“Delayed

adjustment tasks have recently been devel


“Delayed

adjustment tasks have recently been developed to examine working memory (WM) precision, that is, the resolution with which items maintained in memory are recalled. However, despite their emerging use in experimental studies of healthy people, evaluation of patient populations is sparse. We first investigated the validity of adjustment tasks, comparing precision with classical span measures of memory across the lifespan in 114 people. Second, we asked whether precision measures can potentially provide a more sensitive measure of WM than traditional span measures. Specifically, we tested this hypothesis examining WM in a group with early, untreated Parkinson’s disease (PD) and its modulation by subsequent treatment Crizotinib on dopaminergic medication. Span measures correlated with precision across the lifespan: in children, young, and elderly participants. However,

they failed to detect changes in WM in PD patients, Sorafenib manufacturer either pre- or post-treatment initiation. By contrast, recall precision was sensitive enough to pick up such changes. PD patients pre-medication were significantly impaired compared to controls, but improved significantly after 3 months of being established on dopaminergic medication. These findings suggest that precision methods might provide a sensitive means to investigate WM and its modulation by interventions in clinical populations. “
“To assess cognitive function in children and adolescents presenting with acute conversion symptoms. Fifty-seven participants aged 8.5–18 years (41 girls and 16 boys) with conversion Hydroxychloroquine price symptoms and 57 age- and gender-matched healthy controls completed the IntegNeuro

neurocognitive battery, an estimate of intelligence, and self-report measures of subjective emotional distress. Participants with conversion symptoms showed poorer performance within attention, executive function, and memory domains. Poorer performance was reflected in more errors on specific tests: Switching of Attention (t(79) = 2.17, p = .03); Verbal Interference (t(72) = 2.64, p = .01); Go/No-Go (t(73) = 2.20, p = .03); Memory Recall and Verbal Learning (interference errors for memory recall; t(61) = 3.13, p < .01); and short-delay recall (t(75) = 2.05, p < .01) and long-delay recall (t(62) = 2.24, p = .03). Poorer performance was also reflected in a reduced span of working memory on the Digit Span Test for both forward recall span (t(103) = −3.64, p < .001) and backward recall span (t(100) = −3.22, p < .01). There was no difference between participants and controls on IQ estimate (t(94) = −589, p = .56), and there was no correlation between cognitive function and perceived distress.

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