Search results for "Working memory"
showing 10 items of 315 documents
Effects of a Physical Activity Intervention on Physical Fitness of schoolchildren: The Enriched Sport Activity Program
2020
Background: Physical fitness in youth is a predictor of health in adulthood. The main objective of the present study was to understand if an enriched sport activity program could increase physical fitness in a population of schoolchildren. Methods: In a sample of 672 children aged 10.0 ±
Remembering what but not where: independence of spatial and visual working memory in the human brain
2001
We report the neuropsychological and MRI investigation of a patient (MV) who developed a selective impairment of visual-spatial working memory (WM) with preservation not only of verbal, but also of visual shape WM, following an ischemic lesion in the cerebral territory supplied by one of the terminal branches of the right anterior cerebral artery. MV was defective in visual-spatial WM whether the experimental procedure involved arm movement for target pointing or not. Also, in agreement with the role generally assigned to visual-spatial WM in visual imagery. MV was extremely slow in the mental rotation of visually and verbally presented objects. In striking contrast with the WM deficit, MV'…
Spared place and object-place learning but limited spatial working memory capacity in rats with selective lesions of the dentate gyrus
2007
We studied the cognitive performance of rats with colchicine-induced lesions of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) on a range of spatial, non-spatial and mixed spatial/procedural tasks. Rats were assigned to three experimental groups receiving large colchicine lesions (7 μg per hippocampus), small colchicine lesions (1.75 μg per hippocampus) or sham lesions. Stereological estimates of cell density indicated that the colchicine treatments induced dose-dependent damage to the DG, while sparing in large part other hippocampal subfields. Remarkably, the behavioural results showed that the colchicine lesions did not affect the performance of rats in an object discrimination task, in an object-pl…
Cannabis use in male and female first episode of non-affective psychosis patients: long-term clinical, neuropsychological and functional differences
2017
BACKGROUND: Numerous studies show the existence of a high prevalence of cannabis use among patients with psychosis. However, the differences between men and women who debut with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) regarding cannabis use have not been largely explored. The aim of this study was to identify the specific sex factors and differences in clinical evolution associated with cannabis use. METHOD: Sociodemographic characteristics at baseline were considered in our sample of FEP patients to find differences depending on sex and the use of cannabis. Clinical, functional and neurocognitive variables at baseline, 1-year, and 3-years follow-up were also explored. RESULTS: A total of 549 pa…
What makes working memory spans so predictive of high-level cognition?
2005
Working memory (WM) span tasks involving a complex activity performed concurrently with item retention have proven to be good predictors of high-level cognitive performance. The present study demonstrates that replacing these complex self-paced activities with simpler but computer-paced processes, such as reading successive letters, yields more predictive WM span measures. This finding suggests that WM span tasks evaluate a fundamental capacity that underpins complex as well as elementary cognitive processes. Moreover, the higher predictive power of computer-paced WM span tasks suggests that strategic factors do not contribute to the relationship between WM spans and high-level cognition.
Working Memory Task Influence in Postural Stability and Cognitive Function in Adolescents.
2018
This paper describes a study on postural stability and cognitive function according to the difficulty increment of a working memory task (WMT) and age group in adolescents. One hundred and twenty-three participants (13–16 years) performed single and dual tasks in a bipedal standing position while barefoot. Four trials were conducted, consisting of single and dual tasks in three progressively difficult WMT conditions (i.e., 3-, 5-, and 7-digit sequences). Friedman’s analysis of variance and Kruskal–Wallis tests were conducted to test the effect of the WMT and age group, respectively. Both the WMT and age were found to affect performance (p < .01). As the cognitive requirements increased, the…
The cortisol awakening response and memory performance in older men and women.
2012
Summary The activity and regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis has been related to cognitive decline during aging. This study investigated whether the cortisol awakening response (CAR) is related to memory performance among older adults. The sample was composed of 88 participants (44 men and 44 women) from 55 to 77 years old. The memory assessment consisted of two tests measuring declarative memory (a paragraph recall test and a word list learning test) and two tests measuring working memory (a spatial span test and a spatial working memory test). Among those participants who showed the CAR on two consecutive days, we found that a greater CAR was related to poorer declarativ…
Time estimation in Alzheimer's disease and the role of the central executive.
2004
The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of short-term memory and attention in time estimation. For this purpose we studied prospective time verbal estimation in 21 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and compared their performance with that of 21 matched normal controls in two different conditions: during a digit span task and during an attentional task. Results showed that the performance of AD patients was significantly worse than that of the controls; the interaction between group and condition was significant. We suggest a role of attentional-executive functions in prospective time estimation.
Reward motivation and neurostimulation interact to improve working memory performance in healthy older adults: A simultaneous tDCS-fNIRS study.
2019
Abstract Several studies have evaluated the effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) for the enhancement of working memory (WM) performance in healthy older adults. However, the mixed results obtained so far suggest the need for concurrent brain imaging, in order to more directly examine tDCS effects. The present study adopted a continuous multimodal approach utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the interactive effects of tDCS combined with manipulations of reward motivation. Twenty-one older adults (mean age = 69.7 years; SD = 5.05) performed an experimental visuo-spatial WM task before, during and after …
Cognitive profile in BECTS treated with levetiracetam: A 2-year follow-up
2019
Introduction: Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is a common epileptic syndrome in childhood, characterized by brief and infrequent partial motor seizures, with or without generalization and mostly recurring during sleep. Because of its favorable efficacy, tolerability, and safety profile, levetiracetam (LEV) monotherapy is often administered in these patients. Long-term effects of LEV therapy and its influence on cognitive functions remain controversial.Purpose: This evaluated the changes in the cognitive profile of children with BECTS treated with LEV monotherapy for 2 years, compared with a control group of children with specific learning disabilities.Method: Our patient …