Effects of foreign language learning on executive functions in healthy older adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: With age, most cognitive functions decline. As the number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to rise rapidly within the next decades, identifying interventions that promote healthy cognitive ageing is of utmost importance. Promising research on bilingualism has led to the notion that learning a foreign language could protect against cognitive decline. Foreign language learning likely promotes executive functions, which are higher-order cognitive abilities particularly affected by age-related cognitive decline. However, evidence is still sparse and has produced contradictory results. This study aims to investigate the effects of short and intensive foreign language learning on executive functions in healthy older adults. METHODS: In a randomised controlled trial, we will assign 60 native German-speaking monolingual healthy older adults, aged 65-80 years, to either a foreign language learning or a waiting list control group. Language learners will attend a face-to-face, group-based Spanish course for beginners for 1.5 h a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 3 weeks. Cognitive performance in executive functions will be assessed before and after the intervention or after a waiting period of 3 weeks (waiting list control group). Participants will be tested again after 3 months to evaluate longitudinal effects of foreign language learning. The waiting list control group will receive Spanish lessons only after the final assessment and will be invited to an additional voluntary evaluation after completion of the course. DISCUSSION: To the best of our knowledge, we are conducting the first randomised controlled trial on the effects of short and intensive foreign language learning in older adulthood on executive functions. Enhanced cognitive performance after foreign language learning would indicate that learning a foreign language could enlarge cognitive reserve and thus promote healthy cognitive ageing in older adults. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00016552 . Registered on 11 February 2019.

Contingency awareness as a prerequisite for differential contextual fear conditioning.

Contingency awareness during conditioning describes the phenomenon of becoming consciously aware of the association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US). Despite the fact that contingency awareness is necessary for associative learning in some conditioning paradigms, its role in contextual fear conditioning, a variant that uses a context-CS (CTX) instead of a cue, has not been characterized thus far. We investigated if contingency awareness is a prerequisite for contextual fear conditioning and if subjects classified as aware differ from unaware subjects on a hemodynamic, autonomic, and behavioral level. We used a computer-generated picture context as CTX and slightly painful electric stimulation as US while we recorded brain responses by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and obtained skin conductance responses (SCR) and verbal ratings of emotional valence and arousal. SCR analyses revealed that only aware subjects became conditioned to the US-associated CTX (CTX+). Brain activity related to the CTX+ was more strongly pronounced in fear-associated areas like the insula in the aware relative to the unaware group. Finally, the hippocampus was functionally connected to the cingulate cortex and posterior medial frontal gyrus in aware subjects relative to unaware subjects. These task-related differential connectivity patterns suggest that information exchange between the hippocampus and regions involved in the expression of conditioned fear and decision uncertainty is crucial for the acquisition of contingency knowledge. This study demonstrates the importance of contingency awareness for contextual fear conditioning and points to the hippocampus as a potential mediator for contingency learning in contextual learning.

Simultaneous EEG-fMRI reveals brain networks underlying recognition memory ERP old/new effects.

The mapping of event-related potentials (ERP) on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data remains difficult as scalp electroencephalography (EEG) is assumed to be largely insensitive to deep brain structures. Simultaneous recordings of EEG and fMRI might be helpful in reconciling surface ERPs with hemodynamic activations in medial temporal lobe structures related to recognition memory. EEG and imaging studies provide evidence for two independent processes underlying recognition memory, namely recollection and familiarity. Recollection reflects the conscious retrieval of contextual information about a specific episode, while familiarity refers to an acontextual feeling of knowing. Both processes were related to two spatiotemporally different ERP effects, namely the early mid-frontal old/new effect (familiarity) and the late parietal old new effect (recollection). We conducted an exploratory simultaneous EEG-fMRI study using a recognition memory paradigm to investigate which brain activations are modulated in relation to the ERP old/new effects. To this end we examined 17 participants in a yes/no recognition task with word stimuli. Single-trial amplitudes of ERP old/new effects were related to the hemodynamic signal in an EEG-informed fMRI analysis for a subset of 12 subjects. FMRI activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right intraparietal sulcus was associated with the amplitude of the early frontal old/new effect (350-550ms), and activation in the right posterior hippocampus, parahippocampal cortex and retrosplenial cortex was associated with the amplitude of the late parietal old new effect (580-750ms). These results provide the first direct link between electrophysiological and hemodynamic correlates of familiarity and recollection. Moreover, these findings in healthy subjects complement data from intracranial ERP recordings in epilepsy patients and lesion studies in hypoxia patients.

Contextual fear conditioning in humans using feature-identical contexts.

Contextual fear conditioning studies in animals and humans found an involvement of the hippocampus and amygdala during fear learning. To exclude a focus on elements of the context we employed a paradigm, which uses two feature-identical contexts that only differ in the arrangement of the features and requires configural processing. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the role of the hippocampus and neocortical areas during the acquisition of contextual fear in humans. For contextual fear acquisition, we paired one context (CS+) with an aversive electrical stimulus, whereas the other (CS-) was never followed by aversive stimulation. Blood oxygen level dependent activation to the CS+ was present in the insula, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, superior medial gyrus and caudate nucleus. Furthermore, the amygdala and hippocampus were involved in a time-dependent manner. Psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed functional connectivity of a more posterior hippocampal seed region with the anterior hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex and superior parietal lobule. The anterior hippocampus was functionally coupled with the amygdala and postcentral gyrus. This study complements previous findings in contextual fear conditioning in humans and provides a paradigm which might be useful for studying patients with hippocampal impairment.

Pain can produce systematic distortions of autobiographical memory.

OBJECTIVES: Cognitive-behavioral models highlight the role of learning and memory biases in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. However, the extent to which a memory bias is a consequence of the clinical state of being a chronic pain subject is unknown. This article presents a study which delineates the influence of chronic and acute pain on autobiographical memory retrieval. METHODS: 16 healthy controls and 16 individuals with chronic pain participated in an autobiographical memory task during two sessions (a current pain and a pain-free session for the chronic pain subjects) and received neutral words that served as a cue for the retrieval of past life events. RESULTS: The valence of remembered life events in individuals with chronic pain was more negative when they were in pain compared to pain-free states. Conversely, both groups did not differ in their ratings of the reported memories during the pain-free condition. In addition, no significant relationship between mood and the valence of retrieved memories was found. CONCLUSIONS: The present data demonstrate that current pain but not chronic pain per se can exert specific influences on remembering in participants with chronic pain. This memory bias could be a predisposition for the development of chronic pain but could also be a pain-maintaining consequence of painful experiences. This should be addressed in longitudinal studies.

Simultaneous EEG and fMRI reveals a causally connected subcortical-cortical network during reward anticipation.

Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been used to study the neural correlates of reward anticipation, but the interrelation of EEG and fMRI measures remains unknown. The goal of the present study was to investigate this relationship in response to a well established reward anticipation paradigm using simultaneous EEG-fMRI recording in healthy human subjects. Analysis of causal interactions between the thalamus (THAL), ventral-striatum (VS), and supplementary motor area (SMA), using both mediator analysis and dynamic causal modeling, revealed that (1) THAL fMRI blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activity is mediating intermodal correlations between the EEG contingent negative variation (CNV) signal and the fMRI BOLD signal in SMA and VS, (2) the underlying causal connectivity network consists of top-down regulation from SMA to VS and SMA to THAL along with an excitatory information flow through a THAL→VS→SMA route during reward anticipation, and (3) the EEG CNV signal is best predicted by a combination of THAL fMRI BOLD response and strength of top-down regulation from SMA to VS and SMA to THAL. Collectively, these findings represent a likely neurobiological mechanism mapping a primarily subcortical process, i.e., reward anticipation, onto a cortical signature.

Insights from simultaneous EEG-fMRI and patient data illuminate the role of the anterior medial temporal lobe in N400 generation.

The N400, a negative event-related potential (ERP) peaking approximately 400 ms after stimulus onset, is known to reflect the processing of semantic information. While scalp recordings have contributed to understanding the psychological processes underlying the N400, they have been limited in identifying its neural basis. However, recent intracranial ERP recordings and fMRI studies have shed light on the crucial role of the anterior medial temporal lobe (AMTL) in semantic information processing. These findings suggest that the N400 partially represents activity in the AMTL structures. To investigate the neural underpinnings of the N400 effect, we simultaneously recorded ERPs and event-related fMRI during a semantic priming paradigm in a sample of 12 young, healthy subjects. Additionally, we collected ERPs and structural brain data from older healthy adults and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a population characterized by neurodegenerative changes in the AMTL. In our fMRI results, we identified bilateral loci in the AMTL as the global maxima. Employing an EEG-informed fMRI analysis, we explored trial-to-trial fluctuations in semantic processing by linking single-trial N400 amplitudes to the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal. This approach provided the first direct evidence linking the N400 recorded at the scalp level to the corresponding BOLD signal in the AMTL. Consistent with these findings, patients with aMCI exhibited a diminished N400 effect compared to healthy older adults. Furthermore, voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed a correlation between the magnitude of the N400 effect and the integrity of the AMTL. By integrating data from simultaneous EEG-fMRI, and patient studies, our research advances our understanding of the neural substrate of the N400 and highlights the critical involvement of the AMTL in semantic processing.

Cognition and sensation in very high static magnetic fields: a randomized case-crossover study with different field strengths.

PURPOSE: To establish the extent to which representative cognitive functions in subjects undergoing magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are acutely impaired by static magnetic fields of varying field strengths. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by the local ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained from all subjects. In this single-blind case-crossover study, 41 healthy subjects underwent an extensive neuropsychologic examination while in MR units of differing field strengths (1.5, 3.0, and 7.0 T), including a mock imager with no magnetic field as a control condition. Subjects were blinded to field strength. Tests were performed while subjects were lying still in the MR unit and while the examination table was moved. The tests covered a representative set of cognitive functions, such as memory, eye-hand coordination, attention, reaction time, and visual discrimination. Subjective sensory perceptions were also assessed. Effects were analyzed with a repeated-measures analysis of variance; the within-subject factors were field strength (0, 1.5, 3.0, and 7.0 T) and state (static, dynamic). RESULTS: Static magnetic fields were not found to have a significant effect on cognitive function at any field strength. However, sensory perceptions did vary according to field strength. Dizziness, nystagmus, phosphenes, and head ringing were related to the strength of the static magnetic field. CONCLUSION: Static magnetic fields as high as 7.0 T did not have a significant effect on cognition.

A cross-over study of effects on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathoadrenergic system in magnetic field strength exposure from 0 to 7 T.

The concept of stress is relevant to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination in various ways. First, levels of stress to staff and patients have not been quantified in ultra-high magnetic fields. Second, research is increasingly interested in experimentally defining regional brain activity during stress. It is therefore important to know whether exposure to the ultra-high static magnetic fields per se might also lead to neurohormonal responses in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathoadrenal systems. In the present blinded case cross-over study with 41 healthy participants, we measured cortisol not only before and after but also during static magnetic field exposure in MRI scanners. Measures of catecholamines before and after exposure were also part of the study protocol. Using three different field strengths (1.5, 3 and 7 T) and a mock scanner (0 T), we examined whether not only the MRI procedure but also the static magnetic field per se has an influence on the neuroendocrine responses. We found no significant differences in the course of cortisol or catecholamine concentrations between the different static magnetic fields. Our study suggests that the results of MRI studies using stress-paradigms are not influenced by the static magnetic field itself.

Foreign language learning can improve response inhibition in individuals with lower baseline cognition: Results from a randomized controlled superiority trial.

Introduction: The world's population is aging, increasing the prevalence of dementia. Recently, foreign language learning in later life has been suggested to improve cognition and thus support healthy cognitive aging. To date, however, there are only a few studies with conflicting findings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether learning a foreign language can improve executive attention and executive functions in healthy older adults. Additionally, we sought to identify factors affecting cognitive change in foreign language learners, such as cognitive reserve, previous foreign knowledge and usage, and global cognition at baseline. Methods: In a randomized-controlled trial, we assigned 34 monolinguals between the ages of 65 and 80 to a language learning or a waiting list control group. The participants enrolled in a Spanish course for beginners that met five days a week for 1.5 h for a total of 3 weeks. The waiting list control group received no intervention but had the opportunity to join the language training at the end of the study. All participants underwent an assessment of executive attention (primary outcome), executive functions, verbal fluency, and attention (secondary outcomes) before, immediately after the course, or after a waiting period of 3 weeks for the control group and 3 months after the course or the waiting period. Results: Foreign language learning did not significantly improve primary or secondary outcomes, neither immediately nor 3 months after the course. However, moderation analyses revealed that participants with lower global baseline cognition tended to improve more on response inhibition than individuals with higher baseline cognition. This relationship was not evident in the waiting list control group. Discussion: Our results suggest that studying a foreign language does not generally improve executive attention or executive functioning. Nevertheless, individuals with poorer baseline cognition may benefit cognitively from foreign language learning in response inhibition, a domain particularly affected by cognitive aging. Our findings highlight the need of focusing dementia prevention efforts on groups that are more vulnerable to cognitive decline. Additionally, more individualized approaches, including utilizing technology-assisted learning, might enable participants to practice at their performance level, increasing the likelihood of discernible cognitive gains. Clinical trial registration: https://drks.de/search/en, identifier DRKS00016552.

High feature overlap and incidental encoding drive rapid semantic integration in the fast mapping paradigm.

Contrary to traditional theories, it has been shown that novel, arbitrary associations can be rapidly integrated into cortical networks through a learning paradigm called fast mapping (FM), possibly bypassing time-consuming hippocampal-neocortical consolidation processes. In the FM paradigm, an unknown item is presented next to a known item and participants answer a question referring to an unfamiliar label, presumably inferring that the label belongs to the unknown item. However, factors driving rapid cortical integration through FM are still under debate. The FM task requires the discrimination between complex objects and the binding of the unknown item to the label. Discriminating between complex and especially highly similar objects is a central function of the perirhinal cortex, a structure also involved in the binding of single elements to a unit. We suggested that triggering perirhinal processing by increasing the demands on item discrimination through increasing feature overlap between the unknown and the known item might foster the binding of the unknown item to the label and their rapid cortical integration. We found lexical integration of the labels after learning through FM, but this was not affected by feature overlap. However, semantic integration of the label immediately after FM encoding was more successful when the items shared many features than when they shared few features. Moreover, effects of rapid semantic integration through FM were reduced if encoding was intentional and if no discrimination was required. This indicates that incidental encoding and a high feature overlap are driving factors for rapid semantic integration through FM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

High feature overlap reveals the importance of anterior and medial temporal lobe structures for learning by means of fast mapping.

Contrary to traditional theories of declarative memory, it has recently been shown that novel, arbitrary associations can rapidly and directly be integrated into cortical memory networks by means of a learning procedure called fast mapping (FM), possibly bypassing time-consuming hippocampal-neocortical consolidation processes. In the typical FM paradigm, a picture of a previously unknown item is presented next to a picture of a previously known item and participants answer a question referring to an unfamiliar label, thereby incidentally creating associations between the unknown item and the label. However, contradictory findings have been reported and factors moderating rapid cortical integration through FM yet need to be identified. Previous behavioral results showed that rapid semantic integration through FM was boosted if the unknown and the known item shared many features. In light of this, we propose that the perirhinal cortex might be especially qualified to support the rapid incorporation of these associations into cortical memory networks within the FM paradigm, due to its computational mechanisms during the processing of complex and particularly highly similar objects. We therefore expected that a high degree of feature overlap between the unknown and the known item would trigger strong engagement of the perirhinal cortex at encoding, which in turn might enhance rapid cortical integration of the novel picture-label associations. Within an fMRI experiment, we observed greater subsequent memory effects (i.e., stronger activation for subsequent hits than misses) during encoding in the perirhinal cortex and an associated anterior temporal network if the items shared many features than if they shared few features. This indicates that the perirhinal cortex indeed contributes to the acquisition of novel associations by means of FM if feature overlap is high.

Does bilingualism influence neuropsychological test performance in older adults? A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Using standardized tests which have been normed on monolinguals for the assessment of bilinguals presents challenges to the accurate characterization of cognitive profile as the literature provides compelling evidence for the influence of bilingualism on cognitive abilities. However, little is known about the generalizability of these findings to clinical neuropsychology. The aim of this review was to address this gap by summarizing current evidence on the performance of bilingual older adults on standardized tests routinely used in clinical practice. METHOD: A systematic search of Web of Science, PsycINFO and PubMed was conducted. 27 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies which use at least one standardized neuropsychological test for cognitive impairment were included in the review. Potential demographic (cultural/linguistic background of the participants, immigrant status), clinical (diagnostic status), and methodological confounders (language of test administration, components of bilingualism) were also examined. The review protocol was registered at the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Review with registration number CRD42018114658. RESULTS: The results of this review revealed some bilingual advantage on measures of inhibitory control and bilingual disadvantage on measures of verbal fluency in cross-sectional studies. Bilingualism status was not associated with test performance in longitudinal studies. However, findings lack consistency due to demographic variables and methodological differences across studies. CONCLUSION: Neuropsychological tests assessing language domains and, to some extent executive function act as clinically relevant features of bilingualism for neuropsychological evaluation. However, immigration status, acculturation level and language of test administration needs to be taken into account when assessing bilingual older adults.

Cross-cultural comparison of MMSE and RUDAS in German and Turkish patients with Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVE: Given the increasing cultural, linguistic diversity in Europe, there is a growing need for cognitive screening tools that minimize the influence of linguistic, cultural, and demographic differences as they are the first means to determine the need for further clinical evaluation of individuals with suspected cognitive impairment. This cross-sectional study compared performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients in relation to cultural, demographic, and immigration-related factors (acculturation, bilingualism). METHOD: The study comprised Turkish immigrant (n = 21) and monolingual, nonimmigrant German (n = 20) and Turkish (n = 24) patients with AD. All participants were administered cognitive screening tools, measures of depression, and dementia severity. RESULTS: The mean MMSE total score was significantly higher in German patients with AD compared to both patient groups, but did not differ between native-born Turkish and Turkish immigrant groups. After adjustment for years of education, differences in MMSE performance were no longer significant between groups. Furthermore, bilingualism was associated with better performance on the MMSE in Turkish-immigrant patients. The mean RUDAS total scores were similar between groups with and without adjustment for educational level. Performance on the RUDAS was not associated with demographic and immigration-related variables. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the need to consider the educational background, linguistic integration of older non-Western immigrants for the objective characterization of cognitive profiles. The results provide support for the use of the RUDAS, particularly, among older Turkish immigrants with lower educational levels and varying degrees of acculturation, bilingualism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of static magnetic fields on cognition, vital signs, and sensory perception: a meta-analysis.

To evaluate whether cognitive processes, sensory perception, and vital signs might be influenced by static magnetic fields in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which could pose a risk for health personnel and patients, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examined effects of static magnetic fields. Studies covering the time from 1992 to 2007 were selected. Cohen's d effects sizes were used and combined in different categories of neuropsychology (reaction time, visual processing, eye-hand coordination, and working memory). Additionally, effects of static magnetic fields on sensory perception and vital signs were analyzed. In the category "neuropsychology," only effects on the visual system were homogeneous, showing a statistically significant impairment as a result of exposure to static magnetic fields (d = -0.415). Vital signs were not affected and effects on sensory perceptions included an increase of dizziness and vertigo, primarily caused by movement during static magnetic field gradient exposures. The number of studies dealing with this topic is very small and the experimental set-up of some of the analyzed studies makes it difficult to accurately determine the effects of static magnetic fields by themselves, excluding nonspecific factors. The implications of these results for MRI lead to suggestions for improvement in research designs.

On the processing of semantic aspects of experience in the anterior medial temporal lobe: an event-related fMRI study.

Recognition memory based on familiarity judgments is a form of declarative memory that has been repeatedly associated with the anterior medial temporal lobe. It has been argued that this region sustains familiarity-based recognition not only by retrieving item-specific information but also by coding for those semantic aspects of an event that support later familiarity-based recognition. Here, we used event-related fMRI to directly examine whether the contribution of anterior medial temporal lobe to declarative memory indeed results from its role in processing semantic aspects of an event. For this purpose, a sentence comprehension task was employed which varied the demands of semantic and syntactic processing of the sentence-final word. By presenting those sentence-final words together with new words in a subsequent incidental recognition memory test, we were able to determine the mnemonic consequences of presenting words in different sentential contexts. Results showed that enhanced semantic processing during comprehension activates regions in medial temporal lobe cortex and leads to response suppression in partly overlapping regions when the word is successfully retrieved. Data from a behavioral follow-up study support the view that enhanced semantic processing at study enhances familiarity-based remembering in a subsequent test phase.

Recognition memory for one-trial-unitized word pairs: evidence from event-related potentials.

Performance in tests of associative memory is generally thought to require recollection while familiarity cannot support memory for associations. However, recent research suggested that familiarity contributes to associative memory when the to-be-associated stimuli are unitized during encoding. Here, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of retrieval of word pairs after two different encoding conditions. Semantically unrelated word pairs were presented as separate lexical units in a sentence frame (non-unitized word pairs) or together with a definition that allows to combine word pairs to a new concept (unitized word pairs). At test, participants discriminated between word pairs that appeared in the same pairing during study, recombined, or new pairs. Memory processes were examined by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). An early old/new effect with a parietal maximum was found for unitized word pairs while a qualitatively different late old/new effect was elicited by non-unitized word pairs, only. These findings suggest that one-trial-unitized word pairs are recognized differently from non-unitized word pairs. We will discuss the possibility that unitization leads to the engagement of specific forms of familiarity-conceptual fluency and absolute familiarity.

Usefulness of familiarity signals during recognition depends on test format: Neurocognitive evidence for a core assumption of the CLS framework.

Familiarity-based discrimination between studied items and similar foils in yes/no recognition memory tests is relatively poor. The complementary learning systems (CLS) framework explains this with the small difference in familiarity strength between targets and foils. The framework, however, also predicts that familiarity values of targets and corresponding similar foils are directly comparable - as long as they are presented side by side in a forced-choice corresponding (FCC) test. This is because in each trial, targets tend to be more familiar than their corresponding foils. In contrast, when forced-choice displays contain non-corresponding foils (FCNC) which are similar to other studied items, familiarity values are not directly comparable (as in yes/no-tasks). In a recognition memory task with pictures of objects, we found that the putative ERP correlate of familiarity, the mid-frontal old/new effect for targets vs. foils, was significantly larger in FCC compared to FCNC displays. Moreover, single-trial target-foil amplitude differences predicted the accuracy of the recognition judgment. This study supports the assumption of the CLS framework that the test format can influence the diagnostic reliability of familiarity. Moreover, it implies that the mid-frontal old/new effect does not reflect the difference in the familiarity signal between studied and non-studied items but the task-adequate assessment of this signal.

Hippocampus-Related Cognitive and Affective Impairments in Patients With Breast Cancer-A Systematic Review.

Background: Although improvements in medical treatment lead to a steadily rising survival rate of breast cancer patients (BCP), it is associated with a decrease in cognitive and affective function. The hippocampus, a brain region with a high influence on both cognitive and affective function, is increasingly becoming the focus of current research because of its high vulnerability to adverse direct (chemotherapeutic agents, endocrine therapeutic agents, and radiation) or indirect (stress and other psycho-social factors) treatment-related effects. Methods: This systematic review analyses current data from literature combining hippocampus-related brain changes due to breast cancer treatment with associated cancer-related cognitive and affective impairments (CRCI/CRAI). The seven studies that met the inclusion criteria consisted of six cross-sectional studies and one longitudinal study. Results: The study results indicate hippocampal differences across all types of treatment. Those differences include volume loss, deformation, and changes in functional connectivity. They are associated with CRCI, revealing executive function as well as working memory, episodic memory, and prospective memory as the most affected domains. Although an interaction between hippocampus-related brain changes, CRCI, and CRAI can be hypothesized, CRAI are less reflected in current research. Discussion: More research including longitudinal assessments with better overall methodology is needed to fully understand the interaction between hippocampal alterations and both CRCI and CRAI due to breast cancer treatment.

Evidence for fast mapping in adults - Moderating factors yet need to be identified.

Cooper, Greve, and Henson (this issue) discuss if fast mapping (FM) is dissociable from other learning procedures in adults. We strongly agree that drawing conclusions on cortical integration from recognition accuracy is questionable in healthy young adults. Additionally, we advise against interpreting explicit measures in patient studies if residual hippocampal functioning cannot be excluded or extra-hippocampal structures are also affected. Due to promising fMRI data patterns and confounds in studies reporting no evidence for implicitly measured semantic integration, we suggest that factors moderating FM learning success need to be systematically identified rather than doubting rapid cortical integration through FM.