Neuroscience of synesthesia and cross-modal associations

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Neckar ◽  
Petr Bob
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Behavioral Aspects ◽  
Stimulation Of

AbstractSynesthesia is a condition in which stimulation of one sensory modality causes unusual experiences in a different, unstimulated modality. Recent findings suggest that research on synesthesia offers a unique opportunity to study the neural basis of subjective experiences in healthy and pathological brains. This review summarizes and reflects current knowledge concerning synesthesia in its various aspects, including its cognitive, neural, and behavioral aspects. In this context, recent data suggest new connections between specific conditions related to synesthesic mechanisms and association processes linked to construction of synesthetic cross-modal metaphors that may play a role in psychopathological thinking and imagination.

scholarly journals The fruitless gene affects female receptivity and species isolation

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1923) ◽  
pp. 20192765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tabashir Chowdhury ◽  
Ryan M. Calhoun ◽  
Katrina Bruch ◽  
Amanda J. Moehring
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Female Receptivity ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Multiple Transcripts ◽  
Female Behaviour ◽  
Substrate Vibrations

Female mate rejection acts as a major selective force within species, and can serve as a reproductive barrier between species. In spite of its critical role in fitness and reproduction, surprisingly little is known about the genetic or neural basis of variation in female mate choice. Here, we identify fruitless as a gene affecting female receptivity within Drosophila melanogaster , as well as female Drosophila simulans rejection of male D. melanogaster . Of the multiple transcripts this gene produces, by far the most widely studied is the sex-specifically spliced transcript involved in the sex determination pathway. However, we find that female rejection behaviour is affected by a non-sex-specifically spliced fruitless transcript. This is the first implication of fruitless in female behaviour, and the first behavioural role identified for a fruitless non-sex-specifically spliced transcript. We found that this locus does not influence preferences via a single sensory modality, examining courtship song, antennal pheromone perception, or perception of substrate vibrations, and we conclude that fruitless influences mate choice via the integration of multiple signals or through another sensory modality.

scholarly journals Multimodal Medullary Neurons and Correlational Linkages of the Respiratory Network

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongzeng Li ◽  
Kendall F. Morris ◽  
David M. Baekey ◽  
Roger Shannon ◽  
Bruce G. Lindsey
Keyword(s):  
Firing Rate ◽  
Nucleus Tractus Solitarius ◽  
Motor Pattern ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Spike Trains ◽  
Negative Feedback Regulation ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Respiratory Network ◽  
Cross Correlation Analysis ◽  
Stimulation Of

This study addresses the hypothesis that multiple sensory systems, each capable of reflexly altering breathing, jointly influence neurons of the brain stem respiratory network. Carotid chemoreceptors, baroreceptors, and foot pad nociceptors were stimulated sequentially in 33 Dial-urethan–anesthetized or decerebrate vagotomized adult cats. Neuronal impulses were monitored with microelectrode arrays in the rostral and caudal ventral respiratory group (VRG), nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), and n. raphe obscurus. Efferent phrenic nerve activity was recorded. Spike trains of 889 neurons were analyzed with cycle-triggered histograms and tested for respiratory-modulated firing rates. Responses to stimulus protocols were assessed with peristimulus time and cumulative sum histograms. Cross-correlation analysis was used to test for nonrandom temporal relationships between spike trains. Spike-triggered averages of efferent phrenic activity and antidromic stimulation methods provided evidence for functional associations of bulbar neurons with phrenic motoneurons. Spike train cross-correlograms were calculated for 6,471 pairs of neurons. Significant correlogram features were detected for 425 pairs, including 189 primary central peaks or troughs, 156 offset peaks or troughs, and 80 pairs with multiple peaks and troughs. The results provide evidence that correlational medullary assemblies include neurons with overlapping memberships in groups responsive to different sets of sensory modalities. The data suggest and support several hypotheses concerning cooperative relationships that modulate the respiratory motor pattern. 1) Neurons responsive to a single tested modality promote or limit changes in firing rate of multimodal target neurons. 2) Multimodal neurons contribute to changes in firing rate of neurons responsive to a single tested modality. 3) Multimodal neurons may promote responses during stimulation of one modality and “limit” changes in firing rates during stimulation of another sensory modality. 4) Caudal VRG inspiratory neurons have inhibitory connections that provide negative feedback regulation of inspiratory drive and phase duration.

scholarly journals Synaesthesia in Autism

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.B. Bogdashina
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Stimulation Of

Synaesthesia — a phenomenon of perception, when stimulation of one sensory modality triggers a perception in one or more other sensory modalities. Synaesthesia is not uniform and can manifest itself in different ways. As the sensations and their interpretation vary in different periods of time, it makes it hard to study this phenom¬enon. The article presents the classification of different forms of synaesthesia, including sensory and cognitive; and bimodal and multimodal synaesthesia. Some synaesthetes have several forms and variants of synaesthesia, while others – just one form of it. Although synaesthesia is not specific to autism spectrum disorders, it is quite common among autistic individuals. The article deals with the most common forms of synaesthesia in autism, advantages and problems of synesthetic perception in children with autism spectrum disorders, and provides some advice to parents how to recognise synaesthesia in children with autism.

Word recognition in aphasia

2007 ◽  
pp. 140-156
Author(s):  
Sheila Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Sentential Context ◽  
The Face ◽  
Speech And Language Processing

This article reviews current knowledge about the nature of auditory word recognition deficits in aphasia. It assumes that the language functioning of adults with aphasia was normal prior to sustaining brain injury, and that their word recognition system was intact. As a consequence, the study of aphasia provides insight into how damage to particular areas of the brain affects speech and language processing, and thus provides a crucial step in mapping out the neural systems underlying speech and language processing. To this end, much of the discussion focuses on word recognition deficits in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics, two clinical syndromes that have provided the basis for much of the study of the neural basis of language. Clinically, Broca's aphasics have a profound expressive impairment in the face of relatively good auditory language comprehension. This article also considers deficits in processing the sound structure of language, graded activation of the lexicon, lexical competition, influence of word recognition on speech processing, and influence of sentential context on word recognition.

Microelectrode study of dorsal spinocerebellar tract

1962 ◽  
Vol 203 (5) ◽  
pp. 799-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. T. Kitai ◽  
F. Morin
Keyword(s):  
Hind Limb ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
The Body ◽  
Joint Movement ◽  
Ipsilateral Side ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Spinocerebellar Tract ◽  
Stimulation Of

The dorsal spinocerebellar tract (DSCT) at C-1, C-2, and the lower medulla level was studied with microelectrodes in lightly anesthetized cats. All responses were obtained from the stimulation of the ipsilateral side of the body. The sensory modalities activating the total of 242 fibers studied were touch (53%), pressure (31%), touch and pressure (2%), and joint movement (14%). Responses to touch were more numerous for the forelimb, while responses to pressure and to joint movement were more numerous for the hind limb. Regardless of modalities the trunk was significantly less represented in the DSCT than the limbs. Tactile and pressure peripheral fields were restricted (i.e., a few hairs of a paw) and large (i.e., more than one segment of a limb). The ratio of restricted to large fields for touch was 7 to 1, and for pressure 5 to 1. Fibers activated by joint movements adjusted their frequency of firing to the degree of displacement and to the rate of the movement. There was no evidence for a separate anatomical segregation of fibers responding to a single sensory modality.

Modulation of neglect hemianesthesia by transcutaneous electrical stimulation

1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 452-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Vallar ◽  
Maria Luisa Rusconi ◽  
Bruno Bernardini
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Tactile Perception ◽  
The Body ◽  
Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Left Brain ◽  
Right Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

AbstractThe effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation on deficits of tactile perception contralateral to a hemispheric lesion were investigated in 10 right brain-damaged patients and in four left brain-damaged patients. The somatosensory deficit recovered, transiently and in part, after stimulation of the side of the neck contralateral to the side of the lesion, in all 10 patients with lesions in the right hemisphere, both with (six cases) and without (four cases) left visuo-spatial hemineglect, and in one left brain-damaged patient with right hemineglect. In three left brain-damaged patients without hemineglect, the treatment had no detectable effects. In one right brain-damaged patient, the stimulation of the side of the neck ipsilateral to the side of the lesion temporarily worsened the somatosensory deficit. These effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation are similar to those of vestibular stimulation. The suggestion is made that these treatments modulate, through afferent sensory pathways, higher-order spatial representations of the body, which are pathologically distorted toward the side of the lesion. The modulatory effect is direction-specific: the defective internal representation of the contralesional side may be either partly restored, improving the disorder of tactile perception, or further impoverished, worsening the deficit. The possible neural basis of this modulation is discussed. (JINS, 1996, 2, 452–459.)

scholarly journals Changes in corticospinal excitability during reach adaptation in force fields

2013 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry ◽  
Mohammad Ali Ahmadi-Pajouh ◽  
Michelle D. Harran ◽  
Yousef Salimpour ◽  
Reza Shadmehr
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Motor Evoked Potentials ◽  
Corticospinal Excitability ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Gradual Group ◽  
Specific Increase ◽  
Stimulation Of

Both abrupt and gradually imposed perturbations produce adaptive changes in motor output, but the neural basis of adaptation may be distinct. Here, we measured the state of the primary motor cortex (M1) and the corticospinal network during adaptation by measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) before reach onset using transcranial magnetic stimulation of M1. Subjects reached in a force field in a schedule in which the field was introduced either abruptly or gradually over many trials. In both groups, by end of the training, muscles that countered the perturbation in a given direction increased their activity during the reach (labeled as the on direction for each muscle). In the abrupt group, in the period before the reach toward the on direction, MEPs in these muscles also increased, suggesting a direction-specific increase in the excitability of the corticospinal network. However, in the gradual group, these MEP changes were missing. After training, there was a period of washout. The MEPs did not return to baseline. Rather, in the abrupt group, off direction MEPs increased to match on direction MEPs. Therefore, we observed changes in corticospinal excitability in the abrupt but not gradual condition. Abrupt training includes the repetition of motor commands, and repetition may be the key factor that produces this plasticity. Furthermore, washout did not return MEPs to baseline, suggesting that washout engaged a new network that masked but did not erase the effects of previous adaptation. Abrupt but not gradual training appears to induce changes in M1 and/or corticospinal networks.

scholarly journals Reading Modality Modifies Reading Network: Insights from Neural basis of Braille in Proficient Blind Readers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyu Tian ◽  
Elizabeth J. Saccone ◽  
Judy S. Kim ◽  
Shipra Kanjlia ◽  
Marina Bedny
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Cortical Function ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Physical Features ◽  
Blind Individuals ◽  
Parietal Cortices ◽  
Visual Reading

The neural basis of reading is highly consistent across a variety of languages and visual scripts. An unanswered question is whether the sensory modality of symbols influences the neural basis of reading. According to the modality-invariant view, reading depends on the same neural mechanisms regardless of the sensory input modality. Consistent with this idea, previous studies find that the visual word form area (VWFA) within the ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOTC) is active when blind individuals read Braille by touch. However, connectivity-based theories of brain function suggest that the neural entry point of written symbols (touch vs. vision) may influence the neural architecture of reading. We compared the neural basis of the visual print (sighted n=15) and tactile Braille (congenitally blind n=19) in proficient readers using analogous reading and listening tasks. Written stimuli varied in word-likeness from real words to consonant strings and non-letter shape strings. Auditory stimuli consisted of words and backward speech sounds. Consistent with prior work, vOTC was active during Braille and visual reading. However, in sighted readers, visual print elicited a posterior/anterior vOTC word-form gradient: anterior vOTC preferred larger orthographic units (words), middle vOTC preferring consonant strings, and posterior vOTC responded to shapes (i.e., lower-level physical features). No such gradient was observed in blind readers of Braille. Consistent with connectivity predictions, in blind Braille readers, posterior parietal cortices (PPC) and parieto-occipital areas were recruited to a greater degree and PPC contained word-preferring patches. Lateralization of Braille in blind readers was predicted by laterality of spoken language, as well as by reading hand. These results suggested that the neural basis of reading is influenced by symbol modality and support connectivity-based views of cortical function.

scholarly journals 8-Prenylnaringenin from hop (Humulus lupulus L.) – a panacea for menopause?

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldona Minecka ◽  
Maria Zych ◽  
Ilona Kaczmarczyk-Sedlak
Keyword(s):  
Estrogen Receptor ◽  
Hormone Replacement Therapy ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Hormone Replacement ◽  
Hot Flashes ◽  
Humulus Lupulus ◽  
Humulus Lupulus L ◽  
Strong Stimulation ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Stimulation Of

Summary 8-Prenylnaryngenin (8-PN) is the strongest known phytoestrogen (PE). Its main source is the female inflorescences of hops (Humulus lupulus L.). 8-PN, which, in contrast to other PEs, is proven to have stronger activity and higher affinity for the α subtype of estrogen receptor (ER). Therefore, it may be an effective substitute for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The studies in postmenopausal women have shown its particular effectiveness in reducing hot flashes. However, a strong stimulation of uterus by 8-PN may be associated with the occurrence of adverse effects (eg. bleeding) and increase the risk of carcinogenesis. The H. lupulus extracts preparations are currently supplements which makes control of the doses used and thus increases the occurrence of uncontrolled self-treatment difficult. This paper presents the current knowledge on 8-PN and discusses the potential risks associated with use of hops to alleviate the symptoms of menopause.

Cortical Effects of Brief Daily Periods of Unrestricted Vision During Early Monocular Form Deprivation

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (5) ◽  
pp. 2856-2865 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Sakai ◽  
H. Bi ◽  
I. Maruko ◽  
B. Zhang ◽  
J. Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Response Properties ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Functional Connections ◽  
Constant Form ◽  
Normal Adults ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Stimulation Of

Experiencing daily brief periods of unrestricted vision during early monocular form deprivation prevents or reduces the degree of resulting amblyopia. To gain insight into the neural basis for these “protective” effects, we analyzed the monocular and binocular response properties of individual neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) of macaque monkeys that received intermittent unrestricted vision. Microelectrode-recording experiments revealed significant decreases in the proportion of units that were dominated by the treated eyes, and the magnitude of this ocular dominance imbalance was correlated with the degree of amblyopia. The sensitivity of V1 neurons to interocular spatial phase disparity was significantly reduced in all treated monkeys compared with normal adults. With unrestricted vision, however, there was a small but significant increase in overall disparity sensitivity. Binocular suppression was prevalent in monkeys with constant form deprivation but significantly reduced by the daily periods of unrestricted vision. If neurons exhibited consistent responses to stimulation of the treated eye, monocular response properties obtained by stimulation of the two eyes were similar. These results suggest that the observed protective effects of brief periods of unrestricted vision are closely associated with the ability of V1 neurons to maintain their functional connections from the deprived eye and that interocular suppression in V1 may play an important role in regulating synaptic plasticity of these monkeys.

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