A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is genetically determined but with variability in symptom onset, leading to uncertainty as to when pharmacological intervention should be initiated. Here we take a computational approach based on neurocognitive phenotyping, computational modeling, and classification, i...

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Main Authors: Thomas V Wiecki, Chrystalina A Antoniades, Alexander Stevenson, Christopher Kennard, Beth Borowsky, Gail Owen, Blair Leavitt, Raymund Roos, Alexandra Durr, Sarah J Tabrizi, Michael J Frank
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148409
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author Thomas V Wiecki
Chrystalina A Antoniades
Alexander Stevenson
Christopher Kennard
Beth Borowsky
Gail Owen
Blair Leavitt
Raymund Roos
Alexandra Durr
Sarah J Tabrizi
Michael J Frank
author_facet Thomas V Wiecki
Chrystalina A Antoniades
Alexander Stevenson
Christopher Kennard
Beth Borowsky
Gail Owen
Blair Leavitt
Raymund Roos
Alexandra Durr
Sarah J Tabrizi
Michael J Frank
author_sort Thomas V Wiecki
collection DOAJ
description Huntington's disease (HD) is genetically determined but with variability in symptom onset, leading to uncertainty as to when pharmacological intervention should be initiated. Here we take a computational approach based on neurocognitive phenotyping, computational modeling, and classification, in an effort to provide quantitative predictors of HD before symptom onset. A large sample of subjects-consisting of both pre-manifest individuals carrying the HD mutation (pre-HD), and early symptomatic-as well as healthy controls performed the antisaccade conflict task, which requires executive control and response inhibition. While symptomatic HD subjects differed substantially from controls in behavioral measures [reaction time (RT) and error rates], there was no such clear behavioral differences in pre-HD. RT distributions and error rates were fit with an accumulator-based model which summarizes the computational processes involved and which are related to identified mechanisms in more detailed neural models of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Classification based on fitted model parameters revealed a key parameter related to executive control differentiated pre-HD from controls, whereas the response inhibition parameter declined only after symptom onset. These findings demonstrate the utility of computational approaches for classification and prediction of brain disorders, and provide clues as to the underlying neural mechanisms.
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spelling doaj-art-ee4a4bf929c34bc5a6787cf325d306a62025-08-20T03:10:08ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01112e014840910.1371/journal.pone.0148409A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.Thomas V WieckiChrystalina A AntoniadesAlexander StevensonChristopher KennardBeth BorowskyGail OwenBlair LeavittRaymund RoosAlexandra DurrSarah J TabriziMichael J FrankHuntington's disease (HD) is genetically determined but with variability in symptom onset, leading to uncertainty as to when pharmacological intervention should be initiated. Here we take a computational approach based on neurocognitive phenotyping, computational modeling, and classification, in an effort to provide quantitative predictors of HD before symptom onset. A large sample of subjects-consisting of both pre-manifest individuals carrying the HD mutation (pre-HD), and early symptomatic-as well as healthy controls performed the antisaccade conflict task, which requires executive control and response inhibition. While symptomatic HD subjects differed substantially from controls in behavioral measures [reaction time (RT) and error rates], there was no such clear behavioral differences in pre-HD. RT distributions and error rates were fit with an accumulator-based model which summarizes the computational processes involved and which are related to identified mechanisms in more detailed neural models of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Classification based on fitted model parameters revealed a key parameter related to executive control differentiated pre-HD from controls, whereas the response inhibition parameter declined only after symptom onset. These findings demonstrate the utility of computational approaches for classification and prediction of brain disorders, and provide clues as to the underlying neural mechanisms.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148409
spellingShingle Thomas V Wiecki
Chrystalina A Antoniades
Alexander Stevenson
Christopher Kennard
Beth Borowsky
Gail Owen
Blair Leavitt
Raymund Roos
Alexandra Durr
Sarah J Tabrizi
Michael J Frank
A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.
PLoS ONE
title A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.
title_full A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.
title_fullStr A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.
title_full_unstemmed A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.
title_short A Computational Cognitive Biomarker for Early-Stage Huntington's Disease.
title_sort computational cognitive biomarker for early stage huntington s disease
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148409
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