Engagement in sports is associated with cognitive and academic functioning in youth. However, heterogenous methodology has resulted in mixed findings across the literature. We propose a new method for investigating how sports activity may affect cognition through metabolic equivalents (MET)-minutes per week during sports engagement and compare it against total number of sports engaged.

Using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, 9,973 children between the ages of 9 and 10 years old were included. Parent report of children’s engagement in sports over the past year were utilized to calculate total MET-minutes per week. Youth participants completed the National Institutes of Health Toolbox. Generalized Additive Mixed Models were run to examine the relationship between MET-minutes on cognition, while controlling for Body Mass Index. The contribution of MET-minutes compared to total count of sports on cognitive performance were compared using Akaike Information Criterion values.

Both total MET-minutes per week and past-year total sports were non-linearly associated with increased performance on multiple tasks of executive functioning and decreased expressive vocabulary. MET-minutes were shown to contribute more robustly to models of cognition than total number of sports.

Past year MET-minutes per week was associated with increased cognitive performance, particularly in the domain of executive functioning, and was more sensitive to differences in cognition in contrast to total sports engagement. Indicating that greater measurement sensitivity for physical activity may increase predictive power on cognitive performance outcomes. Our findings provide more support for increasing physical activity in youth to promote cognitive trajectories.

Prior research shows that humans adjust their learning rate based on environmental volatility. This adaptation has been shown to be reduced in individuals with high levels of anxious-depression, but past studies have been cross-sectional, making it unclear whether this adaptation is trait-like or responsive to treatment. There are also questions about the basic replicability of this effect with recent studies failing to find robust associations.

In the Precision in Psychiatry study, we examined changes in learning rate adaptation in a points-loss task, following four weeks of treatment in two patient groups receiving either internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (n = 677) or antidepressants (n = 95), compared to a group of healthy participants (n = 95).

All groups showed increased learning rates in volatile environments at baseline, but against our prediction, learning rate adaptation was not cross-sectionally associated with individual differences in anxious-depression. There was also no evidence that learning rate adaptation changed post-treatment, despite symptom improvements. However, in the antidepressant group, symptom reductions correlated with learning rate adaptation. This finding should be interpreted cautiously as we found that the key outcome measure had poor test–retest reliability.

Overall, our results suggest that associations between learning rate adaptation and anxious-depression, if present, are likely modest, depend on task characteristics, may not be present in treatment-seeking adults, and do not improve following treatment.

Traditional risk factors for cognitive impairment in non-Latino White adults do not manifest the same level of risk in Latinos. Despite research investigating culturally relevant factors, including acculturation, as it relates to Latino cognition, few studies have incorporated contextual factors for a more wholistic approach. We investigated acculturation-related factors within the context of socioenvironmental factors to study cognition in 8,476 self-identified Hispanic/Latino adults 45 years and older participating in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos baseline visit (2008–2011).

Acculturation-related (e.g., nativity, social/language-based) and socioenvironmental contextualizing factors at the individual-level (e.g., social network size, social isolation) as well as the neighborhood-level (e.g., income inequality, deprivation) were determined via questionnaire or geospatial coding. Cognitive tests included verbal learning and memory, letter fluency and digit symbol substitution. We included all acculturation in context variables in the same regression models as predictors of the separate cognitive outcomes (i.e., global and the four test-specific cognitive scores) adjusting for age at baseline, sex, and education.

Higher language- and social-based acculturation scores, later ages of migration, US-based parental nativity, greater familial structural support, fewer experiences of unfair treatment, as well as lower levels of neighborhood gentrification, income inequality, and deprivation were associated with higher global cognition. Many of these same variables were associated with test-specific cognitive performance.

This study, one of the first of its kind in Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, suggests that contextualizing acculturation as it relates to cognition may point toward specific factors that may influence successful aging in middle-aged and older Hispanics/Latinos.

This prospective, longitudinal cohort study investigated cognitive functioning acutely and up to 6 months after pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) relative to orthopedic injury (OI).

Children age 8–17 years with acute (≤48 hours) mTBI or OI were consecutively recruited from five pediatric Emergency Departments. Acute Predicting and Preventing Postconcussive Problems in Pediatrics (5P) clinical risk scores were calculated. Children completed three CNS Vital Signs computerized cognitive battery subtests acutely (≤48 hours) and at 7 days, 3 months, and 6 months post-injury, and performance validity testing at all post-acute assessments. Generalized least squares models were fitted for Reaction Time, Visual Memory, and Executive Function standard scores.

For children (N = 841; 556 mTBI/285 OI; 12.45 ± 2.41 years; 57.91% male; 68.13% White) with valid performance validity and cognitive test scores, Reaction Time was lower after mTBI relative to OI for older (but not younger) children; differences declined in magnitude from acutely (d = −1.11) to 6 months (d = −0.21). Visual Memory was mildly lower across time after mTBI (d = −0.20). Odds of clinically impaired (standard score < 80) Reaction Time were higher acutely and post-acutely after mTBI for older children (OR = 51.33 to 8.01), but did not differ by group for Visual Memory or Executive Function. 5P clinical risk scores did not predict cognitive scores after mTBI.

Pediatric mTBI negatively impacts cognition, especially for reaction time, ≤48 hours post-injury and among adolescents. Early cognitive dysfunction persists up to 6 months after mTBI in some children.

Impairments in spatial working memory (SWM) have been observed in several disparate psychiatric conditions. The present study investigated how SWM varied across a range of psychiatric disorders in a large sample of young adults using the SWM test from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

A sample of 575 participants aged 18–29 years was enrolled from the general community and evaluated for psychiatric disorders using several screening evaluations. Performance on the SWM test was assessed, with outcome measures of strategy and total errors. Using Z-scores and Cohen’s d effect sizes, SWM was compared between each psychiatric disorder and healthy controls.

The majority of psychiatric diagnoses examined demonstrated SWM deficits in both strategy and total errors. Large effect sizes in strategy were observed for bulimia, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, social phobia, and agoraphobia. Large effect sizes in total errors were observed for agoraphobia, major depressive disorder, social phobia, intermittent explosive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and gambling disorder.

Our findings suggest that SWM impairment is a transdiagnostic element of psychiatric illness rather than serving as a specific feature of any one diagnosis. Future directions include the exploration of how SWM deficits may be utilized in prognostic and therapeutic interventions.

Cognitive deficits are one of the core features of older-age bipolar disorder (OABD). Psychotropic medications may influence cognition, especially in older populations, where anticholinergic effects are relevant. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the potential impact of anticholinergic load on cognitive performance in individuals with OABD.

One hundred and twenty-one euthymic or partially remitted OABD patients were included. Cognitive performance was assessed using a neuropsychological battery and summarized into attention, processing speed, working memory, visual and verbal memory, and executive functions. Anticholinergic load was assessed using the CRIDECO Anticholinergic Load Scale (CALS), and pharmacological burden was quantified using the defined daily dose (DDD). Associations were examined using hierarchical multivariable linear regression models, considering also relevant clinical covariates.

The interaction between CALS and DDD was associated with lower visual and verbal memory scores (p = 0.04). Age was inversely associated with cognitive performance across all domains (all p < 0.01). A higher number of manic episodes was associated with poorer attention, visual and verbal memory, and processing speed (all p < 0.01). Lifetime psychotic symptoms were associated with worse working memory (p = 0.02), and higher diazepam-equivalent doses were associated with worse visual and verbal memory performance (p = 0.02).

Although anticholinergic medications may contribute to cognitive burden, their impact appears dose-related and limited compared with the broader influence of illness-related factors. In OABD patients, prioritizing the management of illness-related characteristics alongside careful pharmacological management may therefore be crucial for preserving cognitive functioning.

Reading ability is commonly used as a proxy for educational quality but may be unsuitable for cross-cultural comparisons. This study aimed to evaluate a novel Brief Mathematics Achievement Test (BMAT) as a proxy measure of quality of education (QoE) in culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

Data on demographic variables, socioeconomic status (SES), country-level QoE, and performance on the BMAT and brief cognitive tests, were collected from 157 cognitively healthy participants (18–89 years) including native-born and immigrant populations in five European countries.

No significant differences were found between females and males or between participants with native-born and immigrant backgrounds in BMAT scores. In correlation analyses, BMAT scores were strongly correlated with SES, level of education, and performance on a brief cognitive composite, moderately with student–teacher ratio, country income classification, and a quality of education index, and weakly with age. In regression models controlling for key demographic variables and socioeconomic status, BMAT scores were significantly associated with level of education and the QoE index, while showing no significant relationship with immigrant status. Also, after controlling for demographic variables, SES, and the quality of education index, BMAT scores were the only significant predictor of performance on the brief cognitive composite.

These findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the potential utility of the BMAT as an objective proxy measure of QoE in culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChA) clinically presents with motor and non-motor symptoms. Some features of the disease and their intercorrelations have remained insufficiently characterized. Thus, we aimed to perform a multidimensional assessment of ChA patients, focusing on motor, behavioral, cognitive and olfactory domains.

A cross-sectional clinical assessment of 23 genetically confirmed ChA patients was conducted from 2022 to 2024. Patients were evaluated using the Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) and Mini-Mental State Examination. A case–control comparison of olfactory function was also performed between eligible patients (n = 20) and age-and gender-matched controls (n = 20) using the Sniffin’ Sticks test.

The mean age and disease duration were 38.57 ± 7.26 years and 7.86 ± 6.04 years, respectively. Chorea (91.3%), dystonia (82.6%) and oculomotor abnormalities (78.3%), particularly impaired vertical saccades and smooth pursuit, were frequent. All patients exhibited at least one behavioral disorder, most commonly anxiety, mood disorders (including sad mood and low self-esteem) and obsessive-compulsive features. Suicidal thoughts were found in 21.7% of the patients. Among patients with preserved cognition, 50% demonstrated hyposmia (sum of odor identification, discrimination and threshold scores [TDI] < 30.75), with significantly reduced odor discrimination, identification and TDI scores versus controls. Disease duration was negatively associated with olfactory function. Higher UHDRS motor scores were associated with poorer olfactory, cognitive and functional outcomes.

These findings demonstrated the varied manifestations of ChA, identifying olfactory impairment as a prevalent, underrecognized non-motor symptom, with potential implications for clinical evaluation and management. Further multicenter studies with larger cohorts are required to confirm these observations and clarify their prognostic value.

It remains unclear which patient and treatment characteristics are associated with greater cognitive and functional gains from individualised occupational therapy (IOT) in schizophrenia.

To explore predictors of changes in cognition and functioning and their maintenance among patients with schizophrenia who received IOT.

This secondary analysis used data from a randomised controlled trial and its follow-up. Participants allocated to the group occupational therapy plus IOT arm who received IOT during their hospital stay and had available outcome data were included (n = 34; with follow-up data available for 32 participants). Changes in cognition (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia) and functioning (modified Global Assessment of Functioning – social functioning subscale) were examined. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate patient- and treatment-related predictors of change and maintenance.

Greater improvement in cognition was associated with lower baseline cognition (β = −0.40, p = 0.003). Maintenance of cognitive improvement was associated with fewer prior hospital stays (β = −0.21, p = 0.031) and better post-treatment quality of life (β = 5.61, p < 0.001). Greater improvement in functioning was associated with lower baseline functioning (β = −0.50, p < 0.001) and fewer physical comorbidities (β = −8.43, p = 0.004), whereas maintenance of functional improvement was associated with better post-treatment cognition (β = 2.27, p = 0.014) and greater engagement in self-monitoring (β = 0.27, p = 0.026).

Both patient characteristics and engagement in specific IOT components were associated with variability in changes in outcomes and their maintenance. These findings may inform more personalised occupational therapy strategies for schizophrenia.

Bipolar disorders (BD) rank among the most disabling conditions, affecting millions worldwide. Cognitive impairment in BD is linked with brain changes and worse functional outcomes. Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetSy) are overrepresented in BD and are associated with more pronounced brain structural and cognitive alterations in the general population. Here, we studied for the first time the contribution of metabolic dysfunction to both brain and cognitive alterations in BD.

We recruited 163 participants (76 individuals with BD, 87 controls). We used principal component analysis (PCA) to derive a composite measure of metabolic health from WHR, BMI, HOMA-IR, HbA1c, TGC, HDL, LDL, systolic, diastolic BP, and to derive a composite cognitive measure from the California Verbal Learning Test and Digit Span. Brain structure was indexed using machine-learning-predicted BrainAGE derived from T1-weighted MRI.

Obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia contributed most strongly to variance in metabolic health in this sample. This MetSy-associated risk cluster predicted higher BrainAGE (β = 0.75 ± 0.29, p = 0.011) and lower cognitive performance (β = −0.19 ± 0.09, p = 0.037), accounting for 30% of the association between BD and higher BrainAGE and 25% of the association between BD and worse cognitive performance. These effects were independent of symptoms, medications, illness course, and duration.

MetSy, particularly obesity, was closely linked with brain/cognitive impairments in BD. While the need for metabolic monitoring should be informed by the diagnosis of BD, screening for MetSy can also help track brain health and cognitive functioning.