Cognitive Science & Psychology Division, ULAB

Characterized as one of the most commonly distressing symptoms of cancer treatment, cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is reported to be more severe and persistent than “normal” fatigue. CRF has been shown to manifest in higher intensities and longer durations among cancer patients, impair mood and functional abilities, and, most relevantly, correlate with impairments in cognitive functioning, leading to impairments in other areas such as recognition memory and explicit memory. Despite its prevalence, CRF continues to be underreported and untreated due to a lack of information about the biological mechanisms underlying this symptom and its correlated impairments in cognitive systems. In order to uncover these mechanisms, the study conducted by Wolff, et. al. (2020) observed pelvic irradiation’s produced fatigue, and how it affects performance during various cognitive tasks, such as spontaneous altercations and reversal learning, as well as changes in whole-brain levels of mature and proBDNF. However, due to the possible behavioral confounds of the original study’s assessment of cognitive mechanisms and the inconclusive BDNF results presented, we aim to design a new list of cognitive tasks to more effectively assess cognitive impairments manifested after fatigue-induced pelvic irradiation. We hope that this new battery of cognitive tasks can aid future research attempting to specify the underlying cognitive mechanisms responsible for the cognitive impairments seen in cancer-related fatigue.