Elaine Niven

Screening for cognition and behaviour changes in ALS.

Abstract This study presents the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS), developed for ALS patients with physical disability for use by health care professionals. The screen is designed to detect the specific profile of cognition and behaviour changes in ALS and to differentiate it from other disorders. Forty-eight ALS patients (none with evident dementia), 40 healthy controls and 20 carers were recruited. The ECAS, a 15–20-min screen, includes an ALS-Specific score (executive functions and social cognition; fluency; language); an ALS Non-specific score (memory; visuospatial functions); and a carer behaviour screen of five domains characteristic of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Data from healthy controls produced abnormality cut-offs of 77/100 ALS-Specific score; 24/36 ALS Non-specific score; 105/136 ECAS Total. Twenty-nine percent of patients showed abnormal ALS-Specific scores, and 6% also showed abnormal ALS Non-specific scores. The most prevalent deficit occurred in language functions (35%) followed by executive functions and fluency (23% each). Forty percent of carers reported behaviour change in at least one domain, while 15% met criteria for possible FTD. In conclusion, the ECAS is an effective within-clinic assessment for ALS that determines the presence, severity and type of cognitive and/or behavioural changes, an essential first step to managing these symptoms.

Validation of the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Screen (ECAS): A cognitive tool for motor disorders

Abstract Our objective was to assess the validity of the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behaviour ALS Screen (ECAS), a multi-domain screen designed to detect cognitive deficits in patients with motor disorders. Forty ALS patients (without pre-diagnosed dementia) and 40, age-, gender- and education-matched healthy controls were recruited. All participants underwent extensive neuropsychological assessment and the ECAS. Performance at neuropsychological assessment across five domains (fluency, executive function, language, memory and visuospatial function) was compared to the ECAS ALS-Specific (fluency, executive functions and social cognition, language), ALS Non-specific (memory, visuospatial functions), and Total scores. Data from the healthy controls produced population-based abnormality cut-offs: composite score performance ≤ 2 SD in any domain classified impairment at neuropsychological assessment. Thirty-three percent of patients were impaired, most commonly in a single domain (executive or language dysfunction). Receiver Operator Curve (ROC) analyses using ECAS Total scores and ALS-Specific scores revealed 85% sensitivity and 85% specificity in the detection of cognitive impairment characteristic of ALS (fluency, executive function, language). A five-point borderline range produced optimal values (ALS-Specific Score 77–82, and ECAS-Total Score 105–110). In conclusion, validation against gold standard extensive neuropsychology demonstrated that the ECAS is a screening tool with high sensitivity and specificity to impairment characteristic of ALS.

Visual mental image generation does not overlap with visual short-term memory: A dual-task interference study

Visual mental imagery and working memory are often assumed to play similar roles in high-order functions, but little is known of their functional relationship. In this study, we investigated whether similar cognitive processes are involved in the generation of visual mental images, in short-term retention of those mental images, and in short-term retention of visual information. Participants encoded and recalled visually or aurally presented sequences of letters under two interference conditions: spatial tapping or irrelevant visual input (IVI). In Experiment 1, spatial tapping selectively interfered with the retention of sequences of letters when participants generated visual mental images from aural presentation of the letter names and when the letters were presented visually. In Experiment 2, encoding of the sequences was disrupted by both interference tasks. However, in Experiment 3, IVI interfered with the generation of the mental images, but not with their retention, whereas spatial tapping was more disruptive during retention than during encoding. Results suggest that the temporary retention of visual mental images and of visual information may be supported by the same visual short-term memory store but that this store is not involved in image generation.

The art of deleting snapshots

In this paper, we investigate why people decide to delete snapshots. 74 participants took snapshots of a street festival every three minutes for an hour and were then asked to cull pictures immediately or after a delay of a day, a week, or a month. We found that the ratio of kept to deleted pictures was fairly constant. Deletion criteria fell into six main categories that mostly involved subjective assessments such as whether a photo was sufficiently characteristic. We conclude that automatic tagging of photos for deletion is problematic; interfaces should instead make it easy for users to find and compare similar photos.

Prospective memory in a virtual environment: Beneficial effects of cue saliency

Prospective Memory (PM) research focuses on how the cognitive system successfully encodes and retains an intention, before retrieving it at a particular future time or in response to a particular future event. Previous work using 2D text stimuli has shown that increasing the saliency of the retrieval cue can improve performance. In this work, we investigated the effect of increased cue saliency in a more ecologically valid 3D virtual environment. The findings indicate that increased perceptual saliency of the cue does benefit PM in a dynamic and visually rich environment but that the impact of cue saliency does not interact with attentional load.

Working Memory: An Ensemble of Functions in On-Line Cognition.

V. Gyselinck, F. Pazzaglia, Introduction Part 1. Visual Imagery and Imagery Processes B. Tversky, Telling Tales, or Journeys G. Borst, S. M. Kosslyn, Scanning Visual Mental Images: Some Structural Implications, Revisited H. D. Zimmer, Visual Imagery in the Brain: Modality-Specific and Spatial, But May Be Without Space Part 2. Working Memory and Imagery R.H. Logie, E. H. Niven, Working Memory: An Ensemble of Functions in Online Cognition J. Gerry Quinn, Theories and Debate in Visuo-Spatial Working Memory: The Questions of Access and Rehearsal Part 3. Language, Space and Action F. Pazzaglia, V. Gyselinck, C. Cornoldi, R. De Beni, Individual Differences in Spatial Text Processing M. L. Noordzij, A. Postma, Language of Space: A Comparison Between Blind and Sighted Individuals M. De Vega, Language and Action: An Approach to Embodied Cognition Part 4. Decades of Images M. Denis, Decades of Images: Subjective Reminiscences of a Shared Scientific Journey.

Visual feature binding in younger and older adults: encoding and suffix interference effects

ABSTRACT Three experiments investigated younger (18–25 yrs) and older (70–88 yrs) adults’ temporary memory for colour–shape combinations (binding). We focused upon estimating the magnitude of the binding cost for each age group across encoding time (Experiment 1; 900/1500 ms), presentation format (Experiment 2; simultaneous/sequential), and interference (Experiment 3; control/suffix) conditions. In Experiment 1, encoding time did not differentially influence binding in the two age groups. In Experiment 2, younger adults exhibited poorer binding performance with sequential relative to simultaneous presentation, and serial position analyses highlighted a particular age-related difficulty remembering the middle item of a series (for all memory conditions). Experiments 1–3 demonstrated small to medium binding effect sizes in older adults across all encoding conditions, with binding less accurate than shape memory. However, younger adults also displayed negative effects of binding (small to large) in two of the experiments. Even when older adults exhibited a greater suffix interference effect in Experiment 3, this was for all memory types, not just binding. We therefore conclude that there is no consistent evidence for a visual binding deficit in healthy older adults. This relative preservation contrasts with the specific and substantial deficits in visual feature binding found in several recent studies of Alzheimers disease.

ECAS A-B-C: alternate forms of the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen

Abstract Background: The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) is a short assessment by which neuropsychological symptoms can be detected and quantified in people with ALS. To avoid potential practice effects with repeated administration, here we present alternative versions of the ECAS suitable for measuring change over time. Objective: To develop two alternate versions of the ECAS: ECAS-B and ECAS-C. Method: One hundred and forty-nine healthy adult participants were recruited. Thirty participants completed a pilot study in developing the alternate versions. Two groups of 40 participants were administered the ECAS-B or ECAS-C and compared to published data of the original ECAS (ECAS-A) to determine equivalence. An additional 39 participants were administered the ECAS consecutively, either repeating the original version (ECAS-A-A-A) serially or the different versions (ECAS-A-B-C) to determine potential practice effects. Recordings of assessments were scored by a second researcher to determine inter-rater reliability. Results: No significant differences were found between versions (A, B, C) of the composite performance measures of ALS Specific, ALS Non-Specific, and ECAS Total scores. Repeated serial administration of ECAS-A (A-A-A) produced some practice effects for composite scores, whereas no such effects were found when alternate versions were administered serially (A-B-C). Exceptionally high intra-class correlations were found for all three versions of the ECAS suggesting a high degree of rater agreement. Conclusion: The newly developed alternate forms of the ECAS are both highly equitable to the original ECAS-A and enable avoidance of practice effects, thus supporting their use in measuring cognition and behaviour over time.

Personal Photo Preservation for the Smartphone Generation

Preserving photos for future generations is difficult in the digital age, as both storage media and storage formats become obsolete within decades. In order to inform the design of a photo preservation service, we are currently collecting information about relevant practices in a large survey. In this paper, we report intermediate results from a sample of 236 European students aged between 18 and 34. 76% of our participants are keen to preserve their photos for future generations, but far fewer report photo management practices that support preservation. We discuss implications for design and outline three groups of users that can be distilled into personas.

Sensitivity and specificity of the ECAS in Parkinson’s disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Disentangling Parkinsons disease (PD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) may be a diagnostic challenge. Cognitive signs may be useful, but existing screens are often insufficiently sensitive or unsuitable for assessing people with motor disorders. We investigated whether the newly developed ECAS, designed to be used with people with even severe motor disability, was sensitive to the cognitive impairment seen in PD and PSP and able to distinguish between these two disorders. Thirty patients with PD, 11 patients with PSP, and 40 healthy controls were assessed using the ECAS, as well as an extensive neuropsychological assessment. The ECAS detected cognitive impairment in 30% of the PD patients, all of whom fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment. The ECAS was also able to detect cognitive impairment in PSP patients, with 81.8% of patients performing in the impaired range. The ECAS total score distinguished between the patients with PSP and healthy controls with high sensitivity (91.0) and specificity (86.8). Importantly, the ECAS was also able to distinguish between the two syndromes, with the measures of verbal fluency offering high sensitivity (82.0) and specificity (80.0). In sum, the ECAS is a quick, simple, and inexpensive test that can be used to support the differential diagnosis of PSP.