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Objective: Determine feasibility of a procedure to identify relationships between preexisting traits and immediate mindfulness meditation (MM) responses in novice college students. Participants: Twenty-four novice college students participated between September 2016 and April 2017. Methods: We measured trait mindfulness, attention and executive function performance, and immediate MM-related changes in self-reported state mindfulness and state anxiety following a 13-min MM. Results: The procedure appeared to be feasible and acceptable to college students. Preliminary findings included increases in state mindfulness and decreases in state anxiety, which appeared to vary by level of trait mindfulness. Better attention performance correlated with greater increases in state mindfulness of body. Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrated feasibility of investigating the relationship between baseline traits and college students' immediate MM responses. Using these methods, future studies can provide a unique examination of MM effects stratified by validated facets of state mindfulness of body and mind.

The current study examined the effectiveness of a social skills treatment (PEERS) for improving socio-emotional competencies in a sample of high-functioning adolescents with ASD. Neuropsychological and self- and parent-report measures assessing social, emotional, and behavioral functioning were administered before and after treatment. Following social skills treatment, adolescents with ASD exhibited decreased aggression, anxiety, and withdrawal, as well as improvements in emotional responsiveness, adaptability, leadership, and participation in activities of daily living, though no change was found in affect recognition abilities. These findings suggest that PEERS social skills treatment improves particular aspects of emotional, behavioral, and social functioning that may be necessary for developing and maintaining quality peer relationships and remediating social isolation in adolescents with ASD.

The current study examined the effectiveness of a social skills treatment (PEERS) for improving socio-emotional competencies in a sample of high-functioning adolescents with ASD. Neuropsychological and self- and parent-report measures assessing social, emotional, and behavioral functioning were administered before and after treatment. Following social skills treatment, adolescents with ASD exhibited decreased aggression, anxiety, and withdrawal, as well as improvements in emotional responsiveness, adaptability, leadership, and participation in activities of daily living, though no change was found in affect recognition abilities. These findings suggest that PEERS social skills treatment improves particular aspects of emotional, behavioral, and social functioning that may be necessary for developing and maintaining quality peer relationships and remediating social isolation in adolescents with ASD., Author(s): Danielle N. Lordo[sup.1] , Madison Bertolin[sup.1] , Eliana L. Sudikoff[sup.1] , Cierra Keith[sup.1] , Barbara Braddock[sup.2] , David A. S. Kaufman[sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Psychology, Saint Louis [...]

Cognitive control theory suggests conflict effects are reduced following high- relative to low-conflict trials. Such reactive adjustments in control, frequently termed "conflict adaptation effects," indicate a dynamic interplay between regulative and evaluative components of cognitive control necessary for adaptable goal-directed behavior. The current study examined conflict adaptation effects while 36 neurologically-normal participants performed a single-trial color-naming Stroop task. Trials preceded by incongruent (high conflict) and congruent (low conflict) trials were compared for behavioral (response time [RT] and error rate) and electrophysiological (N450 and conflict SP components of the event-related potential [ERP]) concomitants of cognitive control. A conflict adaptation effect was present for RTs that could not be accounted for by associative or negative priming. ERPs revealed a parietal conflict slow potential (conflict SP) that differentiated incongruent from congruent trials and monotonically differentiated current trial congruency on the basis of previous-trial context (i.e., showed conflict adaptation); the fronto-medial N450 was sensitive to current trial congruency but not to previous-trial context. Direct comparison of normalized conflict SP and N450 amplitudes showed the conflict SP was sensitive to the effects of previous-trial context, while the N450 was so to a lesser extent and in a different pattern. Findings provide clarification on the neural time course of conflict adaptation and raise further questions regarding the relative roles of the parietal conflict SP and fronto-medial N450 in conflict detection and processing. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

While the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery, Screening Module (S-NAB) is a commonly used cognitive screening measure, no composite embedded performance validity test (PVT) formula has yet been described within it. This study sought to empirically derive PVT formulas within the S-NAB using an analog simulation paradigm. Seventy-two university students (M age = 18.92) were randomly assigned to either an Asymptomatic (AS) or simulated mild traumatic brain injury (S-mTBI) group and were administered a neuropsychological test battery that included the S-NAB and standalone and embedded PVTs. The AS group was instructed to perform optimally, and the S-mTBI group received symptom and test coaching to help simulate mTBI-related impairment. Both groups received warnings regarding the presence of PVTs throughout the test battery. Groups showed significant differences (all ps <.001) on all S-NAB domain scores and PVTs. In the S-NAB, the Attention (S-ATT) and Executive Function (S-EXE) domains showed the largest effect sizes (Cohen's ds = 2.02 and 1.79, respectively). Seven raw scores from S-ATT and S-EXE subtests were entered as predictor variables in a direct logistic regression (LR). The model accurately classified 90.3% of cases. Two PVT formulas were described: (1) an exponentiated equation from LR results and (2) an arithmetic formula using four individually meaningful variables. Both formulas demonstrated outstanding discriminability between groups (AUCs =.96–.97) and yielded good classification statistics compared to other PVTs. This study is the first to describe composite, embedded PVT formulas within the S-NAB. Implications, limitations, and appropriate future directions of inquiry are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by deficits in goal-directed behavior as well as mood and motivational symptoms, including apathy, depression, and anxiety. The present study investigated novelty processing in PD, using event-related potentials (ERPs) to characterize electrophysiological reflections of visual novelty processing. Since apathy has been associated with decreased novelty processing (P3 potentials) in highly apathetic PD patients, we were particularly interested to see if this relationship exists in a sample of PD patients with heterogeneous levels of apathy. Non-demented patients with PD receiving dopaminergic treatment (n = 14) and healthy control participants (n = 12) completed a three-stimulus oddball task while EEG was recorded. Relative to controls, the PD patients exhibited reductions in centrofrontally distributed P3 potentials when viewing novel distracters during this task. Distracter-related P3 amplitudes evoked by novel distracters were strongly associated with apathy symptoms, even after controlling for the effects of depression, anxiety, and executive function. Executive dysfunction was also predictive of novelty-related P3 processing, yet this relationship was independent from that of apathy. These findings suggest that the brain's electrophysiological response to novelty is closely related to both motivational and cognitive symptoms in PD, even for patients whose apathy symptoms are not excessive. These results have significant implications for our understanding of non-motor symptoms in this clinical population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study compared young and older adults on behavioral and neural correlates of three attentional networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control). Nineteen young and 16 older neurologically-healthy adults completed the Attention Network Test (ANT) while behavioral data (reaction time and error rates) and 64-channel event-related potentials (ERPs) were acquired. Significant age-related RT differences were observed across all three networks; however, after controlling for generalized slowing, only the alerting network remained significantly reduced in older compared with young adults. ERP data revealed that alerting cues led to enhanced posterior N1 responses for subsequent attentional targets in young adults, but this effect was weakened in older adults. As a result, it appears that older adults did not benefit fully from alerting cues, and their lack of subsequent attentional enhancements may compromise their ability to be as responsive and flexible as their younger counterparts. N1 alerting deficits were associated with several key neuropsychological tests of attention that were difficult for older adults. Orienting and executive attention networks were largely similar between groups. Taken together, older adults demonstrated behavioral and neural alterations in alerting, however, they appeared to compensate for this reduction, as they did not significantly differ in their abilities to use spatially informative cues to aid performance (e.g., orienting), or successfully resolve response conflict (e.g., executive control). These results have important implications for understanding the mechanisms of age-related changes in attentional networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event-related potential (ERP) studies have previously found that scalp topographies of attention-related ERP components show frontal shifts with age, suggesting an increased need for compensatory frontal activity to assist with top-down facilitation of attention. However, the precise neural time course of top-down attentional control in aging is not clear. In this study, 20 young (mean: 22 years) and 14 older (mean: 64 years) adults completed a three-stimulus visual oddball task while high-density ERPs were acquired. Colorful, novel distracters were presented to engage early visual processing. Relative to young controls, older participants exhibited elevations in occipital early posterior positivity (EPP), approximately 100 ms after viewing colorful distracters. Neural source models for older adults implicated unique patterns of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC; BA 11) activity during early visual novelty processing (100 ms), which was positively correlated with subsequent activations in primary visual cortex (BA 17). Older adult EPP amplitudes and OFC activity were associated with performance on tests of complex attention and executive function. These findings are suggestive of age-related, compensatory neural changes that may driven by a combination of weaker cortical efficiency and increased need for top-down control over attention. Accordingly, enhanced early OFC activity during visual attention may serve as an important indicator of frontal lobe integrity in healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survivors of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often demonstrate impairments in the cognitive control functions of detecting response conflict and signaling for recruitment of cognitive resources to appropriately adjust performance. These cognitive control functions can be measured using conflict adaptation effects, wherein manifestations of conflict detection and processing are reduced following high- relative to low-conflict trials. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were collected while 18 survivors of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 21 demographically matched control participants performed a modified Stroop task. The incongruent-minus-congruent trial Stroop effect for trials preceded by incongruent (high confl ict) and congruent (low conflict) trials were compared for behavioral (response time [RT] and error rate) and ERP reflections of cognitive control. Behavioral data showed a reduction in the Stroop effect for both control and TBI participant RTs when preceded by incongruent trials. The magnitude of these effects did not differentiate control and TBI participants. ERP data revealed a centro-parietal conflict slow potential (conflict SP) that differentiated incongruent from congruent trials. Planned comparisons showed a decreased amplitude conflict SP when ERPs were preceded by incongruent trials in control, but not TBI participants. Results indicate subtle TBI-related impairments in conflict resolution mechanisms in the context of intact RT-related conflict adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]