scholarly journals The Cross-Modal Effects of Sensory Deprivation on Spatial and Temporal Processes in Vision and Audition: A Systematic Review on Behavioral and Neuroimaging Research since 2000

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bell ◽  
Lisa Wagels ◽  
Christiane Neuschaefer-Rube ◽  
Janina Fels ◽  
Raquel E. Gur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Sensory Deprivation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Processing Resources ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Brain

One of the most significant effects of neural plasticity manifests in the case of sensory deprivation when cortical areas that were originally specialized for the functions of the deprived sense take over the processing of another modality. Vision and audition represent two important senses needed to navigate through space and time. Therefore, the current systematic review discusses the cross-modal behavioral and neural consequences of deafness and blindness by focusing on spatial and temporal processing abilities, respectively. In addition, movement processing is evaluated as compiling both spatial and temporal information. We examine whether the sense that is not primarily affected changes in its own properties or in the properties of the deprived modality (i.e., temporal processing as the main specialization of audition and spatial processing as the main specialization of vision). References to the metamodal organization, supramodal functioning, and the revised neural recycling theory are made to address global brain organization and plasticity principles. Generally, according to the reviewed studies, behavioral performance is enhanced in those aspects for which both the deprived and the overtaking senses provide adequate processing resources. Furthermore, the behavioral enhancements observed in the overtaking sense (i.e., vision in the case of deafness and audition in the case of blindness) are clearly limited by the processing resources of the overtaking modality. Thus, the brain regions that were previously recruited during the behavioral performance of the deprived sense now support a similar behavioral performance for the overtaking sense. This finding suggests a more input-unspecific and processing principle-based organization of the brain. Finally, we highlight the importance of controlling for and stating factors that might impact neural plasticity and the need for further research into visual temporal processing in deaf subjects.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Obesity and Binge Eating Associated Impairment of the Cognitive Inhibition System

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elodie Saruco ◽  
Burkhard Pleger
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Binge Eating ◽  
Binge Eating Disorder ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cognitive Inhibition ◽  
Significant Impairment ◽  
Disinhibited Eating ◽  
The Brain

Altered functioning of the inhibition system and the resulting higher impulsivity are known to play a major role in overeating. Considering the great impact of disinhibited eating behavior on obesity onset and maintenance, this systematic review of the literature aims at identifying to what extent the brain inhibitory networks are impaired in individuals with obesity. It also aims at examining whether the presence of binge eating disorder leads to similar although steeper neural deterioration. We identified 12 studies that specifically assessed impulsivity during neuroimaging. We found a significant alteration of neural circuits primarily involving the frontal and limbic regions. Functional activity results show BMI-dependent hypoactivity of frontal regions during cognitive inhibition and either increased or decreased patterns of activity in several other brain regions, according to their respective role in inhibition processes. The presence of binge eating disorder results in further aggravation of those neural alterations. Connectivity results mainly report strengthened connectivity patterns across frontal, parietal, and limbic networks. Neuroimaging studies suggest significant impairment of various neural circuits involved in inhibition processes in individuals with obesity. The elaboration of accurate therapeutic neurocognitive interventions, however, requires further investigations, for a deeper identification and understanding of obesity-related alterations of the inhibition brain system.

scholarly journals Coding of Visual, Auditory, Rule, and Response Information in the Brain: 10 Years of Multivoxel Pattern Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1433-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Woolgar ◽  
Jade Jackson ◽  
John Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Representational Content ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Frontoparietal Network ◽  
Response Information ◽  
Domain Generality ◽  
Cognitive Operations ◽  
Motor Information ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
The Brain

How is the processing of task information organized in the brain? Many views of brain function emphasize modularity, with different regions specialized for processing different types of information. However, recent accounts also highlight flexibility, pointing especially to the highly consistent pattern of frontoparietal activation across many tasks. Although early insights from functional imaging were based on overall activation levels during different cognitive operations, in the last decade many researchers have used multivoxel pattern analyses to interrogate the representational content of activations, mapping out the brain regions that make particular stimulus, rule, or response distinctions. Here, we drew on 100 searchlight decoding analyses from 57 published papers to characterize the information coded in different brain networks. The outcome was highly structured. Visual, auditory, and motor networks predominantly (but not exclusively) coded visual, auditory, and motor information, respectively. By contrast, the frontoparietal multiple-demand network was characterized by domain generality, coding visual, auditory, motor, and rule information. The contribution of the default mode network and voxels elsewhere was minor. The data suggest a balanced picture of brain organization in which sensory and motor networks are relatively specialized for information in their own domain, whereas a specific frontoparietal network acts as a domain-general “core” with the capacity to code many different aspects of a task.

scholarly journals Dwelling quietly in the rich club: brain network determinants of slow cortical fluctuations

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1668) ◽  
pp. 20140165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo L. Gollo ◽  
Andrew Zalesky ◽  
R. Matthew Hutchison ◽  
Martijn van den Heuvel ◽  
Michael Breakspear
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Rich Club ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
The Brain

For more than a century, cerebral cartography has been driven by investigations of structural and morphological properties of the brain across spatial scales and the temporal/functional phenomena that emerge from these underlying features. The next era of brain mapping will be driven by studies that consider both of these components of brain organization simultaneously—elucidating their interactions and dependencies. Using this guiding principle, we explored the origin of slowly fluctuating patterns of synchronization within the topological core of brain regions known as the rich club, implicated in the regulation of mood and introspection. We find that a constellation of densely interconnected regions that constitute the rich club (including the anterior insula, amygdala and precuneus) play a central role in promoting a stable, dynamical core of spontaneous activity in the primate cortex. The slow timescales are well matched to the regulation of internal visceral states, corresponding to the somatic correlates of mood and anxiety. In contrast, the topology of the surrounding ‘feeder’ cortical regions shows unstable, rapidly fluctuating dynamics likely to be crucial for fast perceptual processes. We discuss these findings in relation to psychiatric disorders and the future of connectomics.

scholarly journals Guidelines for quantitative and qualitative studies of sensory substitution experience

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weronika Kałwak ◽  
Magdalena Reuter ◽  
Marta Łukowska ◽  
Bartosz Majchrowicz ◽  
Michał Wierzchoń
Keyword(s):  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Sensory Deprivation ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sensory Substitution ◽  
Behavioural Adaptation ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods

Information that is normally accessed through a sensory modality (substituted modality, e.g., vision) is provided by sensory substitution devices (SSDs) through an alternative modality such as hearing or touch (i.e., substituting modality). SSDs usually support disabled users by replacing sensory inputs that have been lost, but they also offer a unique opportunity to study adaptation and flexibility in human perception. Current debates in sensory substitution (SS) literature focus mostly on its neural correlates and behavioural consequences. In particular, studies have demonstrated the neural plasticity of the visual brain regions that are activated by the substituting modality. Participants also adapt to using the devices for a broad spectrum of cognitive tasks that usually require sight. However, little is known about the SS experience. Also, there is no agreement on how the phenomenology of SS should be studied. Here, we offer guidelines for the methodology of studies investigating behavioural adaptation to SS and the effects of this adaptation on the subjective SS experience. We also discuss factors that may influence the results of SS studies: (1) the type of SSD, (2) the effects of training, (3) the role of sensory deprivation, (4) the role of the experimental environment, (5) the role of the tasks participants follow, and (6) the characteristics of the participants. In addition, we propose combining qualitative and quantitative methods and discuss how this should be achieved when studying the neural, behavioural, and experiential consequences of SS.

scholarly journals Expert programmers have fine-tuned cortical representations of source code

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiharu Ikutani ◽  
Takatomi Kubo ◽  
Satoshi Nishida ◽  
Hideaki Hata ◽  
Kenichi Matsumoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Source Code ◽  
Knowledge Structure ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Cortical Representations ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACTExpertise enables humans to achieve outstanding performance on domain-specific tasks, and programming is no exception. Many have shown that expert programmers exhibit remarkable differences from novices in behavioral performance, knowledge structure, and selective attention. However, the underlying differences in the brain are still unclear. We here address this issue by associating the cortical representation of source code with individual programming expertise using a data-driven decoding approach. This approach enabled us to identify seven brain regions, widely distributed in the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices, that have a tight relationship with programming expertise. In these brain regions, functional categories of source code could be decoded from brain activity and the decoding accuracies were significantly correlated with individual behavioral performances on source-code categorization. Our results suggest that programming expertise is built up on fine-tuned cortical representations specialized for the domain of programming.

scholarly journals A spatiotemporal complexity architecture of human brain activity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Krohn ◽  
Nina von Schwanenflug ◽  
Leonhard Waschke ◽  
Amy Romanello ◽  
Martin Gell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Functional Connections ◽  
Signal Complexity ◽  
The Brain

The human brain operates in large-scale functional networks, collectively subsumed as the functional connectome1-13. Recent work has begun to unravel the organization of the connectome, including the temporal dynamics of brain states14-20, the trade-off between segregation and integration9,15,21-23, and a functional hierarchy from lower-order unimodal to higher-order transmodal processing systems24-27. However, it remains unknown how these network properties are embedded in the brain and if they emerge from a common neural foundation. Here we apply time-resolved estimation of brain signal complexity to uncover a unifying principle of brain organization, linking the connectome to neural variability6,28-31. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we show that neural activity is marked by spontaneous "complexity drops" that reflect episodes of increased pattern regularity in the brain, and that functional connections among brain regions are an expression of their simultaneous engagement in such episodes. Moreover, these complexity drops ubiquitously propagate along cortical hierarchies, suggesting that the brain intrinsically reiterates its own functional architecture. Globally, neural activity clusters into temporal complexity states that dynamically shape the coupling strength and configuration of the connectome, implementing a continuous re-negotiation between cost-efficient segregation and communication-enhancing integration9,15,21,23. Furthermore, complexity states resolve the recently discovered association between anatomical and functional network hierarchies comprehensively25-27,32. Finally, brain signal complexity is highly sensitive to age and reflects inter-individual differences in cognition and motor function. In sum, we identify a spatiotemporal complexity architecture of neural activity — a functional "complexome" that gives rise to the network organization of the human brain.

Neural plasticity and development in the first two years of life: Evidence from cognitive and socioemotional domains of research

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Susan D. Calkins ◽  
Martha Ann Bell
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Abnormal Development ◽  
Transactional Model ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Environmental Events ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Abnormal Brain

AbstractThree models that can be used to investigate the effects of different environmental events on brain development and organization are explored. The insult model argues against brain plasticity, and the environmental model regards the brain as infinitely plastic. Our work is guided by the transactional model, which views brain development and organization as an interaction between (a) genetically coded programs for the formation and connectivity of brain structures and (b) environmental modifiers of these codes. Data are reported from our cognitive and socioemotional research studies that support the notion of plasticity during the first 2 years of life. From our work with normal developmental processes, we draw parallels to abnormal development and speculate how the transactional model can be used to explain abnormal brain organization and development.

scholarly journals Effect of regulating gut microbiota using probiotics on functional changes in the brain: protocol for a systematic review

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e037582
Author(s):  
Lu Liu ◽  
Xixiu Ni ◽  
Tian Tian ◽  
Xiao Li ◽  
Fengmei Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Placebo Control ◽  
Controlled Trials ◽  
Cochrane Central Register ◽  
Emotional Symptoms ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Google Search ◽  
The Brain

IntroductionThere is a growing number of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that focus on functional changes in the brain detected by functional MRI (fMRI) and gut microbiota composition changes after using probiotics.However, the effect of probiotics on functional changes in the brain through gut microbiota remains controversial in existing RCTs. Furthermore, to our knowledge, there is no systematic review to evaluate the effect of probiotics on functional changes in the brain through gut microbiota. Therefore, we aim to summarise literatures evaluating the potential association between probiotics, gut microbiota and functional changes in the brain to elucidate whether probiotics influence gut microbiota and affect functional changes in the brain through gut microbiota.Methods and analysisChina National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, VIP Databases (the Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database), SinoMed, PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE (The National Library of Medicine), EMBASE (Excerpt Medica Database), Scopus, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and ClinicalTrials.gov will be searched until July 2019. The Grey Literature in Europe (OpenSIGLE) database and Google search engine will also be used. The reference lists of each included study will be reviewed to determine whether there are any further relevant studies. RCTs using probiotics compared with a placebo/control will be included. We will use risk of bias assessment and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system to assess the quality of evidence. The results of the systematic review will be synthesised narratively in the domains of the three primary outcome measures: (1) Increased/decreased activity in brain regions or altered functional connectivity (FC) of brain detected by fMRI and their association with changes in behaviour, gastrointestinal/emotional symptoms after using probiotics. (2) Changes in composition and diversity of the gut microbiota and their association with changes in behaviour, gastrointestinal/emotional symptoms after using probiotics. (3) Increased/decreased activity in brain regions or altered FC of brain detected by fMRI and the changes in composition or diversity of the gut microbiota after administration of probiotics.Ethics and disseminationThe results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication. As no private and confidential patient data will be included in the reporting, there are no ethical considerations associated with this protocol.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019145114.

scholarly journals Neural Signatures of Spatial Statistical Learning: Characterizing the Extraction of Structure from Complex Visual Scenes

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1963-1976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth A. Karuza ◽  
Lauren L. Emberson ◽  
Matthew E. Roser ◽  
Daniel Cole ◽  
Richard N. Aslin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Functional Integration ◽  
Univariate Analysis ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Posttest Performance ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
The Brain

Behavioral evidence has shown that humans automatically develop internal representations adapted to the temporal and spatial statistics of the environment. Building on prior fMRI studies that have focused on statistical learning of temporal sequences, we investigated the neural substrates and mechanisms underlying statistical learning from scenes with a structured spatial layout. Our goals were twofold: (1) to determine discrete brain regions in which degree of learning (i.e., behavioral performance) was a significant predictor of neural activity during acquisition of spatial regularities and (2) to examine how connectivity between this set of areas and the rest of the brain changed over the course of learning. Univariate activity analyses indicated a diffuse set of dorsal striatal and occipitoparietal activations correlated with individual differences in participants' ability to acquire the underlying spatial structure of the scenes. In addition, bilateral medial-temporal activation was linked to participants' behavioral performance, suggesting that spatial statistical learning recruits additional resources from the limbic system. Connectivity analyses examined, across the time course of learning, psychophysiological interactions with peak regions defined by the initial univariate analysis. Generally, we find that task-based connectivity with these regions was significantly greater in early relative to later periods of learning. Moreover, in certain cases, decreased task-based connectivity between time points was predicted by overall posttest performance. Results suggest a narrowing mechanism whereby the brain, confronted with a novel structured environment, initially boosts overall functional integration and then reduces interregional coupling over time.

scholarly journals Conflicto y violencia. Conceptos y significados. Efectos y alcance en la escuela / Conflict and Violence. Concepts and Meanings. Effects and Reach at School

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-163
Author(s):  
Jesús Fernando Pérez Lorenzo
Keyword(s):  
Brain Structure ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Violent Behaviors ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACTPerhaps since the time of Darwin scientists have tried to clarify the meaning of violence from an evolutionary configuration (Lorenz, 1967). Currently neurologists begin to extract the different brain processes that unleash the various violent behaviors. Current brain scanning techniques identify brain regions involved in the ordering of emotions and reactions. Professor Richard Davidson notes that not all individuals are capable of facing aggression and anger equally, so that the brain structure of some people induces violence (Goleman, 2008). Anyway this should not be understood as being born violent, but a series of elements in hodgepodge of genetic and social nature is forging a brain organization that trains in more or less hierarchy the different aggressive and violent exaltations (Iglesias, 2000).RESUMENQuizás desde los tiempos de Darwin los científicos han tratado de aclarar el significado de la violencia desde una configuración evolutiva (Lorenz, 1967). Actualmente los neurólogos empiezan a extraer los distintos procesos cerebrales que desatan las diversas conductas violentas. Las actuales técnicas de exploración cerebral identifican regiones cerebrales implicadas en la ordenación de las emociones y reacciones. El profesor Richard Davidson recoge que no todas los individuos son capaces de afrontar por igual la agresividad y la furia, por lo que la estructura cerebral de algunas personas le induce a la violencia (Goleman, 2008). De cualquier forma esto no debe ser entendido como que se nace violento, sino que una serie de elementos en mezcolanza de índole genética y social va fraguando una organización cerebral que capacita en más o menos jerarquía las distintas exaltaciones agresivas y violentas (Iglesias, 2000).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document