The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to evaluate the scaling assumptions and component structure of and present normative data for the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) using a sample of US ...adults (N = 503), both overall and across demographic subgroups and (b) to provide new data regarding the relationship between the two RSES subcomponents of self-competence (SC) and self-liking (SL), and other demographic and clinical variables. As hypothesized, all psychometric tests supported the underlying structure of the RSES. Overall RSES scores varied significantly across age, racial and ethnic, education, employment status, income, and marital status groups. Furthermore, differences between SC and SL were also found across groups differing in gender, age, employment status, and marital status groups. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed, with an emphasis on clinical relevance.
Growing evidence has linked cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) to more conserved white matter (WM) microstructure. Additional research is needed to determine which WM tracts are most strongly related to ...CRF and if the neuroprotective effects of CRF are age-dependent. Participants were community-dwelling adults (N = 499; ages 20−85) from the open-access Nathan Kline Institute – Rockland Sample (NKI-RS) with CRF (bike test) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data. Mixed-effect modeling tested the interaction between CRF and age on global (main effect across 9 tracts) and local (individual tract effects) WM microstructure. Among older participants (age ≥ 60), CRF was significantly related to whole-brain (z-score slope = 0.11) and local WM microstructure within several tracts (| z-score slope | range = 0.13 – 0.27). Significant interactions with age indicated that the CRF–WM relationship was weaker (z-score slope ≤ 0.11) and more limited (one WM tract) in younger adults. The findings highlight the importance of aerobic exercise to maintain brain health into senescence. CRF may preferentially preserve a collection of anterior and posterior WM connections related to visuomotor function.
•Age-related memory complaints in hypertensives are mediated by right hippocampal volume.•Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is linked to preserved white matter (WM) in aging.•The CRFWM relationship was stronger and more widely distributed in older adults.•CRF had a weaker and more limited association to WM in younger adults.•CRF preserves WM anterior and posterior tracts related to visuomotor function.
The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is assumed to measure executive functioning, but this has not been empirically tested by means of both convergent and discriminant validity. We used structural equation ...modeling (SEM) to test whether the IGT is an executive function (EF) task (convergent validity) and whether it is not related to other neuropsychological domains (discriminant validity). Healthy community-dwelling participants (N = 214) completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. We analyzed the conventional IGT metric and three alternative metrics based on the overall difference of advantageous minus disadvantageous choices made during the last 60 IGT responses and advantageous minus disadvantageous choices based on two specific decks of cards (D minus A). An a priori six-factor hierarchical model of neuropsychological functioning was confirmed with SEM. Attention and processing speed were grouped as "non-associative" factors. Fluency, executive functioning, visual learning/memory, and verbal learning/memory were grouped as higher-level "associative" factors. Of the non-associative factors, attention, but not speed, predicted IGT performance. When each associative factor was entered along with attention, only EF improved the model fit and that was only for metrics based on trials 41-100. SEM indicates metrics based on trails 1-100 are influenced by attention, and metrics based on trails 41-100 are influenced by attention and EF. Its associative strength with attention is twice that of EF. Conceptually, the IGT is a multi-trait task involving novel problem-solving and attentional domains to a greater extent, and executive functioning to a lesser extent.
•Group connectometry study of family history of substance dependence.•Family history related to reduced white matter density compared to matched controls.•Identified tracts connect regions associated ...with cue reactivity and reward signals.•The relationship between brain and behavior differed between groups.•Results build on the literature with first density based measurements.
Heredity is an important risk factor for alcoholism. Several studies have been conducted on small groups of alcohol naïve adolescents which show lowered fractional anisotropy of frontal white matter in individuals with a family history of alcohol and substance use disorder (FH+). We compare large adult FH+ and FH− groups using white matter connectometry, different from the previously used global tractography method, as it is more sensitive to regional variability. Imaging and behavioral data from the Human Connectome Project (WU-MINN HCP 1200) was analyzed. Groups of participants were positive (n = 109) and negative (n = 109) for self-reported alcohol and substance use disorders in at least one parent, and stringently matched. Connectometry was performed on diffusion MRI in DSI-Studio using q-space diffeomorphic reconstruction, and multiple regression was completed with 5000 permutations. Analyses showed decreased major tract (>40 mm) connectivity in the FH+ group in left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral cortico-striatal pathway, left cortico-thalamic pathway, and corpus callosum, compared to the FH− group. For cognitive tasks related to reward processing, inhibition, and monitoring, there were a number of interactions, such that the relationship between identified tracts and behavior differed significantly between groups. Self-reported family history was associated with decreased connectivity in reward signaling pathways, controlling for alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder. This is the first connectometry study of FH+, and extends the neural basis of the hereditary diathesis of alcoholism beyond that demonstrated with global tractography. Regions associated with FH+ are similar to those associated with alcohol use disorder.
Objective:The neural architecture of executive function is of interest given its utility as a transdiagnostic predictor of adaptive functioning. However, a gap exists in the meta-analytic literature ...assessing this relationship in neuropsychiatric populations, concordance between structural and functional architecture, and the relationship with neuropsychological assessment of executive function. Given the importance of the central executive network (CEN) in Alzheimer’s disease, this population may be useful in understanding this relationship in Alzheimer’s disease pathology.Methods:A meta-analysis of studies (k=21) was conducted to elucidate the relationship between executive function and CEN for structural architecture (k=10; N=1,027) among patients with Alzheimer’s disease (k=6; N=250) and healthy control subjects (HCs) (k=4; N=777) and for functional architecture (k=11; N=522) among patients with Alzheimer’s disease (k=6; N=306) and HCs (k=5; N=216). Random-effects modeling was used to increase accuracy of conclusions about population means.Results:Analyses revealed a positive brain-behavior relationship (pr=0.032, 95% CI=0.07, 0.54), although there was a lack of statistically significant heterogeneity between functional and structural neuroimaging (Q=9.89, p=0.971, I2=0.00%) and between the Alzheimer’s and HC groups in functional (Q=8.18, p=0.612, I2=0.00%) and structural (Q=1.60, p=0.996, I2=0.00%) neuroimaging. Similarly, a lack of statistically significant heterogeneity was revealed between functional and structural neuroimaging among patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Q=3.59, p=0.980, I2=0.00%) and HCs (Q=3.67, p=0.885, I2=0.00%).Conclusions:Structural and functional imaging in the CEN are predictive of executive function performance among patients with Alzheimer’s disease and HCs. Regardless of how the CEN is affected, behavior is correlated to the degree to which the CEN is affected. Findings are significant in the context of methodological decisions in multimodal neuroimaging research.
Objective: Designed to measure a diversity of executive functioning (EF) through classical neuropsychological tests, the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Scale (D-KEFS) allows for the investigation of ...the neural architecture of EF. We examined how the D-KEFS Tower, Verbal Fluency, Design Fluency, Color-Word Interference, and Trail Making Test tasks related to frontal lobe volumes, quantifying the regional specificity of EF components. Method: Adults from the Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland Sample (NKI-RS), an open-access community study of brain development, with complete MRI (3T scanner) and D-KEFS data were selected for analysis (N = 478; ages 20-85). In a mixed-effects model predicting volume, D-KEFS task, D-KEFS score, region of interest (ROI; 13 frontal, 1 occipital control), were entered as fixed effects with intercepts for participants as random effects. Results: "Unitary" EF (aggregate of D-KEFS scores) was positively associated with superior frontal, rostral middle frontal, and lateral orbitofrontal volumes; a negative association was observed with frontal pole volume (| z-score slope | range = 0.040 to 0.051). "Diverse" EF skills (individual D-KEFS task scores) were differentially associated with two or three ROIs, respectively, but to a stronger extent (| z-score slope | range = 0.053 to 0.103). Conclusions: The neural correlates found for the D-KEFS support the prefrontal modularity of both unitary (aspects of EF ability common to all tasks) and diverse EF. Our findings contribute to emerging evidence that aggregate measurements of EF may serve broader but less robust frontal neural correlates than distinct EF skills.
General Scientific Summary
Our results support the relationship between larger lateral prefrontal cortex and greater executive function. An aggregate of executive function performance, which was broadly associated with the prefrontal cortex, may be ideal for assessing diffuse frontal lobe damage (e.g., hypoxia). Individual executive functions, which were more narrowly but strongly related to specific prefrontal regions, could be better for assessing the effects of localized brain injuries (e.g., tumor).
Both executive dysfunction (ED), measured by performance-based tasks, and dysexecutive behavior (DB), measured by behavioral rating scales, contribute to late-life depression and comorbid disability. ...There is a modest positive association of ED and DB, but less is known about their relative contributions to core aspects of neuropsychiatric conditions and whether they provide unique or redundant information.
Latent variable analyses were applied to ED, DB, depression, and disability data from 220 older patients with major depression and ED who had been enrolled in a psychosocial treatment study of depression. ED measures included the Trail Making Test, part B, Stroop Color Word Interference Test, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Trail 1. The ED scale from the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale, self and other-rated, served as the ratings-based measure of DB.
The measurement model, with all four latent variables related to one another, demonstrated good fit (RMSEA=0.06). In the structural models, DB was associated with both depression (β=0.61) and disability (β=0.42), whereas ED was associated with depression (β=0.43) but not disability (β=0.16). Social problem-solving accounted for 49% of the influence of DB on late-life depression, whereas ED was not related to social problem-solving.
ED and the lesser studied DB measures offer unique and complementary information. DB was robustly associated with late-life depression and disability. Patients with depression and ED may be more likely to develop disability when they exhibit DB and social problem-solving difficulties.
Assessing the dysexecutive syndrome in dementia Gansler, David A; Huey, Edward D; Pan, Jessica J ...
Journal of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry,
03/2017, Letnik:
88, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
We compared performance on tests of dysexecutive behaviour (DB) and executive function (EF) in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and ...corticobasal syndrome (CBS).
Patients diagnosed with bvFTD (n=124), PPA (n=34) and CBS (n=85) were recruited. EF was measured with the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS: performance based), and DB was measured with the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe: caregiver-report based). Confirmatory factor analysis characterised the relationship between EF and DB, binary logistic regression evaluated the incremental diagnostic utility of the measures and neuroimaging data from 110 patients identified neural correlates.
EF was lowest and DB was highest in bvFTD participants. EF and DB were distinct but related (r=-0.48). Measures correctly classified 89% of bvFTD from CBS patients and 93% of bvFTD from PPA patients-30% and 13% above base rates (59%, 80%), respectively. All modalities were useful in identifying CBS and PPA, whereas DB alone was useful for identifying bvFTD. EF was uniquely associated with caudal left dorsolateral prefrontal and lateral temporo-parietal cortices. DB was uniquely associated with the cingulate (R>L), right subcallosal and right anterior frontal cortex. EF and DB were associated with the rostral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally.
EF and DB measures displayed criterion and construct validity, had incremental utility at low DB levels (CBS and PPA) and were associated with overlapping and distinct neural correlates. EF and DB procedures can conjointly provide useful diagnostic and descriptive information in identifying and ruling out the dysexecutive syndrome.
Objective: We sought to derive a 'neuropsychological intelligence quotient' (NIQ) to replace IQ testing in some routine assessments. Method: We administered neuropsychological testing and a ...seven-subtest short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale to a community sample of 394 adults aged 18-96 years. We regressed Wechsler Full Scale IQs (W-FSIQ) on 23 neuropsychological scores and derived an NIQ from 9 measures that explained significant variance in W-FSIQ. We then compared subgroups of 284 healthy and 108 unhealthy participants in NIQ and W-FSIQ to assess criterion validity, correlated NIQ and W-FSIQ scores with education level and independence for activities of daily living to assess convergent validity, and compared validity coefficients for the NIQ with those of 'hold' and 'no-hold' indices. Results: By design, NIQ and W-FSIQ scores correlated highly (r = .84), and both were higher in healthy participants. The difference was larger for NIQ, which accounted for more variability in activities of daily living. The NIQ and 'no-hold' index were better predicted by health status and less predicted by educational status than the 'hold' index. Conclusions: We constructed an NIQ that correlates highly with Wechsler FSIQ. Tests required to obtain NIQ are commonly used and can be administered in about 45 min. Validity properties of NIQ and W-FSIQ are similar. The NIQ bore greater resemblance to a 'no-hold' than 'hold' index. One can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of current Full Scale IQ without formal intelligence testing from a brief neuropsychological battery.
Introduction
In middle age, declines in executive functioning (EF) are associated with decrements in the quality and/or quantity of white and grey matter. Recruitment of homologous regions has been ...identified as a compensatory mechanism for cognitive decline in later middle age; however, research into neural substrates of EF has yet to be guided by dedifferentiation models. We hypothesized that frontal‐parietal grey matter volume, interhemispheric white matter, and intrahemispheric white matter fractional anisotropy will be predictive of EF. Further, we hypothesized that the comparative association between interhemispheric white matter and EF will increase with age, because of compensatory recruitment.
Methods
Neurocognitive test data, DTI, and T1 MPRAGE scans (n = 444) were obtained from the NKI‐Rockland Sample. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between age, EF, interhemispheric white matter (forceps minor; FM), intrahemispheric white matter (superior longitudinal fasciculus; SLF), and a frontal‐parietal grey matter network. EF and grey matter were modelled as latent variables, with EF examined as the criterion. Additionally, a subsample of participants aged 55 to 85 (n = 168) was analyzed to examine the influence of age related compensatory mechanisms.
Results
There was a significant relationship between FM, grey matter, and EF, which was fully mediated by age. There was a significant relationship between SLF and EF, which was not mediated by age. For older adults, only the age‐mediated pathway from FM to EF was significant.
Discussion
Using structural imaging data, support was found for age‐related interhemispheric mechanisms of compensation, but not intrahemispheric mechanisms.
PDF
