1
|
Mock N, Balzer C, Gutbrod K, Jäncke L, Wandel J, Bonati L, Trost W. Nonverbal memory tests revisited: Neuroanatomical correlates and differential influence of biasing cognitive functions. Cortex 2023; 164:63-76. [PMID: 37201378 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The detection of right temporal lobe dysfunction with nonverbal memory tests has remained difficult in the past. Reasons for this might be the potential influence of other biasing cognitive functions such as executive functions or the verbalisability of nonverbal material. The aim of this study was to investigate three classic nonverbal memory tests by identifying their neuroanatomical correlates with lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) and by probing their independence from verbal encoding abilities and executive functions. In a cohort of 119 patients with first-time cerebrovascular accident, memory performance was assessed in the Nonverbal Learning and Memory Test for Routes (NLMTR), the Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT), and the Visual Design Learning Test (VDLT). Calculating multivariate LSM, we identified crucial brain structures for these three nonverbal memory tests. Behavioural analyses were performed to assess the impact of executive functions and verbal encoding abilities with regression analyses and likelihood-ratio tests. LSM revealed for the RCFT mainly right-hemispheric frontal, insular, subcortical, and white matter structures and for the NLMTR right-hemispheric temporal (hippocampus), insular, subcortical, and white matter structures. The VDLT did not reach significance in LSM analyses. Behavioural results showed that amongst the three nonverbal memory tests the impact of executive functions was most pronounced for RCFT, and the impact of verbal encoding abilities was most important in VDLT. Likelihood-ratio tests confirmed that only for NLMTR did the goodness of fit not significantly improve by adding executive functions or verbal encoding abilities. These results suggest that amongst the three nonverbal memory tests the NLMTR, as a spatial navigation test, could serve as the most suitable marker of right-hemispheric temporal lobe functioning, with the right hippocampus being involved only in this test. In addition, the behavioural results propose that only NLMTR seems mostly unaffected by executive functions and verbal encoding abilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nadia Mock
- Research Department, Reha Rheinfelden, Rheinfelden, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, Zurich University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | | | - Klemens Gutbrod
- Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Neurozentrum Bern, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jasmin Wandel
- Institute for Optimisation and Data Analysis, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
| | - Leo Bonati
- Research Department, Reha Rheinfelden, Rheinfelden, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, Department of Clinical Research, Basel University Hospital, Switzerland
| | - Wiebke Trost
- Research Department, Reha Rheinfelden, Rheinfelden, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Postans M, Parker GD, Lundell H, Ptito M, Hamandi K, Gray WP, Aggleton JP, Dyrby TB, Jones DK, Winter M. Uncovering a Role for the Dorsal Hippocampal Commissure in Recognition Memory. Cereb Cortex 2021; 30:1001-1015. [PMID: 31364703 PMCID: PMC7132945 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2018] [Revised: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The dorsal hippocampal commissure (DHC) is a white matter tract that provides interhemispheric connections between temporal lobe brain regions. Despite the importance of these regions for learning and memory, there is scant evidence of a role for the DHC in successful memory performance. We used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and white matter tractography to reconstruct the DHC in both humans (in vivo) and nonhuman primates (ex vivo). Across species, our findings demonstrate a close consistency between the known anatomy and tract reconstructions of the DHC. Anterograde tract-tracer techniques also highlighted the parahippocampal origins of DHC fibers in nonhuman primates. Finally, we derived diffusion tensor MRI metrics from the DHC in a large sample of human subjects to investigate whether interindividual variation in DHC microstructure is predictive of memory performance. The mean diffusivity of the DHC correlated with performance in a standardized recognition memory task, an effect that was not reproduced in a comparison commissure tract—the anterior commissure. These findings highlight a potential role for the DHC in recognition memory, and our tract reconstruction approach has the potential to generate further novel insights into the role of this previously understudied white matter tract in both health and disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- M Postans
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,School of Psychology, CF10 3AS
| | - G D Parker
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,Experimental MRI Centre, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
| | - H Lundell
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, DK-2650, Denmark
| | - M Ptito
- School of Optometry, University of Montreal, H3T 1J4 Montreal, Canada.,Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, H3A 2B4 Montreal, Canada
| | - K Hamandi
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,The Alan Richens Welsh Epilepsy Centre, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF14 4XW, UK.,Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences.,Brain Repair And Intracranial Neurotherapeutics Unit, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - W P Gray
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,The Alan Richens Welsh Epilepsy Centre, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF14 4XW, UK.,Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences.,Brain Repair And Intracranial Neurotherapeutics Unit, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK.,Department of Neurosurgery, Neurosciences Division, University Hospital Wales, Cardiff, CF14 4XW, UK
| | - J P Aggleton
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,School of Psychology, CF10 3AS
| | - T B Dyrby
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, DK-2650, Denmark.,Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, DK-2800
| | - D K Jones
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,School of Psychology, CF10 3AS.,Brain Repair And Intracranial Neurotherapeutics Unit, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK.,Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
| | - M Winter
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CF24 4HQ.,School of Psychology, CF10 3AS.,Brain Repair And Intracranial Neurotherapeutics Unit, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK.,Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, CF14 4XW, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Abstract
There are many reports of relations between age and cognitive variables and of relations between age and variables representing different aspects of brain structure and a few reports of relations between brain structure variables and cognitive variables. These findings have sometimes led to inferences that the age-related brain changes cause the age-related cognitive changes. Although this conclusion may well be true, it is widely recognized that simple correlations are not sufficient to warrant causal conclusions, and other types of correlational information, such as mediation and correlations between longitudinal brain changes and longitudinal cognitive changes, also have limitations with respect to causal inferences. These issues are discussed, and the existing results on relations of regional volume, white matter hyperintensities, and diffusion tensor imaging measures of white matter integrity to age and to measures of cognitive functioning are reviewed. It is concluded that at the current time the evidence that these aspects of brain structure are neuroanatomical substrates of age-related cognitive decline is weak. The final section contains several suggestions concerning measurement and methodology that may lead to stronger conclusions in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Timothy A Salthouse
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA.
| |
Collapse
|