Pub Date : 2024-11-22DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.022
Guillaume Lio , Martina Corazzol , Roberta Fadda , Giuseppe Doneddu , Angela Sirigu
Attention to faces and eye contact are key behaviors for establishing social bonds in humans. In Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a disturbance in neurodevelopment, impaired face processing and gaze avoidance are key clinical features for ASD diagnosis. The biological alterations underlying these impairments are not yet clearly established. Using high-density electroencephalography coupled with multi-variate pattern classification and group blind source separation methods we searched for face- and-face components-related neural signals that could best discriminate visual processing of neurotypical subjects (N = 38) from ASD participants (N = 27). We isolated a face-specific neural signal in the superior temporal sulcus peaking at 240 msec after face-stimulus onset. A machine learning algorithm applied on the extracted neural component reached 74% decoding accuracy at the same latencies, discriminating the neurotypical population from ASD subjects in whom this signal was weak. By manipulating attention on different parts of the face, we also found that the power of the evoked signal in neurotypical subjects varied depending on the region observed: it was strong when the eye region fell on the fovea to decrease on regions further away and outside the stimulus face. Such face and face-components selective neural modulations were not found in ASD, although they did show typical early face-related P100 and N170 signals. These results show that specialized cortical mechanisms for face perception show higher responses for eyes when attention is focused on gaze and that these mechanisms may be particularly affected in autism spectrum disorders.
{"title":"A neuronal marker of eye contact spontaneously activated in neurotypical subjects but not in autistic spectrum disorders","authors":"Guillaume Lio , Martina Corazzol , Roberta Fadda , Giuseppe Doneddu , Angela Sirigu","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.022","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.022","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attention to faces and eye contact are key behaviors for establishing social bonds in humans. In Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a disturbance in neurodevelopment, impaired face processing and gaze avoidance are key clinical features for ASD diagnosis. The biological alterations underlying these impairments are not yet clearly established. Using high-density electroencephalography coupled with multi-variate pattern classification and group blind source separation methods we searched for face- and-face components-related neural signals that could best discriminate visual processing of neurotypical subjects (<em>N</em> = 38) from ASD participants (<em>N</em> = 27). We isolated a face-specific neural signal in the superior temporal sulcus peaking at 240 msec after face-stimulus onset. A machine learning algorithm applied on the extracted neural component reached 74% decoding accuracy at the same latencies, discriminating the neurotypical population from ASD subjects in whom this signal was weak. By manipulating attention on different parts of the face, we also found that the power of the evoked signal in neurotypical subjects varied depending on the region observed: it was strong when the eye region fell on the fovea to decrease on regions further away and outside the stimulus face. Such face and face-components selective neural modulations were not found in ASD, although they did show typical early face-related P100 and N170 signals. These results show that specialized cortical mechanisms for face perception show higher responses for eyes when attention is focused on gaze and that these mechanisms may be particularly affected in autism spectrum disorders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"183 ","pages":"Pages 87-104"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142759183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-22DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.023
Hamit Basgol , Peter Dayan , Volker H. Franz
The brain builds and maintains internal models and uses them to make predictions. When predictions are violated, the current model can either be updated or replaced by a new model. The latter is accompanied by pupil dilation responses (PDRs) related to locus coeruleus activity/norepinephrine release (LC-NE). Following earlier research, we investigated PDRs associated with transitions between regular and random patterns of tones in auditory sequences. We presented these sequences to participants and instructed them to find gaps (to maintain attention). Transitions from regular to random patterns induced PDRs, suggesting that an internal model attuned to the regular pattern is reset. Transitions from one regular pattern to another regular pattern also induced PDRs, suggesting that they also led to a model reset. In contrast, transitions from random patterns to regular patterns did not induce PDRs, suggesting a gradual update of model parameters. We modelled these findings, using pupil response functions to show how ongoing PDRs and pupil event rates were sensitive to the trial-by-trial changes in the information content of the auditory sequences. Expanding on previous research, we suggest that PDRs—as biomarkers for LC-NE activation—may indicate the extent of prediction violations.
{"title":"Violation of auditory regularities is reflected in pupil dynamics","authors":"Hamit Basgol , Peter Dayan , Volker H. Franz","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.023","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.023","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The brain builds and maintains internal models and uses them to make predictions. When predictions are violated, the current model can either be updated or replaced by a new model. The latter is accompanied by pupil dilation responses (PDRs) related to locus coeruleus activity/norepinephrine release (LC-NE). Following earlier research, we investigated PDRs associated with transitions between regular and random patterns of tones in auditory sequences. We presented these sequences to participants and instructed them to find gaps (to maintain attention). Transitions from regular to random patterns induced PDRs, suggesting that an internal model attuned to the regular pattern is reset. Transitions from one regular pattern to another regular pattern also induced PDRs, suggesting that they also led to a model reset. In contrast, transitions from random patterns to regular patterns did not induce PDRs, suggesting a gradual update of model parameters. We modelled these findings, using pupil response functions to show how ongoing PDRs and pupil event rates were sensitive to the trial-by-trial changes in the information content of the auditory sequences. Expanding on previous research, we suggest that PDRs—as biomarkers for LC-NE activation—may indicate the extent of prediction violations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"183 ","pages":"Pages 66-86"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-19DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.11.005
Alejandro Santos-Mayo , Stephan Moratti
Previous research has focused on how different environments modulate fear learning and the accompanying prioritization of acquired threat cues in sensory cortices. Here, we focus on the other side of the coin and show how the acquisition of threat relevance influences the sensory processing of the environment and an associated context cue. Thereby, we observed that spatial suppression surrounding the focus of threat relevant cues extended by threat learning. By recording frequency-tagged steady-state visual evoked fields (ssVEFs) from 35 healthy participants using Magnetoencephalography (MEG), we replicate earlier findings that centrally presented acquired threat-relevant cues (CS+) evoke greater ssVEF responses, whereas visuocortical engagement during the processing of threat-irrelevant cues (CS-) is inhibited. Critically, as predicted by early computational models of threat learning such as the Rescorla-Wagner model, ssVEF responses to an inter-trial peripheral background flicker (context cue), when no CS was shown, increased linearly during learning. In contrast, visuocortical engagement in the early-tier visual cortex during the processing of the background flicker was strongly reduced during CS presentation in the last learning block. This effect was observed during maximal CS+ and CS- discrimination. However, in more anterior ventral visual cortex, the inhibition of oscillatory responses of the context cue occurred only during CS + trials, whereas during CS- trials, background ssVEF responses were increased. These results are in line with the notion that attentional resources are reallocated flexibly between cues of different threat relevance and that the spatial extension of center surround neuronal competition can be modulated by threat learning.
{"title":"How fear conditioning affects the visuocortical processing of context cues in humans. Evidence from steady state visual evoked responses","authors":"Alejandro Santos-Mayo , Stephan Moratti","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.11.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.11.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous research has focused on how different environments modulate fear learning and the accompanying prioritization of acquired threat cues in sensory cortices. Here, we focus on the other side of the coin and show how the acquisition of threat relevance influences the sensory processing of the environment and an associated context cue. Thereby, we observed that spatial suppression surrounding the focus of threat relevant cues extended by threat learning. By recording frequency-tagged steady-state visual evoked fields (ssVEFs) from 35 healthy participants using Magnetoencephalography (MEG), we replicate earlier findings that centrally presented acquired threat-relevant cues (CS+) evoke greater ssVEF responses, whereas visuocortical engagement during the processing of threat-irrelevant cues (CS-) is inhibited. Critically, as predicted by early computational models of threat learning such as the Rescorla-Wagner model, ssVEF responses to an inter-trial peripheral background flicker (context cue), when no CS was shown, increased linearly during learning. In contrast, visuocortical engagement in the early-tier visual cortex during the processing of the background flicker was strongly reduced during CS presentation in the last learning block. This effect was observed during maximal CS+ and CS- discrimination. However, in more anterior ventral visual cortex, the inhibition of oscillatory responses of the context cue occurred only during CS + trials, whereas during CS- trials, background ssVEF responses were increased. These results are in line with the notion that attentional resources are reallocated flexibly between cues of different threat relevance and that the spatial extension of center surround neuronal competition can be modulated by threat learning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"183 ","pages":"Pages 21-37"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recurring utterances (RUs) are a distinct language symptom observed in severe aphasia, known to be associated with global or Broca’s aphasia, though their neural basis remains unclear. We present a case of RU induced by selective left frontal suppression using a novel technique named the super-selective Wada test (ssWada), which involves temporary anesthetization of specific brain regions through super-selective catheterization of cerebral arteries. This method allows for precise simulation of localized brain dysfunction. We applied this technique on a 49-year-old right-handed man with drug-resistant epilepsy as a preoperative examination. Propofol administration to the superior branch of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA), supplying the pars triangularis, pars opercularis, middle frontal gyrus, and part of the precentral gyrus, induced Broca’s aphasia with RUs. The RU content was the phrase uttered at anesthesia administration. Notably, the anesthetic did not affect the temporal language area or basal ganglia. The patient showed minimal awareness of his abnormal speech despite preserved receptive language function and memory, aligning with previous observations of anosognosia in patients with RU. Contrastingly, anesthetic infusion into the inferior branch of the left MCA resulted in mixed aphasia, while right MCA infusion induced no language impairments. This case demonstrates that RUs can arise without deficits in the posterior language area or basal ganglia. It illustrates the potential of ssWada in investigating neural substrates of neuropsychological symptoms through temporary, localized brain disruption. This approach offers novel insights into brain-behavior relationships in language processing and cognition.
{"title":"Recurring utterances induced by local anesthetic administration to the left frontal lobe","authors":"Kazuo Kakinuma , Shin-Ichiro Osawa , Hana Kikuchi , Kazuto Katsuse , Makoto Ishida , Kazushi Ukishiro , Kazutaka Jin , Shingo Kayano , Shunji Mugikura , Hidenori Endo , Nobukazu Nakasato , Minoru Matsuda , Kyoko Suzuki","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.019","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recurring utterances (RUs) are a distinct language symptom observed in severe aphasia, known to be associated with global or Broca’s aphasia, though their neural basis remains unclear. We present a case of RU induced by selective left frontal suppression using a novel technique named the super-selective Wada test (ssWada), which involves temporary anesthetization of specific brain regions through super-selective catheterization of cerebral arteries. This method allows for precise simulation of localized brain dysfunction. We applied this technique on a 49-year-old right-handed man with drug-resistant epilepsy as a preoperative examination. Propofol administration to the superior branch of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA), supplying the pars triangularis, pars opercularis, middle frontal gyrus, and part of the precentral gyrus, induced Broca’s aphasia with RUs. The RU content was the phrase uttered at anesthesia administration. Notably, the anesthetic did not affect the temporal language area or basal ganglia. The patient showed minimal awareness of his abnormal speech despite preserved receptive language function and memory, aligning with previous observations of anosognosia in patients with RU. Contrastingly, anesthetic infusion into the inferior branch of the left MCA resulted in mixed aphasia, while right MCA infusion induced no language impairments. This case demonstrates that RUs can arise without deficits in the posterior language area or basal ganglia. It illustrates the potential of ssWada in investigating neural substrates of neuropsychological symptoms through temporary, localized brain disruption. This approach offers novel insights into brain-behavior relationships in language processing and cognition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"183 ","pages":"Pages 15-20"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The study of the links between episodic memory (memory of personal experiences) and semantic memory (memory of general knowledge about the world, others, and oneself) has played a significant role in psychology and neuroscience research for several decades. The way memories lose specificity and become semantized over time, and how these two major memory systems interact to represent the individual in the social world and allow to project themselves into the future, are particularly fascinating themes in understanding the mechanisms of autobiographical memory. Numerous studies rely on various memory pathologies, primarily amnesic syndromes but also other disorders where memory impairment is not the main symptom, such as autism spectrum disorders. The thesis we support in this opinion paper is that the process of semantization is not limited to the individual system of consciousness alone, at the root of individual memories, but presupposes cooperation between three types of systems: the central nervous system, the individual system of consciousness and the social system (society). The conceptual tools favored by historians and sociologists complement those of psychologists and neuroscientists, allowing for an original elaboration of this construction of human memory, at the interfaces of individual, collective, and social memories. Based on pioneering works in the social sciences and cognitive neuroscience, we illustrated our position with longitudinal studies conducted in the framework of the “Programme 13-Novembre”, established following the attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris and its surrounding suburbs. Using this example, and after recalling the theoretical origins of the process of memory semantization in neuropsychology, this article proposes a framework for analyzing the cognitive and social processes that lead to the semantization of memories in individuals, within groups of various sizes, and in society as a whole.
{"title":"The process of memory semantization as the result of interactions between individual, collective, and social memories","authors":"Jean-François Orianne , Denis Peschanski , Jorg Müller , Bérengère Guillery , Francis Eustache","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.11.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.11.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The study of the links between episodic memory (memory of personal experiences) and semantic memory (memory of general knowledge about the world, others, and oneself) has played a significant role in psychology and neuroscience research for several decades. The way memories lose specificity and become semantized over time, and how these two major memory systems interact to represent the individual in the social world and allow to project themselves into the future, are particularly fascinating themes in understanding the mechanisms of autobiographical memory. Numerous studies rely on various memory pathologies, primarily amnesic syndromes but also other disorders where memory impairment is not the main symptom, such as autism spectrum disorders. The thesis we support in this opinion paper is that the process of semantization is not limited to the individual system of consciousness alone, at the root of individual memories, but presupposes cooperation between three types of systems: the central nervous system, the individual system of consciousness and the social system (society). The conceptual tools favored by historians and sociologists complement those of psychologists and neuroscientists, allowing for an original elaboration of this construction of human memory, at the interfaces of individual, collective, and social memories. Based on pioneering works in the social sciences and cognitive neuroscience, we illustrated our position with longitudinal studies conducted in the framework of the “<em>Programme 13-Novembre</em>”, established following the attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris and its surrounding suburbs. Using this example, and after recalling the theoretical origins of the process of memory semantization in neuropsychology, this article proposes a framework for analyzing the cognitive and social processes that lead to the semantization of memories in individuals, within groups of various sizes, and in society as a whole.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"183 ","pages":"Pages 1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adolescence is a critical period where individuals build their identity and consolidate how they interact with others. However, for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the development of identity and social bounds is at stake. These challenges with the development of identity and social bonds could be linked to difficulties in autobiographical memory (AM), whether recalling past events (past episodic memory; past EM) or imagining future scenarios (episodic future thinking; EFT). To date, developmental patterns of AM over time remain poorly understood in ASD. Eleven adolescents with ASD or typical development (TD) completed an assessment of past EM and EFT once per year for three years. Preliminary results show that past EM becomes more detailed over the years for adolescents with ASD, while there is no change for TD adolescents. Interestingly, only the content elements of the narrated events are increasing, not the context elements. Furthermore, EFT evolves in the TD group but remains stable in the ASD group. This first multi-case longitudinal study of AM needs to be replicated with more participants, but it seems to indicate a heterogeneous evolution of AM in ASD. For future studies, these results will lead us to explore the hypothesis of developmental delay and the factors influencing AM development in ASD. Finally, understanding these developmental pathways highlights the importance of personalized therapeutic approaches to support social integration, identity construction, and future projects for adolescents with ASD.
{"title":"Exploring the development of past and future episodic memory in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A preliminary longitudinal study","authors":"Rima Touati , Fabian Guénolé , Bérengère Guillery-Girard , Prany Wantzen","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.016","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.016","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Adolescence is a critical period where individuals build their identity and consolidate how they interact with others. However, for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the development of identity and social bounds is at stake. These challenges with the development of identity and social bonds could be linked to difficulties in autobiographical memory (AM), whether recalling past events (past episodic memory; past EM) or imagining future scenarios (episodic future thinking; EFT). To date, developmental patterns of AM over time remain poorly understood in ASD. Eleven adolescents with ASD or typical development (TD) completed an assessment of past EM and EFT once per year for three years. Preliminary results show that past EM becomes more detailed over the years for adolescents with ASD, while there is no change for TD adolescents. Interestingly, only the content elements of the narrated events are increasing, not the context elements. Furthermore, EFT evolves in the TD group but remains stable in the ASD group. This first multi-case longitudinal study of AM needs to be replicated with more participants, but it seems to indicate a heterogeneous evolution of AM in ASD. For future studies, these results will lead us to explore the hypothesis of developmental delay and the factors influencing AM development in ASD. Finally, understanding these developmental pathways highlights the importance of personalized therapeutic approaches to support social integration, identity construction, and future projects for adolescents with ASD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"181 ","pages":"Pages 194-203"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142663856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.011
A. Errante , A. Rossi Sebastiano , N. Castellani , S. Rozzi , L. Fogassi , F. Garbarini
Previous studies indicated that the sense of body ownership (i.e., the feeling that our body parts belong to us; SBO) can be experimentally modulated in humans. Here, we focused on SBO from an across-species perspective, by investigating whether similar bottom-up and top-down constraints that consent to build SBO in humans also operate to build it in monkeys. To this aim, one monkey and a cohort of humans (N = 20) performed a paradigm combining the well-known rubber hand illusion (RHI), able to induce a fake hand embodiment, and a hand-identification reaching task, borrowed from the clinical evaluation of patients with SBO disorders. This task consisted of reaching one’s own hand with the other, while presenting a fake hand in different conditions controlling for bottom-up (synchronicity of the visuo-tactile stimulation) and top-down (congruency of the fake hand position relative to the monkey’s body) SBO constraints. Spatiotemporal kinematic features of such self-directed movements were measured. Our results show that, when the monkey aimed at the own hand, the trajectory of self-directed movements was attracted by the position of the hand believed to be one’s own (i.e., the fake hand), as in humans. Interestingly, such an effect was present only when both bottom-up and top-down constraints were met. Moreover, in the monkey, besides displacement of movement trajectory, also other kinematic parameters (velocity peak, deceleration phase) showed sensitivity to the embodiment effect. Overall, if replicated in a larger sample of monkeys, these results should support the view that human and non-human primates share similar body representation constraints and that they are able to modulate the motor behavior in both species.
{"title":"Shared body representation constraints in human and non-human primates behavior","authors":"A. Errante , A. Rossi Sebastiano , N. Castellani , S. Rozzi , L. Fogassi , F. Garbarini","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous studies indicated that the sense of body ownership (i.e., the feeling that our body parts belong to us; SBO) can be experimentally modulated in humans. Here, we focused on SBO from an across-species perspective, by investigating whether similar bottom-up and top-down constraints that consent to build SBO in humans also operate to build it in monkeys. To this aim, one monkey and a cohort of humans (<em>N</em> = 20) performed a paradigm combining the well-known rubber hand illusion (RHI), able to induce a fake hand embodiment, and a hand-identification reaching task, borrowed from the clinical evaluation of patients with SBO disorders. This task consisted of reaching one’s own hand with the other, while presenting a fake hand in different conditions controlling for bottom-up (synchronicity of the visuo-tactile stimulation) and top-down (congruency of the fake hand position relative to the monkey’s body) SBO constraints. Spatiotemporal kinematic features of such self-directed movements were measured. Our results show that, when the monkey aimed at the own hand, the trajectory of self-directed movements was attracted by the position of the hand believed to be one’s own (i.e., the fake hand), as in humans. Interestingly, such an effect was present only when both bottom-up and top-down constraints were met. Moreover, in the monkey, besides displacement of movement trajectory, also other kinematic parameters (velocity peak, deceleration phase) showed sensitivity to the embodiment effect. Overall, if replicated in a larger sample of monkeys, these results should support the view that human and non-human primates share similar body representation constraints and that they are able to modulate the motor behavior in both species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"181 ","pages":"Pages 179-193"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142647325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Diagnosis of dyslexia often occurs in late schooling years, leading to academic and psychological challenges. Furthermore, diagnosis is time-consuming, costly, and reliant on arbitrary cutoffs. On the other hand, automated algorithms hold great potential in medical and psychological diagnostics. The aim of the present study was to develop a machine learning tool for the detection of dyslexia in children based on the intrinsic connectivity patterns of different brain networks underlying perception and attention. Here, 117 children (8-12 years old; 58 females; 52 typical readers; TR and 65 children with dyslexia) completed cognitive and reading assessments and underwent 10 min of resting-state fMRI. Functional connectivity coefficients between 264 brain regions were used as features for machine learning. Different supervised algorithms were employed for classification of children with and without dyslexia. A classifier trained on dorsal attention network features exhibited the highest performance (accuracy .79, sensitivity .92, specificity .64). Auditory, visual, and fronto-parietal network-based classification showed intermediate accuracy levels (70–75%). These results highlight significant neurobiological differences in brain networks associated with visual attention between TR and children with dyslexia. Distinct neural integration patterns can differentiate dyslexia from typical development, which may be utilized in the future as a biomarker for the presence and/or severity of dyslexia.
{"title":"Distinct connectivity patterns between perception and attention-related brain networks characterize dyslexia: Machine learning applied to resting-state fMRI","authors":"Nikolay Taran , Rotem Gatenyo , Emmanuelle Hadjadj , Rola Farah , Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.08.012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.08.012","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Diagnosis of dyslexia often occurs in late schooling years, leading to academic and psychological challenges. Furthermore, diagnosis is time-consuming, costly, and reliant on arbitrary cutoffs. On the other hand, automated algorithms hold great potential in medical and psychological diagnostics. The aim of the present study was to develop a machine learning tool for the detection of dyslexia in children based on the intrinsic connectivity patterns of different brain networks underlying perception and attention. Here, 117 children (8-12 years old; 58 females; 52 typical readers; TR and 65 children with dyslexia) completed cognitive and reading assessments and underwent 10 min of resting-state fMRI. Functional connectivity coefficients between 264 brain regions were used as features for machine learning. Different supervised algorithms were employed for classification of children with and without dyslexia. A classifier trained on dorsal attention network features exhibited the highest performance (accuracy .79, sensitivity .92, specificity .64). Auditory, visual, and fronto-parietal network-based classification showed intermediate accuracy levels (70–75%). These results highlight significant neurobiological differences in brain networks associated with visual attention between TR and children with dyslexia. Distinct neural integration patterns can differentiate dyslexia from typical development, which may be utilized in the future as a biomarker for the presence and/or severity of dyslexia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"181 ","pages":"Pages 216-232"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142681268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.010
Heather R. Dial , Rachel Tessmer , Maya L. Henry
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive loss of speech and language. Although speech perception and language comprehension deficits are observed in individuals with PPA, these deficits have been understudied relative to production deficits. Recent work has examined receptive language processing at sublexical, lexical, and semantic levels in PPA; however, systematic investigation of these levels of processing within a single PPA cohort is lacking. The current study sought to fill this gap. Individuals with logopenic, nonfluent, and semantic variants of PPA and healthy, age-matched controls completed minimal pairs syllable discrimination, auditory lexical decision, and picture-word verification tasks to assess sublexical, lexical, and semantic processing. Distinct profiles were observed across PPA variants. Individuals with logopenic variant PPA had impaired performance on auditory lexical decision and picture-word verification tasks, with a trend toward impaired performance on the syllable discrimination task. Individuals with nonfluent and semantic variant PPA had impaired performance only on auditory lexical decision and picture-word verification. Evaluation of the types of errors made on the picture-word verification task (phonological and semantic) provided further insight into levels of deficits across the variants. Overall, the results indicate deficits in receptive processing at the lexical-phonological, lexical-semantic, and semantic levels in logopenic variant PPA, with a trend toward impaired sublexical processing. Deficits were observed at the lexical-semantic and semantic levels in semantic variant PPA, and lexical-phonological deficits were observed in nonfluent PPA, likely reflecting changes both in lexical-phonological processing as well as changes in predictive coding during perception. This study provides a more precise characterization of the linguistic profile of each PPA subtype for speech perception and language comprehension. The constellation of deficits observed in each PPA subtype holds promise for differential diagnosis and for informing models of intervention.
{"title":"Speech perception and language comprehension in primary progressive aphasia","authors":"Heather R. Dial , Rachel Tessmer , Maya L. Henry","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.10.010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive loss of speech and language. Although speech perception and language comprehension deficits are observed in individuals with PPA, these deficits have been understudied relative to production deficits. Recent work has examined receptive language processing at sublexical, lexical, and semantic levels in PPA; however, systematic investigation of these levels of processing within a single PPA cohort is lacking. The current study sought to fill this gap. Individuals with logopenic, nonfluent, and semantic variants of PPA and healthy, age-matched controls completed minimal pairs syllable discrimination, auditory lexical decision, and picture-word verification tasks to assess sublexical, lexical, and semantic processing. Distinct profiles were observed across PPA variants. Individuals with logopenic variant PPA had impaired performance on auditory lexical decision and picture-word verification tasks, with a trend toward impaired performance on the syllable discrimination task. Individuals with nonfluent and semantic variant PPA had impaired performance only on auditory lexical decision and picture-word verification. Evaluation of the types of errors made on the picture-word verification task (phonological and semantic) provided further insight into levels of deficits across the variants. Overall, the results indicate deficits in receptive processing at the lexical-phonological, lexical-semantic, and semantic levels in logopenic variant PPA, with a trend toward impaired sublexical processing. Deficits were observed at the lexical-semantic and semantic levels in semantic variant PPA, and lexical-phonological deficits were observed in nonfluent PPA, likely reflecting changes both in lexical-phonological processing as well as changes in predictive coding during perception. This study provides a more precise characterization of the linguistic profile of each PPA subtype for speech perception and language comprehension. The constellation of deficits observed in each PPA subtype holds promise for differential diagnosis and for informing models of intervention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"181 ","pages":"Pages 272-289"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142692302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.08.011
Alina S. Tu, Nicholas A. Krohn, Olivia C. Cooper, Vaisakh Puthusseryppady, Caitlin McIntyre, Elizabeth R. Chrastil
Despite the need for successful navigation, humans vary greatly in their ability to navigate, and these individual differences may relate to variation in brain structure. While prior research provides support for a correlation between hippocampal volume and navigation ability in both navigation experts and in older individuals, this relationship is under scrutiny for healthy, young adults. We assessed 99 healthy young adults' ability to navigate in a virtual, desktop maze and correlated their performance with total hippocampal gray matter volume. For a subset of these individuals, we further segmented the medial temporal lobe—including regions of the hippocampus—into anatomically-distinct subregions to uniquely examine the association between volumes of hippocampal subfields and navigation. Given the need to distinguish between similar-looking maze hallways and partially overlapping routes, young adults with stronger pattern separation ability may perform better in this task. Thus, we theorized that successful navigation would positively correlate with hippocampal CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) subfield volumes due to these regions' role in pattern separation. CA1 and entorhinal cortex (ERC) are both associated with rodent spatial memory, too, suggesting a possible relationship between their volumes and navigation performance. Consistent with our hypotheses, we observed a positive relationship between volumes of hippocampal subfields and wayfinding accuracy, while ERC and parahippocampal cortex volumes correlated with navigation efficiency. However, when analyzing total hippocampal volume, a nuanced interpretation is warranted. We found evidence of Simpson's Paradox, where total hippocampal volume and navigation accuracy displayed no correlation in males, a negative correlation in females, yet a positive correlation when considering the full sample of males and females combined. Furthermore, no significant relationship was observed between total hippocampal volume and path efficiency. Given these findings, we urge caution in interpreting the results because these associations differ by analysis techniques (including voxel-based morphometry), after sex stratification, and with anterior and posterior hippocampal subdivisions. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the relationship between brain volume and navigation ability for young adults but also emphasizes the need for methodological consistency across studies with respect to boundary definitions, neuroimaging techniques, statistical methods, and factors that give rise to individual differences.
{"title":"Do total hippocampus and hippocampal subfield volumes relate to navigation ability? A call towards methodological consistency","authors":"Alina S. Tu, Nicholas A. Krohn, Olivia C. Cooper, Vaisakh Puthusseryppady, Caitlin McIntyre, Elizabeth R. Chrastil","doi":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.08.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cortex.2024.08.011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the need for successful navigation, humans vary greatly in their ability to navigate, and these individual differences may relate to variation in brain structure. While prior research provides support for a correlation between hippocampal volume and navigation ability in both navigation experts and in older individuals, this relationship is under scrutiny for healthy, young adults. We assessed 99 healthy young adults' ability to navigate in a virtual, desktop maze and correlated their performance with total hippocampal gray matter volume. For a subset of these individuals, we further segmented the medial temporal lobe—including regions of the hippocampus—into anatomically-distinct subregions to uniquely examine the association between volumes of hippocampal subfields and navigation. Given the need to distinguish between similar-looking maze hallways and partially overlapping routes, young adults with stronger pattern separation ability may perform better in this task. Thus, we theorized that successful navigation would positively correlate with hippocampal CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) subfield volumes due to these regions' role in pattern separation. CA1 and entorhinal cortex (ERC) are both associated with rodent spatial memory, too, suggesting a possible relationship between their volumes and navigation performance. Consistent with our hypotheses, we observed a positive relationship between volumes of hippocampal subfields and wayfinding accuracy, while ERC and parahippocampal cortex volumes correlated with navigation efficiency. However, when analyzing total hippocampal volume, a nuanced interpretation is warranted. We found evidence of Simpson's Paradox, where total hippocampal volume and navigation accuracy displayed no correlation in males, a negative correlation in females, yet a positive correlation when considering the full sample of males and females combined. Furthermore, no significant relationship was observed between total hippocampal volume and path efficiency. Given these findings, we urge caution in interpreting the results because these associations differ by analysis techniques (including voxel-based morphometry), after sex stratification, and with anterior and posterior hippocampal subdivisions. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the relationship between brain volume and navigation ability for young adults but also emphasizes the need for methodological consistency across studies with respect to boundary definitions, neuroimaging techniques, statistical methods, and factors that give rise to individual differences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10758,"journal":{"name":"Cortex","volume":"181 ","pages":"Pages 233-257"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142681269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}