Math anxiety and deficient executive control: does reappraisal modulate this link?

The literature suggests an interplay between executive control functions and emotion regulation processes, with each playing a key role in math anxiety. We examined the relation between the use of two different emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal and suppression) and the ability to reduce emotional interference in high‐conflict situations (i.e., executive control of attention) in cases of math anxiety. A sample of 107 adults completed emotion regulation tendencies and math anxiety questionnaires and performed a flanker task following the priming of a math‐related or negative word. The findings revealed: (1) highly math‐anxious individuals had difficulty controlling emotional distractions induced by math information, even as simple as math‐related words, in high‐conflict conditions; and (2) the tendency to use reappraisal in everyday situations was associated with math‐anxious individuals’ ability to avoid heightened emotional reactions when encountering math‐related (i.e., threatening) information. These findings point to the efficacy of reappraisal‐focused intervention and suggest an innovative mechanism through which reappraisal reduces emotional reactions and improves performance among math‐anxious individuals, indicating a new way to approach interventions for math anxiety.

Longitudinal associations between executive control and body mass index across childhood

BACKGROUND

Childhood obesity remains a prevalent public health concern. Executive control, a set of higher-order cognitive abilities for directing attention and behaviour, has been identified as a malleable factor potentially related to weight outcomes in youth. However, the directionality of this relationship remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES

This study examined reciprocal associations between three executive control components-inhibitory control, working memory and flexible shifting-and BMI (body mass index) percentile during childhood.

METHODS

At four points throughout elementary school, a community sample (N = 294) completed executive control tasks and had their height and weight objectively measured. Controlling for sex and socioeconomic risk status, random intercept cross-lagged panel models were tested.

RESULTS

Better inhibitory control performance predicted lower subsequent BMI at each timepoint, and better working memory and flexible shifting performance in grade three both predicted lower subsequent BMI in grade 4. However, BMI did not predict subsequent executive control performance at any timepoint.

CONCLUSIONS

Executive control abilities, including automatic response modulation, being able to hold and manipulate mental information, and being able to make flexible mental transitions, may be protective against weight problems, particularly in middle childhood when these abilities have had more time to mature and children begin to gain more independence.

Executive Functions and Impulsivity as Transdiagnostic Correlates of Psychopathology in Childhood: A Behavioral Genetic Analysis

Executive functions (EFs) and impulsivity are dimensions of self-regulation that are both related to psychopathology. However, self-report measures of impulsivity and laboratory EF tasks typically display small correlations, and existing research indicates that impulsivity and EFs may tap separate aspects of self-regulation that independently statistically predict psychopathology in adulthood. However, relationships between EFs, impulsivity, and psychopathology may be different in childhood compared to adulthood. Here, we examine whether these patterns hold in the baseline assessment of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) sample, a national sample of over 11,000 children (including 749 twin pairs) ages 9-10 years. We examine the phenotypic and genetic relationships among latent variables for different components of EFs and multiple facets of impulsivity. Additionally, we assess how EFs and impulsivity relate to composite measures and latent variables of psychopathology derived from parent report. EFs were weakly correlated with impulsivity, and the strength varied by impulsivity facet, emphasizing their separability. We did not identify significant genetic and environmental correlations between EFs and impulsivity. Moreover, controlling for their small relationships with each other, both EFs and some facets of impulsivity statistically predicted an Externalizing factor, attention problems, and social problems, and twin analyses suggested these relationships were genetic in origin. These findings indicate that EFs and impulsivity represent phenotypically and genetically separable aspects of self-regulation that are both transdiagnostic correlates of psychopathology in childhood.

The Role of the Interaction between the Inferior Parietal Lobule and Superior Temporal Gyrus in the Multisensory Go/No-go Task

Information from multiple sensory modalities interacts. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we aimed to identify the neural structures correlated with how cooccurring sound modulates the visual motor response execution. The reaction time (RT) to audiovisual stimuli was significantly faster than the RT to visual stimuli. Signal detection analyses showed no significant difference in the perceptual sensitivity (d') between audiovisual and visual stimuli, while the response criteria (β or c) of the audiovisual stimuli was decreased compared to the visual stimuli. The functional connectivity between the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) was enhanced in Go processing compared with No-go processing of audiovisual stimuli. Furthermore, the left precentral gyrus (PreCG) showed enhanced functional connectivity with the bilateral STG and other areas of the ventral stream in Go processing compared with No-go processing of audiovisual stimuli. These results revealed that the neuronal network correlated with modulations of the motor response execution after the presentation of both visual stimuli along with cooccurring sound in a multisensory Go/Nogo task, including the left IPL, left PreCG, bilateral STG and some areas of the ventral stream. The role of the interaction between the IPL and STG in transforming audiovisual information into motor behavior is discussed. The current study provides a new perspective for exploring potential brain mechanisms underlying how humans execute appropriate behaviors on the basis of multisensory information.

Baseline capacities and motivation in executive control training of healthy older adults

OBJECTIVES

Normal aging involves progressive prefrontal declines and impairments in executive control. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of an executive-control training focusing on working memory and inhibition, in healthy older adults, and to explore the role of individual differences in baseline capacities and motivation in explaining training gains.

METHODS

Forty-four healthy older adults were randomly assigned to an experimental (training executive control) or active control group (training processing speed). Participants completed six online training sessions distributed across two weeks. Transfer effects to working memory (Operation Span test), response inhibition (Stop-Signal test), processing speed (Pattern Comparison) and reasoning (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and Cattell Culture Fair test) were evaluated. Furthermore, we explored individual differences in baseline capacities and assessed motivation during and after the intervention.

RESULTS

The experimental group, but not the active control, showed significant transfer to response inhibition. Moreover, a general compensation effect was found: older adults with lower baseline capacities achieved higher levels of training improvement. Motivation was not related to training performance.

CONCLUSION

Our results encourage the use of executive control training to improve cognitive functions, reveal the importance of individual differences in training-related gains, and provide further support for cognitive plasticity during healthy aging.

Reward Value Enhances Sequence Monitoring Ramping Dynamics as Ending Rewards Approach in the Rostrolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Many fundamental human behaviors contain multiple sequences performed to reach a desired outcome, such as cooking. Reward is inherently associated with sequence completion and has been shown to generally enhance cognitive control. However, the impact of reward on cognitive sequence processing remains unexplored. To address this key question, we focused on the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC). This area is necessary and exhibits increasing (“ramping”) activation during sequences, a dynamic that may be related to reward processing in other brain regions. To separate these dynamics, we designed a task where reward was only provided after multiple four-item sequences (“iterations”), rather than each individual sequence. Using fMRI in humans, we investigated three possible interactions of reward and sequential control signals in RLPFC: (1) with the visibility of sequential cues, i.e., memory; (2) equally across individual sequence iterations; and (3) differently across individual sequence iterations (e.g., increasing as reward approaches). Evidence from previous, nonsequential cognitive control experiments suggested that reward would uniformly change RLPFC activity across iterations and may depend on the visibility of cues. However, we found the influence of reward on RLPFC ramping increased across sequence iterations and did not interact with memory. These results suggest an active, predictive, and distinctive role for RLPFC in sequence monitoring and integration of reward information, consistent with extant literature demonstrating similar accelerating reward-related dopamine dynamics in regions connected to RLPFC. These results have implications for understanding sequential behavior in daily life, and when they go awry in disorders such as addiction.

Alpha oscillations in left perisylvian cortices support semantic processing and predict performance

Semantic processing is the ability to discern and maintain conceptual relationships among words and objects. While the neural circuits serving semantic representation and controlled retrieval are well established, the neuronal dynamics underlying these processes are poorly understood. Herein, we examined 25 healthy young adults who completed a semantic relation word-matching task during magnetoencephalography (MEG). MEG data were examined in the time-frequency domain and significant oscillatory responses were imaged using a beamformer. Whole-brain statistical analyses were conducted to compare semantic-related to length-related neural oscillatory responses. Time series were extracted to visualize the dynamics and were linked to task performance using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that participants had significantly longer reaction times in semantic compared to length trials. Robust MEG responses in the theta (3-6 Hz), alpha (10-16 Hz), and gamma (64-76 Hz and 64-94 Hz) bands were observed in parieto-occipital and frontal cortices. Whole-brain analyses revealed stronger alpha oscillations in a left-lateralized network during semantically related relative to length trials. Importantly, stronger alpha oscillations in the left superior temporal gyrus during semantic trials predicted faster responses. These data reinforce existing literature and add novel temporal evidence supporting the executive role of the semantic control network in behavior.

The cortical connectome of primate lateral prefrontal cortex

The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) of primates plays an important role in executive control, but how it interacts with the rest of the cortex remains unclear. To address this, we densely mapped the cortical connectome of LPFC, using electrical microstimulation combined with functional MRI (EM-fMRI). We found isomorphic mappings between LPFC and five major processing domains composing most of the cerebral cortex except early sensory and motor areas. An LPFC grid of ∼200 stimulation sites topographically mapped to separate grids of activation sites in the five domains, coarsely resembling how the visual cortex maps the retina. The temporal and parietal maps largely overlapped in LPFC, suggesting topographically organized convergence of the ventral and dorsal streams, and the other maps overlapped at least partially. Thus, the LPFC contains overlapping, millimeter-scale maps that mirror the organization of major cortical processing domains, supporting LPFC's role in coordinating activity within and across these domains.

The Effects of Bilateral and Ipsilateral Auditory Stimuli on the Subcomponents of Visual Attention

Attention contains three functional network subcomponents of alerting, orienting, and executive control. The attention network test (ANT) is usually used to measure the efficiency of three attention subcomponents. Previous researches have focused on examining the unimodal attention with visual or auditory ANT paradigms. However, it is still unclear how an auditory stimulus influences the visual attention networks. This study investigated the effects of bilateral auditory stimuli (Experiment 1) and ipsilateral auditory stimulus (Experiment 2) on the visual attention subcomponents. We employed an ANT paradigm and manipulated the target modality types, including visual and audiovisual modalities. The participants were instructed to distinguish the direction of the central arrow surrounded by distractor arrows. In Experiment 1, we found that the simultaneous bilateral auditory stimuli reduced the efficiency of visual alerting and orienting, but had no significant effect on the efficiency of visual executive control. In Experiment 2, the ipsilateral auditory stimulus reduced the efficiency of visual executive control, but had no significant effect on the efficiency of visual alerting and orienting. We also observed a reduced relative multisensory response enhancement (rMRE) effect in cue condition relative to no cue condition (Experiment 1), and an increased rMRE effect in congruent condition compared with incongruent condition (Experiment 2). These results firstly provide evidence for the alerting, orienting and executive control effects in audiovisual condition. And the bilateral and ipsilateral auditory stimuli have different effects on the subcomponents of visual attention.

What Are the Kids Doing? Exploring Young Children's Activities at Home and Relations with Externally Cued Executive Function and Child Temperament

Young children spend a lot of time at home, yet there is little empirical research on how they spend that time and how it relates to developmental outcomes. Prior research suggests less-structured time - where children practice making choices and setting goals - may develop self-directed executive function in 6-year-olds. But less-structured time may be related to executive function for other reasons - for example, because less-structured time provides opportunities to acquire conceptual knowledge relevant to using executive function on tasks. We thus tested the possibility that less-structured time is also related to younger children's externally cued executive function. In this remote online study, caregivers of 93 3- to 5-year-olds indicated the amount of time their child was typically spending in various activities while at home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Activities were categorized as structured (primarily lessons with specific goals defined by adults or an app), less-structured (wide range of activities permitting choice and interaction with caregiver), passive (e.g., watching TV or videos), and primarily physical (e.g., bike riding). Children's externally cued executive function was assessed via the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS). Time and variety in less-structured activities were related to successful switching on the DCCS, controlling for age, family income, caregiver education, and verbal knowledge. Caregivers were more involved in less-structured versus structured activities. Caregiver ratings of children's temperament were related to how children's time was spent. These findings suggest several new avenues for studying young children's activities at home and their relations with developmental outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Genetic and environmental influences on executive functions and intelligence in middle childhood

Executive functions (EFs) and intelligence (IQ) are phenotypically correlated. In twin studies, latent variables for EFs and IQ display moderate to high heritability estimates; however, they show variable genetic correlations in twin studies spanning childhood to middle age. We analyzed data from over 11,000 children (9- to 10-year-olds, including 749 twin pairs) in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to examine the phenotypic and genetic relations between EFs and IQ in childhood. We identified two EF factors-Common EF and Updating-Specific-which were both related to IQ (rs = 0.64-0.81). Common EF and IQ were heritable (53%-67%), and their genetic correlation (rG = 0.86) was not significantly different than 1. These results suggest that EFs and IQ are phenotypically but not genetically separable in middle childhood, meaning that this phenotypic separability may be influenced by environmental factors.

Influence of body mobility on attention networks in school-aged prematurely born children: A controlled trial

School-aged prematurely born children (PC) have a higher risk of academic difficulties, which may be partly explained by attention difficulties. It has been suggested that children's attentional performance might be influenced by their body posture and spontaneous body motion. The aim of this study (ClinicalTrials.gov - NCT03125447) was to test the influence of three body mobility conditions on the three functions of attention (alertness, orienting, and executive control) among school-aged PC vs. term-born children (TC). Notably, 21 PC and 21 TC performed the Attention Network Test for Children in three body mobility conditions, namely, sitting and standing imposed fixed postures and a free-to-move condition. The children's median reaction times were compared between trials (1) with and without alerting cues, (2) with valid and invalid orienting cues, and (3) with and without distracting information, to calculate the performance of alertness, orienting, and executive control, respectively. Results showed that with distracting information, PC exhibited significantly slower responses in the standing-still posture than in the sitting-still posture (1,077 ± 240 vs. 1,175 ± 273 ms, p < 0.05), but not TC. No difference was observed with the free-to-move condition. PC and TC did not significantly differ in alertness or orienting, regardless of body mobility condition. These data suggest that PC must use executive resources to stand still and maintain position, which impairs their performance during executive tasks. We speculate that these results may be related to less developed postural control and motor inhibition in PC.

Growth trajectories of cognitive and motor control in adolescence: How much is development and how much is practice?

OBJECTIVE

Executive control continues to develop throughout adolescence and is vulnerable to alcohol use. Although longitudinal assessment is ideal for tracking executive function development and onset of alcohol use, prior testing experience must be distinguished from developmental trajectories.

METHOD

We used the Stroop Match-to-Sample task to examine the improvement of processing speed and specific cognitive and motor control over 4 years in 445 adolescents. The twice-minus-once-tested method was used and expanded to four test sessions to delineate prior experience (i.e., learning) from development. A General Additive Model evaluated the predictive value of age and sex on executive function development and potential influences of alcohol use on development.

RESULTS

Results revealed strong learning between the first two assessments. Adolescents significantly improved their speed processing over 4 years. Compared with boys, girls enhanced ability to control cognitive interference and motor reactions. Finally, the influence of alcohol use initiation was tested over 4 years for development in 110 no/low, 110 moderate/heavy age- and sex-matched drinkers; alcohol effects were not detected in the matched groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Estimation of learning effects is crucial for examining developmental changes longitudinally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Electroencephalography Correlates of Well-Being Using a Low-Cost Wearable System

Electroencephalography (EEG) alpha asymmetry is thought to reflect crucial brain processes underlying executive control, motivation, and affect. It has been widely used in psychopathology and, more recently, in novel neuromodulation studies. However, inconsistencies remain in the field due to the lack of consensus in methodological approaches employed and the recurrent use of small samples. Wearable technologies ease the collection of large and diversified EEG datasets that better reflect the general population, allow longitudinal monitoring of individuals, and facilitate real-world experience sampling. We tested the feasibility of using a low-cost wearable headset to collect a relatively large EEG database (N = 230, 22-80 years old, 64.3% female), and an open-source automatic method to preprocess it. We then examined associations between well-being levels and the alpha center of gravity (CoG) as well as trait EEG asymmetries, in the frontal and temporoparietal (TP) areas. Robust linear regression models did not reveal an association between well-being and alpha (8-13 Hz) asymmetry in the frontal regions, nor with the CoG. However, well-being was associated with alpha asymmetry in the TP areas (i.e., corresponding to relatively less left than right TP cortical activity as well-being levels increased). This effect was driven by oscillatory activity in lower alpha frequencies (8-10.5 Hz), reinforcing the importance of dissociating sub-components of the alpha band when investigating alpha asymmetries. Age was correlated with both well-being and alpha asymmetry scores, but gender was not. Finally, EEG asymmetries in the other frequency bands were not associated with well-being, supporting the specific role of alpha asymmetries with the brain mechanisms underlying well-being levels. Interpretations, limitations, and recommendations for future studies are discussed. This paper presents novel methodological, experimental, and theoretical findings that help advance human neurophysiological monitoring techniques using wearable neurotechnologies and increase the feasibility of their implementation into real-world applications.

On the Connection Between Language Control and Executive Control-An ERP Study

Models vary in the extent to which language control processes are domain general. Those that posit that language control is at least partially domain general insist on an overlap between language control and executive control at the goal level. To further probe whether or not language control is domain general, we conducted the first event-related potential (ERP) study that directly compares language-switch costs, as an index of language control, and task-switch costs, as an index of executive control. The language switching and task switching methodologies were identical, except that the former required switching between languages (English or Spanish) whereas the latter required switching between tasks (color naming or category naming). This design allowed us to directly compare control processes at the goal level (cue-locked ERPs) and at the task performance level (picture-locked ERPs). We found no significant differences in the switch-related cue-locked and picture-locked ERP patterns across the language and task switching paradigms. These results support models of domain-general language control.

Mindfulness Meditation Improves Musical Aesthetic Emotion Processing in Young Adults

This study explored the behavioral and neural correlates of mindfulness meditation improvement in musical aesthetic emotion processing (MAEP) in young adults, using the revised across-modal priming paradigm. Sixty-two participants were selected from 652 college students who assessed their mindfulness traits using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). According to the 27% ratio of the high and low total scores, participants were divided into two subgroups: high trait group (n = 31) and low trait group (n = 31). Participants underwent facial recognition and emotional arousal tasks while listening to music, and simultaneously recorded event-related potentials (ERPs). The N400, P3, and late positive component (LPC) were investigated. The behavioral results showed that mindfulness meditation improved executive control abilities in emotional face processing and effectively regulated the emotional arousal of repeated listening to familiar music among young adults. These improvements were associated with positive changes in key neural signatures of facial recognition (smaller P3 and larger LPC effects) and emotional arousal (smaller N400 and larger LPC effects). Our results show that P3, N400, and LPC are important neural markers for the improvement of executive control and regulating emotional arousal in musical aesthetic emotion processing, providing new evidence for exploring attention training and emotional processing. We revised the affecting priming paradigm and E-prime 3.0 procedure to fulfill the simultaneous measurement of music listening and experimental tasks and provide a new experimental paradigm to simultaneously detect the behavioral and neural correlates of mindfulness-based musical aesthetic processing.

Differential Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Disease Is Predicted by Changes in Ventricular Size but Moderated by Apolipoprotein E and Pulse Pressure

BACKGROUND

Differential cognitive trajectories in Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be predicted by biomarkers from multiple domains.

OBJECTIVE

In a longitudinal sample of AD and AD-related dementias patients (n = 312), we tested whether 1) change in brain morphometry (ventricular enlargement) predicts differential cognitive trajectories, 2) further risk is contributed by genetic (Apolipoprotein E [APOE] ɛ4+) and vascular (pulse pressure [PP]) factors separately, and 3) the genetic + vascular risk moderates this pattern.

METHODS

We applied a dynamic computational approach (parallel process models) to test both concurrent and change-related associations between predictor (ventricular size) and cognition (executive function [EF]/attention). We then tested these associations as stratified by APOE (ɛ4-/ɛ4+), PP (low/high), and APOE+ PP (low/intermediate/high) risk.

RESULTS

First, concurrently, higher ventricular size predicted lower EF/attention performance and, longitudinally, increasing ventricular size predicted steeper EF/attention decline. Second, concurrently, higher ventricular size predicted lower EF/attention performance selectively in APOEɛ4+ carriers, and longitudinally, increasing ventricular size predicted steeper EF/attention decline selectively in the low PP group. Third, ventricular size and EF/attention associations were absent in the high APOE+ PP risk group both concurrently and longitudinally.

CONCLUSION

As AD progresses, a threshold effect may be present in which ventricular enlargement in the context of exacerbated APOE+ PP risk does not produce further cognitive decline.

Body Mobility and Attention Networks in 6- to 7-Year-Old Children

Learning in 6- to 7-year-old children is strongly influenced by three functions of attention: alertness, orienting, and executive control. These functions share a close relationship with body mobility, such as the posture adopted or a request to stay still during tasks. The aim of this study (ClinicalTrials.gov) was to analyze the influence of body posture (standing versus sitting) and the influence of these imposed postures compared to a free body mobility on attention functions in 6- to 7-year-old children. Twenty-one children (11 girls) with a mean age of 6.7±0.6years performed the Attention Network Test for Children in three-body mobility conditions: sitting still, standing still, and free to move. Three attentional scores were calculated which would separately reflect performance of alertness, orienting, and executive control. Overall, no difference in alertness performance was found between the three bodily mobility conditions. In addition, our results suggest a general poor orienting performance in children, whatever the body mobility condition, which might be related to their young age. Finally, children improved their executive control performance when they stood still, probably due to an improvement in arousal and mental state.

Clear Theories Are Needed to Interpret Differences: Perspectives on the Bilingual Advantage Debate

The heated debate regarding bilingual cognitive advantages remains ongoing. While there are many studies supporting positive cognitive effects of bilingualism, recent meta-analyses have concluded that there is no consistent evidence for a bilingual advantage. In this article we focus on several theoretical concerns. First, we discuss changes in theoretical frameworks, which have led to the development of insufficiently clear theories and hypotheses that are difficult to falsify. Next, we discuss the development of looking at bilingual experiences and the need to better understand language control. Last, we argue that the move from behavioural studies to a focus on brain plasticity is not going to solve the debate on cognitive effects, especially not when brain changes are interpreted in the absence of behavioural differences. Clearer theories on both behavioural and neural effects of bilingualism are needed. However, to achieve this, a solid understanding of both bilingualism and executive functions is needed first.

Distributed cell assemblies spanning prefrontal cortex and striatum

Highly synchronous neuronal assembly activity is deemed essential for cognitive brain function. In theory, such synchrony could coordinate multiple brain areas performing complementary processes. However, cell assemblies have been observed only in single structures, typically cortical areas, and little is known about their synchrony with downstream subcortical structures, such as the striatum. Here, we demonstrate distributed cell assemblies activated at high synchrony (∼10 ms) spanning prefrontal cortex and striatum. In addition to including neurons at different brain hierarchical levels, surprisingly, they synchronized functionally distinct limbic and associative sub-regions. These assembly activations occurred when members shifted their firing phase relative to ongoing 4 Hz and theta rhythms, in association with high gamma oscillations. This suggests that these rhythms could mediate the emergence of cross-structural assemblies. To test for the role of assemblies in behavior, we trained the rats to perform a task requiring cognitive flexibility, alternating between two different rules in a T-maze. Overall, assembly activations were correlated with task-relevant parameters, including impending choice, reward, rule, or rule order. Moreover, these behavioral correlates were more robustly expressed by assemblies than by their individual member neurons. Finally, to verify whether assemblies can be endogenously generated, we found that they were indeed spontaneously reactivated during sleep and quiet immobility. Thus, cell assemblies are a more general coding mechanism than previously envisioned, linking distributed neocortical and subcortical areas at high synchrony.

Altered Attention Network in Paratroopers Exposed to Repetitive Subconcussion: Evidence Based on Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Results

Cognitive impairment caused by repetitive subconcussion has received increasing attention in recent years. Although the dysfunction of attention has been confirmed by neuropsychological research using scales, there is no event-related potentials (ERPs) research. The Attention Network Test (ANT) has been widely used to evaluate the three separate components of attention processing (alerting, orienting, and executive control). Twenty-seven paratroopers exposed to repetitive subconcussion (subconcussion group) and 25 matched healthy control participants (HCs group) were enrolled, and all of them performed the ANT test while continuous scalp electroencephalography data were recorded. On the behavioral performance level, the subconcussion group showed a slower task response, with an especially significant slower reaction time in alerting. Concerning ERP results, reduction amplitudes of cue-N1 in the alerting network were observed, indicating that this group was less able to make efficient use of cues and maintain an alerting state for incoming information. For the orienting network, no difference in N1 amplitude was observed between the two groups. Moreover, there was a reduced P3 amplitude in the executive control network in the subconcussion group compared with the HCs group, suggesting a dysfunction of attentional resource allocation and inhibition control in the former group. This study is, to our knowledge, the first analysis of the altered attention network caused by repetitive subconcussion from the perspectives of behavioral and neuropsychology levels. These preliminary results revealed the possible damage of the alerting and executive control networks and provided a reference for further research on subconcussion cognitive impairment.

Literacy Level and Executive Control in Healthy Older Peruvian Adults

Introduction: Early-life educational experiences are associated with cognitive performance in aging. Early literacy seems to improve executive control mechanisms, however, it is not clear whether early education would still be an advantage in countries like Peru, where access to and quality of education is highly variable.

Aim: Our objective was to analyze the association of literacy level with executive control factors.

Method: We evaluated 93 healthy older adults with a clinical protocol that included the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Geriatric Depression Scale and Global Dementia Staging. We also used a neuropsychological executive function battery which included the Trail-Making Test parts A and B, the Stroop Test, phonological and semantic verbal fluency tasks, Forward and Backward Digits, Numbers and Letters of the Wechsler Scale, and the Go/No-Go task. We used a principal component analysis for the dimensional reduction of the variables. To measure the level of literacy we used the word accentuation test (WAT).

Results: We observed statistically significant correlations between the principal components (PCs) of working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control with the WAT scores. Furthermore, we observed that processing speed and WAT predict the scores on PCs factors better than years of education and age.

Conclusions: Literacy level correlates more closely with better cognitive performance than years of education and thus, might improve executive control factors that could compensate and protect against brain changes in cognitive decline and dementia.

Age-Related Changes in Hemispherical Specialization for Attentional Networks

Many cognitive functions face a decline in the healthy elderly. Within the cognitive domains, both attentional processes and executive functions are impaired with aging. Attention includes three attentional networks, i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive control, showing a hemispheric lateralized pattern in adults. This lateralized pattern could play a role in modulating the efficiency of attentional networks. For these reasons, it could be relevant to analyze the age-related change of the hemispheric specialization of attentional networks. This study aims to clarify this aspect with a lateralized version of the Attentional Network Test for Interaction (ANTI)-Fruit. One hundred seventy-one participants took part in this study. They were divided in three age groups: youth (N = 57; range: 20-30); adults (N = 57; range 31-64), and elderly/older people (N = 57; range: 65-87). The results confirmed the previous outcomes on the efficiency and interactions among attentional networks. Moreover, an age-related generalized slowness was evidenced. These findings also support the hypothesis of a hemispheric asymmetry reduction in elderly/older adults.

Alerting, orienting, and executive control in intellectually gifted children

INTRODUCTION

Intellectually gifted children have higher performance in many domains of attention than intellectually average children. However, these empirical findings are not consistent in the literature. Few studies investigated the characteristics of alerting, orienting, and executive control networks in intellectually gifted children. The aim of our study was to investigate their characteristics of attentional abilities compared to intellectually average children.

METHOD

Fifty-five intellectually gifted children (age range 8-14 years old) were compared to 55 intellectually average children (age range 8-14 years old) using the Attention Network Test (ANT) to assess these three attentional constructs.

RESULTS

Intellectually gifted children made fewer errors than intellectually average children in the processing of the ANT. In terms of attention network scores, they also outperformed intellectually average children in executive control only.

CONCLUSION

Intellectually gifted children do not differ from intellectual average children in terms of the speed of processing in a speeded task such as ANT, but they stand out in terms of accuracy of processing. Intellectually gifted children have better ability to focus volitionally in order to solve a simple perceptual conflict than intellectually average children.

Improvement in Language Function in Patients with Aphasia using Computer-Assisted Executive Function Training: A Controlled Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVE

Non-verbal cognitive training has gained popularity for the management of aphasia. The correlation between language function and cognitive control has been explored previously. Cognitive status affects language to a certain degree. In this study, we aimed to determine whether non-verbal computer-assisted executive control training (CAET) to improve cognitive status affects language performance in patients with aphasia (PWA).

DESIGN

A total of 73 participants were included in the study, and 5 subjects dropped out. A total of 68 individuals were randomly divided into two groups and underwent treatment. The experimental group was treated with traditional speech and language therapy (SLT) combined with CAET. The control group underwent SLT only.

RESULTS

Differences between pre- and post-treatment language outcomes expect oral naming (group × time, P = 0.236) were significantly greater in the experimental group compared with the control group: Spontaneous speech (group × time, P = 0.026), Auditory Comprehension (group × time, P < 0.001), Speech repetition (group × time, P = 0.001), AQ (group × time, P < 0.001). A similar effect was observed for cognitive function such as TMT-A (group × time, P = 0.006), TMT-B (group × time, P = 0.005) and VFT-V (group × time, P = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrates that CAET combined with SLT can yield favorable language outcomes for PWA, especially improvements in auditory comprehension and AQ. CAET combined with SLT generates benefits in both cognitive function and language performance. Therefore, CAET may be applied as an adjuvant aphasia therapy in conjunction with traditional SLT. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.