Neural Dynamics of Context-Sensitive Adjustments in Cognitive Flexibility

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Audrey Siqi-Liu ◽  
Tobias Egner ◽  
Marty G. Woldorff
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Strong Focus ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Neural Underpinnings

Abstract To adaptively interact with the uncertainties of daily life, we must match our level of cognitive flexibility to contextual demands—being more flexible when frequent shifting between different tasks is required and more stable when the current task requires a strong focus of attention. Such cognitive flexibility adjustments in response to changing contextual demands have been observed in cued task-switching paradigms, where the performance cost incurred by switching versus repeating tasks (switch cost) scales inversely with the proportion of switches (PS) within a block of trials. However, the neural underpinnings of these adjustments in cognitive flexibility are not well understood. Here, we recorded 64-channel EEG measures of electrical brain activity as participants switched between letter and digit categorization tasks in varying PS contexts, from which we extracted ERPs elicited by the task cue and alpha power differences during the cue-to-target interval and the resting precue period. The temporal resolution of the EEG allowed us to test whether contextual adjustments in cognitive flexibility are mediated by tonic changes in processing mode or by changes in phasic, task cue-triggered processes. We observed reliable modulation of behavioral switch cost by PS context that was mirrored in both cue-evoked ERP and time–frequency effects but not by blockwide precue EEG changes. These results indicate that different levels of cognitive flexibility are instantiated after the presentation of task cues, rather than by being maintained as a tonic state throughout low- or high-switch contexts.

scholarly journals Caffeine boosts preparatory attention for reward-related stimulus information

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berry van den Berg ◽  
Marlon de Jong ◽  
Marty G. Woldorff ◽  
Monicque M. Lorist
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Caffeine Intake ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Placebo Condition ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Preparatory Attention ◽  
Stroop Stimulus

AbstractBoth the intake of caffeine-containing substances and the prospect of reward for performing a cognitive task have been associated with improved behavioral performance. To investigate the possible common and interactive influences of caffeine and reward-prospect on preparatory attention, we tested 24 participants during a 2-session experiment in which they performed a cued-reward color-word Stroop task. On each trial, participants were presented with a cue to inform them whether they had to prepare for presentation of a Stroop stimulus and whether they could receive a reward if they performed well on that trial. Prior to each session, participants received either coffee with caffeine (3 mg/kg bodyweight) or with placebo (3 mg/kg bodyweight lactose). In addition to behavioral measures, electroencephalography (EEG) measures of electrical brain activity were recorded. Results showed that both the intake of caffeine and the prospect of reward improved speed and accuracy, with the effects of caffeine and reward-prospect being additive on performance. Neurally, reward-prospect resulted in an enlarged contingent negative variation (CNV) and reduced posterior alpha power (indicating increased cortical activity), both hallmark neural markers for preparatory attention. Moreover, the CNV enhancement for reward-prospect trials was considerably more pronounced in the caffeine condition as compared to the placebo condition. These results thus suggest that caffeine intake boosts preparatory attention for task-relevant information, especially when performance on that task can lead to reward.

Auditory modulation of oscillatory activity in extra-striate visual cortex and its contribution to audio–visual multisensory integration: A human intracranial EEG study

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Manuel R. Mercier ◽  
John J. Foxe ◽  
Ian C. Fiebelkorn ◽  
John S. Butler ◽  
Theodore H. Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Additive Model ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Sensory Cortices

Investigations have traditionally focused on activity in the sensory cortices as a function of their respective sensory inputs. However, converging evidence from multisensory research has shown that neural activity in a given sensory region can be modulated by stimulation of other so-called ancillary sensory systems. Both electrophysiology and functional imaging support the occurrence of multisensory processing in human sensory cortex based on the latency of multisensory effects and their precise anatomical localization. Still, due to inherent methodological limitations, direct evidence of the precise mechanisms by which multisensory integration occurs within human sensory cortices is lacking. Using intracranial recordings in epileptic patients () undergoing presurgical evaluation, we investigated the neurophysiological basis of multisensory integration in visual cortex. Subdural electrical brain activity was recorded while patients performed a simple detection task of randomly ordered Auditory alone (A), Visual alone (V) and Audio–Visual stimuli (AV). We then performed time-frequency analysis: first we investigated each condition separately to evaluate responses compared to baseline, then we indexed multisensory integration using both the maximum criterion model (AV vs. V) and the additive model (AV vs. A+V). Our results show that auditory input significantly modulates neuronal activity in visual cortex by resetting the phase of ongoing oscillatory activity. This in turn leads to multisensory integration when auditory and visual stimuli are simultaneously presented.

Different Frequency Bands of Electromagnetic Wave on Age-Related Developmental Changes

2013 ◽  
Vol 479-480 ◽  
pp. 480-485
Author(s):  
Ming Chung Ho ◽  
Chin Fei Huang ◽  
Chia Yi Chou ◽  
Ming Chi Lu ◽  
Chen Hsieh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Power ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Phase Locking ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Brain Dynamics ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Related Potentials

Brain dynamics is an important issue in understanding child development. However, very little research of the event-related responses has been used to explore changes during childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate mature changes in spatiotemporal organization of brain dynamics. We hypothesized that oscillatory event-related brain activity were affected by age-related changes. The sample include three age groups, namely 7 years (N = 18), 11 years (N = 18), and adults (N = 18). The event-related spectral power (ERPSP), and inter-trial phase locking (ITPL) of the event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained from the time-frequency analysis of the auditory oddball task. Results revealed that: (a) decreased theta power, but alpha power increased with age; (b) the values of ITPL in the theta and alpha bands increased with age. These suggest that ERPSP, and ITPL provide useful indicators of cognitive maturation processes in children aged 7 and 11 years.

scholarly journals Oscillatory Brain Activity in the Time Frequency Domain Associated to Change Blindness and Change Detection Awareness

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro Darriba ◽  
Paula Pazo-Álvarez ◽  
Almudena Capilla ◽  
Elena Amenedo
Keyword(s):  
Change Detection ◽  
Frequency Analysis ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Change Blindness ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Time Frequency Analysis ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Theta Power ◽  
Oscillatory Brain Activity

Despite the importance of change detection (CD) for visual perception and for performance in our environment, observers often miss changes that should be easily noticed. In the present study, we employed time–frequency analysis to investigate the neural activity associated with CD and change blindness (CB). Observers were presented with two successive visual displays and had to look for a change in orientation in any one of four sinusoid gratings between both displays. Theta power increased widely over the scalp after the second display when a change was consciously detected. Relative to no-change and CD, CB was associated with a pronounced theta power enhancement at parietal-occipital and occipital sites and broadly distributed alpha power suppression during the processing of the prechange display. Finally, power suppressions in the beta band following the second display show that, even when a change is not consciously detected, it might be represented to a certain degree. These results show the potential of time–frequency analysis to deepen our knowledge of the temporal curse of the neural events underlying CD. The results further reveal that the process resulting in CB begins even before the occurrence of the change itself.

scholarly journals An EEG Study of a Confusing State Induced by Information Insufficiency during Mathematical Problem-Solving and Reasoning

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Liang ◽  
Xiaojian Liu ◽  
Lemiao Qiu ◽  
Shuyou Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Mathematical Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive State ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Implicit Information ◽  
Significant Difference

Confusion is a complex cognitive state that is prevalent during learning and problem-solving. The aim of this study is to explore the brain activity reflected by electroencephalography (EEG) during a confusing state induced by two kinds of information insufficiencies during mathematical problem-solving, namely, an explicit situation that clearly lacked information and an implicit situation in which the missing information was hidden in the problem itself, and whether there is an EEG difference between these two situations. Two experimental tasks and three control tasks were created. Short time Fourier transformation (STFT) was used for time-frequency analysis; then the alpha task-related-power (TRP) changes and distributions, which are closely related to cognitive processing, were calculated, and repeated measures ANOVA were performed to find the significant difference between task conditions. The results showed that the alpha power decreased significantly in the regions related to calculation when the participants encountered both explicit and implicit information insufficiency tasks compared to the control tasks, suggesting that confusion can cause more brain activity in the cortical regions related to the tasks that induce confusion. In addition, the implicit information insufficiency task elicited more activity in the parietal and right temporal regions, whereas the explicit information insufficiency task elicited additional activity in the frontal lobe, which revealed that the frontal region is related to the processing of novel or unfamiliar information and the parietal-temporal regions are involved in sustained attention or reorientation during confusing states induced by information insufficiency. In conclusion, this study has preliminarily investigated the EEG characteristics of confusion states, suggests that EEG is a promising methodology to detect confusion, and provides a basis for future studies aiming to achieve automatic recognition of confusing states.

scholarly journals Caffeine Boosts Preparatory Attention for Reward-related Stimulus Information

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-118
Author(s):  
Berry van den Berg ◽  
Marlon de Jong ◽  
Marty G. Woldorff ◽  
Monicque M. Lorist
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Placebo Condition ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Preparatory Attention ◽  
Decaffeinated Coffee ◽  
Stroop Stimulus

The intake of caffeine and the prospect of reward have both been associated with increased arousal, enhanced attention, and improved behavioral performance on cognitive tasks, but how they interact to exert these effects is not well understood. To investigate this question, we had participants engage in a two-session cued-reward cognitive task while we recorded their electrical brain activity using scalp electroencephalography. The cue indicated whether monetary reward could be received for fast and accurate responses to a color–word Stroop stimulus that followed. Before each session, participants ingested decaffeinated coffee with either caffeine (3-mg/kg bodyweight) or placebo (3-mg/kg bodyweight lactose). The behavioral results showed that both caffeine and reward-prospect improved response accuracy and speed. In the brain, reward-prospect resulted in an enlarged frontocentral slow wave (contingent negative variation, or CNV) and reduced posterior alpha power (indicating increased cortical activity) before stimulus presentation, both neural markers for preparatory attention. Moreover, the CNV enhancement for reward-prospect trials was considerably more pronounced in the caffeine condition as compared to the placebo condition. These interactive neural enhancements due to caffeine and reward-prospect were mainly visible in preparatory attention activity triggered by the cue (CNV). In addition, some interactive neural enhancements in the processing of the Stroop target stimulus that followed were also observed. The results suggest that caffeine facilitates the neural processes underlying attentional preparation and stimulus processing, especially for task-relevant information.

Non-invasive evaluation of electrical brain activity: effects of non-medicative treatment and subject’s state

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
Inga Griškova-Bulanova
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Autonomic Nervous System ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
System Response ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Autonomic Nervous ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Auditory Responses ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients

Introduction. The electroencephalogram (EEG) and evoked potentials (EPs) are widely used in psychiatry. Thus, it is important to standardize recording conditions according to instructions, arousal and attention levels of the subject. Also, it is important to evaluate the effect of nonpharmacologic treatment (electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)) on EEG and EPs. In this paper, an overview of researches, conducted in the above mentioned directions in Lithuania, is given. Materials and methods. EEG was recorded using standard protocols; P300, P50 and auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) were elicited. 44 schizophrenic patients, 25 depressive patients and 136 healthy subjects were investigated. Effects of ECT treatment, 10 Hz TMS procedure, and varying attention and arousal levels on EEG/EPs were investigated. Results. ECT had no negative impact on P300; alongside with clinical response, normalization of P300 parameters occurred. It was related to subject’s age and autonomic nervous system response during the treatment. A single 10 Hz TMS procedure produced a profound increase in the delta power of background EEG. In lower arousal level conditions, higher and more precise P50 potential, ASSR and background alpha power were observed. During distraction task performance, reduced gamma band response and ASSR, and increased background gamma power were observed. Conclusions. During the treatment course of ECT it is recommended to evaluate P300 potential changes and to monitor subject’s indices of the autonomic nervous system function, as these are related to clinical efficiency. Passively elicited auditory responses should be registered during low arousal unfocused attention conditions when the most precise responses of the highest amplitude are registered.

scholarly journals Distinct Patterns of Neural Activity during Memory Formation of Nonwords versus Words

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1776-1789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leun J. Otten ◽  
Josefin Sveen ◽  
Angela H. Quayle
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Item Type ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Incidental Encoding ◽  
The Brain

Research into the neural underpinnings of memory formation has focused on the encoding of familiar verbal information. Here, we address how the brain supports the encoding of novel information that does not have meaning. Electrical brain activity was recorded from the scalps of healthy young adults while they performed an incidental encoding task (syllable judgments) on separate series of words and “nonwords” (nonsense letter strings that are orthographically legal and pronounceable). Memory for the items was then probed with a recognition memory test. For words as well as nonwords, event-related potentials differed depending on whether an item would subsequently be remembered or forgotten. However, the polarity and timing of the effect varied across item type. For words, subsequently remembered items showed the usually observed positive-going, frontally distributed modulation from around 600 msec after word onset. For nonwords, by contrast, a negative-going, spatially widespread modulation predicted encoding success from 1000 msec onward. Nonwords also showed a modulation shortly after item onset. These findings imply that the brain supports the encoding of familiar and unfamiliar letter strings in qualitatively different ways, including the engagement of distinct neural activity at different points in time. The processing of semantic attributes plays an important role in the encoding of words and the associated positive frontal modulation.

scholarly journals Associations between sensory processing and electrophysiological and neurochemical measures in children with ASD: an EEG-MRS study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Pierce ◽  
Girija Kadlaskar ◽  
David A. Edmondson ◽  
Rebecca McNally Keehn ◽  
Ulrike Dydak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Processing Differences

Abstract Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with hyper- and/or hypo-sensitivity to sensory input. Spontaneous alpha power, which plays an important role in shaping responsivity to sensory information, is reduced across the lifespan in individuals with ASD. Furthermore, an excitatory/inhibitory imbalance has also been linked to sensory dysfunction in ASD and has been hypothesized to underlie atypical patterns of spontaneous brain activity. The present study examined whether resting-state alpha power differed in children with ASD as compared to TD children, and investigated the relationships between alpha levels, concentrations of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, and atypical sensory processing in ASD. Methods Participants included thirty-one children and adolescents with ASD and thirty-one age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) participants. Resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) was used to obtain measures of alpha power. A subset of participants (ASD = 16; TD = 16) also completed a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) protocol in order to measure concentrations of excitatory (glutamate + glutamine; Glx) and inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmitters. Results Children with ASD evidenced significantly decreased resting alpha power compared to their TD peers. MRS estimates of GABA and Glx did not differ between groups with the exception of Glx in the temporal-parietal junction. Inter-individual differences in alpha power within the ASD group were not associated with region-specific concentrations of GABA or Glx, nor were they associated with sensory processing differences. However, atypically decreased Glx was associated with increased sensory impairment in children with ASD. Conclusions Although we replicated prior reports of decreased alpha power in ASD, atypically reduced alpha was not related to neurochemical differences or sensory symptoms in ASD. Instead, reduced Glx in the temporal-parietal cortex was associated with greater hyper-sensitivity in ASD. Together, these findings may provide insight into the neural underpinnings of sensory processing differences present in ASD.

scholarly journals Human personality reflects spatio-temporal and time-frequency EEG structure

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia E. Runnova ◽  
Vladimir A. Maksimenko ◽  
Maksim O. Zhuravlev ◽  
Pavel Protasov ◽  
Roman Kulanin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Personality Factor ◽  
Human Personality ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Oscillatory Pattern ◽  
Neuronal Network Dynamics ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe brain controls all physiological processes in the organism and regulates its interaction with the external environment. The way the brain solves mental tasks is determined by individual human features, which are reflected in neuronal network dynamics, and therefore can be detected in neurophysiological data. Every human action is associated with a unique brain activity (motor-related, cognitive, etc.) represented by a specific oscillatory pattern in a multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG). The connection between neurophysiological processes and personal mental characteristics is manifested when using simple psycho-diagnostic tests (Schulte tables) in order to study the attention span. The analysis of spatio-temporal and time-frequency structures of the multichannel EEG using the Schulte tables allows us to divide subjects into three groups depending on their neural activity. The personality multi-factor profile of every participant can be individually described based on both the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and a personal interview with an experienced psychologist. The correlation of the EEG-based personality classification with individual multi-factor profiles provides a possibility to identify human personality by analyzing electrical brain activity. The obtained results are of great interest for testing human personality and creating automatized intelligent programs that employ simple tests and EEG measurements for an objective estimation of human personality features.

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