Relationship of behavioural and symptomatic syndromes in schizophrenia to spatial working memory and attentional set-shifting ability

BACKGROUND

Behavioural syndromes (thought disturbance, social withdrawal, depressed behaviour and antisocial behaviour) offer a different perspective from that of symptomatic syndromes on the disability that may be associated with schizophrenia. Few studies have assessed their relationship with neuropsychological deficits. We hypothesized that these syndromes may represent behavioural manifestations of frontal-subcortical impairments, previously described in schizophrenia.

METHOD

Long-stay inpatients (n=54) and community patients (n=43) with enduring schizophrenia were assessed, using measures of symptoms and behaviour and tests of executive functioning. The relationship between syndromes and neuropsychological function was assessed using multiple regression and logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

Significant associations were found between performance on the spatial working memory task and the psychomotor poverty symptomatic syndrome, and between attentional set-shifting ability and both disorganization symptoms and the thought disturbance behavioural syndrome. These results were not explained by the effect of premorbid IQ, geographical location, length of illness or antipsychotic medication. Length of illness was an independent predictor of attentional set-shifting ability but not of working memory performance.

CONCLUSION

The specific relationship between negative symptoms and spatial working memory is consistent with involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The associations between difficulty with set-shifting ability and both disorganization symptoms and behaviours may reflect inability to generalize a rule that had been learned and impaired ability to respond flexibly. The specific relationship of illness duration to set-shifting ability may suggest progressive impairment on some executive tasks. The nature of these relationships and their neurobiological and rehabilitation implications are considered.

Saccade dysfunction associated with chronic petrol sniffing and lead encephalopathy

BACKGROUND

In chronic petrol sniffers, recent exposure to high levels of leaded petrol may give rise to a lead encephalopathy characterised by tremor, chorea, ataxia, hyperreflexia, convulsive seizures, and death. Neurological abnormalities associated with lead encephalopathy involve the cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, and brain stem.

OBJECTIVE

To use saccadic eye movement tasks as an experimental tool to determine which CNS changes are associated with chronic petrol sniffing and which with a history of lead encephalopathy, and to what extent these changes are reversible.

METHODS

Saccade function was assessed in chronic petrol sniffers with a history of lead encephalopathy (encephalopathic sniffers), chronic petrol sniffers who had never suffered lead encephalopathy (chronic sniffers), individuals who had sniffed petrol in the past but had not done so for more than six months (ex-sniffers), and individuals who had never sniffed petrol (non-sniffers).

RESULTS

Chronic sniffers showed increased latency of visually guided saccades and antisaccades and increased antisaccade errors which suggested cortical and basal ganglia dysfunction. These abnormalities returned to normal in ex-sniffers. Encephalopathic sniffers showed the same abnormalities as chronic sniffers but with greater severity and additional saccadic signs including dysmetria, gaze evoked nystagmus, and saccade slowing which usually indicate cerebellar and brain stem dysfunction.

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic petrol abuse is associated with cortical and basal ganglia abnormalities that are at least partially recoverable with abstinence. Additional long term cerebellar and brain stem abnormalities are associated with lead encephalopathy.

Psychometric issues associated with computerised neuropsychological assessment of concussed athletes

Psychometric issues associated with computerised neuropsychological assessment in sports concussion are put forward. Issues critical to ensuring test reliability and sensitivity are discussed, with particular reference to how inappropriate test design can affect clinical decision making.

Mild cognitive impairment can be detected by multiple assessments in a single day

BACKGROUND

Reliable detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), in many cases preceding AD, is important in determining the efficacy of emerging treatments. The operational definition of MCI is currently imprecise and would be improved by objective criteria. Inherent in the transition from MCI to AD is cognitive decline, which can be detected using multiple assessments over several years.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether multiple assessments on the same day could also differentiate well-studied subjects with very mild MCI from normal control subjects.

METHODS

This study utilized a novel 15- to 18-minute computerized cognitive battery designed for frequent serial use, administered four times within 3 hours. Subjects were participants in a longitudinal healthy aging study (20 with MCI, 40 control subjects matched for age, gender, and education).

RESULTS

The MCI group showed significantly attenuated learning performance with repetition on accuracy and reaction time tasks. Discriminant function analysis correctly classified 95% of subjects and 80% of those with MCI.

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple assessments with standardized, repeatable cognitive measures is a promising method for reliably differentiating patients with early MCI in a single test session and deserves further study for refining patient selection in trials of therapeutic agents for MCI.

Impairments of response conflict monitoring and resolution in schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

It has been argued recently that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia occurs as a result of an inability to inhibit automatic attentional shifts to compelling external stimuli. However, this hypothesis is based on performance on paradigms that require overt or covert shifts of spatial attention.

METHOD

We investigated responses to foveally presented stimuli in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls as they performed unidimensional and bidimensional versions of the flanker task. In both tasks, centrally presented target stimuli were flanked by peripheral stimuli that were either congruent or incongruent with the behavioural goal of the subject. In the bidimensional task, the flanking stimuli could be congruent and incongruent on multiple stimulus characteristics.

RESULTS

On the unidimensional flanker task, the behavioural goal modulated the responses of the schizophrenia group such that response times (RTs) to target stimuli that were flanked by congruent stimuli were faster than RTs to target stimuli flanked by incongruent stimuli. However, on the bidimensional flanker task, the responses of schizophrenia patients were no longer constrained by the behavioural goal and RTs to both congruent and incongruent stimuli were equivalent.

CONCLUSIONS

It appears that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia may reflect difficulty in resolving multiple and simultaneous response conflicts. These findings suggest a possible role for the anterior cingulate cortex in the attentional impairments associated with schizophrenia.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, combined type (ADHD-CT): differences in blood pressure (BP) due to posture and the child report of anxiety

AIM

ADHD-CT and anxiety has been associated with increased diastolic BP in controlled trials of single dosage studies of methylphenidate, although parent and child reports of anxiety have not been considered separately. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that primary school-age children with ADHD-CT and anxiety have increased diastolic BP from a sitting to a standing position compared to children with ADHD-CT without anxiety, whether defined from a parent or child perspective.

METHOD

Thirty-eight medication naive children with ADHD-CT were studied. Four groups were formed from parent and child reports of anxiety, using categorical and continuous measures of anxiety. The groups were compared using one-way ANOVA. Where omnibus F was significant, the post hoc SNK procedure (p < 0.05) was used to determine the source of this significance.

RESULTS

Primary school-age children with ADHD-CT and anxiety, defined from the child's report alone, had significantly increased diastolic BP from a sitting to a standing position than children with ADHD-CT without anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

The recognition of anxiety and its management in primary school-age children with ADHD-CT is generally poorly understood. In this particular group of children, only the child's report of anxiety was associated with significantly increased diastolic BP from a sitting to a standing position. Therefore, careful and thorough assessment of the child's perspective is required. The characteristics of this anxiety and its association with postural BP require further careful longitudinal study. Biological implications are noted.

Contextual abnormalities of saccadic inhibition in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abnormalities of executive function are observed consistently in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and it is hypothesised that these arise because of disruption to a behavioural inhibition system. Executive and inhibitory functions were compared between unmedicated and medicated children with ADHD (combined type), age-matched healthy children and healthy adults. Executive functions were measured using a test of spatial working memory shown previously to be sensitive to ADHD and to stimulant medication. Inhibitory functions were measured using an ocular motor paradigm that required individuals to use task context to control the release of fixation. Context was set according to the probability that a target would appear at either of the two locations. In one block, targets appeared on 80% of trials. In the other block, targets appeared on 20% of trials. The ability to control the release of fixation was inferred from the fixation offset effect (FOE), or the difference in saccade latency when the current fixation is offset 200 ms prior to the onset of the saccade target (gap condition), compared with when there is no offset (overlap condition). Although the healthy children made more errors on the spatial working memory task than the healthy adults, there was no difference between the two groups in their ability to control fixation using context. Both showed a larger FOE when target probability was low. As expected, the unmedicated ADHD group made more errors on the spatial working memory test than the healthy children, although spatial working memory performance was normal in the medicated ADHD group. However, both the unmedicated and medicated ADHD groups were unable to modulate the FOE according to context, and this was due to their inability to voluntarily inhibit saccades when there was a low target probability. These data suggest that the context-based modulation of fixation release is not controlled by the same systems that control executive function. Furthermore, deficits in executive function and inhibitory control appear independent in children with ADHD.

Computerised cognitive assessment of athletes with sports related head injury

Professional and amateur participants in many sports are at risk of brain injury caused by impact with other players or objects. In many cases, mild cognitive deficits may persist after the common neurological signs of brain injury have passed. In recent years, the athlete's cognitive status after concussion has been measured with conventional "paper and pencil" neuropsychological tests. However, such tests are not ideal for sporting settings, as they are designed for the detection of gross cognitive impairments at a single assessment, not for the identification of mild cognitive deficits on repeated assessment. A number of computerised cognitive assessment tests and test batteries have been developed over the past two decades. These batteries offer major scientific and practical advantages over conventional neuropsychological tests which make them ideal for the assessment of cognitive function in sportspeople. This review first describes the problems associated with cognitive assessment of people with sports related cognitive deficits, and then critically examines the utility of conventional neuropsychological and computerised cognitive tests in sporting settings.

Computerised cognitive assessment of concussed Australian Rules footballers

BACKGROUND

"Paper and pencil" neuropsychological tests play an important role in the management of sports related concussions. They provide objective information on the athlete's cognitive function and thus facilitate decisions on safe return to sport. It has been proposed that computerised cognitive tests have many advantages over such conventional tests, but their role in this domain is yet to be established.

OBJECTIVES

To measure cognitive impairment after concussion in a case series of concussed Australian Rules footballers, using both computerised and paper and pencil neuropsychological tests. To investigate the role of computerised cognitive tests in the assessment and follow up of sports related concussions.

METHODS

Baseline measures on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Trail Making Test-Part B (TMT), and a simple reaction time (SRT) test from a computerised cognitive test battery (CogState) were obtained in 240 players. Tests were repeated in players who had sustained a concussive injury. A group of non-injured players were used as matched controls.

RESULTS

Six concussions were observed over a period of nine weeks. At the follow up, DSST and TMT scores did not significantly differ from baseline scores in both control and concussed groups. However, analysis of the SRT data showed an increase in response variability and latency after concussion in the injured athletes. This was in contrast with a decrease in response variability and no change in latency on follow up of the control players (p<0.02).

CONCLUSION

Increased variability in response time may be an important cognitive deficit after concussion. This has implications for consistency of an athlete's performance after injury, as well as for tests used in clinical assessment and follow up of head injuries.

Abnormal executive function in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: the effect of stimulant medication and age on spatial working memory

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to examine the factors associated with spatial working memory and the use of strategies to impairments in spatial working memory in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The developmental trajectories for spatial working memory in medicated and medication naïve children with ADHD were investigated. In addition, the effect of psychostimulant medication on deficits in spatial working memory was examined.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study compared performance between 21 psychostimulant medicated children with ADHD, 27 medication naïve children with ADHD and 26 matched control subjects on computerized tests of spatial memory and spatial working memory.

RESULTS

Compared with the controls, performance in medication naïve children with ADHD was significantly worse on the spatial working memory task. There was no difference in performance between the medicated children with ADHD and the control subjects on this same task, despite the ongoing symptoms of ADHD in the former group. The pattern of normal and abnormal performance in the ADHD groups was age-independent.

CONCLUSIONS

Deficits in executive functions related to spatial working memory do occur in children with ADHD, although the magnitude of these deficits is not related to the child's age or the level of ADHD symptoms. These deficits were not present in the current sample of children who were receiving psychostimulant medication.

Memory decline in healthy older people: implications for identifying mild cognitive impairment

BACKGROUND

Criteria for mild cognitive impairment require objective evidence of a memory deficit but do not require objective evidence of memory decline. Application of these criteria may therefore result in the misclassification of older patients with memory decline as normal because their neuropsychological test performance at a single point in time may be within normal limits. This study aimed to identify and characterize older people with memory decline.

METHOD

Word list delayed recall (WLDR) test performance was assessed on five occasions during a 2-year period in a cohort of healthy older individuals. Older people with declining (n = 35) and nondeclining (n = 66) WLDR scores were identified. Both subgroups were then compared on apoE genotype, Clinical Dementia Rating, and neuropsychological test performance at the fifth assessment.

RESULTS

Thirty-four percent of the group with declining memory recorded a Clinical Dementia Rating of 0.5, compared with 5% of the nondeclining memory group. No between-group differences were observed in cognitive domains other than memory, self-reported cognitive failures, or the proportion of each group carrying the apoE epsilon 4 allele.

CONCLUSIONS

A large proportion of healthy older individuals show memory decline, which may represent the early stages of a potentially more severe cognitive impairment. Further investigation is necessary to determine the relationship between apoE genotype, self-reported cognitive impairment, and memory decline in older people.

Impact of early percutaneous coronary intervention on short- and long-term outcomes in patients with cardiogenic shock after acute myocardial infarction

This study assesses the impact of early percutaneous coronary intervention in patients presenting with cardiogenic shock after acute myocardial infarction. Predictors of in-hospital death include the need for intubation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and angiographic failure; long-term outcomes at 2 years in hospital survivors are favorable.

Abnormalities of motor and praxis imagery in children with DCD

In an earlier study using the visually guided pointing task (VGPT) the authors showed that the timing of imagined movement sequences in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) does not conform to the conventional speed-for-accuracy trade-off (or Fitts' law [P.M. Fitts, Journal of Experimental Psychology 47 (1954) 381-391]) that occurs when the distance and accuracy requirements of movements are varied [P. Maruff, P.H. Wilson, M. Trebilcock, J. Currie, Neuropsychologia 37 (1999b) 1317-1324]. The present study sought to replicate this earlier finding and to examine (using a weight manipulation) whether this deficit was also attributable to inaccurate programming of relative force. The chronometry of real and imagined movements was investigated in a group of 20 children with DCD aged between 8 and 12 years and a group of controls matched on age and verbal IQ (VIQ). Movement duration was tested for real and imagined movements using the preferred hand, with the VGPT performed under two load conditions: with and without the addition of a weight attached to a pen. Group means of each subjects' mean movement duration were calculated and plotted against target width for each of the four conditions [Movement type (2) x Load (2)] and a logarithmic curve was fitted to the data points. In the control group, the speed-for-accuracy trade-off for both real and imagined performance conformed to Fitts' law under each load condition. In the DCD group only real movements conformed to Fitts' law. Moreover, the effect of load differed between groups--for real movements, movement duration did not differ between load and no-load conditions for either group, while for imagined movements, movement duration increased under the load condition for the control group only. These results replicate and extend the results of our earlier study. This pattern of performance suggests that children with DCD have an impairment in the ability to generate internal representations of volitional movements which may reflect an impaired ability to process efference copy signals. The ability to programme both relative force and timing appears to underly this difficulty. Results have implications for the use of (guided) motor imagery training in order to facilitate the development of motor skill in children with DCD.

Spatiotemporal distribution of facilitation and inhibition of return arising from the reflexive orienting of covert attention

Currently, there is debate regarding both the spatial and temporal relationship between facilitation and inhibition of return (IOR) components of attention, as observed on the covert orienting of visual attention task (COVAT). These issues were addressed in a series of experiments where the spatial and temporal relationships between cue and target were manipulated. Facilitation occurred only when the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was short and there was temporal overlap between cue and target. IOR occurred only when SOA was long and there was no temporal overlap between cue and target. Facilitation encompassed the cued location and all locations between the cue and fixation, whereas IOR arose for the entire cued hemifield. These findings suggest that the facilitation and IOR found on COVATs that use noninformative peripheral cues are separable and stimulus-driven processes.

The ability to execute saccades on the basis of efference copy: impairments in double-step saccade performance in children with developmental co-ordination disorder

The double-step saccade task (DSST) was used to test the hypothesis that children with developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) who experience deficits in motor imagery have difficulty processing the visual spatial consequences of intended movements using efference copy signals. In order to ensure that the second saccade in the DSST was executed in the absence of visual cues and had to be programmed on the basis of extra-retinal information (efference copy), we analysed only those double-step ensembles where latency plus duration of first saccades was greater than 240 ms (total presentation time of the targets). No significant differences between DCD and control children were evident on measures of latency of first saccades, intersaccadic interval and first saccade error. As predicted, children with DCD who have impaired motor imagery demonstrated specific deficits on the DSST where efference copy had been used to program the saccade sequence. More specifically, these children were less accurate in terms of final eye position on second saccades. Our results raise the possibility that abnormalities in the processing of efference copy signals could underlie motor clumsiness in the majority of children with DCD. Furthermore, the origin of this deficit in efference copy probably exists at the level of the parietal lobe.

Hemispheric and gender-related differences in the gross morphology of the anterior cingulate/paracingulate cortex in normal volunteers: an MRI morphometric study

The sulci and gyri found within the anterior cingulate (AC), and across the cerebrum generally, have been found to vary in location and complexity from one individual to the next, making it difficult to analyze imaging data accurately and systematically. In this study, we examined the nature of morphometric variance in the AC of the left and right cerebral hemispheres using high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquired from 176 healthy volunteers. Depending on the presence of a paracingulate sulcus (PCS) and its antero-posterior extent, three types of AC patterns were identified: 'prominent', 'present' and 'absent'. Hemispheric comparisons across the whole sample showed the PCS to be more commonly 'prominent' in the left hemisphere and more commonly 'absent' in the right hemisphere. There was a significant gender difference, such that males showed an asymmetric pattern characterized by increased fissurization of the left AC, while females showed greater symmetry, with less fissurization of the left AC. Overall cerebral morphology, namely hemispheric volume and hemispheric fissurization, were also measured and used as independent variables as well as covariates in the analyses in order to ascertain the specificity of the results regarding AC morphology. Results showed that cerebral volume for males was larger on the right than on the left while fissurization showed the reverse asymmetry of greater leftward fissurization. In contrast, females were symmetric in both respects. The findings regarding AC morphology could not be explained by differences in these overall cerebral measures or by differences in age and handedness within the population. The results suggest that in the normal male brain, there exist morphological asymmetries at both the global and local levels that are less apparent in the female brain. The findings have implications for future studies examining the organization, development and functional anatomy of the AC.

An optimized method for estimating intracranial volume from magnetic resonance images

The accuracy and efficiency of protocols to measure intracranial volume (ICV) from volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies has not been formally analyzed. The ICV of 30 control participants was obtained by tracing every slice of a MRI data set on which the cranial cavity appeared, and compared with estimated ICVs calculated by progressively selecting one of every x slices (i.e., "1-in-x") as a sampling strategy. The reliability and precision of each sampling strategy was then determined. There was virtually no reduction in reliability at the 1-in-10 sampling strategy, with a reliability exceeding 0.999. ICV can be confidently traced using a 1-in-10 sampling strategy, which should result in significant time savings.

Spatiotemporal distribution of facilitation and inhibition of return arising from the reflexive orienting of covert attention

Currently, there is debate regarding both the spatial and temporal relationship between facilitation and inhibition of return (IOR) components of attention, as observed on the covert orienting of visual attention task (COVAT). These issues were addressed in a series of experiments where the spatial and temporal relationships between cue and target were manipulated. Facilitation occurred only when the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was short and there was temporal overlap between cue and target. IOR occurred only when SOA was long and there was no temporal overlap between cue and target. Facilitation encompassed the cued location and all locations between the cue and fixation, whereas IOR arose for the entire cued hemifield. These findings suggest that the facilitation and IOR found on COVATs that use noninformative peripheral cues are separable and stimulus-driven processes.

Issues associated with the identification of cognitive change following coronary artery bypass grafting

OBJECTIVE

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a surgical procedure used to treat individuals with ischaemic heart disease and to relieve angina. Disruption to the central nervous system (CNS) has frequently been reported by patients who have undergone CABG.

METHOD

The following paper is a review of the literature that has examined the effects of CABG on the CNS.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

It becomes apparent that issues about the incidence and severity of post-CABG cognitive decline are still unresolved. First, the cause of post-CABG CNS change has not yet been established, although the presence of changes to brain microvasculature as a result of the presence of microemboli appears to be a likely factor. Second, while some studies have reported high rates of poor performance on neuropsychological tests postoperatively, these reports are often subject to confounds such as variability in postoperative testing intervals, the definition of decline and the neuropsychological test batteries used. Finally, improvements in surgical techniques and changes in patient characteristics may have changed the real nature and prevalence of post-CABG cognitive decline. The review finishes with a series of recommendations for the neuropsychological study of CABG.

The voluntary control of motor imagery. Imagined movements in individuals with feigned motor impairment and conversion disorder

The ability to volitionally control motor imagery was investigated by comparing the chronometry of real and imagined movements in a patient (AB) with conversion disorder who presented with paralysis of the left arm and hand and in a patient (MM) with an actual injury to the left arm. Control experiments investigated voluntary control of motor imagery in a group of healthy individuals who feigned a motor impairment with one limb and in one group who were instructed to move carefully and slowly. The visually guided pointing task was used to investigate the speed for accuracy trade-offs that occur as target size is varied for both real and imagined performance. In the healthy individuals, the speed for accuracy trade-off for both real and imagined performance on the motor task conformed to Fitts' law provided both the speed and accuracy of movements was emphasised. In MM, real and imagined performance was also within normal limits despite considerable pain and discomfort. In AB and in subjects feigning a motor impairment, motor task performance with the affected limb was slow and did not conform to Fitts' law. However, although imagined performance with the affected limb was generally slower than with the unaffected limb, it did conform to Fitts' law. These results suggest subjects cannot anticipate the effects of an actual limb injury. Furthermore, while they are able to control the general duration of imagined movements they have little voluntary control over their relative timing.

The neuropsychology of preclinical Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment

Subjects in the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) typically record neuropsychological performance between that of healthy older individuals and demented patients. More specifically, deficits on measures of verbal episodic memory are commonly reported in these patients, while other cognitive functions (e.g. language, praxis and executive function) seem to be spared. A similar neuropsychological profile is observed in elderly subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a disorder that is attracting increasing research interest. Evidence from lesion and functional imaging studies, as well as volumetric imaging in probable AD and MCI patients, suggests that the cognitive deficits observed in these disorders may be related to medial temporal lobe dysfunction. An issue currently under investigation is whether MCI represents the preclinical stages of AD or a distinct and static cognitive aetiology. In an attempt to address this issue, present investigations are adopting a convergent approach to the detection of preclinical AD, where multiple risk factors are considered when making a diagnosis.