Search results for "Executive function"
showing 10 items of 295 documents
Motor and cognitive development: the role of karate
2014
Background: regular physical activity has an effect on biological responses in both muscles and organs that, in turn, alter the structure and functions of the brain. Therefore, this study aims at comparing motor (sprint, coordination ability and explosive legs strength skills) and cognitive abilities (working memory, attention, executive functioning) in children. Methods: 39 children with average chronological age of 9 years were divided in: Karatekas (n=19) and Sedentary (n=20) groups. Their abilities were measured by motor and cognitive tests. Motor skills were assessed through a battery composed by the 20 mt Sprint test, the Agility test and the Standing board jump Test. Cognitive profil…
Perampanel and Visuospatial Skills in Children With Epilepsy
2021
Introduction: Perampanel (PER) is a non-competitive AMPA glutamate receptor antagonist approved for focal and generalized seizures as add-on therapy. PER does not seem to negatively affect the cognitive profile in children and adolescents, but its influence on visuospatial abilities is still to be assessed. The aim of our study was to assess visuospatial skills through a standardized neuropsychological evaluation in adolescents taking PER for 12 months.Methods: Our sample included 46 adolescents aged 12–18 years with focal and generalized drug-resistant epilepsy already in therapy with one or two antiseizure medications. Changes in visuospatial perception and memory were assessed by the Rey…
Exploring Potential Benefits of Accumulated Multicomponent-Training in Non-Active Older Adults: From Physical Fitness to Mental Health
2021
The present study aimed to analyze the impact of a multicomponent training (MCT) program in a group of non-active older adults, comparing two different dose distributions. Twenty-four individuals, assigned to two groups, completed 15 weeks of MCT (2 days/week). The continuous group (CMCT
Innovation in Neurosurgery: The Concept of Cognitive Mapping
2019
In recent years, advances in cortical-subcortical mapping, intraoperative neurophysiology, and neuropsychology have increased the ability to remove intrinsic brain tumors, expanding indications and maximizing the extent of resection. This has provided a significant improvement in progression-free survival, time of malignant transformation (in low-grade gliomas), and overall survival. Although current techniques enable preservation of language and motor functions during surgery, the maintenance of a complex set of functions defined with the term cognition is not always achievable. Cognition is defined as every neural process underlying a high human function and includes motor haptic and visu…
Neuropsychological subgroups of adolescents with conduct disorder
2010
Narhi, V., Lehto-Salo, P., Ahonen, T. & Marttunen, M. (2010). Neuropsychological subgroups of adolescents with conduct disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 278–284. In group-level studies adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) have been found to have deficiencies in verbal and executive functions. Teichner and Golden (2000) addressed the neuropsychological heterogeneity of CD, and hypothesized the existence of six neuropsychologically different subgroups. We used that theoretical basis to identify subgroups among 77 adolescents with CD and 48 controls. Among subjects with CD we identified subjects with no, diffuse, verbal and executive function deficits, but none with specific …
Impairment in Theory of Mind in Parkinson's Disease Is Explained by Deficits in Inhibition
2019
Objective: Several studies have reported that people with Parkinson's disease (PD) perform poorly on tests of Theory of Mind' (ToM), suggesting impairment in the ability to understand and infer other people's thoughts and feelings. However, few studies have sought to separate the processes involved in social reasoning from those involved in managing the inhibitory demands on these tests. In this study, we investigated the contribution of inhibition to ToM performance in PD. Methods. 18 PD patients and 22 age-matched healthy controls performed a ToM test that separates the ability to infer someone else's perspective from the ability to inhibit one's own. Participants also completed a battery…
Cognitive dysfunction in patients with cerebral microbleeds on T2*-weighted gradient-echo MRI
2004
Gradient echo T2*-weighted MRI has high sensitivity in detecting cerebral microbleeds, which appear as small dot-like hypointense lesions. Microbleeds are strongly associated with intracerebral haemorrhage, hypertension, lacunar stroke and ischaemic small vessel disease, and have generated interest as a marker of bleeding-prone microangiopathy. Microbleeds have generally been considered to be clinically silent; however, since they are located in widespread cortical and basal ganglia regions and are histologically characterized by tissue damage, we hypothesized that they would cause cognitive dysfunction. We therefore studied patients with microbleeds (n = 25) and a non-microbleed control gr…
Effects of assisted training with neurofeedback on EEG measures, executive function and mood in a healthy sample
2015
The training in neurofeedback (NF) consists of teaching individuals to modify, adjust and enhance their brain activity pattern. The aim of our research was to evaluate the effect of training on cognitive processes, specifically executive function, and mood in a non-clinical sample. A sample of 30 female college students were assigned to three groups: RH: right hemisphere (n = 10), LH: left hemisphere (n = 10) and control (n = 10). The dominance pattern of beta and the inhibition of the theta pattern were trained in a single session. Measures of executive function (Iowa Gambling Test) and questionnaires of mood were taken pre and post training. We found that NF training produced significant …
Brain and body percussion : the relationship between motor and cognitive functions
2015
The focus of this thesis is the relationship between embodied motor rhythmic exercises (e.g. body percussion) and executive functions. Decades’ long successful application of this method within general classrooms and in music education led to the hypothesis that body percussion could have a positive impact on core cognitive functions also referred to as executive functions. Two pilot experiments were conducted to test proper settings for investigating the above-mentioned relationship. Experiment 1 piloted the use of neuropsychological tests with pre- and post-measures of the Tower of London (TOL) neuropsychological test. Experiment 2 piloted the use of an electroencephalography (EEG) device…
A review of acute aerobic exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation effects on cognitive functions and their potential synergies
2018
Today, several pharmaceutic and non-pharmaceutic approaches exist to treat psychiatric and neurological diseases. Because of the lack of treatment procedures that are medication free and without severe side effects, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and aerobic exercise (AE) have been tested to explore the potential for initiating and modulating neuroplasticity in the human brain. Both tDCS and AE could support cognition and behavior in the clinical and non-clinical context to improve the recovery process within neurological or psychiatric conditions or to increase performance. As these techniques still lack meaningful effects, although they provide multiple beneficial opportun…