Figural Fluency Research Articles

The Assimilator–Explorer styles and creativity

This study looked at the relationship between the Assimilator–Explorer (A–E) cognitive styles and creativity. A measure of creative activities, four divergent thinking tasks used as controls, and a measure of the A–E styles, where Explorers have higher and Assimilators lower scores, were included and completed by a sample of 342 participants. Participants completed the measures during three waves and there were 3months between the first and third waves. Results showed that there were weak, but significant positive correlations between the A–E styles and verbal and figural fluency. Moreover, the relationship between the A–E styles and creative activities was positive and significant, also when controlling for fluency and gender. Implications are discussed.

Cognitive engagement profile of the fluency tasks performance by patients with schizophrenia

IntroductionFluency tasks, e.g. verbal, design fluency test, etc. are often used in the evaluation of cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia. In the standard approach, the test result is the sum of stimuli generated in a given time period. However, this approach does not allow to determinate of what strategies are used by subjects to regulate the cognitive engagement during task execution.AimTo investigate the specific dynamic profile of fluency tests performance comparing with healthy controls.MethodsThirty patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 30 demographically matched healthy controls took part in the study. Participants performed two tests: COWAT (3 trials) and Ruff Figural Fluency Test in accordance with the original instructions. During the generation of these stimuli, the investigator wrote down their quantity in 15-second intervals, which enables the assessment of cognitive engagement variability in different parts of the whole time (1 minute).ResultsComparison of cognitive engagement variation in both fluency tests showed statistically significant differences. The differences in repeated measures ANOVA with group as an independent variables reached P < 0.0001. Factor differentiating the profiles in verbal and figural fluency was first 15 seconds after the tasks started.ConclusionsThe beginning of task was the most difficult part for patients with schizophrenia, which may indicate that the overall worse performance of fluency tests is associated with significant difficulties in mobilizing the cognitive activity.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Frontal lobe regulation of blood glucose levels: support for the limited capacity model in hostile violence-prone men.

Hostile men have reliably displayed an exaggerated sympathetic stress response across multiple experimental settings, with cardiovascular reactivity for blood pressure and heart rate concurrent with lateralized right frontal lobe stress (Trajanoski et al., in Diabetes Care 19(12):1412–1415, 1996; see Heilman et al., in J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 38(1):69–72, 1975). The current experiment examined frontal lobe regulatory control of glucose in high and low hostile men with concurrent left frontal lobe (Control Oral Word Association Test [verbal]) or right frontal lobe (Ruff Figural Fluency Test [nonverbal]) stress. A significant interaction was found for Group × Condition, F (1,22) = 4.16, p ≤ .05 with glucose levels (mg/dl) of high hostile men significantly elevated as a function of the right frontal stressor (M = 101.37, SD = 13.75) when compared to the verbal stressor (M = 95.79, SD = 11.20). Glucose levels in the low hostile group remained stable for both types of stress. High hostile men made significantly more errors on the right frontal but not the left frontal stressor (M = 17.18, SD = 19.88) when compared to the low hostile men (M = 5.81, SD = 4.33). These findings support our existing frontal capacity model of hostility (Iribarren et al., in J Am Med Assoc 17(19):2546–2551, 2000; McCrimmon et al., in Physiol Behav 67(1):35–39, 1999; Brunner et al., in Diabetes Care 21(4):585–590, 1998), extending the role of the right frontal lobe to regulatory control over glucose mobilization.

Quantitative electroencephalographic and neuropsychological investigation of an alternative measure of frontal lobe executive functions: the Figure Trail Making Test.

The most frequently used measures of executive functioning are either sensitive to left frontal lobe functioning or bilateral frontal functioning. Relatively little is known about right frontal lobe contributions to executive functioning given the paucity of measures sensitive to right frontal functioning. The present investigation reports the development and initial validation of a new measure designed to be sensitive to right frontal lobe functioning, the Figure Trail Making Test (FTMT). The FTMT, the classic Trial Making Test, and the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) were administered to 42 right-handed men. The results indicated a significant relationship between the FTMT and both the TMT and the RFFT. Performance on the FTMT was also related to high beta EEG over the right frontal lobe. Thus, the FTMT appears to be an equivalent measure of executive functioning that may be sensitive to right frontal lobe functioning. Applications for use in frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other patient populations are discussed.

Cortical thinning in the anterior cingulate cortex predicts multiple sclerosis patients' fluency performance in a lateralised manner.

Cognitive impairment is as an important feature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and might be even more relevant to patients than mobility restrictions. Compared to the multitude of studies investigating memory deficits or basic cognitive slowing, executive dysfunction is a rarely studied cognitive domain in MS, and its neural correlates remain largely unexplored. Even rarer are topological studies on specific cognitive functions in MS. Here we used several structural MRI parameters – including cortical thinning and T2 lesion load – to investigate neural correlates of executive dysfunction, both on a global and a regional level by means of voxel- and vertex-wise analyses. Forty-eight patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 48 healthy controls participated in the study. Five executive functions were assessed, i.e. verbal and figural fluency, working memory, interference control and set shifting. Patients scored lower than controls in verbal and figural fluency only, and displayed widespread cortical thinning. On a global level, cortical thickness independently predicted verbal fluency performance, when controlling for lesion volume and central brain atrophy estimates. On a regional level, cortical thinning in the anterior cingulate region correlated with deficits in verbal and figural fluency and did so in a lateralised manner: Left-sided thinning was related to reduced verbal – but not figural – fluency, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for right-sided thinning. We conclude that executive dysfunction in MS patients can specifically affect verbal and figural fluency. The observed lateralised clinico-anatomical correlation has previously been described in brain-damaged patients with large focal lesions only, for example after stroke. Based on focal grey matter atrophy, we here show for the first time comparable lateralised findings in a white matter disease with widespread pathology.

Impact of short-term meditation and expectation on executive brain functions

Meditation improves executive functions such as attention and working memory processes. However, it remains unclear to what extent contextual effects contribute to these improvements, since the role of meditation-associated expectations has not been investigated so far. In a randomized, single-blind, deceptive, between-subject design we compared the impact of short-term meditation (MG) on executive functioning with an expectation (ECG) and a passive control group (CG) as well as the effect of positive and negative outcome expectations. Fifty-nine healthy meditation-naïve volunteers participated on three consecutive days (20min/session). Five groups were examined: 2 MGs, 2 ECGs and 1CG. While one MG and one ECG were given positive suggestions concerning the effect of meditation on attention, the other two groups were given negative suggestions. MGs practised a focused attention meditation technique; ECGs were told that they were practising meditation but were given instructions for a sham meditation. CG participants sat in silence with their eyes closed. Interference control (Stroop task), selective sustained attention (d2 task), figural and verbal fluency measures of executive functions were assessed. Results indicate that suggestions have a substantial impact on interference control and verbal fluency, with positive suggestions leading to an increase in performance, whereas negative suggestions impeded improvement. This proof of concept study demonstrates the importance of the implementation of a credible ECG to elucidate context effects in meditation processes. It also indicates that suggestions can modulate the small effect of meditation on verbal fluency.

Verbal Versus Figural Fluency Tests in Currently Ill and Weight Restored Anorexia Nervosa Patients.

Fluency tests allow domain-specific assessment of verbal and non-verbal executive functions (EF) comparison and also enable utilizing of both quantitative and qualitative scoring methods. Thirty-five currently ill anorexia nervosa patients (PANs), 33 weight-restored patients (WRAN) and 47 healthy controls (HCs) were administered the word fluency test and the five-point test. Results show that WRANs tended to perseverate more than HCs in the verbal-fluency test. In addition, PANs produced significantly less correct figures and perseverated more than HCs and WRANs; HCs used more strategy methods than PANs and WRANs. Additionally, a positive correlation was found in the HC group between the total number of words in the verbal phonemic test and the number of designs produced and the number of correct designs. No such correlations were found in both anorexia groups. In conclusion, there is a differentiation between verbal and non-verbal EF in PANs and WRANs, showing a deficiency in the non-verbal domain. These findings may contribute to our understanding of the cognitive nature of the disorder.

Transfer and maintenance effects of online working-memory training in normal ageing and mild cognitive impairment

Working memory (WM) is one of the cognitive functions that is susceptible to ageing-related decline. Interventions that are able to improve WM functioning at older age are thus highly relevant. In this pilot study, we explored the transfer effects of core WM training on the WM domain and other cognitive domains in 23 healthy older adults and 18 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Performance on neuropsychological tests was assessed before and after completion of the online five-week adaptive WM training, and after a three-month follow-up period. After training, both groups improved on the Digit Span and Spatial Span, gains that were maintained at follow-up. At an individual level, a limited number of participants showed reliable training gain. Healthy older adults, and to a lesser extent MCI patients, additionally improved on figural fluency at group level, but not at individual level. Results furthermore showed that global brain atrophy and hippocampal atrophy, as assessed by MRI, may negatively affect training outcome. Our study examined core WM training, showing gains on trained and untrained tasks within the WM domain, but no broad generalisation to other cognitive domains. More research is needed to evaluate the clinical relevance of these findings and to identify participant characteristics that are predictive of training gain.

Validity and Reliability of the Polish Adaptation of the Ruff Figural Fluency Test

Abstract Normative studies of the Polish adaptation of Th e Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) were conducted on 475 men and women aged 16-79, taking into consideration such factors as gender, education, and place of residence. Clinical studies were also performed on a group of patients with left -, right-, or bilateral hemispheric brain lesions, Parkinson’s disease, Huntingon’s disease, progressive obturational lung disease, dementia and depression. Th e results support the utility of the RFFT as a measure of executive functions. Th e validity and reliability indices of the Polish version of the test are similar to those reported by Ruff (1996). However, the sample Polish test performance differs notably from American samples performance and this difference is discussed.

Longitudinal study of performance on the Ruff Figural Fluency Test in persons aged 35 years or older.

The Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) is a cognitive test to measure executive function. Longitudinal studies have shown that repeated testing improves performance on the RFFT. Such a practice effect may hinder the interpretation of test results in a clinical setting. Therefore, we investigated the longitudinal performance on the RFFT in persons aged 35–82 years. Performance on the RFFT was measured three times over an average follow-up period of six years in 2,515 participants of the Prevention of REnal and Vascular ENd-stage Disease (PREVEND) study in Groningen, the Netherlands: 53% men; mean age (SD), 53 (10) years. The effect of consecutive measurements on performance on the RFFT was investigated with linear multilevel regression models that also included age, gender, educational level and the interaction term consecutive measurement number x age as independent variables. It was found that the mean (SD) number of unique designs on the RFFT increased from 73 (26) at the first measurement to 79 (27) at the second measurement and to 83 (26) at the third measurement (p<0.001). However, the increase per consecutive measurement number was negatively associated with age and decreased with 0.23 per one-year increment of age (p<0.001). The increase per consecutive measurement number was not dependent on educational level. Similar results were found for the median (IQR) number of perseverative errors which showed a small but statistically significant increase with repeating testing: 7 (3–13) at the first measurement, 7 (4–14) at the second measurement and 8 (4–15) at the third measurement (p trend = 0.002). In conclusion, the performance on the RFFT improved by repeating the test over an average follow-up period of three to six years. This practice effect was the largest in young adults and not dependent on educational level.

Effect of Structured and Unstructured Physical Activity Training on Cognitive Functions in Adolescents - A Randomized Control Trial.

Regular physical activity in children and adolescents promotes not only their physical health but also improves their cognition. Paper and pencil Neurocognitive tests (NCT) are commonly used to assess the various cognitive domains of a person and can be used as simple tests to assess improvements, if any, in the cognitive abilities of growing adolescents who practice regular physical activity. To study the effect of six months of structured and unstructured physical activity on cognitive functions in adolescents. We recruited 439 healthy adolescent volunteers in the age group of 12 to 17 years (boys 250, girls 189) from a residential school (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Pondicherry). The following paper and pencil neuropsychological cognitive tests were administered: Two Target Letter Cancellation test, Trail Making test A and B, Ruff Figural Fluency test (RFFT). These participants were then divided into Structured Physical Activity (SPA: n=219; boys 117, girls 102) and Unstructured Physical Activity (USPA: n=220; boys 119, girls 101) groups based on age and gender block randomization method. Six-month intervention was successfully completed by 347 participants only (SPA group: n= 136; boys 77, girls 59; USPA group: n = 139; boys 75, girls 64) and the tests were repeated. The data were recorded and statistically analysed by per-protocol analysis method, using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 19. After six months of intervention, both SPA and USPA group participants showed significant improvements in all the tested neurocognitive parameters. On inter-group comparison, participants in SPA group showed significantly better improvements. Physical activity training in adolescents is more beneficial when structured as per WHO guidelines, probably due to higher cognitive loading.

Statin use and cognitive function: population-based observational study with long-term follow-up.

We aimed to evaluate the association between statin use and cognitive function. Cognitive function was measured with the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT; worst score, 0; best score, 175 points) and the Visual Association Test (VAT; low performance, 0–10; high performance, 11–12 points) in an observational study that included 4,095 community-dwelling participants aged 35–82 years. Data on statin use were obtained from a computerized pharmacy database. Analysis were done for the total cohort and subsamples matched on cardiovascular risk (N = 1232) or propensity score for statin use (N = 3609). We found that a total of 904 participants (10%) used a statin. Statin users were older than non-users: mean age (SD) 61 (10) vs. 52 (11) years (p<0.001). The median duration of statin use was 3.8 (interquartile range, 1.6–4.5) years. Unadjusted, statin users had worse cognitive performance than non-users. The mean RFFT score (SD) in statin users and non-users was 58 (23) and 72 (26) points, respectively (p<0.001). VAT performance was high in 261 (29%) statin users and 1351 (43%) non-users (p<0.001). However, multiple regression analysis did not show a significant association of RFFT score with statin use (B, −0.82; 95%CI, −2.77 to 1.14; p = 0.41) nor with statin solubility, statin dose or duration of statin use. Statin users with high doses or long-term use had similar cognitive performance as non-users. This was found in persons with low as well as high cardiovascular risk, and in younger as well as older subjects. Also, the mean RFFT score per quintile of propensity score for statin use was comparable for statin users and non-users. Similar results were found for the VAT score as outcome measure. In conclusion, statin use was not associated with cognitive function. This was independent of statin dose or duration of statin use.

The reliability and convergent and divergent validity of the Ruff Figural Fluency Test in healthy young adults.

The reliability and validity of standard and qualitative scores for the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT; Ruff, 1988) was examined in 102 healthy undergraduates. Participants (M age = 21.79; SD = 3.7; age = 80% Caucasian) were administered the RFFT and measures assessing executive functions (EF) and other cognitive domains. Inter-scorer reliability was excellent (0.9 range) for most RFFT indices. Test-retest coefficients (M interval = 7 weeks) ranged from 0.64 for the error ratio score to 0.87 for unique designs. RFFT indices correlated with Block Design performance and nonverbal measures of working memory, but were unrelated to measures of verbal fluency, verbal learning, or working memory for verbal material. RFFT novel design output correlated with most measures of EF supporting the convergent validity of this measure. In contrast, correlations between measures of EF and qualitative scores were absent or weak. RFFT score interpretation is discussed in light of relevant models of EF and directions for future research are presented.

B-68 * Relationship between Central Nervous System Penetrative-Effectiveness (CPE) Index of HIV-Medication and Figural Fluency Performance is Mediated by Average Cluster Size

B-68 * Relationship between Central Nervous System Penetrative-Effectiveness (CPE) Index of HIV-Medication and Figural Fluency Performance is Mediated by Average Cluster Size

Association of COMT and COMT-DRD2 interaction with creative potential.

Several lines of evidence suggest that genes involved in dopamine (DA) transmission may contribute to creativity. Among these genes, the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) and the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) are the most promising candidates. Our previous study has revealed evidence for the involvement of DRD2 in creative potential. The present study extended our previous study by systematically exploring the association of COMT with creative potential as well as the interaction between COMT and DRD2. Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering COMT were genotyped in 543 healthy Chinese college students whose creative potentials were assessed by divergent thinking tests. Single SNP analysis showed that rs174697 was nominally associated with verbal originality, two SNPs (rs737865 and rs5993883) were nominally associated with figural fluency, and two SNPs (rs737865 and rs4680) were nominally associated with figural originality. Haplotype analysis showed that, the TCT and CCT haplotype (rs737865-rs174675-rs5993882) were nominally associated with figural originality, and the TATGCAG and CGCGGGA haplotype (rs4646312-rs6269-rs4633-rs6267-rs4818-rs4680-rs769224) were nominally associated with figural originality and verbal flexibility, respectively. However, none of these nominal findings survived correction for multiple testing. Gene–gene interaction analysis identified one significant four-way interaction of rs174675 (COMT), rs174697 (COMT), rs1076560 (DRD2), and rs4436578 (DRD2) on verbal fluency, one significant four-way interaction of rs174675 (COMT), rs4818 (COMT), rs1076560 (DRD2), and rs4648317 (DRD2) on verbal flexibility, and one significant three-way interaction of rs5993883 (COMT), rs4648319 (DRD2), and rs4648317 (DRD2) on figural flexibility. In conclusion, the present study provides nominal evidence for the involvement of COMT in creative potential and suggests that DA related genes may act in coordination to contribute to creativity.

Poster #S206 VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY IN DUTCH OUTPATIENTS WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER, SCHIZOAFFECTIVE DISORDER OR SCHIZOPHRENIA

Interactions between the digestive system and the brain functions have become in recent years an important field of psychiatric research. These multidirectional interactions take place in the so called microbiota-gut-brain axis and emerging scientific data indicate to the significant role of microbiota in the modulation of the central nervous system (CNS) including affective and cognitive functions.An assessment of psychobiotic and immunomodulatory effects of probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v (LP299v) by measuring affective, cognitive functions and biochemical parameters in patients with MDD undergoing treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).Seventy nine patients with MDD were randomized and allocated to a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Participants received either a SSRI with the probiotic LP299v (n = 40) for a period of 8 weeks or a SSRI with the placebo of the probiotic (n = 39) for the same period. The severity of psychiatric symptoms was assessed using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D 17), Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Cognitive functions were assessed using the Attention and Perceptivity Test (APT), Stroop Test parts A and B, Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT), Trail Making Test (TMT) Parts A and B and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Biochemical parameters such as tryptophan (TRP), kynurenine (KYN), kynurenic acid (KYNA), 3-hydroxykynurenine (3HKYN), anthranilic acid (AA), 3-hydroxy anthranilic acid (3HAA), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 1-beta (IL-1b) and cortisol plasma concentrations were measured.Sixty participants finished the study and were analyzed: 30 participants in the LP299v group and 30 participants in the placebo group. There was an improvement in APT and in CVLT total recall of trials 1–5 in the LP299v group compared with the placebo between baseline and after 8 weeks of intervention. There was a significant decrease in KYN concentration in the LP299v group compared to the placebo group. We also observed significant increase in 3HKYN:KYN ratio in the LP299v group compared with the placebo group. Additionally, Repeated Measures ANOVA revealed a significant effect of interaction of Treatment x time for AA concentration. However, results of post hoc analysis did not reach statistical significance in neither probiotic nor placebo group. There were no significant changes of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1b and cortisol concentrations in neither probiotic nor placebo groups.Augmentation of SSRI treatment with probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v improved cognitive performance and decreased KYN concentration in MDD patients. Decreased KYN concentration could contribute to the improvement of cognitive functions in the LP299v group compared to the placebo group. To our knowledge results of this study are the first evidence of improvement of cognitive functions in MDD patients due to probiotic bacteria and this is the first evidence of decreased KYN concentration in MDD patients due to probiotic bacteria.

The effect of Parkinson’s disease subgroups on verbal and nonverbal fluency

Background. Parkinson’s disease (PD) leads to deficits in executive function, including verbal and nonverbal fluency, as a result of compromised frontostriatal circuits. It is unknown whether deficits in verbal and nonverbal fluency in PD are driven by certain subgroups of patients, or how strategy use may facilitate performance. Participants. Sixty-five nondemented individuals with PD, including 36 with right-body onset (RPD; 20 with tremor as their initial symptom, 16 nontremor) and 29 with left-body onset (LPD; 14 with tremor as their initial symptom, 15 nontremor), and 52 normal control participants (NC) took part in the study. Measurements. Verbal fluency was assessed using the FAS and Animals tests. Nonverbal fluency was assessed using the Ruff Figural Fluency Test. Results. Both RPD and LPD were impaired in generating words and in using clustering and switching strategies on phonemic verbal fluency, whereas different patterns of impairment were found on nonverbal fluency depending on the interaction of side of onset and initial motor symptom (tremor vs. nontremor). Strategy use correlated with number of correct responses on verbal fluency in LPD, RPD, and NC. By contrast, on nonverbal fluency, strategy use correlated with correct responses for RPD and LPD, but not for NC. Conclusion. Our findings demonstrate the importance of considering subgroups in PD and analyzing subcomponents of verbal and nonverbal fluency (correct responses, errors, and strategies), which may depend differently on the integrity of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex.

Cognitive impairment after appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy for ventricular fibrillation

Short periods of cerebral ischaemia during ventricular defibrillation testing may be associated with neuropsychological impairment. However, the impact of out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation (VF) converted by implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shock on cognitive functioning is unknown. To assess the impact of out-of-hospital VF converted by ICD shock on cognitive functioning. The study included 52 primary prevention ICD recipients. Patients with a history of stroke or other neurological impairment, previous head injury and individuals unable to see or speak to complete neuropsychological tests were not included.Initially, a Mini-Mental State Examination was performed in all patients and one patient with a result below 24 points was excluded from the study. The cognitive battery consisted of four tests (six measurements): 1) the Digit Span subtest of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised; 2) the Digit Symbol subtest of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised; 3) the Halstead-Reitan Trail-Making Test A and B; and 4) the Ruff Figural Fluency Test. The mean time from ICD implantation to cognitive assessment was 26 months. During this period, 15 appropriate shocks for VF were observed in seven (14%) patients. The patients with appropriate ICD therapy were significantly worse in two out of the six neuropsychological measurements and had a significantly lower aggregate result. In multivariate linear regression analysis, defibrillation therapy was an independent factor of poor cognitive functioning, along with age and education. Short periods of out-of-hospital VF converted by ICD are associated with cognitive impairment in the recipients of primary prevention ICD.

Motor dysfunction influence on executive functioning in manifest and premanifest Huntington's disease

Motor disturbances can be present in both manifest and premanifest Huntington's disease (HD). We aimed to investigate the role of motor functioning on executive functioning to better understand the progression of cognitive dysfunction in HD. Forty patients with manifest HD, 21 patients with premanifest HD, and a group of 28 controls were tested twice with a 1-year interval. For the Symbol Digit Modalities Test and the Figure Fluency Test, extra conditions were designed to measure motor involvement. Subtraction of this motor score from the original test score resulted in isolation of the cognitive component. Groups were compared on motor, cognitive, and original test scores using multilevel regression analysis. Manifest patients had lower baseline scores of 0.53 standard deviations (SD) on the original Symbol Digit Modalities Test (P = 0.03) and 0.71 SD on the motor isolation part (P = 0.006), and they showed a deterioration of 0.47 SD over 1 year of follow-up on the original Symbol Digit Modalities Test (P = 0.001) compared with controls. Premanifest patients had lower baseline scores of 0.67 SD on the Symbol Digit Modalities motor part (P = 0.008) and deterioration of 0.48 SD on the original (P = 0.001) and cognitive isolation (P = 0.02) parts. Secondary analyses revealed that the premanifest deterioration resulted from the close-to-predicted-onset group. Motor disturbances have a negative influence on performance on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Isolation of the cognitive component of this test revealed cognitive deterioration in the premanifest group only, caused by deteriorating scores for patients who were close to their predicted clinical disease onset. The Figure Fluency Test did not prove sensitive to cognitive change.

An Exploratory Study on DRD2 and Creative Potential

One critical step toward to a better understanding of creativity is to unveil its underlying genetic architectures. Recently, several studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) related genetic polymorphisms on creativity. Among DA related genes, dopamine D2 receptor gene(DRD2) is one of the most promising candidate genes for creativity. This study systematically explored the associations between DRD2 genetic polymorphisms and creative potential in the Han Chinese population. Fifteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering DRD2 were genotyped in 543 unrelated healthy Chinese undergraduate students whose creative potentials were assessed by divergent thinking (DT) tests. Single SNP analysis showed that, for verbal DT tests, 7 SNPs (rs4648319, rs2283265, rs1076560, rs6276, rs6279, rs6278, and rs1800497) showed significant associations with verbal fluency, and 2 SNPs (rs6277 and rs7122246) showed significant associations with verbal originality. For figural DT tests, 5 SNPs (rs2283265, rs6276, rs6279, rs6278 and rs1800497) showed significant associations with figural fluency, and 2 SNPs (rs6278 and rs1800497) showed significant associations with figural flexibility. Haplotype analysis showed that the 10-SNP haplotype consisting of rs4648319, rs4436578, rs7122246, rs2283265, rs1076560, rs6277, rs6276, rs6279, rs6278, and rs1800497 was significantly associated with verbal fluency. In conclusion, this exploratory study provides preliminary evidence for the involvement of DRD2in creative potential.