scholarly journals Touched by Loneliness – How Loneliness Impacts the Response to Observed Human Touch: a tDCS Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nira Saporta ◽  
Leehe Peled-Avron ◽  
Dirk Scheele ◽  
Jana Lieberz ◽  
René Hurlemann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Touch Perception ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
Social Opportunities ◽  
Human Touch ◽  
Correlative Studies ◽  
The Right

Abstract Lonely people often crave connectedness. However, they may also experience their environment as threatening, entering a self-preserving state that perpetuates loneliness. Research shows conflicting evidence about their response to positive social cues, and little is known about their experience of observed human touch. The right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) is part of an observation-execution network implicated in observed touch perception. Correlative studies also point to rIFG’s involvement in loneliness. We examined the causal effect of rIFG anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on high and low loneliness individuals observing human touch. In a cross-over design study, 40 participants watched pictures of humans or objects touching or not touching during anodal and sham stimulations. Participants indicated whether pictures contained humans or objects and their reaction time was measured. Results show that the reaction time of low loneliness individuals to observed human touch was significantly slower during anodal stimulation compared to high loneliness individuals, possibly due to them being more emotionally distracted by it. Lonely individuals also reported less liking of touch. Our findings support the notion that lonely individuals are not drawn to positive social cues. This may help explain the perpetuation of loneliness, despite social opportunities that could be available to lonely people.

scholarly journals GABA and glutamate deficits from frontotemporal lobar degeneration are associated with disinhibition

Brain ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (11) ◽  
pp. 3449-3462
Author(s):  
Alexander G Murley ◽  
Matthew A Rouse ◽  
P Simon Jones ◽  
Rong Ye ◽  
Frank H Hezemans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Stop Signal ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Stop Signal Reaction Time ◽  
The Right

Abstract Behavioural disinhibition is a common feature of the syndromes associated with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). It is associated with high morbidity and lacks proven symptomatic treatments. A potential therapeutic strategy is to correct the neurotransmitter deficits associated with FTLD, thereby improving behaviour. Reductions in the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA correlate with impulsive behaviour in several neuropsychiatric diseases and there is post-mortem evidence of their deficit in FTLD. Here, we tested the hypothesis that prefrontal glutamate and GABA levels are reduced by FTLD in vivo, and that their deficit is associated with impaired response inhibition. Thirty-three participants with a syndrome associated with FTLD (15 patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and 18 with progressive supranuclear palsy, including both Richardson’s syndrome and progressive supranuclear palsy-frontal subtypes) and 20 healthy control subjects were included. Participants undertook ultra-high field (7 T) magnetic resonance spectroscopy and a stop-signal task of response inhibition. We measured glutamate and GABA levels using semi-LASER magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the right inferior frontal gyrus, because of its strong association with response inhibition, and in the primary visual cortex, as a control region. The stop-signal reaction time was calculated using an ex-Gaussian Bayesian model. Participants with frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy had impaired response inhibition, with longer stop-signal reaction times compared with controls. GABA concentration was reduced in patients versus controls in the right inferior frontal gyrus, but not the occipital lobe. There was no group-wise difference in partial volume corrected glutamate concentration between patients and controls. Both GABA and glutamate concentrations in the inferior frontal gyrus correlated inversely with stop-signal reaction time, indicating greater impulsivity in proportion to the loss of each neurotransmitter. We conclude that the glutamatergic and GABAergic deficits in the frontal lobe are potential targets for symptomatic drug treatment of frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy.

The role of the right inferior frontal gyrus following reversal of consistent stimulus-stop mappings

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maisy Best ◽  
Tobias Stevens ◽  
Fraser Milton ◽  
Christopher D. Chambers ◽  
Ian P. McLaren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
The Right

No modulation of experimentally-induced pain by navigation-guided rTMS of the right inferior frontal gyrus

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
K Menzler ◽  
A Welk ◽  
S Knake ◽  
WH Oertel ◽  
K Schepelmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
The Right ◽  
Experimentally Induced

scholarly journals An improved conflicting-evidence combination method based on the redistribution of the basic probability assignment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zezheng Yan ◽  
Hanping Zhao ◽  
Xiaowen Mei
Keyword(s):  
Evidence Theory ◽  
Combination Method ◽  
Probability Assignment ◽  
Basic Probability Assignment ◽  
Combination Methods ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
Basic Probability ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conflict Intensity ◽  
Dempster’S Rule Of Combination

AbstractDempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely applied in various fields related to information fusion. However, the results are counterintuitive when highly conflicting evidence is fused with Dempster’s rule of combination. Many improved combination methods have been developed to address conflicting evidence. Nevertheless, all of these approaches have inherent flaws. To solve the existing counterintuitive problem more effectively and less conservatively, an improved combination method for conflicting evidence based on the redistribution of the basic probability assignment is proposed. First, the conflict intensity and the unreliability of the evidence are calculated based on the consistency degree, conflict degree and similarity coefficient among the evidence. Second, the redistribution equation of the basic probability assignment is constructed based on the unreliability and conflict intensity, which realizes the redistribution of the basic probability assignment. Third, to avoid excessive redistribution of the basic probability assignment, the precision degree of the evidence obtained by information entropy is used as the correction factor to modify the basic probability assignment for the second time. Finally, Dempster’s rule of combination is used to fuse the modified basic probability assignment. Several different types of examples and actual data sets are given to illustrate the effectiveness and potential of the proposed method. Furthermore, the comparative analysis reveals the proposed method to be better at obtaining the right results than other related methods.

Associations between mental wellbeing and fMRI neural bases underlying responses to positive emotion in a twin sample

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Haeme R.P. Park ◽  
Miranda R. Chilver ◽  
Arthur Montalto ◽  
Javad Jamshidi ◽  
Peter R. Schofield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

Abstract Background Although mental wellbeing has been linked with positive health outcomes, including longevity and improved emotional and cognitive functioning, studies examining the underlying neural mechanisms of both subjective and psychological wellbeing have been sparse. We assessed whether both forms of wellbeing are associated with neural activity engaged during positive and negative emotion processing and the extent to which this association is driven by genetics or environment. Methods We assessed mental wellbeing in 230 healthy adult monozygotic and dizygotic twins using a previously validated questionnaire (COMPAS-W) and undertook functional magnetic resonance imaging during a facial emotion viewing task. We used linear mixed models to analyse the association between COMPAS-W scores and emotion-elicited neural activation. Univariate twin modelling was used to evaluate heritability of each brain region. Multivariate twin modelling was used to compare twin pairs to assess the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to this association. Results Higher levels of wellbeing were associated with greater neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, localised in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), in response to positive emotional expressions of happiness. Univariate twin modelling showed activity in the IFG to have 20% heritability. Multivariate twin modelling suggested that the association between wellbeing and positive emotion-elicited neural activity was driven by common variance from unique environment (r = 0.208) rather than shared genetics. Conclusions Higher mental wellbeing may have a basis in greater engagement of prefrontal neural regions in response to positive emotion, and this association may be modifiable by unique life experiences.

scholarly journals Is Lateropulsion Really Related with a Specific Lesion of the Brain?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 354
Author(s):  
Kyoung Lee ◽  
Sang Yoo ◽  
Eun Ji ◽  
Woo Hwang ◽  
Yeun Yoo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Lesions ◽  
Vertical Posture ◽  
Lesion Volume ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Hemisphere Stroke

Lateropulsion (pusher syndrome) is an important barrier to standing and gait after stroke. Although several studies have attempted to elucidate the relationship between brain lesions and lateropulsion, the effects of specific brain lesions on the development of lateropulsion remain unclear. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of stroke lesion location and size on lateropulsion in right hemisphere stroke patients. The present retrospective cross-sectional observational study assessed 50 right hemisphere stroke patients. Lateropulsion was diagnosed and evaluated using the Scale for Contraversive Pushing (SCP). Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) analysis with 3T-MRI was used to identify the culprit lesion for SCP. We also performed VLSM controlling for lesion volume as a nuisance covariate, in a multivariate model that also controlled for other factors contributing to pusher behavior. VLSM, combined with statistical non-parametric mapping (SnPM), identified the specific region with SCP. Lesion size was associated with lateropulsion. The precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula and subgyral parietal lobe of the right hemisphere seemed to be associated with the lateropulsion; however, after adjusting for lesion volume as a nuisance covariate, no lesion areas were associated with the SCP scores. The size of the right hemisphere lesion was the only factor most strongly associated with lateropulsion in patients with stroke. These results may be useful for planning rehabilitation strategies of restoring vertical posture and understanding the pathophysiology of lateropulsion in stroke patients.

scholarly journals Lateralization of attention in adults with ADHD: Evidence of pseudoneglect

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartosz Helfer ◽  
Stefanos Maltezos ◽  
Elizabeth Liddle ◽  
Jonna Kuntsi ◽  
Philip Asherson
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Study Participant ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Incentive Condition ◽  
Reaction Time Variability ◽  
The Right

Abstract Background. We investigated whether adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show pseudoneglect—preferential allocation of attention to the left visual field (LVF) and a resulting slowing of mean reaction times (MRTs) in the right visual field (RVF), characteristic of neurotypical (NT) individuals —and whether lateralization of attention is modulated by presentation speed and incentives. Method. Fast Task, a four-choice reaction-time task where stimuli were presented in LVF or RVF, was used to investigate differences in MRT and reaction time variability (RTV) in adults with ADHD (n = 43) and NT adults (n = 46) between a slow/no-incentive and fast/incentive condition. In the lateralization analyses, pseudoneglect was assessed based on MRT, which was calculated separately for the LVF and RVF for each condition and each study participant. Results. Adults with ADHD had overall slower MRT and increased RTV relative to NT. MRT and RTV improved under the fast/incentive condition. Both groups showed RVF-slowing with no between-group or between-conditions differences in RVF-slowing. Conclusion. Adults with ADHD exhibited pseudoneglect, a NT pattern of lateralization of attention, which was not attenuated by presentation speed and incentives.

The Role of the Right Prefrontal Cortex in Self-evaluation of the Face: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoyo Morita ◽  
Shoji Itakura ◽  
Daisuke N. Saito ◽  
Satoshi Nakashita ◽  
Tokiko Harada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Face Recognition ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
The Self ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
The Right

Individuals can experience negative emotions (e.g., embarrassment) accompanying self-evaluation immediately after recognizing their own facial image, especially if it deviates strongly from their mental representation of ideals or standards. The aim of this study was to identify the cortical regions involved in self-recognition and self-evaluation along with self-conscious emotions. To increase the range of emotions accompanying self-evaluation, we used facial feedback images chosen from a video recording, some of which deviated significantly from normal images. In total, 19 participants were asked to rate images of their own face (SELF) and those of others (OTHERS) according to how photogenic they appeared to be. After scanning the images, the participants rated how embarrassed they felt upon viewing each face. As the photogenic scores decreased, the embarrassment ratings dramatically increased for the participant's own face compared with those of others. The SELF versus OTHERS contrast significantly increased the activation of the right prefrontal cortex, bilateral insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral occipital cortex. Within the right prefrontal cortex, activity in the right precentral gyrus reflected the trait of awareness of observable aspects of the self; this provided strong evidence that the right precentral gyrus is specifically involved in self-face recognition. By contrast, activity in the anterior region, which is located in the right middle inferior frontal gyrus, was modulated by the extent of embarrassment. This finding suggests that the right middle inferior frontal gyrus is engaged in self-evaluation preceded by self-face recognition based on the relevance to a standard self.

Humor Comprehension and Appreciation: An fMRI Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 1789-1798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Bartolo ◽  
Francesca Benuzzi ◽  
Luca Nocetti ◽  
Patrizia Baraldi ◽  
Paolo Nichelli
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Lesion ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
The Right

Humor is a unique ability in human beings. Suls [A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons. In P. E. Goldstein & J. H. McGhee (Eds.), The psychology of humour. Theoretical perspectives and empirical issues. New York: Academic Press, 1972, pp. 81–100] proposed a two-stage model of humor: detection and resolution of incongruity. Incongruity is generated when a prediction is not confirmed in the final part of a story. To comprehend humor, it is necessary to revisit the story, transforming an incongruous situation into a funny, congruous one. Patient and neuroimaging studies carried out until now lead to different outcomes. In particular, patient studies found that right brain-lesion patients have difficulties in humor comprehension, whereas neuroimaging studies suggested a major involvement of the left hemisphere in both humor detection and comprehension. To prevent activation of the left hemisphere due to language processing, we devised a nonverbal task comprising cartoon pairs. Our findings demonstrate activation of both the left and the right hemispheres when comparing funny versus nonfunny cartoons. In particular, we found activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47), the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 38), the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), and the left cerebellum. These areas were also activated in a nonverbal task exploring attribution of intention [Brunet, E., Sarfati, Y., Hardy-Bayle, M. C., & Decety, J. A PET investigation of the attribution of intentions with a nonverbal task. Neuroimage, 11, 157–166, 2000]. We hypothesize that the resolution of incongruity might occur through a process of intention attribution. We also asked subjects to rate the funniness of each cartoon pair. A parametric analysis showed that the left amygdala was activated in relation to subjective amusement. We hypothesize that the amygdala plays a key role in giving humor an emotional dimension.

The Cortical Organization of Writing Sequence: Evidence From Observing Chinese Characters in Motion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoqi Zhang ◽  
Qiming Yuan ◽  
Zeping Liu ◽  
Man Zhang ◽  
Junjie Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Chinese Character ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Hierarchical Control ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
General Motor ◽  
The Right

Abstract Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model (euSEM). We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing.

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