帕金森病患者额叶认知功能和事件相关电位相关性研究

目的:探讨事件相关电位(P300)和额叶认知测试对帕金森病患者认知障碍评价的意义。方法:对31例非痴呆非抑郁帕金森病患者和25例年龄、性别、受教育程度相匹配的正常对照进行P300检测,同时采用词语流畅性、连线测验、Stroop字色干扰测验对病例组和对照组分别进行测试。结果:病例组与对照组比较:额叶认知功能评分较差,P300潜伏期延长(P<0.05),波幅下降;P300潜伏期与额叶认知功能障碍程度呈正相关。结论:非痴呆非抑郁帕金森病患者存在认知功能障碍。这种障碍可能是额叶功能受损后的表现。     

额叶肿瘤患者认知功能和事件相关电位P300的研究

目的 探讨额叶肿瘤患者认知功能的损害和事件相关电位P300有关参数的变化特点,了解额叶在认知功能及P300产生中的作用.方法 对31例额叶肿瘤患者(左侧15例、右侧16例)及30例健康对照者分别进行Stroop字色干扰等多项认知神经心理学测试和P300检查.结果 与健康对照组相比,额叶肿瘤组认知功能各项测试指标评分均显著降低(P＜0.05),P300的N2、P3波潜伏期显著延长(P＜0.05),P3波幅显著降低(P＜0.05).进一步研究发现,右额叶肿瘤组患者的各项认知测试指标评分均显著低于健康对照组(P＜0.05),而左额叶肿瘤组只有词语流畅性指标评分显著低于健康对照组(P＜0.05);与健康对照组相比,左、右额叶肿瘤组P300的N2、P3波潜伏期均显著延长(P＜0.05),P3波幅均显著降低(P＜0.05);左、右额叶肿瘤组患者之间的P300比较则无统计学差异(p＞0.05).结论 额叶肿瘤患者认知功能有明显损害,右侧肿瘤患者的认知功能损害更严重:额叶可能与P300发生或传导有关,且左右额叶无明显的差异.     

Neuropsychological correlates of P300 abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder

The cognitive significance of P300 abnormalities in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was investigated. P300 was measured by an auditory oddball paradigm, in which a series of standard tones (1000 Hz) and target tones (1500 Hz) were presented. The subject's task was to count the number of the presented target tones. Cognitive functions were evaluated by neuropsychological tests, which were chosen to be sensitive to frontal and temporal dysfunction. Twenty-two schizophrenic patients, 19 OCD patients and 21 healthy controls participated. Event-related potentials measured at 15 electrode sites, which consisted of five levels on the left-right dimension and three levels on the anterior-posterior dimension, were included in the statistical analysis. P300 amplitudes on all 15 electrode sites were significantly smaller in schizophrenic and OCD patients than in the controls. Schizophrenic patients performed poorly on almost all neuropsychological tests, while OCD patients showed impaired performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and on a controlled oral word association test. In schizophrenic patients, P300 amplitude was associated with performance on verbal memory and learning by the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, while for OCD patients, P300 amplitude was related to the Trail Making Test, Part B response time. These results indicate that schizophrenic patients have generalized cognitive impairments, which are substrated by a wide range of cortical dysfunctions. The major cognitive deficits observed in OCD patients were impairments of controlled attention and self-guided, flexible behavior, which are mediated by the fronto-striatal system. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying P300 abnormalities observed in schizophrenic and OCD patients are discussed.     

健康成人事件相关电位与神经心理学测验的相关性研究

目的 探讨事件相关电位P300的四个主要成分是否反映特定的认知功能。方法 将120名正常受试者按年龄分为三组，即20～34岁组、35～54岁组和55～70岁组，对所有受试者采用全套韦氏成人智力测验(WAIS-RC)等多项神经心理学测验以及P300进行测评，将神经心理学测验结果与P瑚结果进行Spearman等级相关分析。结果 三个年龄组中的N2潜伏期、P2波幅、N2波幅均与反映注意、短时记忆的神经心理学测验存在以下相关：在20～34岁组中，N2潜伏期与即刻视觉再生呈负相关(r=-0．352)，P2波幅与即刻视觉再生呈正相关(r=0．339)，N2波幅与即刻视觉再生呈正相关(r=0．331)。在35～54岁组中，N2潜伏期与数字广度、数字符号、词汇流畅均呈负相关(r分别=-0．357、-0．385、-0．316)；P2波幅与延线测验B呈负相关(r=-0．427)；Nl波幅与即刻逻辑记忆呈正相关(r=0．343)。在55～70岁组中，N2潜伏期与数字符号、词汇流畅呈负相关(r分别=-0．488和-0．321)，与延线测验B呈正相关(r=0．366)；P2波幅与数字符号呈正相关(r=0．314)；N2波幅与词汇流畅呈正相关(r=0．437)。在不同的年龄组中，P300的其他指标与神经心理学测验相关性不一致。结论 P300的四个主要成分可反映一定的认知功能，但不具有特异性，部分P300指标所反映的认知功能受年龄的影响。     

Executive functions and memory in autogenous and reactive subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients

There are concurrently with different results of studies about cognitive functions of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), impairment in non-verbal memory and executive functioning in OCD, has shown consistent results in several studies. In this study, 62 OCD patients and 40 healthy controls were participated. Firstly, cognitive functions of OCD group and healthy control group were compared in terms of scores in Stroop Test, Wisconsin Cart Sorting Test (WCST), Auditory Consonant Trigram Test (ACTT), Controlled Word Association Test (CWAT), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Digit Span Test (DST). And then, two patient groups of OCD patients (patients with autogenous obsessions and patients with reactive obsessions) were compared in terms of the scores of same tests, with a hypothesis that claims, cognitive functions of patients with autogenous obsessions, who shown schizotypal personality features and thought disorder in higher ratio, will show more impairment than cognitive functions of patients with reactive obsessions. Significant impairment was found in OCD patients in terms of Stroop test and WCST scores when compared to scores of healthy controls. There was no difference pointed out between cognitive functions of patients with autogenous obsessions and reactive obsessions. Due to limited number of patients with autogenous obsessions in current study, any future research with greater sample size will be helpful to explain the cognitive functions in OCD with autogenous and reactive obsessions.     

Impulsivity in depressed children and adolescents: a comparison between behavioral and neuropsychological data

Impulsivity at the neuropsychological and behavioral levels was investigated in a sample of drug-naive depressed children and adolescents. The performance of 21 patients with a current diagnosis of mood disorder was compared with that of 21 normal controls on tests of executive functions related to impulsivity (Matching Familiar Figures Test, Continuous Performance Test, Verbal Fluency, Stroop Test, and Walk-Don't Walk) and on impulsive/restless behavior on the Conners' Parent Rating Scale. Depressed children and adolescents showed a pattern of conservative response style, with slow reaction times and attentional problems, similar to that observed in adults, and a general delay/difficulty in response initiation on the Fluency Test. Depressed participants were rated by their parents as being significantly more impulsive/restless than controls. However, there was no evidence of an impulsive cognitive response style in more impulsive/restless patients. Symptom severity (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression) and subjective mood state (Children's Depression Inventory) were also taken into account.     

Duration effect of obsessive–compulsive disorder on cognitive function: a functional MRI study

Background: The inconsistency of previous reports examining cognitive function in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) suggests its heterogeneity. In this study, we examined the effect of illness duration on cognitive function in OCD. Methods: We examined the cognitive function of 32 OCD patients and 16 healthy volunteers by neuropsychological tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed the Stroop and N‐back tasks to assess attention and nonverbal memory. The patients were divided into two groups by illness duration: a short‐term group (n=17, 5.5±3.1 years) and a long‐term group (n=15, 20.3±6.1 years). Statistical analysis was performed to determine the differences between these two groups and the normal control group (n=16). Results: The long‐term group showed attention deficit and nonverbal memory dysfunction on the neuropsychological tests. In contrast, on functional magnetic resonance imaging, the short‐term group showed weaker activation of the right caudate during the Stroop task and stronger activation of the right dorso‐lateral prefrontal cortex during the N‐back task than the long‐term and normal control groups. Conclusions: The results suggested that abnormal brain activation occurs in the early phase of OCD and that the long‐term persistence of OCD might involve a decline in cognitive function. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Humor appreciation deficit in schizophrenia: the relevance of basic neurocognitive functioning

The purpose in undertaking the present study was to investigate humor appreciation in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, we sought to explore the potential relationship of humor appreciation with measures of psychopathology and cognitive functioning among the patients. Thirty-six patients with schizophrenia were compared with 31 normal controls matched for age, sex, and education on a computerized test comprising captionless cartoons: Penn's Humor Appreciation Test (PHAT). The patients were also evaluated on the symptom dimensions derived from the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (positive symptoms, negative symptoms, cognitive symptoms, depression, and excitement), as well as a battery of neuropsychological tests measuring executive functions, attention, working memory, verbal and visual memory, visuospatial ability, and psychomotor speed. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower scores on the PHAT than normal controls. The patients' performance on the PHAT correlated with scores on Penn's Continuous Performance Test, the Stroop Color-Word Test, and the phonological subscale of the Greek Verbal Fluency Test. Our findings indicated impaired humor appreciation among patients with schizophrenia. The relationship found between the appreciation of captionless cartoons involved an incongruous detail and performance on a broad neuropsychological battery suggested that the deficit in humor appreciation in schizophrenia could be attributed to impairment in more basic neurocognitive domains, namely, selective and sustained attention as well as phonological word fluency.     

Cognition and event-related potentials in adult-onset non-demented myotonic dystrophy type 1

ObjectiveTo clarify the cognitive and event-related potentials (ERPs) profiles of adult-onset genetically-proven non-demented myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).MethodsFourteen DM1 patients and matched 14 normal controls were enrolled. DM1 patients were compared with normal controls, using a variety of neuropsychological tests; an auditory “oddball” counting paradigm for the ERPs, and low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). For patients, ERPs and neuropsychological parameters were correlated with CTG repeat size, duration of illness, grip strength, and arterial blood gas analysis.ResultsFrontal lobe dysfunction, prolonged N1 latency, and attenuated N2/P3 amplitudes were observed in DM1. Longer CTG repeat size was associated with fewer categories achieved on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Greater grip strength was associated with better scores on color-word “interference” of Stroop test. P3 latency was negatively correlated with PaO₂. LORETA revealed significant hypoactivities at the orbitofrontal and medial temporal lobe, cingulate, and insula. There was no correlation between ERPs and CTG expansion.ConclusionsAdult-onset non-demented DM1 presented frontal lobe dysfunction. Absence of correlations between CTG repeat size and objective ERP parameters suggested CTG expansion in lymphocytes does not directly contribute to cognitive dysfunction.SignificanceCTG expansion in lymphocytes does not directly contribute to cognitive dysfunction of adult-onset non-demented DM1.     

癫(癎)患者认知功能特点的研究

目的:研究癫(EP)患者认知功能的特点及其影响因素。方法:采用听觉词语测验、逻辑记忆测验、数字符号转换测验、Stoop字色干扰测验、连线测验、言语流畅性测验、Rey-Osterrieth复杂图片测验及Boston命名测验对166例EP患者进行认知评定。结果:EP患者存在广泛的认知损害,包括言语记忆、情景记忆、视觉空间结构记忆、词语学习能力、注意力、抗干扰能力、精神运动速度及言语命名功能等方面,以词语延迟回忆、注意力及精神运动速度损害最为明显。而未经药物干预的新诊断EP患者已存在除视觉空间记忆、注意力及抗干扰能力外的上述认知功能的损害,以词语延迟回忆最为明显。随访病例与新诊断病例的区别在于,前者在抗干扰能力及精神运动速度方面损害更明显。结论:新诊断EP组以及随访EP组病例在多项神经心理学测验中得分均低于正常对照组,两组之间差异有统计学意义。     

Neurocognitive function in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder

Objectives: The small body of neuropsychological research in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) yields inconsistent results. A recent meta-analysis found small effect sizes, concluding that paediatric OCD may not be associated with cognitive impairments, stressing the need for more research. We investigated neuropsychological performance in a large sample of youths with OCD, while assessing potential moderators.

Methods: Participants with OCD (n?=?102) and matched controls (n?=?161) were thoroughly screened and blindly evaluated for comorbidities, and completed a neuropsychological battery assessing processing speed, visuospatial abilities (VSA), working memory (WM), non-verbal memory (NVM), and executive functions (EF).

Results: Compared to controls, youths with OCD exhibited underperformance on tasks assessing processing speed. On tests of VSA and WM, underperformance was found only on timed tasks. There were no differences on NVM and EF tasks. Notably, the OCD group’s standardised scores were in the normative range. Test performance was not associated with demographic or clinical variables.

Conclusions: Youths with OCD exhibited intact performance on memory and EF tests, but slower processing speed, and underperformance only on timed VSA and WM tasks. While the OCD group performed in the normative range, these findings reveal relative weaknesses that may be overlooked. Such an oversight may be of particular importance in clinical and school settings.     

Neuropsychological profiles of FMR-1 premutation and full-mutation carrier females

The present French-German investigation of fragile-X syndrome (fra-X) was undertaken to disentangle genetic from environmental effects on cognitive performance as assessed with the following measures: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail-Making Test, Tower of Hanai, Verbal Fluency Test, Stroop Test, short-term and consolidation memory, and the d2 task. Groups with different genotypes (n = 11 mothers with a full mutation in the FMR-1 gene of fra-X children; n = 65 mothers with a premutation in the FMR-1 gene of fra-X children; n = 18 siblings of these mothers with normal CGG repeats) and with different psychosocial stressors from fra-X families (n = 14 siblings with a premutation but without affected children of their own) were examined. A group of mothers of non-fra-X autistic children (n = 39) formed an external control group. Previous findings were replicated concerning cognitive performance of FMR-1 full-mutation carrier mothers, who were characterized by lower overall IQ and poorer performance than the group of mothers with the FMR-1 premutation in verbal and performance subtests of the WAIS-R, tests of executive-frontal lobe functioning, and tests of sustained attention. Carriers of the FMR-1 premutation, whether they were mothers of affected children or not,performed in a similar way on all neuropsychological tasks to the intrafamilial control group without CGG amplification. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that there is no neuropsychological evidence of reduced cognitive performance of FMR-1 premutation carriers compared with performance of two control groups with normal CGG repeats. Furthermore, the psychosocial burden of raising fra-X children does not exert an environmental effect on neuropsychological test performance.     

健康成人大脑认知功能的性别和年龄差异

目的：采用神经心理检测工具对健康成人的认知功能进行更衣室并比较其性别和年龄差异。方法：对年龄在16-72岁的健康成人（156例，男性64例、女性92例）进行神经心理测验，包括部分WAIS智力测验项目，WMS逻辑记忆和视觉记忆测验，STROOP测验，词汇流畅性，连线测验A、B，汉诺塔测验，威斯康星卡片分类测验改良版（M-WCST）。结果：男性在WAIS智力测验项目、汉诺塔TOH测验中成绩优于女性；随龄增长，除知识以外的大多数认知功能均下降。结论：健康成人的认知功能存在着性别和年龄差异。     

Executive Functions in Patients with Familial versus Sporadic Schizophrenia and Their Parents

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the executive functions in patients with sporadic schizophrenia (SS) and familial schizophrenia (FS), and the executive functions in their parents. Methods: The study included 30 patients with FS and their 37 parents with a positive family history of schizophrenia; 30 patients with SS and their 44 parents; 30 controls matched with the patients for gender, age and education, and 40 controls matched with the parents for gender, age and education (211 subjects in total). All the subjects were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-Axis I (SCID-I). The executive functions were assessed using the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), the Trail Making Test (TMT), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Stroop Test. Results: Patients with FS and their parents, and patients with SS performed significantly worse than their controls on the VFT, TMT, WCST and the Stroop test. There were no statistically significant differences between parents of patients with SS and their controls on any of the tests except for the Stroop color score. FS parents performed significantly worse than SS parents on all tests. FS patients performed significantly worse than SS patients on the VFT, TMT, Stroop test. Conclusion: Previous studies that investigated the cognitive functions of relatives of patients with schizophrenia brought out inconsistent results. The present study investigated relatives with and without a family history of schizophrenia separately and found that executive functions were impaired only in parents with a positive family history of schizophrenia. These findings suggest that impairment in executive functions may represent a genetic endophenotype for schizophrenia.     

Evaluating cognitive functions with visual and auditory number assays and P300 in children with epilepsy

This study was planned to evaluate cognitive functions, especially attention and immediate recall, in children with epilepsy by using P300 and neuropsychological tests, which included visual and auditory number assays. Fifty five patients with partial seizures, 45 patients with generalized seizures and 20 patients with intractable seizures were enrolled in the study. Twenty five healthy children were taken as the control group. The results were as follows: 1. P300 latencies were significantly longer in the intractable and partial groups when compared with the control subjects. 2. The duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, cerebral imaging pathologies were not significantly correlated with delayed P300 latencies. 3. The results of the visual and auditory number assays test showed significant abnormalities when each of the three groups were compared with the normal controls. 4. Though some subgroups of the neuropsychological tests were correlated with the P300 latencies, an overall significant correlation was not present between them. So, we suggest that neuropsychological tests are more convenient for the assessment of cognitive functions in children with epilepsy than the P300 recordings.     

Blood pressure is associated with cognitive impairment in young hypertensives.

AIMS: The present study was conducted to assess the effects of duration of hypertension, systolic hypertension, diastolic hypertension, drug compliance and class-of-drug on cognitive functions. METHODS AND RESULTS: A cohort of young hypertensive subjects was recruited after obtaining informed consent. Subjects with confounding factors, e.g., substance use, neurological disorders, endocrinopathies, inflammatory conditions, psychiatric illnesses, etc., were excluded. Their average systolic and diastolic blood pressure since onset of illness and prescribed drugs were noted from the records. Compliance was assessed with the help of information from subjects as well as the close relatives. MMSE and a battery of neuropsychological tests (Digit Span Test, Trail Making Test Form B, Stroop Test, Visuospatial Working Memory Matrix and Word Fluency Test) was applied to all the participants. Multivariate regression analysis was used for the assessment of associations and one-way ANOVA was performed to assess differences in the mean. Analysis showed that mean age of study subject was 52 years and average duration of hypertension was 9 years. Fourteen percent subjects had obvious cognitive impairment as suggested by MMSE score less than 23. However, when cut-off score was lowered to 20, only 6% subjects fell into this category. Diastolic blood pressure had significant negative association with all of the cognitive measures except Trail Making Test, which was, on the contrary, significantly and negatively associated with systolic blood pressure. Duration of hypertension did not influence cognitive performance in this study. Effect of drug compliance was somewhat variable, but in general good compliance was associated with better cognitive performance. Beta-Blocker therapy hampered cognitive performance, whereas the best performance, especially on tests of semantic memory and pre-frontal functions was seen in subjects taking calcium channel blockers. CONCLUSIONS: Diastolic hypertension was associated with significant impairment of cognitive functions in younger subjects. On the other hand good compliance and calcium channel blockers had protective effect on hypertension induced cognitive impairment, especially on the prefrontal functions.     

A functional MRI comparison of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and normal controls during a Chinese character Stroop task

Recent functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have suggested that abnormal activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) might cause an action-monitoring dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To identify the relationship between brain dysfunction and cognitive dysfunction, we examined regional brain changes in OCD with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the performance of a cognitive task. Participants comprised 24 patients with OCD and 14 normal controls. First, we compared the cognitive function in the two groups as assessed by several neuropsychological tests. Then we used fMRI to explore brain correlates of their performance during the Chinese character version of the Stroop test, a task that is strongly related to action-monitoring function. The two groups did not differ on the neuropsychological tests. Both groups also showed similar activation pattern on fMRI. The patients, however, showed weaker activation than the normal controls in the ACC and the right caudate nucleus.     

Metabolic correlates of executive dysfunction

This study was designed to examine the correlations between resting-state brain glucose metabolism (CMRglc), as measured with Positron Emission Tomography and performance on executive function tasks in Alzheimer's disease (AD), while taking into account the severity of cognitive deterioration. We addressed this issue in 50 AD patients, classified as very mild (n = 22) and mild (n = 28) AD on the basis of an extensive neuropsychological battery. Thirteen healthy subjects were selected as controls for the neuropsychological measures. Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) was used to examine voxel-wise correlations between CMRglc and scores on selected cognitive tests of executive functions: the Stroop Test, the Trail Making Test, the Dual Task and the Phonemic Fluency, while correcting for age and global CMRglc. All analyses were done separately for the two AD subgroups. The very mild AD patients showed significant associations between Stroop and Trail Making Test scores and prefrontal regions metabolism, whereas the mild AD patients exhibited more widely distributed cognitive-metabolic correlations extending to the posterior brain regions. These data suggest that a large cortical network is implicated in executive dysfunction in AD, and that the pattern of cognitive-metabolic correlations varies according to disease severity.     

Neuropsychological performance and regional cerebral blood flow in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Convergent findings from neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have suggested that neural dysfunction in frontal-subcortical circuits may play a central role in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To further examine the relationship between these two sets of findings we investigated both neuropsychological functions and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in a combined study. Fourteen unmedicated patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for OCD and 14 healthy controls matched for age, gender, handedness, and education were assessed on neuropsychological tests that included Trail Making Test (TMT), Rey Complex Figure Test (RCF) (copy and 5-min recall), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). rCBF was studied with 99 mTc-hexamethyl-propyleneamine-oxime (HMPAO) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Patients performed more poorly than controls (P<.05) on RCF (copy), VFT, and WCST (perseverative errors). Spearman's correlations indicated that severity of OCD correlated inversely with performance on the RCF (copy and recall scores) and positively with rCBF in the right thalamus. Positive correlations were observed between nonperseverative errors (WCST) and rCBF in frontal areas and anterior cingulate. Perseverative errors (WCST) correlated negatively with rCBF in the right thalamus. These findings are consistent with most previously published studies and suggest neural dysfunctions in the frontal-subcortical circuits probably more pronounced in the right hemisphere. They also extend the existing research, showing associations between deficits in cortical-subcortical circuitry and performance on neuropsychological tests of controlled attention and visuospatial functions.     

Endogenous event-related potentials in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Brain event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate central nervous system (CNS) correlates of cognitive function in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). ERPs of 10 unmedicated OCD patients and 10 normal controls were measured in an auditory "oddball" task. Increasing task difficulty resulted in longer N200 and P300 latencies in normal subjects, but not in OCD patients. Moreover, OCD patients displayed shorter P300 latency than normal controls for the more difficult discrimination conditions. This replicates prior findings of Beech et al. (1983) for a visual task. For both levels of task difficulty, OCD patients also showed greater negativity than normal controls in the N200 region, which extended into the subsequent slow wave region. Negativities in the N200 and slow wave regions were larger at sites over the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere. The enhanced negativities and reduced P300 latency in OCD patients are discussed in terms of current theories postulating cortical hyperarousal and left hemisphere involvement in OCD.