Neural Underpinnings of Music: The Polyrhythmic Brain

Where and under what conditions do spatial and numerical skills converge and diverge in the brain? To address this question, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain regions associated with basic symbolic number processing, arithmetic, and mental rotation. We used Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to construct quantitative meta-analytic maps synthesizing results from 86 neuroimaging papers (~ 30 studies/cognitive process). All three cognitive processes were found to activate bilateral parietal regions in and around the intraparietal sulcus (IPS); a finding consistent with shared processing accounts. Numerical and arithmetic processing were associated with overlap in the left angular gyrus, whereas mental rotation and arithmetic both showed activity in the middle frontal gyri. These patterns suggest regions of cortex potentially more specialized for symbolic number representation and domain-general mental manipulation, respectively. Additionally, arithmetic was associated with unique activity throughout the fronto-parietal network and mental rotation was associated with unique activity in the right superior parietal lobe. Overall, these results provide new insights into the intersection of numerical and spatial thought in the human brain.

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Putting up barriers

10.1093/oso/9780198785156.003.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

David J. Lobina

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Base ◽

Real Time ◽

Language Processing ◽

Cognitive Domain ◽

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Levels Of Explanation ◽

Real Time Processing ◽

Time Processing ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

Different Levels

The study of cognitive phenomena is best approached in an orderly manner. It must begin with an analysis of the function in intension at the heart of any cognitive domain (its knowledge base), then proceed to the manner in which such knowledge is put into use in real-time processing, concluding with a domain’s neural underpinnings, its development in ontogeny, etc. Such an approach to the study of cognition involves the adoption of different levels of explanation/description, as prescribed by David Marr and many others, each level requiring its own methodology and supplying its own data to be accounted for. The study of recursion in cognition is badly in need of a systematic and well-ordered approach, and this chapter lays out the blueprint to be followed in the book by focusing on a strict separation between how this notion applies in linguistic knowledge and how it manifests itself in language processing.

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Cognitive and neural underpinnings of goal maintenance in young children

Cognition ◽

10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104378 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 203 ◽

pp. 104378

Author(s):

Kaichi Yanaoka ◽

Yusuke Moriguchi ◽

Satoru Saito

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Goal Maintenance ◽

Neural Underpinnings

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Antagonism between brain regions relevant for cognitive control and emotional memory facilitates the generation of humorous ideas

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-89843-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Florian Bitsch ◽

Philipp Berger ◽

Andreas Fink ◽

Arne Nagels ◽

Benjamin Straube ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Emotional Memory ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Frontal Brain ◽

Successful Resolution ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

The Brain

AbstractThe ability to generate humor gives rise to positive emotions and thus facilitate the successful resolution of adversity. Although there is consensus that inhibitory processes might be related to broaden the way of thinking, the neural underpinnings of these mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a humorous alternative uses task and a stroop task, to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying the emergence of humorous ideas in 24 subjects. Neuroimaging results indicate that greater cognitive control abilities are associated with increased activation in the amygdala, the hippocampus and the superior and medial frontal gyrus during the generation of humorous ideas. Examining the neural mechanisms more closely shows that the hypoactivation of frontal brain regions is associated with an hyperactivation in the amygdala and vice versa. This antagonistic connectivity is concurrently linked with an increased number of humorous ideas and enhanced amygdala responses during the task. Our data therefore suggests that a neural antagonism previously related to the emergence and regulation of negative affective responses, is linked with the generation of emotionally positive ideas and may represent an important neural pathway supporting mental health.

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The neural underpinnings of facial emotion recognition in ischemic stroke patients

Journal of Neuropsychology ◽

10.1111/jnp.12240 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nils S. Berg ◽

Edward H. F. Haan ◽

Rients B. Huitema ◽

Jacoba M. Spikman ◽

Frank Erik Leeuw ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ischemic Stroke ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Stroke Patients ◽

Neural Underpinnings

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Do Empathic Individuals Behave More Prosocially? Neural Correlates for Altruistic Behavior in the Dictator Game and the Dark Side of Empathy

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11070863 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 863

Author(s):

Michael Schaefer ◽

Anja Kühnel ◽

Franziska Rumpel ◽

Matti Gärtner

Keyword(s):

Dictator Game ◽

Empathic Concern ◽

Dark Side ◽

Altruistic Behavior ◽

Temporoparietal Junction ◽

Specific Effects ◽

Significant Relationships ◽

Right Temporoparietal Junction ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

The Right

Do empathic individuals behave more prosocially? When we think of highly empathic individuals, we tend to assume that it is likely that those people will also help others. Most theories on empathy reflect this common understanding and claim that the personality trait empathy includes the willingness to help others, but it remains a matter of debate whether empathic individuals really help more. In economics, a prominent demonstration that our behavior is not always based on pure self-interest is the Dictator Game, which measures prosocial decisions in an allocation task. This economic game shows that we are willing to give money to strangers we do not know anything about. The present study aimed to test the relationship between dispositional empathy and prosocial acting by examining the neural underpinnings of prosocial behavior in the Dictator Game. Forty-one participants played different rounds of the Dictator Game while being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Brain activation in the right temporoparietal junction area was associated with prosocial acting (number of prosocial decisions) and associated with empathic concern. Behavioral results demonstrated that empathic concern and personal distress predicted the number of prosocial decisions, but in a negative way. Correlations with the amount of money spent did not show any significant relationships. We discuss the results in terms of group-specific effects of affective empathy. Our results shed further light on the complex behavioral and neural mechanisms driving altruistic choices.

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Corticostriatal Circuits Encode the Subjective Value of Perceived Control

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhz045 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (12) ◽

pp. 5049-5060 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kainan S Wang ◽

Mauricio R Delgado

Keyword(s):

Perceived Control ◽

Well Being ◽

Control Option ◽

Subjective Value ◽

Binary Choices ◽

Mere Presence ◽

The Difference ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

Evoked Activity

AbstractThe ability to perceive and exercise control over an outcome is both desirable and beneficial to our well-being. It has been shown that animals and humans alike exhibit behavioral bias towards seeking control and that such bias recruits the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum. Yet, this bias remains to be quantitatively captured and studied neurally. Here, we employed a behavioral task to measure the preference for control and characterize its neural underpinnings. Participants made a series of binary choices between having control and no-control over a game for monetary reward. The mere presence of the control option evoked activity in the ventral striatum. Importantly, we manipulated the expected value (EV) of each choice pair to extract the pairing where participants were equally likely to choose either option. The difference in EV between the options at this point of equivalence was inferred as the subjective value of control. Strikingly, perceiving control inflated the reward value of the associated option by 30% and this value inflation was tracked by the vmPFC. Altogether, these results capture the subjective value of perceived control inherent in decision making and highlight the role of corticostriatal circuitry in the perception of control.

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The Neural Sociometer: Brain Mechanisms Underlying State Self-esteem

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00027 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 23 (11) ◽

pp. 3448-3455 ◽

Cited By ~ 100

Author(s):

Naomi I. Eisenberger ◽

Tristen K. Inagaki ◽

Keely A. Muscatell ◽

Kate E. Byrne Haltom ◽

Mark R. Leary

Keyword(s):

Negative Feedback ◽

Cortical Activity ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Anterior Insula ◽

Lower State ◽

Social Connection ◽

Prefrontal Cortical ◽

Referential Processing ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortical

On the basis of the importance of social connection for survival, humans may have evolved a “sociometer”—a mechanism that translates perceptions of rejection or acceptance into state self-esteem. Here, we explored the neural underpinnings of the sociometer by examining whether neural regions responsive to rejection or acceptance were associated with state self-esteem. Participants underwent fMRI while viewing feedback words (“interesting,” “boring“) ostensibly chosen by another individual (confederate) to describe the participant's previously recorded interview. Participants rated their state self-esteem in response to each feedback word. Results demonstrated that greater activity in rejection-related neural regions (dorsal ACC, anterior insula) and mentalizing regions was associated with lower-state self-esteem. Additionally, participants whose self-esteem decreased from prescan to postscan versus those whose self-esteem did not showed greater medial prefrontal cortical activity, previously associated with self-referential processing, in response to negative feedback. Together, the results inform our understanding of the origin and nature of our feelings about ourselves.

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Spatial and non-spatial aspects of visual attention: Interactive cognitive mechanisms and neural underpinnings

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.05.021 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 92 ◽

pp. 9-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Sarah Shomstein ◽

Jacqueline Gottlieb

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Cognitive Mechanisms ◽

Neural Underpinnings

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Putative neural consequences of captivity for elephants and cetaceans

Reviews in the Neurosciences ◽

10.1515/revneuro-2021-0100 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Bob Jacobs ◽

Heather Rally ◽

Catherine Doyle ◽

Lester O’Brien ◽

Mackenzie Tennison ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Behavioral Health ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Well Being ◽

Present Review ◽

Large Mammals ◽

Impoverished Environment ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

The Impact ◽

The Brain

Abstract The present review assesses the potential neural impact of impoverished, captive environments on large-brained mammals, with a focus on elephants and cetaceans. These species share several characteristics, including being large, wide-ranging, long-lived, cognitively sophisticated, highly social, and large-brained mammals. Although the impact of the captive environment on physical and behavioral health has been well-documented, relatively little attention has been paid to the brain itself. Here, we explore the potential neural consequences of living in captive environments, with a focus on three levels: (1) The effects of environmental impoverishment/enrichment on the brain, emphasizing the negative neural consequences of the captive/impoverished environment; (2) the neural consequences of stress on the brain, with an emphasis on corticolimbic structures; and (3) the neural underpinnings of stereotypies, often observed in captive animals, underscoring dysregulation of the basal ganglia and associated circuitry. To this end, we provide a substantive hypothesis about the negative impact of captivity on the brains of large mammals (e.g., cetaceans and elephants) and how these neural consequences are related to documented evidence for compromised physical and psychological well-being.

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