Mediating Effect of Cognitive Reserve on Associations Between Processing Speed and Memory in Older Adults with and without Multiple Sclerosis
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
Release Date: 04/06/2026
Examination of Objective and Subjective Cognition and Their Association With Functional Outcomes: A Cross - Sectional Study in a Canadian Sample of Homeless and Precariously Housed Adults
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, our host, Dr. Scott Sperling, and student leader, Jared Jacoboson Cherry, meet with authors Dr. Kristina Gicas and Michelle Blumberg to discuss their recent paper, . The authors share insights from their cross-sectional study of 88 community-dwelling adults experiencing or precarious housing, which examined the associations between facets of cognition and of quality of life and perceived everyday functioning. The conversation explores the importance of involving this population in clinical research and how subjective cognitive measures could be included...
info_outline
Mediating Effect of Cognitive Reserve on Associations Between Processing Speed and Memory in Older Adults with and without Multiple Sclerosis
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, our host, Dr. Scott Sperling, and student leader, Steven Harris, meet with authors Dr. Roee Holtzer and Andrew Fox to discuss their recent paper, The authors share insights from their study of 104 older adults with MS and 105 healthy controls who underwent neuropsychological testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging. Using regression modeling to derive cognitive reserve, they found that cognitive reserve fully mediated the association between processing speed and immediate verbal recall, and partially mediated the association for delayed recall. The conversation...
info_outline
The relationship between cognitive domains and everyday functioning in Alzheimer’s disease
Meet the Authors: A Neuropsychology Podcast
In this episode, our host, Dr. Scott Sperling, and student leader, Jared Jacoboson Cherry, meet with authors Sophie van der Landen and Dr. Sietske Sikkes to discuss their recent paper, "" The authors share insights from their study of over 600 participants with biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease, ranging from subjective cognitive decline to dementia. Using advanced statistical modeling, they found that difficulties in memory, visual attention, mental flexibility, and visuoconstruction were closely linked to challenges in daily activities, while other cognitive domains like working memory,...
info_outline
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.
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outlineIn this episode, our host, Dr. Scott Sperling, and student leader, Steven Harris, meet with authors Dr. Roee Holtzer and Andrew Fox to discuss their recent paper, Mediating Effect of Cognitive Reserve on Associations Between Processing Speed and Memory in Older Adults with and without Multiple Sclerosis. The authors share insights from their study of 104 older adults with MS and 105 healthy controls who underwent neuropsychological testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging. Using regression modeling to derive cognitive reserve, they found that cognitive reserve fully mediated the association between processing speed and immediate verbal recall, and partially mediated the association for delayed recall. The conversation explores how these findings highlight the protective role of cognitive reserve against memory decline in older adults, regardless of the presence of Multiple Sclerosis.