Extraversion and Neuroticism are two fundamental dimensions of human personality that influence cognitive functioning in healthy subjects. Little is known about personality changes that may occur in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) nor about, in particular, their neurofunctional basis. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of…

It has been suggested that spindle neurons, an evolutionarily unique type of neuron, might be involved in higher-order social, emotional, and cognitive functions. As such, it was hypothesized that these neurons may be particularly important to the pathophysiology of autism, a disease characterized in part by disruption of higher-order social and…

The present research sought to investigate the role of the basal ganglia in timing of sub- and supra-second intervals via an examination of the ability of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) to make temporal judgments in two ranges, 100-500 ms, and 1-5 s. Eighteen non-demented medicated patients with PD were compared with 14 matched controls on a…

This study explored possible deficits in selective attention brought about by Dementia of Alzheimer Type (DAT). In three experiments, we tested patients with early DAT, healthy elderly, and young adults under low memory demands to assess perceptual filtering, conflict resolution, and set switching abilities. We found no evidence of impaired…

There is a consensus that Alzheimer's disease (AD) impairs semantic information, with one of the first markers being anomia i.e. an impaired ability to name items. Doubts remain, however, about whether this naming impairment differentially affects items from the living and nonliving knowledge domains. Most studies have reported an impairment for…

This study examined the effect of transformed visual feedback on movement control in Huntington's disease (HD). Patients in the early stages of HD and controls performed aiming movements towards peripheral targets on a digitizing tablet and emphasizing precision. In a baseline condition, HD patients were slower but showed few precision problems in…

The effect of a visual warning signal (1.0-6.5s random foreperiod, FP) on the latency of voluntary (hand-grip) and reflexive (startle-eyeblink) reactions was investigated in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and in young and aged control subjects. Equivalent FP effects on blink were observed across groups. By contrast, FP effects diverged for…

This study measures the effect of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal aging on the inhibition of prepotent responses. AD patients, normal aged controls, and young subjects were tested with the Hayling task, which measures the ability to inhibit a semantically constrained response, and with the Stroop procedure. AD patients showed a severe deficit…

The increasing use of eye movement paradigms to assess the functional integrity of brain systems involved in sensorimotor and cognitive processing in clinical disorders requires greater attention to effects of pharmacological treatments on these systems. This is needed to better differentiate disease and medication effects in clinical samples, to…

An experiment was designed to test whether or not Parkinson's disease (PD) patients were able to maintain endpoint kinematic patterns in a prehension task involving movement of the torso. Nine PD patients and nine healthy controls were asked to reach for and grasp a full cup of water that was either covered or uncovered and placed beyond the reach…

The relationship between leisure activities and development of cognitive impairment in aging has been the subject of recent research. We examined television viewing in association with risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a case-control study. Given recent focus on the importance of intellectually stimulating activities as preventive…

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibit deficits in perceptual and motor timing as well as impairments in memory and attentional processes that are related to dysfunction of dopaminergic systems in the basal ganglia. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationships existing between impaired duration judgments and defective…

We have hypothesized a distinction between the processes required to control the timing of different classes of periodic movements. In one class, salient events mark successive cycles. For these movements, we hypothesize that the temporal goal is a requisite component of the task representation, what we refer to as event-based timing. In the other…

Alzheimer's disease produces a generalized slowing of cognitive processing increasing with the progression of dementia. However little is known about this phenomenon in the pre-demented stages. Our purpose was to investigate cognitive slowing in pre-demented subjects and their ability to develop target detection skills while performing a…

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of HIV/AIDS on cognitive control and to determine if the effect is modified by familial risk for either alcohol or mood disorders. Sixty HIV-1 seropositive and 75 seronegative volunteers were assigned to four subgroups defined by the crossing of a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the…