Recognition and Neural Plasticity Responding to Deficient Nutrient Intake Scanned by a Functional MRI in the Brain of Rats with L-Lysine Deficiency

Whether category information is discretely localized or represented widely in the brain remains a contentious issue. Initial functional MRI studies supported the localizationist perspective that category information is represented in discrete brain regions. More recent fMRI studies using machine learning pattern classification techniques provide evidence for widespread distributed representations. However, these latter studies have not typically accounted for shared information. Here, we find strong support for distributed representations when brain regions are considered separately. However, localized representations are revealed by using analytical methods that separate unique from shared information among brain regions. The distributed nature of shared information and the localized nature of unique information suggest that brain connectivity may encourage spreading of information but category-specific computations are carried out in distinct domain-specific regions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Whether visual category information is localized in unique domain-specific brain regions or distributed in many domain-general brain regions is hotly contested. We resolve this debate by using multivariate analyses to parse functional MRI signals from different brain regions into unique and shared variance. Our findings support elements of both models and show information is initially localized and then shared among other regions leading to distributed representations being observed.

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Regeneration, Plasticity, and Induced Molecular Programs in Adult Zebrafish Brain

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2015/769763 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Mehmet Ilyas Cosacak ◽

Christos Papadimitriou ◽

Caghan Kizil

Keyword(s):

Neural Plasticity ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Clinical Settings ◽

Regenerative Capacity ◽

Zebrafish Brain ◽

Aquatic Vertebrates ◽

Neural Stem Progenitor Cells ◽

Set Up ◽

Regenerative Therapies ◽

The Brain

Regenerative capacity of the brain is a variable trait within animals. Aquatic vertebrates such as zebrafish have widespread ability to renew their brains upon damage, while mammals have—if not none—very limited overall regenerative competence. Underlying cause of such a disparity is not fully evident; however, one of the reasons could be activation of peculiar molecular programs, which might have specific roles after injury or damage, by the organisms that regenerate. If this hypothesis is correct, then there must be genes and pathways that (a) are expressed only after injury or damage in tissues, (b) are biologically and functionally relevant to restoration of neural tissue, and (c) are not detected in regenerating organisms. Presence of such programs might circumvent the initial detrimental effects of the damage and subsequently set up the stage for tissue redevelopment to take place by modulating the plasticity of the neural stem/progenitor cells. Additionally, if transferable, those “molecular mechanisms of regeneration” could open up new avenues for regenerative therapies of humans in clinical settings. This review focuses on the recent studies addressing injury/damage-induced molecular programs in zebrafish brain, underscoring the possibility of the presence of genes that could be used as biomarkers of neural plasticity and regeneration.

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Converging Evidence That Neural Plasticity Underlies Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01639 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 146-157

Author(s):

Chong Zhao ◽

Geoffrey F. Woodman

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Direct Current ◽

Neural Plasticity ◽

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽

Time Course ◽

Memory Task ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Direct Current Stimulation ◽

The Brain

It is not definitely known how direct-current stimulation causes its long-lasting effects. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the long time course of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) is because of the electrical field increasing the plasticity of the brain tissue. If this is the case, then we should see tDCS effects when humans need to encode information into long-term memory, but not at other times. We tested this hypothesis by delivering tDCS to the ventral visual stream of human participants during different tasks (i.e., recognition memory vs. visual search) and at different times during a memory task. We found that tDCS improved memory encoding, and the neural correlates thereof, but not retrieval. We also found that tDCS did not change the efficiency of information processing during visual search for a certain target object, a task that does not require the formation of new connections in the brain but instead relies on attention and object recognition mechanisms. Thus, our findings support the hypothesis that direct-current stimulation modulates brain activity by changing the underlying plasticity of the tissue.

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THE VISUAL SYSTEM: A "CHICKEN AND EGG" PROBLEM SOLVED

New Mathematics and Natural Computation ◽

10.1142/s1793005709001337 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 05 (01) ◽

pp. 115-121

Author(s):

ANDREW R. PARKER ◽

H. JOHN CAULFIELD

Keyword(s):

Visual System ◽

Neural Plasticity ◽

Neural Circuit ◽

Process Data ◽

System A ◽

New Information ◽

The Brain

"What comes first: the chicken or the egg?" Eyes and vision were a great concern for Darwin. Recently, religious fundamentalists have started to attack evolution on the grounds that this is a chicken and egg problem. How could eyes improve without the brain module to use the new information that eye provides? But how could the brain evolve a neural circuit to process data not available to it until a new eye capability emerges? We argue that neural plasticity in the brain allows it to make use of essentially any useful information the eye can produce. And it does so easily within the animal's lifetime. Richard Gregory suggested something like this 40 years ago. Our work resolves a problem with his otherwise-insightful work.

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The aging mind: neuroplasticity in response to cognitive training

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience ◽

10.31887/dcns.2013.15.1/dpark ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 109-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Function ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Neural Plasticity ◽

Cognitive Effort ◽

Aging Brain ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Training Techniques ◽

Age Related ◽

Strategy Change ◽

The Brain

Is it possible to enhance neural and cognitive function with cognitive training techniques? Can we delay age-related decline in cognitive function with interventions and stave off Alzheimer's disease? Does an aged brain really have the capacity to change in response to stimulation? In the present paper, we consider the neuroplasticity of the aging brain, that is, the brain's ability to increase capacity in response to sustained experience. We argue that, although there is some neural deterioration that occurs with age, the brain has the capacity to increase neural activity and develop neural scaffolding to regulate cognitive function. We suggest that increase in neural volume in response to cognitive training or experience is a clear indicator of change, but that changes in activation in response to cognitive training may be evidence of strategy change rather than indicative of neural plasticity. We note that the effect of cognitive training is surprisingly durable over time, but that the evidence that training effects transfer to other cognitive domains is relatively limited. We review evidence which suggests that engagement in an environment that requires sustained cognitive effort may facilitate cognitive function.

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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

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2019/9603469 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

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.

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The neurogenomic transition from territory establishment to parenting in a territorial female songbird

BMC Genomics ◽

10.1186/s12864-019-6202-3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Alexandra B. Bentz ◽

Douglas B. Rusch ◽

Aaron Buechlein ◽

Kimberly A. Rosvall

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Neural Plasticity ◽

Behavioral Plasticity ◽

Critical Role ◽

Regulatory Pathways ◽

Expression Of Genes ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Glucocorticoid Signaling ◽

Seasonally Breeding ◽

The Brain

Abstract Background The brain plays a critical role in upstream regulation of processes central to mating effort, parental effort, and self-maintenance. For seasonally breeding animals, the brain is likely mediating trade-offs among these processes within a short breeding season, yet research thus far has only explored neurogenomic changes from non-breeding to breeding states or select pathways (e.g., steroids) in male and/or lab-reared animals. Here, we use RNA-seq to explore neural plasticity in three behaviorally relevant neural tissues (ventromedial telencephalon [VmT], hypothalamus [HYPO], and hindbrain [HB]), comparing free-living female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) as they shift from territory establishment to incubation. We additionally highlight changes in aggression-related genes to explore the potential for a neurogenomic shift in the mechanisms regulating aggression, a critical behavior both in establishing and maintaining a territory and in defense of offspring. Results HB had few differentially expressed genes, but VmT and HYPO had hundreds. In particular, VmT had higher expression of genes related to neuroplasticity and processes beneficial for competition during territory establishment, but down-regulated immune processes. HYPO showed signs of high neuroplasticity during incubation, and a decreased potential for glucocorticoid signaling. Expression of aggression-related genes also shifted from steroidal to non-steroidal pathways across the breeding season. Conclusions These patterns suggest trade-offs between enhanced activity and immunity in the VmT and between stress responsiveness and parental care in the HYPO, along with a potential shift in the mechanisms regulating aggression. Collectively, these data highlight important gene regulatory pathways that may underlie behavioral plasticity in females.

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Clinical and neurobiological effects of aerobic endurance training in multi-episode schizophrenia patients

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.890 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (S1) ◽

pp. S41-S41

Author(s):

P. Falkai

Keyword(s):

Aerobic Exercise ◽

Neural Plasticity ◽

Neural Progenitor Cells ◽

Hippocampal Volume ◽

Brain Disorder ◽

Healthy Humans ◽

Proliferation And Differentiation ◽

Competing Interest ◽

Related Proteins ◽

The Brain

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder characterised by positive, negative, affective and cognitive symptoms and can be viewed as a disorder of impaired neural plasticity. Aerobic exercise has a profound impact on the plasticity of the brain of both rodents and humans such as inducing the proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells of the hippocampus in mice and rats. Aerobic exercise enhances LTP and leads to a better performance in hippocampus related memory tasks, eventually by increasing metabolic and synaptic plasticity related proteins in the hippocampus. In healthy humans, regular aerobic exercise increases hippocampal volume and seems to diminish processes of ageing like brain atrophy and cognitive decline.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

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