Search results for "fluency"
showing 10 items of 211 documents
Specific executive/attentional deficits in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder who have a positive family history of psychosis
2003
Neurocognitive impairments are well documented in patients with schizophrenia and their healthy first-degree biological relatives. Less is known about neuropsychological performance in bipolar disorders, but some studies indicate that, compared to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder displays a similar profile pattern with less severe deficits. The genetic and environmental contributions to the development of neurocognitive deficits are also unclear. This study explored the effect of a family history (FH) of psychotic disorders in first-degree relatives on a variety of cognitive domains (abstraction and flexibility, verbal fluency, verbal memory, motor activity and visual-motor processing/attent…
Cognitive impairment in schizoaffective disorder: a comparison with non-psychotic bipolar and healthy subjects.
2007
Objective: Only a few studies have examined specifically the neuropsychological performance of schizoaffective patients. Method: The sample consisted of 34 euthymic DSM-IV schizoaffective patients, who were compared with 41 euthymic bipolar patients without history of psychotic symptoms and 35 healthy controls. Euthymia was defined by a score of 6 or less at the Young Mania Rating Scale and a score of 8 or less at the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for at least 6 months. Patients were compared with several clinical, occupational, and neuropsychological variables such as executive function, attention, verbal and visual memory and the two groups were contrasted with 35 healthy controls on…
Experimental evidence for a motivational origin of cognitive impairment in major depression.
2007
BackgroundDiagnostic criteria and empirical evidence support the existence of cognitive deficits in depression. However, depressed mood, loss of interest and low self-efficacy might influence cognitive performance.MethodGoal-setting instructions were used to promote motivation in depressed patients and control subjects during neuropsychological assessment. The resulting performance was compared with performance using standard instructions. Sixty in-patients with non-psychotic unipolar depression and 60 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects were assessed with standard neuropsychological tests [the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), the Digit Symbol Test (DST), the Regensburg…
The switch from conventional to atypical antipsychotic treatment should not be based exclusively on the presence of cognitive deficits. A pilot study…
2010
Abstract Background Atypical antipsychotics provide better control of the negative and affective symptoms of schizophrenia when compared with conventional neuroleptics; nevertheless, their heightened ability to improve cognitive dysfunction remains a matter of debate. This study aimed to examine the changes in cognition associated with long-term antipsychotic treatment and to evaluate the effect of the type of antipsychotic (conventional versus novel antipsychotic drugs) on cognitive performance over time. Methods In this naturalistic study, we used a comprehensive neuropsychological battery of tests to assess a sample of schizophrenia patients taking either conventional (n = 13) or novel a…
Modulating phonemic fluency performance in healthy subjects with transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left or right lateral frontal cortex.
2017
Abstract A growing body of evidence have suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), can improve the performance of aphasic patients in language tasks. For example, application of inhibitory rTMS or tDCs over the right frontal lobe of dysphasic patients resulted in improved naming abilities. Several studies have also reported that in healthy controls (HC) tDCS application over the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) improve performance in naming and semantic fluency tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate in HC, for the first time, the effects of inhibitory repetitive TMS (rTMS…
High cognitive reserve in bipolar disorders as a moderator of neurocognitive impairment
2017
BackgroundCognitive reserve (CR) reflects the capacity of the brain to endure neuropathology, minimize clinical manifestations and successfully complete cognitive tasks. The present study aims to determine whether high CR may constitute a moderator of cognitive functioning in bipolar disorder (BD).MethodsOne hundred and two patients with BD and 32 healthy controls were enrolled. All patients met DSM-IV criteria for I or II BD and were euthymic (YMRS ≤ 6 and HDRS ≤ 8) during a 6-month period. All participants were tested with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, and a Cerebral Reserve Score (CRS) was estimated. Subjects with a CRS below the group median were classified as having low C…
Characterization of BOLD-fMRI signal during a verbal fluency paradigm in patients with intracerebral tumors affecting the frontal lobe.
2002
Previous studies have indicated that the BOLD-fMRI signal can be modified by tumor processes in close vicinity to functional brain areas. This effect has been investigated primarily for the perirolandic area but there is only a limited number of studies concerning frontal cortical regions. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to characterize BOLD-fMRI signal and activation patterns in patients with frontal brain tumors while performing a verbal fluency task. Six patients (ages 31-56 years) suffering from frontal (5 left sided and 1 right sided) intracerebral tumors were examined with fMRI while performing a verbal fluency task in a blocked paradigm design. Eight healthy volunteers se…
The differing roles of the frontal cortex in fluency tests
2012
Fluency tasks have been widely used to tap the voluntary generation of responses. The anatomical correlates of fluency tasks and their sensitivity and specificity have been hotly debated. However, investigation of the cognitive processes involved in voluntary generation of responses and whether generation is supported by a common, general process (e.g. fluid intelligence) or specific cognitive processes underpinned by particular frontal regions has rarely been addressed. This study investigates a range of verbal and non-verbal fluency tasks in patients with unselected focal frontal ( n = 47) and posterior ( n = 20) lesions. Patients and controls ( n = 35) matched for education, age and s…
Monitoring cognitive changes: Psychometric properties of six cognitive tests
2004
Objectives. Repeated neuropsychological assessments are often used to monitor change in cognitive functioning over time. Thus, knowledge about the reliability and stability of neuropsychological tests and the effects of age and IQ is of paramount importance. In this study we document, for six cognitive tests: test-retest reliabilities, practice effects, reliable change (RC) indices corrected for practice, and the impact of premorbid IQ and age. Design. A sample of 188 normal adults (aged 40-70 years) were administered, on two occasions, one or more of the following tests: the Graded Naming Test (GNT), the Silhouettes Test, two tests of verbal fluency, the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Tes…
Bipolar I patients with and without a history of psychotic symptoms: do they differ in their cognitive functioning?
2007
Abstract Recently, many reports have consistently demonstrated cognitive deficits in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), but their relationship with symptomatology, specifically psychotic symptoms, remains unclear. Our main hypothesis was that a history of hallucinations and/or delusions in the course of BD-I is associated with severe cognitive deficits. We investigated several cognitive functions (memory, attention, verbal fluency and executive functions) in 18 BD-I patients with a history of psychotic symptoms (HPS+), 17 BD-I patients without a history of psychotic symptoms (HPS−), 33 schizophrenic patients and 26 healthy control subjects. Both groups of BD-I patients were more impaired …