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Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between nonverbal cognitive functions and language processing of people with aphasia (PWA) by taking a data-driven approach, as well as multiple cognitive components and multilevel linguistic perspectives. It is hypothesized that language performance is differentially associated with cognitive processing of PWA, with executive functions (EFs) playing a stronger role in language tasks with increasing linguistic complexity. Method: A language battery assessing word comprehension/production, sentence comprehension, and discourse production, together with a series of nonlinguistic cognitive tasks targeting simple/complex attention, short-term/working memory, or EFs, was administered to 53 Cantonese-speaking PWA. Cognitive factors extracted from principal component analysis applied to the cognitive battery served as predictors in four multiple regression analyses to predict PWA's performance at various linguistic levels. Results: Two cognitive factors, representing (a) simple attention and memory and (b) EF, were extracted. The former predicted performance in word processing tasks, whereas EF significantly predicted performance in all language tasks with increasing contribution as a function of linguistic complexity. Conclusion: The results based on Chinese PWA provide comprehensive evidence for the view that language performance is the end product of interaction between linguistic and nonlinguistic functions and have clear implications for clinical management of PWA., The co-occurrence of nonverbal cognitive deficits and aphasia is commonly observed in the poststroke population (e.g., see a review by Fonseca et al., 2017). It has offered psycholinguists great opportunities [...]

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is defined by persistent difficulties with language, but a growing body of evidence suggests that it is also associated with domain-general and nonverbal information-processing deficits. However, the interconnections between cognitive functions, both nonverbal and language related, are still unclear. With the aim of gaining more comprehensive insight into the cognitive deficits related to DLD, we investigated and compared the cognitive structure of children with DLD and typically developing (TD) children. Method: As a part of the Helsinki longitudinal SLI study, monolingual Finnish preschoolers (N = 154; TD group: n = 66, DLD group: n = 88) were assessed with 23 tasks measuring nonverbal and verbal reasoning, language processing, memory, visuomotor functions, attention, and social cognition. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed to examine latent constructs and to test measurement invariance between the TD and DLD groups. Results: Measurement invariance was not found across the TD and DLD groups. Best fitting structure for TD children included factors reflecting verbal abilities, processing speed/short-term memory, visuomotor functions, and visuoconstructive abilities/nonverbal reasoning. The DLD group's structure comprised nonverbal abilities, naming/expressive language, verbal comprehension, and verbal/declarative memory. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the structure of cognitive functions differs in TD children and children with DLD already at preschool age. Nonverbal functions seem more unified, whereas verbal functions seem more varying in preschoolers with DLD compared to TD children. The results can be used in future research for prognosis of DLD and planning interventions., Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which the child has serious and persistent difficulties with language without a clear cause (Bishop et al., 2017). Although DLD is [...]

Background/objective The relationship between postprandial glycaemic responses and cognitive performance, mood and satiety are inconsistent. The objective of this study is to compare the effects of different glycaemic responses, induced by beverages with different glycaemic index (GI) (sucrose and isomaltulose), and a non-glycaemic control (sucralose), on cognition, mood and satiety. Subjects/methods In this double-blinded, randomised crossover trial, healthy adults (n = 55) received sucrose (GI 65), isomaltulose (GI 32) and sucralose (non-caloric negative control) drinks on separate occasions. The Complex Figure test, the Word Recall test, Trail Making Test Part B and the Stroop test were administered 60 min after beverages ingestion. Mood and satiety were tested along with cognitive performance. Results Comparing between isomaltulose and sucrose, there were no significant differences in the mean (95% CI) for the following: Complex Figure: immediate recall -0.6 (-1.7, 0.5), delayed recall -0.8 (-1.9, 0.3); Word recall: immediate recall 0.2 (-0.7, 1.1), delayed recall 0.5 (-0.4, 1.4); Trail Making: completing time -2.4 (-7.5, 2.7) s; Stroop: time used for correct congruent responses -9 (-31, 14) ms and correct incongruent responses -18 (-42, 6) ms. No differences among beverages were found in the mood and satiety scores with exception that participants felt more energetic 60 min after isomaltulose ingestion (p = 0.028 for difference with sucrose) and hungrier 30 min after isomaltulose ingestion (p = 0.036 for difference with sucrose; p = 0.022 for difference with sucralose). Conclusion Under these study conditions there is no convincing evidence for an effect of glycaemic response on cognitive performance, mood or satiety., Author(s): Qingyuan Deng [sup.1] , Jillian J. Haszard [sup.1] , Tamlin S. Conner [sup.2] , Charlene Rapsey [sup.3] , Mei Peng [sup.4] , Bernard J. Venn [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) [...]

Byline: Puneet. Bhattacharya, Sridip. Chatterjee, Samiran. Mondal Background: The literature survey shows improvement in cognitive performance following acute bouts of physical exercise and chronic exercise patterns. However, neurocognitive growth through [...]

Purpose: To examine the relation between speech recognition and cognitive skills in bimodal cochlear implant (CI) and hearing aid users. Method: Seventeen bimodal CI users (28-74 years) were recruited to the study. Speech recognition tests were carried out in quiet and in noise. The cognitive tests employed included the Reading Span Test and the Trail Making Test (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980; Reitan, 1958, 1992), measuring working memory capacity and processing speed and executive functioning, respectively. Data were analyzed using paired-sample t tests, Pearson correlations, and partial correlations controlling for age. Results: The results indicate that performance on some cognitive tests predicts speech recognition and that bimodal listening generates a significant improvement in speech in quiet compared to unilateral CI listening. However, the current results also suggest that bimodal listening requires different cognitive skills than does unimodal CI listening. This is likely to relate to the relative difficulty of having to integrate 2 different signals and then map the integrated signal to representations stored in the long-term memory. Conclusions: Even though participants obtained speech recognition benefit from bimodal listening, the results suggest that processing bimodal stimuli involves different cognitive skills than does unimodal conditions in quiet. Thus, clinically, it is important to consider this when assessing treatment outcomes., A cochlear implant (CI) can bypass a poorly functioning peripheral auditory system by directly stimulating the auditory nerve electrically, thus restoring audibility for some sounds for the individual with severely [...]

Purpose: The Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (FAVRES; MacDonald, 2005) test was designed for use by speech-language pathologists to assess verbal reasoning, complex comprehension, discourse, and executive skills during performance on a set of challenging and ecologically valid functional tasks. A recent French version of this test was translated from English; however, it had not undergone standardization. The development of normative data that are linguistically and culturally sensitive to the target population is of importance. The present study aimed to establish normative data for the French version of the FAVRES, a commonly used test with native French-speaking patients with traumatic brain injury in Quebec, Canada. Method: The normative sample consisted of 181 healthy French-speaking adults from various regions across the province of Quebec. Age and years of education were factored into the normative model. Results: Results indicate that age was significantly associated with performance on time, accuracy, reasoning subskills, and rationale criteria, whereas the level of education was significantly associated with accuracy and rationale. Conclusion: Overall, mean scores on each criterion were relatively lower than in the original English version, which reinforces the importance of using the present normative data when interpreting performance of French speakers who have sustained a traumatic brain injury., In the province of Quebec, nearly 13,000 people sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year (RAPTCCQ, 2017). TBI can result in significant and debilitating impairments in physical, behavioral/affective, cognitive, [...]

BACKGROUND: Despite the importance of understanding associations of air pollution and noise exposure with loss of neurocognitive performance, studies investigating these exposures and local brain structure are limited. OBJECTIVE: We estimated associations of residential air pollution and noise exposures with neurocognitive test performance and the local gyrification index (lGI), a marker for local brain atrophy, among older adults. METHODS: For n = 615 participants from the population-based 1000BRAINS study, based on the German Heinz Nixdorf Recall study, we assessed residential exposures to particulate matter (P[M.sub.10], P[M.sub.2.5], P[M.sub.2.5abs]), accumulation mode particle number (P[N.sub.AM]), and nitrogen oxides (N[O.sub.x], N[O.sub.2]), using land-use regression and chemistry transport models. Weighted 24-h and nighttime noise were modeled according to the European noise directive. We evaluated associations of air pollution and noise exposure at the participants' 2006-2008 residential addresses with neurocognitive test performance and region-specific lGI values (n = 590) from magnetic resonance imaging, both assessed in 2011-2015, using linear regression and adjusting for demographic and personal characteristics. RESULTS: Air pollution and noise were associated with language and short-term/working memory and with local atrophy of the fronto-parietal network (FPN), a functional resting-state network associated with these cognitive processes. For example, per 2-[micro]g/[m.sup.3] P[M.sub.10], local brain atrophy was more pronounced in the posterior brain regions of the FPN, with a -0.02 [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.04, 0.00] lower lGI. In contrast, in the anterior regions of the FPN, weighted 24-h and nighttime noise were associated with less local brain atrophy [e.g., 0.02 (95% CI: 0.00, 0.04) for 10dB(A) 24-h noise]. CONCLUSIONS: Air pollution and noise exposures were associated in opposite directions with markers of local atrophy of the FPN in the right brain hemisphere in older adults, suggesting that both chronic air pollution and noise exposure may influence the physiological aging process of the brain. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5859, Introduction Long-term air pollution and noise exposure are known to have various adverse health effects (Clark and Paunovic 2018; van Kempen et al. 2018; Kim and van den Berg 2010; [...]

Abstract The paper reports on a perception experiment in German that investigated the neuro-cognitive processing of information structural concepts and their prosodic marking using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Experimental conditions [...]

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Considering the importance of glucose as a brain substrate, the postprandial rate of glucose delivery to the blood could be expected to affect cognitive functions. The purpose was to evaluate to what extent the rate of glucose absorption affected measures of cognitive performance in the postprandial period. In addition, cognitive performance was evaluated in relation to individual glucoregulation. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A white wheat bread (WWB) enriched with guar gum (G-WWB) with the capacity to produce a low but sustained blood glucose net increment was developed. The G-WWB was evaluated in the postprandial period after breakfast with respect to effects on cognitive function (working memory and selective attention (SA)) in 40 healthy adults (49-71 years, body mass index 20-29 kg/[m.sup.2]), using a high glycaemic index WWB for comparison in a randomised crossover design. RESULTS: The G-WWB improved outcome in the cognitive tests (SA test) in the later postprandial period (75-225 min) in comparison with the WWB (P CONCLUSIONS: Beneficial effects on cognitive performance were observed with the G-WWB in the late postprandial period. The positive effect is suggested to emanate from improved insulin sensitivity, possibly in a combination with an enhanced neural energy supply. The results highlight the importance of carbohydrate foods that induces a low but sustained blood glucose profile in enhancing postprandial cognitive functions. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2012) 66, 1039-1043;doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2012.80; published online 11 July 2012 Keywords: glycaemic index; cognitive functions; working memory; selective attention; glucose tolerance; insulin resistance, INTRODUCTION The stores of glucose in the brain are limited, suggesting that the brain glucose supply may affect cognitive outcome. Studies in humans reveal that a period of intensive cognitive [...]

Abstract INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of L-theanine as an aid to the improvement of objectively measured sleep quality in a population [...]

The effects of advanced age and cognitive resources on the course of skill acquisition are unclear, and discrepancies among studies may reflect limitations of data analytic approaches. We applied a multilevel negative exponential model to skill acquisition data from 80 trials (four 20-trial blocks) of a pursuit rotor task administered to healthy adults (19-80 years old). The analyses conducted at the single-trial level indicated that the negative exponential function described performance well. Learning parameters correlated with measures of task-relevant cognitive resources on all blocks except the last and with age on all blocks after the second. Thus, age differences in motor skill acquisition may evolve in 2 phases: In the first, age differences are collinear with individual differences in task-relevant cognitive resources; in the second, age differences orthogonal to these resources emerge. Key Words: Aging--Motor performance--Multilevel model Negative exponential learning function--Pursuit rotor--Skill acquisition--Working memory. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbp126

We examined whether higher levels of neuroticism in adolescence were associated with poorer cognitive function in midlife in 2,071 members of the British 1946 birth cohort. Higher neuroticism at age 13 was associated with poorer performance on tests of verbal ability, verbal fluency, and verbal memory at age 53 in sex-adjusted analyses. However, higher neuroticism was also associated with poorer cognitive performance at age 8. After adjustment for childhood cognition or educational attainment, the associations between neuroticism at age 13 and midlife cognition ceased to be statistically significant. The link between neuroticism and subsequent cognitive ability may be a reflection of a long-standing correlation between the stable aspects of these traits since childhood, but further measurements of both traits are needed to confirm this. Key Words: Personality--Neuroticism--Cognition--Life course and developmental change. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbp082.