Objectives: Children and adolescents who were born very preterm (≤32 weeks’ gestation) are vulnerable to experiencing cognitive problems, including in executive function. However, it remains to be established whether cognitive deficits are evident in adulthood and whether these exert a significant effect on an individual’s real-lifeachievement. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, we tested a range of neurocognitive abilities, with a focus on executive function, in a sample of 122 very preterm individuals and 89 term-born controls born between 1979 and 1984. Associations between executive function and a range of achievement measures, indicative of a successful transition to adulthood, were examined. Results: Very preterm adults performed worse compared to controls on measures of intellectual ability and executive function with moderate to large effect sizes. They also demonstrated significantly lower achievement levels in terms of years spent in education, employment status, and on a measure of functioning in work and social domains. Results of regression analysis indicated a stronger positive association between executive function and real-life achievement in the very preterm group compared to controls. Conclusions: Very preterm born adults demonstrate executive function impairments compared to full-term controls, and these are associated with lower achievement in several real-life domains. (JINS, 2017, 23, 381–389)

Objectives: The negative effect of changes in social behavior following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are known, but much less is known about the neuropsychological impairments that may underlie and predict these changes. The current study investigated possible associations between post-injury behavior and neuropsychological competencies of emotion recognition, understanding intentions, and response selection, that have been proposed as important for social functioning. Methods: Forty participants with TBI and 32 matched healthy participants completed a battery of tests assessing the three functions of interest. In addition, self- and proxy reports of pre- and post-injury behavior, mood, and community integration were collected. Results: The TBI group performed significantly poorer than the comparison group on all tasks of emotion recognition, understanding intention, and on one task of response selection. Ratings of current behavior suggested significant changes in the TBI group relative to before the injury and showed significantly poorer community integration and interpersonal behavior than the comparison group. Of the three functions considered, emotion recognition was associated with both post-injury behavior and community integration and this association could not be fully explained by injury severity, time since injury, or education. Conclusions: The current study confirmed earlier findings of associations between emotion recognition and post-TBI behavior, providing partial evidence for models proposing emotion recognition as one of the pre-requisites for adequate social functioning. (JINS, 2017, 23, 400–411)

Objectives: A wealth of studies provide evidence for action simulation during language comprehension. Recent research suggests such action simulations might be sensitive to fine-grained information, such as speed. Here, we present a crucial test for action simulation of speed in language by assessing speed comprehension in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Based on the patients’ motor deficits, we hypothesized that the speed of motion described in language would modulate their performance in semantic tasks. Specifically, they would have more difficulty processing language about relatively fast speed than language about slow speed. Methods: We conducted a semantic similarity judgment task on fast and slow action verbs in patients with PD and age-matched healthy controls. Participants had to decide which of two verbs most closely matched a target word. Results: Compared to controls, PD patients were slower making judgments about fast action verbs, but not for judgments about slow action verbs, suggesting impairment in processing language about fast action. Moreover, this impairment was specific to verbs describing fast action performed with the hand. Conclusions: Problems moving quickly lead to difficulties comprehending language about moving quickly. This study provides evidence that speed is an important part of action representations. (JINS, 2017, 23, 412–420)

Objectives: In complex real life situations, memories for temporal and spatial information are naturally linked since sequential events coincide in time and space. Whether this connection is inseparable or instead whether these processes are functionally dissociable was investigated in this patient study. Methods: Spatial object-location and temporal order memory tasks were administered to 36 stroke patients and 44 healthy control participants. Results: On group level, patients with a stroke in the left hemisphere performed worse on temporal order memory, compared to the control participants. On individual level, using a multiple case-study approach, a clear pattern of dissociations was found between memory for temporal and for spatial features. Conclusions: These findings indicate that location and temporal order memory contain functionally separable processes. This adds to our understanding of how context information is processed in human memory. (JINS, 2017, 23, 421–430)

Objectives: Intraindividual variability (IIV) in reaction time refers to the trial-to-trial fluctuations in responding across a given cognitive task. Cross-sectional research suggests that IIV increases with normal and neuropathological ageing and it may serve as a marker of neurobiological integrity. This raises the possibility that IIV may also predict future cognitive decline and, indeed, neuropathology. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to address these issues. Methods: A search of electronic databases Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, and Web of Science was completed on May 17, 2016 that identified longitudinal investigations of IIV in middle-aged or older adults. Results: A total of 688 studies were initially identified of which 22 met the inclusion criteria. Nine included longitudinal IIV measures and 17 predicted subsequent outcome (cognitive decline or impairment, dementia, mortality) from baseline IIV. The results suggested IIV increased over time, particularly in participants aged over 75 years. Greater baseline IIV was consistently associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes including cognitive decline or impairment, and mortality. Conclusions: Increased IIV over time is associated with normal ageing. However, further increases in IIV over and above those found in normal ageing may be a risk factor for future cognitive impairment or mortality. Measures of IIV may, therefore, have considerable potential as a supplement to existing clinical assessment to aid identification of individuals at risk of adverse outcomes such as dementia or death. (JINS, 2017, 23, 431–445)

Objectives: To examine hierarchical visuospatial processing in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a single gene disorder associated with visuospatial impairments, attention deficits, and executive dysfunction. Methods: We used a modified Navon paradigm consisting of a large “global” shape composed of smaller “local” shapes that were either congruent (same) or incongruent (different) to the global shape. Participants were instructed to name either the global or local shape within a block. Reaction times, interference ratios, and error rates of children with NF1 (n=30) and typically developing controls (n=24) were compared. Results: Typically developing participants demonstrated the expected global processing bias evidenced by a vulnerability to global interference when naming local stimuli without a cost of congruence when naming global stimuli. NF1 participants, however, experienced significant interference from the unattended level when naming both local and global levels of the stimuli. Conclusions: Findings suggest that children with NF1 do not demonstrate the typical human bias of processing visual information from a global perspective. (JINS, 2017, 23, 446–450)