Prediction of declarative memory profile in panic disorder patients: a machine learning-based approach

Objective: To develop a classification framework based on random forest (RF) modeling to outline the declarative memory profile of patients with panic disorder (PD) compared to a healthy control sample. Methods: We developed RF models to classify the declarative memory profile of PD patients in comparison to a healthy control sample using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). For this study, a total of 299 patients with PD living in the city of Rio de Janeiro (70.9% females, age 39.9 ± 7.3 years old) were recruited through clinician referrals or self/family referrals. Results: Our RF models successfully predicted declarative memory profiles in patients with PD based on RAVLT scores (lowest area under the curve [AUC] of 0.979, for classification; highest root mean squared percentage [RMSPE] of 17.2%, for regression) using relatively bias-free clinical data, such as sex, age, and body mass index (BMI). Conclusions: Our findings also suggested that BMI, used as a proxy for diet and exercises habits, plays an important role in declarative memory. Our framework can be extended and used as a prospective tool to classify and examine associations between clinical features and declarative memory in PD patients.

Brazilian children performance on Rey’s auditory verbal learning paradigm

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning paradigm is worldwide used in clinical and research settings. There is consensus about its psychometric robustessness and that its various scores provide relevant information about different aspects of memory and learning. However, there are only a few studies in Brazil employing this paradigm and none of them with children. This paper describes the performance of 119 Brazilian children in a version of Rey´s paradigm. The correlations between scores showed the internal consistency of this version. Also, the pattern of results observed was very similar to that observed in foreign studies with adults and children. There was correlation between age in months and recall scores, showing that age affects the rhythm of learning. These results were discussed based on the information processing theory.

O paradigma de aprendizagem auditivo-verbal de Rey é utilizado em todo o mundo, tanto em pesquisa quanto na clínica. Há consenso sobre sua robustez psicométrica e de que seus vários escores fornecem informações relevantes sobre diferentes aspectos da memória e da aprendizagem. No entanto, existem apenas alguns poucos estudos no Brasil envolvendo este paradigma e nenhum deles com crianças. Este artigo descreve o desempenho de 119 crianças brasileiras em uma versão do paradigma de Rey. As correlações entre escores mostraram a consistência interna desta versão. Além disso, o padrão de resultados encontrado foi muito similar àquele observado em estudos estrangeiros com adultos e crianças. Verificou-se correlação entre idade em meses e os escores de evocação, mostrando que a idade afeta o ritmo de aprendizagem. Estes resultados foram discutidos a partir da teoria do processamento da informação.