The roles of executive functioning, simple attention, and medial temporal lobes in early learning, late learning, and delayed recall

Learning ratio performance on a brief visual learning and memory test moderates cognitive training gains in Double Decision task in healthy older adults

Cognitive training using a visual speed-of-processing task, called the Useful Field of View (UFOV) task, reduced dementia risk and reduced decline in activities of daily living at a 10-year follow-up in older adults. However, there was variability in the achievement of cognitive gains after cognitive training across studies, suggesting moderating factors. Learning trials of visual and verbal learning tasks recruit similar cognitive abilities and have overlapping neural correlates with speed-of-processing/working memory tasks and therefore could serve as potential moderators of cognitive training gains. This study explored the association between the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) learning with a commercial UFOV task called Double Decision. Through a secondary analysis of a clinical trial, we assessed the moderation of HVLT-R and BVMT-R learning on Double Decision improvement after a 3-month speed-of-processing/attention and working memory cognitive training intervention in a sample of 75 cognitively healthy older adults. Multiple linear regressions showed that better baseline Double Decision performance was significantly associated with better BVMT-R learning (β =  - .303). This association was not significant for HVLT-R learning (β =  - .142). Moderation analysis showed that those with poorer BVMT-R learning improved the most on the Double Decision task after cognitive training. This suggests that healthy older adults who perform below expectations on cognitive tasks related to the training task may show the greatest training gains. Future cognitive training research studying visual speed-of-processing interventions should account for differing levels of visuospatial learning at baseline, as this could impact the magnitude of training outcomes and efficacy of the intervention.

The application of saccades to assess cognitive impairment among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Saccade is a novel and feasible method for cognition assessment and has potential to screen older people with cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVES

To systematically summarize the evidence and determine whether different saccade parameters can effectively identify patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHODS

English and Chinese databases were searched until 19 April 2022. Studies analyzing saccade parameters in older adults with normal cognition, MCI, or AD were included. Two researchers independently performed the screening, data extraction, and quality appraisal. Meta-analyses were conducted and standard mean differences and 95% confidence intervals were estimated with a random effects model.

RESULTS

Thirty-five studies were included, and 26 studies were pooled for the meta-analysis. The results demonstrated that patients with cognitive impairment exhibited longer latency and lower accuracy rates in the prosaccade and antisaccade tasks, along with lower corrected error rates in the antisaccade tasks. However, the pooled results for antisaccades were more stable, providing the ability to distinguish patients with cognitive impairment among older adults. The results of the subgroup analyses revealed that only the accuracy rates of the antisaccades differed significantly between people with MCI and AD. Regarding the differences between older adults with normal cognition and those with MCI, the effect sizes of latency and the accuracy rates of saccades as well as the corrected error rates of antisaccades were significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Saccades, especially antisaccades, are a potential screening and assessment tool for distinguishing older adults with MCI or AD from those with normal cognition.

Reliability of remote National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set data

INTRODUCTION

The National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set (UDS) neuropsychological battery is being used to track cognition in participants across the country, but it is unknown if scores obtained through remote administration can be combined with data obtained in person.

METHODS

The remote UDS battery includes the blind version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Number Span, Semantic and Phonemic Fluency, and Craft Story. For these tests, we assessed intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between in-person and remote scores in 3838 participants with both in-person and remote UDS assessments, and we compared annual score changes between modalities in a subset that had two remote assessments.

RESULTS

All tests exhibited moderate to good reliability between modalities (ICCs = 0.590-0.787). Annual score changes were also comparable between modalities except for Craft Story Immediate Recall, Semantic Fluency, and Phonemic Fluency.

DISCUSSION

Our findings generally support combining remote and in-person scores for the majority of UDS tests.

Frontal and temporal lobe correlates of verbal learning and memory in aMCI and suspected Alzheimer's disease dementia

Alzheimer's disease is primarily known for deficits in learning and retaining new information. This has long been associated with pathological changes in the mesial temporal lobes. The role of the frontal lobes in memory in Alzheimer's disease is less well understood. In this study, we examined the role of the frontal lobes in learning, recognition, and retention of new verbal information, as well as the presence of specific errors (i.e., intrusions and false-positive errors). Participants included one hundred sixty-seven patients clinically diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or suspected Alzheimer's disease dementia who were administered the California Verbal Learning Test and completed high-resolution MRI. We confirmed the role of the mesial temporal lobes in learning and retention, including the volumes of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and parahippocampal gyrus. In addition, false-positive errors were associated with all volumes of the mesial temporal lobes and widespread areas within the frontal lobes. Errors of intrusion were related to the supplementary motor cortex and hippocampus. Most importantly, the mesial temporal lobes interacted with the frontal lobes for learning, recognition, and memory errors. Lower volumes in both regions explained more performance variance than any single structure. This study supports the interaction of the frontal lobes with the temporal lobes in many aspects of memory in Alzheimer's disease.

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the 10-item Weekly Calendar Planning Activity in Spanish-speaking ABI patients: a multicenter study

We present the process of translation, adaptation, and validation in the Spanish context of the 10-item version of the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA-10), a performance-based measure of cognitive instrumental activities of daily living (C-IADL). The study consisted of two phases: I) translation/cultural adaptation of the WCPA, conducted by professional bilingual translators, a panel of experts, and a pilot study, and II) validation in a sample of 42 acquired brain injury patients (ABI) and 42 healthy participants (HC). WCPA primary outcomes showed expected convergent/discriminant validity patterns with socio-demographical and clinical variables and cognitive processes identifying those WCPA outcomes that best predicted executive and memory deficits measured with a battery of traditional neuropsychological tests. In addition, performance on the WCPA was a significant predictor of everyday functioning over variables such as socio-demographics or global cognition when measured with traditional tests. External validity was established by the WCPA's ability to identify everyday cognitive deficits in ABI patients compared to HC, even in those with subtle cognitive impairment based on neuropsychological tests. The Spanish WCPA-10 seems an appropriate and sensitive assessment tool to identify cognitive-functional impairment in ABI-patients, even those with subtle cognitive impairment. The results also highlight the relevance of this kind of test, as they indicate a better prediction of patients' real-world functioning than traditional neuropsychological tests.