Black South Africans account for a majority of HIV cases in South Africa, highlighting the need for greater understanding of risks specific to this group. Within the HIV prevention and risk literature, little information exists regarding the familial and neuropsychological contributions to HIV risk in youth. The current study addressed this gap. In a group of black South African parent-child dyads, the researchers investigated the independent and interactive contributions of parenting quality and executive functioning in the prediction of HIV risk. Child report of relationship quality was negatively associated with risky sexual attitudes and externalizing behaviors. Parent report of parental monitoring/involvement was negatively associated with child pre-coital behaviors. Cognitive inflexibility interacted with child report of parental monitoring/involvement in its relation with externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that parenting may protect black South African youth with respect to HIV risk, and that executive functioning may play an indirect role in this relationship.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate source memory performance in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD). The secondary goal was to explore how memory was impacted when subjects were asked to generate responses during encoding. Fifty idiopathic PD patients and fifty healthy control subjects completed a task measuring item memory and source memory which also included a generation manipulation. Relative to controls, PD patients exhibited deficits in source memory but not item memory. Both groups demonstrated enhanced memory performance in the generative condition of the item memory task. The PD group displayed a marginally significant trend toward improvement in source memory when instructed to generate a response. These findings lend support to the notion of a selective pattern of source memory impairment in PD, highlighted by a dissociation between item and source memory performance. Generative tasks may be related to increased activation of key frontal regions that facilitate memory performance. These results could inform new perspectives for cognitive rehabilitation in PD, although further research is necessary.

ADHD is a well researched disorder in children and is associated with impairments in social functioning (Barkley, 2006). However, little is known about the etiology of social difficulties. An emerging body of literature is beginning to address the possible role social cognition may share in the social functioning outcomes in children with ADHD (Buitelaar et al., 1999; Corbett & Glidden, 2000; DaFonseca et al., 2009; Rapport et al., 2002; Sibley et al., 2010; Yuill & Lyon, 2007). Yet, research focusing on social cognition deficits in ADHD that accounts for subtype differences is limited. Some studies evaluated social cognition in CT children only (Corbett & Glidden, 2000; DaFonseca et al., 2009; Rapport et al., 2002) while other research utilized behavior ratings or sociometric studies (Matthys et al., 1999; Zentall et al., 2001). Another body of literature has examined the impact executive functioning deficits may have on social functioning (Barkley, 1997; Charman et al., 2001; Chhabildas et al., 2001). The purpose of the current study was to identify factors that predict social functioning impairments in children with ADHD as well as differentiate between ADHD subtypes. Participants included 89 youth with ages ranging from 6 to 16 years (M = 10.19, SD = 2.76). Forty-nine children met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive Subtype (PI) and 40 for ADHD, Combined Type (CT). Results indicated CT youth demonstrated more aggressive and rule-breaking behavior than PI youth. Measures of social cognition did not predict ADHD subtype, and when compared to a normative sample, participants performed in the average range on affect recognition and theory of mind tasks. Performance-based measures of executive functioning largely associated with inattention (i.e., vigilance, processing speed, and working memory) best predicted subtype differences with CT youth being more impaired. Executive functioning, not social cognition, was predictive of social maladjustment in CT and PI youth. For CT youth, deficits in emotion control, shift, and initiate were related to anxiety, aggressive behavior, and depressed mood. Similarly, emotion control and shift were predictors of aggressive behavior, anxiety, and depressed mood in PI youth with deficits in self-monitoring, initiate, and inhibit as secondary predictors. / text

Virtual-reality neuropsychological tests offer a novel way to assess real-life executive functioning within the context of standardized test conditions whilst maximizing ecological validity. Given the limited empirical evidence base for many of these virtual-reality tests, the current study aimed to further examine the relative ecological validity, sensitivity to brain-injury and diagnostic accuracy of the virtual-reality based Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF). To do this, the test was compared to seven standard tests of executive function, in a New Zealand sample of 27 brain-injured and 28 non brain-injured participants matched for age, gender and education. The JEF’s ecological validity was supported, with JEF total percent scores exhibiting large correlations with participants’ independently reported levels of everyday functioning, as measured by the Dysexecutive Questionnaire: Independent-Rater (DEX-IR) and Patient Competency Rating Scale-Relative (PCRS-R) (both rs = 0.606, p < 0.001). Compared to the standard executive function test variables included in the current study, the JEF’s associations with the everyday functioning measures were the largest, but only significantly larger than the respective correlations of some standard executive function test variables. These results indicated that the JEF is trending towards being relatively more ecologically valid than most of the standard executive function tests included in the study. The JEF also exhibited good sensitivity to brain-injury and diagnostic accuracy for discriminating brain-injured from non brain-injured participants, which was generally consistent with most of the standard tests, but only significantly better than some. These results provide empirical support for the JEF’s clinical utility, particularly in the assessment of brain-injured persons’ functional abilities. It also suggests that both virtual-reality and standard executive function tests have a place in the routine neuropsychological test batteries used to assess brain-injured persons.

Black South Africans account for a majority of HIV cases in South Africa, and there is thus a need for greater understanding of protective factors specific to this group. Within the HIV prevention and risk literature, little information exists regarding the familial and neuropsychological contributions to HIV prevention in youth. The current study addressed this gap. In a group of black South African parent-child dyads, we explored factors contributing to the development of pre-adolescents’ protective attitudes in the context of a family-based HIV prevention intervention, named Imbadu Ekhaya (IE), which translates to “communication in the home,” in Xhosa. As expected, the intervention increased communication practices among parents and children. However, child attitudes were not affected by the intervention through either of the two proposed mediators, parent-child communication or parent attitudes about child sexuality. Furthermore, child executive functioning did not play a role in the relationship between parent-child communication and child sexual attitudes measured 6 months post intervention. Results indicated that the intervention improved communication practices between parents and children, but the impact of such interventions on child outcomes should be explored further.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by dopamine dysregulation in several regions of the brain, including the striatum. Because of the intimate connections between the striatum and the frontal lobes, individuals with PD often demonstrate impairments on those tasks relying on the prefrontal cortex (e.g. tests of executive functioning). Source memory, or memory for context, is believed to rely on the prefrontal cortex and has been previously associated with executive functioning performance, although it has received little attention in the PD literature. Executive functioning and source memory were measured in a group of non-demented PD patients and healthy control participants. Within the PD group, an anti-Parkinson's medication withdrawal manipulation was used to examine whether source memory was affected by phasic changes in dopamine levels. Compared to healthy control participants, PD patients were impaired in source memory (both on and off medication) and on two composite measures of executive functioning. Within the PD group, medication administration improved motor performance but did not have a significant effect on source memory, suggesting that source memory may not rely on the dopamine system.

The present investigation determined how different component-processes of executive functioning (EF) acted as risk factors for intoxicated aggression. Participants were 512 (246 men and 266 women) healthy social drinkers between 21 and 35 years of age. EF was measured using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning – Adult Version (BRIEF-A; Roth, Isquith, & Gioia, 2005) that assesses nine EF components. Following the consumption of either an alcohol or a placebo beverage, participants were tested on a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (Taylor, 1967) in which mild electric shocks were received from, and administered to, a fictitious opponent. Aggressive behavior was operationalized as the shock intensities and durations administered to the fictitious opponent.

The purpose of this investigation was twofold. First, to test the hypothesis that irritability and executive functioning (EF), two previously established risk factors for alcohol-related aggression, would interact to conjointly confer multiplicative risk for intoxicated violence that is not observed when testing either variable alone. Second, to test the hypothesis that irritability would mediate the relation between EF and alcohol-related aggression. EF was measured using seven well-established neuropsychological tests. Irritability was measured using the Caprara Irritability Scale-CIS. Participants were 310 male and female social drinkers between the ages of 21 – 35 years old. After consuming an alcohol or placebo beverage, participants were tested on a laboratory aggression task in which electric shock are given to and received from a fictitious opponent under the guise of a competitive reaction time task. Aggression was operationalized as shock intensities administered to the fictitious opponent. Results indicated that irritability successfully mediated the relation between EF and intoxicated aggression for men only. No support was found to suggest that EF and irritability together confer multiplicative risk for intoxicated aggression. Results are discussed within a cognitive neoassociationistic framework for aggressive behavior.

Background: There is presently a lack of consistency in research designed to measure executive functioning (EF) in autism that may be attributable to lack of homogeneity or comorbid conditions (i.e. learning disability or additional diagnosis) in test samples. Aim: A systematic review focused on a subset of EF (verbal fluency: VF) was conducted, using only studies of high-functioning individuals with autism (HFA) without an additional diagnosis or learning disability. An empirical study was conducted comparing the executive functioning profile of individuals with HFA and typically developed (TD) individuals. Method: For the systematic review, 16 studies met the specified inclusion criteria, depicting 15 semantic (category), 14 phonological (letter), and 6 switching (categories) VF tasks. In order to assess potential bias, the available VF information of the included papers was scrutinised by the author and an independent clinical practitioner. For the empirical paper, 22 HFA and 22 TD participants (mean age = 28, range = 17-73, 52% male) without a comorbid condition, learning disability or brain injury completed three subtests from the WAIS-IV (vocabulary, block design and digit span) and all subtests of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Functioning System (D-KEFS). Results: For the systematic review, a minority of semantic and phonological VF studies reported a significant difference between typically developed and HFA populations. Five of the six semantic switching studies reported a significant difference between groups. All papers included were of good or adequate quality and inter-rater reliability was high. For the empirical paper, the HFA group performed significantly poorer on the switching condition of the design fluency task, semantic conditions of the verbal fluency task and on the word context task overall. No other significant differences were observed. Summary: Although the systematic review concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support that disfluency can be attributed to autistic symptomology, the empirical study found that the HFA group performed poorer than TD in semantic VF and other subtests designed to measure generating novel ‘imaginative’ ideas, without visual cues to aid performance. The deficit on these subtests was increased when there was the added condition requiring the participant to switch between newly formed concepts. Conclusions: Although in VF, results are mixed, the empirical study demonstrates that even in a group of high-functioning individuals there are still measurable differences in EF between TD and HFA samples that may not be apparent through more general cognitive testing. Implications for using a neuropsychological profile for adults with HFA are discussed.

abstract: ABSTRACT PHYSCIAL ACTIVITY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS INTRODUCTION: Regular physical activity may increase neurological development, which has been shown to increase cognitive functioning in older adults and those with dementia. Studies have also shown physical activity and exercise may positively affect executive functioning in children. Little is known about the influence of physical activity on executive functioning in college students between the ages of 18-21 years, a population that is traditionally thought of as healthy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the association between physical activity and executive functioning in college-aged students. We hypothesize that regular physical activity is positively associated with executive functioning scores and that this association is independent of adiposity. METHODS: Twenty males and 29 females (19.5 ± 0.1 yrs. old) participated in this study. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Executive function was assessed by Stroop Color and Word Association Test (Stroop) and Trail Making Test A & B. A verbal ability test (analogies, synonyms, antonyms) was given in order to control for intelligence. Body composition was determined by a Tanita TBF-300 Body Composition Analyzer. RESULTS: Partial correlations between physical activity/inactivity measures and measures of executive functioning were generally small (r-values &#8804; 0.2) and not significant. However, there was a significant inverse correlation between log moderate physical activity minutes per week and Stroop interference scores (r=0.50, p=0.01). Also, a trend towards significance was noted for the correlation between sitting minutes per week and Stroop interference scores (r=0.4 p=0.08) CONCLUSION: These results suggest that in college students, moderate physical activity is inversely associated with executive functioning while sitting time may be positively associated with executive functioning. These findings are in contrast to previous studies in children and older adults, and may indicate a unique relationship between physical activity/inactivity and executive functioning in college students. Future studies to further examine this population in greater depth are warranted. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Exercise and Wellness 2012