Human Cognition Assessment in Drug Research

Abstract

In this article cognition assessments as outcome measures in CNS drug development research are described. An outline is given of the various choices that can be made and the reasons for them, depending on the approach followed. First, a brief historical context is provided of the psychological sciences that have contributed to today's psychopharmacology of cognition assessment. Subsequently, the focus is on identifying cognitive domains and criteria for selecting appropriate tests. In applied cognitive performance assessment in human psychopharmacology, a number of approaches can be recognised, each associated with models that connect cognitive functions with physiological functions and neural structures. The product-oriented approach of cognition assessment is usually characterised by the use of a battery of several cognitive tasks as an assessment instrument and aims to demonstrate an effect of a pharmaceutical substance without much attempt to determine which cognitive process is primarily influenced by a drug. The process-oriented approach precisely defines the cognitive process in terms of at least a single factor linear model of a process (e.g. by manipulating levels of difficulty) and then compares how diseases and drugs modify the parameters of that process. The associated factor analytical-, resource-strategy- and staged information processing models respectively are described. Finally a brief review is presented on possible physiological markers or biomarkers of human cognitive functions.

Alcohol calibration of tests measuring skills related to car driving

“…The Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) measures many different psychomotor and cognitive functions at the same time (Riedel et al 2006). A computerized version of the original paper-and-pencil test (McLeod et al 1982) taken from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale is used (e.g., Leufkens et al 2009).…”

Histamine H1 receptor blockade predominantly impairs sensory processes in human sensorimotor performance

“…The latencies to the peak of the potentials are typically regarded as the time at which subprocesses occur after stimulus presentation. The P300 component is a central component and is thought to be associated with evaluation of a stimulus just before a decision takes place (Riedel et al. , 2006; Polich, 2007).…”

Effects of L‐histidine depletion and L‐tyrosine/L‐phenylalanine depletion on sensory and motor processes in healthy volunteers

“…The time interval between a peak and a stimulus or response is indicative of the duration of processes occurring during that interval. For example, the duration of the interval between a stimulus and the P300 peak latency is indicative of the duration of sensory processes (Riedel et al. , 2006; Polich, 2007).…”