scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Causal Inferences and Semantic Priming in People with Williams Syndrome: An fMRI Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-709
Author(s):  
Ching-Fen Hsu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Early Gene ◽  
Neurological Deficits ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Contextual Integration

This study aimed at examining the ability of causal inferences and semantic priming of people with Williams syndrome (WS). Previous studies pointed out that people with WS showed deviant sentence comprehension, given advantageous lexical semantics. This study investigated the impairment in connecting words in the semantic network by using neuroimaging techniques to reveal neurological deficits in the contextual integration of people with Williams syndrome. Four types of word pairs were presented: causal, categorical, associative, and functional. Behavioural results revealed that causal word pairs required heavier cognitive processing than functional word pairs. Distinct neural correlates of semantic priming confirmed atypical semantic linkage and possible cause of impairment of contextual integration in people with WS. The findings of normal behaviours and atypical neural correlates in people with WS provide evidence of atypical development resulted from early gene mutations.

Neural Correlates of Auditory Perception in Williams Syndrome: An fMRI Study

NeuroImage ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Levitin ◽  
Vinod Menon ◽  
J.Eric Schmitt ◽  
Stephan Eliez ◽  
Christopher D. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Auditory Perception ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Fmri Study

Preoperative neuropsychological and behavioral evaluation of children with thalamic tumors

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Chieffo ◽  
Gianpiero Tamburrini ◽  
Massimo Caldarelli ◽  
Concezio Di Rocco
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Histological Finding ◽  
Neurological Deficits ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Neuropsychological Evaluation ◽  
Thalamic Tumor ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Thalamic Tumors

Object Functional involvement of the thalamus in cognitive processing has been only anecdotally reported in the literature, and these cases are mostly related to thalamic hemorrhages; there is no available information on cognitive development in children with thalamic tumors. Methods All children admitted with a diagnosis of thalamic tumor at the authors' institution between January 2008 and January 2011 were considered for the present study. Exclusion criteria were age less than 18 months and the presence of severe neurological deficits, both of which prevented a reliable neuropsychological evaluation. A complete preoperative neuropsychological evaluation was performed. Results Twenty children were selected (mean age 102.4 months). Total IQ was in the normal range in all patients (mean 90.1, SD 13.87) with a significant difference between verbal IQ (mean 97.70, SD 17.77) and performance IQ (mean 84.82, SD 17.01). A significant correlation was found between global cognitive impairment and a histological finding of low-grade tumors (p < 0.001). Children with a mesial thalamic tumor had a higher working memory deficit and delayed recall disorders (p < 0.001). Naming disorders were related to the presence of a bilateral (p < 0.001) or mesial (p < 0.001) thalamic tumor, without a significant difference between left or right hemisphere involvement. A significant correlation was also found between the presence of neurolinguistic disorders and mesially located tumors (p < 0.001). Children with right-sided tumors more frequently had constructional apraxia and executive function disorders (p < 0.001). Conclusions The present study suggests that thalamic tumors in different locations might have specific neuropsychological profiles.

Listening strategy for auditory rhythms modulates neural correlates of expectancy and cognitive processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel S. Snyder ◽  
Amanda C. Pasinski ◽  
J. Devin McAuley
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Correlates

scholarly journals Distinct Neural Correlates of Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Demand

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ian A. Quillen ◽  
Melodie Yen ◽  
Stephen M. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Linguistic Demand ◽  
Neurologically Normal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Temporal Language

In this study, we investigated how the brain responds to task difficulty in linguistic and non-linguistic contexts. This is important for the interpretation of functional imaging studies of neuroplasticity in post-stroke aphasia, because of the inherent difficulty of matching or controlling task difficulty in studies with neurological populations. Twenty neurologically normal individuals were scanned with fMRI as they performed a linguistic task and a non-linguistic task, each of which had two levels of difficulty. Critically, the tasks were matched across domains (linguistic, non-linguistic) for accuracy and reaction time, such that the differences between the easy and difficult conditions were equivalent across domains. We found that non-linguistic demand modulated the same set of multiple demand (MD) regions that have been identified in many prior studies. In contrast, linguistic demand modulated MD regions to a much lesser extent, especially nodes belonging to the dorsal attention network. Linguistic demand modulated a subset of language regions, with the left inferior frontal gyrus most strongly modulated. The right hemisphere region homotopic to Broca’s area was also modulated by linguistic but not non-linguistic demand. When linguistic demand was mapped relative to non-linguistic demand, we also observed domain by difficulty interactions in temporal language regions as well as a widespread bilateral semantic network. In sum, linguistic and non-linguistic demand have strikingly different neural correlates. These findings can be used to better interpret studies of patients recovering from aphasia. Some reported activations in these studies may reflect task performance differences, while others can be more confidently attributed to neuroplasticity.

scholarly journals Lack of Noradrenergic Modulation of Indirect Semantic Priming

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyne S. Cios ◽  
Regan F. Miller ◽  
Ashleigh Hillier ◽  
Madalina E. Tivarus ◽  
David Q. Beversdorf
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Dopaminergic Drugs ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Noradrenergic Modulation

Norepinephrine and dopamine are both believed to affect signal-to-noise in the cerebral cortex. Dopaminergic agents appear to modulate semantic networks during indirect semantic priming, but do not appear to affect problem solving dependent on access to semantic networks. Noradrenergic agents, though, do affect semantic network dependent problem solving. We wished to examine whether noradrenergic agents affect indirect semantic priming. Subjects attended three sessions: one each after propranolol (40 mg) (noradrenergic antagonist), ephedrine (25 mg) (noradrenergic agonist), and placebo. During each session, closely related, distantly related, and unrelated pairs were presented. Reaction times for a lexical decision task on the target words (second word in the pair) were recorded. No decrease in indirect semantic priming occurred with ephedrine. Furthermore, across all three drugs, a main effect of semantic relatedness was found, but no main effect of drug, and no drug/semantic relatedness interaction effect. These findings suggest that noradrenergic agents, with these drugs and at these doses, do not affect indirect semantic priming with the potency of dopaminergic drugs at the doses previously studied. In the context of this previous work, this suggests that more automatic processes such as priming and more controlled searches of the lexical and semantic networks such as problem solving may be mediated, at least in part, by distinct mechanisms with differing effects of pharmacological modulation.

Neural correlates of genetically abnormal social cognition in Williams syndrome

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 991-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg ◽  
Ahmad R Hariri ◽  
Karen E Munoz ◽  
Carolyn B Mervis ◽  
Venkata S Mattay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Williams Syndrome ◽  
Neural Correlates

scholarly journals The basal ganglia and semantic engagement: Potential insights from semantic priming in individuals with subcortical vascular lesions, Parkinson's disease, and cortical lesions

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1041-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID COPLAND
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Vascular Lesions ◽  
Cortical Lesions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Prime Target

The impact of basal ganglia dysfunction on semantic processing was investigated by comparing the performance of individuals with nonthalamic subcortical (NS) vascular lesions, Parkinson's disease (PD), cortical lesions, and matched controls on a semantic priming task. Unequibiased lexical ambiguity primes were used in auditory prime-target pairs comprising 4 critical conditions; dominant related (e.g., bank–money), subordinate related (e.g., bank–river), dominant unrelated (e.g., foot–money) and subordinate unrelated (e.g., bat–river). Participants made speeded lexical decisions (word/nonword) on targets using a go–no-go response. When a short prime–target interstimulus interval (ISI) of 200 ms was employed, all groups demonstrated priming for dominant and subordinate conditions, indicating nonselective meaning facilitation and intact automatic lexical processing. Differences emerged at the long ISI (1250 ms), where control and cortical lesion participants evidenced selective facilitation of the dominant meaning, whereas NS and PD groups demonstrated a protracted period of nonselective meaning facilitation. This finding suggests a circumscribed deficit in the selective attentional engagement of the semantic network on the basis of meaning frequency, possibly implicating a disturbance of frontal–subcortical systems influencing inhibitory semantic mechanisms. (JINS, 2003, 9, 1041–1052.)

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