Cognitive vulnerabilities and depressed mood in acquired brain injury.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), an important cause of long-term disability, is associated with increased rates of depression in addition to common cognitive and physical consequences. Past research has linked post-ABI depression to injury severity (e.g.

Sustaining attention in affective contexts during adolescence: age-related differences and association with elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Sustained attention, a key cognitive skill that improves during childhood and adolescence, tends to be worse in some emotional and behavioural disorders. Sustained attention is typically studied in non-affective task contexts; here, we used a novel task to index performance in affective versus neutral contexts across adolescence (= 465; ages 11-18). We asked whether: (i) performance would be worse in negative versus neutral task contexts; (ii) performance would improve with age; (iii) affective interference would be greater in younger adolescents; (iv) adolescents at risk for depression and higher in anxiety would show overall worse performance; and (v) would show differential performance in negative contexts.

Brain tumour microstructure is associated with post-surgical cognition.

Brain tumour microstructure is potentially predictive of changes following treatment to cognitive functions subserved by the functional networks in which they are embedded. To test this hypothesis, intra-tumoural microstructure was quantified from diffusion-weighted MRI to identify which tumour subregions (if any) had a greater impact on participants' cognitive recovery after surgical resection. Additionally, we studied the role of tumour microstructure in the functional interaction between the tumour and the rest of the brain.

Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement Satisfaction (MAPLES): results from a randomised controlled pilot feasibility trial for low mood in acquired brain injury.

Background: Acquired brain injury (ABI) is linked to increased depression risk. Existing therapies for depression in ABI (e.g.

Developing behavioural activation for people with acquired brain injury: a qualitative interpretive description study of barriers and facilitators to activity engagement.

Background: Acquired brain injuries (ABI) from stroke, head injury, or resected brain tumours are associated with poor emotional wellbeing and heightened risk of mood disorder. Common sequalae of ABI, such as poor attention and memory, can create barriers to the efficacy of cognitively demanding mood interventions, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Behavioural Activation (BA), where individuals plan and engage in reinforcing activities, is a promising alternative due to lower cognitive demands.

Measuring Intolerance of Uncertainty After Acquired Brain Injury: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-12.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a risk factor for poor mental health. Acquired brain injury (ABI; for example, stroke, traumatic brain injury) often brings considerable uncertainty and increased mood disorder vulnerability. The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-Short Form (IUS-12) is a brief, well-validated IU measure in non-ABI samples, comprising two subscales, namely, Prospective Anxiety and Inhibitory Anxiety.

Chunking of Control: An Unrecognized Aspect of Cognitive Resource Limits.

Why do we divide ('chunk') long tasks into a series of shorter subtasks? A popular view is that limits in working memory (WM) prevent us from simultaneously maintaining all task relevant information in mind. We therefore chunk the task into smaller units so that we only maintain information in WM that is relevant to the current unit. In contrast to this view, we show that long tasks that are not constrained by WM limits are nonetheless chunked into smaller units.

A Prospective Study of Longitudinal Risks of Cognitive Deficit for People Undergoing Glioblastoma Surgery Using a Tablet Computer Cognition Testing Battery: Towards Personalized Understanding of Risks to Cognitive Function.

Glioblastoma and the surgery to remove it pose high risks to the cognitive function of patients. Little reliable data exist about these risks, especially postoperatively before radiotherapy. We hypothesized that cognitive deficit risks detected before surgery will be exacerbated by surgery in patients with glioblastoma undergoing maximal treatment regimens.

Assessment of neuropsychological function in brain tumor treatment: a comparison of traditional neuropsychological assessment with app-based cognitive screening.

Background: Gliomas are typically considered to cause relatively few neurological impairments. However, cognitive difficulties can arise, for example during treatment, with potential detrimental effects on quality of life. Accurate, reproducible, and accessible cognitive assessment is therefore vital in understanding the effects of both tumor and treatments.

A randomized control trial of the effects of home-based online attention training and working memory training on cognition and everyday function in a community stroke sample.

Cognitive difficulties are common following stroke and can have widespread impacts on everyday functioning. Technological advances offer the possibility of individualized cognitive training for patients at home, potentially providing a low-cost, low-intensity adjunct to rehabilitation services. Using this approach, we have previously demonstrated post-training improvements in attention and everyday functioning in fronto-parietal stroke patients.

Glioblastoma surgery related emotion recognition deficits are associated with right cerebral hemisphere tract changes.

Patients with glioblastoma face abysmal overall survival, cognitive deficits, poor quality of life and limitations to social participation; partly attributable to surgery. Emotion recognition deficits mediated by pathophysiological mechanisms in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and right inferior longitudinal fasciculus have been demonstrated in traumatic brain injury and dementia, with negative associations for social participation. We hypothesize similar mechanisms occur in patients undergoing resection surgery for glioblastoma.

Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement Satisfaction (MAPLES): a randomised controlled pilot feasibility trial for low mood in acquired brain injury.

Background: Acquired brain injury (ABI) affects approximately 79.3 million individuals annually and is linked with elevated rates of depression and low mood. Existing methods for treating depression in ABI have shown mixed efficacy.

Personally salient, emotionally negative task contexts provoke goal neglect in depression.

Background: Goal neglect refers to a dissociation between intended and actual action. Although commonly associated with frontal brain damage, this phenomenon is also characteristic of clinical depression. To date, tests of goal neglect typically require individuals to switch between subtasks populated with neutral stimuli.

Mental imagery as a "motivational amplifier" to promote activities.

Facilitating engagement in rewarding activities is a key treatment target in depression. Mental imagery can increase engagement in planned behaviours, potentially due to its special role in representing emotionally salient experiences. The present study tested the hypothesis that mental imagery promotes motivation and engagement when planning pleasant and rewarding activities.

Hierarchical Cognition Causes Task-Related Deactivations but Not Just in Default Mode Regions.

The well-known deactivation of the default mode network (DMN) during external tasks is usually thought to reflect the suppression of internally directed mental activity during external attention. In three experiments with human participants we organized sequences of task events identical in their attentional and control demands into larger task episodes. We found that DMN deactivation across such sequential events was never constant, but was maximum at the beginning of the episode, then decreased gradually across the episode, reaching baseline towards episode completion, with the final event of the episode eliciting an activation.

Dissociable effects of attention vs working memory training on cognitive performance and everyday functioning following fronto-parietal strokes.

Difficulties with attention are common following stroke, particularly in patients with frontal and parietal damage, and are associated with poor outcome. Home-based online cognitive training may have the potential to provide an efficient and effective way to improve attentional functions in such patients. Little work has been carried out to assess the efficacy of this approach in stroke patients, and the lack of studies with active control conditions and rigorous evaluations of cognitive functioning pre and post-training means understanding is limited as to whether and how such interventions may be effective.

Beatboxers and Guitarists Engage Sensorimotor Regions Selectively When Listening to the Instruments They can Play.

Studies of classical musicians have demonstrated that expertise modulates neural responses during auditory perception. However, it remains unclear whether such expertise-dependent plasticity is modulated by the instrument that a musician plays. To examine whether the recruitment of sensorimotor regions during music perception is modulated by instrument-specific experience, we studied nonclassical musicians-beatboxers, who predominantly use their vocal apparatus to produce sound, and guitarists, who use their hands.

Cognitive Rehabilitation With Mobile Technology and Social Support for Veterans With TBI and PTSD: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: To investigate effects of cognitive rehabilitation with mobile technology and social support on veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Participants: There were 112 dyads, comprised by a veteran and a family member or friend (224 participants in total).

Design: Dyads were randomized to the following: (1) a novel intervention, Cognitive Applications for Life Management (CALM), involving goal management training plus mobile devices for cueing and training attentional control; or (2) Brain Health Training, involving psychoeducation plus mobile devices to train visual memory.

Anticipated and imagined futures: prospective cognition and depressed mood following brain injury.

Objectives: Depression, which is common following acquired brain injury (ABI), has been shown to predict cognitive impairment, rehabilitation outcome, and quality of life. Whilst many studies have examined links between depression and cognitive-affective processing in the non-ABI population, their applicability to this important clinical group, where cognitive difficulties can be marked, remains unknown. Here, we investigated biases in prospective cognition, which is known to be disrupted in (non-ABI) depression yet important for well-being.

We do as we construe: extended behavior construed as one task is executed as one cognitive entity.

We select and execute extended task episodes ('make tea') as one entity and not individually execute their very many components (find kettle, boil water, etc.). Such hierarchical execution is thought to occur in familiar task situations with pre-existing task episode-related scripts that once selected, control the identity and sequence of component steps.

When attended and conscious perception deactivates fronto-parietal regions.

The finding of increased fronto-parietal activity during conscious and attended perception forms a key basis for theories of consciousness and attention. However, this finding comes largely from studies that required explicit detection of events in a way that made detection the goal of the ongoing task. This is an important confound because goal completion itself elicits fronto-parietal activity.

How Common are WM Deficits in Children with Difficulties in Reading and Mathematics?

The extent to which deficits in working memory (WM) are characteristic of children with reading and mathematics difficulties was investigated in a large sample aged 5-15 years reported to have problems in attention, learning and memory. WM performance was highly correlated with reading and mathematics scores. Although deficits in individual tests of short-term memory (STM) and WM occurred in less than half of the children with detected learning difficulties, three-quarters of the children with low reading and mathematics scores obtained one or more WM scores in the deficit range.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Assisted Intention Monitoring for the Rehabilitation of Executive Impairments Following Acquired Brain Injury.

Background: Acquired brain injury (ABI) can impair executive function, impeding planning and attainment of intentions. Research shows promise for some goal-management rehabilitation interventions. However, evidence that alerts assist monitoring and completion of day-to-day intentions is limited.

Towards Validation of a New Computerised Test of Goal Neglect: Preliminary Evidence from Clinical and Neuroimaging Pilot Studies.

Objective: Goal neglect is a significant problem following brain injury, and is a target for rehabilitation. It is not yet known how neural activation might change to reflect rehabilitation gains. We developed a computerised multiple elements test (CMET), suitable for use in neuroimaging paradigms.