Search

The internet has become a common means by which many older adults seek out health information. The prevalence of misinformation on the internet makes the search for accurate online health information a more complex and evaluative process. This study examined the role of age and neurocognition in credibility evaluations of credible and non-credible health websites. Forty-one older adults and fifty younger adults completed a structured credibility rating task in which they evaluated a series of webpages displaying health information about migraine treatments. Participants also completed measures of neurocognition, internet use, and health literacy. Results suggested that older adults rated non-credible health websites as more credible than younger adults, but the age groups did not differ in their ratings of credible sites. Within the full sample, neurocognition was associated with credibility ratings for non-credible health websites, whereas health literacy was related to the ratings of credible sites. Findings indicate that older adults may be more likely to trust non-credible health websites than younger adults, which may be related to differences in higher-order neurocognitive functions. Future work might examine whether cognitive-based supports for credibility training in older adults can be used to improve the accuracy with which they evaluate online health information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testing can improve later recall of information. However, much less is known about the potential use of testing in promoting the transfer of learning. In this study, we investigated whether testing improves decision-making performance on a transfer task in a sample of 98 university students using a between-subjects design. After studying several statements about a fictional disease under different learning conditions (restudy, free recall, and multiple-choice), participants were asked to recall this information and subsequently make medical decisions concerning the fictional disease (i.e., the transfer task). The present study found no advantage of testing conditions over restudy condition on the 30-min delayed memory task. However, participants in the active retrieval practice (i.e., free recall) group performed significantly better on the transfer task over those in both restudy and multiple-choice groups. These results suggest free-recall tests promote the transfer of learning.

In learning and memory tests that involve multiple presentations of the same material, learning slope refers to the degree to which examinees improve performances over successive learning trials. We aimed to quantitatively review the traditional raw learning slope (RLS), and the newly created learning ratio (LR) to understand the effects of demographic variables and clinical diagnoses on learning slope (e.g., limited improvement over multiple trials), and to develop demographically sensitive norms. A systematic literature search was conducted to evaluate the potential for these aims to be examined across the most popular contemporary multi-trial learning tests. Two databases were searched. Following this, hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine how demographic variables predict learning slope indices. These results were in turn used to contrast the performance of clinical groups with the predicted performance of demographically similar healthy controls. Finally, preliminary normative estimates for learning slope indices were presented. A total of 82 studies met criteria for inclusion in this study. However, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) was the only test to have sufficient trial-level learning and demographic data. Fifty-eight samples from 19 studies were quantitatively examined. Hierarchical linear models provided evidence of sex differences and a curvilinear decline in learning slope with age, with strongest and most consistent effects for LR relative to RLS. Regression-based norms for demographically corrected RLS and LR scores for the RAVLT are presented. The effect of clinical diagnoses was consistently stronger for LR, and Alzheimer's disease had the strongest effect, followed by invalid performances, severe traumatic brain injury, and seizures/epilepsy. Overall, LR enjoys both conceptual and demonstrated psychometric advantages over RLS. Replication of these findings can be completed by reanalyzing existing datasets. Further work may focus on the utility of using LR in diagnosis and prediction of clinical prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Women are becoming more prevalent in clinical neuropsychology, but gender bias and disparities persist across multiple professional domains. This study examined potential gender disparities in historical authorship trends across commonly read journals in clinical neuropsychology. Method: Analyses were conducted on 10,531 articles published in six clinical neuropsychology journals from 1985 to 2019. Each author was coded as either a man or a woman using the OpenGenderTracking Project database. Results: On average, women comprised 43.3% (±30.6) of the authors listed in clinical neuropsychology article bylines and were lead and/or corresponding author on 50.3% of these papers. Findings varied by journal, with Child Neuropsychology having the best representation of women across several study metrics. Women comprised an increasing proportion of authors over time and the gender gap in clinical neuropsychology is smaller than was recently reported for the broader field of psychology; nevertheless, the recent rates of women as authors lag behind the prevalence of women in clinical neuropsychology. Encouragingly, gender was not associated with the number of times an article was cited. Articles that included women in leadership roles had significantly more authors overall and specifically more women authors. Conclusions: Women are under-represented as authors in clinical neuropsychology journals, but they are becoming more common and their papers are cited just as frequently as men. Efforts to increase women as research mentors and sponsors may help to further close the publishing gender gap in clinical neuropsychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initial learning and learning slope are often acknowledged as important qualitative aspects of learning, but the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) contains discrete indices for neither. The traditional method of calculating learning slope involves a difference score between the last trial and first trial, which is referred to as raw learning score (RLS). However, this method does not account for initial Trial One performance and produces a ceiling effect that penalizes efficient first learners. We propose an alternative method of calculating learning score that accounts for initial learning performance, called learning ratio (LR), and we compared the psychometric and predictive properties of these methods. Performances from the List Learning and Story Memory subtests were used to create the indices, and composite learning scores were calculated by combining List Learning and Story Memory. The sample included 289 military veterans (mean age = 65.9 [12.6], education = 13.3 [2.4]), most of whom were male, undergoing neuropsychological assessments that included the RBANS. Results indicated that LR demonstrated superior correlations with criterion measures of memory when compared with RLS, and the LR composite score better discriminated between those with and without a neurocognitive diagnosis, AUC = 0.81 (0.76-0.87), than the RLS composite, AUC = 0.70 (0.64-0.76). We concluded that scores from the RBANS can be computed for initial learning and learning slope and that the LR method of calculating learning is superior to RLS in this older veteran sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults commonly experience difficulties efficiently searching the Internet, which can adversely affect daily functioning. This study specifically examined the neuropsychological aspects of online transit planning in 50 younger (M = 22 years) and 40 older (M = 64 years) community-dwelling adults. All participants completed a neuropsychological battery, questionnaires, and measures of Internet use and skills. Participants used a live transit planning website to complete three inter-related tasks (e.g., map a route from an airport to a specific hotel at a particular time). On a fourth Internet transit task, participants were randomized into either a support condition in which they received brief goal management training or into a control condition. Results showed that older adults were both slower and less accurate than their younger counterparts in completing the first three Internet transit tasks. Within the older adults, Internet transit accuracy showed a medium association with verbal memory, executive functions, and auditory attention, but not visuomotor speed, which was the only domain associated with Internet transit task speed in both groups. The goal management training was beneficial for plan development in younger, but not older adults. The planning supports did not impact actual Internet transit task performance in either group. Findings indicate that older adults experience difficulties quickly and accurately using a transit website to plan transportation routes, which is associated with poorer higher-order neurocognitive functions (e.g., memory). Future work might examine the benefits of established memory strategies (e.g., spaced retrieval practice) for online transit planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: HIV disease and aging can both affect prospective memory (PM), which describes the complex process of executing delayed intentions and plays an essential role in everyday functioning. The current study investigated the course of PM symptoms and performance over approximately one year in younger and older persons with and without HIV disease. Method: Participants included 77 older (>50 years) and 35 younger (<40 years) HIV+ individuals and 44 older and 27 younger seronegative adults. Participants completed the Memory for Intentions Test to measure PM in the laboratory, the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire to measure PM symptoms in daily life, and several clinical measures of executive functions and retrospective memory as a part of a comprehensive neurocognitive evaluation at baseline and at 14-month follow-up. Results: Findings showed additive, independent main effects of HIV and aging on time- and event-based PM performance in the laboratory, but no change in PM over time. There were no interactions between time and HIV or age groups. Parallel findings were observed for clinical measures of retrospective memory and executive functions. Older HIV+ adults endorsed the greatest frequency of PM symptoms, but there was no change in PM symptom severity over time and no interactions between time and HIV or age groups. There were no effects of HIV or aging on naturalistic PM performance longitudinally. Conclusion: Overall these findings suggest that PM symptoms and performance in the laboratory are stably impaired over the course of a year in the setting of aging and HIV disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Prospective memory (PM) is described as the capacity to form and maintain an intention that is executed in response to a specific cue. Neural injury and associated neurocognitive disorders are common among persons living with HIV disease, who might therefore be susceptible to impairment in PM. Method: This literature review utilized a structured qualitative approach to summarize and evaluate our current understanding of PM functioning in people living with HIV disease. 33 studies of PM in HIV+ persons met criteria for inclusion. Results: Findings showed that HIV is associated with moderate deficits in PM, which appear to be largely independent of commonly observed comorbid factors. The pattern of PM deficits reveals dysregulation of strategic processes that is consistent with the frontal systems pathology and associated executive dysfunction that characterizes HIV-associated neural injury. The literature also suggests that HIV-associated PM deficits present a strong risk of concurrent problems in a wide range of health behaviors (e.g. medication non-adherence) and activities of daily living (e.g. employment). Early attempts to improve PM in HIV disease have revealed that supporting strategic processes might be effective for some individuals. Conclusions: HIV-associated PM deficits are common and exert a significant adverse effect on the daily lives and health of infected persons. Much work remains to be done to understand the cognitive architecture of HIV-associated PM deficits and the most efficient means to enhance PM functioning and improve health outcomes in persons living with HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the disclosure of diagnosis in employed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Mentioned is the evaluation of the association of the disclosure with physical disability as well as the prediction of disclosure status in MS patients. Results suggests that disclosure decisions are not directly associated with cognitive impairment among employees.

Background: Cognitive and motor abilities in multiple sclerosis (MS) are typically quantified using reliable, consensus standard tests validated in the MS population. While these performance measures are associated with vocational disability in parametric analyses, translation of raw scores into anchors reflecting clinically relevant, functional impairment requires further research., Objective: To examine performance-based motor and cognitive outcomes among definitive anchors that designate varying degrees of functional impairment, thereby establishing benchmarks for score interpretation., Methods: We evaluated MS patients and healthy controls, all undergoing a brief test battery. Outcomes were derived from the MS Functional Composite (MSFC) and the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS). Functional impairment anchors were (1) disability benefits, (2) employed with negative work events, and (3) employed without problems., Results: All measures yielded statistically significant differences across all levels of work status, after accounting for the effects of age and education. Benchmark values distinguished the functional impairment groups. When evaluated in combination, the Timed 25-Foot Walk and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test were the most robust predictors of functional decline., Conclusion: We have established benchmark scores for popular motor and cognitive tests that are associated with specific degrees of impairment in work status., (© The Author(s), 2016.)