INTRODUÇÃO: O Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDAH) é um problema de saúde mental bastante freqüente em crianças, adolescentes e adultos em todo o mundo. É caracterizado pela presença de três grupos de sintomas: desatenção, hiperatividade e impulsividade. As pesquisas internacionais e nacionais indicam que os indivíduos portadores do TDAH podem também apresentar, além dos déficits atencionais, alterações nas funções executivas. As crianças e adolescentes com TDAH apresentam prejuízos claros no seu funcionamento do aprendizado escolar e no desenvolvimento social e emocional. O diagnóstico do TDAH é clínico, baseado nos critérios do DSM-IV, porém os estudos dos prejuízos atencionais e das funções executivas nos pacientes com TDAH têm permitido uma melhor caracterização dos diferentes subtipos clínicos, além de serem fundamentais na elucidação diagnóstica de algumas co-morbidades e na proposta de intervenção e/ou reabilitação. O objetivo desta pesquisa é a utilização de testes neuropsicológicos para auxílio na avaliação da atenção e das funções executivas em pacientes com TDAH. MÉTODOS: Neste estudo transversal realizado entre Setembro de 2006 a Junho de 2008, foram selecionados 23 pacientes do sexo masculino, entre 9 a 12 anos de idade, com diagnóstico de TDAH sem comorbidades, estabelecido segundo os critérios do DSM-IV, com QI89, que não tivessem sido medicados para o TDAH, que soubessem ler e escrever de acordo com o período de escolaridade cursado e que estivessem em acompanhamento no Ambulatório de TDAH do Serviço de Neurologia Infantil do Instituto Central e do Instituto da Criança do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP, foi comparado o desempenho nos testes neuropsicológicos com o grupo controle (n=15) que seguiu os mesmos critérios em relação à idade, ao sexo e QI. A escala SNAP-IV também foi comparada entre os pacientes e grupo controle. RESULTADOS: 1) Ocorreram diferenças significativas (p<0,05) entre o grupo de pacientes e o grupo controle no desempenho da atenção e das funções executivas; 2) Os pacientes apresentaram maiores escores para a desatenção, dificuldades na memória operacional, falhas de planejamento, maior tempo de execução, maior tempo de reação, controle inibitório comprometido, maior número de erros por ação e omissão do que os do grupo controle; 3) Os testes neuropsicológicos que demonstraram maior sensibilidade para avaliação da atenção e das funções executivas, em ordem de importância, foram: a) Tarefa 2 (erros por ação) do TAVIS 3R, b) Tarefa 3 (tempo de reação) do TAVIS 3R, c) Tarefa 2 (tempo de reação) do TAVIS 3R, d) Tarefa 1 (erros por ação) do TAVIS 3R, e) subteste Completar Figuras do teste WISC III Terceira Edição e f)Teste das Trilhas, parte B. CONCLUSÕES: De acordo com os resultados, através da maioria dos testes neuropsicológicos utilizados, foi possível evidenciar alterações das funções executivas e da atenção em crianças com TDAH e que os testes, em ordem decrescente de importância, Tarefa 2 (erros por ação) do TAVIS 3R, Tarefa 3 (tempo de reação) do TAVIS 3R, Tarefa 2 (tempo de reação) do TAVIS 3R, Tarefa 1 (erros por ação) do TAVIS 3R, o subteste Completar Figuras do teste WISC III Terceira Edição e o Teste das Trilhas, parte B, demonstraram maior correlação com o diagnóstico do TDAH. / INTRODUCTION: ADHD is a mental health problem which is highly frequent in children, adolescents and adults all over the world. It is characterized by the presence of three symptom groups: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Both national and international researches indicate that people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may also present, in addition to the attention deficits, alterations in the executive functions. Children and adolescents with ADHD present evident impairments in their school learning and in social and emotional development. The ADHD diagnosis is clinical, based on DSM-IV criteria; however, studies of the impairments of attention and executive functions in patients with ADHD have allowed a better characterization of the different clinical subtypes, besides being fundamental to diagnostically elucidating some comorbities and proposing intervention and / or rehabilitation. The aim of this research is to use the neuropsychological tests to aid the assessment of ADHD patients attention and executive functions. METHODS: In this transverse study, performed from September 2006 to June 2008, 23 male patients, aged 9 to 12 years, with diagnosed ADHD without comorbities according to DSM-IV criteria, IQ89, who had never been medicated for ADHD, who could read and write according to their level schooling and were being monitored in the outpatient clinic for ADHD at the Child Neurology Service of the Central Institute and the Childrens Institute, Hospital das Clínicas, FMUSP, were selected and their neuropsychological test results were compared to the control group (n=15) which followed the same criteria as for gender, age and IQ. The SNAP-IV Rating Scale was also compared between patients and control group. RESULTS: 1) There were significant differences (p<0,05) between patients and control group as for the performance of attention and executive functions; 2) the patients presented higher scores for inattention, difficulties with the working memory, inadequate planning, longer execution time, longer reaction time, poorer inhibitory performance, higher errors per action and omission than the control group; 3)The neuropsychological tests that demonstrated higher sensitivity to asses attention and executives functions in order of importance were: a) TAVIS 3R (task 2- errors by action), b) TAVIS 3R (task 3- reaction time), c) TAVIS 3R (task 2- reaction time), d) TAVIS 3R (task 1- errors by action), e) Subtest Pictures Completion of WISC III- Third Edition and f) Trial Making Test, part B. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results, through most neuropsychological tests performed, it was possible to show changes in the executive and attentive functions in ADHD children. Also, it was possible to verify that the tests, in decreasing order of importance: TAVIS 3R (task 2- errors by action), TAVIS 3R (task 3- reaction time), TAVIS 3R (task 2- reaction time), TAVIS 3R (task 1- errors by action), Subtest Pictures Completion of WISC III- Third Edition and Trial Making Test, part B, showed a greater correlation with the ADHD diagnosis.

The thesis deals with the issue of executive functions in patients with acquired brain injury and possibilies of executive deficit detection in real life circumstances. The thesis is divided into theoretical and empirical part.The theoretical part consists of three chapters. In the first chapterthe definition, localization and different disorders of executive functions are mentioned. The second chapter presents some neuropsychological methods suitable for executive functions assessment and their limits. In the final chapter the Multiple Errands Test method and its various modifications are introduced. The main purpose of the empirical part was to evaluate the ability of the Multiple Errands Test method - hospital version (MET - HV) to detect deficits in executive functions related to daily life functioning. The research group consisted of patients with acquired brain injury (N = 20) and neurologically healthy adults (N = 20) hospitalized in the Rehabilitation Center Kladruby. The results proved the ability of the method MET - HV to distinguish well between patients with acquired brain damage and healthy adults. The second hypothesis concerning the ability of the method to distinguish between patients with frontal and nonfrontal injury wasn't confirmed. Another purpose of the empirical part was to...

[pt] A despeito da grande heterogeneidade populacional brasileira, poucos estudos nacionais investigam as trajetórias de diferentes funções cognitivas ao longo do desenvolvimento saudável. A caracterização do perfil de desenvolvimento infantil brasileiro pode contribuir com informações relevantes para identificar padrões de normalidade e patologias ao longo da maturação neural na infância. Possibilita também o diagnóstico precoce e o planejamento interventivo adequado, evitando assim o surgimento ou agravamento de déficits posteriores. Com o objetivo de explorar as relações entre funcionamento executivo (FE), memória e atenção em crianças e adolescentes, o presente trabalho condensa informações obtidas em dois estudos de caracterização do desenvolvimento cognitivo infantojuvenil. Ambos estudos se basearam nos resultados de quatro paradigmas neuropsicológicos clássicos (Fluência Verbal, Figura de Rey, Aprendizagem Auditivo-Verbal de Rey e Stroop), aplicados em uma mesma amostra de 365 estudantes de 7 a 14 anos das camadas socioeconômicas C, D e E do Rio de Janeiro. Análises de conglomerados constituíram a base pré-classificatória em ambos estudos, como modelo de interação entre variáveis no primeiro e como técnica de agrupamento de casos no segundo. O primeiro estudo investigou o padrão de interação entre FE, memória e seus respectivos subdomínios. Um esquema de associação entre variáveis neuropsicológicas é proposto. Os resultados sugerem que, embora os domínios de FE desempenhem importantes papeis nos processos de aquisição e retenção, eles são claramente distinguíveis dos domínios de memória. O segundo estudo objetivou identificar perfis de funcionamento cognitivo similares dentre as faixas etárias estudadas. A hipótese de 4 agrupamentos identificados na análise exploratória foi replicada na análise confirmatória. A análise de agrupamento não-hierárquico, por ser um método interativo, permite que os casos se desloquem de grupo a grupo durante a análise, em função de sua similaridade ou dissimilaridade com outros casos, num limite de até 10 interações. Com base nessa subdivisão de casos, um modelo de classificatório foi apresentado, discriminando os sujeitos de acordo com suas performance em organização, memória e atenção. Os 4 grupos se desmembram em (1) duas classificações generalistas (sujeitos de alta ou baixa performance global), (2) duas classificações intermediárias (sujeitos com desempenho homogêneo ou sujeitos com baixo funcionamento executivo acentuado) e, (3) mais duas classificações específicas (sujeitos de alto ou baixo controle atencional). A ampla maioria dos sujeitos se enquadra na classificação de baixa performance global, de perfil homogêneo. A característica que melhor determina o grupo de maior desempenho global são as variáveis de funcionamento executivo. O maior fator de distinção entre os diferentes perfis cognitivos ao longo da infância também é a performance executiva, enquanto as variáveis de memória e de atenção demonstram mudanças mais sutis e menos determinantes para o funcionamento global. Os resultados de ambos projetos estão em concordância com os padrões descritos em estudos sobre Desenvolvimento Cognitivo Diferencial, tais quais apontam a existência de uma curva de desenvolvimento não-linear e não-homogênea ao longo da trajetória de desenvolvimento infantil. / [en] Despite the significant heterogeneity among the Brazilian population, few national studies exist that investigate the trajectories of different cognitive functions throughout healthy development. In order to explore the relationship between executive functioning (EF), memory, and attention in children and adolescents, this project condenses information from two studies of the characterization of cognitive development. Both studies were based on the results of four classical neuropsychological paradigms (verbal fluency, Rey complex figure, Rey auditory‐verbal learning, and Stroop test) applied to the same sample of 365 low-income students aged 7 to 14 in Rio de Janeiro. The first study investigated the patterns of interaction between EF and memory and their subdomains. An illustrated scheme of interactions between neuropsychological variables is proposed. The second study aimed to identify similar cognitive functioning profiles among the age group studied. A classification model based on performance levels in organization, memory, and attention is presented. Cluster analyses were employed in both studies. In the first study, cluster analysis was used to examine a model of interaction between variables. In the second, it was used to create a classification method to group individuals who function at similar levels. The results of this dissertation suggest that, although EF domains play an important role in the processes of acquisition and retention, they are clearly distinguishable from memory domains. Additionally, the most significant distinguishing factor between different cognitive profiles throughout childhood is executive performance. At the same time, the memory and attention variables appear to cause subtler and less relevant changes to overall functioning. These results are consistent with neuropsychological literature, which indicates a non-homogeneous cognitive profile during development.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-19T16:24:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 julianealvarezdetoledo.pdf: 5687649 bytes, checksum: 089e1997adee1c910ab6e02c0cef5b85 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-25T17:59:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 julianealvarezdetoledo.pdf: 5687649 bytes, checksum: 089e1997adee1c910ab6e02c0cef5b85 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-25T17:59:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 julianealvarezdetoledo.pdf: 5687649 bytes, checksum: 089e1997adee1c910ab6e02c0cef5b85 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-11-28 / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / Introdução: O uso do etanol é mais comum entre os adultos jovens e é uma substância capaz de causar danos significativos ao SNC, afetando diretamente processos neuromaturacionais e consequentemente, habilidades cognitivas complexas, tais como as Funções Executivas (FE). Assim, o conhecimento dos efeitos agudos desta substância sobre os constructos das FE é necessário para traçar o perfil do funcionamento cognitivo, que pode vir a ser afetado pelo uso desta substância. Objetivo: Verificar os efeitos agudos do etanol no desempenho dos três constructos eleitos das funções executivas em estudantes universitários de Juiz de Fora que são usuários ocasionais de álcool. Metodologia: Foram recrutados 45 indivíduos do sexo masculino, com idades entre 18 e 30 anos, que foram submetidos aos testes para caracterização da amostra e em seguida, alocados aleatoriamente em três grupos de 15 participantes: um grupo cuja dose de etanol era de 0,6 mg/kg de peso; outro de 1,0 mg/kg de peso; e o grupo placebo; todas acrescidas à 300 ml de cerveja sem álcool gelada. Os testes específicos para avaliação dos constructos das FE. foram realizados próximo ao pico de absorção do etanol, cerca de 40 minutos após a ingestão. Resultados: Houve diferença entre grupos na medida do etilômetro pós-teste e os três grupos foram diferentes entre si. Não houve diferença significativa entre os resultados obtidos nos demais testes. Discussão: Os achados corroboram estudos prévios com administração de etanol em indivíduos humanos em que não foram encontrados efeitos agudos decorrentes do consumo de álcool sobre os constructos das FE. Conclusão: O presente estudo foi pioneiro no Brasil para avaliação de jovens universitários no âmbito proposto. Novos estudos são necessários, com maior número de participantes, de ambos os sexos, para a definição da dose de etanol que seja capaz de afetar as FE e de reproduzir resultados em laboratório. / Introduction: Ethanol use is more common among young adults and it`s a substance capable of causing significant damage to the central nervous system, affecting neuromaturational processes directly and consequently, complex cognitive abilities such as executive functions (EF). Thus, knowledge of the acute effects of this substance on the constructs of EF is necessary to profile the cognitive functioning, which may ultimately be affected by the use of this substance. Objective: To investigate the acute effects of ethanol on performance of three elected constructs of executive functions in university students of Juiz de Fora who are occasional users of alcohol. Methods: 45 male subjects, aged between 18 and 30 years who were tested to characterize the sample and then were randomly allocated into three groups of 15 participants: one group whose ethanol dose was 0.6 mg / kg; another group whose dose was 1.0 mg / kg; and the placebo group; all of it was added to 300 ml of chilled alcohol free beer. The specific tests to evaluate the components of EF were performed near the peak absorption of ethanol, about 40 minutes after ingestion. Results: There were differences between groups in the extent of post-breathalyzer test and the three groups were different. There was no significant difference between the results obtained in the other tests. Discussion: These findings corroborate to previous studies with administration of ethanol in human subjects in which no acute effects of consuming alcohol on the constructs of EF were found. Conclusion: The present study was pioneer in Brazil for evaluation of university students in the proposed framework. Further studies are needed with larger numbers of participants, of both sexes, to define the dose of ethanol that is capable of affecting the FE and reproduce laboratory results.

Le présent mémoire vise à éclaircir la question de l’avantage du bilinguisme sur les cognitions. Une revue de la littérature s’impose afin de départager si le fait de parler plus d’une langue entraîne ou non un quelconque avantage cognitif pouvant se généraliser ailleurs que dans la fonction langagière. Ce travail nécessitera une redéfinition exhaustive et moderne des concepts du bilinguisme et des fonctions exécutives comme objet de recherche de manière à cibler les aspects comportementaux, cognitifs et neurologiques en jeu dans la pluralité linguistique. / The present thesis aims to clarify the bilingual cognitive advantage debate. A review of the scientific literature must be realized to determine if speaking more than one language truly generates a cognitive improvement which can generalize itself further than within the sole language faculty. This will necessitate a modern and exhaustive redefinition of bilingualism and executive functions as research concepts in order to target the behavioral, cognitive and neurologic aspects at stake within the plurality of language.

La qualité de la vision sensorielle, l’aspect oculomoteur et la cognition ont très souvent été abordés de façon individuelle. D’un côté, les désordres de la vergence, liés fréquemment à des désordres de l’accommodation, entraînent des symptômes tels que douleurs, diminution de la qualité de vision mais aussi problèmes d’attention et de concentration, pouvant avoir une incidence sur l’apprentissage. D’un autre côté, les désordres de la vergence sont aussi liés à des problèmes oculomoteurs dans la coordination et la précision des saccades, domaine sur lequel repose l’aptitude à la lecture. L’ambition de cette thèse est d’approfondir ces constats et d’introduire des moyens expérimentaux afin de mettre en évidence les liens entre accommodation/vergence (A/V), contrôle des saccades et leur interférence avec la cognition. Dans une première partie, nous avons étudié l’impact des dysfonctionnements A/V classique et l’impact d’un conflit A/V induit sur les performances au test de Stroop, reconnu pour évaluer certains types de fonctions cognitives, faisant appel aux capacités basiques de lecture et exigeant un déploiement attentionnel élevé. Pour une population d’étudiants, les résultats ont montré des performances diminuées en cas de désordres de la vergence existant et en cas de conflit A/V induit, attestant d’une incidence négative des dysfonctionnements et des déséquilibres A/V induits sur les fonctions exécutives et les processus attentionnels. Ici, l’hypothèse d’une interaction des processus visuels et cognitifs en parallèle apparait plus plausible que celle d’un model sériel, avec une performance cognitive retardée par un problème visuel. Dans un deuxième temps, une réhabilitation de la vergence chez les sujets en présentant des désordres a permis une restauration des capacités, a montré une amélioration de la coordination des saccades et a eu une incidence positive sur l’aspect cognitif pendant la lecture, venant confirmer la théorie d’interférence en parallèle. L’ensemble des travaux apportent des ouvertures de recherches (1) sur le plan théorique, en croisant des domaines comme la neurologie, la psychologie cognitive, l’oculomotricité, l’optométrie et l’orthoptie ; (2) sur le plan clinique, en proposant des tests caractéristiques de dépistage ainsi que des solutions d’amélioration ; (3) sur le plan éducatif, en proposant des pistes pour expliquer l’incidence que le système visuel peut avoir sur les performances académiques. / Quality of sensory vision, eye movements and cognition have been broached one by one so far. However, recent studies suggest possible interactions between these fields without clarifying the link. On the one hand, vergence/accommodative (V/A) dysfunctions leads to visual symptoms like sore eyes, blurry or double vision but also problems of attention, concentration, and appear to have a negative impact on academic performances. On the other hand, people diagnosed with vergence disorders also show poor coordination of their saccades, which are essential in reading and cognitive demanding activities. The goal of this thesis is to go into this analysis in depth and to propose experimental ways to evidence the links between V/A disorders, control of the saccades and their influence on cognition. In a first part, we studied the impact of typical V/A disorders and the impact of an induced A/V conflict on the performances during the Stroop test, which is a neurological test known for evaluating cognitive executive functions like inhibition, demanding a high attentional deployment and stimulating basic reading skills. Results show that vergence dysfunctions and V/A inducted conflict have a negative influence on the Stroop performances in students, leading to a diminished control of cognitive functions. These results suggest a more parallel interaction between visual and attentional processes instead of a serial model where vision would be a prerequisite to cognition, slowing down the cognitive processes when disturbed. Secondly, we pursue this theory: vergence rehabilitation in subjects diagnosed with vergence disorders permitted an increase of the vergence capacities, showed an improvement on the coordination of the reading saccades and had a positive influence on the cognitive aspect during reading. This work gives new research possibilities at different level: (1) at a theoretical level, it permits to cross fields like neurology, cognitive psychology, eye movements and optometry; (2) at a clinical level, it suggests typical tests for a more efficient screening and opens new perspectives on solutions to rehabilitate people with V/A disorders; (3) at an educational level, it gives clues on how visual functions could affect academic performances.

Deficits in executive functions, specifically in response inhibition (RI), have been reported in antisocial behavior, conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), etc. Individuals with deficits in RI have a high probability to show non-adapted social behavior that can lead to crime. Many studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technique, modulate the activity of the prefrontal cortex and the functions involved in executive control and RI. This article aims to review the literature on the effect of tDCS on RI and executive control and to highlight research avenues to develop therapeutic alternatives to prevent onset and recidivism of crime. A systematic review of the literature was performed in the Libsearch database following PRISMA method. Ten studies were selected showing tDCS modulation of RI measured with the Stop Signal and the Go-NoGo task. Eight of the studies showed gains on RI with tDCS versus sham. The data led to consideration of tDCS as a new therapeutic alternative to improve RI and hence prevention of onset and recidivism on crime. Individual differences, targeted brain areas, the polarity of electrodes and long-term learning effects are further discussed as crucial considerations for future studies.

Le syndrome de Prader-Willi (SPW) est une maladieneurodéveloppementale rare d’origine génétique dont les manifestationspsychologiques incluent une déficience intellectuelle légère à modérée, descomportements ritualisés, une obsession pour la nourriture, des accès de colèreet une labilité émotionnelle. Le premier objectif de ces études est d’appuyer lalittérature suggérant un déficit des fonctions exécutives dans le SPW. Ledeuxième objectif est d’évaluer s’il existe un déficit du traitement émotionneldans le SPW. Le troisième objectif est de déterminer si les effets modulateurs dela valeur émotionnelle sur l’efficience du contrôle exécutif sont exprimésdifférentiellement dans le SPW comparativement à la population saine. Deuxpré-expériences et cinq expériences ont été menées en utilisant des mesurescomportementales (pré-expériences 1, 2, expériences 1 à 5) et une associationentre mesures comportementales et mesures électrodermales (expériences 1, 2,3, 5). Les mesures comportementales montrent un ralentissement du traitementde l’information et une plus faible précision des réponses dans le SPW. Lesmesures physiologiques montrent des réponses de plus faible intensité et defaçon surprenante, plus précoces dans le SPW. Dans la majorité des cas, letraitement émotionnel de l’information est identique dans les deux groupes auniveau des mesures objectives. En revanche, l’évaluation subjective d’images àconnotation émotionnelle montre un biais de positivité dans le SPW. Enfin,l’efficience de la capacité de mise à jour de l’information est singulièrementaltérée dans le SPW lorsque l’environnement comporte des références à lanourriture. / Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare neurodevelopmental geneticdisease whose psychological manifestations include mild to moderateintellectual disability, ritualistic behavior, obsession with food, temper tantrums,emotional lability and psychiatric disorders. The first aim of these studies is tosupport the growing evidence that PWS people show an impairment ofexecutive functions. The second aim is to investigate whether PWS people havean impairment of emotional processing. A third objective is to determine if themodulating effects of emotional significance on the efficiency of executivecontrol are differentially expressed in PWS in comparison to the healthypopulation. Two pre-experiments and five experiments were conducted usingbehavioral measures (pre-experiments 1, 2 and experiments 1 to 5) and bothbehavioral and electrodermal measures (experiments 1, 2, 3, 5). Behavioral datashowed a global slowness of processing and a lower response accuracy.Physiological data showed weaker but surprisingly earlier responses in the PWSgroup. In the majority of cases, emotional processing was identical in the twogroups at the level of objective measures. In contrast, the subjective rating ofpictures of emotional significance showed an overall positive rating bias in thePWS group. Finally, the updating capacity of working memory is singularlyhampered in PWS when the environment contains references to food.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur fysisk aktivitet påverkar det subjektiva och objektiva minnet hos personer i åldrarna 65–75, samt om det finns någon relation mellan det upplevda subjektiva minnet och den objektiva minnesprestationen i relation till mängden fysisk aktivitet hos deltagarna. Urvalet bestod av 121 deltagare i åldrarna 65–75. Fysisk aktivitet mättes med Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale (SGPALS). Det subjektiva minnet mättes genom att deltagarna fick självskatta sitt minne på en skala, samt svara på hur de jämförde sitt minne med personer i deras ålder och om personer i deras omgivning tycker att de har dåligt minne. De exekutiva funktionerna inhibering och shifting mättes med testerna Flanker, Simon, Local Global och Number Letter. Antalet korrekta svar på testen användes som utfallsvariabel. Resultatet visade på ett signifikant samband mellan fysisk aktivitet och självskattat subjektivt minne, fysisk aktivitet förklarade 8.9% av variansen. Det var dock ingen signifikant relation mellan fysisk aktivitet och objektiva minnesprestationer. Interventioner som syftar till att öka äldre individers nivå av fysisk aktivitet kan vara fördelaktigt för att minska risken att drabbas av subjektiv minnesnedsättning. / The aim of this study was to investigate how physical activity affects the subjective and objective memory of people aged 65-75, and whether there is any relationship between the perceived subjective memory and the objective memory performance in relation to the amount of physical activity in the participants. The sample consisted of 121 participants aged 65-75. Physical activity was measured with the Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale (SGPALS). The subjective memory was measured by the participants having to self-estimate their memory on a scale, as well as responding to how they compared their memory to people their age and whether people around them think they have poor memory. The executive functions inhibition and shifting were measured with the Flanker, Simon, Local Global and Number Letter tasks. The outcome variable was the total amount of correct answers. The results showed a significant relationship between physical activity and self-rated subjective memory, physical activity explained 8.9% of variance. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between physical activity and objective memory performance. Interventions aimed at increasing the level of physical activity of older individuals may be beneficial in reducing the risk of subjective memory impairment.

Background: Old-old age (80+ years) is associated with substantial cognitive decline. In this population, training-induced cognitive plasticity has rarely been studied. While earlier findings on strategy trainings suggested reduced training gains in old-old age, recent results of an extensive process-based working memory (WM) training have been more positive. Objective: Following up on previous research, the present study aimed at examining the effects of a short WM training in old-old adults and the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Methods: A training group (mean age: 86.8 years) and a matched control group (mean age: 87.1 years) participated in the study. The WM training consisted of five tasks that were trained in each of 10 sessions. To evaluate possible transfer effects, executive functions were assessed with two tests before and after training. The training group was divided via median split in high- and low-capacity individuals to determine the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Results: The training group improved in four of the trained tasks (medium-to-large effects). Training gains were significantly larger in the training group than in the control group in only two of those tasks. The training effects were mainly driven by the low-capacity individuals who improved in all trained tasks. No transfer effects were observed. Conclusions: These positive effects of a short WM training, particularly for low-capacity individuals, emphasize the potential for cognitive plasticity in old-old age. The absence of transfer effects may also point to its limits. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.