IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-21 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.004

Daria Kostanian , Tatiana Logvinenko , Olga Sysoeva

To examine the processes contributing to reading, we investigated neurophysiological letter coding in typically developing children (3.6–9.3 years) using an oddball fast periodic visual stimulation and a 32-channel electroencephalogram. Non-native (Georgian) letters appeared every fifth item in a stream of native (Russian) letters, presented at a frequency of 6 Hz. This contrast (foreign condition, n = 46) elicited significant discrimination responses at the frequency of non-native letters presentation – 1.2 Hz – and its harmonics, even in children who did not yet acquire reading skills. We also investigated native letter orientation sensitivity using 180-degree-rotated Russian letters in a stream of upright Russian letters (inverted condition, n = 42, overlap with foreign condition n = 37). Discrimination responses increased with age in both conditions but followed different trajectories. In the foreign condition, it significantly increased in the subgroup of pre-reading children and plateaued in older children. In the inverted condition, discrimination response emerged only in reading children and showed significant correlation with age in this subgroup. The results support two systems of tuning for letters: a coarse tuning system that differentiates native from foreign letters and develops in pre-reading age through environmental exposure, and an orientation tuning system that develops with reading acquisition.

为了研究有助于阅读的过程，我们使用古怪的快速周期性视觉刺激和32通道脑电图研究了正常发育儿童（3.6-9.3岁）的神经生理字母编码。非母语（格鲁吉亚语）字母以6赫兹的频率出现在母语（俄语）字母流中的每五个项目中。这种对比（外国条件，n = 46）引起了对非母语字母呈现频率（1.2 Hz）及其谐波的显著歧视反应，即使在尚未获得阅读技能的儿童中也是如此。我们还研究了母语字母方向的敏感性，使用180度旋转的俄语字母在直立俄语字母流中（倒置条件，n = 42，与外国条件n = 37重叠）。在两种情况下，歧视反应随年龄增长而增加，但遵循不同的轨迹。在国外条件下，在学前儿童亚组中显著增加，在大一点的儿童中趋于稳定。在反向条件下，歧视反应仅在阅读儿童中出现，且在该亚组中与年龄显著相关。研究结果支持两种字母调音系统：一种是通过环境暴露在阅读前形成的区分母语和外文字母的粗调音系统，另一种是随着阅读习得而形成的定向调音系统。

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引用次数: 0

Cover figure 封面图

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-10 DOI: 10.1016/S0010-9452(25)00325-9

引用次数: 0

Mapping meaning in the brain's language 绘制大脑语言的含义

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-19 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.10.012

Harm Brouwer

Recent advances in neuroscience and artificial intelligence have pushed the state-of-the-art from being able to decode the meaning of individual words from non-invasive brain recordings, to the reconstruction of the meaning of continuous language. Beyond game changing practical implications of such “mind reading” mapping models, e.g., brain-computer interfaces that restore lost ability to speak, they also hold the promise to be instrumental in addressing a fundamental question in the cognitive sciences: How does the human brain represent the meaning of concepts, phrases, and sentences? In order to fulfil this promise, however, important methodological and theoretical challenges need to be overcome: (1) extant mapping results are inconsistent and difficult to reconcile with neurocognitive theory, (2) extant neural meaning representations do not model the compositional semantics capturing the meaning of multi-word utterances, and (3) extant mapping models fail to take into account the spatiotemporal dynamics of lexical and compositional semantic representation and computation. I argue that in order to overcome these challenges, we should ground mapping models in linguistic and neurocognitive theory, and develop neurocomputational models that explicate the spatiotemporal dynamics of meaning in the brain's language.

神经科学和人工智能的最新进展推动了最先进的技术，从能够从非侵入性大脑记录中解码单个单词的含义，到重建连续语言的意义。除了这种“读心术”映射模型改变游戏规则的实际意义之外，例如，恢复失去的说话能力的脑机接口，它们还有望在解决认知科学中的一个基本问题方面发挥重要作用：人类大脑如何表示概念、短语和句子的意义？然而，为了实现这一承诺，需要克服重要的方法和理论挑战：(1)现有的映射结果不一致，难以与神经认知理论相协调；(2)现有的神经意义表征不能模拟捕获多词话语意义的组成语义；(3)现有的映射模型未能考虑词汇和组成语义表征和计算的时空动态。我认为，为了克服这些挑战，我们应该在语言和神经认知理论中建立映射模型，并开发神经计算模型来解释大脑语言中意义的时空动态。

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引用次数: 0

Connectional diaschisis associated with acute psychosis after right thalamic stroke: A case report 右丘脑卒中后急性精神病伴连通性损伤1例报告

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.009

Giorgia Adamo , Alessandro Salvalaggio , Lorenzo Pini , Diego Cecchin , Silvia Facchini , Antonio Luigi Bisogno , Antonino Vallesi , Maurizio Corbetta

We report a rare case of sudden-onset psychiatric syndrome following a right thalamic ischemic event. Potential mechanisms involving both structural and functional thalamic disconnection are considered. A 51-year-old man was admitted to the Neurology Unit at the Azienda Ospedale-Università of Padova with sudden-onset confusion and amnesia, accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations and emotional lability. An initial head CT scan showed no evidence of stroke; however, a follow-up MRI revealed a recent ischemic lesion in the right mediodorsal nucleus (MDN) of the thalamus. A brain [18F]FDG PET-MRI scan identified a small hypometabolic area in the right anterolateral frontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex was structurally and functionally disconnected by the thalamic lesion. Neuropsychological testing revealed deficits of executive functions, particularly in planning and abstract reasoning, as well as impairments in long-term verbal and visuospatial memory and deficits in the visuoperceptual domain. The patient was treated with risperidone and venlafaxine, leading to an improvement in psychotic symptoms at both discharge and follow-up. Understanding these network-level disruptions may offer valuable insights into therapeutic approaches and prognostic evaluation.

我们报告一个罕见的病例突发性精神综合征后右丘脑缺血事件。潜在的机制涉及结构和功能丘脑断开考虑。一名51岁男子因突然发作的精神错乱和健忘症，并伴有视觉和听觉幻觉以及情绪不稳定而入住帕多瓦Azienda ospedale大学神经内科。最初的头部CT扫描显示没有中风的迹象；然而，后续MRI显示在丘脑右侧中背核（MDN）最近出现缺血性病变。脑[18F]FDG PET-MRI扫描在右侧前外侧额叶皮层发现一个小的低代谢区。前额皮质在结构和功能上被丘脑损伤断开。神经心理学测试揭示了执行功能的缺陷，特别是在计划和抽象推理方面，以及长期言语和视觉空间记忆的损伤和视觉感知领域的缺陷。患者接受利培酮和文拉法辛治疗，出院和随访时精神病症状均有改善。了解这些网络层面的破坏可能为治疗方法和预后评估提供有价值的见解。

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引用次数: 0

Beta-band modulation reveals the cortical dynamics of auditory statistical learning in children β波段调制揭示了儿童听觉统计学习的皮层动态。

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-15 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.003

Jarrad A.G. Lum , Christine N. Moreau , Li-Ann Leow , Welber Marinovic , Sarah J. Lum , Marc F. Joanisse , Laura J. Batterink

Children's ability to extract statistical regularities from speech is considered fundamental to lexical, syntactic, and grammatical development. However, the neural oscillatory mechanisms supporting this process in childhood remains poorly understood. While beta-band oscillations have been linked to statistical learning in visual and motor domains, it is unclear whether similar dynamics support auditory statistical learning in children. In this study, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) from children aged 8–12 years as they listened to a continuous stream of trisyllabic nonwords (e.g., dapiku), where syllable order within each nonword was fixed (high predictability), but transitions between nonwords were variable (low predictability). Beta power was significantly lower for the more predictable second and third syllables relative to the less predictable first syllable. This effect emerged only after repeated exposure and was localised to left prefrontal electrodes. Beta power also correlated with post-exposure recognition accuracy. Additional learning-related modulations were observed in the theta-alpha and delta-theta bands, suggesting broader oscillatory engagement. These findings indicate that auditory statistical learning in middle childhood engages frequency-specific neural dynamics, with beta power modulations showing parallel effects to those observed in other modalities.

儿童从言语中提取统计规律的能力被认为是词汇、句法和语法发展的基础。然而，在儿童时期支持这一过程的神经振荡机制仍然知之甚少。虽然β频带振荡与视觉和运动领域的统计学习有关，但尚不清楚类似的动态是否支持儿童的听觉统计学习。在这项研究中，我们记录了8-12岁儿童在连续听三音节非词（如dapiku）时的脑电图（EEG），其中每个非词中的音节顺序是固定的（高可预测性），但非词之间的转换是可变的（低可预测性）。相对于第一个音节，第二个和第三个音节更容易预测，贝塔能力明显更低。这种效应只有在反复暴露于左前额叶电极后才会出现。贝塔能力也与曝光后识别的准确性相关。在θ - α和δ - θ波段观察到额外的学习相关调制，表明更广泛的振荡参与。这些发现表明，儿童中期的听觉统计学习涉及特定频率的神经动力学，与在其他模式下观察到的β功率调制显示出平行的效果。

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引用次数: 0

The cognitive neuropsychology of action semantics: A review 动作语义学的认知神经心理学研究进展。

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.008

Amy L. Lebkuecher , H. Branch Coslett , Laurel J. Buxbaum

The conceptual knowledge that mediates our ability to use familiar objects, understand viewed actions, and engage in communication about actions is often termed “action semantics”.

The underlying format, cognitive organization, and neural substrates of these representations are matters of active scientific investigation. This review synthesizes the large and diverse literature on action semantics in individuals with neurological disorders characterized by prominent motor deficits (e.g., Parkinson's disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), as well as those for whom motor deficits are often less prominent (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, stroke). Research in these two groups of disorders is strikingly “siloed” and offers many contradictory findings with respect to whether action semantic representations are abstract (i.e., “disembodied”) or grounded in sensory and motor features that reflect the way knowledge was acquired. Findings across these populations also disagree as to whether action semantic representations are organized somatotopically or with a semantic feature-based architecture, and mediated by anterior motor-related or relatively posterior sensory-related brain regions. Many of these disparate findings can be reconciled with consideration of a multidimensional, multimodal representational architecture mediated by a distributed left-lateralized network of brain regions. We provide suggestions for specific methodological approaches for research with neurological populations that may further our understanding of the format, organization, and neural substrates of action semantics.

这些概念性知识调节着我们使用熟悉的对象、理解所看到的动作以及参与有关动作的交流的能力，这些知识通常被称为“动作语义”。这些表征的基本形式、认知组织和神经基质是积极的科学研究问题。这篇综述综合了大量不同的关于以显著运动缺陷为特征的神经系统疾病患者（如帕金森病和肌萎缩侧索硬化症）以及那些运动缺陷通常不太突出的患者（如阿尔茨海默病、额颞叶痴呆、中风）的动作语义学的文献。对于这两组障碍的研究都非常“孤立”，并且在动作语义表征是抽象的（即“无实体的”）还是基于反映知识获取方式的感觉和运动特征方面提供了许多相互矛盾的发现。这些人群的研究结果也不一致，即动作语义表征是由躯体性组织还是以语义特征为基础的结构组织，并由前运动相关脑区或相对后的感觉相关脑区介导。许多这些不同的发现可以与考虑一个多维的、多模态的表征结构相协调，该结构由大脑区域的分布式左侧网络介导。我们为神经学群体的研究提供了具体的方法方法建议，这可能会进一步加深我们对动作语义的形式、组织和神经基础的理解。

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引用次数: 0

Behavioral constructs and neural correlates of descriptive and responsive speech in post-stroke aphasia 脑卒中后失语症描述性和反应性言语的行为构念和神经相关。

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-05 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.012

Mara Barberis , Ella Eycken , Pieter De Clercq , Robin Lemmens , Hugo Van hamme , Maaike Vandermosten

Discourse refers to language that extends beyond a single clause and is used to express ideas, feelings or to interact with others. Persons with post-stroke aphasia often encounter difficulties in discourse, which can severely impede everyday communication. In recent years, discourse has received more attention in both research and clinical practice due to its high ecological validity. However, little is known about the underlying behavioral constructs and neural correlates of discourse in post-stroke aphasia. In the current study, discourse was assessed in 49 persons with chronic aphasia following left-hemispheric (n = 39) or bilateral (n = 10) stroke using picture description from the CAT (descriptive speech) and verbal responses to everyday scenarios from the ANELT (responsive speech). Factor analysis and voxel-wise lesion symptom mapping were performed to investigate the underlying behavioral and neural constructs. Factor analysis revealed four latent constructs that explained 64% of the total variance in the discourse variables: grammatical, phonological, lexical-semantic and macrostructural. Fluency variables were spread across these four different factors. For example, digression was associated with word repetitions and filled pauses, while grammatical deficits were associated with speech rate and long pauses. After correction for multiple comparisons, only the lexical-semantic factor was significantly associated with a left cluster covering lesions in the inferior parietal, superior and middle temporal and lateral occipital regions. In conclusion, this study shows that discourse analysis can reveal both clustered and distributed dimensions and further establishes the role of the left inferior parietal and superior and middle temporal lobe in lexical-semantic abilities.

话语是指超越单个子句，用来表达思想、情感或与他人互动的语言。中风后失语症患者经常遇到言语困难，这可能严重阻碍日常交流。近年来，话语因其较高的生态效度在研究和临床实践中受到越来越多的关注。然而，对于脑卒中后失语症中言语的潜在行为结构和神经相关因素知之甚少。在目前的研究中，对49名左半球（n = 39）或双侧（n = 10）中风后慢性失语症患者的话语进行了评估，使用CAT（描述性言语）的图片描述和ANELT（反应性言语）对日常情景的言语反应。进行因子分析和体素型病变症状映射，以调查潜在的行为和神经结构。因子分析揭示了四个潜在构念，它们解释了话语变量中64%的总变异：语法、语音、词汇语义和宏观结构。流畅性变量分布在这四个不同的因素中。例如，跑题与单词重复和填充停顿有关，而语法缺陷与语速和长停顿有关。经过多次比较校正后，只有词汇-语义因素与覆盖顶叶下、颞上、颞中和枕侧区域病变的左簇显著相关。综上所述，本研究表明语篇分析可以揭示聚类维度和分布维度，并进一步确立了左顶叶下叶和颞中上叶在词汇语义能力中的作用。

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引用次数: 0

Increasing visual uncertainty modulates multisensory decision-making 增加视觉不确定性调节多感官决策。

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.005

Xiangfu Yang , Weiping Yang , Yinghua Yu , Yoshimichi Ejima , Jiajia Yang

The brain integrates and transforms information from multiple senses to make optimal decisions, a process that is critical for navigating complex environments with perceptual uncertainty. Despite a growing consensus that individuals adapt flexibly to uncertain sensory input, whether increasing visual uncertainty influences the decision process itself or other, non-decision sensory processes during multisensory decision-making are unclear. Here, an audiovisual categorization task was used to examine the responses of human participants (N = 30) to visual and audiovisual stimuli under low-, medium-, and high-uncertainty conditions. Modeling the behavioral data using a drift‒diffusion model indicated that increased visual uncertainty in the audiovisual context decreased the evidence accumulation rate but had no effect on non-decision processes. Electrophysiological recordings confirmed and expanded upon these results: increased visual uncertainty in the audiovisual context reduced the amplitude during the late decision-making stage (300–380 msec) but had no effect on the amplitude during the early sensory encoding stage (140–220 msec). More importantly, electroencephalography analyses revealed that audiovisual integration in the early sensory encoding stage occurred robustly across all visual uncertainty conditions, whereas audiovisual integration in the late stage occurred only under medium and high visual uncertainty conditions. This study demonstrated that increased visual uncertainty modulates the decision process itself rather than early sensory encoding during multisensory decision-making. Moreover, multisensory integration strategies dynamically adapt to increasing visual uncertainty by engaging different mechanisms to maintain effective decision-making.

大脑整合和转换来自多种感官的信息以做出最佳决策，这一过程对于导航具有感知不确定性的复杂环境至关重要。尽管越来越多的人认为个体可以灵活地适应不确定的感官输入，但在多感官决策过程中，视觉不确定性的增加是否会影响决策过程本身或其他非决策感觉过程尚不清楚。在这里，视听分类任务被用来检查人类参与者（N = 30）在低、中、高不确定性条件下对视觉和视听刺激的反应。使用漂移-扩散模型对行为数据建模表明，视听环境下视觉不确定性的增加降低了证据积累速率，但对非决策过程没有影响。电生理记录证实并扩展了这些结果：视听环境中视觉不确定性的增加降低了决策后期（300-380毫秒）的振幅，但对早期感觉编码阶段（140-220毫秒）的振幅没有影响。更重要的是，脑电图分析显示，在所有视觉不确定性条件下，早期感觉编码阶段的视听整合都出现了，而后期的视听整合只在中度和高度视觉不确定性条件下出现。本研究表明，在多感官决策过程中，增加的视觉不确定性调节决策过程本身，而不是早期的感觉编码。此外，多感觉整合策略通过参与不同的机制来动态适应不断增加的视觉不确定性，以保持有效的决策。

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引用次数: 0

Neurophysiological signature of working memory updating during encoding 编码过程中工作记忆更新的神经生理特征。

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.11.013

Kathrin Sadus , Anna-Lena Schubert , Christoph Löffler , Wiebke Hemming , Dirk Hagemann

Working memory (WM) has been extensively studied in cognitive psychology, with numerous tasks developed to measure its capacity. Among these, binding and updating tasks that assess the ability to build, maintain, and manipulate temporary relational representations have been shown to be particularly suitable for assessing WM capacity (WMC). In the present study, we investigated the specific processes involved in updating during WM encoding by comparing the electrophysiological signals in binding and updating tasks. In addition, we compared specific forms of updating demands by contrasting substitution and transformation processes. Finally, we examined whether individual differences in updating activity are related to WM performance. We recruited a heterogeneous sample of 151 participants (female = 89, M_age = 34.77, SD = 12.78) who completed a binding and two updating tasks while an EEG was recorded. Mass univariate cluster-based permutation analyses of event-related potentials consistently showed a temporally and spatially widespread cluster when comparing updating and binding. This cluster was characterized by an increased positivity associated with updating, appearing predominantly in the frontal regions during early time windows (approximately 130–350 msec after stimulus onset) and later shifting to the parietal regions (from approximately 350 msec onward). Additionally, when comparing transformation and substitution, we found an increase in positivity associated with transformation, peaking within a typical P3 time window (approximately 400 msec). Finally, we found that only individual differences in transformation-related activity were associated with individual differences in WMC.

工作记忆（WM）在认知心理学中得到了广泛的研究，并开发了许多测试其容量的任务。其中，评估构建、维护和操作临时关系表示能力的绑定和更新任务已被证明特别适合评估WM容量（WMC）。在本研究中，我们通过比较结合和更新任务中的电生理信号，研究了WM编码中涉及更新的具体过程。此外，我们通过对比替代和转换过程，比较了特定形式的更新需求。最后，我们研究了更新活动的个体差异是否与WM性能有关。我们招募了151名异质样本（女性= 89，男性= 34.77,SD = 12.78），他们在记录脑电图的同时完成了一次绑定和两次更新任务。基于大规模单变量簇的事件相关电位排列分析在比较更新和绑定时一致显示出时间和空间上广泛分布的簇。该簇的特征是与更新相关的正性增加，在早期时间窗口（刺激开始后约130-350毫秒）主要出现在额叶区域，随后转移到顶叶区域（约350毫秒以后）。此外，当比较转换和替代时，我们发现与转换相关的积极性增加，在典型的P3时间窗（大约400毫秒）内达到峰值。最后，我们发现只有转化相关活动的个体差异与WMC的个体差异相关。

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引用次数: 0

Pupil responses objectively index pharmacologically altered tactile sensitivity 瞳孔反应客观地反映药理学改变的触觉敏感性

IF 3.3 2区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Cortex

Pub Date : 2025-12-01 Epub Date: 2025-10-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.10.001

Bernd T. Douze , Antonia F. Ten Brink , H. Chris Dijkerman , Christoph Strauch

Tactile perception is a subjective experience, yet it can be physiologically quantified. This offers new avenues for studying sensory processing in contexts where verbal feedback is limited or unreliable. A growing body of research uses changes in pupil size, showing that stronger tactile stimuli lead to greater pupil dilation. Building on this, we investigated whether pupil responses could serve as an objective measure of tactile sensitivity. To explore this, we pharmacologically manipulated tactile sensitivity in healthy participants (n = 32). In separate sessions, an anaesthetic cream or a placebo cream was applied to one forearm. At the beginning and/or end of each session, Von Frey assessments and a vibrotactile detection task were conducted to confirm the efficacy of the anaesthetic cream in reducing tactile sensitivity. During each session, pupil responses to vibrotactile stimuli applied to both the cream and non-cream arms were recorded. Our results confirmed that the anaesthetic cream significantly reduced the perceived intensity of tactile stimulation, an effect that persisted throughout the session. Crucially, we observed weaker pupil dilation responses to vibrotactile stimuli applied to the anaesthetised arm compared to the placebo or non-cream arm. Exploratory analyses showed that participants for whom the anaesthetic cream was most effective in reducing tactile sensitivity also showed the weakest pupil responses when the anaesthetised arm was stimulated. Overall, these findings demonstrate that the pupil response is a reliable and objective index of tactile sensitivity, highlighting its potential for studying sensory processing in populations where verbal feedback is limited or unreliable.

触觉知觉是一种主观体验，但它可以在生理上量化。这为在语言反馈有限或不可靠的情况下研究感觉处理提供了新的途径。越来越多的研究利用瞳孔大小的变化，表明强烈的触觉刺激会导致瞳孔扩大。在此基础上，我们研究了瞳孔反应是否可以作为触觉灵敏度的客观测量。为了探讨这一点，我们对健康参与者（n = 32）的触觉敏感性进行了药理学操作。在不同的疗程中，在一只前臂上涂上麻醉霜或安慰剂霜。在每个疗程的开始和/或结束时，进行Von Frey评估和振动触觉检测任务，以确认麻醉霜在降低触觉敏感性方面的功效。在每个疗程中，学生对乳霜和非乳霜手臂振动触觉刺激的反应被记录下来。我们的研究结果证实，麻醉药膏显著降低了触觉刺激的感知强度，这种效果在整个疗程中持续存在。至关重要的是，我们观察到，与安慰剂组或非乳霜组相比，麻醉组对振动触觉刺激的瞳孔扩张反应较弱。探索性分析表明，麻醉药膏在降低触觉敏感度方面最有效的参与者，在麻醉手臂受到刺激时，瞳孔反应也最弱。总的来说，这些发现表明瞳孔反应是一个可靠和客观的触觉敏感性指标，突出了它在研究语言反馈有限或不可靠的人群的感觉加工方面的潜力。

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引用次数: 0

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