Domainâ specific impairment in cognitive control among remitted youth with a history of major depression

AimImpairment in neuropsychological functioning is common in major depressive disorder (MDD), but it is not clear to what degree these deficits are related to risk (e.g. trait), scar, burden or state effects of MDD. The objective of this study was to use neuropsychological measures, with factor scores in verbal fluency, processing speed, attention, setâ shifting and cognitive control in a unique population of young, remitted, unmedicated, early course individuals with a history of MDD in hopes of identifying putative trait markers of MDD.MethodsYouth aged 18â 23 in remission from MDD (rMDD; n = 62) and healthy controls (HC; n = 43) were assessed with neuropsychological tests at two time points. These were from four domains of executive functioning, consistent with previous literature as impaired in MDD: verbal fluency and processing speed, conceptual reasoning and setâ shifting, processing speed with interference resolution, and cognitive control.ResultsrMDD youth performed comparably to HCs on verbal fluency and processing speed, processing speed with interference resolution, and conceptual reasoning and setâ shifting, reliably over time. Individuals with rMDD demonstrated relative decrements in cognitive control at Time 1, with greater stability than HC participants.ConclusionMDD may be characterized by regulatory difficulties that do not pertain specifically to active mood state or fluctuations in symptoms. Deficient cognitive control may represent a trait vulnerability or early course scar of MDD that may prove a viable target for secondary prevention or early remediation.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138407/1/eip12253_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138407/2/eip12253.pd

Developmental changes in resting‐state functional networks among individuals with and without internalizing psychopathologies

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147755/1/da22864.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147755/2/da22864_am.pd

Comorbid anxiety increases cognitive control activation in Major Depressive Disorder

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134086/1/da22541.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134086/2/da22541_am.pd

Neurocognitive, Affective, and Psychosocial Correlates of Adolescent Substance Use

Alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana are the most widely used substances among adolescents and young adults and their use is a significant public health concern, as it is associated with several negative health, psychosocial, and neurocognitive outcomes. Despite the high prevalence of the co-use of these substances, little is known about the neurocognitive, affective, and psychosocial correlates of poly-substance use in adolescence and the subsequent functional and neurocognitive outcomes associated with use in young adulthood. Although there is some evidence that pre-existing traits and brain abnormalities predict initiation of substance use, several studies suggest adolescents may also be particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol and marijuana, resulting in delayed neurodevelopment and poorer neurocognitive performance among users. Further, many studies have demonstrated psychological and psychiatric symptoms are associated with substance use, but no studies to our knowledge have prospectively measured how these factors may be related to adolescent substance use and subsequent neurocognitive functioning. Therefore, the current study examined how clinical risk factors contribute to subsequent cigarette, marijuana, and alcohol use during adolescence, in turn impacting neurocognitive functioning and psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood. Participants were young adults enrolled in a longitudinal study on the social and emotional contexts of adolescent smoking and have been followed for 8 years (N=1263). A subset of these individuals (n=80) was also recruited for a laboratory study visit to assess their neurocognitive functioning. It was hypothesized that individuals with more baseline clinical risk factors will have heavier poly-substance use, which will in turn be associated with poorer neurocognitive and functional outcomes. The results expanded upon previous studies, finding more depression and anxiety, poorer negative mood regulation, and lower GPA is related to more poly-substance over adolescence and young adulthood and more poly-substance use in adolescence and young adulthood is associated with poorer educational attainment in young adulthood, but we were not able to replicate findings of how substance use is associated with neurocognitive outcomes. Results indicate there is tremendous individual variability in use of cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol, factors related to use of these substances, and the effects of these substances on neurocognitive functioning

Examining Neuropsychological Sex Differences in Young Adult Cannabis Users

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance worldwide, and its use is especially prevalent among adolescents and young adults. This is concerning, given that cannabis use is associated with deficits in neuropsychological functioning. A burgeoning area of research indicates there may be important sex differences in cannabis use and the effects of cannabis on neurocognition, perhaps due to sex-specific vulnerabilities to the neuropharmacological effects of cannabis and differences in age of initiated use. The goal of the present study was to examine potential neurocognitive sex differences among a sample of young adult cannabis users and non-users, and to examine how important factors, such as amount of use and age of initiation of use, may differentially affect neurocognition in male and female cannabis users. We found that young adult cannabis users showed deficits in immediate and delayed recall, but not decision-making, compared to non-users and there were no sex differences in these relationships. However, among cannabis users, more lifetime cannabis use was associated with poorer episodic memory, especially for females. In contrast, more lifetime and past month cannabis use predicted worse decision-making only for males. Further, we found that, surprisingly, an earlier age of first use and an earlier age of regular initiated use was associated with better decision-making for both males and females, but poorer episodic memory for only females, not males. These findings indicate there may be important, sex-specific differences in how amount of cannabis use and age of initiated use related to neurocognition in male and female cannabis users

Preliminary Evidence for a Sex-Specific Relationship between Amount of Cannabis Use and Neurocognitive Performance in Young Adult Cannabis Users

Accumulating evidence suggests neuropsychological deficits from cannabis use, with a burgeoning area of preclinical research indicating possible sex-differences. However, few studies have examined how cannabis use may differentially impact neurocognition in male and female cannabis users. As such, we examined potential sex-differences in associations between amount of cannabis use (across several time-frames) and neurocognitive performance among young adult regular cannabis users. Consistent with previous studies, more cannabis use was generally associated with poorer episodic memory and decision-making, but not other measures of inhibitory control. However, patterns of results suggested sex-specific dissociations. In particular, more cannabis use was more consistently associated with poorer episodic memory performance in females than males. Conversely, more cannabis use was associated with poorer decision-making performance for males, but not females. These results provide further evidence for residual cannabis-associated neurocognitive deficits and suggest the importance of examining the impact of cannabis on neurocognition separately for males and females

The Influence of Inhibitory Control and Episodic Memory on the Risky Sexual Behavior of Young Adult Cannabis Users

Cannabis use is associated with risky sexual behavior (RSB) and sex-related negative health consequences. This investigation examined the role of inhibitory control and episodic memory in predicting RSB and sex-related negative consequences among current cannabis users. Findings indicated that the relationships between cannabis, neurocognition and sexual-risk varied according to the dimension of neurocognition and the parameter of RSB in question. Specifically, more risk-taking was associated with more RSB. Furthermore, amount of recent cannabis use was associated with more RSB and sex-related negative consequences, but only among those with worse performances on a measure of decision-making and of risk-taking. Contrary to hypotheses, worse episodic memory also significantly predicted higher overall sexual-risk and decreased safe-sex practices. Results indicate that worse neurocognitive performance in the areas of risk-taking, decision-making, and episodic memory may influence the degree to which cannabis users engage in RSB and experience negative health consequences as a result

A lifespan model of interference resolution and inhibitory control: Risk for depression and changes with illness progression

The cognitive processes involved in inhibitory control accuracy (IC) and interference resolution speed (IR) or broadly - inhibition - are discussed in this review, and both are described within the context of a lifespan model of mood disorders. Inhibitory control (IC) is a binary outcome (success or no for response selection and inhibition of unwanted responses) for any given event that is influenced to an extent by IR. IR refers to the process of inhibition, which can be manipulated by task design in earlier and later stages through use of distractors and timing, and manipulation of individual differences in response proclivity. We describe the development of these two processes across the lifespan, noting factors that influence this development (e.g., environment, adversity and stress) as well as inherent difficulties in assessing IC/IR prior to adulthood (e.g., cross-informant reports). We use mood disorders as an illustrative example of how this multidimensional construct can be informative to state, trait, vulnerability and neuroprogression of disease. We present aggregated data across numerous studies and methodologies to examine the lifelong development and degradation of this subconstruct of executive function, particularly in mood disorders. We highlight the challenges in identifying and measuring IC/IR in late life, including specificity to complex, comorbid disease processes. Finally, we discuss some potential avenues for treatment and accommodation of these difficulties across the lifespan, including newer treatments using cognitive remediation training and neuromodulation