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89 Depression and Executive Function in a Mexican Population
- Natalia Lozano Acosta, Yvette De Jesus, Krissy E Smith, Isabel D.C. Munoz, Adriana Cuello Cancino, Mariam Gomez, Raymundo Cervantes, Daniel W Lopez Hernandez
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 289-290
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Objective:
Depression is a mood or emotional state that is characterized by feelings of sadness (i.e., a loss of interest in activities, low self-worth) for a minimum of two weeks. Executive function is a set of mental processes that are necessary for cognitive control of behavior to achieve and successfully execute a specific goal (e.g., inhibition). Researchers have reported that people with abnormal symptoms of depression (ASD) demonstrate worse executive functioning abilities (e.g., planning) compared to persons with normal symptoms of depression (NSD). Currently, there is a lack of research studies examining how depressive symptoms influence executive functioning in people that identify as Mexican. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the influence of depression on executive functioning in a healthy Mexican Spanish speaking population. We hypothesized that participants with NSD would demonstrate better executive functioning abilities compared to participants with ASD.
Participants and Methods:The sample in the present study consisted of 87 neurologically and psychologically healthy Mexican participants all residing in Mexico. Mean age was 24.71 (SD = 9.66) and 14.78 (SD = 4.50) years of education completed. Participants completed a neuropsychological battery in Spanish and were divided into two groups: NSD (n = 61) and ASD (n = 26). The Stroop Color Word Test - Color-Word (SCWT-CW) task, phonemic verbal fluency task consisting of three trials, and semantic verbal fluency task consisting of one trial were used to evaluate executive functioning. In addition, participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in Spanish to report the current level of depression. ANCOVAS, controlling for age were used to examine executive functioning performance. We used a threshold of p < .05 for statistical significance.
Results:ANCOVAS revealed the NSD group outperformed the ASD group on the SCWT-CW task, p = .004, np2 = .10. We also found the NSD group outperformed the ASD group on the phonemic verbal fluency task, p = .045, np2 = .05. Finally, no significant differences were found between depression groups on the semantic verbal fluency task.
Conclusions:As we predicted, the NSD group demonstrated better executive functioning abilities compared to the ASD group, except on the semantic verbal fluency task. Our data suggests that the current level of depression have a significant influence on verbal executive functioning abilities in a Spanish speaking population. Future studies with larger sample size should evaluate if current symptoms of depression influence non-verbal executive functioning abilities in a Spanish speaking Mexican population.
22 Cordoba Naming Test Performance and Acculturation in a Geriatric Population
- Isabel C.D. Muñoz, Krissy E. Smith, Santiago I. Espinoza, Diana M. R. Maqueda, Adriana C. Cuello, Ana Paula Pena, Carolina Garza, Raymundo Cervantes, Jill Razani, Tara L. Victor, David J. Hardy, Alberto L. Fernandez, Natalia Lozano Acosta, Daniel W. Lopez-Hernandez
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 335-336
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Objective:
A commonly used confrontation naming task used in the United States is The Boston Naming Test (BNT). Performance differences has been found in Caucasian and ethnic minorities on the BNT. The Cordoba Naming Test (CNT) is a 30-item confrontation naming task developed in Argentina. Past research has shown acculturation levels can influence cognitive performance. Furthermore, one study evaluated geriatric gender differences on CNT performance in Spanish. Researchers reported that older male participants outperformed female participants on the CNT. To our knowledge, researchers have not evaluated ethnic differences on the CNT using a geriatric sample. The purpose of the present study was to examined CNT performance and acculturation in a Latinx and Caucasian geriatric sample. It was predicted the Caucasian group would outperform the Latinx group on the CNT. Moreover, the Caucasian group would report higher acculturation levels on the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS) compared to the Latinx group.
Participants and Methods:The sample consisted of 9 Latinx and 11 Caucasian participants with a mean age of 66.80 (SD =6.10), with an average of 14.30 (SD = 2.00) years of education. All participants were neurologically and psychologically healthy and completed the CNT and the AMAS in English. Acculturation was measured via the AMAS English subscales (i.e., English Language, United States. Identity, United States, Competency). A series of ANCOVAs, controlling for years of education completed and gender, was used to evaluate CNT performance and acculturation.
Results:The ethnic groups were not well demographically matched (i.e., years of education and gender).We found that the Caucasian group outperformed the Latinx group on CNT performance p = .012, ηp 2 = .34. Furthermore, the Caucasian group reported higher acculturation levels (i.e., English Language, United States, Identity, United States, Competency) compared to the Latinx group p’s < .05, ηps2 = .42-.64.
Conclusions:To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate CNT performance between ethnic groups with a geriatric sample. As expected the Caucasian group outperformed the Latinx group on the CNT. Also, as expected the Caucasian group reported higher English acculturation levels compared to the Latinx group. Our findings are consistent with past studies showing ethnic differences on confrontational naming performance (i.e., The Boston Naming Test), favoring Caucasians. A possible explanation for group differences could have been linguistic factors (e.g., speaking multiple languages) in our Latinx group. Therefore, since our Latinx group reported lower levels of English Language, United States identity, and United States competency the Latinx group assimilation towards United States culture might of influence their CNT performance. Future studies with different ethnic groups (e.g., African-Americans) and a larger sample size should examine if ethnic differences continue to cross-validate in a geriatric sample.
30 Analyzing Spanish Speakers Cordoba Naming Test Performance
- Raymundo Cervantes, Isabel D.C. Munoz, Estefania J. Aguirre, Natalia Lozano Acosta, Mariam Gomez, Adriana C. Cuello, Krissy E. Smith, Diana I. Palacios Mata, Krithika Sivaramakrishnan, Yvette De Jesus, Santiago I. Espinoza, Diana M. R. Maqueda, David J. Hardy, Tara L. Victor, Alberto L. Fernandez, Daniel W. Lopez-Hernandez
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 443-444
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Objective:
A 30-item confrontation naming test was developed in Argentina for Spanish speakers, The Cordoba Naming Test (CNT). The Boston Naming Test is an established confrontation naming task in the United States. Researchers have used the Boston Naming Test to identify individuals with different clinical pathologies (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease). The current literature on how Spanish speakers across various countries perform on confrontational naming tasks is limited. To our knowledge, one study investigated CNT performance across three Spanish-speaking countries (i.e., Argentina, Mexico, and Guatemala). Investigators found that the Guatemalan group underperformed on the CNT compared to the Argentine and Mexican groups. The purpose of this study was to extend the current literature and investigate CNT performance across five Spanish-speaking countries (i.e., Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, United States). We predicted that the Argentine group would outperform the other Spanish-speaking countries.
Participants and Methods:The present study sample consisted of 502 neurologically and psychologically healthy participants with a mean age of 29.06 (SD = 13.41) with 14.75 years of education completed (SD = 3.01). Participants were divided into five different groups based on their country of birth and current country residency (i.e., United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, & Colombia). All participants consented to voluntary participation and completed the CNT and a comprehensive background questionnaire in Spanish. The CNT consisted of 30 black and white line drawings, ranging from easy to hard in difficulty. An ANCOVA, controlling for gender, education, and age, was used to evaluate CNT performance between the five Spanish-speaking country groups. Meanwhile, a Bonferroni post-hoc test was utilized to evaluate the significant differences between Spanish-speaking groups. We used a threshold of p < .05 for statistical significance.
Results:Results revealed significant group differences between the five Spanish speaking groups on the CNT, p = .000, np2 = .48. Bonferroni post-hoc test revealed that the United States group significantly underperformed on the CNT compared to all the Spanish-speaking groups. Next, we found the Guatemalan group underperformed on the CNT compared to the Argentinian, Mexican, and Colombian groups. Additionally, we found the Argentinian group outperformed the Mexican, Guatemalan, and United States groups on the CNT. No significant differences were found between the Argentinian group and Colombian group or the Mexican group and Colombian group on the CNT.
Conclusions:As predicted, the Argentinian group outperformed all the Spanish-speaking groups on the CNT except the Colombian group. Additionally, we found that the United States group underperformed on the CNT compared to all the Spanish-speaking groups. A possible explanation is that Spanish is not the official language in the United States compared to the rest of the Spanish-speaking groups. Meanwhile, a possible reason why the Argentinian and Colombian groups demonstrated better CNT performances might have been that it was less culturally sensitive than the United States, Mexican, and Guatemalan groups. Further analysis is needed with bigger sample sizes across other Spanish-speaking countries (e.g., Costa Rica, Chile) to evaluate what variables, if any, are influencing CNT performance.
41 Analyzing Perceived Workloads in Bilinguals and Monolinguals’ Digit Span Performance
- Yvette De Jesus, Krithika Sivaramakrishnan, Adriana Cuello Cancino, Mariam Gomez Curiel, Natalia Lozano Acosta, Isabel D.C. Munoz, Krissy E. Smith, Daniel W. Lopez Hernandez
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, p. 452
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Objective:
A common neuropsychological task used is the Digit Span, known as a test of attention and working memory. The Digit Span Forward (DS-F) task evaluates attention; meanwhile, the Digit Span Backward (DS-B) and Sequencing (DS-S) evaluate working memory. Research shows that persons that speak multiple languages demonstrate better attention and working memory abilities compared to monolingual speakers. The NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) was conditionally validated by Hardy and Wright (2018) to measure perceived mental workload. Research also shows that bilinguals report higher perceived workloads on cognitive tasks compared to monolinguals. With that said, it was hypothesized that bilinguals would demonstrate better performances on Digit Span tasks compared to monolinguals. Additionally, it was hypothesized that bilinguals would report higher perceived workloads on all digit span tasks compared to monolinguals.
Participants and Methods:The sample consisted of 29 psychologically and neurologically healthy participants with a mean age of 29.66 (SD = 7.14). Participants were divided into two groups: English monolingual speakers (n = 10) and English and other language bilingual speakers (n = 19).
Participants completed all the subtests of the Digit Span (i.e., DS-F, DS-B, DS-S) in English. The NASA-TLX was used to measured DS-F, DS-B, and DS-S perceived workloads. The NASA-TLX was completed after each Digit Span subtest in English. We used ANOVAs to evaluate DS-F, DS-B, and DS-S performance and their perceived workload between our language groups.
Results:We found no significant differences between language groups on the DS-F. However, the bilingual group reported the DS-F to be more temporally demanding and frustrating compared to the monolingual group, p’s < .05, nps2 =.14-.15. Next, we found that the monolingual group outperformed the bilingual group on the DS-B task, p = .027, np2 = .17. On the other hand, the bilingual group reported the DS-B task to be more temporally demanding and frustrating compared to the monolingual group, p’s < .05, nps2=.18-.20. Finally, on the DS-S task the monolingual group outperformed the bilingual group, p = .043, np2 = .14. Meanwhile, the bilingual group reported the DS-S task to be more mentally and temporally demanding compared to the monolingual group, p’s < .05, nps2=.18-.34.
Conclusions:Contrary to our hypothesis, results show that monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on DS-B and DS-S, but not DS-F. However, as expected, bilinguals did report higher perceived workloads (e.g., frustration) on Digit Span tasks compared to monolinguals. A possible explanation could be that bilinguals’ efforts to remember the numbers were more taxing compared to monolinguals’ because they had to inhibit from verbally responding in their other language. Rushing bilinguals to provide responses, ultimately developing higher perceived workloads on Digit Span tasks. Future work should investigate if time perspective may be influencing bilingual speakers Digit Span performances and perceived workloads.