Cognitive Categories Research Articles

Trajectories in depressive symptoms and midlife brain health

Depressive symptoms may either be a risk factor or prodromal to dementia. Investigating this association in midlife may help clarify the role of depression in cognitive aging. We aimed to identify trajectories in depressive symptoms in early to mid-life and related cognitive and brain outcomes in midlife. This study includes 3944 Black and White participants (ages 26−45 years at baseline) from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study with 20 years of follow-up. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale at five time points over 20 years. Growth mixture modeling (GMM) was used to identify depressive symptom trajectories. Participants completed a neuropsychological battery 20 years after baseline, including the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Stroop Test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and category and letter fluency tests. A sub-sample of participants (n = 662) underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to characterize gray matter volumes and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs). We identified four classes of depressive symptom trajectories: a “declining” class (n = 286, 7.3%) with initially high symptoms and subsequent decline, a class with consistently high symptoms (“steady high”; n = 264, 6.7%), a class with late increases in symptoms (“increasing”; n = 277, 7%), and a class with consistently low symptoms (“steady low”; n = 3117, 79.0%). The steady high and the increasing classes had poorer performance on all cognitive tests, while the declining class had poorer performance on the DSST, verbal fluency, and MoCA. Compared to the steady low symptom class, the steady high class had lower volumes in the entorhinal cortex (β: −180.80, 95% CI: −336.69 to −24.91) and the amygdala (β: −40.97, 95% CI: −74.09 to −7.85), the increasing class had more WMHs (β: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.89), and the declining class was not significantly different in any brain measures. Trajectories in depressive symptoms in young to mid-adulthood show distinct cognitive and brain phenotypes in midlife. Steady high depressive symptoms may represent a group that is at risk for dementia, whereas increasing symptoms in midlife may be associated with white matter damage.

The soft computing based model of investors’ condition and cognition on a real estate market

Real estate is a significant tangible asset for every human. Many individuals typically make a property investment decision at least once in their lifetime. Humans have limited knowledge of the surroundings in which they live and a limited capacity to process information. When making decisions, the decision-maker seeks to simplify cognitive processes and prefers solutions that are satisfactory from the point of view of survival rather than ensuring maximum profit (especially financial). The goal of an aware decision-maker is not to have the most information but to have the 'right' information. On the other hand, information on the property market is called imperfect caused mainly by a lack of behavioral component that contains this 'missing' information. Due to this fact, the authors assumed to create the soft computing based model to provide a behavioral component for the identification of property investors' decision-making motives in the residential market. The results confirm that it is possible to indicate a pattern of the profiles of real estate entities according to particular categories of investors' condition and cognition.

INVESTIGATING THE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DOWN SYNDROME, AND HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEECH THERAPY

Down syndrome is the most common viable numerical chromosomal abnormality, affecting one in every 600 births. It is the most common cause of intellectual disability due to genetic factors. Nearly all individuals with this syndrome have an extra copy of the 21st, leading to cognitive and physical disabilities. Down syndrome can be detected through prenatal screening and is classified into three categories: trisomy 21, mosaicism, and translocation. The main aim of this study is to investigate the linguistic characteristics of people with Down syndrome and demonstrate the value of speech therapy. Statistical analysis shows that the linguistic development of individuals with Down syndrome differs in every subsection from normal development. There are deficiencies not only in their linguistic development (i.e., phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics) but also in many cognitive categories (e.g., memory). Furthermore, this study confirmed the value of speech therapy through personalized intervention. However, we found that the speech therapists who participated in this survey did not have the appropriate expertise. Their knowledge of Down syndrome was good, but they needed a deeper understanding of the syndrome.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu/0748/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The Eugenic Underpinnings of Apartheid South Africa, and its Influence on the South African School System

Abstract In Apartheid South Africa, eugenic notions formed an underlying justification for the superiority of the white race over Africans, through the works of international eugenicists like Galton and Pearson, and locally through prominent South African eugenicist H. B. Fantham. These ideas are expressed and elaborated upon in Emevwo Biakalo's essay ‘Categories of Cross-Cultural Cognition and the African Condition’. His work serves particularly to highlight that the mind and cognitive processes of Africans were considered very different from their white counterparts, and thus they would require different approaches to education. I demonstrate here how these views served as part of the underlying justification for Apartheid in South Africa, particularly in Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd's insistence on creating separate and distinct educational systems for different races. This eugenic legacy is still visible in South Africa's radically unequal education system to this day.

Considerations on the Emergence and Development of the Concept "Linguistic Picture of the World"

The present paper explores the evolution of the concept of the “linguistic picture of the world” and focuses on the debate concerning its role in expressing national values. The idea that each language offers a unique perspective on the world, reflected in specific semantic structures, was first promoted by the linguist W. von Humboldt and further developed in the framework of the “linguistic relativity hypothesis” formulated by E. Sapir and B. L. Whorf. This hypothesis emphasises the importance of language in shaping an individual’s perspective on reality, based on the claim that people, through the prism of their mother tongue, perceive the world differently. The basic principle of the “linguistic picture of the world” theory resides in the invariability of cognitive categories and the variability of language categories. This implies that each language provides a unique perspective on the world and there are as many ways of perceiving and expressing reality as there are languages existing around the world. Therefore, knowing and learning more than one language can lead to an enrichment and broadening of our cultural universe.

Blended learning in nursing pharmacology: elevating cognitive skills, engagement and academic outcomes.

Pharmacological education is crucial for healthcare professionals to safely manage medications and reduce errors. Traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) often struggles to address this complexity, whereas newer methods, such as flipped classrooms and problem-based learning, yield mixed results, particularly in pre-clinical contexts, owing to students' limited experience. Our nursing pharmacology course under LBL recorded a high failure rate of 37.8% and marginal passing scores across five cohorts (n = 849 students). An analysis using Bloom's taxonomy revealed significant gaps in higher-order cognitive skills. As a remedy, the course was transformed into a novel blended learning format that integrated question-based learning (QBL) to enhance critical thinking across all cognitive levels. This model blends asynchronous and synchronous learning, is tailored to individual needs in large classes, and fosters continuous, student-centric learning. The redesign markedly decreased the failure rate by approximately 2.8-fold and increased the average grade by 11.8 points among 426 students. It notably improved the pass rates in advanced cognitive categories, such as "Evaluate" and "Create" by 19.0% and 24.2%, respectively. Additionally, the blended course showed increased student engagement, reflecting a dynamic and effective learning environment that significantly elevated participation and academic outcomes at all cognitive levels. This study demonstrated the profound impact of blended learning in pharmacology. By integrating QBL with various teaching methods, it surpasses traditional lecture-based limitations, enhancing engagement and understanding of complex topics by nursing students. Notable improvements in foundational and advanced learning suggest its broader application in health professionals' education, effectively equipping students for clinical pharmacology challenges.

Social cognition in women with borderline personality disorder based on an exhaustive analysis of the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) categories.

A significant number of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are manifested in the interpersonal context. This can be explained by the difficulties in attributing the mental states of oneself and others, which constitutes social cognition. Errors in social cognition are interrelated with the affective, cognitive, impulsive, and interpersonal areas of the person with BPD. The aims of this study was to analyze social cognition in women with BPD compared with a control group and to analyze social cognition in BPD based on BPD symptoms and its severity. To assess social cognition, we used a full range of social cognition categories provided by the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC): correct theory of mind (ToM); attribution of mental states (thoughts, emotions, or intentions); errors of mentalization; types of ToM; and attribution of mental states through perceptive or cognitive cues and through hot or cold emotions. The MASC has high ecological validity and has been validated in Spanish. The sample comprised 79 women, including 47 women with BPD and 32 healthy women. Worse social cognition performance was observed in women with BPD. More severe borderline symptoms were related to worse functioning in the correct ToM and to errors of no mentalization. Involvement of the cognitive area in borderline symptoms was associated with worse functioning in correct ToMand worse social cognition in cognitive areas as well as with hypermentalization. This is the first study that uses all the MASC categories and considers BPD heterogeneity and its severity to study social cognition.

Hypertensive and Non-hypertensive Hospital Admission Blood Pressure Association with Cognitive Function in Stroke Patients

Highlight: A comparative study of hypertension and non-hypertension on cognitive function. Hospital admission blood pressure and cognitive function in acute-phase stroke patients. Blood pressure is not associated with cognitive function. ABSTRACT Introduction: Cognitive impairment is one of the many stroke effects. White matter damage, microinfarcts, microbleeding, atrophy, and amyloid buildup in the brain due to stroke are all potential causes of this condition. Cognitive impairment studies have yet to provide a definitive explanation for how this condition develops following a stroke. Blood pressure is one of several risk factors for stroke. Meanwhile, few studies have been conducted on the association between blood pressure and cognitive function in stroke patients, and no definitive results have been established. Objective: This research was designed to examine and evaluate the difference in the measured cognitive function category between hypertensive and non-hypertensive hospital admission blood pressure stroke patients. Methods: This research used a cross-sectional design with a consecutive sampling method on acute stroke patients at Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital. The MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination) was carried out to assess the degree of cognitive function. The blood pressure measured is the hospital admission blood pressure. Results: There were 40 patients included in this study. A total of 36 patients (90%) were in the hypertension group (blood pressure ≥ 130/80 mmHg), and 4 patients (10%) were in the non-hypertension group (blood pressure < 130/80 mmHg). The MMSE results showed that 10 patients performed with no cognitive impairment, 12 patients performed with mild cognitive impairment, and 18 patients performed with severe cognitive impairment. Statistical analysis of the Mann-Whitney U test showed that p = 0.561. Conclusion: There was no difference in the measured cognitive function category between hypertensive and non-hypertensive hospital admission blood pressure stroke patients.

3-Year test-retest reliability in Parkinson’s disease and healthy older adults: The Parkinson’s progression markers initiative study

Repeated neuropsychological assessments are often conducted in clinical and research settings to track cognitive changes over single or multiple intervals in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Yet few studies have documented test-retest reliability in PD. To address this gap, we used data from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) to investigate the reliability of five well-known neuropsychological tests over a 3-year follow-up assessment in early-stage PD with either normal (PD-NC; N = 158) or abnormal (PD-AC; N = 39) cognitive screening, categorized based on recommended cutoffs for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and healthy older adults (HOA; N = 102). All participants analyzed maintained the same cognitive status category across the assessment points. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) estimated reliability. The overall ICCs calculated across time points were as follows: Judgment of Line Orientation (PD-NC = .47, PD-AC = .50, HOA = .59); Letter-Number Sequencing (PD-NC = .64, PD-AC = .64, HOA = .65); Semantic Fluency (PD-NC = .69, PD-AC = .89, HOA = .77); Symbol Digit Modalities Test (PD-NC = .67, PD-AC = .83, HOA = .71). For the two primary components of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, we found the following ICCs: immediate recall (PD-NC = .46, PD-AC = .57, HOA = .58); delayed recall (PD-NC = .42, PD-AC = .57, HOA = .54). Findings from this study provide useful information for clinicians and researchers toward selecting suitable neuropsychological tests to monitor cognition at two or more time points among newly diagnosed individuals with PD and HOA.

Scenario forecasting for students’ professional future

Introduction. In a situation of instability and uncertainty around the world, ambiguity of information about the expectation of future events, it is very important to equip a young person with the skills of seeing his/her future, qualitatively new characteristics, demanded competencies that meet the needs of society and today’s students as the future employees. The solution of the tasks facing vocational education is seen in a new architecture of education, the main tool of which is construction of clear trajectory of learning and development. Such a trajectory is implemented in professional future scenarios, which represent forecasting student’s activity unfolding in time and space. Professional future forecasting scenarios are designed to regulate the choice of strategies and tactics of behaviour in accordance with personal meanings and goals that determine the direction of the student’s activities, taking into account factors affecting their alignment. Forecasting the professional future, which determines the socio-professional success of participants of educational and professional activity, is an actual scientific and practical task facing education today. Aim. The present research aimed to develop scenarios for the professional future as a fundamental basis for students to build their personal trajectory of professional development both in the process of studying in an educational organisation and at the workplace. Methodology and research methods. The leading idea of the research is the concept of forecasting the professional future, which is based on the correlation of knowledge and ideas about future professional activity with the reflection of one’s own professionally significant qualities, attitudes and value orientations. The basic idea of the current study is the concept of personalised education, it provides vectors for the development of the student activity and his/her transition from the current state to the desired by designing the logic of advancement along its own trajectory of professional development. As a leading approach to forecasting the professional future, the author applied the cognitive approach as a process in a person’s mind about future professional activity, which is inextricably linked with cognitive categories: interests, attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, and value orientations of a person. Self-awareness of the future is based on the correlation of knowledge about a person’s future professional activity with the reflection of one’s personal meanings, significant qualities, attitudes and value orientations, which are the essence of a person’s cognitive activity. Scenario planning was employed as the main research method. The scenario as a method and as an effective tool for planning a personal trajectory of professional development fixes a standard set of knowledge about the object, determines the direction and time perspective of life plans, and thereby ensures predictability and meaningfulness of actions in preparation for an uncertain future. When developing a structure of a typical forecasting scenario for the professional future of a student, the methods of design, modelling, forecasting, generalisation and classification were applied. Results. The author has developed the structure of a typical forecasting scenario for the professional future of a student. It is established that this structure consists of four content blocks: 1) the desired image of the professional future of the student; 2) analysis of the student potential in accordance with the desired image; 3) the process of transition of the person from the current state to the desired (implementation of the trajectory of development, control); 4) evaluation of results (analysis of achievements, causes and consequences of changes; correction of the vector of development). Each block is represented by scenario structures and the results that need to be obtained in the process of its implementation. Scientific novelty of the conducted research lies in development and arrangement of personal professional programmes of the student, taking into account such parameters that reflect the connection of mental representations about the future with the form available for direct observation. Practical significance. The proposed structure of the forecasting scenario for the professional future is intended for students, who have a meaningful approach to their future and want to purposefully move towards achieving it. The obtained results will contribute to the personalisation of training through building by students their own development scenario, self-realisation, which will increase educational and professional success. The study sets specific tasks for educational organisations, and employers, who are really interested in the professional training of successful specialists and are focused on long-term cooperation.

Communication models in a foreign language in relation to cognitive style category width and power distance.

Understanding how category width of cognitive style and power distance impact language use in cultures is crucial for improving cross-cultural communication. We attempt to reveal how English foreign language students, affected by high-context culture, communicate in English as a foreign language. What models of foreign communicative competence do they create? We applied association rule analysis to find out how the category width of cognitive style affects the foreign communication competence in relation to culture and language. The requester tends to be more formal and transfers conventional norms of the culture of the mother tongue into English, which mainly affects the use of alerters and external modifications of the head act of request. A broad categorizer, regardless of social distance, prefers to formulate the request in a conditional over the present tense form, contrary to narrow categorizers who, in a situation of social proximity, prefer the request form in the present tense. A similar finding was shown in the case of external modifications of the head act, where we observed the inversion between broad and narrow categorizers, mainly in the use of minimizers and mitigating devices.

Prediction of stroke patients' bedroom-stay duration: machine-learning approach using wearable sensor data.

Background: The importance of being physically active and avoiding staying in bed has been recognized in stroke rehabilitation. However, studies have pointed out that stroke patients admitted to rehabilitation units often spend most of their day immobile and inactive, with limited opportunities for activity outside their bedrooms. To address this issue, it is necessary to record the duration of stroke patients staying in their bedrooms, but it is impractical for medical providers to do this manually during their daily work of providing care. Although an automated approach using wearable devices and access points is more practical, implementing these access points into medical facilities is costly. However, when combined with machine learning, predicting the duration of stroke patients staying in their bedrooms is possible with reduced cost. We assessed using machine learning to estimate bedroom-stay duration using activity data recorded with wearable devices. Method: We recruited 99 stroke hemiparesis inpatients and conducted 343 measurements. Data on electrocardiograms and chest acceleration were measured using a wearable device, and the location name of the access point that detected the signal of the device was recorded. We first investigated the correlation between bedroom-stay duration measured from the access point as the objective variable and activity data measured with a wearable device and demographic information as explanatory variables. To evaluate the duration predictability, we then compared machine-learning models commonly used in medical studies. Results: We conducted 228 measurements that surpassed a 90% data-acquisition rate using Bluetooth Low Energy. Among the explanatory variables, the period spent reclining and sitting/standing were correlated with bedroom-stay duration (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (R) of 0.56 and -0.52, p < 0.001). Interestingly, the sum of the motor and cognitive categories of the functional independence measure, clinical indicators of the abilities of stroke patients, lacked correlation. The correlation between the actual bedroom-stay duration and predicted one using machine-learning models resulted in an R of 0.72 and p < 0.001, suggesting the possibility of predicting bedroom-stay duration from activity data and demographics. Conclusion: Wearable devices, coupled with machine learning, can predict the duration of patients staying in their bedrooms. Once trained, the machine-learning model can predict without continuously tracking the actual location, enabling more cost-effective and privacy-centric future measurements.

Human versus Artificial Intelligence: ChatGPT-4 Outperforming Bing, Bard, ChatGPT-3.5 and Humans in Clinical Chemistry Multiple-Choice Questions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots excel in language understanding and generation. These models can transform healthcare education and practice. However, it is important to assess the performance of such AI models in various topics to highlight its strengths and possible limitations. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 and GPT-4), Bing, and Bard compared to human students at a postgraduate master's level in Medical Laboratory Sciences. The study design was based on the METRICS checklist for the design and reporting of AI-based studies in healthcare. The study utilized a dataset of 60 Clinical Chemistry multiple-choice questions (MCQs) initially conceived for assessing 20 MSc students. The revised Bloom's taxonomy was used as the framework for classifying the MCQs into four cognitive categories: Remember, Understand, Analyze, and Apply. A modified version of the CLEAR tool was used for the assessment of the quality of AI-generated content, with Cohen's κ for inter-rater agreement. Compared to the mean students' score which was 0.68±0.23, GPT-4 scored 0.90 ± 0.30, followed by Bing (0.77 ± 0.43), GPT-3.5 (0.73 ± 0.45), and Bard (0.67 ± 0.48). Statistically significant better performance was noted in lower cognitive domains (Remember and Understand) in GPT-3.5 (P=0.041), GPT-4 (P=0.003), and Bard (P=0.017) compared to the higher cognitive domains (Apply and Analyze). The CLEAR scores indicated that ChatGPT-4 performance was "Excellent" compared to the "Above average" performance of ChatGPT-3.5, Bing, and Bard. The findings indicated that ChatGPT-4 excelled in the Clinical Chemistry exam, while ChatGPT-3.5, Bing, and Bard were above average. Given that the MCQs were directed to postgraduate students with a high degree of specialization, the performance of these AI chatbots was remarkable. Due to the risk of academic dishonesty and possible dependence on these AI models, the appropriateness of MCQs as an assessment tool in higher education should be re-evaluated.

КОНЦЕПЦІЯ АНАЛІТИЧНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ДІАГНОСТИКИ ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА

The article presents an improved concept of analytical support for diagnosing the economic security of enterprises. The object of research is the economic security of enterprise. The study aims to develop a concept of analytical support for diagnosing the economic security of enterprises. The developed concept consists of two main components: the process of diagnosing the economic security of enterprise and elements of the system of theoretical and cognitive categories of the diagnostic process. The elements of the system of theoretical and cognitive categories of the diagnostic process include the following: ontological category, methodological category, axiological category, epistemological category, and pragmatic category. Ontological category – this category defines the fundamental concepts, terms and system of knowledge related to the subject of research. The methodological category outlines the principles, methods and approaches to diagnostics. The axiological category considers the ethical values and principles that should be followed and taken into account during the diagnostic process. The epistemological category defines the nature, sources, and limitations of knowledge about the object of study, as well as the rationale for choosing data sources for conducting economic security diagnostics. The pragmatic category focuses on practical aspects and actions aimed not only at diagnostics but also at a set of measures aimed at stabilizing the state of the enterprise, its sustainable development, and achieving the required level of economic security. The diagnostic process includes six consecutive stages: identification of a threat to economic security, formation of hypotheses, data collection, data analysis, confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis, development, and implementation of measures to stabilize the enterprise, and evaluation of the economic efficiency of the measures taken. The article highlights the interrelationships between the stages of the diagnostic process and the elements of the categories, as well as between the object under study and stakeholders. It is emphasized that the developed concept is a comprehensive and balanced approach that provides a systematic analysis of the enterprise, identifies threats to economic security and overcomes them, which will contribute to the stable and efficient development of the enterprise.

Filozofia słowiańska w myśli filozoficznej słowackich romantyków – z polskimi śladami w tle

The author of the article focuses on introducing and interpreting the dispute over Slavic philosophy that took place in the 1840s in Slovak magazines (between J.M. Hurban, C. Zoch and P.Kellner-Hostinský). This dispute is an important testimony of the era, it concerned the fundamental issues of the time: the identity of Slovak culture, its philosophical background, its place and role in the Slavic world, its attitude to tradition. The author of the article focused primarily on two aspects of the “slovanská veda” project: the relation to German philosophy and the key cognitive category “viďeňja.” The author also points to the role that this dispute played in shaping the model of Slovak culture. Since the Slovak Romantic literary discourse has recently been enriched by many new revisions, the author also briefly refers, sometimes polemically, to the latest research.

Ekonomika kryzysu codzienności

The article follows on from the research project “Everyday life during a pandemic”, the aim of which was to show the relational nature of the categories of excesses and shortages, and thus the organic essence of everyday life itself. The second goal was to present patterns of experiencing the crisis in everyday life, meaning how it is sustained in such moments, with the help of what practices and cognitive categories. Crisis economics is one such instrument, referring to the process of measuring, which is far from a quantitative and mathematical form of establishing relationships between phenomena. The economics of everyday life is qualitative, and is accompanied by such concepts as “too much”, “too little”, “less than”, “more than”, “similarly”, and “at least”. Such measures are subjective, and are applied in a specific situational context — in this case at a moment of disruption and crisis in everyday life. The article describes several examples of such crisis economics in the form of the principle of “at least”, “better not risk”, and “more but for less time”.

Should Green Always Get the Green Light? Translation of Figurative Technical Terms in View of Conceptual Integration Theory

The paper is a case study analysing the process of secondary term formation by looking into the introduction of figurative terms in the field of economics from English, as the current lingua franca in the field, into Croatian. Although the primary focus is on the terminological gap-filling function of figurative terms, the paper also explores what happens in translation when a term conveys more functions (e.g., ideology constitutive function). Our approach is usage-based in that our conclusions are founded on the observations of how the analysed figurative terms behave in real communication (official documents, research papers, magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc.). The paper also argues for the applicability of the Conceptual Integration Theory as a framework able to account for the meaning construal in the process of translation and for translators’ choices. The translational process is thus seen as discourse-pragmatic phenomenon involving the transfer of cognitive categories, crucially determined by both intercultural and interlingual factors.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS FOR COGNITIVE HEALTHSPAN

Abstract The existing literature consistently finds that personality traits are associated with dementia and with risk of mortality. However, few studies have simultaneously examined the impact of traits on dementia while accounting for death as a competing risk, which is critical as dementia and mortality are dependent outcomes and the likelihood of each increases alongside older age. In response, data were drawn from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (N=1954; baseline mean age=80 years; 74% female; up to 23 annual assessments). We used multi-state survival models to investigate whether traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism) were associated with transitions between cognitive status categories (No Cognitive Impairment, NCI; Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI; dementia) and death. Further, multinomial regression models estimated cognitive healthspan (i.e., years without cognitive impairment) and total longevity. Adjusting for demographics, depressive symptoms, and APOEε4, personality traits were most important in the transition from NCI to MCI; higher conscientiousness was associated with a ~22% decreased risk of transitioning from NCI to MCI (HR=0.78, 95%CI=0.72, 0.85), whereas higher neuroticism was associated with a ~12% increased risk of transitioning from NCI to MCI (HR=1.12, 95%CI=1.04, 1.21). Life expectancy analyses suggested that participants who were higher in conscientiousness were estimated to live longer without cognitive impairment compared to individuals lower in conscientiousness. Findings were similar, though less pronounced, for individuals higher in extraversion or lower in neuroticism. Importantly, none of the traits appeared to be important for total longevity. Together, these results highlight the importance of personality traits, particularly conscientiousness, for maximizing cognitive healthspan.

Locus coeruleus hyperactivity in middle age may be associated with better cognitive performance

AbstractBackgroundMeasuring the health of the locus coeruleus (LC), the brainstem site of the first cellular damage in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) pathogenesis, is of particular interest for early diagnosis. In both rodents and humans (Elman 2017; Kelberman 2023; Malatt 2022; Weinshenker 2008), increased tonic firing rates have been noted in middle age. This occurs prior to the hypoactivity and reduced functional and structural connectivity associated with cognitive aging (Jacobs 2015; Kelberman 2022; Langley 2022; Prokopiou 2022) . Understanding the mechanism or function behind LC hyperactivity in middle age may be key to identifying individuals on pathological aging trajectories.MethodParticipants (29 younger, 18 middle‐aged, 24 older) performed a dual attention task in the scanner with multi‐echo fMRI and concurrent pupillometry. Cognition was assessed with NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery (Fluid Composite) and sorted into high (&gt;50th percentile) or low (&lt;50th) categories. Age groupings were determined by a pupillary behavior data analysis.Results Pupil (Fig. 1): using a linear mixed effects model to predict the dynamic range‐normalized pupillary response area under the curve (AUC) from age group and trial type, there was a significant effect of age and significant age*trial type interactions. Middle‐aged adults had larger responses than other groups. Using a model to predict AUC from cognitive category and trial type, there was a significant interaction between cognitive category and trial type, with the high cognitive group having larger target and distractor responses. Blood‐Oxygen‐Level‐Dependent (BOLD) (Fig. 2): using a linear mixed effects model to predict LC BOLD response from age group and trial type, there was no significant effect of age but a significant age*trial type interaction. Middle‐aged adults had larger distractor responses and older adults had smaller target responses. Using a model to predict BOLD response from cognitive category and trial type, there was no significant effect of category, but there was a significant interaction between category and trial type, with the high cognitive group having larger target and distractor responses.ConclusionsElevated LC BOLD and pupillary responses to target trials in middle age are associated with better cognitive performance. LC hyperactivity may be adaptive in middle age.

Clinical Manifestations.

Racial and ethnic disparities in ADRD diagnosis are well documented but remain poorly understood. Clinical ADRD diagnosis relies on neuropsychological assessment, which is interpreted by comparing individual performance to demographically adjusted reference group norms. Differential use of demographic adjustment procedures and sources of normative data may compromise diagnostic accuracy of neuropsychological findings in diverse individuals. Using two different demographic adjustment approaches derived from two distinct normative samples, we generated cognitive impairment categories and evaluated their associations with longitudinal trajectories of independent executive functioning and memory scores. Participants were 717 older adults (age: 77.5±6.9, 56% women) enrolled in the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (KHANDLE) study who completed up to 3 annual visits. The main predictor was cognitive impairment category (no impairment, single-domain, multiple-domain) based on Uniform Data Set Neuropsychological Battery (UDSNB) scores at baseline. UDSNB scores were either demographically unadjusted or adjusted (age, sex, education, and race/ethnicity) using data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC; N = 8313, 16% Black, 84% White) or KHANDLE (N = 397, 26% Asian, 18% Black, 30% LatinX, 26% White) samples. Linear mixed effect models were used to examine the associations between differentially derived cognitive impairment categories with longitudinal changes on episodic memory and executive functioning composites from an independent cognitive battery (Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales, SENAS). Cognitive impairment categories derived from the KHANDLE sample were more strongly associated in all four racial and ethnic groups with longitudinal decline on episodic memory compared to the NACC sample-derived categories (Figure 1). Similar, albeit attenuated, effects were observed in relation to longitudinal decline on the executive function composite. There were no clear differences in the associations between cognitive impairment categories with executive functioning or memory decline using demographically adjusted vs. unadjusted scores. Our results highlight the need for greater representation of diverse individuals in normative samples underlining the limitations of the NACC-derived normative algorithms for cognitive assessment of individuals from diverse populations. Further investigations into the clinical value of the practice of demographic adjustments are also warranted.