Heterogeneity of Neuropsychological Impairment in HIV Infection: Contributions from Mild Cognitive Impairment

Despite longstanding acknowledgement of the heterogeneity of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), existing HAND diagnostic methods classify according to the degree of impairment, without regard to the pattern of neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses. Research in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has demonstrated that classifying individuals into subtypes by both their level and pattern of impairment, using either conventional or statistical methods, has etiologic and prognostic utility. Methods for characterizing the heterogeneity of MCI provide a framework that can be applied to other disorders and may be useful in clarifying some of the current challenges in the study of HAND. A small number of studies have applied these methods to examine the heterogeneity of neurocognitive function among individuals with HIV. Most have supported the existence of multiple subtypes of neurocognitive impairment, with some evidence for distinct clinicodemographic features of these subtypes, but a number of gaps exist. Following a review of diagnostic methods and challenges in the study of HAND, we summarize the literature regarding conventional and empirical subtypes of MCI and HAND and identify directions for future research regarding neurocognitive heterogeneity in HIV infection.     

Eyewitness Memory and Metamemory in Product Identification: Evidence for Familiarity Biases

Research on the reliability of eyewitness memory for criminal events has been extensively studied, but eyewitness memory in civil cases has not. However, many of these civil cases revolve around eyewitness memory for events that transpired decades ago. We have developed a paradigm with which to study memory for specific product brand identification, a common question in civil cases involving product liability. Participants were asked to follow recipes and were then given surprise memory tests on the specific brands of products used. In addition, they were asked to report their subjective confidence for each response. Memory and performance was poor after even a brief delay, as was metamemory accuracy: Confidence regarding brand name recall was a poor indicator of accuracy. Participants also displayed a strong familiarity bias. They frequently reported using familiar, common brands, when no such products were actually used. This was especially true at longer delays, after which false identification of familiar products was twice as common as correct responses.     

Neuropsychological Interventions for Decision-Making in Addiction: a Systematic Review

Neuropsychology Review - Decision-making deficits are strong predictors of poor clinical outcomes in addiction treatment. However, research on interventions that address decision-making deficits...     

Neurobiology of Cocaine-Induced Organic Brain Impairment: Contributions from Functional Neuroimaging

The present review is directed at imparting the current knowledge regarding functional neuroimaging as a tool for enhancing the understanding of cerebrophysiologic and neurobehavioral consequences of stimulant abuse. Stimulants like cocaine are capable of inducing clinically significant neurocognitive impairment through direct action on the brain, and indirectly through other organs that influence cerebral physiology. Neurochemical dysregulation including profound effects on the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems have substantial physiological and neurobehavioral consequences. Brain hemorrhages, transient ischemic attacks, strokes, and seizures frequently follow cocaine use. The residual cerebropathologic consequences of cocaine are seen only in significant or pronounced brain events when structural neuroimaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are employed. However, recent research with newer functional neuroimaging techniques such as single photon emission, positron emission tomography, and quantitative electroencephalography have revealed high rates of significant alteration in brain function among cocaine users, with negative structural imaging studies. These findings are often associated with impairment on neuropsychological evaluation, also in the absence of positive findings on CT and MRI. Both cerebral metabolic and hypoperfusion anomalies are seen, especially in anterior and temporal brain regions. Observed changes can persist for months, and for some patients, may represent a permanent change in brain functioning.     

Prospective Memory Impairment in Mild Cognitive Impairment: An Analytical Review

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a heterogeneous condition characterized by the presence in an otherwise healthy elderly individual of cognitive deficits involving specific domains in the absence of significant functional impairments. Reports indicate that prospective memory (PM), that is, the ability to remember to execute delayed intentions, is impaired in individuals with MCI. The present review discusses the current debate in the literature on PM functioning in MCI by focusing on the relationship between prospective retrieval and retrospective memory functioning. Analysis of the reported evidence revealed that both the prospective component and the retrospective component of PM can be impaired in MCI. Declarative memory dysfunction may account for the retrospective memory impairment, while either reduced executive abilities or a deficit of reflexive mechanisms could explain the prospective component impairment.     

记忆提取过程中元记忆监控的实验研究

自Ebbinghaus开创记忆的实验室研究途径以来,传统的观点认为记忆是信息的存储．用词串学习的范式模拟项目记忆存储和提取的过程。而且假定了记忆的对象是相互独立的基本单元,记忆成绩是以识记的项目总数中能够提取出的正确量所占的比例来表示的．这种记忆模型被称为储藏室模型(storehouse metaphor)。这种受输入约束(input-bound)的记忆研究,直到20世纪80年代仍处于主导地位。     

Rehearsal in Spatial Working Memory: Evidence From Neuroimaging

A variety of biological evidence has identified a frontal-parietal circuit underlying spatial working memory for visual stimuli. But the question remains, how do these neural regions accomplish the goal of maintaining location information on-line? We tested the hypothesis that the active rehearsal of spatial information in working memory is accomplished by means of focal shifts of spatial selective attention to memorized locations. Spatial selective attention has been shown to cause changes in the early visual processing of stimuli that appear in attended locations. Thus, the hypothesis of attention-based rehearsal predicts similar modulations of visual processing at memorized locations. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe posterior visual activations during the performance of a spatial working memory task. In line with the hypothesis, spatial rehearsal led to enhanced activation in the early visual areas contralateral to the memorized locations.     

泛自闭症障碍执行功能的神经心理学和神经成像研究

文章主要回顾了泛自闭症障碍在四个方面的执行功能缺陷-维持注意、注意定向、反应抑制、和设置转换/认知灵活性.总括了泛自闭症障碍在这些特定的执行功能方面的神经心理学和神经成像研究,并提出了以后研究的建议.     

The Ontogenesis of Language Impairment in Autism: A Neuropsychological Perspective

Autistic Disorder (AD) is a phenotypically heterogeneous condition characterized by impairments in social interaction, communication, and the presence of repetitive behavior and restricted interests. It is a model syndrome to investigate neural interaction and integration at the nexus of language and social cognition. This paper considers the problems of language acquisition in AD from an evolutionary and ontogenetic context. Following a review of normal language development during the formative years of brain development, we examine what is known about infant linguistic and nonlinguistic precursors of language acquisition in AD and examine how anomalies of several processes relate to language abnormalities manifest by the early elementary school years. Population heterogeneity and practical limitations inherent to the study of children currently limit a comprehensive understanding of the significance of specific neurological abnormalities in relation to observed deficits. However, convergent evidence implicates anomalies of a widely distributed neural network, involving superior temporal sulcus, superior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, insula, inferior frontal gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala and cerebellum. These anomalies reflect the cumulative effects of genetic, epigenetic and environmental influences. Neuropsychological studies of language in AD provide an important means to define the phenotypic variation resulting from alterations in neural architecture. By mapping broad relationships between key symptoms, neuropsychological impairment and neural substrate, information derived from these studies enable a level of analysis that bridges the gap between the genome and the syndrome. Further study of children during the critical first 2 years of life using behavioral, electrophysiological, and functional neuroimaging methods is essential.     

Negative Emotion Enhances Memory Accuracy: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence

ABSTRACT— There have been extensive discussions about whether emotional memories contain more accurate detail than nonemotional memories do, or whether individuals simply believe that they have remembered emotional experiences more accurately. I review evidence that negative emotion enhances not only the subjective vividness of a memory but also the likelihood of remembering some (but not all) event details. I then describe neuroimaging evidence suggesting that engagement of emotion-processing regions (particularly the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex) relates to the encoding and retrieval of details intrinsically linked to negative items.     

Neuroimaging of Priming: New Perspectives on Implicit and Explicit Memory

Priming refers to a change in the ability to identify or produce an item as a consequence of a specific prior encounter. Priming has been studied extensively in cognitive studies of healthy volunteers, neuropsychological investigations of brain-damaged patients, and, more recently, studies using modern functional neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. We review recent neuroimaging studies that have converged upon the conclusion that priming is reliably accompanied by decreased activity in a variety of brain regions. The establishment of this cortical signature of priming is beginning to generate new hypotheses concerning the relation between priming and explicit retrieval, which we illustrate by considering recent experiments on within- and cross-modality priming.     

Exploring Wellbeing in Youth with Vision Impairment: Insights for Vision Rehabilitation

Applied Research in Quality of Life - This article explores the discussions of 21 young Australians (aged 12–25) with vision impairment regarding their lived experiences and what it meant for...     

客体记忆能力与元记忆能力发展的比较

采用2×3×2混合设计,以任务难度预见(EOL)和提取自信度判断(JOC)等级和记忆成绩及两者间的相关为指标,探讨老年人和青年人客体记忆能力的发展与元记忆能力的发展之间的差异.研究结果:(1)记忆能力随龄老化.元记忆能力随龄不变.(2)提取方式影响记忆成绩和EOL准确性,不影响JOC准确性.(3)记忆监测种类对记忆监测准确性有影响.     

上下文熟悉效应对元记忆监测和记忆的影响

在认知任务中,伴随编码和检索的外围信息被称为上下文,其本身并不是编码或检索的目标。如果学习时的上下文在其后进行提取时重复出现,不管是否对应之前的学习项目,都会增加个体再认正确的概率。这种由于上下文增强项目熟悉感而促进记忆效果的现象就称为上下文熟悉效应。本研究通过两个实验探究上下文熟悉效应对元记忆监测及记忆的影响机制。其中,元记忆监测是以学习判断和信心判断为指标。记忆成绩则是以再认正确率为指标。研究结果显示:第一,上下文熟悉效应影响元记忆监测:学习判断等级上,恢复条件显著高于新条件,且不受任务难度影响; 信心判断等级上,简单任务时恢复条件与新条件无显著差异,困难任务时恢复条件显著高于新条件。第二,上下文熟悉效应影响记忆成绩:再认成绩上,简单任务时新条件显著高于恢复条件; 困难任务时恢复条件显著高于新条件。研究得出结论:上下文熟悉效应对元记忆监测和记忆都有显著影响,任务难度起调节作用。     

A Patient-Tailored Evidence-Based Approach for Developing Early Neuropsychological Training Programs in Addiction Settings

Neuropsychology Review - Substance use disorders (SUDs) are associated with impairments of cognitive functions, and cognitive training programs are thus rapidly developing in SUD treatment....     

Subtypes of Psychopathology in Children Referred for Neuropsychological Assessment

The validity of a Personality Inventory for Children-Revised edition (PIC-R) typology was examined in a sample of 323 children aged 6–16 years. These children had been referred to a children's mental health centre for neuropsychological assessment. In study 1, K-means cluster analysis (k = 12) was applied to the PIC clinical scales in an attempt to replicate the 12 clusters identified by Gdowski, Lachar, and Kline (1985). Partial cluster replication was achieved. Examination of the obtained clusters revealed significant overlap, suggesting that fewer clusters would represent an optimal solution. In study 2, a two-stage cluster analysis yielded a seven-cluster solution consistent with several key forms of psychopathology previously reported in the literature using specific neuropsychological populations. Identified subtypes included profiles characterized as: normal, cognitive deficit, cognitive deficit with internalized psychopathology, cognitive deficit with social impairment, cognitive deficit with hyperactivity, cognitive deficit with both internalized and externalized psychopathology, and combined internalized and externalized psychopathology without a cognitive deficit component.     

虚拟现实技术应用于神经心理评估的研究概述

传统神经心理评估的实验控制和生态效度的平衡问题日益受到研究人员的关注,而新兴的虚拟现实(Virtual Reality,VR)技术为问题的改善带来了希望,它不仅可以模拟现实环境并支持被试的直接交互,而且能对传统测试进行再现和扩展。它所形成的评估系统能对刺激的内容和表象、任务的复杂度和被试的响应进行灵活控制,所获取的信息更丰富、准确。在初步评估注意过程(注意、单侧空间忽略)、记忆(前瞻记忆、情景记忆、空间记忆、地形定向)和执行功能方面已获得了令人满意的效果。然而目前VR评估的应用仍存在技术和设备方面的不足,以及对评估者和被试不同操作要求的局限,因此今后除了要规范化现有VR评估系统,还应该进一步发展基础条件来推动系统的广泛应用。     

Metamemory and Learning in Maharashtrian Children: Influences from Home and School

In this study, the influence of home environment variables on metamemory, learning, and achievement in children from Nagpur, India, was examined. First- and third-graders (N = 30) were tested on intelligence, metamemory, and memory tasks. Mothers were interviewed using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Scale, an Indian measure of socioeconomic status, and the Ravens IQ scale. Teachers were interviewed to assess classroom environments and metacognitive instructional styles. Results pointed to the importance of the home environment and the richness of children's metamemories as factors that influence performance on laboratory tasks and academic achievement. The interactive effects of school and home as determinants of cognitive and metacognitive development were discussed.