scholarly journals The multifaceted abstract brain

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20170122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rutvik H. Desai ◽  
Megan Reilly ◽  
Wessel van Dam
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Event Representation ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Event Based ◽  
Motor Representations

Abstract concepts play a central role in human behaviour and constitute a critical component of the human conceptual system. Here, we investigate the neural basis of four types of abstract concepts, examining their similarities and differences through neuroimaging meta-analyses. We examine numerical and emotional concepts, and two higher-order abstract processes, morality judgements and theory of mind. Three main findings emerge. First, representation of abstract concepts is more widespread than is often assumed. Second, representations of different types of abstract concepts differ in important respects. Each of the domains examined here was associated with some unique areas. Third, some areas were commonly activated across domains and included inferior parietal, posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. We interpret these regions in terms of their role in episodic recall, event representation and social–emotional processing. We suggest that different types of abstract concepts can be represented and grounded through differing contributions from event-based, interoceptive, introspective and sensory-motor representations. The results underscore the richness and diversity of abstract concepts, argue against single-mechanism accounts for representation of all types of abstract concepts and suggest mechanisms for their direct and indirect grounding. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.

scholarly journals Effects of Polyphenols in Tea (Camellia sinensis sp.) on the Modulation of Gut Microbiota in Human Trials and Animal Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-216
Author(s):  
Mus Azza Suhana Khairudin ◽  
Abbe Maleyki Mhd Jalil ◽  
Napisah Hussin
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Tea Polyphenols ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Polyphenol Compounds ◽  
Human Trials ◽  
Diet Induced Obesity ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Meta Analyses

A diet high in polyphenols is associated with a diversified gut microbiome. Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, after water. The health benefits of tea might be attributed to the presence of polyphenol compounds such as flavonoids (e.g., catechins and epicatechins), theaflavins, and tannins. Although many studies have been conducted on tea, little is known of its effects on the trillions of gut microbiota. Hence, this review aimed to systematically study the effect of tea polyphenols on the stimulation or suppression of gut microbiota in humans and animals. It was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. Articles were retrieved from PubMed and Scopus databases, and data were extracted from 6 human trials and 15 animal studies. Overall, large variations were observed in terms of microbiota composition between humans and animals. A more consistent pattern of diversified microbiota was observed in animal studies. Tea alleviated the gut microbiota imbalance caused by high-fat diet-induced obesity, diabetes, and ultraviolet-induced damage. The overall changes in microbiota composition measured by beta diversity analysis showed that tea had shifted the microbiota from the pattern seen in animals that received tea-free intervention. In humans, a prebiotic-like effect was observed toward the gut microbiota, but these results appeared in lower-quality studies. The beta diversity in human microbiota remains intact despite tea intervention; supplementation with different teas affects different types of bacterial taxa in the gut. These studies suggest that tea polyphenols may have a prebiotic effect in disease-induced animals and in a limited number of human interventions. Further intervention is needed to identify the mechanisms of action underlying the effects of tea on gut microbiota.

scholarly journals Critical incidents in anorexia nervosa: perspectives of those with a lived experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Leppanen ◽  
Lara Tosunlar ◽  
Rachael Blackburn ◽  
Steven Williams ◽  
Kate Tchanturia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Disease Model ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Critical Events ◽  
Social Emotional

Abstract Background Although social-emotional difficulties are believed play a key role in anorexia nervosa (AN), there is uncertainty regarding what these difficulties might look like. Previous research has largely focused on a “disease model” of social-emotional processing in AN with little attention paid to positive emotions and experiences. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to obtain a fuller picture of critical life events as identified by those with lived AN experience. Methods Thirty-four participants aged 16–48 with current or past AN completed an online survey describing self-defined positive and difficult critical events. Thematic analysis was used to assess patterns in participants narrative responses. Results Two major themes were identified in the descriptions of positive critical events: Moments of celebration and Unexpected positive outcomes. These major themes revealed increased external focus and some corrective experiences that challenged the participants pre-existing expectations leading to new positive outcomes. Difficult events clustered into life events that were identified as Eating disorder (ED) related and Non-ED related and included the dimensions of relational conflict and feeling unsupported. Discussion The findings suggest that although negative emotionality was identified in the accounts of those with lived experience of AN capacity for “big-picture” thinking with and explicit focus on others was also identified. Moreover, an openness to corrective experiences that worked to challenge negative expectations was evident for some participants. Together these findings have scope as targets for further clinical research and treatment interventions.

scholarly journals A Statistical Method for Synthesizing Meta-Analyses

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liansheng Larry Tang ◽  
Michael Caudy ◽  
Faye Taxman
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Method ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Summary Effect ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Size Estimates ◽  
Similar Search

Multiple meta-analyses may use similar search criteria and focus on the same topic of interest, but they may yield different or sometimes discordant results. The lack of statistical methods for synthesizing these findings makes it challenging to properly interpret the results from multiple meta-analyses, especially when their results are conflicting. In this paper, we first introduce a method to synthesize the meta-analytic results when multiple meta-analyses use the same type of summary effect estimates. When meta-analyses use different types of effect sizes, the meta-analysis results cannot be directly combined. We propose a two-step frequentist procedure to first convert the effect size estimates to the same metric and then summarize them with a weighted mean estimate. Our proposed method offers several advantages over existing methods by Hemming et al. (2012). First, different types of summary effect sizes are considered. Second, our method provides the same overall effect size as conducting a meta-analysis on all individual studies from multiple meta-analyses. We illustrate the application of the proposed methods in two examples and discuss their implications for the field of meta-analysis.

scholarly journals Investigating alexithymia in autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 80-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Kinnaird ◽  
Catherine Stewart ◽  
Kate Tchanturia
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autistic People ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Popu Lations ◽  
Specific Subgroup ◽  
New Research ◽  
Meta Analyses

AbstractBackground:New research suggests that, rather than representing a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), emotional processing difficulties reflect co-occurring alexithymia. Autistic individuals with alexithymia could therefore represent a specific subgroup of autism who may benefit from tailored interventions. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to explore the nature and prevalence of alexithymia in autism using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS).Methods:Online scientific databases were searched systematically for studies on ASD popu lations using the TAS. Meta-analyses were performed to evaluate differences in scores between the ASD and neurotypical groups, and to determine the prevalence of alexithymia in these populations.Results:15 articles comparing autistic and neurotypical (NT) groups were identified. Autistic people scored significantly higher on all scores compared to the NT group. There was also a higher prevalence of alexithymia in the ASD group (49.93% compared to 4.89%), with a significantly increased risk of alexithymia in autistic participants.Conclusions:This review highlights that alexithymia is common, rather than universal, in ASD, supporting a growing body of evidence that co-occurring autism and alexithymia represents a specific subgroup in the ASD population that may have specific clinical needs. More research is needed to understand the nature and implications of co-occurring ASD and alexithymia.

scholarly journals What you need to know about scoping reviews

Medwave ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (02) ◽  
pp. e8144-e8144
Author(s):  
Catalina Verdejo ◽  
Luis Tapia-Benavente ◽  
Bastián Schuller-Martínez ◽  
Laura Vergara-Merino ◽  
Manuel Vargas-Peirano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Clinical Epidemiology ◽  
Recent Model ◽  
Reporting Guideline ◽  
Scoping Reviews ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Reproducible Method ◽  
Meta Analyses

The increasing amount of evidence has caused an increasing amount of literature reviews. There are different types of reviews —systematic reviews are the best known—, and every type of review has different purposes. The scoping review is a recent model that aims to answer broad questions and identify and expose the available evidence for a broader question, using a rigorous and reproducible method. In the last two decades, researchers have discussed the most appropriate method to carry out scoping reviews, and recently the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses’ for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) reporting guideline was published. This is the fifth article of a methodological collaborative series of narrative reviews about general topics on biostatistics and clinical epidemiology. This review aims to describe what scoping reviews are, identify their objectives, differentiate them from other types of reviews, and provide considerations on how to carry them out.

scholarly journals How well do similarity measures predict priming in abstract and concrete concepts?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Montefinese ◽  
Erin Michelle Buchanan ◽  
David Vinson
Keyword(s):  
Word Association ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Similarity Measures ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Association Strength ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Strategic Processes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Concrete Concepts

Models of semantic representation predict that automatic priming is determined by associative and co-occurrence relations (i.e., spreading activation accounts), or to similarity in words' semantic features (i.e., featural models). Although, these three factors are correlated in characterizing semantic representation, they seem to tap different aspects of meaning. We designed two lexical decision experiments to dissociate these three different types of meaning similarity. For unmasked primes, we observed priming only due to association strength and not the other two measures; and no evidence for differences in priming for concrete and abstract concepts. For masked primes there was no priming regardless of the semantic relation. These results challenge theoretical accounts of automatic priming. Rather, they are in line with the idea that priming may be due to participants’ controlled strategic processes. These results provide important insight about the nature of priming and how association strength, as determined from word-association norms, relates to the nature of semantic representation.

scholarly journals Drawing with Metaphors. Mediating ideational content in drawing through metaphors

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Ingebrethsen
Keyword(s):  
Abstract Concept ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Educational Issue ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Different Types ◽  
George Lakoff ◽  
The Subject

It is not easy to express abstract concepts, such as time and society, in a drawing. The subject of this article is rooted in the educational issue of visually expressing themes represented by abstract concepts. However, it is possible to find means and devices to express such ideas. This article shows how metaphors can be used to express such ideas visually. Cognitive linguistic research argues that metaphors are crucial in the verbal communication of abstract concepts. This article also attempts to show that metaphors are important in visual communication. The cognitive linguistic metaphor theory of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson is used here to investigate how metaphors are used to construct meaning in the drawings of cartoonist and illustrator Finn Graff and artist Saul Steinberg. The article presents a few examples of how visual devices structure the abstract concept of time. It then proceeds to explain how symbols function as metonymies and provides an overview of the different types of metaphors and how they are used to express meaning in drawings. The article concludes by attempting to provide new insights regarding the use of visual metaphors.

scholarly journals Moving beyond the distinction between concrete and abstract concepts

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20170144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence W. Barsalou ◽  
Léo Dutriaux ◽  
Christoph Scheepers
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual System ◽  
Frequent Patterns ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Situated Action ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Individual Concepts ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Over Time

From the perspective of the situated conceptualization framework, the primary purpose of concepts is for categorizing and integrating elements of situations to support goal-directed action (including communication and social interaction). To the extent that important situational elements are categorized and integrated properly, effective goal-directed action follows. Over time, frequent patterns of co-occurring concepts within situations become established in memory as situated conceptualizations, conditioning the conceptual system and producing habitual patterns of conceptual processing. As a consequence, individual concepts are most basically represented within patterns of concepts that become entrained with specific kinds of physical situations. In this framework, the concrete versus abstract distinction between concepts is no longer useful, with two other distinctions becoming important instead: (i) external versus internal situational elements, (ii) situational elements versus situational integrations. Whereas concepts for situational elements originate in distributed neural networks that provide continual feeds about components of situations, concepts for situational integrations originate in association areas that establish temporal co-occurrence relations between situational elements, both external and internal. We propose that studying concepts in the context of situated action is necessary for establishing complete accounts of them, and that continuing to study concepts in isolation is likely to provide relatively incomplete and distorted accounts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.

Perceptual symbol systems

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence W. Barsalou
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
System Productivity ◽  
Symbol Systems ◽  
Perceptual Theory ◽  
Perceptual Symbols ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Motor Areas

Prior to the twentieth century, theories of knowledge were inherently perceptual. Since then, developments in logic, statistics, and programming languages have inspired amodal theories that rest on principles fundamentally different from those underlying perception. In addition, perceptual approaches have become widely viewed as untenable because they are assumed to implement recording systems, not conceptual systems. A perceptual theory of knowledge is developed here in the context of current cognitive science and neuroscience. During perceptual experience, association areas in the brain capture bottom-up patterns of activation in sensory-motor areas. Later, in a top-down manner, association areas partially reactivate sensory-motor areas to implement perceptual symbols. The storage and reactivation of perceptual symbols operates at the level of perceptual components – not at the level of holistic perceptual experiences. Through the use of selective attention, schematic representations of perceptual components are extracted from experience and stored in memory (e.g., individual memories of green, purr, hot). As memories of the same component become organized around a common frame, they implement a simulator that produces limitless simulations of the component (e.g., simulations of purr). Not only do such simulators develop for aspects of sensory experience, they also develop for aspects of proprioception (e.g., lift,run) and introspection (e.g., compare,memory,happy, hungry). Once established, these simulators implement a basic conceptual system that represents types, supports categorization, and produces categorical inferences. These simulators further support productivity, propositions, and abstract concepts, thereby implementing a fully functional conceptual system. Productivity results from integrating simulators combinatorially and recursively to produce complex simulations. Propositions result from binding simulators to perceived individuals to represent type-token relations. Abstract concepts are grounded in complex simulations of combined physical and introspective events. Thus, a perceptual theory of knowledge can implement a fully functional conceptual system while avoiding problems associated with amodal symbol systems. Implications for cognition, neuroscience, evolution, development, and artificial intelligence are explored.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Classroom-Wide Social–Emotional Interventions for Preschool Children

2020 ◽  
pp. 027112142093557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Luo ◽  
Brian Reichow ◽  
Patricia Snyder ◽  
Jennifer Harrington ◽  
Joy Polignano
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Random Effects ◽  
Challenging Behavior ◽  
Emotional Competence ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Meta Analyses

Background: All children benefit from intentional interactions and instruction to become socially and emotionally competent. Over the past 30 years, evidence-based intervention tactics and strategies have been integrated to establish comprehensive, multitiered, or hierarchical systems of support frameworks to guide social–emotional interventions for young children. Objectives: To review systematically the efficacy of classroom-wide social–emotional interventions for improving the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of preschool children and to use meta-analytic techniques to identify critical study characteristics associated with obtained effect sizes. Method: Four electronic databases (i.e., Academic Search Premier, Educational Resource Information Center, PsycINFO, and Education Full Text) were systematically searched in December 2015 and updated in January 2018. “Snowball methods” were used to locate additional relevant studies. Effect size estimates were pooled using random-effects meta-analyses for three child outcomes, and moderator analyses were conducted. Results: Thirty-nine studies involving 10,646 child participants met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review, with 33 studies included in the meta-analyses. Random-effects meta-analyses showed improvements in social competence ( g = 0.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.28, 0.56]) and emotional competence ( g = 0.33, 95% CI = [0.10, 0.56]), and decreases in challenging behavior ( g = −0.31, 95% CI = [−0.43, −0.19]). For social competence and challenging behavior, moderator analyses suggested interventions with a family component had statistically significant and larger effect sizes than those without a family component. Studies in which classroom teachers served as the intervention agent produced statistically significant but smaller effect sizes than when researchers or others implemented the intervention for challenging behavior. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis support using comprehensive social–emotional interventions for all children in a preschool classroom to improve their social–emotional competence and reduce challenging behavior.

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