scholarly journals Disentangling hand and tool processing: distal effects of neuromodulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenia Amaral ◽  
Rita Donato ◽  
Daniela Valerio ◽  
Egas Caparelli-Daquer ◽  
Jorge Almeida ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Target Area ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Training Task ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Object Category ◽  
Local Representations

The neural processing within a brain region that responds to more than one object category can be separated by looking at the horizontal modulations established by that region, which suggests that local representations can be affected by connections to distal areas, in a category-specific way. Here we first wanted to test whether by applying transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to a region that responds both to hands and tools (posterior middle temporal gyrus; pMTG), while participants performed either a hand- or tool-related training task, we would be able to specifically target the trained category, and thereby dissociate the overlapping neural processing. Second, we wanted to see if these effects were limited to the target area or extended to distal but functionally connected brain areas. After each combined tDCS and training session, participants therefore viewed images of tools, hands, and animals, in an fMRI scanner. Using multivoxel pattern analysis, we found that tDCS stimulation to pMTG indeed improved the classification accuracy between tools vs. animals, but only when combined with a tool training task (not a hand training task). However, surprisingly, tDCS stimulation to pMTG also improved the classification accuracy between hands vs. animals when combined with a tool training task (not a hand training task). Our findings suggest that overlapping but functionally-specific networks can be separated by using a category-specific training task together with tDCS - a strategy that can be applied more broadly to other cognitive domains using tDCS - and demonstrates the importance of horizontal modulations in object-category representations.

Use of the Binaural Sensory Aid by Young Children

1983 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 429-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. Strelow
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Animal Research ◽  
Intensive Study ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Attention Span ◽  
Object Category ◽  
Category Information ◽  
Blind Children

Four blind children aged 10-30 months received training in the use of the Binaural Sensory Aid, adapted for use by children. The youngest child learned to respond to the presence of objects at 13 months. The next oldest child (21 months) learned to respond in one training session and subsequently was able to interpret distance and object-category information provided by the aid. The two older children (24 and 30 months) showed substantially less ability to respond to information provided by the aid primarily because their attention span was limited and because of competing behaviors that were incompatible with the use of the aid. Contradictions in the literature indicate the need for more reliable research methods than have been used so far. The intensive study of single cases and the use of animal research are recommended.

scholarly journals Simple but Robust Improvement in Multivoxel Pattern Classification

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangil Lee ◽  
Joseph W. Kable
Keyword(s):  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Mean Centering ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Positive Correlations

AbstractMultivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) typically begins with the estimation of single trial activation levels, and several studies have examined how different procedures for estimating single trial activity affect the ultimate classification accuracy of MVPA. Here we show that the currently preferred estimation procedures impart spurious shifts in run-level means that cause the estimated activities to be misaligned across runs. These shifts are caused by positive correlations between the means of different category activity estimates within the same scanner run. In other words, if the mean of the estimates for one type of trials is high (low) in a given scanner run, then the mean of the other type of trials is also high (low) for that same scanner run, and the mean across all trials therefore shifts from run to run. Simulations show that these correlations are unavoidable whenever there is a need to deconvolve overlapping trial activities in the presence of noise. We show that subtracting the mean across all trials of a run from all the estimates within that run (i.e., run-level mean centering of estimates), by cancelling out these mean shifts, leads to robust and significant improvements in MVPA classification accuracy. These improvements are seen in both simulated and real data across a wide variety of situations and can provide significant direct benefits with no computational cost. However, we also point out that there could be cases when mean activations are expected to shift across runs and that run-level mean centering could be detrimental in some of these cases (e.g., different proportion of trial types between different runs).

scholarly journals A Double Dissociation in Sensitivity to Verb and Noun Semantics Across Cortical Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4803-4817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia V Elli ◽  
Connor Lane ◽  
Marina Bedny
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Light Emission ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cortical Networks ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Grammatical Class ◽  
Double Dissociation ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Left Posterior

AbstractWhat is the neural organization of the mental lexicon? Previous research suggests that partially distinct cortical networks are active during verb and noun processing, but what information do these networks represent? We used multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate whether these networks are sensitive to lexicosemantic distinctions among verbs and among nouns and, if so, whether they are more sensitive to distinctions among words in their preferred grammatical class. Participants heard 4 types of verbs (light emission, sound emission, hand-related actions, mouth-related actions) and 4 types of nouns (birds, mammals, manmade places, natural places). As previously shown, the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LMTG+), and inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) responded more to verbs, whereas the inferior parietal lobule (LIP), precuneus (LPC), and inferior temporal (LIT) cortex responded more to nouns. MVPA revealed a double-dissociation in lexicosemantic sensitivity: classification was more accurate among verbs than nouns in the LMTG+, and among nouns than verbs in the LIP, LPC, and LIT. However, classification was similar for verbs and nouns in the LIFG, and above chance for the nonpreferred category in all regions. These results suggest that the lexicosemantic information about verbs and nouns is represented in partially nonoverlapping networks.

scholarly journals Distributed Patterns of Reactivation Predict Vividness of Recollection

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 2000-2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie St-Laurent ◽  
Hervé Abdi ◽  
Bradley R. Buchsbaum
Keyword(s):  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Subjective Quality ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
With Memory ◽  
Objective Marker

According to the principle of reactivation, memory retrieval evokes patterns of brain activity that resemble those instantiated when an event was first experienced. Intuitively, one would expect neural reactivation to contribute to recollection (i.e., the vivid impression of reliving past events), but evidence of a direct relationship between the subjective quality of recollection and multiregional reactivation of item-specific neural patterns is lacking. The current study assessed this relationship using fMRI to measure brain activity as participants viewed and mentally replayed a set of short videos. We used multivoxel pattern analysis to train a classifier to identify individual videos based on brain activity evoked during perception and tested how accurately the classifier could distinguish among videos during mental replay. Classification accuracy correlated positively with memory vividness, indicating that the specificity of multivariate brain patterns observed during memory retrieval was related to the subjective quality of a memory. In addition, we identified a set of brain regions whose univariate activity during retrieval predicted both memory vividness and the strength of the classifier's prediction irrespective of the particular video that was retrieved. Our results establish distributed patterns of neural reactivation as a valid and objective marker of the quality of recollection.

The Effect of a Timed Correct Sound Production Task on Carryover

1972 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas W. Bankson ◽  
Margaret C. Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Word List ◽  
Home School ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Training Task ◽  
Target Sound ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Made In

This study investigated the effect, on conversational speech, of a training task that included correct sound production of words as a subject read a word list at increasing rates of speed. Five children participated in a 10-day program designed to automatize articulation of a target souncf. The /s/ was the target for three children and the /r/ for two. At each training session a subject was required to read a list of 60 words, 25 times. The child was rewarded each time he read the list within a prescribed time period while producing every target sound correctly. Probes of conversational speech were recorded each day in school, at home, and in a third setting at the conclusion of the program. Analyses of these tapes indicated that four of the five children showed varying degrees of carryover. Complete carryover, however, was not achieved. Subjects who made the greatest improvement tended to have the highest number of correct readings, as well as the most rapid readings of the word list. Recordings made in the home, school, and in a third environment reflected similar trends of carryover.

scholarly journals A double dissociation in sensitivity to verb and noun semantics across cortical networks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia V. Elli ◽  
Connor Lane ◽  
Marina Bedny
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Light Emission ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cortical Networks ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Double Dissociation ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Left Posterior

AbstractWhat is the neural organization of the mental lexicon? Previous research suggests that partially distinct cortical networks are active during verb and noun processing. Are these networks preferentially involved in representing the meanings of verbs as opposed to nouns? We used multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate whether brain regions that are more active during verb than noun processing are also more sensitive to distinctions among their preferred lexical class. Participants heard four types of verbs (light emission, sound emission, hand-related actions, mouth-related actions) and four types of nouns (birds, mammals, manmade places, natural places). As previously shown, the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) and inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) responded more to verbs, whereas areas in the inferior parietal lobule (LIP), precuneus (LPC), and inferior temporal (LIT) cortex responded more to nouns. MVPA revealed a double-dissociation in semantic sensitivity: classification was more accurate among verbs than nouns in the LMTG, and among nouns than verbs in the LIP, LPC, and LIT. However, classification was similar for verbs and nouns in the LIFG, and above chance for the non-preferred category in all regions. These results suggest that the meanings of verbs and nouns are represented in partially non-overlapping networks.

scholarly journals Multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data for imaginary and real colours in grapheme-colour synaesthesia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu J. Ruiz ◽  
Michel Dojat ◽  
Jean-Michel Hupé
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Colour Perception ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Processing Difference ◽  
Subjective Phenomenon ◽  
Multivariate Pattern ◽  
Univariate Analyses

AbstractGrapheme-colour synaesthesia is a subjective phenomenon related to perception and imagination, in which some people involuntarily but systematically associate specific, idiosyncratic colours to achromatic letters or digits. Its investigation is relevant to unravel the neural correlates of colour perception in isolation from low-level neural processing of spectral components, as well as the neural correlates of imagination by being able to reliably trigger imaginary colour experiences. However, functional MRI studies using univariate analyses failed to provide univocal evidence of the activation of the ‘colour network’ by synaesthesia. Applying Multivariate (multivoxel) Pattern Analysis (MVPA) on 20 synaesthetes and 20 control participants, we tested whether the neural processing of real colours (concentric rings) and synaesthetic colours (black graphemes) shared patterns of activations. Region of interest analyses in retinotopically and anatomically defined visual regions revealed neither evidence of shared circuits for real and synaesthetic colour processing, nor processing difference between synaesthetes and controls. We also found no correlation with individual experiences, characterised by measuring the strength of synaesthetic associations. The whole brain, searchlight, analysis led to similar results. We conclude that identifying the neural correlates of the synaesthetic experience of colours may still be beyond the reach of present technology and data analysis techniques.

scholarly journals A Novel Multimodal Speech-Gesture Training and Its Impact on Quality of Life and Neural Processing in Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Riedl ◽  
Arne Nagels ◽  
Gebhard Sammer ◽  
Momoko Choudhury ◽  
Annika Nonnenmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum

Introduction: Dysfunctional social communication is one of the most stable characteristics in patients with schizophrenia that severely affects quality of life. Interpreting abstract speech and integrating nonverbal information is particularly affected which has been associated with neural dysfunctions in temporal lobe regions.Objectives: Considering the difficulty to treat communication dysfunctions with usual intervention, we investigated the possibility to improve quality of life and co-verbal gesture processing in patients with schizophrenia by applying a multimodal speech-gesture training (MSG training).Methods: In the MSG training, we offered eight sessions (60 min each) of training including perceptive and expressive tasks as well as meta-learning elements and transfer exercises to 29 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). Patients were randomized to a waiting-first group (N=20) or a training-first group (N=9), and were compared to healthy controls (N=17). Outcomes were quality of life and related changes in the neural processing of abstract speech-gesture information, which were measured pre-post training through standardized psychological questionnaires and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, respectively.Results: Pre-training, patients showed reduced quality of life as compared to controls but improved significantly during the training. Strikingly, this improvement was correlated with neural activation changes in the middle temporal gyrus for the processing of abstract multimodal content. Conclusion: With this study, we provide first promising results of a novel multimodal speech-gesture training for patients with schizophrenia. We could link training induced changes in speech-gesture processing to changes in quality of life, demonstrating the relevance of intact communication skills and gesture processing for well-being.

scholarly journals Resting state functional connectivity in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis with mild disability – a data driven, whole brain multivoxel pattern analysis study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gowthami Nair ◽  
Sruthi S Nair ◽  
K M Arun ◽  
Paul B Camacho ◽  
Elshal Bava ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Relapsing Remitting ◽  
Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) has emerged as a powerful unbiased approach for generating seed regions of interest (ROIs) in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis in a data-driven manner. The aim of the present study was to investigate RSFC differences between persons with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and healthy controls (HCs). We performed a whole-brain connectome-wide MVPA in 50 RRMS patients with expanded disability status scale ≤4 and 50 age and gender-matched HCs. Significant group differences were noted in RSFC in 9 clusters distributed in 7 regions; right middle frontal gyrus, frontal medial cortex, left frontal pole, anterior cingulate gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, left posterior middle temporal gyrus and right lateral occipital cortex. Whole-brain seed-to-voxel RSFC characterization of these clusters as seed ROIs revealed significantly increased RSFC to the posterior brain regions (bilateral superior lateral occipital cortices, right lingual gyrus and left occipital pole) and reduced connectivity in the anterior and medial regions (right paracingulate gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, left amygdala and left frontal orbital cortex) in RRMS compared to HCs. The results of this study agree with the previous reports on abnormalities of RSFC in RRMS, the cognitive and clinical implications of which are discussed herein.

A Novel Multimodal Speech-Gesture Training and Its Impact on Quality of Life and Neural Processing in Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Riedl ◽  
Arne Nagels ◽  
Gebhard Sammer ◽  
Momoko Choudhury ◽  
Annika Nonnenmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Schizophrenia Spectrum

Introduction: Dysfunctional social communication is one of the most stable characteristics in patients with schizophrenia that severely affects quality of life. Interpreting abstract speech and integrating nonverbal information is particularly affected which has been associated with neural dysfunctions in temporal lobe regions. Objectives: Considering the difficulty to treat communication dysfunctions with usual intervention, we investigated the possibility to improve quality of life and co-verbal gesture processing in patients with schizophrenia by applying a multimodal speech-gesture training (MSG training).Methods: In the MSG training, we offered eight sessions (60 min each) of training including perceptive and expressive tasks as well as meta-learning elements and transfer exercises to 29 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). Patients were randomized to a waiting-first group (N=20) or a training-first group (N=9), and were compared to healthy controls (N=17). Outcomes were quality of life and related changes in the neural processing of abstract speech-gesture information, which were measured pre-post training through standardized psychological questionnaires and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, respectively.Results: Pre-training, patients showed reduced quality of life as compared to controls but improved significantly during the training. Strikingly, this improvement was correlated with neural activation changes in the middle temporal gyrus for the processing of abstract multimodal content. Conclusion: With this study, we provide first promising results of a novel multimodal speech-gesture training for patients with schizophrenia. We could link training induced changes in speech-gesture processing to changes in quality of life, demonstrating the relevance of intact communication skills and gesture processing for well-being.

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