• Psychiatry investigation
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.1154-1161
• /
• 2018

Objective The present study aimed to investigate relationship among cognitive factors (working memory and processing speed) and fluid reasoning (Gf) in psychiatric patients using a standardized clinical tool. Methods We included the responses of 115 heterogeneous patients who were diagnosed with the MINI-Plus 5.0 and WAIS-IV/WMS-IV was administered. For our analysis, structured equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to evaluate which cognitive variables are closely related to the Gf. Results The results showed that the visual working memory was the strongest predictor of the Gf compared to other cognitive factors. Conclusion Processing speed was capable of predicting the Gf, when visual working memory was controlled. The inter-relationship among the Gf and other cognitive factors and its clinical implications were further discussed.

• Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.489-493
• /
• 2018

Objective: This study was to identify whether working memory (WM) can be clearly subdivided according to auditory and visual modality. To do this, we administered the most recent and universal clinical WM measures in a mixed psychiatric sample. Methods: A total of 115 patients were diagnosed on the basis of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and with MINI-Plus 5.0, a structured diagnostic interview. WM subtests of Korean version of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV and Korean version of Wechsler Memory Scale-IV were administered to assess WM. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to observe whether WM measures fit better to a one-factor or two-factor model. Results: CFA results demonstrated that a two factor model fits the data better than one-factor model as expected. Conclusion: Our study supports a modality model of WM, or the existence of modality-specific WM systems, and thus poses a clinical significance of assessing both auditory and visual WM tests.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.1109-1124
• /
• 2016

We examined the effect of stereotype threat (STT) on spatial working memory and facial emotion recognition in Korean elderly. In addition, we investigated the role of expected moderator such as self-perception of aging. Seventeen seniors (male=7) received basic cognitive tests including K-WMS-IV, MMSE and answered self-report questionnaires including self-perception of aging, anxiety of aging, attitude toward aging and age identity on the first visit. On the second visit, they were exposed to negative stereotype by reading a script detailing cognitive decline related to aging while a control group was exposed to a neutral content. Following the exposure, they were tested on a spatial-working memory task (Corsi-block tapping task) and emotion recognition task (facial expression identification task). The results showed that the seniors exposed to STT showed significantly lower performance on emotion recognition task (p < .05) (i.e., especially on the more difficult facial stimuli). In addition, there was a significant interaction between STT and self-perception of aging (p< .05), indicating that those who have positive self-perception of aging did not show impairment in emotion recognition task and difficult spatial working memory task under STT. On the other hand, those with negative self-perception of aging showed impaired performance under STT. Taken together, the current study suggests that being exposed to STT could negatively influence cognitive and emotional functioning of elderly. Interestingly, having a positive self-perception of aging could protect the underperformance caused by STT.