A Comprehensive Meta-analysis on Short-term and Working Memory Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease

Reconceptualizing mind wandering from a switching perspective

“…Furthermore, using the SART, Gyurkovics et al ( 2018 ) found that individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease reported experiencing fewer task - unrelated thoughts and more task - related thoughts than healthy age - matched controls, again indicating reduced incidence of mind wandering despite individuals with Alzheimer's disease showing declines in executive functioning (Guarino et al, 2018 ). Similar results have been reported in studies involving individuals with Parkinson’s disease (Walpola et al, 2020 ), who are also known to suffer from executive dysfunction (Flannery et al, 2018 ; McKinlay et al, 2010 ; Ramos & Machado, 2021 ), and individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (Niedzwienska & Kvavilashvili, 2018 ).…”

“…Although the resource-control account of sustained attention (Thomson et al, 2015 ), which suggests that the occurrence of mind wandering is associated with decreases in motivation and/or effort to keep attention on the task at hand over time, could explain why older adults tend to report fewer instances of mind wandering than young adults during cognitive task performance—either because they are more motivated to perform the primary task (Frank et al, 2015 ; Jackson & Balota, 2012 ; Seli et al, 2021 ; Seli, Maillet, et al, 2017 ; Seli, Ralph, et al, 2017 ) or because they have spent a larger proportion of their executive resources on the primary task (Craik & Byrd, 1982 ) and thus have fewer resources left over to exhibit mind wandering (Giambra, 1989 ; Krawietz et al, 2012 ; Maillet & Rajah, 2013 )—this theory is not without its limitations. In particular, if executive control, which wanes over time on task, is required to prevent task-unrelated thoughts (i.e., the default mental state) from consuming executive resources needed for the task at hand, then given that healthy and cognitively impaired older adults generally have poorer executive control (e.g., Flannery et al, 2018 ; Guarino et al, 2018 ; McKinlay et al, 2010 ; Ramos & Machado, 2021 ), one might reasonably expect that as time-on-task increases, these older populations would report higher incidences of mind wandering and show more pronounced performance decrements. However, this prediction was not supported by Arnicane et al, ( 2021 ), who found that in comparison to the first block (i.e., the first 15 min) of a visual working memory task, in the sixth block healthy older adults reported similar levels of attentional lapses and demonstrated improved performance.…”

Cognitive Performance and Learning Parameters Predict Response to Working Memory Training in Parkinson’s Disease

“…As stated in the Dopamine Overdose Hypothesis, both dopamine depletion as well as dopamine overdoses might lead to adverse effects in cognitive tasks, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship between dopamine levels and cognitive performance [ 43, 44 ]. Following, dopaminergic treatment may foster dopamine depleted neural circuits but at the same time overdose relatively intact circuits, resulting in differential effects of dopaminergic supplementation on different cognitive domains relying on different neural circuits [ 4, 45 ]. Furthermore, along with the progression of neurodegeneration in PD [ 44 ], the optimal level of dopamine replacement therapy for cognitive functions may change over the course of the disease, as it does for motor and other non-motor symptoms [ 46 ].…”

“…Cognitive decline is a common, debilitating nonmotor symptom in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), which is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder of older age [1]. Working memory (WM), executive functions, and attention are frequently impaired cognitive domains across various disease stages [2][3][4]. WM training (WMT) is the most empirically investigated cognitive training approach across the lifespan [5] due to the strong association of WM with fluid intelligence [6] and daily functioning [7].…”

Evolutionary Cognitive Enhancement: Reawakening Adaptive Cognitive-Emotional-Motor Systems

“…Executive functions are involved in higher-level cognitive abilities such as reasoning, planning, and creativity, as well as managing emotional processes (see figure 1), and hence play a key role in social-cognitive development and mental health (Diamond, 2013;Machado, 2021;Menon & D'Esposito, 2021). Conversely, executive dysfunctions have been linked to a significant source of disability in many neurological conditions (Cristofori et al, 2019), including learning disorders (Borella et al, 2010), ADHD (Ramos et al, 2020), addiction (Baler & Volkow, 2006), depression (Taylor Tavares et al, 2007, and Parkinson's disease (Machado et al, 2009;Marí-Beffa et al, 2005;Ramos & Machado, 2021). In light of the importance of cognitive control in daily functioning and mental health (Cristofori et al, 2019;Diamond, 2013), significant effort has gone into developing cognitive control enhancement techniques such as computer-based cognitive training (Sonuga-Barke et al, 2014;Ten Brinke et al, 2018), neurostimulation (Camacho-Conde et al, 2022, and aerobic exercise (e.g., Guiney & Machado, 2013).…”