scholarly journals Laterality enhances cognition in Australian parrots

2009 ◽  
Vol 276 (1676) ◽  
pp. 4155-4162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Magat ◽  
Culum Brown
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Dual Processing ◽  
Cerebral Lateralization ◽  
Widespread Occurrence ◽  
Fitness Advantage ◽  
Parrot Species ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Processing Mechanism

Cerebral lateralization refers to the division of information processing in either hemisphere of the brain and is a ubiquitous trait among vertebrates and invertebrates. Given its widespread occurrence, it is likely that cerebral lateralization confers a fitness advantage. It has been hypothesized that this advantage takes the form of enhanced cognitive function, potentially via a dual processing mechanism whereby each hemisphere can be used to process specific types of information without contralateral interference. Here, we examined the influence of lateralization on problem solving by Australian parrots. The first task, a pebble-seed discrimination test, was designed for small parrot species that feed predominately on small seeds, which do not require any significant manipulation with the foot prior to ingestion. The second task, a string-pull problem, was designed for larger bodied species that regularly use their feet to manipulate food objects. In both cases, strongly lateralized individuals (those showing significant foot and eye biases) outperformed less strongly lateralized individuals, and this relationship was substantially stronger in the more demanding task. These results suggest that cerebral lateralization is a ubiquitous trait among Australian parrots and conveys a significant foraging advantage. Our results provide strong support for the enhanced cognitive function hypothesis.

Relation Between Level of Prefrontal Activity and Subject's Performance

1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Casini ◽  
Françoise Macar ◽  
Marie-Hélène Giard
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Practice Phase ◽  
Trained Subjects ◽  
Anagram Task ◽  
Economic Information ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Level Of Activity ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Processing Mechanism

Abstract The experiment reported here was aimed at determining whether the level of brain activity can be related to performance in trained subjects. Two tasks were compared: a temporal and a linguistic task. An array of four letters appeared on a screen. In the temporal task, subjects had to decide whether the letters remained on the screen for a short or a long duration as learned in a practice phase. In the linguistic task, they had to determine whether the four letters could form a word or not (anagram task). These tasks allowed us to compare the level of brain activity obtained in correct and incorrect responses. The current density measures recorded over prefrontal areas showed a relationship between the performance and the level of activity in the temporal task only. The level of activity obtained with correct responses was lower than that obtained with incorrect responses. This suggests that a good temporal performance could be the result of an efficacious, but economic, information-processing mechanism in the brain. In addition, the absence of this relation in the anagram task results in the question of whether this relation is specific to the processing of sensory information only.

scholarly journals Interaction of clozapine with metformin in a schizophrenia rat model

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Horvath ◽  
G. Kis ◽  
G. Kekesi ◽  
A. Büki ◽  
L. G. Adlan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Antipsychotic Drugs ◽  
D1 Receptor ◽  
Antidiabetic Drug ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Adjuvant Therapies ◽  
Behavioral Parameters ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe low efficacy of antipsychotic drugs (e.g., clozapine) for negative symptoms and cognitive impairment has led to the introduction of adjuvant therapies. Because previous data suggest the procognitive potential of the antidiabetic drug metformin, this study aimed to assess the effects of chronic clozapine and metformin oral administration (alone and in combination) on locomotor and exploratory activities and cognitive function in a reward-based test in control and a schizophrenia-like animal model (Wisket rats). As impaired dopamine D1 receptor (D1R) function might play a role in the cognitive dysfunctions observed in patients with schizophrenia, the second goal of this study was to determine the brain-region-specific D1R-mediated signaling, ligand binding, and mRNA expression. None of the treatments affected the behavior of the control animals significantly; however, the combination treatment enhanced D1R binding and activation in the cerebral cortex. The Wisket rats exhibited impaired motivation, attention, and cognitive function, as well as a lower level of cortical D1R binding, signaling, and gene expression. Clozapine caused further deterioration of the behavioral parameters, without a significant effect on the D1R system. Metformin blunted the clozapine-induced impairments, and, similarly to that observed in the control animals, increased the functional activity of D1R. This study highlights the beneficial effects of metformin (at the behavioral and cellular levels) in blunting clozapine-induced adverse effects.

scholarly journals Zingiber officinaleMitigates Brain Damage and Improves Memory Impairment in Focal Cerebral Ischemic Rat

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jintanaporn Wattanathorn ◽  
Jinatta Jittiwat ◽  
Terdthai Tongun ◽  
Supaporn Muchimapura ◽  
Kornkanok Ingkaninan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Brain Damage ◽  
Focal Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Infarct Volume ◽  
Neuroprotective Effect ◽  
Morris Water Maze Test ◽  
Brain Infarct ◽  
Ginger Rhizome ◽  
The Brain

Cerebral ischemia is known to produce brain damage and related behavioral deficits including memory. Recently, accumulating lines of evidence showed that dietary enrichment with nutritional antioxidants could reduce brain damage and improve cognitive function. In this study, possible protective effect ofZingiber officinale, a medicinal plant reputed for neuroprotective effect against oxidative stress-related brain damage, on brain damage and memory deficit induced by focal cerebral ischemia was elucidated. Male adult Wistar rats were administrated an alcoholic extract of ginger rhizome orally 14 days before and 21 days after the permanent occlusion of right middle cerebral artery (MCAO). Cognitive function assessment was performed at 7, 14, and 21 days after MCAO using the Morris water maze test. The brain infarct volume and density of neurons in hippocampus were also determined. Furthermore, the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in cerebral cortex, striatum, and hippocampus was also quantified at the end of experiment. The results showed that cognitive function and neurons density in hippocampus of rats receiving ginger rhizome extract were improved while the brain infarct volume was decreased. The cognitive enhancing effect and neuroprotective effect occurred partly via the antioxidant activity of the extract. In conclusion, our study demonstrated the beneficial effect of ginger rhizome to protect against focal cerebral ischemia.

Coding of Temporally Varying Signals in Networks of Spiking Neurons with Global Delayed Feedback

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 2139-2175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoki Masuda ◽  
Brent Doiron ◽  
André Longtin ◽  
Kazuyuki Aihara
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Stimulus Frequency ◽  
Spiking Neurons ◽  
Feedforward Networks ◽  
Dynamical Characteristics ◽  
Neural Activities ◽  
Inherent Frequency ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
The Brain

Oscillatory and synchronized neural activities are commonly found in the brain, and evidence suggests that many of them are caused by global feedback. Their mechanisms and roles in information processing have been discussed often using purely feedforward networks or recurrent networks with constant inputs. On the other hand, real recurrent neural networks are abundant and continually receive information-rich inputs from the outside environment or other parts of the brain. We examine how feedforward networks of spiking neurons with delayed global feedback process information about temporally changing inputs. We show that the network behavior is more synchronous as well as more correlated with and phase-locked to the stimulus when the stimulus frequency is resonant with the inherent frequency of the neuron or that of the network oscillation generated by the feedback architecture. The two eigenmodes have distinct dynamical characteristics, which are supported by numerical simulations and by analytical arguments based on frequency response and bifurcation theory. This distinction is similar to the class I versus class II classification of single neurons according to the bifurcation from quiescence to periodic firing, and the two modes depend differently on system parameters. These two mechanisms may be associated with different types of information processing.

scholarly journals Category representations in the brain are both discretely localized and widely distributed

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (6) ◽  
pp. 2256-2264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zarrar Shehzad ◽  
Gregory McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Functional Mri ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Distributed Representations ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Category Information ◽  
Shared Information ◽  
Unique Domain ◽  
The Brain

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.

scholarly journals STIMULATION OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS OF PSYCHE BY MEANS OF ONLINE GAMES

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
Оlena Kovalova
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Online Games ◽  
Theoretical Justification ◽  
Training Memory ◽  
Effectiveness Of Training ◽  
Training Success ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

The article presents the results of testing of the developed online-training of cognitive functions of the brain, which was implemented on a separately created game platform using a set of specially developed games. The proposed results reveal the theoretical justification of the cognitive functions, which are selected for training: memory, thinking, attention, imagination, perception. The characteristics of each cognitive function to be stimulated in the conditions of online games are highlighted. We described the algorithm for games evaluating according to certain cognitive functions and their characteristics. An analysis of the effectiveness of evaluation is given. The results of completing by players of game sessions balanced on the chosen cognitive functions are described. A comparison of the effectiveness of stimulation of different cognitive functions depending on the motivation and choice of players is presented. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of online games in activation and stimulation of the cognitive functions of the human psyche. The research methods were based on our own developed algorithm for training success estimation, analysis of the results of online games, methods of mathematical statistics. The results of the study are presented on the basis of approbation of the developed training, conducted during two years. The analysis of the implementation of the training revealed the dependence of the effectiveness of stimulation of cognitive functions on the motivation and choice of the player. It is shown that when training on a balanced set of games, where all cognitive functions are present in equal shares, the effectiveness of training is not uniform and not balanced. It is investigated that the effectiveness of training depends on the quality of the game's effect on cognitive function. In order to take into account this quality of influence, all games were divided into two classes: actively shaping and passively stimulating. The distribution of games by classes was experimentally confirmed. A generalized analysis of the game sessions of all players for six months revealed cognitive functions which for the most players were better developed and more stimulated.

scholarly journals A compositional neural architecture for language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Expressive Power ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Systems Neuroscience ◽  
Neural Entrainment ◽  
Perceptual Representations ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Computational Properties ◽  
Perception Action ◽  
Processing Mechanism

Hierarchical structure and compositionality imbue human language with unparalleled expressive power and set it apart from other perception-action systems. However, neither formal nor neurobiological models account for how these defining computational properties might arise in a physiological system. I attempt to reconcile hierarchy and compositionality with principles from cell assembly computation in neuroscience; the result is an emerging theory of how the brain could convert distributed perceptual representations into hierarchical structures across multiple timescales while representing interpretable incremental stages of (de)compositional meaning. The model's architecture - a multidimensional coordinate system based on neurophysiological models of sensory processing - proposes that a manifold of neural trajectories encodes sensory, motor, and abstract linguistic states. Gain modulation, including inhibition, tunes the path in the manifold in accordance with behavior, and is how latent structure is inferred. As a consequence, predictive information about upcoming sensory input during production and comprehension is available without a separate operation. The proposed processing mechanism is synthesized from current models of neural entrainment to speech, concepts from systems neuroscience and category theory, and a symbolic-connectionist computational model that uses time and rhythm to structure information. I build on evidence from cognitive neuroscience and computational modeling that suggests a formal and mechanistic alignment between structure building and neural oscillations, and moves towards unifying basic insights from linguistics and psycholinguistics with the currency of neural computation.

scholarly journals Post-status epilepticus treatment with the Fyn inhibitor, saracatinib, improves cognitive function in mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin-Ming Luo ◽  
Jing Zhao ◽  
Wen-Yue Wu ◽  
Jie Fu ◽  
Zheng-Yu Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Status Epilepticus ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Tyrosine Kinases ◽  
Hippocampal Neurons ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Behavioral Tests ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Normal Object

Abstract Background Status epilepticus (SE) is a life-threatening neurological disorder. The hippocampus, as an important area of the brain that regulates cognitive function, is usually damaged after SE, and cognitive deficits often result from hippocampal neurons lost after SE. Fyn, a non-receptor Src family of tyrosine kinases, is potentially associated with the onset of seizure. Saracatinib, a Fyn inhibitor, suppresses epileptogenesis and reduces epileptiform spikes. However, whether saracatinib inhibits cognitive deficits after SE is still unknown. Methods In the present study, a pilocarpine-induced SE mouse model was used to answer this question by using the Morris water maze and normal object recognition behavioral tests. Results We found that saracatinib inhibited the loss in cognitive function following SE. Furthermore, we found that the number of hippocampal neurons in the saracatinib treatment group was increased, when compared to the SE group. Conclusions These results showed that saracatinib can improve cognitive functions by reducing the loss of hippocampal neurons after SE, suggesting that Fyn dysfunction is involved in cognitive deficits after SE, and that the inhibition of Fyn is a possible treatment to improve cognitive function in SE patients.

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