Negative metacognitive bias, underestimating one’s abilities, is consistently linked to psychopathology, yet prior work has often collapsed anxiety/stress and depression or examined depression alone. We tested the unique associations of depression, anxiety/stress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with metacognitive bias in post-9/11 veterans.

Veterans from the Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS, N = 601; 90% male; M age = 34.31) completed 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (depression, anxiety/stress), CAPS-IV (PTSD), WHODAS-II Understanding/Communicating (self-reported cognition), and an objective cognition composite (assessment of executive function, memory, and attention). Bias was computed as self-report minus objective cognition. A subsample (n = 239) repeated testing ∼2 years later.

At time 1, more negative metacognitive bias was associated with greater anxiety/stress (r = −.41), depressive (r = −.37), and PTSD symptoms (r = −.31) (all ps < .001). In a simultaneous model, anxiety/stress (β = −.29 p < .001) and depressive symptoms (β = −.12, p = .045) explained unique variance though PTSD symptoms did not (β = −.03, p = .524). Longitudinally, changes in bias were uniquely predicted by symptom changes in anxiety/stress (β = −.33, p < .001) and PTSD (β = −.16, p = .001), but not depression (β = −.10, p = .137).

Across cross-sectional and longitudinal models, anxiety/stress emerged as the most consistent correlate of metacognitive bias, with weaker contributions from depression and PTSD. These findings highlight the importance of assessing the self-report versus objective cognition gap and the need to further understand the temporal relationship between anxiety/stress and metacognitive bias.

This study examines how multiple dimensions of socio-emotional well-being relate to cognitive functioning in older adults, and whether the associations vary by cognitive status, depression, and socio-demographic factors.

Data from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (n = 2,650; mean age = 76; 54.5% females) were used to test associations between life satisfaction, meaning in life, social connectedness, and loneliness with global, domain-specific cognitive performance, and informant-rated cognitive decline.

Linear mixed models, with individuals nested within five countries, found that higher life satisfaction, meaning in life, and social connectedness were associated with better cognitive outcomes, whereas greater loneliness was associated with worse performance and greater informant-rated decline. The largest effect sizes were observed for meaning in life (median β = .10) and loneliness (median β = −.09) across cognitive measures. The associations generally remained significant adjusting for well-known clinical (e.g., diabetes), behavioral (e.g., physical inactivity), and psychological (depressive symptomatology) risk factors for dementia. Moderation and sensitivity analyses suggested that associations with global cognition hinged on the inclusion of participants classified with cognitive impairment, while some domain-specific associations (e.g., loneliness and episodic memory) were observed only in individuals without cognitive impairment. Overall, evidence for moderation by cognitive status, depression and age was limited, and no moderation was observed for sex or education.

The results underscore the importance of socio-emotional well-being in cognitive aging and highlight the need for longitudinal research to clarify mechanistic pathways and inform targeted interventions.

Neuropsychological (NP) tests are multi-domain in execution. Reliance on a single score representing specific domains obscures the detection of subtle cognitive changes and increases risk of inaccurate assessment. Rooted in the Boston Process Approach (BPA), the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) captures multi-dimensional errors and process features within and across NP tests. We examined these BPA variables in community-dwelling older adults.

We analyzed data from 2363 dementia-free participants aged 60 and above. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses used Kemeny covariance structures. Measurement invariance was estimated across age, sex, and education groups. We assessed the impact of demographics on latent factors, and the ability of these factors to predict future conversion to all-cause dementia. We trained machine learning (ML) models to compare NP and BPA data.

Participants were older adults (mean age 71.5 ± 8.7 years), primarily female (54.2%), and non-Hispanic White (96.5%). The bifactor model was the only model with adequate fit (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.03). General and specific factors captured ability for accurate and strategic responses, test-specific variance, and nuanced executive and semantic processes distributed across tests. Higher general ability and stronger verbatim story recall were associated with a reduced likelihood of developing all-cause dementia (general: OR = 0.15, 95% CI [0.12–0.86]; recall: OR = 0.24, 95% CI [0.23–0.90]) over a median of 5.2 years. With NP/BPA data, ML models identified >99% of 222 converters.

This study highlights the strengths of NP/BPA data. Multidimensional cognitive features may enhance sensitivity to early changes predictive of incipient dementia.

The quest for non-invasive and cost-effective biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has led to growing interest in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study examined associations between whole-brain functional connectivity measures and cognitive performance across a spectrum of cognitive aging.

A total of 108 older adults (mean age 74.1 ± 5.7 years), comprised of cognitively intact individuals, participants with amnestic MCI, and those with mild dementia due to probable AD, underwent high-resolution structural MRI and resting-state functional MRI scans and cognitive testing with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Functional connectivity values were derived from a 17-network brain parcellation. Correlations were established between network connectivity values and RBANS Index scores.

Analyses revealed that lower RBANS Attention Index and Total Scale scores were significantly associated with increased connectivity between the ventral attention, central executive network, and limbic and default mode networks. Lower RBANS total scores were also associated with functional connectivity strength between the dorsal default mode networks and lateral frontoparietal regions of the central executive network, with increased connectivity observed across the dementia spectrum (Intact-MCI-AD).

These findings suggest that aberrant and potentially compensatory increases in functional connectivity may be linked to cognitive decline, supporting the utility of resting-state functional MRI as a promising biomarker for MCI and AD.

This study aimed to make a head-to-head comparison of the diagnostic accuracy and cross-cultural applicability of abbreviated 20-item versions of the Copenhagen Cross-Linguistic Naming Test (C-CLNT20) and Naming Assessment in Multicultural Europe (NAME20).

The present study was conducted in a multicultural and multilingual patient sample from memory clinics across five European countries. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess the diagnostic accuracy of C-CLNT20 and NAME20 in classifying dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of demographic and cultural factors on diagnostic accuracy.

C-CLNT20 and NAME20 showed acceptable diagnostic accuracy for dementia with areas under the curve (AUC) of .75 and .82, respectively, but had low accuracy for MCI (AUC of .64 and .62, respectively). Compared to C-CLNT20, NAME20 had slightly higher, but statistically non-significant, AUCs for dementia in both in the full sample and in participants with immigrant background. The diagnostic accuracy of the C-CLNT20 and NAME20 was not significantly influenced by education and immigrant status in the full sample, or by acculturation and use of an interpreter in participants with immigrant background.

Both C-CLNT20 and NAME20 are promising brief alternatives to the full versions of the naming tests when time is limited. They also present a promising alternative to other established naming tests by maintaining diagnostic accuracy while showing minimal cross-cultural and cross-linguistic bias.

Episodic memory decline is among the earliest and most prominent cognitive changes observed in both normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease. The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) enhances differentiation of memory deficits through controlled semantic encoding and cue-based retrieval. However, culturally appropriate normative data for Mandarin-speaking adult populations have been lacking. This study aimed to establish normative data for the Taiwan version of the FCSRT (T-FCSRT), examine demographic effects on test performance, and evaluate its psychometric properties and clinical applicability.

A total of 372 cognitively healthy adults aged 45–86 years were recruited using stratified sampling to reflect the Taiwanese population across sex, age, and education levels. Participants completed the T-FCSRT, and regression-based analyses were used to adjust for demographic effects. Reliability and validity were assessed using test–retest data and correlations with established neuropsychological measures.

All T-FCSRT core indices were significantly influenced by age and education level, whereas sex effects were confined to immediate and delayed free-recall measures. The T-FCSRT demonstrated good test–retest reliability, criterion-related and construct validity, and regression-based percentile norms that provide population-representative benchmarks.

The T-FCSRT demonstrates strong psychometric properties and provides culturally appropriate normative data for Mandarin-speaking adults in Taiwan. These findings support its utility for clinical assessment and research on episodic memory, enabling more accurate differentiation between normal and pathological aging.

Assessment for children with acquired brain injury (ABI) often includes measures of preinjury functioning; however, there is limited understanding of how social determinants of health (SDOH) are associated with preinjury measures. This study investigated the association of the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) with measures of preinjury functioning.

196 caregivers of children with ABI completed the Adaptive Behavioral Assessment System-3rd Edition (ABAS-III), and 188 children with ABI completed the Wide Range Achievement Testing-4th Edition or 5th Edition word reading subtest (WRAT-Word Reading). Two linear regressions were performed: 1) ADI × WRAT-Reading and 2) ADI × ABAS-III.

The ADI demonstrated significant associations with the ABAS-III and WRAT-Reading scores. Children in lower deprivation areas demonstrated higher preinjury functioning and word reading scores.

These findings have implications for recovery from brain injury, considerations for incorporating social determinants of health into neuropsychological evaluations, and implications for clinician interpretation of a child’s testing.