A Frontal Account of False Alarms

Risk Predictors and Cognitive Outcomes of the Psychosocial Functioning of North American Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global mental health deterioration. The disruption of older adults' psychosocial functions is particularly concerning given their social support and technology use barriers. Despite a close relationship between social engagement and cognitive function in older adults, little is known about the cognitive consequences of older adults' disrupted psychosocial functions in the context of the pandemic. Aims: This study aims to identify sociodemographic and COVID-19-related predictors for psychosocial functioning in North American older adults and to examine their associated cognitive outcomes. Methods: A sample of 95 older adults aged 60 and older (M = 68.85, SD = 6.458) completed an online study from January to July 2021, including a questionnaire on sociodemographic and COVID-19-related experiences, the Kessler-10 (K10) to assess psychological distress, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the UCLA Loneliness Scale Revised (UCLA) to index social function, and the Go/No-go Task (GNG) and Letter Comparison Task (LCT) as cognitive measures. Results: Higher psychosocial functioning was predicted by increased approach-based coping, being aged 65-69, 70-74, and over 75 years relative to being 60-64, and being in medium to excellent relative to poor health, while lower psychosocial functioning was predicted by increased avoidance based coping strategies and having average relative to low income. Psychosocial functioning was not seen to strongly predict cognitive functioning. However, being aged 75 years and older relative to being aged 60-64 predicted decreased accuracy on no-go trials and slower cognitive speed, and lower LCT accuracy was predicted by more avoidance-based coping and being in a religion other than Christianity or Catholicism (e.g., being spiritual). Conclusions: The results identified age, income, and health status as psychosocial function predictors among North American older adults, and increased age, religion, and use of avoidance-based coping strategies as predictors for decreased cognitive performance. The results shed light on future public health strategies to promote the psychosocial and cognitive health of older adults.

Investigating the Cognitive Correlates of Semantic and Perceptual False Memory in Older and Younger Adults: A Multi-Group Latent Variable Approach

Falsely remembering information can have negative consequences for day-to-day functioning and can be especially problematic for older adults who often experience higher rates of false memory. Because there is considerable variability between older adults in memory and cognition, it is essential that we understand the factors that place older individuals at risk for developing false memories. Whereas lower frontal functioning has previously been related to false memory in general, prior research suggests that there may also be domain-specificity in the factors associated with false memory. To test this possibility, 211 young adults and 152 older adults completed tasks measuring semantic false memory, perceptual false memory, frontal functioning, semantic discrimination, and perceptual discrimination. Factor analyses revealed that - contrary to predictions - individual differences in semantic and perceptual false memory were best represented by a single, overarching false memory factor. Although cognitive abilities were generally not related to false memory when assessed together, semantic discrimination, perceptual discrimination, and frontal functioning were all negatively associated with false memory in isolation, and jointly predicted 37% of the variance in younger adults and 40% in older adults. Importantly, the extent to which these cognitive abilities protected against false memory did not differ between older and younger adults. Results suggest that for both older and younger adults, individual differences in the tendency to falsely remember information are captured by a single overarching construct that has negative (yet redundant) associations with various cognitive abilities.

Predictive value for cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer's disease profile of different measures of verbal episodic memory in patients with MCI

Neuropsychological evidence of memory impairment represents the main feature of the clinical onset of typical Alzheimer's disease (AD). Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Logical Memory (LM) are two tests both assessing verbal episodic memory, widely used in clinical practice. Our aim was to investigate the added value of their combined use in predicting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers positivity in a retrospective consecutive series of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). 169 MCI patients were included. For all of them neuropsychological assessment and CSF analysis were available. According to CSF A/T/(N) profile, 109 were defined as MCI due to AD (A+T+), and 60 were non-AD MCI (A-T-). Logistic regression model and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were analyzed to evaluate the discriminatory power of single and combined sub-measures between AD and non-AD patients. The combination of RAVLT-del with LM could acceptably discriminate the two groups (AUC: 0.69, CI 95% 0.617-0.761, sens: 0.75, spec. 0.58, p < 0.001), while the single tests did not show sufficient discriminative performance. Our study shows that the combination of RAVLT delayed recall with LM better predicts the biological AD diagnosis (A+T+), showing a good discriminative power between MCI-AD from non-AD MCI. Since RAVLT and LM assess different components of verbal episodic memory, they should be considered as complementary, rather than interchangeable, tests.

Positive schizotypy and Motor Impulsivity correlate with response aberrations in ventral attention network during inhibitory control

Inhibitory control (IC) aberrations are present in various psychopathologies, including schizophrenia spectrum and personality disorders, especially in association with antisocial or violent behaviour. We investigated behavioural and neural associations between IC and psychopathology-related traits of schizotypy [Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE)], psychopathy [Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM)], and impulsivity [Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11)], using a novel Go/No-Go Task (GNG) featuring human avatars in 78 healthy adults (25 males, 53 females; mean age = 25.96 years, SD = 9.85) and whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a separate sample of 22 right-handed healthy individuals (7 males, 15 females; mean age = 24.13 years, SD = 5.40). Behaviourally, O-LIFE Impulsive Nonconformity (impulsive, anti-social, and eccentric behaviour) significantly predicted 16 % of variance in false alarms (FAs). O-LIFE Unusual Experiences (positive schizotypy) and BIS-11 Motor Impulsivity predicted 15 % of d prime (d') (sensitivity index) for the fastest (400 ms) GNG trials. When examined using fMRI, higher BIS-11 Motor Impulsivity uniquely, and also together with Unusual Experiences, was associated with lower activity in the left lingual gyrus during successful inhibition (correct No-Go over baseline). Additionally, higher Impulsive Nonconformity was associated with lower activity in the caudate nucleus and anterior cingulate during No-Go compared to Go stimuli reactions. Positive schizotypy, motor, and antisocial-schizotypal impulsivity correlate with some common but mostly distinct neural activation patterns during response inhibition in areas within or associated with the ventral attention network.

Extra-hippocampal contributions to pattern separation

Pattern separation, or the process by which highly similar stimuli or experiences in memory are represented by non-overlapping neural ensembles, has typically been ascribed to processes supported by the hippocampus. Converging evidence from a wide range of studies, however, suggests that pattern separation is a multistage process supported by a network of brain regions. Based on this evidence, considered together with related findings from the interference resolution literature, we propose the 'cortico-hippocampal pattern separation' (CHiPS) framework, which asserts that brain regions involved in cognitive control play a significant role in pattern separation. Particularly, these regions may contribute to pattern separation by (1) resolving interference in sensory regions that project to the hippocampus, thus regulating its cortical input, or (2) directly modulating hippocampal processes in accordance with task demands. Considering recent interest in how hippocampal operations are modulated by goal states likely represented and regulated by extra-hippocampal regions, we argue that pattern separation is similarly supported by neocortical-hippocampal interactions.

Verbal Memory Interference in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Analytic Review

OBJECTIVE

Interference control is used to overcome conflict among competing memory representations and may contribute to memory difficulties in ADHD. This meta-analytic review examined memory interference to evaluate susceptibility to proactive, retroactive, and memory control interference among those with ADHD.

METHOD

Twenty studies (1987-2019) examining verbal memory interference in ADHD met inclusion criteria (age: 8-36 years). Proactive and retroactive interference indices were extracted from list-learning tasks, and memory control indices were extracted from experimental paradigms (e.g., directed-forgetting).

RESULTS

Children with ADHD were less affected by proactive interference (g=-0.53, 95% CI [-0.75, -0.31]), whereas no significant differences were found in adults (g=0.13, 95% CI [-0.02, 0.28]). Adults and children with ADHD exhibited more retroactive interference (g=0.17, 95% CI [0.05, 0.29]) and performed worse on memory control tasks (g=0.35, 95% CI [0.08, 0.62]) relative to controls.

CONCLUSION

Differences in verbal memory interference control in ADHD were observed but effects were different depending upon interference type and participant age.

Children's inhibitory control abilities in the presence of rewards are related to weight status and eating in the absence of hunger

The Reflective-Impulsive Dual Processes Model suggests that overeating occurs when the temptation to consume food overrides inhibitory control processes. However, how rewards interact with inhibitory control and their relation to children's weight status and food intake is not understood. Here, 7-to-11-year-old children (n = 66; 32 overweight/obese) completed two versions (baseline [i.e., non-reward incentivized/control] and reward incentivized [food, money, no reward]) of a Go/Nogo task. Intake of palatable foods in the absence of hunger (i.e., eating in the absence of hunger-EAH) was measured following a standardized meal. A drift diffusion model was used to characterize children's performance parameters on the Go/Nogo. On the baseline Go/Nogo, children with higher weight status responded more cautiously, but on reward trials for food/money children were more cautions and made more false alarms relative to the no reward condition. Energy intake during EAH positively correlated with FA errors for food and money vs. no reward, but sex moderated this effect such that FA positively associated with EAH in girls but not boys. Independent of sex, FA for money vs. no reward and food vs. money were both positively associated with energy consumed during EAH. These results suggest that the presence of food and money rewards impair inhibitory control processing, especially in children with higher weight status. Further, increased inhibitory control impairment in response to food rewards, specifically, may be a risk factor for disinhibited eating in girls. Though preliminary, results may be useful in the development of targeted treatments to help moderate excess consumption in children.