Cross-cultural neuropsychological assessment in Europe:Position statement of the European Consortium on Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (ECCroN)

Objective: Over the past decades European societies have become increasingly diverse. This diversity in culture, education, and language significantly impacts neuropsychological assessment. Although several initiatives are under way to overcome these barriers – e.g. newly developed and validated test batteries – there is a need for more collaboration in the development and implementation of neuropsychological tests, such as in the domains of social cognition and language. Method: To address these gaps in cross-cultural neuropsychological assessment in Europe, the European Consortium on Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (ECCroN) was established in 2019. Results: ECCroN recommends taking a broad range of variables into account, such as linguistic factors, literacy, education, migration history, acculturation and other cultural factors. We advocate against race-based norms as a solution to the challenging interpretation of group differences on neuropsychological tests, and instead support the development, validation, and standardization of more widely applicable/cross-culturally applicable tests that take into account interindividual variability. Last, ECCroN advocates for an improvement in the clinical training of neuropsychologists in culturally sensitive neuropsychological assessment, and the development and implementation of guidelines for interpreter-mediated neuropsychological assessment in diverse populations in Europe. Conclusions: ECCroN may impact research and clinical practice by contributing to existing theoretical frameworks and by improving the assessment of diverse individuals across Europe through collaborations on test development, collection of normative data, cross-cultural clinical training, and interpreter-mediated assessment

Etude des processus d'empathie (architecture cognitive et intérêt clinique dans le champ des pathologies neurologiques)

L empathie est un concept multidimensionnel, impliquant à la fois des processus émotionnels et cognitifs, qui sous-tend l adéquation du fonctionnement social. Ce travail de thèse avait deux principaux objectifs : préciser (1) l architecture cognitive de l empathie, et (2) l intérêt de son évaluation dans le champ des pathologies neurologiques. Dans un premier temps, nous avons étudié les capacités de modulation de la réponse empathique, en examinant l effet de la proximité affective d autrui sur la perception de situations douloureuses et les réactions physiologiques du sujet. Les résultats ont montré une réponse empathique plus importante pour une personne proche par rapport à un inconnu. Différentes études ont ensuite été conduites afin d explorer les capacités d empathie dans les maladies de Parkinson (MP), d Alzheimer (MA), la dégénérescence lobaire frontotemporale (DLFT) et dans le cadre de lésions focales consécutives à un accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC). Ceci a été réalisé à l aide d une batterie d évaluation permettant de dissocier les processus émotionnel et cognitif, au préalable normalisée auprès d une population témoin. Les résultats ont montré : (1) un déficit d empathie atteignant les deux composantes, dans la DLFT et à moindre mesure dans la MP ; (2) un déficit sélectif de l empathie cognitive dans la MA ; (3) que la batterie d empathie discriminait les patients DLFT des MA avec une bonne sensibilité et spécificité ; (4) peu de déficits chez les patients AVC présentant essentiellement des lésions des structures profondes ; (5) que, d après l étude transnosographique, les troubles dysexécutifs cognitifs (flexibilité mentale) contribuent au déficit d empathie, celui-ci participant à l apparition des troubles des conduites sociales et du syndrome dysexécutif réduit. Au total, ce travail a permis de proposer une nouvelle architecture cognitive de l empathie (impliquant les capacités de modulation et les liens avec les fonctions exécutives), et de montrer l intérêt d évaluer les capacités d empathie en clinique (1) pour le diagnostic différentiel entre maladie d Alzheimer et dégénérescence lobaire fronto-temporale et (2) pour la compréhension des troubles dysexécutifs comportementaux dont l impact est important dans la vie quotidienne.AMIENS-BU Santé (800212102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Older adults' configural processing of faces : role of second-order information

International audienceProblems with face recognition are frequent in older adults. However, the mechanisms involved have only been partially discovered. In particular, it is unknown to what extent these problems may be related to changes in configural face processing. Here, we investigated the face inversion effect (FIE) together with the ability to detect modifications in the vertical or horizontal second-order relations between facial features. We used a same/different unfamiliar face discrimination task with 33 young and 33 older adults. The results showed dissociations in the performances of older versus younger adults. There was a lack of inversion effect during the recognition of original faces by older adults. However, for modified faces, older adults showed a pattern of performance similar to that of young participants, with preserved FIE for vertically modified faces and no detectable FIE for horizontally modified faces. Most importantly, the detection of vertical modifications was preserved in older relative to young adults whereas the detection of horizontal modifications was markedly diminished. We conclude that age has dissociable effects on configural face-encoding processes, with a relative preservation of vertical compared to horizontal second-order relations processing. These results help to understand some divergent results in the literature and may explain the spared familiar face identification abilities in the daily lives of older adults

An Evaluation of Cross-Cultural Adaptations of Social Cognition Testing:A Systematic Review

Social cognition remains one of the most difficult cognitive domains to assess in diverse populations due to a lack of culturally appropriate tools. This study systematically reviewed literature on neuropsychological tests for social cognition that have been translated, adapted, are cross-cultural, or are assembled for diverse, specifically “Global South,” populations. The aim was to identify assessments appropriate for diverse populations, outline and evaluate their methodological approaches, and provide procedural recommendations for future research. The PRISMA systematic review search strategy produced 10,957 articles, of which 287 were selected for full-text screening. The study had to include a neuropsychological assessment of social cognition. The full text of the resulting 287 articles was then screened; the study had to include a translated, adapted, cross-cultural test, or an assembled test for Global South populations. Eighty-four articles were included in this study: 24 for emotion recognition, 45 for theory of mind, 9 for moral reasoning, and six for social cognition in general. Overall, there were 31 translations, 27 adaptations, 14 cross-cultural tests, and 12 assembled tests for Global South populations. Regarding quality, 35 were of low quality, 27 were of moderate quality, and 22 were high quality. This study provides an overview of social cognition tests modified or assembled for diverse populations and gives examples of methodological procedures. It highlights the variability in procedure quality and provides possible reasons for this variability. Finally, it suggests a need to report rigorous modification and assembly procedure in order to have modified and assembled social cognition tests appropriate for diverse populations.</p

Loss of emotional responsiveness secondary to left amygdalohippocampectomy performed for the treatment of complex, drug-resistant partial epilepsy.

Letterinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Neuropsychological assessment of diverse populations in Europe: The European Consortium for Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (ECCroN)

BACKGROUND: Populations living in European countries are becoming increasingly diverse. As performance on traditional neuropsychological tests is heavily influenced by culture, language, (level and quality of) education, literacy, and other factors, neuropsychological assessment practices need to be adapted to account for this diversity. METHOD: The European Consortium for Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (ECCroN) aims to improve assessment of culturally, educationally, and linguistically diverse individuals across Europe by 1) collaborating on the validation and implementation of cross-cultural neuropsychological tests and 2) working on initiatives geared at improving interpreter use and training programs for neuropsychologists. RESULT: The consortium was founded in late 2019 and currently consists of 16 experts based in 9 countries - some of whom work in multinational contexts. The first meetings of the network stressed several points. First, ECCroN aims to develop and/or validate cross-culturally applicable tests, as opposed to race-based norms for existing tests; for example, current projects aim to validate measures of social cognition and language (naming) in patients with migration backgrounds. Second, ECCroN emphasizes the importance of taking into account diversity across the entire spectrum, both in populations traditionally considered to be 'majority' and 'minority' groups, e.g. best practices should be developed for those with little education regardless of native-born or migrant status. Third, ECCroN aims to identify and share suitable instruments to measure factors potentially influencing the assessment, such as bilingualism, acculturation and educational quality. CONCLUSION: Joint efforts should be undertaken to develop, validate, publish, and implement cross-cultural tests across European countries to reduce misdiagnoses in diverse patient populations

Cross-cultural neuropsychological assessment in Europe: Position statement of the European Consortium on Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (ECCroN)

Objective: Over the past decades European societies have become increasingly diverse. This diversity in culture, education, and language significantly impacts neuropsychological assessment. Although several initiatives are under way to overcome these barriers–e.g. newly developed and validated test batteries–there is a need for more collaboration in the development and implementation of neuropsychological tests, such as in the domains of social cognition and language. Method: To address these gaps in cross-cultural neuropsychological assessment in Europe, the European Consortium on Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology (ECCroN) was established in 2019. Results: ECCroN recommends taking a broad range of variables into account, such as linguistic factors, literacy, education, migration history, acculturation and other cultural factors. We advocate against race-based norms as a solution to the challenging interpretation of group differences on neuropsychological tests, and instead support the development, validation, and standardization of more widely applicable/cross-culturally applicable tests that take into account interindividual variability. Last, ECCroN advocates for an improvement in the clinical training of neuropsychologists in culturally sensitive neuropsychological assessment, and the development and implementation of guidelines for interpreter-mediated neuropsychological assessment in diverse populations in Europe. Conclusions: ECCroN may impact research and clinical practice by contributing to existing theoretical frameworks and by improving the assessment of diverse individuals across Europe through collaborations on test development, collection of normative data, cross-cultural clinical training, and interpreter-mediated assessment