Dahl’s Narration Executive Ability for Fictionalization in His Children’s Novels

This paper tends to make a study on the narrative technique which is an indivisible part of the novel which has been employed by Roald Dahl in his children’s novel. As the value of narrative technique lies in its appropriate usage as per the need, Dahl employed the right technique at the right place which conveyed his wonderful ideas to the readers and make them feel magical. Though there are various narrative devices applied by the novelists to explain, explore and objectify their themes or ideology. Dahl perfectly familiar with these narrative devices is essential for the creation, imagination as well as better understanding of fiction. Roald Dahl, being the world’s number one story teller of 20thcentury children’s literature used the techniques which pulls the reader attention into his novels.

Effect of Levetiracetam on Cognitive Function and Clonic Seizure Frequency in Children with Epilepsy

Background: This study aimed to explore the clinical effect of levetiracetam in the treatment of children with epilepsy. Methods: 136 children with epilepsy were selected from January 2017 to December 2017. According to the random number table method, they were divided into the experimental group and the conventional group, with 68 cases in each group. The conventional group was treated with valproate, while the experimental group was treated with levetiracetam. The effective rate, the cognitive function and the frequency of clonic seizures in the two groups were compared. Results: There was no significant difference in the total effective rate between the two groups (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in attention, executive ability, abstract and orientation scores between the two groups before treatment (P>0.05). After treatment, the focus of attention (106.54±6.56), executive ability (105.76±6.77), abstract and directional score (106.65±6.57) were significantly higher than that of the conventional group. The difference in the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). After 3 months of treatment, the frequency of myoclonic seizures (9.22±0.95) and the frequency of tonic-clonic seizures (11.68±1.36) were found to be significantly lower than those of the conventional group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Levetiracetam is effective in the treatment of children with epilepsy. It can effectively improve the cognitive function of the patients, reduce the frequency of myoclonic seizures and tonic-clonic seizures, and has a high promotion value.