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Background The original paper Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE) is a valid and reliable cognitive assessment tool used to identify individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia. We evaluated identical test questions in a digital format (eSAGE) made for tablet use with the goals of calibrating it against SAGE and establishing its association with other neuropsychological tests and clinical assessments of cognitive impairment. Methods Subjects aged 50 and over who had taken SAGE were recruited from community and clinic settings. Subjects were randomly selected to participate in a clinical evaluation including neuropsychological evaluations. SAGE and eSAGE were administered using a crossover design. Subjects were identified as dementia, MCI, or normal based on standard clinical criteria. Associations were investigated using Spearman correlations, linear regression, and sensitivity and specificity measures. Results Of the 426 subjects screened, 66 completed the evaluation. eSAGE score correlation to a battery of neuropsychological tests was 0.73 ( p  < 0.0001) with no significant difference between the paper and digital format. Spearman correlation of SAGE versus eSAGE was 0.88 ( p  < 0.0001), and they are related by the formula: eSAGE score = –1.05 + 0.99 × SAGE score. Since the slope is very close to 1 ( p  = 0.86) there is strong evidence that the scaling is identical between eSAGE and SAGE, with no scale bias. Overall, eSAGE scores are lower by an average of 1.21 and the decrease is statistically significant ( p  < 0.0001). For those subjects familiar with smartphones or tablets (one measure of digital proficiency), eSAGE scores are lower by an average of 0.83 points ( p  = 0.029). With a score 16 and higher being classified as normal, eSAGE had 90% specificity and 71% sensitivity in detecting those with cognitive impairment from normal subjects. Conclusions Tablet-based eSAGE shows a strong association with the validated paper SAGE and a neuropsychological battery. It shows no scale bias compared to SAGE. Both have the advantage of self-administration, brevity, four interchangeable forms, and high sensitivity and specificity in detecting cognitive impairment from normal subjects. Their potential widespread availability will be a major factor in overcoming the many obstacles in identifying early cognitive changes. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02544074 . Registered on 18 March 2015.

Background Youth depression is highly prevalent and is related to impairments in academic, social and behavioural functioning. Evidence-based treatments are available, but many young people do not respond or sufficiently recover with first-line options, and a significant proportion experience relapse. Consequently, there is clear scope to enhance intervention in this critical period of early-onset depression. Memory specificity training (MeST) is a low-intensity intervention for depression that targets reduced specificity when recalling memories of the past, a common cognitive vulnerability in depression. This randomised controlled trial will assess the efficacy of adding a computerised version of MeST (c-MeST) to usual care for youth depression. Methods/design Young people aged 15–25 years with a major depressive episode (MDE) will be recruited and randomised to have immediate access to the seven session online c-MeST program in addition to usual care, or to usual care and wait-list for c-MeST. The primary outcomes will be diagnostic status of an MDE and self-reported depressive symptoms assessed at baseline, 1-, 3- and 6-month intervals. Autobiographical memory specificity and other variables thought to contribute to the maintenance of reduced memory specificity and depression will be assessed as mediators of change. Discussion Online provision of c-MeST provides a simple, low-intensity option for targeting a cognitive vulnerability that predicts the persistence of depressive symptoms. If found to be efficacious as an adjunct to usual care for depressed youth, it could be suitable for broader roll-out, as c-MeST is highly accessible and implementation requires only minimal resources due to the online and automated nature of intervention. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12619000234112p . Registered on the 18 February 2019. All items from the WHO Trial Registration Data Set can be found within the protocol. Protocol version 1.0

Spatial working memory can be assessed in mice through the spontaneous alternation T-maze test. The T-maze is a T-shaped apparatus featuring a stem (start arm) and two lateral goal arms (left and right arms). The procedure is based on the natural tendency of rodents to prefer exploring a novel arm over a familiar one, which induces them to alternate the choice of the goal arm across repeated trials. During the task, in order to successfully alternate choices across trials, an animal has to remember which arm had been visited in the previous trial, which makes spontaneous alternation T-maze an optimal test for spatial working memory. As this test relies on a spontaneous behaviour and does not require rewards, punishments or pre-training, it represents a particularly useful tool for cognitive evaluation, both time-saving and animal-friendly. We describe here in detail the apparatus and the protocol, providing representative results on wild-type healthy mice.

Episodic memory retrieval relies on the recovery of neural representations of waking experience. This process is thought to involve a communication dynamic between the medial temporal lobe memory system and the neocortex. How this occurs is largely unknown, however, especially as it pertains to awake human memory retrieval. Using intracranial electroencephalographic recordings, we found that ripple oscillations were dynamically coupled between the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) and temporal association cortex. Coupled ripples were more pronounced during successful verbal memory retrieval and recover the cortical neural representations of remembered items. Together, these data provide direct evidence that coupled ripples between the MTL and association cortex may underlie successful memory retrieval in the human brain.

By means of meta-analysis of information from all relevant epidemiologic studies, we examined the hypothesis that Schistosoma infection in school-aged children (SAC) is associated with educational loss and cognitive deficits. This review was prospectively registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42016040052). Medline, Biosis, and Web of Science were searched for studies published before August 2016 that evaluated associations between Schistosoma infection and cognitive or educational outcomes. Cognitive function was defined in four domains-learning, memory, reaction time, and innate intelligence. Educational outcome measures were defined as attendance and scholastic achievement. Risk of bias (ROB) was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale. Standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to compare cognitive and educational measures for Schistosoma infected /not dewormed vs. uninfected/dewormed children. Sensitivity analyses by study design, ROB, and sequential exclusion of individual studies were implemented. Thirty studies from 14 countries, including 38,992 SAC between 5-19 years old, were identified. Compared to uninfected children and children dewormed with praziquantel, the presence of Schistosoma infection and/or non-dewormed status was associated with deficits in school attendance (SMD = -0.36, 95%CI: -0.60, -0.12), scholastic achievement (SMD = -0.58, 95%CI: -0.96, -0.20), learning (SMD = -0.39, 95%CI: -0.70, -0.09) and memory (SMD = -0.28, 95%CI: -0.52, -0.04) tests. By contrast, Schistosoma-infected/non-dewormed and uninfected/dewormed children were similar with respect to performance in tests of reaction time (SMD = -0.06, 95%CI: -0.42, 0.30) and intelligence (SMD = -0.25, 95%CI: -0.57, 0.06). Schistosoma infection-associated deficits in educational measures were robust among observational studies, but not among interventional studies. The significance of infection-associated deficits in scholastic achievement was sensitive to ROB. Schistosoma infection-related deficits in learning and memory tests were invariant by ROB and study design. Schistosoma infection/non-treatment was significantly associated with educational, learning, and memory deficits in SAC. Early treatment of children in Schistosoma-endemic regions could potentially mitigate these deficits. ClinicalTrials.gov CRD42016040052.

Robust normative data for pediatric learning and memory tests in Spanish-speaking populations are scarce, and existing approaches often rely on univariate methods that overlook item-level properties and inter-trial dependencies. The aim was to evaluate the item parameters of the TAMV-I using Item Response Theory (IRT) and to generate covariate-adjusted normative data through Linear Mixed Models (LMM). We hypothesized that the 2-parameter logistic (2PL) model would outperform the Rasch model and that demographic and contextual factors would show significant interactions influencing test performance. The sample consists of 1640 participants from Spain, Honduras, Ecuador, and Colombia. The inclusion criteria were being 6–17 years old, IQ ≥ 80 on TONI-2, and score<19 on the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). Children with a history of neurological and/or psychiatric disorders were excluded. Item parameters were determined using the 1,2-PL model. LMM were used to evaluate the effect of sociodemographic variables (sex, age, age², mean parent years of education-MPE, country, and interactions). Norms were generated based on participant ability. As a result, the item parameters were calculated and the LMM showed significant interactions for M P E * C o u n t r y , A g e * T r i a l , S e x * C o u n t r y and T r i a l * C o u n t r y . By integrating IRT with LMM, this study provides cross-national, covariate-adjusted norms for the TAMV-I, enhancing precision and clinical validity compared to previous approaches.

In the hippocampus, each memory trace is encoded by a specific subset of pyramidal cells. The other pyramidal cells must be actively excluded from the memory encoding process by inhibition, which is done by selective dendrite-targeting interneurons. Szőnyi et al. found that γ-aminobutyric acid–releasing (GABAergic) cells located in a small region in the brain stem called the nucleus incertus project to the hippocampus. The nucleus incertus again is innervated by several regions that respond to salient stimuli. Its GABAergic cells preferentially inhibit the dendrite-targeting interneurons in the hippocampus. The nucleus incertus is thus a central mediator between brain regions that are highly responsive to salient stimuli and the hippocampal circuitry involved in memory formation. Science , this issue p. eaaw0445 A brainstem regulatory mechanism for the selection of hippocampal neuronal assemblies during contextual learning is described. Hippocampal pyramidal cells encode memory engrams, which guide adaptive behavior. Selection of engram-forming cells is regulated by somatostatin-positive dendrite-targeting interneurons, which inhibit pyramidal cells that are not required for memory formation. Here, we found that γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)–releasing neurons of the mouse nucleus incertus (NI) selectively inhibit somatostatin-positive interneurons in the hippocampus, both monosynaptically and indirectly through the inhibition of their subcortical excitatory inputs. We demonstrated that NI GABAergic neurons receive monosynaptic inputs from brain areas processing important environmental information, and their hippocampal projections are strongly activated by salient environmental inputs in vivo. Optogenetic manipulations of NI GABAergic neurons can shift hippocampal network state and bidirectionally modify the strength of contextual fear memory formation. Our results indicate that brainstem NI GABAergic cells are essential for controlling contextual memories.

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is a commonly used tool for evaluating verbal learning and memory in neuropsychological assessments. In recent years, we developed a Virtual Reality (VR) adaptation of the RAVLT (VR-RVLT), aiming for increased ecological validity compared to the traditional pen and paper gold standard (GS-RAVLT). Following validation in healthy cohorts, the VR-RAVLT was validated with thirty individuals with Parkinson's Disease (PD) that completed both the GS-RAVLT and the VR- RAVLT. Validity of the VR-RAVLT was evaluated by assessing its construct and discriminant validity, and test–retest reliability, in comparison to the GS-RAVLT. Results of the PD participants were compared to those of 46 previously recruited healthy participants with comparable age and level of education. Main outcome measures derived from the remembered items on the test lists, exhibited significant and comparable correlations between VR-RAVLT and GS-RAVLT, both among healthy participants and PD participants. Likewise, serial position effects were similar for both formats amog the PD participants. Additionally, both formats showed similar discriminatory ability between healthy controls and PD participants, as well as comparable test–retest reliability measures. Taken together, the results suggest that the VR-based RAVLT is equally effective in measuring verbal memory capabilities in individuals with PD as compared to the GS-RAVLT. Certain results indicate that the virtual reality version has the capability to encompass additional factors that might impact memory performance, thereby suggesting an enhanced ecological validity.

The present study compared lab-based and web-based versions of cognitive individual difference measures widely used in second language research (working memory and declarative memory). Our objective was to validate web-based versions of these tests for future research and to make these measures available for the wider second language research community, thus contributing to the study of individual differences in language learning. The establishment of measurement equivalence of the two administration modes is important because web-based testing allows researchers to address methodological challenges such as restricted population sampling, low statistical power, and small sample sizes. Our results indicate that the lab-based and web-based versions of the tests were equivalent, i.e., scores of the two test modes correlated. The strength of the relationships, however, varied as a function of the kind of measure, with equivalence appearing to be stronger in both the working memory and the verbal declarative memory tests, and less so in the nonverbal declarative memory test. Overall, the study provides evidence that web-based testing of cognitive abilities can produce similar performance scores as in the lab.

The Mayo Normative Studies (MNS) represents a robust dataset that provides demographically corrected norms for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. We report MNS application to an independent cohort to evaluate whether MNS norms accurately adjust for age, sex, and education differences in subjects from a different geographic region of the country. As secondary goals, we examined item-level patterns, recognition benefit compared to delayed free recall, and derived Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) confidence intervals (CIs) to facilitate clinical performance characterization. Participants from the Emory Healthy Brain Study (463 women, 200 men) who were administered the AVLT were analyzed to demonstrate expected demographic group differences. AVLT scores were transformed using MNS normative correction to characterize the success of MNS demographic adjustment. Expected demographic effects were observed across all primary raw AVLT scores. Depending on sample size, MNS normative adjustment either eliminated or minimized all observed statistically significant AVLT differences. Estimated CIs yielded broad CI ranges exceeding the standard deviation of each measure. The recognition performance benefit across age ranged from 2.7 words ( = 2.3) in the 50-54-year-old group to 4.7 words ( = 2.7) in the 70-75-year-old group. These findings demonstrate generalizability of MNS normative correction to an independent sample from a different geographic region, with demographic adjusted performance differences close to overall performance levels near the expected value of = 50. A large recognition performance benefit is commonly observed in the normal aging process and by itself does not necessarily suggest a pathological retrieval deficit.