Computational Modeling of Neuropsychological Test Performance to Disentangle Impaired Cognitive Processes in Cancer Patients
Menée aux Pays-Bas auprès de 192 patients ayant reçu un traitement systémique pour un cancer (hors cancer du système nerveux central) et auprès de 192 témoins, cette étude analyse l’efficacité d’un test neuropsychologique pour évaluer les dysfonctionnements cognitifs liés au cancer et à ses traitements
There is a need to better identify impaired cognitive processes to increase our understanding of cognitive dysfunction caused by cancer and cancer treatment, and improve interventions. The Trail Making Test is frequently used for evaluating information processing speed (part A) and executive function (part B), but interpretation of its outcomes is challenging because performance depends on many cognitive processes. To disentangle processes, we collected high-resolution data from 192 non-central nervous system cancer patients who received systemic therapy and 192 cancer-free controls, and fitted a Shifted-Wald computational model. Results show that cancer patients were more cautious than controls (Cohen's d: 0.16). Patients were cognitively slower than controls when the task required task switching (Cohen's d: 0.16). Our results support the idea that cancer and cancer treatment accelerate cognitive aging. Our approach allows more precise assessment of cognitive dysfunction in cancer patients and can be extended to other instruments and patient populations.