| First Survey: Criteria for Selecting Cognitive Constructs |
| Second Survey: Selecting Cognitive Constructs |
The first goal of CNTRICS is to select a set of promising cognitive mechanisms for further focus that have been validated in the human and animal cognitive neuroscience literature. Our steering committee developed an initial list of possible criteria for doing so. The original set of nineteen potential criteria is shown below.
| Possible Criteria for Selecting Cognitive Mechanisms |
|---|
| Readily measured in humans |
| Strong evidence of impairment in schizophrenia |
| Clarity of the link to a specific neural circuit |
| Clarity of the understanding/specification of the cognitive system/mechanism |
| Clarity of the link to a specific neurotransmitter system |
| Availability of an explicit animal model |
| Degree of homology between the human and animal models |
| Link to neural systems in humans through neuropsychopharmacology |
| Link to neural systems in humans through functional neuroimaging |
| Link to neural systems in humans through neuropsychology (e.g., lesion studies) |
| Linked to neural system in animals through electrophysiological studies |
| Associated with schizophrenia relevant genetic polymorphisms |
| Linked to neural system in animals through neuropsychopharmacology |
| Linked to neural system in animals through lesion studies (reversible or not) |
| Measures practically amenable for use in human imaging studies |
| Linked to functional outcome in schizophrenia |
| Linked to the signs and/or symptoms of schizophrenia |
| Evidence for amenability to improvement in schizophrenia (whether or not known to be impaired) |
| Formal similarity between the measures in humans and animals |
Our first survey involved asking a set of over 200 experts in relevant domains to rate each of these criteria on a 1 to 5 scale in terms of their importance for selecting cognitive mechanisms to focus upon in the study of cognitive enhancement in schizophrenia. In making their ratings, we asked respondents to keep in mind the goals of the CNTRICS project. Like MATRICS, the purpose of CNTRICS is to foster research on and the development of cognition-enhancing treatments for schizophrenia, with the goal of improving functional ability. However, CNTRICS differs from MATRICS in its emphasis on using the knowledge and tools derived from the basic animal and cognitive neuroscience literature as the starting point for understanding and assessing cognitive function. The product of MATRICS was a standardized cognitive battery that could be used in phase 2 or phase 3 clinical trials of procognitive agents. The product of CNTRICS will be identification of a set of cognitive paradigms that may be used in earlier phases of drug development, such as phase 1 or in the translation of pre-clinical to clinical studies.
We received responses from 141 individuals. Click below to see the results of the ratings for the total sample and for subsamples divided according to domain of study for the respondent:
Click below to see the results of the ratings for respondent divided according to their academic versus industry affiliation.:
Click below for a PowerPoint file showing the distribution of scores in the total sample for each criterion.
As one can see by examining these results, there was a great deal of consistency in the ranking of some items, but differences among the ranks of other items according to the field of expertise and affiliation of the individuals. We used these rating and the goals of the CNTRICS project to select 8 criteria that will be used to rate a set of potential cognitive constructs for further study. The eight criteria are:
| Final Criteria for Selecting Cognitive Mechanisms |
|---|
| Readily measured in humans |
| Strong evidence of impairment in schizophrenia |
| Clarity of the link to a specific neural circuit |
| Clarity of the understanding/specification of the cognitive system/mechanism |
| Availability of an explicit animal model |
| Link to neural systems in humans through neuropsychopharmacology |
| Measures practically amenable for use in human imaging studies |
| Linked to functional outcome in schizophrenia |
We are now using these criteria in a second survey to obtain ratings from experts on a range of potential cognitive mechanisms upon which to focus further efforts in the CNTRICS program.
We are currently using the 8 criteria identified in the first survey to rate a range of potential cognitive constructs for further focus in CNTRICS. The initial list of cognitive constructs is shown below:
| Candidate Cognitive Mechanisms for Second Survey |
|---|
| Perception |
| Visual Motion Processing |
| Visual Form Processing |
| Visual Feature Binding |
| Gestalt Processing |
| Auditory Perception |
| Working Memory |
| Storage |
| Updating |
| Manipulation |
| Control Processing |
| Long-term Learning and Memory |
| Encoding (including item and relational, binding, or associative encoding) |
| Retrieval (item specific or associative/relational) |
| Source Memory |
| Strategy Generation and Application |
| Recollection |
| Familiarity |
| Semantic Memory/Representations |
| Semantic Priming |
| Reinforcement based learning |
| Attention |
| Attention Shifting |
| Selection Under Distraction (auditory and visual) |
| Preparatory Attention |
| Executive Control |
| Set-Shifting |
| Sequencing |
| Conflict Monitoring |
| Conflict Resolution |
| Meta-Cognition |
| Planning |
| Social Cognitive Processing (Broadly Defined) |
| Facial Affect Recognition |
| Emotion Regulation (e.g., reappraisal) |
| Effects of Emotion on Decision Making and Memory |
| Theory of Mind (constructing models of others mental state, self vs. other) |
If you wish to participate in the survey, please click here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=986402630001