Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-15T17:27:07.545Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Processing Speed Delays Contribute to Executive Function Deficits in Individuals with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2012

Elysa J. Marco ,
Kathryn M. Harrell ,
Warren S. Brown ,
Susanna S. Hill ,
Rita J. Jeremy ,
Joel H. Kramer ,
Elliott H. Sherr  and
Lynn K. Paul
Elysa J. Marco
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Kathryn M. Harrell
Affiliation:
Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Travis Research Institute; Pasadena, California
Warren S. Brown
Affiliation:
Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Travis Research Institute; Pasadena, California
Susanna S. Hill
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Rita J. Jeremy
Affiliation:
Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Travis Research Institute; Pasadena, California
Joel H. Kramer
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Elliott H. Sherr
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Lynn K. Paul*
Affiliation:
Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Travis Research Institute; Pasadena, California Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Lynn K. Paul, 1200 E. California Blvd., Caltech, HSS 228-77, Pasadena, CA 91125. E-mail: lkpaul@hss.caltech.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Corpus callosum malformation and dysfunction are increasingly recognized causes of cognitive and behavioral disability. Individuals with agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC) offer unique insights regarding the cognitive skills that depend specifically upon callosal connectivity. We examined the impact of AgCC on cognitive inhibition, flexibility, and processing speed using the Color-Word Interference Test (CWIT) and Trail Making Test (TMT) from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System. We compared 36 individuals with AgCC and IQs within the normal range to 56 matched controls. The AgCC cohort was impaired on timed measures of inhibition and flexibility; however, group differences on CWIT Inhibition, CWIT Inhibition/Switching and TMT Number-Letter Switching appear to be largely explained by slow performance in basic operations such as color naming and letter sequencing. On CWIT Inhibition/Switching, the AgCC group was found to commit significantly more errors which suggests that slow performance is not secondary to a cautious strategy. Therefore, while individuals with agenesis of the corpus callosum show real deficits on tasks of executive function, this impairment appears to be primarily a consequence of slow cognitive processing. Additional studies are needed to investigate the impact of AgCC on other aspects of higher order cortical function. (JINS, 2012, 18, 521–529)

Keywords

Absence of the corpus callosumHuman information processingInhibitionStroop ParadigmTrail Making TestCognition
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 521 - 529
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Elysa J. Marco and Kathryn M. Harrell contributed equally to this manuscript; Elliott H. Sherr and Lynn K. Paul contributed equally as well.

References

Badaruddin, D.H., Andrews, G.L., Bolte, S., Schilmoeller, K.J., Schilmoeller, G., Paul, L.K., Brown, W.S. (2007). Social and behavioral problems of children with agenesis of the corpus callosum. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 38(4), 287–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauchamp, M., Catroppa, C., Godfrey, C., Morse, S., Rosenfeld, J.V., Anderson, V. (2011). Selective changes in executive functioning ten years after severe childhood traumatic brain injury. Developmental Neuropsychology, 36(5), 578–595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, W.S., Jeeves, M.A., Dietrich, R., Burnison, D.S. (1999). Bilateral field advantage and evoked potential interhemispheric transmission in commissurotomy and callosal agenesis. Neuropsychologia, 37(10), 1165–1180.Google Scholar
Brown, W.S., Paul, L.K. (2000). Cognitive and psychosocial deficits in agenesis of the corpus callosum with normal intelligence. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 5(2), 135–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, W.S., Paul, L.K., Symington, M., Dietrich, R. (2005). Comprehension of humor in primary agenesis of the corpus callosum. Neuropsychologia, 43(6), 906–916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
David, A.S. (1992). Stroop effects within and between the cerebral hemispheres: Studies in normals and acallosals. Neuropsychologia, 30(2), 161–175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delis, D.C., Kaplan, E., Kramer, J.H. (2001). The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System: Examiner's manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Fisher, M., Holland, C., Subramaniam, K., Vinogradov, S. (2010). Neuroplasticity-based cognitive training in schizophrenia: An interim report on the effects 6 months later. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 36(4), 869–879.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glass, H.C., Shaw, G.M., Ma, C., Sherr, E.H. (2008). Agenesis of the corpus callosum in California 1983-2003: A population-based study. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part A, 146(19), 2495–2500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grynszpan, O., Perbal, S., Pelissolo, A., Fossati, P., Jouvent, R., Dubal, S., Grynszpan, O. (2010). Efficacy and specificity of computer-assisted cognitive remediation in schizophrenia: A meta-analytical study. Psychological Medicine, 41(1), 163–173.Google Scholar
Imamura, T., Yamadori, A., Shiga, Y., Sahara, M., Abiko, H. (1994). Is distrurbed transfer of learning in callosal agenesis due to a disconnection syndrome? Behavioural Neurology. Behavioural Neurology, 7(2), 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeeves, M., Ludwig, T., Moes, P., Norman, W. (2001). The stability of compromised interhemispheric processing in callosal dysgenesis and partial commissurotomy. Cortex, 37(5), 643–664.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lezak, M.D., Howieson, D.B., Loring, D.W. (2004). Neuropsychological assessment (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mueller, K.L., Marion, S.D., Paul, L.K., Brown, W.S. (2009). Bimanual motor coordination in agenesis of the corpus callosum. Behavioral Neuroscience, 123(5), 1000–1011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nakata, Y., Barkovich, A.J., Wahl, M., Strominger, Z., Jeremy, R.J., Wakahiro, M., Sherr, E.H. (2009). Diffusion abnormalities and reduced volume of the ventral cingulum bundle in agenesis of the corpus callosum: A 3T imaging study. AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 30(6), 1142–1148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pardo, J.V., Pardo, P.J., Janer, K.W., Raichle, M.E. (1990). The anterior cingulate cortex mediates processing selection in the Stroop attentional conflict paradigm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 87(1), 256–259.Google Scholar
Parry, A.M., Scott, R.B., Palace, J., Smith, S., Matthews, P.M. (2003). Potentially adaptive functional changes in cognitive processing for patients with multiple sclerosis and their acute modulation by rivastigmine. Brain, 126(Pt 12), 2750–2760.Google Scholar
Paul, L.K. (2011). Developmental malformation of the corpus callosum: A review of typical callosal development and examples of developmental disorders with callosal involvement. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 3(1), 3–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paul, L.K., Brown, W.S., Adolphs, R., Tyszka, J.M., Richards, L.J., Mukherjee, P., Sherr, E.H. (2007). Agenesis of the corpus callosum: Genetic, developmental and functional aspects of connectivity. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 8(4), 287–299.Google Scholar
Paul, L.K., Van Lancker-Sidtis, D., Schieffer, B., Dietrich, R., Brown, W.S. (2003). Communicative deficits in agenesis of the corpus callosum: Nonliteral language and affective prosody. Brain and Language, 85(2), 313–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sawyer, E., Mauro, L.S., Ohlinger, M.J. (2008). Amantadine enhancement of arousal and cognition after traumatic brain injury. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 42(2), 247–252.Google Scholar
Schieffer, B.M. (1999). Concept formation, problem solving and memory encoding abilities in individuals with congenital agenesis of the corpus callosum and normal intelligence. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, 62(3-B).Google Scholar
Solursh, L.P., Margulies, A.I., Ashem, B., Stasiak, E.A. (1965). The relationships of agenesis of the corpus callosum to perception and learning. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 141(2), 180–189.Google Scholar
Symington, S.H., Paul, L.K., Symington, M.F., Ono, M., Brown, W.S. (2010). Social cognition in individuals with agenesis of the corpus callosum. Social Neuroscience, 5(3), 296–308.Google Scholar
Tang, P.H., Bartha, A.I., Norton, M.E., Barkovich, A.J., Sherr, E.H., Glenn, O.A. (2009). Agenesis of the corpus callosum: An MR imaging analysis of associated abnormalities in the fetus. AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology,, 30(2), 257–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tenovuo, O. (2005). Central acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment of chronic traumatic brain injury-clinical experience in 111 patients. Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 29(1), 61–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turk, A.A., Brown, W.S., Symington, M., Paul, L.K. (2010). Social narratives in agenesis of the corpus callosum: Linguistic analysis of the Thematic Apperception Test. Neuropsychologia, 48, 43–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voineskos, A.N., Rajji, T.K., Lobaugh, N.J., Miranda, D., Shenton, M.E., Kennedy, J.L., Mulsant, B.H. (2012). Age-related decline in white matter tract integrity and cognitive performance: A DTI tractography and structural equation modeling study. Neurobiology of Aging, 33, 21–34.Google Scholar
Wahl, M., Strominger, Z., Jeremy, R.J., Barkovich, A.J., Wakahiro, M., Sherr, E.H., Mukherjee, P. (2009). Variability of homotopic and heterotopic callosal connectivity in partial agenesis of the corpus callosum: A 3T diffusion tensor imaging and Q-ball tractography study. AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 30(2), 282–289.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3rd ed.). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1999). Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (2003). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (4th ed.). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Whyte, J., Hart, T., Schuster, K., Fleming, M., Polansky, M., Coslett, H.B. (1997). Effects of methylphenidate on attentional function after traumatic brain injury. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 76(6), 440–450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whyte, J., Hart, T., Vaccaro, M., Grieb-Neff, P., Risser, A., Polansky, M., Coslett, H.B. (2004). Effects of methylphenidate on attention deficits after traumatic brain injury: A multidimensional, randomized, controlled trial. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 83(6), 401–420.Google Scholar
Wolinsky, F.D., Mahncke, H., Vander Weg, M.W., Martin, R., Unverzagt, F.W., Ball, K.K., Tennstedt, S.L. (2010). Speed of processing training protects self-rated health in older adults: Enduring effects observed in the multi-site ACTIVE randomized controlled trial. International Psychogeriatrics, 22(3), 470–478.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed