The prevalence of prolonged symptoms following a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection represents a significant health challenge with potentially severe individual and societal costs. Our study investigates the long-term cognitive and mental health consequences associated with post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) condition (PCC) following a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection.

We conducted longitudinal assessments of cognitive performance and mental health in 50 post-COVID-19 patients and 48 matched healthy controls across 10 months, starting on average 2 years after infection. Cognitive function was evaluated using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery of standardized tests, while mental health was assessed via self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed with linear mixed models.

Initial group differences in cognitive performance were observed for memory, executive functioning, and perceptual speed, with worse performance in patients. Improvement across the follow-up period occurred for most tasks, with PCC patients displaying greater improvement compared to healthy controls for some memory and executive function tasks, reaching performance levels of the control group. Fatigue and mental health measures remained elevated in the patient group, with worsening in general fatigue and a small improvement in fatigue after cognitive testing. Factors such as male sex, absence of burnout history, and lower depression scores at baseline predicted cognitive recovery in the patient group.

Our study underscores the importance of addressing cognitive and psychological effects following mild SARS-CoV-2 infection, as persistent fatigue, low mental health, and cognitive impairments significantly impact individuals’ ability to return to their pre-COVID professional and personal lives.

We evaluated performance-based differences in neuropsychological functioning in older adults (age 65+) across the dementia continuum (cognitively intact, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia) according to recent cannabis use (past six months).

A sample of 540 older adults from a well-characterized observational cohort was included for analysis. Participants completed a standardized questionnaire assessing cannabis use in the six months prior to the study visit and completed a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. We used traditional cross-sectional analyses (multivariate, univariate) alongside causal inference techniques (propensity score matching [PSM]) to evaluate group differences according to recent cannabis use status. We also examined whether cannabis-related problem severity, a risk factor for cannabis use disorder (CUD), was associated with cognitive outcomes among those reporting recent cannabis use.

Approximately 11% of participants reported using cannabis in the prior six months, with the median user consuming cannabis two to four times per month. Participants with recent cannabis use performed similarly across all five domains of neuropsychological functioning compared to those with no cannabis use. Among older adults reporting recent cannabis use, those with elevated risk for CUD demonstrated lower memory performance.

These preliminary results are broadly consistent with other findings indicating that low-frequency cannabis use among older adults, including those along the dementia continuum, is generally well tolerated from a cognitive perspective. However, among older adults who used cannabis, elevated symptoms of CUD may negatively impact memory performance. Future research should explore how variations in cannabis use patterns, individual characteristics, and clinical phenotypes influence cognitive outcomes.

The ability to efficiently complete everyday tasks was evaluated with a novel, performance-based test called the Virtual Kitchen Challenge (VKC) in college athletes. Analyses focused on the effect of practice and associations between the VKC and conventional measures of cognition.

81 college athletes with and without self-reported concussion completed conventional cognitive tests and the VKC, a nonimmersive virtual-reality task that requires manipulating virtual objects on a touch screen to prepare a breakfast and lunch under two conditions: 1) Training condition with feedback and 2) Test condition without feedback. VKC performance was scored for completion time, percent of time working on-screen, number of interactions with target and distractor objects. Paired t-tests compared VKC Training and Test conditions, correlations examined relations between VKC performance and cognitive tests.

VKC performance was significantly better after practice, as noted by faster completion time, fewer screen interactions, and a higher proportion of time spent on-screen during Test vs. Training conditions. Interactions with distractors were too infrequent for analyses. Correlations showed VKC Training was associated with episodic memory abilities whereas VKC Test scores were associated with executive function. VKC scores did not differ between participants with versus without concussion.

The VKC is a promising portable performance-based measure of subtle functional difficulties for young, high-functioning participants. The VKC automated scoring makes it highly efficient for large studies and clinical settings.

Cognitive intra-individual variability (IIV) is a neuropsychological marker reflecting divergent performance across cognitive domains. In this brief communication, we examined whether clinical severity, apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 carriers, and higher polygenic risk were associated with higher cognitive IIV, and whether higher polygenic risk and cognitive IIV synergistically influence clinical severity.

This large study involved up to 24,248 participants (mean age = 72) from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) and multiple regression controlling for age, sex, and education was used to analyze the data.

We found that disease severity (B = 0.055, SE = 0.001, P < 0.001), APOE ε4 carriers (B = 0.02, SE = 0.003, P < 0.001), and higher polygenic risk (B = 0.02, SE = 0.004, P < 0.001) were associated with higher cognitive IIV. Polygenic risk and cognitive IIV also interacted to influence clinical severity, beyond APOE ε4 (B = 0.11, SE = 0.05, P = 0.02), such that individuals with high polygenic risk and cognitive IIV had the greatest clinical severity.

Heightened polygenic risk and increased cross-domain cognitive variation are implicated in dementia and may impact clinical decline in tandem.

We investigated differences in cognition between variants of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) including PSP-Richardson (PSP-RS) and subcortical and cortical variants using updated diagnostic criteria and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment.

We recruited 140 participants with PSP (age = 71.3 ± 6.9 years; education = 15.0 ± 2.8 years; 49.3% female) who completed neurological and neuropsychological assessment. Participants received diagnoses of PSP clinical variants at their evaluation (or retrospectively if evaluated before 2017) according to the Movement Disorder Society PSP criteria. We grouped variants as PSP-RS (62 participants), PSP-Cortical (25 with PSP-speech/language and 9 with PSP-corticobasal syndrome), and PSP-Subcortical (27 with PSP-parkinsonism, 11 with PSP-progressive gait freezing, and 6 with PSP-postural instability). Analysis of covariance adjusted for age assessed for differences in neuropsychological performance between variants across cognitive domains.

PSP-Cortical participants performed worst on measures of visual attention/working memory (Spatial Span Forward/Backward/Total), executive function (Frontal Assessment Battery), and language (Letter Fluency). PSP-RS participants performed worst on verbal memory (Camden Words). There were no significant group differences for the MoCA or indices of visuospatial function. There were no sex or education differences between PSP groups; however, there were differences in age at visit and disease duration.

In a large sample of participants with PSP, there were differences in cognition across PSP-RS, PSP-Subcortical, and PSP-Cortical variants, with PSP-Cortical and, to a lesser extent, PSP-RS, performing worse on tests of attention and executive function. These findings suggest cognitive distinctions among PSP clinical variants and highlight the value of neuropsychological assessment in differential diagnosis of PSP subtypes for more accurate and timely clinical classification.

This study examined three neurocognitive patterns or “clinical pearls” historically viewed as evidence for executive dysfunction in Parkinson disease (PD): 1) letter < category fluency; 2) word list < story delayed recall; 3) word list delayed recall < recognition. The association between intraindividual magnitudes of each neuropsychological pattern and individual performance on traditional executive function tests was examined.

A clinical sample of 772 individuals with PD underwent neuropsychological testing including tests of verbal fluency, word list/story recall, recognition memory, and executive function. Raw scores were demographically normed (Heaton) and converted to z-scores for group-level analyses.

Letter fluency performance was worse than category fluency (d = −0.12), with 28% of participants showing a discrepancy of ≥ −1.0 SD. Delayed recall of a list was markedly poorer than story recall (d = −0.86), with 52% of the sample exhibiting ≥ −1.0 SD deficits. Lastly, delayed free recall was worse than recognition memory (d = −0.25), with 24% showing a discrepancy of ≥ −1.0 SD. These patterns did not consistently correlate with executive function scores. The word list < story recall pattern was more common in earlier than later PD stages and durations.

Among the three pearls, the most pronounced was stronger memory performance on story recall than word lists, observed in more than half the sample. Only ¼ the participants exhibited all three neurocognitive patterns simultaneously. The variability in patterns across individuals highlights the heterogeneity of cognitive impairment in PD and suggests that intra-individual comparisons may offer a more nuanced insight into cognitive functioning.

Cognitive impairment represents a central component of major depressive disorder (MDD), affecting a large proportion of people living with MDD and showing a consistent negative impact on social, interpersonal, and occupational functioning and subjective quality of life. Cognitive remediation (CR) is a training-based psychosocial intervention targeting cognitive performance and psychosocial functioning that has shown consistent evidence of effectiveness in individuals with schizophrenia and that could provide significant benefits also in people with MDD: this study aimed to assess the effects of a computerized CR intervention in adults living with MDD.

Participants recruited in this single blind multicentric randomized controlled trial were allocated to receive a computerized CR intervention delivered by an active and trained therapist or to an active control condition (computer games – CG). Outcomes were measured with validated instruments by blind assessors and included cognitive performance, depressive symptoms, and psychosocial functioning. Outcomes were assessed using mixed models for repeated measures, considering baseline and end-of-treatment scores.

Hundred and one participants (CR=52 and CG=49) were included and 81 (CR=45 and CG=36) completed the study. CR produced superior results in clinician-rated depressive symptoms (p=0.023, d=042), global clinical severity (p=0.025, d=0.39), subjective depressive symptoms (p=0.005, d=0.45), working memory performance (p=0.004, d=0.34), executive functions/cognitive flexibility (p=0.020, d=0.43), and subjective cognitive impairment (p=0.006, d=0.48).

CR represents an effective intervention in MDD, improving clinical outcomes and cognitive performance in a clinician-rated and in a subjective manner, which should be more consistently implemented in clinical practice and included in MDD treatment recommendations.