Modulation of striatum based non-declarative and medial temporal lobe based declarative memory predicts academic achievement at university level

Pluck, Graham; Mancero, Patricia Bravo; Gavilanez, Claudio E. Maldonado; Alcívar, Angélica María Urquizo; Encalada, Paola Alexandra Ortíz; Carrasco, Elena Tello; Lara, Isabela; Trueba, Ana F.

doi:10.1016/j.tine.2018.11.002

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…This is used to measure episodic memory (Pluck et al, 2019). It uses an incidental learning paradigm to focus on memory processes rather than deliberate learning strategies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of premorbid intelligence and executive cognitive functions with lexical reading tasks.

Pluck¹,

Ruales-Chieruzzi²

2021

Psychology & Neuroscience

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Objective: Estimation of premorbid function is essential to accurate identification of cognitive impairments. We explored how lexical tasks can be used to estimate various cognitive functions. Method: Adults with cognitive impairment due to neurological illness (n = 15) and a nonclinical sample of adults (n = 143) completed tests of word pronunciation, lexical decision, and stem-completion naming. In three studies lexical-task performance associations with intelligence Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 4th edition (WAIS-IV), episodic memory, executive functioning, and theory of mind were explored. Results: At the group level, word pronunciation was robust in the presence of cognitive impairment. However, as a case series, patients showed idiosyncratic patterns of preservation of lexical skills. All of the lexical tasks were highly correlated with intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in the nonclinical sample, suggesting that they may function well as estimators of premorbid intelligence. Simulated impairments in nonclinical adults revealed that the median score from the three different tasks had the highest correlation with, and provided the most accurate and precise estimates of, measured IQ, and was also the least sensitive to impairment. We also show that these methods predict executive functions, in particular, proverb interpretation, phonemic/semantic alternating verbal fluency, and working memory span performance. Conclusions: Several lexical tasks are potentially useful in predication of preillness cognitive ability. However, due to the heterogeneity of impairments between patients, estimation of premorbid levels could be improved by the use of average estimated values from multiple tests. This could potentially improve diagnostic accuracy and quantification of neuropsychological impairments. Public Significance StatementUnderstanding a patient's cognitive impairments following brain illness is better if their abilities before the illness can be estimated. Reading that requires preexisting knowledge of the words, such as how to pronounce them, can be used for this purpose. Word pronunciation, particularly when combined with other tests of word knowledge, appears to be not much affected by cognitive impairment and gives a good indication of a patient's preillness ability.

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“…This is used to measure episodic memory (Pluck et al, 2019). It uses an incidental learning paradigm to focus on memory processes rather than deliberate learning strategies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of premorbid intelligence and executive cognitive functions with lexical reading tasks.

Pluck¹,

Ruales-Chieruzzi²

2021

Psychology & Neuroscience

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“…Roca et al [ 80 ] have shown that following frontal-lobe damage, impaired performance on several common tests of executive function can be fully explained by reductions in general intelligence. Similarly, some neurocognitive processes may act antagonistically, which will not be adequately captured in estimates of the central tendency of task performance [ 81 , 82 ].…”

Section: The Neurocognitive Perspective: Degeneracymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Misguided Veneration of Averageness in Clinical Neuroscience: A Call to Value Diversity over Typicality

Pluck

2023

Brain Sciences

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Research and practice in clinical neurosciences often involve cognitive assessment. However, this has traditionally used a nomothetic approach, comparing the performance of patients to normative samples. This method of defining abnormality places the average test performance of neurologically healthy individuals at its center. However, evidence suggests that neurological ‘abnormalities’ are very common, as is the diversity of cognitive abilities. The veneration of central tendency in cognitive assessment, i.e., equating typicality with healthy or ideal, is, I argue, misguided on neurodiversity, bio-evolutionary, and cognitive neuroscientific grounds. Furthermore, the use of average performance as an anchor point for normal performance is unreliable in practice and frequently leads to the mischaracterization of cognitive impairments. Examples are explored of how individuals who are already vulnerable for socioeconomic reasons can easily be over-pathologized. At a practical level, by valuing diversity rather than typicality, cognitive assessments can become more idiographic and focused on change at the level of the individual. The use of existing methods that approach cognitive assessment ideographically is briefly discussed, including premorbid estimation methods and informant reports. Moving the focus away from averageness to valuing diversity for both clinical cognitive assessments and inclusion of diverse groups in research is, I argue, a more just and effective way forward for clinical neurosciences.

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“…From a research perspective, environments with clear objectives for achievement are of particular interest as it is within these that success or failure of behavior can be most easily delimited. One such environment is higher education, and indeed there is existing research indicating that interindividual variation in top-down cognitive control predicts performance as measured by grades (Higgins, Peterson, Pihl, & Lee, 2007; Pluck et al, 2019; Pluck, Ruales-Chieruzzi, Paucar-Guerra, Andrade-Guimaraes, & Trueba, 2016). An alternative environment where cognitive ability may incline to measurable success is in professional work contexts.…”

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confidence: 99%

Executive functions and intelligent goal-directed behavior: A neuropsychological approach to understanding success using professional sales as a real-life measure.

Pluck

Crespo-Andrade

Parreño

et al. 2020

Psychology & Neuroscience

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Executive functions are proposed to underpin intelligent goal-directed behavior. Such skills, linked through multiple neuropsychological studies to functioning of the frontal lobes, are theorized to predict achievement in nonroutine activities. Furthermore, patients with frontal lobe damage often display disorganized behavior and real-life failures such as employment instability and bankruptcy despite normal or superior intelligence. These observations suggest that executive ability should predict real-life successes within challenging, nonroutine environments, and that it is perhaps more important than intelligence. We used the context of professional sales as a test of these hypotheses. Ninety new-car sales personnel completed an intelligence test and 5 assessments previously identified as sensitive to neuropsychological impairment independently of impairments of general intelligence. The results revealed some sex differences; for example, saleswomen performing significantly worse than salesmen on general intelligence but significantly better on multitasking. As hypothesized, general intelligence did not predict objective sales, nor did skills in abstraction, multitasking, or theory of mind. However, 2 tests of inhibition were significant predictors of sales achieved. This was dependent on the sex of the personnel. Sales were predicted by verbal response suppression for men and by motor response withholding for women. The results validate the role of executive functions in real-life achievement in challenging, nonroutine, environments. In particular, they suggest that response inhibition may be a cognitive skill that particularly contributes to real-life success, at least in the context of sales, and this depends on biological sex. Finally, some executive functions may be better predictors of real-life success than general intelligence.

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Modulation of striatum based non-declarative and medial temporal lobe based declarative memory predicts academic achievement at university level

Cited by 7 publications

References 59 publications

Estimation of premorbid intelligence and executive cognitive functions with lexical reading tasks.

Estimation of premorbid intelligence and executive cognitive functions with lexical reading tasks.

The Misguided Veneration of Averageness in Clinical Neuroscience: A Call to Value Diversity over Typicality

Executive functions and intelligent goal-directed behavior: A neuropsychological approach to understanding success using professional sales as a real-life measure.

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