Ambient Sensory Conditions: Modification of Receptive Speech Deficits in Left-Side Stroke Patients Using Bright Light

2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 623-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Harrison ◽  
Allison L. Beck ◽  
Jennifer M. Vendemia ◽  
Robert P. Walters

Previous research has demonstrated the potential for the use of ambient sensory conditions to improve cognitive functioning. Both light and sound have been shown to improve task performance in various populations including children, younger adults, and elderly participants; however, these cognitive gains may possibly be offset by detrimental cardiovascular reactivity in elderly persons. We now have some evidence for ambient sensory conditions affecting cognitive function following left- or right-side cerebrovascular accidents.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 797-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Carr ◽  
M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller ◽  
Karen Z. H. Li ◽  
Natalie Phillips ◽  
Jennifer L. Campos

Abstract As the population ages, it is increasingly important to detect non-normative cognitive declines as early as possible. Measures of combined sensory–motor–cognitive functioning may be early markers for identifying individuals who are at increased risk of developing dementia. Further, older adults experiencing subjective cognitive decline (SCD) may have elevated risk of dementia compared to those without SCD. Tasks involving complex, multisensory interactions reflective of everyday challenges may be particularly sensitive to subjectively perceived, pre-clinical declines. In the current study, older adults with and without SCD were asked to simultaneously perform a standing balance task and a listening task under increasingly challenging sensory/cognitive/motor conditions using a dual-task paradigm in a realistic, immersive virtual environment. It was hypothesized that, compared to older adults without SCD, those with SCD would exhibit greater decrements in postural control and listening response accuracy as sensory/motor/cognitive loads increased. However, counter to predictions, older adults with SCD demonstrated greater reductions in postural sway under more challenging dual-task conditions than those without SCD. Across both groups, poorer postural task performance was associated with poorer cognitive function and speech-in-noise thresholds measured with standard baseline tests. Poorer listening task performance was associated with poorer global cognitive function, poorer mobility, and poorer speech-in-noise detection. Overall, the results provide additional support for the growing evidence demonstrating associations between sensory, motor, and cognitive functioning and contribute to an evolving consideration of how best to categorize and characterize SCD in a way that guides strategies for screening, assessment, and intervention.


2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Pezzuti ◽  
Caterina Laicardi ◽  
Marco Lauriola

Summary: An Elderly Behavior Assessment for Relatives (EBAR), updating the GERRI ( Schwartz, 1983 ), was administered to relatives (or significant others) of 349 elderly persons, from 60 to over 80 years of age, living at home, in good health and without cognitive impairment. A trained psychologist administered subjects the Life Satisfaction for Elderly Scale (LSES), the Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL), the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and personally answered to an overall elderly behavior rating scale (RA). EBAR items were first examined. The more attractive and less discriminative statements were excluded. A principal components analysis was carried out on the remaining EBAR items. Three factors were extracted. After varimax rotation they were tentatively labeled: Everyday Cognitive Functioning, Depression, and Hostility. Factor-driven EBAR subscales were designed, taking into account simpler items in the factor matrix. Results provide evidence for EBAR construct validity. Everyday Cognitive Functioning is connected to the IADL and the RA scores; Depression is very highly related to the LSES; Hostility is weakly related to RA, IADL, and MMSE, indicating that the scale needs further investigation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Marianne Yee ◽  
Sarah L Adams ◽  
Asad Beck ◽  
Todd Samuel Braver

Motivational incentives play an influential role in value-based decision-making and cognitive control. A compelling hypothesis in the literature suggests that the brain integrates the motivational value of diverse incentives (e.g., motivational integration) into a common currency value signal that influences decision-making and behavior. To investigate whether motivational integration processes change during healthy aging, we tested older (N=44) and younger (N=54) adults in an innovative incentive integration task paradigm that establishes dissociable and additive effects of liquid (e.g., juice, neutral, saltwater) and monetary incentives on cognitive task performance. The results reveal that motivational incentives improve cognitive task performance in both older and younger adults, providing novel evidence demonstrating that age-related cognitive control deficits can be ameliorated with sufficient incentive motivation. Additional analyses revealed clear age-related differences in motivational integration. Younger adult task performance was modulated by both monetary and liquid incentives, whereas monetary reward effects were more gradual in older adults and more strongly impacted by trial-by-trial performance feedback. A surprising discovery was that older adults shifted attention from liquid valence toward monetary reward throughout task performance, but younger adults shifted attention from monetary reward toward integrating both monetary reward and liquid valence by the end of the task, suggesting differential strategic utilization of incentives. Together these data suggest that older adults may have impairments in incentive integration, and employ different motivational strategies to improve cognitive task performance. The findings suggest potential candidate neural mechanisms that may serve as the locus of age-related change, providing targets for future cognitive neuroscience investigations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 439-439
Author(s):  
Changmin Peng ◽  
Sae Hwang Han ◽  
Jeffrey Burr

Abstract Neighborhood environments shape the availability of resources for social engagement and social interaction, which are associated with better health outcomes. However, these contextual factors are also considered sources of potential social distress and tension, increasing the risk of subsequent health deficits, including cognitive decline. Our understanding of the linkage between childhood neighborhood environments and cognitive functioning in later life is limited. This study employed three waves of nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2015; N = 11,105) to investigate the relationship between self-reported neighborhood social cohesion during childhood (i.e., neighborhood safety, neighbors willing to help, and close-knit neighborhood) and cognitive functioning (Chinese version of TICS). We employed latent growth curve modeling to test hypotheses relating to life course models of childhood conditions and later life cognitive functioning (the long arm of childhood). The results showed that perceptions regarding the willingness of neighbors to help and close-knit neighborhood characteristics during childhood were positively associated with levels of later life cognitive function. Further, growing up in a neighborhood characterized by the willingness of neighbors to help others was negatively associated with the rate of cognitive decline, net of childhood and adulthood covariates. Self-report of neighborhood safety during childhood was unrelated to cognitive function (level and change). These findings underscored the long-term ramifications of childhood conditions as potential risk factors for later-life cognitive health. Social cohesion at the neighborhood level as experienced during childhood may be a protective factor for healthy cognitive aging among older Chinese adults.


Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Sawada ◽  
Takahisa Mori ◽  
Yuna Hosaka

Introduction: Acute stroke patients have problems with toilet activities. Independent toilet activity in hospitalized patients is important for dischargee to home. Hypothesis: Lower limbs function, trunk control and cognitive function are important factors of early independent toilet activities and discharge to home within 7 days. Methods: We included acute ischemic stroke patients who 1) were admitted from June 2017 to May 2018 and 2) received early rehabilitation treatment. Patients with disturbed level of consciousness were excluded. Functional independence measure (FIM) scale of 6 or 7 was defined as independence and FIM scale of 5 or less as dependence. We evaluated Brunnstrom Recovery Stage (BRS) of arms, fingers and lower limbs, trunk control test (TCT), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and investigated significant factors of early independent toilet activities and discharge to home within 7 days. Results: One-hundred twenty-four patients met our inclusive criteria. Their average age was 75.8 years, male gender of 63.7%, median BRS of arms, fingers and lower limbs was 5, 5 and 5, median TCT score and MMSE score were 94 and 24.7, respectively. Fifty-three patients were independent in toilet activity and 73 patients were dependent. All patients with independent toilet activity discharged to home within 7 days. In independent and dependent toilet activity patients, an average age was 73.6 and 77.4 (p<0.05), median BRS of arms was 5 and 5 (p<0.01), median BRS of fingers was 6and 5 (p<0.01), median BRS of lower limbs was 5 and 5 (p<0.01), median TCT score was 100 and 61 (p<0.01), and median MMSE score was 27.8 and 22.5 (p<0.01), respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that MMSE score (p<0.01), TCT score (p<0.01), and BRS of lower limbs (p<0.05) were independent factors for independent toilet activity and discharge to home. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for early discharge to home demonstrated that cut-off values of MMSE score, TCT score and MRS of lower limbs were 27 or more, 87 or more and 5 or more, respectively. Conclusion: BRS as lower limbs function, TCT as trunk control and MMSE as cognitive function were important factors of early independent toilet activities and early discharge to home.


2013 ◽  
Vol 333 ◽  
pp. e212
Author(s):  
J. Ma ◽  
Y. Zhang ◽  
Q. Guo ◽  
R. Jin ◽  
X. Zhen

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 843-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalba Hernandez ◽  
Elaine Cheung ◽  
Minli Liao ◽  
Seth W. Boughton ◽  
Lisett G. Tito ◽  
...  

Objective: We examined the association between depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning in older Hispanics/Latinos enrolled in an exercise intervention. Method: We analyzed baseline, 1-year, and 2-year in-person interview data collected from Hispanics/Latinos aged ≥60 years participating in an exercise intervention across 27 senior centers ( N = 572). Results: Mean age was 73.13 years; 77% female. At baseline, older adults screening positive for depression were 1.58 times more likely to experience cognitive impairment ( p = .04); controlling for demographics and comorbid chronic conditions. Compared to peers with little to no depressive symptoms, lower cognitive functioning scores were evident at each follow-up assessment point where elevated depressive symptoms were present, but baseline depression was not associated with cognitive function in longitudinal analyses. Discussion: In older Hispanics/Latinos enrolled in an exercise intervention, though baseline depression did not predict cognitive function over time, elevated symptoms of depression were associated with greater cognitive impairment at every point in this study.


1983 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry J. Heimlich

Seven consecutive patients who had lost the ability to swallow saliva or ingest food following cerebrovascular accidents were subsequently taught to eat again. Five patients were restored to eating a regular diet and two showed improvement limited by their underlying conditions. Prior to swallowing rehabilitation, their nutrition had been maintained by tube feedings for periods of 5 months to 3.9 years. Patients were instructed in sucking, elevation of the larynx, and coordination of those functions. This method has not been reported previously for use in stroke patients. Oral feeding was initiated with ice chips and progressed to a normal diet. Speech also improved after regaining deglutition. The clinical evidence suggests that paralysis initiated the swallowing disability which persisted due to disuse of retrainable pharyngeal muscles. The reflex sequence of deglutition can be retaught if lost due to stroke.


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