Association of Cannabis With Cognitive Functioning in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Substantial shifts in perception and policy regarding cannabis have recently occurred, with use of cannabis increasing while its perceived harm decreases. One possible risk of increased cannabis use is poorer cognitive functioning, especially in youth.

Objective: To provide the first quantitative synthesis of the literature examining cannabis and cognitive functioning in adolescents and young adults (with a mean age of 26 years and younger).

Gestational Age is Dimensionally Associated with Structural Brain Network Abnormalities Across Development.

Prematurity is associated with diverse developmental abnormalities, yet few studies relate cognitive and neurostructural deficits to a dimensional measure of prematurity. Leveraging a large sample of children, adolescents, and young adults (age 8-22 years) studied as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, we examined how variation in gestational age impacted cognition and brain structure later in development. Participants included 72 preterm youth born before 37 weeks' gestation and 206 youth who were born at term (37 weeks or later).

Association between traumatic stress load, psychopathology, and cognition in the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort.

Background: Traumatic stressors during childhood and adolescence are associated with psychopathology, mostly studied in the context of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. We investigated broader associations of traumatic stress exposure with psychopathology and cognition in a youth community sample.

Methods: The Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (N = 9498) is an investigation of clinical and neurobehavioral phenotypes in a diverse (56% Caucasian, 33% African American, 11% other) US youth community population (aged 8-21).

Development and public release of a computerized adaptive (CAT) version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire.

One of the most widely used measures of psychosis-related symptoms and characteristics is the 74-item Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Using multidimensional Item Response Theory (bifactor 2-parameter model), we calibrated SPQ items in a sample of 375 youths aged 9-24 years and constructed a fully functional computerized adaptive form of the SPQ on an open-source platform for public use. To assess validity, we used the above parameters to simulate CAT sessions in a separate validation sample (N = 100) using three test-length-based stopping rules: 8 items, 16 items, and 32 items.

Cognition and community functioning in schizophrenia: The nature of the relationship.

Although cognition is one of the most important predictors of community functioning in schizophrenia, little is known about the causes of this correlation. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the extent to which this correlation is genetically mediated and whether the genetic correlation is specific to schizophrenia. Six hundred thirty-six participants from 43 multigenerational families with at least two relatives with schizophrenia and 135 unrelated controls underwent diagnostic interview and cognition and functioning assessment.

Prosody production networks are modulated by sensory cues and social context.

The neurobiology of emotional prosody production is not well investigated. In particular, the effects of cues and social context are not known. The present study sought to differentiate cued from free emotion generation and the effect of social feedback from a human listener.

The impact of in-scanner head motion on structural connectivity derived from diffusion MRI.

Multiple studies have shown that data quality is a critical confound in the construction of brain networks derived from functional MRI. This problem is particularly relevant for studies of human brain development where important variables (such as participant age) are correlated with data quality. Nevertheless, the impact of head motion on estimates of structural connectivity derived from diffusion tractography methods remains poorly characterized.

Diminished Cortical Thickness Is Associated with Impulsive Choice in Adolescence.

Adolescence is characterized by both maturation of brain structure and increased risk of negative outcomes from behaviors associated with impulsive decision-making. One important index of impulsive choice is delay discounting (DD), which measures the tendency to prefer smaller rewards available soon over larger rewards delivered after a delay. However, it remains largely unknown how individual differences in structural brain development may be associated with impulsive choice during adolescence.

A signal detection-item response theory model for evaluating neuropsychological measures.

Introduction: Models from signal detection theory are commonly used to score neuropsychological test data, especially tests of recognition memory. Here we show that certain item response theory models can be formulated as signal detection theory models, thus linking two complementary but distinct methodologies. We then use the approach to evaluate the validity (construct representation) of commonly used research measures, demonstrate the impact of conditional error on neuropsychological outcomes, and evaluate measurement bias.

Functional brain imaging in neuropsychology over the past 25 years.

Objective: Outline effects of functional neuroimaging on neuropsychology over the past 25 years.

Method: Functional neuroimaging methods and studies will be described that provide a historical context, offer examples of the utility of neuroimaging in specific domains, and discuss the limitations and future directions of neuroimaging in neuropsychology.

Results: Tracking the history of publications on functional neuroimaging related to neuropsychology indicates early involvement of neuropsychologists in the development of these methodologies.

Effects of -12° head-down tilt with and without elevated levels of CO on cognitive performance: the SPACECOT study.

Microgravity and elevated levels of CO are two common environmental stressors in spaceflight that may affect cognitive performance of astronauts. In this randomized, double-blind, crossover trial (SPACECOT), 6 healthy males (mean ± SD age: 41 ± 5 yr) were exposed to 0.04% (ambient air) and 0.

Face Processing Measures of Social Cognition: A Dimensional Approach to Developmental Psychopathology.

Background: Social cognition impairments in neurodevelopmental disorders impact functioning. Face processing is the most extensively studied aspect of social cognition, commonly indexing this construct in neuropsychiatric disorders compared with typically developing youths. Applying social cognition measures as a Research Domain Criteria concept in the clinical arena requires establishing cutoffs for intervention and identifying vulnerability for psychopathology across disorders.

Defining behavioral components of social functioning in adults with autism spectrum disorder as targets for treatment.

Unlabelled: There is increasing recognition that adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) would benefit from treatment to improve social functioning, a key factor in adults' overall quality of life. However, the various behavioral components of social functioning (i.e.

Individual variation in working memory is associated with fear extinction performance.

PTSD has been associated consistently with abnormalities in fear acquisition and extinction learning and retention. Fear acquisition refers to learning to discriminate between threat and safety cues. Extinction learning reflects the formation of a new inhibitory-memory that competes with a previously learned threat-related memory.

Body image attitude among Chinese college students.

The present study aimed to examine body image attitude in Chinese college students and related psychological consequences. A silhouette-matching test was administered to 425 college students in mainland China. Self-esteem, negative emotions, subjective well-being, and eating-disorder-related weight-controlling behaviors were also measured.

Quantitative assessment of structural image quality.

Data quality is increasingly recognized as one of the most important confounding factors in brain imaging research. It is particularly important for studies of brain development, where age is systematically related to in-scanner motion and data quality. Prior work has demonstrated that in-scanner head motion biases estimates of structural neuroimaging measures.

Impact of self-esteem and sex on stress reactions.

Positive self-evaluation is a major psychological resource modulating stress coping behavior. Sex differences have been reported in self-esteem as well as stress reactions, but so far their interactions have not been investigated. Therefore, we investigated sex-specific associations of self-esteem and stress reaction on behavioral, hormonal and neural levels.

Multisite Machine Learning Analysis Provides a Robust Structural Imaging Signature of Schizophrenia Detectable Across Diverse Patient Populations and Within Individuals.

Past work on relatively small, single-site studies using regional volumetry, and more recently machine learning methods, has shown that widespread structural brain abnormalities are prominent in schizophrenia. However, to be clinically useful, structural imaging biomarkers must integrate high-dimensional data and provide reproducible results across clinical populations and on an individual person basis. Using advanced multi-variate analysis tools and pooled data from case-control imaging studies conducted at 5 sites (941 adult participants, including 440 patients with schizophrenia), a neuroanatomical signature of patients with schizophrenia was found, and its robustness and reproducibility across sites, populations, and scanners, was established for single-patient classification.

Joint analysis of cognitive and circadian variation in Schizophrenia and Bipolar I Disorder.

Background: Impairment in cognitive variables and alterations in circadian function have been documented among patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar I disorder (BP1), but it is not known whether joint analysis of these variables can define clinically relevant sub-groups in either disorder.

Objectives: To evaluate the pattern and relationship of cognitive and circadian function in SZ and BP1 patients with respect to diagnosis and indices of clinical severity.

Methods: Among patients with SZ and BP1, cognitive function was evaluated using the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery and circadian function was assessed using the Composite Scale of Morningness/ Eveningness (CSM).

Sustained opioid antagonism modulates striatal sensitivity to baby schema in opioid use disorder.

Background: Chronic opioid misuse is associated with reduced sensitivity to natural rewards and social motivation deficits that include impaired caregiving. The neurobiological mechanisms underlying these deficits and their response to treatment are not well understood. Baby schema (Kindchenschema) is a set of juvenile physical features, which is perceived as "cute" and triggers motivation for caregiving.

Brain state expression and transitions are related to complex executive cognition in normative neurodevelopment.

Adolescence is marked by rapid development of executive function. Mounting evidence suggests that executive function in adults may be driven by dynamic control of neurophysiological processes. Yet, how these dynamics evolve over adolescence and contribute to cognitive development is unknown.

Repeated Administration Effects on Psychomotor Vigilance Test Performance.

Study Objectives: The Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) is reported to be free of practice effects that can otherwise confound the effects of sleep loss and circadian misalignment on performance. This differentiates the PVT from more complex cognitive tests. To the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically investigated practice effects on the PVT across multiple outcome domains, depending on administration interval, and in ecologically more valid settings.

An Evaluation of the Specificity of Executive Function Impairment in Developmental Psychopathology.

Objective: Deficits in executive function (EF) are common in neuropsychiatric disorders, but the specificity of these deficits remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the pattern of EF impairment across psychopathologies in children and adolescents. Associations among components of EF with dimensions of psychopathology, including an overall psychopathology factor, were assessed.

Developmental increases in white matter network controllability support a growing diversity of brain dynamics.

As the human brain develops, it increasingly supports coordinated control of neural activity. The mechanism by which white matter evolves to support this coordination is not well understood. Here we use a network representation of diffusion imaging data from 882 youth ages 8-22 to show that white matter connectivity becomes increasingly optimized for a diverse range of predicted dynamics in development.