Subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) can precede cognitive decline and are associated with demographic, exposure, lifestyle, and psychological factors. Prevalences of SCC and their correlates in individuals with repetitive head impacts (RHI) are poorly understood. This study characterized SCC in former elite American football players by frequency, mood and behavioral correlates, concordance with informant reports, and associations with neuropsychological test performance, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of neurodegeneration.

Former American football players (n = 180) completed measures of global and domain-specific SCC, neuropsychiatric symptom questionnaires, neuropsychological testing, lumbar puncture, and MRI. Elastic net regression evaluated the relative importance of potential SCC correlates. Intraclass correlation coefficients measured concordance between self and informant reports. Multiple linear regressions tested associations between SCC and verbal memory and executive functioning scores. CSF Aβ1-42, p-tau181, t-tau, neurofilament light (NfL), hippocampal volume, and regional cortical thickness were examined for their potential associations with SCC.

Rates of SCC ranged from 43 to 77% depending on the domain. Symptoms of depression, impulsivity, and anxiety were strongly associated with SCC. Self- and informant-reported SCC showed moderate inter-rater agreement. Adjusting for age, race, education, APOE ϵ4 carrier status, and depressive symptoms, SCC were associated with lower objective verbal memory and executive functioning performance. SCC were associated with lower parahippocampal cortical thickness but not with hippocampal volume or any of the measured CSF tests.

SCC are strongly associated with neuropsychiatric factors in former American football players. SCC may also be a marker of cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

Menopause is a natural physiological process, but its effects on the brain remain poorly understood. In England, approximately 15% of women use hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) to manage menopausal symptoms. However, the psychological benefits of HRT are not well established. This study aims to investigate the impact of menopause and HRT on mental health, cognitive function, and brain structure.

We analyzed data from nearly 125,000 participants in the UK Biobank to assess associations between menopause, HRT use, and outcomes related to mental health, cognition, and brain morphology. Specifically, we focused on gray matter volumes in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).

Menopause was associated with increased levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties. Women using HRT reported greater mental health challenges than post-menopausal women not using HRT. Post-hoc analyses revealed that women prescribed HRT had higher levels of pre-existing mental health symptoms. In terms of brain structure, MTL and ACC volumes were smaller in post-menopausal women compared to pre-menopausal women, with the lowest volumes observed in the HRT group.

Our findings suggest that menopause is linked to adverse mental health outcomes and reductions in gray matter volume in key brain regions. The use of HRT does not appear to mitigate these effects and may be associated with more pronounced mental health challenges, potentially due to underlying baseline differences. These results have important implications for understanding the neurobiological effects of HRT and highlighting the unmet need for addressing mental health problems during menopause.

Language impairments are common in affective and psychotic disorders, yet their patterns and underlying pathomechanisms remain insufficiently understood. A transdiagnostic perspective provides a framework for identifying shared and disorder-specific language alterations across diagnostic boundaries. Combining natural language processing (NLP) with network analysis enables the investigation of complex associations between linguistic, cognitive, and psychopathological features.

Spontaneous speech from N = 372 participants (119 MDD, 27 BD, 48 SSD and 178 HC) was elicited using four Thematic Apperception Test pictures (~12 min per participant). NLP models were applied to extract latent linguistic variables across various levels, including lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, semantic coherence, and disfluencies. Network analysis was used to relate linguistic variables, psychopathology (SAPS, SANS, HAM-A, HAM-D, YMRS, TLI, GAF), and cognitive performance (attention, verbal memory, recognition, and verbal fluency).

Linguistic variables formed the densest network cluster, with type–token ratio, mean length of utterance, and syntactic complexity emerging as central nodes. Psychopathology variables were less cohesive, while TLI “Impoverishment”, coherence mean, and executive functioning bridged linguistic, cognitive, and psychopathological domains. Network comparison tests revealed no significant differences in linguistic–cognitive network structure across HC, MDD, BD, and SSD.

Linguistic networks show high structural consistency across healthy individuals and patients, whereas psychopathological symptom networks reflect transdiagnostic profiles. These findings support a dimensional and transdiagnostic framework underscore shared language–cognition mechanisms, and highlight executive functioning as key cross-domain connection, which opens up new avenues for dimensional research into the pathophysiological and etiological mechanisms underlying language dysfunctions.

People diagnosed with schizophrenia can have functional impairments in multiple domains. Cognitive impairment is central to schizophrenia and has substantial prognostic value compared with other symptoms of schizophrenia. However, no study has previously investigated directed relationships in a complex system of cognitive, sociodemographic, clinical and quality of life (QOL) variables in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

To identify the complex relationships of components of cognition with other cognitive components, as well as with clinical and QOL variables.

This study included data from 1450 participants in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study. The present study reconstructed a Bayesian network from this data using cognition, clinical, sociodemographic and QOL variables.

Processing speed was centrally associated with all other cognitive domains. Cognitive domains were conditionally independent of positive symptoms but moderately associated with negative symptoms (β = −0.25; P < 0.001). The positive symptoms subscale was independent of QOL, conditioning on third variables. Negative symptoms were moderately associated with QOL (β = −0.33; P < 0.001), and processing speed had a weak association with QOL (β = −0.12; P < 0.001). Processing speed was a central variable in the network.

Intervening with respect to processing speed may be the most beneficial way of improving other cognitive functions. More research is needed on directed networks that include social cognition and global levels of functioning.

Evidence regarding the effects of antipsychotic medication on cognitive functioning after a first-episode psychosis (FEP) remains inconclusive. This study examined whether dopamine D2 receptor occupancy, affinity, and antipsychotic dose are related to cognitive functioning in people in remission from FEP.

278 remitted FEP participants from the HAMLETT-trial were included. Cognitive functioning was assessed with the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia, 3–6 months after remission. D2 receptor occupancy was estimated based on antipsychotic type and dose. Antipsychotics were categorized into partial agonists, or antagonists with high or low D2 receptor affinity. Linear regression analyses were performed with inverse probability of treatment weighting to control for differences in characteristics between groups.

D2 receptor occupancy was negatively related to global cognition (β = −0.18), verbal fluency (β = −0.22), and attention and processing speed (β = −0.17, all p < 0.003). The interaction between daily dose and D2 receptor affinity category was significant for global cognition (p = 0.0046) and working memory (p = 0.0019), but not for verbal fluency after correction for multiple testing (p = 0.029). Interactions showed that higher daily dose was related to lower cognitive functioning, with significantly stronger negative effects in high-affinity antagonists compared to other antipsychotics.

The current findings underscore the importance of antipsychotic D2 receptor occupancy and affinity for cognitive functioning and suggest better cognitive functioning in users of partial agonists and low D2 receptor affinity antipsychotics. This can be important when selecting antipsychotics for individuals with FEP.

This study aimed to explore the correlates of zero, one, and multiple performance validity test (PVT) failures on cognitive test performance in patients with various degrees of severity of traumatic brain injury.

306 participants completed the Trail Making Test as part of a neuropsychological evaluation within 1–36 months post-injury. They were assigned to zero, one, or ≥ two fail groups on the basis of at least two independent PVTs. Group differences in Trail Making Test performance were analyzed with analysis of variance, with post hoc contrasts with the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Groups were also compared on various background characteristics.

Participants who passed all PVTs had statistically significantly better performance on both parts of the Trail Making Test as compared to those who failed either one or multiple PVTs, with the latter two groups not differing statistically significantly from each other. PVT failure was relatively more common in participants who were female, had an uncomplicated mild TBI, were involved in financial compensation-seeking, and were seen at a longer time point since injury.

Failure of even only one PVT is associated with lower neuropsychological test performance in patients with traumatic brain injury, especially when empirically validated criteria are used that are stratified by injury severity. Such failure does not always reflect malingering but must be interpreted and addressed in the context of patient background characteristics.

Language deficits are frequently described by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS); however, objective characterization remains somewhat limited due to its omission from standard MS cognitive evaluation and the inconsistent findings that arise from current language measures.

To establish alternative approaches to characterizing single-word level language in MS, this study (i) validates the Sydney Language Battery (SYDBAT) visual confrontation naming subtest and (ii) examines the insights provided by examining naming errors and latencies.

40 MS patients from Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Cognitive Neuroimmunology Clinic and 40 matched controls completed a series of neuropsychological tests, including the SYDBAT and ‘gold standard’ confrontation naming task, the Boston Naming Test (BNT). Error types and latencies on the SYDBAT were extracted from assessment audio recordings.

SYDBAT and BNT scores were highly correlated (r = 0.81, p < .001) and these tasks reported comparable receiver operating characteristic curves (p = .091). Latency analysis captured lexical retrieval difficulties, with patients displaying significantly longer mean latencies than controls on the SYDBAT (p = .012, β = 0.54).

These findings support the validity of the SYDBAT and value of the latency analysis in characterizing language impairment in MS. Use of the SYDBAT and latency considerations contribute to a broader assessment with a briefer administration time compared to gold-standard evaluation. The study thereby offers clinicians an enhanced toolkit to more effectively and appropriately evaluate language functioning and supplement standard cognitive evaluation in this population.

To compare verbal memory encoding, storage, and retrieval in patients with schizophrenia (SZ), SZ plus substance use disorder (SZ+), and substance use disorder only (SUD), testing the hypothesis that SZ + group exhibits greater impairment across all processes.

A total of 294 male patients under treatment (SZ = 72, SZ+ = 72, SUD = 150) meeting DSM-5 criteria completed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). RAVLT measures assessed encoding, storage, and retrieval. ANCOVA/MANCOVA, controlling for premorbid IQ, were used to explore group differences.

Significant differences among groups were observed in all RAVLT measures (F(2,291) > 9.25, p < 0.001, ηp2 > 0.06) except retrieval. Post hoc analyses revealed that both SZ and SZ+ groups showed significant verbal memory impairments (learning trials and storage, interference, short and long-term recall and recognition) compared to the SUD group which performed within the normative range. The SZ and SZ+ groups showed altered values (Z ≥ −1.5) from the second learning trial onward and total learning, and the SZ+ group also for long-term recall and recognition.

This study confirms the existence of significant verbal memory deficits in both SZ and SZ+ groups compared to SUD. Verbal memory impairment appears as a central feature of SZ spectrum disorders, irrespective of SUD comorbidity. Exacerbated memory impairment in SZ+ compared to SZ on the RAVLT is subtle without reaching significant differences, although consideration of altered Z-scores suggests worse performance in SZ+ in encoding and consolidation processes. Further research should explore clinical variables and moderators of comorbidity effects in SZ.