Background: Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a highly prevalent condition, that causes chronic pain and severe reduction in quality of life and productivity, as well as social isolation. Despite the significant morbidity and economic burden of FMS, current treatments are scarce.
Objective: To investigate whether stimulation of ACC -mPFC activity by dTMS enhances a pain-directed psychotherapeutic intervention.
Stress impacts prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity and modulates working memory performance. In a recent study, stimulating the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) interacted with social stress in modulating participants' working memory. More specifically, stress disrupted the enhancing effects of dlPFC tDCS on working memory performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Neuropsychol Adult
December 2023
Performance validity tests (PVTs) aim to detect noncredible performance during neuropsychological testing. Despite their established utility, their cognitively undemanding nature and format may unintentionally reveal their purpose, leading to ongoing efforts to develop novel PVTs. In this study, we examined the ability of the embedded validity indices of the Poreh Nonverbal Memory Test (PNMT) to detect simulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiagnosis of combat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is largely based on the subjective reports of the claimant and is therefore prone to over-diagnosis of symptoms. Over-diagnosis of combat PTSD is associated with harm. Therefore, it is important to assess the claimant's credibility in assessing PTSD as accurately as possible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The term "long-COVID" refers to the persistence of neurological symptoms after being ill with COVID-19 (e.g., headaches, fatigue, and attentional impairment).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The availability of information regarding neuropsychological tests threatens their confidentiality. This concern may be particularly relevant to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) considering its widespread online coverage. The present study explored simulators' online search strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The current study aimed to validate the utility of previously established validity indicators derived from MOXO-d-CPT's continuous performance test.
Method: Healthy simulators feigned impairment after searching online for relevant information, an ecologically valid coaching condition ( = 39). They were compared to ADHD patients ( = 36) and healthy controls ( = 38).
Objective: The current study assessed the utility of eye-movements measures, gathered while participants performed a commercially available Continuous Performance Test (CPT), to detect feigned ADHD-associated cognitive impairment.
Method: Healthy simulators ( = 37), ADHD patients ( = 33), and healthy controls ( = 36) performed an eye-tracker integrated MOXO-dCPT and a stand-alone validity indicator.
Results: Simulators gazed significantly longer at regions that were irrelevant for successful MOXO-dCPT performance compared to ADHD patients and healthy controls.
Performance validity tests (PVTs) are used for the detection of noncredible performance in neuropsychological assessments. The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Clin Health Psychol
May 2021
A subset of recovered COVID-19 patients report persistent neurological symptoms. These include non-specific symptoms (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Neuropsychol Adult
January 2023
Background: The feigning of cognitive impairment is common in neuropsychological assessments, especially in a medicolegal setting. The Word Memory Test (WMT) is a forced-choice recognition memory performance validity test (PVT) which is widely used to detect noncredible performance. Though translated to several languages, this was not done for one of the most common languages, Arabic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPerformance validity tests (PVTs) based on the forced-choice recognition memory (FCRM) paradigm are commonly used for the detection of noncredible performance. Examinees' response times (RTs) are affected by cognitive processes associated with deception and can also be gathered without lengthening the duration of the assessment. Consequently, interest in the utility of these measures as supplementary validity indicators in FCRM-PVTs has grown over the years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Neuropsychol Adult
September 2022
Chronic pain (CP) is often associated with cognitive impairment. The Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB), a computerized assessment battery, has been studied in several neuropsychiatric disorders but not in CP. Since feigning of cognitive impairment is common in CP, the current study aimed to assess the CBB's utility in differentiating CP patients ( = 64) from healthy participants ( = 33), as well as to assess the effect of simulating cognitive impairment by CP patients on performance in the battery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Despite their impact on daily functioning, we have limited understanding of the executive functioning of older adults with bipolar disorder (OABD). Even less is known about the possible differences in the executive functioning of OABD and older adults with unipolar depression (OADEP).
Methods: After excluding acutely ill patients, the executive functioning of OABD was compared to that of OADEP and healthy controls (n = 22, n = 20, n = 22; respectively).
Objective: The use of continuous performance tests (CPTs) for assessing ADHD related cognitive impairment is ubiquitous. Novel psychophysiological measures may enhance the data that is derived from CPTs and thereby improve clinical decision-making regarding diagnosis and treatment. As part of the current study, we integrated an eye tracker with the MOXO-dCPT and assessed the utility of eye movement measures to differentiate ADHD patients and healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClinical decision-making may be enhanced when combining psychophysiological sensors with computerized neuropsychological tests. The current study explored the utility of integrating an eye tracker with a commercially available continuous performance test (CPT), the MOXO-dCPT. As part of the study, the performance of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients and healthy controls ( = 43, = 42, respectively) was compared in the integrated system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForced-choice performance validity tests are routinely used for the detection of feigned cognitive impairment. The drift diffusion model deconstructs performance into distinct cognitive processes using accuracy and response time measures. It thereby offers a unique approach for gaining insight into examinees' speed-accuracy trade-offs and the cognitive processes that underlie their performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The response to placebo is robust in studies of various antidepressant treatments. The strong placebo response, combined with the absence of side-effects, has prompted suggestions to use the ethically sound open-label placebo (OLP) as a treatment for depression. The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of OLP as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU) in the setting of a randomized controlled trial for the treatment of unipolar depression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCogn Affect Behav Neurosci
February 2020
Recent reviews of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) show limited support for its initially cited enhancing effects on working memory (WM). They highlight the need for additional research, assessing the specific circumstances that optimize stimulation outcome. Social stress is an attractive candidate in this regard, as it affects WM and is mediated by prefrontal cortex activity; tDCS that targets these neuronal networks may, therefore, interact with social stress to affect WM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this study was to assess the MOXO-d-CPT utility in detecting feigned ADHD and establish cutoffs with adequate specificity and sensitivity. : The study had two phases. First, using a prospective design, healthy adults who simulated ADHD were compared with healthy controls and ADHD patients who performed the tasks to the best of their ability ( = 47 per group).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPain complaints are frequently described by depressed patients, and are mostly attributed to abnormal pain perception and modulation. The present study aimed to assess whether a unique pain processing profile differentiates depressed patients from healthy controls. Participants were 25 patients suffering from a moderate-severe unipolar depressive episode and 25 age and sex-matched healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResponse time (RT) measures in the Word Memory Test (WMT) offer to complement information derived from conventional accuracy measures. The current study aimed to validate the findings of Lupu, Elbaum, Wagner, and Braw in which RT variability was assessed, for the first time, in the WMT. A secondary aim was to suggest directions for the future research of RT measures in Forced-Choice Recognition Memory Performance Validity Tests (FCRM-PVTs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Neuropsychol Adult
September 2020
Eye movements showed initial promise for the detection of deception and may be harder to consciously manipulate than conventional accuracy measures. Therefore, we integrated an eye-tracker with the Word Memory Test (WMT) and tested its usefulness for the detection of feigned cognitive impairment. As part of the study, simulators ( = 44) and honest controls ( = 41) performed WMT's immediate-recognition (IR) subtest while their eye movements were recorded.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The growing awareness that so many do not respond adequately to antidepressant (AD) pharmacotherapy has sparked research seeking to characterize those who do. While the pharmacological mechanisms of AD treatment have been extensively evaluated, much remains unknown about the placebo component of the response to medication. This study examined the association between suggestibility levels and response to ADs amongst depressed patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Prosody production is highly personalized, related to both the emotional and cognitive state of the speaker and to the task being performed. Fundamental frequency (F main) is a central measurable feature of prosody, associated with having an attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Since methylphenidate is an effective therapy for ADHD, we hypothesized that it will affect the fundamental frequency of ADHD patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF