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This narrative review discusses the relationship between anticholinergic medications and cognitive change specifically in patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD). NLUTD is prevalent in various conditions, including spinal cord injury (SCI), spina bifida (SB), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's, stroke, and dementia and often requires anticholinergic overactive bladder (OAB) medications. In the general population, and among those with OAB, several studies have found a significant association between this class of medications and cognitive side effects, mostly when used for > 90 days. These cognitive side effects may be particularly relevant to people with NLUTD due to their higher baseline risk of cognitive impairment. Two studies (one in people with SCI and another in MS) found evidence of cognitive impairment with the use of OAB anticholinergics (specifically oxybutynin and tolterodine). People with dementia commonly use OAB anticholinergics, and there is evidence that oxybutynin and tolterodine may impair cognition in this population. Two recent studies in children with SB studied 12 months of solifenacin and 6 months of fesoterodine/oxybutynin and found there was no significant change in neuropsychological testing. Clinical studies in people with Parkinson's disease and prior stroke have not shown that trospium, darifenacin, or fesoterodine have a significant impact on cognitive measures. In summary, oxybutynin and tolterodine may pose a higher risk of cognitive impairment than newer OAB anticholinergics in people with NLUTD; there is no evidence that children with SB experience cognitive impairment with OAB anticholinergics. Further study is necessary to confirm cognitive safety, particularly as the NLUTD population may have a high exposure to OAB anticholinergics. Advocating for potentially safer OAB medications is necessary if there is concern about cognitive risks., Author(s): Blayne Welk (corresponding author) [1,2] INTRODUCTION TO NEUROGENIC LOWER URINARY TRACT DYSFUNCTION Neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) is defined by the International Continence Society as 'abnormal or difficult [...]

Could learning that uses cognitive control to judiciously use relevant information while ignoring distractions generally improve brain function, beyond forming explicit memories? According to a neuroplasticity hypothesis for how some cognitive behavioural therapies are effective, cognitive control training (CCT) changes neural circuit information processing.sup.1-3. Here we investigated whether CCT persistently alters hippocampal neural circuit function. We show that mice learned and remembered a conditioned place avoidance during CCT that required ignoring irrelevant locations of shock. CCT facilitated learning new tasks in novel environments for several weeks, relative to unconditioned controls and control mice that avoided the same place during reduced distraction. CCT rapidly changes entorhinal cortex-to-dentate gyrus synaptic circuit function, resulting in an excitatory-inhibitory subcircuit change that persists for months. CCT increases inhibition that attenuates the dentate response to medial entorhinal cortical input, and through disinhibition, potentiates the response to strong inputs, pointing to overall signal-to-noise enhancement. These neurobiological findings support the neuroplasticity hypothesis that, as well as storing item-event associations, CCT persistently optimizes neural circuit information processing. Studies in mice show that cognitive control training rapidly improves brain circuit function and enhances subsequent learning, which both persist for months., Author(s): Ain Chung [sup.1] , Claudia Jou [sup.2] , Alejandro Grau-Perales [sup.1] , Eliott R. J. Levy [sup.1] , Dino Dvorak [sup.1] , Nida Hussain [sup.1] , André A. Fenton [...]

In this paper, I argue that explaining cognitive behavior can be achieved through what I call hybrid explanatory inferences: inferences that posit mechanisms, but also draw on observed regularities. Moreover, these inferences can be used to achieve unification, in the sense developed by Allen Newel in his work on cognitive architectures. Thus, it seems that explanatory pluralism and unification do not rule out each other in cognitive science, but rather that the former represents a way to achieve the latter., Author(s): Raoul Gervais [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5284.b, 0000 0001 0790 3681, University of Antwerp, , Antwerp, Belgium Introduction Since the turn of the millennium, the trend among philosophers of [...]

This research investigated if the foreign language effect extended to rationality. Four groups (English speaking monolingual group; Polish speaking monolingual group; Bilingual Polish group who were presented with decision task in English; Bilingual Polish group who were presented with decision task in Polish) completed a series of decision scenarios. The results highlighted that: 1) bilingual individuals did not display more rationality in general (or in specific decision scenarios); 2) the presentation of a decision in a non-native language did not aid rational decision making in bilinguals. The paper suggests that the foreign language effect may not increase the chances of bilingual individuals being more rational decision makers in general, but may promote more rational behaviour in specific decision contexts. Keywords: rationality; the foreign language effect; bilingualism; decision science; cognition, Background context On review of the literature, previous researchers have stated that bilingualism is difficult to define in detail, but most seem to agree that it is the knowledge and [...]

In this paper, we focus on the development of geometric cognition. We argue that to understand how geometric cognition has been constituted, one must appreciate not only individual cognitive factors, such as phylogenetically ancient and ontogenetically early core cognitive systems, but also the social history of the spread and use of cognitive artifacts. In particular, we show that the development of Greek mathematics, enshrined in Euclid's Elements, was driven by the use of two tightly intertwined cognitive artifacts: the use of lettered diagrams; and the creation of linguistic formulae (namely non-compositional fixed strings of words used repetitively within authors and between them). Together, these artifacts formed the professional language of geometry. In this respect, the case of Greek geometry clearly shows that explanations of geometric reasoning have to go beyond the confines of methodological individualism to account for how the distributed practice of artifact use has stabilized over time. This practice, as we suggest, has also contributed heavily to the understanding of what mathematical proof is; classically, it has been assumed that proofs are not merely deductively correct but also remain invariant over various individuals sharing the same cognitive practice. Cognitive artifacts in Greek geometry constrained the repertoire of admissible inferential operations, which made these proofs inter-subjectively testable and compelling. By focusing on the cognitive operations on artifacts, we also stress that mental mechanisms that contribute to these operations are still poorly understood, in contrast to those mechanisms which drive symbolic logical inference., Author(s): Mateusz Hohol [sup.1] [sup.2] , Marcin Milkowski [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5522.0, 0000 0001 2162 9631, Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Jagiellonian University, , Kopernika 27, 31-501, Cracow, Poland [...]

Introduction: With the increasing number of children exposed to HIV or antiretroviral therapy in utero, there are concerns that this population may have worse neurodevelopmental outcomes compared to those who are unexposed. The objective of this study was to systematically review the clinical and preclinical literature on the effects of in utero exposure to HIV and/or antiretroviral therapy (ART) on neurodevelopment. Methods: We systematically searched OVID Medline, PsycINFO and Embase, as well as the Cochrane Collaborative Database, Google Scholar and bibliographies of pertinent articles. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were assessed independently by two reviewers. Data from included studies were extracted. Results are summarized qualitatively. Results: The search yielded 3027 unique titles. Of the 255 critically reviewed full-text articles, 25 met inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Five articles studied human subjects and looked at brain structure and function. The remaining 20 articles were preclinical studies that mostly focused on behavioural assessments in animal models. The few clinical studies had mixed results. Some clinical studies found no difference in white matter while others noted higher fractional anisotropy and lower mean diffusivity in the brains of HIV-exposed uninfected children compared to HIV-unexposed uninfected children, correlating with abnormal neurobehavioral scores. Preclinical studies focused primarily on neurobehavioral changes resulting from monotherapy with either zidovudine or lamivudine. Various developmental and behavioural changes were noted in preclinica studies with ART exposure, including decreased grooming, decreased attention, memory deficits and fewer behaviours associated with appropriate social interaction. Conclusions: While the existing literature suggests that there may be some neurobehavioral differences associated with HIV and ART exposure, limited data are available to substantially support these claims. More research is needed comparing neurobiological factors between HIV-exposed uninfected and HIV-unexposed uninfected children and using exposures consistent with current clinical care. Keywords: antiretroviral therapy; brain; cognition; highly active; HIV; laboratory animal science; maternal exposure, 1 | INTRODUCTION For the 1.4 million children born annually to mothers living with HIV, there are concerns that HIV or antiretroviral therapy (ART) exposure may negatively impact neurodevelopment, including [...]

Accumulating laboratory-based evidence indicates that reducing delay discounting (devaluation of delayed outcomes) with the use of episodic future thinking (EFT; mental simulation of future events) improves dietary decision-making and other maladaptive behaviors. Recent work has adapted EFT for use in the natural environment to aid in dietary and weight control by engaging participants in EFT repeatedly throughout the day. These efforts may benefit from minimizing the amount of time required for measurement and implementation of EFT. Using Amazon Mechanical Turk in the present study, we show that EFT effectively reduces delay discounting in overweight/obese participants (N = 131) using the recently developed 5-trial, adjusting-delay discounting task, which can be completed rapidly (25 s) and is therefore ideally suited for ecological momentary assessment. Moreover, measures of delay discounting from this task were strongly correlated with those from the commonly used adjusting-amount task (r = .859). Significant effects of EFT on discounting, however, depended on the number of future events participants generated and imagined. Use of a range of events and future time frames (as is typical in the literature) significantly reduced delay discounting, whereas use of only a single event did not., Author(s): Jeffrey S. Stein [sup.1] , Yan Yan Sze [sup.7] , Liqa Athamneh [sup.1] [sup.2] , Mikhail N. Koffarnus [sup.1] , Leonard H. Epstein [sup.7] , Warren K. Bickel [sup.1] [...]

Many women fail to meet recommended levels of physical activity (PA). Limited research has examined women's barriers to PA adoption during attempts to increase PA-in particular, how often they experience PA lapses (i.e., failure to meet PA goals), their cognitive-affective responses to lapses, and the role of social support in preventing or responding to lapses. The present study assessed weekly variability in PA lapses, cognitive-affective responses to lapses, and social support related to PA among women participating in a partner-based PA program (n = 20). Multilevel modeling showed that greater PA self-efficacy and more frequent partner communication predicted fewer lapses during the concurrent or subsequent week (ps < 0.02). Interestingly, greater self-forgiveness for lapsing also predicted more lapses the subsequent week (p = 0.04), though greater perceived partner support appeared to buffer the negative effect of self-forgiveness on future lapses (p = 0.04). These findings demonstrate the importance of cognitive-affective responses to PA lapses for future PA, as well as the potential benefit of social support for preventing PA lapses among women., Author(s): Leah M. Schumacher [sup.1] , Danielle Arigo [sup.2] , Coco Thomas [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Psychology, Drexel University, 0000 0001 2181 3113, grid.166341.7, , Stratton Hall, 3141 [...]

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders (1), and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness (2). However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power (3,4). Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 x [10.sup.-300], 2.1 x [10.sup.-6], 2.5 x [10.sup.-10] and 1.8 x [10.sup.-10], respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples (5,6), no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection (7), this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been., Inbreeding influences complex traits through increases in homozygosity and corresponding reductions in heterozygosity, most likely resulting from the action of deleterious (partially) recessive mutations (8). For polygenic traits, a systematic [...]

Although there have been several leadership studies from various perspectives, the construct of the leader's cognitive flexibility remains partly implicit and partly unspecified. This paper attempts to develop the 'cognitive flexibility' construct based on implicit statements elicited from broad frameworks on leadership and culture discussed in the literature. The paper also takes into account related knowledge from several fields, including cognitive science, communication science, psychology and brain science, as well as complex adaptive systems. The main contribution of this research is the development of a comprehensive construct of the leader's cognitive flexibility'. Keywords: Leadership, Strategic change, Communication, Framing, Managerial and organizational culture, Cognitive flexibility, INTRODUCTION The objective of this paper is to develop the multiple dimensions of the construct of a leader's cognitive flexibility. Some of the dimensions are implicit in the traditional leadership [...]