Research Methods, Neurocognitive Disorders, Anxiety, OCD, and Trauma-Related Disorders

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering research methods, neurocognitive disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders.

Scientific Method - Description

The goal of the scientific method focused on accurately characterizing and detailing events.

Scientific Method - Prediction

The goal of the scientific method dedicated to formulating hypotheses or expected outcomes.

Scientific Method - Control

The goal of the scientific method centered on collecting and analyzing empirical data.

Scientific Method - Understanding

The goal of the scientific method dedicated to refining hypotheses based on findings and increasing knowledge about phenomena.

Operational Definitions

Ways of defining concepts under study in terms of specific operations that can be directly observed and measured.

Control of Variables

A fundamental element in well-conducted research that isolates the relationship between variables by eliminating extraneous influences.

Case Study

An in-depth study of an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in relation to their life history.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (Research Basis)

A psychological disorder whose empirical information was historically based almost entirely on case studies.

Advantages of Case Studies

Research benefits including generating new theories and models, and serving as a source of novel ideas about behavior.

Disadvantages of Case Studies

Methodological limitations including lack of external validity, biased observers, subjective data collection, and little basis for generalization.

Correlational Research Design

A design where data are gathered from $2$ different samples or groups and compared to determine if variable A relates to variable B.

Strong Positive Correlation

A relationship represented by a correlation coefficient of $+1$, indicating that two variables increase or decrease together.

Strong Negative Correlation

A relationship represented by a correlation coefficient of $-1$, indicating an inverse relationship between two variables.

Statistical Significance

A threshold denoted by $p < 0.05$, indicating that study findings are unlikely to have arisen by chance.

Effect Size

A statistical metric reflecting the magnitude of an association or effect, used to compare the strength of findings across different studies.

Meta-analysis

A systematic review of prior studies that combines calculated effect sizes to reach a single conclusion with greater statistical power.

Validity Characteristics of Meta-analysis

A methodological trade-off characterized by high external validity but a lack of internal validity.

Epidemiological Studies

Investigations involving large samples and huge surveys to determine how frequently a disorder occurs in particular populations.

Incidence

The number of new cases of a disorder that emerge in a population over a specific period of time.

Prevalence

The total number of cases of a disorder, including both old and new cases, present in a population.

Longitudinal Studies

Research designs in which the behaviors of the same participants are tested or studied repeatedly across a period of time.

Cross-sectional Studies

Research designs where behaviors of different groups of participants are tested or studied at one single point in time.

Community-based Participatory Research

A collaborative framework where affected community members work alongside academic scientists throughout all research stages.

Stages of Community-based Participatory Research

A three-phase process involving designing research questions, conducting the research, and applying findings in the community.

Experimental Research Design

A method where participants are measured at baseline, randomly assigned to groups, and compared following a controlled manipulation.

Confound (Cofound)

Variables other than the independent variable that may inadvertently influence the dependent variable.

Three Guards Against Confounds

Methodological features consisting of a control group, random assignment, and a masked design.

Masked Design

An experimental safeguard in which participants are kept unaware of which specific group they have been assigned to.

Independent Variable

The variable manipulated by investigators in a controlled setting to observe its causal impact.

Dependent Variable

The variable measured by investigators to evaluate the effects produced by manipulating the independent variable.

Clinical Trials

Studies testing treatment efficacy using random assignment to one or more treatments or comparing a treatment group to a placebo group.

Quasi-experimental (Mixed) Design

An experimental design utilizing pre-existing participant groups rather than random assignment, matching them on demographic variables.

Natural Experiments

Studies in which nature creates the independent variable (such as Hurricane Katrina) while researchers observe the subsequent effects.

Analogue Experiments

Studies where researchers use substitutes or models (such as animals for human products) to bypass ethical and practical limitations.

Single-subject Experiments

Research designs that start and stop manipulations to establish cause and effect by comparing participants to themselves.

ABAB (Reversal) Design

A single-subject experimental design alternating between baseline (A) and treatment (B) phases to demonstrate causality.

Qualitative Studies

Studies well suited for assessing straightforward, objective facts from small samples, but unsuitable for testing hypotheses broadly.

Mixed-Methods Design

A research approach pairing qualitative methods (to generate hypotheses) with quantitative methods (to test hypotheses).

Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

A condition characterized by cognitive testing performance between the $3\text{rd}$ and $16\text{th}$ percentile without loss of independence.

Independence in Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

Daily living capabilities that remain intact, though accommodation or extra effort may be needed to maintain them.

Major Neurocognitive Disorder

A condition showing significant cognitive decline below the $3\text{rd}$ percentile on formal testing that interferes with independence.

Diagnostic Exclusions for Neurocognitive Disorders

Criteria specifying that cognitive deficits must not occur solely during delirium or be caused by another psychological disorder.

Complex Attention Domain

The cognitive domain responsible for focusing and sustaining attention over time.

Executive Functions Domain

The cognitive domain governing planning, decision-making, and working memory.

Learning and Memory Domain

The cognitive domain involved in acquiring new skills and successfully retaining them.

Language Cognitive Domain

The cognitive domain encompassing verbal expressive communication and receptive comprehension.

Perceptual-Motor Domain

The cognitive domain governing abilities such as hand-eye coordination and motor perception.

Social-Cognition Domain

The cognitive domain focused on interpersonal processes, such as recognizing and interpreting emotions in others.

Acquired Causes of Cognitive Impairment

Cognitive deficits stemming from illness, injury, or biomedical factors including traumatic brain injury, drugs, and vitamin deficiencies.

Degenerative Causes of Cognitive Impairment

Progressive, incurable medical diseases that cause ongoing cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and HIV.

Delirium

A rapidly developing disturbance in attention and awareness characterized by a clouded state of consciousness.

Temporal Course of Delirium

A symptom timeline that develops over a short period of time and often fluctuates in severity across a single day.

End-of-Life Delirium Prevalence

The epidemiological rate indicating that delirium is prevalent in $83\%$ of people near the end of life.

Pharmacological Treatment for Delirium

The administration of antipsychotic medication, utilized beyond addressing underlying medical conditions.

SLUMS Exam

A formal screening assessment measuring memory, language, fluency, attention, and reasoning.

MoCA Test

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a screening tool evaluating memory, language, reasoning, and attention.

MCI to Dementia Conversion Rate

The statistical proportion of individuals with mild cognitive impairment who eventually develop dementia, totaling $85\text{--}90\%$.

Alzheimer's Disease

An irreversible neurodegenerative disease causing brain tissue deterioration and death typically within $10\text{--}12\text{ years}$.

Initial Presentation of Alzheimer's Disease

Early clinical deficits marked by difficulty remembering recent events, trouble learning new material, and irritability.

Amyloid Plaques

Protein deposits formed from amyloid precursor protein fragments and neuron debris that block synaptic communication.

Frontal Cortex (Alzheimer's Pathology)

A primary cerebral region where extracellular amyloid plaques accumulate and block synaptic communication.

Amyloid Precursor Protein

The parent protein that cleaves into fragments that clump with debris from dying neurons to form amyloid plaques.

Neurofibrillary Tangles

Twisted protein filaments composed of tau that form in neuronal axons, primarily within the hippocampus.

Tau Protein

A protein whose abnormal or unhealthy form leads to microtubule collapse, twisting into neurofibrillary tangles.

PET Scans in Alzheimer's Disease

Neuroimaging procedures used to directly detect and measure neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid deposits.

Synaptic Loss in Alzheimer's

Neurodegeneration marked by the destruction of synapses belonging to acetylcholinergic and glutaminergic neurons.

Ventricular Enlargement in Alzheimer's

The expansion of brain ventricles and increased cerebrospinal fluid flow resulting from widespread neurodegeneration.

Subcortical Brain Shrinkage in Alzheimer's

Atrophy occurring within the hypothalamus, thalamus, and hippocampus as Alzheimer's disease advances.

Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease

A genetically driven form of Alzheimer's developing before age $60\text{--}65$, representing $5\%$ of all cases.

Causal Genes for Early-Onset Alzheimer's

Deterministic gene mutations that cause early-onset Alzheimer's, consisting of APP, PS1, PS2, ABCA7, and SORL1.

Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease (APOE Gene)

A susceptibility factor on chromosome $19$ that increases risk for late-onset disease but is not a causal gene.

APOE Allele Forms

The three allelic variants of the APOE gene: E-2, E-3, and E-4.

APOE-beta4 Allele (E-4)

The specific APOE allele that makes carriers most vulnerable to developing Alzheimer's dementia.

Risk Increase with One APOE-beta4 Allele

The finding that possessing a single beta-4 allele elevates Alzheimer's risk by $20\%$.

Neuropathology of Two APOE-beta4 Alleles

Pathological features showing excess beta-amyloid plaques, loss of hippocampal neurons, and low cortical glucose metabolism.

Heritability of Alzheimer's Disease

The proportion of disease risk attributable to genetic factors, estimated at $79\%$.

Alzheimer's Share of Major NCD

The statistic indicating that Alzheimer's accounts for $55\%$ of all causes of major neurocognitive disorder.

Lifestyle Risk Factors for Alzheimer's

Environmental factors increasing risk, including smoking, being single, low social support, depression, isolation, and insomnia.

Protective Lifestyle Factors for Alzheimer's

Activities that decrease risk, including solving crossword puzzles, reading the newspaper daily, eating fish, education, and exercise.

Biochemical Drivers in Alzheimer's

Deficiencies in acetylcholine and glutamate, along with irregularities in calcium breakdown and memory-linked proteins.

Cholinesterase Inhibitors

Medications that prevent the enzymatic breakdown of acetylcholine to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's.

Donepezil and Galantamine

Specific cholinesterase inhibitor medications used to manage cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

Aduhelm

An Alzheimer's drug attacking plaques that was withdrawn from the market due to causing brain inflammation.

Leqembi and Kisunla (Kisuana)

Plaque-targeting Alzheimer's medications carrying high-risk side effects similar to Aduhelm.

Vascular Neurocognitive Disorder

Cognitive dysfunction caused by damaged or blocked cerebral blood vessels and decreased oxygen delivery, linked to hypertension.

Executive Impairment in Vascular NCD

Sudden deficits primarily hindering planning, reasoning, and the ability to respond to feedback.

Frontotemporal Neurocognitive Disorder

A condition resulting from neuronal loss in frontal and temporal lobes, causing emotional dysregulation and executive dysfunction.

Pick's Disease

A frontotemporal dementia subtype associated with high levels of TAU protein and a prominent language component (aphasia).

Behavioral Variant FTD

The more common subtype of frontotemporal dementia, linked pathologically to TAU protein or TDP-43 deposits.

TDP-43

A protein pathologically associated with the behavioral variant subtype of frontotemporal dementia.

Lewy Body Disease (DLB)

A disorder caused by abnormal protein deposits damaging neurons, featuring overlapping symptoms with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Distinctive Symptoms of DLB

Clinical features including fluctuating cognition, prominent visual hallucinations, intense dreams, and REM sleep behavior disorder.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

A distinctive form of dementia triggered by repetitive head trauma or sports injuries, featuring mood instability and suicide risk.

Neuropathology of CTE

The accumulation of $p\text{-tau}$ across cortical regions along with microgliosis in lateral and frontal cortices.

Structural Atrophy in CTE

Dramatic wasting and tissue loss localized in frontal, medial temporal, and anterior thalamic brain regions.

Prion Disease

A neurodegenerative disorder characterized by bodily spasms resulting from misshapen infectious proteins.

Parkinson's Disease (Etiology)

A movement disorder characterized by tremors and rigidity caused by the progressive degeneration of dopamine neurons.

Huntington's Disease (Etiology)

A rare central nervous system degenerative disorder caused by excess dopamine, causing dementia and death within $10\text{--}20\text{ years}$.

Encephalitis

Inflammation of brain tissue caused by viral infection, presenting as an underlying cause of dementia.

Meningitis

Bacterial inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, serving as a medical cause of dementia.