<p><em><p>Depression är en vida utbredd sjukdom. Kognitiv träning skulle kunna</p><p>vara en kostnadseffektiv och lättillgänglig intervention att bemöta</p><p>sjukdomen i ett tidigt skede. Tidigare forskning tyder på att kognitiv</p><p>träning har effekt på depression och kognitiva nedsättningar. Denna</p><p>studie ämnade undersöka om träning hemma skulle leda till</p><p>förbättringar av depression, och om dessa berodde på träningen i sig.</p><p>Fyra deltagare med depressionssjukdomar genomförde träning med</p><p>Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). Studien hade en n=1-</p><p>design med för- och eftermätningar, och kontroll genom</p><p>pseudointervention. Dagliga och veckovisa mätningar visade</p><p>förbättring för endast en deltagare. Träningen visade sig därmed inte</p><p>effektiv. Tre deltagare upplevde nytta med interventionen. Det kan</p><p>vara skäl för fortsatta studier av kognitiva interventioner vid</p><p>depression.</p></em></p><p> </p> / <p>Depression is a widely spread disorder. Cognitive training could be a</p><p>cost effective and easily accessible intervention to treat the disorder in</p><p>an early stage. Previous research indicates that cognitive training is</p><p>effective in alleviating depression and cognitive deficits. The aim of</p><p>this study was to investigate whether cognitive training at home would</p><p>lead to improvements in depression, and whether improvements were</p><p>due to the training per se. Four subjects with depression participated</p><p>in training with the Paced Audity Serial Addition Task (PASAT). The</p><p>study had an n=1-design with pre- and post-measures, and control by</p><p>a pseudo-intervention. Daily and weekly measures showed effects</p><p>only for one participant. Thus the training was not shown to be</p><p>effective. Three participants experienced benefits from the</p><p>intervention. That could be a reason for further studies of cognitive</p><p>interventions of depression.</p>

Depression är en vida utbredd sjukdom. Kognitiv träning skulle kunna vara en kostnadseffektiv och lättillgänglig intervention att bemöta sjukdomen i ett tidigt skede. Tidigare forskning tyder på att kognitiv träning har effekt på depression och kognitiva nedsättningar. Denna studie ämnade undersöka om träning hemma skulle leda till förbättringar av depression, och om dessa berodde på träningen i sig. Fyra deltagare med depressionssjukdomar genomförde träning med Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). Studien hade en n=1- design med för- och eftermätningar, och kontroll genom pseudointervention. Dagliga och veckovisa mätningar visade förbättring för endast en deltagare. Träningen visade sig därmed inte effektiv. Tre deltagare upplevde nytta med interventionen. Det kan vara skäl för fortsatta studier av kognitiva interventioner vid depression. / Depression is a widely spread disorder. Cognitive training could be a cost effective and easily accessible intervention to treat the disorder in an early stage. Previous research indicates that cognitive training is effective in alleviating depression and cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to investigate whether cognitive training at home would lead to improvements in depression, and whether improvements were due to the training per se. Four subjects with depression participated in training with the Paced Audity Serial Addition Task (PASAT). The study had an n=1-design with pre- and post-measures, and control by a pseudo-intervention. Daily and weekly measures showed effects only for one participant. Thus the training was not shown to be effective. Three participants experienced benefits from the intervention. That could be a reason for further studies of cognitive interventions of depression.

L' esclerosi múltiple (EM) és una de les malalties inflamatòries més comunes del sistema nerviós central (SNC). En l'EM es produeix una desmielinització de les fibres nervioses que dificulten o interrompen la conducció de l'impuls nerviós en el SNC donant lloc a una simptomatologia molt variada, amb signes i símptomes motors, sensitius i alteracions cognitives. D'entre un 40- 65% dels pacients d'EM avaluats en els serveis d'atenció sanitària presenten algun tipus d'alteració cognitiva, fins i tot en fases de recent diagnostic de la malaltia, provocant aquestes alteracions cognitives dificultats en les activitats de la vida diària. És per a tots aquests factors, que en els últims anys s'ha desencadenat un gran interès no només per a l'estudi dels dèficits cognitius en aquesta malaltia, sinó també en el desenvolupament d'eines diagnostiques ràpides i eficaces per a valorar les alteracions cognitives en aquesta població clínica.Una de les eines d'avaluació més utilitzada es la prova Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), en la qual els pacients d'EM presenten un baix rendiment i tema central d'aquesta tesi doctoral. Aquesta prova es una de les més utilitzades per a l'avaluació dels dèficits cognitius d'aquests pacients, tant en l'àmbit clínic com en el de la investigació. Aquest fet fa que, ja sigui com a prova única en bateries de tipus neurològic o formant part d'altres bateries neuropsicològiques més extenses, el PASAT s'utilitze quasi de forma sistemàtica per a la valoració cognitiva en l'EM. Per altre banda, aquesta prova no es troba exempta de problemes, degut a que, per una banda l' execució correcta d'aquesta tasca implica la realització coordinada d'una serie de funcions cognitives resulten, en segon lloc, una prova difícil de realitzar no sols per als pacients, sino també en grups de persones sense alteració neurològica.

Distress tolerance and experiential avoidance are important aspects of the coping process. In the current study, both were examined in relation to Body Mass Index and self-reported disturbances in mood and eating behavior. Distress tolerance was measured behaviorally and via self-report to elucidate the manner in which a) the ability to tolerate emotional distress, and b) the ability to persist behaviorally in the presence of stress-inducing stimuli were related to self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, maladaptive eating habits, and bodily concerns. A sample of 73 undergraduate students participated, and height, weight, and waist circumference were measured. Increased experiential avoidance was associated with increased weight status; however, this was true only for the morbidly obese group (n = 1). Increased experiential avoidance and decreased self-efficacy significantly predicted less rewarding eating experiences. Individuals with lower distress tolerance on the DTS reported increased depression, anxiety, and experiential avoidance, and were more likely to indicate eating disturbances and concerns on self-report measures, although distress tolerance generally was unrelated to eating behaviors as indexed on food diaries. These results were not replicated utilizing a behavioral measure of distress tolerance. Future directions for research designed to examine these variables in overweight and obese populations are discussed.

No description available.

Inom disciplinen kognitiv hörselvetenskap tillämpas en integrerad ansats där taluppfattning beskrivs ur både ett auditivt bottom-up-perspektiv och ett kognitivt top-down-perspektiv. Studien undersökte hur taluppfattning varierar med, respektive utan top-down-stöd och vad de kognitiva förmågorna uppmärksamhet, minne och inhiberingsförmåga hade för inverkan. Taluppfattningsförmåga utvärderades med hjälp av ett Speech-In-Noise-test (SIN-test) som bestod av tre deltest där enstaviga ord presenterades i en ofördelaktig miljö bestående av röster som talande i mun på varandra. I deltest 1 presenterades ord i uppåtgående förhållande till rösterna utan kognitivt stöd, i deltest 2 presenterades ord i nedåtgående förhållande till rösterna med kognitivt stöd och i deltest 3 presenterades ord i uppåtgående förhållande till rösterna med kognitivt stöd. Detta resulterade i identifiering av tre tröskelnivåer för taluppfattning. Kognitiva förmågor utvärderades med hjälp av Reading span test, Size Comparison span task (SIC-span) och Paced Auditory Serial-Addition Test (PASAT). Envägs variansanalys av taluppfattningstesten visade på signifikanta skillnader mellan alla tre testen. I test 2 identifierades lägst tröskelvärde, därefter test 3 och slutligen test 1. Korrelationsanalys visade på icke signifikanta samband mellan de tre SIN-testen. Av de kognitiva förmågorna och SIN- testen visade endast PASAT A på ett signifikant samband med SIN-test 2. Analys av de kognitiva förmågorna och differenserna mellan SIN-testen gav inga signifikanta samband. Slutligen vid analys av de kognitiva förmågorna hade PASAT A och PASAT B ett starkt positivt samband medan PASAT B och Reading span test hade ett starkt negativt samband. Resultaten i studien talade för att top-down-stöd ger bättre taluppfattningsförmåga och att uppmärksamhetskapacitet är en förmåga som har en signifikant inverkan på taluppfattning i nedåtgående förhållande till ett brus av röster.

[Truncated abstract] Controlled and automatic processing are broad categories, and how best to measure these constructs and their impact on functioning after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains uncertain. The purpose of this thesis was to examine automatic and controlled processing aspects of attention after mild TBI using the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) and event-related potentials (ERPs). The PASAT is one of the most frequently used tests to evaluate attentional functioning. It has been demonstrated to be a measure sensitive to both acute and longer-term effects of mild TBI, presumably due to demands for rapid processing and executive attentional control. ERPs provide a noninvasive neurophysiological index of sensory processing and cognitive functions and have demonstrated sensitivity to even minor cognitive dysfunction. The parameters provided by this functional technique may be those most likely to distinguish individuals with mild TBI from controls. Initially, it was hypothesized that successful novice PASAT performance requires the engagement of executive attention to establish novel controlled information processing strategies. Ten individuals who had suffered a mild TBI an average of 15.20 months previously were therefore expected to demonstrate processing abnormalities on the PASAT, relative to 10 healthy matched controls. Although the mild TBI group reported significant intensification of subjective symptoms since their injury, compared to controls, the mild TBI group provided a similar amount of correct PASAT responses. ... In the first experiment a visual search task consisting of an automatic detection and a controlled search condition was developed. In the second experiment the search task was performed concurrently with the PASAT task in a dual-task paradigm. In the mild TBI group, prior failure to establish more efficient forms of information processing with practice was found to significantly interfere with simultaneous performance of the PASAT task and the attention demanding condition of the search task. The pattern of impaired performance was considered to reflect a reduction in processing resources rather than a deficit in resource allocation. Dual-task performance in the control group was not associated with a large interference effect. In general, the results of this thesis suggest that individuals with mild TBI are impaired in their ability to progress from the stage of effortful controlled information processing to a stage of more efficient, automatic processing, and thus suffer a subtle attentional deficit. Following mild TBI, performance levels equivalent to controls may only be achieved with an abnormal expenditure of cognitive effort. As a result of the neuropathologic consequences of injury, individuals who have sustained a mild TBI are less able to benefit from practice, experience difficulty coping with simultaneous performance of secondary task, and are susceptible to distressing subjective symptomatology.

In this paper, top-down and bottom-up processing were studied regarding their effect on speech-in-noise. Three cognitive functions were also studied (divided attention, executive functioning, and semantic comprehension), and the effect they have on the speech processing and on each other. The research questions asked were if a difference in speech-in noise perception can be observed regarding the different levels of top-down and bottom-up support, if speech-in-noise is related to any of the researched cognitive abilities, and if there exists any correlation between these abilities. The method is a within-subject experimental design, consisting of four different tests: PASAT, to measure attention, LIT, to measure semantic comprehension, TMT, to measure executive functioning and SIN, to measure speech-in noise. The results showed a significant difference between top-down and bottom-up processing, a significant difference between top-down processing in decreasing and increasing conditions could also be seen. A negative correlation between the benefit of top-down support and the semantic comprehension task was found. Regarding the cognitive abilities a few correlations were found; the semantic comprehension task had a positive correlation to both the central executive task and the attentional task, the attentional task had a negative correlation to the central executive task, and both of the central executive subtasks had a positive correlation to each other. Most of the findings were expected, built on earlier cognitive hearing theories and studies.