Objective A subset of individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appears to develop persisting cognitive and medical symptoms. Research in the acute stages of illness, generally utilizing cognitive screening measures or case reports, suggests presence of deficits in attention and executive function. This observational study investigated cognitive functioning among individuals with persistent cognitive complaints about 5.5 months after COVID-19 infection. Methods Patients with polymerase chain reaction confirmed COVID-19 and persistent cognitive complaints underwent comprehensive in-person neuropsychological evaluations. Patients with prior neurological disorders were excluded. When diagnosed, 40% required hospitalization, 15% were in an intensive care unit, 10% needed mechanical ventilation, and 10% experienced delirium. Results This sample was predominately women (90%), White non-Hispanic (70%), with average education of 15 years. Mild cognitive deficits were seen on tests involving attention and processing speed or executive function. Seventy percent of patients were diagnosed with a mood disorder prior to COVID-19 infection. At the time of testing, 35%–40% endorsed moderate to severe mood symptoms and 85% noted significant fatigue as measured by the Fatigue Severity Scale. Conclusions The pattern of cognitive deficits, although mild, is consistent with prior research at the acute stage of the illness. These findings suggest that psychological factors and other persisting symptoms (e.g., sleep, fatigue) may play a significant role in subjective cognitive complaints in patients with persisting complaints post COVID-19 who did not require intensive treatment. These patients would likely benefit from resources to manage persisting or new mood symptoms and compensatory strategies for the cognitive inefficiencies they experience.

Objective: Among patients with brain damage, executive function deficits and impulsivity correspond with propensity to engage in risky behaviors. Less research has addressed this issue in healthy adults, and fewer still have simultaneously evaluated the importance of executive function and impulsive personality. Additionally, most research has focused exclusively on substance use while ignoring other domains of risky behavior such as sexual activity and antisocial practices. Toward this end, we examined the association of risky behaviors with executive function and self-reported impulsivity. Method: Healthy undergraduates (n = 56) were administered the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and UPPS-P impulsivity questionnaire. A self-report questionnaire assessed risky sexual activities, drug use, and antisocial behaviors over a 2-month interval. Results: After accounting for social desirability and performance effort, multiple regression analyses revealed a robust relationship between executive function and risk-taking. Specifically, WCST performance correlated with risky sexual and substance use behavior, whereas the IGT was uniquely linked with antisocial acts. Trait impulsivity was positively associated with sexual behavior. Conclusions: Extending previous research, executive function accounted for more variance in risky behaviors than self-reported impulsivity, but this was mediated by facet of executive function. Decision-making under risk seemed to better account for antisocial acts, whereas perseveration was more strongly linked to sexual activity and substance misuse. These data imply that poor executive function increases the likelihood that healthy young adults will engage in risky and potentially dangerous acts, extending the ecological validity of the WCST and IGT.

Prospective memory (PM) pertains to the execution of a future goal or behavior. Initial research implies that people with multiple sclerosis (MS) are apt to show impaired prospective memory for activities of daily living (Rendell, Jensen, & Henry, 2007; Rendell et al., 2012). Yet, PM impairment does not occur in all people with MS. Thus, some other variable besides disease status alone may contribute to PM dysfunction in people with MS. Chronic pain may be such a variable. Approximately 50-70% of people with MS experience significant pain, and such pain has been thought to diminish memory function (Moore, Keogh, and Eccleston, 2009). To investigate this possibility, 96 patients with MS and 29 healthy subjects were administered the Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST) (Raskin, Buckheit, & Sherrod, 2010), a well-validated measure of prospective memory, and the Medical Outcomes Study Pain Effects Scale (PES) (Fischer, Rudick, Cutter, & Reingold, 1999) to assess chronic pain. After controlling for demographic variables and disability severity, subjective pain accounted for significant variance in PM, particularly for time-based intentions over sustained delay periods. These data accord well with assertions that pain may degrade ability to remember new intentions, and suggests that pain is associated with PM dysfunction in people with MS.

Attitudes toward gay/lesbian persons and behavior were initially assessed among Christian college students. Students with either uniformly positive or negative attitudes toward homosexual persons and behavior were then exposed to psychological and spiritual interventions designed to help them see more clearly the value of homosexual persons. Attitudes toward homosexual persons and behavior were then reassessed immediately after the intervention and one month later. Generally, the intervention improved attitudes toward homosexual persons. The picture for attitudes toward homosexual behavior was more complicated. With students who were uniformly rejecting, the intervention made their attitudes toward homosexual behavior less rejecting. However, with students who were uniformly accepting, the intervention diminished their acceptance of gay/lesbian behavior.

Individuals coached to modify test-taking performance were marginally more successful in eluding detection by PVTs and SVTs than those coached with respect to TBI symptoms only. When the criterion of failing two or more PVTs or SVTs was applied, only 5% eluded detection.