Complexity in neuropsychological assessments of cognitive impairment: A network analysis approach

Tosi, Giorgia; Borsani, Carolina; Castiglioni, S.; Daini, Roberta; Franceschi, M.; Romano, Daniele

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2019.11.004

Cited by 41 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…It offers the opportunity of analyzing multiple nodes and the complexity of their edges, giving back a manageable output. For example, networks have been used to model either personality and attitudes in healthy and pathological situations (39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44), or neuropsychological performances in adults (45).…”

Section: Network Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Major Stress-Related Symptoms During the Lockdown: A Study by the Italian Society of Psychophysiology and Cognitive Neuroscience

Invitto

Romano

Garbarini

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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The clinical effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are now the subject of numerous studies worldwide. But what are the effects of the quarantine imposed by the states that implemented the measures of lockdown? The present research aims to explore, in a preliminary way, the major stress-related symptoms during the lockdown, due to Covid-19, in the Italian population. Subjects were asked to fill out a survey, that traced a line identifying the most relevant psychophysiological symptoms that took into account factors such as perceived stress, body perception, perceived pain, quality of sleep, perceptive variations (i.e., olfactory, gustatory, visual, acoustic, and haptic perception). A network approach formulating a hypothesis-generating exploratory analysis was adopted. Main results of the network analysis showed that the beliefs of having had the Covid-19 was related to individual variables (i.e., gender, working in presence, sleep quality, anxiety symptoms), while the familiarity of Covid-19 disease was related to contextual factors (e.g., number of recorded cases in the Region, working in presence). The self-perception of olfactory and perceptive alterations highlighted a great sensorial cross-modality, additionally, the olfactory impairment was related to the belief of having had the Covid-19. Compared to general network data, BAI, perceived stress, anxiety and chronic pain were in relation to daily sleep disturbance. Main study's results show how the management of the Covid-19 stressful representation, in its cognitive aspects, can modulate the psychophysiological responses.

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Section: Network Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Major Stress-Related Symptoms During the Lockdown: A Study by the Italian Society of Psychophysiology and Cognitive Neuroscience

Invitto

Romano

Garbarini

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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“…Significant differences in cognitive network topology were further established between healthy groups and those with pathological cognitive impairment. Firstly, all patient groups presented with significantly greater levels of connection density than healthy adults, a finding reflected by previous network analyses of cognitive profiles in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease (Tosi et al, 2020). Higher connection densities among disease populations, in comparison with controls, may reflect a greater tendency for individuals in these cohorts to demonstrate a concordance in their dysfunction across a range of disparate cognitive tests.…”

Section: Network Alterations In Diseasementioning

confidence: 74%

“…Only two previous studies have implemented similar network analyses comparing the cognitive profiles of healthy aging individuals to those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A recent study by Tosi et al (2020) analyzed cognitive networks in healthy older adults, patients with AD and patients with vascular encephalopathy. Although this study demonstrated a number of qualitative differences in network characteristics between the healthy group and those with neurological disease, the results were limited in terms of quantitative differentiation between aging and disease-related cognitive network topology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the assertion that pathological cognitive impairment may result in an abnormal reorganization of the cognitive network suggests that etiologies other than AD may similarly demonstrate such topological alterations. Given the varying cognitive profiles associated with differing disease etiologies, it is likely that the network topologies associated with other types of cognitive impairment will also differ, as seen in the comparison between patients with AD and patients with vascular encephalopathy in Tosi et al’s (2020) study. The present study, therefore, applied methods of graph theory to evaluate differences in the structure of cognitive networks between healthy individuals of different age groups and in patients with different severities and sub-types of cognitive impairment, relating to neurodegenerative disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Graph Theory Approach to Clarifying Aging and Disease Related Changes in Cognitive Networks

Wright

Marco

Venneri

2021

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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In accordance with the physiological networks that underlie it, human cognition is characterized by both the segregation and interdependence of a number of cognitive domains. Cognition itself, therefore, can be conceptualized as a network of functions. A network approach to cognition has previously revealed topological differences in cognitive profiles between healthy and disease populations. The present study, therefore, used graph theory to determine variation in cognitive profiles across healthy aging and cognitive impairment. A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was administered to 415 participants. This included three groups of healthy adults aged 18–39 (n = 75), 40–64 (n = 75), and 65 and over (n = 70) and three patient groups with either amnestic (n = 75) or non-amnestic (n = 60) mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s type dementia (n = 60). For each group, cognitive networks were created reflective of test-to-test covariance, in which nodes represented cognitive tests and edges reflected statistical inter-nodal significance (p < 0.05). Network metrics were derived using the Brain Connectivity Toolbox. Network-wide clustering, local efficiency and global efficiency of nodes showed linear differences across the stages of aging, being significantly higher among older adults when compared with younger groups. Among patients, these metrics were significantly higher again when compared with healthy older controls. Conversely, average betweenness centralities were highest in middle-aged participants and lower among older adults and patients. In particular, compared with controls, patients demonstrated a distinct lack of centrality in the domains of semantic processing and abstract reasoning. Network composition in the amnestic mild cognitive impairment group was similar to the network of Alzheimer’s dementia patients. Using graph theoretical methods, this study demonstrates that the composition of cognitive networks may be measurably altered by the aging process and differentially impacted by pathological cognitive impairment. Network alterations characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease in particular may occur early and be distinct from alterations associated with differing types of cognitive impairment. A shift in centrality between domains may be particularly relevant in identifying cognitive profiles indicative of underlying disease. Such techniques may contribute to the future development of more sophisticated diagnostic tools for neurodegenerative disease.

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“…This type of analysis has been used to investigate different phenomena. In psychology, this have proved useful for studying personality and psychopathology [ 24 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], experimental psychology [ 37 ], and also for assessing the correlations across neuropsychological test performances [ 38 , 39 ]. The principle behind the networks is simple: take a set of variables of interest (called nodes) and identify their direct and indirect relationships (named edges).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Network Analysis of the Relationship among Reading, Spelling and Maths Skills

et al. 2021

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Background. Skill learning (e.g., reading, spelling and maths) has been predominantly treated separately in the neuropsychological literature. However, skills (as well as their corresponding deficits), tend to partially overlap. We recently proposed a multi-level model of learning skills (based on the distinction among competence, performance, and acquisition) as a framework to provide a unitary account of these learning skills. In the present study, we examined the performance of an unselected group of third- to fifth-grade children on standard reading, spelling, and maths tasks, and tested the relationships among these skills with a network analysis, i.e., a method particularly suited to analysing relations among different domains. Methods. We administered a battery of reading, spelling, and maths tests to 185 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children (103 M, 82 F). Results. The network analysis indicated that the different measures of the same ability (i.e., reading, spelling, and maths) formed separate clusters, in keeping with the idea that they are based on different competences. However, these clusters were also related to each other, so that three nodes were more central in connecting them. In keeping with the multi-level model of learning skills, two of these tests (arithmetic facts subtest and spelling words with ambiguous transcription) relied heavily on the ability to recall specific instances, a factor hypothesised to underlie the co-variation among learning skills. Conclusions. The network analysis indicated both elements of association and of partial independence among learning skills. Interestingly, the study was based on standard clinical instruments, indicating that the multi-level model of learning skills might provide a framework for the clinical analysis of these learning skills.

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Complexity in neuropsychological assessments of cognitive impairment: A network analysis approach

Cited by 41 publications

References 42 publications

Major Stress-Related Symptoms During the Lockdown: A Study by the Italian Society of Psychophysiology and Cognitive Neuroscience

Major Stress-Related Symptoms During the Lockdown: A Study by the Italian Society of Psychophysiology and Cognitive Neuroscience

A Graph Theory Approach to Clarifying Aging and Disease Related Changes in Cognitive Networks

A Network Analysis of the Relationship among Reading, Spelling and Maths Skills

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