Papers by Jennifer Zientz
CRC Press eBooks, Jul 9, 2024
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Oct 31, 2023
The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS). the American Speech-Langu... more The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS). the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), its Special Interest Division 2 I. SID-2, Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders), and the ...
Frontiers in Psychology
IntroductionThe workplace typically affords one of the longest periods for continued brain health... more IntroductionThe workplace typically affords one of the longest periods for continued brain health growth. Brain health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the promotion of optimal brain development, cognitive health, and well-being across the life course, which we expanded to also include connectedness to people and purpose. This work was motivated by prior work showing individuals, outside of an aggregate setting, benefitted from training as measured by significant performance gains on a holistic BrainHealth Index and its factors (i.e., clarity, connectedness, emotional balance). The current research was conducted during the changing remote work practices emerging post-pandemic to test whether a capacity-building training would be associated with significant gains on measures of brain health and components of burnout. The study also tested the influence of utilization of training modules and days in office for individuals to inform workplace practices.MethodsWe inv...
Military Medicine
Introduction Research shows that cognitive performance and emotional well-being can be significan... more Introduction Research shows that cognitive performance and emotional well-being can be significantly strengthened. A high-performance brain training protocol, Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART), was developed by cognitive neuroscientists at The University of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth based on 25-plus years of scientific study. Randomized controlled trials with various populations have shown that training and use of nine “SMART” strategies for processing information can improve cognitive performance and psychological health. However, the multi-week intensive training used in the laboratory is not practical for widespread use outside the laboratory. This article examines the efficacy of SMART when translated outside the laboratory to two populations (military/veterans and law enforcement) that received SMART in condensed time frames. Materials and Methods In two translation studies with healthy military personnel and veterans, 425 participants received b...
Both authors contributed equally. Objective: Cognitive impairment is a key factor that threatens ... more Both authors contributed equally. Objective: Cognitive impairment is a key factor that threatens functionality and quality of life in seniors. Given the projection that the population of individuals 65 years of age and older will double within the next 25 years, a critical need exists to identify and test effectiveness of protocols that target higher-order cognitive skills such as gist reasoning to maximize cognitive capacity in later life. Methods: This study examined the effects of eight hours of gist reasoning training in 26 cognitively normal seniors between the ages of 64-85 years (M 74.23, SD 6.67). Results: Findings suggest that top-down strategy-based gist reasoning training significantly improved abstraction ability, a skill relevant to everyday life, as well as generalized to untrained measures of executive function including concept abstraction, cognitive switching, and verbal fluency. Individuals with lower baseline ability to abstract gist showed the greatest gain in th...
Aphasiology, 2009
... Stephanie B. Wong, Raksha Anand, Sandra B. Chapman, Audette Rackley and Jennifer Zientz ... i... more ... Stephanie B. Wong, Raksha Anand, Sandra B. Chapman, Audette Rackley and Jennifer Zientz ... in individuals with semantic dementia has focused on word retrieval in isolation (Cress & King, 1999; Graham, 2001; Jokel, Rochon, & Leonard, 2002; Reilly, Nadin, & Murray, 2005). ...
Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 2005
The characterization of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is complicated and not widely re... more The characterization of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is complicated and not widely recognized. Connected language measures (ie, discourse) and functional neuroimaging may advance knowledge specifying early distinctions among frontal dementias. The present study examined the correspondence of discourse measures with (1) clinical diagnosis and (2) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. Nineteen subjects were selected from Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC) participants if they were diagnosed with early-stage frontotemporal lobar degeneration and also underwent single photon emission computed tomography and discourse evaluation. First, clinical diagnoses given by specialists at an Alzheimer's Disease Center were compared with the discourse-based diagnostic profiles. Secondly, compromised brain regions that were predicted from discourse profiles were compared with SPECT findings. Results revealed a significant correspondence between the ADC diagnosis and the discourse-based diagnoses. Also, the discourse profiles across frontotemporal lobar degeneration subtypes were consistently associated with distinctive patterns of SPECT hypometabolism in the right frontal, left frontal, or left temporal lobes. These findings suggest that discourse methods may be systematized to provide an efficient adjunct measure beyond the traditional word and sentential level measures. Objectifying complex language performance may contribute to early detection and differentiation among frontotemporal lobar degeneration variants because consensus in the literature states that language is a core disturbance of frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2016
Cognitive deficits in executive function and memory among individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) ... more Cognitive deficits in executive function and memory among individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) are well-documented; however, only recently have efforts begun to address whether such cognitive deficits can be ameliorated through cognitive training. This pilot study examined the effects of a top-down, cognitive reasoning training program in adults with BD on both brain and cognitive measures. Twenty-seven participants (11 males, 16 females), aged 21-70 years old, completed the study. Participants completed neurocognitive testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after training, consisting of 8 h (2 h/week) of training in small groups. The training delivered information processing strategies that were implemented and applicable to a variety of daily living contexts. Results indicated that participants showed significant gains in the primary outcome measure of complex abstraction, also referred to as gist reasoning, as well as in untrained domains of executive function and memory. We found a significant increase in resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) in left inferior frontal gyrus after cognitive training. We also found that resting CBF in the right frontal middle gyrus correlated positively with performance on the measure of complex abstraction. This feasibility study provides promising evidence that short-term reasoning training can enhance cognitive performance and brain health in adults with BD. These data motivate further efforts to explore adjuvant therapeutics to improve cognitive performance and underlying brain systems in bipolar, as well as other psychiatric disorders. Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02843282,
Frontiers in Public Health, 2021
Introduction: Brain health is neglected in public health, receiving attention after something goe... more Introduction: Brain health is neglected in public health, receiving attention after something goes wrong. Neuroplasticity research illustrates that preventive steps strengthen the brain's component systems; however, this information is not widely known. Actionable steps are needed to scale proven population-level interventions. Objectives: This pilot tested two main objectives: (1) the feasibility/ease of use of an online platform to measure brain health, deliver training, and offer virtual coaching to healthy adults and (2) to develop a data driven index of brain health. Methods: 180 participants, ages 18–87, enrolled in this 12-week pilot. Participants took a BrainHealth Index™ (BHI), a composite of assessments encompassing cognition, well-being, daily-life and social, pre-post training. Participants engaged in online training with three coaching sessions. We assessed changes in BHI, effects of training utilization and demographics, contributions of sub-domain measures to the ...
Military personnel require a level of cognitive readiness that ensures they function safely and e... more Military personnel require a level of cognitive readiness that ensures they function safely and effectively in high-stress situations. Warfighters who experienced a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) often complain of persistent cognitive issues that may impact those abilities. This study presents preliminary data on the efficacy of a 4-week Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART) for warfighter rehabilitation. SMART improves executive functioning in order to enhance overall cognitive abilities. This is part of a randomized clinical trial (Validation of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy for mTBI). 22 Marines with prior mTBI and current cognitive complaints; 7 of whom completed SMART and were included in the analysis. Cognitive tests of interest included the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Color Word (CW) and Trail Making (TM). Improvements were observed on TM Number Sequencing (Pre: M = 9.71, SD = 2.06; Post: M = 11.86, SD = 1.35, p = 0.011, d = 1.37) and approached ...
Journal of Medical Speech Language Pathology, 2007
Journal of medical speech-language pathology
Home » Publications » Academic journals » Psychology journals » Journal of Medical Speech - Langu... more Home » Publications » Academic journals » Psychology journals » Journal of Medical Speech - Language Pathology » September 2007 » Recently viewed: Article: Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations: Caregiver-Administered Active... Save Export Print Cite Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations: Caregiver-Administered Active Cognitive Stimulation for Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease Journal of Medical Speech - Language Pathology Journal of Medical Speech - Language Pathology September 1, 2007 | Zientz, Jennifer; Rackley, Audette; Chapman, Sandra Bond; Hopper, Tammy; Mahendra, Nidhi; Cleary, Stuart | Copyright Permalink The Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), its Special Interest Division 2 (SID-2, Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders), and the Veterans Administration (VA) collaborated to establish evidence-based practice recommendations for speech-language pathologis...
Perspectives on Gerontology, 2005
Neuropsychology, 2008
Eight adolescents (ages 13-18 years) who sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI) and eight gender-... more Eight adolescents (ages 13-18 years) who sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI) and eight gender- and age-matched typically developing (TD) adolescents underwent event-related functional MRI (fMRI) while performing a Sternberg letter recognition task. Encoding, maintenance, and retrieval were examined with memory loads of one or four items during imaging. Both groups performed above a 70% accuracy criterion and did not differ in performance. TD adolescents showed greater increase in frontal and parietal activation during high-load relative to low-load maintenance than the TBI group. The TBI patients showed greater increase in activation during high-load relative to low-load encoding and retrieval than the TD group. Results from this preliminary study suggest that the capability to differentially allocate neural resources according to memory load is disrupted by TBI for the maintenance subcomponent of working memory. The overrecruitment of frontal and extrafrontal regions during encoding and retrieval following TBI may represent a compensatory process.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2004
This randomized study evaluated the combined effect of a cognitive-communication program plus an ... more This randomized study evaluated the combined effect of a cognitive-communication program plus an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (donepezil; donepezil-plusstimulation group; n = 26), as compared with donepezil alone (donepezil-only group; n = 28) in 54 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD; Mini-Mental Status Examination score of 12-28) ranging in age from 54 to 91 years. It was hypothesized that cognitive-communication stimulation in combination with donepezil would positively affect the following: (a) relevance of discourse, (b) performance of functional abilities, (c) emotional symptoms, (d) quality of life, and (e) overall global function, as measured by caregiver and participant report and standardized measures. Cognitive-communication, neuropsychiatric, functional performance, and quality of life evaluations were conducted at baseline and Month 4, the month after the 2-month active stimulation period. Follow-up evaluations were performed at Months 8 and 12. The stimulation program consisted of 12 hr of intervention over an 8-week period and involved participantled discussions requiring homework, interactive sessions about AD, and discussions using salient life stories. Additive effects of active stimulation with donepezil were examined in 2 ways: (1) comparing mean group performance over time and (2) evaluating change scores from baseline. A Group × Time interaction was found for the donepezil-plus-stimulation group in the emotional symptoms of apathy and irritability as compared with the donepezil-only group. Evaluation of change scores from baseline to 12 months revealed a positive effect for the donepezilplus-stimulation group on discourse and functional abilities with a trend on apathy, irritability, and patient-reported quality of life. In sum, the research revealed benefits to the donepezil-plus-stimulation group in the areas of discourse abilities, functional abilities, emotional symptoms, and overall global performance. This study adds to growing evidence that active cognitive stimulation may slow the rate of verbal and functional decline and decrease negative emotional symptoms in AD when combined with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, indicating a need to advance research in the area of cognitive treatments. The fact that AD is a progressive brain disease should not preclude ameliorative treatment.
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2011
Cognitive impairment is a key factor that threatens functionality and quality of life in seniors.... more Cognitive impairment is a key factor that threatens functionality and quality of life in seniors. Given the projection that the population of individuals 65 years of age and older will double within the next 25 years, a critical need exists to identify and test effectiveness of protocols that target higher-order cognitive skills such as gist reasoning to maximize cognitive capacity in later life. This study examined the effects of eight hours of gist reasoning training in 26 cognitively normal seniors between the ages of 64-85 years (M = 74.23, SD = 6.67). Findings suggest that top-down strategy-based gist reasoning training significantly improved abstraction ability, a skill relevant to everyday life, as well as generalized to untrained measures of executive function including concept abstraction, cognitive switching, and verbal fluency. Individuals with lower baseline ability to abstract gist showed the greatest gain in the target domain trained. These findings highlight the potential value of engaging in cognitively challenging activities that involve gist reasoning, to strengthen and preserve cognitive capacity with aging.
Educational Gerontology, 2011
The greatest accomplishment of the 20th century—the doubling of the human lifespan—has brought is... more The greatest accomplishment of the 20th century—the doubling of the human lifespan—has brought issues related to brain health to the forefront of public health policy. Given that our bodies are outlasting our minds, maximizing brain health is the scientific cause of this millennium. In this paper, we address three major issues related to maintaining and, perhaps, enhancing brain health in
Uploads
Papers by Jennifer Zientz