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We followed children at family risk of dyslexia and children with preschool language difficulties from age 3½, comparing them with controls (N = 234). At age 8, children were classified as having dyslexia or Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and compared at earlier time points with controls. Children with dyslexia have specific difficulties with phonology and emergent reading skills in the preschool period, whereas children with DLD, with or without dyslexia, show a wider range of impairments including significant problems with executive and motor tasks. For children with both dyslexia and DLD, difficulties with phonology are generally more severe than those observed in children with dyslexia or DLD alone. Findings confirm that poor phonology is the major cognitive risk factor for dyslexia.

This study aims to extend the definition of quality of life (QoL) for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 180, ages 23–60) by: (1) characterizing the heterogeneity of normative outcomes (employment, independent living, social engagement) and objective QoL (physical health, neighborhood quality, family contact, mental health issues); and (2) identifying predictors of positive normative outcomes and good objective QoL. Findings of an exploratory latent class analysis identified three groups of adults with ASD–Greater Dependence, Good Physical and Mental Health, and Greater Independence. Findings indicate that better daily living skills, better executive function, and more maternal warmth are associated with assignment to better outcome groups. Findings have implications for interventions designed to enhance achievement of normative outcomes and objective QoL.

To investigate trajectories of cognitive decline in patients with different types of dementia compared to controls in a longitudinal study. In 199 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 10 with vascular dementia (VaD), 26 with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), 20 with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), 15 with language variant frontotemporal dementia (lvFTD) and 112 controls we assessed five cognitive domains: memory, language, attention, executive and visuospatial functioning, and global cognition (Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE). All subjects had at least two neuropsychological assessments (median 2, range 2-7). Neuropsychological data were standardized into z scores using baseline performance of controls as reference. Linear mixed models (LMMs) were used to estimate baseline cognitive functioning and cognitive decline over time for each group, adjusted for age, gender and education. At baseline, patients with dementia performed worse than controls in all cognitive domains (p < 0.05) except visuospatial functioning, which was only impaired in patients with AD and DLB (p < 0.001). During follow-up, patients with AD declined in all cognitive domains (p < 0.001). DLB showed decline in every cognitive domain except language and global cognition. bvFTD showed rapid decline in memory, language, attention and executive functioning (all p < 0.01) whereas visuospatial functioning remained fairly stable. lvFTD declined mostly in attention and executive functioning (p < 0.01). VaD showed decline in attention and executive functioning. We show cognitive trajectories of different types of dementia. These estimations of natural disease course have important value for the design of clinical trials as neuropsychological measures are increasingly being used as outcome measures.

Previous cross-sectional studies report that cognitive impairment is associated with poor psychosocial functioning in euthymic bipolar patients. There is a lack of long-term studies to determine the course of cognitive impairment and its impact on functional outcome. Method A total of 54 subjects were assessed at baseline and 6 years later; 28 had DSM-IV TR bipolar I or II disorder (recruited, at baseline, from a Lithium Clinic Program) and 26 were healthy matched controls. They were all assessed with a cognitive battery tapping into the main cognitive domains (executive function, attention, processing speed, verbal memory and visual memory) twice over a 6-year follow-up period. All patients were euthymic (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression score lower than 8 and Young mania rating scale score lower than 6) for at least 3 months before both evaluations. At the end of follow-up, psychosocial functioning was also evaluated by means of the Functioning Assessment Short Test. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance showed that there were main effects of group in the executive domain, in the inhibition domain, in the processing speed domain, and in the verbal memory domain (p<0.04). Among the clinical factors, only longer illness duration was significantly related to slow processing (p=0.01), whereas strong relationships were observed between impoverished cognition along time and poorer psychosocial functioning (p<0.05). Executive functioning, inhibition, processing speed and verbal memory were impaired in euthymic bipolar out-patients. Although cognitive deficits remained stable on average throughout the follow-up, they had enduring negative effects on psychosocial adaptation of patients.

Sport-related concussions (SRCs) are known to have short-term effects on cognitive processes, which can result in diverse clinical presentations. The long-term effects of SRC and repeated exposure to head impacts that do not result in SRC on specific cognitive health outcomes remain unclear. To synthesize and appraise the evidence base regarding cognitive health in living retired athletes with a history of head-impact exposure or SRC. A systematic search of the EMBASE, PsycINFO, MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science databases was conducted from inception to April 2018 using common key words and medical subject headings related to 3 components: (1) the participant (eg, retired athlete), (2) the primary outcome measure (eg, cognitive test used), and (3) the secondary outcome measure (eg, history of sport concussion). Cross-sectional studies of living retired male or female athletes in which at least 1 cognitive test was used as an outcome measure were included. Two reviewers independently screened studies. Data extraction was performed using Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. Methodologic quality was assessed independently by 2 reviewers using the Downs and Black tool. The search yielded 46 cross-sectional observational studies that were included in a qualitative synthesis. Most included studies (80%, n = 37) were published in the 5 years before our review. A large proportion of these studies (n = 20) included retired American National Football League players. The other research investigated professional, university, high school, and amateur retired athletes participating in sports such as American and Australian football, boxing, field and ice hockey, rugby, and soccer. The total sample consisted of 13 975 participants: 7387 collision-sport athletes, 662 contact-sport athletes, 3346 noncontact-sport athletes, and 2580 participants classified as controls. Compared with control participants or normative data, retired athletes displayed worse performance in 17 of 31 studies (55%) of memory, 6 of 11 studies (55%) of executive function, and 4 of 6 studies (67%) of psychomotor function and increased subjective concerns about cognitive function in 11 of 14 studies (79%). The authors of 13 of 46 investigations (28%) reported a frequency-response relationship, with poorer cognitive outcomes in athletes who had greater levels of exposure to head impacts or concussions. However, these results must be interpreted in light of the lack of methodologic rigor and moderate quality assessment of the included studies. Evidence of poorer cognitive health among retired athletes with a history of concussion and head-impact exposure is evolving. Our results suggest that a history of SRC may more greatly affect the cognitive domains of memory, executive function, and psychomotor function. Retired athletes appeared to have increased self-reported cognitive difficulties, but the paucity of high-quality, prospective studies limited the conclusions that could be drawn regarding a cause-and-effect relationship between concussion and long-term health outcomes. Future researchers should consider a range of cognitive health outcomes, as well as premorbid ability, in diverse samples of athletes with or without a history of concussion or head-impact exposure to delineate the long-term effects of sport participation on cognitive functioning.

Although deficits in Executive Functioning (EF) are reported frequently in young individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), they remain relatively unexplored later in life (>50 years). We studied objective performance on EF measures (Tower of London, Zoo map, phonetic/semantic fluency) as well as subjective complaints (self- and proxy reported BRIEF) in 36 ASD and 36 typically developed individuals (n = 72). High functioning older adults with ASD reported EF-impairments in metacognition, but did not deviate in EF task performance, except for a longer execution time of the Tower of London. The need for additional time to complete daily tasks may contribute to impairments in daily life and may be correlated to a higher level of experienced EF-difficulties in ASD.

Previous studies have shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate poorer driving performance than their peers and are less likely to obtain a driver’s license. This study aims to examine the relationship between driving performance and executive functioning for novice drivers, with and without ASD, using a driving simulator. Forty-four males (ages 15–23), 17 with ASD and 27 healthy controls, completed paradigms assessing driving skills and executive functioning. ASD drivers demonstrated poorer driving performance overall and the addition of a working memory task resulted in a significant decrement in their performance relative to control drivers. Results suggest that working memory may be a key mechanism underlying difficulties demonstrated by ASD drivers and provides insight for future intervention programs.

Suicide is a serious and not uncommon consequence of mood disorders that occurs primarily when individuals are depressed. Understanding the neurobiology of suicidal activity (thoughts or behaviors) is likely to facilitate prevention. Seventy-nine adult depressed mood disorder patients (MDP), of which 25 had attempted suicide at least once, and 66 healthy controls (HC) participated in this study. Resting-state functional MRI was used to identify neural activity differences between suicide attempters (SA) and non-attempters (NA). Specifically, differences were examined in functional connectivity both within and between four large cognitive networks [Executive Control (ECN), Default Mode (DMN), Salience (SN), and Basal Ganglia (BGN)] and their respective associations with suicidal activity. Compared to HCs, patients had greater posterior DMN activity, but less activity in the BGN, and less low-frequency spectral power in the dorso-medial DMN. Furthermore, increased posterior DMN activity in SA was associated with recent suicidal activity, whereas NA had reduced BGN activity and less dorso-medial DMN spectral power, the latter being associated with lifelong suicidal thinking. SA also had greater activity in midline circuitry compared to both HC and NA, and the pattern of BGN and DMN co-activity differed between SA and NA. DMN engagement raises the possibility that suicidal activity in mood disorder patients may be a consequence of impaired self-referential thought processing. Furthermore, differential BGN and DMN co-activation according to suicide attempt status suggests that attempting suicide perhaps alters cognitive flexibility. These insights are potentially useful for understanding the neural basis of suicide activity.

This study examined verbal mediation during planning in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to age- and nonverbal IQ- matched typically developing peers using a dual-task paradigm. Analyses showed no group differences in performance. However, in the condition intended to disrupt verbal mediation, language skills were associated with planning performance for the TD group, but not the ASD group. Upon examining ASD subgroups with versus without comorbid structural language impairment, children with ASD and normal language appeared to rely on verbal mediation to a greater degree than children with ASD and language impairment, but to a lesser degree than TD peers. Thus, the role of verbal mediation in planning for children with ASD differs depending on language status.