Goal-oriented Behavior Research Articles

The cognitive determinants of behavioral distraction by deviant auditory stimuli: a review

Numerous studies have demonstrated that rare and unexpected changes in an otherwise repetitive or structured sound sequence ineluctably break through selective attention and impact negatively on performance in an unrelated task. While the electrophysiological responses to unexpected sounds have been extensively studied, behavioral distraction has received relatively less attention until recently. In this paper, I review work examining the cognitive underpinnings of behavioral distraction by deviant sounds and highlight some of its key determinants. Evidence indicates that deviance distraction (1) derives from the time penalty associated with the involuntary orientation of attention to and away from the deviant sound and from resulting effects such as the reactivation of the relevant task set upon the presentation of the target stimulus; and (2) is mediated by a number of factors (some increasing distraction, such as aging or induced emotions; some decreasing it, such as a memory load or cognitive control). Contrary to the received view that deviants ineluctably elicit distraction, recent work demonstrates that it is contingent upon auditory distractors acting as unspecific warning signals in the service of goal-oriented behavior, and that deviants do not elicit distraction because they are rare but because they violate the cognitive system's predictions (which can be manipulated through implicit rule learning or explicit cueing). Evidence is also presented indicating that the capture of attention by spoken deviant sounds is followed by an involuntary evaluation of their semantic properties, the outcome of which can be robust enough to linger in working memory and interfere with subsequent behavior. Finally, I review studies suggesting that behavioral deviance distraction is not the mere byproduct of the mismatch negativity, P3a and re-orientation negativity electrophysiological responses and highlight a number of outstanding questions for future research.

Modular Organization of Cognitive Control

Cognitive control, the higher cognitive function essential for goal-oriented behavior, is currently a hot topic in cognitive neuroscience research. Researchers have frequently examined various stimulus-response-compatibility(SRC) effects and conflict adaptation(CA) effects to elucidate mechanisms of cognitive control. This article reviewed recent empirical studies utilizing these SRC and CA paradigms. Based on the universal framework of dimensional overlap theory and conflict monitoring theory, we proposed a unique theory on modular organization of cognitive control, in which different types of conflicts are detected by distinct conflict monitoring nodes and then resolved by a common module of executive control.

Delay discounting and task performance consistency in patients with schizophrenia

To study impaired goal-oriented behavior in schizophrenia (SZ), we used a delay discounting task, which consists of a series of choices between receiving a small immediate or larger delayed reward. Few studies of delay discounting have evaluated response consistency (R2), which is especially relevant in SZ because of documented inconsistency in task performance. We calculated the rate of discounting (k) and R2 in SZ (n=35) and healthy controls (HC; n=21). Using a criterion value of R2>0.60 to define consistent performance allowed us to compare discounting in consistent SZ and HC, as well as in inconsistent SZ. Groups did not differ significantly in smoking. Compared to HC, consistent SZ showed greater delay discounting. Both groups exhibited similar patterns of decreasing immediate choices across trial categories, although the decrease was less for SZ. Separate analyses on smokers and non-smokers showed that this group difference was carried by the non-smokers. Inconsistent SZ discounted more than HC and consistent SZ, but their aberrant pattern of choices casts doubt on the validity of their calculated k values.

An Exploratory Study Comparing Goal-Oriented Mental Imagery with Daily To-Do Lists: Supporting College Student Success

Although to-do lists are a ubiquitous daily planning tool there is limited information on users’ perceptions of this method. Another resource to support goal-oriented planning is mental imagery. A substantial body of research shows the utility of mental imagery in the domains of healthcare, sports, business and education. Imagery has been shown to enhance goal-oriented behavior, and along with primed positive affect, to enhance persistence and coping. For the purpose of comparison, a sample of 214 college students practiced either a goal-oriented mental imagery technique or a to-do list technique on alternate days for two weeks. On mental imagery days students were significantly more likely to report a sense of accomplishment, ease, coping, and positive affect, compared with to-do list days. Qualitative comments provided additional informative detail showing to-do list days to be associated with a task orientation, greater dissatisfaction with underachievement, and higher levels of perceived stress and negative affect. While the study shows benefit for both mental imagery and to-do lists, a tenable conclusion from the results is that a combination of the two methods may actually yield the greatest benefit. Used in tandem the methods provide a synergistic orientation to daily tasks with a heightened sense of positive affect and expectancy.

Altered brain long-range functional interactions underlying the link between aberrant self-experience and self-other relationship in first-episode schizophrenia.

Self-experience anomalies are elementary features of schizophrenic pathology. Such deficits can have a profound impact on self-other relationship, but how they are related through aberrant brain function remains poorly understood. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we provide new evidence for a cortical link between aberrant self-experience and social cognition in first-episode schizophrenia (FES). As identified in previous studies, ventral premotor cortex (vPMC) and posterior insula (pIC) are candidate brain regions underlying disturbances in both self-experience and self-other relationship due to their processing of predominantly externally guided (vPMC; goal-oriented behavior) and internally guided (pIC; interoception) stimuli. Results from functional interaction analysis in a sample of 24 FES patients and 22 healthy controls show aberrant functional interactions (background/intrinsic connectivity) of right vPMC and bilateral pIC with posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), a midline region that has been shown central in mediating self-experience. More specifically, our results show increased functional coupling between vPMC and PCC, which positively correlated with basic symptoms (subjective self-experience disturbances). pIC showed reduced functional coupling with PCC and postcentral gyrus and increased functional interactions with anterior insula. Taken together, our results suggest an imbalance in the processing between internally and externally guided information and its abnormal integration with self-referential processing as mediated by PCC. Due to our correlation findings, we suggest this imbalance to be closely related to basic symptoms in FES and thus anomalous self-experience. The findings further disentangle the cortical basis of how self-experience anomalies may pervade the social domain.

Goal-oriented behavior sequence generation based on semantic commands using multiple timescales recurrent neural network with initial state correction

In this paper, to build an autonomous robot, we propose a novel scheme for a goal-oriented behavior sequence generation in tasks involving multiple objects. The scheme includes three major functions: (1) visual attention for target object localization; (2) automatic initial state correction based on experience using simple reinforcement learning, and (3) a suitable behavior sequence generation method based on multiple timescales recurrent neural networks (MTRNN). The proposed scheme systematically combines the three different major functions so that the autonomous bi-pad robot can automatically execute tasks involving multiple objects based on high level semantic commands given by human supervisor. The selective attention model continuously catches the visual environment to understand the current states of robot and perceive the relationship between current states of robot and the environment (depth perception and localization of a target object). If the current state is different from the initial state (depth perception and localization of a target object), the robot automatically adjust its current state to the initial state by integrating visual attention and simple reinforcement learning. After correcting the initial state of the robot, the behavior sequence generation functions can successfully generate suitable behavior timing signals, by integrating visual attention and MTRNN, based on the high level semantic commands given by human supervisor. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can successfully generate suitable behavior timing, for a robot to autonomously achieve the tasks involving multiple objects, such as searching, approaching and hitting the target object using its arm.

Adenosine signaling in striatal circuits and alcohol use disorders.

Adenosine signaling has been implicated in the pathophysiology of alcohol use disorders and other psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Numerous studies have indicated a role for A1 receptors (A1R) in acute ethanol-induced motor incoordination, while A2A receptors (A2AR) mainly regulate the rewarding effect of ethanol in mice. Recent findings have demonstrated that dampened A2AR-mediated signaling in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) promotes ethanol-seeking behaviors. Moreover, decreased A2AR function is associated with decreased CREB activity in the DMS, which enhances goal-oriented behaviors and contributes to excessive ethanol drinking in mice. Interestingly, caffeine, the most commonly used psychoactive substance, is known to inhibit both the A1R and A2AR. This dampened adenosine receptor function may mask some of the acute intoxicating effects of ethanol. Furthermore, based on the fact that A2AR activity plays a role in goal-directed behavior, caffeine may also promote ethanol-seeking behavior. The A2AR is enriched in the striatum and exclusively expressed in striatopallidal neurons, which may be responsible for the regulation of inhibitory behavioral control over drug rewarding processes through the indirect pathway of the basal ganglia circuit. Furthermore, the antagonistic interactions between adenosine and dopamine receptors in the striatum also play an integral role in alcoholism and addiction-related disorders. This review focuses on regulation of adenosine signaling in striatal circuits and the possible implication of caffeine in goal-directed behaviors and addiction.

Cognitive Rehabilitation for Executive Dysfunction in Adults With Stroke or Other Adult Nonprogressive Acquired Brain Damage

Executive functions are cognitive processes essential for controlling goal-oriented behavior and responding to new and novel situations. Executive function includes the processes of planning, initiation, organization, inhibition, problem solving, self-monitoring, and error correction. It has been estimated that ≈75% of stroke survivors experience impaired executive function (executive dysfunction), resulting in reduced capacity to regain independence in activities of daily living, particularly when new movement strategies are necessary to compensate for limb weakness. A variety of cognitive rehabilitation interventions are implemented within clinical practice in an attempt to improve executive function and, consequently, independence with activities of daily living.1 To determine the effects of cognitive rehabilitation on executive dysfunction for adults with stroke or other nonprogressive acquired brain injuries. We searched: …

The typical developmental trajectory of social and executive functions in late adolescence and early adulthood.

Executive functions and social cognition develop through childhood into adolescence and early adulthood and are important for adaptive goal-oriented behavior (Apperly, Samson, & Humphreys, 2009; Blakemore & Choudhury, 2006). These functions are attributed to frontal networks known to undergo protracted maturation into early adulthood (Barker, Andrade, Morton, Romanowski, & Bowles, 2010; Lebel, Walker, Leemans, Phillips, & Beaulieu, 2008), although social cognition functions are also associated with widely distributed networks. Previously, nonlinear development has been reported around puberty on an emotion match-to-sample task (McGivern, Andersen, Byrd, Mutter, & Reilly, 2002) and for IQ in midadolescence (Ramsden et al., 2011). However, there are currently little data on the typical development of social and executive functions in late adolescence and early adulthood. In a cross-sectional design, 98 participants completed tests of social cognition and executive function, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1999), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983), and measures of pubertal development and demographics at ages 17, 18, and 19. Nonlinear age differences for letter fluency and concept formation executive functions were found, with a trough in functional ability in 18-year-olds compared with other groups. There were no age group differences on social cognition measures. Gender accounted for differences on 1 scale of concept formation, 1 dynamic social interaction scale, and 2 empathy scales. The clinical, developmental, and educational implications of these findings are discussed.

Ecological Validity and Neuroanatomical Correlates of the NIH EXAMINER Executive Composite Score

Executive functions refer to a constellation of higher-level cognitive abilities that enable goal-oriented behavior. The NIH EXAMINER battery was designed to assess executive functions comprehensively and efficiently. Performance can be summarized by a single score, the "Executive Composite," which combines measures of inhibition, set-shifting, fluency, and working memory. We evaluated the ecological validity of the Executive Composite in a sample of 225 mixed neurological patients and controls using the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe), an informant-based measure of real-world executive behavior. In addition, we investigated the neuroanatomical correlates of the Executive Composite using voxel-based morphometry in a sample of 37 participants diagnosed with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, or as neurologically healthy. The Executive Composite accounted for 28% of the variance in Frontal Systems Behavior Scale scores beyond age. Even after including two widely used executive function tests (Trails B and Stroop) as covariates, the Executive Composite remained a significant predictor of real-world behavior. Anatomically, poorer scores on the Executive Composite were associated with smaller right and left dorsolateral prefrontal volumes, brain regions critical for good executive control. Taken together, these results suggest that the Executive Composite measures important aspects of executive function not captured by standard measures and reflects the integrity of frontal systems.

Cognitive rehabilitation for executive dysfunction in adults with stroke or other adult non-progressive acquired brain damage.

Executive functions are the controlling mechanisms of the brain and include the processes of planning, initiation, organisation, inhibition, problem solving, self monitoring and error correction. They are essential for goal-oriented behaviour and responding to new and novel situations. A high number of people with acquired brain injury, including around 75% of stroke survivors, will experience executive dysfunction. Executive dysfunction reduces capacity to regain independence in activities of daily living (ADL), particularly when alternative movement strategies are necessary to compensate for limb weakness. Improving executive function may lead to increased independence with ADL. There are various cognitive rehabilitation strategies for training executive function used within clinical practice and it is necessary to determine the effectiveness of these interventions. To determine the effects of cognitive rehabilitation on executive dysfunction for adults with stroke or other non-progressive acquired brain injuries. We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (August 2012), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, August 2012), MEDLINE (1950 to August 2012), EMBASE (1980 to August 2012), CINAHL (1982 to August 2012), PsycINFO (1806 to August 2012), AMED (1985 to August 2012) and 11 additional databases. We also searched reference lists and trials registers, handsearched journals and conference proceedings, and contacted experts. We included randomised trials in adults after non-progressive acquired brain injury, where the intervention was specifically targeted at improving cognition including separable executive function data (restorative interventions), where the intervention was aimed at training participants in methods to compensate for lost executive function (compensative interventions) or where the intervention involved the training in the use of an adaptive technique for improving independence with ADL (adaptive interventions). The primary outcome was global executive function and the secondary outcomes were specific components of executive function, working memory, ADL, extended ADL, quality of life and participation in vocational activities. We included studies in which the comparison intervention was no treatment, a placebo intervention (i.e. a rehabilitation intervention that should not impact on executive function), standard care or another cognitive rehabilitation intervention. Two review authors independently screened abstracts, extracted data and appraised trials. We undertook an assessment of methodological quality for allocation concealment, blinding of outcome assessors, method of dealing with missing data and other potential sources of bias. Nineteen studies (907 participants) met the inclusion criteria for this review. We included 13 studies (770 participants) in meta-analyses (417 traumatic brain injury, 304 stroke, 49 other acquired brain injury) reducing to 660 participants once non-included intervention groups were removed from three and four group studies. We were unable to obtain data from the remaining six studies.Three studies (134 participants) compared cognitive rehabilitation with sensorimotor therapy.None reported our primary outcome; data from one study was available relating to secondary outcomes including concept formation and ADL. Six studies (333 participants) compared cognitive rehabilitation with no treatment or placebo.None reported our primary outcome; data from four studies demonstrated no statistically significant effect of cognitive rehabilitation on secondary outcomes.Ten studies (448 participants) compared two different cognitive rehabilitation approaches.Two studies (82 participants) reported the primary outcome; no statistically significant effect was found. Data from eight studies demonstrated no statistically significant effect on the secondary outcomes.We explored the effect of restorative interventions (10 studies, 468 participants) and compensative interventions (four studies, 128 participants) and found no statistically significant effect compared with other interventions. We identified insufficient high-quality evidence to reach any generalised conclusions about the effect of cognitive rehabilitation on executive function, or other secondary outcome measures. Further high-quality research comparing cognitive rehabilitation with no intervention, placebo or sensorimotor interventions is recommended.

A modular approach to language production: Models and facts

Numerous cortical disorders affect language. We explore the connection between the observed language behavior and the underlying substrates by adopting a neurocomputational approach. To represent the observed trajectories of the discourse in patients with disorganized speech and in healthy participants, we design a graphical representation for the discourse as a trajectory that allows us to visualize and measure the degree of order in the discourse as a function of the disorder of the trajectories. Our work assumes that many of the properties of language production and comprehension can be understood in terms of the dynamics of modular networks of neural associative memories. Based upon this assumption, we connect three theoretical and empirical domains: (1) neural models of language processing and production, (2) statistical methods used in the construction of functional brain images, and (3) corpus linguistic tools, such as Latent Semantic Analysis (henceforth LSA), that are used to discover the topic organization of language. We show how the neurocomputational models intertwine with LSA and the mathematical basis of functional neuroimaging. Within this framework we describe the properties of a context-dependent neural model, based on matrix associative memories, that performs goal-oriented linguistic behavior. We link these matrix associative memory models with the mathematics that underlie functional neuroimaging techniques and present the “functional brain images” emerging from the model. This provides us with a completely “transparent box” with which to analyze the implication of some statistical images. Finally, we use these models to explore the possibility that functional synaptic disconnection can lead to an increase in connectivity between the representations of concepts that could explain some of the alterations in discourse displayed by patients with schizophrenia.

The hypocretins and the reward function: what have we learned so far?

A general consensus acknowledges that drug consumption (including alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs) constitutes the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. But the global burden of drug abuse extends the mortality statistics. Indeed, the comorbid long-term debilitating effects of the disease also significantly deteriorate the quality of life of individuals suffering from addiction disorders. Despite the large body of evidence delineating the cellular and molecular adaptations induced by chronic drug consumption, the brain mechanisms responsible for drug craving and relapse remain insufficiently understood, and even the most recent developments in the field have not brought significant improvement in the management of drug dependence. Though, recent preclinical evidence suggests that disrupting the hypocretin (orexin) system may serve as an anticraving medication therapy. Here, we discuss how the hypocretins, which orchestrate normal wakefulness, metabolic health and the execution of goal-oriented behaviors, may be compromised and contribute to elicit compulsive drug seeking. We propose an overview on the most recent studies demonstrating an important role for the hypocretin neuropeptide system in the regulation of drug reward and the prevention of drug relapse, and we question the relevance of disrupting the hypocretin system to alleviate symptoms of drug addiction.

An Investigation the Gender Difference into the Status of Intrinsic Motivation towards Science Learning Among Intermediate Science Students

Motivation is the internal state that arouses, directs, and sustains goal-oriented behavior. In particular, motivation to learn refers to the disposition of students to find academic activities relevant and worthwhile who try to derive the intended benefits from them. In studying the motivation to learn science, researchers examine why students strive to learn science, how intensively they strive, and what beliefs, feelings, and emotions characterize them in this process. Motivated learners are thus self regulated learners who attempt to monitor and control their own learning. Intrinsic motivation and personal relevance is major motivational component that appear to influence self-regulated learning. The purpose of the study is to investigate the gender differences into the status of intrinsic motivation and personal relevance towards science learning among intermediate science students. A sample of 600 intermediate science students from Punjab (Pakistan), in which 300 males and 300 females were serve as the sample of the study which were selected through two phase cluster sampling. The 30-item Science Motivation Questionnaire developed by Glynn and Koballa (2006) was used to measure intrinsic motivation and personal relevance scores towards science. The scores were calculated and summarized through mean and standard deviation. The significance of difference between mean scores of male and female intermediate students was measured by t-test (two-tailed). The result revealed that male and female science students did not differ in science motivation, however female science students were found some what better in their motivation towards science than males.

C. elegans Dopaminergic D2-Like Receptors Delimit Recurrent Cholinergic-Mediated Motor Programs during a Goal-Oriented Behavior

Caenorhabditis elegans male copulation requires coordinated temporal-spatial execution of different motor outputs. During mating, a cloacal circuit consisting of cholinergic sensory-motor neurons and sex muscles maintains the male's position and executes copulatory spicule thrusts at his mate's vulva. However, distinct signaling mechanisms that delimit these behaviors to their proper context are unclear. We found that dopamine (DA) signaling directs copulatory spicule insertion attempts to the hermaphrodite vulva by dampening spurious stimulus-independent sex muscle contractions. From pharmacology and genetic analyses, DA antagonizes stimulatory ACh signaling via the D2-like receptors, DOP-2 and DOP-3, and Gαo/i proteins, GOA-1 and GPA-7. Calcium imaging and optogenetics suggest that heightened DA-expressing ray neuron activities coincide with the cholinergic cloacal ganglia function during spicule insertion attempts. D2-like receptor signaling also attenuates the excitability of additional mating circuits to reduce the duration of mating attempts with unproductive and/or inappropriate partners. This suggests that, during wild-type mating, simultaneous DA-ACh signaling modulates the activity threshold of repetitive motor programs, thus confining the behavior to the proper situational context.

PDF-1 neuropeptide signaling modulates a neural circuit for mate-searching behavior in C. elegans

Appetitive behaviors require complex decision-making, involving the integration of environmental stimuli and physiological needs. C. elegans mate searching is a male-specific exploratory behavior regulated by two competing needs: food versus reproductive appetite. Here we show that the Pigment Dispersing Factor Receptor (PDFR-1) modulates the circuit that encodes the male reproductive drive promoting male exploration upon mate-deprivation. PDFR-1 and its ligand PDF-1 stimulate mate searching in the male but not in the hermaphrodite. pdf-1 is required in the gender-shared interneuron AIM and the receptor acts in internal and external environment-sensing neurons of the shared nervous system (URY, PQR and PHA) to produce mate-searching behavior. Thus, the pdf-1/pdfr-1 pathway functions in non sex-specific neurons to produce a male-specific, goal-oriented exploratory behavior. Our results indicate that secretin neuropeptidergic signaling plays an ancient role in regulating motivational internal states.

Facilitating Goal-Oriented Behaviour in the Stroop Task: When Executive Control Is Influenced by Automatic Processing

A portion of Stroop interference is thought to arise from a failure to maintain goal-oriented behaviour (or goal neglect). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether goal- relevant primes could enhance goal maintenance and reduce the Stroop interference effect. Here it is shown that primes related to the goal of responding quickly in the Stroop task (e.g. fast, quick, hurry) substantially reduced Stroop interference by reducing reaction times to incongruent trials but increasing reaction times to congruent and neutral trials. No effects of the primes were observed on errors. The effects on incongruent, congruent and neutral trials are explained in terms of the influence of the primes on goal maintenance. The results show that goal priming can facilitate goal-oriented behaviour and indicate that automatic processing can modulate executive control.

Mobilization and Redistribution of Default Mode Network from Resting State to Task State in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Brain task-negative networks (default mode network, DMN) and task-positive networks appear to operate largely in opposition, such that task-negative networks show activation during resting states, whilst task-positive networks are deactivated with the reverse being true during goal-oriented behavior. Altered DMN and task-positive network activity has been observed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) subjects. However, no study has directly linked the patterns of between-state differences in the same aMCI cohort regarding these two types of functional networks. The spatial and temporal characteristics of intrinsic, low frequency BOLD signal fluctuations both during resting state and episodic memory fMRI task were assessed in 28 aMCI subjects and 23 matched healthy controls, using a posterior cingulate cortex- based temporal correlation analysis. aMCI subjects showed impaired attenuation in the DMN between rest and task state, and greater cognitive impairment was associated with decreased ability to attenuate DMN during task engagement. Moreover, more redistributed resource from DMN appeared to be required in aMCI to maintain the similar task performance possibly to offset their inability to engage task-positive networks. In order to complete a given task, mobilized and redistributed resources of DMN appeared to replace task-positive network function to some degrees in aMCI subjects. This may represent an inability to control the switching of functional modes between these types of network.

Distance-Based Computational Models for Facilitating Robot Interaction with Children

Sensing and interpreting the user's activities and social behavior, monitoring the dynamics of the social context, and selecting and producing appropriate robot action are the core challenges involved in using robots as social tools in interaction scenarios. In social human-robot interaction, speech and gesture are the commonly considered interaction modalities. In human-human interactions, interpersonal distance between people can contain significant social and communicative information. Thus, if human-robot interaction reflects this human-human interaction property, then human-robot distances also convey social information. If a robot is to be an effective social agent, its actions, including those relating to interpersonal distance, must be appropriate for the given social situation. This becomes a greater challenge in playful and unstructured interactions, such as those involving children.This paper demonstrates the use of a distance-based model for the recognition and expression of spatial social behavior. The model was designed to classify averse social behavior of a child engaged in playful interaction with a robot and uses distance-based features to autonomously identify interaction/play, avoidance, wall-hugging, and parent-proximity behavior with 94% accuracy. The same methodology was used to model the spatial aspects of a person following a robot and use the model as part of a modified navigation planner to enable the robot to exhibit socially-aware goal-oriented navigation behavior. The model-based planner resulted in robot navigation behavior that was more effective at allowing a partner to follow the robot. This effect was demonstrated using quantitative measures of navigation performance and observer rating of the robot's behavior. These two uses of spatial models were implemented on complete robot systems and validated in evaluation studies with children with autism spectrum disorders and with neurotypical adults.

P2‐270: Apathy and depression in subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

Background: Apathy, a behavioral syndrome characterized by amotivation and diminished goal-oriented behavior, and depression are commonly reported in MCI and dementia. Both apathy and depression have been associated with functional decline in these populations. Additionally, apathy is an important predictor of conversion from MCI to dementia. This study sought to investigate the relationships among apathy, depression and functional ability in geriatric patients with subjective and objective memory difficulties before progression to dementia. Methods: Participants were patients (n 1⁄4 40; mean age 1⁄4 74 + 7.9) with subjective memory complaints who were referred for neuropsychological assessment. All patients were proficient in English. The neuropsychological test battery included objective cognitive measures, as well as a self-report measure of mood, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and two familyreport measures of behavior: the Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) and the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe). The FrSBe measures the frequency of behaviors associated with three frontal-behavioral domains: apathy (FrSBe-A), executive dysfunction (FrSBe-ED) and disinhibition (FrSBe-D). Participants were classified with Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI) if they performed within 1.5 standard deviations of the normative mean on objective cognitive measures. Participants were classified with Mild Cognitive Impairment-Amnestic (MCI-A) if they performed greater than 1.5 standard deviations below the normative mean on the delayed recall portion of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R), Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) or the Brief Visual Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R).Results: The GDS correlated significantly with the FrSBe Total Score (r 1⁄4 .455) and each dimension of the FrSBe; FrSBe-A (r 1⁄4 .369), FrSBe-ED (r 1⁄4 .416) and FrSBe-D (r 1⁄4 .411). The GDS also correlated significantly with the FAQ (r 1⁄4 .376). The FAQ correlated significantly with the FrSBe-A (r 1⁄4 .472), but not with the FrSBe-ED or the FrSBe-D. Conclusions: In this sample of geriatric patients with subjective memory complaints and some with Amnestic MCI, significant relationships were found among self-report of depression and family members’ ratings of frontal systems behavior and functional capabilities. Specifically, apathy and depression were associated with functional ability. P2-271 TRAJECTORY CHANGE OF GLOBAL COGNITIVE FUNCTION PRIOR TO DEMENTIA DIAGNOSIS