Search results for "Functions"
showing 10 items of 1066 documents
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…
Phylogeny of entelegyne spiders: Affinities of the family Penestomidae (NEW RANK), generic phylogeny of Eresidae, and asymmetric rates of change in s…
2010
Penestomine spiders were first described from females only and placed in the family Eresidae. Discovery of the male decades later brought surprises, especially in the morphology of the male pedipalp, which features (among other things) a retrolateral tibial apophysis (RTA). The presence of an RTA is synapomorphic for a large clade of spiders exclusive of Eresidae. A molecular data matrix based on four loci was constructed to test two alternative hypotheses: (1) penestomines are eresids and the RTA is convergent, or (2) penestomines belong within the RTA clade. Taxon sampling concentrated on the Eresidae and the RTA clade, especially outside of the Dionycha and Lycosoidea. Evolution of the c…
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…
Female-biased dispersal alone can reduce the occurrence of inbreeding in black grouse (Tetrao tetrix)
2010
Although inbreeding depression and mechanisms for kin recognition have been described in natural bird populations, inbreeding avoidance through mate choice has rarely been reported suggesting that sex-biased dispersal is the main mechanism reducing the risks of inbreeding. However, a full understanding of the effect of dispersal on the occurrence of inbred matings requires estimating the inbreeding risks prior to dispersal. Combining pairwise relatedness measures and kinship assignments, we investigated in black grouse whether the observed occurrence of inbred matings was explained by active kin discrimination or by female-biased dispersal. In this large continuous population, copulations b…
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…
The early motor milestones in infancy and later motor skills in toddlers: a structural equation model of motor development.
2006
The relationship between the achievement of early motor milestones in infancy and later motor development was studied in 130 children with (N = 66, 35 male/31 female) and without (N = 64, 31 male/35 female) familial risk for dyslexia. A structured parental questionnaire was used to assess motor development in infancy, and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children was used to assess motor skills at age 3.5 years. No differences were found at the group level and therefore the structural equation model was constructed by entering both groups simultaneously. An Early Body Control factor, computed from the infant data, explained 38% of the variance of the Gross Motor Skills factor at the age …
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…
Fluency and rule breaking behaviour in the frontal cortex
2020
Design (DF) and phonemic fluency tests (FAS; D-KEFS, 2001) are commonly used to investigate voluntary generation. Despite this, several important issues remain poorly investigated. In a sizeable sample of patients with focal left or right frontal lesion we established that voluntary generation performance cannot be accounted for by fluid intelligence. For DF we found patients performed significantly worse than healthy controls (HC) only on the switch condition. However, no significant difference between left and right frontal patients was found. In contrast, left frontal patients were significantly impaired when compared with HC and right frontal patients on FAS. These lateralization findin…