Search results for "tests"
showing 10 items of 3367 documents
Ventral striatal prediction error signaling is associated with dopamine synthesis capacity and fluid intelligence.
2012
Fluid intelligence represents the capacity for flexible problem solving and rapid behavioral adaptation. Rewards drive flexible behavioral adaptation, in part via a teaching signal expressed as reward prediction errors in the ventral striatum, which has been associated with phasic dopamine release in animal studies. We examined a sample of 28 healthy male adults using multimodal imaging and biological parametric mapping with 1) functional magnetic resonance imaging during a reversal learning task and 2) in a subsample of 17 subjects also with positron emission tomography using 6-[18F]fluoro-L-DOPA to assess dopamine synthesis capacity. Fluid intelligence was measured using a battery of nine…
Age at surgery as a predictor of cognitive improvements in patients with drug-resistant temporal epilepsy
2017
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgery is an effective procedure that can produce cognitive changes. However, the prognostic factors related with cognitive outcomes need to be better understood. The aim of the present study is to know if age at surgery is a reliable predictor of verbal memory competence and considering factors such as: hemisphere; type of surgery; pre-surgical seizure frequency; and epilepsy duration. Sixty-one typically dominant patients with drug-resistant TLE (34 with left TLE [L-TLE] and 27 with right TLE [R-TLE]) underwent a neuropsychological assessment before and a year after surgery. Results showed that R-TLE patients had better evolution in short- and long-term verba…
'Prefrontal' cognitive performance of healthy subjects positively correlates with cerebral FDOPA influx: an exploratory [18F]-fluoro-L-DOPA-PET inves…
2006
Dopamine neurotransmission influences those cognitive processes, which are generally regarded as prefrontal cortical functions. In previous positron‐emission‐tomography (PET) studies, net blood‐brain clearance of [(18)F]‐fluoro‐l‐DOPA (FDOPA) correlated with impaired cognitive performance in patients with Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia. We hypothesized that FDOPA influx also correlates with performance of cognitive tasks associated with prefrontal functioning in healthy volunteers. The net blood‐brain clearance of FDOPA (K [Formula: see text]) was mapped in a group of 11 healthy volunteers and calculated in striatal volumes‐of‐interest. The Wisconsin‐Card‐Sorting‐Test (WCST), Stroop‐T…
Methylphenidate, modafinil, and caffeine for cognitive enhancement in chess: A double-blind, randomised controlled trial.
2017
Stimulants and caffeine have been proposed for cognitive enhancement by healthy subjects. This study investigated whether performance in chess - a competitive mind game requiring highly complex cognitive skills - can be enhanced by methylphenidate, modafinil or caffeine. In a phase IV, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 39 male chess players received 2×200mg modafinil, 2×20mg methylphenidate, and 2×200mg caffeine or placebo in a 4×4 crossover design. They played twenty 15-minute games during two sessions against a chess program (Fritz 12; adapted to players' strength) and completed several neuropsychological tests. Marked substance effects were observed since all three subs…
Cognitive and social cognitive functioning in spinocerebellar ataxia : a preliminary characterization
2006
INTRODUCTION : The spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs), are rare neurodegenerative disorders caused by distinct genetic mutations. Clinically, the SCAs are characterised by progressive ataxia and a variety of other features, including cognitive dysfunction. The latter is consistent with a growing body of evidence supporting a cognitive as well as motor role for the cerebellum. Recent suggestions of cerebellar involvement in social cognition have not been extensively explored in these conditions. The availability of definitive molecular diagnosis allows genetically defined subgroups of SCA patients, with distinct patterns of cerebellar and extracerebellar involvement, to be tested comparatively u…
A preliminary characterisation of cognition and social cognition in spinocerebellar ataxia types 2, 1, and 7.
2010
Over the last decade, studies have implicated the cerebellum not only in motor functioning, but also in cognition and social cognition. Although some aspects of cognition have been explored in the five most common forms of Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA), social cognition in these patients has rarely been examined. The present study provides a preliminary characterisation of the severity of cognitive and social cognitive impairments in patients with SCA2, SCA1 and SCA7 using an identical battery to the one previously used in SCA3 and SCA6 patients for comparison. The cognitive profiles of SCA1 and SCA7 patients were comparable to that of SCA6 patients; SCA1 patients had relatively intact profi…
Neuronal and Behavioral Correlates of Health Anxiety: Results of an Illness-Related Emotional Stroop Task
2011
<b><i>Background:</i></b> Health anxiety (HA) is defined as the objectively unfounded fear or conviction of suffering from a severe illness. Predominant attention allocation to illness-related information is regarded as a central process in the development and maintenance of HA, yet little is known about the neuronal correlates of this attentional bias. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> An emotional Stroop task with body symptom, illness, and neutral words was employed to elicit emotional interference in healthy participants with high (HA+, n = 12) and low (HA–, n = 12) HA during functional magnetic resonance imaging. <b><i>Results:</i>…
Endemic hepatitis C virus infection in a Sicilian town: Further evidence for iatrogenic transmission
2002
The prevalence of and risk factors for HCV and HBV infections in the general population and the predictive value of ALT screening in identifying anti-HCV positive subjects have been evaluated in a small Sicilian town. A random 1:4 sampling from the census of the general population was performed. Anti-HCV, HCV-RNA, HCV genotype, HBsAg, and anti-HBc were tested. The linkage between HCV infection and potential risk factors was evaluated by multiple logistic regression analysis. Among 721 subjects studied, 75 (10.4%) were anti-HCV positive. The HCV infection rate increased from 0.4% in subjects 10-29 years of age to 34% in those > 60 years of age. Among the 75 anti-HCV positive subjects, 66.7% …
Famous face recognition and naming test: a normative study.
2003
Tests of famous face recognition and naming, and tasks assessing semantic knowledge about famous people after presentation either of their faces or their names are often used in the neuropsychological examination of aphasic, amnesic and demented patients. A total of 187 normal subjects took part in this study. The aim was to collect normative data for a newly devised test including five subtests: famous face naming, fame judgement after face presentation and after name presentation, semantic knowledge about famous people after face presentation and after name presentation. Norms were calculated taking into account demographic variables such as age, sex and education and adjusted scores were…
Influence of social cognition as a mediator between cognitive reserve and psychosocial functioning in patients with first episode psychosis
2019
This work was supported by the Carlos III Institute of Health and European Fund for Regional Development (PI08/1213, PI11/01977, PI14/01900, PI08/01026, PI11/02831, PI14/01621, PI08/1161, PI16/00359, PI16/01164, PI18/00805), the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research (BIOEF), the Secretaria d´Universitats I Recerca del Departament d´Economia I Coneixement (2017 SGR 1365), and R&D activities in Biomedicine, Madrid Regional Government and Structural Funds of the European Union (S2017/BMD-3740 (AGES-CM 2-CM)).