INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 04 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 12:00 pm - 01:15 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 04: Neuroimaging \| Neurostimulation/Neuromodulation \| Teleneuropsychology/Technology Final Abstract #111 Sensitivity of Cognitive Neuroscience Measures in Subjective Cognitive Decline Shawn Obarski, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States Lilly Mason, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States Adam Greenberg, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States Jacklynn Fitzgerald, Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States Gennadiy Gurariy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States Kaley Davis, Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States Malgorzata Franczak, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States Laura Glass Umfleet, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States Category: Cognitive Neuroscience Keyword 1: cognitive neuroscience Keyword 2: memory complaints Keyword 3: neuropsychological assessment Objective: Subjective cognitive decline refers to the perception of gradual cognitive decline without objective evidence of impairment on clinical neuropsychological (NP) tests. Older persons with SCD are twice as likely to develop dementia than those without SCD, suggesting that legacy NP measures may lack sensitivity and specificity in the identification of early cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive neuroscience measures, such as the attention network task (ANT) and N-back task, are demanding and sensitive tasks but are not regularly used in clinical settings. The present pilot study investigates group differences in performance on cognitive neuroscience measures, relative to paper and pencil NP tests, in SCD and control cohorts. We also examine the relationship between objective cognitive measures and subjective report of cognitive and mood symptoms. Participants and Methods: Patients with SCD (n = 11, M age = 68.5 and M education = 15.8; 82% female) and controls with minimal to no cognitive complaints or impairment (n = 11, M age = 62.1 and M education = 16.2; 55% female) underwent neuropsychological testing and completed the ANT and N-back tasks. Traditional NP tests included a word list memory measure (RAVLT), letter fluency, category fluency, and Trail Making Test (Parts A and B). These participants also completed self-report measures including the SCD-Inventory and PROMIS-29. Analyses included partial correlations and ANCOVA. Results: SCD and controls did not differ in education, t(20) = .383, p = .706, or gender, X² (1) = 1.89, p = .170. Groups differed on age, t(20) = -2.639, p = .016. Therefore, age was factored into correlational and ANCOVA analyses. and controls did not differ on ANT metrics of alerting, orienting, and distractor filtering, and N-back trials (1, 2, and 3 back), though there were trend-level findings with the SCD population having more difficulty filtering distractors (in the ANT) and lower d’ values on the 2-back task. Regarding NP measures, group differences emerged on Trails B (p = .04). The cognitive neuroscience measures and NP tests did not significantly correlate with the SCD inventory total score and PROMIS-29 subscale scores, (p’s > .05). However, the SCD inventory scores correlated with PROMIS-29 depression (p = .03), anxiety (p = .01), fatigue (p = .02), ability to participate in social roles (p < .001), pain interference (p = .02), cognitive function (p < .001) subscale scores. Conclusions: The results of this pilot study revealed a trend towards poorer performance on both the ANT and N-back task in the SCD group, suggesting these tasks warrant further examination to determine if these measures are truly sensitive enough to detect cognitive dysfunction at the SCD stage. While objective cognitive scores were not significantly correlated with subjective scores, results showed a correlation between the SCD inventory and select PROMIS-29 measures, indicating that greater perceived cognitive symptoms are associated with exaggerated negative mood symptoms. Future research using larger samples is needed to help differentiate “worried-well” from pathological SCD.

Poster

02/15/2024
12:00 pm - 01:15 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 04: Neuroimaging | Neurostimulation/Neuromodulation | Teleneuropsychology/Technology

Final Abstract #111

Sensitivity of Cognitive Neuroscience Measures in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Shawn Obarski, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States
Lilly Mason, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States
Adam Greenberg, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States
Jacklynn Fitzgerald, Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States
Gennadiy Gurariy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States
Kaley Davis, Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States
Malgorzata Franczak, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States
Laura Glass Umfleet, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States

Category: Cognitive Neuroscience

Keyword 1: cognitive neuroscience
Keyword 2: memory complaints
Keyword 3: neuropsychological assessment

Objective:

Subjective cognitive decline refers to the perception of gradual cognitive decline without objective evidence of impairment on clinical neuropsychological (NP) tests. Older persons with SCD are twice as likely to develop dementia than those without SCD, suggesting that legacy NP measures may lack sensitivity and specificity in the identification of early cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive neuroscience measures, such as the attention network task (ANT) and N-back task, are demanding and sensitive tasks but are not regularly used in clinical settings. The present pilot study investigates group differences in performance on cognitive neuroscience measures, relative to paper and pencil NP tests, in SCD and control cohorts. We also examine the relationship between objective cognitive measures and subjective report of cognitive and mood symptoms.

Participants and Methods:

Patients with SCD (n = 11, M age = 68.5 and M education = 15.8; 82% female) and controls with minimal to no cognitive complaints or impairment (n = 11, M age = 62.1 and M education = 16.2; 55% female) underwent neuropsychological testing and completed the ANT and N-back tasks. Traditional NP tests included a word list memory measure (RAVLT), letter fluency, category fluency, and Trail Making Test (Parts A and B). These participants also completed self-report measures including the SCD-Inventory and PROMIS-29. Analyses included partial correlations and ANCOVA.

Results:

SCD and controls did not differ in education, t(20) = .383, p = .706, or gender, X² (1) = 1.89, p = .170. Groups differed on age, t(20) = -2.639, p = .016. Therefore, age was factored into correlational and ANCOVA analyses. and controls did not differ on ANT metrics of alerting, orienting, and distractor filtering, and N-back trials (1, 2, and 3 back), though there were trend-level findings with the SCD population having more difficulty filtering distractors (in the ANT) and lower d’ values on the 2-back task. Regarding NP measures, group differences emerged on Trails B (p = .04). The cognitive neuroscience measures and NP tests did not significantly correlate with the SCD inventory total score and PROMIS-29 subscale scores, (p’s > .05). However, the SCD inventory scores correlated with PROMIS-29 depression (p = .03), anxiety (p = .01), fatigue (p = .02), ability to participate in social roles (p < .001), pain interference (p = .02), cognitive function (p < .001) subscale scores.

Conclusions:

The results of this pilot study revealed a trend towards poorer performance on both the ANT and N-back task in the SCD group, suggesting these tasks warrant further examination to determine if these measures are truly sensitive enough to detect cognitive dysfunction at the SCD stage. While objective cognitive scores were not significantly correlated with subjective scores, results showed a correlation between the SCD inventory and select PROMIS-29 measures, indicating that greater perceived cognitive symptoms are associated with exaggerated negative mood symptoms. Future research using larger samples is needed to help differentiate “worried-well” from pathological SCD.