Assessing Cognitive Function

Nickelsen T, Lufkin EG, Riggs BL, Cox DA, Crook TH (1999) Raloxifene hydrochloride, a selective estrogen receptor modulator safety assessment of effects on cognitive function and mood in postmenopausal women. Psychoneuroendocrinology 24 115-128... 

There also are numerous highly regarded, creative, and sophisticated tests to assess attention, concentration, and ECF, and these tests usually have manuals with age-corrected norms and sometimes provide sample test profiles of people with drug problems to compare with your client s profile. The WMS, for example, has a section that assesses attention and concentration in addition to memory functions. Another well-known attention and concentration test is the Symbol-Digit Modalities Test (Smith, 1991). Some of the more well-known measures of ECF and related cognitive functions include the Wisconsin Card Sorting... 

Engelhart et al., 1999). This instrument assesses many more areas of cognitive function than does the MMSE. I Iowever, as a screening tool, it too has limits to what it can tell you. My recommendation is that if a client of yours screens positive for a cognitive problem on one of these measures, you refer that client for a comprehensive neuropsychological workup as part of the treatment plan. Note that sometimes a person will screen positive during detoxification, but will clear cognitively after that period is finished. You should probably retest after detox has been completed if the client screens positive while in detox. 

Lipton RB. Assessment of cognitive function of the elderly population effects of darifenacin. J Urol 2005 i73 493. 

The Mini Mental State Examination (Folstein et ah, 1975) has been adapted and studied for use with children (Ouvrier et ah, 1993 Besson and Labbe, 1997) and other screening tools to assess cognitive function in children have also been developed (Ouvrier et ah, 1999). These tools are invaluable, as so often altered mental status in a child can be related to impaired cognitive function or early delirium. 

Wesnes KA, McKeith IG, Ferrara R, et al Effects of rivastigmine on cognitive function in dementia with Lewy bodies a randomized placebo-controlled international study using the cognitive research computerized assessment system. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 13 183-192, 2002... 

Because of the difficulty in differentiating primary from secondary negative symptoms, however, continued assessment of clozapine s benefit is needed ( 45, 46, 47 and 48). Furthermore, clozapine s ability to improve cognitive function may be even more pronounced than its effects on negative symptoms ( 47, 48, 49, 50 and 51). 

The UTC-PAB is a library of cognitive tests that can be modified into smaller subsets or batteries for a specific purpose. The original UTC-PAB consisted of 25 tasks that were chosen due to their construct validity, reliability, and sensitivity to levels of cognitive functioning. Several of the commonly known subsets or variations include the Testor s Workbench/Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (TWB/ANAM or ANAM) battery, the Naval Medical Research Institute Performance Assessment Battery (NMRI-PAB), the UTC-PAB/NATO AGARD STRES Battery, and the Criterion Task Set (CTS).43... 

Kosslyn, S., Quick assessment of basic cognitive function blood pressure cuffs for the mind. Technical Summary of Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team Project, National Space Biomedical Research Institute, Houston, TX, 2002. 

Accurate assessment of neurobehavioral performance capability during sleep deprivation protocols requires cognitive performance assays to be (a) indicative of a fundamental aspect of waking cognitive function (b) easily performed (c) minimally affected by aptitude and learning (d) as brief as possible (e) valid and reliable (f) sensitive and (g) able to provide meaningful outcome variables that can be easily interpreted. In this chapter we have reviewed the evidence that the psychomotor vigilance task meets these requirements. 

Mice with abnormally poor or abnormally good cognitive abilities may produce aberrant behavior in this test (e.g., increased or decreased social interaction, respectively). To rule out this possibility, consider testing mice in some additional memory paradigms. Memory tests, such as the Morris Water Maze and OFT habituation, may be performed to assess cognitive functions in any abnormally behaving mouse. 

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