The research of neuroplasticity by the Visual Continuous Performance Tasks in teaching by the method of complex music and vocal education

The Methodology of Comprehensive Music and Vocal Education (CMVE) is a powerful pedagogical instrument which helps a person's to improve its voice and musicality. Because several zones, such is auditory, somatosensory, motor (mainly due to the inclusion of hands and speech motor apparatus) and visual are actively involved, which is active contributes to a change in the picture of the dominant centers of the cortex, stimulates and develops such cognitive functions as attention, speech, memory, praxis. Neuroplasticity is closely related to music education, as indicated, for example, by such work as G. Schlaug, which explains some of the sensorimotor and cognitive improvements associated with music education. This allows us to assume and test the effects of neuroplasticity when working according to the CMVE method, which also uses different modalities. To investigate event-related potentials, the authors use a two-stimulus selective attention test (VCPT Go / NoGo test). Key words: EEG, ERP, VCPT-task, musical-vocal education by D.E. Ogorodnov.

Development of a novel rodent rapid serial visual presentation task reveals dissociable effects of stimulant vs non-stimulant treatments on attention

The rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task and continuous performance tasks (CPT) are used to assess attentional impairments in patients with psychiatric and neurological conditions. This study developed a novel touchscreen task for rats based on the structure of a human RSVP task and used pharmacological manipulations to investigate their effects on different performance measures. Normal animals were trained to respond to a target image and withhold responding to distractor images presented within a continuous sequence. In a second version of the task a false-alarm image was included so performance could be assessed relative to two types of non-target distractors. The effects of acute administration of the stimulant and non-stimulant treatments for ADHD (amphetamine and atomoxetine) were tested in both tasks. Methylphenidate, ketamine and nicotine were tested in the first task only. Amphetamine made animals more impulsive and decreased overall accuracy but increased accuracy when the target was presented early in the image sequence. Atomoxetine improved accuracy overall with a specific reduction in false-alarm responses and a shift in the attentional curve reflecting improved accuracy for targets later in the image sequence. However, atomoxetine also slowed responding and increased omissions. Ketamine, nicotine and methylphenidate had no specific effects at the doses tested. These results suggest that stimulant versus non-stimulant treatments have different effects on attention and impulsive behaviour in this rat version of an RSVP task. These results also suggest that RSVP-like tasks have the potential to be used to study attention in rodents.

Immersive Virtual Reality and Complex Skill Learning: Transfer Effects After Training in Younger and Older Adults

This study investigated the efficacy of training a complex skill within an immersive virtual environment. We constructed a sensorimotor workstation task and trained participants to operate it with either a non-interactive (text, video) method or with a virtual equivalent of the workstation. Our results indicate that virtual reality trained participants had significantly higher accuracy and produced fewer timeouts in the workstation task than those trained using non-interactive methods, demonstrating a successful transfer of skills between virtual reality and the real world. Further, comparing younger and older adults in their performance, we found that older adults did not differ in their ability to benefit from virtual reality training, and that the extent of this benefit was not significantly affected by existing cognitive deficits (as measured using the Operation Span and AX-Continuous Performance tasks). These findings suggest that virtual reality technologies can find application in a wide range of skill training contexts and across diverse age groups.

Continuous Performance Tasks: Not Just About Sustaining Attention

Purpose Continuous performance tasks (CPTs) are used to measure individual differences in sustained attention. Many different stimuli have been used as response targets without consideration of their impact on task performance. Here, we compared CPT performance in typically developing adults and children to assess the role of stimulus processing on error rates and reaction times. Method Participants completed a CPT that was based on response to infrequent targets, while monitoring and withholding responses to regular nontargets. Performance on 3 stimulus conditions was compared: visual letters (X and O), their auditory analogs, and auditory pure tones. Results Adults showed no difference in error propensity across the 3 conditions but had slower reaction times for auditory stimuli. Children had slower overall reaction times. They responded most quickly to the visual target and most slowly to the tone target. They also made more errors in the tone condition than in either the visual or the auditory spoken CPT conditions. Conclusions The results suggest error propensity and reaction time variations on CPTs cannot solely be interpreted as evidence of inattention. They also reflect stimulus-specific influences that must be considered when testing hypotheses about modality-specific deficits in sustained attention in populations with different developmental disorders.

Differences in Neurophysiological Markers of Inhibitory and Temporal Processing Deficits in Children and Adults with ADHD

We compared ADHD-related temporal processing and response inhibition deficits in children and adults using event-related potentials (ERPs) during cued continuous performance tasks (CPT, O-X-version, plus a more demanding flanker version). ERP markers of temporal processing (Cue CNV) and inhibition (NoGo P300) were obtained in matched groups of children (32 with ADHD, mean age 11.2 years, and 31 controls, mean age 11.1 years) and adults (22 ADHD, mean age 42.7 years, and 22 controls, mean age 44.0 years). ERP markers and performance reflected both age and ADHD status. Performance was poorer, and Cue CNV and NoGo P300 were weaker in ADHD children and adults compared to their matched controls. ADHD-related ERP differences in children were more prominent at posterior scalp sites but more pronounced at anterior scalp sites in adults, paralleling the prominent topographic changes of both ERP markers with development. The fact that differences in the same test and the same processing period appear in both children and adults, but that they present in different aspects of performance and different scalp topographies, leads to the conclusion that some ADHD-related deficits persist into adulthood despite alterations of their qualitative aspects.