BACKGROUND Almost all cognitive functions decline with age. Results of previous studies have shown that cognitive training related to everyday life (reading aloud and solving simple arithmetic calculations), namely learning therapy, can improve two cognitive function (executive functions and processing speed) in elderly people. However, it remains unclear whether learning therapy engenders impr...

The proposition that the difference in memory span between Welsh digits and English digits is accounted for by the longer articulatory duration of Welsh digits is critically reexamined. Two methods of measuring digit duration are contrasted. One is derived from digits spoken in isolation; the other is based on digits spoken in list format. Duration of Welsh digits was greater only when spoken i...

The present studies extend skilled-memory theory to a domain involving the performance of motor sequences. Skilled figure skaters were better able than their less skilled counterparts to perform short skating sequences that were choreographed, rather than randomly constructed. Expert skaters encoded sequences for performance very differently from the way in which they encoded sequences that wer...

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a mild form of perioperative ischemic brain injury, which emerges as memory decline, decreased attention, and decreased concentration during several months, or even years, after surgery. Here we present results of our three neuropsychological studies, which overall included 145 patients after on-pump operations. We found that the auditory memory spa...

OBJECTIVES In this study, we investigated whether increasing stimulus duration could improve performance on a test of attention and short-term memory in cognitively impaired individuals. METHODS A computer-generated forward digit span test was administered to 65 patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia (28 intervention and 37 controls). After point of failure, testing in the interv...

radar transmitters emit high-power radiofrequency radiation by creation of a high-voltage and high-frequency alternating electrical current.health effects of occupational exposure to military radar were investigated. visual reaction time was recorded with a simple blind computer-assisted-visual reaction time test. to assess the short-term memory, modified wechsler memory scale test was performe...

Forty-three patients with schizophrenia were investigated with a short neurocognitive screening battery focussing on working memory and executive functions. As compared to healthy controls, patients showed impairments in the modified card sorting test, in verbal fluency and all span tasks with exception of digit span forward. Patients who were treated with atypicals showed better performance in...

The objective of this study was to compare performance on different versions of the running span task, and to examine the relationship between task performance and tests of episodic memory and executive function. We found that the average capacity of the running span was approximately 4 digits, and at long sequence lengths, performance was no longer affected by varying the running span window. ...