Categoría: Papers con abstracts

In recent years, studies have suggested that gestures influence comprehension of linguistic expressions, for example, eliciting an N400 component in response to a speech/gesture mismatch. In this paper, we investigate the role of gestural information in the understanding of metaphors. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants viewed video clips of an actor uttering metaphorical expressions and producing bodily gestures that were congruent or incongruent with the metaphorical meaning of such expressions. This modality of stimuli presentation allows a more ecological approach to meaning integration. When ERPs were calculated using gesture stroke as time-lock event, gesture incongruity with metaphorical expression modulated the amplitude of the N400 and of the late positive complex (LPC). This suggests that gestural and speech information are combined online to make sense of the interlocutor’s linguistic production in an early stage of metaphor comprehension. Our data favor the idea that meaning construction is globally integrative and highly context-sensitive.

Human learning and memory evaluation in real-life situations remains difficult due to uncontrolled variables. Buenos Aires waiters, who memorize all the orders without written support, were evaluated in situ. Waiters received either eight different orders and customers remained seated in their original locations (OL), or changed locations (CL). Match between orders, subjects and location was decreased only in CL. Waiters’ feature/location strategy links client with position at the table and beverage later. The hypothesis we raise is that memory-schemas link working memory to long-term memory networks through rapid encoding, making the information resistant to interference and enabling its fast retrieval if necessary cues are present.

Interpretación de refranes en la Enfermedad de Alzheimer. Autores Báez S, Montañes P.  Año 2009 Journal  Báez S, Montañes P.  Volumen 49(11): 566-72 Abstract   Otra información    

In the last few decades, several works on event related potentials (ERPs hereafter) during sleep have been reported. In spite of numerous studies, clear methodological rules for this kind of study are often missing, making it difficult to valorize the scope of these results. We propose here a description of methodological aspects to be considered when evaluating ERPs during sleep. The use of Rechtschaffen and Kales rules versus automatic methods is assessed, plus the additional use of certain quantitative measures. Additionally, two topics are discussed which must be controlled in ERPs sleep studies: the First Night Effect, and sleep disturbances. Better control of experimental paradigms is relevant for the growth of the neuroscience of sleep.

La demencia es un síndrome que se caracteriza por declinación de la función intelectual, lo bastante severa para interferir en la vida diaria; más de un área cognitiva se ve afectada, hay impacto funcional en las actividades de la vida diaria y, con frecuencia, existen trastornos conductuales. En la actualidad, para poder realizar el diagnóstico de la enfermedad de Alzheimer y otras demencias es necesario combinar los datos de la clínica con la evaluación neuropsicológica, los exámenes de laboratorio y las neuroimágenes. En esta revisión se examinará qué elementos son necesarios para el diagnóstico temprano de las demencias, y se revisará su manejo farmacológico y no farmacológico.

Temperament traits associated with risk of schizophrenia in an indigenous population of Argentina. Autores Calvó M, Padilla E, González-Alemán G, Bourdieu M, Guerrero G, Strejilevich S, Escobar J, Svrakic N, Cloninger CR, de Erausquin GA.  Año 2006 Journal  Calvó M, Padilla E, González-Alemán G, Bourdieu M, Guerrero G, Strejilevich S, Escobar J, Svrakic N, Cloninger CR, de Erausquin GA.  Volumen 83(2-3): 299-302 Abstract   Otra información    

Objetivos: La escasez de datos y de camas para internación psiquiátrica en hospitales generales hace prioritaria la producción de información sobre el funcionamiento de este tipo de servicios. El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en describir la población de pacientes internados en una sala de Psiquiatría de un hospital general de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. Método: Entre el 1º de juno del 2004 y el 31 de mayo de 2005 se llevó a cabo un estudio de corte naturalístico, prospectivo y descriptivo, recabando los datos de los pacientes que ingresaron en la sala de Internación del Servicio de Psiquiatría del Hospital «Teodoro Alvarez «. Resultados: La edad promedio fue de 36.7 años; los motivos de ingreso estuvieron relacionados en su mayoría con cuadros de descompensación psicótica y de riesgo para sí. Se produjeron 82 internaciones (correspondientes a 71 pacientes) con 68 egresos en el mismo período. El 48.8% presentaba antecedentes de internaciones previas (de los cuales el 25.6% presentaban cuatro o más internaciones). El 29.3% ingresó por vía judicial. Se retiraron sin alta médica el 19.1%. Los diagnósticos de egreso más frecuentes fueron: Esquizofrenia (29.4%), Trastorno por abuso de sustancia (22.1%), Trastorno límite de la personalidad (10.3%), Trastorno bipolar (8.8%) y Trastorno depresivo (7.4%). El tiempo promedio de internación fue de 45.4 días (pero con un giro cama de 4.1) de las cuales aproximadamente el 90% duraron menos de 90 días. Conclusiones: Estos datos pueden ser comparados con los ya producidos por otros Servicios de Psiquiatría similares y permiten avanzar en mejorar el funcionamiento de servicios que progresivamente tendrán que ser priorizados por sobre los tradicionales manicomios.

Structural brain imaging and neuropsychological data implicate the orbital aspects of prefrontal cortex in the developing neuropathology of fvFTD. Damage to this region is associated with deficient performance on laboratory tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM) and affective decision-making (DM), but the relationship between these two capacities in patients with prefrontal cortex dysfunction is unclear. We studied a group of patients with early/mild fvFTD (n=20) and a group of matched normal controls (n=10) on the Iowa gambling task (IGT) of affective decision-making, and the «reading the mind in the eyes » (MIE) and «faux pas » (FP) tests of ToM. The fvFTD group was impaired in both ToM tasks and the IGT. While performance measures from the two ToM tasks were significantly correlated, they were not associated with IGT performance. This suggests that whilst similar prefrontal circuitry is implicated in ToM and DM tasks, these cognitive domains may be independent. In clinical settings, the IGT may be useful as a complementary tool to the frontal test battery for patients with early/mild fvFTD. Deficits in decision-making and ToM observed in this study have distinct but additive effects upon the development of social behaviour in patients with prefrontal dysfunction.

A study was carried out to investigate accelerated forgetting of new verbal and visual material in participants complaining of memory loss, individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment(MCI) and controls. All groups were evaluated with a standard neuropsychological battery and two tests of delayed recall 6 weeks apart for the experimental tasks.Individuals with memory complaints,but not MCI, performed normally compared to controls on immediate and 30 minute recall,but showed a striking impairment in verbal and visual memory after 6 weeks. Accelerated forgetting may go undetected on standard neuropsychological evaluation in some patients complaining of memory problems.

Although elderly people will represent one third of the bipolar population in a few years, data about cognitive and motor features in these patients are very scarce. The aim of this study was to compare the cognitive and motor functioning between elderly euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and healthy controls, as well as to determine the degree of correlation with psychosocial functioning. METHODS: Euthymic older adults with BD (n=20) and healthy controls (n=20) were evaluated with traditional clinical instruments and measures of exposure to psychotropic drugs and extrapyramidal symptoms. All subjects completed an extensive neuropsychological battery. RESULTS: Patients with BD had more extrapyramidal symptoms and worse performance than healthy controls in psychomotor speed, verbal memory, and executive functions even after controlling sub-clinical symptomatology. These findings were not associated with age at onset or length of illness or with current pharmacological exposure. Psychosocial functioning correlated negatively with performance in psychomotor speed and executive function, and with extrapyramidal symptoms. LIMITATIONS: The small sample size and cross-sectional design. CONCLUSIONS: Older adult patients with BD in a euthymic state could have a similar cognitive and motor profile to that described in younger euthymic bipolar patients. Cognitive-motor disturbances may help to explain impairments in daily functioning among elderly patients with bipolar disorder during remission.