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Evaluating the relationship between psychometric intelligence and cognitive functions in paediatric multiple

Tugba Kapanci1, Kevin Rostásy2, Martin Georg Häusler3

  • 1Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany.

Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental, Translational and Clinical
|December 20, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) patients show slower processing speed, impacting cognitive function. While working memory capacity remained similar, slower processing speed partially explained lower intelligence scores in these young MS patients.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly affects processing speed in adults, potentially impacting working memory capacity (WMC).
  • Cognitive deficits, particularly the interplay between processing speed and WMC, are less understood in pediatric MS patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate processing speed and WMC in pediatric MS patients compared to healthy controls.
  • To determine if reduced processing speed and WMC mediate psychometric intelligence differences in pediatric MS.

Main Methods:

  • Twenty-one pediatric MS patients and 21 healthy controls participated.
  • Participants completed a reaction time (RT) task, a WMC task, and Cattell's Culture Fair Test (CFT20-R).

Main Results:

  • Pediatric MS patients exhibited slower RT and lower intelligence scores than controls.
  • No significant differences in WMC were observed between the groups.
  • Processing speed differences partially accounted for the observed group differences in intelligence.

Conclusions:

  • Processing speed is a significant indicator of central nervous system efficiency in pediatric MS.
  • Slower processing speed in pediatric MS patients correlates with impaired performance on higher-order cognitive tasks like the CFT20-R.
Abstract

Keywords:
Cognitive impairmentsmultiple sclerosisprocessing speedpsychometric intelligence

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