Clinical Department of Neurology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
Neuropsychology. 2011 Jul;25(4):477-87. doi: 10.1037/a0022357.
Narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC) affects neurotransmitter systems regulating emotions and cognitive functions. This study aimed to assess executive functions, information sampling, reward processing, and decision making in NC.
Twenty-one NC patients and 58 healthy participants performed an extensive neuropsychological test battery.
NC patients scored as controls in executive function tasks assessing set shifting, reversal learning, working memory, and planning. Group differences appeared in a task measuring information sampling and reward sensitivity. NC patients gathered less information, tolerated a higher level of uncertainty, and were less influenced by reward contingencies than controls. NC patients also showed reduced learning in decision making and had significantly lower scores than controls in the fifth block of the IOWA gambling task. No correlations were found with measures of sleepiness.
NC patients may achieve high performance in several neuropsychological domains, including executive functions. Specific differences between NC patients and controls highlight the importance of the hypocretin system in reward processing and decision making and are in line with previous neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies.
猝睡症伴猝倒（NC）影响调节情绪和认知功能的神经递质系统。本研究旨在评估 NC 患者的执行功能、信息采样、奖励处理和决策能力。
21 名 NC 患者和 58 名健康参与者进行了广泛的神经心理学测试。
NC 患者在执行功能任务（包括转换、反转学习、工作记忆和计划）中的得分与对照组相当。在一项测量信息采样和奖励敏感性的任务中出现了组间差异。NC 患者收集的信息较少，能够容忍更高水平的不确定性，并且受奖励条件的影响小于对照组。NC 患者在决策制定中的学习能力也有所下降，在 IOWA 赌博任务的第五个区块中的得分明显低于对照组。与嗜睡测量值之间没有相关性。
NC 患者在包括执行功能在内的多个神经心理学领域可能表现出较高的性能。NC 患者和对照组之间的特定差异突出了下丘脑分泌素系统在奖励处理和决策制定中的重要性，与之前的神经影像学和神经生理学研究一致。
