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Loughrey DG, Jordan C, Ibanez A, Parra MA, Lawlor BA, Reilly RB. Age-related hearing loss associated with differences in the neural correlates of feature binding in visual working memory. Neurobiol Aging 2023; 132:233-245. [PMID: 37866083 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.09.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
The underlying neural mechanisms underpinning the association between age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and dementia remain unclear. A limitation has been the lack of functional neuroimaging studies in ARHL cohorts to help clarify this relationship. In the present study, we investigated the neural correlates of feature binding in visual working memory with ARHL (controls = 14, mild HL = 21, and moderate or greater HL = 23). Participants completed a visual change detection task assessing feature binding while their neural activity was synchronously recorded via high-density electroencephalography. There was no difference in accuracy scores for ARHL groups compared to controls. There was increased electrophysiological activity in those with ARHL, particularly in components indexing the earlier stages of visual cognitive processing. This activity was more pronounced with more severe ARHL and was associated with maintained feature binding. Source space (sLORETA) analyses indicated greater activity in networks modulated by frontoparietal and temporal regions. Our results demonstrate there may be increased involvement of neurocognitive control networks to maintain lower-order neurocognitive processing disrupted by ARHL.
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Affiliation(s)
- David G Loughrey
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Catherine Jordan
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Agustin Ibanez
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
| | - Mario A Parra
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Brian A Lawlor
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Richard B Reilly
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Trinity Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; School of Engineering, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; School of Medicine, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland
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The Short and Long-Term Effect of Sound Therapy on Visual Attention in Chronic Tinnitus Patients. Audiol Res 2022; 12:493-507. [PMID: 36136857 PMCID: PMC9498397 DOI: 10.3390/audiolres12050050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Sound therapy is one of the most common tinnitus treatments that can be used either to mask or to shift attention away from the tinnitus percept. However, the actual benefit of sound therapy and the mechanisms leading to the benefits remain limited. The objective of this study was to investigate the short-term (15 min) and long-term (2 months) effects of sound therapy on visual attention in chronic tinnitus patients. Visual attention was evaluated with the behavioral Attention Network Task, while the tinnitus-related distress was evaluated with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) to quantify the effect of sound therapy. The study included 20 participants with chronic and bothersome tinnitus (>6 months, THI > 18) and 20 matched control participants. All participants took part in a first session consisting of a baseline condition, a short-term sound therapy condition and a silent control condition. The tinnitus participants also took part in a second session that evaluated the long-term effect of the therapy. A reduction in the tinnitus-related distress was found after the long-term use of sound therapy. Furthermore, a reduction in the differential index of the executive control (EC) attention network, indicating improved attention, was found after long-term use of sound therapy in the sound condition but not in the silent control condition. In contrast to earlier research, no differences were found between the tinnitus group and the control group for the baseline measurement of the EC attention network. Overall, the results suggest that there is no link between the visual attention networks and the sound therapy’s effect on tinnitus-related distress.
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Chen YC, Yeh SL, Huang TR, Chang YL, Goh JOS, Fu LC. Social Robots for Evaluating Attention State in Older Adults. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 21:7142. [PMID: 34770448 PMCID: PMC8586987 DOI: 10.3390/s21217142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Sustained attention is essential for older adults to maintain an active lifestyle, and the deficiency of this function is often associated with health-related risks such as falling and frailty. The present study examined whether the well-established age-effect on reducing mind-wandering, the drift to internal thoughts that are seen to be detrimental to attentional control, could be replicated by using a robotic experimenter for older adults who are not as familiar with online technologies. A total of 28 younger and 22 older adults performed a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) by answering thought probes regarding their attention states and providing confidence ratings for their own task performances. The indices from the modified SART suggested a well-documented conservative response strategy endorsed by older adults, which were represented by slower responses and increased omission errors. Moreover, the slower responses and increased omissions were found to be associated with less self-reported mind-wandering, thus showing consistency with their higher subjective ratings of attentional control. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of constructing age-related cognitive profiles with attention evaluation instruction based on a social companion robot for older adults at home.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Chen Chen
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Su-Ling Yeh
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
| | - Tsung-Ren Huang
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ling Chang
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10048, Taiwan
| | - Joshua O. S. Goh
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; (Y.-C.C.); (T.-R.H.); (Y.-L.C.); (J.O.S.G.)
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
| | - Li-Chen Fu
- Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan;
- Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
- MOST Joint Research Center for AI Technology and All Vista Healthcare, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
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Neuropsychological profile of hearing-impaired patients and the effect of hearing aid on cognitive functions: an exploratory study. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9384. [PMID: 33931670 PMCID: PMC8087665 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88487-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Few studies have investigated the neuropsychological profile of Hearing Loss (HL) subjects and the effects of hearing-aid on cognitive decline. We investigated the neuropsychological profile of HL patients at baseline and compared the neuropsychological profiles of patients with and without hearing-aid at 6 month. Fifty-six HL patients and 40 healthy subjects (HC) underwent neuropsychological and behavioral examination and were compared at baseline. Changes at follow-up were compared between HL patients with (N = 25) and without (N = 31) hearing-aids. At baseline, significant differences between HL and HC were found in MOCA test, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) and SF-36. Among mild-HL patients, patients with hearing-aid significantly improved on the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) as compared to patients without hearing-aid. Our findings indicate that hearing loss is associated with both a reduced efficiency of the global cognitive state and a worse quality of life as compared to HC, supporting the association between HL and cognitive impairment. Moreover, only patients with mild-HL shows some cognitive improvement after using hearing-aid, suggesting that rehabilitative strategies may be more effective to delay cognitive decline in such patients. However, we cannot exclude that hearing-aids may affect cognitive decline in more severe-HL, but a longer follow-up is needed.
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