Speed Tasks Research Articles

Cognitive functioning predicts learning and performance of syncopated rhythms in healthy aging adults

AbstractBackgroundRhythmic music making may be beneficial for maintenance of healthy executive functioning and processing speed throughout the aging process. However, little is known about how engagement with rhythmic music making associates with healthy executive functioning and processing speed. This study aimed to determine the predictive potential of learning and performance of rhythms upon performance in executive functioning and processing speed tasks.MethodThis study involved a cross‐sectional, non‐randomized within subjects design, defined by a rhythmic musical activity (RMA), and executive functioning (EF) and processing speed (PS) tasks. The RMA involved thirty progressively syncopated rhythms, operationalized via three learning trials and a performance trial. The EF and PS tasks included multiple subtests of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Working Memory and Processing Speed Indices (WMI & PSI), and Trail Making Parts A&B.ResultHealthy younger (ages 18‐35) and elderly (ages 55‐89) individuals provided informed consent and participated (N = 60; 46 female; 78.3% Caucasian). Learning and performance of syncopated rhythms between age groups significantly predicted scores on the WAIS PSI (t = 2.227/2.101, p = 0.030/0.040) and Trails A&B (t = ‐3.431/‐4.155, p = 0.003/<0.001; t = ‐3.636/‐4.256, p = <0.001/<0.001). Only rhythm learning predicted scores on WAIS WMI (t = 2.821, p = 0.007), with a trend shown for rhythm performance (t = 1.934, p = 0.059).ConclusionThis study is one of few to show relationships between rhythm perception and executive functioning in healthy aging. The results suggest the potential value of rhythmic music making upon maintenance of healthy executive functioning and processing speed throughout the aging process. A longitudinal study involving a control group and a larger sample size may enhance the findings of this study. Additionally, application to the Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias populations may provide comparative evidence to the healthy aging population.

Naturalistic Assessment of Reaction Time Variability in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

AbstractBackgroundBreakdowns in attentional control may underscore cognitive changes seen in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). One way to measure these changes is to assess variability in cognitive performance. Variability in cognition may be most evident when repeatedly sampled over hours or days and in different environmental contexts or at different times of day. We analyzed data from an ongoing smartphone‐based study of cognition in AD which utilizes extremely brief cognitive tests taken remotely over several days in natural environments.MethodOlder adults (N = 319, aged 75 +/‐ 5 years) completed repeated cognitive testing on the Ambulatory Research in Cognition (ARC) platform and had CSF or PET amyloid biomarkers and APOE genotype available. RTSD was assessed in a brief processing speed task by taking the SD of correct RTs. All models adjusted for baseline age, education, and gender.ResultAveraging across sessions, symptomatic participants (indicated by Clinical Dementia Rating® (CDR®) > 0) showed more variability than asymptomatic (CDR 0) participants (p = 0.009). APOE ε4 carriers showed more variability than non‐carriers, although this was not significant (p = 0.067). More fine‐grained models considered RTSD within each session (e.g. from trial‐to‐trial) using mixed effects models. Symptomatic participants exhibited greater trial‐to‐trial RTSD compared to asymptomatic participants (p = 0.001). APOE ε4 carriers also exhibited greater trial‐to‐trial RTSD compared to non‐carriers (p = 0.004). When limiting the sample to asymptomatic participants to determine if there were changes in the preclinical stage of AD, there remained a strong APOE ε4 effect, with carriers exhibiting greater trial‐to‐trial RTSD than non‐carriers (p = 0.005). Interestingly, amyloid was not significant in any models.ConclusionOlder adults at risk for AD show increased RTSD even in brief assessments. These subtle fluctuations in attention were most evident in APOE e4 carriers at very short time intervals, and less so when averaged across trials and sessions. Overall, these findings suggest that fluctuations in attention in preclinical AD are most evident from moment to moment, highlighting the need for fine‐grained and repeated assessment of attentional control.

Cognitive and Exercise Training Improves Intraindividual Variability in Cognitive Performance in Older Adults: Secondary Findings of A Randomized Controlled Trial

AbstractBackgroundIncreased intraindividual variability of cognitive performance is a marker of cognitive decline. Whether computerized cognitive training (CCT) and aerobic exercise counteracts cognitive decline by reducing intraindividual variability is unknown. We investigated the effects of CCT with or without aerobic exercise on reaction time intraindividual variability in older adults.MethodThis was a secondary analysis of an 8‐week randomized controlled trial. Older adults (aged 65‐85 years) were randomized to CCT alone (n = 41), CCT with aerobic exercise (n = 41), or an active control group (n = 42). The CCT group trained using the Fit Brains® platform 3×/week for 1 hour (plus 3×/week of home‐based training). The CCT with aerobic exercise group received 15 min of walking plus 45 min of Fit Brains® 3×/week (plus 3×/week of home‐based training). The control group received sham exercise and cognitive training (3×/week for 1 hour). We extracted reaction times from the Dimensional Change Card Sort Test, Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test (Flanker), and Pattern Comparison Processing Speed Test (PACPS). Intraindividual variability was measured as residual intraindividual standard deviation (residual ISD) of raw reaction time latencies. Residual ISD is an unbiased measure of variability that accounts for within and between participant source of variation that could influence reaction time latencies. We also calculated reaction time intraindividual SD (raw‐score ISD) and intraindividual coefficient of variation (ICV).ResultCompared with the control group, residual ISD improved in a processing speed task (PACPS) following CCT alone (mean difference [95% confidence interval]: ‐0.147 [‐0.230 to ‐0.065], p<0.001) and CCT with aerobic exercise (‐0.111 [‐0.195 to ‐0.027], p<0.01). Also, for processing speed, both CCT (‐0.173 [‐0.261 to ‐0.084], p<0.001) and CCT with aerobic exercise (‐0.122 [‐0.213 to ‐0.032], p<0.01) showed greater reduction in raw‐score ISD compared with controls, while only CCT reduced ICV for this task (‐0.108 [‐0.176 to ‐0.040], p<0.001). Inhibitory attention (Flanker) improved only after CCT with aerobic exercise (congruent = ‐0.128 [‐0.250 to ‐0.006], incongruent = ‐0.121 [‐0.237 to ‐0.005], both p<0.05).ConclusionA CCT program promoted cognitive health via reductions in intraindividual variability of cognitive performance and combining it with aerobic exercise resulted in broader benefits.

Physical activity and cognitive function: moment-to-moment and day-to-day associations

BackgroundThe beneficial effect of acute physical exercise on cognitive performance has been studied in laboratory settings and in long-term longitudinal studies. Less is known about these associations in everyday environment and on a momentary timeframe. This study investigated momentary and daily associations between physical activity and cognitive functioning in the context of everyday life.MethodsMiddle-aged adults (n = 291, aged 40–70) were asked to wear accelerometers and complete ecological momentary assessments for eight consecutive days. Processing speed and visual memory were assessed three times per day and self-rated evaluations of daily cognition (memory, thinking, and sharpness of mind) were collected each night. The number of minutes spent above the active threshold (active time) and the maximum vector magnitude counts (the highest intensity obtained) before each cognitive test and at a daily level were used as predictors of momentary cognitive performance and nightly subjective cognition. Analyses were done with multilevel linear models. The models were adjusted for temporal and contextual factors, age, sex, education, and race/ethnicity.ResultsWhen participants had a more active time or higher intensity than their average level within the 20 or 60 minutes prior to the cognitive test, they performed better on the processing speed task. On days when participants had more active time than their average day, they rated their memory in the evening better. Physical activity was not associated with visual memory or self-rated thinking and sharpness of mind.ConclusionsThis study provides novel evidence that outside of laboratory settings, even small increases in physical activity boost daily processing speed abilities and self-rated memory. The finding of temporary beneficial effects is consistent with long-term longitudinal research on the cognitive benefits of physical activity.

Modulatory effects of fMRI acquisition time of day, week and year on adolescent functional connectomes across spatial scales: Implications for inference

Metabolic, hormonal, autonomic and physiological rhythms may have a significant impact on cerebral hemodynamics and intrinsic brain synchronization measured with fMRI (the resting-state connectome). The impact of their characteristic time scales (hourly, circadian, seasonal), and consequently scan timing effects, on brain topology in inherently heterogeneous developing connectomes remains elusive. In a cohort of 4102 early adolescents with resting-state fMRI (median age = 120.0 months; 53.1 % females) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, this study investigated associations between scan time-of-day, time-of-week (school day vs weekend) and time-of-year (school year vs summer vacation) and topological properties of resting-state connectomes at multiple spatial scales. On average, participants were scanned around 2 pm, primarily during school days (60.9 %), and during the school year (74.6 %). Scan time-of-day was negatively correlated with multiple whole-brain, network-specific and regional topological properties (with the exception of a positive correlation with modularity), primarily of visual, dorsal attention, salience, frontoparietal control networks, and the basal ganglia. Being scanned during the weekend (vs a school day) was correlated with topological differences in the hippocampus and temporoparietal networks. Being scanned during the summer vacation (vs the school year) was consistently positively associated with multiple topological properties of bilateral visual, and to a lesser extent somatomotor, dorsal attention and temporoparietal networks. Time parameter interactions suggested that being scanned during the weekend and summer vacation enhanced the positive effects of being scanned in the morning. Time-of-day effects were overall small but spatially extensive, and time-of-week and time-of-year effects varied from small to large (Cohen's f ≤ 0.1, Cohen's d<0.82, p < 0.05). Together, these parameters were also positively correlated with temporal fMRI signal variability but only in the left hemisphere. Finally, confounding effects of scan time parameters on relationships between connectome properties and cognitive task performance were assessed using the ABCD neurocognitive battery. Although most relationships were unaffected by scan time parameters, their combined inclusion eliminated associations between properties of visual and somatomotor networks and performance in the Matrix Reasoning and Pattern Comparison Processing Speed tasks. Thus, scan time of day, week and year may impact measurements of adolescent brain's functional circuits, and should be accounted for in studies on their associations with cognitive performance, in order to reduce the probability of incorrect inference.

Romanian (subject-like) DPs attract more than bare nouns: Evidence from speeded continuations

This paper investigates whether agreement attraction is modulated by distributional properties determining subject-likelihood by examining the degree to which bare nouns and full determiner phrases (DPs) cause agreement attraction effects in Romanian. Romanian represents an ideal testing ground for this, given two distributional constraints making bare nouns less subject-like: Locative Determiner Omission, preventing locative prepositions from taking nouns with definite articles (unless modified by adjectives), and the Naked Noun Constraint, disallowing bare nouns as preverbal subjects. We predicted that bare nouns should be less likely to trigger agreement attraction than overt DPs. We conducted four speeded forced-choice sentence continuation tasks on Romanian native speakers to test this prediction. We observe that overt DPs cause significantly more attraction than bare nouns. We suggest that the results are consistent with a cue-based retrieval mechanism for forming agreement dependencies, where cues that determine subjecthood are used to reactivate elements in working memory upon processing a verb. These cues can be language specific, and in Romanian, this means that agreement attraction is sensitive to the morphophonological overtness of the determiner.

82 Single Errors on Trial 1 of the Test of Memory Malingering may be Indicative of Invalid Performance on Neuropsychological Measures in a Sample of Youth Athletes

Objective:The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) is a performance validity test (PVT) that aims to assess whether participants are giving adequate effort to perform well on tasks of memory performance (Tombaugh, 1996). Other PVTs, specifically the Forced Choice Recognition Trial in the California Verbal Learning Test, have shown that even single errors may indicate invalid performance (Erdodi et al., 2018). Finally, youth are often understudied in the PVT literature, and athletes are at increased risk of invalid performance on baseline testing due to many wanting to return to play following concussion (Erdal, 2012). Therefore, the objective of the current study is to examine whether single errors on TOMM Trial 1 are indicative of lower, and possibly invalid, cognitive performance in a youth sample, given that cognitive performance declines with even small decreases in effort (Green, 2007).Participants and Methods:Healthy youth athletes (n=174) aged 8-16 years (M=12.07) completed the TOMM as well as other neuropsychological measures during baseline neuropsychological evaluation in a clinical research program for sports concussion. Independent samples t-tests compared youth athletes who scored 49 points on the TOMM (n=28) to youth athletes who scored a perfect 50 (n=50) across several groupings of neuropsychological measures. Participants who scored less than 49 or who didn’t complete the TOMM were excluded from the analyses.Results:Participants scoring 50/50 on TOMM Trial 1 scored significantly higher on Stroop Color Naming task (p=0.036), Verbal Learning Delayed task from the second edition of the Wide Range Assessment of Learning and Memory (WRAML-2, p=0.018), and Letter Number Sequencing task from the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV, p=0.025), relative to participants scoring 49/50. Though not statistically significant, results also showed a trend toward participants scoring 50/50 scoring higher on nearly every test in the battery.Conclusions:Participants with a single error on TOMM Trial 1, as compared to participants with a perfect score, performed significantly worse on a processing speed task, a verbal learning task, and a working memory task as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. The single-error group also trended toward scoring lower on nearly all of the remaining attention, processing speed, perceptual ability, memory, and executive functioning tasks in the battery. The results could lead to a more liberal interpretation of TOMM scores, given that the trend towards lower performance may be due to putting forth significantly less effort. These results point to the need for a similar comparison of the TOMM in a larger sample size, as greater power may reveal even more significant differences in performance. Findings also emphasize the importance of viewing performance validity on a continuum rather than as a dichotomous pass/fail. Understanding the TOMM and how single errors may be indicative of poorer performance in a youth sample could help to reframe the way PVT results are interpreted in clinical and forensic settings.

5 Intraindividual Variability in Processing Speed on Digital Cognitive Assessments Differs by Amyloidosis Status in Cognitively Normal Older Adults

Objective:Intraindividual variability (IIV) is defined as fluctuations in an individual’s cognitive performance over time1. IIV has been identified as a marker of neurobiological disturbance making it a useful method for detecting changes in cognition among cognitively healthy individuals as well as those with prodromal syndromes2. IIV on laboratory-based computerized tasks has been linked with cognitive decline and conversion to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or dementia (Haynes et al., 2017). Associations between IIV and AD risk factors including apolipoprotein (APOE) ε4 carrier status, neurodegeneration seen on brain imaging, and amyloid (Aß) Positron emission tomography (PET) scan status have also been observed1. Recent studies have demonstrated that evaluating IIV on smartphone-based digital cognitive assessments is feasible, has the capacity to differentiate between cognitively normal (CN) and MCI individuals, and may reduce barriers to cognitive assessment3. This study sought to evaluate whether such differences could be detected in CN participants with and without elevated AD risk.Participants and Methods:Participants (n=57) were cognitively normal older adults who previously received an Aß PET scan through the Butler Hospital Memory and Aging Program. The sample consisted of primarily non-Hispanic (n=49, 86.0%), White (n=52, 91.2%), college-educated (M=16.65 years), females (n=39, 68.4%). The average age of the sample was 68 years old. Approximately 42% of the sample (n=24) received a positive PET scan result. Participants completed brief cognitive assessments (i.e., 3-4 minutes) three times per day for eight days (i.e., 24 sessions) using the Mobile Monitoring of Cognitive Change (M2C2) application, a mobile app-based cognitive testing platform developed as part of the National Institute of Aging’s Mobile Toolbox initiative (Sliwinski et al., 2018). Participants completed visual working memory, processing speed, and episodic memory tasks on the M2C2 platform. Intraindividual standard deviations (ISDs) across trials were computed for each person at each time point (Hultsch et al., 2000). Higher ISD values indicate more variability in performance. Linear mixed effects models were utilized to examine whether differences in IIV existed based on PET scan status while controlling for age, sex at birth, and years of education.Results:n interaction between PET status and time was observed on the processing speed task such that Aß- individuals were less variable over the eight assessment days compared to Aß + individuals (B= -5.79, SE=2.67, p=.04). No main or interaction effects were observed on the visual working memory task or episodic memory task.Conclusions:Our finding that Aß- individuals demonstrate less variability over time on a measure of processing speed is consistent with prior work. No associations were found between IIV in other cognitive domains and PET status. As noted by Allaire and Marsiske (2005), IIV is not a consistent phenomenon across different cognitive domains. Therefore, identifying which tests are the most sensitive to early change is crucial. Additional studies in larger, more diverse samples are needed prior to widespread clinical use for early detection of AD.

24 The Influence of Acculturation in Neuropsychological Test Performance of Hispanic-Americans

Objective:Stephenson (2000) suggested that acculturation is a phenomenon that immigrants and refugees ubiquitously experience. The level of acculturation is impacted by a person’s choice to allow how much of their cultural traits they decide to keep while adapting to the dominant society cultural traits. Depending on what immigrants find to be important or unimportant, it can influence future generations (i.e., their children) in how they will be developed and adapt into a dominant society. Hispanic-Americans are individuals that were born and reside in the United States and have a family background that extends to one of the Spanish speaking countries in Latin America or Spain. The typical language spoken by Hispanic families other than English is Spanish. It has been reported that Hispanics that are capable of speaking English may be afforded better and greater opportunities to resources. Research shows that a person level of acculturation can influence their cognition. In fact, in one study using a Mexican-American sample that was divided into two groups: high and low. Researchers found that highly acculturated Mexican-Americans outperformed lower acculturated Mexican-Americans on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. We evaluated the influence of acculturation in Hispanic-Americans neuropsychological test performance. It was predicted that highly acculturated Hispanic-Americans to American culture would demonstrate better cognitive abilities compared to lower acculturated Hispanic-Americans.Participants and Methods:The present study sample consisted of 75 neurologically and psychologically healthy Hispanic-American undergraduate students with a mean age of 19.44 (SD = 1.37). Participants were divided into two acculturation groups: high (n = 39) and low (n = 36). In addition, all the participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and background questionnaire in English. The Acculturation Rating Scale for Hispanic/Latino Americans is a 20-item scale that was utilized to create our acculturation groups. ANOVAs were used to evaluate cognitive differences between our acculturation groups.Results:Results revealed that the highly acculturated group outperformed the lower acculturated group on the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition vocabulary task and the Boston Naming Test, p’s&lt;.05, n.p’s2=.06. Furthermore, results revealed that the lower acculturated group outperformed the highly acculturated group on the Trail Making Test part A and B, and Comalli Stroop part A, p’s&lt;.05, np’s2=.06-.07.Conclusions:As expected, the highly acculturated group demonstrated better language abilities compared to the lower acculturated group. However, in the opposite direction, the lower acculturated group outperformed the highly acculturated group on several speed attention tasks and one executive functioning task. A possible explanation why the highly acculturated participants demonstrated better language abilities may be attributed that their dominant language is English or they only spoke English. Meanwhile, the opposite could be said for lower acculturated participants that English was not their dominant language or they were bilingual speakers, for that reason they demonstrated better processing speed and executive functioning abilities. Research shows that monolinguals demonstrate better language abilities compared to bilinguals, but the opposite is found on processing speed and executive functioning tasks. Future research should investigate the relationship between bilingualism and acculturation in neuropsychological testing performance of Hispanic-Americans.

34 The Influence of Bilingualism in Young Adults

Objective:The research examining the influence of bilingualism on cognition continues to grow. Past research shows that monolingual speakers outperformed bilingual speakers on language, memory, and attention and processing speed tasks. However, the opposite has been found favoring bilingual speakers, when comparing executive functioning abilities. Furthermore, researchers have reported that no differences in executive functioning abilities exist between young adult monolingual speakers compared to young adult bilingual speakers. Moreover, limited research exists examining cognition abilities between monolinguals, bilinguals that learn a language (e.g., English) first, and bilinguals that learn the same language (e.g., English) second. We examined young adult monolinguals cognition abilities (e.g., memory) compared to young adult bilinguals that learned English as a first or second language. It was expected that the monolingual group would outperform both bilingual groups on memory, language, and attention and processing tasks, but no differences would be found on executive functioning tasks.Participants and Methods:The sample consisted of 149 right-handed undergraduate students with a mean age of 19.58 (SD = 1.90). Participants were neurologically and psychologically healthy and divided into three language groups: English first language (EFL) monolingual speakers, EFL bilingual speakers, and English second language (ESL) bilingual speakers. All the participants completed a background questionnaire and comprehensive neuropsychological battery that included memory, language, executive functioning, and attention and processing speed tasks in English. A series of ANOVA’s were used to evaluate cognitive tasks (e.g., Boston Naming Test, Trail Making Test) between the language groups. Participants demonstrated adequate effort on one performance validity test.Results:Language groups were well demographically matched. We found the EFL monolingual group outperformed the ESL bilingual group on the Wide Range Achievement Test, fourth edition task and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) phonemic task, p’s &lt; .05, np’s2 = .04-.05. Additionally, results revealed both monolingual groups outperformed the ESL bilingual group on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Third edition vocabulary task and the Boston Naming Test, p’s &lt; .05, np’s2 = .06-.15. No significant differences were found on any of the cognitive tasks between the EFL monolingual group and the EFL bilingual group.Conclusions:As expected, the ESL bilingual group performed worse on language tasks compared to both monolingual groups, specifically the EFL monolingual group. However, in the opposite direction, we found the EFL monolingual demonstrated better phonemic verbal fluency abilities on the COWAT compared to the ESL bilingual group. The current data suggest that bilingualism influences cognitive abilities (e.g., language, executive functioning) more ESL bilingual speakers compared to EFL monolingual speakers. A possible explanation may be due to the type of interaction that ESL bilingual speakers may prefer to have (i.e., mix language conversations) compared to EFL speaking groups. Future studies with a larger bilingual speaking sample should investigate if the Adaptive Control Hypothesis which suggest that different types of conversations may be placing different demands of language control influences cognitive abilities.

1 The Mobile Toolbox for Monitoring Cognitive Change

Objective:To present the Mobile Toolbox (MTB), comprised of an expandable library of cognitive and other tests, including adapted versions of NIH Toolbox® measures. The MTB provides a complete research platform for app creation, study management, data collection, and data management. We will describe the MTB project and MTB research platform and demonstrate examples of assessments.Participants and Methods:MTB is the product of an NIH-funded, multi-institutional effort involving Northwestern University, Sage Bionetworks, Penn State, University of California San Francisco, University of California San Diego, Emory University, and Washington University. The MTB assessment library is a dynamic repository built upon Sage Bionetworks mobile health platform. All MTB measures are created or adapted for a mobile interface using iOS and Android smartphones. Guided by the principles of open science, many components are open source to allow researchers and developers to integrate externally developed tests, including supplemental scales (e.g., passively collected contextual factors) assessing variables such as mood and fatigue that might influence cognitive test performance.Results:The current MTB library includes eight core cognitive tests based on well-established neuropsychological measures: two language tasks (Spelling and Word Meaning), two executive functioning tasks (Arrow Matching and Shape-Color Sorting), an associative memory task (Faces and Names), an episodic memory task (Arranging Pictures), a working memory task (Sequences) and a processing speed task (Numbers and Symbols). Additional cognitive assessments from other popular test libraries including the International Cognitive Ability Resource (ICAR), Cognitive Neuroscience Test Reliability and Clinical Applications for Schizophrenia (CNTRACS) and Test My Brain are currently being implemented, as are non-cognitive measures from the NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). The MTB library includes measures suitable for use in research studies incorporating point-in-time and burst designs as well as ecological momentary assessment (EMA).Conclusions:The MTB was created to address many of the scientific, practical, and technical challenges to cognitive assessment by capitalizing on advances in technology measurement and cognitive research. Initial psychometric evaluation of measures has been performed, and additional clinical validation is underway in studies with persons at risk for cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease (AD), diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD, Parkinson’s disease, and HIV-associated Neurocognitive Disorders. Calculation of norms and reliable change indicators is in progress. The MTB is currently available to beta testers with public release planned for Summer, 2023. Clinical researchers will be able to use the MTB system to design smartphone-based test batteries, deploy and manage mobile data collection in their research studies, and aggregate and analyze results in the context of large-scale norming data.

Data-driven MRI analysis reveals fitness-related functional change in default mode network and cognition following an exercise intervention.

Previous research has indicated that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is structurally and functionally neuroprotective in older adults. However, questions remain regarding the mechanistic role of CRF on cognitive and brain health. The purposes of this study were to investigate if higher pre-intervention CRF was associated with greater change in functional brain connectivity during an exercise intervention and to determine if the magnitude of change in connectivity was related to better post-intervention cognitive performance. The sample included low-active older adults (n = 139) who completed a 6-month exercise intervention and underwent neuropsychological testing, functional neuroimaging, and CRF testing before and after the intervention. A data-driven multi-voxel pattern analysis was performed on resting-state MRI scans to determine changes in whole-brain patterns of connectivity from pre- to post-intervention as a function of pre-intervention CRF. Results revealed a positive correlation between pre-intervention CRF and changes in functional connectivity in the precentral gyrus. Using the precentral gyrus as a seed, analyses indicated that CRF-related connectivity changes within the precentral gyrus were derived from increased correlation strength within clusters located in the Dorsal Attention Network (DAN) and increased anti-correlation strength within clusters located in the Default Mode Network (DMN). Exploratory analysis demonstrated that connectivity change between the precentral gyrus seed and DMN clusters were associated with improved post-intervention performance on perceptual speed tasks. These findings suggest that in a sample of low-active and mostly lower-fit older adults, even subtle individual differences in CRF may influence the relationship between functional connectivity and aspects of cognition following a 6-month exercise intervention.

Epigenetic Age Acceleration and Chronological Age: Associations With Cognitive Performance in Daily Life.

DNA methylation-derived epigenetic clocks offer the opportunity to examine aspects of age acceleration (ie, the difference between an individual's biological age and chronological age), which vary among individuals and may better account for age-related changes in cognitive function than chronological age. Leveraging existing ambulatory cognitive assessments in daily life from a genetically diverse sample of 142 adults in midlife, we examined associations between 5 measures of epigenetic age acceleration and performance on tasks of processing speed and working memory. Covarying for chronological age, we used multilevel models to examine associations of epigenetic age acceleration (Horvath 1, Horvath 2, Hannum, PhenoAge, and GrimAge clocks) with both average level and variability of cognitive performance. Positive age acceleration (ie, epigenetic age greater than chronological age) was associated with poorer mean processing speed (Horvath 1 and 2) and working memory (GrimAge). Higher chronological age was also associated with poorer mean processing speed and working memory performance. Further, positive age acceleration was generally associated with greater intraindividual variability in working memory and processing speed tasks, whereas being chronologically older was associated with less intraindividual variability. Although further work is needed, our results indicate age acceleration effects have comparable or greater size as those for chronological age differences, suggesting that epigenetic age acceleration may account for additional risk and interindividual variation in cognitive performance above chronological age.

Colocação de clíticos em PE L2

This study investigates the acquisition of clitic placement in L2 EP, using an elicited oral production task and a speeded acceptability judgement task. Participants were 20 L1 EP speakers and 30 L1 Spanish-L2 EP adult learners at intermediate to near-native levels. Results show that enclisis stabilizes early (at least in production) and proclisis develops sequentially, following a route similar to that observed in L1 acquisition: Negation &gt; Subjunctive complement clauses &gt; Indicative complement clauses &gt; Adverbial clauses, quantified subjects. The contexts that develop later are the less categorical ones in native grammars, which may give rise to greater input variability and add complexity to the acquisition task. As a result, learners need prolonged input exposure to discover the patterns of clitic placement in EP. Full convergence with the target language seems to be possible, but only at a near-native level.

A - 16 Performance on the SDMT Predicts Functionality in Older Adults.

The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) is a task of processing speed and executive functioning that is widely used to evaluate individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and has been shown to predict various instrumental activities of daily living. The relationship between SDMT and daily functioning has not been well explored in the aging population. The Activities of Daily Living-Prevention Instrument (ADL-PI) is a self-report measure that assesses changes in functioning and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). We evaluate the relationship between SDMT and ADL-PI in older adults with subjective cognitive complaints in an urban, multi-ethnic, primary care population in Bronx, New York. 300 participants (50.7% Hispanic, 43.7% non-Hispanic Black; 37% assessed in Spanish) completed the SDMT and ADL-PI as part of a larger study seeking to improve detection of cognitive impairment in primary care. The mean age of the sample was 71.35 ± 5.76years and participants had a mean 12.26 ± 3.76years of education. Pearson correlations were used to examine the relationship between SDMT and IADLs. SDMT performance was weakly albeit significantly correlated with self-report of functional difficulties on the ADL-PI (r = -0.312, p < 0.001). The relationship between SDMT (Range = 1-51, M = 25.39) and ADL-PI was significant in both English (p < 0.0011) and Spanish (p = 0.004) speaking participants and remained significant when controlling for age, education, and depression (p = 0.002). Consistent with MS literature, the SDMT is a useful tool for predicting self-report of instrumental activities of daily living of older adults with cognitive concerns.

Decomposition spectral graph convolutional network based on multi-channel adaptive adjacency matrix for renewable energy prediction

The intermittence and randomicity of renewable energy can seriously disrupt its productivity and reliability, particularly in unforeseen circumstances. Yet, most existing renewable energy prediction (REP) methods fail to model the inter-temporal correlations among input variables and suffer from impractical decomposition process, resulting in less good prediction accuracy. Aiming to improve these issues and power REP technique to better serve modern society, this work proposes a novel decomposition spectral graph convolutional network, named DASGCN, as a general solution for REP. Compared with existing REP models, DASGCN has two main characteristics: (1) It incorporates a carefully designed decomposition block which can decompose input multivariate time series efficiently, (2) A multi-channel adaptive adjacent matrix is proposed to model the complex correlation among entangled input variables automatically and generate the interpretable graph structure without prior domain knowledge. The comprehensive experiments on four real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed DASGCN can significantly outperform benchmark models and achieve high performance on wind speed, wind power, solar radiation and photovoltaic power prediction tasks.

Gone for good: Lack of priming suggests early perceptual interference in emotion-induced blindness with negative stimuli.

Emotionally negative stimuli are perceptually prioritized to such a degree that they can cause people to miss seeing subsequent targets that appear in front of their eyes. It is unclear whether this effect (known as emotion-induced blindness) reflects postperceptual interference, in which case unseen targets might still impact later responses, as in the seemingly similar "attentional blink". An alternative is that emotional distractors prevent target encoding, and so leave no residual trace of target information. In this study, we used a priming task to assess these alternative possibilities. Each emotion-induced blindness trial was immediately followed by a speeded arrow judgment task, in which the arrow's orientation could be congruent or incongruent with the orientation of an emotion-induced blindness target. Analyses revealed strong evidence that seen targets primed the arrow judgment, but there was moderate to strong evidence that unseen targets elicited no priming whatsoever. These results lend support to claims that emotion-induced blindness reflects failure to perceptually encode target information, and may reflect a different mechanism from the phenomenally similar attentional blink. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A validation study for wide-range remote assessment of cognitive functions in the healthy older Japanese population: a pilot randomised crossover trial

BackgroundThe assessment of a wide range of cognitive functions using video teleconference (VTC) systems cannot be applied in practice yet. We aimed to determine the feasibility and reliability of previously unvalidated remote cognitive function tests in Japan using common information and communication technology (ICT) devices, software, and VTC systems compared with face-to-face (FTF) assessment.MethodsThe sample consisted of 26 participants from senior citizens clubs and an employment service centre in Sapporo Japan, including 11 females and 15 males (age averaged 78.6 ± 6.8 years). Tests included the RCPM, Story recall, 10/36 spatial recall, selective reminding test, SDMT, PASAT, FAB, TMT-A, TMT-B, visual cancellation task, digit span, tapping span. The experimental design was a counterbalanced crossover randomised controlled trial. Intraclass correlations (ICCs), paired-samples t-tests, Cohen’s Kappa (κ) coefficients, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were calculated to compare the scores between VTC and FTF assessments.ResultsAll ICCs were significant and ranged from 0.47 (RCPM time) to 0.92 (RCPM score and PASAT), with a mean ICC of 0.75. Digit span using Cohen’s Kappa (κ) coefficient was significant, but the tapping span was not. Paired samples t-test showed statistically significant differences in SDMT, RCPM time, and cancellation time.ConclusionsThe results suggest that remote video conference-based neuropsychological tests even using familiar devices and software may be able to assess a wide range of cognitive functions in the Japanese older population. As for the processing speed tasks, we need to create our own standards for the remote condition. For the tapping span, we should consider increasing the number of trials.

Monocular and Binocular Visual Function Assessments and Activities of Daily Living Performance in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

To evaluate the relationship between specific monocular and binocular visual function (VF) assessments with binocularly performed activities of daily living task tests (ADLTTs) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and healthy controls. Prospective case-control cohort study. Thirty-six AMD patients and 36 controls. Visual field assessments included monocular and binocular best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity (CS), and monocular microperimetry testing for mean macula sensitivity, mean retina sensitivity (MRS), fixation area, and fixation distance from fovea (FDF). Age-related macular degeneration lesion area and sensitivity were measured on OCT and microperimetry, respectively. Participants performed 4 validated ADLTTs with binocular BCVA: (1) reading; (2) item-search; (3) money-counting; and (4) multi-step drink-making tasks. Spearman correlations and multivariate regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, and potential correlation between the 2 eyes, were used to assess the relationship between monocular and binocular VF assessments, and ADLTT performance in both groups. Age-related macular degeneration patients had poorer VF (BCVA, CS, mean macula sensitivity, and MRS) compared with healthy controls. Monocular BCVA in both better- and worse-vision eyes was moderately correlated with the binocular reading speed and money-counting tasks in participants with AMD. In AMD, monocular worse eye CS, MRS, AMD lesion area on OCT, and lesion sensitivity on microperimetry showed moderate correlations to various ADLTTs, such as reading, money-counting, and drink-making. Similar findings were found in our AMD cohort on multivariate regression analysis. Fewer significant correlations were observed for the better-vision eye, whereas no correlations were observed for healthy controls between VF parameters and ADLTTs. In contrast, significant associations were observed between binocular BCVA and CS with binocular ADLTTs (reading and item-search tasks) but not in AMD patients. Although monocular BCVA remains the most common measure of VF, CS and microperimetry testing also show significant correlations with ADLTTs performance in AMD patients, and should be considered as complimentary VF-outcome measures in both clinical and research settings. Unlike healthy subjects, AMD patients do not rely on binocular VF for ADLTT function, with the worse-vision eye impacting binocular ADLTT function more than the better-vision eye. Therefore, the worse-vision eye should not be neglected during the management of AMD. Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.

Mechanisms of Training-Related Change in Processing Speed: A Drift-Diffusion Model Approach.

Processing speed is a crucial ability that changes over the course of the lifespan. Training interventions on processing speed have shown promising effects and have been associated with improved cognitive functioning. While training-related changes in processing speed are often studied using reaction times (RTs) and error rates, these measures provide limited insight into the mechanisms underlying changes during training. The drift-diffusion model provides estimates of the cognitive processes underlying speeded decision tasks, such as the rate of evidence accumulation (drift rate), response strategies (boundary separation), as well as time for other processes such as stimulus encoding and motor response (non-decision time). In the current study, we analyzed existing data of an extensive multi-session training intervention (von Bastian & Oberauer, 2013) to disentangle changes in drift rate, boundary separation, and non-decision time during training of different speeded choice-RT tasks. During this training intervention, 30 participants performed 20 training sessions over the course of four weeks, completing three tasks each session: a face-matching, a pattern-matching, and a digit-matching task. Our results show that processing speed training increased drift rates throughout training. Boundary separation and non-decision time decreased mostly during the initial parts of training. This pattern of prolonged training-related changes in rate of evidence accumulation as well as early changes in response strategy and non-decision processes was observed across all three tasks. Future research should investigate how these training-related changes relate to improvements in cognitive functioning more broadly.