My research and scientific interests focus on the problems of social cognition, self-awareness and self-regulation in the neuropsychological approach. I am particularly interested in disorders of mentioned issues in the various forms of psychopathology, and as a result of acquired brain dysfunctions. The preferred methodology is experimental neuropsychological research, combined with the methods of psychophysiology, such as Evoked Potentials and localization of the potentials (dipoles). I am very interested in scientific cooperation in these areas.
This study aimed at identifying abnormal cortico-cortical functional connectivity patterns that c... more This study aimed at identifying abnormal cortico-cortical functional connectivity patterns that could predict cog-nitive slowing in patients with schizophrenia. A group of thirty-two patients with the first-episode schizophrenia and comparable healthy controls underwent resting-state qEEG and cognitive assessment. Phase Lag Index (PLI) was applied as a connectivity index and the synchronizations were analyzed in six frequencies. Pairs of electrodes were grouped to separately cover frontal, temporal, central, parietal and occipital regions. PLI was calculated for intra-regional connectivity and between-regions connectivity. Computer version processing speed tests were applied to control for possible fluctuations in cognitive efficiency during the performance of the tasks. In the group of patients, in comparison to healthy controls, significantly higher PLI values were recorded in theta frequency, especially in the posterior areas and decreased PLI in low-alpha frequency within the frontal regions. Mean PLI in gamma frequency was also lower in the patients group. Regression analysis showed that lower intra-regional PLI for left frontal cortex and higher PLI within somatosensory cortex in theta band, together with the duration of untreated psychosis, proved to be significant predictors of impaired processing speed in first-episode patients. Our investigation confirmed that disrupted cortico-cortical synchronization contributes to cognitive slowing in schizophrenia.
Polski merkuriusz lekarski : organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, 2015
Violence against women has many various short- and long-term effects. Although violence by an int... more Violence against women has many various short- and long-term effects. Although violence by an intimate partner has been widely documented, still little is known about its long-term somatic consequences for the victim. of the study was to examine the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among patients seeing a general practitioner as well as to determine relationships between IPV and somatic complaints other than direct somatic consequences (such as injuries), including somatic diseases and healthcare services use. The study sample comprised 151 women seeing a family doctor consecutively. The participants were administered a structured interview questionnaire developed for the purpose of this study. The prevalence of IPV for the total sample of primary health care female patients was 35.1% during 12 months preceding the examination. Compared to patients with no violence history, those experiencing IPV reported significantly more physical complaints and symptoms, particularly...
Polski merkuriusz lekarski : organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, Jan 29, 2016
Kynurenic acid (KYNA) is a neuroactive metabolite of tryptophan formed in the brain and in the pe... more Kynurenic acid (KYNA) is a neuroactive metabolite of tryptophan formed in the brain and in the periphery, known to block ionotropic glutamate receptors and α7 nicotinic receptors, and to act as a ligand of G protein-coupled GPR35 receptors and human aryl hydrocarbon (AHR) receptors. KYNA seems to modulate a number of mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia including dopaminergic transmission in mesolimbic and mesocortical areas or glutamatemediated neurotransmission. The kynurenine hypothesis of schizophrenia links the occurrence of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and cognitive impairments characteristic for the disease with the disturbances of kynurenine pathway function. Available data suggest that antipsychotic drugs may restore balance among kynurenine pathway metabolites, and that co-administration of glycine with antipsychotics may reduce extrapyramidal symptoms in patients suffering from schizophrenia. Central level of KYNA may increase in the...
At the beginning of presented material author discusses the definition of attachment and describe... more At the beginning of presented material author discusses the definition of attachment and describes the most important assumptions of John Bowlby’s theory, then – he describes the animal models, next human research and clinical analysis of several forms of attachment disorders. The aim of the article is to show a modern knowledge about brain basis of attachment and to indicate possibilities of clinical applications of few elements of neuropsychological knowledge about the process of forming a special social tie. Modern neuroscientific researches over social attachment are bringing many valuable news, that are useful to generate theoretical hypothesis about relations between impact of early social experiences and functioning of several brain parameters – especially in patients with some form of attachment disorders. There are also some conclusions about dependence relations between neuropsychological characterization and some sorts of psychopathology, like borderline personality disor...
Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii 2006; 15 (3): 185191 Praca pogl¹dowa Review Zabójstwo jest zach... more Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii 2006; 15 (3): 185191 Praca pogl¹dowa Review Zabójstwo jest zachowaniem skrajnie agresywnym. Czyn taki jak zabicie innego cz³owieka jest wydarzeniem wywo³uj¹cym w spo³eczeñstwie silnie negatywne oceny i wyrane poruszenie. Z tych wzglêdów zabójstwo od lat jest zachowaniem poddawanym analizie w ramach wielu dyscyplin naukowych. Mo¿na stwierdziae, ¿e ile jest podsta-wowych koncepcji kryminologicznych, tyle jest te¿ pogl¹-dów na genezê tego czynu. Ka¿da z dyscyplin sugeruje inne mechanizmy motywacyjne i analizuje ró¿ne czynniki uzna-ne przez ni¹ za najwa¿niejsze dla zrozumienia zabójstwa. W tym artykule autorzy staraj¹ siê przedstawiae trzy typy zachowañ homicydalnych, które zinterpretowano poprzez odwo³anie siê do ró¿nych mechanizmów mózgowych. Jak-kolwiek badania nad funkcjonowaniem uk³adu nerwowego osób pope³niaj¹cych tego rodzaju przestêpstwa datuj¹ siê ju¿ od oko³o 30 lat, s¹ to w wiêkszoci badania akcentu-j¹ce dysfunkcjê strukturaln¹ okrelonych ...
The paper considers the history of development and different aspects of the new neuropsychologica... more The paper considers the history of development and different aspects of the new neuropsychological theory of social brain, its relations with Luria’s and Vygotsky’s understanding of humans as a social and biological unity. Different theoretical models of analyzed. Experimental studies of influence of brain damages on social cognition and social behavior are described. Social features of child early development are of primordial value for understanding of social brain. This understanding is closely related to the important theory of developmental psychology, proposed by P. Galperin, underlying a double interaction betweenmorphological and functional development. It is proved by negative consequences of child social deprivation on his brain development as well as by evidences of cultural differences in neuropsychological assessment. New understanding of social brain is proposed to be social and cultural determination and regulation of brain functioning.
Paper is devoted to the medical neuropsychology of cardiovascular diseases. Discussed diseases we... more Paper is devoted to the medical neuropsychology of cardiovascular diseases. Discussed diseases were: cardiac arrest, coronary artery bypass grafting, especially developed was a nature of cognitive problems and their neuroanatomical correlates resulting from hypertension and atherosclerosis. Author described mentioned diseases in terms of mechanism that leads to brain dysfunctions and a profile of neuropsychological changes. A separated aspect, but connected to the neuropsychological characteristics of cardiovascular diseases, was a hypothetical impact of cognitive decline in adaptation process (or maladjustment) to illness and inability to following medical advices, that is the problem of non-adherence from the standpoint of medical neuropsychology.
Depressive episodes are associated not only with changes in neurotransmission in the central nerv... more Depressive episodes are associated not only with changes in neurotransmission in the central nervous system, but also may lead to structural changes in the brain through neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and immunological mechanisms. The aim of this article is to present a new hypothesis connecting the inflammatory theory of depression with IgG food hypersensitivity and leaky gut syndrome. This new potential pathway that may mediate the pathogenesis of depression implies the existence of subsequent developmental stages. Overproduction of zonulin triggered, for example, by gliadin through activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor and protease-activated receptor causes loosening of the tight junction barrier and an increase in permeability of the gut wall ('leaky gut'). This results in a process allowing larger molecules that would normally stay in the gut to cross into the bloodstream and in the induction of IgG-dependent food sensitivity. This condition causes an increased immune response and consequently induces the release of proinflammatory cytokines, which in turn may lead to the development of depressive symptoms. It seems advisable to assess the intestinal permeability using as a marker, for example, zonulin and specific IgG concentrations against selected nutritional components in patients with depression. In the case of increased IgG concentrations, the implementation of an elimination-rotation diet may prove to be an effective method of reducing inflammation. This new paradigm in the pathogenesis of depressive disorders linking leaky gut, IgG-dependent food sensitivity, inflammation, and depression is promising, but still needs further studies to confirm this theory.
... Ponieważ w toku podjętej analizy uzyskanych wyników, prze-prowadza się grupowanie genów pod w... more ... Ponieważ w toku podjętej analizy uzyskanych wyników, prze-prowadza się grupowanie genów pod względem funkcji jaką pełnią ich produkty białkowe, możliwe jest określenie różnic funkcjonalnych poszczególnych neuronów z typowanych ... Kumar S, Fleming RL, Morrow AL. ...
Background: Processing speed turns out to be the central area of research on cognition in schizop... more Background: Processing speed turns out to be the central area of research on cognition in schizophre-nia. So far the relationship between this dimension and the IQ level of patients and their healthy siblings has not been investigated. Aim: To investigate the differences in cognitive speed in patients with schizophrenia and their healthy siblings, and to determine whether cognitive speed as a covariate affects differences in IQ and cognitive profiles between groups. Methods: Forty-seven inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV (SCH) and their 36 healthy siblings (HSB) were tested with cognitive speed tasks according to Bartzokis et al. method and Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Additional control for the possible impact of antipsychotic drugs and selected demographic variables on the cognitive performance was taken into account. Results: The siblings scored significantly higher in the cognitive speed task (p < 0.01) than patients, the WAIS-R cognitive test profiles were also significantly different in two ways: between groups, and between single test results in each of the assessed groups. The interaction effect: ANOVA, F(10, 770) ¼ 2.798, p ¼ 0.002. Similarly, the Performance and Full Scale IQs were significantly different, at p < 0.01. After controlling for cognitive speed, all significant differences no longer exist: e.g. Full Scale IQ, p ¼ 0.459. Conclusions: Significant differences in cognitive speed between patients and their healthy siblings generate the differences in the cognitive profile assessed with Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Some problems of cognitive speed diagnosis and further research on the cognitive schizophrenia endophenotype were discussed.
Contemporary research on the neurobiological determinants of schizophrenia is focused on the role... more Contemporary research on the neurobiological determinants of schizophrenia is focused on the role of white matter abnormalities, studied mainly at the cellular level using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. At the same time, there are few reports on the effects of white matter damage that can be visualized in a typical MRI scan, on the brain function of schizophrenic patients. The aim of this study was to identify the specific features of the neuropsychological and neu-rophysiological functioning of a female patient with first-onset schizophrenia and comorbid white matter damage, which discriminated her from a healthy control and from a patient with an identical psychiatric diagnosis, but having no structural brain changes seen in an MRI scan. Identification of those features may help understand the role of subcortical brain dysfunctions in the aetiology and clinical picture of schizophrenia. The investigation encompassed clinical, neuropsychological and neurophysiological assessment of two schizophrenic patients, of whom one had comorbid white matter damage imaged by structural MRI, and a healthy control. A number of areas of cognitive functioning were examined, including the speed of information processing and executive and memory functions. The study was conducted using EEG coherence analysis, power spectral density, and energy evaluation of neuronal activity with the Matching Pursuit algorithm. The study showed that, despite the fact that there were no differences in the psychopathological pictures of the schizophrenic patients , the neuropsychological and neurophysiological differences between them were substantial and related to the profile of cogni-tive impairments and the specific features of the brain function of the patient with abnormalities in the white matter: that patient's EEG showed discoherence in the anterior part of the brain, reduced diversity of the dominant frequency of neuronal activity, and pathologically increased energy parameters for low-frequency bands. Comorbidity of white matter damage with schizophrenia has a potentially significant effect on cerebral activity giving rise to specific information processing deficits. Further research in this area should be conducted with a view to determining biomarkers of mental diseases and improving the validity of clinical psychiatric diagnosis.
Aims: Patients with schizophrenia (SCH) show impaired verbal and
non-verbal fluency. However, the... more Aims: Patients with schizophrenia (SCH) show impaired verbal and non-verbal fluency. However, these individuals’ fluctuations in words or designs generation efficiency over time, a phenomenon that may significantly affect fluency, have never been studied. Thus, the aim of this research was to investigate if individuals with SCH may present with alternations in the dynamics of the information production and its control as well as to test if the potential abnormalities in this regard might affect these patients’ overall performance on both verbal and non-verbal fluency tasks. Method: Forty-four patients with SCH and 40 healthy controls (HC) completed both verbal (phonological, semantic) and non-verbal fluency tests. To analyse processing efficiency changes over time, the period in which subjects had to generate words or designs (60 s) has been divided into 15-s sections. Results: In comparison to HCs, individuals with SCH obtained significantly lower total scores for all fluency measures. Furthermore, group differences in the dynamics of the test performance also emerged, with SCH patients having a significantly worse production during the initial 15 s of each fluency task. Additionally, the initial production deficiency seen in patients with SCH has accounted for these individuals’ total performance. Moreover, comparisons of errors distribution over time during the phonemic and figural fluency performance also revealed differences, suggesting there was a rapid depletion in maintaining of cognitive control in the SCH sample. Conclusions: Inefficient fluency in SCH may arise from a more general initiation deficits that may partly account for these patients’ cognitive problems.
Background: Bipolar patients show high intra-individual variability during cognitive processing. ... more Background: Bipolar patients show high intra-individual variability during cognitive processing. However, it is not known whether there are a specific fluctuations of variability contributing to the overall high cognitive inconsistency. The objective was to compare dynamic profiles of patients and healthy controls to identify hypothetical differences and their associations with overall variability and processing speed. Methods: Changes of reaction times iSD during processing speed test performance over time was measured by dividing the iSD for whole task into four consecutive parts. Motor speed and cognitive effort were controlled. Results: Patients with BD exhibited significantly lower results regarding processing speed and higher intra-individual variability comparing with HC. The profile of intra-individual variability changes over time of performance was significantly different in BD versus HC groups: F(3, 207)=8.60, p < 0.0001, η p 2 =0.11. iSD of BD patients in the initial phase of performance was three times higher than in the last. There was no significant differences between four intervals in HC group. Inter-group difference in the initial part of the profiles was significant also after controlling for several cognitive and clinical variables. Limitations: Applied computer version of Cognitive Speed Test was relatively new and, thus, replication studies are needed. Effect seen in the present study is driven mainly by the BD type I. Conclusions: Patients with BD exhibits problems with setting a stimulus-response association in starting phase of cognitive processing. This deficit may negatively interfere with the other cognitive functions, decreasing level of psychosocial functioning, therefore should be explored in future studies.
Although considerable research has been devoted to cognitive functions deteriorating due to disea... more Although considerable research has been devoted to cognitive functions deteriorating due to diseases of cardiovascular system, rather less attention has been paid to their theoretical background. Progressive vascular disorders as hypertension, atherosclerosis and carotid artery stenosis generate most of all pathological changes in the white matter, that cause specific cognitive disorder: disconnection syndromes, and disturbances in the dynamic aspect of information processing. These features made neuropsychological disorders secondary to cardiovascular diseases different than the effects of cerebral cortex damage, which may be interpreted modularly.
This study aimed at identifying abnormal cortico-cortical functional connectivity patterns that c... more This study aimed at identifying abnormal cortico-cortical functional connectivity patterns that could predict cog-nitive slowing in patients with schizophrenia. A group of thirty-two patients with the first-episode schizophrenia and comparable healthy controls underwent resting-state qEEG and cognitive assessment. Phase Lag Index (PLI) was applied as a connectivity index and the synchronizations were analyzed in six frequencies. Pairs of electrodes were grouped to separately cover frontal, temporal, central, parietal and occipital regions. PLI was calculated for intra-regional connectivity and between-regions connectivity. Computer version processing speed tests were applied to control for possible fluctuations in cognitive efficiency during the performance of the tasks. In the group of patients, in comparison to healthy controls, significantly higher PLI values were recorded in theta frequency, especially in the posterior areas and decreased PLI in low-alpha frequency within the frontal regions. Mean PLI in gamma frequency was also lower in the patients group. Regression analysis showed that lower intra-regional PLI for left frontal cortex and higher PLI within somatosensory cortex in theta band, together with the duration of untreated psychosis, proved to be significant predictors of impaired processing speed in first-episode patients. Our investigation confirmed that disrupted cortico-cortical synchronization contributes to cognitive slowing in schizophrenia.
Polski merkuriusz lekarski : organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, 2015
Violence against women has many various short- and long-term effects. Although violence by an int... more Violence against women has many various short- and long-term effects. Although violence by an intimate partner has been widely documented, still little is known about its long-term somatic consequences for the victim. of the study was to examine the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among patients seeing a general practitioner as well as to determine relationships between IPV and somatic complaints other than direct somatic consequences (such as injuries), including somatic diseases and healthcare services use. The study sample comprised 151 women seeing a family doctor consecutively. The participants were administered a structured interview questionnaire developed for the purpose of this study. The prevalence of IPV for the total sample of primary health care female patients was 35.1% during 12 months preceding the examination. Compared to patients with no violence history, those experiencing IPV reported significantly more physical complaints and symptoms, particularly...
Polski merkuriusz lekarski : organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego, Jan 29, 2016
Kynurenic acid (KYNA) is a neuroactive metabolite of tryptophan formed in the brain and in the pe... more Kynurenic acid (KYNA) is a neuroactive metabolite of tryptophan formed in the brain and in the periphery, known to block ionotropic glutamate receptors and α7 nicotinic receptors, and to act as a ligand of G protein-coupled GPR35 receptors and human aryl hydrocarbon (AHR) receptors. KYNA seems to modulate a number of mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia including dopaminergic transmission in mesolimbic and mesocortical areas or glutamatemediated neurotransmission. The kynurenine hypothesis of schizophrenia links the occurrence of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and cognitive impairments characteristic for the disease with the disturbances of kynurenine pathway function. Available data suggest that antipsychotic drugs may restore balance among kynurenine pathway metabolites, and that co-administration of glycine with antipsychotics may reduce extrapyramidal symptoms in patients suffering from schizophrenia. Central level of KYNA may increase in the...
At the beginning of presented material author discusses the definition of attachment and describe... more At the beginning of presented material author discusses the definition of attachment and describes the most important assumptions of John Bowlby’s theory, then – he describes the animal models, next human research and clinical analysis of several forms of attachment disorders. The aim of the article is to show a modern knowledge about brain basis of attachment and to indicate possibilities of clinical applications of few elements of neuropsychological knowledge about the process of forming a special social tie. Modern neuroscientific researches over social attachment are bringing many valuable news, that are useful to generate theoretical hypothesis about relations between impact of early social experiences and functioning of several brain parameters – especially in patients with some form of attachment disorders. There are also some conclusions about dependence relations between neuropsychological characterization and some sorts of psychopathology, like borderline personality disor...
Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii 2006; 15 (3): 185191 Praca pogl¹dowa Review Zabójstwo jest zach... more Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii 2006; 15 (3): 185191 Praca pogl¹dowa Review Zabójstwo jest zachowaniem skrajnie agresywnym. Czyn taki jak zabicie innego cz³owieka jest wydarzeniem wywo³uj¹cym w spo³eczeñstwie silnie negatywne oceny i wyrane poruszenie. Z tych wzglêdów zabójstwo od lat jest zachowaniem poddawanym analizie w ramach wielu dyscyplin naukowych. Mo¿na stwierdziae, ¿e ile jest podsta-wowych koncepcji kryminologicznych, tyle jest te¿ pogl¹-dów na genezê tego czynu. Ka¿da z dyscyplin sugeruje inne mechanizmy motywacyjne i analizuje ró¿ne czynniki uzna-ne przez ni¹ za najwa¿niejsze dla zrozumienia zabójstwa. W tym artykule autorzy staraj¹ siê przedstawiae trzy typy zachowañ homicydalnych, które zinterpretowano poprzez odwo³anie siê do ró¿nych mechanizmów mózgowych. Jak-kolwiek badania nad funkcjonowaniem uk³adu nerwowego osób pope³niaj¹cych tego rodzaju przestêpstwa datuj¹ siê ju¿ od oko³o 30 lat, s¹ to w wiêkszoci badania akcentu-j¹ce dysfunkcjê strukturaln¹ okrelonych ...
The paper considers the history of development and different aspects of the new neuropsychologica... more The paper considers the history of development and different aspects of the new neuropsychological theory of social brain, its relations with Luria’s and Vygotsky’s understanding of humans as a social and biological unity. Different theoretical models of analyzed. Experimental studies of influence of brain damages on social cognition and social behavior are described. Social features of child early development are of primordial value for understanding of social brain. This understanding is closely related to the important theory of developmental psychology, proposed by P. Galperin, underlying a double interaction betweenmorphological and functional development. It is proved by negative consequences of child social deprivation on his brain development as well as by evidences of cultural differences in neuropsychological assessment. New understanding of social brain is proposed to be social and cultural determination and regulation of brain functioning.
Paper is devoted to the medical neuropsychology of cardiovascular diseases. Discussed diseases we... more Paper is devoted to the medical neuropsychology of cardiovascular diseases. Discussed diseases were: cardiac arrest, coronary artery bypass grafting, especially developed was a nature of cognitive problems and their neuroanatomical correlates resulting from hypertension and atherosclerosis. Author described mentioned diseases in terms of mechanism that leads to brain dysfunctions and a profile of neuropsychological changes. A separated aspect, but connected to the neuropsychological characteristics of cardiovascular diseases, was a hypothetical impact of cognitive decline in adaptation process (or maladjustment) to illness and inability to following medical advices, that is the problem of non-adherence from the standpoint of medical neuropsychology.
Depressive episodes are associated not only with changes in neurotransmission in the central nerv... more Depressive episodes are associated not only with changes in neurotransmission in the central nervous system, but also may lead to structural changes in the brain through neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and immunological mechanisms. The aim of this article is to present a new hypothesis connecting the inflammatory theory of depression with IgG food hypersensitivity and leaky gut syndrome. This new potential pathway that may mediate the pathogenesis of depression implies the existence of subsequent developmental stages. Overproduction of zonulin triggered, for example, by gliadin through activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor and protease-activated receptor causes loosening of the tight junction barrier and an increase in permeability of the gut wall (&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;leaky gut&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;). This results in a process allowing larger molecules that would normally stay in the gut to cross into the bloodstream and in the induction of IgG-dependent food sensitivity. This condition causes an increased immune response and consequently induces the release of proinflammatory cytokines, which in turn may lead to the development of depressive symptoms. It seems advisable to assess the intestinal permeability using as a marker, for example, zonulin and specific IgG concentrations against selected nutritional components in patients with depression. In the case of increased IgG concentrations, the implementation of an elimination-rotation diet may prove to be an effective method of reducing inflammation. This new paradigm in the pathogenesis of depressive disorders linking leaky gut, IgG-dependent food sensitivity, inflammation, and depression is promising, but still needs further studies to confirm this theory.
... Ponieważ w toku podjętej analizy uzyskanych wyników, prze-prowadza się grupowanie genów pod w... more ... Ponieważ w toku podjętej analizy uzyskanych wyników, prze-prowadza się grupowanie genów pod względem funkcji jaką pełnią ich produkty białkowe, możliwe jest określenie różnic funkcjonalnych poszczególnych neuronów z typowanych ... Kumar S, Fleming RL, Morrow AL. ...
Background: Processing speed turns out to be the central area of research on cognition in schizop... more Background: Processing speed turns out to be the central area of research on cognition in schizophre-nia. So far the relationship between this dimension and the IQ level of patients and their healthy siblings has not been investigated. Aim: To investigate the differences in cognitive speed in patients with schizophrenia and their healthy siblings, and to determine whether cognitive speed as a covariate affects differences in IQ and cognitive profiles between groups. Methods: Forty-seven inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV (SCH) and their 36 healthy siblings (HSB) were tested with cognitive speed tasks according to Bartzokis et al. method and Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Additional control for the possible impact of antipsychotic drugs and selected demographic variables on the cognitive performance was taken into account. Results: The siblings scored significantly higher in the cognitive speed task (p < 0.01) than patients, the WAIS-R cognitive test profiles were also significantly different in two ways: between groups, and between single test results in each of the assessed groups. The interaction effect: ANOVA, F(10, 770) ¼ 2.798, p ¼ 0.002. Similarly, the Performance and Full Scale IQs were significantly different, at p < 0.01. After controlling for cognitive speed, all significant differences no longer exist: e.g. Full Scale IQ, p ¼ 0.459. Conclusions: Significant differences in cognitive speed between patients and their healthy siblings generate the differences in the cognitive profile assessed with Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Some problems of cognitive speed diagnosis and further research on the cognitive schizophrenia endophenotype were discussed.
Contemporary research on the neurobiological determinants of schizophrenia is focused on the role... more Contemporary research on the neurobiological determinants of schizophrenia is focused on the role of white matter abnormalities, studied mainly at the cellular level using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. At the same time, there are few reports on the effects of white matter damage that can be visualized in a typical MRI scan, on the brain function of schizophrenic patients. The aim of this study was to identify the specific features of the neuropsychological and neu-rophysiological functioning of a female patient with first-onset schizophrenia and comorbid white matter damage, which discriminated her from a healthy control and from a patient with an identical psychiatric diagnosis, but having no structural brain changes seen in an MRI scan. Identification of those features may help understand the role of subcortical brain dysfunctions in the aetiology and clinical picture of schizophrenia. The investigation encompassed clinical, neuropsychological and neurophysiological assessment of two schizophrenic patients, of whom one had comorbid white matter damage imaged by structural MRI, and a healthy control. A number of areas of cognitive functioning were examined, including the speed of information processing and executive and memory functions. The study was conducted using EEG coherence analysis, power spectral density, and energy evaluation of neuronal activity with the Matching Pursuit algorithm. The study showed that, despite the fact that there were no differences in the psychopathological pictures of the schizophrenic patients , the neuropsychological and neurophysiological differences between them were substantial and related to the profile of cogni-tive impairments and the specific features of the brain function of the patient with abnormalities in the white matter: that patient's EEG showed discoherence in the anterior part of the brain, reduced diversity of the dominant frequency of neuronal activity, and pathologically increased energy parameters for low-frequency bands. Comorbidity of white matter damage with schizophrenia has a potentially significant effect on cerebral activity giving rise to specific information processing deficits. Further research in this area should be conducted with a view to determining biomarkers of mental diseases and improving the validity of clinical psychiatric diagnosis.
Aims: Patients with schizophrenia (SCH) show impaired verbal and
non-verbal fluency. However, the... more Aims: Patients with schizophrenia (SCH) show impaired verbal and non-verbal fluency. However, these individuals’ fluctuations in words or designs generation efficiency over time, a phenomenon that may significantly affect fluency, have never been studied. Thus, the aim of this research was to investigate if individuals with SCH may present with alternations in the dynamics of the information production and its control as well as to test if the potential abnormalities in this regard might affect these patients’ overall performance on both verbal and non-verbal fluency tasks. Method: Forty-four patients with SCH and 40 healthy controls (HC) completed both verbal (phonological, semantic) and non-verbal fluency tests. To analyse processing efficiency changes over time, the period in which subjects had to generate words or designs (60 s) has been divided into 15-s sections. Results: In comparison to HCs, individuals with SCH obtained significantly lower total scores for all fluency measures. Furthermore, group differences in the dynamics of the test performance also emerged, with SCH patients having a significantly worse production during the initial 15 s of each fluency task. Additionally, the initial production deficiency seen in patients with SCH has accounted for these individuals’ total performance. Moreover, comparisons of errors distribution over time during the phonemic and figural fluency performance also revealed differences, suggesting there was a rapid depletion in maintaining of cognitive control in the SCH sample. Conclusions: Inefficient fluency in SCH may arise from a more general initiation deficits that may partly account for these patients’ cognitive problems.
Background: Bipolar patients show high intra-individual variability during cognitive processing. ... more Background: Bipolar patients show high intra-individual variability during cognitive processing. However, it is not known whether there are a specific fluctuations of variability contributing to the overall high cognitive inconsistency. The objective was to compare dynamic profiles of patients and healthy controls to identify hypothetical differences and their associations with overall variability and processing speed. Methods: Changes of reaction times iSD during processing speed test performance over time was measured by dividing the iSD for whole task into four consecutive parts. Motor speed and cognitive effort were controlled. Results: Patients with BD exhibited significantly lower results regarding processing speed and higher intra-individual variability comparing with HC. The profile of intra-individual variability changes over time of performance was significantly different in BD versus HC groups: F(3, 207)=8.60, p < 0.0001, η p 2 =0.11. iSD of BD patients in the initial phase of performance was three times higher than in the last. There was no significant differences between four intervals in HC group. Inter-group difference in the initial part of the profiles was significant also after controlling for several cognitive and clinical variables. Limitations: Applied computer version of Cognitive Speed Test was relatively new and, thus, replication studies are needed. Effect seen in the present study is driven mainly by the BD type I. Conclusions: Patients with BD exhibits problems with setting a stimulus-response association in starting phase of cognitive processing. This deficit may negatively interfere with the other cognitive functions, decreasing level of psychosocial functioning, therefore should be explored in future studies.
Although considerable research has been devoted to cognitive functions deteriorating due to disea... more Although considerable research has been devoted to cognitive functions deteriorating due to diseases of cardiovascular system, rather less attention has been paid to their theoretical background. Progressive vascular disorders as hypertension, atherosclerosis and carotid artery stenosis generate most of all pathological changes in the white matter, that cause specific cognitive disorder: disconnection syndromes, and disturbances in the dynamic aspect of information processing. These features made neuropsychological disorders secondary to cardiovascular diseases different than the effects of cerebral cortex damage, which may be interpreted modularly.
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Papers by Pawel Krukow
non-verbal fluency. However, these individuals’ fluctuations in
words or designs generation efficiency over time, a phenomenon
that may significantly affect fluency, have never been studied.
Thus, the aim of this research was to investigate if individuals with
SCH may present with alternations in the dynamics of the
information production and its control as well as to test if the
potential abnormalities in this regard might affect these patients’
overall performance on both verbal and non-verbal fluency tasks.
Method: Forty-four patients with SCH and 40 healthy controls (HC)
completed both verbal (phonological, semantic) and non-verbal
fluency tests. To analyse processing efficiency changes over time,
the period in which subjects had to generate words or designs
(60 s) has been divided into 15-s sections.
Results: In comparison to HCs, individuals with SCH obtained
significantly lower total scores for all fluency measures. Furthermore,
group differences in the dynamics of the test performance also
emerged, with SCH patients having a significantly worse production
during the initial 15 s of each fluency task. Additionally, the initial
production deficiency seen in patients with SCH has accounted for
these individuals’ total performance. Moreover, comparisons of errors
distribution over time during the phonemic and figural fluency
performance also revealed differences, suggesting there was a rapid
depletion in maintaining of cognitive control in the SCH sample.
Conclusions: Inefficient fluency in SCH may arise from a more general
initiation deficits that may partly account for these patients’ cognitive
problems.
non-verbal fluency. However, these individuals’ fluctuations in
words or designs generation efficiency over time, a phenomenon
that may significantly affect fluency, have never been studied.
Thus, the aim of this research was to investigate if individuals with
SCH may present with alternations in the dynamics of the
information production and its control as well as to test if the
potential abnormalities in this regard might affect these patients’
overall performance on both verbal and non-verbal fluency tasks.
Method: Forty-four patients with SCH and 40 healthy controls (HC)
completed both verbal (phonological, semantic) and non-verbal
fluency tests. To analyse processing efficiency changes over time,
the period in which subjects had to generate words or designs
(60 s) has been divided into 15-s sections.
Results: In comparison to HCs, individuals with SCH obtained
significantly lower total scores for all fluency measures. Furthermore,
group differences in the dynamics of the test performance also
emerged, with SCH patients having a significantly worse production
during the initial 15 s of each fluency task. Additionally, the initial
production deficiency seen in patients with SCH has accounted for
these individuals’ total performance. Moreover, comparisons of errors
distribution over time during the phonemic and figural fluency
performance also revealed differences, suggesting there was a rapid
depletion in maintaining of cognitive control in the SCH sample.
Conclusions: Inefficient fluency in SCH may arise from a more general
initiation deficits that may partly account for these patients’ cognitive
problems.