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Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

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A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Neurology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 49129

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Christian Beste

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Guest Editor

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden), 01069 Dresden, Germany
Interests: neurology; psychiatry; MRI; imaging; EEG; neuropsychology; assessment; cognition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cognitive dysfunctions are found in almost every neurological and psychiatric disorder. Their assessment is part of clinical neuropsychological examinations. However, many details of the underlying neural mechanisms that give rise to cognitive dysfunctions in these disorders remain poorly understood. This Special Issue invites the submission of manuscripts that investigate or critically discuss the neural mechanisms behind these cognitive dysfunctions. No neurological or psychiatric disorder will be excluded, as long as the underlying mechanisms are detailed. The topic also welcomes the submission of studies with patients from every age group. The imaging methods include, but are not limited to functional MRI, structural MRI, and MR spectroscopy. A clear relevance of the imaging findings for investigated cognitive functions is important. Neurophysiological methods (e.g., EEG and related techniques) are also appropriate if they inform the neuroanatomical level (e.g., using source localization methods). Studies focusing on pure clinical neuropsychological assessments are appropriate if they reveal novel insights into facets of cognitive dysfunctions that have not previously been reported in the examined disorder, or if they use novel assessment tools (e.g., “APP-based” assessments), or sophisticated data analysis methods (e.g., machine learning approaches, meta-analytic approaches).

Prof. Dr. Christian Beste
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

neurology
psychiatry
MRI
imaging
EEG
neuropsychology
assessment
cognition

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 1005 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Reliability of Examining Dual-Tasking Abilities Using a Novel E-Health Device—A Proof of Concept Study in Multiple Sclerosis

by Niels Böttrich, Moritz Mückschel, Anja Dillenseger, Christoph Lange, Raimar Kern, Tjalf Ziemssen and Christian Beste

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(11), 3423; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9113423 - 25 Oct 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2311

Abstract

The assessment of neuropsychological functions and especially dual-tasking abilities is considered to be increasingly relevant in the assessment of neurological disease, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in particular. However, the assessment of dual-tasking abilities is hindered by specific software requirements and extensive testing times. We designed a novel e-health (progressive web application-based) device for the assessment of dual-tasking abilities usable in “bedside” and outpatient clinic settings and examined its reliability in a sample of N = 184 MS patients in an outpatient setting. Moreover, we examined the relevance of dual-tasking assessment using this device with respect to clinically relevant parameters in MS. We show that a meaningful assessment of dual-tasking is possible within 6 min and that the behavioral readouts overall show good reliability depending on dual-tasking difficulty. We show that dual-tasking readouts were correlated with clinically relevant parameters (e.g., EDSS, disease duration, processing speed) and were not affected by fatigue levels. We consider the tested dual-tasking assessment device suitable for routine clinical neuropsychological assessments of dual-tasking abilities. Future studies may further evaluate this test regarding its suitability in the long-term follow up assessments and to assess dual-tasking abilities in other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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13 pages, 897 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Longitudinal White Matter Hyperintensity Change on Cognitive Decline and Cortical Thinning over Three Years

by Seung Joo Kim, Dong Kyun Lee, Young Kyoung Jang, Hyemin Jang, Si Eun Kim, Soo Hyun Cho, Jun Pyo Kim, Young Hee Jung, Eun-Joo Kim, Duk L. Na, Jong-Min Lee, Sang Won Seo and Hee Jin Kim

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(8), 2663; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9082663 - 17 Aug 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2762

Abstract

White matter hyperintensity (WMH) has been recognised as a surrogate marker of small vessel disease and is associated with cognitive impairment. We investigated the dynamic change in WMH in patients with severe WMH at baseline, and the effects of longitudinal change of WMH volume on cognitive decline and cortical thinning. Eighty-seven patients with subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment were prospectively recruited from a single referral centre. All of the patients were followed up with annual neuropsychological tests and 3T brain magnetic resonance imaging. The WMH volume was quantified using an automated method and the cortical thickness was measured using surface-based methods. Participants were classified into WMH progression and WMH regression groups based on the delta WMH volume between the baseline and the last follow-up. To investigate the effects of longitudinal change in WMH volume on cognitive decline and cortical thinning, a linear mixed effects model was used. Seventy patients showed WMH progression and 17 showed WMH regression over a three-year period. The WMH progression group showed more rapid cortical thinning in widespread regions compared with the WMH regression group. However, the rate of cognitive decline in language, visuospatial function, memory and executive function, and general cognitive function was not different between the two groups. The results of this study indicated that WMH volume changes are dynamic and WMH progression is associated with more rapid cortical thinning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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24 pages, 1935 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Computational Study of Executive Dysfunction in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

by Alexander Steinke, Florian Lange, Caroline Seer, Susanne Petri and Bruno Kopp

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(8), 2605; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9082605 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2562

Abstract

Executive dysfunction is a well-documented, yet nonspecific corollary of various neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders. Here, we applied computational modeling of latent cognition for executive control in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. We utilized a parallel reinforcement learning model of trial-by-trial Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) behavior. Eighteen ALS patients and 21 matched healthy control participants were assessed on a computerized variant of the WCST (cWCST). ALS patients showed latent cognitive symptoms, which can be characterized as bradyphrenia and haphazard responding. A comparison with results from a recent computational Parkinson’s disease (PD) study (Steinke et al., 2020, J Clin Med) suggests that bradyphrenia represents a disease-nonspecific latent cognitive symptom of ALS and PD patients alike. Haphazard responding seems to be a disease-specific latent cognitive symptom of ALS, whereas impaired stimulus-response learning seems to be a disease-specific latent cognitive symptom of PD. These data were obtained from the careful modeling of trial-by-trial behavior on the cWCST, and they suggest that computational cognitive neuropsychology provides nosologically specific indicators of latent facets of executive dysfunction in ALS (and PD) patients, which remain undiscoverable for traditional behavioral cognitive neuropsychology. We discuss implications for neuropsychological assessment, and we discuss opportunities for confirmatory computational brain imaging studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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Graphical abstract

14 pages, 886 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of 12-Week Methylphenidate Treatment on Neurometabolism in Adult Patients with ADHD: The First Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled MR Spectroscopy Study

by Simon Maier, Ludger Tebartz van Elst, Alexandra Philipsen, Thomas Lange, Bernd Feige, Volkmar Glauche, Kathrin Nickel, Swantje Matthies, Barbara Alm, Esther Sobanski, Katharina Domschke, Evgeniy Perlov and Dominique Endres

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(8), 2601; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9082601 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2902

Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a frequent neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists into adulthood. Methylphenidate (MPH) is the first-line treatment for ADHD; however, despite its wide usage, little is known about its neurometabolic effects. Until now, no randomized and blinded clinical trials have been conducted addressing the neurometabolic signals of MPH administration in adults with ADHD. In the current study, the authors investigated how MPH intake and group psychotherapy (GPT) influence brain neurometabolism over the course of three months. The authors hypothesized a decrease in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) glutamate concentration following MPH administration. This study was part of a double-blind multicenter trial (Comparison of Methylphenidate and Psychotherapy in Adult ADHD Study (COMPAS)) investigating the effects of MPH and GPT in patients with adult ADHD. Using single-voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the pregenual ACC and the left cerebellar hemisphere (CHL), we investigated the concentration of glutamate plus glutamine (Glx), N-acetyl-aspartate, creatine, total choline containing compounds, and myo-inositol in patients before and after 12 weeks of treatment. Neither MPH nor GPT significantly influenced the Glx concentration or any of the other metabolite concentrations in the ACC and CHL after 12 weeks. Therefore, contrary to the hypothesis, no change in the prefrontal Glx signal was detected after MPH treatment. Given that MRS does not differentiate between glutamate in the synaptic cleft and in neuronal tissue, MPH-induced down-regulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission in the ACC might only affect the concentration of glutamate in the synaptic cleft, while the general availability of glutamate in the respective neuronal tissue might be unaffected by MPH intake. The observed lack of any MPH-induced normalization in metabolite concentrations is less surprising, considering that the baseline sample did not significantly differ from a healthy control group. Future studies of other regions, such as the basal ganglia, and the use of novel methods, such as whole brain MRS and multimodal imaging approaches, are necessary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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28 pages, 2983 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Computational Modeling for Neuropsychological Assessment of Bradyphrenia in Parkinson’s Disease

by Alexander Steinke, Florian Lange, Caroline Seer, Merle K. Hendel and Bruno Kopp

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(4), 1158; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041158 - 18 Apr 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4231

Abstract

The neural mechanisms of cognitive dysfunctions in neurological diseases remain poorly understood. Here, we conjecture that this unsatisfying state-of-the-art is in part due to the non-specificity of the typical behavioral indicators for cognitive dysfunctions. Our study addresses the topic by advancing the assessment of cognitive dysfunctions through computational modeling. We investigate bradyphrenia in Parkinson’s disease (PD) as an exemplary case of cognitive dysfunctions in neurological diseases. Our computational model conceptualizes trial-by-trial behavioral data as resulting from parallel cognitive and sensorimotor reinforcement learning. We assessed PD patients ‘on’ and ‘off’ their dopaminergic medication and matched healthy control (HC) participants on a computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. PD patients showed increased retention of learned cognitive information and decreased retention of learned sensorimotor information from previous trials in comparison to HC participants. Systemic dopamine replacement therapy did not remedy these cognitive dysfunctions in PD patients but incurred non-desirable side effects such as decreasing cognitive learning from positive feedback. Our results reveal novel insights into facets of bradyphrenia that are indiscernible by observable behavioral indicators of cognitive dysfunctions. We discuss how computational modeling may contribute to the advancement of future research on brain–behavior relationships and neuropsychological assessment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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Graphical abstract

12 pages, 1026 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dopaminergic Degeneration and Small Vessel Disease in Patients with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Who Underwent Shunt Surgery

by Tze-Wei Chang, Pao-Hui Tseng, Yi-Cheng Wang, Guo-Fang Tseng, Tsung-Lang Chiu, Shinn-Zong Lin and Sheng-Tzung Tsai

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(4), 1084; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041084 - 11 Apr 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4023

Abstract

The diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) and the outcome of lumboperitoneal shunt treatment remains to be systematically explored. Here, we aim to evaluate whether the severity of dopaminergic degeneration and white matter small vessel disease could be predictors of outcome for iNPH patients subjected to lumboperitoneal shunt treatment. This is a single center retrospective study with 39 patients with probable iNPH undergoing programmable surgical lumboperitoneal shunt from June 2016 to March 2018 at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital. In all patients, dopaminergic degeneration was determined with ^99mTc- TRODAT-1 SPECT scan, while white matter small vessel disease (Fazekas scale) was assessed with Brain MRI. The iNPH grading scale (iNPHGS) score and Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS) pre- and post-operation (6-month follow-up) were available for all patients. Linear regression was used to correlate the severities of dopaminergic degeneration and small vessel disease with lumboperitoneal shunt treatment outcomes. Their iNPHGS score improved significantly after surgery (pre-operatively, 7.8 ± 2.6; post-operatively, 5.7 ± 2.6 (26.9% improvement) (p < 0.05)). Moreover, the KPS was also improved significantly after surgery, by a mean of 24.6% from the baseline score (p < 0.05). A significant correlation was observed between the severity of dopaminergic degeneration and a poorer improvement of iNPHGS score (p = 0.03). However, improvement of the iNPHGS score was not correlated with white matter small vessel disease. Dopaminergic degeneration comorbidity neutralized the degree of improvement after surgery. Although white matter small vessel disease was correlated with iNPH incidence, it may not be a prognostic factor for shunt operation. These findings have implications for the use of dopaminergic imaging, as they might help predict the surgical outcome of patients with iNPH, while vascular mechanisms seem to be involved in iNPH pathophysiology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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15 pages, 279 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Executive Functions and Emotion Regulation in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Borderline Intellectual Disability

by Elena Predescu, Roxana Sipos, Cristina A. Costescu, Anamaria Ciocan and Diana I. Rus

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(4), 986; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9040986 - 01 Apr 2020

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5078

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate the multiple relations and to determine the differences between executive functions (EFs), emotion regulation, and behavioral and emotional problems in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), borderline intellectual disability (ID), and typical development (TD). The sample included 85 children aged 6 to 11 years, 42 with typical development (TD), 27 with ADHD, and 16 with borderline ID. The results emphasized a positive correlation between adaptive emotion regulation strategies and EFs, and no significant relations between the maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and EFs. In addition, the executive function of planning correlated negatively with anxiety, ADHD symptoms, and conduct problems. The performance of both clinical groups regarding EFs was significantly lower than that of the TD group, and they differed significantly from each other only on visual attention. The presence of oppositional-defiant and conduct problems was higher in both clinical groups than in the TD group, and more anxiety symptoms were reported in children with ADHD. This study supports the idea that emotion regulation, Efs, and clinical symptoms are interconnected. It also profiles the deficits in cognitive functioning and emotion regulation in two clinical groups, thus helping future intervention programs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

12 pages, 624 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ventricular Repolarization is Associated with Cognitive Function, but Not with Cognitive Decline and Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Measurements in Older Adults

by Michelle H. Zonneveld, Raymond Noordam, Jeroen van der Grond, Behnam Sabayan, Simon P. Mooijaart, Peter W. Mcfarlane, J. Wouter Jukema and Stella Trompet

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(4), 911; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9040911 - 26 Mar 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2511

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of electrocardiogram (ECG)-based QT, QTc, JT, JTc, and QRS intervals with cognitive function and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements in a cohort of older individuals at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, but free of known arrhythmias. We studied 4627 participants (54% female, mean age 75 years) enrolled in the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER). Ten-second ECGs were conducted at baseline. Cognitive function was tested at baseline and repeated during a mean follow-up time of 3.2 years. Structural MRIs were conducted in a subgroup of 535 participants. Analyses were performed with multivariable (repeated) linear regression models and adjusted for cardiovascular risk-factors, co-morbidities, and cardiovascular drug use. At baseline, longer QT, JT, JTc—but not QTc and QRS intervals—were associated with a worse cognitive performance. Most notably, on the Stroop Test, participants performed 3.02 (95% CI 0.31; 5.73) seconds worse per standard deviation higher QT interval, independent of cardiovascular risk factors and medication use. There was no association between longer ventricular de- or repolarization and structural brain measurements. Therefore, specifically ventricular repolarization was associated with worse cognitive performance in older individuals at baseline but not during follow-up. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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16 pages, 1859 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strengthened Default Mode Network Activation During Delay Discounting in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa After Partial Weight Restoration: A Longitudinal fMRI Study

by Arne Doose, Joseph A. King, Fabio Bernardoni, Daniel Geisler, Inger Hellerhoff, Tomas Weinert, Veit Roessner, Michael N. Smolka and Stefan Ehrlich

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(4), 900; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9040900 - 25 Mar 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4178

Abstract

The capacity of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) to resist food-based rewards is often assumed to reflect excessive self-control. Previous cross-sectional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies utilizing the delay discounting (DD) paradigm, an index of impulsivity and self-control, suggested altered neural efficiency of decision-making in acutely underweight patients (acAN) and a relative normalization in long-term, weight-recovered individuals with a history of AN (recAN). The current longitudinal study tested for changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation during DD associated with intensive weight restoration treatment. A predominately adolescent cohort of 22 female acAN patients (mean age—15.5 years) performed an established DD paradigm during fMRI at the beginning of hospitalization and again after partial weight restoration (≥12% body mass index (BMI) increase). Analyses investigated longitudinal changes in both reward valuation and executive decision-making processes. Additional exploratory analyses included comparisons with data acquired in aged-matched healthy controls (HC) as well as probes of functional connectivity between empirically identified nodes of the “task-positive” frontoparietal control network (FPN) and “task-negative” default-mode network (DMN). While treatment was not associated with changes in behavioral DD parameters or activation, specific to reward processing, deactivation of the DMN during decision-making was significantly less pronounced following partial weight restoration. Strengthened DMN activation during DD might reflect a relative relaxation of cognitive overcontrol or improved self-referential, decision-making. Together, our findings present further evidence that aberrant decision-making in AN might be remediable by treatment and, therefore, might constitute an acute effect rather than a core trait variable of the disorder. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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15 pages, 1419 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Increased Amygdala Activations during the Emotional Experience of Death-Related Pictures in Complicated Grief: An fMRI Study

by Manuel Fernández-Alcántara, Juan Verdejo-Román, Francisco Cruz-Quintana, Miguel Pérez-García, Andrés Catena-Martínez, María Inmaculada Fernández-Ávalos and María Nieves Pérez-Marfil

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(3), 851; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9030851 - 20 Mar 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5700

Abstract

Complicated grief (CG) is associated with alterations in various components of emotional processing. The main aim of this study was to identify brain activations in individuals diagnosed with CG while they were observing positive, negative, and death-related pictures. The participants included 19 individuals with CG and 19 healthy non-bereaved (NB) individuals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were obtained during an emotional experience task. The perception of death-related pictures differed between the CG group and the NB group, with a greater activation in the former of the amygdala, putamen, hypothalamus, middle frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex. Amygdala and putamen activations were significantly correlated with Texas Revised Inventory of Grief scores in the CG group, suggesting that the higher level of grief in this group was associated with a greater activation in both brain areas while watching death-related pictures. A significant interaction between image type and group was observed in the amygdala, midbrain, periaqueductal gray, cerebellum, and hippocampus, largely driven by the greater activation of these areas in the CG group when watching death-related pictures and the lower activation when watching positive-valence pictures. In this study, individuals with CG showed significantly distinct brain activations in response to different emotional images. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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20 pages, 15704 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Acute Alcohol Effects on Response Inhibition Depend on Response Automatization, but not on GABA or Glutamate Levels in the ACC and Striatum

by Wiebke Bensmann, Nicolas Zink, Annett Werner, Christian Beste and Ann-Kathrin Stock

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(2), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9020481 - 10 Feb 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3456

Abstract

Alcohol increases GABAergic signaling and decreases glutamatergic signaling in the brain. Variations in these neurotransmitter levels may modulate/predict executive functioning. Matching this, strong impairments of response inhibition are one of the most consistently reported cognitive/behavioral effects of acute alcohol intoxication. However, it has never been investigated whether baseline differences in these neurotransmitters allow to predict how much alcohol intoxication impairs response inhibition, and whether this is reflected in neurophysiological measures of cognitive control. We used MR spectroscopy to assess baseline (i.e., sober) GABA and glutamate levels in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and striatum in n = 30 healthy young males, who were subsequently tested once sober and once intoxicated (1.01 permille). Inhibition was assessed with the sustained attention to response task (SART). This paradigm also allows to examine the effect of different degrees of response automatization, which is a known modulator for response inhibition, but does not seem to be substantially impaired during acute intoxication. As a neurophysiological correlate of response inhibition and control, we quantified EEG-derived theta band power and located its source using beamforming analyses. We found that alcohol-induced response inhibition deficits only occurred in the case of response automatization. This was reflected by decreased theta band activity in the left supplementary motor area (SMA), which may reflect modulations in the encoding of a surprise signal in response to inhibition cues. However, we did not find that differences in baseline (i.e., sober) GABA or glutamate levels significantly modulated differences in the size of alcohol-induced inhibition deficits. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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Review

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20 pages, 339 KiB

Open AccessReview

Current Cognition Tests, Potential Virtual Reality Applications, and Serious Games in Cognitive Assessment and Non-Pharmacological Therapy for Neurocognitive Disorders

by Roger Jin, Alexander Pilozzi and Xudong Huang

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(10), 3287; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103287 - 13 Oct 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3869

Abstract

As the global population ages, the incidence of major neurocognitive disorders (major NCDs), such as the most common geriatric major NCD, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), has grown. Thus, the need for more definitive cognitive assessment or even effective non-pharmacological intervention for age-related NCDs is becoming more and more pressing given that no definitive diagnostics or efficacious therapeutics are currently unavailable for them. We evaluate the current state of the art of cognitive assessment for major NCDs, and then briefly glance ahead at potential application of virtual reality (VR) technologies in major NCD assessment and in cognition training of visuospatial reasoning in a 3D environment, as well as in the alleviation of depression and other symptoms of cognitive disorders. We believe that VR-based technologies have tremendous potentials in cognitive assessment and non-pharmacological therapy for major NCDs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

21 pages, 1204 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Techniques to Reduce Violence Proneness by Interfering in Anger and Irritability

by Ángel Romero-Martínez, Sara Bressanutti and Luis Moya-Albiol

J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(3), 882; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9030882 - 24 Mar 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4872

Abstract

The field of neurocriminology has proposed several treatments (e.g., pharmacological, brain surgery, androgen-deprivation therapy, neurofeedback) to reduce violence proneness, but unfortunately, their effectiveness has been limited due to their side-effects. Therefore, it is necessary to explore alternative techniques to improve patients’ behavioural regulation with minimal undesirable effects. In this regard, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, which are based on applying changing magnetic fields or electric currents to interfere with cortical excitability, have revealed their usefulness in alleviating the symptomatology of several mental disorders. However, to our knowledge, there are no reviews that assess whether these techniques are useful for reducing violence proneness. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria using the following databases: PsycINFO, PubMed, Dialnet, Psicodoc, Web of Knowledge, and the Cochrane Library. We initially identified 3746 entries, and eventually included 56 publications. Most of the studies were unanimous in concluding that the application of these techniques over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was not sufficient to promote anger and irritability reductions in euthymic individuals of both genders. Nevertheless, the application of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, especially transcranial direct current stimulation, over the right PFC seemed to reduce violent reactions in these individuals by interfering with the interpretation of the unfavourable situations (e.g., threating signals) or inner states that evoked anger. In antisocial and pathological populations, the conclusions were provided by a few pilot studies with important methodological weaknesses. The main conclusion of these studies was that bilateral stimulation of the PFC satisfactorily reduced anger and irritability only in inmates, patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), people who suffered a closed-head injury, and agitated patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, combining these techniques with risperidone considerably reduced aggressiveness in these patients. Therefore, it is necessary to be cautious about the benefits of these techniques to control anger, due the methodological weaknesses of these studies. Nonetheless, they offer valuable opportunities to prevent violence by designing new treatments combining brain stimulation with current strategies, such as psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, in order to promote lasting changes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical and Imaging Assessment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders)

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