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Objective: Autobiographical memory has been studied in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by asking for a specified number of memories from a few defined life periods. The present study tests whether a retrograde temporal gradient and a change in the quality of memory specificity is confirmed when using a temporally less restrained access to autobiographical memory. Also, we intended to explore the temporal macrostructure of entire life narratives in AD and to study in more detail the distribution of memories across the past life and the narrativity of memory reports. Method: Twenty-one elderly adults with mild to moderate AD (Mage = 79.0; M Mini-Mental State Exam = 20.6) were compared with 20 healthy controls (Mage = 76.15, M Mini-Mental State Exam = 29.2). Participants were ethnic Germans from a rural southwestern area of Germany. They provided five most important memories and then told their entire life for up to 15 min. Life narratives were divided into temporal-thematic segments, which were dated and coded for memory specificity as well as for proportion of narrative clauses (narrativity). Results: Life narratives in AD were shorter and contained proportionally fewer specific memories and fewer narrative clauses. These differences regarded the remembered period from between mid-30s to the recent past, for which also far fewer memories were produced. Life narratives were less chronological. Conclusions: Maintaining a sense of self-sameness in AD relies less and less on life narratives but more on single-event narratives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: Executive function (EF) is thought to be a core component of various cognitive processes. Two common ways to measure EF are through report-based measures that assess EF by collecting informant(s) reports on children’s behaviors and performance-based measures that assess EF through the completion of a task related to EF dimension(s). However, most research reports low associations between these measures. The goal of this study was to determine the unique and overlapping contributions of a report- and a performance-based measure of EF on children’s academic outcomes over time. Method: The sample consisted of 1,152 children (636 boys, 516 girls) who were part of a large-scale preschool intervention study. Children completed measures of academic achievement in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, and they completed a performance-based measure of EF in kindergarten; teachers reported on children’s EF during the fall of kindergarten. Structural growth modeling was utilized to determine the unique and shared contributions of EF measures on concurrent ability and growth of academic outcomes. Results: Structural growth models indicated that the separate EF measures were both significant predictors of concurrent ability and growth of all academic outcomes, with one exception; the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders task was not a significant predictor of growth in math skills. Conclusions: Results of this study suggested that report- and performance-based measures of EF should not be used interchangeably, and these findings have implications for the utility of EF as a risk factor for poor academic achievement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: Early-life socioeconomic factors, such as education, closely associated with the opportunity to become multilingual (ML), are important determinants of late-life cognition. To study the cognitive advantage of multilingualism, it is critical to disentangle whether cognitive benefit is driven by multilingualism or education. With rich linguistic diversity across all socioeconomic gradients, India provides an excellent setting to examine the role of multilingualism on cognition among individuals with and without education. Method: Using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India—Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia, we evaluated the association of multilingualism by language similarity (i.e., speaking languages from the same or different language families) and education with cognition. Longitudinal Aging Study in India—Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia is a nationally representative sample of older Indian adults aged 60 and over, speaking 40 different languages and dialects (N = 4,088, 54% without formal schooling). Multilingual participants were categorized whether they spoke ≥2 languages within the same (classified as ML1) or different (classified as ML2) language families. Participants completed a comprehensive cognitive assessment assessing the domains of executive functioning, language, memory, and visuospatial ability. Results: Education stratified regression models adjusted for relevant covariates in the full sample and in a propensity-score matched sample. Among those with education, multilingualism was associated with better cognitive functioning across all domains regardless of language family (all p’s < .05). Among those without education, only ML1 (not ML2) was associated with better executive functioning (B = 0.17 [0.07, 0.27]) compared to monolinguals. Conclusions: These findings add to the growing literature on cognitive advantage of multilingualism, disentangling them from education and suggesting differential effects by language similarity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: An estimated 40% of patients experience cognitive impairment 3 months after a stroke. However, there is a lack of knowledge about cognitive improvement after stroke. This exploratory study aims to comprehend the prevalence and patterns of cognitive improvement within the initial 3 months poststroke. Method: At 1 week and 3 months poststroke, 85 patients aged 40–79 years with supratentorial ischemic stroke and a Mini-Mental State Examination score ≥23 underwent neuropsychological testing of learning, recall, recognition, working memory, verbal fluency, naming, executive function, attention, and processing speed. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on Ward’s method and squared Euclidean distance was performed on changes in tests over 3 months to identify homogeneous groups. The within-cluster and between-cluster differences in change were presented descriptively for each cognitive domain. Potential predictors for cluster belonging were compared by independent samples t test or χ2 test. Results: The cluster analysis identified two clusters. The improvement cluster (n = 22) progressed in learning, recall, recognition, executive function, and most measures of working memory, attention, and verbal fluency. In the stable cluster (n = 63), cognitive function remained stable across most domains, with an increase in a few working memory, verbal fluency and naming, and executive function measures. Notably, 67% of lacunar strokes and 93% of females were in the stable cluster, having less improvement. Age and education did not differentiate between the clusters. Conclusions: 26% of patients showed overall cognitive improvement within 3 months. Knowing the prevalence and patterns of cognitive improvement after stroke lays the groundwork for future research and clinical practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Reports an error in "Cardiovascular health and rate of cognitive decline in preclinical dementia: A 12-year population-based study" by Andreja Speh, Nicola Maria Payton, Milica G. Kramberger, Giulia Grande, Chengxuan Qiu, Bengt Winblad, Laura Fratiglioni, Lars Bäckman and Erika J. Laukka (Neuropsychology, 2024[Mar], Vol 38[3], 211-222). The following funding acknowledgment was missing from the author’s note: “The authors acknowledge financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (Research Core Funding No. P5-0110).” (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2024-52081-001.) Objective: We investigated whether vascular risk factors (VRFs), assessed with Life’s Simple 7 (LS7), are associated with the rate of cognitive decline in the years preceding a dementia diagnosis. Method: This study included 1,449 stroke-free participants aged ≥60 years from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen, who underwent repeated neuropsychological testing (episodic memory, semantic memory, verbal fluency, perceptual speed) across 12 years. The LS7 score, assessed at baseline, included smoking, diet, physical activity, body mass index, plasma glucose, total cholesterol, and blood pressure. Preclinical dementia was defined as being dementia-free at baseline and diagnosed with dementia during follow-up. Level and change in cognitive performance as a function of LS7 category (poor vs. intermediate to optimal) and future dementia status were estimated using linear mixed-effect models. Results: Participants who later developed dementia had, on average, a poorer LS7 score compared to those who remained dementia-free. For individuals aged 60–72 years, poor diet was associated with accelerated decline in perceptual speed (β = −0.05, 95% CI [−0.08, −0.02]), and a poor glucose score was associated with faster rates of verbal fluency (β = −0.019, 95% CI [−0.09, −0.01]) and global cognitive (β = −0.028, 95% CI [−0.06, 0.00]) decline in the preclinical dementia group. Conclusions: VRFs exacerbate rate of cognitive decline in the years preceding a dementia diagnosis. This effect was most pronounced in young–old age and primarily driven by diet and glucose. The effect of VRFs may be especially detrimental for cognitive decline trajectories of individuals with impending dementia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: Objectively defined subtle cognitive decline (Obj-SCD) is an emerging classification that may identify individuals at risk for future decline and progression to Alzheimer’s disease prior to a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43), a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) marker of synaptic dysfunction, has been shown to relate to an increased risk of converting to dementia, although it is unclear whether GAP-43 alterations may be detected in pre-MCI stages. Therefore, in the present study, we examined CSF GAP-43 levels among individuals with Obj-SCD cross-sectionally and also examined whether baseline GAP-43 predicts future functional decline. Method: Six hundred forty-four participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were divided into six groups based on (a) cognitive status (cognitively unimpaired [CU], Obj-SCD, or MCI) and (b) Aβ status (+ or −). Results: The CU− group had lower baseline GAP-43 than all Aβ+ groups, but not the other Aβ− groups. Higher GAP-43 levels were associated with faster decline across the entire sample. When moderation by group was examined, higher GAP-43 at baseline predicted faster functional decline for the Obj-SCD+ and MCI+ groups, compared to the CU− group. Conclusions: Results extend prior work investigating biomarker associations in Obj-SCD to GAP-43 and show that high baseline CSF GAP-43 is associated with a faster rate of functional decline in Aβ+ individuals who are classified as Obj-SCD or MCI. Importantly, our findings further demonstrate that CSF GAP-43 is associated with early and subtle cognitive changes detectable before the onset of MCI. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrate deficits across academic domains including underachievement in math. Proposed models of math skill development suggest that math difficulties may be associated with both neurocognitive (e.g., working memory) and socioemotional factors (e.g., anxiety). Extant literature indicates a 25% co-occurrence rate between ADHD and anxiety, as well as a strong link between neurocognitive deficits in working memory and ADHD symptomology. However, it remains unclear how both trait anxiety and working memory uniquely or jointly relate to underachievement in math in children with ADHD. Method: The sample comprised 275 clinically evaluated children ages 8–13 (Myears = 10.36, SD = 1.44; 106 girls; 69% White/non-Hispanic) with and without ADHD. Serial conditional effects models were utilized to (a) quantify the magnitude of math underachievement in children with ADHD relative to peers without ADHD and (b) determine the extent to which these impairments are uniquely or jointly related to child self-reported trait anxiety and/or working memory abilities. Results: The serial path analysis indicated that children with ADHD exhibited large magnitude deficits in math achievement relative to peers without ADHD (d = −0.76; β = −.34, 95% CI excludes 0.0). Furthermore, the ADHD/math achievement relation was uniquely accounted for by its shared association with working memory, whereas self-reported trait anxiety was not a significant predictor of math achievement. Together, ADHD status and working memory accounted for 65% of the variance in math achievement (R2 = .65). Conclusions: These findings suggest that math difficulties in children with ADHD are largely associated with neurocognitive factors such as working memory and do not appear to be associated with the frequency/severity of trait anxiety symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Objective: Recent research has highlighted the potential of social information to mitigate age-related associative memory deficits, yet the influence of the self-reference effect remains a confounding factor. This study aimed to disentangle the effects of social information from self- or other-referencing on associative memory in young and older adults. Method: A total of 25 young adults and 25 older adults participated in our study. Participants encoded object–scene pairs using self- or other-referencing with scenes containing varying levels of social information (high, low, or none). Results: Results revealed that self-referencing improved recall for object–low social information pairs in both age groups, but older adults did not benefit similarly in object–no social information trials. For object–high social information pairs, other-referencing notably enhanced older adults’ associative memory performance compared to self-referencing. This interaction was particularly evident in older adults with low executive function. Conclusions: These findings suggest that tailoring encoding strategies based on the level of social information could potentially alleviate associative memory deficits, particularly in older adults with low executive function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT