bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
28 Executive Functioning in Children with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo
Authors: Persad Ashni S , Adedeji Oladipo , Robles Jasmine , Nolty Anne A. 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is an attentional disorder characterized by excessive daydreaming, reduced alertness, slowed motor behavior, and mental fogginess. The purpose of the present study was to examine potential executive functioning group differences between children with high SCT symptoms versus those with low SCT symptoms. It was hypothesized that children with high SCT symptoms would have greater executive functioning deficits than children with low SCT symptoms, as reported by their teachers.Participants and Methods:There were 32 children in this study, between the ages of 6 to 13 (M = 8.94; SD = 1.97). To measure the level of SCT symptomology, an average rating on four items from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Items 13, 17, 80, 102) and an average rating from five items from the Teacher's Report Form (TRF; Items 13, 17, 60, 80, 102) were acquired and averaged to produce a combined measure of SCT. The present study had fair to good reliability for CBCL and TRF with Cronbach alpha values of .71 and .82 respectively. Eighteen participants had SCT scores above the Garner et al. (2010) cutoff criteria for the CBCL (SCT over 0.67) or the TRF (SCT over 0.75) which placed them in the high SCT group. The 13 participants who did not meet criteria for high SCT were considered the low SCT group. To measure executive function, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) teacher ratings were used. A general linear model multivariate analysis was conducted on each measure of the BRIEF teacher reports with ADHD-Inattentive (ADHD-IN) and Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) scores as covariates.Results:There were significant group differences between the BRIEF Teacher Global Executive Composite scores of the high SCT group (M = 60.81, SD = 7.78) versus the low SCT group (M = 50.31, SD = 6.87), F(1, 30) = 11.73, p < .001, np2 = .59. The high SCT group scored significantly higher than the low SCT group on the Initiate (p < .001), Working Memory (p < .001), Plan/Organize (p < .001), Monitor (p < .01), and Organization of Materials (p < .05) subscales. These findings indicate that the children in the high SCT group had greater executive functioning difficulties overall than the low SCT group.Conclusions:Children with high SCT symptoms demonstrated greater executive functioning deficits than children with low SCT symptoms regarding metacognition but not behavioral regulation. This means that children with SCT likely struggle more with initiating tasks, planning, organization, memory, and monitoring their thinking and behaviors than children without SCT. These skills are important for learning, which may at least partially help explain why children with SCT experience problems in school.
60 Family Functioning Effects on Cognitive Abilities in Children with Sickle Cell Disease
Authors: Gordon Amanda M 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Psychosocial factors show a significant relationship between child behavior problems, family functioning, and cognitive performance in children with Sickle Cell Disease, marking those as important targets for intervention among this population. The purpose of this research is to address the effects of psychosocial factors impact on specific cognitive domains.Participants and Methods:Archival data from the National Institutes of Health’s Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease was used. Data was restricted to individuals aged 14 or younger (N= 2,408), with 47.8% (n = 1,152) identified as female and 52.2% (n = 1,256) as male. Black or African American (96.9%, n = 2,334) children made up the majority of the sample, with the remainder coded as “other” (2.8%, n = 68). The measures utilized included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, and Family Environment Scale (FES).Results:Bivariate correlations were completed with significant correlations found between FES and performance on the WISC-R/III and PPVT. Supportiveness subscale on the FES demonstrated several statistically significant correlations with WAIS FSIQ (r = .21, p = .000) as well as the Information (r = .22, p = .000), Similarities (r = .17, p = .001), Arithmetic (r = .13, p = .021), Block Design (r = .11, p = .036), Vocabulary (r = .22, p = .000), Object Assembly (r = .12, p = .033), Comprehension (r = .19, p = .000), and Digit Span (r = .13, p = .014) subscales. A statistically significant correlation was observed between the PPVT and the Supportiveness subscale (r = .34, p = .000).Conclusions:Various areas of cognitive functioning are affected by family dynamics. Improvement in family functioning would benefit the cognitive functioning of children with SCD. To increase aspects of family functioning including supportiveness, early identification of children with SCD, targeted interventions, and family and/or individual therapy for caregivers are suggested.
2 Mask Wearing During Neuropsychological Assessment Negatively Impacts Performance on Verbal Tests in Older Patients
Authors: Thomas Amber C , Tranel Daniel 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Face masks are required in many healthcare settings. Face masks have well documented health advantages, but they can negatively impact interpersonal communication, an essential element of neuropsychological assessment. The purpose of this study was to quantify the impact of face masks on neuropsychological assessment in a large clinical setting.Participants and Methods:Participants included 755 pre-pandemic onset (51.3 % men, M = 59.54 years, SD = 17.23) and 838 (51.7% men, M = 60.63 years, SD = 16.71) post-pandemic onset outpatients from a large academic medical center in the Midwest. Performance was compared on selected assessments characterized by visual function (WAIS-IV Block Design, WAIS-IV Matrix Reasoning, and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test - Copy trial) and assessments characterized by verbal function (WAIS-IV Digit Span (DS), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) total score, and Complex Ideational Material). Secondary analyses compared performance between the groups by age: in an older group (greater than 65 years old) and a younger group (less than 65 years old).Results:The pre-and-post pandemic onset groups did not differ with respect to age, gender, education, or clinical diagnosis. Independent Samples T-tests showed that the post-pandemic onset group performed significantly worse on two verbal tests, DS (p =.005, Cohen’s d = 0.131) and the AVLT (p <.001, Cohen’s d = 0.245). Within the older group, the frequency of patients with dementia (54.1 vs 54.8 percent), and all other diagnoses, was comparable pre-and-post pandemic onset. The younger group also had comparable rates of clinical diagnoses at each time point. Secondary analyses showed that the older group was the only group to perform significantly worse on the two verbal tests post-pandemic onset: DS (p =.004, Cohen’s d = 0.20) and AVLT (p <.001, Cohen’s d = 0.39). The younger group had no differences in their performance on any of the verbal tests. For both the primary and secondary analyses, none of the groups had a significant change in performance on the tests that were characterized by visual function.Conclusions:These results suggest that mask use during neuropsychological assessment may hinder performance on tests that require close attention to verbal output in older patients. This finding is not otherwise explained by demographic or clinical differences. In fact, these patients had nearly identical rates of dementia before and after the onset of the pandemic. In contrast, performance on tests that rely mainly on visual function was not affected. Attending to masked speech may be more cognitively demanding for older individuals, thus influencing their performance during testing. This may be particularly relevant for neuropsychologists working in geriatric settings.Neuropsychologists performing assessments inperson, with masks, should be aware that patient scores on certain tests may be artificially deflated for reasons unrelated to cognition or clinical condition.
9 Four-Year Practice Effects on the RBANS in a Longitudinal Study of Older Adults
Authors: Reed Christopher , Calamia Matthew , Sanderson-Cimino Mark , De Vito Alyssa , Toups Robert , Keller Jeffrey 
Published: December 2023

Objective:The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is one of the most widely used measures in neuropsychological assessment. Studies of practice effects on the RBANS have largely been limited to studies assessing one or two repeated assessments. The aim of the current study is to examine practice effects across four years after baseline in a longitudinal study of cognitively healthy older adults. Practice effects were estimated using a pseudo-replacement participants approach which has been previously applied in other aging studies.Participants and Methods:453 Participants from the Louisiana Aging Brain Study (LABrainS) completed the RBANS Form A on up to four annual assessments after a baseline evaluation. Practice effects were calculated using a modified participants-replacement method where scores of individuals who were administered RBANS Form A multiple times are compared to the baseline scores of matched participants with additional adjustment for attrition effects.Results:Practice effects were observed primarily in the immediate memory, delayed memory, and total score indices. For example, an increase of nearly half a standard deviation was observed for delayed memory.Conclusions:These findings extend past work on the RBANS and other neuropsychological batteries more broadly in showing the susceptibility of memory measures to practice effects. Given that memory and total score indices of the RBANS have the most robust relationships with diagnostic status and biomarkers for pathological cognitive decline, these findings raise concerns about the ability to recruit those at risk for decline from longitudinal studies using the same form of the RBANS for multiple years.
51 Importance of Using Baseline Verbal Abilities When Interpreting the MOCA Test Performance
Authors: Kim Se Yun (Jacqueline) , Altaras Caroline , O’Connor Margaret 
Published: December 2023

Objective:The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) is widely used as a mental status screening test to detect cognitive impairment in adults over 55 years of age. Performance on this test ranges from 0 to 30. One point is given to individuals with 12 or lower years of education. This accommodation is based on the fact that low education may be a risk factor for dementia (Milani et al., 2018). However, studies suggest the one-point adjustment may not be sufficient to address the impact of low education on test performance (Malek-Ahmadi et al., 2015). The aim of this study is to compare the effects of educational achievement versus baseline verbal abilities on MOCA performance.Participants and Methods:Fifty patients (25 male; mean age=72.78, SD = 8.11; mean education=16.18, SD = 2.73) with cognitive concerns were referred to Massachusetts General Brigham. All underwent neuropsychological evaluation, including screening with the MOCA. Total MOCA scores were calculated. In this patient group, the MOCA scores ranged from 10 to 29 (mean=22, SD=5.129). Measures of literacy (Wechsler Test of Adult Reading or Test of Premorbid Functioning) were used to estimate baseline verbal abilities. Educational achievement was based on self-reported years of education.Results:Correlational analyses included the Total MOCA scores, measures of literacy, and years of education. Performance on the MOCA significantly correlated with measures of literacy, r(43)=.578, p< .001, and a stepwise regression analysis revealed that literacy predicted performance on the MOCA, R2=.041, F(3,139)= 9.172, p<.001. Years of education correlated with measures of literacy, r(44)=.494, p< .001, but not with performance on the MOCA.Conclusions:Findings suggest that education-adjusted scoring on the MOCA may not be sufficient to “level the playing field” in terms of MOCA performance. Years of education had less of an effect on the Total MOCA scores than did baseline verbal abilities. It may be the case that literacy has a more robust effect on MOCA performance due to the inherent verbal nature of the MOCA. Data from this study highlight the importance of considering a patient’s baseline verbal abilities in the interpretation of their MOCA performance.
62 The Print Knowledge as a Predictor of Reading Acquisition in Mexican Preschoolers
Authors: Lara-Gonzalez Victor H. , de la Miyar Carmen Armengol , Aguillön-Solis Cristina , Salvador-Cruz Judith 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Print Knowledge in children starts with recognizing and characterizing printed figures; it is a precursor of other skills like letter knowledge and phonological awareness. The goal was to assess print knowledge components and their predictive value in emerging literacy in a sample of Mexican preschoolers.Participants and Methods:60 children (aged 4 to 6 years old; 50% boys and 50% girls) were tested with an analysis of the visual synthesis and the figure copy from the SNBP-MX and the Rey Complex Figure Test (children’s version).Results:Children with lower performance in the SNBP-MX cannot use visual information to perform correctly at the Rey Complex Figure. They have problems in the reproduction of the figure, and they do not respect the components of the Print Knowledge: 1) figure building characteristics (size, rotation, orientation) and function (relationship with the background and with other figures).Conclusions:Early visual perception skills impairments are related to the execution of elements from the Print Knowledge. Therefore, it is expected that children with low performance at visoperception and spatial tasks will have difficulties with early literacy. Since visual information is needed for the copy and learning of writing figures, print knowledge could be categorized as a predictor of the early word and letter recognition skills. We thank project PAPIIT IN308219 for sponsoring this research.
Poster Symposium: Digital Neuropsychology in Perspective: Are we 'Clinically’ there yet?
Authors: Crivelli Lucia , Sunderaraman Preeti 
Published: December 2023

Summary AbstractTraditionally, neuropsychology has focused on assessing aspects of the brain and behavior using in-person, paper-and-pencil tests. There was a heavy emphasis on the standardization of test procedures and use of psychometrically sound norms to enable precise clinical evaluations and diagnosis. In the past few decades, the advent of digital technology has led to an increased focus on teleneuropsychology, which consists of conducting evaluations remotely. The coronavirus (COVID) pandemic propelled teleneuropsychology to new heights as it became increasingly recognized that cognitive evaluations conducted via technology can be both a feasible and practical approach to understanding the brain. However, with this realization, it also became apparent that teleneuropsychology tests and procedures need to be updated to keep pace with the contextual changes. In keeping with this need the current symposium includes four abstracts covering a range of topics relevant to improve our understanding of the future of teleneuropsychology and its emergent clinical applications. The first abstract focuses on providing the audience with a scoping review of the literature about the current state of teleneuropsychology following the COVID pandemic. The second abstract focuses on providing evidence for the feasibility of conducting cognitive assessments remotely along with providing construct validity for the tasks. The third abstract discusses a rapid approach to test development, piloting, translation to clinical use, and adaptation for other languages and cultures using a unique platform. Finally, the last abstract focuses on improving our understanding of a Hybrid Neuropsychology model that integrates various digital tools for neuropsychological use that is being implemented in a clinical setting.
4 Accelerated Long-Term Forgetting in Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease
Authors: Kessels Roy PC 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Long-term forgetting rates may be more sensitive for detecting memory decrements compared to short-delay memory assessments (e.g., after 20-30 minutes). To date, much research has been performed on accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) in epilepsy patients, but research in other patient groups is lacking. ALF may be promising in the field of cerebrovascular disease, as many of these patients experience cognitive complaints, yet do not show impaired performances on neuropsychological assessments.Participants and Methods:Here, I will present empirical findings on ALF in individuals after a TIA/minor stroke (n=30) and after stroke (n=91) using short- (20-30 min) and long-delay (1-week) memory testing.Results:After TIA/minor stroke, short-delay (2030 min) memory testing was unimpaired, but 1-week delayed testing showed an impaired performance compared to stroke-free controls. In the stroke group, ALF was present in 17% of the patients, compared to stroke-free controls, but more prevalent than rapid forgetting after short-delay memory testing.Conclusions:ALF is present in patients with cerebrovascular disease, despite normal acquisition rates. The relation with neuroimaging findings and the clinical relevance of these results will be discussed.
9 Interoceptive Attentiveness: Evidence for Neurofunctional Correlates from an EEG Source Localization Study
Authors: Crivelli Davide , Balconi Michela 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Since seminal work by Sherrington, the term interoception refers to the ability to sense modifications of internal bodily states as opposed to the ability to sense stimuli coming from outside the body itself. Despite conceptual changes regarding the afferent signals subserving this type of inner perception, the core of this definition is still valid and widely accepted. The critical contribution of internal state perception to self-regulation as well as higher-order cognitive processes has led to the development of psychometric and observational measures trying to capture individual interoceptive skills, focusing especially on the ability to orient attention to internal sensations. Nonetheless, despite growing interest in interoceptive attention (IAtt), little is known about neurofunctional correlates of our ability to redirect attention to internal sensations and consciously process them, as well as on potential objective biomarkers of IAtt performance.Participants and Methods:This study included 36 volunteers who were asked to complete a heart-beat counting task (HCT), a common IAtt task. During both resting-state and HCT, central electrophysiological (EEG, 32 electrodes) and cardiovascular activity (ECG, I lead) were recorded. eLORETA was used to estimate both task-related and resting-state intracortical sources of EEG signals. Statistical non-parametric mapping (SnPM) was used to draw and investigate contrast statistical maps between rest- and task-related cortical current density.Results:Contrast analyses comparing HCT and resting revealed higher Alpha frequency current density estimates during the task, with primary cortical seed in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Regression analyses of the relationship between IAtt scores and task-related changes in intracortical current density during HCT revealed a positive relationship for the Beta frequency bands with primary cortical seeds in the cingulate gyrus and insula.
Conclusions:Findings add to available literature by further specifying the electrophysiological signature of interoceptive attentiveness, and suggest specific electrophysiological markers as objective measures of individual IAtt skills.
25 Longitudinal Decline in Memory in 1991 Gulf War Veterans: Where you Start Matters.
Authors: Orlinsky Leah A , Price Kathryn A , Zundel Clara G , Sullivan Kimberly , Krengel Maxine H 
Published: December 2023

Objective:Memory complaints have been a concern of Gulf War (GW) veterans since their return from the war in 1991, and over time it has been reported that exposures to neurotoxicants during the war have been associated with memory decline from premorbid levels. However, many of the studies that have shown slight or no memory decrements only looked at one time point and have not followed participants to document trajectory of symptoms over time. Longitudinal design is an optimal way to document change in cognitive function over time and the Fort Devens cohort (FDC), the longest running cohort of GW veterans, is ideal for assessing such change. This prospectively designed non-treatment seeking cohort were assessed at multiple timepoints with neuropsychological assessments and surveys. Initial neuropsychological assessments from 1997 showed above average scores on tests of verbal memory (California Verbal Learning Test) and average nonverbal memory (Wechsler Memory Scale-R) performances. A follow-up study of neuropsychological testing was completed between 2019-2022. This study was designed to document change in cognitive status between the two time points.Participants and Methods:Participants (N=50) from the original 1991 cohort were again tested from 2019-2022. Neuropsychological tests included California Verbal Learning Test-Second edition (CVLT2) for verbal learning, and the visual reproduction subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) for nonverbal learning and memory. For both time points, the average scores of the participants were compared with age scaled scores for each neuropsychological test.Results:The mean age of our current participants was 58 years. 72% were men. Relative to standardized test norms at the first time point, the scores for total learning from trials 1 through 5 from the CVLT2 were in the above average range relative to age and gender-based norms. During the second time point, the participants average scores on the same scale had dropped to the average range, one full standard deviation below their prior performances. In addition, at the first time point, total learning from visual reproductions was in the average range and dropped to the low average range for the second time point. This value dropped by one-half a standard deviation.Conclusions:Results showed significant diminishment in verbal and visual memory relative to prior test performances. Whenever possible, documenting the trajectory of symptoms relative to where each participant started on neuropsychological functional outcomes is key to understanding the longitudinal impact of neurotoxicant and other war-related exposures in military veterans. Given this decline, further assessment of GW veterans’ cognitive trajectories is warranted.