Cognition Assessment in Virtual Reality: Validity and feasibility of a novel virtual reality test for real-life cognitive functions in mood disorders and psychosis spectrum disorders.

There is a pressing need for measures of real-life cognitive functioning in patients with mood or psychotic disorders in clinical settings and treatment trials targeting cognition. We developed the first immersive virtual reality cognition assessment tool, the Cognition Assessment in Virtual Reality (CAVIR), which assesses verbal memory, processing speed, attention, working memory and planning skills in an interactive virtual reality kitchen scenario. This study investigates the sensitivity and validity of the CAVIR for cognitive impairments in mood and psychotic disorders and its association with functioning and neuropsychological performance.

Action-based cognitive remediation in bipolar disorder improved verbal memory but had no effect on the neural response during episodic memory encoding.

Verbal memory and executive function impairments are common in remitted patients with bipolar disorder (BD). We recently found that Action-Based Cognitive Remediation (ABCR) may improve executive function and verbal memory in BD. Here, we investigated neuronal changes associated with ABCR treatment-related memory improvement in a longitudinal functional MRI (fMRI) study.

Neuronal underpinnings of cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder: A large data-driven functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Objectives: Cognitive impairment occurs in approximately 50% of remitted patients with bipolar disorder (BD). However, there exists no treatment with replicated and robust efficacy on cognition in BD. This is partially due to limited insight into the neuronal underpinnings of cognitive impairment in these patients.

Neuronal and cognitive predictors of improved executive function following action-based cognitive remediation in patients with bipolar disorder.

Cognitive impairments in bipolar disorder (BD) are prevalent but effective treatments with replicated and lasting pro-cognitive effects are lacking. Treatment development is hampered by a lack of neurocircuitry biomarkers to predict treatment efficacy. Action-Based Cognitive Remediation (ABCR) improves executive function in BD and this was accompanied by increased dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC) response during working memory (WM) after two weeks of treatment.

Norms for the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry and cognitive trajectories in bipolar disorder.

Background: The International Society for Bipolar Disorders Targeting Cognition Task Force recommends screening for and monitoring of cognitive impairments in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) with the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP). The study aimed to provide the first demographically adjusted norms and change norms for the SCIP and to compare the cognitive trajectory over one year in remitted BD patients with normative cognitive change.

Methods: Patients with fully or partially remitted BD and healthy controls (HC) were assessed with the SCIP at baseline and at a one-year follow-up.

Change in prefrontal activity and executive functions after action-based cognitive remediation in bipolar disorder: a randomized controlled trial.

Cognitive impairment is prevalent in bipolar disorder (BD) but treatments with pro-cognitive effects are lacking. Insight concerning the neurocircuitry of cognitive improvement could provide a biomarker for pro-cognitive effects to advance treatment development. The dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC) is a promising region for such treatment target engagement.

Effect of Action-Based Cognitive Remediation on cognitive impairment in patients with remitted bipolar disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: Cognitive impairment affects many patients with bipolar disorder (BD), and treatments with replicated pro-cognitive effects are lacking. This study aimed to assess the effect of Action-Based Cognitive Remediation (ABCR) vs control treatment on cognitive impairment in patients with BD.

Methods: Patients with remitted BD with objective cognitive impairment were randomized to 10 weeks of ABCR vs control treatment, and assessed at baseline, after 2 weeks of treatment, at treatment completion and at 6 months follow-up.

Correction to: Effect of action-based cognitive remediation on cognition and neural activity in bipolar disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors notified us that a comment in the Peripheral and neural biomarkers and genotype section was incorrectly phrased during editing. "4 weeks of treatment (four active ABCR sessions twice a week or control group sessions twice a week)" should have actually been described as "4 weeks of treatment (4 active, twice a week, ABCR sessions or 2 weekly control group sessions)".

Structural changes in the hippocampus as a biomarker for cognitive improvements in neuropsychiatric disorders: A systematic review.

Cognitive impairments are a core feature of several neuropsychiatric disorders. A common biomarker for pro-cognitive effects may provide a much-needed tool to select amongst candidate treatments targeting cognition. The hippocampus is a promising biomarker for target-engagement due to the illness-associated morphological hippocampal changes across unipolar disorder (UD), bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SCZ).

Effect of action-based cognitive remediation on cognition and neural activity in bipolar disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Cognitive impairment is present in bipolar disorder (BD) during the acute and remitted phases and hampers functional recovery. However, there is currently no clinically available treatment with direct and lasting effects on cognitive impairment in BD. We will examine the effect of a novel form of cognitive remediation, action-based cognitive remediation (ABCR), on cognitive impairment in patients with BD, and explore the neural substrates of potential treatment efficacy on cognition.

Neural Response After a Single ECT Session During Retrieval of Emotional Self-Referent Words in Depression: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled fMRI Study.

Background: Negative neurocognitive bias is a core feature of depression that is reversed by antidepressant drug treatment. However, it is unclear whether modulation of neurocognitive bias is a common mechanism of distinct biological treatments. This randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging study explored the effects of a single electroconvulsive therapy session on self-referent emotional processing.

Does a single session of electroconvulsive therapy alter the neural response to emotional faces in depression? A randomised sham-controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Negative neurocognitive bias is a core feature of major depressive disorder that is reversed by pharmacological and psychological treatments. This double-blind functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated for the first time whether electroconvulsive therapy modulates negative neurocognitive bias in major depressive disorder. Patients with major depressive disorder were randomised to one active ( n=15) or sham electroconvulsive therapy ( n=12).

Study Protocol on Ecological Momentary Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life Using a Smartphone Application.

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is a construct of increasing importance in modern healthcare, and has typically been assessed using retrospective instruments. While such measures have been shown to have predictive utility for clinical outcomes, several cognitive biases associated with human recall and current mood state may undermine their validity and reliability. Retrospective tools can be further criticized for their lack of ecology, as individuals are usually assessed in less natural settings such as hospitals and health centers, and may be obliged to spend time and money traveling to receive assessment.

The effect of erythropoietin on cognition in affective disorders - Associations with baseline deficits and change in subjective cognitive complaints.

This is a secondary data analysis from our erythropoietin (EPO) trials. We examine (I) whether EPO improves speed of complex cognitive processing across bipolar and unipolar disorder, (II) if objective and subjective baseline cognitive impairment increases patients׳ chances of treatment-efficacy and (III) if cognitive improvement correlates with better subjective cognitive function, quality of life and socio-occupational capacity. Patients with unipolar or bipolar disorder were randomized to eight weekly EPO (N=40) or saline (N=39) infusions.

Screening for cognitive dysfunction in unipolar depression: Validation and evaluation of objective and subjective tools.

Background: Persistent cognitive dysfunction in unipolar depression (UD) contributes to socio-occupational impairment, but there are no feasible methods to screen for and monitor cognitive dysfunction in this patient group. The present study investigated the validity of two new instruments to screen for cognitive dysfunction in UD, and their associations with socio-occupational capacity.

Method: Participants (n=53) with UD in partial or full remission and healthy control persons (n=103) were assessed with two new screening instruments, the Danish translations of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP-D) and Cognitive Complaints in Bipolar Disorder Rating Assessment (COBRA) and with established neuropsychological and self-assessment measures.