INVESTIGADORES
MARTINO Diego Javier
artículos
Título:
Deficits in tasks of executive functioning that mimic real-life scenarios in bipolar disorder
Autor/es:
TORRALVA T., STREJILEVICH S.A., GLEICHGERRCHT E., ROCA M., MARTINO D.J., CETKOVICH M., MANES F.
Revista:
BIPOLAR DISORDERS
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012 vol. 14 p. 118 - 125
ISSN:
1398-5647
Resumen:
Background: A growing body of evidence suggests that patients withbipolar disorder (BD) have cognitive impairments even during euthymicperiods. The main cognitive domains affected are verbal memory,attention, and executive function. Nevertheless, some studies suggestthat at least a subgroup of euthymic patients demonstrates intactexecutive functioning in classic neuropsychological tests, which couldbe due to the lack of real-life, or ecological validity.Objective: In this study, we highlight the usefulness of incorporatingmore ecological tests of executive function in assessment batteries inorder to detect specific cognitive deficits in BD patients with otherwisenormal performance in standard executive tests.Methods: Nineteen euthymic BD patients and 15 healthy controlscompleted a standard neuropsychological battery assessment and twoexperimental tasks (the Multiple Errands Test-Hospital Version andthe Hotel Task) to measure executive functioning in highly demandingcognitive settings that mimic real-life scenarios.Results: No significant differences were found between the groupsdemographic variables. We found, as predicted, that the group ofeuthymic BD patients who had control-comparable performance inclassic executive tasks showed important deficits in more ecological tasksof executive functioning of the type that mimic real-life scenarios.Conclusions: Together, these data suggest that the inclusion ofecological tests in the assessment of BD patients can contribute toproviding a more realistic cognitive profile of this patient population,which will undoubtedly allow for a better design of therapeutic andrehabilitation strategies that can help patients to minimize impact inreal-life settings.