Working Memory Factors Research Articles

Evidence for separate backward recall and n-back working memory factors: a large-scale latent variable analysis

ABSTRACT Multiple studies have explored the factor structure of working memory (WM) tasks, yet few have done so controlling for both the domain and category of the memory items in a single study. In the current pre-registered study, we conducted a large-scale latent variable analysis using variant forms of n-back and backward recall tasks to test whether they measured a single underlying construct, or were distinguished by stimuli-, domain-, or paradigm-specific factors. Exploratory analyses investigated how the resulting WM factor(s) were linked to fluid intelligence. Participants (N = 703) completed a fluid reasoning test and multiple n-back and backward recall tasks containing memoranda that varied across (spatial or verbal material) and within (verbal digits or letters) domain, allowing the variance specific to task content and paradigm to be assessed. Two distinct but related backward recall and n-back constructs best captured the data, in comparison to other plausible model constructions (single WM factor, two-factor domain, and three-factor materials models). Common variance associated with WM was a stronger predictor of fluid reasoning than a residual n-back factor, but the backward recall factor predicted fluid reasoning as strongly as the common WM factor. These data emphasise the distinctiveness between backward recall and n-back tasks.

Age determines the profile of cognitive impairment after COVID‐19. Results of an international, multi‐cohort, pooled analysis and meta‐analysis

AbstractBackgroundEvidence‐based data are still lacking to define de characteristics of cognitive impairment after COVI‐19. Previous findings suggest that Covid‐19 sequelae may resemble early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this abstract, our team present data from Argentina, Canada, Russia, Greece, and the UK including 1919 patients and 1031 controls.MethodParticipants were 18 to 97 years old. Neuropsychological evaluation included Montreal Cognitive Assessment – MoCA, Toronto Cognitive Assessment‐ TORCA, and/or batteries specially built for the evaluation of cognitive dimensions. Some cohorts included the anosmia. Participants were evaluated at a maximum of 6 months after discharge. A factorial analysis was performed on each country identifying 3 factors that could be compared between countries: one accounting for memory and language, the second is an attentional factor, and the last is a working memory factor. Between countries that have young population, there was a fourth factor accounting for executive functioning (planning and inhibition). We carried out meta‐analysis of common factors and co‐variates.ResultAverage duration of formal learning is 11.06 ± 5.11 years, and the mean age is 52.61 ± 15.87 years. Meta‐analysis revealed an impairment in language (verbal fluency) for all patients vs controls. Factorial scores revealed that all the participants were impaired in attentional tasks but those over 60 years old were impaired also in working memory and the youngest participants in executive functioning. Significant differences between cases and controls in attentional, memory, and language tasks identified 4 different groups: normal cognition (71%); one dimension impaired (20.5%); two dimensions impaired (6.5%); and three dimensions impaired (2%). In older adults, these proportions rise to 28% for the impairment in one dimension; 11.5% for two dimensions, and 3.5% for three dimensions and is significantly associated with the infection diagnoses (p = 0.013) and with presence and severity of anosmia (p = 0,000).ConclusionOlder adults are at greater risk of suffering persistent cognitive impairment after recovery from SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and cognitive impairment is correlated with the presence and severity of anosmia.

The respective contribution of cognitive control and working memory to semantic and subjective organization in aging.

Organizing information is beneficial to episodic memory performance. Among several possible organizational strategies, two consist of organizing the information in semantic clusters (semantic organization) or self-organizing the information based on new associations that do not exist in semantic memory (subjective organization). Here, we investigated in a single study how these two organizational behaviors were underlined by different controlled processes and whether these relations were subjected to age-related differences. We tested 123 younger adults (n = 63) and older adults (n = 60) on two episodic memory tasks, one where the words were organizable and another where the words were not organizable, allowing for semantic and subjective organization, respectively. Additionally, participants were tested on three cognitive control tasks (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Test and Trail Making Test) and three working memory tasks (Backward Digit Span, Alpha Span and N-back test). Results revealed well-established age-related differences in terms of recall performance and organizational strategy implementation. More importantly, we found evidence that the different cognitive tests statistically yielded two different latent factors, a cognitive control factor and a working memory factor. Based on this dissociation, we found that only cognitive control contributed to semantic organization in all age groups whereas only working memory contributed to subjective organization, also in all age groups. These results shed new lights on our understanding of how controlled processes differently contribute to organizational behaviors in episodic memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A true reflection of executive functioning or a representation of task-specific variance? Re-evaluating the unity/diversity framework

The unity/diversity framework, originally published by Miyake et al. (2000) has become the most cited model of executive functioning. Consequently, when researchers operationalise executive function (EF) they often exclusively assess the three “core” EFs: updating, shifting, and inhibition. However, rather than core EFs representing domain general cognitive abilities, these three EFs may instead represent specific procedural skills from the overlapping methodologies of the tasks selected. In this study, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) which showed both the traditional three-factor and nested-factor model from the unity/diversity framework failed to reach satisfactory levels of fit. Subsequently, an exploratory factor analysis supported a three-factor model reflecting: an expanded working memory factor, a combined shifting/inhibition factor representing cognitive flexibility, and a factor comprised solely of the Stroop task. These results demonstrate that working memory remains the most robustly operationalised EF construct, whereas shifting and inhibition may represent task-specific mechanisms of a broader domain-general cognitive flexibility factor. Ultimately, there is little evidence to suggest that updating, shifting, and inhibition encapsulates all core EFs. Further research is needed to develop an ecologically valid model of executive functioning that captures the cognitive abilities associated with real world goal-directed behaviour.

Variation in how cognitive control modulates sentence processing.

Prior research suggests that cognitive control can assist the comprehension of sentences that create conflict between interpretations, at least under some circumstances. However, the mixed pattern of results suggests that cognitive control may not always be necessary for accurate comprehension. We tested whether cognitive control recruitment for language processing is systematically variable, depending on the type of sentential ambiguity or conflict, individual differences in cognitive control, and task demands. Participants completed two sessions in a web-based experiment. The first session tested conflict modulation using interleaved Stroop and sentence comprehension trials. Critical sentences contained syntax-semantics or phrase-attachment conflict. In the second session, participants completed three cognitive control and three working memory tasks. Exploratory factor analysis was used to index individual differences in a cognitive control factor and a working memory factor. At the group level, there were no significant conflict modulation effects for either syntax-semantics or phrase-attachment conflict. At the individual differences level, the cognitive control factor correlated with offline comprehension accuracy but not online processing measures for both types of conflict. Together, the results suggest that the role of cognitive control in sentence processing may vary according to task demands. When overt decisions are required, individual differences in cognitive control may matter such that better cognitive control results in better language comprehension performance. The results add to the mixed evidence on conflict modulation and raise questions about the situations under which cognitive control influences online processing.

Measurement Invariance of Working Memory Factors Across Younger and Older Adults1,2,3

AbstractWhether the indices of working memory present the same constructs in the same way across age groups is a fundamentally important consideration when examining developmental changes in working memory. This study examined the invariance of working memory factors across age groups. Older adults (n = 141) and younger adults (n = 141) completed inference tasks and complex span tasks of three types (operation, reading, and symmetry). The multiple‐group confirmatory factor analysis extracted four factors (Recall, Processing Accuracy, Processing Time, and general Fluid intelligence), as in earlier research, and revealed configural invariance across the age groups. However, the Processing Time factor showed different inter‐factor correlations between younger and older adults. Results suggest that Processing Time played different roles in younger and older adults. The functional differences of the Processing Time factor in working memory across cognitive aging are discussed.

Working Memory Predicts New Word Learning Over and Above Existing Vocabulary and Nonverbal IQ.

The purpose of this study was to use an established model of working memory in children to predict an established model of word learning to determine whether working memory explained word learning variance over and above the contributions of expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ. One hundred sixty-seven English-speaking second graders (7- to 8-year-olds) with typical development from two states participated. They completed a comprehensive battery of working memory assessments and six word learning tasks that assessed the creation, storage, retrieval, and production of phonological and semantic representations of novel nouns and verbs and the ability to link those representations. A structural equation model with expressive vocabulary, nonverbal IQ, and three working memory factors predicting two word learning factors fit the data well. When working memory factors were entered as predictors after expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ, they explained 45% of the variance in the phonological word learning factor and 17% of the variance in the semantic word learning factor. Thus, working memory explained a significant amount of word learning variance over and above expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ. Results show that working memory is a significant predictor of dynamic word learning over and above the contributions of expressive vocabulary and nonverbal IQ, suggesting that a comprehensive working memory assessment has the potential to identify sources of word learning difficulties and to tailor word learning interventions to a child's working memory strengths and weaknesses. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19125911.

Differences in Auditory Perception Between Young and Older Adults When Controlling for Differences in Hearing Loss and Cognition.

This study was designed to examine age effects on various auditory perceptual skills using a large group of listeners (155 adults, 121 aged 60–88 years and 34 aged 18–30 years), while controlling for the factors of hearing loss and working memory (WM). All subjects completed 3 measures of WM, 7 psychoacoustic tasks (24 conditions) and a hearing assessment. Psychophysical measures were selected to tap phenomena thought to be mediated by higher-level auditory function and included modulation detection, modulation detection interference, informational masking (IM), masking level difference (MLD), anisochrony detection, harmonic mistuning, and stream segregation. Principal-components analysis (PCA) was applied to each psychoacoustic test. For 6 of the 7 tasks, a single component represented performance across the multiple stimulus conditions well, whereas the modulation-detection interference (MDI) task required two components to do so. The effect of age was analyzed using a general linear model applied to each psychoacoustic component. Once hearing loss and WM were accounted for as covariates in the analyses, estimated marginal mean thresholds were lower for older adults on tasks based on temporal processing. When evaluated separately, hearing loss led to poorer performance on roughly 1/2 the tasks and declines in WM accounted for poorer performance on 6 of the 8 psychoacoustic components. These results make clear the need to interpret age-group differences in performance on psychoacoustic tasks in light of cognitive declines commonly associated with aging, and point to hearing loss and cognitive declines as negatively influencing auditory perceptual skills.

Predictive Role of Executive Function in the Efficacy of Intermittent Theta Burst Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Modalities for Treating Methamphetamine Use Disorder-A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has therapeutic effects on craving in methamphetamine (METH) use disorder (MUD). The chronic abuse of METH causes impairments in executive function, and improving executive function reduces relapse and improves treatment outcomes for drug use disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine whether executive function helped predict patients' responses to rTMS treatment.Methods: This study employed intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) rTMS modalities and observed their therapeutic effects on executive function and craving in MUD patients. MUD patients from an isolated Drug Rehabilitation Institute in China were chosen and randomly allocated to the iTBS group and sham-stimulation group. All participants underwent the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult Version Scale (BRIEF-A) and Visual Analog Scales (VAS) measurements. Sixty-five healthy adults matched to the general condition of MUD patients were also recruited as healthy controls.Findings: Patients with MUD had significantly worse executive function. iTBS groups had better treatment effects on the MUD group than the sham-stimulation group. Further Spearman rank correlation and stepwise multivariate regression analysis revealed that reduction rates of the total score of the BRIEF-A and subscale scores of the inhibition factor and working memory factor in the iTBS group positively correlated with improvements in craving. ROC curve analysis showed that working memory (AUC = 87.4%; 95% CI = 0.220, 0.631) and GEC (AUC = 0.761%; 95% CI = 0.209, 0.659) had predictive power to iTBS therapeutic efficacy. The cutoff values are 13.393 and 59.804, respectively.Conclusions: The iTBS rTMS had a better therapeutic effect on the executive function of patients with MUD, and the improved executive function had the potential to become a predictor for the efficacy of iTBS modality for MUD treatment.Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: ChiCTR2100046954.

Phonological working memory and central executive function differ in children with typical development and dyslexia.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the working memory performance of monolingual English-speaking second- grade children with dyslexia (N=82) to second-grade children with typical development (N=167). Prior to making group comparisons, it is important to demonstrate invariance between working memory models in both groups or between-group comparisons would not be valid. Thus, we completed invariance testing using a model of working memory that had been validated for children with typical development (Gray et al., 2017) to see if it was valid for children with dyslexia. We tested three types of invariance: configural (does the model test the same constructs?), metric (are the factor loadings equivalent?), and scalar (are the item intercepts the same?). Group comparisons favoured the children with typical development across all three working memory factors. However, differences in the Focus-of-Attention/Visuospatial factor could be explained by group differences in non-verbal intelligence and language skills. In contrast, differences in the Phonological and Central Executive working memory factors remained, even after accounting for non-verbal intelligence and language. Results highlight the need for researchers and educators to attend not only to the phonological aspects of working memory in children with dyslexia, but also to central executive function.

The irrelevant speech effect in backward recall is modulated by foreknowledge of recall direction and response modality.

In backward immediate serial recall, participants recall lists of items immediately after their presentation by beginning with the last presented item and ending with the first presented one. Despite the similarities with forward recall in which participants recall the items from the first to the last presented, benchmark memory phenomena reliably found in forward recall are not constantly observed in backward recall. Here, we proposed a new framework called the encoding-retrieval matching (ERM) hypothesis to account for backward recall. The ERM retains the main features of the visuospatial hypothesis and the item-order trade-off hypothesis, the two dominant accounts of backward recall. According to the ERM, output modality and foreknowledge of recall direction influence the availability of visuospatial representations and the weight devoted to item and order processing. We tested the ERM with irrelevant speech, a well-known working memory factor disrupting forward recall. In two experiments, we manipulated recall direction (forward vs. backward), irrelevant speech (control vs. irrelevant speech), and response modality (manual vs. oral). As predicted by the ERM, when recall direction was unpredictable in Experiment 1, the magnitude of the irrelevant speech effect was larger in backward manual recall than in backward oral recall. In Experiment 2, recall direction was predictable. As predicted by the ERM, in backward recall, the irrelevant speech effect was reduced with a manual response and absent with an oral response. We concluded that ERM effectively accounts for the complex interplay between response modality, foreknowledge of recall direction, and benchmark memory effects in backward recall. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploratory Factor Analysis of the WAIS-III Thai Version in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective: To investigate the generalizability of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) factors structure in a sample of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of patients older than 60 years receiving treatments at the Memory Clinic in Ramathibodi Hospital between January 2015 and July 2018 was conducted. The WAIS-III Thai version was used to measure the performance. All subtests except the Vocabulary and Object Assembly subtests were included for analyses. These 12 subtests were subjected to a principal axis factor analysis with oblique rotation and four factors were specified to be retained. Results: Out of 145 patients, 51% were female and 49%were male. The Full-Scale IQ ranged from 80 to 123 with the mean of 93.88 (SD 9.12). The mean of each subtest ranged from 7.82 (Similarities) to 10.45 (Digit Span), with the standard deviations ranging from 1.80 to 2.86. Based on the order of extraction and minimum loading criterion, results supported a four-factor solution composed of Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory, and Processing Speed. The coefficients of congruence across groups on the four factors ranged from 0.92 for Perceptual Organization to 0.73 for Processing Speed. However, the Picture Completion subtest was found to have similar loadings between Perceptual Organization and Processing Speed, with the primary loading being on Perceptual Organization and secondary loading on Processing Speed. On the Working Memory factor, the MCI group showed areas of relatively greater divergence for Picture Arrangement, Block Design, and Digit Symbol: Coding subtests. Conclusion: Four factors from WAIS-III could be applied to patients with MCI. The decline of cognitive functions, particular in working memory, might be the explanation for the difference in loading factor among some subtests. Therefore, it might be possible to apply other models with other factors to the same patient group in the future. Keywords: Mild cognitive impairments; Exploratory factor analysis; WAIS-III

Relationship between trait rumination and imbalanced working memory: Analysis at the latent variable and individual task levels

The relationship between trait rumination and working memory has not been well established. Previous studies have shown that high ruminators have poor working memory in general, while others have shown that they have superior working memory ability. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that high ruminators have an imbalanced working memory ability, with inferior updating and superior attentional control abilities. A total of 178 graduate and undergraduate students completed three updating tasks: spatial 2-back, running memory, and memory updating; three attentional control tasks: Stroop, Eriksen flanker, and antisaccade; and two short-term memory tasks: dot matrix and digit span. Results of the latent variable analysis did not show any significant relationships between working memory factors, maladaptive brooding, and adaptive reflection. However, we observed imbalanced working memory at the individual task level, and increased reflection associated with superior antisaccade task performance and poor Stroop task performance. These findings suggest that high ruminators have an imbalanced working memory ability across task-specific components inherent in each task, such as oculomotor inhibition. Researchers should investigate the relationships between trait rumination and working memory, especially the aspects of superior ability, in more detail in further studies.

Driving performance and specific attentional domains

Converging evidence from numerous previous studies highlights the relevance of attention in driving. However, these studies mostly conclude from respective situations or use complex tests that tap into further cognitive processes. Aiming a better understanding of specific attentional domains, we investigated the relation between visual selective attention, auditory selective attention, visual divided attention, switching attentional demands, switching between attributes, switching between rules, vigilance and driving performance in a driving simulator. Furthermore, we tested three-way interaction effects with respective attentional domains, inhibition and working memory. In the present study, 123 participants completed a driving scenario as well as commonly used measures of attention (SwAD-task, Oddball-task, MCST, TMT-B, D2), inhibition (Go/NoGo-task), and working memory (visual digit-span-task). Findings indicate no correlations between the tested attentional domains and driving performance. Furthermore, we found no interaction effects with the attentional domains and the two factors of inhibition and working memory on simulator driving performance. The present findings suggest no possibility to transfer findings from specific attentional domains, as well as the used measures for inhibition, and working memory to peoples' simulator driving performance. Along with previous findings we suggest using rather context-specific tasks than basic neuropsychological measures to quantify specific attentional domains, in order to predict peoples' driving performance.

Normative Data for Executive Function and Emotion Interaction Assessment in Adolescents from Rural Areas

Abstract Objective The present work is part of the ongoing project of examining the validation and standardization of the Executive Functions and Emotion Assessment for Adolescents with Risk Behaviors (EFEAA) test in the rural areas of Northwest Mexico. The objectives of the present study were (1) to examine the effects of age and risk behavior on emotionally interfered working memory ability, measured as performance on the Emotionally Interfered Working Memory Task (EIWMT) section of the EFEAA in a group of healthy adolescents from rural areas; and (2) to use these results to construct normative data that can be used in clinical practice. Participants and Method A total of 275 adolescents, 14.1 years old, geographically distributed among northwest Mexico were included in the sample. They were individually assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Risk Behavior Questionnaire, including: sexual risk behavior, impulsiveness, drug, alcohol, and tobacco consumption, unhealthy food intake, and physical inactivity; for measuring emotion-cognition interaction we used the EIWMT. Results Results of this study present a database supported by factors of risk behavior and working memory, which includes: predictors for conduct disorders, drug use, and delinquency, in addition to correlations between the performance of emotionally interfered working memory and risk behaviors associated to health. Percentile and normal distribution tables were generated, demonstrating that there is a high prevalence of risk behavior in rural areas. Conclusions This study demonstrates data related to rural areas in northwest Mexico, a region where adolescents are frequently involved in risk behaviors. Additionally, protective factors are understudied in Mexico-US border cities. Further analyses are needed to find reward delay skills on the studied sample as well as urban area comparisons.

Independent Components of Neural Activation Associated with 100 Days of Cognitive Training.

Some cognitive training studies have reported working memory benefits that generalize beyond the trained tasks, whereas others have only found task-specific training effects. What brain networks are associated with general training effects, rather than task-specific effects? We investigated this question in the context of working memory training using the COGITO data set, a longitudinal project including behavioral assessments before and after 100 days of cognitive training in 101 younger (20-31 years) and 103 older (65-80 years) adults. Pre- and postassessments included verbal, numerical, and spatial measures of working memory. It was therefore possible to assess training effects on working memory at a general latent ability level. Previous analyses of these data found training-related improvements on this latent working memory factor in both young and old participants. fMRI data were collected from a subsample of participants (24 young and 15 old) during pre- and post-training sessions. We used independent component analysis to identify networks involved in a perceptual decision-making task performed in the scanner. We identified five task-positive components that were task-related: two frontal networks, a ventral visual network, a motor network, and a cerebellar network. Pre-training activity of the motor network predicted latent working memory performance before training. Additionally, activity in the motor network predicted training-related changes in working memory ability. These findings suggest activity in the motor network plays a role in task-independent working memory improvements and have implications for our understanding of working memory training and for the design and implementation of future training interventions.

Which Early Childhood Experiences and Skills Predict Kindergarten Working Memory?

We examined how empirically and theoretically important predictors help explain the development of kindergarten working memory, an understudied predictor of school readiness and adjustment to schooling in early childhood. Our specific aim was to examine the extent to which antecedents, opportunity, and propensity variables directly and indirectly predict working memory development. We conducted structural equation modeling on a nationally representative and longitudinal sample of 14,000 kindergarten students. Predictors of end-of-kindergarten working memory include parent reports of antecedent variables such as socioeconomic status, mother's marital status, breastfeeding, child's age, and perception of child learning skills; teacher reports of opportunity variables including the frequency children read aloud and counted in their kindergarten class and classroom climate; and direct assessments of child propensity variables including earlier working memory, cognitive fluidity, teacher reports of child self-regulation, and math and reading knowledge. Together, childhood antecedents, opportunity, and propensity latent factors contributed to 41% of the variance of kindergarten working memory. Child propensity had a significant direct effect on child working memory, whereas antecedent and opportunity factors had significant indirect effects on working memory through child propensity. In this study, we identify several modifiable variables that directly and indirectly predict child working memory skills using a large population-based sample. Better understanding of how child-, family-, and school-level variables contribute to the development of working memory in young children can be seen as an important step in the creation of preventive interventions designed to improve these important skills.

SU116 - ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE NEURONAL CELL ADHESION MOLECULE (NrCAM) GENE VARIANTS, WORKING MEMORY AND COGNITION IN METHAMPHETAMINE ABUSE

Background The recent development of molecular genetic techniques is promoting the study of the genetic basis of drug abuse. It is possible that personality factor mediates intermediately in the genetic contributions to drug abuse. Classical genetic studies document strong complex genetic contributions to abuse of multiple addictive substances, to mnemonic processes that are likely to include those involved in substance dependence, and to the volumes of brain gray matter in regions that are likely to contribute to mnemonic/cognitive and to addictive processes. [1] Several lines of evidence support a role of the neuronal cell adhesion molecule (NrCAM) in polysubstance abuse vulnerability in humans, as well as in the rewarding effects of abused drugs in animals. [2] This gene, which encodes a receptor involved in nervous system development, is expressed in the central nervous system and located in the 7q region. Polymorphisms in NrCAM have been reported to be associated with addiction susceptibility and with substance abuse, implicating NrCAM in reward circuitry. Methods Thirty-seven male methamphetamine abusers(age=43.3±7.8) and thirty unrelated controls (16 males, 14 females; age=59.8±10.4) were enrolled into the study from the Bugok National Hospital drug abuse clinic for one year. They underwent a blood sample collection for NRCAM gene variants genotyping. Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit was used for extracting DNA from patient's blood collected in EDTA tubes. 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in NrCAM gene were selected for variant analysis. We evaluated working memory dimensions with Hinting Task(HT), Eye Task (ET), Picture Sequencing (PS), Emotion Attribution Task (EAT), Emotion Recognition 40 (ER40), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We assessed cognitive dimensions with Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Game of Dice Tast (GDT). Results The distribution of one NRCAM gene SNP genotypes and alleles significantly differed between patients and controls.(rs1990162; p=0.0418) Five NRCAM gene SNP genotypes and alleles were associated with some working memory dimensions in the patients.(rs2142325, rs381318, rs1269621, rs2072546, rs1269634) Of those SNP rs1269634 was associated with three working memory dimensions comprehensively.(PS-M, EAT, WCST-PE) Two NRCAM gene SNP genotypes and alleles were associated with some cognitive dimensions in the patients.(rs2142325, rs722519) Both SNPs were associated with four cognitive dimensions comprehensively.(IGT-A, B, C, D, B3, B5) Only one SNPs(rs2142325) was associated with both working memory and cognitive dimensions. Discussion These findings support the idea that NRCAM gene polymorphisms could play a part in the genetic susceptibility to methamphetamine abuse, and it seems to be involved in predisposing addictive patients to a more disturbed addictive behavior influencing on each working memory and cognitive factor. Considering the important role of the NRCAM gene in brain development, our results therefore replicate that the NRCAM gene is one of the strong candidate genes for drug abuse.

Analysis of influencing factors of visual working memory in young adult patients with schizophrenia

BackgroundPatients with schizophrenia have general cognitive impairments, and the impairment of working memory is considered to be the basis of cognitive impairments. The research on visual working memory, one of...

Measurement of everyday dysexecutive symptoms in normal aging with the Greek version of the dysexecutive questionnaire-revised

ABSTRACTThe Dysexecutive Questionnaire is a sensitive and ecologically valid measure of everyday dysexecutive symptoms. Recently, a revised version of the tool has been proposed (DEX-R). The current study aimed to examine the factorial validity of the Greek DEX-R, the level of agreement between the self and informant rating versions and the effect of age on each dysexecutive symptoms component. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of older adults (n = 235) and to a sample of informants (n = 187) in the context of the Neurocognitive Study for the Aging in Cyprus. Confirmatory Factor Analysis results showed that dysexecutive symptoms can be grouped into three underlying components or factors: (a) Motivation and Attention, (b) Flexibility, Fluency and Working Memory, and (c) Social Self-Regulation. Overall, the elderly reported more symptoms than their relatives, however the difference was significant only for the Flexibility, Fluency and Working memory factor. In a structural equation model, a weak positive effect of age was observed on the Flexibility, Fluency and Working Memory factor, based on the informant ratings. This study provides empirical evidence about the use of the DEX-R questionnaire in the Greek-speaking elderly population as a valid and reliable measure of everyday dysexecutive symptoms.