scholarly journals Cortical Plasticity during Motor Learning and Recovery after Ischemic Stroke

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas A. Hosp ◽  
Andreas R. Luft
Keyword(s):  
Ischemic Stroke ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Cortical Plasticity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Environmental Constraints ◽  
Cortical Circuitry ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Brain

The motor system has the ability to adapt to environmental constraints and injury to itself. This adaptation is often referred to as a form of plasticity allowing for livelong acquisition of new movements and for recovery after stroke. We are not sure whether learning and recovery work via same or similar neural mechanisms. But, all these processes require widespread changes within the matrix of the brain. Here, basic mechanisms of these adaptations on the level of cortical circuitry and networks are reviewed. We focus on the motor cortices because their role in learning and recovery has been investigated more thoroughly than other brain regions.

scholarly journals Antagonism between brain regions relevant for cognitive control and emotional memory facilitates the generation of humorous ideas

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Bitsch ◽  
Philipp Berger ◽  
Andreas Fink ◽  
Arne Nagels ◽  
Benjamin Straube ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Memory ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Frontal Brain ◽  
Successful Resolution ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe ability to generate humor gives rise to positive emotions and thus facilitate the successful resolution of adversity. Although there is consensus that inhibitory processes might be related to broaden the way of thinking, the neural underpinnings of these mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a humorous alternative uses task and a stroop task, to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying the emergence of humorous ideas in 24 subjects. Neuroimaging results indicate that greater cognitive control abilities are associated with increased activation in the amygdala, the hippocampus and the superior and medial frontal gyrus during the generation of humorous ideas. Examining the neural mechanisms more closely shows that the hypoactivation of frontal brain regions is associated with an hyperactivation in the amygdala and vice versa. This antagonistic connectivity is concurrently linked with an increased number of humorous ideas and enhanced amygdala responses during the task. Our data therefore suggests that a neural antagonism previously related to the emergence and regulation of negative affective responses, is linked with the generation of emotionally positive ideas and may represent an important neural pathway supporting mental health.

Neural Mechanisms of Negative Symptoms

1989 ◽  
Vol 155 (S7) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy C. Andreasen
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Dementia Praecox ◽  
Intellectual Abilities ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Psychic Mechanisms

When Kraepelin originally defined and described dementia praecox, he assumed that it was due to some type of neural mechanism. He hypothesised that abnormalities could occur in a variety of brain regions, including the prefrontal, auditory, and language regions of the cortex. Many members of his department, including Alzheimer and Nissl, were actively involved in the search for the neuropathological lesions that would characterise schizophrenia. Although Kraepelin did not use the term ‘negative symptoms', he describes them comprehensively and states explicitly that he believes the symptoms of schizophrenia can be explained in terms of brain dysfunction:“If it should be confirmed that the disease attacks by preference the frontal areas of the brain, the central convolutions and central lobes, this distribution would in a certain measure agree with our present views about the site of the psychic mechanisms which are principally injured by the disease. On various grounds, it is easy to believe that the frontal cortex, which is specially well developed in man, stands in closer relation to his higher intellectual abilities, and these are the faculties which in our patients invariably suffer profound loss in contrast to memory and acquired ability.” Kraepelin (1919, p. 219)

scholarly journals Separate representations of dynamics in rhythmic and discrete movements: evidence from motor learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 1722-1731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Howard ◽  
James N. Ingram ◽  
Daniel M. Wolpert
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Force Field ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Discrete Movements ◽  
Field Perturbation ◽  
Movement Path ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Separate Control

Rhythmic and discrete arm movements occur ubiquitously in everyday life, and there is a debate as to whether these two classes of movements arise from the same or different underlying neural mechanisms. Here we examine interference in a motor-learning paradigm to test whether rhythmic and discrete movements employ at least partially separate neural representations. Subjects were required to make circular movements of their right hand while they were exposed to a velocity-dependent force field that perturbed the circularity of the movement path. The direction of the force-field perturbation reversed at the end of each block of 20 revolutions. When subjects made only rhythmic or only discrete circular movements, interference was observed when switching between the two opposing force fields. However, when subjects alternated between blocks of rhythmic and discrete movements, such that each was uniquely associated with one of the perturbation directions, interference was significantly reduced. Only in this case did subjects learn to corepresent the two opposing perturbations, suggesting that different neural resources were employed for the two movement types. Our results provide further evidence that rhythmic and discrete movements employ at least partially separate control mechanisms in the motor system.

scholarly journals Somatosensory perceptual training enhances motor learning by observing

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 3017-3025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather R. McGregor ◽  
Joshua G. A. Cashaback ◽  
Paul L. Gribble
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Somatosensory System ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Functional Plasticity ◽  
Perceptual Training ◽  
Learning Group ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Somatosensory Function

Action observation activates brain regions involved in sensory-motor control. Recent research has shown that action observation can also facilitate motor learning; observing a tutor undergoing motor learning results in functional plasticity within the motor system and gains in subsequent motor performance. However, the effects of observing motor learning extend beyond the motor domain. Converging evidence suggests that observation also results in somatosensory functional plasticity and somatosensory perceptual changes. This work has raised the possibility that the somatosensory system is also involved in motor learning that results from observation. Here we tested this hypothesis using a somatosensory perceptual training paradigm. If the somatosensory system is indeed involved in motor learning by observing, then improving subjects' somatosensory function before observation should enhance subsequent motor learning by observing. Subjects performed a proprioceptive discrimination task in which a robotic manipulandum moved the arm, and subjects made judgments about the position of their hand. Subjects in a Trained Learning group received trial-by-trial feedback to improve their proprioceptive perception. Subjects in an Untrained Learning group performed the same task without feedback. All subjects then observed a learning video showing a tutor adapting her reaches to a left force field. Subjects in the Trained Learning group, who had superior proprioceptive acuity before observation, benefited more from observing learning than subjects in the Untrained Learning group. Improving somatosensory function can therefore enhance subsequent observation-related gains in motor learning. This study provides further evidence in favor of the involvement of the somatosensory system in motor learning by observing. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show that improving somatosensory performance before observation can improve the extent to which subjects learn from watching others. Somatosensory perceptual training may prime the sensory-motor system, thereby facilitating subsequent observational learning. The findings of this study suggest that the somatosensory system supports motor learning by observing. This finding may be useful if observation is incorporated as part of therapies for diseases affecting movement, such as stroke.

scholarly journals Cerebral Metabolic Relationships for Selected Brain Regions in Healthy Adults

1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Jeffrey Metter ◽  
Walter H. Riege ◽  
David E. Kuhl ◽  
Michael E. Phelps
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Emission Tomography ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Cerebral Metabolic Rate ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Metabolic Systems ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Brain

The local cerebral metabolic rate for glucose was determined in 26 regions of the brain in 31 healthy subjects who underwent resting fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Intercorrelations among the 26 regional measures were accepted as reliable at p < 0.01 (r > 0.45), uncorrected for the number of measures. From the matrix two apparently separate functional metabolic systems were identified: (1) a superior system involving the superior and middle frontal gyri, the inferior parietal lobule, and the occipital cortex; and (2) an inferior system involving the inferior frontal, Broca's, and posterior temporal regions. Evidence is presented to suggest that the superior system is involved in visual processing, memory recognition, and decision making, while the inferior system seems to at least participate in language-related functions.

On the Matrix, neuroscience and dialogue

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-474
Author(s):  
Martin Bhurruth
Keyword(s):  
Position Statement ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Chemical Systems ◽  
Level Of Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Levels ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Neuronal Connections ◽  
Biological Substrate ◽  
The Brain

The author poses a position statement that Foulkes underplayed the importance of emotions as an organizing principle in the mental life of groups, and indeed, paid very little attention to emotions in his published works. Evidence from the field of neuroscience is drawn upon to identify seven emotional neuro-chemical systems in the sub-cortical region of the brain. The fundamental emotions are: rage, fear, seeking, panic/grief, lust, care and play. The article makes a distinction between emotions, as being physiological responses triggered by neurochemical release caused by perception of both external and internal realities, whereas feelings are a higher order level of functioning at cognitive levels that can articulate cause, meaning and symbolism of the more visceral emotional experiences. The article puts forward the idea that emotions are the biological substrate of the Foundation Matrix, linking all of humanity and the mammalian world. In turn, groups and individuals have valences to particular emotional responses and this will be demonstrated with examples from the Personal, Social and Dynamic Matrices. An elaboration of the concept of dialogue, within the wider sphere of communication, is put forward, which the author argues is the group analytic expression of love (care). Love is mutative and facilitates the plasticity of the brain/mind relationship encouraging new neuronal connections to be made, linking sub-cortical brain regions with the neo-cortex thinking cap.

Neural Mechanisms of Memory Enhancement and Impairment Induced by Visual Statistical Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 1749-1763
Author(s):  
Sachio Otsuka ◽  
Jun Saiki
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Memory Enhancement ◽  
Visual Statistical Learning ◽  
Mechanisms Of Memory ◽  
The Brain

Prior research has reported that the medial temporal, parietal, and frontal brain regions are associated with visual statistical learning (VSL). However, the neural mechanisms involved in both memory enhancement and impairment induced by VSL remain unknown. In this study, we examined this issue using event-related fMRI. fMRI data from the familiarization scan showed a difference in the activation level of the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) between structured triplets, where three objects appeared in the same order, and pseudorandom triplets. More importantly, the precentral gyrus and paracentral lobule responded more strongly to Old Turkic letters inserted into the structured triplets than to those inserted into the random triplets, at the end of the familiarization scan. Furthermore, fMRI data from the recognition memory test scan, where participants were asked to decide whether the objects or letters shown were old (presented during familiarization scan) or new, indicated that the middle frontal gyrus and SFG responded more strongly to objects from the structured triplets than to those from the random triplets, which overlapped with the brain regions associated with VSL. In contrast, the response of the lingual gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and cuneus was weaker to letters inserted into the structured triplets than to those inserted into the random triplets, which did not overlap with the brain regions associated with observing the letters during the familiarization scan. These findings suggest that different brain regions are involved in memory enhancement and impairment induced by VSL.

scholarly journals Size of Error Affects Cerebellar Contributions to Motor Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 2275-2284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Criscimagna-Hemminger ◽  
Amy J. Bastian ◽  
Reza Shadmehr
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Reaching Movements ◽  
Motor Memory ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Large Magnitude ◽  
Cerebellar Damage ◽  
Latent Ability ◽  
The Brain

Small errors may affect the process of learning in a fundamentally different way than large errors. For example, adapting reaching movements in response to a small perturbation produces generalization patterns that are different from large perturbations. Are distinct neural mechanisms engaged in response to large versus small errors? Here, we examined the motor learning process in patients with severe degeneration of the cerebellum. Consistent with earlier reports, we found that the patients were profoundly impaired in adapting their motor commands during reaching movements in response to large, sudden perturbations. However, when the same magnitude perturbation was imposed gradually over many trials, the patients showed marked improvements, uncovering a latent ability to learn from errors. On sudden removal of the perturbation, the patients exhibited aftereffects that persisted much longer than did those in healthy controls. That is, despite cerebellar damage, the brain maintained the ability to learn from small errors and the motor memory that resulted from this learning was strongly resistant to change. Of note was the fact that on completion of learning, the motor output of the cerebellar patients remained distinct from healthy controls in terms of its temporal characteristics. Therefore cerebellar degeneration impaired the ability to learn from large-magnitude errors, but had a lesser impact on learning from small errors. The neural basis of motor learning in response to small and large errors appears to be distinct.

scholarly journals Antagonism Between Brain Regions Relevant for Cognitive Control and Emotional Memory Facilitates the Generation of Humorous Ideas

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Bitsch ◽  
Philipp Berger ◽  
Andreas Fink ◽  
Arne Nagels ◽  
Benjamin Straube ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Memory ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Frontal Brain ◽  
Successful Resolution ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe ability to generate humor gives rise to positive emotions and thus facilitate the successful resolution of adversity. Although there is consensus that inhibitory processes might be related to broaden the way of thinking, the neural underpinnings of these mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a humorous alternative uses task and a stroop task, to investigate the brain mechanisms underlying the emergence of humorous ideas in 24 subjects. Neuroimaging results indicate that greater cognitive control abilities are associated with increased activation in the amygdala, the hippocampus and the superior and medial frontal gyrus during the generation of humorous ideas. Examining the neural mechanisms more closely shows that the downregulation of frontal brain regions is associated with an upregulation in the amygdala, which is concurrently linked with an increased number of humorous ideas and enhanced amygdala responses during the task. Our data therefore suggests that a neural antagonism previously related to the emergence and regulation of negative affective responses, is linked with the generation of emotionally positive ideas and may represent an important neural pathway supporting mental health.

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