Visually guided associative learning in pediatric and adult migraine without aura

Abstract

Introduction The Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test is a visually guided equivalence learning paradigm that involves rule acquisition and generalization. Earlier we found impaired performance in this paradigm among adult migraine patients without aura. The aim of the study was to investigate if similar impairments can be found already in the pediatric form of the disease and to compare the performance of the pediatric study population with that of an adult study population. We hypothesized that the deficits observed in adults would be observable already in the pediatric population. Methods Twenty-seven children and adolescents newly diagnosed with migraine without aura and 27 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were tested with the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test. Their performance data were compared to each other and those of an earlier adult study population involving 22 patients and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Four parameters characterizing performance in the two main phases of the paradigm were calculated for each of the four groups. Performance parameters were compared with Mann-Whitney U test. Results In contrast to the decreased performance of the adult patients in the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test, no significant difference was found between pediatric patients and controls in any phase of the paradigm. Conclusion Children living with migraine without aura do not exhibit the same cognitive deficits in the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test as their adult counterparts. It can be hypothesized that the deficit of equivalence learning is not an inherent feature of the migrainous cognitive profile, rather the result of the interference of the disease with normal development.

Multisensory stimuli enhance the effectiveness of equivalence learning in healthy children and adolescents

“…Since then, it has become widely recognized in the literature the basal ganglia have a key role in the association of stimuli [23,24], while transfer is linked mainly the hippocampi/medial temporal lobe [3,25]. The Rutgers paradigm has been applied to learn about associative learning/equivalence learning in various psychiatric and neurological disorders characterized by the dysfunction of the basal ganglia and the hippocampi [22,[26][27][28][29] and also in healthy subjects [30,31].…”

Visually guided equivalence learning in borderline personality disorder

“…Equivalence learning was investigated in several psychiatric and neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and migraine without aura. These conditions are characterized by the dysfunction of the basal ganglia and hippocampi [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. As mentioned before, these structures are thought to be dysfunctional in BPD too [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

“…These conditions are characterized by the dysfunction of the basal ganglia and hippocampi [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. As mentioned before, these structures are thought to be dysfunctional in BPD too [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. However, it is not known whether this also shows in the related cognitive processes of BPD patients, such as associative learning.…”

Sensory guided equivalence learning and its connection with borderline personality disorder

“…Our research was the first examination of the multisensory associative learning functions of basal ganglia and hippocampi in healthy humans (Eördegh et al, 2019). We have firstly applied after the validation of this test in neurological and psychiatric patient populations, too (Giricz et al, 2021;Pertich et al, 2020). The study of Eördegh (2019) examined the performances and the RTs of healthy individuals in visual and multisensory guided associative learning paradigms.…”

“…Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourette syndrome and migraine without aura (Bazanis et al, 2002;Bódi et al, 2009;Giricz et al, 2021;Kéri et al, 2005;Myers et al, 2003a;Öze et al, 2017;Pertich et al, 2020).…”