Buschke Selective Reminding Task Research Articles

Sleep quality and memory performance in a lifespan sample of racially/ethnically diverse adults

AbstractBackgroundWhile studies have shown that Non‐Latinx Black and Latinx adults sleep less and more poorly than Non‐Latinx White adults, the cognitive consequences of poor sleep in Non‐Latinx Black and Latinx adults are understudied. Moreover, it is unclear if negative factors that disproportionately affect racial/ethnic minorities, including discrimination, may result in racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between sleep and cognition. We hypothesized that poorer quality sleep and inadequate sleep duration (e.g., short or long sleep) is associated with poorer memory performance, and the strength of these associations would differ by racial/ethnic group.MethodOur analysis included non‐Latinx Black, non‐Latinx White, and Latinx participants across the adult lifespan recruited from the community of Northern Manhattan as a part of the Offspring study. Participants self‐reported their sleep duration and quality over the past month using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which we used to calculate global sleep quality. We evaluated memory with the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. We used general linear models to estimate mean differences in sleep duration and quality for racial/ethnic groups. We used multivariable regression to estimate relationships of sleep duration and quality with delayed recall in the total sample and stratified by racial/ethnic group. Models were adjusted for age, sex, and years of education.ResultBlack and Latinx adults reported lower sleep duration and poorer quality sleep than Non‐Latinx White adults. In the overall sample, higher quality sleep was associated with better delayed recall performance. We also found linear and quadratic relationships between sleep duration and delayed recall. Taken together, high quality sleep and adequate sleep duration was linked with better delayed recall. Stratified analyses revealed that these effects were strongest in the Latinx group and were not present among non‐Latinx Black and non‐Latinx White participants.ConclusionNon‐Latinx Black and Latinx adults report lower sleep duration and poorer sleep quality compared to Non‐Latinx White adults. We observed stronger associations between poor sleep quality and sleep duration and memory performance in Latinx adults. Future work will determine which psychosocial factors (e.g., social support, discrimination) underlie racial/ethnic sleep disparities and mediate racial/ethnic differences in the cognitive consequences of poor sleep.

Resting regional brain activity correlates of verbal learning deficit in major depressive disorder

Memory deficits are reported in major depressive disorder (MDD). Prefrontal cortical and mesiotemporal cortical (MTC)/subcortical regions are involved in the Buschke Selective Reminding Task (SRT), a verbal list-learning task. To determine whether depression-related changes in resting brain metabolism explain (in part) the deficits in SRT performance found in MDD, statistical correlation maps were calculated between SRT total recall score (TR) and relative regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRglu), measured by [18F]-flourodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET), in unmedicated, depressed MDD patients (N = 29). Subsequently, to explore hypothesized loss of top-down control in MDD, we compared the correlations between rCMRglu of SRT-relevant regions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and amygdala in a larger cohort of MDD (N = 60; 29 inclusive) versus healthy controls (HC) (N = 43). SRT performance of patients is on average 0.5 standard deviation below published normative mean. TR and rCMRglu positively correlate in bilateral dorsomedial PFC, dlPFC, dorsal anterior cingulate; negatively correlate in bilateral MTC/subcortical regions, and cerebellum. rCMRglu in dlPFC correlates negatively with that in amygdala in HC but not in MDD. Depression-related changes present in FDG-PET measured resting brain activity may be in part responsible for memory deficit found in MDD.

Neuropsychological function and suicidal behavior: attention control, memory and executive dysfunction in suicide attempt

Executive dysfunction, distinct from other cognitive deficits in depression, has been associated with suicidal behavior. However, this dysfunction is not found consistently across samples. Medication-free subjects with DSM-IV major depressive episode (major depressive disorder and bipolar type I disorder) and a past history of suicidal behavior (n = 72) were compared to medication-free depressed subjects with no history of suicidal behavior (n = 80) and healthy volunteers (n = 56) on a battery of tests assessing neuropsychological functions typically affected by depression (motor and psychomotor speed, attention, memory) and executive functions reportedly impaired in suicide attempters (abstract/contingent learning, working memory, language fluency, impulse control). All of the depressed subjects performed worse than healthy volunteers on motor, psychomotor and language fluency tasks. Past suicide attempters, in turn, performed worse than depressed non-attempters on attention and memory/working memory tasks [a computerized Stroop task, the Buschke Selective Reminding Task (SRT), the Benton Visual Retention Test (VRT) and an N-back task] but not on other executive function measures, including a task associated with ventral prefrontal function (Object Alternation). Deficits were not accounted for by current suicidal ideation or the lethality of past attempts. A small subsample of those using a violent method in their most lethal attempt showed a pattern of poor executive performance. Deficits in specific components of attention control, memory and working memory were associated with suicidal behavior in a sample where non-violent attempt predominated. Broader executive dysfunction in depression may be associated with specific forms of suicidal behavior, rather than suicidal behavior per se.

Estradiol interacts with the cholinergic system to affect verbal memory in postmenopausal women: Evidence for the critical period hypothesis

Estradiol has been shown to interact with the cholinergic system to affect cognition in postmenopausal women. This study further investigated the interaction of estradiol and cholinergic system functioning on verbal memory and attention in two groups of healthy younger (ages 50–62) and older (ages 70–81) postmenopausal women. Twenty-two postmenopausal women were randomly and blindly placed on 1 mg of 17-beta estradiol orally for 1 month then 2 mg for 2 months or matching placebo pills after which they participated in three anticholinergic challenge sessions when verbal memory and attention were assessed. Subjects were administered either the antimuscarinic drug scopolamine (SCOP), the antinicotinic drug mecamylamine (MECA), or placebo. After the first challenge phase, they were crossed over to the other hormone treatment for another 3 months and repeated the challenges. Results showed that estradiol pretreatment significantly attenuated the anticholinergic drug-induced impairments on a test of episodic memory (the Buschke Selective Reminding Task) for the younger group only, while estradiol treatment impaired performance of the older group. The results suggest that younger subjects may experience more cholinergic benefit from estradiol treatment than older subjects, supporting the concept of a critical period for postmenopausal estrogen use.

Memory Deficits Among Alcoholics: Performance on a Selective Reminding Task

ABSTRACT This article compared alcoholics and healthy controls on the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. Alcoholics demonstrated deficits in memory and learning when compared to healthy controls, even when controlling for age. Examination of the alcoholic sample initially showed that age predicted memory deficits; however, age was no longer a significant predictor once the number of years of heavy drinking was entered into the regression equation. Findings suggest a direct link or mechanism of action between alcohol use and memory impairments, above and beyond effects of age or education.

Cognitive deficits and levels of IQ in adolescent onset schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders

Cognitive deficits have been found to be prevalent in early onset schizophrenia. Whether these deficits also characterise other early onset psychotic disorders to a similar degree is unclear, as very few comparative studies have been done. The primary purpose of this study was to compare the profile and severity of cognitive impairments in first-episode early onset psychotic patients who received the schizophrenia diagnosis to those diagnosed with other non-organic, non-affective psychotic disorders. The secondary purpose was to examine whether the profile of cognitive deficits, in terms of intelligence, executive functions, memory, attention and processing speed was global or specific. First-episode psychotic adolescents ( N = 39) between the ages 11 and 17 years were included, 18 of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and 21 with other non-organic, non-affective psychoses, using ICD-10 criteria. A healthy control group ( N = 40) was included, matched on gender and age. Cognitive functions were assessed using WISC-III/R, the CANTAB battery, WCST, Trail Making B, fluency tasks, and Buschke's selective reminding task. A similar profile and level of impairment was found on measures of attention, executive functions, reaction time, and memory in the schizophrenic and psychotic adolescent groups. However, analyses of WISC-III factor profiles suggested that early onset schizophrenia patients may have more global IQ deficits than non-organic, non-affective psychoses when examined recently after illness onset. Compared to the deficits of adult schizophrenia described in the literature, the results suggest relatively spared simple reaction times in early onset patients.

Working memory and apolipoprotein E: What’s the connection?

Two robust findings in the Alzheimer’s literature are that patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) show executive function and primacy deficits. The present study examined whether we would find similar deficits when comparing two groups of middle-aged individuals who differed with respect to genetic risk for AD, based on their apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. All individuals were screened as normal on a battery of standardized cognitive measures. They were tested on the “Operation span task”, which engages the central executive component of working memory [J. Exp. Psychol.: Gen. 128 (1999) 309, J. Exp. Psychol.: Gen. 126 (1997) 211, J. Mem. Language 39 (1998) 418] by dividing attention between processing math operations and remembering words. Individuals were grouped according to APOE genotype (ε4 carrier versus ε4 non-carrier), matched on age and education, and their Total span and Primacy scores were compared. Despite having no overt symptoms of dementia or deficits on a series of standardized psychometric tests, the ε4 carriers showed divided-attention and primacy deficits on the Operation span task, when compared to the ε4 non-carriers. As a point of comparison, Primacy scores were extracted from the first trial of the “Buschke selective reminding task” [J. Verbal Learn. Verbal Behav. 12 (1973) 543] for these same individuals, and no group differences were found. The Buschke task is a list-learning task that does not require divided attention. These findings suggested that the ε4 carriers were less able to divide their attention, when compared to the ε4 non-carriers. The findings provide the first direct evidence for a relationship between APOE genotype and cognitive performance on measures of divided attention and primacy with non-demented individuals who showed no cognitive impairments on standardized measures.

Effects of temazepam on memory and psychomotor performance: a dose-response study.

In a randomised, three-period crossover study, psychomotor performance and memory were tested and mood assessed for 3 h after single doses of placebo (PL), 20 mg temazepam (T20) or 30 mg temazepam (T30) were given to six healthy females aged 21-23. A composite measure of psychomotor speed showed a dose-dependent slowing (Page's L trend test: p < 0.001; sign test PL vs T20 and T30 vs T20: p < 0.05). The number of errors in the performance of tasks was increased, significantly in the case of some measures. Explicit memory (Buschke Selective Reminding Task) showed significant impairment of long-term but not short-term memory (Page's L trend test: p < 0.05). The form of the dose-response curve was positively accelerating, with the difference in performance between T20 and T30 at least as great as that between PL and T20. Visual Analogue Scales showed a decrease in a factor representing functional integrity (Page's L trend test: p < 0.05;) sign test (PL vs T20: p < 0.05), but no changes in mood. These results show that 30 mg is a useful extension of the dose range of temazepam, being well tolerated and that it produces a substantially greater impairment of performance than 20 mg. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ethanol‐Induced CNS depression and divided attention

AbstractSubject performed a divided attention task in which they detected occurrences of a target letter in a stimulus figure which was a large letter made up of an array of small letters. Subjects pressed one button if the large letter was the target, another if the small letters were the target.Performance on this task was compared to other attention and psychomotor tasks in a three‐way randomized crossover study comparing two doses of alcohol with placebo in 12 healthy volunteers (six male, six female, aged 19–41). The higher dose of alcohol produced blood concentrations of 43 mg/100 ml, the lower dose 16 mg/100 ml.Subjects reported themselves significantly more drunk on both doses of alcohol than on placebo, showed poorer long‐term recall on the Buschke selective reminding task than on placebo, and made more errors on a letter cancellation task. They performed letter cancellation faster, however. No significant effects were seen on the divided attention or continuous attention tasks, though continuous attention showed a trend towards impairment.These results suggest that the greater sensitivity showed by some multiple task combinations to low doses of drugs such as alcohol is not due to divided attention as such, but results from some aspect of task combination. The coupling of increased errors but increased speed on letter cancellation has obvious implications for the interpretation of the effects of alcohol on complex real‐life tasks such as driving.

The Effect of Nortriptyline on Cognition

Despite widespread belief that antidepressants cause cognitive dysfunction, there has been surprisingly little systematic research that supports this view. With this in mind, our group sought to evaluate the effects of the tricyclic antidepressant nortriptyline on a variety of cognitive and psychomotor tasks. For the purposes of this report, we will focus on Buschke Total Recall. Seventy-eight patients (age range 21-81, mean age 49.95) who met RDC and DSM-III criteria for major depression (mean Hamilton score 20.82) voluntarily agreed to participate in a 6 week double-blind trial whereby they received either notriptyline (NT) or placebo (PBO) following a 1 week single-blind placebo. At each weekly visit the patient received a comprehensive neuropsychological battery which included the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. In addition at baseline, the patient was acutely challenged with the medication to which he was randomized (either PBO or 50 mg NT) and the neuropsychological battery including Buschke selective reminding test was repeated at 1.5 and 4 hrs. All patients received another acute challenge (either placebo or 50 mg nortriptyline) after 6 weeks of chronic treatment. Doses of NT were adjusted weekly to maintain therapeutic plasma levels. Data were analyzed by an analysis of variance with age group (young vs old-55 was the cutoff) and drug status (drug vs PBO) the between subject factors and time of assessment (weekly for the chronic effect and 1.5 & 4 hrs for the acute effect) as the within subject factor. In view of the effect of depression on memory, we used weekly Hamilton depression score as a covariate. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the NT (mean plasma level 87.94 ng/ml at wk6) vs PBO group with respect to the chronic effects on Buschke Total Recall. There was also no difference between NT vs PBO with respect to Buschke Total Recall after acute challenge at baseline and after acute rechallenge following 6 weeks chronic treatment with either NT or PBO.

A pilot placebo‐controlled study of trazodone and buspirone in alzheimer's disease

AbstractThe pharmacological management of behavioural symptoms in Alzheimer's disease is limited by the dearth of effective agents in this area. The purpose of this study was to determine whether trazodone or buspirone are helpful in the treatment of behavioural disturbance in AD. Ten patients meeting NINCDS criteria for AD with behavioural complications were administered trazodone (up to 50 mg tid), buspirone (10 mg tid), and placeboin a 12‐week double‐blind, crossover design. Outcome measures were the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Dementia Mood Assessment Scale (DMAS), and the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. The data were analysed by ANOVA. Compared to placebo, trazodone produced a small but significant reduction in BPRS and DMAS scores (p&lt;0.05), indicating improvement in behaviour but no change in cognitive measures. In contrast, buspirone has no significant effect on either behavioural or cognitive measures compared to placebo. The results of this pilot study suggest a beneficial role for trazodone, but not buspirone, in the treatment of behavioural disturbance in AD. Further studies using a wider range of doses of trazodone in more behaviourally disturbed AD patients should now be initiated in an attempt to replicate and expand on this preliminary finding.

A Pilot Study of Low-Dose L-Deprenyl in Alzheimer's Disease

The use of low-dose L-deprenyl, a selective MAO-B inhibitor, in Alzheimer's disease patients has been associated previously with improvements in agitation and episodic learning and memory. Behavioral, cognitive, and regional electroencephalogram (EEG) measures were obtained in a 4-week open pilot study of 14 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease by NINCDS criteria who were administered 10 mg L-deprenyl per day. L-Deprenyl administration was associated with significant improvements on the agitation and depression factors of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, and spouses' blind ratings. Recall improved on the Buschke Selective Reminding Task, but intrusions also tended to increase; verbal fluency decreased. Absolute EEG delta measures were selectively suppressed in the right frontal region. The pattern of changes suggests that L-deprenyl may be associated with improvement in behavioral and cognitive performance, in part through a mild behavioral disinhibiting effect.

The safety and lack of efficacy of vinpocetine in Alzheimer's disease.

Fifteen Alzheimer patients were treated with increasing doses of vinpocetine (30, 45, and 60 mg per day) in an open-label pilot trial during a one-year period. Patients were assessed seven times both on and off drug with: the Buschke Selective Reminding Task, a letter fluency test, a category fluency test, the Boston Naming Test, a cognitive capacity screening examination, and a clinical global impression. Vinpocetine failed to improve cognition on psychometric testing or overall functioning, as measured by the clinical global impression, at any dose tested. Patients showed significant decline in most measures during the course of the study, at the same rate as a matched control group, consistent with progressive dementia. There were no significant side effects from drug therapy. We conclude that vinpocetine is ineffective in improving cognitive deficits and does not slow the rate of decline in individuals with Alzheimer's disease.

Sensitivity of some human cognitive functions to effects of methamphetamine and secobarbital

Sternberg's memory scanning task, Buschke's selective reminding task, and a time production task were given to 18 male subjects after they had received 10 mg of methamphetamine, 100 mg of secobarbital and placebo on separate days. Time production and learning that involved storage and retrieval of information in long-term memory were most sensitive to drug effects. Other measures of learning and memory scanning performance were not affected by either drug.