scholarly journals How infant-directed actions enhance infants’ attention, learning, and exploration: Evidence from EEG and computational modeling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Meyer ◽  
Johanna E van Schaik ◽  
Francesco Poli ◽  
Sabine Hunnius
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
The Other ◽  
Movement Amplitude ◽  
Movement Variability ◽  
Variable Amplitude ◽  
Theta Power ◽  
Attentional Engagement ◽  
The Given ◽  
The Brain

When teaching infants new actions, parents tend to modify their movements. Infants prefer these infant-directed actions (IDAs) over adult-directed actions and learn well from them. Yet, it remains unclear how parents’ action modulations capture infants’ attention. Typically, making movements larger than usual is thought to draw attention. Recent findings, however, suggest that parents might exploit movement variability to highlight actions. We hypothesized that variability in movement amplitude rather than higher amplitude is capturing infants’ attention during IDAs. Using EEG, we measured 15-month-olds’ brain activity while they were observing action demonstrations with normal, high, or variable amplitude movements. Infants’ theta power (4-5Hz) in fronto-central channels was compared between conditions. Frontal theta was significantly higher, indicating stronger attentional engagement, in the variable compared to the other conditions. Computational modelling showed that infants’ frontal theta power was predicted best by how surprising each movement was. Thus, surprise induced by variability in movements rather than large movements alone engages infants’ attention during IDAs. Infants with higher theta power for variable movements were more likely to perform actions successfully and to explore objects novel in the context of the given goal. This highlights the brain mechanisms by which IDAs enhance infants’ attention, learning, and exploration.

scholarly journals Looking for effects of qualia on event-related brain potentials of close others in search for a cause of the similarity of qualia assumed across individuals

F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 316
Author(s):  
Sheila Bouten ◽  
Hugo Pantecouteau ◽  
J. Bruno Debruille
Keyword(s):  
Time Window ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
The Other ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Frontal Electrode ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

Qualia, the individual instances of subjective conscious experience, are private events. However, in everyday life, we assume qualia of others and their perceptual worlds, to be similar to ours. One way this similarity is possible is if qualia of others somehow contribute to the production of qualia by our own brain and vice versa. To test this hypothesis, we focused on the mean voltages of event-related potentials (ERPs) in the time-window of the P600 component, whose amplitude correlates positively with conscious awareness. These ERPs were elicited by images of the international affective picture system in 16 pairs of friends, siblings or couples going side by side through hyperscanning without having to interact. Each of the 32 members of these 16 pairs faced one half of the screen and could not see what the other member was presented with on the other half. One stimulus occurred on each half simultaneously. The sameness of these stimulus pairs was manipulated as well as the participants’ belief in that sameness by telling subjects’ pairs that they were going to be presented with the same stimuli in two blocks and with different ones in the two others. ERPs were more positive at all electrode subsets for stimulus pairs that were inconsistent with the belief than for those that were consistent. In the N400 time window, at frontal electrode sites, ERPs were again more positive for inconsistent than for consistent stimuli. As participants had no way to see the stimulus their partner was presented with and thus no way to detect inconsistence, these data might reveal an impact of the qualia of a person on the brain activity of another. Such impact could provide a research avenue when trying to explain the similarity of qualia across individuals.

Feeling as knowing — Part II

2001 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Järvilehto
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Local Character ◽  
Behavioral Observations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Consciousness ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Given ◽  
The Brain

In the latter part of this two-article sequence, the concept of emotion as reorganization of the organism-environment system is developed further in relation to consciousness, subjective experience and brain activity. It is argued that conscious emotions have their origin in reorganizational changes in primitive co-operative organizations, in which they get a more local character with the advent of personal consciousness and individuality, being expressed in conscious emotions. However, the conscious emotion is not confined to the individual only, but it gets its content and the emotional quale in the social context, and in relation to the norms of the given culture. Emotion is fundamentally the process of ascription of meaning to the parts of the world which are relevant in the achievement of results of behavior. Although emotions may be studied as reorganizational processes in the organism-environment system with the help of physiological recordings and behavioral observations, it is argued — in contrast to the mainstream cognitive science — that emotions cannot be localized in the brain, although the brain is important in their generation as a part of the organism-environment system. It is suggested that the parts of the brain most closely related to emotional expression contain neurons subserving functional systems which are formed in early development, and which are therefore most intimately related to reorganizational processes in the organism-environment system.

scholarly journals Enhancing the Effects of Neurofeedback Training: The Motivational Value of the Reinforcers

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 457
Author(s):  
Rubén Pérez-Elvira ◽  
Javier Oltra-Cucarella ◽  
José Antonio Carrobles ◽  
Jorge Moltó ◽  
Mercedes Flórez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Neurofeedback Training ◽  
Adequate Response ◽  
Sensorimotor Rhythm ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Informational Value

The brain activity that is measured by electroencephalography (EEG) can be modified through operant conditioning, specifically using neurofeedback (NF). NF has been applied to several disorders claiming that a change in the erratic brain activity would be accompanied by a reduction of the symptoms. However, the expected results are not always achieved. Some authors have suggested that the lack of an adequate response may be due to an incorrect application of the operant conditioning principles. A key factor in operant conditioning is the use of reinforcers and their value in modifying behavior, something that is not always sufficiently taken into account. This work aims to clarify the relevance of the motivational value versus the purely informational value of the reinforcer. In this study, 113 subjects were randomly assigned two different reinforcer conditions: a selected reinforcer—the subjects subjectively selected the reinforcers—or an imposed reinforcer—the reinforcers were assigned by the experimenter—and both groups undertook NF sessions to enhance the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR). In addition, the selected reinforcer group was divided into two subgroups: one receiving real NF and the other one sham NF. There were no significant differences between the groups at baseline in terms of SMR amplitude. After the intervention, only those subjects belonging to the selected reinforcer group and receiving real NF increased their SMR. Our results provide evidence for the importance of the motivational value of the reinforcer in Neurofeedback success.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Analysis of Brain Activity During Understanding Honorific Expressions

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1211-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michio Sugeno ◽  
◽  
Takahiro Yamanoi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Spatiotemporal Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dipole Source ◽  
Current Dipole ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
Spatiotemporal Processes ◽  
The Brain

This paper discusses brain activity during the understanding of sentences from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics. We focus on ideational meaning (propositional meaning in an ordinary sense) and interpersonal meaning (as is typically seen in honorific expressions). The present study is an experimental exploration of the spatiotemporal pathways of neuronal activation. Japanese sentences containing and not containing honorific expressions are compared in electroencephalography experiments. In these experiments, the sentences without honorific expressions have ideationalmeaning, but those with honorific expressions have both ideational and interpersonal meanings. Through the use of the equivalent current dipole source localization method, the spatiotemporal processes of activation of the brain are analyzed. There is a single pathway during the understanding of the sentences without honorific expressions; this pathway is mainly observed in the left hemisphere. On the other hand, there are three pathways in the case of the sentences with honorific expressions, two of which are observed in the right hemisphere. The remaining pathway is the same as the aforementioned single pathway. This fact strongly suggests that the common pathway is concerned with processing ideational meaning. The other two pathways observed during understanding of the sentences with honorific expressions are considered to be related to processing interpersonal meaning.

scholarly journals Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1635) ◽  
pp. 20120510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Hartley ◽  
Colin Lever ◽  
Neil Burgess ◽  
John O'Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Neural Coding ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Hippocampal Formation ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Current Location ◽  
Spatial Parameters ◽  
The Brain

Over the past four decades, research has revealed that cells in the hippocampal formation provide an exquisitely detailed representation of an animal's current location and heading. These findings have provided the foundations for a growing understanding of the mechanisms of spatial cognition in mammals, including humans. We describe the key properties of the major categories of spatial cells: place cells, head direction cells, grid cells and boundary cells, each of which has a characteristic firing pattern that encodes spatial parameters relating to the animal's current position and orientation. These properties also include the theta oscillation, which appears to play a functional role in the representation and processing of spatial information. Reviewing recent work, we identify some themes of current research and introduce approaches to computational modelling that have helped to bridge the different levels of description at which these mechanisms have been investigated. These range from the level of molecular biology and genetics to the behaviour and brain activity of entire organisms. We argue that the neuroscience of spatial cognition is emerging as an exceptionally integrative field which provides an ideal test-bed for theories linking neural coding, learning, memory and cognition.

Complexity Measures of Brain Electrophysiological Activity

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Włodzimierz Klonowski ◽  
Pawel Stepien ◽  
Robert Stepien
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Deterministic Chaos ◽  
Epileptic Seizures ◽  
Eeg Signal ◽  
Eeg Signals ◽  
Complexity Measures ◽  
Electrophysiological Activity ◽  
Signal Complexity ◽  
Physiological Sleep ◽  
The Brain

Over 20 years ago, Watt and Hameroff (1987 ) suggested that consciousness may be described as a manifestation of deterministic chaos in the brain/mind. To analyze EEG-signal complexity, we used Higuchi’s fractal dimension in time domain and symbolic analysis methods. Our results of analysis of EEG-signals under anesthesia, during physiological sleep, and during epileptic seizures lead to a conclusion similar to that of Watt and Hameroff: Brain activity, measured by complexity of the EEG-signal, diminishes (becomes less chaotic) when consciousness is being “switched off”. So, consciousness may be described as a manifestation of deterministic chaos in the brain/mind.

Relation Between Level of Prefrontal Activity and Subject's Performance

1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Casini ◽  
Françoise Macar ◽  
Marie-Hélène Giard
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Practice Phase ◽  
Trained Subjects ◽  
Anagram Task ◽  
Economic Information ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Level Of Activity ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Processing Mechanism

Abstract The experiment reported here was aimed at determining whether the level of brain activity can be related to performance in trained subjects. Two tasks were compared: a temporal and a linguistic task. An array of four letters appeared on a screen. In the temporal task, subjects had to decide whether the letters remained on the screen for a short or a long duration as learned in a practice phase. In the linguistic task, they had to determine whether the four letters could form a word or not (anagram task). These tasks allowed us to compare the level of brain activity obtained in correct and incorrect responses. The current density measures recorded over prefrontal areas showed a relationship between the performance and the level of activity in the temporal task only. The level of activity obtained with correct responses was lower than that obtained with incorrect responses. This suggests that a good temporal performance could be the result of an efficacious, but economic, information-processing mechanism in the brain. In addition, the absence of this relation in the anagram task results in the question of whether this relation is specific to the processing of sensory information only.

MICROCHEMICAL ASSAYS OF GLUCOSE AND GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE IN MAMMALIAN PANCREATIC β-CELLS

1968 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars-Ake Idahl ◽  
Bo Hellman
Keyword(s):  
Glucose Level ◽  
Exocrine Pancreas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Wide Concentration Range ◽  
Β Cells ◽  
Pancreatic Β Cells ◽  
Enzymatic Cycling ◽  
Glucose Diffusion ◽  
Significant Barrier ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACT The combination of enzymatic cycling and fluorometry was used for measuring glucose and glucose-6-phosphate in pancreatic β-cells from obese-hyperglycaemic mice. The glucose level of the β-cells corresponded to that of serum over a wide concentration range. In the exocrine pancreas, on the other hand, a significant barrier to glucose diffusion across the cell membranes was demonstrated. During 5 min of ischaemia, the glucose level remained practically unchanged in the β-cells while it increased in the liver and decreased in the brain. The observation that the pancreatic β-cells are characterized by a relatively low ratio of glucose-6-phosphate to glucose may be attributed to the presence of a specific glucose-6-phosphatase.

The acquisition of Hungarian recursive PPs

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-123
Author(s):  
Ágnes Langó-Tóth
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Functional Element ◽  
The Other ◽  
Functional Head ◽  
Experiment Subject ◽  
The Given

Abstract In this study an experiment is presented on how Hungarian children interpret two word orders of recursive PPs (subject-PP-verb and PP-subject-verb order). According to the research of Roeper (2011) and Hollebrandse and Roeper (2014), children tend to give conjunctive interpretation to multiple embedded sentences at the beginning of language acquisition. This interpretation later turns into an adult-like, recursive interpretation. Our aim is to discover (i) whether Hungarian children start with conjunction as well, and whether (ii) the apparently more salient functional head lévő appearing in Hungarian recursive PPs can help them to acquire the correct, recursive interpretation early. We also want to find out whether (iii) the word orders in recursive PPs have an influence on the acquisition of children. In this paper two experiments are presented conducted with 6 and 8-year-olds and adults, in which the participants were asked to choose between two pictures. One of the pictures depicted recursive and the other one depicted conjunctive interpretation of the given sentence. In the first experiment subject-PP-verb order was tested, but in the second one sentences were tested with PP-subject-verb order. We will claim that lévő, which is (arguably) a more salient Hungarian functional element than -i, does not help children to acquire the embedded reading of recursive sentences, because both of them are overt functional heads. However, the two types of word orders affect the acquisition of recursive PPs. PP-subject-verb order is easier to compute because the order of the elements in the sentences and the order of the elements in the pictures matches.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document