Cognitive Responsiveness Research Articles

The None in Three Victim Responsiveness Assessment (Ni3: VRA): a new outcome measure for intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention programs

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and validate the None in Three Victim Responsiveness Assessment (Ni3: VRA) examining affective and cognitive responsiveness toward victims of intimate partner violence.Design/methodology/approachData were collected at two time points in a sample of 359 young people from Barbados and Grenada (56.27 percent female; M age=12.73 years).FindingsConfirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the Ni3: VRA scores are best captured by a two-factor solution, including affective and cognitive dimensions. A test-retest correlation confirmed the reliability of the Ni3: VRA over time. Affective responsiveness formed a significant positive association with caring/cooperative behavior.Originality/valueThe Ni3: VRA can be used for the evaluation of preventive strategies aimed at reducing the rates of IPV.

Exploring the Relationship Between Cognitive Characteristics and Responsiveness to a Tier 3 Reading Fluency Intervention

Although research suggests that certain cognitive functions predict the likelihood of intervention response for students who receive Tier 2 instruction through a response to intervention framework, researchers know less about cognitive predictors of response to Tier 3 instruction. This study measured 2nd and 3rd graders’ performance on 7 cognitive tasks associated with reading outcomes. Participants then received 10 weeks of targeted intervention with the HELPS One-on-One Reading Fluency Program. Repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance using both norm-referenced and growth score criteria failed to demonstrate significant differences between the cognitive processing profiles of students who met response criteria and those who did not. Only phonological awareness indicated an area of significant processing deficit. Findings did not support a continuum of severity hypothesis and instead provided support for the heterogeneity of reading disorders.

The acute care experience of older persons with cognitive impairment and their families: A qualitative study

BackgroundAn increase in older persons with pre-existing cognitive impairment requiring inpatient services for co-occurring acute illness has produced a need for acute care processes to be re-designed. This in particular as this patient group is at risk of receiving insufficient care, resulting in adverse health and functional outcomes as well as family burden. Thus, to improve and sustain quality care over time, there is a need for an in-depth understanding of acute care processes from the perspective of persons with cognitive impairment and their families. ObjectivesTo generate an in-depth understanding of the experiences of acute care processes and the needs of older, hospitalized, older persons with cognitive impairment and their family members. DesignA qualitative study using inductive content analysis. Setting and participantsThe study was conducted at two urban, university-affiliated tertiary care hospitals in Switzerland. Eighteen families, represented by seven older persons with cognitive impairment and 20 family members were recruited into the study from six units. MethodsSemi-structured, narrative individual or dyadic interviews (n = 19) were conducted over a six-month period in 2017. The interview data were analyzed using inductive content analysis strategies. ResultsPersons with cognitive impairment and their families described a wide range of acute care experiences that oscillated between supportive and unsupportive, comprehensive and fragmented, as well as proactive family engagement and none. Seven core dimensions were identified as constituting the acute care experience from participants’ perspective. In relation to care for persons with cognitive impairment, caring attentiveness and responsiveness were important, whereas family members valued access to staff and information, participation in care, and support over time. On a system level, available resources and the hospital infrastructure were integral to their experience of hospitalisation. ConclusionsParticipants gave manifold examples of good care. However, they reported that their specific needs and preferences were not always identified or met. Family members understood themselves as integral to the well-being of their hospitalized older member with cognitive impairment. Therefore, they need to be recognized and involved in acute care processes, and supported in their caregiving. The study shows the need and ways to move towards person- and family-centered models of care. System-wide initiatives that translate knowledge into practice and ensure a skilled workforce with sufficient resources are called for.

Cognitive impairment and drug responsiveness in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

ObjectivesMesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common form of partial epilepsies. Seizures of MTLE with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) are typically resistant to antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy. Although memory disturbances in patients with MTLE-HS are expected, verbal attention and frontal lobe functions may also be impaired. We aimed to examine the relationship between the clinical features and cognitive functions of patients by comparing cognitive test scores of patients with MTLE with few seizures (drug-responsive group) and those with frequent seizures (pharmacoresistant group). MethodsSeventy-nine patients with MTLE-HS and 30 healthy controls were enrolled. Thirty-four patients were accepted as the drug-responsive group (DrG), and 45 patients were included in the pharmacoresistant group (PRG). Tests evaluating attention, memory, and executive functions were performed on all participants. ResultsForty-nine (62%) female and 30 (38%) male patients with MTLE-HS, and 14 (46.7%) female and 16 (53.3%) male controls participated in the study. The mean age of the patients and controls was 33.53 ± 9.60 (range, 18–57) years and 35.90 ± 7.98 (range, 18–56) years, respectively. Both the DrG and PRG showed poorer performances in tests evaluating memory and frontal lobe functions when compared with the control group (CG). Additionally, attention test results were significantly worse in the PRG than in the DrG. ConclusionIt is reasonable to say that increased seizure frequency is the main causative factor of verbal attention deficit due to the poorer attention test results in the PRG. Poor performances in memory and frontal lobe function tests of all patients with MTLE-HS emphasized the importance of the mutual connection between the temporal lobe and prefrontal cortices.

Prosocial video game as an intimate partner violence prevention tool among youth: A randomised controlled trial

Evidence demonstrates that exposure to prosocial video games can increase players' prosocial behaviour, prosocial thoughts, and empathic responses. Prosocial gaming has also been used to reduce gender-based violence among young people, but the use of video games to this end as well as evaluations of their effectiveness are rare. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a context-specific, prosocial video game, Jesse, in increasing affective and cognitive responsiveness (empathy) towards victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) among children and adolescents (N = 172, age range 9–17 years, M = 12.27, SD = 2.26). A randomised controlled trial was conducted in seven schools in Barbados. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental (prosocial video game) or control (standard school curriculum) condition. Experimental and control group enrolled 86 participants each. Girls and boys in the experimental condition, but not their counterparts in the control condition, recorded a significant increase in affective responsiveness after intervention. This change was sustained one week after game exposure. No significant effects were recorded for cognitive responsiveness. Findings suggest that Jesse is a promising new IPV prevention tool among girls and boys, which can be used in educational settings.

Delineating Psychopathy from Cognitive Empathy

There is an ongoing debate regarding the content of psychopathy, especially about the status of antisocial behavior and disinhibition characteristics as core psychopathy features. Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS) represents a novel model of psychopathy based on core psychopathy markers such as Interpersonal manipulation, Egocentricity and Affective responsiveness. However, this model presupposes another narrow trait of psychopathy: cognitive responsiveness, which represents a lack of cognitive empathy. Since previous models of psychopathy do not depict this feature as a core psychopathy trait, the goal of this study was to empirically evaluate if the lack of cognitive empathy is a narrow psychopathy trait or its correlate. The research was conducted on a community sample via online study (N=342; Mage=23.7 years; 31% males). Results showed that the correlations between Cognitive responsiveness and other psychopathy features were significantly lower than intercorrelations of other three traits. Factor analysis, conducted on PPTS items, provided a two-factor solution, where Cognitive responsiveness was yielded as a factor separate from other psychopathy indicators. Finally, the exploration of the shared latent space of psychopathy and cognitive empathy resulted in the two-factor solution where psychopathy and the lack of cognitive empathy were extracted as correlated but separate latent variables. The data clearly supported the former model. Research results showed that the lack of cognitive empathy should not be considered an indicator of psychopathy but its correlate. The findings emphasize the need to be cautious in conceptualization of the psychopathy construct.

Does Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Make a Neuropsychological Difference in Adults With Pain? A Rationale for a New Approach.

Cognitive impairment is common in patients with pain. While symptoms of pain are effectively treated with osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), the cognitive complaint is vastly ignored. Pain-induced cognitive dysfunction can be severe and is particularly apparent in working memory and attention. There is good reason to expect cognitive responsiveness to OMT. Previous research has reported the effects of OMT on related psychiatric outcomes, including relief from depression and anxiety, suggesting that OMT may produce more cortical benefits than is currently thought. The rationale to link OMT to cognition comes from the tenets of osteopathic medicine: body unity, homeostasis, and the structure-function relationship. The present article provides background evidence to support the hypothetical link between OMT and cognitive benefits and proposes a physiological mechanism of how OMT could exert its effect on cognition. Research strategies are discussed to test the hypotheses that are generated from the proposed theoretical framework.

Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS): Construct Validity of the Instrument in a Sample of U.S. Prisoners.

The Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS; Boduszek et al., 2016) is a personality-based psychopathy assessment tool consisting of four subscales: affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, and egocentricity. Although the measure offers a promising alternative to other, more behaviorally weighted scales, to date the factor structure of the PPTS and differential predictive validity of its dimensions has only been tested in one study. Consequently, the objective of the present research was to assess construct validity, factor structure, and composite reliability of the PPTS within a sample of U.S. male and female incarcerated offenders (N = 772). Another goal was to test the predictive efficiency of the PPTS dimensions for different types of offences (serial killing, homicide, sex crimes, weapon-related crimes, domestic violence, white-collar crimes, property crimes, drug-related crimes), recidivism (i.e., number of incarcerations), time spent in prison, and gender. Dimensionality and construct validity of the PPTS was investigated using traditional CFA techniques, confirmatory bifactor analysis, and multitrait-multimethod modelling (MTMM). Seven alternative models of the PPTS were estimated in Mplus using WLSMV estimator. An MTMM model with four grouping factors (affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, and egocentricity) while controlling for two method factors (knowledge/skills and attitudes/beliefs) offered the best representation of the data. Good composite reliability and differential predictive validity was reported. The PPTS can be reliably used among prisoners from the United States.

Exploratory study on cognitive abilities and social responsiveness in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) and children with idiopathic intellectual disability (IID)

BackgroundDevelopment of cognitive skills and social responsiveness are areas of concern in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). It remains unclear if the cognitive and social profiles and trajectories are syndrome-specific or similar to those of children with idiopathic intellectual disabilities (IID) with or without comorbid autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Aims and methodsIn this exploratory study, we examined and compared five broad cognitive abilities (BCAs) and the social responsiveness in primary school-aged children with 22q11DS (age 6–13, n = 21) and IQ-matched peers with IID (n = 21). The relative strengths and weaknesses of both groups were re-evaluated after 19 to 30 months. Outcomes and resultsFour different cognitive trajectories (i.e. absolute progress, stability, growing into deficit, and absolute decline) were demonstrated in both groups. Most children showed combined types of trajectories across BCAs resulting in a complex changing cognitive profile. In the 22q11DS group, social responsiveness problems increased, whereas no significant change was observed in the IID group. Conclusions and implicationsResults reflect similar cognitive and social responsiveness profiles and trajectories across groups with children with 22q11DS being more at risk for growing into a social deficit. We recommend repeated monitoring of social skills development to adapt the environmental demands to the child’s individual social capacities.

Child abuse and neglect profiles and their psychosocial consequences in a large sample of incarcerated males

Research examining child abuse and neglect (CAN) profiles among adult offender populations is lacking. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study was to address this limitation by using latent class analysis (LCA) to identify meaningful classes of individuals who have experienced physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, as well as neglect. Another aim was to estimate the association between CAN class membership and external criteria (psychopathy factors, self-esteem, attitudes towards male sexual violence in dating relationships, child sexual abuse myth acceptance, violent offending, and age). Data were collected among a large systematically selected sample of adult male inmates (N=1261). Based on LCA, three unique classes of CAN were distinguished, including a ‘low abuse’ group (43.4% of the sample), a ‘high physical and emotional abuse’ group (51.3%), and a ‘poly-victimized’ group (5.3%). The analysis revealed that the CAN classes were differentially associated with affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, personal self-esteem, prison self-esteem, attitudes towards male sexual violence in dating relationships, and violent offending. Findings highlight the unique nature of CAN constellations among criminal justice involved participants. The significance of the present results is discussed in relation to past and future research. Potential contributions to treatment strategies are also presented.

TBC1D24 genotype-phenotype correlation: Epilepsies and other neurologic features.

Objective:To evaluate the phenotypic spectrum associated with mutations in TBC1D24.Methods:We acquired new clinical, EEG, and neuroimaging data of 11 previously unreported and 37 published patients. TBC1D24 mutations, identified through various sequencing methods, can be found online (http://lovd.nl/TBC1D24).Results:Forty-eight patients were included (28 men, 20 women, average age 21 years) from 30 independent families. Eighteen patients (38%) had myoclonic epilepsies. The other patients carried diagnoses of focal (25%), multifocal (2%), generalized (4%), and unclassified epilepsy (6%), and early-onset epileptic encephalopathy (25%). Most patients had drug-resistant epilepsy. We detail EEG, neuroimaging, developmental, and cognitive features, treatment responsiveness, and physical examination. In silico evaluation revealed 7 different highly conserved motifs, with the most common pathogenic mutation located in the first. Neuronal outgrowth assays showed that some TBC1D24 mutations, associated with the most severe TBC1D24-associated disorders, are not necessarily the most disruptive to this gene function.Conclusions:TBC1D24-related epilepsy syndromes show marked phenotypic pleiotropy, with multisystem involvement and severity spectrum ranging from isolated deafness (not studied here), benign myoclonic epilepsy restricted to childhood with complete seizure control and normal intellect, to early-onset epileptic encephalopathy with severe developmental delay and early death. There is no distinct correlation with mutation type or location yet, but patterns are emerging. Given the phenotypic breadth observed, TBC1D24 mutation screening is indicated in a wide variety of epilepsies. A TBC1D24 consortium was formed to develop further research on this gene and its associated phenotypes.

Introduction and validation of Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS) in a large prison sample

PurposeThe aim of this study was to create and validate a brief self-report scale of psychopathic personality traits for research purposes which would grasp the essence of a psychopathic personality, regardless of respondents' age, gender, cultural background, and criminal history. MethodsThe Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS), the Measure of Criminal Social Identity, Self-Esteem Measure for Criminals, the Child Sexual Abuse Myth Scale, Attitudes Toward Male Sexual Dating Violence, and Lie Scale were administered to 1794 prisoners systematically sampled from 10 maximum- and medium-security prisons. Dimensionality and construct validity of the PPTS was investigated using traditional CFA techniques, along with confirmatory bifactor analysis and multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) modeling. Seven alternative models of the PPTS were specified and tested using Mplus with WLSMV estimation. ResultsMTMM model of PPTS offered the best representation of the data. The results suggest that the PPTS consists of four subscales (affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, interpersonal manipulation, and egocentricity) while controlling for two method factors (knowledge/skills and attitudes/beliefs). Good composite reliability and differential predictive validity was observed. ConclusionThis brief measure of psychopathic traits uncontaminated with behavioral items can be used in the same way among participants with and without criminal history.

See it, grab it, or STOP! Relationships between trait impulsivity, attentional bias for pictorial food cues and associated response inhibition following in-vivo food cue exposure

Impulsivity is associated with appetitive behaviour such as heightened sensitivity to cues of reward. Impulsivity may thus confer a vulnerability to weight gain by virtue of over-responsiveness to rewarding appetitive cues. This vulnerability should be detectable as heightened cognitive and behavioural responsiveness to food cues, namely, an attentional bias to food-stimuli, subjective wanting, and loss of inhibitory control. We examined this proposition by measuring reactions to acute, in-vivo, food-cue exposure in low-impulsive and high-impulsive individuals. We expected that high-impulsive individuals would: (1) show a greater attentional bias towards pictorial food cues presented after in-vivo food cue exposure; (2) show a greater appetitive reaction to high-calorie snack foods; and (3) show poorer inhibitory control after in vivo exposure compared to control. Fifty female participants (25 yr ± 1.1; 24 kg/m2 ± 0.6) randomly allocated to either a high-calorie food-cue exposure or food-neutral control condition subsequently completed a food-cue visual probe reaction time task, subjective ratings of appetitive state and the Stop-Signal task. A significant Group-by-Duration interaction indicated that high-impulsives show slowed disengagement (longer RTs for 2000 ms duration) of pictorial food stimuli compared to their low-impulsive counterparts. Conversely, the low impulsive group show greater attentional bias than the high impulsive group (faster RTs) at the 500 ms duration, indicating speeded detection of pictorial food cues. High-impulsives showed poorer response inhibition compared to low-impulsives following in-vivo food-cue exposure. Impulsivity did not significantly moderate the effect of in-vivo cue-exposure on desire-to-eat ratings. The evidence we obtained regarding inhibitory control following in vivo food cue exposure suggests that high-impulsive individuals may be prone to overeat when their reward systems are activated, a hypothesis that requires further confirmation.

Cognitive Flexibility and Social Responsiveness in Children and Adolescents with Tourette Syndrome.

This study examined cognitive flexibility and social responsiveness in children and adolescents with Tourette Syndrome (TS). Thirty one subjects with TS were compared to 32 age-matched healthy controls. Assessments included semi-structured interviews to assess psychopathology, parent-rated Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and a brief neuropsychological battery selected as measures of cognitive flexibility. Completion time for both Trail Making Tests (TMT-A and TMT-B) were significantly longer for TS group than controls, however the difference in perseverative errors on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was not significant. SRS total score was significantly higher in the TS group compared to controls, indicating greater impairment in social responsiveness. Group difference for TMTs and SRS failed to reach significance after controlling for co-occurring conditions. Clinicians might consider social impairment in the evaluation plan of children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome.

Neuromodulation and cognitive rehabilitation: addressing the methodological issue of circadian rhythms.

Most organisms, including humans,exhibit daily rhythms in their biological activities, physiological functions, and homeostatic mechanisms such as cell regeneration, hormone production, cardiac output, blood pressure, blood flow distribution, and body temperature. The physiological system responsible for these rhythms is known as the circadian system. Circadian changes have increasingly become an interesting focus of research, concerning also neurobehavioral functioning of healthy subjects. The impact of factors such as the sleep–wakefulness cycle and biological time-of-day on measures of subjective alertness has been extensively studied (1, 2). Moreover, there is compelling evidence of circadian dependency also for cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and learning (3, 4). Recently, it has been consolidated in different experimental models, including mammalian brain, that the circadian clock has a role in regulating structural synaptic plasticity, opening the new relevant concern of circadian-dependent neural plasticity (5,6). Interestingly, it has been suggested that changes in the electrical properties of the cell membrane (intrinsic plasticity) and in the release of neuromodulatory molecules due to the internal clock can reconfigure circuit dynamics leading individual neurons to switch among different functional networks throughout the day (5). Daily rhythmicity in neural activity has been further elucidated by Blautzik et al. (7) who analyzed the daily course of connectivity patterns. The authors found different degrees of daily modulation across connectivity patterns, ranging from networks characterized by stable activity across the day and networks with highly rhythmic connectivity changes. Based on the reported findings, we can infer that the aforementioned oscillatory processes in connectivity strength and spatial extent would eventually determine highly individual fluctuations of effective connectivity over the course of the day. Circadian rhythms show also to exert influence on the excitability of the cerebral cortex, as found by Lang et al. (8). In this study, the excitability of the primary motor cortex (M1) of healthy subjects was evaluated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at different times of the day. Data unveiled that both the intracortical and the corticospinal excitability of M1 exhibited a progressive decrease during the course of the day. In the last years, it has emerged that the effectiveness and reproducibility of several techniques able to induce neuroplastic changes in humans, such as paired associative stimulation (PAS), are influenced by time-of-day of the intervention (9) and subjected to circadian modulation. As demonstrated by Sale et al. (10), who tested 25 subjects twice, at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., on separate days, PAS effectiveness is enhanced in the evening,when endogenous cortisol is low; conversely, effects of PAS in the evening are blocked by a single oral dose of hydrocortisone. Additionally, in a large study of humans aged 50–70 years, high salivary levels of cortisol appeared to be related with poor performances on a wide range of cognitive domains, including language, verbal learning, processing speed, memory, and eye–hand coordination (11). Overall, the circadian modulation of several neural properties and structures, at both the microscopic and functional levels, may deeply affect cognitive behavior, responsiveness, and performance within the day. Despite its potential impact, timeof-day is rarely contemplated when brain responses and cognitive functions are studied. As a matter of fact, in order to minimize possible biases related to circadian effects, some neurophysiological studies are conducted with evaluations and/or interventions performed at the same time of the day. Still, these experimental designs do not contemplate another relevant factor, which may strongly affect the reliability of the collected data that is the interindividual variability of the biological clock. This physiological variability of circadian rhythms between subjects has led to the notion of individual chronotypes (12, 13). The chronotype influences the organization of physiological functions, behaviors, and cognitive performances throughout the day (1, 14, 15). Given the differences in circadian rhythmicity between chronotypes, specific individual variations in task performance are likely to occur as a function of time-of-day. In other words, this implies that the scheduled task may not be necessarily synchronized to the most optimal moment in the day for each tested participant (16, 17). The regulation of the endogenous dynamics that characterizes a chronotype is dictated by many factors. The thorough understanding of these mechanisms is critical to gain a comprehensive view on their functional implications and, further, may be considerably useful when addressing the experimental limitations due to diurnal rhythmicity. Among them, cortisol is a main neuromodulator that mediates circadian processes. The normal diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion has been

Emergence to the Conscious State During Inpatient Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Young Adults

To describe clinical patterns related to emergence to the conscious state (CS) in children and young adults with traumatic brain injury receiving acute inpatient rehabilitation. One academically affiliated pediatric brain injury rehabilitation unit. Fourteen consecutive patients aged 1 to 20 years with traumatic brain injury and disorders of consciousness. Retrospective case series. The primary outcome was emergence to CS during the inpatient rehabilitation admission. Factors evaluated for relationship to emergence to CS included age at injury, admission level of consciousness, admission Rappaport Coma/Near-Coma Scale score, and admission Cognitive and Linguistic Scale responsiveness item score. Ten of 14 patients emerged to CS during the inpatient rehabilitation admission. Those who emerged to CS had higher levels of responsiveness at admission to rehabilitation. There was a trend toward older age in those who emerged to CS. In this limited cohort, the majority of patients with disorders of consciousness after traumatic brain injury emerged to CS during acute inpatient rehabilitation, underscoring the presence of functional goals for inpatient rehabilitation in this population. Larger cohorts are needed to further explore clinical variables associated with emergence to CS.

스마트폰 증강현실 내비게이션의 인지능력과 호응도에 관한 연구

Received 14 May 2014; received in revised form 1 July 2014; accepted 14 July 2014ABSTRACTMost of the car navigation systems provide 2D or 3D virtual map-based driving guidance. Oneof the important issues is how to reduce cognitive burden to the driver who should interpret theabstracted information to real world driving information. Recently, an augmented reality (AR)-based navigation is considered as a new way to reduce cognitive workload by superimposingguidance information into the real world scene captured by the camera. In particular, head-updisplay (HUD) is popular to implement AR navigation. However, HUD is too expensive to beset up in most cars so that the HUD-based AR navigation is currently unrealistic for navigationalassistance. Meanwhile, smartphones with advanced computing capability and various sensors arepopularized and also provide navigational assistance. This paper presents a research on cognitiveeffect and responsiveness of an AR navigation by a comparative study with a conventionalvirtual map-based navigation on the same smartphone. This paper experimented bothquantitative and qualitative studies to compare cognitive workload and responsiveness, respectively.The number of eye gazing at the navigation system is used to measure the cognitive effect. Inaddition, questionnaires are used for qualitative analysis of the responsiveness.Key Words: Augmented reality (AR), AR navigation, Cognitive effect, Smartphone navigation,Head-up display (HUD), Virtual map-based navigation

Parenting Stress as a Correlate of Cognitive Behavior Therapy Responsiveness in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Anxiety

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show high rates of anxiety, and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is recognized as an emerging evidence-based practice. Eighteen children (8–12 years of age, M = 9.5, SD = 1.34; male: n = 15) with ASD and significant anxiety problems participated in a 12-session group “Coping Cat” intervention together with their parents. Statistically significant reductions were noted across measures of parent-reported child anxiety, with 50% of children demonstrating clinically meaningful improvements using the conservative Reliable Change Index. Significant correlations were found between change in parenting stress and change in child anxiety from pre- to post-treatment. These results are applicable to the community service sector, where the Coping Cat program is commonly utilized. Due to the high prevalence of anxiety disorders in children with ASD, further research is needed to advance capacity building to help meet the significant needs of youth with ASD and anxiety.

EPA-0847 – Association among clinical response, hippocampal volume, FKBP5 gene expression and cognitive flexibility in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder receiving cognitive behavioral therapy

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by a reduced expression of FKBP5, a key modulator of the glucocorticoid receptor. Smaller hippocampal volume has also been documented in PTSD. In this study we explored FKBP5 gene expression, brain structure and cognitive flexibility in patients with PTSD before and after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) We measured peripheral FKBP5 RNA, volumes of the hippocampus, amygdala, and medial orbitofrontal cortex and cognitive flexibility in 39 patients with PTSD before and after CBT. The control subjects were 31 trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD who were also assessed twice. At baseline, patients with PTSD showed lower FKBP5 gene expression and smaller hippocampal and medial orbitofrontal cortex, but not amygdala, volumes relative to control subjects. At follow-up, we found significantly increased FKBP5 expression and increased hippocampal volume in patients with PTSD. At follow-up, patients did not differ from control subjects in hippocampal volume. Improvement in PTSD symptoms was predicted by increased FKBP5 expression and increased hippocampal volume, but the primary predictor was FKBP5 expression. There was a positive correlation between the performance on a partial reversal task which tests cognitive flexibility and treatment responsiveness. Clinical improvement in individuals with PTSD was associated with increased expression of FKBP5, increased hippocampal volume and better cognitive flexibility. The three variables were positively correlated. Download : Download full-size imageDownload : Download full-size imageDownload : Download full-size image

Similarities and Differences in Cognitive Deficits and Responsiveness to L-Dopa between Aged and MPTP-Treated Cynomolgus Monkeys Tested on the Same Tasks

Cognitive and motor declines are two major geriatric problems often coexisting in older adults. Also, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is frequently observed in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in addition to motor dysfunction. Amelioration of cognitive deficits, either in patients with PD or in senescence, has proven problematic in the clinic; due, in part, to a poor understanding of the mechanism underlying PD-MCI and age-associated cognitive declines. Thus, a better characterization of similarities and differences between age-associated and disease-related cognitive impairments should help better design therapeutic strategies tailored to restore cognitive functions in either the elderly or PD patients. In the present study, eighteen cynomolgus monkeys were trained and tested on a delayed matching-toposition (DMTP) and delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) task, including 6 middle-aged, 6 aged, and 6 MPTP-treated animals. After a 3-month break, cognitive testing was resumed in all animals both before and after a 4-day treatment regimen with oral L-dopa. Here, we are reporting that 1) delay-dependent declines in percentage accuracy were seen on both tasks in normal (MPTP naive) animals while only seen on the DMTP task in MPTP-treated animals, 2) animals with MPTP-induced dopamine deficiency had a greater difficulty learning and performing on the DMTS task compared to normal animals, 3) L-dopa treatment did not improve cognitive performance on either task in any animals, but rather led to a worsening in performance on the DMTP task in normal middle-aged and MPTP-treated animals, and 4) cognitive declines correlated with age only on the DMTS but not on the DMPT task. Our results suggest that cognitive impairments seen in animals with MPTP-induced dopamine deficiency differ from those seen in aged animals.