scholarly journals Sex-Related Differences in Visuomotor Skill Recovery Following Concussion in Working-Aged Adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Smeha ◽  
Ravneet Kalkat ◽  
Lauren E. Sergio ◽  
Loriann M. Hynes
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Concussion Management ◽  
Visuomotor Behaviour ◽  
Somatosensory Information ◽  
Skill Performance ◽  
Concussion History ◽  
Recovery Program ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Background: The ability to perform visually-guided motor tasks requires the transformation of visual information into programmed motor outputs. When the guiding visual information does not align spatially with the motor output, the brain processes rules to integrate somatosensory information into an appropriate motor response. Performance on such rule-based, “cognitive-motor integration” tasks is affected in concussion. Here, we investigate the relationship between visuomotor skill performance, concussion history, and sex during the course of a post-concussion management program. Methods: A total of 43 participants, divided into 3 groups based on their concussion history, completed a recovery program over the course of 4 weeks. Prior to, mid-way, and following the program, all participants were tested on their visuomotor skills. Results: We observed an overall change in visuomotor behaviour in all groups, as participants completed the tasks faster and more accurately. Specifically, we observed significant visuomotor skill improvement between the first and final sessions in participants with a concussion history compared to no-concussion-history controls. Notably, we observed a stronger recovery of these skills in females. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that (1) concussion impairs visuomotor skill performance, (2) the performance of complex, rule-based tasks can be improved over the course of a recovery program, and (3) stronger recovery in females suggests sex-related differences in the brain networks controlling skilled performance, and the effect of injury on these networks.

scholarly journals Cross-Modal Effect of Presenting Visual and Force Feedback That Create the Illusion of Stair-Climbing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2987
Author(s):  
Takumi Okumura ◽  
Yuichi Kurita
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Stair Climbing ◽  
Mirror Therapy ◽  
Visual Condition ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Head Mount Display ◽  
The Brain

Image therapy, which creates illusions with a mirror and a head mount display, assists movement relearning in stroke patients. Mirror therapy presents the movement of the unaffected limb in a mirror, creating the illusion of movement of the affected limb. As the visual information of images cannot create a fully immersive experience, we propose a cross-modal strategy that supplements the image with sensual information. By interacting with the stimuli received from multiple sensory organs, the brain complements missing senses, and the patient experiences a different sense of motion. Our system generates the sense of stair-climbing in a subject walking on a level floor. The force sensation is presented by a pneumatic gel muscle (PGM). Based on motion analysis in a human lower-limb model and the characteristics of the force exerted by the PGM, we set the appropriate air pressure of the PGM. The effectiveness of the proposed system was evaluated by surface electromyography and a questionnaire. The experimental results showed that by synchronizing the force sensation with visual information, we could match the motor and perceived sensations at the muscle-activity level, enhancing the sense of stair-climbing. The experimental results showed that the visual condition significantly improved the illusion intensity during stair-climbing.

scholarly journals Bio-Inspired Modality Fusion for Active Speaker Detection

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3397
Author(s):  
Gustavo Assunção ◽  
Nuno Gonçalves ◽  
Paulo Menezes
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Validation Process ◽  
Detection Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Speaker Detection ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Fusion Ability

Human beings have developed fantastic abilities to integrate information from various sensory sources exploring their inherent complementarity. Perceptual capabilities are therefore heightened, enabling, for instance, the well-known "cocktail party" and McGurk effects, i.e., speech disambiguation from a panoply of sound signals. This fusion ability is also key in refining the perception of sound source location, as in distinguishing whose voice is being heard in a group conversation. Furthermore, neuroscience has successfully identified the superior colliculus region in the brain as the one responsible for this modality fusion, with a handful of biological models having been proposed to approach its underlying neurophysiological process. Deriving inspiration from one of these models, this paper presents a methodology for effectively fusing correlated auditory and visual information for active speaker detection. Such an ability can have a wide range of applications, from teleconferencing systems to social robotics. The detection approach initially routes auditory and visual information through two specialized neural network structures. The resulting embeddings are fused via a novel layer based on the superior colliculus, whose topological structure emulates spatial neuron cross-mapping of unimodal perceptual fields. The validation process employed two publicly available datasets, with achieved results confirming and greatly surpassing initial expectations.

scholarly journals Veto and Vacillation: A Neural Precursor of the Decision to Withhold Action

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erman Misirlisoy ◽  
Patrick Haggard
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Temporal Pattern ◽  
Neural Precursor ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
Readiness Potentials ◽  
Preparatory Activity ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Motor Areas

The capacity to inhibit a planned action gives human behavior its characteristic flexibility. How this mechanism operates and what factors influence a decision to act or not act remain relatively unexplored. We used EEG readiness potentials (RPs) to examine preparatory activity before each action of an ongoing sequence, in which one action was occasionally omitted. We compared RPs between sequences in which omissions were instructed by a rule (e.g., “omit every fourth action”) and sequences in which the participant themselves freely decided which action to omit. RP amplitude was reduced for actions that immediately preceded a voluntary omission but not a rule-based omission. We also used the regular temporal pattern of the action sequences to explore brain processes linked to omitting an action by time-locking EEG averages to the inferred time when an action would have occurred had it not been omitted. When omissions were instructed by a rule, there was a negative-going trend in the EEG, recalling the rising ramp of an RP. No such component was found for voluntary omissions. The results are consistent with a model in which spontaneously fluctuating activity in motor areas of the brain could bias “free” decisions to act or not.

scholarly journals Concussion Knowledge among Medical Students and Neurology/Neurosurgery Residents

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Boggild ◽  
Charles H. Tator
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy ◽  
Sample Population ◽  
Diagnosis And Management ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Concussion Management ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Concussion History ◽  
The University ◽  
Impact Syndrome

Background and Objectives:Concussion is a prevalent brain injury in the community. While primary prevention strategies need to be enhanced, it is also important to diagnose and treat concussions expertly and expeditiously to prevent serious complications that may be life-threatening or long lasting. Therefore, physicians should be knowledgeable about the diagnosis and management of concussions. The present study assesses Ontario medical students’ and residents’ knowledge of concussion management.Methods:A survey to assess the knowledge and awareness of the diagnosis and treatment of concussions was developed and administered to graduating medical students (n= 222) and neurology and neurosurgery residents (n = 80) at the University of Toronto.Results:Residents answered correctly significantly more of the questions regarding the diagnosis and management of concussions than the medical students (mean = 5.8 vs 4.1, t= 4.48, p<0.01). Gender, participation in sports, and personal concussion history were not predictive of the number of questions answered correctly. Several knowledge gaps were identified in the sample population as a whole. Approximately half of the medical students and residents did not recognize chronic traumatic encephalopathy (n = 36) or the second impact syndrome (n = 44) as possible consequences of repetitive concussions. Twenty-four percent of the medical students (n = 18) did not think that “every concussed individual should see a physician” as part of management.Conclusions:A significant number of medical students and residents have incomplete knowledge about concussion diagnosis and management. This should be addressed by targeting this population during undergraduate medical education.

A-14 Mechanisms and Neuropsychological Correlates of Sleep Disruption in Concussed College Athletes

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1036-1036
Author(s):  
Kaitlin E Riegler ◽  
Erin T Guty ◽  
Garrett A Thomas ◽  
Megan Bradson ◽  
Peter A Arnett
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Neuropsychological Testing ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Symptom Reporting ◽  
Sleep Disruption ◽  
Neuropsychological Battery ◽  
Symptom Scale ◽  
Concussion Management ◽  
Falling Asleep ◽  
Concussion History

Abstract Objective First, to explore demographic/injury characteristics associated with increased sleep disruption post-concussion. Second, to examine the association between sleep disruption post-concussion and symptom reporting and cognitive variability. Method 124 athletes (M = 103, F = 21) completed neuropsychological testing within 14 days of concussion. Athletes were categorized as sleep-disrupted (n = 52) or not sleep-disrupted (n = 72). Athletes in the sleep-disrupted group endorsed one or more of the following from the Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS): trouble falling asleep, sleeping more than usual, and sleeping less than usual. Loss of consciousness (LOC) and concussion history were explored. Two neurocognitive variability measures were derived from the neuropsychological battery: intraindividual standard deviation (ISD) and maximum discrepancy score (MDS). Variability in memory and attention/processing speed (APS) composites were explored. Total PCSS symptom score, without sleep items, was calculated. Results A significantly greater proportion of sleep-disrupted athletes experienced LOC (30%) compared to not sleep-disrupted athletes (13%), χ2(1,N = 118) = 4.99, p &lt; 0.03, φ = 0.21. Sleep-disrupted athletes reported more symptoms, t(122) = −5.42, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.98, and demonstrated more memory variability (memory ISD, t(122) = −2.22, p = 0.03, d = 0.40, and memory MDS, t(122) = −2.29, p = 0.02, d = 0.41) than not sleep-disrupted athletes. Groups did not differ in APS variability or concussion history. Conclusions Given the higher rate of LOC in sleep-disrupted athletes, it is possible that LOC is a mechanism leading to post-concussion sleep difficulties. Furthermore, sleep disruption following concussion results in more variable memory performance and higher symptom reporting. Symptom reporting and/or return to baseline cognitive functioning are often decision-making tools in concussion management. The difficulties experienced by sleep-disrupted athletes may complicate recovery.

Retinal input influences pace of neurogenesis but not cell-type configuration of the visual forebrain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shachar Sherman ◽  
Koichi Kawakami ◽  
Herwig Baier
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Vertebrate Brain ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Retinal Input ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Brain

The brain is assembled during development by both innate and experience-dependent mechanisms1-7, but the relative contribution of these factors is poorly understood. Axons of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) connect the eye to the brain, forming a bottleneck for the transmission of visual information to central visual areas. RGCs secrete molecules from their axons that control proliferation, differentiation and migration of downstream components7-9. Spontaneously generated waves of retinal activity, but also intense visual stimulation, can entrain responses of RGCs10 and central neurons11-16. Here we asked how the cellular composition of central targets is altered in a vertebrate brain that is depleted of retinal input throughout development. For this, we first established a molecular catalog17 and gene expression atlas18 of neuronal subpopulations in the retinorecipient areas of larval zebrafish. We then searched for changes in lakritz (atoh7-) mutants, in which RGCs do not form19. Although individual forebrain-expressed genes are dysregulated in lakritz mutants, the complete set of 77 putative neuronal cell types in thalamus, pretectum and tectum are present. While neurogenesis and differentiation trajectories are overall unaltered, a greater proportion of cells remain in an uncommitted progenitor stage in the mutant. Optogenetic stimulation of a pretectal area20,21 evokes a visual behavior in blind mutants indistinguishable from wildtype. Our analysis shows that, in this vertebrate visual system, neurons are produced more slowly, but specified and wired up in a proper configuration in the absence of any retinal signals.

scholarly journals Perception of Vestibular Sensation During Turning Operation of Construction Machine

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-603
Author(s):  
Koji Okuda ◽  
◽  
Youjirou Ohbatake ◽  
Daisuke Kondo
Keyword(s):  
Remote Control ◽  
Laboratory Experiment ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Work Efficiency ◽  
Turning Operation ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Somatosensory Information ◽  
Construction Machine

A major challenge in remote control is the reduction in work efficiency compared with on-board operation. The factors of reduction in work efficiency include a lack of information (information such as perspective, realistic sensation, vibration, and sound) compared to on-board operations. One of the factors is the lack of vestibular/somatosensory information regarding rotation. To clarify the effect of the presence of input of vestibular/somatosensory information regarding rotation on the worker’s operation, we conducted a basic laboratory experiment of a horizontal turning operation. The experimental results indicate that a response appropriate for the input of information regarding rotation can be made only with visual information; however, the reaction is delayed in the case without the input of information regarding rotation in comparison with a case with the input of information regarding rotation.

scholarly journals Reconstructing feedback representations in ventral visual pathway with a generative adversarial autoencoder

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haider Al-Tahan ◽  
Yalda Mohsenzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Pathway ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Ventral Visual Pathway ◽  
High Level ◽  
Feedback Connections ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractWhile vision evokes a dense network of feedforward and feedback neural processes in the brain, visual processes are primarily modeled with feedforward hierarchical neural networks, leaving the computational role of feedback processes poorly understood. Here, we developed a generative autoencoder neural network model and adversarially trained it on a categorically diverse data set of images. We hypothesized that the feedback processes in the ventral visual pathway can be represented by reconstruction of the visual information performed by the generative model. We compared representational similarity of the activity patterns in the proposed model with temporal (magnetoencephalography) and spatial (functional magnetic resonance imaging) visual brain responses. The proposed generative model identified two segregated neural dynamics in the visual brain. A temporal hierarchy of processes transforming low level visual information into high level semantics in the feedforward sweep, and a temporally later dynamics of inverse processes reconstructing low level visual information from a high level latent representation in the feedback sweep. Our results append to previous studies on neural feedback processes by presenting a new insight into the algorithmic function and the information carried by the feedback processes in the ventral visual pathway.Author summaryIt has been shown that the ventral visual cortex consists of a dense network of regions with feedforward and feedback connections. The feedforward path processes visual inputs along a hierarchy of cortical areas that starts in early visual cortex (an area tuned to low level features e.g. edges/corners) and ends in inferior temporal cortex (an area that responds to higher level categorical contents e.g. faces/objects). Alternatively, the feedback connections modulate neuronal responses in this hierarchy by broadcasting information from higher to lower areas. In recent years, deep neural network models which are trained on object recognition tasks achieved human-level performance and showed similar activation patterns to the visual brain. In this work, we developed a generative neural network model that consists of encoding and decoding sub-networks. By comparing this computational model with the human brain temporal (magnetoencephalography) and spatial (functional magnetic resonance imaging) response patterns, we found that the encoder processes resemble the brain feedforward processing dynamics and the decoder shares similarity with the brain feedback processing dynamics. These results provide an algorithmic insight into the spatiotemporal dynamics of feedforward and feedback processes in biological vision.

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