Article
Behavioral Sciences
Olivier Godefroy, Ardalan Aarabi, Flore Dorchies, Melanie Barbay, Daniela Andriuta, Momar Diouf, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, Rania Kassir, Sophie Tasseel-Ponche, Martine Roussel, RECogVASC Study Grp
Summary: The study examined the functional organization and anatomy of executive functions using a verbal fluency task. A model of verbal fluency was proposed and supported by testing patients and controls. Lesion-symptom mapping and disconnectome analysis identified brain regions associated with fluency, but did not find specific regions for lexico-phonological search processes.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Edoardo Nicolo Aiello, Alice Naomi Preti, Veronica Pucci, Lorenzo Diana, Alessia Corvaglia, Chiara Barattieri di San Pietro, Teresa Difonzo, Stefano Zago, Ildebrando Appollonio, Sara Mondini, Nadia Bolognini
Summary: This study aimed to standardize and provide preliminary evidence on the clinical usability of the Italian telephone-based Verbal Fluency Battery (t-VFB), which is a valid and reliable assessment tool for language and executive functioning. Results showed promising evidence of its diagnostic accuracy in neurological populations.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Jordan Lam, Justin Lee, Marcus Williams, Melanie Cohn, Melissa Wilson, Catherine Mark, Nasrin Esnaashari, Andrew Petkus, Jennifer Hui, Danielle Feigenbaum, Mark Liker, Charles Y. Liu, Brian Lee, Darrin J. Lee
Summary: The study evaluated the acute effects of theta frequency bilateral STN stimulation on executive function in Parkinson's disease patients, showing significant improvement in episodic category fluency compared to gamma frequency stimulation. However, there were no significant differences between stimulation frequencies in other tests.
Review
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Jasmine Giovannoli, Diana Martella, Maria Casagrande
Summary: This systematic review examines the effect of bilingualism on executive functioning assessed by verbal fluency tasks. The results suggest that there is no significant difference between bilinguals and monolinguals in performance. However, the conclusions about whether bilinguals have an advantage or disadvantage in verbal fluency tasks are not definitive. Therefore, precautions should be taken when using this task, especially in clinical practice.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Education, Special
Amanallah Soltani, Emily K. Schworer, Anna J. Esbensen
Summary: This study reveals the association between verbal fluency performance and executive functioning in youth with Down syndrome, even after controlling for the effects of vocabulary and cognitive ability. The findings highlight the underlying importance of executive functioning in verbal fluency tasks for individuals with Down syndrome.
RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Julia Buettner-Kunert, Sarah Bloechinger, Zofia Falkowska, Theresa Rieger, Charlotte Oslmeier
Summary: Individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) may still have impairments at the discourse level, which can affect their conversational behavior and socio-communicative participation. However, there are currently limited tests available to assess discourse disorders. This study aims to investigate discourse processing in individuals with TBI and evaluate their communicative participation in different phases.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Eli Hedman, Lena Hartelius, Charlotta Saldert
Summary: This study found that relatively more cognitively demanding controlled oral word association tests (COWATs) can effectively detect word-finding difficulties in persons with Parkinson's disease (PD). Additionally, age and education seem to influence the results of COWAT tasks, while self-perceived word-finding difficulties and motor symptoms are not correlated with the results.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Yuksel Erdal, Seyma Perk, Cahit Keskinkilic, Banu Bayramoglu, Abdullah Soydan Mahmutoglu, Ufuk Emre
Summary: The study evaluated the cognitive function of patients with isolated cerebellar infarction in both the acute stage and the follow-up period. Patients showed lower verbal fluency, attention, and verbal and non-verbal episodic memory scores in the acute stage compared to controls, but demonstrated improvement in all cognitive functions during follow-up, with less progress in word reading time. Lesions in the cerebellum were found to affect cognitive functions in the acute stage but showed recovery in the follow-up period.
NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Lisa Cipolotti, James K. Ruffle, Joe Mole, Tianbo Xu, Harpreet Hyare, Tim Shallice, Edgar Chan, Parashkev Nachev
Summary: Cipolotti and colleagues examined fluid intelligence in patients with focal brain lesions and found that performance on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices was impaired in patients with frontal lesions, particularly those in the right hemisphere. These findings suggest that a predominantly right frontal network is critical for high-level functions involved in fluid intelligence. The study also highlights the usefulness of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices as a clinical index of fluid intelligence and a marker of right frontal lobe dysfunction.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Ana Belen Parra-Diaz, Agustin Aibar-Almazan, Antonio Martinez-Amat, Jose Daniel Jimenez-Garcia, Francisco Alvarez-Salvago, Fidel Hita-Contreras
Summary: This study found that sleep quality was associated with cognitive performance, verbal fluency, and executive functions. Anxiety and depression were related to cognitive performance, but only anxiety was linked to executive functions. Age was associated with cognitive performance and verbal fluency.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Amy L. Lebkuecher, Nancy D. Chiaravalloti, Lauren B. Strober
Summary: The study found that verbal fluency deficits in individuals with multiple sclerosis may reflect both impaired language ability and processing speed.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND RELATED DISORDERS
(2021)
Article
Psychology
Ellen Collee, Esther van den Berg, Evy Visch-Brink, Arnaud Vincent, Clemens Dirven, Djaina Satoer
Summary: Glioma patients often experience deficits in language and executive functioning, which affect their performance in verbal fluency. This study aims to investigate glioma patients' performance in verbal and nonverbal fluency and explore the influence of language and executive functioning on verbal fluency. Results showed that preoperatively, patients exhibited impairments in verbal fluency tasks but not in nonverbal fluency. Different language and executive functioning tests predicted performance in different verbal fluency tasks. Postoperatively, category fluency professions deteriorated while nonverbal fluency improved.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Vanessa Aran Filippetti, Gabriela Krumm, Mariana Beatriz Lopez
Summary: This systematic review summarizes empirical studies on the development of clustering and switching strategies during verbal fluency tests in typically developing children and adolescents, and explores the use of strategies in children with atypical development. Research suggests that clustering and switching follow distinct developmental trajectories, with the number of clusters and switches increasing with age. Both clusters and switches drive word productivity, with switches being related to phonological productivity and clusters being related to semantic productivity. The review also highlights the different profiles observed in children with atypical development, providing valuable data for neuropsychological assessment of executive functions in these individuals.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Gail A. Robinson, Lucy Shi, Zoie Nott, Amelia Ceslis
Summary: The study developed a new Brief Executive Language Screen (BELS) to assess core language and executive functions involved in spontaneous generation of language, filling a gap in current aphasia assessment tools.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Sunghye Cho, Naomi Nevler, Natalia Parjane, Christopher Cieri, Mark Liberman, Murray Grossman, Katheryn A. Q. Cousins
Summary: The study introduced a novel automated method to analyze language characteristics during a fluency task, revealing significant correlations between total score and various factors such as word frequency, familiarity, and age of acquisition. Additionally, the study found that language features of words produced during the task changed significantly over time.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Elsa Raynal, Armin Schnider, Aurelie L. Manuel
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Aurelie L. Manuel, Nicholas W. G. Murray, Olivier Piguet
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2019)
Article
Neurosciences
Farfalla Ribordy Lambert, Corentin A. Wicht, Michael Mouthon, Lucas Spierer
Article
Neurosciences
Aurelie L. Manuel, Daniel Roquet, Ramon Landin-Romero, Fiona Kumfor, Rebekah M. Ahmed, John R. Hodges, Olivier Piguet
SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Hugo Najberg, Laura Wachtl, Marco Anziano, Michael Mouthon, Lucas Spierer
Summary: Older adults show preserved capacities for training-induced plasticity in executive control, with improvements in efficiency of the inhibition process. However, the effects of inhibitory control training differ from those in young adults, not generalizing to impulsivity traits or quality of life. Brain activity changes and coping with inhibition demands also show differences between older and young adults.
Letter
Clinical Neurology
Valerie Beaud, Sonia Crottaz-Herbette, Vincent Dunet, Julien Vaucher, Raphael Bernard-Valnet, Renaud Du Pasquier, Pierre-Alexandre Bart, Stephanie Clarke
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Michael De Pretto, Michael Mouthon, Ines Debove, Claudio Pollo, Michael Schuepbach, Lucas Spierer, Ettore A. Accolla
Summary: The study found no behavioral effects of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus or internal globus pallidus on proactive inhibition in Parkinson's disease patients, despite an overall improvement in motor performance with subthalamic nucleus stimulation. The results suggest a partly segregated network for proactive inhibition in the subthalamic nucleus group, with a preferential recruitment of the indirect pathway.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Aileen Echiverri-Cohen, Lucas Spierer, Marcelina Perez, Melissa Kulon, Montana Daunbi Ellis, Michelle Craske
Summary: The study found that response inhibition training can improve inhibition on untrained tasks, reduce PTSD symptoms, and have better outcomes compared to a waitlist group post-training. However, there was evidence of reduced inhibition on a modified response inhibition task from pre- to post-training.
BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Corentin A. Wicht, Michael De Pretto, Michael Mouthon, Lucas Spierer
Summary: This study aimed to examine the effects of expectations on neurocognitive processes. By manipulating the conditions of coffee consumption, the researchers found that the effects of caffeine on attention and inhibitory control may have been overestimated, and caffeine primarily influences cognitive processes and brain areas responsible for attention allocation.
Article
Neurosciences
Corentin A. Wicht, Michael Mouthon, Joelle Nsimire Chabwine, Jens Gaab, Lucas Spierer
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of expectation effects in placebo analgesia (PA) with or without conditioning through prior experience. The results suggest that modifications in the PA-associated brain activity by conditioning are either absent or very small in the presence of verbally-induced expectations.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Corentin A. Wicht, Camille F. Chavan, Jean-Marie Annoni, Philippe Balmer, Jerome Aellen, Andrea M. Humm, Fabienne Crettaz von Roten, Lucas Spierer, Friedrich Medlin
Summary: This study found that anxiety/depression and fatigue-related disabilities may influence stroke survivors' ability to return to paid work within 3 months after stroke. Higher stroke severity and hyperlipidemia were also associated with not returning to paid work at 3 months.
JOURNAL OF PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Marco Anziano, Michael Mouthon, Harriet Thoeny, Christoph Sperber, Lucas Spierer
Summary: Mental flexibility (MF) refers to the ability to switch dynamically from one task to another. This study investigated the impact of white matter lesions on the brain's structural connectome and their association with MF performance in stroke patients. The results show that damage to specific brain connections, as well as white matter disconnections within cortical areas, are associated with MF deficits. These findings highlight the importance of white matter integrity and connectomics in understanding high-order cognitive functions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hugo Najberg, Maurizio Rigamonti, Michael Mouthon, Lucas Spierer
Summary: Interventions involving motor control can decrease perceived palatability of unhealthy food items, but do not necessarily increase ratings of healthy food items or lead to weight loss.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Sarah Ellen Carnemolla, Julien Wen Hsieh, Rebecca Sipione, Basile N. Landis, Fiona Kumfor, Olivier Piguet, Aurelie L. Manuel
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Yoshija Walter, Sebastian Dieguez, Michael Mouthon, Lucas Spierer
Article
Neurosciences
Yang He, Jun Tang, Meng Zhang, Junjie Ying, Dezhi Mu
Summary: This study investigated the protective effects and mechanisms of human placenta derived mesenchymal stem cells (hPMSCs) transplantation in a rat model of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The results showed that hPMSCs transplantation reduced apoptosis and improved long-term neurological prognosis. Furthermore, the downregulation of Sema 3A/NRP-1 expression and activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway played a key role in the protective effects of hPMSCs.
Article
Neurosciences
Emily L. Isenstein, Edward G. Freedman, Jiayi Xu, Ian A. DeAndrea-Lazarus, John J. Foxe
Summary: This study evaluated electrophysiological discrimination of parametric somatosensory stimuli in healthy young adults to understand how the brain processes the duration of tactile information. The results showed that participants did not electrophysiologically discriminate between 100 and 115 ms, but they exhibited distinct electrophysiological responses when the deviant stimuli were 130, 145, and 160 ms. These findings contribute to a better understanding of tactile sensitivity in different clinical conditions.
Article
Neurosciences
Juliana R. Souza, Ludmila Lima-Silveira, Daniela Accorsi-Mendonca, Benedito H. Machado
Summary: This study demonstrates that A2A receptors play a crucial role in modulating synaptic transmission in the NTS neurons and are required for the enhancement of glutamatergic transmission observed under short-term sustained hypoxia conditions.
Article
Neurosciences
Miki Hashizume, Rina Ito, Rie Suge, Yasushi Hojo, Gen Murakami, Takayuki Murakoshi
Summary: The basolateral amygdaloid complex (BLA) is closely involved in the formation of emotional memories, including both aversive memory and contextual fear memory. Acute sleep deprivation (SD) disrupts the acquisition of tone-associated fear memory in juvenile rats, but has no significant effect on contextual fear memory. Slow network oscillation in the amygdala contributes to the formation of amygdala-dependent fear memory in relation to sleep.
Article
Neurosciences
Qunxian Wang, Shipeng Guo, Dongjie Hu, Xiangjun Dong, Zijun Meng, Yanshuang Jiang, Zijuan Feng, Weihui Zhou, Weihong Song
Summary: GSDME plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease by regulating the switch from apoptosis to pyroptosis and participating in neuroinflammatory response. Knockdown of GSDME has been shown to improve cognitive impairments, indicating that GSDME could be a therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.