Attention deficit in primary-school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder measured with the attention network test: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To review and meta-analyze patterns of attention deficit in primary-school-age children with ADHD measured with the neuropsychological attention network test (ANT). Methods: Six electronic databases were searched to 5.05.2022. Selection criteria included prospective cohort and intervention studies; ANT used; primary-school-age; diagnosis of ADHD/at high risk. Results: Seven studies met inclusion criteria (N = 3,826). Compared with controls, children with ADHD had higher scores for Reaction Time (Hedges' g = 0.433; 95% CI: 0.135-0.731), Reaction Time Variability (Hedges' g = 0.334; 95% CI: 0.012-0.657), and Alerting Network (Hedges' g = 0.235; 95% CI: 0.021-0.449) while children at high risk had higher Alerting Network scores (Hedges' g = 0.176; 95% CI: 0.003-0.349) and Correctness scores (Hedges' g = 1.956; 95% CI: 0.020-3.892). Conclusions: Children with ADHD and at risk of ADHD had different ANT results from children without ADHD only for the alerting network. There were no significant differences for executive and orienting outcomes. Children at risk of ADHD also made more errors (commission and omission) measured with the ANT compared with children without ADHD. Reaction time was longer and reaction time variability higher in children with ADHD than in children without ADHD, and in children at risk of ADHD compared with children without ADHD. Preregistration: A protocol has been registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database (registration number: CRD42021249768).

Differentiation of the retinal morphology aging trajectories in schizophrenia and their associations with cognitive dysfunctions.

Previous studies evaluating the morphology of the selected retinal layers in schizophrenia showed abnormalities regarding macular thickness, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNLF), and ganglion cell complex (GCC). Concurrently, accumulating neuroimaging results suggest that structural alterations of the brain in this disease might be an effect of accelerated aging. Referring to these findings, we aimed to determine whether the thinning of the retinal layers assessed with the optic coherence tomography (OCT) in a group of schizophrenia patients (n = 60) presents a significant age-related decrease exceeding potential changes noted in the control group (n = 61). Samples of patients and controls were divided into three age subgroups, namely, younger, middle-aged, and older participants. OCT outcomes, such as macular thickness and volume, macular RNFL, peripapillary RNFL, and GCC, were analyzed concerning a diagnosis status (controls vs. patients) and age subgroups. Additionally, associations between retinal parameters, age, and selected cognitive functions were evaluated. post-hoc tests revealed that macular thickness and volume in patients undergo significant age-dependent thinning, which was not observed in the control group. Regression analyses confirmed the association between macular morphology and age. Selected speed-dependent cognitive functions in patients decreased significantly with age, and these features were also significantly associated with some OCT outcomes also after controlling for antipsychotic treatment. Our results suggest that reduced measures of retinal structure detected in schizophrenia may be an effect of accelerated aging; however, further research is needed using computational solutions derived from brain imaging studies based on large datasets covering representatives of all age groups.

Acceptance of Illness, Satisfaction with Life, and Emotional Control in the Early Stage of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease.

INTRODUCTION: Psychological disorders are strong predictors of life expectancy and have an impact on quality of life. Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is frequently diagnosed before the onset of subjective symptoms. Similar to other disorders of genetic origin, ADPKD may be a source of remarkable psychological discomfort. One way of coping with emotional distress is its suppression, and this could be measured. Our study aimed to provide data on the acceptance of illness, the emotional suppression of anger, and both anxiety and depression as well as satisfaction with life in young patient population of early-stage ADPKD in comparison to healthy demographically matched individuals. METHODS: Fifty patients in the asymptomatic stage of ADPKD with an eGFR >60 mL/min (4p MDRD) and 50 healthy demographically matched individuals were included in this study. Participants filled out a set of psychological questionnaires: Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS), Courtauld Emotional Control Scale (CECS), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). RESULTS: Asymptomatic patients with ADPKD had 80% scores indicative of disease acceptance in AIS. As compared to healthy individuals, they presented with significantly stronger suppression of both anxiety and depression but not anger. The ADPKD group had significantly lower satisfaction with life in comparison to the healthy group. CONCLUSION: Asymptomatic ADPKD patients had a high level of disease acceptance. Anger suppression in this group was comparable to healthy individuals, but anxiety and depression were controlled more intensively. Despite the asymptomatic course of the disease, ADPKD patients revealed lower satisfaction with life in comparison to healthy persons.

The impact of cognitive impairment of individuals with Parkinson's disease on their caregivers' mental health: A systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease is a motor disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with cardinal symptoms including bradykinesia, rigidity, and rest tremor accompanied by cognitive difficulties. The caregivers play a crucial role for individuals with Parkinson's disease; however, many of them may suffer from high caregiver burden and mental health deterioration. This protocol of a systematic review presents a methodology of the review about the impact of cognitive impairment of individuals with Parkinson's disease on their caregivers' mental health. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Research will be identified by combining electronic databases searching and hand searching. The following databases will be included: Medline, PsycInfo, Web of Sciences, Cochrane, CINAHL, Embase and Scopus. The inclusion and exclusion criteria followed to PECOS model. The population of informal caregivers is defined as family members providing care on a patient with Parkinson's disease. Exposure is linked with the evaluation of a cognitive functioning and outcome is defined as mental health among caregivers of individuals with Parkinson's disease. We will include two types of studies: observational and intervention. Both, screening and eligibility will be done by two independent reviewers. Study quality will be assessed by two authors independently. Data will be extracted by two reviewers independently and will follow a pre-pilot extraction form. Any discrepancies will be resolved by discussion or/and consultation with another reviewer. The synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) guidelines will be used to report on included studies data. The metanalysis with usage the statistical software R version 4.1.2 (2021-11-01) "Bird Hippie" and R metaphor package 3.0-2 of will be conducted if possible. DISCUSSION: The goal of this systematic review is to present the association between caregivers' mental health problems and their proteges' cognitive impairment. It will enable to identify the gaps in literature and its methodology giving the suggestions for further research. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: Protocol registration number in PROSPERO: CRD42022296670.

Hemodialyzed Individuals' Left Spatial Attentional Bias Is Normalized Following Successful Kidney Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Healthy people have a leftward spatial attentional bias, called pseudoneglect. Individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who are receiving hemodialysis often demonstrate an increase in their leftward spatial attentional bias. Whereas a successful kidney transplant often improves the cognitive functions of individuals who previously received hemodialysis, the effect of a kidney transplant on this abnormal allocation of spatial attention has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of kidney transplant on individuals who were being treated with dialysis and had an increase in their left spatial attentional bias. METHOD: The performance of 20 hemodialyzed individuals with ESRD on the line bisection test was compared to that of 17 demographically matched individuals with ESRD, who had received a kidney transplant, and 23 demographically matched healthy controls (HC). RESULTS: All of the participants exhibited a left spatial bias on the line bisection task. When compared with the HC, the hemodialyzed individuals demonstrated a significantly greater left spatial bias. There was, however, no difference in spatial bias between the HC and the individuals who had received a kidney transplant. CONCLUSION: A successful kidney transplant can improve patients' abnormal leftward allocation of spatial attention. However, future studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms of this spatial attentional bias in hemodialyzed individuals and the normalization of bias following transplantation.

Heterogeneity of the attentional system's efficiency among very prematurely born pre-schoolers.

Very preterm birth increases the risk of ADHD as well as other neurodevelopmental disorders. Deficits within the attentional system were previously signaled in preterm children; however, studies lacked in consideration of an intragroup differentiation. Thus, this study aimed to verify whether deficits in the attentional mechanisms are inter-individually differentiated among very prematurely born children and if so, which biomedical and non-biomedical factors are associated with the profile of deficits within the attentional system. We tested the efficiency of attentional processes among 5-year-old children with the Attention Network Task - Child Version. The results have indicated that 26% of very preterm children presented with the suboptimal functioning of the attentional system (more than 1 SD below mean score of full-term children in attentional alerting and orienting), whereas 74% were characterized by the normal efficiency of attention. The profile of attentional deficits observed among very preterm preschoolers was associated with significantly lower birth weight and decreased family living standard. Very prematurely born children are thus a relatively heterogeneous group in terms of the efficiency of attentional system and deficits apply to only some of those children. Early developmental support aimed at enhancing attentional functioning should be addressed to children with lower birth weight in the first place.

The Allocation of Vertical Attention in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease Receiving Dialysis.

Objectives: Alterations of spatial attention can have adverse effects, such a greater probability of accidents. Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving dialysis have stronger left-sided spatial attentional bias, suggesting that this disorder or treatment alters the brain networks that mediate spatial attention. The hemispheric networks that mediate the allocation of horizontal attention may also influence the allocation of vertical attention. However, the allocation of vertical spatial attention has not been studied in ESRD patients. Methods: Twenty-three ESRD patients receiving dialysis and 23 healthy right-handed controls performed line bisections using 24 vertical lines (24 cm long and 2 mm thick) aligned with the intersection of their midsagittal and coronal planes. Results: Hemodialyzed ESRD patients had a significantly greater upward bias than healthy controls. The magnitude of this bias was correlated with the duration of the kidney disease. Conclusions: The reason why upward attentional bias is increased in hemodialyzed ESRD patients is not known. Further research is needed to better understand the brain mechanism that might account for this bias, as well as its treatment. However, hemodialyzed ESRD patients and their families-caregivers should be made aware of this disorder to avoid accidents such as tripping.

Kidney transplantation and action-intentional improvements: Evidence from an ERP study.

Reaction slowing observed in dialyzed patients results from deficits in initiating and sustaining motor response mobilization. The present study aimed at investigating whether these deficits are reversible following successful kidney transplantation. To achieve this goal, behavioral and electrophysiological (EEG) data were assessed from healthy control participants as well as kidney transplant and dialyzed patients performing a series of reaction time tasks. The results demonstrated that in patients who received kidney transplant a normalization of response latencies and brain preparatory activity was observed. At the same time, when compared to healthy individuals, increased attention engagement was observed in both clinical groups of patients. No behavioral and electrophysiological indices of impaired monitoring were observed in any of the clinical groups.

Hemispheric stroke: Mood disorders.

Stroke causes many forms of disability, including emotional and mood disorders. Depression is the most common of these, affecting approximately one-third of stroke patients. Other disorders like mania, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, or apathy may also develop following stroke, although they are less common. The development of mood and emotional disorders is dependent on the severity of brain injury, the side of injury, and hemispheric location. Whereas a left hemispheric stroke often results in depression or a catastrophic reaction with anxiety, injury to the right hemisphere has predominantly been associated with the development of emotional indifference (anosodiaphoria) or euphoria. In this chapter, we discuss the mood disorders associated with hemispheric strokes and the neuropsychological mechanisms that might account for the clinical manifestations of these affective disorders.

The Effect of Musical Stimulation and Mother's Voice on the Early Development of Musical Abilities: A Neuropsychological Perspective.

An infant's early contact with music affects its future development in a broad sense, including the development of musical aptitude. Contact with the mother's voice, both prenatally and after birth, is also extremely important for creating an emotional bond between the infant and the mother. This article discusses the role that auditory experience-both typically musical and that associated with the mother's voice-plays in fetal, neonatal, and infant development, particularly in terms of musical aptitude. Attempts have also been made to elucidate the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying the positive effects that appropriate musical stimulation can have on a child's development.

Hyperarousal symptoms and decreased right hemispheric frontolimbic white matter integrity predict poorer sleep quality in combat-exposed veterans.

OBJECTIVE: Disrupted sleep is common following combat deployment. Contributors to risk include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI); however, the mechanisms linking PTSD, mTBI, and sleep are unclear. Both PTSD and mTBI affect frontolimbic white matter tracts, such as the uncinate fasciculus. The current study examined the relationship between PTSD symptom presentation, lateralized uncinate fasciculus integrity, and sleep quality. METHOD: Participants include 42 combat veterans with and without PTSD and mTBI. Freesurfer and Tracula were used to establish specific white matter ROI integrity via 3-T MRI. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and PTSD Checklist were used to assess sleep quality and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Decreased fractional anisotropy in the right uncinate fasciculus (ß = -1.11, SE = 0.47, p < .05) and increased hyperarousal symptom severity (ß = 3.50, SE = 0.86, p < .001) were associated with poorer sleep quality. CONCLUSION: Both right uncinate integrity and hyperarousal symptom severity are associated withsleep quality in combat veterans. The right uncinate is a key regulator of limbic behavior and sympathetic nervous system reactivity, a core component of hyperarousal. Damage to this pathway may be one mechanism by which mTBI and/or PTSD could create vulnerability for sleep problems following combat deployment.

Feeling and Looking Down: Impact of Depressive Symptoms on the Allocation of Vertical Attention.

BACKGROUND: Emotions and moods are often expressed using verbal, vertical spatial metaphors (eg, "I'm feeling down"). The reason for using these vertical metaphors is unknown; however, when individuals experience depressive symptoms, they often become self-reflective and ruminative. These mental activities are associated with activation of the default network, including the parietal lobes. The parietal lobes are a critical component of the dorsal visual attentional network, which allocates attention downward. Therefore, activation of the default network may create a downward bias of vertical attention. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether depressive mood disposition, as measured by the number of depressive symptoms experienced by an individual, influences their allocation of vertical attention. METHODS: We used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to evaluate depressive symptoms in 48 right-handed individuals with a mean age of 57.31 (±17.14) years. We also asked the participants to mark the center (bisect) of 24 vertical and 24 horizontal lines. RESULTS: Overall, the individuals deviated their bisections of vertical lines upward (M=2.66 mm; SD=3.85). A stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that the number of depressive symptoms an individual experienced was significantly associated with a reduction in the magnitude of this upward vertical bias (P=0.009; R=0.138), such that the number of depressive symptoms was associated with the reduction (lowering) of their upward bias. CONCLUSION: Depressive symptoms may be associated with a relative lowering of the vertical attentional bias, and this lowering may be related to increased activation of portions of the default network.

Age-related changes in the allocation of spatially directed focal attention.

OBJECTIVES: Leftward deviation on a horizontal line bisection test (pseudoneglect) might be induced by right hemispheric dominance for mediating spatial or global attention, or a hemispheric asymmetry in the ability to spatially disengage attention. With aging, this leftward bias is reduced, likely due to the aging-related deterioration of right hemisphere mediated functions (right hemi-aging) or hemispheric asymmetry reduction in old adults (HAROLD). METHODS: Forty-seven healthy adults divided into younger and older groups performed a modified Posner spatial-attentional task. RESULTS: Overall, younger individuals responded faster to left than right-sided imperative stimuli. In contrast, older participants did not reveal a right-left asymmetry to imperative stimuli. The younger group also revealed a strong inverse relationship between the reaction time to right valid cues and the leftward attentional bias while performing the line bisection task (pseudoneglect). CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide support for both the right hemisphere spatial-attentional dominance hypothesis of pseudoneglect and the right hemi-aging hypotheses.

Attentional system of very prematurely born preschoolers.

Recent studies indicate that premature children are at risk for difficulties with cognitive development and have increased incidence of ADHD as well as other behavioral disorders. Although the exact mechanism accounting for these children's neuropsychological abnormalities is unknown, there is evidence to suggest that the cognitive and behavioral disturbances seen in this population may result from a slower development of the attentional system. However, it remains unclear whether prematurity affects the development of the entire attention system or if prematurely born children have a selective insufficiency of components of this system (i.e., orienting, alerting, executive). We compared the efficiency of the attentional system of very prematurely born children and full-term controls at 5 years of age, using the Attention Network Task-Child Version. In comparison to full-term peers, very preterm children exhibited inefficient orienting of attention, whereas there was no group difference in the efficiency of alerting and executive aspects of attention. The reason for the selectively suboptimal orienting of attention in very prematurely born preschoolers remains unclear; it is possible that the neural substrates of this attentional subsystem are particularly underdeveloped in the preschool period in this cohort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Improved Accuracy on Lateralized Spatial Judgments in Healthy Aging.

OBJECTIVES: Healthy young adults often demonstrate a leftward spatial bias called "pseudoneglect" which often diminishes with aging. One hypothesis for this phenomenon is an age-related deterioration in right hemisphere functions (right hemi-aging). If true, then a greater rightward bias should be evident on all spatial attention tasks regardless of content. Another hypothesis is a decrease in asymmetrical hemispheric activation with age (HAROLD). If true, older participants may show reduced bias in all spatial tasks, regardless of leftward or rightward biasing of specific spatial content. METHODS: Seventy right-handed healthy participants, 33 younger (21-40) and 37 older (60-78), were asked to bisect solid and character-letter lines as well as to perform left and right trisections of solid lines. RESULTS: Both groups deviated toward the left on solid line bisections and left trisections. Both groups deviated toward the right on right trisections and character line bisections. In all tasks, the older participants were more accurate than the younger participants. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that older participants were more accurate than younger participants across all bisection and trisection conditions suggests a decrease in the asymmetrical hemispheric activation of these specialized networks important in the allocation of contralateral spatial attention or spatial action intention.

Chronological Effects of Emotional Valence on the Self-selected Retrieval of Autobiographical Memories.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Salience of emotional autobiographical memories may have temporal patterns associated with valence. Recall of negative emotional memories is often important in survival and well-being. Based on the possible survival value of negative memories, we posited that when given an open-ended request to recall either a sad or a happy memory, people are more likely to recall an older sad memory than a happy one. METHODS: We asked 20 healthy participants, aged 18-63 years, to freely recall happy and sad emotional memories and estimate the length of time that had passed since the recalled event had occurred. We analyzed the age of each memory based on valence. RESULTS: Sixteen of 20 participants volunteered a more remote sad than happy memory (P<0.05). Older participants' sad memories were more remote (P<0.05), but the ratio of happy to sad memories was not affected by age. CONCLUSIONS: Self-selected free retrieval of autobiographical happy and sad emotional memories reveals a time bias. Although the reason for this temporal dichotomy is unknown, it may be that engaging systems involved in defense and survival alters the encoding and/or retrieval characteristics of the memory that modify salience.

What specifically contributes to disturbed non-verbal fluency in patients with bipolar disorder: Ineffective performance initiation, slowed processing or lack of the execution strategy?

The study aimed at identifying the cognitive and clinical determinants of impaired design fluency in bipolar patients, with special reference to processing speed and performance strategy. A sample of bipolar disorder patients (BD, n = 45) and matched healthy controls (HC, n = 42) underwent the assessment of figural fluency, cognitive and manual speed, cognitive effort and affective state. An electronic version of design fluency test was applied, enabling assessment of performance speed, execution strategy and spontaneous fluctuations in production efficiency. Additional clinical variables were also controlled. BD patients produced significantly less unique designs, performed slower, utilized less effective strategy, their ability to concentrate designs production in the initial phase of performance was significantly reduced compared with HC. Regression analysis revealed that in BD patients design fluency main outcome was significantly predicted by slowed creation of designs and the number of hospitalizations, while in the HC group, the main fluency result was predicted only by the executive strategy indicators. Our study showed that non-verbal fluency in BD group was determined by essentially different neuropsychological functions than in healthy controls. Obtained findings confirm that cognitive slowdown should be an important goal of cognitive remediation and pharmacological interventions in bipolar disorder.

Age-Related Changes in the Allocation of Vertical Attention.

OBJECTIVES: Healthy individuals often have a leftward and upward attentional spatial bias; however, there is a reduction of this leftward bias with aging. The right hemisphere mediates leftward spatial attention and age-related reduction of right hemispheric activity may account for this reduced leftward bias. The right hemisphere also appears to be responsible for upward bias, and this upward bias might reduce with aging. Alternatively, whereas the dorsal visual stream allocates attention downward, the ventral stream allocates attention upward. Since with aging there is a greater atrophy of the dorsal than ventral stream, older participants may reveal a greater upward bias. The main purpose of this study was to learn if aging influences the vertical allocation of spatial attention. METHODS: Twenty-six young (17 males; mean age 44.62±2.57 years) and 25 healthy elderly (13 males; mean age 72.04±.98 years), right-handed adults performed line bisections using 24 vertical lines (24 cm long and 2 mm thick) aligned with their midsagittal plane. RESULTS: Older adults had a significantly greater upward bias than did younger adults. CONCLUSIONS: Normal upward attentional bias increases with aging, possibly due to an age-related reduction of the dorsal attentional stream that is responsible for the allocation of downward attention. (JINS, 2018, 24, 1121-1124).

The influence of rightward and leftward spatial deviations of spatial attention on emotional picture recognition.

OBJECTIVES: Several studies have reported that positive emotions are primarily mediated by the left hemisphere and negative emotions by the right hemisphere. Since each hemisphere primarily allocates attention toward the contralateral hemispace, we wanted to learn how inducing a spatial attentional orienting bias to right and left egocentric hemispace might influence the recognition and perception of visually presented emotional scenes. METHOD: Participants were 42 healthy, right-handed young adults. To induce a directional change in spatial attention, we used a horizontal prism adaptation (PA) method that trains participants to allocate attention in the opposite direction to the prism-induced deviation. After each PA, participants evaluated a set of affective (positive/neutral/negative) pictures from the Nencki Affective Picture System. Responses in each emotional category and reaction times were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: There was no PA effects on reaction times between the experimental conditions. However, when compared to the control condition, both rightward and leftward PA resulted in a reduction of correctly recognized positive emotions as well as altering the perception of neutral and positive pictures as more emotionally negative. CONCLUSIONS: The results do not support the proposed left-right spatial attentional valence hypothesis. The reason why PA in both directions negatively altered emotion perception is not known. However, a portion of the dorsal visual stream, the parietal lobes, and especially the right parietal lobe, are critical for mediating horizontal egocentric spatial attention. The right hemisphere also mediates negative emotions, and the activation of this right hemispheric attention network may have induced the changes in perception found in this study. However, future studies are needed to further test this hypothesis.

Disturbed functional connectivity within the left prefrontal cortex and sensorimotor areas predicts impaired cognitive speed in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

This study aimed at identifying abnormal cortico-cortical functional connectivity patterns that could predict cognitive slowing in patients with schizophrenia. A group of thirty-two patients with the first-episode schizophrenia and comparable healthy controls underwent resting-state qEEG and cognitive assessment. Phase Lag Index (PLI) was applied as a connectivity index and the synchronizations were analyzed in six frequencies. Pairs of electrodes were grouped to separately cover frontal, temporal, central, parietal and occipital regions. PLI was calculated for intra-regional connectivity and between-regions connectivity. Computer version processing speed tests were applied to control for possible fluctuations in cognitive efficiency during the performance of the tasks. In the group of patients, in comparison to healthy controls, significantly higher PLI values were recorded in theta frequency, especially in the posterior areas and decreased PLI in low-alpha frequency within the frontal regions. Mean PLI in gamma frequency was also lower in the patients group. Regression analysis showed that lower intra-regional PLI for left frontal cortex and higher PLI within somatosensory cortex in theta band, together with the duration of untreated psychosis, proved to be significant predictors of impaired processing speed in first-episode patients. Our investigation confirmed that disrupted cortico-cortical synchronization contributes to cognitive slowing in schizophrenia.