Self-Ordered Pointing Research Articles

Identification and Description of New Tests of Executive Functioning in Children

The understanding of executive functioning in pediatric neuropsychological evaluation is of clinical significance, yet there are few developmentally appropriate executive function measures that have been adequately normed in this population. The present study provides normative data, collected on a sample of 89 normal children from ages 7-12, for several measures thought to be appropriate for assessing executive functioning in children. Executive function measures were selected and/or modified to be developmentally appropriate, to tap less complex and integrative aspects of executive function, and to assess fundamental working memory (Self-Ordered Pointing: Delayed Alternation/Non-alternation) and inhibitory control (Developmental Stroop tasks: Go/No Go) dimensions of executive functioning. The results supported the potential utility of these measures in assessing those abilities in children.

The contribution of impaired working memory monitoring to performance of the Self-Ordered Pointing Task in normal aging and Parkinson's disease.

The contribution of impaired working memory monitoring to performance of the Self-Ordered Pointing Task in normal aging and Parkinson's disease.

Cognitive functions and psychopathological dimensions in schizophrenia

Adolescence and early adulthood are periods of particular vulnerability to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. Young people with alcohol-use disorders display deficits in working memory (WM). This function is supported by the prefrontal cortex, a late-maturing brain region. However, little is known about the progression of cognitive dysfunctions associated with a binge-drinking (BD) pattern of alcohol consumption among non-clinical adolescents. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between BD trajectory and WM in university students. An initial sample of 155 male and female first-year university students was followed prospectively over 6 years. The participants were classified as stable non-BDs, stable BDs, and ex-BDs, according to the third item of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). WM was assessed using the Self-Ordered Pointing Task. Generalized linear mixed models were applied. The results showed that stable BDs committed more total perseverative errors and showed a lower WM span in the difficult blocks than stable non-BDs. Difficulties in WM span showed some improvement, whereas perseveration errors remained constant throughout the follow-ups in the stable BDs. There were no significant differences between ex-BDs and non-BDs. In conclusion, stable BD is associated with WM deficits, particularly perseverations and low WM span in demanding trials, when compensatory mechanisms may no longer be successful. The partial improvement in WM span may support the notion of a neuromaturational delay, whereas the temporal stability of perseveration deficits may reflect either neurotoxic effects of alcohol or premorbid characteristics. Abandoning the BD pattern of alcohol consumption may lead to partial recovery.

Working memory and the Self-Ordered Pointing Task: further evidence of early prefrontal decline in normal aging.

Two major lines of investigation are currently clarifying the nature of the impairment of working memory associated with normal aging. Cognitive psychology has formulated the problem in terms such as the balance of impairment of encoding, retrieval, storage and/or attention, whereas neuropsychology has formulated the problem in terms such as the balance of frontal (executive) versus temporal (mnemonic) degeneration. The findings of this study support the contention that the primary impairment of working memory in early normal aging is an active attentional executive processing deficit. Specifically, on the Self-Ordered Pointing Task, there is significantly ineffective exploitation of top-down clustering strategy as a function of aging. On this task, self-organization of encoding and retrieval must occur simultaneously with ongoing responding. The finding cannot be explained as an impairment of encoding, retrieval, storage, or build-up and/or release of proactive interference, since indexes of these did not discriminate young-adult from middle-aged samples.