Web addiction in the brain: Cortical oscillations, autonomic activity, and behavioral measures

Handwriting experience can have significant effects on the ability of young children to recognize letters. Why handwriting has this facilitative effect and how this is accomplished were explored in a series of studies using overt behavioral measures and functional neuroimaging of the brain in 4- to 5-year-old children. My colleagues and I showed that early handwriting practice affects visual symbol recognition because it results in the production of variable visual forms that aid in symbol understanding. Further, the mechanisms that support this understanding lay in the communication between visual and motor systems in the brain: Handwriting serves to link visual processing with motor experience, facilitating subsequent letter recognition skills. These results are interpreted in the larger context of the facilitatory effect that learning through action has on perceptual capabilities.

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Behavioral Measures and EEG Monitoring Using the Brain Symmetry Index during the Wada-Test in Children (P04.029)

Neurology ◽

10.1212/wnl.78.1_meetingabstracts.p04.029 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 78 (Meeting Abstracts 1) ◽

pp. P04.029-P04.029

Author(s):

M. Tomas-Fernandez ◽

T. Loddenkemper ◽

M. Van Putten ◽

J. Peters

Keyword(s):

Eeg Monitoring ◽

Wada Test ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Symmetry Index ◽

The Brain

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The structure of behavioral variation within a genotype

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.64988 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Zachary Werkhoven ◽

Alyssa Bravin ◽

Kyobi Skutt-Kakaria ◽

Pablo Reimers ◽

Luisa F Pallares ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Behavioral Syndromes ◽

Conceptual Frameworks ◽

Biological Mechanisms ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Behavioral Variation ◽

Neural Populations ◽

The Brain

Individual animals vary in their behaviors. This is true even when they share the same genotype and were reared in the same environment. Clusters of covarying behaviors constitute behavioral syndromes, and an individual’s position along such axes of covariation is a representation of their personality. Despite these conceptual frameworks, the structure of behavioral covariation within a genotype is essentially uncharacterized and its mechanistic origins unknown. Passing hundreds of inbred Drosophila individuals through an experimental pipeline that captured hundreds of behavioral measures, we found sparse but significant correlations among small sets of behaviors. Thus, the space of behavioral variation has many independent dimensions. Manipulating the physiology of the brain, and specific neural populations, altered specific correlations. We also observed that variation in gene expression can predict an individual’s position on some behavioral axes. This work represents the first steps in understanding the biological mechanisms determining the structure of behavioral variation within a genotype.

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Autonomic Activity and Induced Convulsions

Journal of Mental Science ◽

10.1192/bjp.92.386.146 ◽

1946 ◽

Vol 92 (386) ◽

pp. 146-149

Author(s):

F. Reitman

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Autonomic Nervous System ◽

Epileptic Activity ◽

Central Action ◽

Autonomic Activity ◽

Autonomic Nervous ◽

Cerebral Activity ◽

The Subject ◽

Convulsive Threshold ◽

The Brain

Since the influence of the autonomic nervous system on epileptic phenomena became the subject of intensive investigations, several contradictory reports have been published. Williams and Russell (1941) and Williams (1941) found that parasympathetic overactivity (induced chemically and registered by electro-encephalography) increases epileptic activity. Darrow (1944) reported opposite results, his observations being based on electrically induced parasympathetic overactivity on animals. He registered his observations by electroencephalography. Cohen, Thale and Tissenbaum (1044) induced convulsions for therapeutical purposes by administering the parasympathomimetic drug, acetylcholine, and Chatfield and Dempsey (1942) observed the production of fits in cats, when giving acetylcholine and prostigmine together. Though the results were contradictory, the main aim of all these investigations was to establish the cholinergic neurohumoral changes in relation to epilepsy. But, as Williams pointed out, it is impossible to say whether the results are due to a direct central action, are consequent upon changes in the pH or of a respiratory or a circulatory nature. The investigations described in this paper were devised to re-examine these problems clinically. They were based on the hypothesis that if cholinergic overactivity enhances epileptic cerebral activity, the convulsive threshold of the brain should be lowered after administration of anticholinesterases, in particular prostigmine.

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Inferences about infants’ visual brain mechanisms

Visual Neuroscience ◽

10.1017/s0952523813000497 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 30 (5-6) ◽

pp. 185-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

JANETTE ATKINSON ◽

OLIVER BRADDICK

Keyword(s):

Developmental Disorders ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Visual Sensitivity ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Behavioral Systems ◽

Visual Deficits ◽

Related Potentials ◽

The Brain ◽

Human Neuroimaging ◽

Transient And Steady State

AbstractWe discuss hypotheses that link the measurements we can make with infants to inferences about their developing neural mechanisms. First, we examine evidence from the sensitivity to visual stimulus properties seen in infants’ responses, using both electrophysiological measures (transient and steady-state recordings of visual evoked potentials/visual event-related potentials) and behavioral measures and compare this with the sensitivity of brain processes, known from data on mammalian neurophysiology and human neuroimaging. The evidence for multiple behavioral systems with different patterns of visual sensitivity is discussed. Second, we consider the analogies which can be made between infants’ behavior and that of adults with identified brain damage, and extend these links to hypothesize about the brain basis of visual deficits in infants and children with developmental disorders. Last, we consider how these lines of data might allow us to form “inverse linking hypotheses” about infants’ visual experience.

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Modulation of intercolumnar synchronization by endogenous electric fields in cerebral cortex

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.abc7772 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (10) ◽

pp. eabc7772

Author(s):

Beatriz Rebollo ◽

Bartosz Telenczuk ◽

Alvaro Navarro-Guzman ◽

Alain Destexhe ◽

Maria V. Sanchez-Vives

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Cortex ◽

Electric Fields ◽

Rhythmic Activity ◽

Cortical Columns ◽

Mediated Effects ◽

Cortical Oscillations ◽

Dipole Interactions ◽

Electric Dipoles ◽

The Brain

Neurons synaptically interacting in a conductive medium generate extracellular endogenous electric fields (EFs) that reciprocally affect membrane potential. Exogenous EFs modulate neuronal activity, and their clinical applications are being profusely explored. However, whether endogenous EFs contribute to network synchronization remains unclear. We analyzed spontaneously generated slow-wave activity in the cerebral cortex network in vitro, which allowed us to distinguish synaptic from nonsynaptic mechanisms of activity propagation and synchronization. Slow oscillations generated EFs that propagated independently of synaptic transmission. We demonstrate that cortical oscillations modulate spontaneous rhythmic activity of neighboring synaptically disconnected cortical columns if layers are aligned. We provide experimental evidence that these EF-mediated effects are compatible with electric dipoles. With a model of interacting dipoles, we reproduce the experimental measurements and predict that endogenous EF–mediated synchronizing effects should be relevant in the brain. Thus, experiments and models suggest that electric-dipole interactions contribute to synchronization of neighboring cortical columns.

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Neural Underpinnings of Phonotactic Rule Learning

Proceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology ◽

10.3765/amp.v7i0.4487 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Author(s):

Enes Avcu ◽

Ryan Rhodes ◽

Arild Hestvik

Keyword(s):

Rule Learning ◽

Simple Rule ◽

Brain Response ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Sensitivity Measure ◽

Behavioral Level ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

The Brain ◽

Exact Point

This study used behavioral measures and ERP difference waves to measure the underlying brain processes during the categorization of grammatical vs ungrammatical stimuli according to a lab learned phonotactic rule. The results show that participants learned the simple rule at the behavioral level (as measured with d-prime, a sensitivity measure to rule violations). This rule learning is also reflected in the brain response to violations of the rule, which is indexed by the P3 rare-minus-frequent difference waveform. The neural results indicate that this learning took the form of a neural commitment. Participants learned the rule and used it to make active predictions, categorizing words as ungrammatical at the exact point of violation. This ability must be instantiated at the neural level, meaning rapid neural tuning has occurred in this lab setting.

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Speech encoding by coupled cortical theta and gamma oscillations

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.06213 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

Alexandre Hyafil ◽

Lorenzo Fontolan ◽

Claire Kabdebon ◽

Boris Gutkin ◽

Anne-Lise Giraud

Keyword(s):

Parallel Processing ◽

Auditory Cortex ◽

Sensory Analysis ◽

Gamma Oscillations ◽

Theta Oscillations ◽

Rhythmic Structure ◽

Speech Encoding ◽

Cortical Oscillations ◽

Slow Speech ◽

The Brain

Many environmental stimuli present a quasi-rhythmic structure at different timescales that the brain needs to decompose and integrate. Cortical oscillations have been proposed as instruments of sensory de-multiplexing, i.e., the parallel processing of different frequency streams in sensory signals. Yet their causal role in such a process has never been demonstrated. Here, we used a neural microcircuit model to address whether coupled theta–gamma oscillations, as observed in human auditory cortex, could underpin the multiscale sensory analysis of speech. We show that, in continuous speech, theta oscillations can flexibly track the syllabic rhythm and temporally organize the phoneme-level response of gamma neurons into a code that enables syllable identification. The tracking of slow speech fluctuations by theta oscillations, and its coupling to gamma-spiking activity both appeared as critical features for accurate speech encoding. These results demonstrate that cortical oscillations can be a key instrument of speech de-multiplexing, parsing, and encoding.

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The Subgrouping Structure of Newborns with Heterogenous Brain–Behavior Relationships

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa226 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 301-311 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yuanyuan Chen ◽

Shuxin Liu ◽

Andrew Salzwedel ◽

Rebecca Stephens ◽

Emil Cornea ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Developmental Outcomes ◽

Connectivity Pattern ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Older Populations ◽

Brain Functional Connectivity ◽

Brain Behavior ◽

The Brain

Abstract The presence of heterogeneity/subgroups in infants and older populations against single-domain brain or behavioral measures has been previously characterized. However, few attempts have been made to explore heterogeneity at the brain–behavior relationship level. Such a hypothesis posits that different subgroups of infants may possess qualitatively different brain–behavior relationships that could ultimately contribute to divergent developmental outcomes even with relatively similar brain phenotypes. In this study, we aimed to explore such relationship-level heterogeneity and delineate the subgrouping structure of newborns with differential brain–behavior associations based on a typically developing sample of 81 infants with 3-week resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and 4-year intelligence quotient (IQ) measures. Our results not only confirmed the existence of relationship-level heterogeneity in newborns but also revealed divergent developmental outcomes associated with two subgroups showing similar brain functional connectivity but contrasting brain–behavior relationships. Importantly, further analyses unveiled an intriguing pattern that the subgroup with higher 4-year IQ outcomes possessed brain–behavior relationships that were congruent to their functional connectivity pattern in neonates while the subgroup with lower 4-year IQ not, providing potential explanations for the observed IQ differences. The characterization of heterogeneity at the brain–behavior relationship level may not only improve our understanding of the patterned intersubject variability during infancy but could also pave the way for future development of heterogeneity-inspired, personalized, subgroup-specific models for better prediction.

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