The neuropsychological performance of a right-handed man is examined following haemorrhage from t... more The neuropsychological performance of a right-handed man is examined following haemorrhage from the anterior sections of the right thalamus. A pattern of temporally graded retrograde amnesia, global anterograde amnesia, impaired short-term memory, behavioural changes, and severe executive deficits were identified. The deficits evident in this case are discussed in reference to existing neuropsychological literature regarding the consequences of thalamic infarction. It is proposed that damage to the anterior thalamic nuclei results in a frontal dysexecutive syndrome and that such a dysexecutive syndrome can explain the neuropsychological deficits observed in this case. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Study Objective. To examine the effect of atorvastatin on cognitive function by testing two hypot... more Study Objective. To examine the effect of atorvastatin on cognitive function by testing two hypotheses: that atorvastatin 10 mg/day would impair cognitive function, and that other biochemical and demographic measures would better predict cognitive performance than atorvastatin alone. Design. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Setting. Two primary acute care settings in the north and northwest of Tasmania, Australia. Patients. Fifty-seven patients from the Lipid Lowering and Onset of Renal Disease (LORD) trial. Intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either atorvastatin 10 mg/day or matching placebo. Cognitive testing was performed in two sessions occurring 12 weeks apart and involved three repeated measures of attention and concentration. Measurements and Main Results. Performance was measured using three standard neuropsychological tests: Digit Symbol Coding subtest, Trail Making Test, and Stroop Color-Word Reading Test. Patients received atorvastatin for a mean of 72.93 weeks and placebo for a mean of 68.85
Primary objective: To examine the role of selective attention and visual perception in medicating... more Primary objective: To examine the role of selective attention and visual perception in medicating inattentional blindness in a severe traumatic brain injured sample. Research design: Cross-sectional design with age and education matched control sample. Methods and procedures: Twenty participants with severe traumatic brain injury (n ¼ 10) and matched controls (n ¼ 10) completed a series of tests of focused attention (Stroop test), divided attention (Trail Making Test), visual perception (Visual Object and Space Perception Battery) and two tasks of inattentional blindness. Main outcomes and results: The group with severe TBI were significantly slower on the Stroop test and TMT and displayed significantly elevated Stroop interference and TMT ratio scores. On the inattentional blindness tasks, fewer TBI participants identified a distracting stimulus.
accelerometer unit measured habitual physical activity of each participant, with software subsequ... more accelerometer unit measured habitual physical activity of each participant, with software subsequently calculating total counts and total kilocalories expended each day. In addition, each participant underwent a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests, which included the; Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and Rey Complex (RCFT). Spearman ranked order correlations were calculated between habitual physical activity levels and cognitive test scores using age, gender and estimated IQ as co-variates. Results: Significant positive correlations were observed between physical activity average total counts/day (recorded by the accelerometer), and various cognitive measures, including; CVLT Learning Score T1-5 (r ¼ .137; p ¼ .047), CVLT Retention (r ¼ .138; p ¼ .046), CVLT Delayed Recall (r ¼ .141 p ¼ .043) and RCFT 3 minute delay (r ¼ .168; p ¼ .020). No significant correlation was observed between physical activity and the Mini Mental State Examination score. Conclusions: The use of accelerometers addressed the potential inaccuracies associated with the use of physical activity questionnaires. Collection of reliable data showed positive associations between physical activity and specific elements of cognition (focused on episodic learning and memory). Our results indicate that people participating in higher levels of physical activity are more likely to experience enhanced cognitive performance, a factor that has been linked to protecting the aging brain against AD.
The neuropsychological performance of a right-handed man is examined following haemorrhage from t... more The neuropsychological performance of a right-handed man is examined following haemorrhage from the anterior sections of the right thalamus. A pattern of temporally graded retrograde amnesia, global anterograde amnesia, impaired short-term memory, behavioural changes, and severe executive deficits were identified. The deficits evident in this case are discussed in reference to existing neuropsychological literature regarding the consequences of thalamic infarction. It is proposed that damage to the anterior thalamic nuclei results in a frontal dysexecutive syndrome and that such a dysexecutive syndrome can explain the neuropsychological deficits observed in this case. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Study Objective. To examine the effect of atorvastatin on cognitive function by testing two hypot... more Study Objective. To examine the effect of atorvastatin on cognitive function by testing two hypotheses: that atorvastatin 10 mg/day would impair cognitive function, and that other biochemical and demographic measures would better predict cognitive performance than atorvastatin alone. Design. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Setting. Two primary acute care settings in the north and northwest of Tasmania, Australia. Patients. Fifty-seven patients from the Lipid Lowering and Onset of Renal Disease (LORD) trial. Intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either atorvastatin 10 mg/day or matching placebo. Cognitive testing was performed in two sessions occurring 12 weeks apart and involved three repeated measures of attention and concentration. Measurements and Main Results. Performance was measured using three standard neuropsychological tests: Digit Symbol Coding subtest, Trail Making Test, and Stroop Color-Word Reading Test. Patients received atorvastatin for a mean of 72.93 weeks and placebo for a mean of 68.85
Primary objective: To examine the role of selective attention and visual perception in medicating... more Primary objective: To examine the role of selective attention and visual perception in medicating inattentional blindness in a severe traumatic brain injured sample. Research design: Cross-sectional design with age and education matched control sample. Methods and procedures: Twenty participants with severe traumatic brain injury (n ¼ 10) and matched controls (n ¼ 10) completed a series of tests of focused attention (Stroop test), divided attention (Trail Making Test), visual perception (Visual Object and Space Perception Battery) and two tasks of inattentional blindness. Main outcomes and results: The group with severe TBI were significantly slower on the Stroop test and TMT and displayed significantly elevated Stroop interference and TMT ratio scores. On the inattentional blindness tasks, fewer TBI participants identified a distracting stimulus.
accelerometer unit measured habitual physical activity of each participant, with software subsequ... more accelerometer unit measured habitual physical activity of each participant, with software subsequently calculating total counts and total kilocalories expended each day. In addition, each participant underwent a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests, which included the; Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and Rey Complex (RCFT). Spearman ranked order correlations were calculated between habitual physical activity levels and cognitive test scores using age, gender and estimated IQ as co-variates. Results: Significant positive correlations were observed between physical activity average total counts/day (recorded by the accelerometer), and various cognitive measures, including; CVLT Learning Score T1-5 (r ¼ .137; p ¼ .047), CVLT Retention (r ¼ .138; p ¼ .046), CVLT Delayed Recall (r ¼ .141 p ¼ .043) and RCFT 3 minute delay (r ¼ .168; p ¼ .020). No significant correlation was observed between physical activity and the Mini Mental State Examination score. Conclusions: The use of accelerometers addressed the potential inaccuracies associated with the use of physical activity questionnaires. Collection of reliable data showed positive associations between physical activity and specific elements of cognition (focused on episodic learning and memory). Our results indicate that people participating in higher levels of physical activity are more likely to experience enhanced cognitive performance, a factor that has been linked to protecting the aging brain against AD.
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Papers by Mathew Summers