scholarly journals Mental Visualization in the Cerebellum: Rapid Non-motor Learning at Sub-Lobular and Causal Network Levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lora T. Likova ◽  
Kristyo N. Mineff ◽  
Spero C. Nicholas
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Cognitive Learning ◽  
Movement Planning ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Bold Response ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy

It is generally understood that the main role of the cerebellum is in movement planning and coordination, but neuroimaging has led to striking findings of its involvement in many aspects of cognitive processing. Mental visualization is such a cognitive process, extensively involved in learning and memory, artistic and inventive creativity, etc. Here, our aim was to conduct a multidimensional study of cerebellar involvement in the non-motor cognitive tasks. First, we used fMRI to investigate whether the cognitive task of visualization from an immediate memory of complex spatial structures (line drawings) engages the cerebellum, and identified a cerebellar network of both strongly activated and suppressed regions. Second, the task-specificity of these regions was examined by comparative analysis with the task of perceptual exploration and memorization of the drawings to be later visualized from memory. BOLD response patterns over the iterations of each task differed significantly; unexpectedly, the suppression grew markedly stronger in visualization. Third, to gain insights in the organization of these regions into cerebellar networks, we determined the directed inter-regional causal influences using Granger Causal Connectivity analysis. Additionally, the causal interactions of the cerebellar networks with a large-scale cortical network, the Default Mode Network (DMN), were studied. Fourth, we investigated rapid cognitive learning in the cerebellum at the level of short-term BOLD response evolution within each region of interest, and at the higher level of network reorganization. Our paradigm of interleaved sequences of iteration between two tasks combined with some innovative analyses were instrumental in addressing these questions. In particular, rapid forms of non-motor learning that strongly drive cerebellar plasticity through mental visualization were uncovered and characterized at both sub-lobular and network levels. Collectively, these findings provide novel and expansive insights into high-order cognitive functions in the cerebellum, and its macroscale functional neuroanatomy. They represent a basis for a framework of rapid cerebellar reorganization driven by non-motor learning, with implications for the enhancement of cognitive abilities such as learning and memory.

scholarly journals Centralized and distributed cognitive task processing in the human connectome

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 455-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Amico ◽  
Alex Arenas ◽  
Joaquín Goñi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Brain Networks ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Cognitive Changes ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Functional Brain Networks ◽  
Jensen Shannon Divergence

A key question in modern neuroscience is how cognitive changes in a human brain can be quantified and captured by functional connectivity (FC). A systematic approach to measure pairwise functional distance at different brain states is lacking. This would provide a straightforward way to quantify differences in cognitive processing across tasks; also, it would help in relating these differences in task-based FCs to the underlying structural network. Here we propose a framework, based on the concept of Jensen-Shannon divergence, to map the task-rest connectivity distance between tasks and resting-state FC. We show how this information theoretical measure allows for quantifying connectivity changes in distributed and centralized processing in functional networks. We study resting state and seven tasks from the Human Connectome Project dataset to obtain the most distant links across tasks. We investigate how these changes are associated with different functional brain networks, and use the proposed measure to infer changes in the information-processing regimes. Furthermore, we show how the FC distance from resting state is shaped by structural connectivity, and to what extent this relationship depends on the task. This framework provides a well-grounded mathematical quantification of connectivity changes associated with cognitive processing in large-scale brain networks.

scholarly journals The Emotional Modulation of Cognitive Processing: An fMRI Study

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 157-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Simpson ◽  
Dost Öngür ◽  
Erbil Akbudak ◽  
Thomas E. Conturo ◽  
John M. Ollinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Functional Anatomy ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Emotional Modulation ◽  
Pictorial Stimuli

The functional neuroanatomy of visual processing of surface features of emotionally valenced pictorial stimuli was examined in normal human subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Pictorial stimuli were of two types: emotionally negative and neutral pictures. Task performance was slower for the negatively valenced than for the neutral pictures. Significant blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) increases occurred in the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, midbrain, substantia innominata, and/or amygdala, and in the posterior cortical visual areas for both stimulus types. Increases were greater for the negatively valenced stimuli. While there was a small but significant BOLD decrease in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, which was larger in response to the negatively valenced pictures, there was an almost complete absence of other decreases prominently seen during the performance of demanding cognitive tasks [Shulman, G. L., Fiez, J. A., Corbetta, M., Buckner, R. L., Miezin, F. M., Raichle, M. E., & Petersen, S. E. (1997). Common blood flow changes across visual tasks: II. Decreases in cerebral cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 9, 648-663]. These results provide evidence that the emotional valence and arousing nature of stimuli used during the performance of an attention-demanding cognitive task are reflected in discernable, quantitative changes in the functional anatomy associated with task performance.

scholarly journals Eye Movements in Response to Pain-Related Feelings in the Presence of Low and High Cognitive Loads

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Ramtin Zargari Marandi ◽  
Camilla Ann Fjelsted ◽  
Iris Hrustanovic ◽  
Rikke Dan Olesen ◽  
Parisa Gazerani
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Load Level ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Movement Characteristics

The affective dimension of pain contributes to pain perception. Cognitive load may influence pain-related feelings. Eye tracking has proven useful for detecting cognitive load effects objectively by using relevant eye movement characteristics. In this study, we investigated whether eye movement characteristics differ in response to pain-related feelings in the presence of low and high cognitive loads. A set of validated, control, and pain-related sounds were applied to provoke pain-related feelings. Twelve healthy young participants (six females) performed a cognitive task at two load levels, once with the control and once with pain-related sounds in a randomized order. During the tasks, eye movements and task performance were recorded. Afterwards, the participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on their pain perception in response to the applied cognitive loads. Our findings indicate that an increased cognitive load was associated with a decreased saccade peak velocity, saccade frequency, and fixation frequency, as well as an increased fixation duration and pupil dilation range. Among the oculometrics, pain-related feelings were reflected only in the pupillary responses to a low cognitive load. The performance and perceived cognitive load decreased and increased, respectively, with the task load level and were not influenced by the pain-related sounds. Pain-related feelings were lower when performing the task compared with when no task was being performed in an independent group of participants. This might be due to the cognitive engagement during the task. This study demonstrated that cognitive processing could moderate the feelings associated with pain perception.

scholarly journals Neural Excursions from Low-Dimensional Manifold Structure Explain Intersubject Variation in Human Motor Learning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corson N Areshenkoff ◽  
Daniel J Gale ◽  
Joe Y Nashed ◽  
Dominic Standage ◽  
John Randall Flanagan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Dimensional Subspace ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Dimensional Manifold ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Manifold Structure ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies ◽  
Low Dimensional

Humans vary greatly in their motor learning abilities, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie this variability. Recent neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies demonstrate that large-scale neural dynamics inhabit a low-dimensional subspace or manifold, and that learning is constrained by this intrinsic manifold architecture. Here we asked, using functional MRI, whether subject-level differences in neural excursion from manifold structure can explain differences in learning across participants. We had subjects perform a sensorimotor adaptation task in the MRI scanner on two consecutive days, allowing us to assess their learning performance across days, as well as continuously measure brain activity. We find that the overall neural excursion from manifold activity in both cognitive and sensorimotor brain networks is associated with differences in subjects' patterns of learning and relearning across days. These findings suggest that off-manifold activity provides an index of the relative engagement of different neural systems during learning, and that intersubject differences in patterns of learning and relearning across days are related to reconfiguration processes in cognitive and sensorimotor networks during learning.

scholarly journals Motor Learning Without Moving: Proprioceptive and Predictive Hand Localization After Passive Visuoproprioceptive Discrepancy Training

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed A. Mostafa ◽  
Bernard Marius ’t Hart ◽  
Denise Y.P. Henriques
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Movement Planning ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Hand Position ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Training Paradigm ◽  
Limb Position ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Active Localization

AbstractAn accurate estimate of limb position is necessary for movement planning, before and after motor learning. Where we localize our unseen hand after a reach depends on felt hand position, or proprioception, but in studies and theories on motor adaptation this is quite often neglected in favour of predicted sensory consequences based on efference copies of motor commands. Both sources of information should contribute, so here we set out to further investigate how much of hand localization depends on proprioception and how much on predicted sensory consequences. We use a training paradigm combining robot controlled hand movements with rotated visual feedback that eliminates the possibility to update predicted sensory consequences (‘exposure training’), but still recalibrates proprioception, as well as a classic training paradigm with self-generated movements in another set of participants. After each kind of training we measure participants’ hand location estimates based on both efference-based predictions and afferent proprioceptive signals with self-generated hand movements (‘active localization’) as well as based on proprioception only with robot-generated movements (‘passive localization’). In the exposure training group, we find indistinguishable shifts in passive and active hand localization, but after classic training, active localization shifts more than passive, indicating a contribution from updated predicted sensory consequences. Both changes in open-loop reaches and hand localization are only slightly smaller after exposure training as compared to after classic training, confirming that proprioception plays a large role in estimating limb position and in planning movements, even after adaptation. (data: https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/zfdth, preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/384941)

scholarly journals Prefrontal D1 dopamine-receptor neurons and delta resonance in interval timing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Cho Kim ◽  
Nandakumar S. Narayanan
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Interval Timing ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Performance Deficits ◽  
Timing Task ◽  
Memory Flexibility ◽  
Receptor Neurons

AbstractConsiderable evidence has shown that prefrontal neurons expressing D1-type dopamine receptors (D1DRs) are critical for working memory, flexibility, and timing. This line of work predicts that frontal neurons expressing D1DRs mediate cognitive processing. During timing tasks, one form this cognitive processing might take is time-dependent ramping activity — monotonic changes in firing rate over time. Thus, we hypothesized the prefrontal D1DR+ neurons would strongly exhibited time-dependent ramping during interval timing. We tested this idea using an interval-timing task in which we used optogenetics to tag D1DR+ neurons in the mouse medial frontal cortex (MFC). While 23% of MFC D1DR+ neurons exhibited ramping, this was significantly less than untagged MFC D1DR+ neurons. By contrast, MFC D1DR+ neurons had strong delta-frequency (1-4 Hz) coherence with other MFC ramping neurons. This coherence was phase-locked to cue onset and was strongest early in the interval. To test the significance of these interactions, we optogenetically stimulated MFC D1DR+ neurons early vs. late in the interval. We found that 2-Hz stimulation early in the interval was particularly effective in rescuing timing-related behavioral performance deficits in dopamine-depleted animals. These findings provide insight into MFC networks and have relevance for disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.Significance StatementPrefrontal D1DRs are involved in cognitive processing and cognitive dysfunction in human diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. We use optogenetics to identify these neurons, as well as neurons that are putatively connected to MFC D1DR+ neurons. We study these neurons in detail during an elementary cognitive task. These data could have relevance for cognitive deficits for Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and other diseases involving frontal dopamine.

scholarly journals Insulin Resistance Markers in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihaela Larisa Bîcu ◽  
Daniel Bîcu ◽  
Mihaela Ionela Vladu ◽  
Diana Clenciu ◽  
Ana Maria Cristina Chirila ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Insulin Resistance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Macrovascular Complications ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Euglycemic Hyperinsulinemic Clamp ◽  
Current Medical Practice ◽  
Type 1 Dm

Abstract Insulin resistance (IR) is a fundamental disorder of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM), but it is also involved in the etiopathogenesis of type 1 DM, with important implications in the onset and progression of micro- and macrovascular complications in type 1 DM. Overweight plays the main role in the increased incidence of both types of DM, exacerbating IR. The epidemic increase of overweight and obesity makes it difficult to diagnose the exact phenotype of DM, as IR and autoimmunity often coexist. Many studies showed an increase in incidence of micro- and macrovascular complications in patients with type 1 DM with IR, compared to patients with type 1 DM without IR. The gold standard of IR evaluation is represented by the method of euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp, applied on a reduced scale in research. Thus, it is necessary to identify early IR markers (clinical or biological markers), less laboured ones, that could be used on a large scale in current medical practice, for the IR determination in type 1 DM. Clinicians and health experts should prevent/ reduce the epidemic of overweight and obesity in young people, thus decreasing IR, and implicitly the chronic complications of DM.

scholarly journals Electronic Health Record's Effects on the Outpatient Office Visit and Clinical Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie B Sandoval ◽  
Mary Val Palumbo ◽  
Vicki Hart
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Office Visit ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Positive Effect

Background: During an office visit, the provider has the important cognitive task of attending to the patient while actively using the electronic health record (EHR).  Prior literature suggests that EHR may have a positive effect on simple tasks, but a negative effect on tasks that require complex cognitive processes.  No study has examined the provider’s perception of EHR on multiple distinct aspects of the office visit.Methods: We surveyed providers/preceptors regarding their perception of EHR on multiple aspects of the office visit.  We summarized their EHR utilization history and their perceptions of the EHR during the visit using descriptive statistics.  We tested for associations between time spent using the EHR and distinct aspects of the visit using Chi-square tests of association.Results: In total, 83 providers/preceptors reported use of EHR (response rate 52%). Provider/preceptors reported an overall negative effect of EHR on the patient-provider connection, but an overall positive effect on the review of medications/medical records, communication between providers, review of results with patients and review of follow-up to testing results with patients. The effect of EHR on history taking and teaching students was neutral.  We observed no correlation between the provider’s time spent using the EHR and their perception of its effectiveness.Conclusions:  Providers reported a positive perception of EHR on aspects of the office visit that involved a single cognitive task.  However, providers reported a negative perception of EHR on patient-provider connection, which involves a high degree of cognitive processing.

scholarly journals The effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of English simple past tense: Age and cognitive task demands

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Benati ◽  
Tanja Angelovska
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test

AbstractThe present study investigates the effects of Processing Instruction on two different age groups and the role that cognitive task demands might play in the results generated by Processing Instruction. This study includes school-age children and adult native speakers of German learning English as a foreign language – a language combination not previously investigated within the Processing Instruction and individual differences research paradigm. The present study investigates directly whether two different age groups will benefit equally from Processing Instruction in altering their reliance on lexical temporal indicators and redirecting their attention to verb forms on Processing Instruction activities with different cognitive demands. The grammatical feature chosen for this study is the English past simple tense marking tested on both interpretation and production measures. The results from this study provide further evidence that the Processing Instruction is an effective instructional treatment in helping school-age children and adult L2 learners to make accurate form-meaning connections. The results from the first sentence-level interpretation task and the production task showed that Processing Instruction has positive and equal effects on both age groups (school-age learners and adults). The positive effects of instruction were maintained over the delayed post-test for both age groups who made similar gains on the immediate post-test. The results from the second (cognitively more complex) sentence-level interpretation task indicated that the adults made greater gains than school-age learners. However, both groups retained the positive effects of instruction over time. The difference in gains between the two age groups on the second sentence-level interpretation task can be explained in terms of cognitive processing load.

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