Neuropsychology
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This study examined the impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children on executive functions and social competence, and particularly on the role of executive functions as a predictor of social competence. ⋯ Severe TBI in young children negatively impacts executive functions and social competence. Executive functions may be an important determinant of social competence following TBI.
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Comparative Study
Abnormal error-related antisaccade activation in premanifest and early manifest Huntington disease.
Individuals with the trinucleotide CAG expansion (CAG+) that causes Huntington's disease (HD) have impaired performance on antisaccade (AS) tasks that require directing gaze in the mirror opposite direction of visual targets. This study aimed to identify the neural substrates underlying altered antisaccadic performance. ⋯ These results are the first to suggest that abnormalities in an error-related response network may underlie early changes in AS eye movements in premanifest and early manifest HD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).
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To estimate the incidence of olfactory dysfunction across traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity and decision-making deficits with regard to intracranial lesions' location and laterality. ⋯ Olfactory dysfunction is independent of TBI severity, showing improvements in one third of cases from 3- to 12-months postinjury. However, anosmia was related to TBI severity. There is evidence for marked decision-making deficits after TBI, all subgroups performed similarly and failed to develop an advantageous strategy over time.
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Enhanced understanding of cognitive deficits, and the neurobiological abnormalities that mediate them, can be achieved through translational research that employs comparable experimental approaches across species. This study employed a multiple-systems framework derived from the rodent literature to investigate visual-spatial memory abilities associated with schizophrenia. ⋯ These results support a heuristic of preferential deficits in hippocampal-mediated forms of memory in schizophrenia. Moreover, the task provides a useful paradigm for translational research and the pattern of deficits suggests that persons with schizophrenia may benefit from mnemonic approaches favoring egocentric representations and consistency when interacting with our visual-spatial world.
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This study sought to determine whether the family environment moderates psychosocial outcomes after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children. ⋯ The findings indicate that the family environment moderates the psychosocial outcomes of TBI in young children, but the moderating influence may wane with time among children with severe TBI.