Neurocognitive correlates of problem behavior in environmentally at-risk adolescents

Impaired executive function in 14- to 16-year-old boys with conduct disorder is related to recidivism: A prospective longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Several studies have suggested a relationship between cognitive impairment and recidivism, but most have adopted a retrospective design.

AIM

The aim of this study was to test for any relationship between impaired executive function in adolescents with conduct disorder and subsequent recidivism up to 3 years later.

METHOD

In this prospective cohort study, 221 male adolescents with conduct disorder, admitted to a juvenile justice assessment centre for the first time, were interviewed about their offence, age, onset of delinquency and family history. They completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Keio version) (KWCST) and the Iowa gambling task. Scores were compared between those who subsequently re-offended and those who did not.

RESULTS

Seventy-six (34%) participants re-offended. There was no direct difference between groups in executive function, but there were age differences both in executive function and in recidivism. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the variables, which were independently associated with recidivism, were younger age, change in the person who brought up the child, and fewer (≤4) categories achieved on the KWCST. Recidivists were about twice as likely as single offenders to have achieved four categories or less on the KWCST (odds ratio 2.2, 95% confidence interval 1.1-4.4).

CONCLUSIONS

Impaired executive function appears to predispose to recidivism among young first-time male offenders with conduct disorder. Our findings also suggest that further precise assessments of environmental stress on developing neurocognitive function could clarify the background of antisocial behaviour. © 2016 The Authors. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Language ability, executive functioning and behaviour in school-age children

BACKGROUND

Many children with language impairment present with deficits in other areas, including executive functioning (EF), attention and behaviour. Similarly, many children receiving services for attention or behaviour problems have deficits in language ability.

AIMS

To evaluate the relations among EF, language ability and behaviour problems in a sample of school-age children with a wide range of language and behaviour profiles. The following research questions were addressed: Does performance on EF tasks predict language ability? Do language ability and EF predict problems with attention, internalizing and/or externalizing?

METHODS & PROCEDURES

EF was defined as referring to the separable, yet related, processes of shifting, updating working memory and inhibition as specified in the latent variable model of EF. Children aged 8-11 years recruited from an urban school district completed standardized language and cognitive assessments and a computerized task assessing EF. Their parents completed standardized questionnaires assessing the children's EF and problem behaviours. Regression analyses were conducted.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Regression analyses revealed that EF did not contribute to language ability beyond the variance accounted for by nonverbal reasoning. Language ability contributed to attention problems when entered as a single predictor, but was no longer significant when the EF measures were added to the model. Language ability did not significantly contribute to internalizing or externalizing behaviour problems. Parent-reported inhibition was a robust predictor of attention, internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

In this sample of school-age children, language ability was related to attention problems, but not to internalizing or externalizing. Children with behaviour problems may have particular difficulty with inhibition.

Working memory, attention, inhibition, and their relation to adaptive functioning and behavioral/emotional symptoms in school-aged children

The present study investigated the development of executive functions (EFs) and their associations with performance and behavior at school in 8-12-year-old children. The EFs were measured by computer-based n-back, Continuous Performance and Go/Nogo tasks. School performance was evaluated by Teacher Report Form (TRF) and behavior by TRF and Child Behavior Checklist. The studied dimensions of EF were cognitive efficiency/speed, working memory/attention and inhibitory control. Strong age effects were found for these cognitive abilities (p values <0.01). Inhibitory control was associated with better adaptive functioning (learning, working hard and behaving well), academic performance and less psychiatric symptoms (p values <0.05), specially in 8-9-year-old children. In this youngest age group low inhibitory control was also associated with teacher-reported inattention (p = 0.042). Low inhibitory control was associated with teacher- and parent-reported internalizing symptoms (p < 0.01). These results suggest that maturational factors may underlie low adaptive functioning and psychiatric symptoms during early school years. Further studies are needed to evaluate the association between inhibition and emotional symptoms.

Adolescents with and without gestational cocaine exposure: Longitudinal analysis of inhibitory control, memory and receptive language

Preclinical studies of gestational cocaine exposure (GCE) show evidence of changes in brain function at the anatomical, physiological, and behavioral levels, to include effects on developing dopaminergic systems. In contrast, human studies have produced less consistent results, with most showing small effects or no effects on developmental outcomes. Important changes in brain structure and function occur through adolescence, therefore it is possible that prenatal cocaine exposure has latent effects on neurocognitive (NC) outcome that do not manifest until adolescence or young adulthood. We examined NC function using a set of 5 tasks designed to tap 4 different systems: inhibitory control, working memory, receptive language, and incidental memory. For each NC task, data were collected longitudinally at ages 12, 14.5 and 17 years and examined using generalized estimating equations. One hundred and nine children completed at least two of the three evaluations. Covariates included in the final model were assessment number, gender, participant age at first assessment, caregiver depression, and two composites from the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), Environmental Stimulation and Parental Nurturance. We found no cocaine effects on inhibitory control, working memory, or receptive language (p=0.18). GCE effects were observed on incidental face memory task (p=0.055), and GCE by assessment number interaction effects were seen on the incidental word memory task (p=0.031). Participant performance on inhibitory control, working memory, and receptive language tasks improved over time. HOME Environmental Stimulation composite was associated with better receptive language functioning. With a larger sample size smaller differences between groups may have been detected. This report shows no evidence of latent effects of GCE on inhibitory control, working memory, or receptive language. GCE effects were observed on the incidental face memory task, and GCE by assessment number interaction effects was seen on the incidental word memory task.

Structural and functional imaging approaches in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: does the temporal lobe play a key role?

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by widespread structural and functional abnormalities in the brain. We applied different structural imaging techniques such as voxel-based morphometry (VBM), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) to study anatomical differences between boys with ADHD and healthy controls, as well as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) together with independent component analysis (ICA) to detect functional alterations. 14 boys with ADHD and 12 controls were included in our study. Results of DTI showed the expected differences in frontal and cerebellar white matter. VBM and MTI indicated group differences in the temporal lobe. Applying ICA to fMRI data, we extracted four components; two positively correlated to our working memory paradigm and two negatively correlated. Positive components included activation in frontal and parietal regions. Negative components showed activation in anterior and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus and temporal regions, and were interpreted as forming part of the default mode network. Group differences in the inferior temporal lobe were detected. Applying different techniques, we found differences between boys with ADHD and controls mainly located in the temporal lobe. Therefore, we postulate that research on ADHD should broaden its scope by including the temporal lobe as a potentially important locus of abnormalities in ADHD.

Der Einfluss emotionaler Stimuli auf die Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung bei weiblichen delinquenten Jugendlichen*

Zusammenfassung: Fragestellung: Die vorliegende Studie widmet sich der Frage, inwiefern bei inhaftierten Mädchen Defizite im Bereich des räumlichen Arbeitsgedächtnisses vorzufinden sind. Darüber hinaus wurde der Einfluss visueller emotionaler Stimuli auf das Arbeitsgedächtnis dissozialer weiblicher Jugendlicher untersucht sowie die Beziehung zwischen der Fehleranzahl in den verschiedenen Arbeitsgedächtnisvarianten und den Ausprägungen der Psychopathy * Wegen der Abgrenzung von dem Psychopathie-Begriff Kurt Schneiders wird durchgängig der Begriff Psychopathy verwendet, der sich auf das Psychopathy-Konzept nach Robert Hare bezieht. . Methodik: Eine Gruppe inhaftierter weiblicher Jugendlicher (n = 33) wurde mit nichtdelinquenten Gesamtschülerinnen der Klassen 10 und 11 (n = 20) verglichen. Drei Varianten des Subject-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT: neutral, Erotik, Schrecken) und die Psychopathy-Checkliste Youth Version (PCL:YV) wurden mit beiden Gruppen durchgeführt. Ergebnisse: Varianzanalysen erbrachten signifikante Unterschiede zwischen den Gruppen bezüglich einer neutralen sowie einer Schreckvariante des SOPT, aber nicht bezüglich einer Variante mit erotischen Stimuli. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Psychopathy und der neutralen Variante, nicht hingegen für die Schreckvariante des SOPT, bestätigte sich. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Studie zeigte ähnliche Defizite in der neutralen Arbeitsgedächtnisbedingung bei inhaftierten weiblichen Jugendlichen, wie es aus der Literatur für männliche Dissoziale bekannt ist. Der fehlende Gruppenunterschied in der erotischen Bedingung des SOPT könnte einerseits mit einer verbesserten Leistung der oft sexuell traumatisierten delinquenten weiblichen Jugendlichen, andererseits mit einer erwarteten Verschlechterung in der Kontrollgruppe zusammenhängen. Die Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung auf der Basis von Schreckstimuli verwies darauf, dass Mädchen mit hohen Psychopathy-Werten anders als dissoziale Jungen möglicherweise doch empfänglich auf emotionale Stimuli reagieren.