tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71760129926307371892024-02-21T00:33:14.732+02:00Cognitive Neuroscience WeeklyCognitive neuroscience is a highly exciting relatively young discipline of science that aims at solving brain-mind interrelationships in both health and disease. This blog is targeted as a source of inspiration for enthusiastic students, cognitive neuroscientists, and others interested in cognitive neuroscience by highlighting some recently published findings of interest.Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-65429898883164547642014-05-26T12:27:00.002+03:002014-05-26T12:27:55.966+03:00Green tea consumption is associated with lower incidence of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in elderly people<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Mitigating effects of dietary
habits, including drinking of tea or coffee, on cognitive decline (and even
dementias) in aging is a research topic with potentially very high societal
impact. While coffee and tea do contain large amounts of polyphenols and caffeine
that have potential neuroprotective effects, previous studies on the
relationships between coffee and tea consumption and dementia seem to have
produced mixed results. In their recent population-based longitudial study, Dr
Moeko Noguchi-Shinohara <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al.</i> (2014)
inspected the relationships between coffee, black tea, and green tea
consumption and incidence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Out of a total of 2845 residents
aged >60 years in 2007 in Nakajima, Japan, 723 individuals meeting criteria
for inclusion voluntarily participated in the study. Cognitive level was tested
using mini-mental state examination and clinical dementia rating scales. Health
surveys and blood tests were also carried out to control for some of the
potentially intervening variables such as ApoE phenotype status and diabetes. Consumption
of coffee, black tea, and green tea was recorded and divided into three classes
for the purposes of data analysis: zero consumption, 1-6 days/week, and every
day. At the time of follow-up testing conducted on the average 4.9 years later,
it was observed that frequent consumption of green tea (but neither black tea
nor coffee) was associated with significantly lower incidence of dementia and
mild cognitive impairment.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The authors propose that these
interesting findings could be due to a number of factors. One of the possible
mechanisms that they bring up is that, unlike black tea, green tea contains
catechins, especially epigallo catechin 3-gallate, as well as myricetin, which
both have been described to have neuroprotective effects. The authors further
remind that higher physical activity and number of hobbies also correlated with
green tea consumption, although the beneficial effects of green tea prevailed
even when these factors were taken into account in the analysis. Taken
together, these findings add to the pool of evidence suggesting that green tea
might have some neuroprotective effects that help guard against aging-related
cognitive decline.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Noguchi-Shinohara M, Yuki S, Dohmoto C, Ikeda Y,
Samuraki M, Iwasa K, Yokogawa M, Asai K, Komai K, Nakumura H, Yamada M. Consumption
of green tea, but not black tea or coffee, is associated with reduced risk of
cognitive decline. PLoS ONE (2014) 9: e96013. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096013">http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096013</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-59880315867464319502014-02-13T17:41:00.002+02:002014-02-13T17:41:57.349+02:00Brain activity patterns predict risky and safe choices in healthy human volunteers<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The question of which neural events
predict risky <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. safe behaviors such
as overtaking a slower vehicle when there is little space to do so due to
oncoming traffic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. driving behind
the slower vehicle and arriving a few minutes later to work is a highly interesting
and important one. The vast majority of neuroimaging studies investigating the
neural basis of risk taking have utilized models adapted from economics, in
which risks are defined as the degree of variance in outcomes, however, it has
been argued that for lay persons risk equals being exposed to a potential loss.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Dr.
Helfinstein <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2014) had 108
healthy volunteers engage in a task called Balloon analog risk task during
functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this task, the subjects earn points
when they pump up balloons, but lose the points if the balloon explodes before
they “cash out” by stopping pumping. This task was selected because it is
highly correlated with public health relevant risk taking behaviors, including
unsafe driving, sexual risk taking, and drug use. The authors observed that
multi-voxel pattern analysis of brain activity before the point of decision
making predicted subsequent risky <i>vs</i>. safe choices by the subjects,
specifically involving brain regions found in previous studies to participate
in control functions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly,
in a separate univariate analysis these areas were found more active before safe than
risky choices.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These highly interesting findings
show that it is possible to predict risky <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>.
safe choices based on preceding patterns of brain activity in a set of regions that
have been previously shown to be activated during tasks requiring cognitive
control. The fact that these areas were more strongly activated preceding safe
than risky decisions suggests that increased risk taking might be due to
failures in engaging appropriate cognitive control processes. The relevance of
these findings is further augmented given that the Balloon analog risk task
that was used has been found in previous studies to correlate highly with
real-life risk taking behaviors relevant for public health such as unsafe
driving and drug use.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Helfinstein SM,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Schonberg T, Congdon E, Karlsgodt KH, Mumford JA, Sabb FW, Cannon TD,
London ED, Bilder BM, Poldrack RA. Predicting risky choices from brain activity
patterns. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2014) e-publication ahead of print.
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321728111">http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321728111</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-56524111340600982592014-01-24T14:58:00.001+02:002014-01-24T14:58:02.811+02:00Context modulates perception and cortical processing of neutral faces<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The vast majority of cognitive
neuroscience research on perception of facial expressions has utilized static
stimuli with emotional expressions varying in category (<i>e.g.</i>, fear, anger,
happiness) and magnitude of expressed emotions. Indeed, these studies have provided a lot of important information that has facilitated understanding of how facial stimuli are processed by the brain, however, at the same time it
has been assumed that processing of faces, including facial expressions, would be highly automatic and hard-wired in the brain. Recently, it has been increasingly recognized that contextual information affects the perception and interpretation
of facial expressions, though it has remained relatively poorly known at which
latencies and how robustly contextual information shapes processing of neutral
facial stimuli in the human brain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Wieser <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2014) recorded, with electroencephalogram,
event-related brain responses to neutral facial stimuli when they were preceded
by contextual valence information that was either self-relevant or other-relevant (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">i.e.</i>, brief verbal
descriptions of neutral, positive or negative valence, in separate sentences
either in first-person or third-person case, as in “my pain” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. “his pain”, respectively). The
authors observed that event-related responses associated with emotional
processing were modulated by both types of contextual information from 220 ms post-stimulus. The
subjective perception of the affective state of the neutral faces was also
shaped by the brief affective descriptions that preceded presentation of the
neutral facial stimuli. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Taken together, these findings
very nicely demonstrate how contextual second-hand type of information (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">i.e.</i>, what people are told about
others), enhances cortical processing of facial stimuli, starting as early as
>200 ms from onset of the facial stimuli, even though the facial stimuli
themselves were completely neutral without any emotional or self-referential
information. The authors conclude that the very perception of facial features is
modulated by prior second-hand information that one has about another person,
a finding which might in part help explain how initial impressions of others are
formed.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Wieser MJ, Gerdes ABM, Büngel I, Schwarz KA, Mühlberger
A, Pauli P. Not so harmless anymore: how context impacts the perception and
electro-cortical processing of neutral faces. Neuroimage (2014) e-publication
ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.01.022">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.01.022</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-48700517396985221012014-01-15T12:04:00.005+02:002014-01-15T12:04:51.978+02:00Natural sounds are represented as spectrotemporal modulations in human auditory cortex <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The question of how the human
auditory cortex represents complex natural sounds is one of the most
fundamental ones in cognitive neuroscience. While previous studies have
documented a number of tonotopically organized areas occupying the primary and non-primary
auditory cortices, there are additionally studies that have shown preference to
other sound features, such as sound location and speech sound category, in
specific auditory cortical areas. Furthermore, there are findings in animal
models suggesting that auditory cortical neurons are selective to various types
of spectrotemporal sound features, however, it has not been known whether there are
topographic representations of spectrotemporal features, a model that could
potentially explain how complex natural sounds are represented
in the human auditory cortex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Santoro <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2014), analyzed data from two
previous functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments where a rich array
of natural sounds had been presented to healthy volunteers. They then tested
between three computational models, where the first model assumed that auditory
cortex represents sounds as spectral/frequency information, the second model
assumed that auditory cortex represents sounds as temporal information and
third model assumed that sounds are represented as sets of spectrotemporal
modulations. The results indicate that natural sounds are represented with frequency-specific analysis of spectrotemporal modulations. Furthermore, in
anterior auditory cortex regions analysis of spectral information was found to
be more fine-grained than in posterior auditory cortical areas, wherein temporal
information was, in turn, found to be represented more accurately with rather coarse
representation of spectral information. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In sum, the authors provide a
very exciting approach to testing how well alternative computational models,
inspired by neurophysiological findings obtained in animal research, can predict hemodynamic data collected
during presentation of a various natural sounds. Taken together, the results
offer a very interesting vantage point into how natural sounds could be represented
in the human auditory cortex. It is easy to predict that the approach and
findings will generate wide interest and help further research efforts to significantly step forward, especially
given the increasing popularity of the use of naturalistic stimuli in
neuroimaging research.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Santoro R, Moerel M, De Martino F, Goebel R, Ugurbil K,
Yacoub E, Formisano E. Encoding of natural sounds at multiple spectral and
temporal resolutions in the human auditory cortex. PLoS Computational Biology
10: e1003412. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003412">http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003412</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-25526568078627054002014-01-07T17:18:00.003+02:002014-01-07T17:18:31.446+02:00Across-cultures replicable bodily maps of experienced emotions<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In linguistic expressions, emotional experiences are often described as bodily sensations, such as someone “having cold feet” or “heartache” that
can be surprisingly similar across different cultures and languages.
Furthermore, in cognitive neuroscience theories of emotions, somatosensory
feedback has been proposed to support conscious emotional experiences. On the
other hand, there are classical findings indicating that it is difficult
to classify emotional states (other than changes in the level of arousal) based
on measures of autonomic nervous system activity. Somewhat surprisingly, the
question of whether emotional experiences during different emotional states
(<i>e.g.</i>, anger, sadness, happiness) are associated with distinct patterns of
bodily sensations has not been addressed empirically.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Nummenmaa
<i>et al</i>. (2013) conducted a series of five closely related experiments where a
total of 701 participants were presented outlines of bodies along with
emotional stimuli of different types and were asked to color bodily regions in
the outlines where they felt increasing or decreasing activity while
experiencing different kinds of emotions. The authors observed that different
emotions were associated with across-stimulus-type replicable patterns of
bodily sensations as indicated by the coloring patterns. These patterns of
bodily sensations further replicated across Finnish and Swedish speaking
subjects, as well as Taiwanese subjects tested in a separate control study. Based
on these findings, the authors propose that emotions are represented in the
somatosensory system as culturally universal categorical somatotopic maps that
contribute to conscious emotional experiences.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Nummenmaa L, Glerean E, Hari R, Hietanen JK. Bodily maps
of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (2013)
e-publication ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321664111">http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321664111</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-66272022931456391832013-12-30T11:40:00.002+02:002013-12-30T11:40:49.860+02:00Stress-response mediated by repeated media exposure to collective traumatic events<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the modern world, information
about traumatic events, such as earthquakes, major accidents, and terrorist
strikes claiming innocent lives, spreads quickly. Further, media provides
repeated exposure to the major catastrophic events in the form of newsfeeds
that add new details about the events as they are uncovered. It is an
inherently important question whether media exposure can induce stress
responses in a similar manner and magnitude than being at the site of the
catastrophe. This is an important question from at least three perspectives: 1)
answering this question provides important information about human cognition
and emotional responses in the modern global information flow environment, 2)
mental health professionals can better appreciate media-exposure related
problems, and 3) also given that the population at large is often the intended
psychological target of terrorists who carry out acts of violence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Holman <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) compared media <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. direct exposure to a collective
trauma, by carrying out a survey over the two weeks following the Boston
marathon bombings, in representative samples of persons living in Boston, New
York, and rest of the united states. When the authors adjusted acute stress
symptom scores for demographics, preceding mental health, and prior collective
stress exposure, it was observed that >6 hours of media exposure to the
marathon bombing events during the week following the bombings was associated
with higher acute stress symptoms than direct exposure to the bombings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These very interesting findings suggest
that indirect exposure to traumatic events <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">via</i>
repeated media coverage may produce even stronger stress responses than direct
exposure to the event, which is a clear indication of the robustness of
prolonged and repeated media-exposure in triggering stress-related mental
health problems, even though, as pointed out by the authors, it has to be kept
in mind that emergency actions taken by the local authorities in cases of
direct exposure to the bombings likely lessened distress in that group. Mass
media may thus inadvertently serve as a channel that spreads the psychological
trauma far beyond the directly affected population. Outside of the scope of
considering the effects of mass-media coverage, these results further suggest
that being repeatedly related information about a catastrophic event can
trigger stress response and produce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
without direct exposure, which may also be an important form of
societal-cultural learning.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference: </b>Holman EA, Garfin DR, Silver RC. Media’s role in
broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings. Proc Natl
Acad Sci USA (2013) e-publication ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316265110">http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316265110</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-19034297963693154702013-12-22T07:40:00.002+02:002013-12-22T07:40:43.911+02:00Increased functional brain network modularity predicts working memory deficits in early-stage multiple sclerosis<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Multiple sclerosis is a
neurological disorder where, due to inflammatory processes, there is focal
demyelination and axonal damage that step-by-step severs the anatomical connections of the
brain. Recent neuroimaging studies and theoretical work are both pointing out
the importance of inter-area connectivity and interactions in giving rise to
perceptual and cognitive functions. Therefore, one of the crucial questions
regarding multiple sclerosis is in which ways the breaking down of brain
connectivity alters the way that the functional networks are reorganized and
how this impacts cognition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Gamboa <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) recorded resting state
functional magnetic resonance imaging in early-stage multiple sclerosis
patients and healthy controls. As a measure of cognition, subjects of both
groups separately performed the Paced auditory serial addition task in a dual
task manner to assess working memory, attention, and speed of information processing. Using
graph theoretical analysis of brain functional connectivity, the authors
observed increased modularity in the early-stage multiple sclerosis patients as
compared with the healthy controls. Furthermore, the increased modularity of
brain functional connectivity negatively correlated with performance in the
neuropsychological test of working memory, attention, and speed of information
processing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These highly interesting findings
demonstrate how the subtle changes in connectivity due to focal damage caused
to axonal fibers in the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis alter the
functional network properties of the brain, and how such changes in brain
network activity adversely reflects upon cognitive ability. It is easy to see how these
findings pave way for further studies examining how accumulating focal damage
to the links of the functional networks affect perceptual and cognitive
functions in multiple sclerosis patients. Given that relatively robust effects
were seen in these early-stage patients, these findings could also be interesting from the point of
view of clinical research aiming at development of measures that enable
follow-up of disease progression.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Gamboa OL, Tagliazucchi E, vonWegner F, Jurcoane A, Wahl
M, Laufs H, Ziemann U. Working memory performance of early MS patients
correlates inversely with modularity increases in resting state functional
connectivity networks. NeuroImage (2013) e-publication ahead of print.
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.008">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.008</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-2888966561757008672013-11-24T13:14:00.000+02:002013-11-24T13:14:21.864+02:00Speech motor system may mediate visual information to auditory cortex during silent speech reading<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While the sense of hearing is
clearly the dominant channel for speech perception, humans are surprisingly
good at reading the lips of one’s conversation partners, a phenomenon referred
to as speech reading. This ability has been demonstrated already in early
psychophysics studies to significantly enhance speech perception, especially
when speech is to be perceived under noisy conditions. There is a fairly good
amount of neuroimaging literature on the underlying neural mechanisms. In these
studies, visual speech stimuli (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">i.e.</i>,
articulatory gestures) have been reported to modulate auditory cortical
processing, with some evidence pointing to speech motor system first being
activated by visual speech and then influencing auditory-cortical processing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">via</i> an efference copy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Chu <i>et al</i>.
(2013) studied the neural basis of speech reading by presenting 19 healthy
volunteers with silent videoclips of a person articulating vowels during
event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Speech reading
activated a wide range of occipital, temporal, and prefrontal cortical areas. The
authors used structural equation modeling to estimate information flow during
speech reading between the activated areas. The results suggested that there is
parallel information flow from extrastriate areas to anterior prefrontal areas
and, further, feedback information flow from the anterior prefrontal areas to posterior-superior
temporal lobe auditory areas. These effective connectivity estimates thus support the model wherein speech reading influences auditory-cortical areas <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">via</i> prefrontal speech motor areas, possibly in the form of an efference
copy that might facilitate speech perception. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Chu Y-H, Lin F-H, Chou Y-J, Tsai K W-K, Kuo W-J,
Jaaskelainen IP. Effective cerebral connectivity during silent speech reading
revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. PLoS ONE (2013) 8: e80265.
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080265">http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080265</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-35025510564639639672013-11-17T13:58:00.001+02:002013-11-17T13:58:34.419+02:00Chronic two-photon imaging of entire cortical columns in awake mice using microprisms<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the scientific quest to
unravel the neural basis of many perceptual and cognitive functions, animal
models are very important in complementing the findings obtained in
non-invasive human neuroimaging studies. Furthermore, even though there are
many species-specific aspects to cognition (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g.</i>,
human language), for those perceptual-cognitive functions that do generalize
across species, animal models often offer the only possibility to test
decisively between alternative hypotheses. Further, development of animal
research methods is advancing at astounding speed. Two-photon calcium imaging
is a relatively new method that allows simultaneous recording from large (~hundreds)
populations of neurons, however, the method has been limited to recording from
limited number of cortical layers at a time, and it has not been possible to
record the neural populations over extended periods of time, which would be
very useful in studies of, for example, the neural basis of various types of
learning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
With the method recently
published by Andermann <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) it
is now possible to record extensive populations of neurons simultaneously from
all six cortical layers over extended periods of time, even for months. The
authors surgically implanted glass microprisms in somatosensory and visual
cortical areas of mice, which then allowed chronic two-photon imaging of
hundreds of neurons and from all layers simultaneously, in awake animals. The
authors point out that their novel methodology, when combined with advances in
genetic, pharmacological, and optogenetic methods (using which individual
neurons in a population can be selectively suppressed and excited), can
considerably expand the highly exciting capabilities offered by two-photon
imaging in animal-model studies of the neural basis of perceptual and cognitive
functions.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Andermann ML, Gilfoy NB, Goldey GJ, Sachdev RNS, Wölfel
M, McGormick DA, Reid RC, Levene MJ. Chronic cellular imaging of entire
cortical columns in awake mice using microprisms. Neuron (2013) e-publication
ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.07.052">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.07.052</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-57144286311520821492013-11-03T19:38:00.001+02:002013-11-04T12:26:54.211+02:00Visual-cortex GABA concentrations predict incidence of cognitive failures in daily life in healthy volunteers<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Since the amount of information
one receives in daily life by far exceeds the limited capacity of one’s
processing resources, selecting relevant information and suppressing irrelevant
information is a vital ability. The link between this cognitive ability, termed
selective attention, and cognitive failures in daily life<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g</i>.,
failing to notice things, getting distracted) is well established. On the other
hand, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the most common inhibitory
neurotransmitter in the human brain, has been observed to contribute to visual
cortex selectivity to stimuli, a function that is an integral part of selective
attention. What has not been investigated before, however, is whether
inter-individual variability in the amount of visual-cortical GABA is linked
with the frequency of cognitive failures in daily life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Sandberg <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) had 36 healthy
participants fill out a cognitive failures questionnaire, where participants were
asked to self-rate frequency with which they experience common cognitive
failures in perception, memory, and motor function. They then underwent 3T
whole-head structural magnetic resonance imaging and focal magnetic resonance
spectroscopy measurement<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of GABA
concentration was obtained with two voxels placed in 1) calcarine sulcus in
occipital cortex and 2) in the anterior part of the superior parietal lobule. It was observed that GABA concentrations in the
visual cortex correlated with the incidence of self-reported cognitive
failures. In contrast, the authors failed to see any correlation between GABA
concentrations in the parietal voxel and cognitive failures. The authors however
observed that gray matter volume in left superior parietal lobule and occipital
GABA concentration independently predicted cognitive failures.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These exciting results first of
all demonstrate nicely that it is possible to predict inter-individual
variability in cognitive failures that take place in daily life with inter-individual
differences in local brain neurochemical properties. The results further add an
important piece of evidence pointing to the role of GABA in cognitive
processing by suggesting that visual-cortical GABA concentrations impact
selective attention under ecologically valid conditions as estimated by the
questionnaire items. Third, these results suggest that the role of GABA in
modulating selective attention is specific to the sensory cortical areas,
whereas gray matter volume in parietal cortex additionally contributes to frequency
of cognitive failures in daily life.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Sandberg K, Blicher JU, Dong MY, Rees G, Near J, Kanai
R. Occipital GABA correlates with cognitive failures in daily life. Neuroimage
(2013) e-publication ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.10.059">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.10.059</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-10624990225333661802013-10-29T11:10:00.000+02:002013-10-29T11:10:00.645+02:00Use of three-dimensional movies with surround sound as stimuli during functional magnetic resonance imaging<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Naturalistic stimuli such as
movies are being increasingly used as stimuli in cognitive neuroimaging
studies. One of the advantages offered by movies is that they make it possible
to test ecological validity of predictions based on research with more
artificial stimulus features. Challenges in data analysis due to inherent complexity
of movie stimuli have been eloquently handled by development of novel data
analysis methods, including decomposition of the movie stimulus into a set of
relevant stimulus time courses that are used as predictors in data analysis.
One aspect that has not been tested under neuroimaging settings, however, is
the use of three-dimensional movies with surround sound.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Ogawa <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) presented healthy
volunteers with alternating 2D and 3D movie clips with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. without surround sound during functional magnetic resonance
imaging. The surround sound was generated with a custom-build MR-compatible
piezoelectric speaker array. Data analysis was carried out by both contrasting
the blocked conditions (3D with surround sound, 3D without surround sound, 2D
with surround sound, and 2D without surround sound) and by using time courses
of the degree of binocular disparity and the number of sound sources as
predictors of brain hemodynamic activity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The authors observed that brain
hemodynamic activity was predicted by absolute visual disparity in dorsal
occipital and posterior parietal areas and by visual disparity gradients in
posterior aspects of the middle temporal gyrus as well as inferior frontal
gyrus. The complexity of the auditory space was associated with hemodynamic
activity in specific areas of the superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal
gyrus. These results are highly exciting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per
se</i> and, further, given that 3D and surround sound effects are known to
increase the immersive effect of movies, this study represents an important
step forward by demonstrating the feasibility of using 3D movies with surround
sound during functional magnetic resonance imaging.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ogawa A,
Bordier C, Macaluso E. Audio-visual perception of 3D cinematography: an fMRI
study using condition-based and computation-based analyses (2013) PLoS ONE 8:
e76003. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0076003">http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0076003</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-39884930734451819592013-10-21T12:15:00.000+03:002013-10-21T12:15:10.245+03:00Providing sense of touch via intracortical microstimulation of somatosensory cortex from a prosthetic limb<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Research on brain computer
interfaces has shown amazing progress over the past decade, with non-human
primate studies showing that it is possible for monkeys to even learn guide an
artificial arm based on neural signals recorded from the motor cortical areas.
As such this line of research holds great promise for patients who have lost a
limb or are suffering from paralysis due to spinal cord injury. One critical
aspect that has been lacking in this exciting area of research has been the
question of how somatosensory feedback could be provided from the prosthetic
arm to the brain. This is important given that somatosensory feedback is a
prerequisite for dexterous manipulation of objects and given that sense of
touch is important for the embodied sensation (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">i.e.</i>, that limb feels part of oneself) as well as for
emotional-social communication.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Tabot <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) compared the ability of
monkeys to carry out somatosensory discrimination tasks based on endogenous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. artificial somatosensory feedback
inputs provided through native <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>.
prosthetic finger. Somatosensory stimulation was experimentally varied to find
a set of parameters that could be used to guide manipulation of objects by the
monkeys. The results suggest that 1) intracortical microstimulation of
somatosensory cortex elicits spatially localized percepts consistently with the
somatotopic organization of somatosensory cortex, 2) magnitude of the percept
seems to depend on the magnitude of the microstimulation, and 3) phasic
stimulation can be utilized to convey information about making of initial
contact with an object. Based on these findings, the authors envision how
microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex from a prosthetic limb could be
used to provide sense of touch to human patients with an artificial limb.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Tabot GA, Dammann JF, Beg JA, Tenore FV, Boback JL,
Vogelstein J, Bensmaia SJ. Restoring the sense of touch with a prosthetic hand
through a brain interface. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2013) e-publication ahead of
print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221113110">http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221113110</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-43714068107205784282013-10-14T12:44:00.001+03:002013-10-14T12:44:22.598+03:00Direct causal evidence for auditory cortical "what" and "where" processing streams provided by transcranial magnetic stimulation <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since
initial observations in animal models, there has been accumulating evidence
suggesting that sound identity and location information is processed in
parallel anterior and posterior auditory-cortex streams in humans. Human neuroimaging
evidence has, however, not been <span style="color: black;">indisputable</span> since
posterior auditory cortical areas have been observed to be sensitive to also
other than auditory spatial features. Furthermore, while neuroimaging findings
are beyond any doubt highly informative, they cannot not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i> provide causal evidence for the involvement of anterior and
posterior auditory cortical areas in processing of “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i>” and “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">where</i>”
auditory information. Transcranial magnetic stimulation guided by magnetic
resonance imaging is a method that, by making it possible to transiently
deactivate specific cortical areas, allows causal testing of the involvement of
cortical regions in task performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
their recent study, Dr. Jyrki Ahveninen <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et
al</i>. (2013) transiently inhibited bilateral anterior and posterior auditory
cortical areas in healthy volunteers when they were performing sound
localization and sound identity discrimination tasks. The transient inhibition
was accomplished with paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation guided by
magnetic resonance imaging, with the pulses delivered 55-145 ms following the
to-be-discriminated auditory stimuli. The anatomical areas targeted by the
transcranial magnetic stimulation were further confirmed with individual-level
cortical electric field estimates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was observed that transient inhibition of posterior auditory cortical
regions delayed reaction times significantly more during sound location than
sound identity discrimination. In contrast, transient inhibition of anterior auditory
cortical regions delayed reaction times significantly more during sound
identity than sound location discrimination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">These
highly exciting findings provide direct causal evidence in support of the
parallel auditory cortex “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i>” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">where</i>”
processing pathways in humans. These results not only nicely help clarify the
still-debated issue of whether the posterior human auditory cortex participates
in auditory space processing, but methodologically the findings further demonstrate
the feasibility of using paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation in
targeting cortical areas that are located very close to one another. The
introduction of methods that allow precise estimation of the cortical targets
of transcranial magnetic stimulation also provides an important methodological
advance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reference</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Ahveninen J, Huang S, Nummenmaa A,
Belliveau JW, Hung A-Y, Jaaskelainen IP, Rauschecker JP, Rossi S, Tiitinen H,
Raij T. Evidence for distinct auditory cortex regions for sound location versus
identity processing. Nature Communications (2013) 4: 2585. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3585">http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3585</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-82615790785062041702013-10-07T07:16:00.001+03:002013-10-07T07:16:36.542+03:00Brain regions involved in processing gestural, facial, and actor-orientation cues in short video clips revealed by functional MRI<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How is the human brain able to
process social gestures so quickly and with (seemingly) so little effort?
Answering this question is one of the most pivotal ones when attempting to
understand the neural basis of social cognition. This is a very important area
of research given that social skills is what makes humans an inherently social
species, and further since deficits in social cognition in certain clinical
conditions are highly handicapping to afflicted individuals. Neuroimaging
studies on the neural basis of social cognition have been rapidly increasing in
number, but there have been relatively few studies where processing of several
social cues (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g.</i>, gestures, facial
expressions, orientation of social gestures towards <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. away from the subjects) have been included in the same study
design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Saggar <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) showed short 2-sec video clips
depicting social <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. non-social
gestures oriented away <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. towards
the subjects and with face occluded (blurred) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. clearly visible, during functional magnetic resonance imaging.
The authors observed enhanced hemodynamic activity in amygdala and brain areas
relevant for theory of mind when contrasting social <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. non-social gestures. Activity in lateral occipital cortex and
precentral gyrus was further observed when comparing responses elicited by
gestures towards <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vs</i>. away from the
subjects. Visibility of facial gestures in turn modulated activity in posterior
superior temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus. Taken together, these highly
interesting findings shed light on how multiple social cues that signal
information about the intentions of other persons are processed in the human
brain, and significantly pave way for clinical research in patient groups with
social cognition deficits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Saggar M, Shelly EW, Lepage J-F, Hoeft F, Reiss AL.
Revealing the neural networks associated with processing of natural social
interaction and the related effects of actor-orientation and face-visibility.
Neuroimage (2013) e-publication ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.046">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.046</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-53781556524243709932013-09-27T18:06:00.003+03:002013-09-27T18:06:55.704+03:00Dietary polyamine supplement prevents aging-related memory impairments in Drosophila<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is well known that aging
results in cognitive decline, including memory impairments, even in the absence
of any dementing neurodegenerative disorders <i>per se </i>such as Alzheimer’s disease. Given the rapidly aging
populations in many countries, the causes of the aging-related memory
impairments have been a focus of intensive research. One central challenge for
research on aging-related memory impairments has been posed by the relatively
long lifespan of most animal models. Conditioning paradigms that can be used in
<i>Drosophila</i> (aka "fruit flies") provide
a model where aging-related memory impairments are seen over the course of days and weeks instead of years, thus offering a model that can be effectively used to study the
underlying molecular mechanisms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Dr. Varun K Gupta <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) conducted a series of
experiments where they first observed that polyamine spermidine and putrescine
levels decreased in the heads of aging Drosophila. In the following experiment
they observed that dietary sperminide supplement reduced aging-related memory
impairment in the Drosophila, as assessed with a maze-learning task involving
olfactory cues and electric shocks. Investigating the possible underlying
molecular mechanisms, the authors observed that dietary spermidine, in addition
to reducing aging-related memory impairment, prevented aging-related decrease
of autophagy. Furthermore, when the autophagic mechanisms were genetically impaired,
the spermidine-induced reduction of aging-related memory impairment was
blocked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This impressive set of findings
demonstrates how the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Drosophila</i> model
can be highly effectively used to study molecular mechanisms that underlie aging-related
memory impairments. The authors point out that prior to their observations, few
substances (and all of them exogenous) have been observed to protect against
aging-related memory impairments. Spermidine, being an endogenous substance,
thus holds a lot of potential for further studies and might ultimately provide
a candidate substance for prevention of aging-related memory deficits in
humans. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Gupta VK, Scheunemann L, Eisenberg T, Mertel S, Bhukel
A, Koemans TS, Kramer JM, Liu KSY, Schroeder S, Stunnenberg HG, Sinner F,
Magnes C, Pieber TR, Dipt S, Fiala A, Schenck A, Schwaerzel M, Madeo F, Sigrist
SJ. Restoring polyamines protects from age-induced memory impairment in an
autophagy-dependent manner. Nature Neuroscience (2013) e-publication ahead of
print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn.3512">http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn.3512</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-11760985779040651022013-09-23T11:20:00.002+03:002013-09-23T11:20:19.939+03:00Economic conditions at the time of birth predict cognitive ability late in life<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Severe economic recessions are
known to adversely affect population health, and it is also well known that
exposure to adverse stimuli during early stages of life can hinder development.
The question of whether economic-societal conditions at the time of birth, such
as poverty brought about by economic downturns and wellbeing by economic booms,
can impact cognitive functions later in life is a highly interesting one that
has been addressed relatively little. Due to large in-depth surveys carried out
in the 2000s across multiple European countries among the aging population, it
has become possible to address this important question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Doblhammer
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) examined whether
economic cycle at the time of birth could predict poor cognitive functioning at
older age. They specifically inspected whether cycles in economic indicators
during the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century (excluding war years)
would predict cognitive ability as assessed with five interview measures, on
orientation to time, recall, delayed recall, verbal fluency, and numerical
ability. Multiple potentially intervening factors were carefully controlled for
in the analyses. The results showed that economic
downturns at the time of birth significantly predicted poorer cognitive function
in the elderly. While it is naturally difficult to pinpoint causal factors in
this type of study design (the authors mention malnutrition and psychological
stress/insecurity within families as possible explanations) these results
nonetheless bear high societal significance by demonstrating that economical
factors can have lasting consequences on cognitive function. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Doblhammer G, van den Berg GJ, Fritze T. Economic
conditions at the time of birth and cognitive abilities late in life: evidence
from ten European countries. PLoS ONE (2013) 8: e74915. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074915">http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074915</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-10024992405872277782013-09-15T16:04:00.003+03:002013-09-15T16:04:54.003+03:00Watching short emotional movie clips robustly activates the human dorsal visual stream areas<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Rapid advances in neuroimaging
method development are currently making it possible to answer one of the most
intriguing questions in cognitive neuroscience, specifically, how does seeing
emotion-arousing events in one’s environment modulate the various systems (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g.</i>, emotional, attentional,
somatomotor) of the brain. Up until relatively recently, neuroimaging studies
on the neural basis of emotions utilized stimuli such as emotional pictures and
sounds to delineate brain structures responding to emotional events. More
naturalistic stimuli such as movies that elicit more robust and genuine emotions
have been used recently and in such early studies, more extensive set of brain
areas have been shown to be modulated by emotional valence and arousal than in
studies using more artificial stimuli, thus warranting further research into
the neural basis of emotions with naturalistic stimuli. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Goldberg <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2014) presented healthy
volunteers with short ~14 s clips taken from commercial movies during
functional magnetic resonance imaging of brain hemodynamic activity. The
subjects had prior to the scanning session watched longer clips of ~a few minutes
that contained the short experimental clips to familiarize the subjects with
the emotional events and content of the clips. The clips ranged from neutral to
strongly emotional, which was used in modeling hemodynamic activity. In
separate control experiments the clips were played upside down, and the
soundtrack and video inputs were mixed, to control for the possibility of low-level
sensory differences between emotional and neutral clips. The authors observed
responses to emotional clips in a number of brain areas, however, the most
robust responses to emotionally arousing clips were noted in the dorsal visual
stream. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These highly interesting findings
of dorsal stream activity enhancement by emotionally arousing movie clips are interpreted
by the authors to indicate initial step in the chain of events ultimately
leading to action towards emotionally meaningful objects. Methodologically, the
study also presents an interesting and a potentially very useful advance: by
familiarizing the subjects with the movie material in advance, the authors
could effectively utilize very short movie clips to trigger the recollection of
the previously seen emotional events during the scanning. Given that there are
limitations to how long a given subject can be scanned, and that the
signal-to-noise ratio limitations of even modern neuroimaging methods require
one to obtain multiple repetitions of similar events (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g.</i>, emotional responses) over the duration of the experiment, this setup of the authors offers an attractive alternative paradigm for further neuroimaging studies
of emotions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Goldberg H, Preminger S, Malach R. The emotion–action
link? Naturalistic emotional stimuli preferentially activate the human dorsal
visual stream. Neuroimage (2014) 84: 254–264. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.08.032">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.08.032</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-5624135316580819772013-09-09T15:17:00.003+03:002013-09-09T15:17:39.946+03:00Human electrocorticography shows phase resetting of visual cortical oscillatory activity by auditory stimuli<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Perception is inherently
multisensory, as evidenced by multisensory integration effects such as
increased comprehensibility of speech when lip movements of a speaker are clearly
visible in a noisy environment, as well as by audio-visual illusions such as the
ventriloquism and McGurk effects. At the neural level, it has been increasingly
recognized that there are cross-modal inputs even to primary sensory cortical
areas that take place already at very short latencies from stimulus onset,
however, understanding of the neural mechanisms by which auditory stimuli influence
visual processing has been relatively limited. Given recent findings in other
sense modalities, phase resetting of oscillatory visual cortex activity by
auditory stimuli has emerged as a potential mechanism by which auditory stimuli
might facilitate processing of visual stimuli in visual cortical areas. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Mercier <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) recorded brain electrical activity
intracranially in patients undergoing presurgical mapping procedures.
Oscillatory and evoked activity was recorded with electrodes placed in a number
of occipital-visual cortical areas during presentation of auditory-only,
visual-only, and audiovisual stimuli. While the authors observed also some responses
in visual cortical areas evoked by auditory stimuli, the most robust effects
that auditory stimuli caused in visual cortical areas was modulation / phase
resetting of the ongoing oscillatory activity by auditory stimuli. Such phase
resetting might be the neurophysiological-level mechanism that supports
behaviorally measurable multisensory interaction effects. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Mercier MR, Foxe JJ, Fiebelkorn IC, Butler JS, Schwartz
TH, Molholm S. Auditory-driven phase reset in visual cortex: human
electrocorticography reveals mechanisms of early multisensory integration.
Neuroimage (2013) 79:19-29. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.060">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.060</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-7092097979484272122013-09-01T21:13:00.003+03:002013-09-01T21:13:53.616+03:00Self-initiated task selection is predicted by multi-voxel pattern activity in medial prefrontal and parietal cortices<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Based on clinical observations in
brain-damaged individuals, it has been known for a long time that the brain mechanisms
underlying externally triggered and internally initiated goal-directed behavior
must be different, as there are patients who do very well when the clinician
asks them to carry out various cognitive and behavioral tasks, including ones
that measure so-called executive functions, however, the very same patients might
be unable to take initiative and make their own internally driven choices to
pursue meaningful goals on their own. In neuroimaging studies, the neural basis
of switching from one task to another has been mostly studied using
cue-stimulus triggered paradigms. What has remained less well known, due in
large part to obvious methodological challenges in measuring the timing of
“internal triggers”, is which brain mechanisms underlie genuine internally
driven task selection. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Soon <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) used functional magnetic
resonance imaging in a group of 34 healthy volunteers to study brain mechanisms
that precede internally initiated task selection. The authors set up a paradigm
where subjects voluntarily engaged into mental tasks of adding or subtracting.
Brain hemodynamic activity patterns preceding task initiation / selection were
then examined using multivoxel pattern analysis algorithms. It was observed
that intention to switch task could be decoded from patterns of hemodynamic
activity within medial prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex, areas partly overlapping
with the so-called default-mode network, as early as four seconds before the
subjects self-estimated having become consciously aware of their choices. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These highly important findings not
only disclose brain areas that underlie internally driven task selection, but
also provide important methodological advances that can be utilized in further
studies on this important research question. Notably, it was shown that
specifically the distributed pattern of brain activity held the information
that predicted the initiation of task switch, the overall amplitudes of
hemodynamic activity within the medial prefrontal and parietal cortices failed
to do so. The task paradigm devised by the authors is also one that can be
readily modified for further studies of the neural basis of voluntary task
selection.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Soon CS, He AH, Bode S, Haynes JD. Predicting free
choices for abstract intentions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2013) 110: 6217-6222.
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1212218110">http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1212218110</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-2598063598905202142013-08-25T09:12:00.001+03:002013-08-25T09:12:11.349+03:00The head and tail of caudate nucleus code flexible and stable reward value of visual objects<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Being able to estimate the reward
value of visual objects is a crucial factor in guiding ones behavioral choices. What
makes this task even more challenging is that the reward value is often not
fixed but can vary quickly, making it necessary for there to be flexibility to
take into account the immediate reward history in addition to the stable reward
value that has been learned over the longer term. The underlying neural
mechanisms have remained a topic of speculation. Existence of two parallel reward-value processing mechanisms, one
processing flexibly short-term reward value and another holding the longer-term
stable reward value of objects has been hypothesized, however, empirical support for this hypothesis
has been lacking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Drs. Kim
and Hikosaka (2013) used combined single-neuron recording and temporal
inactivation methods in non-human primates to investigate the roles of distinct
caudate nucleus areas in determination of flexible and stable reward values of visual stimuli. They observed that, during behavioral tasks wherein monkeys looked
more at objects with high than low value, neuronal firing recorded from head of
the caudate nucleus coded reward value flexibly and neurons in the tail of the
caudate nucleus coded for the longer-term stable reward value. Temporary inactivation of these two
caudate nucleus subregions corroborated the findings obtained in the
single-neuron recordings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These very important and exciting
results suggest that there indeed are two parallel neural systems coding
for reward value of objects, one enables flexible coding of reward value when
there is short-term volatility in value, and another mechanism enables holding
and appreciating the stable reward values of objects. In addition to shedding light
on the neural basis of reward-value processing under different types of task
conditions, these findings offer hypotheses and insights into the neural basis
of specific deficits that have been documented in various basal ganglia
disorders, as also briefly discussed by the authors in their paper.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Kim HF, Hikosaka O. Distinct basal ganglia circuits
controlling behaviors guided by flexible and stable values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neuron (2013) e-publication ahead of
print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.06.044">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.06.044</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-59354700381481719492013-08-18T10:25:00.002+03:002013-08-18T10:25:57.755+03:00Unexpectedness of both observed errors and successes activates the dorsomedial prefrontal and rostral cingulate cortex in humans<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It has been sometimes said that
the ability to predict what is going to happen next is the primary task that
the human brain needs to accomplish (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g.</i>,
perhaps the reason that ability to form memories of past events ever developed
was solely due to the need to be able to predict the future). Indeed, when observing
others, there typically are few surprises, and unexpected acts robustly catch
one’s attention to figure out what is taking place. Activation of dorsomedial
prefrontal cortical areas together with rostral cingulate cortex has been
associated in previous studies with both detection of errors (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">e.g.</i>, when observing someone fail on a
task) and observation of surprising events. Whether the responses seen in these
areas are more due to unexpectedness or erroneousness of observed actions has,
however, remained as an unresolved issue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Dr.
Anne-Marike Schiffer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) studied
whether responses in the aforementioned brain areas are more due to
unexpectedness or erroneousness of observed actions. They presented video
clips, shot from a first-person perspective, of an actress making sailing,
fishing, and climbing knots. The videos were edited so that both unexpected
failures and unexpected successes were observable, as also validated in a separate
behavioral experiment carried out in the volunteers who all were sufficiently
skilled in making the knots themselves. The movie clips were then shown to the volunteers
during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results indicated an area
encompassing medial prefrontal cortex and rostral cingulate cortex that
responded to both correct and erroneous knot-tying actions that were
unexpected.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These very important and
interesting results suggest that, at least to some extent, previously observed
error-related responses in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and rostral cingulate
gyrus could have been due to unexpectedness of the errors. Based on their
findings, the authors further bring up the interesting possibility that an
unexpectedness signal in the dorsal rostral cingulate gyrus could serve the
purpose of adjusting internal models that help predict flow of actions.
Overall, this study is a very nice demonstration of how behavioral and
neuroimaging experiments can be combined to advance our understanding of the
neural basis of cognitive functions.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Schiffer A-M, Krause KH, Schubotz RI. Surprisingly
correct: unexpectedness of observed actions activates the medial prefrontal
cortex. Human Brain Mapping (2013) online e-publication ahead of print.
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22277">http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22277</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-1685937362401879722013-08-09T17:47:00.004+03:002013-08-09T17:47:50.686+03:00Brain regions processing complex acoustic features across different musical genres<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Music is a fundamental and highly
interesting aspect of humanity. The neural basis of music perception has been
studied for the most part with relatively simplified stimuli isolating a given
element of music, such as by presenting short sound sequences that form tonality
or rhythm, and observing which brain areas exhibit responses to such
stimulation. Over the last few years, there has been an emerging trend, enabled
by developments in non-invasive neuroimaging technology and data analysis
methods, towards utilization of naturalistic stimuli during neuroimaging,
including free listening of music. What has been wanting, however, are studies looking at
which brain areas are consistently activated by musical features across
different musical pieces and genres during free listening conditions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In their recent study, Alluri <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) presented healthy
volunteers musical pieces of various genres that included both instrumental
music and music with lyrics during functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Musical features were then extracted by automated algorithms included in the so-called
MIR toolbox that the authors have developed previously. These complex acoustic feature time series were then used as regression models to predict voxel-wise brain hemodynamic activity
recorded during music listening. Cross-validation was used across musical
genres and two different subject populations to map areas that respond
consistently to the musical complex acoustic features. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was shown that brain activity can
be predicted by the musical complex acoustic features in the auditory, limbic, and
motor regions of the brain, as well as in orbitofrontal regions that have been
previously associated with evaluative appraisal and not during free music listening
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i>. Cross-validation identified a
region in right superior temporal gyrus that included planum polare and Heschl’s
gyrus as the core structure that processes complex acoustic features across
musical genres. These highly exciting findings will help pave way for further neuroimaging
studies into the neural basis of music processing under naturalistic free music
listening conditions.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Alluri V, Toiviainen P, Lund TE, Wallentin M, Vuust P,
Nandi AK, Ristaniemi T, Brattico E. From Vivaldi to Beatles and back:
predicting lateralized brain responses to music. Neuroimage 83 (2013) 627-636. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.064">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.064</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-57565252872490011792013-08-02T16:35:00.001+03:002013-08-02T16:35:09.254+03:00Psychophysics of spatial hearing and the underlying neural mechanisms in humans nicely reviewed<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Localization of sound sources is
a complicated challenge for the human brain since the auditory system, unlike
the visual one, lacks direct correspondence between sound source locations and
sensory receptive fields. In their recent review article, Dr. Jyrki Ahveninen <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>. (2013) provide a comprehensive
review of what is known about the psychophysics of sound localization and the
current understanding of the underlying cortical mechanisms as elucidated by
neuroimaging studies. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Both animal models and more
recently non-invasive neuroimaging studies in humans have suggested a special
role in auditory spatial processing for cortical areas that reside posterior to
the primary auditory cortex, including planum temporale and posterior superior
temporal gyrus, however, both the precise underlying neural mechanisms have
remained in many ways an unresolved puzzle in cognitive neuroscience. The most
significant outstanding questions are laid out in the paper, which is a good
read for anyone interested in the cognitive neuroscience of spatial hearing.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Ahveninen J, Kopco N, Jaaskelainen IP. Psychophysics and
neuronal bases of sound localization in humans (2013) Hearing Research,
e-publication ahead of print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2013.07.008">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2013.07.008</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-79830209157566369552013-07-08T03:03:00.002+03:002013-07-08T03:03:20.323+03:00Multisensory integration effects caused by cross-modal mental imagery<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The existence of perceptually
robust multisensory interactions, such as the ventriloquism and McGurk effects,
has been well established in behavioral studies, and neuroimaging studies have
further shown that multisensory processing of stimuli takes place even in
primary sensory cortical areas. There is also evidence suggesting that mental
imagery, such as an imagined sound of a hammer seen to hit an anvil in a silent
movie, modulates processing in sensory cortical areas. What has remained less
explored is the extent that imaginary visual stimuli influence processing of
real auditory stimuli and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vice versa</i>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In their recently published
study, Berger and Ehrsson (2013) conducted a series of behavioral experiments
where they tested whether imagined stimuli cause well-known multisensory
illusory percepts similarly as real stimuli. They first tested the effects of
an imagined sound of collision on cross-bounce illusion, followed by testing
the effects of an imagined visual stimulus on ventriloquism effect, and as a
third test, the effects of an imagined seen articulation on the so-called
McGurk effect. In all three experiments, the authors were able to demonstrate
that imagined stimulus causes similar multisensory illusions as real cross-modal
stimuli; imagining the sound of a collision gave rise to the cross-bounce
illusion, imagining a visual stimulus shifted the perceived location of an
auditory stimulus, and auditory imagery of speech stimuli led to a promotion of
an illusory speech percept, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">i.e.</i>, in
a modified McGurk illusion.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These highly exciting results nicely
expand previous findings on multisensory interactions, and provide further
evidence for the view that sensory cortices play a pivotal role in generation
of mental imagery – even to the extent that visual imagery modulate processing
of auditory stimuli and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vice versa</i>.
It is easy to see that these behavioral results also provide an excellent
starting point for further neuroimaging studies investigating the multisensory
effects of mental imagery in sensory cortical areas of the brain.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Reference</b>: Berger CC, Ehrsson HH. Mental imagery changes
multisensory perception. Current Biology (2013), e-publication ahead of print.</div>
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<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.012">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.012</a></div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7176012992630737189.post-43802262816071083082013-07-01T12:12:00.004+03:002013-07-01T12:12:48.919+03:00Task-specific networks of the brain revealed by a meta-analysis of more than 1600 neuroimaging studies <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Neuroinformatics refers to free
sharing of analysis tools and experimental data. When
neuroinformatics was taking its very first steps, there were, among extensive
support, also voices of critic, mostly doubting the usefulness of making
published neuroimaging datasets available, whether anyone could in practice
utilize data that is most often collected to answer some highly specific
research question. With gigantic advances in computational power, it has become possible to put together thousands of such datasets and look for
consistent patterns in the resulting big data with sophisticated data analysis
algorithms that have been adapted from, e.g., statistical physics. Recently,
there have been studies combining data over a large number of resting-state
imaging studies to inspect the brain as a complex network. Consistent patterns
of functional connectivity (or rather “co-activation”, where a number of brain areas tend to
change their level of activity hand-in-hand) have indeed been observed, but it
has been less well known how active engagement in various types of tasks
changes the “resting state” networks of co-activity.</div>
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In their recent study, Crossley
<i>et al.</i> (2013) included in a meta-analysis data from more than 1600 functional
magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography studies published
between 1985–2010 to inspect the network activity patterns of the human brain
when experimental subjects are engaging in different types of tasks, including
perception, action, executive tasks, and during emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on this meta-analysis, the
authors were able to observe that there are large similarities in functional
networks of the brain between resting state (where the task of the subjects
typically has been to lay in the scanner and either do nothing or focus on a
fixation cross) and active tasks, however, differences also emerged. It was observed that so-called occipital module was mostly activated
during perception, central module during action, the default-mode
module by emotions, and fronto-parietal module by executive tasks. Further, the
authors observed that there were important nodes in parietal and prefrontal
cortex that often connected over long distances and were involved in diverse range
of tasks. Deactivation of nodes was also noted to play an important role in
flexible network reconfiguration with changing cognitive demands. Overall, this
study is a prime example of the usefulness of big data in cognitive
neuroscience by allowing sophisticated analysis of the brain’s central
processing principles that will likely pave way for further research efforts in a highly significant manner.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Reference</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">: Crossley NA, Mechelli A,
Vértes PE, Winton-Brown TT, Patel AX, Ginestet CE, McGuire P, Bullmore ET.
Cognitive relevance of the community structure of the human brain functional
coactivation network. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2013) e-publication ahead of
print. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1220826110">http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1220826110</a></span><!--EndFragment-->
</div>
Iiro P. Jaaskelainenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02501128953101258550noreply@blogger.com0