Search results for "Executive functions"
showing 10 items of 182 documents
Sports, Executive Functions and Academic Performance: A Comparison between Martial Arts, Team Sports, and Sedentary Children
2021
It is well known that curricular physical activity benefits children’s executive functions and academic performance. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether there is an influence of extracurricular sports on executive functions and academic performance. However, it is less known which specific types of the sport better enhance executive functions in children
The development of analogy making in children: cognitive load and executive functions.
2010
The aim of the current study was to investigate the performance of 6-, 8-, and 14-year-olds on an analogy-making task involving analogies in which there are competing perceptual and relational matches. We hypothesized that the selection of the common relational structure requires the inhibition of other salient features, in particular, perceptual matches. Using an A:B::C:D paradigm, we showed that children’s performance in analogy-making tasks depends crucially on the nature of the distractors. Children chose more perceptual distractors having a common feature with C compared with A or B (Experiment 1). In addition, they were also influenced by unstructured random textures. When measuring r…
Effects of Physical and Cognitive Training on Falls and Concern About Falling in Older Adults : Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial
2022
Abstract Background The aim of this study is to investigate whether combined cognitive and physical training provides additional benefits to fall prevention when compared with physical training (PT) alone in older adults. Methods This is a prespecified secondary analysis of a single-blind, randomized controlled trial involving community-dwelling men and women aged 70–85 years who did not meet the physical activity guidelines. The participants were randomized into combined physical and cognitive training (PTCT, n = 155) and PT (n = 159) groups. PT included supervised and home-based physical exercises following the physical activity recommendations. PTCT included PT and computer-based cogniti…
Executive Functions Profile in Extreme Eating/Weight Conditions : From Anorexia Nervosa to Obesity
2012
Background: Extreme weight conditions (EWC) groups along a continuum may share some biological risk factors and intermediate neurocognitive phenotypes. A core cognitive trait in EWC appears to be executive dysfunction, with a focus on decision making, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Differences between individuals in these areas are likely to contribute to the differences in vulnerability to EWC. The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a common pattern of executive dysfunction in EWC while comparing anorexia nervosa patients (AN), obese subjects (OB) and healthy eating/weight controls (HC). Methods: Thirty five AN patients, fifty two OB and one hundred thirty…
Heterogeneity of executive functions among preschool children with psychiatric symptoms
2019
The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between internalizing and externalizing symptoms and deficits in executive functions (EF) as well as to examine the overall heterogeneity of EFs in a sample of preschool children attending a psychiatric clinic (n = 171). First, based on cut-off points signifying clinical levels of impairment on the parent-completed Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), children were assigned into groups of internalizing, externalizing, combined or mild symptoms and compared to a reference group (n = 667) with regard to day care teacher ratings of EFs on the Attention and Executive Function Rating Inventory-Preschool (ATTEX-P). Second, latent profile an…
Inhibition processes are dissociable and lateralized in human prefrontal cortex
2016
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is known to make fundamental contributions to executive functions. However, the precise nature of these contributions is incompletely understood. We focused on a specific executive function, inhibition, the ability to suppress a pre-potent response. Functional imaging and animal studies have studied inhibition. However, there are only few lesion studies, typically reporting discrepant findings. For the first time, we conducted cognitive and neuroimaging investigations on patients with focal unilateral PFC lesions across two widely used inhibitory tasks requiring a verbal response: The Hayling Part 2 and Stroop Colour-Word Tests. We systematically explored the rel…
Executive functions, effortful control, and emotional lability in adults with ADHD. implications for functional outcomes
2019
Adults with diagnosis of childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience impairments in self-regulation (SR). This study examined whether subgroups of these impairments can be established based on differentiable patterns. The relationships between these subgroups and a group without ADHD were then analyzed, focusing on functional outcomes. Executive functions, effortful control, and emotional lability, in addition to self-concept, quality of life, and different comorbidities, were evaluated in 61 adults with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD and 54 adults without ADHD. Latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed three ADHD classes based on different self-regulation indicators: "…
An Initial Study of Alexithymia and Its Relationship With Cognitive Abilities Among Mild Cognitive Impairment, Mild Alzheimer's Disease, and Healthy …
2018
The present study examined the degree to which alexithymia is greater in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) relative to healthy volunteers (healthy comparison [HC]), and investigated relationships between alexithymia and cognition. Eighty-five participants (MCI = 30, AD = 21, HC = 34) underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological examination and completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Relative to HC, MCI and AD reported greater alexithymia total scores and higher scores on the TAS factor difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF). The remaining two factors, difficulty in describing feelings (DDF) and externally oriented thinking showed no signif…
Interplay between cognition and weight reduction in individuals following a Mediterranean Diet: Three-year follow-up of the PREDIMED-Plus trial
2021
Background & aims: Some cognitive profiles might facilitate successful weight loss and its maintenance. Also, weight reductions may result in cognitive benefits. However, little work to date has examined the interactions between cognition and weight changes in the context of interventions with the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet). We studied the within-subject longitudinal relationships between cognition, body mass index (BMI), physical activity (PA), and quality of life (QoL), in older adults following a MedDiet. Methods: The PREDIMED-Plus is a primary prevention trial testing the effect of a lifestyle intervention program with an energy-restricted MedDiet (er-MedDiet), weight-loss goals and P…
Benefit of hearing aid use in the elderly: the impact of age, cognition and hearing impairment
2018
Il beneficio protesico e il ruolo delle abilità cognitive, dell’età e del deficit uditivo nel paziente anziano.Questo studio analizza il beneficio protesico in un campione di soggetti anziani (n = 102, età media 81,1 anni), indagando il ruolo svolto dall’età, dal deficit uditivo e dalle abilità cognitive. Il beneficio protesico è stato valutato sia come miglioramento delle caratteristiche audiometriche con protesi (in termini di soglie tonali e soglie di percezione del parlato in quiete e nel rumore) sia come diminuzione della percezione della disabilità e dell’handicap dovuti alla ipoacusia. Sono state valutate diverse abilità cognitive, tra cui la memoria a breve termine, le funzioni esec…