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  • Yayın
    An investigation of affective theory of mind ability and its relation to neuropsychological functions in Alzheimer's disease
    (John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 2020-09) Yıldırım, Elif; Soncu Büyükişcan, Ezgi; Demirtaş Tatlıdede, Aslı; Bilgiç, Başar; Gürvit, İbrahim Hakan
    Although cognitive theory of mind (ToM) has been largely studied within neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD), studies focusing on affective ToM are relatively limited, yielding inconsistent findings. The current study aimed at investigating affective ToM abilities within different stages of AD (mild AD dementia [ADD], mild cognitive impairment [MCI], and subjective cognitive impairment [SCI]), together with its relationship with neuropsychological functioning. Eighty-one participants were tested with two different ToM tasks (Faux Pas Recognition Test [FPR] and Reading Mind in the Eyes Test [RMET]) and tests of attention, executive functions, episodic memory, and facial recognition. Our results showed two different affective ToM profiles in AD continuum: while ADD group performed poorly on both tasks of ToM, MCI group displayed deteriorated performance on RMET but not on FPR. In addition, ToM performance was significantly related to episodic memory and verbal fluency within the overall sample. These findings suggest that impairment in the decoding process of emotional cues could begin even in the prodromal stage of AD. In contrast, the reasoning process of emotional information, as measured with FPR, could be preserved until the dementia stage. Moreover, the relation of affective ToM with amnestic functions and verbal abilities could provide evidence of a domain-general ToM impairment in AD.
  • Yayın
    An investigation of affective personality traits in Alzheimer’s disease: seeking as a possible predictor for early-stage Alzheimer’s dementia
    (Routledge, 2023-09) Soncu Büyükişcan, Ezgi; Yıldırım, Elif; Demirtaş Tatlıdede, Aslı; Bilgiç, Başar; Gürvit, Hakan
    Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate affective personality traits in Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition mainly characterized by episodic memory impairment. Method: The sample included 69 participants from 3 diagnostic categories. Twenty-five participants were diagnosed with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), 26 participants were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment of the amnestic type (aMCI), and the remaining 18 participants were diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s dementia (ADD). Diagnostic labels were given as a result of detailed neurological, neuropsychological, and neuroradiological assessment. Affective personality traits were assessed via Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS). Results: The only significant intergroup difference was obtained for the SEEKING subscale of ANPS. Here, ADD group scored significantly lower compared to the SCI group. The results of logistic regression analysis also indicated that SEEKING score successfully predicted early-stage ADD diagnosis. Conclusion: The results suggest that a specific personality constellation characterized by reduced investment in the outside world might be associated with Alzheimer’s disease, either as a risk factor or a byproduct of the neurodegenerative process initiated by AD pathology.
  • Yayın
    Alzheimer hastalığında olağan durum ağı bağlantısallığı
    (Türkiye Sinir Ve Ruh Sağlığı Derneği, 2019-12) Yıldırım, Elif; Soncu Büyükişcan, Ezgi
    Amaç: Alzheimer hastalığı (AH) beyinde yapısal ve işlevsel değişimler meydana getiren nörodejeneratif bir hastalıktır. Gelişen beyin görüntüleme yöntemleri sayesinde AH patolojisine eşlik eden yapısal ve işlevsel bağlantılardaki bozulmalar gitgide daha görünür hale gelmiştir. AH’de dinlenim durumu bağlantısallığında, özellikle de olağan durum ağı (default mode network - DMN) olarak adlandırılan içsel bağlantısallık ağında farklılaşmalar görülmektedir. Bu çalışmada DMN bağlantısallık bulgularının incelenmesi ve tartışılması amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem: İşlevsel manyetik rezonans görüntüleme (fMRI) çalışmalarında en yaygın kullanılan 2 temel metodoloji (tohum temelli ve bağımsız bileşen analizi) temel alınarak alanda yapılan çalışmalar incelenmiştir. Bulgular: Çalışmalar genel olarak, DMN bağlantısallığının AH süreci boyunca ilerleyici bir şekilde bozulduğunu göstermektedir. DMN alt sistemlerinin AH’nin preklinik ve prodromal evrelerinde farklı bağlantısallık örüntüleri gösterdiği de belirtilmektedir. DMN’deki bozulmanın diğer bağlantısallık ağlarındaki farklılaşma ile ilişkili olabileceğini öne süren kanıtlar da mevcuttur. Buna ek olarak, bulgular DMN’nin AH ile ilişkili nöropatoloji ve genetik risk faktörleri ile olan ilişkisine de işaret etmektedir. Sonuç: AH’nin beyinde başta DMN olmak üzere diğer dinlenim durumu ağlarında işlevsel bozulmalara yol açan yaygın bir diskonneksiyon sendromu olduğu öne sürülebilir. Buna ek olarak, preklinik vakalarda ve risk taşıyan kişilerde de saptanabilen AH ile ilişkili işlevsel bağlantısallık değişimleri AH için muhtemel bir biyo-belirteç olabilir.
  • Yayın
    White-matter changes in early and late stages of mild cognitive impairment
    (Churchill Livingstone, 2020-08) Femir Gürtuna, Banu; Kurt, Elif; Ulaşoğlu Yıldız, Çiğdem; Bayram, Ali; Yıldırım, Elif; Soncu Büyükişcan, Ezgi; Bilgiç, Başar
    Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is characterized by cognitive deficits that exceed age-related decline, but not interfering with daily living activities. Amnestic type of the disorder (aMCI) is known to have a high risk to progress to Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the most common type of dementia. Identification of very early structural changes in the brain related to the cognitive decline in MCI patients would further contribute to the understanding of the dementias. In the current study, we target to investigate whether the white-matter changes are related to structural changes, as well as the cognitive performance of MCI patients. Forty-nine MCI patients were classified as Early MCI (E-MCI, n = 24) and Late MCI (L-MCI, n = 25) due to their performance on The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT). Age-Related White-Matter Changes (ARWMC) scale was used to evaluate the white-matter changes in the brain. Volumes of specific brain regions were calculated with the FreeSurfer program. Both group and correlation analyses were conducted to show if there was any association between white-matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and structural changes and cognitive performance. Our results indicate that, L-MCI patients had significantly more WMHs not in all but only in the frontal regions compared to E-MCI patients. Besides, ARWMC scores were not correlated with total hippocampal and white-matter volumes. It can be concluded that WMHs play an important role in MCI and cognitive functions are affected by white-matter changes of MCI patients, especially in the frontal regions.
  • Yayın
    Reliability of direct-to-home teleneuropsychological assessment: a within-subject design study
    (Routledge, 2025-07-04) Yıldırım, Elif; Soncu Büyükişcan, Ezgi; Akça Kalem, Şükriye; Gürvit, Hakan
    Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to continue diagnosis and treatment processes, in addition to scientific research, led to a rapid shift towards direct-to-home tele-neuropsychology administrations, the reliability and validity of which had not been clearly established then. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the reliability of direct-to-home tele-neuropsychological assessment (TNP). Method: The sample included 105 cognitively healthy individuals aged between 50–83 years, and 47 patients diagnosed with neurocognitive disorders (mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer’s type dementia). All participants underwent both face-to-face and teleneuropsychological assessments in a counterbalanced order. Results: The results revealed that performances across measures of attention, working memory, verbal fluency, verbal and visual memory, and visual perception were comparable across assessment modalities. Intraclass correlation coefficients of the tests ranged from.54 to.92. Conclusions: The findings of the study provide support for direct-to-home teleneuropsychological assessment among patients with neurocognitive disorders. Neuropsychological tests relying on verbal administration and independent of motor performance may represent a reliable alternative for this patient group when administered in settings where external distractions or technological limitations are controlled. For cognitively healthy individuals, on the other hand, the reliability of the TNP application is more questionable for memory and some executive function tests and therefore needs further exploration.