Context-Dependent Effect (CDE) is a process by which restoring the original learning context enhances recall ability of the material being studied. One type of context is body expressions. Memory is one of the most common areas affected by Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). However, although the performance of people with TBI is lower than that of healthy people in most memory-related parameters, both groups show evidence for CDE. We examined the CDE via behavioral and eye movement measures.

Twenty-four healthy individuals and 27 patients with moderate-tosevere TBI participated in a memory task. Participants were exposed to pictures of people with neutral facial expression and neutral body expression and were asked to remember them for a subsequent memory test. In the testing session, they were asked to determine whether or not the person presented to them had appeared before, under two conditions: (1) where the context remains constant (facial expression and body expression remained neutral- the Repeat condition) (2) where the context changes (facial expression remained neutral and the body changed to angry or happy expression - the Re-pair condition).

While memory of the individuals with TBI was poorer than that of the control group, both groups exhibited CDE, as this effect was stronger in the Repeat condition compared to the Re-pair angry condition. We found that participants spent most of their time looking at the head. In addition, in both groups, we found a CDE and a group effect with regard to the difference in Dwell Time, so DT toward faces in the Repeat condition was higher than toward faces in the Re-pair condition. Also, DT toward correctly recognized people was higher among the control group than the TBI group. This effect appeared in the study and test phases.

This study supports previous research showing evidence for CDE using body expression in the TBI group, like the control group, and extends our comprehension of the relationship between eye movements, memory, and context of facial and body expression.

Although the relationship between visual attention, impulsivity, and cognitively restrained eating patterns has been established in previous research, less is known about the relationship of cognitive processes and disinhibited eating patterns in older adults. Research postulates that disinhibited eating behaviors may be associated with stress, limited emotional capacity, anxiety, and impulsivity. The current study investigated impulsivity as a potential mediator of the relationship between visual attention and disinhibited eating in older veterans.

This study included 101 Veterans who were screened as part of a larger study assessing the impact of multi-modal activity-based interventions on brain health in older adulthood. The sample included largely White (76%), male (94%) Veterans aged 54 to 88 (M = 70.1, SD 8.9). The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire was used to assess daily disinhibited eating patterns, and attentional impulsivity was assessed with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Visual attention was evaluated using the Stroop Color Word Test (Color Trial). Mediation analyses were conducted using the SPSS PROCESS Macro. The outcome variable for analysis was disinhibited eating. The predictor variable was visual attention. The mediator variable was impulsivity. Body mass index (BMI) was included as a covariate as it was significantly associated with the predictor and outcome variables.

The indirect effect of visual attention on disinhibited eating was found to be statistically significant (effect = 0.06, 95%: 0.02, 0.12)

Attentional impulsivity appears to mediate the relationship between visual attention and disinhibited eating behaviors. This finding extends the current literature about the relationship between visual attention, impulsivity, and other eating patterns (e.g., cognitively restrained eating) in older adults. Exploring this relationship helps us better understand the impact of eating habits through the aging process. Caregivers and older adults should be informed about the impact of increased impulsivity on disinhibited eating behaviors, especially in those with limited visual attention processes. Further understanding of the neurobiological impact of eating behaviors on cognition in older adulthood may assist in developing awareness about the importance of healthy eating patterns when considering brain health in the aging process.

COVID-19 misinformation proliferating online has led to adverse health and societal consequences. Older adults are a particularly vulnerable population due to increased risk for both COVID-19 related complications and susceptibility to, as well as sharing of, misinformation on social networking sites. The present study aimed to: 1) investigate differences in COVID-19 headline accuracy discernment and online sharing of COVID-19 misinformation in older and younger adults; and 2) examine individual differences in global cognition, health literacy and verbal IQ in online sharing of COVID-19 misinformation.

Fifty-two younger (age 18 to 35 years) and fifty older adults (age 50 and older) completed a telephone neurocognitive battery, health literacy and numeracy measures and self-report questionnaires. Participants also completed a social media headline-sharing experiment (Pennycook et al.,2020) in which they were presented true and false COVID-19 headlines and asked to indicate: 1) the likelihood that they would share the story on social media; and 2) the factual accuracy of the story.

A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance controlling for gender and race/ethnicity showed no effects of age (p=.099), but a significant interaction between actual COVID-19 headline accuracy and likelihood of sharing (p<.001), such that accuracy is more strongly related to sharing false headlines (r=-.64) versus true headlines (r=-.43). Moreover, higher likelihood of sharing false COVID-19 headlines was associated with lower verbal IQ and numeracy skills in older adults (rs=-.51--.40; ps<.01) and with lower verbal IQ, numeracy, and global cognition in younger adults (rs=-.66--.60; ps<.01).

Findings indicate that headline accuracy judgements are an important predictor of sharing COVID-19 misinformation in both older and younger adults. Further, individual differences in cognition, IQ, and numeracy may predict the likelihood of misinformation sharing in younger adults, while IQ and numeracy skills may act as important antecedents of misinformation sharing in older adults. Future work might leverage modern, neuropsychologically-based psychoeducation approaches to improving health and science literacy related to COVID-19.

Neuropsychology is in a nascent stage of understanding the mechanisms that link social forces, psychosocial experiences, and brain health. Discrimination is associated with lower quality of life, higher stress, and worse physical health outcomes in Latinx, but contradictory findings in prior research complicate our understanding of its relationship to cognition. These contradictory results may be explained by heterogeneity within the broad category of Latinx, a cultural identity that requires more nuanced conceptualization. Immigration status is a primary social identifier for Latinx people that carries significant stigma. However, prior research found enculturation promotes better physical and mental health outcomes in immigrants compared to their US-born counterparts, which may protect immigrant Latinx from the cognitive costs of discrimination. The current study hypothesized that the effect of discrimination on cognition will be stronger in US-born Latinx compared to immigrant Latinx.

We partnered with 1,023 neurologically healthy, community dwelling Latinx adults (M age=56.1(±10.7); M education=12.5(±3.7); 69% women) in a prospective cohort study in NYC investigating risks factors for Alzheimer’s disease. Immigration status was determined by self-report of birthplace. Measures of attention, language, and memory were administered by bilingual examiners in the participants’ self-selected preferred language of English (n = 388) or Spanish (n=635). Discrimination, measured with the Everyday Discrimination Scale and Major Experiences of Discrimination Scale, was chronicity coded to weigh experiences of discrimination according to yearly chronicity. Linear regression models were employed for US-born and immigrant participants to assess the relationship between both discrimination measures and each cognitive measure.

Compared to US-born Latinx (n = 224), immigrant Latinx (n = 799; primarily from the Dominican Republic) were older, had fewer years of school, had lower income, and were much more likely to have chosen to be assessed in Spanish. Immigrants reported experiencing significantly fewer everyday and major experiences of discrimination than nonimmigrants. In unadjusted models, discrimination did not predict cognitive performance among US-born Latinx. Among immigrant Latinx, more major experiences of discrimination across the lifetime predicted better phonemic (F(2,362) = 4.167, p<0.05, R2=0.017) and semantic fluency (F(2,362) = 3.304, p<0.05, R2=0.013) but was not associated with measures of attention or memory.

Discrimination is an important life stressor for Latinx people living in the US, particularly when its impact is summed across intersectional identities. The current study is among the first to explore the potential cognitive impact of discrimination within a group of Latinx adults. The described relationship between discrimination and language performance in this cohort may be confounded by the language in which cognitive tests were administered. Future studies should consider how discrimination measures may be limited in their ability to accurately capture the experiences of US-born and immigrant Latinx groups and expand the measurement of cognition to additional domains.

Blast-related traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is one of the most common injuries among Veterans who have served in recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite representing a distinct mechanism of injury, long-term clinical and functional outcomes of bTBI are generally comparable with non-blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, controversy remains over whether bTBI etiology differentially impacts emotional regulation and neurocognition - particularly with respect to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and verbal and visual memory. Through diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), the present study investigates the microstructural pathophysiology of bTBI, compared to non-blast TBI, in neural pathways involved in emotional regulation and cognitive control.

Participants included 36 Veterans (25% female; age M = 36.33, SD = 10.11; years of education M = 15.67, SD = 2.34). Axial diffusivity (AD) in networks of emotional and cognitive control was acquired using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a DTI protocol. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare Veterans with self-reported bTBI (n = 23) to those with non-blast-related TBI (n = 13).

In the left hemisphere, Veterans with bTBI exhibited significantly smaller AD in axonal projections from the caudate nucleus (CN) to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), as well as in projections from the putamen to the OFC (p < 0.05). In the right hemisphere, Veterans with bTBI also exhibited significantly smaller AD in networks connecting the hippocampus to the amygdala (p < 0.05).

Compared to Veterans with non-blast-related TBI, Veterans with bTBI exhibited decreased AD in neural pathways from the CN to the OFC, the putamen to the OFC, and the hippocampus to the amygdala - indicative of increased axonal injury in these areas. Our results suggest that, on a microstructural level, emotional and cognitive networks are susceptible to longitudinal blast-related white matter damage. This is consistent with the literature in post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and provides a potential mechanism underlying results previously reported from this sample, describing subjective cognitive complaints in the absence of objective clinical deficits. As such, therapies that target networks of emotional and cognitive control may be particularly beneficial for Veterans with bTBI.

Higher baseline dispersion (intra-individual variability) across neuropsychological test scores at a single time-point has been associated with more rapid cognitive decline, onset of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), faster rates of hippocampal and entorhinal atrophy, and increased AD neuropathology. Comparison between predictions made from test score dispersion within a cognitive domain versus global, cross-domain dispersion is understudied. Global dispersion may be influenced by ability-and test-specific characteristics. This study examined the performance of global versus domain-specific dispersion metrics to identify which is most predictive of cognitive decline over time.

Data for baseline and five follow-up visits of 308 participants with normal cognition (Mage=73.90, SD=8.12) were selected from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Dataset. Participants were required to have no focal neurological deficits, or history of depression, stroke, or heart attack. Diagnoses and progression to MCI and/or dementia were determined at each visit through consensus conferences. Raw neuropsychological scores were standardized using NACC norms. Global baseline dispersion was defined as the intraindividual standard deviation (ISD) across the 10 scores in the NACC battery. Domain-specific dispersions were calculated by constructing composites and ISD was computed across tests sampling their respective domains (executive functioning/attention/processing speed [EFAS], language, and memory; see Table 1 for details on these tests). Higher values on each of these metrics reflect greater dispersion. Multinomial logistic regression model fit statistics and parameter estimates were compared across four different models (global, EFAS, Language, and Memory dispersion) covarying for age, years of education, sex, race, ethnicity, and ApoE4 status. Models were compared using the Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) and the Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) of Models statistics.

Of the 308 participants, 70 (22.7%) progressed to MCI, and 82 (26.6%) progressed to dementia. Tables 1 and 2 show the results of the logistic regressions for the four models. All models fit the data well, with statistically significant predictions of conversion. Model 1 (global dispersion) showed a better fit than domain-specific models of dispersion per LRT and AIC values. Consistent with the results from mean differences between groups, parameter estimates showed that only global dispersion and EFAS dispersion significantly predicted conversion to dementia (when included with other covariates in models), with higher dispersion reflecting a greater risk of conversion.

In this sample, baseline global and EFAS dispersion measures significantly predicted conversion to dementia. Although global dispersion was a stronger predictor of dementia progression, findings suggest that executive functioning performance may be driving this relationship. A single index of global variability, from the calculation of standard deviation across test scores, may be supplementary for clinicians when distinguishing individuals at risk for dementia progression. None of the models were predictive of conversion to MCI. Further research is required to examine cognitive variability differences among patients who progress to MCI and patient-specific factors that may relate to test score dispersion and its utility in predicting the progression of symptoms.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), conducted by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2019, revealed that a large percentage of boys (30%) and girls (45%) reported serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions as a result of a physical, mental, or emotional problem. In 2021, the CDC conducted the Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES). The ABES included similar methodology and content as the YRBS. This study analyzed ABES data to examine correlates of perceived cognitive impairment among high school students in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ABES was a one-time, online survey that was conducted to assess and evaluate the challenges that high-school aged youth experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students’ perceived cognitive impairment was assessed using the same question used in the 2019 YRBS: 'Because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem, do you have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?' Response options were binary: 'Yes’ or 'No.' The students’ responses were evaluated in relation to nine adversity, mental health, and lifestyle variables.

Participants were 6,992 students, age 14 to 18, with 3,294 boys (47%) and 3,698 girls (53%). A large proportion endorsed experiencing serious difficulties concentrating, remembering, and making decisions (45%). Girls (56%) were significantly more likely to endorse perceived cognitive impairment compared to boys (33%) [X2(1)=392.55, p<.001; OR=2.66, 95% CI=2.41-2.93]. Youth who reported that their mental health was poor most of the time or always were very likely to report perceived cognitive impairment (boys: 67%; girls: 81%). Binary logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between perceived cognitive impairment, adversity, and lifestyle variables while controlling for mental health. These analyses were conducted separately for boys [X2(9)=596.70, p<.001; Nagelkerke R2=.24] and girls [x2(9)=883.35, p<.001; Nagelkerke R2=.30]. After controlling for current mental health, significant independent predicters of cognitive problems in boys and girls included: a lifetime history of discrimination based on race or ethnicity, lifetime history of being sexually assaulted or abused, lifetime history of using illicit drugs, being bullied in the past year, current marijuana use, and getting insufficient sleep (5 of fewer hours per night). Participation in sports and exercising regularly were both independently associated with lower rates of cognitive impairment.

Perceived cognitive impairment was endorsed by a strikingly high percentage of high school students in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of high school aged girls and one third of boys reported having serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions. These rates are considerably higher than in 2019. Current mental health, unfair treatment because of race or ethnicity, being sexually assaulted, being bullied, drug use, and insufficient sleep were associated with perceived cognitive impairment. Indicators of a physically active lifestyle (participation in sports and exercising regularly) were associated with lower rates of cognitive problems.

The increasing incidence rates of concussive injuries, specifically among the youth age demographic, has led to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to classify these injuries as a “silent epidemic.” While symptoms from concussion typically remit within four weeks, many experience symptoms that persist beyond what is typically expected. For children, the persistence of symptoms can have damaging side-effects that impact daily functioning and the progression through developmental and educational milestones. Recent research highlights factors that modify the nature of outcomes after a concussive injury. For youth-aged individuals, one such factor is the presence of premorbid conditions. A growing body of research suggests children with learning disorders (LDs) may be more susceptible to negative symptom outcomes across neuropsychological domains. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to further examine the influence of developmental learning disorders on concussion outcomes among youths.

Youths between 7 and 19 years of age that sought care at a concussion specialty clinic were screened for inclusion in the current study. The final sample of included 54 patients who reported having a neurodevelopmental LD between the ages of 8 and 17 and 54 patients without LDs matched on age, race/ethnicity, and gender to serve as paired case-controls. Measures of post-concussive physical symptoms (Modified Balance Error Scoring System; Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders: Neuro-QoL-SD, Neuro-QoL-F), emotional state (BAI, BDI), parent report measure of behavioral manifestations of cognitive functioning (Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function), and select measures from the CogState automated test battery (i.e., One-Back, Two-Back, Groton Maze Learning, and Groton Maze Recall) were administered during the patient’s first examination at the clinic. Patients were instructed by the provider to follow-up at the clinic between two-three weeks for a repeat examination. The current study examined concussion outcome variables via two (group: LD, control) by two (time: initial examination, follow-up examination) repeated measures ANCOVAs where time between injury and the first examination was included as a covariate to control for the duration of elapsed days since injury.

Regarding cognitive symptoms, parent reported behaviors associated with executive functioning symptoms increased over time to reach clinically significant levels for the LD group, while symptoms decreased and remained within normal limits for the control group. Performance-based measures of cognition revealed no significant interactions or group/time differences. Additionally, the LD group showed more intense balance problems compared to the control group and symptom trends suggest LD participants may be more susceptible to prolonged, clinically significant, balance problems. With respect to sleep disturbances and fatigue, symptoms remained within normal limits across groups and time. Depression and anxiety symptoms remained within normal limits across groups and time as well.

Results highlight more intense balance problems and parent-reported executive dysfunction following concussion for youths with LDs compared to those without LDs. Additionally, though not significantly different

than the control group, results reveal several symptom domains in which the level of dysfunction meets clinical significance for the LD group participants only. As such, this study highlights the continued need for the scientific study of risk factors for vulnerable populations to aid in assessment and prevention efforts, especially for youths with LD.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research has generally focused on drawing conclusions from average brain activation patterns. Importantly, the brain is inherently variable; growing literature has found that within-individual blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal variability may be meaningful, and not just “noise.” For example, recent research has identified increased BOLD signal variability in healthy younger and older adults during more effortful/complex task loads of n-back paradigms, commonly used tasks that involve important elements of executive function (e.g., attention, working memory, planning, inhibition, etc.). Verbal fluency is a complex cognitive domain that also involves similar processes to generate words given certain rules. As a result, the current study builds on existing literature to investigate within-individual BOLD signal variability patterns in peak coordinates of a verbal fluency network during different loads of a letter n-back task. Due to greater executive demands, greater variability was expected during more effortful/complex n-back task loads in regions of a verbal fluency network.

Forty-eight healthy young adults (Mage(SD) = 22.41(4.47), 25 females) from the Atlanta area completed a letter n-back task in an MRI scanner. After standard processing in AFNI, images were corrected for motion and physiological artifacts, which may be confounding sources of variability. Volumes associated with each load of the letter n-back task (0-back, 1-back, 2-back, 3-back, crosshair) were identified. Task runs were normalized and respective run means were subtracted prior to concatenating all runs for each load type. Standard deviations were calculated across this mean-run corrected time series. Ten peak regions of interest (ROIs) were identified from a verbal fluency network generated from 84 peer-reviewed publications for this domain gathered on NeuroSynth. Paired samples t-tests with Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons were conducted to explore differences in variability during n-back task loads.

In several of the verbal fluency network ROIs, within-individual BOLD signal variability was significantly greater for 2-back versus 0-back loads with medium to large effect sizes (p’s < .001 - < .01, Cohen’s d range: .53-.93). Variability was also significantly greater for 3-back versus 0-back loads with small to medium effect sizes (p’s < .001 - < .01, Cohen’s d range: .48-.74). Specific regions that evidenced this pattern included ROIs in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left cingulate, right inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and left superior parietal lobule. Only two regions demonstrated increased variability in the 1-back load versus crosshair (left middle frontal gyrus, p < .001, d = .63; left lentiform nucleus, p < .05, d = .42). No regions demonstrated a significant difference in variability in the 0-back load versus crosshair.

This study contributes to growing literature examining within-individual BOLD signal variability in healthy individuals by exploring variability patterns in a verbal fluency network. The observed pattern of results supports the hypothesis and is in line with previous research, demonstrating that greater variability occurs with greater executive task demands. Future research can use an inscanner task of verbal fluency and can extend variability findings during this in-scanner task to out-of-scanner measures of verbal fluency.

Relative to their typically developing peers, autistic individuals experience greater difficulties in domains of functioning that are relevant to learning and adult outcomes, such as sensory sensitivities, anxiety, and social. However, little is known about how difficulties in these domains relate to the receipt of special education services as well as adult outcomes, such as vocational achievement. The current study sought to fill this gap by examining if difficulties in various learning-related domains as ascertained via the Learning Needs Screening Tool (LNST) were associated with historical special education receipt and vocational status.

400 autistic adults, recruited via the Simons Powering Autism Research (SPARK) participant registry Research Match service, participated in this study (40.5% male, mean age=28.9 years). All participants completed the LNST, which collects responses to 13 core questions about learning (such as challenges with memorization, note taking, spelling and identifying arithmetic signs), as well as 7 additional questions with checkbox and free response options, and yields a total score from 0-30. LNST item 14 and its response options (1-9) capture suspected causes of learning difficulties (e.g., 'too much noise or activity bothers me,' 'I get nervous taking tests'). These individual questions as well as the total of endorsed learning related challenges were then evaluated in relation to historical special education receipt (“yes” vs. “no”) and vocational outcomes (“yes” vs. “no” engaging in 10+ hours of postsecondary education or employment without supports), as assessed via the Taylor Vocational Index.

Logistic regression was utilized to predict the dependent variables of interest. Models included sex assigned at birth and age in the first step as covariates. Then either the total of learning related challenges endorsed or the 9 individual learning-related challenges from the LNST were included as independent variables of interest. For historical special education receipt, two items - “It’s hard for me to work by myself” (B = .78, p<.05) and “I get nervous taking tests” (B = .49, p<.05) were positively associated with a history of special education services. For vocational outcomes, the total learning related challenges (B = -.25, p<.001) as well as endorsement of one item -“It’s hard for me to work by myself” (B = -.88, p=<.05) were associated with poorer vocational outcomes.

These findings shed light on the possible learning-related challenges that are experienced by autistic adults. Further examination of the role these learning related challenges play in the receipt of special education and on vocational outcomes is warranted. In particular, difficulties with independence in work was related to both special education receipt and poorer vocational outcomes, indicating that it may be a fruitful area of focus for vocational training programs.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an evidenced based treatment for adults with treatment resistant depression (TRD). The standard clinical protocol for TMS is to stimulate the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Although the DLPFC is a defining region in the cognitive control network of the brain and implicated in executive functions such as attention and working memory, we lack knowledge about whether TMS improves cognitive function independent of depression symptoms. This exploratory analysis sought to address this gap in knowledge by assessing changes in attention before and after completion of a standard treatment with TMS in Veterans with TRD.

Participants consisted of 7 Veterans (14.3% female; age M = 46.14, SD = 7.15; years education M = 16.86, SD = 3.02) who completed a full 30-session course of TMS treatment and had significant depressive symptoms at baseline (Patient Health Questionnaire-9; PHQ-9 score >5). Participants were given neurocognitive assessments measuring aspects of attention [Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 4th Edition (WAIS-IV) subtests: Digits Forward, Digits Backward, and Number Sequencing) at baseline and again after completion of TMS treatment. The relationship between pre and post scores were examined using paired-samples t-test for continuous variables and a linear regression to covary for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is often comorbid with depression in Veteran populations.

There was a significant improvement in Digit Span Forward (p=.01, d=-.53), but not Digit Span Backward (p=.06) and Number Sequencing (p=.54) post-TMS treatment. Depression severity was not a significant predictor of performance on Digit Span Forward (f(1,5)=.29, p=.61) after TMS treatment. PTSD severity was also not a significant predictor of performance on Digit Span Forward (f(1,5)=1.31, p=.32).

Findings suggested that a standard course of TMS improves less demanding measures of working memory after a full course of TMS, but possibly not the more demanding aspects of working memory. This improvement in cognitive function was independent of improvements in depression and PTSD symptoms. Further investigation in a larger sample and with direct neuroimaging measures of cognitive function is warranted.

In recent decades, a large body of evidence has linked prenatal exposure to environmental neurotoxins to adverse intellectual, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric outcomes in offspring. This evidence has clearly highlighted the widespread impact of neurotoxin exposure on the developing brain; however, it is unclear how and why these exposures alter brain development in a way that appears to increase risk for multiple, seemingly disparate outcomes.

Shifting our focus from describing links between neurotoxin exposure and symptoms of offspring mental/cognitive problems considered categorically, to investigating how neurotoxins adversely affect domains of functioning known to cut across risk for multiple problems in offspring may be critical to answering these questions. This presentation will discuss how combining research in developmental neurotoxicology with novel systems that take dimensional approaches to understanding emotions, cognition, and behaviour (i.e., the NIHM Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)) may provide a fruitful future research direction for the field. The RDoC framework aims to understand neuropsychological outcomes (i.e., mental health, mental illness, IQ) across major domains of human emotion, cognition, behaviour, and social functioning, rather than within distinct diagnostic categories.

Using lead exposure as an example, this presentation will outline a framework for how researchers can use this dimensional approach to develop more specific hypotheses that can reveal how and why neurotoxin exposure increases risk for multiple adverse outcomes and elucidate the mechanisms that may underly these links.

Additionally, given that adverse development within domains of functioning can be detected prior to the onset of full-blown diagnoses, this research could enable us to develop more precise, targeted prevention and risk reduction campaigns. Adopting a dimensional framework will provide a more complete picture of the overall impact of prenatal exposure to neurotoxins - critical for informing public health policy.

Previous studies had shown that very low birth weight(VLBW) preterm children with normal early development had poorer cognitive executive functions(CEFs) and emotional executive functions(EEFs) at preschool-aged. There were still about 73% of children with deficits of CEFs and 74% of them with deficits of EEFs at school-aged. (Ni et al., 2011; Chiang et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2022). Besides, former studies less discuss the core neuropsychological ability related to the EFs development. In this study, meta-attention was chosen as the core ability. This study applied longitudinal design aimed to discuss the predictive power of meta-attention at preschool-aged on the CEFs and EEFs at school-aged for VLBW preterm and typically developing children.

The VLBW group was referred by Premature Baby Foundation of Taiwan. These children have been followed up with Bayley Scales of Infant Development(BSID) II or III administered at the age of 12 months and 24 months and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised(WPPSI-R) at the age of 5-year-old. Children with visual impairment, auditory impairment, cerebral palsy developmental indices of BSID-II or III less than 70, or full-scale IQ of WPPSI-R less than 70 were excluded.

The typical group was recruited from the community and included 30 children whose development was typical. Both preterm and typically developing children completed the CEFs and EEFs test at 6 and 8. Four types of CEFs including 33 indicators were assessed: Meta-attention including 18 indicators through Comprehensive Nonverbal Attention Test Battery(CNAT), working memory including 2 indicators through Digit Span Subtest of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV(WISC-IV) and Knox’s Cube Test(KCT), planning ability including 6 indicators through Tower of London(ToL), and cognitive flexibility including 7 indicators through Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(WCST).

Two types of EEFs including 5 indicators were assessed. We designed Emotional EF Ecological Assessment Battery for Children in Taiwan to assess EEFs, including 3 indicators of theory of mind and 2 indicators of emotion regulation. Data were analyzed with correlation analysis and independent sample t-test.

Meta-attention at 6 among the VLBW group significantly correlated with 73.3% of CEFs and 80% of EEFs indicators at 8 and had significant predictive power on working memory, planning ability, cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation, and theory of mind. (p<.05) When the significance level was 0.01, meta-attention still correlated with 33% of CEFs and 80% of EEFs indicators and can predict those CEFs and EEFs among the VLBW group. Meta-attention at 6 among the typical group significantly correlated with 26.7% of CEFs and 80% of EEFs indicators at 8 and had significant predictive power on working memory, planning ability, emotion regulation, and theory of mind. (p<.05)

When the significance level was 0.01, meta-attention only correlated with 80% of EEFs indicators and can’t predict any CEFs and EEFs among the typical group.

Meta-attention at 6 can predict CEFs and EEFs among VLBW preterm children at 8, while the effect didn’t be found among typically developing children. Thus, meta-attention can be served as a clinical cut-point for VLBW preterm children to find the deficits and intervene early.

Anxiety is very common in Parkinson’s disease (PD) where according to a systematic review, the average prevalence is 31%, surprisingly higher than the average 17% of depressive disorders found in PD. Only a few studies have investigated the impact of anxiety on cognitive performance and brain morphology in PD. They demonstrated anxiety to be a significant predictor of cognitive impairment, where PD patients with anxiety have shown to be twice more likely to have deficits in the memory domain compared to those without anxiety. Furthermore, poorer cognitive performance in all cognitive domains was reported to be a significant risk factor for increased anxiety the following year. Anxiety in PD has also shown reduced volume/thinning in the fronto-cingulate, anterior cingulate cortex, left parietal cortices and the precuneus, despite the scant number of studies on this topic. Hence, the objective of this study aims to determine the evolution of cognitive performance and brain morphology in PD patients with and without anxiety over a three-year span.

We analyzed the baseline and three-year follow-up Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) data of 58 PD patients. MRI 3T was processed with FreeSurfer 7.1.1 on the Compute Canada cluster “Cedar” and we extracted cortical (Desikan-atlas-based volumes, thickness, area, folding index, curvature) and volumes of subcortical structures. Additionally, anxiety subscores from the State-trait anxiety inventory as well as neuropsychological tests were analyzed. PD patients were classified in two groups: PD-no-anxiety (n=46) and PD-anxiety (n=12) (subscore of > 40 on the State anxiety scale). Two-way mixed ANOVA models were established with presence/absence of anxiety as a between-subjects factor, time (baseline and three year) as a within-subjects factor and neuropsychological and MRI data were regarded as dependent variables.

Mixed ANOVA revealed that PD-anxiety saw a significantly greater decline in performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test compared to PD-no-anxiety. In addition, PD-anxiety saw their performance decline over time in the Hopkins Verbal Learning test (HVLT) immediate recall, HVLT retention and HVLT delayed recall while PD-no-anxiety saw an increase in performance. In terms of brain morphology, over the three years, PD-anxiety had a greater decrease in the frontal precentral thickness, cingulate isthmus area and thickness, and temporal regions (transverse area and inferior folding) all in the left hemisphere compared to PD-no-anxiety. In subcortical regions, PD-anxiety had a greater decrease in volume of the hippocampal cornu ammonis-1 and pallidum compared to PD-no-anxiety. By contrast, PD-anxiety showed a greater increase in curvature of the frontal middle rostral, frontal pole, parietal supramarginal, and insula cortex as well as in the folding of the parietal superior and occipital pericalcarine of the right hemisphere in comparison to PD-no-anxiety.

This study highlights the importance of taking into consideration anxiety symptoms in PD, as they contribute to poorer cognitive performance and frontal, parietal and temporal differences over time. More studies with a larger sample size are needed in order to confirm these results.

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (AgCC), the congenital absence of all or part of the corpus callosum, exhibit a pattern of cognitive and psychosocial deficits, even with a FSIQ in the normal range (FSIQ > 80; Brown & Paul, 2019). This includes a core deficit in their complex reasoning and novel problem-solving (Brown & Paul, 2019), with secondary deficits in capacity to imagine complex emotional/cognitive consequences of potential actions involving others (Young et al, 2019), deficits in emotion

perception (Symington et at., 2010, Bridgman et al 2014), and difficulty with cognitively processing emotions within the context of social interactions (Anderson et al., 2017). This constellation of deficits is likely to also impact moral reasoning. While previous research has demonstrated differences in moral reasoning among other neuropsychological populations such as those with ventromedial prefrontal damage (Moretto et al., 2010) and frontotemporal dementia (Gleichgerrcht et al., 2011), there is no research reported regarding moral judgements in AgCC. This study employed the Moral Dilemmas Scale (Greene, 2001) to compare the moral judgements of persons with AgCC to neurotypical controls. It was predicted that individuals with AgCC would be less contextually nuanced than neurotypical controls in responding to moral dilemmas.

Results consist of data derived from 57 neurotypical control participants (ages 23 to 64 years) recruited from MTurk Cloud and 19 AgCC participants (ages 23 to 77 years) with normal-range FSIQ (>80) drawn from the individuals with AgCC involved with the Human Brain and Cognition Lab at the Travis Research Institute. All participants completed an online version of the Moral Dilemmas Scale (Greene, 2001). The scale consists of 25 dilemmas, of which 11 are considered high-conflict, 7 low-conflict and 7 impersonal. Participants were instructed to read each dilemma and rate whether they found the action to be “appropriate” or not. The high-conflict dilemmas share a similar structure in which responses reflect either a utilitarian or deontological judgement.

“Approve” responses to each of the 3 categories of dilemma were separately tallied for each individual and subjected to a 2group ANOVA. Results revealed the control group produced a significantly higher rate of “appropriate” responses to high-conflict dilemmas than did the individuals with AgCC (F=8.17, p = .006, n2 =.113). However, no significant differences were found among the two groups for results on low (n2 = .013) and impersonal (n2 = .003) dilemmas alone. Furthermore, a X2 analysis of responses to each high conflict dilemma revealed a significant difference in 5 out of the 11 such that more persons with AgCC gave a deontological judgement.

Results suggested that adults with AgCC respond similarly to neurotypical controls with respect to the low conflict or

impersonal dilemmas. However, with respect to high conflict dilemmas, compared to controls they tend to respond in a more deontological than utilitarian basis - that is, based on general principles without contextual nuance. These findings are consistent with the conclusion of Renteria-Vasquez et al. (2021) that persons with AgCC have difficulty imagining the wider implications of present information.

Digit Span has been a core Working Memory task, with extensive research conducted on the Forward and Backward components. The latest revision of the WAIS-IV introduced the Sequencing component, designed to increase the working memory and mental manipulation demands. However, relatively little research has been done to understand how Sequencing can be interpreted in clinical settings, as compared to Forward and Backward. The purpose of this study was to investigate how effectively individual components of the Digit Span task predict performance on four independent neuropsychological measures with high working memory demands.

Subjects included 148 adults (Age: M= 39.22, SD= 13.61; Handedness= 130 right, 10 left and 8 mixed; Males = 88) with refractory epilepsy. Two subjects had primary generalized seizures while 146 subjects had complex partial seizures (EEG Localization: 44 right temporal; 60 left temporal; 24 independent bitemporal; 1 left extratemporal; 17 indeterminant). Dependent variables included the 2.4 second ISI trial of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT); the sum of correct responses on Trial 1 and List B of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT); the DKEFS Tower Test raw score; and completion time on Part B of the Trail Making Test. The independent variables included the individual raw scores for the Forward, Backward and Sequencing components of the WAIS-IV. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine the variance accounted for by each component of the Digit Span and if that variance was redundant or unique. The four dependent variables were analyzed separately with Digits Forward, Backward and Sequencing entered in a single block.

PASAT: The overall model was significant, R2= 0.36. When examining the individual components, Sequencing was the only significant predictor (ß = 0.422, p < 0.001). CVLT: The overall model was significant, R2 = 0.203. When examining the individual components, Sequencing was the only significant predictor (ß = 0.410, p < 0.001). Tower Test: The overall model was significant, R2 = 0.176. When examining the individual components, Sequencing was the only significant predictor (ß = 0.373, p = 0.004). Trail Making: The overall model was significant R2 = 0.315. When examining the individual components both Forward (ß = -0.287, p =0.005) and Sequencing (ß= -0.364, p < 0.001) accounted for a significant amount of the variance.

The combined model for Digit Span accounted for significant amounts of variance in performance on all dependent measures, ranging from 17.6% to 36%. Sequencing accounted for substantially more variance across all examined tasks. On the PASAT, CVLT and Tower Test, the variance accounted for by the components of Digit Span appears to be redundant. However, on Trail Making, both Forward and Sequencing accounted for significant amounts of variance that appear to be independent of one another. What specific task requirement(s) of the Trail Making Test versus the other measures analyzed are accounted for by Forward span is not clear. But this suggests that the individual components of the Digit Span test may measure different things across different tasks.

Determine associations between cognitive outcomes in remote TBI (i.e., at least 6 months post injury), a blood marker of neural degeneration (i.e., Tau), and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) measures (e.g., mean or radial kurtosis). Because DKI imaging is sensitive to the environmental complexity of the imaged area, we sought to investigate regions known to be associated with the cognitive and emotional sequalae of TBI, such as the anterior thalamic radiations, uncinate fasciculus, and the corpus callosum.

41 individuals with mild-to-moderate TBI and a mean age(SD) of 36.1(10.4) years underwent DKI, a blood draw, and neuropsychological assessments. 23 healthy controls (HC) with a mean age(SD) of 35.2(15.2) years underwent the blood draw and assessments, but no imaging. Higher diffusion kurtosis indicates more restricted diffusion, possibly due to greater complexity within the imaged region. Thus, in the context of TBI, DKI can be used as a proxy measurement for biological processes that alter the complexity of imaged environments, such as reactive gliosis. Some people show cognitive deficits long after TBI and this could be associated with increased inflammation and membrane protein aggregates in damaged brain regions. We used bivariate correlations and general linear models to investigate the association of mean kurtosis (MK) in long white matter tracts and Tau (total or phosphorylated) to color-word Stroop scores; a measure of fronto-subcortical function.

In patients with TBI, MK was significantly associated with serum total Tau (TTau) in the right (r=-0.396) and left (r=-0.555) uncinate fasciculus (UF), right (r=-0.402) and left (r=-0.504) anterior thalamic radiations (ATR), and the genu (r=-0.526) and body (r=-0.404) of the corpus callosum (CC). TTau had a significant association with word Stroop scores, F(1,63)=-2.546, p=0.013. However, there was no significant effect of group (i.e., TBI or HC), F(2,63)=-0.426, p=0.672, on cognitive performance. When models were implemented that included both TTau and MK in either the UF or ATR as explanatory variables to predict word Stroop scores, TTau levels and MK in the right UF explained a significant amount of the variance in Stroop performance, F(1,29)=2.215, p=0.025. Further, there was also a significant association between radial kurtosis in the right UF and Stroop word scores (r= 0.366).

Our results show that an indicator of biological complexity (DKI) in cognitively important brain regions is associated with cognitive performance and Tau in patients with remote mild-to-moderate TBI. The UF is a critical fronto-temporal/subcortical pathway that has previously been implicated in the manifestation of executive dysfunction and mood dysregulation in TBI. Tau is an important marker of neurodegeneration implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and DKI is potentially sensitive to markers of neurodegeneration. The association of Tau and DKI measures is novel and shows concordance between blood and brain imaging markers and cognitive performance in patients with mild to moderate TBI.

Accurate processing of facial displays of emotion is critical for effective communication. A robust literature has documented impairment in the ability to recognize facial affect in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), but research is scarce about memory for facial affect. Disruptions in recognizing and remembering the emotions of others can undermine relationship quality and may result in psychosocial dysfunction. Importantly, the extant literature indicates that facial affect recognition dissociates from other cognitive abilities such that it is likely a distinct neuronal process. Thus, explicit measurement of affect recognition and memory for emotions may be critical for implementing and refining rehabilitation interventions. The present study examined the relationship between recognition and memory for emotions using a novel computerized task and explored its associations with other cognitive abilities.

Participants were adults who were neurologically healthy (n = 31) or had a history of moderate to severe TBI (n = 26). The battery included the novel Assessment of Facial Affect Recognition and Memory (AFARM), Cambridge Face Memory Test (face memory without emotion), Wechsler Test of Adult Reading, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Judgment of Line Orientation, Oral Symbol Digit Modalities, Digit Span, FAS, Animal Fluency, and the Affect Intensity Measure (experienced emotion). Spearman correlations examined the relationship of AFARM performance with the test battery. Logistic regression models examined whether immediate-delay (ID-EM) and long-delay face emotion-memory (LD-EM) accounted for unique variance in group membership beyond recognition accuracy of facial affect and memory for faces.

AFARM demonstrated relationships with neuropsychological and mood variables in the expected directions across and within groups, with the strongest associations observed for memory for verbal information (rs = .51 to .58) and processing speed (rs = .48 to .57). Consistent with traditional list-learning tests, ID- and LD-EM were highly correlated (r = .85). Experienced affect intensity was inversely associated with ID-EM (r = -.29) and LD-EM (r = -.38) but not with recognition accuracy (r = -.10). Logistic regression examining ID-EM was significant, χ2(3) = 26.05, p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 = .49. ID-EM accounted for unique variance in group status (p = .006; OR = 0.65) after accounting for recognition accuracy and face memory. Similarly, the model examining LD-EM was significant χ2(3) = 27.70, p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 = .43; LD-EM was significant after accounting for other variables (p = .017; OR = 0.69).

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that memory for emotions represents a unique component of social cognition that is separate from recognition. Accuracy in identifying emotions, face recognition memory, and memory for emotions are strongly related but not wholly redundant processes. Consistent with prior literature, subjective experience of emotion had substantial effects on objective performance tasks, indicating that an individual's intense experience of their own emotions can disrupt sensitivity to the emotions of others. Future research should assess the extent to which memory for emotions relates to psychosocial outcomes such as the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships.

The prism adaptation (PA) with rightward shifting lenses is a promising rehabilitation technique for left hemispatial neglect. The PA has also been applied in healthy individuals to investigate cognitive mechanism(s) underlining such adaptation. Importantly, studies have suggested that PA may primarily impact the functions of the dorsal or the ventral attentional stream, and we have previously reported that PA to the upward and downward shifting lenses leads to a significant aftereffect in vertical line bisection task. However, this post-adaptation effect, similarly to that seen in the horizontal plane, might have been modified by the presence of the vertical pseudoneglect healthy participants often experience prior to PA. Thus, the aim of this study was to test this hypothesis.

30 right-handed healthy adults (age M=22,4) performed a computerized line bisection (LB) in vertical and horizontal condition. The bisections were performed twice: before and after PA procedure. Participants took experimental procedure three times, each in at least 24 h of break, each time in one of three conditions of shifting lenses; down, up, control. Both LB tasks (vertical and horizontal) consisted of 24 lines, each centered on 23" touch screen. The participants were asked to find the middle of the line. Throughout the experiment, participants were comfortably seated with their head positioned on a chinrest. Participants were fitted with prismatic goggles that deviated their visual field by 10 degrees. For the adaptation we used the Peg-the-mole procedure consisting of 120 pointing movements.

To assess the effect of the vertical PA on landmark judgments we performed a repeated measures ANOVA with direction of PA (upward/downward), the condition of LB (vertical/ horizontal) and pre- vs post adaptation as a between-subjects factor. This analysis revealed a main effect of the direction of PA (p< 0.001) and a main effect of condition (p< 0.001). Overall, however, only adaptation in up-shifting lenses led to significant aftereffects (p<0.05). Further, when we excluded participants who did not exhibited horizontal pseudoneglect in preadaptation LB, the effect of PA in downshifting PA emerged in vertical LB (p<0.05). Further, this group also exhibited the aftereffect of PA in up-shifting lenses for the horizontal (p<0.01) and the vertical LB (p<0.05). Additionally, these participants exhibited a congruent tendency after upward and downward PA, and tended to allocate their attention more upward and rightward.

The results of this study confirm that the vertical PA evokes a visuo-spatial bias. Moreover, the PA aftereffect seems to be modified by the presence of the pre-adaptation pseudoneglect. Whereas the mechanism inducing this bias is not fully known, it might be explained in light of the interhemispheric activation-inhibition balance. Both the upward and downward PA may primarily lead to activation of the posterior regions of the right hemisphere, and this activation may result with the upward and rightward bias in the LB task. However, future research with neuroimaging techniques is needed to test this hypothesis.