Background/Objective A subset of recovered COVID-19 patients report persistent neurological symptoms. These include non-specific symptoms (e.g., headaches and fatigue) which were found to be affected by psychological processes in other disorders (e.g., post-concussion syndrome, PCS, after mild traumatic brain injury). The current study assessed the impact of diagnosis threat (i.e., information regarding the long-term neurological impact of COVID-19) and suggestibility on endorsed symptoms of both recovered patients and healthy controls. Method Recovered patients ( n = 90) and healthy controls ( n = 210) described their cognitive functioning after being randomly assigned to: (a) Experimental group : These participants read an article that explored long-term neurological symptoms among COVID-19 survivors. (b) Control group : These participants read an article providing general information regarding the disease. Results Recovered patients, but not healthy controls, endorsed more symptoms in the experimental condition compared to the control condition. Moreover, suggestibility was correlated with endorsement of symptoms. Conclusions Post COVID-19 neurological symptoms may, at least partially, be affected by non-neurological factors such as diagnosis threat. Information regarding long-term effects of COVID-19 may skew reported symptoms with highly suggestible individuals particularly susceptible to these effects. Further research, however, is needed to validate and elaborate upon these initial findings.

Background: The current study aimed to validate the utility of previously established validity indicators derived from MOXO-d-CPT’s continuous performance test. Method: Healthy simulators feigned impairment after searching online for relevant information, an ecologically valid coaching condition ( n = 39). They were compared to ADHD patients ( n = 36) and healthy controls ( n = 38). Results: Simulators performed significantly worse than ADHD patients in all MOXO-d-CPT indices, as well as a scale that integrates their contributions (feigned ADHD scale). Three indices (attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) and the latter scale exhibited adequate discriminative capacity. Higher education was associated with an exaggerated impairment among simulators, easing their detection. Conclusion: Similarity between the current study and a previous study which examned the utlity of the MOXO-d-CPT validity indicators, increases our confidence in the efficacy of the latters embedded validity indicators. Though the findings provide initial validation of these validity indicators, generalizing beyond highly functioning participants necessitates further research.

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Objective: The term "long-COVID" refers to the persistence of neurological symptoms after being ill with headaches, fatigue, and attentional impairment). Providing information about long-COVID (i.e., "diagnosis threat") increased subjective cognitive complaints among recovered COVID-19 patients compared with those exposed to neutral information (Winter & Braw, 2022). Notably, this effect was particularly prominent among more suggestible participants. Our aim in the current study was to validate these initial findings and to explore the impact of additional variables (e.g., suggestibility). Method: Recovered patients (n = 270) and controls (n = 290) reported daily cognitive failures after being randomly assigned to either a diagnosis threat (exposure to an article providing information regarding long-COVID) or a control condition. Results: Recovered patients, but not controls, reported more cognitive failures in the diagnosis threat condition compared with the control condition. Diagnosis threat added significantly to the prediction of cognitive complaints based on relevant demographic variables and suggestibility. Diagnosis threat and suggestibility interacted (i.e., suggestible individuals were particularly vulnerable to the impact of a diagnosis threat). Conclusions: Diagnosis threat may contribute to the persistence of complaints regarding cognitive impairment among recovered COVID-19 patients. Suggestibility may be an underlying mechanism that increases the impact of diagnosis threat. Other factors, such as vaccination status, may be at play though we are only at the initial stages of research concerning their impact. These may be the focus of future research, aiding in identifying risk factors for experiencing COVID-19 symptoms past the resolution of its acute phase.