Hebrew version of the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions for Children (JEF-C©): translation, adaptation and validation

The Jansari assessment of Executive Functions for Children (JEF-C©) is a non-immersive computerized assessment of executive functions (EFs). This study aimed to create a cross-culturally adapted Hebrew version, JEF-C(H)© and to assess reliability and validity in the Israeli context. Forty typically developing Israeli children and adolescents, aged 11–18 years, were assessed with JEF-C(H)©. In addition, participants and their parents filled in the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). JEF-C(H)© was found to be feasible in Israeli children and adolescents. The internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.79). Most of the JEF-C(H)© subtests and the Average score showed significant positive moderate to high correlations with age, ranging from 0.40 to 0.78 demonstrating construct validity. Multiple significant correlations were also found between the JEF-C(H)© Average score and the BRIEF indices as well as total score in the Parent and Self-report questionnaires. These preliminary findings support the reliability and validity of this version. Current findings demonstrate the potential clinical utility of JEF-C(H)© as an ecologically valid tool for Israeli children and adolescents in the assessment of EFs

The impact of developmental dyslexia on workplace cognition: Evidence from a virtual reality environment.

The cognitive difficulties associated with dyslexia persist into adulthood but insights into their impact in employment settings are lacking. A virtual office environment was used to assess two areas of cognition frequently called upon in the workplace, executive function and prospective memory. Eight adults with dyslexia and 27 adults without dyslexia were tested on a virtual office task. They read a scenario describing their new role in an office and were given tasks to complete. The group with dyslexia performed worse overall. On the individual performance measures, the group with dyslexia scored lower on the selective-thinking and planning measures of executive function and also performed worse on two of the three prospective memory measures, namely event-based and time-based prospective memory. The findings indicate how dyslexia can affect workplace cognition, identifying areas in which support might be needed and highlighting areas of relative strength which might be harnessed

Accelerated forgetting in healthy older samples: Implications for methodology, future ageing studies, and early identification of risk of dementia

Accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) has been reported in healthy older individuals, and is a possible early marker for risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The Verbal Associative Learning & Memory Test (VALMT; McGibbon & Jansari, 2013) addresses methodological weaknesses in existing clinical tests and has detected ALF in epilepsy within an hour. We used VALMT to investigate learning and forgetting in healthy older participants. Older (60-69yrs) and Younger (19-31yrs) participants were compared. Using VALMT, unrelated word-pairs were learnt to criterion, then cued-recall tested at delays of 5, 30 and 55 minutes. Unique pairs were tested at each delay. Subjective memory complaints data was gathered, and the Wechsler Memory Scale Logical Memory test (WMS-LM; a standard clinical measure) was administered. VALMT identified a significant difference in delayed recall between Younger and Older groups by 55 minutes (d = 1.32). While ‘fast-learning’ Older participants scored similarly to Younger participants, ‘slow-learning’ Older participants were impaired at all delays. Forgetting rates suggested degradation of memory starts during early synaptic consolidation rather than later system-level consolidation. Increased subjective memory complaints were associated with reduced VALMT scores. By contrast, WMS-LM failed to identify significant differences between any groups, and did not correlate with memory complaints. We conclude VALMT may be better able than WMS-LM to identify subtle impairments in healthy older adults within a single clinical visit, and VALMT results better reflect subjective experience. Older slow-learners forget faster and report more subjective memory complaints, which may indicate a group at risk of developing AD

Sex Differences in Tobacco Abstinence: Effects on Executive Functioning

Aims. Several studies suggested that both sex and tobacco abstinence influence some cognitive processes such as memory and attention. However, very few studies have investigated whether males and females differ in executive functions in relation to tobacco abstinence. We investigated the effects of nicotine abstinence on executive functions in both males and females by using a virtual reality task (JEF). Design. A 2x2x8 mixed ANOVA was performed, with the percentages of task’s scores as dependent variable. Condition (Smoking and Abstinence) and Construct [Planning, Prioritization, Selective Thinking, Creative Thinking, Adaptive Thinking, Action Based Prospective Memory (ABPM), Event Based Prospective Memory (EBPM), Time Based Prospective Memory (TBPM)] as within subjects independent variables and Sex as between subject independent variable. Setting. Department of Human Sciences, Lumsa University in Rome. Participants. Thirty adults smokers, all University students, participated in the study (half females) (M age = 24.53; range = 18 – 35). Measurement. The Virtual Reality task (JEF), which assesses eight cognitive constructs. Findings. The main effect of Construct was significant (p< .0001) as the interaction between Sex and Construct (p<.01); post-hoc analysis showed that females obtained the lowest score in creative thinking while males obtained the lowest score in action-based prospective memory. More importantly, the interaction between Condition and Sex was also significant (p<.05) and post-hoc analysis indicated that males’ performance improved in the abstinence condition, whereas females’ performance remained quite stable across them. In both groups, event-based and time-based prospective memories obtained the highest scores. Conclusion. The results of this study partly confirmed previous findings about sex differences in cognitive processes and how tobacco abstinence may differently affect males and females. However, the use of a more sensitive ecological tool has permitted to capture isolated elements of executive functioning that reflect theories of fractionated executive processes and better clarify the effects of smoking and sex differences

Bilateral redundancy gain and callosal integrity in a man with callosal lipoma: a diffusion-tensor imaging study

We investigated whether abnormalities in the structural organisation of the corpus callosum in the presence of curvilinear lipoma are associated with increased facilitation of response time to bilateral stimuli, an effect known as the redundancy gain. A patient (A.J.) with a curvilinear lipoma of the corpus callosum, his genetically-identical twin, and age-matched control participants made speeded responses to luminant stimuli. Structural organisation of callosal regions was assessed with diffusion-tensor imaging. A.J. was found to have reduced structural integrity in the splenium of the corpus callosum and produced a large redundancy gain suggestive of neural summation

Visual experience facilitates allocentric spatial representation

Representing the position of the objects independently from our own position is a fundamental cognitive ability. Here we investigated whether this ability depends on visual experience. Congenitally blind, late blind and blindfolded sighted participants haptically learnt a room-sized regularly shaped array of objects, and their spatial memory was tested to determine which spatial reference frame was used. Crucially, the use of an object-based reference frame requires representing the regular structure of the array. We found that blindfolded sighted and late blind participants, that is those with visual experience, showed a preferential use of the object-based or ‘allocentric’ reference frame. On the contrary, congenitally blind participants preferred a self-based, or egocentric, reference frame. This suggests that, due to its developmental effect on the multisensory brain areas involved in spatial cognition, visual experience is necessary to develop a preference for an object-based, allocentric reference frame

Cannabis-related deficits in real-world memory

Background Research shows that cannabis users exhibit deficits in prospective memory (PM) and executive function, which persist beyond acute intoxication. However, many studies rely on self-reports of memory failures or use laboratory-based measures that may not mimic functional deficits in the real world. The present study aimed to assess real-world memory functioning. Method Twenty cannabis-only users and 20 non-illicit drug users were recruited. Participants completed a substance use inventory and a mood scale, followed by a non-immersive virtual reality task assessing PM and executive functioning. The task involved the participant playing the role of an office worker for the day and performing routine office duties. A number of subscales were used to assess facets of executive function (planning, adaptive thinking, creative thinking, selection, prioritisation) and PM (time-based, event-based and action-based PM). Results Multivariate analysis of variance revealed cannabis users performed worse overall on the task, with poor performance on the planning, time-based PM and event-based PM subscales. In addition, indices of cannabis (length, dose, frequency, total use) were correlated with performance on these three subscales. Conclusions The present study expands on previously established research, providing support for the cannabis-related deficits in PM and executive functioning, and the role of different aspects of cannabis use in these deficits

Using Virtual Reality to investigate multitasking ability in individuals with frontal lobe lesions

Individuals with lesions in the prefrontal cortex often show impairments with the organisation of their behaviour in everyday life. These difficulties can be hard to detect using structured formal tests. The objective of this study was to use Virtual Reality (VR) to explore the multitasking performance of individuals with focal frontal lobe lesions, specifically using the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF© Jansari et al., 2014). Nineteen individuals with frontal lobe lesions were compared with 19 matched controls on the test and a group of commonly used clinical measures of neuropsychological functioning, as well as questionnaire measures of everyday activity, anxiety and depression. There was a significant difference between groups on the overall JEF© score and on five of the eight individual constructs, namely the planning, creative thinking, adaptive thinking, event-based Prospective Memory (PM) and time-based PM constructs. There were no differences between groups on the non-VR EF individual measures apart from on one EF control measure, Trail Making A. These results demonstrate the potential clinical utility of the JEF© and highlight the value of ecologically valid VR measures in detecting impairments in EF in individuals with frontal lobe lesions

Understanding the relationship between apathy, cognition and functional outcome in schizophrenia: The significance of an ecological assessment

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in understanding the role apathy plays in mediating the relationship between cognitive impairment and functional outcome. In general, most studies measure cognition with traditional cognitive tests that give explicit instructions and guide the participants toward generating a response. However, given that apathy is defined by a decrease in self-initiated behavior, it is crucial to evaluate cognition with ecological tasks that do not explicitly direct the patient´s motivation to generate behaviors to assess the actual effect. This study investigated whether an ecological cognitive assessment (the Jansari Executive Function Assessment, JEF©) would uniquely contribute to the relationship between cognition, apathy, and functional outcome in schizophrenia. The Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), neuropsychological tests and the JEF© were administered to 20 patients with schizophrenia. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediation analysis were performed to test the associations between the variables of interest. Results showed that JEF© explained a significant portion of the variance in AES (25%). In addition, apathy explained 36% of the variance in functional outcome. However, AES did not mediate between cognition and functional outcome. Our results highlight the importance of assessing cognition with tasks that require integration of cognitive functions needed for real life demands

Assessment of Executive Functions in Children and Adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) using a novel complex multi-tasking computerized task – the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions for Children (JEF-C©)

Objectives: The Jansari assessment of Executive Functions for Children (JEF-C©) is a new non-immersive computerized assessment of executive functions. The objectives of the study were to test the feasibility and validity of JEF-C© in children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI). Methods: Twenty-nine patients with ABI aged 10-18 years and 30 age-and gender-matched controls were tested. Participants performed JEF-C©, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) and the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome for Children (BADS-C), while parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire. Results: JEF-C© task proved feasible in patients with ABI. The internal consistency was medium (Cronbach's alpha =0.62 and significant inter-correlations between individual JEF-C© constructs). Patients performed significantly worse than controls on most of the JEF-C© subscales and total score, with 41.4 % of participants with ABI classified as having severe executive dysfunction. No significant correlations were found between JEF-C© total score, the BRIEF indices and the BADS-C. Significant correlations were found between JEF-C© and demographic characteristics of the sample and intellectual ability, but not with severity/medical variables. Conclusion: JEF-C© is a playful complex task that appears to be a sensitive and ecologically valid assessment tool, especially for relatively high-functioning individuals