A Psychometric Study of Instruments Assessing Catastrophizing and Fear Avoidance Behaviors in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
Release Date: 07/10/2024
Domain-Specific Changes in Everyday Cognition: Associations with Diagnosis Change and Gray Matter Volume Change
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode of Meet the Authors, Dr. Scott Sperling is joined by first author Dr. Brandon Gavett to discuss his paper, . Drawing on longitudinal data from 891 older adults, the study examines how cognitive abilities change over time and how these changes relate to diagnostic transitions and brain atrophy. Findings highlight the sensitivity of the Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale to clinical disease severity and underlying gray matter atrophy when used longitudinally.
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Inhibitory Control Underpins the Relationship Between Cognitive and Psychological Inflexibility After a Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling discusses the article with authors Drs. Diane Whiting and Josh Faulkner. This study examined how deficits in cognitive flexibility relate to psychological inflexibility and distress among individuals with a traumatic brain injury (N = 66). Results showed that poorer performance on the Stroop color-word task, a measure of inhibitory control, was significantly associated with greater psychological inflexibility and distress. Overall, findings support the idea that cognitive flexibility—particularly inhibitory control—is a key component of psychological...
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Joint Effects of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Cannabis on Neurocognition
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling discusses the article with first author Ashley Adams, MS and senior author Dr. Raul Gonzalez. This study explored the effects of cannabis use and HIV on neurocognition in a demographically diverse sample (N = 269). Results showed that participants who endorsed cannabis use (CB+) and had an HIV diagnosis (HIV+) were more likely to be labeled with a memory impairment compared to controls (CB-/HIV-). Addiitionally, the CB+/HIV- was twice as likely to be labeled with an executive functioning impairment compared to controls. Overall, results suggest that...
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The Association of Multilingualism with Diverse Language Families and Cognition Among Adults with and without Education in India
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Grace Goodwin, discuss the article with the senior author, Dr. Miguel Arce Rentería. This study leveraged the rich linguistic diversity across all socioeconomic gradients in India to understand how multilinguilism impacts cognition later in life in individuals with and without formal education. Participants were from The Longitudinal Aging Study in India-Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia which included 4,088 individuals, 54% of whom did not have formal education. Analyses employed education-stratified regression models. Results showed...
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p-Tau/Aβ42 Ratio Associates with Cognitive Decline
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and Dr. Elaine Schultz discuss the article with two the paper's authors, Dr. Ruchika Prakash and Michael McKenna. The goal of the study was to examine whether a CSF-based p-Tau/Aβ42 ratio predicted aspects of cognition (global cognitive functioning, episodic memory, and executive functioning) over a 2-year period (data collected at baseline, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months). This study utilized data from 1,215 older adults through the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative including those who were cognitive unimpaired, those with mild...
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Pediatric Cognitive Reserve Moderates the Effect of Brain Structure in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence for an Optimized Residual Approach
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and Dr. Kritika Nayar discuss the article with the paper's first author Dr. Zubin Irani. This study examined the construct validity of a residual-based cognitive reserve index in a sample of pediatric patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Analyses included 115 children, 43 of which met diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Each participant underwent neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging at multiple time points. Statistical methods involved elastic-net regularized linear regression. Overall, cognitive reserve was shown to...
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The Association of Sociodemographic Factors with Semantic Fluency Metrics
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Dr. Lisa Cruz, discuss the article with the paper's first author, Magdalena Beran, and senior author Dr. Jet Vonk. In this study, explored the association between sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, sex, level of education) and semantic fluency metrics (e.g., number of words, average cluster size, number of cluster switches, lexical/Zipf frequency, age of acquisition, and lexical decision response time). Analyses utilized data from 3 cross-sectional cohorts, totaling 2,391 individuals. Overall, results indicated that semantic...
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Understanding the Role of Working Memory and Organizational Skills on Academic Functioning in ADHD
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Ms. Grace Goodwin, discuss the article with the paper's first author, doctoral candidate, Ms. Alissa Cole. Using bias-corrected, bootstrapped latent path analyses, this study explored the unique and shared contributions of working memory and organizational skills on academic achievement and performance in a sample of 309 children with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Results highlight the extent to which working memory and organizational skills both separately and together impact academic achievement and...
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A Psychometric Study of Instruments Assessing Catastrophizing and Fear Avoidance Behaviors in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Dr. Elaine Schultz, discuss the article with two of the paper's authors, Skye King and Dr. Melloney Wijenberg. This study aimed to invesigate the factor structure, internal consistency, test-restest reliability, and concurrent and construct validity of the Postconcussion Symptom Catastrophizing Scale (PCS-CS) and the Fear of Mental Activity Scale (FMA) in a sample of participants with mild TBI compared to orthopedic injury and healthy adults. The sample was comprised of 185 mTBI participants, 180 with orthopedic injury, and 116 healthy...
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Investigating Language Switching and Speaking a Nondominant Language as Markers of Alzheimer’s Risk in Spanish-English Bilinguals
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Dr. Kritika Nayar, discuss the paper , with the paper's authors, Ms. Dalia Lopez Garcia and Dr. Tamar Gollan. In this study, using psycholinguistic analyses, authors explored language switching and speaking a nondominant language as markers of Alzheimer's risk in Spanish-English bilinguals. All 19 participants, who were cognitively healthy, completed neuropsychological testing, a structured interview (in both Spanish and English), and language switching tasks. Following this, 8 individuals were diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease...
info_outlineIn this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Dr. Elaine Schultz, discuss the article Psychometric properties of two instruments assessing catastrophizing and fear-avoidance behavior in mild traumatic brain injury with two of the paper's authors, Skye King and Dr. Melloney Wijenberg. This study aimed to invesigate the factor structure, internal consistency, test-restest reliability, and concurrent and construct validity of the Postconcussion Symptom Catastrophizing Scale (PCS-CS) and the Fear of Mental Activity Scale (FMA) in a sample of participants with mild TBI compared to orthopedic injury and healthy adults. The sample was comprised of 185 mTBI participants, 180 with orthopedic injury, and 116 healthy adults. Findings supported a three-factor model (magnification, rumination, helplessness) with a higher order factor (catastrophizing) for the PCS-CS and a two-factor model (activity avoidance and somatic focus) for the FMA. Results supported strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. Overall, this study provided evidence of psychometric strength for these measures and support their use in research and cllinical practice in mTBI to better understand prolonged recovery.