Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Executive Functioning And Risk For Alzheimer's Disease In The Cognitively Intact: Family History Predicts Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Performance, Kathleen Hazlett, Christina Marie Figueroa, Kristy A. Nielson
Executive Functioning And Risk For Alzheimer's Disease In The Cognitively Intact: Family History Predicts Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Performance, Kathleen Hazlett, Christina Marie Figueroa, Kristy A. Nielson
Psychology Faculty Research and Publications
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research typically focuses on memory. However, executive functioning (EF) deficits are also common among AD patients; these deficits are associated with decreased functioning in activities of daily living, an important criterion in diagnosing AD. A classic test of EF ability, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST), has demonstrated sensitivity to differentiating individuals with AD from healthy controls, discriminating AD groups based on disease severity, and distinguishing AD from other types of dementia. Such sensitivity to AD raises the possibility that the WCST is also sensitive to very early, preclinical differences between those who have heightened risk for …
Emotional Enhancement And Repetition Effects During Working Memory In Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Lucas S. Broster
Emotional Enhancement And Repetition Effects During Working Memory In Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Lucas S. Broster
Theses and Dissertations--Clinical and Translational Science
This dissertation introduces a framework for understanding differences in how emotional enhancement effects might influence memory in aging adults and then summarizes the findings of three studies of how repetition effects and emotional enhancement effects influence working memory in older adults without cognitive impairment (NC), older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and older adults with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In these experiments, individuals with AD showed cognitive impairment in terms of accuracy and reaction time, but individuals with MCI showed milder behavioral impairment that was confined to manipulations of working memory. Individuals with AD showed relative sparing of …
Functional Interplay Between Neurocognitive Decline And Risk Factors In Older Adults: A Multivariate Latent Growth Curve Model Of Risk, Rebecca Kathryn Macaulay
Functional Interplay Between Neurocognitive Decline And Risk Factors In Older Adults: A Multivariate Latent Growth Curve Model Of Risk, Rebecca Kathryn Macaulay
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a heterogeneous brain disease with multiple interacting risk factors, suggesting equifinality. Research indicates that the pathophysiological processes involved in AD are evident years prior to disease onset with significant variability in neurocognitive functioning being apparent during preclinical stages. Identification of individuals in preclinical stages is vital, as earlier interventions may prove more effective at ameliorating AD’s devastating effects. In this respect, clarifying relationships between risk factors and neurocognitive functioning in cognitively intact older adults can improve our understanding of mechanisms involved in preclinical AD, which may allow for earlier detection and intervention. The present study employed …