scholarly journals Cognitive behavioral markers of neurodevelopmental trajectories in rodents

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. Christopher Choy ◽  
Jiaqi K. Luo ◽  
Cassandra M. J. Wannan ◽  
Liliana Laskaris ◽  
Antonia Merritt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prepulse Inhibition ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Associate Learning ◽  
Locomotor Hyperactivity

AbstractBetween adolescence and adulthood, the brain critically undergoes maturation and refinement of synaptic and neural circuits that shape cognitive processing. Adolescence also represents a vulnerable period for the onset of symptoms in neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders. Despite the wide use of rodent models to unravel neurobiological mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, there is a surprising paucity of rigorous studies focusing on normal cognitive-developmental trajectories in such models. Here, we sought to behaviorally capture maturational changes in cognitive trajectories during adolescence and into adulthood in male and female mice using distinct behavioral paradigms. C57 BL/6J mice (4.5, 6, and 12 weeks of age) were assessed on three behavioral paradigms: drug-induced locomotor hyperactivity, prepulse inhibition, and a novel validated version of a visuospatial paired-associate learning touchscreen task. We show that the normal maturational trajectories of behavioral performance on these paradigms are dissociable. Responses in drug-induced locomotor hyperactivity and prepulse inhibition both displayed a ‘U-shaped’ developmental trajectory; lower during mid-adolescence relative to early adolescence and adulthood. In contrast, visuospatial learning and memory, memory retention, and response times indicative of motivational processing progressively improved with age. Our study offers a framework to investigate how insults at different developmental stages might perturb normal trajectories in cognitive development. We provide a brain maturational approach to understand resilience factors of brain plasticity in the face of adversity and to examine pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions directed at ameliorating or rescuing perturbed trajectories in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

The S-SH Confusion Test and the Effects of Frequency Lowering

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1486-1505
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Nonlinear Frequency ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Frequency Compression ◽  
Negative Side ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Low Pass ◽  
Negative Side Effects

PurposeFrequency lowering in hearing aids can cause listeners to perceive [s] as [ʃ]. The S-SH Confusion Test, which consists of 66 minimal word pairs spoken by 6 female talkers, was designed to help clinicians and researchers document these negative side effects. This study's purpose was to use this new test to evaluate the hypothesis that these confusions will increase to the extent that low frequencies are altered.MethodTwenty-one listeners with normal hearing were each tested on 7 conditions. Three were control conditions that were low-pass filtered at 3.3, 5.0, and 9.1 kHz. Four conditions were processed with nonlinear frequency compression (NFC): 2 had a 3.3-kHz maximum audible output frequency (MAOF), with a start frequency (SF) of 1.6 or 2.2 kHz; 2 had a 5.0-kHz MAOF, with an SF of 1.6 or 4.0 kHz. Listeners' responses were analyzed using concepts from signal detection theory. Response times were also collected as a measure of cognitive processing.ResultsOverall, [s] for [ʃ] confusions were minimal. As predicted, [ʃ] for [s] confusions increased for NFC conditions with a lower versus higher MAOF and with a lower versus higher SF. Response times for trials with correct [s] responses were shortest for the 9.1-kHz control and increased for the 5.0- and 3.3-kHz controls. NFC response times were also significantly longer as MAOF and SF decreased. The NFC condition with the highest MAOF and SF had statistically shorter response times than its control condition, indicating that, under some circumstances, NFC may ease cognitive processing.ConclusionsLarge differences in the S-SH Confusion Test across frequency-lowering conditions show that it can be used to document a major negative side effect associated with frequency lowering. Smaller but significant differences in response times for correct [s] trials indicate that NFC can help or hinder cognitive processing, depending on its settings.

Disfluent, But Fast

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 346-354
Author(s):  
Štěpán Bahník
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Processing Fluency ◽  
Retrieval Fluency ◽  
Decision Times

Abstract. Processing fluency, a metacognitive feeling of ease of cognitive processing, serves as a cue in various types of judgments. Processing fluency is sometimes evaluated by response times, with shorter response times indicating higher fluency. The present study examined existence of the opposite association; that is, it tested whether disfluency may lead to faster decision times when it serves as a strong cue in judgment. Retrieval fluency was manipulated in an experiment using previous presentation and phonological fluency by varying pronounceability of pseudowords. Participants liked easy-to-pronounce and previously presented words more. Importantly, their decisions were faster for hard-to-pronounce and easy-to-pronounce pseudowords than for pseudowords moderate in pronounceability. The results thus showed an inverted-U shaped relationship between fluency and decision times. The findings suggest that disfluency can lead to faster decision times and thus demonstrate the importance of separating different processes comprising judgment when response times are used as a measure of processing fluency.

A Method for Studying the Generalized Slowing Hypothesis in Children With Specific Language Impairment

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kail
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Specific Component ◽  
Specific Language

The present work was conducted to demonstrate a method that could be used to assess the hypothesis that children with specific language impairment (SLI) often respond more slowly than unimpaired children on a range of tasks. The data consisted of 22 pairs of mean response times (RTs) obtained from previously published studies; each pair consisted of a mean RT for a group of children with SLI for an experimental condition and the corresponding mean RT for a group of children without SLI. If children with SLI always respond more slowly than unimpaired children and by an amount that does not vary across tasks, then RTs for children with SLI should increase linearly as a function of RTs for age-matched control children without SLI. This result was obtained and is consistent with the view that differences in processing speed between children with and without SLI reflect some general (i.e., non-task specific) component of cognitive processing. Future applications of the method are suggested.

A self-paced reading (SPR) study of the effects of processing instruction on the L2 processing of active and passive sentences

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882091402
Author(s):  
James F. Lee ◽  
Paul A. Malovrh ◽  
Stephen Doherty ◽  
Alecia Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Instructed Second Language Acquisition

Recent research on the effects of processing instruction (PI) have incorporated online research methods in order to demonstrate that PI has effects on cognitive processing behaviors as well as on accuracy (e.g. Lee & Doherty, 2019a). The present study uses self-paced reading and a moving windows technique to examine the effects of PI on second language (L2) learners’ processing of Spanish active and passive sentences to explore the effects of PI on instructed second language acquisition. One group received PI but the Control group did not. Between group comparisons on passive sentences showed changes in performance for the PI group but not the Control group with the PI group gaining in accuracy and processing speed, specifically faster response times to select the correct picture and faster reading time on passive verb forms. Within group analyses showed changes in the PI group’s performance on all dependent variables at the immediate posttest and a subsequent decline in performance at the delayed posttest (8 weeks later). We discuss the implications of our results and treatment format for classroom and hybridized instruction.

scholarly journals SUN-LB56 Steroid and Sex Specific Responses of Neural Stem Cells to Prenatal Dexamethasone versus Betamethasone Administration

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeru Silswal ◽  
Suban Burale ◽  
Joe Bean ◽  
Fatma Talib ◽  
Herschel Gupta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Inositol Phosphate ◽  
Biological Response ◽  
Fold Change ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Developing Brain ◽  
Oligodendrocyte Differentiation ◽  
Increased Risk

Abstract Synthetic glucocorticoids (sGCs) are widely administered to pregnant women for their anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive and organ maturation properties. Worldwide, Dexamethasone (Dex) and Betamethasone (Beta) are the two most commonly administered prenatal sGCs to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with respiratory distress, intraventricular hemorrhage and necrotizing enterocolitis. Preterm administration of sGCs is associated with reduced birthweight and increased risk for hypertension, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological problems later in life. Adverse neurological outcome has been shown to depend on the type of sGCs used, the dose, timing of sGCs administration and sex. We have previously shown that the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is expressed in the developing brain in stem and progenitor cells, neurons and glia from early developmental stages, and that prenatal Dex alters neural stem cell (NSC) biology and the developmental trajectory of the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and adult behavior. To identify the molecular and cellular basis of the sex and steroid specific responses in the developing brain, we compared the consequence of Dex versus Beta exposure on embryonic cerebral cortical NSC biology. Murine NSC were isolated from the E14.5 cerebral cortex and exposed to 10-7 M Dex, 10-7 M Beta, or Vehicle for 4 or 24 hours and the immediate and long-term impact on transcription, proliferation and neuronal, glial and oligodendrocyte differentiation examined. Affymetrix complete genome transcriptional analyses reveal sex specific responses to Dex versus Beta within 4 hours. At >+/-1.5-fold change 548 genes were differentially regulated by Dex, 452 by Beta and 256 were altered by both Dex and Beta (P < 0.05). Distinct sex specific responses to Dex versus Beta were observed. At >+/-2-fold change 126 genes were significantly different in the Dex versus Beta female transcriptome, 146 in the male transcriptome with 18 genes unique to both male and female transcriptome. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis revealed that the most significantly altered pathway altered (Z score >2) with both sGCs is Inositol Phosphate metabolism. Cardiac hypertrophy, Tec kinase, and Th1 pathways were unique to Beta stimulation, whereas Melatonin, Neuropathic Pain and IL6 signaling pathways were specific to Dex stimulation. Both Dex and Beta significantly alter genes implicated in proliferation and differentiation as also described in other studies, therefore the biological response of NSC to sGCs stimulation was compared. Only Dex significantly decreased the rate of proliferation over a 72 hour. In-vitro differentiation studies reveal that both Dex and Beta reduced oligodendrocyte differentiation without altering neuronal differentiation when cells were exposed to sGCs as progenitors. However, when cells were exposed to sGCs during differentiation, Dex increased oligodendrocyte and neuronal maturation while Beta only increased oligodendrocyte differentiation. These results reveal gene targets, cellular pathways and processes that are differentially altered by prenatal Dex versus Beta exposure. Prenatal sGCs administration provides clear benefits for neonatal outcome, however, a detailed understanding of their targets in the brain is required to identify alternative sGCs drug regimens to reduce adverse neurological effects. Our finds may provide insights into the sex specific neurological outcomes observed in children exposed to sGCs in-utero.

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