Gender Specific Disruptions in Emotion Processing in Younger Adults with Depression

Background: One of the principal theories regarding the biological basis of major depressive disorder (MDD) implicates a dysregulation of emotion-processing circuitry. Gender differences in how emotions are processed and relative experience with emotion processing might help to explain some of the disparities in the prevalence of MDD between women and men. This study sought to explore how gender and depression status relate to emotion processing. Methods: This study employed a 2 (MDD status) × 2 (gender) factorial design to explore differences in classifications of posed facial emotional expressions (N=151). Results: For errors, there was an interaction between gender and depression status. Women with MDD made more errors than did nondepressed women and men with MDD, particularly for fearful and sad stimuli (Ps Ps P=.01). Men with MDD, conversely, performed similarly to control men (P=.61). Conclusions: These results provide novel and intriguing evidence that depression in younger adults (years) differentially disrupts emotion processing in women as compared to men. This interaction could be driven by neurobiological and social learning mechanisms, or interactions between them, and may underlie differences in the prevalence of depression in women and men. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. Published 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc

The Sensitivity and Psychometric Properties of a Brief Computer-Based Cognitive Screening Battery in a Depression Clinic

At present, there is poor accuracy in assessing cognitive and vegetative symptoms in depression using clinician or self-rated measures, suggesting the need for development of standardized tasks to assess these functions. The current study assessed the psychometric properties and diagnostic specificity of a brief neuropsychological screening battery designed to assess core signs of depression; psychomotor retardation, attention and executive functioning difficulties, and impaired emotion perception within an outpatient psychiatry setting. Three hundred eighty-four patients with mood disorders and 77 healthy volunteers participated. A large percentage of patients met diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder alone (49%) or with another comorbid psychiatric disorder (24%). A brief, 25-min battery of computer-based tests was administered to control participants and patients measuring the constructs of inhibitory control, attention, visual perception, and both executive and visual processing speed. The patient groups performed significantly worse than the control group regardless of diagnosis on visual perception and attention accuracy and processing speed factors. Surprisingly, the anxiety disorder group performed better than several other psychiatric disorder groups in inhibitory control accuracy. Developing valid and reliable measures of cognitive signs in mood disorders creates excellent opportunities for tracking cognitive status prior to initiation of treatment, and allows for reliable retest following treatment

Characteristics of Adults With Unrecognized Hearing Loss

Purpose Early detection of hearing loss is important for providing support and intervention for adults with age-related hearing loss. However, many older adults have hearing loss that is unidentified. Because they do not present the problem at health care settings, there is a dearth of research on people with unrecognized hearing loss (URHL). This study elucidates differences between older adults with normal hearing, adults with recognized hearing loss (RHL), and adults with URHL. Method Participants included 130 adults, ages 55-85 years. Of these, 39 had hearing in the normal range (HNR), 61 had RHL, and 30 reported HNR but failed a hearing screen (i.e., URHL). Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988 ) and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Results The URHL group reported more positive affectivity than the HNR and RHL groups on the PANAS. In addition, the URHL group was significantly older and more likely to be male compared to the HNR group. Importantly, age was not significantly correlated with PANAS. Positive affectivity accounted for unique variance in group membership even after accounting for age, gender, physical health, and cognitive health. Conclusions Older adults with URHL have more positive affectivity than older adults with HNR or RHL. This group may be prone to downplaying their difficulties; consequently, they may need to experience larger hearing deficits before seeking help. The findings highlight the need for research investigating the effectiveness of psychoeducation on the importance of formal hearing assessment verses relying on self-assessment in facilitating early and effective intervention among people with URHL

Hyperactivity In Boys With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): The Association Between Deficient Behavioral Inhibition, Attentional Processes, And Objectively Measured Activity

Contemporary models of ADHD hypothesize that hyperactivity reflects a byproduct of inhibition deficits. The current study investigated the relationship between children\u27s motor activity and behavioral inhibition by experimentally manipulating demands placed on the limited-resource inhibition system. Twenty-two boys (ADHD = 11, TD = 11) between the ages of 8 and 12 years completed a conventional stop-signal task, two choice-task variants (no-tone, ignore-tone), and control tasks while their motor activity was measured objectively by actigraphs placed on their nondominant wrist and ankles. All children exhibited significantly higher activity rates under all three experimental tasks relative to control conditions, and children with ADHD moved significantly more than typically developing children across conditions. No differences in activity level were observed between the inhibition and noninhibition experimental tasks for either group, indicating that activity level was primarily associated with basic attentional rather than behavioral inhibition processes. © 2012 Psychology Press

Hearing loss and verbal memory assessment among older adults

OBJECTIVE: Research has found that adults with hearing loss perform worse on cognitive testing than adults without hearing loss; however, heavy emphasis on tests involving auditory stimuli may overdiagnose cognitive impairment among individuals with hearing loss. This study compared visual- and auditory-verbal memory tests among adults with and without hearing loss. METHOD: Forty-one adults with hearing loss (HL) and 41 age-matched adults with normal hearing (NH) completed a neuropsychological battery that included auditory and visual versions of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Testing-Revised (HVLT-R). A RESULTS: Mixed-model ANOVA indicated significant group (HL vs. NH) by condition (visual, natural auditory, crossed auditory) interactions for HVLT-R performance, with large effect sizes. The HL group performed significantly worse than the NH group on the natural auditory version; however, the NH group performed significantly worse than the HL group on the crossed condition. The groups were equivalent on the visual condition and all other cognitive tests, showing small effect sizes. Moreover, for the HL group, visual HVLT-R correlated with other cognitive tests whereas auditory versions did not. CONCLUSION: Cognitively intact older adults with hearing loss appeared impaired on auditory-verbal memory assessment under typical administration conditions. Visual assessment of verbal memory showed evidence of superior validity and is a viable alternative method to assess memory function especially in older populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)