scholarly journals Adolescent thalamic inhibition leads to long-lasting impairments in prefrontal cortex function

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Benoit ◽  
Emma Holt ◽  
Lorenzo Posani ◽  
Stefano Fusi ◽  
Alexander Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorders ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Midline Thalamus ◽  
Cross Correlations ◽  
Cortical Excitation ◽  
Cortical Maturation

Abstract Impaired cortical maturation is a postulated mechanism in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia. In sensory cortex, activity relayed by the thalamus during a postnatal sensitive period is essential for proper cortical maturation. Whether thalamic activity also shapes prefrontal cortical maturation is unknown. Here, we show that inhibiting the midline thalamus during adolescence leads to a long-lasting decrease in thalamo-prefrontal projection density and cortical excitation. Adolescent thalamic inhibition also causes prefrontal-dependent cognitive deficits during adulthood that are associated with disrupted prefrontal cross-correlations and task outcome encoding. In contrast, thalamic inhibition during adulthood has no long-lasting consequences. Strikingly, exciting the thalamus in adulthood during a cognitive task rescues prefrontal cross-correlations, task outcome encoding, and cognitive deficits. These data point to adolescence as a sensitive window of thalamo-cortical circuit maturation. Furthermore, by supporting prefrontal network activity, boosting thalamic activity provides a potential therapeutic strategy for rescuing cognitive deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders.

scholarly journals Dissociated Deficits between Explicit and Implicit Empathetic Pain Perception in Neurofibromatosis Type 1

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1591
Author(s):  
Hai Xue ◽  
Qiong Wu ◽  
Zhijun Yang ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Xingchao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Neurofibromatosis Type 1 ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Neurofibromatosis Type ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
The Body ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Lower Accuracy ◽  
High Level

Cognitive impairments and social-function deficits are severe complaints in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients. Empathetic pain perception may be disrupted in NF1 patients because of high-level cognitive deficits. This study investigated the empathy profiles of adult patients with NF1, especially concerning whether explicit and implicit empathetic pain perception are abnormal in this population. We examined empathetic pain perception through a paradigm based on perceiving another person’s pain; in this task, patients were required to make judgments about the presence of pain or the laterality of the body part, as shown in a picture. Twenty NF1 patients without obvious social or communication difficulties completed the task, and the results were compared with results from the normal controls (NCs). Regarding explicit empathetic pain processing, i.e., judging the presence of “pain” or “no pain”, there were no significant differences between patients and controls in accuracy or reaction time. However, in implicit empathetic processing, i.e., judging the laterality of “pain” or “no-pain” pictures, NF1 patients had significantly lower accuracy (p = 0.038) and significantly higher reaction times (p = 0.004) than the NCs. These results were consistent with those of a previous study showing that high-level cognitive deficits were prominent in NF1 patients when performing challenging tasks. The mechanisms and related brain network activity underlying these deficits should receive attention in the future.

Prediction of Learned Resistance or Helplessness by Hippocampal-Prefrontal Cortical Network Activity during Stress

2021 ◽  
pp. JN-RM-0128-21
Author(s):  
Danilo Benette Marques ◽  
Rafael Naime Ruggiero ◽  
Lezio Soares Bueno-Junior ◽  
Matheus Teixeira Rossignoli ◽  
João Pereira Leite
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical

scholarly journals PREFRONTAL CORTICAL ACTIVITY DIFFERENCES WHILE DUAL-TASK WALKING IN OLDER ADULTS WITH IMPAIRED MOBILITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S793-S794
Author(s):  
Manuel E Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Mobility Impairment ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Mobility Impairments ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Walking Difficulty

Abstract Mobility impairments are prevalent in older adults. Whereas walking had traditionally been viewed as an autonomous process, evidence over the last decade has shown that cognitive processes such as attention and executive function have a significant impact on gait function in older adults. However, the exact neural mechanisms underlying difficulties in the control of mobility in older adults remains an open question. We examine the changes in the executive control of mobility in older adults with mobility impairments using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, as operationalized by performance in the community balance and mobility scale (CB&M). We hypothesized that prefrontal cortical (PFC) activity increases would be higher in older adults with mobility impairments, compared with older adults without mobility impairment, as dual-task walking difficulty increased. Older adults with (n=10, mean±SD age: 77±8 years, 8 females, CB&M= 58±12) and without mobility impairment (n=14, mean±SD age: 63±9 years, 11 females, CB&M= 87±6) were recruited from the local community. Dual-task walking was performed at a comfortable pace, while the difficulty of the concurrent cognitive task was increased using the modified Stroop test. PFC activity was measured using measures of oxygenated hemoglobin across the PFC. Older adults with mobility impairments demonstrated disproportionate increases in PFC activity, in comparison to those without mobility impairments, as the difficulty of the concurrent cognitive task increased (P<.001), even after controlling for age. In conclusion, these data suggest that older adults with mobility impairments may require greater attentional resources than those without mobility impairments when concurrently performing thinking and walking tasks.

scholarly journals Cognitive Outcome of Status Epilepticus in Children

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Sheppard ◽  
Sarah Lippé
Keyword(s):  
Status Epilepticus ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Epileptic Activity ◽  
Epileptic Encephalopathy ◽  
Cognitive Outcome ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Sensory Deficits ◽  
Cerebral Dysfunction ◽  
Cognitive Sequelae

Epileptic encephalopathy encompasses conditions in which cognitive, motor, or sensory deficits result as a consequence of epileptic activity defining certain syndromes. It therefore represents a more severe subset of epilepsy, which can be generally characterized as frequent or severe seizures leading to cerebral dysfunction. This disturbance in cerebral functioning can in turn hinder, somewhat dramatically, cognitive development and further impact the future lives of patients. In this paper, we describe the cognitive consequences of status epilepticus in children and in adults in the context of plasticity theories. Recent studies maintain that consequences of SE may be severe cognitive sequelae, especially in early life. Since the residual consequences of SE in adulthood seem less detrimental and long-lasting, we argue that early life insults, such as those created by SE, during a rapid period of development and functional specialization, result in specific cognitive deficits dependent on the sensitive period at which SE occurred.

Experimental manipulation of cognitive control processes causes an increase in communication disturbances in healthy volunteers

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 995-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN G. KERNS
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Healthy Volunteers ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Experimental Manipulation ◽  
Memory Interference ◽  
Interference Resolution ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Poor Cognition

Background. Although communication disturbances (CD) have been associated with poor cognitive control, it is unclear whether they are associated specifically with poor cognitive control or with poor cognition in general. The current research examined whether (a) two specific components of cognitive control, working memory and interference resolution, were associated with CD, and (b) associations between CD and cognitive control could be accounted for by generalized poor cognitive performance.Method. In this study, as healthy volunteers spoke, the level of cognitive demands was experimentally increased, thereby simulating cognitive deficits (i.e. a reduction in the degree to which certain types of cognitive processes could be used for speech). Hence, this research examined whether simulated cognitive deficits would cause an increase in CD. Participants also completed separate cognitive tasks that assessed working memory, interference resolution and general cognitive ability.Results. An increase in working memory demands caused an increase in CD. Moreover, working memory demands interacted with interference resolution demands, with the greatest amount of CD caused by both high working memory and high interference resolution demands. By contrast, increasing another cognitive demand, sustained attention, did not increase CD. Furthermore, performance on separate working memory and interference resolution tasks interacted to predict CD on the experimental speech task. However, performance on a psychometrically matched cognitive task did not predict CD.Conclusion. Overall, the current study provides evidence that working memory and interference resolution may be specifically associated with CD and that manipulations of these cognitive control processes can cause an increase in CD.

FROST: A Distributed Neurocomputational Model of Working Memory Maintenance

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1728-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Gregory Ashby ◽  
Shawn W. Ell ◽  
Vivian V. Valentin ◽  
Michael B. Casale
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Globus Pallidus ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Distributed Network ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Cell Recording ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Cortical Excitation

Many studies suggest that the sustained activation underlying working memory (WM) maintenance is mediated by a distributed network that includes the prefrontal cortex and other structures (e.g., posterior parietal cortex, thalamus, globus pallidus, and the caudate nucleus). A computational model of WM, called FROST (short for FROntal-Striatal-Thalamic), is proposed in which the representation of items and spatial positions is encoded in the lateral prefrontal cortex. During delay intervals, activation in these prefrontal cells is sustained via parallel, prefrontal cortical-thalamic loops. Activation reverberates in these loops because prefrontal cortical excitation of the head of the caudate nucleus leads to disinhibition of the thalamus (via the globus pallidus). FROST successfully accounts for a wide variety of WM data, including single-cell recording data and human behavioral data.

Mean-Field Approximations for Coupled Populations of Generalized Linear Model Spiking Neurons with Markov Refractoriness

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1203-1243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taro Toyoizumi ◽  
Kamiar Rahnama Rad ◽  
Liam Paninski
Keyword(s):  
Linear Model ◽  
Generalized Linear Model ◽  
Mean Field ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Direct Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Field Methods ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Cross Correlations ◽  
Mean Field Approximations

There has recently been a great deal of interest in inferring network connectivity from the spike trains in populations of neurons. One class of useful models that can be fit easily to spiking data is based on generalized linear point process models from statistics. Once the parameters for these models are fit, the analyst is left with a nonlinear spiking network model with delays, which in general may be very difficult to understand analytically. Here we develop mean-field methods for approximating the stimulus-driven firing rates (in both the time-varying and steady-state cases), auto- and cross-correlations, and stimulus-dependent filtering properties of these networks. These approximations are valid when the contributions of individual network coupling terms are small and, hence, the total input to a neuron is approximately gaussian. These approximations lead to deterministic ordinary differential equations that are much easier to solve and analyze than direct Monte Carlo simulation of the network activity. These approximations also provide an analytical way to evaluate the linear input-output filter of neurons and how the filters are modulated by network interactions and some stimulus feature. Finally, in the case of strong refractory effects, the mean-field approximations in the generalized linear model become inaccurate; therefore, we introduce a model that captures strong refractoriness, retains all of the easy fitting properties of the standard generalized linear model, and leads to much more accurate approximations of mean firing rates and cross-correlations that retain fine temporal behaviors.

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