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10.1037/0033-295x.104.1.3

Psychological review

Psychol Rev

A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multiple-task performance: Part 1. Basic mechanisms.

A new theoretical framework, executive-process interactive control (EPIC), is introduced for characterizing human performance of concurrent perceptual-motor and cognitive tasks. On the basis of EPIC, computational models may be formulated to simulate multiple-task performance under a variety of circumstances. These models account well for reaction-time data from representative situations such as the psychological refractory-period procedure. EPIC's goodness of fit supports several key conclusions: (a) At a cognitive level, people can apply distinct sets of production rules simultaneously for executing the procedures of multiple tasks; (b) people's capacity to process information at "peripheral" perceptual-motor levels is limited; (c) to cope with such limits and to satisfy task priorities, flexible scheduling strategies are used; and (d) these strategies are mediated by executive cognitive processes that coordinate concurrent tasks adaptively.

CognitiveTask

PRP

Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychologie

Z Exp Psychol

[Analysis of interference effects in simultaneous processing of 2 problems].

The aim of this investigation was to analyze dual-task interference in the so called Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm. In this paradigm subjects have to carry out two choice reaction tasks that overlap in time. A well known result is that reaction time on task 2 (Rt2) increases with decreasing overlap of the two tasks. Thereby reaction time on task 1 is described to be independent of the size of overlap (Rt 1). Usually, this result is explained by the assumption of a PRP which arises in processing of task 2, when serial processing is ongoing in both tasks. It was asked, 1.) whether the PRP is located before or after response selection in the first task and 2.) how the second task influences first task processing. In the experiment subjects had to carry out two choice reaction tasks together. In different conditions the difficulty of response selection in task 2 was systematically increased by varying the number of response alternatives (0, 1, 2, 3). Difficulty of response selection in task 1 was held constant. Overlap between both tasks was varied. This experimental design allows different hypotheses about the sources of interference in both tasks to be examined by use of Schweickert's Critical Path Technique (Schweickert, 1983). Contrary to the results of Karlin and Kestenbaum (1968) the effects of number of response alternatives and size of overlap on Rt2 indicate a localization of the PRP before response selection. The results support models which assume a serial processing in response selection (Welford, 1952). They are contrary to models of parallel processing in this stage (Keele, 1973). The influence of the number of alternatives in task 2 on Rt 1 can be explained by a mechanism of grouping both motor responses.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0278-7393.21.5.1339

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition

J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn

Attentional limits in memory retrieval.

The hypothesis that episodic memory retrieval can occur in parallel with other cognitive processes was tested in 2 experiments. Participants memorized words and then performed speeded cued recall (Experiment 1) or speeded yes-no recognition (Experiment 2) in a dual-task situation. The psychological refractory period design was used: The participant was presented with a single test item at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs; 50-1,200 ms) after a tone was presented in an auditory-manual 2-alternative choice reaction task. Reducing the SOA increased the memory task reaction times. This slowing was additive with the effect of variables slowing retrieval in the memory task. The results indicate that memory retrieval is delayed by central processes in the choice task, arguing that the central bottleneck responsible for dual-task interference encompasses memory retrieval as well as response selection.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.21.3.552

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Does mental rotation require central mechanisms?

Four reaction time experiments examined the mental rotation process using a psychological refractory period paradigm. On each trial, participants made speeded responses to both a tone (S1) and a rotated letter (S2), presented with varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). If mental rotation of the stimulus letter can proceed while central mechanisms are busy with S1, then the effect of orientation should decrease substantially with decreasing SOA. Contrary to these predictions, the effect of orientation was nearly constant across SOAs, suggesting that mental rotation cannot effectively proceed without help from central mechanisms. These results support the conclusion that mental rotation requires access to a single-channel mechanism and must therefore be performed serially with other operations requiring the same mechanism.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1080/14640749508401372

The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology

Q J Exp Psychol A

The role of preparation in overlapping-task performance.

We examined how performance of two overlapping discrete tasks is organized and controlled. Experiment 1 showed that when stimuli were presented in an unexpected order, expectations rather than actual presentation order determined the order in which the two stimuli were processed. In Experiment 2, when task order was unpredictable, performance was facilitated when task order was repeated on consecutive trials. In Experiment 3, performance of the second but not the first task benefited greatly when task order was held constant as compared to regularly alternated between trials; such effects were especially pronounced at short intertrial intervals. These results suggest that sequential performance of overlapping tasks is scheduled in advance and is regulated by initially allocating the central processing channel to one task and subsequently switching this channel to the other task.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037/0033-2909.116.2.220

Psychological bulletin

Psychol Bull

Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory.

People often have trouble performing 2 relatively simple tasks concurrently. The causes of this interference and its implications for the nature of attentional limitations have been controversial for 40 years, but recent experimental findings are beginning to provide some answers. Studies of the psychological refractory period effect indicate a stubborn bottleneck encompassing the process of choosing actions and probably memory retrieval generally, together with certain other cognitive operations. Other limitations associated with task preparation, sensory-perceptual processes, and timing can generate additional and distinct forms of interference. These conclusions challenge widely accepted ideas about attentional resources and probe reaction time methodologies. They also suggest new ways of thinking about continuous dual-task performance, effects of extraneous stimulation (e.g., stop signals), and automaticity. Implications for higher mental processes are discussed.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.20.4.766

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Hesitations in manual tracking: a single-channel limit in response programming.

When subjects used a manual joystick to track the motion of a visual target (in either zero-order or first-order control), hesitations in tracking often occurred when the other hand responded to an auditory stimulus. These hesitations are related to postponement in the psychological refractory period effect. Because few hesitations occurred when the auditory stimulus was the no-go case of a go-no-go paradigm, hesitations must arise primarily during "late" processing associated with the concurrent response rather than during "early" perceptual or decision-making processes. Other findings suggest that the single-channel processing limit is in programming (as opposed to selecting or generating) concurrent responses. Blanking of the target also produced hesitations through a different mechanism.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.20.2.330

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Graded capacity-sharing in dual-task interference?

Research suggests that dual-task interference is caused by a central bottleneck (together with response grouping and impaired preparation). The emphasis placed on the 1st response in these experiments, however, may have discouraged the sharing of processing resources between tasks. In the present experiment, instructions placed equal emphasis on 2 choice reaction-time tasks in which stimuli were presented simultaneously on 20% of the trials. In contrast to a graded trade-off of resources, a bottleneck predicts bimodality in the distribution of interresponse intervals for the 2 tasks, reflecting the 2 possible orders in which their respective central stages might be performed. Most subjects showed such a bimodality, along with other signs of a bottleneck; the remainder showed evidence of response grouping. The data suggest that the bottleneck is structural rather than strategic and make the graded sharing of resources less plausible.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1016/0001-6918(94)90018-3

Acta psychologica

Acta Psychol (Amst)

Motivation: cause or confound in information processing/intelligence correlations?

The goal of the present study was to determine whether correlations between information processing scores and intelligence can be explained in terms of between-subject motivational differences. One hundred and nine male and female volunteer college students were tested on a battery of microcomputerized cognitive tests. One hundred of these subjects returned for a second session in which they were randomly assigned to an incentive or no-incentive condition and then retested. The effort expended on the tests was measured via heart rate, skin conductance, and a self-report questionnaire. Criterion measures, including the Advanced Otis-Lennon Test of Mental Abilities and Advanced Raven Progressive Matrices were also taken. The findings revealed that incentives had relatively modest effects on performance. In no case, however, did incentives affect the overall IQ-performance correlation for the tests used in the battery. These results support the view that correlations between information processing scores and intelligence reflect common mental capacities, rather than some affective variable such as motivation.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.19.6.1292

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

The locus of dual-task interference: psychological refractory effects on movement-related brain potentials.

We sought to measure separately the motor potentials for each of 2 concurrent tasks and to use these measurements to identify the locus of dual-task interference. Lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) were measured in the psychological refractory period paradigm, in which a separate response is required to each of 2 successive signals. As the interval between the signals decreased, the 2 reaction time (RT) tasks increasingly overlapped and the 2nd RT was prolonged. The LRP for the 2nd task was also delayed but maintained a constant temporal relation with the 2nd RT and sometimes preceded the 1st-task RT. The results indicate that (a) independent measures of the LRP can be obtained for each of 2 concurrent tasks, (b) slowing of the 2nd task was caused by a delay in processes that precede LRP onset, and (c) the 1st task may cease to interfere with the 2nd considerably before producing an overt response.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.19.5.965

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Multiple bottlenecks in overlapping task performance.

A dual-bottleneck model for overlapping-task performance is proposed. A central bottleneck prevents central processes in overlapping tasks from operating in parallel. A response-initiation bottleneck prevents 2 responses from being initiated in close succession. Response requirements of the overlapping tasks were manipulated in order to demonstrate the existence of the latter bottleneck and to assess its role in delimiting overlapping-task performance. In several experiments, elimination of this bottleneck resulted in a strong reduction of underadditive interactions that serve as key indicators of parallel processing in overlapping-task performance. Results indicate that these interactions were caused primarily by the response initiation bottleneck instead of the central bottleneck and suggest that perceptual identification and categorization require the central bottleneck.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1080/00222895.1992.9941626

Journal of motor behavior

J Mot Behav

Evidence for an error deadzone in compensatory tracking.

Humans and monkeys show intermittent arm movements while tracking moving targets. This intermittency has been explained by postulating either a psychological refractory period after each movement and/or an error deadzone, an area surrounding the target within which movements are not initiated. We present a technique to detect and quantify the size of this deadzone, using a compensatory tracking paradigm that distinguishes it from a psychological refractory period. An artificial deadzone of variable size was added around a visual target displayed on a computer screen. While the subject was within this area, he received visual feedback that showed him to be directly on target. The presence of this artificial deadzone could affect tracking performance only if it exceeded the size of his intrinsic deadzone. Therefore, the size of artificial deadzone at which performance began to be affected revealed the size of the intrinsic deadzone. Measured at the subjects' eye, the deadzone was found to vary between 0.06 and 0.38 degrees, depending on the tracking task and viewing conditions; on the screen, this range was 1.3 mm to 3.3 mm. It increased with increasing speed of the target, with increasing viewing distance, and when the amplitude of the movement required was reduced. However, the deadzone size was not significantly correlated with the subjects' level of performance. We conclude that an intrinsic deadzone exists during compensatory tracking, and we suggest that its size is set by a cognitive process not simply related to the difficulty of the tracking task.

CognitiveTask

PRP

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Do response modality effects support multiprocessor models of divided attention?

Some studies have suggested that dual-task interference is greatly reduced when tasks requiring very different types of responses (e.g., manual and vocal) are combined. However, in those studies, the order of stimuli varied unpredictably. In Experiments 1 and 2, variable stimulus order greatly inflated interference between two manual tasks, whereas interference between a manual and a vocal task was only slightly exacerbated. However, central interference (the psychological refractory period) persisted even with the manual/vocal combination. Selection of 2 manual responses with unknown stimulus order may require a special strategy to preclude intertask intrusion errors. Experiment 3 demonstrated that such errors could be provoked with speed stress. Together, these results reconcile response modality effects with the response selection bottleneck model for dual-task interference (once it is suitably amended).

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1016/0168-5597(86)90009-2

Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology

Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol

The recovery functions of auditory event-related potentials during split-second discriminations.

We examined the recovery cycles of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in a high-speed auditory discrimination task and in passive conditions. Each trial contained 3 tones cued by a warning flash. In passive conditions, auditory ERPs consisted mainly of N1 (108 msec) and P2 (213 msec) components superimposed on a small CNV. The N1 and P2 were comparable in amplitude and both had prolonged refractory periods. In discriminative reaction time (DRT) conditions the same tones cued or inhibited press responses and elicited additional endogenous components (principally the Nd and P3). ERPs in DRT conditions were superimposed upon a prominent CNV that began after the warning cue and lasted throughout the signal delivery period. The N1 was larger in active than passive conditions and showed less marked refractory effects, while the P2 was smaller and showed more marked refractoriness. Differences between active and passive conditions could be explained by the presence of an endogenous negative potential (the Nd) with a short refractory period that was superimposed upon the N1 and P2. The P3 was recorded only in active conditions. At short ISIs (0.5 sec), P3 amplitudes were reduced and P3 latencies lengthened in parallel with prolongations in reaction time due to so-called psychological refractory period (PRP) effects. Both P3 recovery and the PRP reflected central mechanisms since they were observed at short ISIs when stimuli cueing different responses succeeded one another. N1 and P3 amplitudes diminished over the course of the experiment in both active and passive conditions. The decrease (amounting to about 30% of initial amplitudes) did not appear due to reductions in vigilance, since it was not accompanied by changes in reaction time or response accuracy, or by changes in other endogenous components (CNV or Nd). Short-term N1 habituation was unaffected by long-term amplitude reductions suggesting that independent mechanisms were responsible for the two phenomena.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.2466/pms.1985.61.3.779

Perceptual and motor skills

Percept Mot Skills

Does the complexity of S2 have any effect upon RT1? A controversy in the PRP literature.

The purpose of this experiment was to test several explanations that have been given to account for what has been termed the Psychological Refractory Period effect. Specifically the question addressed was what effect does varying the complexity and uncertainty of stimulus-response pairs have upon the subsequent reaction time. The experiment employed a within-subject Latin square design in which 12 undergraduates completed four test conditions on separate days. The task was to respond to a visual stimulus (maximum of 4 possible lights) by depressing a telegraph key with the index or middle fingers of either the right or left hands (maximum of 4 possible responses). It was possible to produce four conditions. Condition 1-1 (usual PRP paradigm), 1-2 (simple reaction time followed by a choice reaction time), 2-1 (choice RT followed by simple RT), and 2-2 (choice RT followed by choice RT). In addition, 36% of all trials were uninformed catch trials, i.e., either S1 and/or S2 did not occur when the subject was expecting it to occur. The subjects completed 50 single-choice control reaction-time trials before each condition. The interstimulus interval in all conditions for both experiments varied randomly among 100, 200, 300, and 400 msec. There was no statistical support for the claim that increasing the number of choices in S2-R2 will lengthen RT1. These results are discussed in terms of McLeod's (1977) parallel-processing model.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.10.3.358

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Processing stages in overlapping tasks: evidence for a central bottleneck.

This article examines the attentional limits responsible for task slowing in the overlapping task (refractory period) paradigm. Five experiments are reported in which stimulus factors were manipulated in visual search tasks performed in isolation or temporally overlapping with another task. Bottleneck models suggest that second-task slowing is caused by postponement of "attention-demanding" stages of the second task, while earlier "automatic" stages proceed unhindered. A prediction was derived from this class of models, namely that in the overlapping task condition the effect of second task factors that slow automatic stages should be reduced, whereas the effect of factors slowing later nonautomatic stages should be unchanged. The data (Experiments 1-4) exhibit such a pattern and suggest that encoding and comparison stages of the second task, but not response selection, occur in parallel with work on the first task. The absence of overadditive interactions in these experiments, and also the effects of manipulating first-task factors in Experiment 5, seems to argue against capacity sharing as the source of the slowing in this task combination. Some implications of these results for attention theory are discussed.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1080/00222895.1981.10735255

Journal of motor behavior

J Mot Behav

Effects of changing compatibility relationships on reaction time to the first stimulus in a double-stimulation task.

This study investigated the effects of manipulating the response requirement to the second stimulus (S2) on reaction time (RT) to the first stimulus (S1) in a double-stimulation choice RT task. Forty subjects responded to the 100 msec presentation of a left or right light by pressing the key on the same or opposite side as the light. Treatment conditions included a single-stimulation control (no S2 presented), and two double-stimulation conditions each requiring two responses (R1 and R2) in close succession, in one of these latter conditions, the rule governing R2 was the same as that governing R1 while, in the other, the rule governing R2 changed. Results showed the typical double-stimulation effect; i.e., increased latency of R1 when it was followed by S2 - R2. More importantly, R1 latency was increased further when the rules governing R1 and R2 were different. Results are discussed in terms of divided preparation capacity as well as other theories of the psychological refractory period.

CognitiveTask

PRP

American journal of mental deficiency

Am J Ment Defic

Self-paced vs. externally paced motor tracking by retarded and nonretarded persons.

An expectancy hypothesis of the psychological refractory period (PRP) was tested as an alternative to an arousal hypothesis to explain retarded persons' longer reaction times. Retarded adolescents, CA-matched nonretarded adolescents, and MA-matched nonretarded children tracked light stimuli presented under self-paced and externally paced conditions. Response latencies under both conditions were longer for the retarded and MA-matched groups, and all groups decreased latencies from the self-paced to externally paced conditions. Neither hypothesis was supported. We suggested that group differences were due to differences in the central delay effect of the PRP.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1080/03610737908257205

Experimental aging research

Exp Aging Res

EEG alpha slowing, refractory period, and reaction time in aging.

The present study was undertaken to determine if a model accounting for reaction time (RT) on the basis of the EEG alpha rhythm and refractory period (RP) could predict RT in young and old adult subjects. Ten male university undergraduates and ten community residing males over the age of 65 had resting EEG recorded at right and left occipital sites. Mean alpha frequency was 1.2 Hz slower in old subjects. RT and RP were assessed in a warned RT paradigm. Sixty-four trials of each of a 50, 100, 250, and 500 msec inter-stimulus interval (ISI) were presented in random order. The model was useful in predicting the magnitude of the age difference in RT and the difference in RT between the 50 and 100 msec ISI. However, old subjects were not disproportionately slowed at the 100 msec ISI as the model would predict and all RTs were underestimated. Thus, while a model using EEG alpha period and RP to predict age differences in RT has some weaknesses, it is useful enough to warrant additional examination.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037//0096-1523.5.2.216

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform

Divided attention: the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

A divided attention situation is more than the sum of its component single tasks. Emergent aspects of the whole situation must also be considered. Three examples illustrate this. (a) When several complex stimuli (e.g., letters) are identified at once, their perceived components or features must be appropriately bundled together. Otherwise, components of two different stimuli may appear combined. This (emergent) problem is shown to depend on attention to multiple stimuli, not simply their presentation. (b) In the psychological refractory period (PRP) situation, especial difficulties arise when stimulus-response mappings are different for first and second reactions. It appears that for each reaction there is some (emergent) uncertainty over which mapping to use. This is only one of many possible emergent processes in the PRP situation. (c) When the two hands perform different actions (internally programmed sequences of taps), there is some tendency for each hand to carry out the action assigned to the other. This again is only a small part of the (emergent) problem of motor coordination. Thus the simple idea of competition for limited resources captures only a part of the problem of divided attention. Performance under divided attention will reflect an interaction between resource limitation, single task processes, and emergent aspects of the whole situation.

CognitiveTask

PRP

Human physiology

Hum Physiol

Time limitations on visual information processing by a human operator.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.2466/pms.1977.44.1.327

Perceptual and motor skills

Percept Mot Skills

Capacity sharing and refractoriness in successive reactions.

Subjects performed two rapidly successive tasks. They first pressed a key to stop a digital counter at one of three stopping times. The key-press was followed after a variable interval by the presentation of one of three lights, which required a choice response. 20 students and 20 flight cadets participated in the main experiment. Both responses showed impairment in the dual-task condition. The delay of the choice response was affected by the stopping time and by the interval between the key-press and the second stimulus. Complete refractoriness for a period of 200 msec. was observed only for the shortest stopping-time. In the other conditions, the delay of the second response decreased gradot support single-channel theory and are better explained by a capacity-sharing model on the assumption that preparation for a choice-response requires effort.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.3758/BF03213236

Memory & cognition

Mem Cognit

Speed-accuracy tradeoff in double stimulation: II. Effects on the second response.

In the double-stimulation paradigm subjects respond to two successive stimuli. Previous research (Knight & Kantowitz, 1974) showed that a subject's speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) strategy interacted with the interval between the two stimuli to determine response performance to the first stimulus. The present experiment examined the influence of SAT strategy on response performance to the second stimulus. Interest focused on effects of SAT strategy upon the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect. If a single mechanism underlies beth first-and second-response performance (e.g., the PRP effect) in double stimulation, effects of SAT upon the second response should be similar to effects upon the first response. Results showed that the PRP effect appeared only when second-response accuracy was stressed. Under speed emphasis double-stimulation second-response latency never exceeded a single-stimulation baseline. This was analogous to first-response latency effects found by Knight and Kantowitz (1974). Response grouping was strongly influenced by SAT strategy and two response-grouping mechanisms were distinguished. Implications of these and interresponse time data for models of double-stimulation performance are discussed.

CognitiveTask

PRP

American journal of mental deficiency

Am J Ment Defic

Stimulus persistence in retarded and nonretarded children: a signal detection analysis.

Nine institutionalized EMR and 9 equal-CA nonretarded children were tested on a visual backward masking task. Signal detection analysis was used to separate the sensory and nonsensory aspects of behavior, and the presentation of stimuli was randomized to minimize the formation of effective strategies. Two sets of instructions, strict and lenient, and two stimulus durations, 10 and 30 msec, were used in a repeated measure design. No differences were found between the intelligence groups on interstimulus interval threshold or measures of stimulus sensitivity, criterion placement, and false positive rate. Retarded subjects showed significantly greater intersubject variability in criterion placement but failed to raise their criterion in response to strict instructions. The results suggest that (a) stimulus-trace concepts of retardation have been confounded by retarded subjects' inability to compete effectively with nonretarded subjects in the experimental situation, and (b) signal detection procedures are a useful alternative to traditional psychophysical techniques in such comparative research.

CognitiveTask

PRP

American journal of mental deficiency

Am J Ment Defic

Response-stimulus interval performance of moderately retarded institutionalized subjects.

Based on previous dual reaction-time research with nonretarded and mildly retarded subjects, the expectancy- and capacity-limit hypotheses for the psychological refractory period effect were tested with moderately retarded subjects. The design included regular-irregular procedure, response-stimulus interval, signal, and hand-preference variable levels. The finding of a psychological refractory period effect at the 250-msec response-stimulus interval was consistent with past related research. The moderately retarded subjects indicated a capacity limitation, resulting in the psychological refractory period effect at the rapid response-stimulus interval. Previous researchers working with nonretarded and mildly retarded subjects have suggested an expectancy explanation for the psychological refractory period. This inconsistency in study findings was interpreted on the basis of an organismic confound. Methodological issues were also presented.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1016/0301-0511(75)90010-1

Biological psychology

Biol Psychol

The electroencephalogram in the prediction of human reaction time during growth and development.

Characteristics of the distributions of electroencephalographic (EEG) half waves recorded in children during performance of a simple auditory reaction time (RT) task were investigated. The purpose was to determine the extent to which difference in these distributions could account for children's slow RT. The durations of a sample of 760 EEG half waves in each of a group of 41 healthy children aged 5-17 yr were measured and distributed into an interval histogram, and the first four central moments of the 41 distributions were computed. All four of the moments-which measure the central tendency, dispersion, skewness and kurtosis of the distributions-proved to be significantly correlated (p less than 0.01) with RT. The multiple correlation (R) between RT and the four moments was equal to 0.68 and was statistically significant. R was unchanged when only the measures of dispersion, skewness and kurtosis were used as predictor variables, suggesting that the predictive value of the central tendency is low. The predictive capability of a multiple regression equation based on these three predictor variables was tested in an independent group of 42 children also aged 5-17 yr. EEGs and RTs were recorded and this group was treated in exactly the same way as the other group. The correlation between these children's average RTs and their RTs as estimated from the other group's regression equation was 0.53. These findings suggested that knowing the degree of dispersion, skewness and kurtosis of the children's EEG distributions reduces from chance by about 28% the error of predicting their RTs.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1016/0031-9384(75)90230-9

Physiology & behavior

Physiol Behav

Post-ejaculatory vocalization in castrated rats treated with various steroids.

Five groups of rats were observed for sexual behavior as intact subjects and in the 3 weeks following castration. Particular emphasis was placed upon ultrasonic vocalization recorded during the refractory period (RP) following ejaculation. All rats received daily injections (100 mug test steroid + 100 mug dihydrotestosterone propionate, DHTP) from the day of castration. Treatment groups were: Testosterone propionate (TP) + DHTP, N = 5; 19-hydroxytestosterone propionate (19HTP) + DHTP, N = 6; Oestradiol dipropionate (OP) + DHTP, N = 5; DHTP (200 mug/day), N = 6; Vehicle only, N = 7. Ejaculation and normal RPs were maintained with TP, 19HTP and OP treatments. In rats treated with DHTP alone or vehicle only ejaculatory ability declined and RPs increased in length. Ultrasonic vocalization was normal in all rats except those treated with OP, where it was either reduced or absent. In Week 4 treatments in TP + DHTP and OP + DHTP groups were reversed. During Weeks 5-7 vocalization was gradually restored in rats that previously received OP and partially inhibited in animals previously treated with TP. These results indicate that; (1) vocalization may not be dependent on the presence of testicular androgens and, (2) OP has a gradual inhibitory effect on vocalization when given at high doses and this effect is reversible.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.3758/BF03212892

Memory & cognition

Mem Cognit

The effect of first response complexity on the psychological refractory period: A reanalysis.

The effect of first signal complexity on the delay of the second response within the paradigm of PRP has been the subject of several recent papers. The results show that, for the same interstimulus interval, the more complex the first reaction, the more the second response is delayed. This paper reports a reanalysis of the data presented by these investigators in terms of comparable response-stimulus intervals. The implications for theories of limited attention are discussed.

CognitiveTask

PRP

The Journal of nursing education

J Nurs Educ

Teaching psychomotor skills.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1037/h0032460

Journal of experimental psychology

J Exp Psychol

Attention demands of memory retrieval.

CognitiveTask

PRP

Journal of experimental psychology

J Exp Psychol

Test of the hypothesis of psychological refractory period.

CognitiveTask

PRP

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118162

NeuroImage

Neuroimage

The impact of exercise intensity on neurophysiological indices of food-related inhibitory control and cognitive control: A randomized crossover event-related potential (ERP) study.

Food-related inhibitory control, the ability to withhold a dominant response towards highly palatable foods, influences dietary decisions. Food-related inhibitory control abilities may increase following a bout of aerobic exercise; however, the impact of exercise intensity on both food-related inhibitory control and broader cognitive control processes is currently unclear. We used a high-powered, within-subjects, crossover design to test how relative intensity of aerobic exercise influenced behavioral (response time, accuracy) and neural (N2 and P3 components of the scalp-recorded event-related potential [ERP]) measures of food-related inhibitory and cognitive control. Two hundred and ten participants completed three separate conditions separated by approximately one week in randomized order: two exercise conditions (35% VO or 70% VO) and seated rest. Directly following exercise or rest, participants completed a food-based go/no-go task and a flanker task while electroencephalogram data were recorded. Linear mixed models showed generally faster response times (RT) and improved accuracy following 70% VO exercise compared to rest, but not 35% VO; RTs and accuracy did not differ between 35% VO exercise and rest conditions. N2 and P3 amplitudes were larger following 70% VO exercise for the food-based go/no-go task compared to rest and 35% VO exercise. There were no differences between exercise conditions for N2 amplitude during the flanker task; however, P3 amplitude was more positive following 70% VO compared to rest, but not 35% VO exercise. Biological sex did not moderate exercise outcomes. Results suggest improved and more efficient food-related recruitment of later inhibitory control and cognitive control processes following 70% VO exercise.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1080/07315724.2020.1863282

Journal of the American College of Nutrition

J Am Coll Nutr

Cross-Sectional Survey of Graduate Clinical Nutrition Students Describing Dietary Choices and Recommendations.

Little data exists describing the dietary habits of nutrition students, including whether students' personal dietary choices influence their clinical recommendations. Study objectives were to: (1) Identify common dietary choices made by nutrition students, (2) determine students' rationale for choosing or avoiding specific diets, (3) identify key factors used to make dietary recommendations. An anonymous online survey was distributed to graduate-level clinical nutrition students who were attending five American universities. Data collected included demographics, current diet, reasons for following the current diet, reasons for recommending diets, and degree completion status. Percentage of diets chosen and rationale for dietary decisions were compared. Diets chosen and recommended were stratified and compared by degree completion status via chi-square test. 208 participants completed the survey. The top diets students reported following were Whole Foods/Unprocessed (49%) and Gluten-Free (16%), followed by Vegan/Vegetarian (13%) and Paleo (12.5%). The top reasons identified for choosing a personal diet were health optimization and food allergy/intolerance/sensitivity. The top factors used to make dietary recommendations were clients' preferences/resources and results of laboratory testing. A Whole Foods/Unprocessed diet was also selected by the largest proportion of students as one they would recommend to clients-97% of students early in their program and 98.3% of students late in their program would recommend it to a client. A Whole Foods/Unprocessed diet was the most followed diet and the one most likely to be recommended to future clients, irrespective of students' degree completion progress.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.3390/ijerph18031124

International journal of environmental research and public health

Int J Environ Res Public Health

College Students' Views on Functional, Interactive and Critical Nutrition Literacy: A Qualitative Study.

This research aimed to uncover how the nutrition literacy domains (functional, interactive, critical) influence the dietary decisions of young adults in college. For this qualitative study, undergraduate college students aged 18-24 years old ( = 24) were recruited to participate in focus groups. The focus group transcripts were independently coded for primary and secondary themes using a grounded theory approach and a basic thematic analysis. Four focus groups with 5-7 participants per group were conducted. The three domains of nutrition literacy emerged in the focus groups with two themes per domain. Themes within functional nutrition literacy included 'food enhances or inhibits good health' and 'components of a healthy diet'; themes within interactive nutrition literacy included 'navigating the college food environment' and 'awareness of food marketing on dietary behavior'; themes within critical nutrition literacy included 'critical appraisal of nutrition information' and 'awareness of societal barriers to good health'. Understanding how the different nutrition literacy domains relate to college students' food choices can inform future researchers on how to appropriately assess nutrition literacy and design programs aimed at improving dietary behaviors of college students.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.3389/fnhum.2020.563415

Frontiers in human neuroscience

Front Hum Neurosci

Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala Subregion Morphology Are Associated With Obesity and Dietary Self-control in Children and Adolescents.

A prefrontal control system that is less mature than the limbic reward system in adolescence is thought to impede self-regulatory abilities, which could contribute to poor dietary choices and obesity. We, therefore, aimed to examine whether structural morphology of the prefrontal cortex (PFC; involved in cognitive control) and the amygdala (a key brain region for reward-related processing) are associated with dietary decisions and obesity in children and adolescents. Seventy-one individuals between the ages of 8-22 years (17.35 ± 4.76 years, 51% female, 56% were overweight or obese) participated in this study; each participant completed a computer-based food choice task and a T1- and T2-weighted structural brain scans. Two indices of obesity were assessed, including age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMIz) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). The behavioral task included rating 60 food stimuli for tastiness, healthiness, and liking. Based on each participant's self-ratings, 100 binary food choices were then made utilizing a computer mouse. Dietary "self-control" was calculated as the proportion of trials where the individual chose the healthier food item (vs. the tastier food item) over the total number of trials. Cortical thickness and amygdala subnuclei volumes were quantified using FreeSurfer 6.0 and CIT168 atlas, respectively. We found that WHtR was negatively associated with the thickness of bilateral superior frontal, left superior temporal, right insula, and right inferior temporal regions ( < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). We also found WHtR to be positively associated with the volume of the central nucleus (CEN) region of the amygdala ( = 0.006), after adjusting for the hemisphere, age, sex, and intracranial volumes. A similar data pattern was observed when BMIz was used. Moreover, we found that across all participants, thinner right superior frontal cortex and larger left CEN volumes predicted lower dietary self-control. These results suggest that differential development of the PFC and amygdala relate to obesity and dietary self-control. Further longitudinal studies are merited to determine causal relationships among altered PFC to amygdala neural circuitry, dietary self-control, and obesity.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1017/S1368980019002866

Public health nutrition

Public Health Nutr

Confusion and nutritional backlash from news media exposure to contradictory information about carbohydrates and dietary fats.

To test the effect of news media exposure to contradictory information about carbohydrates and dietary fats on levels of confusion, nutritional backlash and dietary intentions. We conducted an online survey experiment between 11 and 28 February 2018, randomizing participants to one of six experimental conditions. Two 'contradictory information' conditions asked participants to read one news article on the risks of a low-carbohydrate diet and one article on the risks of a low-fat diet. Two 'convergent information' conditions asked participants to read two articles with similar information on the risks of one of these two diets. A fifth 'established health recommendations' control condition asked participants to read two articles on the harms of smoking and sun exposure. A sixth 'no information' condition served as a second control group. We used general linear models to test hypotheses on the effects of exposure on confusion, nutritional backlash and dietary intentions. USA. Adults (n 901) registered with Amazon's Mechanical Turk (M-Turk). Exposure to contradictory information about carbohydrates and dietary fats increased confusion and nutritional backlash compared with exposure to established health recommendations for non-dietary behaviours and a no-exposure control. Exposure to contradictory information also increased confusion compared with exposure to consistent nutrition information regarding carbohydrates and dietary fats. Contradictory nutrition information in the news media can negatively affect consumers' attitudes, beliefs and behavioural intentions. Dietary debates that play out in the media may adversely influence both short-term dietary decisions and future efforts to communicate about unrelated nutrition issues.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.3390/nu11061330

Nutrients

Nutrients

Socio-Ecological Factors That Influence Infant and Young Child Nutrition in Kiribati: A Biocultural Perspective.

This study sought to elucidate the multi-level factors that influence behaviors underlying high childhood stunting and widespread micronutrient deficiencies in Kiribati. This two-phase formative research study had an emergent and iterative design using the socio-ecological model as the guiding theoretical framework. Phase 1 was exploratory while phase 2 was confirmatory. In phase 1, in-depth interviews, free lists, seasonal food availability calendar workshops, and household observations were conducted. In phase 2, focus group discussions, pile sorts, participatory workshops, and repeat observations of the same households were completed. Textual data were analyzed using NVivo software; ethnographic data were analyzed with Anthropac software for cultural domain analysis. We found a combination of interrelated structural, community, interpersonal, and individual-level factors contributing to the early child nutrition situation in Kiribati. Despite widespread knowledge of nutritious young child foods among community members, households make dietary decisions based not only on food availability and access, but also longstanding traditions and social norms. Diarrheal disease is the most salient young child illness, attributable to unsanitary environments and sub-optimal water, sanitation, and hygiene behaviors. This research underscores the importance of a multi-pronged approach to most effectively address the interrelated policy, community, interpersonal, and individual-level determinants of infant and young child nutrition in Kiribati.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1093/jn/nxz124

The Journal of nutrition

J Nutr

Protein Valuation in Food Choice Is Positively Associated with Lean Mass in Older Adults.

Calorie for calorie, protein is more satiating than carbohydrate or fat. However, it remains unclear whether humans perceive calories derived from these macronutrients equally and whether lean mass is associated with a tendency to "value" protein when dietary decisions are made. This study aimed to determine the test-retest reliability of a novel method for quantifying macronutrient valuations in human volunteers and to determine whether "protein valuation" is associated with a higher fat-free mass index (FFMI) in older adults. A 2-alternative, forced-choice task in which 25 foods were compared in 300 trials was undertaken in 2 studies. In study 1, participants (age range 19-71 y, n = 92) attended 2 test sessions, spaced 1 wk apart. In study 2, older adults (age range 40-85 y; n = 91) completed the food-choice task and assessed the test foods for liking, expected satiety, and perceived healthiness. Body composition and habitual protein intake were assessed in both studies. Data were analyzed through the use of individual binomial logistic regressions and multilevel binomial logistic regressions. In study 1, measures of macronutrient valuation showed excellent test-retest reliability; responses in the forced-choice task were highly correlated (week 1 compared with week 2; protein, r = 0.83, P < 0.001; carbohydrate, r = 0.90, P < 0.001; fat, r = 0.90, P < 0.001). Calorie for calorie, protein and carbohydrate were stronger predictors of choice than fat (P < 0.001). In study 2, protein was a stronger predictor than both carbohydrate (P = 0.039) and fat (P = 0.003), and a positive interaction was observed between protein valuation and FFMI (OR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.38, 1.95; P < 0.001). This was the case after controlling for age, gender, liking for foods, and habitual protein consumption. Together, these findings demonstrate that adult humans value calories derived from protein, carbohydrate, and fat differently, and that the tendency to value protein is associated with greater lean mass in older adults.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1016/j.amepre.2019.02.013

American journal of preventive medicine

Am J Prev Med

Beyond Race Disparities: Accounting for Socioeconomic Status in Diabetes Self-Care.

Among patients with type 2 diabetes, racial disparities are prevalent across a variety of outcomes; however, inconsistent disparities in determinants of outcomes warrants exploring the impact of other, related factors. This study sought to examine whether disparities in health literacy, numeracy, self-care behaviors, and HbA1c persisted between non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites after applying a robust adjustment for socioeconomic status (SES). From 2016 to 2018, adult patients with type 2 diabetes (N=444) were recruited from primary care clinics. Participants self-reported demographics; indicators of SES (i.e., income, education, health insurance, housing status, and financial strain); subjective health literacy and numeracy; and self-care behaviors. Participants also completed an HbA1c test. In 2018, differences were examined between non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites in health literacy, numeracy, self-care, and HbA1c, first unadjusted and then adjusted using propensity score weighting. In unadjusted analyses, compared with non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks had lower health literacy (p=0.039) and numeracy (p<0.001); less medication adherence (p=0.009); use of information for dietary decisions (p=0.013); and problem eating behaviors (p<0.001; i.e., non-Hispanic blacks reported fewer problems); and higher HbA1c levels (p=0.005). After adjusting for all SES indicators, only the reverse disparity in problem eating behaviors (p=0.016) and the disparity in HbA1c (p=0.011) remained. Findings highlight the importance of considering SES when examining disparities in health-related skills and behaviors. Moving beyond education and income to inclusion of more comprehensive markers of SES can improve understanding of how SES may contribute to disparities and the ability to appropriately target factors leading to inequality.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1016/j.jand.2019.01.023

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

J Acad Nutr Diet

Patients' Experiences and Perspectives of Telehealth Coaching with a Dietitian to Improve Diet Quality in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Qualitative Interview Study.

Dietary behavior change interventions for the self-management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) have the potential to slow disease progression and reduce metabolic complications. Telehealth-delivered dietary interventions may assist in the self-management of CKD, although their acceptability by patients is unknown. This study aims to describe the acceptability and experiences of a telehealth coaching intervention that utilized telephone calls and tailored text messages to improve diet quality in patients with stage 3 to 4 CKD. Semistructured interview study of adults with CKD. Adults with stage 3 to 4 CKD (n=21) aged 28 to 78 (mean 62) years, who completed a 12-week telehealth-delivered dietary intervention in Queensland, Australia, were interviewed from March to July 2017. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Five themes were identified: valuing relationships (receiving tangible and perceptible support, building trust and rapport remotely, motivated by accountability, readily responding to a personalized approach, reassured by health professional expertise); appreciating convenience (integrating easily into lifestyle, talking comfortably in a familiar environment, minimizing travel and wait time burden); empowered with actionable knowledge (comprehending diet-disease mechanisms, practical problem solving for sustainable dietary behavior); increasing diet consciousness (learning from recurrent feedback, prompted by reiteration of messages); making sense of complexity (contextualizing and prioritizing comorbidities, gaining confidence to make dietary decisions, setting and achieving realistic goals). Among adults with stage 3 to 4 CKD, individualized telehealth coaching for improving diet quality was convenient for patients, and they felt supported and empowered to navigate recommendations and prioritize dietary behavior changes. Telehealth-delivered dietary interventions appear to be well accepted by patients as a way of providing regular, tailored contact with a health professional to support dietary management in CKD.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1038/s41386-018-0044-6

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Neuropsychopharmacology

Neurocognitive effects of umami: association with eating behavior and food choice.

Free glutamate, a key substance underlying the umami taste of foods, fulfills a number of physiological functions related to energy balance. Previous experimental studies have shown that intake of a broth or soup supplemented with monosodium glutamate (MSG) prior to a meal can decrease appetite and food intake, particularly in women with propensity to overeat and gain weight. In this study, we examined potential neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this effect. We evaluated changes after intake of a chicken broth with or without MSG added (MSG+/MSG-) in a sample of healthy young women. Subjects were assessed with a food-modified computerized inhibitory control task, a buffet meal test with eye-tracking, and brain responses during a food choice paradigm evaluated with functional neuroimaging. We found evidence for improvement in key parameters related to inhibitory control following intake of the MSG+ broth, particularly in subjects with high levels of eating disinhibition, who also showed lower intake of saturated fat during the meal. Additionally, consumption of the MSG+ broth led to a reduction of the rate of fixation switches between plates at the meal, and increased engagement of a brain region in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex previously associated with successful self-control during dietary decisions. Altogether, these results, while preliminary, suggest potential facilitating effects of glutamate (MSG) on cognitive executive processes that are relevant for the support of healthy eating behaviors and food choice.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1186/s12889-018-5164-8

BMC public health

BMC Public Health

A randomised control crossover trial of a theory based intervention to improve sun-safe and healthy behaviours in construction workers: study protocol.

Exposure to sunlight can have both positive and negative health impacts. Excessive exposure to ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun can cause skin cancer, however insufficient exposure to sunlight has a detrimental effect on production of Vitamin D. In the construction industry there are onsite proactive behaviours for safety, but sun-safety remains a low priority. There is limited research on understanding the barriers to adopting sun-safe behaviours and the association this may have with Vitamin D production. This paper reports a protocol for an intervention study, using text messaging in combination with a supportive smartphone App. The intervention aims to both reduce UV exposure during months with higher UV levels and promote appropriate dietary changes to boost Vitamin D levels during months with low UV levels. Approximately 60 construction workers will be recruited across the United Kingdom. A randomised control crossover trial (RCCT) will be used to test the intervention, with randomisation at site level - i.e. participants will receive both the control (no text messages or supportive App support) and intervention (daily text messages and supportive App). Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) the intervention focuses on supporting sun-safety and healthy dietary decisions in relation to Vitamin D intake. The intervention emphasises cultivating the perception of normative support in the workplace, increasing awareness of control and self-efficacy in taking sun-protective behaviours, making healthier eating choices to boost Vitamin D, and tackling stigmas attached to image and group norms. Each study epoch will last 21 days with intervention text messages delivered on workdays only. The supportive App will provide supplementary information about sun protective behaviours and healthy dietary choices. The primary outcome measure is 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D [25(OH)D] level (obtained using blood spot sampling), which will be taken pre and post control and intervention periods. Secondary outcome measures are two-fold, (1) using the TPB to detect changes in behaviour, and (2) quantifying UV exposure during the UK peak radiation season (April-September) using body-mounted UV sensors. This study will provide important information about the effectiveness of a technology-based intervention to promote sun-safety and healthy behaviours in outdoor construction workers. ISRCTN15888934 retrospectively registered 15.01.2018.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.013

Appetite

Appetite

Identifying the mechanisms through which behavioral weight-loss treatment improves food decision-making in obesity.

Behavioral weight loss (BWL) programs are the recommended treatment for obesity, yet it is unknown whether these programs change one's ability to use self-control in food choices and what specific mechanisms support such change. Using experimental economics methods, we investigated whether changes in dietary behavior in individuals with obesity following BWL are driven by one or more of the following potential mechanisms: changes in the perception of the 1) health or 2) taste of food items, and/or 3) shifting decision weights for health versus taste attributes. Therefore, we compared these mechanisms between obese participants and lifetime normal weight controls (NW) both before and after BWL. Females with obesity (N = 37, mean BMI = 33.2) completed a food choice task involving health ratings, taste ratings, and decision-making pre- and post-standard BWL intervention. NW controls (N = 30, BMI = 22.4) completed the same task. Individuals with obesity exhibited increased self-control (selecting healthier, less tasty food choices) post-treatment. However, their rates of self-control remained significantly lower than NW. We found no differences in initial health perceptions across groups, and no changes with treatment. In contrast, taste ratings and the relative value of taste versus health decreased following treatment. Although, post-treatment participants continued to perceive unhealthy foods as tastier and used less self-control than NW controls, they showed significant improvements in these domains following a BWL intervention. To help individuals improve dietary decisions, additional research is needed to determine how to make greater changes in taste preferences and/or the assignment of value to taste versus health attributes in food choices.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1016/j.jand.2016.10.008

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

J Acad Nutr Diet

Vitamin-Fortified Snack Food May Lead Consumers to Make Poor Dietary Decisions.

The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) fortification policy discourages the fortification of certain foods, including sugars and snack foods such as cookies, candies, cakes, chips, and carbonated beverages, yet manufacturers sometimes add vitamins and minerals to snack foods. To assess whether vitamin-fortified snack foods affect consumers' information-seeking, purchase decisions, and product-related health perceptions. For this experimental study, participants were randomly assigned to study conditions to compare products that varied in product type, nutrition profile, and fortification and nutrient claim status. Data were collected via an online consumer panel. US adults aged 18 years and older were randomly selected from Research Now's e-panel online household panel. Data were collected during fall 2014 (N=5,076). Participants were randomly assigned to one of 24 conditions: two products (vegetable chip/potato chip), two nutrition profiles (healthier/less healthy), two fortification scenarios (not fortified/fortified), and three nutrient claim conditions (two no claim/one with claim). The design was not balanced; claims were not shown on products that were not vitamin fortified. Outcome measures were information-seeking (viewed the Nutrition Facts label), purchase decisions, perception of product healthfulness, and correct selection of product with the healthier nutrient profile. Logistic regression was used to test all models. Analyses was adjusted for general label use, consumes product, health status, age, sex, level of education, presence of children in the household, and race/ethnicity. When the snack food carried a nutrient claim for vitamin fortification, participants were 1) less likely to look for nutrition information on the Nutrition Facts label, 2) more likely to select the product for purchase, 3) more likely to perceive the product as healthier, and 4) less likely to correctly choose the healthier product. Snack foods that have been vitamin-fortified may cause consumers to make poor dietary decisions.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1017/S1368980015003183

Public health nutrition

Public Health Nutr

Correlates of nutrition label use among college students and young adults: a review.

Nutrition labels are an essential source for consumers to obtain nutrition-related information on food products and serve as a population-level intervention with unparalleled reach. The present study systematically reviewed existing evidence on the correlates of nutrition label use among college students and young adults. Keyword and reference searches were conducted in PubMed, EBSCO, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria included: study design (randomized controlled trial, cohort study, pre-post study or cross-sectional study); population (college students and young adults 18-30 years old); main outcome (nutrition label use); article type (peer-reviewed publication); and language (English). College/university. College students and young adults. Sixteen studies based on data from college surveys in four countries (USA, UK, Canada, South Korea) were identified from keyword and reference search. Reported prevalence of nutrition label use varied substantially across studies; a weighted average calculation showed 36·5 % of college students and young adults reported using labels always or often. Females were more likely to use nutrition labels than males. Nutrition label use was found to be associated with attitudes towards healthy diet, beliefs on the importance of nutrition labels in guiding food selection, self-efficacy, and nutrition knowledge and education. The impact of nutrition labelling on food purchase and intake could differ by population subgroups. Nutrition awareness campaigns and education programmes may be important mechanisms for promoting nutrition label use among college students and young adults. Future research is warranted to assess the role of label use on improved dietary decisions.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1177/1359105315595452

Journal of health psychology

J Health Psychol

Validation of the Food-Linked Virtual Response task.

This research validates a computerized dietary selection task (Food-Linked Virtual Response or FLVR) for use in studies of food consumption. In two studies, FLVR task responses were compared with measures of health consciousness, mood, body mass index, personality, cognitive restraint toward food, and actual food selections from a buffet table. The FLVR task was associated with variables which typically predict healthy decision-making and was unrelated to mood or body mass index. Furthermore, the FLVR task predicted participants' unhealthy selections from the buffet, but not overall amount of food. The FLVR task is an inexpensive, valid, and easily administered option for assessing momentary dietary decisions.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1016/j.jada.2011.08.005

Journal of the American Dietetic Association

J Am Diet Assoc

Location, location, location: eye-tracking evidence that consumers preferentially view prominently positioned nutrition information.

Nutrition Facts labels can keep consumers better informed about their diets' nutritional composition, however, consumers currently do not understand these labels well or use them often. Thus, modifying existing labels may benefit public health. The present study tracked the visual attention of individuals making simulated food-purchasing decisions to assess Nutrition Facts label viewing. Primary research questions were how self-reported viewing of Nutrition Facts labels and their components relates to measured viewing and whether locations of labels and specific label components relate to viewing. The study involved a simulated grocery shopping exercise conducted on a computer equipped with an eye-tracking camera. A post-task survey assessed self-reported nutrition information viewing, health behaviors, and demographics. Individuals 18 years old and older and capable of reading English words on a computer (n=203) completed the 1-hour protocol at the University of Minnesota during Spring 2010. Primary analyses included χ(2), analysis of variance, and t tests comparing self-reported and measured viewing of label components in different presentation configurations. Self-reported viewing of Nutrition Facts label components was higher than objectively measured viewing. Label components at the top of the label were viewed more than those at the bottom, and labels positioned in the center of the screen were viewed more than those located on the sides. Nutrition Facts label position within a viewing area and position of specific components on a label relate to viewing. Eye tracking is a valuable technology for evaluating consumers' attention to nutrition information, informing nutrition labeling policy (eg, front-of-pack labels), and designing labels that best support healthy dietary decisions.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1080/10408390701286058

Critical reviews in food science and nutrition

Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr

Consumer perceptions of graded, graphic and text label presentations for qualified health claims.

On December 18, 2002, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the Consumer Health Information for Better Nutrition Initiative. The initiative's goal is to make available more and better information about conventional foods and dietary supplements to help Americans improve their health and reduce risk of disease by making sound dietary decisions. It included a rating system to assess the "weight of the publicly available evidence." It assigns one of four ranked levels to the claim thus resulting in qualified health claims. Two phases of research were conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation. Qualitative research to assess consumer understanding, vocabulary, and familiarity with claims helped with the design and orientation of the second quantitative research phase. The quantitative phase employed a Web-based survey. The claim formats included: report card graphic, report card text, embedded claim text, point-counterpoint, structure/function claim, and nutrient content claim. Respondents were asked to rate the product for perceived strength of scientific evidence provided to support the claim, and questions about the product's perceived healthfulness, quality, safety, and purchase intent. Consumers found it difficult to discriminate across four levels and showed inclination to project the scientific validity grade onto other product attributes. Consumers showed preference for simpler messages.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1093/ajcn/59.1.190S

The American journal of clinical nutrition

Am J Clin Nutr

Walk a mile in my shoes: culturally sensitive food-habit research.

Issues of cultural meaning loom large in efforts to gather dietary data accurate enough to support nutritional analyses, identify marginal diets, or relate risk to dietary pattern. When scientifically trained researchers work in nonscientific settings--which are common in both the Western and non-Western worlds--many important problems of design, collection, and interpretation arise. Assumptions about the appropriateness of dietary patterns vary markedly from setting to setting, including assumptions about who makes dietary decisions. The definition of risk that is meaningful to food specialists may not be so to target populations. Even attitudes toward asking questions vary from society to society. Researchers can resolve many cultural communication issues by awareness, attention, and judicious combination of culturally sensitive qualitative and quantitative research techniques.

CognitiveTask

DietaryDecisionsTask

10.1093/sleep/zsaa118

Sleep

Sleep

Sleep quality, occupational factors, and psychomotor vigilance performance in the U.S. Navy sailors.

This field study (a) assessed sleep quality of sailors on the U.S. Navy (USN) ships while underway, (b) investigated whether the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores were affected by occupational factors and sleep attributes, and (c) assessed whether the PSQI could predict impaired psychomotor vigilance performance. Longitudinal field assessment of fit-for-duty USN sailors performing their underway duties (N = 944, 79.0% males, median age 26 years). Participants completed questionnaires, wore actigraphs, completed logs, and performed the wrist-worn 3-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Sailors slept on average 6.60 ± 1.01 h/day with 86.9% splitting their sleep into more than one episode/day. The median PSQI Global score was 8 (interquartile range [IQR] = 5); 80.4% of the population were classified as "poor sleepers" with PSQI scores >5. PSQI scores were affected by sailor occupational group, rank, daily sleep duration, and number of sleep episodes/day. Sleep quality showed a U-shape association with daily sleep duration due to the confounding effect of split sleep. Sailors with PSQI scores >9 had 21.1% slower reaction times (p < 0.001) and 32.8%-61.5% more lapses combined with false starts (all p < 0.001) than sailors with PSQI scores ≤9. Compared to males and officers, females and enlisted personnel had 86% and 23% higher risk, respectively, of having PSQI scores >9. Sailors in the PSQI > 9 group had more pronounced split sleep. Working on Navy ships is associated with elevated PSQI scores, a high incidence of poor sleep, and degraded psychomotor vigilance performance. The widely used PSQI score>5 criterion should be further validated in active-duty service member populations.

CognitiveTask

DegradedVigilanceTask

10.3357/AMHP.5567.2020

Aerospace medicine and human performance

Aerosp Med Hum Perform

Hand-Held and Wrist-Worn Field-Based PVT Devices vs. the Standardized Laptop PVT.

Given the challenges of collecting reliable Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) data in the field, this study compared a 3-min PVT on a hand-held device and wrist-worn device vs. a standardized laptop. The experiment utilized a randomized, repeated-measures design. Subjects ( = 36) performed the PVT on a touch-screen, hand-held device (HHD), a wrist-worn device (WWD), and a standardized laptop (L). Sleep was assessed using wrist-worn actigraphy. Compared to the L, the HHD was slower on average (∼50% longer reaction times; ∼34% slower response speeds; ∼600% more lapses in attention combined with false starts) and introduced a proportional bias that decreased the range of response speeds by 60%. Compared to the L, the WWD with the backlight on was faster on average (reaction time: ∼6%; response speed: ∼13%), but equivalent in lapses combined with false starts, and introduced a proportional bias that increased the range of responses by 60%. Compared to the L PVT, using a hand-held, touch screen interface to collect PVT data may introduce a large constant bias and a proportional bias that decreases the range of response speed. However, performance on the WWD closely mirrors performance on the L PVT and the proportional bias tends to be in favor of detecting individuals with slower responses. Researchers should avoid comparing PVT metrics between different device types. Reliability of PVT data from a WWD or HHD may be degraded when used in an operational setting with unpredictable environmental movement (such as a surface maritime setting).

CognitiveTask

DegradedVigilanceTask

10.1038/nm.4433

Nature medicine

Nat Med

Selective neuronal lapses precede human cognitive lapses following sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation is a major source of morbidity with widespread health effects, including increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attack, and stroke. Moreover, sleep deprivation brings about vehicle accidents and medical errors and is therefore an urgent topic of investigation. During sleep deprivation, homeostatic and circadian processes interact to build up sleep pressure, which results in slow behavioral performance (cognitive lapses) typically attributed to attentional thalamic and frontoparietal circuits, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, through study of electroencephalograms (EEGs) in humans and local field potentials (LFPs) in nonhuman primates and rodents it was found that, during sleep deprivation, regional 'sleep-like' slow and theta (slow/theta) waves co-occur with impaired behavioral performance during wakefulness. Here we used intracranial electrodes to record single-neuron activities and LFPs in human neurosurgical patients performing a face/nonface categorization psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) over multiple experimental sessions, including a session after full-night sleep deprivation. We find that, just before cognitive lapses, the selective spiking responses of individual neurons in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) are attenuated, delayed, and lengthened. These 'neuronal lapses' are evident on a trial-by-trial basis when comparing the slowest behavioral PVT reaction times to the fastest. Furthermore, during cognitive lapses, LFPs exhibit a relative local increase in slow/theta activity that is correlated with degraded single-neuron responses and with baseline theta activity. Our results show that cognitive lapses involve local state-dependent changes in neuronal activity already present in the MTL.

CognitiveTask

DegradedVigilanceTask

10.1093/sleep/32.10.1393

Sleep

Sleep

The variable response-stimulus interval effect and sleep deprivation: an unexplored aspect of psychomotor vigilance task performance.

The Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) contains variable response-stimulus intervals (RSI). Our goal is to investigate the effect of RSI on performance to determine whether sleep deprivation affects the ability to attend to events across seconds and whether this effect is independent of impairment in sustaining attention across minutes, as measured by time on task. A control group following their normal sleep routines and 3 groups exposed to 54 hours of total sleep deprivation performed a 10-minute PVT every 6 hours for 9 total test runs. Sleep deprivation occurred in a sleep laboratory with continuous behavioral monitoring; the control group took the PVT at home. Eighty-four healthy sleepers (68 sleep deprivation, 16 controls; 22 women; aged 18-35 years). Across groups, as the RSI increased from 2 to 10 seconds, mean RT was reduced by 69 milliseconds (main effect of RSI, P < 0.001). There was no interaction between the sleep deprivation and RSI effects. As expected, there was a significant interaction of sleep deprivation and time on task for mean RT (P = 0.002). Time on task and RSI effects were independent. Parallel analyses of percentage of lapses and percentage of false starts produced similar results. We demonstrate that the cognitive mechanism of attention responsible for response preparation across seconds is distinct from that for maintaining attention to task performance across minutes. Of these, only vigilance across minutes is degraded by sleep deprivation. Theories of sleep deprivation should consider how this pattern of spared and impaired aspects of attention may affect real-world performance.

CognitiveTask

DegradedVigilanceTask

10.11817/j.issn.1672-7347.2021.200770

Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences

Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban

Feature of cognitive dysfunction in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and its clinical influencing factors.

To comprehensively analyze the characteristics of cognitive impairment of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and to explore the effects of different lateral patients' cognitive impairment and different clinical factors on cognitive impairment of TLE. A total of 84 patients, who met the diagnostic criteria for TLE in the Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, were collected as a patient group, with 36 cases of left TLE and 48 cases of right TLE. A total of 79 healthy volunteers with matching gender, age and education level were selected as a control group. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the scores of Arithmetic Test, Information Test, Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Block Design Test (BDT), Hayling Test and Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) of the revised Chinese Adult Wechsler Intelligence scale were retrospectively analyzed in the 2 groups.Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the clinical factors and the cognitive impairment score. Compared with the control group, the TLE patient group had low scores in all neuropsychological tests, with significant difference (all <0.05). Compared with the control group, there was significant difference in different neuropsychological tests in the patients with TLE on different sides (all <0.05). In the left TLE, there were low scores in Information Test, arithmetic, VFT, the completion time of Hayling Test part A, the completion time of Hayling Test part B, the correct number of Hayling Test part A, the correct number of Hayling Test part B, BDT, Forward Digit Span Test (FDST) and Backward Digit Span Test (BDST). While in the right TLE, there were low scores in Information Test, arithmetic, DSST, VFT, the completion time of Hayling Test part A, the correct number of Hayling Test part A, the completion time of Hayling Test part B, the correct number of Hayling Test part B, BDT, FDST and BDST. There are multiple cognitive domain dysfunctions in TLE, including language, short-term memory, long-term memory, attention, working memory, executive function and visual space function. Left TLE has greater impairment of executive function and right TLE has greater damage in working memory. Long pathography of disease, hippocampal sclerosis and a history of febrile convulsions may lead to more severe cognitive impairment. Earlier identification and earlier intervention are needed to improve prognosis of patients.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.3389/fnagi.2020.621603

Frontiers in aging neuroscience

Front Aging Neurosci

Cognitive and Behavioral Inhibition Deficits in Parkinson's Disease: The Hayling Test as a Reliable Marker.

The present study seeks to provide an overview of executive (inhibition and flexibility) deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) by combining a cognitive and behavioral approach. Fifteen PD patients and 15 healthy controls underwent a neuropsychological and behavioral assessment including the Hayling and Trails Tests, the Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease (QUIP-RS), the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A), and the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36). The level of awareness of executive functioning was also analyzed. We finally explored how these neuropsychological and clinical outcomes could relate to each other. PD patients performed significantly worse in both neuropsychological tasks designed to evaluate inhibition abilities. They also reported more inhibition difficulties in everyday life and poorer quality of life. Associations between neuropsychological measures and self-reports were found. Moreover, as indicated by the discrepancy score, PD patients were as accurate as their relatives in self-reporting their executive daily difficulties. Inhibition and cognitive flexibility impairments assessed by the neuropsychological tests (Hayling and Trails tests) seem to capture daily life executive problems in PD. Furthermore, our study provides a deeper understanding of PD patients' and their relatives' experience of these executive dysfunctions.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.2147/NDT.S258074

Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat

Impaired Cognitive Abilities in Siblings of Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are at high risk of cognitive impairment. In addition to persistent seizures and antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), genetic factors also play an important role in the progression of cognitive deficits in TLE patients. Defining a cognitive endophenotype for TLE can provide information on the risk of cognitive impairment in patients. This study investigated the cognitive endophenotype of TLE by comparing neuropsychological function between patients with TLE, their unaffected siblings, and healthy control subjects. A total of 46 patients with TLE, 26 siblings, and 33 control subjects were recruited. Cognitive function (ie, general cognition, short- and long-term memory, attention, visuospatial and executive functions, and working memory) was assessed with a battery of neuropsychological tests. Differences between groups were evaluated by analysis of covariance, with age and years of education as covariates. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to evaluate data that did not satisfy the homogeneity of variance assumption. Pairwise comparisons were adjusted by Bonferroni correction, with a significance threshold of P<0.05. Patients with TLE showed deficits in the information test (P<0.001), arithmetic test (P=0.003), digit symbol substitution test (P=0.001), block design test (BDT; P=0.005), and backward digit span test (P=0.001) and took a longer time to complete the Hayling test Part A (P=0.011) compared to controls. Left TLE patients tended to have worse executive function test scores than right TLE patients. The siblings of TLE patients showed deficits in the BDT (P=0.006, Bonferroni-corrected) relative to controls. Patients with TLE exhibit cognitive impairment. Executive function is worse in patients with left TLE than in those with right TLE. Siblings show impaired visuospatial function relative to controls. Thus, cognitive deficits in TLE patients have a genetic component and are independent of seizures or AED use.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1136/jnnp-2020-324302

Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry

Inside minds, beneath diseases: social cognition in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-frontotemporal spectrum disorder.

To compare social cognition performance between patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and those patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). We included 21 participants with ALS, 20 with bvFTD and 21 healthy controls who underwent a comprehensive cognitive battery, including the short version of the Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (Mini-SEA), which comprises the test and Facial Emotion Recognition Test (FERT); Mini-Mental State Examination; Frontal Assessment Battery; lexical fluency (F-A-S), category fluency (animals/minute), digit span (direct and backwards) tests and the Hayling test. A post hoc analysis was conducted with the patients with ALS divided into two subgroups: patients without cognitive impairment (ALScn; n=13) and patients with cognitive impairment (ALSci; n=8). No significant difference was noted between participant groups in terms of the age, sex and education. ALS-total group and patients with bvFTD had similar disease durations. Patients with ALSci performed poorly when compared with controls with regard to the FERT (p<0.001), the (p<0.004) and the Mini-SEA (p<0.002) total scores. Moreover, patients with bvFTD performed poorly in comparison with controls in executive and social cognition tests. The performance of patients with ALSci was similar to that of patients with bvFTD, while the performance of patients with ALScn was similar to that of controls. Our findings support a cognitive continuum between ALS and bvFTD and shed light on the cognitive heterogeneity of ALS, expanding its possible neuropsychological profiles.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1177/0885066619897604

Journal of intensive care medicine

J Intensive Care Med

Postseptic Cognitive Impairment and Expression of APOE in Peripheral Blood: The Cognition After SepsiS (CASS) Observational Pilot Study.

Cognitive impairment after sepsis is an important clinical problem. Determinants of postseptic cognitive impairment are not well understood. We thus undertook a systems biology approach to exploring a possible role for apolipoprotein E (APOE) in postseptic cognitive impairment. Prospective, observational cohort. Intermountain Medical Center, a tertiary referral center in Utah. Patients with sepsis admitted to study intensive care units. None. We obtained peripheral blood for deep sequencing of RNA and followed up survivors at 6 months with a battery of cognitive instruments. We defined cognitive impairment based on the 6-month Hayling test of executive function. In our primary analysis, we employed weighted network analysis. Secondarily, we compared variation in gene expression between patients with normal versus impaired cognition. We enrolled 40 patients, of whom 34 were follow-up eligible and 31 (91%) completed follow-up; 1 patient's RNA sample was degraded-the final analytic cohort was 30 patients. Mean Hayling test score was 5.8 (standard deviation 1.1), which represented 20% with impaired executive function. The network module containing APOE was dominated by low-expression genes, with no association on primary analysis ( = .8). Secondary analyses suggested several potential lines of future investigation, including oxidative stress. In this prospective pilot cohort, executive dysfunction affected 1 in 5 survivors of sepsis. The APOE gene was sparsely transcribed in peripheral leukocytes and not associated with cognitive impairment. Future lines of research are suggested.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

La Tunisie medicale

Tunis Med

Rehabilitation of ADHD children by sport intervention: a Tunisian experience.

Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is associated with impairment across multiple domains, including social, familial, emotional and academic functioning. Available therapies, and in particular medical treatment, fail to produce improvement in this impairment. In this context, interest has grown in physical activity and exercise as potential interventions for the treatment of children with ADHD. The present study investigates the effect of a recreational swimming program on cognitives functions on Tunisian children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study recruited school children aged 9 to 12 years (n total = 40) with diagnosis of ADHD. They were randomly assigned into exercise or control groups. Neuropsychological tasks; the complex figure of Rey (ROCF), the stroop test and the Hayling test were assessed before and after the exercise program. The results indicates that there were significant improvements in memory accuracy (p=0,000), selective attention (p=0,000), and inhibition process (p=0,000), in experimental group compared with the control group after the intervention. In the post-program, children experienced an overall shortening of task execution times with fewer errors of omissions. They also made fewer errors in interference situations, signaling better cognitive functioning. Conclusion These findings suggest that a recreational swimming program may have positive implications for cognitive function and may provide preliminary support for alternative therapeutic interventions that can be used by researchers, parents, educators, and clinicians and they support that  reinforcement approved by recreational program can normalize  cognitive deficiencies in children with ADHD.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1111/acps.13121

Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica

Acta Psychiatr Scand

Executive functions and memory in bipolar disorders I and II: new insights from meta-analytic results.

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of executive functions (EF) and episodic memory in bipolar disorder (BD). A literature search was conducted on three electronic databases. Results were combined using random-effects meta-analysis. A total of 126 studies (6424 patients with BDI, 702 with BDII, and 8276 controls) were included. BDI was associated with moderate to large impairments across all cognitive functions and BDII with small-to-medium impairments. Small significant differences were identified between BDI and BDII on all cognitive functions except inhibition. The Trail Making Test (TMT) (g = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.67-0.80), Hayling Test (g = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.34-0.81), Digit Span Total (g = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.57-1.01), and Category Fluency (g = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.45-0.72) tasks were most sensitive to cognitive impairment in BDI. The TMT (g = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.50-0.80) and Category Fluency (g = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.37-0.75) were also sensitive to cognitive alterations in patients with BDII. BD type I was associated with more severe and widespread impairments than BDII, which showed smaller impairments on all functions except inhibition, where impairments were larger. Education and (hypo)manic symptoms should be further investigated in future studies due to their possible influence on the neuropsychological profile of BD. The instruments identified in this review should be considered for inclusion in cognitive assessment batteries in BD.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1093/arclin/acz044

Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists

Arch Clin Neuropsychol

Response initiation and inhibition and the relationship with fluid intelligence across the adult lifespan.

Cognitive processes associated with frontal lobe functioning are often termed "executive functions." Two such processes are initiation and inhibition or the starting and stopping of responses. It has recently been claimed dysfunction of executive abilities can be explained by a single measure of fluid intelligence. Here, we test this claim, specifically for the executive abilities of response initiation and inhibition, across the healthy lifespan. In a cohort of 336 healthy adults (18-89 years), initiation and inhibition were assessed with the Hayling test, Stroop test, and phonemic and semantic verbal fluency. All participants also completed a measure of fluid intelligence. The relationship between fluid intelligence and executive measures was explored across the lifespan using a continuous approach. Mediation models were computed to assess whether age-related decline across the four initiation/inhibition tasks could be fully explained by a single measure of fluid intelligence. Age was negatively correlated with response initiation/inhibition and fluid intelligence. The mediation analyses identified only partial mediation of fluid intelligence for age and Hayling performance. By contrast, fluid intelligence did not mediate performance on the Stroop test or phonemic and semantic verbal fluency. Response initiation/inhibition are not able to be explained by fluid intelligence. The results support a multifactorial theory of executive functions and provide evidence for the inclusion of multiple specific executive measures in a thorough neuropsychological assessment of age-related cognitive decline.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.tine.2019.100121

Trends in neuroscience and education

Trends Neurosci Educ

Response suppression, strategy application, and working memory in the prediction of academic performance and classroom misbehavior: A neuropsychological approach.

Neurological illness can produce a disorganization of behavior, including verbal disinhibition, despite apparent preserved intelligence. Neuropsychological tests of such behavioral control mechanisms may predict real-world performance of healthy people, such as success or misbehavior in educational contexts. In two separate studies, we examined how the Hayling Test of verbal response suppression predicts grades and classroom misbehavior. Verbal suppression errors and spontaneous strategy use were significant predictors of undergraduate grades. Using a modified version of the Hayling Test designed to reduce strategic responding with high school students (mean age 16), higher grades were predicted by shorter response suppression latencies and better working memory scores, and classroom misbehavior was predicted by lower working memory scores. Verbal response suppression and spontaneous strategy use, both closely linked to disorganized behavior in neuropsychological patients, predict academic achievement but seem unrelated to classroom misbehavior, which is associated with weakness in working memory.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1017/S1355617719000973

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

Disinhibition in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease: A Neuropsychological and Behavioural Investigation.

Cognitive tests of inhibitory control show variable results for the differential diagnosis between behavioural variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared the diagnostic accuracies of tests of inhibitory control and of a behavioural questionnaire, to distinguish bvFTD from AD. Three groups of participants were enrolled: 27 bvFTD patients, 25 AD patients, and 24 healthy controls. Groups were matched for gender, education, and socio-economic level. Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of inhibitory control, including Hayling Test, Stroop, the Five Digits Test (FDT) and the Delay Discounting Task (DDT). Caregivers completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11th version (BIS-11). bvFTD and AD groups showed no difference in the tasks of inhibitory control, while the caregiver questionnaire revealed that bvFTD patients were significantly more impulsive (BIS-11: bvFTD 76.1+9.5, AD 62.9+13, p < .001). Neuropsychological tests of inhibitory control failed to distinguish bvFTD from AD. On the contrary, impulsivity caregiver-completed questionnaire provided good distinction between bvFTD and AD. These results highlight the current limits of cognitive measures of inhibitory control for the differential diagnosis between bvFTD and AD, whereas questionnaire information appears more reliable and in line with clinical diagnostics.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.7334/psicothema2019.40

Psicothema

Psicothema

Semantic inhibition and dementia severity in Alzheimer's disease.

Semantic inhibition is often found to be impaired in Alzheimer´s disease (AD). The sentence completion task (Hayling test) was used to investigate whether it would be useful for differentiating mild AD from moderate AD. Latency responses and error scores in the automatic and inhibition parts of the test were registered in these two groups of patients and in a group of healthy older participants. The types of errors were also analysed. Group differences were analysed by ANOVA. In addition, relationships with other neuropsychological tests were reported. Participants with moderate AD performed worse than controls in both the automatic and inhibition sections, whereas participants with mild AD exhibited impaired performance in the inhibition part, but not in the automatic part. Differences between the groups with mild and moderate AD appeared only in the error scores in the inhibition part, specifically type 3 errors. Error scores in the inhibition part correlated with performance in verbal fluency and working memory tests. The Hayling task may be a useful tool for investigating control of inhibition in different stages of AD because different patterns of responses were observed.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.apmr.2019.01.023

Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation

Arch Phys Med Rehabil

Social Cognition Impairments in the Long Term Post Stroke.

To examine the presence of social cognition deficits and the relationship between social and general cognition (eg, attention, mental speed, verbal, visual, or memory abilities) in a large sample of chronic stroke patients and to identify stroke-related factors associated with social cognitive performance. Inception cohort study in which social cognition was assessed at 3-4 years post stroke. Stroke units in 6 general hospitals. The data of 148 patients were available. Fifty controls without stroke (consisting of partners of patients and acquaintances of researchers) were recruited (N=198). Not applicable. Patients underwent neuropsychological assessment by means of tests for social cognition (emotion recognition, theory of mind [ToM], empathy, and behavior regulation) and general cognition. Subgroup analysis was performed to compare right hemisphere stroke patients with left hemisphere stroke patients. Correlations between general and social cognition tests were assessed. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify demographic and stroke-related predictors of social cognitive performance. Patients performed significantly worse on emotion recognition (assessed with the Ekman 60-Faces test on total score as well as on the emotion anger), ToM (assessed with the Cartoon test), and behavior regulation (assessed with the Hayling test). Subgroup analysis revealed no differences between right and left hemisphere patients. Social cognition tests showed significant correlations with each other and with tests for visual perception, language, mental speed, cognitive flexibility, and memory. Older age, low level of education (and for ToM, also female sex) were predictors of worse performance on social cognition tests. Social cognition impairments are present in the long term post stroke, even in a group of mildly affected stroke patients, which may contribute to their long-term problems. Severity of impairments is determined mainly by demographic factors.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1017/S1355617718001030

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

Swedish Version of the Hayling Test: Clinical Utility in Frontotemporal Dementia Syndromes.

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the Hayling test (HT-S) and its clinical utility in a group of patients with different frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndromes. Early diagnosis of FTD is a challenge and requires a broad arsenal of assessment methods, neuropsychological tests not the least. The Hayling test assesses executive functions including initiation, efficiency and response inhibition. Seventy-six healthy controls were included as well as patients with the behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD; n = 17), semantic dementia (SD, n = 6), and progressive supranuclear palsy (n = 12). The Color Word Interference Test was administered to examine the construct validity. Age showed a correlation with better performances in younger participants whereas the importance of sex and education were less evident. The split half reliability and internal consistency were equal to, or better, than reported for the original version. The interrater reliability was excellent. The construct validity was supported, nevertheless indicating partly different processes behind the performances of the two tests. The FTD group performed significantly worse than healthy controls on efficiency and response inhibition and there were also significant differences in performances between the syndromes despite small samples. The psychometric properties and clinical utility of the Swedish version are satisfactory for measuring efficiency and response inhibition with results indicating dissimilar profiles in the performances in the different syndromes. These results need to be corroborated in larger samples. (JINS, 2019, 25, 195-203).

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1093/arclin/acy057

Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists

Arch Clin Neuropsychol

Initiation, Inhibition and Strategy Generation Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan.

Executive functions are crucial for adaptive behavior in novel contexts. In healthy aging, these abilities are more sensitive to dysfunction than other cognitive abilities. The effect of aging on initiation, inhibition, and strategy use was investigated via performance on the Hayling Sentence Completion Test. The standard Hayling Test and baseline cognitive tests were administered to healthy adults (N = 344), aged 18-89 years (cross-sectional study). Bivariate Pearson's correlations, partial correlations, and regression analyses were used to assess the impact of aging on the components of the Hayling Test. There were significant positive correlations between age and response time for both Initiation and Suppression, and the number of Suppression Errors. Further, older age was negatively associated with strategy use. These findings remained significant after controlling for demographic factors such as education and crystallized intelligence and other cognitive functions sensitive to aging such as fluid intelligence, attention, working memory and semantic and phonemic word fluency. This study provides clarification of the effect of age on the processes of initiation, inhibition, and strategy generation across the adult lifespan. The focus and analysis of strategy on the Hayling Test provides clinicians with an additional and valuable measure of executive functioning. That is, it provides insight into how older adults may be able to compensate for decline in these processes, and thus maximize quality of life and independence.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1007/s11682-018-9891-3

Brain imaging and behavior

Brain Imaging Behav

Inhibition impairment in frontotemporal dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease: clinical assessment and metabolic correlates.

The ability to reject an automatic tendency, i.e. inhibition, has been linked to the prefrontal cortex, but its neural underpinnings are still controversial. Neurodegenerative diseases represent an interesting model to explore this issue, given its frequent impairment in these disorders. We investigated the inhibitory impairment and its neural basis using four different tests, which evaluate the presence of inhibitory dysfunction (Stroop test, Hayling test, and two graphical perseveration tests), and assessed their correlation with brain metabolism using F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in a group of 76 participants with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and healthy controls (HC). Inhibition impairment was more frequent in bvFTD and AD, than ALS and HC. AD and bvFTD only differed in the strategy used in Hayling test, and the frequency of impairment in graphical perseveration tests. Correlation between inhibition tests was moderate. The Stroop test correlated with several regions of the frontal and parietal lobes, mainly on the left side. Hayling test correlated with almost all regions of the frontal lobe and, especially, with the orbitofrontal cortex. Some differences in the impaired regions in each disease were found. Inhibition ability was mainly impaired in bvFTD and AD, and it correlated with the bilateral frontal lobe metabolism. There were certain particularities according to the specific task and patients evaluated. These dissimilarities may support the concept of inhibition as a multidimensional construct, with the involvement of common and divergent neural mechanisms.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/0361073X.2018.1449587

Experimental aging research

Exp Aging Res

Emotional valence impacts lexical activation and inhibition differently in aging: an emotional Hayling task investigation.

Aging is characterized by cognitive changes such as a potential inhibition deficit. However, growing evidence shows that positive valence stimuli enhance performances in older adults to a greater degree than in younger adults. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the emotional valence of words on lexical activation and inhibition in aging by using a new Emotional Hayling Task. Thirty-eight younger adults (mean age = 20.11 years) and 38 older adults (mean age = 66.47 years) performed a computerized Emotional Hayling task. Participants had to choose the correct (initiation part) or incorrect (inhibition part) final words of highly predictable incomplete sentences. Final words had a negative or positive emotional valence and were paired for reaction time comparison with neutral words. Response times were faster in younger adults than in older adults in both the initiation and the inhibition parts. In addition, response times indicated that older adults initiated more slowly negative than neutral words while no differences emerged in inhibition. No differences were obtained between negative and neutral words in younger adults. Response times showed faster initiation and inhibition for positive than for neutral words in both age groups. These data are consistent with previous findings suggesting a disengagement from the processing of negative versus neutral words in older adults when compared with younger adults. A possible explanation is that activation of negative words in the mental lexicon is weaker in older than in younger adults. Conversely, the positive valence of words seems to enhance both activation and inhibition processes in both young and older adults. These findings suggest that positive stimuli can improve performance.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/02643294.2017.1422709

Cognitive neuropsychology

Cogn Neuropsychol

Language processing and executive functions in early treated adults with phenylketonuria (PKU).

We provide an in-depth analysis of language functions in early-treated adults with phenylketonuria (AwPKUs, N = 15-33), as compared to age- and education-matched controls (N = 24-32; N varying across tasks), through: a. narrative production (the Cinderella story), b. language pragmatics comprehension (humour, metaphors, inferred meaning), c. prosody discrimination d. lexical inhibitory control and planning (Blocked Cyclic Naming; Hayling Sentence Completion Test, Burgess & Shallice, 1997). AwPKUs exhibited intact basic language processing (lexical retrieval, phonology/articulation, sentence construction). Instead, deficits emerged in planning and reasoning abilities. Compared to controls, AwPKUs were: less informative in narrative production (lower rate of Correct Information Units); slower in metaphorical understanding and inferred meaning; less accurate in focused lexical-search (Hayling test). These results suggest that i) executive deficits in PKU cannot be explained by an accumulation of lower-order deficits and/or general speed impairments, ii) executive functions engage dedicated neurophysiological resources, rather than simply being an emergent property of lower-level systems.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1590/2237-6089-2016-0082

Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy

Trends Psychiatry Psychother

Brazilian norms and effects of age and education on the Hayling and Trail Making Tests.

To describe normative data for the Hayling Test and the Trail Making Test (TMT) in a sample of Brazilian adults, and to investigate the effects of age and education on test performance. A total of 313 (TMT) and 364 (Hayling) individuals with age ranges of 19-39, 40-59, and 60-75 years, and with at least 5 years of formal education, participated in this study. The tests were administered as part of a large battery of a normative project. Individuals were evaluated individually in silent, ventilated rooms at a university clinic. Instrument protocols were scored by trained research assistants and double-checked to ensure data reliability. There were major effects of age on the TMT (Time B, Errors B, B-A) and on the Hayling Test (Errors B/15, B/45), and major effects of education on the TMT (Time B, Errors B, B-A) and on the Hayling Test (Time A, Errors B/15, B/45). Interaction effects were found in Time B and B-A for the Hayling Test and in Time A for the TMT. Age and education were critical for performance on both verbal and non-verbal executive functions.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/13554794.2017.1334802

Neurocase

Neurocase

A neuropsychological study of older adult first-time sex offenders.

The issue of whether sex offenders have cognitive deficits remains controversial. The objective of this study was to compare the neuropsychological function of older adult first time sex-offenders (FTSO), who had not previously been charged with a sexual offence prior to the age of 50, to historical long-term sex offenders (HSO) and non-sex offenders (NSO). The hypotheses were (a) that FTSO would demonstrate greater deficits in executive function, decision-making, and memory compared to non-sex offenders; and (b) the HSOs would present similar neuropsychological deficits to non-sex offenders. A battery of neuropsychological measures was administered to 100 participants comprising 32 FTSOs, 36 HSOs, and 32 NSOs. Both FTSOs and HSOs showed significant impairment on tests of executive function (including verbal fluency, trail-making, and the Hayling test of response inhibition) as well as on tests of verbal and verbal memory compared to NSOs; however, there was no difference between the two sex offender groups. Older adult sex offenders, overall, demonstrated poorer neuropsychological performance than older adult non-sex offenders did, although there was no difference between older first-time and historical offenders. Cognitive deficits may increase the risk of sexual offending due to impaired capacity in self-regulation, planning, judgment, and inhibition. A proportion of older adult sex offenders may be harboring acquired frontal lobe pathology.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1093/arclin/acw088

Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists

Arch Clin Neuropsychol

Age and Semantic Inhibition Measured by the Hayling Task: A Meta-Analysis.

Cognitive aging is commonly associated with a decrease in executive functioning (EF). A specific component of EF, semantic inhibition, is addressed in the present study, which presents a meta-analytic review of the literature that has evaluated the performance on the Hayling Sentence Completion test in young and older groups of individuals in order to assess the magnitude of the age effect. A systematic search involving Web of Science, PsyINFO, PsychARTICLE, and MedLine databases and Google Scholar was performed. A total of 11 studies were included in this meta-analysis, encompassing a total of 887 participants; 440 young and 447 older adults. The effect sizes for group differences on four measures of the Hayling test, latency responses and error scores on the Automatic and Inhibition sections of the test were calculated using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software package. The results revealed large age effects for response latencies in both the Automatic (Hedges' g = 0.81) and Inhibitory conditions (Hedges' g = 0.98), though the latter two effect sizes did not differ from each other. In contrast, analysis of errors revealed a significant difference between the small effect seen in the Automatic condition (Hedges' g = 0.13) relative to the moderate effect seen in the Inhibition condition (Hedges' g = 0.55). These results may be important for a better understanding of the inhibitory functioning in elderly individuals, although they should be interpreted with caution because of the limited number of studies in the literature to date.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.psychres.2017.03.011

Psychiatry research

Psychiatry Res

The predictive role of daily cognitive stimulation on executive functions in bipolar disorder.

This study aimed to estimate the predictive role of clinical and demographic variables on the three core executive functions (EF) - working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC) and cognitive flexibility (CF) - in bipolar disorder (BD). The sample consisted of 38 patients with BD type I, 39 with BD type II, and 106 control participants with no mood disorders. Subjects completed the Hayling Test, Trail Making Test, Digit Span Backwards, Sentence Word Span Test, and Stroop Color-Word Test. Composite scores for WM, IC and CF were calculated, and their correlations with clinical and demographic variables were analyzed. Stepwise hierarchical regression models including all significant correlates, gender, and diagnosis, revealed that the frequency of reading and writing habits (FRWH), IQ and diagnosis predicted 38.1% of the variance in IC. Diagnosis and IQ predicted 24.9% of the variance in WM scores. CF was predicted by the FRWH only, which accounted for 7.6% of the variance in this construct. These results suggest that daily cognitive stimulation through reading and writing make a significant positive contribution to executive functioning in BD, even in the absence of continued education. These and other forms of routine cognitive stimulation should be further emphasized in intervention programs for BD.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.bandl.2017.01.004

Brain and language

Brain Lang

Cohesive and coherent connected speech deficits in mild stroke.

Spoken language production theories and lesion studies highlight several important prelinguistic conceptual preparation processes involved in the production of cohesive and coherent connected speech. Cohesion and coherence broadly connect sentences with preceding ideas and the overall topic. Broader cognitive mechanisms may mediate these processes. This study aims to investigate (1) whether stroke patients without aphasia exhibit impairments in cohesion and coherence in connected speech, and (2) the role of attention and executive functions in the production of connected speech. Eighteen stroke patients (8 right hemisphere stroke [RHS]; 6 left [LHS]) and 21 healthy controls completed two self-generated narrative tasks to elicit connected speech. A multi-level analysis of within and between-sentence processing ability was conducted. Cohesion and coherence impairments were found in the stroke group, particularly RHS patients, relative to controls. In the whole stroke group, better performance on the Hayling Test of executive function, which taps verbal initiation/suppression, was related to fewer propositional repetitions and global coherence errors. Better performance on attention tasks was related to fewer propositional repetitions, and decreased global coherence errors. In the RHS group, aspects of cohesive and coherent speech were associated with better performance on attention tasks. Better Hayling Test scores were related to more cohesive and coherent speech in RHS patients, and more coherent speech in LHS patients. Thus, we documented connected speech deficits in a heterogeneous stroke group without prominent aphasia. Our results suggest that broader cognitive processes may play a role in producing connected speech at the early conceptual preparation stage.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.cortex.2016.10.004

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior

Cortex

Confabulation in children with autism.

Some children with high-functioning autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) have been noted clinically to produce accounts and responses akin to confabulations in neurological patients. Neurological confabulation is typically associated with abnormalities of the frontal lobes and related structures, and some forms have been linked to poor performance on source monitoring and executive function tasks. ASC has also been linked to atypical development of the frontal lobes, and impaired performance on source monitoring and executive tasks. But confabulation in autism has not to our knowledge previously been examined experimentally. So we investigated whether patterns of confabulation in autism might share similarities with neurologically-based confabulation. Tests of confabulation elicitation, source monitoring (reality monitoring, plus temporal and task context memory) and executive function were administered to four adolescents with ASC who had previously been noted to confabulate spontaneously in everyday life. Scores were compared to a typically developing (TD) and an ASC control group. One confabulating participant was significantly impaired at reality monitoring, and one was significantly worse at a task context test, relative to both the ASC and TD controls. Three of the confabulators showed impairment on measures of executive function (Brixton test; Cognitive Estimates test; Hayling Test B errors) relative to both control groups. Three were significantly poorer than the TD controls on two others (Hayling A and B times), but the ASC control group was also significantly slower at this test than the TD controls. Compared to TD controls, two of the four confabulating participants produced an abnormal number of confabulations during a confabulation elicitation questionnaire, where the ASC controls and TD controls did not differ from each other. These results raise the possibility that in at least some cases, confabulation in autism may be less related to social factors than it is to impaired source memory or poor executive function.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1590/2237-6089-2016-0019

Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy

Trends Psychiatry Psychother

Development of the Brazilian version of the Child Hayling Test.

The Hayling Test assesses the components of initiation, inhibition, cognitive flexibility and verbal speed by means of a sentence completion task. This study presents the process of developing the Brazilian version of the Child Hayling Test (CHT) and reports evidence of its content validity. 139 people took part in the study. The adaptation was performed by seven translators and 12 specialist judges. An initial sample of 92 healthy children was recruited to test a selection of sentences adapted from previous adult and pediatric versions of the instrument, and a sample of 28 healthy children was recruited for pilot testing of the final version. The instrument was developed in seven stages: 1) translation, 2) back-translation, 3) comparison of translated versions, 4) preparation of new stimuli, 5) data collection with healthy children to analyze comprehension of the stimuli and analyses by the authors against the psycholinguistic criteria adopted, 6) analyses conducted by judges who are specialists in neuropsychology or linguistics, and 7) the pilot study. Twenty-four of the 72 sentences constructed were selected on the basis of 70-100% agreement between judges evaluating what they assessed and level of comprehensibility. The pilot study revealed better performance by older children, providing evidence of the instrument's sensitivity to developmental factors. Future studies employing this version of CHT with clinical pediatric populations who have frontal lesions and dysfunctions and in related areas are needed to test functional and differential diagnoses of preserved or impaired executive functions.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/00952990.2016.1206113

The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse

Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse

Meta-analyses of clinical neuropsychological tests of executive dysfunction and impulsivity in alcohol use disorder.

Promising models for cognitive rehabilitation in alcohol treatment rest on a more nuanced understanding of the associated impairments in the multifaceted domains of executive functioning (EF) and impulsivity. This meta-analysis examined the effects of alcohol on the individual subcomponents of EF and impulsivity in recently detoxified participants, including 1) Inhibition & Self-Regulation, 2) Flexibility & Set Shifting, 3) Planning & Problem Solving, 4) Reasoning & Abstraction, and 5) Verbal Fluency. Impulsivity was further examined through an analysis of motor, cognitive, and decisional subcategories. Investigators searched, coded, and calculated effect sizes of impairments demonstrated in a broad range of neuropsychological tests for EF. A total of 77 studies were selected covering 48 years of research with a sample size of 5140. Findings ranged from a Hedges' g effect size of 0.803 for Inhibition to a Hedges' g of 0.359 for Verbal Fluency. Results also varied for the individual subcategories of Inhibition, including a large effect size for decisional impulsivity (g = 0.817) and cognitive impulsivity (0.860), and a moderate effect size for motor impulsivity (g = 0.529). The Hayling Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Iowa Gambling Task were the measures most sensitive for alcohol effects. Planning, problem solving, and inhibitory abilities are significantly affected by alcohol abuse, with decisional and cognitive forms of impulsivity most impacted. Cognitive remediation targeting these deficits might increase the related functions that mediate the ability to moderate or abstain from alcohol, and so lead to improved treatment results.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.3389/fnagi.2016.00177

Frontiers in aging neuroscience

Front Aging Neurosci

False Recognition in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease-Disinhibition or Amnesia?

Episodic memory recall processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can be similarly impaired, whereas recognition performance is more variable. A potential reason for this variability could be false-positive errors made on recognition trials and whether these errors are due to amnesia per se or a general over-endorsement of recognition items regardless of memory. The current study addressed this issue by analysing recognition performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in 39 bvFTD, 77 AD and 61 control participants from two centers (India, Australia), as well as disinhibition assessed using the Hayling test. Whereas both AD and bvFTD patients were comparably impaired on delayed recall, bvFTD patients showed intact recognition performance in terms of the number of correct hits. However, both patient groups endorsed significantly more false-positives than controls, and bvFTD and AD patients scored equally poorly on a sensitivity index (correct hits-false-positives). Furthermore, measures of disinhibition were significantly associated with false positives in both groups, with a stronger relationship with false-positives in bvFTD. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed similar neural correlates of false positive endorsement across bvFTD and AD, with both patient groups showing involvement of prefrontal and Papez circuitry regions, such as medial temporal and thalamic regions, and a DTI analysis detected an emerging but non-significant trend between false positives and decreased fornix integrity in bvFTD only. These findings suggest that false-positive errors on recognition tests relate to similar mechanisms in bvFTD and AD, reflecting deficits in episodic memory processes and disinhibition. These findings highlight that current memory tests are not sufficient to accurately distinguish between bvFTD and AD patients.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1093/arclin/acw027

Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists

Arch Clin Neuropsychol

The Hayling Test: Development and Normalization of the Spanish Version.

The Hayling Sentence Completion Test evaluates the ability to inhibit an automatic response. It has also been suggested for the assessment of orbitofrontal cortex function. The aim of the study was to develop a Spanish version of the Hayling test and to obtain normative data. Responses to 60 sentences from 50 healthy controls were used to develop the task. Additionally, 185 healthy controls aged between 18 and 99 years were examined with the test in order to obtain normative data. The overlapping interval strategy was used to maximize the sample size. Age- and education-adjusted scores were obtained using linear regression analysis. Age and educational level had a significant effect on the different scores. Good internal reliability and inter-rater variability were observed. We provide normative data adjusted for age and education. Our results enable the use of this test for clinical and research purposes in the field of neuropsychological assessment.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.cortex.2016.03.011

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior

Cortex

When does a strategy intervention overcome a failure of inhibition? Evidence from two left frontal brain tumour cases.

Initiation and inhibition of responses are crucial for appropriate behaviour across different settings. Initiation and inhibition difficulties are well documented following frontal damage, although task differences have limited our understanding. The Hayling Sentence Completion Test was designed to assess verbal initiation and inhibition within the same task. This study investigates the ability of two patients with left frontal tumours (KI: high grade glioma; PM: meningioma) to use a strategy to overcome profound suppression failures on the Hayling Test. KI and PM completed the Hayling Test and two experimental tasks. The Selection Investigation assessed verbal initiation on a sentence completion task that varied selection demands (high/low). The Suppression and Strategy Investigation assessed ability to implement four strategies aimed to override a suppression failure and facilitate production of an unconnected word. On the Hayling Test, KI and PM initiated responses to complete high constraint sentences, in contrast to impaired suppression. KI benefitted minimally from strategies to overcome suppression failure although one strategy (object naming) was partially successful. KI's errors revealed fast suppression errors, in contrast to slow no responses, and selection ability was also impaired for verbal initiation. PM, however, implemented each strategy 100% to overcome a suppression failure and had no difficulty completing sentences meaningfully, regardless of selection demands. This first investigation of strategy implementation to overcome profound suppression impairments provides insights into verbal initiation, inhibition, selection and strategy mechanisms, which has implications for neurorehabilitation. Specifically, both patients had profound inhibition deficits but KI also presented with a selection deficit and was unable to implement a strategy. By contrast, PM's selection ability was intact but she was unable to generate, rather than implement, a strategy. We suggest that KI has both fast, uncontrolled semantic output and response inhibition difficulty, whereas PM's difficulty is underpinned by motivational factors.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1371/journal.pone.0150940

PloS one

PLoS One

Executive Functions in Tobacco Dependence: Importance of Inhibitory Capacities.

Executive functions are linked to tobacco dependence and craving. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the impact of three executive functions: updating, inhibition and shifting processes on tobacco craving and dependence. 134 tobacco consumers were included in this study: 81 moderately (Fagerström score <7) and 53 heavily dependent (Fagerström score >7). Dependence was assessed with the Fagerström test and craving with the tobacco craving questionnaire (TCQ 12). We used the Stroop test and the Hayling test to measure inhibition, the Trail Making Test to measure shifting processes and the n-back test to measure updating processes. A multivariate logistic model was used to assess which variables explained best the level of nicotine dependence. Inhibition (p = 0.002) and updating (p = 0.014) processes, but not shifting processes, were associated with higher tobacco dependence. Inhibition capacity had a significant effect on the nicotine dependence level independently of age, education, time since last cigarette, intellectual quotient, craving, updating and shifting process. Nicotine dependence level seems better explained by inhibition capacities than by craving and updating effects. The capacity to inhibit our behaviours is a good predictor of the severity of tobacco dependence. Our results suggest a prefrontal cortex dysfunction affecting the inhibitory capacities of heavy tobacco dependent smokers. Further studies are needed to investigate the application of these findings in the treatment of tobacco dependence.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1007/s00221-016-4560-5

Experimental brain research

Exp Brain Res

The effects of transcranial direct current stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on cognitive inhibition.

The present study examines the effects of bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (anodal over left and cathodal over right DLPFC). This study describes the long-term effects of tDCS on cognitive inhibition, using the Hayling task. Twenty volunteers participated in the study and were assigned to either an active or a sham group. Participants heard sentences with the final word missing. They were asked then to complete the sentence with a word that either is appropriate in the context of the sentence (initiation condition) or is completely unrelated in this specific context (suppression condition). All participants performed a baseline Hayling task followed by six stimulation sessions. Subsequent to completion of these stimulations, we assessed immediately Hayling performance and re-assessed this performance 1 month. The results indicate a significant decrease in the number of errors in the active group, but only in the suppression condition that continued for 1 month after the sixth stimulation. The current findings suggest that tDCS can improve cognitive inhibition for the long-term in healthy adults and that the DLPFC has a special role in selecting the correct response and suppressing irrelevant semantic information.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/13803395.2015.1074663

Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol

Speed of processing and strategic control of attention after traumatic brain injury.

Slowed information processing speed has consistently been documented after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Debate continues as to whether deficits in strategic control are proportionate to, or remain after controlling for, reduced speed of processing. The study aim was to investigate the association of speed of processing and strategic control of attention with working memory, selective attention, response inhibition, and mental flexibility task performance after TBI using traditional and novel clinical measures. Twenty-five individuals with complicated mild to severe TBI (post-traumatic amnesia duration, M = 39.52 days, SD = 38.34; worst Glasgow Coma Scale score, M = 7.33, SD = 4.35; time post-injury, M = 392.64 days, SD = 537.19) and 25 matched healthy controls completed assessment of attentional and executive functioning. Measures included the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the computerized Selective Attention Task (SAT), the Ruff 2&7 Selective Attention Test (2&7), the visual n-back, Digit Span, Hayling Test, and Trail Making Test (TMT). t tests revealed that individuals with TBI demonstrated reduced processing speed on the SDMT, n-back, SAT, 2&7, Hayling Test, and TMT-A (p ≤ .002 for all). Digit Span performance did not differ between groups. Mixed-model ANOVAs revealed that individuals with TBI demonstrated a disproportionate increase in reaction time with complexity, which was accounted for by speed on the SAT but remained on the Hayling Inhibition Test after controlling for speed in ANCOVAs. Mann-Whitney U tests revealed that individuals with TBI also made more errors on the Hayling Test, missed responses on the n-back and were unable to benefit from the automatic condition of the 2&7. While slowed speed of information processing was pervasive across tasks after TBI, residual difficulties in response inhibition remained after controlling for slowness, which suggests impaired strategic control. These findings support targeted intervention for slowed speed of thinking and inhibition following TBI.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/09297049.2015.1058349

Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence

Child Neuropsychol

Development of executive functioning in school-age Tunisian children.

Research regarding executive functioning (EF) in children rarely focuses on populations in African or Middle-Eastern Arabic-speaking countries. The current study used a cross-sectional design to examine the developmental trajectories of school-age Tunisian children in three domains of executive control (inhibition of prepotent responses, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) as well as their mutual interactions and the effects of gender and parents' education level. Inhibitory processes, cognitive flexibility, and working memory were assessed using the Stroop test, a version of the Hayling test adapted for children, simple and alternating tasks of verbal fluency, and verbal and visuospatial span tasks (forward and backward spans). The study population included 120 7- to 12-year-old Tunisian children (60 girls, 60 boys) who were grouped and matched for age, gender, and parents' education level. The results revealed an overall effect of age on executive performance, whereas gender and parents' education level showed non-significant effects. In addition, executive indices were significantly associated with fluid intelligence level. Partial correlation analyses (controlled for age) found significant links between indices that assessed the same executive process, except for inhibitory processes; the temporal indices for inhibitory processes showed relative independence. The correlations between indices that assessed distinct executive processes were weaker (but significant). Overall, the results suggest that executive components in school-age Tunisian children operate according to relatively homogeneous developmental trajectories, marked by peaks of maturity that differ according to the assessed index. A transcultural approach to EF is discussed in terms of the unity and diversity of its components.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1080/23279095.2015.1012760

Applied neuropsychology. Adult

Appl Neuropsychol Adult

The Predictive Impact of Biological and Sociocultural Factors on Executive Processing: The Role of Age, Education, and Frequency of Reading and Writing Habits.

Although the impact of education and age on executive functions (EF) has been widely studied, the influence of daily cognitive stimulation on EF has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the age, education, and frequency of reading and writing habits (FRWH) of healthy adults could predict their performance on measures of inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Inhibition speed, inhibitory control, and set shifting were assessed using speed, accuracy, and discrepancy scores on the Trail-Making Test (TMT) and Hayling Test. Demographic characteristics and the FRWH were assessed using specialized questionnaires. Regression analyses showed that age and the FRWH predicted speed and accuracy on the TMT. The FRWH predicted both speed and accuracy on the Hayling Test, for which speed and accuracy scores were also partly explained by age and education, respectively. Surprisingly, only the FRWH was associated with Hayling Test discrepancy scores, considered one of the purest EF measures. This highlights the importance of regular cognitive stimulation over the number of years of formal education on EF tasks. Further studies are required to investigate the role of the FRWH so as to better comprehend its relationship with EF and general cognition.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1111/sjop.12206

Scandinavian journal of psychology

Scand J Psychol

The Swedish Hayling task, and its relation to working memory, verbal ability, and speech-recognition-in-noise.

Cognitive functions and speech-recognition-in-noise were evaluated with a cognitive test battery, assessing response inhibition using the Hayling task, working memory capacity (WMC) and verbal information processing, and an auditory test of speech recognition. The cognitive tests were performed in silence whereas the speech recognition task was presented in noise. Thirty young normally-hearing individuals participated in the study. The aim of the study was to investigate one executive function, response inhibition, and whether it is related to individual working memory capacity (WMC), and how speech-recognition-in-noise relates to WMC and inhibitory control. The results showed a significant difference between initiation and response inhibition, suggesting that the Hayling task taps cognitive activity responsible for executive control. Our findings also suggest that high verbal ability was associated with better performance in the Hayling task. We also present findings suggesting that individuals who perform well on tasks involving response inhibition, and WMC, also perform well on a speech-in-noise task. Our findings indicate that capacity to resist semantic interference can be used to predict performance on speech-in-noise tasks.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1093/brain/awv003

Brain : a journal of neurology

Brain

Verbal suppression and strategy use: a role for the right lateral prefrontal cortex?

Verbal initiation, suppression and strategy generation/use are cognitive processes widely held to be supported by the frontal cortex. The Hayling Test was designed to tap these cognitive processes within the same sentence completion task. There are few studies specifically investigating the neural correlates of the Hayling Test but it has been primarily used to detect frontal lobe damage. This study investigates the components of the Hayling Test in a large sample of patients with unselected focal frontal (n = 60) and posterior (n = 30) lesions. Patients and controls (n = 40) matched for education, age and sex were administered the Hayling Test as well as background cognitive tests. The standard Hayling Test clinical measures (initiation response time, suppression response time, suppression errors and overall score), composite errors scores and strategy-based responses were calculated. Lesions were analysed by classical frontal/posterior subdivisions as well as a finer-grained frontal localization method and a specific contrast method that is somewhat analogous to voxel-based lesion mapping methods. Thus, patients with right lateral, left lateral and superior medial lesions were compared to controls and patients with right lateral lesions were compared to all other patients. The results show that all four standard Hayling Test clinical measures are sensitive to frontal lobe damage although only the suppression error and overall scores were specific to the frontal region. Although all frontal patients produced blatant suppression errors, a specific right lateral frontal effect was revealed for producing errors that were subtly wrong. In addition, frontal patients overall produced fewer correct responses indicative of developing an appropriate strategy but only the right lateral group showed a significant deficit. This problem in strategy attainment and implementation could explain, at least in part, the suppression error impairment. Contrary to previous studies there was no specific frontal effect for verbal initiation. Overall, our results support a role for the right lateral frontal region in verbal suppression and, for the first time, in strategy generation/use.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.archger.2014.07.016

Archives of gerontology and geriatrics

Arch Gerontol Geriatr

Investigation of age-related differences in an adapted Hayling task.

The Hayling task is traditionally used to assess activation and inhibitory processes efficiency among various populations, such as elderly adults. However, the classical design of the task may also involve the influence of strategy use and efficiency of sentence processing in the possible differences between individuals. Therefore, the present study investigated activation and inhibitory processes in aging with two formats of an adapted Hayling task designed to reduce the involvement of these alternative factors. Thirty young adults (M=20.7 years) and 31 older adults (M=69.6 years) performed an adapted Hayling task including a switching block (i.e., unblocked design) in addition to the classical task (i.e., blocked design), and the selection of the response between two propositions. The results obtained with the classical blocked design showed age-related deficits in the suppression sections of the task but also in the initiation ones. These findings can be explained by a co-impairment of both inhibition and activation processes in aging. The results of the unblocked Hayling task, in which strategy use would be reduced, confirmed this age-related decline in both activation and inhibition processes. Moreover, significant correlations between the unblocked design and the Trail Making Test revealed that flexibility is equally involved in the completion of both sections of this design. Finally, the use of a forced-response choice offers a format that is easy to administer to people with normal or pathological aging. This seems particularly relevant for these populations in whom the production of an unrelated word often poses problems.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.psychres.2014.07.031

Psychiatry research

Psychiatry Res

Executive function in psychopathy: the Tower of London, Brixton Spatial Anticipation and the Hayling Sentence Completion Tests.

Executive dysfunction in those high on traits of psychopathy has often been reported, with many disagreements as to the nature of the dysfunction. We aimed to see if tests of planning and rule acquisition/adherence would discriminate those high on psychopathic traits. A battery of executive function tests (Tower of London, Brixton Spatial Anticipation, and Hayling Sentence Completion Tasks) was given to 28 British male prisoners. Psychopathy was measured using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. High psychopathy was related to reduced planning in the Tower of London Test and poor rule-adherence on the Brixton Test. Other tests of executive function were not related to psychopathy. The results appear supportive of the notion that function of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is dysfunctional in psychopathy whilst that of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is normal and suggest that impulsivity in those high on psychopathy traits impedes planning and rule following. We suggest the adapted Tower of London Test and the Brixton Test could be useful objective measures of this type of impulsivity in offenders which could help identify key treatment goals.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1590/S1980-57642014DN82000011

Dementia & neuropsychologia

Dement Neuropsychol

Verbal and visuospatial executive functions in healthy elderly: The impact of education and frequency of reading and writing.

To assess the predictive role of education and frequency of reading and writing habits (FRWH) on the cognitive flexibility, inhibition and planning abilities of healthy elderly individuals. Fifty-seven healthy adults aged between 60 and 75 years with 2 to 23 years of formal education were assessed as to the frequency with which they read and wrote different types of text, as well as their number of years of formal education. Executive functions were evaluated using the Hayling Test and the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST). Weak to moderate positive correlations were found between education, FRWH and the number of categories completed in the MWCST, while negative correlations were identified between these variables and the number of perseverative and non-perseverative errors on the task. Only the FRWH was significantly correlated with the number of failures to maintain set. Speed and accuracy on the Hayling Test were only correlated with participant education. Both education and FRWH significantly predicted performance on the MWCST, and the combination of these two variables had a greater predictive impact on performance on this task than either of the two variables alone. Variability in scores on the Hayling Test was best accounted for by participant education. In this sample of elderly subjects, cognitive flexibility was sufficiently preserved to allow for adequate performance on verbal tasks, but may have benefitted from the additional stimulation provided by regular reading and writing habits and by formal education in the performance of more complex non-verbal tasks.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1684/pnv.2014.0449

Geriatrie et psychologie neuropsychiatrie du vieillissement

Geriatr Psychol Neuropsychiatr Vieil

[Impact of dysexecutive syndrome on autonomy in early Alzheimer's disease and Mild cognitive impairment].

Early impairment of the cognitive and behavioral executive processes are found in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as well as in Alzheimer's disease (AD). These processes are strongly linked to autonomy in daily living because they are involved in our adaptation to many new situations. To evaluate the executive processes and their links with autonomy, we compared 20 control subjects to 20 patients with MCI, and 20 patients with early AD. All participants completed three executive cognitive task, according to the Miyake's model: set-shifting was assessed by the Trail Making Task, inhibition control by the Hayling test, and working memory by the Updating test. They also completed the Lille Apathy Rating Scale (Lars) evaluating four components of apathy. The autonomy, conceptualized as competency in four domains of daily-living, was evaluated by the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS), completed by a close relative. Control subjects showed higher scores than both clinical groups on the TMT time completion. AD group showed a tendency to make more errors than the control subjects on Hayling test, whereas MCI group didn't differ from the other groups. No other group effect was found on the executive dependent variables. Both MCI and Alzheimer groups had higher scores of apathy than the control group on the Lars total score and its three components. Similar results were found on the PCRS and the Lars three subscales. The best predictors of autonomy were the TMT time completion and the total Lars score. Loss of competency is found in MCI as well as in AD and is correlate to set-shifting and apathy.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.schres.2013.07.019

Schizophrenia research

Schizophr Res

Functional MRI of sentence-level language comprehension in schizophrenia: a coordinate-based analysis.

Numerous authors have hypothesised that abnormal pathways for language play a key role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, a notion that is supported by structural imaging and post-mortem findings especially in patients with thought disorder and auditory verbal hallucinations. Recently, an increasing number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations addressed language comprehension schizophrenia. We present a systematic review of the fMRI-studies on sentence- and text-level language comprehension in schizophrenia. 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Additional studies specifically addressed language lateralization. Coordinates for differential contrasts for healthy controls>patients reported in these studies indicate that the left fronto-temporal language network is altered in schizophrenia. 33 out of the 51 reported coordinates are located in the left hemisphere. Overactivation in schizophrenia extends into premotor areas and is about equally divided among the left and right hemispheres. Several negative studies indicate heterogeneity within schizophrenia, which could possibly be related to the severity of thought disorder or auditory verbal hallucinations of patients. Activation changes related to thought disorder within schizophrenia (n=4 studies) include the inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri and are moderately lateralized to the left hemisphere. Although current fMRI literature is still insufficient to draw decisive conclusions, results point towards functionally altered pathways for language in schizophrenia. This notion is also plausible from the viewpoint of psychopathology especially since hallmark symptoms of the disease, thought disorder, auditory verbal hallucinations and alogia, are expressed in terms of language or represent abnormalities of language function.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.jad.2013.06.052

Journal of affective disorders

J Affect Disord

Distinct alterations in value-based decision-making and cognitive control in suicide attempters: toward a dual neurocognitive model.

The literature suggests that many suicide attempters show impairment in both decision-making and cognitive control. However, it is not clear if these deficits are linked to each other, and if they may be related to more basic alterations in attention. This is a relevant question in the perspective of future interventions targeting cognitive deficits to prevent suicidal acts. Two different populations of patients with histories of suicide attempts were assessed (N=142 and 119). The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was used to measure decision-making in both populations. We used a D2 cancellation task and a verbal working memory task in population 1; the Stroop test, the N-Back task, the Trail Making Test, and the Hayling Sentence Completion test in population 2. Regarding decision-making, we only found a small negative correlation between the Hayling test error score (r=-0.24; p=0.01), and the net score from the second half of the IGT. In contrast, working memory, cognitive flexibility and cognitive inhibition measures were largely inter-correlated. Most patients were medicated. Only patients with mood disorders. These results add to previous findings suggesting that the neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior may rely on impairments in two distinct anatomical systems, one processing value-based decision-making (associated with ventral prefrontal cortex, among others) and one underlying cognitive control (associated with more dorsal prefrontal regions). This distinction may result in tailored-made cognitive interventions.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.parkreldis.2013.04.020

Parkinsonism & related disorders

Parkinsonism Relat Disord

A novel bedside task to tap inhibitory dysfunction and fronto-striatal atrophy in Parkinson's disease.

Given the heterogeneity of mild cognitive deficits in non-demented Parkinson's disease (PD), sensitive and anatomically specific behavioural measures are crucial when evaluating cognition in this patient group. Inhibitory dysfunction is one such deficit increasingly being recognised in non-demented PD; however, few clinical measures exist to detect it and its associated fronto-striatal pathology. In 50 non-demented PD patients and 27 controls we employ a novel measure, the Excluded Letter Fluency (ELF) test, to objectively assess inhibitory dysfunction. ELF results were also contrasted with an established inhibitory measure (Hayling Test) and covaried against grey matter atrophy via voxel-based morphometry analysis in a subset of patients. The findings show that patients made significantly more rule-break errors than controls on the ELF and this measure was more sensitive than the Hayling in detecting inhibitory dysfunction, classifying over 76% of patients in logistic regression analysis. Importantly, ELF rule-break errors correlated with grey matter atrophy in known inhibitory-control regions (orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus and ventral striatum). The ELF is a brief bedside task that efficiently detects inhibitory dysfunction in non-demented PD. The utility of this novel behavioural measure is further substantiated by its anatomical specificity for fronto-striatal inhibitory control regions.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.cortex.2012.12.003

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior

Cortex

Fronto-striatal atrophy correlates of inhibitory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease versus behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.

Impulsive behaviours commonly manifest in treated Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and, are typically viewed as sequelae of dopaminergic therapy. However, recent evidence shows that impulsivity in those patients may not only depend on medication status. Instead, there is the suggestion that dopaminergic therapy interacts with existing neuroanatomical and/or neurochemical abnormalities, to produce impulsive behaviour in certain vulnerable patients. In this study, we investigated whether grey matter atrophy in fronto-striatal brain regions contributes to inhibitory dysfunction - a key feature of impulsive behaviour - in PD. Importantly, we contrasted 25 PD patients with 11 behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) patients, who have well-established inhibitory dysfunction and related grey matter atrophy. We employed a questionnaire to assess impulsive behaviours (Barrett Impulsiveness Scale), and measures of verbal inhibitory function (Hayling Test) and response inhibitory function (a go/no-go task). Behavioural analyses were conducted to examine performance in the PD and bvFTD patients and in 15 healthy controls. Scores on the verbal and response inhibition tasks were also entered as covariates in a region of interest voxel-based morphometry analysis, to determine the grey matter correlates. PD patients showed impairments in inhibitory function, though to a milder degree than bvFTD patients. In the Parkinson's sample, frontal atrophy (namely, orbitofrontal and right inferior frontal cortex) was shown to correlate with verbal disinhibition, and striatal atrophy (right nucleus accumbens) was associated with response disinhibition, whereas a more distributed pattern of fronto-striatal atrophy was associated with the bvFTD patients' performance on inhibitory measures. These results provide the first evidence that disinhibition in PD is related to fronto-striatal grey matter atrophy. Our study adds support to the hypothesis that impulsivity in PD is not solely mediated by dopaminergic medication effects, but that fronto-striatal structural abnormalities contribute to impulsive behaviours in these patients.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1037/a0030876

Psychology and aging

Psychol Aging

Age-related differences in the performance of theory of mind in older adults: a dissociation of cognitive and affective components.

Previous studies that focused on age-related changes in the performance of theory of mind (ToM) in older adults have provided conflicting results. ToM consists of cognitive and affective mentalizing processes. Mixed calculation of different aspects of ToM may have contributed to the conflicting results and fails to detect the specific age effects on ToM. The current study investigated the age-related changes on stories tasks that specifically assess cognitive versus affective ToM in 42 young-old adults and 32 old-old adults, compared to 32 young adults. A factor analysis revealed that the ToM stories tasks could be classified into three components. Both of the two older adult groups performed worse than young adult group on cognitive ToM stories tasks (p < .001). However, older adults performed nearly the same as young adults on affective ToM stories tasks (p > .05). Moreover, performance on executive inhibition, measured by the Hayling test, was only correlated with cognitive ToM tasks (β = -0.318, R2 = 0.101), but not with affective ToM tasks. The results reveal a greater age effect on cognitive compared to affective ToM. Rather than a general decline of ToM, older adults show selective compromised performance on cognitive ToM tasks, while relatively intact performance on affective ToM stories tasks. The dissociable correlation between cognitive versus affective ToM with inhibitive control further confirms the dissociation of cognitive and affective ToM.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.08.021

Drug and alcohol dependence

Drug Alcohol Depend

Separating intentional inhibition of prepotent responses and resistance to proactive interference in alcohol-dependent individuals.

Impulsivity is a hallmark of addictive behaviors. Addicts' weakened inhibition of irrelevant prepotent responses is commonly thought to explain this association. However, inhibition is not a unitary mechanism. This study investigated the efficiency of overcoming competition due to irrelevant responses (i.e., inhibition of a prepotent response) and overcoming competition in memory (i.e., resistance to proactive interference) in sober and recently detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals. Three cognitive tasks assessing the inhibition of a prepotent response (Hayling task, anti-saccade task and Stroop task) and two tasks tapping into the capacity to resist proactive interference (cued recall, Brown-Peterson variant) were administered to 30 non-amnesic recently detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals and 30 matched healthy participants without alcohol dependency. In addition, possible confounds such as verbal updating in working memory was assessed. Alcohol-dependent subjects performed worse than healthy participants on the three cognitive tasks assessing the inhibition of irrelevant prepotent responses but group performance was similar in the tasks assessing overcoming proactive interference in memory, updating of working memory and abstract reasoning. These findings suggest that alcohol-dependence is mainly associated with impaired capacity to intentionally suppress irrelevant prepotent response information. Control of proactive interference from memory is preserved. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1590/S1980-57642012DN06010005

Dementia & neuropsychologia

Dement Neuropsychol

Executive functions and sustained attention: Comparison between age groups of 19-39 and 40-59 years old.

Few studies involving the cognition of middle-aged adults are available in the international literature, particularly investigating the process of cognitive aging, executive components and attention. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are differences in performance on neuropsychological tasks of executive functions and sustained attention between two age groups. The sample consisted of 87 adults aged from 19 to 59 years old, divided into two groups according to the age variable (younger adults and middle-aged adults). All participants were Brazilian and had no sensory, psychiatric or neurological disorders; subjects also had no history of alcohol abuse, and no self-reported use of illicit drugs or antipsychotics. The neuropsychological instruments administered were the Hayling Test, Trail Making Test, Bells Test and verbal fluency tasks. Groups showed no significant differences in relation to sociodemographic variables, educational level or frequency of reading and writing habits. The younger adult group performed better than the middle-aged group on tasks that involved mainly processing speed, cognitive flexibility and lexical search. These findings serve as a valuable reference for cognitive processing in middle-aged adults, since a large number of comparative studies focus only on the younger and later phases of adulthood. Additional studies are needed to investigate possible interaction between different factors such as age and education.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test

10.1093/cercor/bhr322

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)

Cereb Cortex

Dissociation between verbal response initiation and suppression after prefrontal lesions.

Some of the most striking symptoms after prefrontal damage are reduction of behavioral initiation and inability to suppress automatic behaviors. However, the relation between these 2 symptoms and the location of the lesions that cause them are not well understood. This study investigates the cerebral correlates of initiation and suppression abilities assessed by the Hayling Sentence Completion Test, using the human lesion approach. Forty-five patients with focal brain lesions and 110 healthy matched controls were examined. We combined a classical group approach with 2 voxel-based lesion methods. The results show several critical prefrontal regions to Hayling Test performance, associated with either common or differential impairment in "initiation" and "suppression" conditions. A crucial role for medial rostral prefrontal cortex (BA 10) in the initiation condition was shown by both group and lesion-mapping methods. A posterior inferolateral lesion provoked both initiation and suppression slowness, although to different degrees. An orbitoventral region was associated with errors in the suppression condition. These findings are important for clinical practice since they indicate that the brain regions required to perform a widely used and sensitive neuropsychological test but also shed light on the regions crucial for distinct components of adaptative behaviors, in particular, rostral prefrontal cortex.

CognitiveTask

Hayling_test