ABSTRACT
The results of two single-blind studies conducted to evaluate the cognitive and psychomotor effects of eslicarbazepine acetate and oxcarbazepine following single and repeated administration in healthy volunteers are reported. The cognitive and psychomotor evaluation consisted of several computerized and paper-and-pencil measures. Eslicarbazepine acetate and oxcarbazepine had similar overall cognitive profiles and did not cause clinically relevant cognitive impairment. The incidence of adverse events was lower with eslicarbazepine acetate than with oxcarbazepine.
Subject(s)
Anticonvulsants/pharmacology , Carbamazepine/analogs & derivatives , Cognition/drug effects , Dibenzazepines/pharmacology , Psychomotor Performance/drug effects , Adult , Attention/drug effects , Blood Pressure/drug effects , Carbamazepine/pharmacology , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Administration Schedule , Follow-Up Studies , Heart Rate/drug effects , Humans , Learning/drug effects , Middle Aged , Neuropsychological Tests , Oxcarbazepine , Reaction Time/drug effects , Single-Blind Method , Statistics, Nonparametric , Young AdultABSTRACT
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Development is a landmark study in which structural and metabolic brain development and behavior are followed longitudinally from birth to young adulthood in a population-based sample of healthy children. The neuropsychological assessment protocol for children aged 6 to 18 years is described and normative data are presented for participants in that age range (N = 385). For many measures, raw score performance improved steeply from 6 to 10 years, decelerating during adolescence. Sex differences were documented for Block Design (male advantage), CVLT, Pegboard and Coding (female advantage). Household income predicted IQ and achievement, as well as externalizing problems and social competence, but not the other cognitive or behavioral measures. Performance of this healthy sample was generally better than published norms. This linked imaging-clinical/behavioral database will be an invaluable public resource for researchers for many years to come.
Subject(s)
Behavior/physiology , Brain/growth & development , Child Development/physiology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Mental Processes/physiology , Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Community Health Planning , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , National Institutes of Health (U.S.) , Sex Factors , United StatesABSTRACT
Significant relationships have been noted between age of onset and demographics, clinical characteristics, and cerebral metabolic activity in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The authors investigated whether patients with early (N=21) and late (N=17) onset OCD differ with respect to neuropsychological functioning. Results revealed that the late onset OCD group obtained poorer scores on measures of executive function and auditory attention than the early onset group. Late onset OCD was also associated with poorer visual memory relative to healthy comparison subjects. These findings suggest that early and late onset OCD may be the result of at least partially differing neurobiological mechanisms.
Subject(s)
Neuropsychological Tests , Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Affect/physiology , Age of Onset , Aged , Attention/physiology , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Memory/physiology , Middle Aged , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Psychomotor Performance/physiology , Sex CharacteristicsABSTRACT
Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been demonstrated to be less likely to use spontaneously generated organizational strategies during verbal episodic memory and visuoconstruction tasks. However, whether this organizational deficit is generalizable to other areas of cognitive functioning has not been established. In the present study, we assessed whether adults with OCD are less likely to spontaneously generate organizational strategies during performance of an executive function test, the Self-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT). Participants included 30 adults with OCD and 24 healthy controls. Groups did not differ with respect to the time to complete or number of errors made on the SOPT. Furthermore, group differences were not observed in the ability to generate organizational strategies or in the specific types of strategies employed to complete the SOPT. These findings indicate that a reduced use of organizational strategies in OCD is not present across all cognitive domains.
Subject(s)
Attention , Memory, Short-Term , Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/psychology , Pattern Recognition, Visual , Problem Solving , Psychomotor Performance , Verbal Learning , Adult , Concept Formation , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data , Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/diagnosis , Orientation , Reaction Time , Reference ValuesABSTRACT
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been associated with frontostriatal abnormality. This has led to the hypothesis that the disorder is characterized by abnormality of procedural memory. However, evidence for either procedural or declarative memory disturbance has been mixed, and few studies have directly assessed both of these forms of memory in the same patient group. In the present study, we assessed encoding and retrieval in declarative memory using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), and procedural memory using the Pursuit Rotor Task, in 27 adults with OCD and 29 matched healthy controls. Groups did not differ with respect to salient demographic characteristics or memory on the RAVLT. In contrast, patients with OCD performed significantly better than controls during the early, but not later trial blocks of the Pursuit Rotor Task. This pattern of results indicates intact encoding and retrieval in declarative memory, but abnormally enhanced procedural memory during the early course of learning in OCD. These findings may be consistent with striatal overactivation observed in neuroimaging studies of OCD, as well as the prominent role of the striatum during early stages of procedural memory.
Subject(s)
Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Mental Recall/physiology , Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder/physiopathology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Case-Control Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neuropsychological Tests , Psychomotor Performance/physiology , Verbal Learning/physiologyABSTRACT
Event-related potential (ERP) studies have demonstrated impaired auditory sensory processing in patients with schizophrenia, as reflected in abnormal mismatch negativity (MMN). We sought to extend this finding by evaluating MMN in 13 treatment-refractory patients with schizophrenia, and 14 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Subjects responded to infrequent visual stimulation while ignoring binaurally presented auditory tones. The amplitude and topographical pattern of the MMN were analyzed. The control group presented the expected reduction in the amplitude of the MMN from frontal to central and parietal locations. In comparison, the MMN amplitude was not reduced in the treatment-refractory patients, and was largest at the central-posterior electrode location. In addition, patients displayed larger negativities at left frontal, and left- and right-temporal electrode locations than the control subjects. These findings are consistent with pre-attentive abnormalities in treatment-refractory patients with schizophrenia.
Subject(s)
Attention/physiology , Brain Mapping , Event-Related Potentials, P300/physiology , Evoked Potentials, Auditory/physiology , Frontal Lobe/physiopathology , Schizophrenia/physiopathology , Temporal Lobe/physiopathology , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use , Drug Resistance , Evoked Potentials, Visual/physiology , Female , Humans , Inpatients , Male , Matched-Pair Analysis , Mental Recall/physiology , Middle Aged , Reaction Time/physiology , Reference Values , Schizophrenia/drug therapy , Severity of Illness Index , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Slowness in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been attributed to intrusive thoughts or meticulousness. Recent research suggests that slowness in OCD may be particularly evident on tests of executive function subserved by frontostriatal circuitry. In the present study, the speed and accuracy of responding on neuropsychological tests of executive functions and psychomotor speed were investigated in 27 non-depressed, unmedicated adults with OCD and 27 healthy controls. The only group difference was that patients took significantly longer to copy a complex geometric design than controls. This finding was unrelated to residual depression or overall OCD symptom severity. Results suggest that slowness in OCD may be most apparent on executive tests requiring self-initiated organizational strategies, consistent with frontostriatal abnormality.
