Executive functions (EFs) is an umbrella term for various cognitive processes controlled by a complex neural activity, which allow the production of different types of behaviors seeking to achieve specific objectives, one of them being inhibitory control. There is a wide consensus that clinical and behavioral alterations associated with EF, such as inhibitory control, are present in various neuropsychiatric disorders. This paper reviews the research literature on the relationship between executive dysfunction, frontalsubcortical neural circuit changes, and the psychopathological processes associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A revision on the role of frontal-subcortical neural circuits and their presumable abnormal functioning and the high frequency of neuropsychiatric symptoms could explain the difficulties with putting effector mechanisms into action, giving individuals the necessary tools to act efficiently in their environment. Although, neuronal substrate data about ADHD and PTSD has been reported in the literature, it is isolated. Therefore, this review highlights the overlapping of neural substrates in the symptomatology of ADHD and PTSD disorders concerning EFs, especially in the inhibitory component. Thus, the changes related to impaired EF that accompany disorders like ADHD and PTSD could be explained by disturbances that have a direct or indirect impact on the functioning of these loops. Initially, the theoretical model of EF according to current neuropsychology will be presented, focusing on the inhibitory component. In a second stage, this component will be analyzed for each of the disorders of interest, considering the clinical aspects, the etiology and the neurobiological basis. Additionally, commonalities between the two neuropsychiatric conditions will be taken into consideration from the perspectives of cognitive and emotional inhibition. Finally, the implications and future prospects for research and interventions in the area will be outlined, with the intention of contributing scientific reference information that encompasses the knowledge and understanding of executive dysfunction and its relationship with these treated disorders.
Using the conflict principle of the Stroop task, "effect of interference in color naming", the present study proposes to create a computational version of the emotional Stroop task, called TREFACE, for its acronyms in Portuguese "Teste de Reconhecimento de Expressões Faciais com Conflito Emocional" (Facial Expression Recognition Test with Emotional Conflict). In this protocol, four fixed styles of presentation were generated according to the condition: Congruent Word Reading, Incongruent Word Reading, Congruent Recognition of Face Expression and Incongruent Recognition of Face Expression, counterbalanced in terms of each facial expression, word and gender of the photo character. Forty-two healthy volunteers completed the task. Results revealed that a task associated with word reading allows better performance than a task associated with face recognition. It was also identified that in the congruent condition, there is an advantage in terms of the correct responses. Additionally, the data regarding recognition of face expression showed greater difficulty when the image was not congruent with the word. In general, the results suggest that the emotional attribute can compromise the ability to recognize the faces, reaching the functioning of mechanisms such as cognitive control and regulation of emotions. Thus, the TREFACE paradigm can be considered a good assessment tool for monitoring emotional conflict, in addition to presenting itself as a new instrument in Portuguese language for assessing emotional working memory in healthy individuals and, eventually, in different pathologies that affect the functioning of cortical areas related to executive functions.
There are several coronary diseases that human beings can suffer from, which in themselves generate health deterioration and can lead to the development of other diseases that diminish the quality of life. Ischemic diseases are unique in that they are evidenced by blockages generated by the accumulation of fat that impedes circulation, triggering heart and brain-related problems. By means of fractional Brownian motion in relation to Hurst’s parameter, an analysis of a data of 137 patients aged between 30 and 71 years, who present some type of ischemic disease such as mixed, restricted, effort angina and angina pectoris, is performed. The data used was European, which is found in the PhysioNet open-access medical research data repository, managed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computational Physiology Laboratory. This data shows the Hurst coefficient calculations associated with each type of ischemic heart disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that comes with the aging process characterized by cognitive, affective and behavioral deficits. a possible method that can support the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is called fractal geometry, given that the brain has fractal structure, therefore, Alzheimer’s disease is an observed progressive process of alterations within the groups of topographic voxels, which means that a geometrical fractal analysis can support the diagnosis of the disease. For this purpose, a double blind clinical trial study was designed, calculating the fractal dimension and the lagunarity of magnetic resonance imaging of the cerebral cortex of patients with the neurological report of Alzheimer’s disease, implementing the box-counting method or “entropy of kolmogorov”, by means of a software with logarithm FracLac (p=1.029). As a relevant result, a characteristic fractal pattern was evidenced in the images of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, which allowed to postulate the mathematical method as a possible analysis to complement the clinical order in the diagnostic assessment.
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