Attention, a complex cognitive process, is linked to the functional activities of the brain’s dorsal attention network (DAN) and default network (DN). This study aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and blinding efficacy of a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paradigm designed to increase the excitability of the DAN while inhibiting the DN (DAN+/DN-tDCS) on attention function in healthy young adults.In this randomized controlled experiment, participants were assigned to either the DAN+/DN-tDCS group or the sham group. A single intervention session was conducted at a total intensity of 4 mA for 20 min. Participants completed the Attention Network Test (ANT) immediately before and after stimulation. Blinding efficacy and adverse effects were assessed post-stimulation.Forty participants completed the study, with 20 in each group. Paired-sample t-test showed a significant post-stimulation improvement in executive effect performance (t = 2.245; p = 0.037) in the DAN+/DN-tDCS group. The sham group did not exhibit any significant differences in ANT performance. Participants identified the stimulation type with 52.50% accuracy, indicating no difference in blinding efficacy between groups (p = 0.241). Mild-to-moderate adverse effects, such as stinging, itching, and skin reddening, were reported in the DAN+/DN-tDCS group (p < 0.05).DAN+/DN-tDCS enhanced attention function in healthy young individuals, particularly in improving executive effect performance. This study presents novel strategies for enhancing attentional performance and encourages further investigation into the mechanisms and outcomes of these interventions across diverse populations.
注意力是一个复杂的认知过程，与大脑背侧注意力网络（DAN）和默认网络（DN）的功能活动有关。本研究旨在调查经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）范式的可行性、安全性和盲法疗效，该范式旨在提高 DAN 的兴奋性，同时抑制 DN（DAN+/DN-tDCS），从而影响健康年轻人的注意力功能。在这项随机对照实验中，参与者被分配到 DAN+/DN-tDCS 组或假组。单次干预以 4 mA 的总强度进行，持续 20 分钟。参与者在刺激前后立即完成注意力网络测试（ANT）。40名参与者完成了研究，每组20人。配对样本 t 检验显示，DAN+/DN-tDCS 组的执行效果在刺激后有明显改善（t = 2.245; p = 0.037）。假组在 ANT 表现上没有任何明显差异。受试者识别刺激类型的准确率为 52.50%，这表明各组之间的盲化效果没有差异（p = 0.241）。DAN+/DN-tDCS组有轻度至中度不良反应，如刺痛、瘙痒和皮肤发红（p < 0.05）。这项研究提出了提高注意力表现的新策略，并鼓励进一步研究这些干预措施在不同人群中的作用机制和结果。
{"title":"Network-based transcranial direct current stimulation enhances attention function in healthy young adults: a preliminary study","authors":"Xiaoyu Wei, Rong Zhou, Suwang Zheng, Yufeng Zhang, Xiaofan Feng, Jiaojiao Lü","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1421230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1421230","url":null,"abstract":"Attention, a complex cognitive process, is linked to the functional activities of the brain’s dorsal attention network (DAN) and default network (DN). This study aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and blinding efficacy of a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paradigm designed to increase the excitability of the DAN while inhibiting the DN (DAN+/DN-tDCS) on attention function in healthy young adults.In this randomized controlled experiment, participants were assigned to either the DAN+/DN-tDCS group or the sham group. A single intervention session was conducted at a total intensity of 4 mA for 20 min. Participants completed the Attention Network Test (ANT) immediately before and after stimulation. Blinding efficacy and adverse effects were assessed post-stimulation.Forty participants completed the study, with 20 in each group. Paired-sample t-test showed a significant post-stimulation improvement in executive effect performance (t = 2.245; p = 0.037) in the DAN+/DN-tDCS group. The sham group did not exhibit any significant differences in ANT performance. Participants identified the stimulation type with 52.50% accuracy, indicating no difference in blinding efficacy between groups (p = 0.241). Mild-to-moderate adverse effects, such as stinging, itching, and skin reddening, were reported in the DAN+/DN-tDCS group (p < 0.05).DAN+/DN-tDCS enhanced attention function in healthy young individuals, particularly in improving executive effect performance. This study presents novel strategies for enhancing attentional performance and encourages further investigation into the mechanisms and outcomes of these interventions across diverse populations.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141925582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1441915
Junchao Hu, Stephanie Badde, Petra Vetter
The human brain is sensitive to threat-related information even when we are not aware of this information. For example, fearful faces attract gaze in the absence of visual awareness. Moreover, information in different sensory modalities interacts in the absence of awareness, for example, the detection of suppressed visual stimuli is facilitated by simultaneously presented congruent sounds or tactile stimuli. Here, we combined these two lines of research and investigated whether threat-related sounds could facilitate visual processing of threat-related images suppressed from awareness such that they attract eye gaze. We suppressed threat-related images of cars and neutral images of human hands from visual awareness using continuous flash suppression and tracked observers’ eye movements while presenting congruent or incongruent sounds (finger snapping and car engine sounds). Indeed, threat-related car sounds guided the eyes toward suppressed car images, participants looked longer at the hidden car images than at any other part of the display. In contrast, neither congruent nor incongruent sounds had a significant effect on eye responses to suppressed finger images. Overall, our results suggest that only in a danger-related context semantically congruent sounds modulate eye movements to images suppressed from awareness, highlighting the prioritisation of eye responses to threat-related stimuli in the absence of visual awareness.
{"title":"Auditory guidance of eye movements toward threat-related images in the absence of visual awareness","authors":"Junchao Hu, Stephanie Badde, Petra Vetter","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1441915","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1441915","url":null,"abstract":"The human brain is sensitive to threat-related information even when we are not aware of this information. For example, fearful faces attract gaze in the absence of visual awareness. Moreover, information in different sensory modalities interacts in the absence of awareness, for example, the detection of suppressed visual stimuli is facilitated by simultaneously presented congruent sounds or tactile stimuli. Here, we combined these two lines of research and investigated whether threat-related sounds could facilitate visual processing of threat-related images suppressed from awareness such that they attract eye gaze. We suppressed threat-related images of cars and neutral images of human hands from visual awareness using continuous flash suppression and tracked observers’ eye movements while presenting congruent or incongruent sounds (finger snapping and car engine sounds). Indeed, threat-related car sounds guided the eyes toward suppressed car images, participants looked longer at the hidden car images than at any other part of the display. In contrast, neither congruent nor incongruent sounds had a significant effect on eye responses to suppressed finger images. Overall, our results suggest that only in a danger-related context semantically congruent sounds modulate eye movements to images suppressed from awareness, highlighting the prioritisation of eye responses to threat-related stimuli in the absence of visual awareness.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141929442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-07DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1382102
Katherine H. Kenyon, Frederique Boonstra, Gustavo Noffs, Angela T. Morgan, Adam P. Vogel, Scott Kolbe, Anneke Van Der Walt
IntroductionFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can improve our understanding of neural processes subserving motor speech function. Yet its reproducibility remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the reproducibility of fMRI using a word repetition task across two time points.MethodsImaging data from 14 healthy controls were analysed using a multi-level general linear model.ResultsSignificant activation was observed during the task in the right hemispheric cerebellar lobules IV-V, right putamen, and bilateral sensorimotor cortices. Activation between timepoints was found to be moderately reproducible across time in the cerebellum but not in other brain regions.DiscussionPreliminary findings highlight the involvement of the cerebellum and connected cerebral regions during a motor speech task. More work is needed to determine the degree of reproducibility of speech fMRI before this could be used as a reliable marker of changes in brain activity.
{"title":"The characteristics and reproducibility of motor speech functional neuroimaging in healthy controls","authors":"Katherine H. Kenyon, Frederique Boonstra, Gustavo Noffs, Angela T. Morgan, Adam P. Vogel, Scott Kolbe, Anneke Van Der Walt","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1382102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1382102","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can improve our understanding of neural processes subserving motor speech function. Yet its reproducibility remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the reproducibility of fMRI using a word repetition task across two time points.MethodsImaging data from 14 healthy controls were analysed using a multi-level general linear model.ResultsSignificant activation was observed during the task in the right hemispheric cerebellar lobules IV-V, right putamen, and bilateral sensorimotor cortices. Activation between timepoints was found to be moderately reproducible across time in the cerebellum but not in other brain regions.DiscussionPreliminary findings highlight the involvement of the cerebellum and connected cerebral regions during a motor speech task. More work is needed to determine the degree of reproducibility of speech fMRI before this could be used as a reliable marker of changes in brain activity.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141931474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-06eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1468938
Zachary Freudenburg, Julia Berezutskaya, Cornelia Herbert
{"title":"Editorial: The ethics of speech ownership in the context of neural control of augmented assistive communication.","authors":"Zachary Freudenburg, Julia Berezutskaya, Cornelia Herbert","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1468938","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1468938","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11337226/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142016938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-06DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1421435
Charalambos Themistocleous
Neurolinguistic assessments play a vital role in neurological examinations, revealing a wide range of language and communication impairments associated with developmental disorders and acquired neurological conditions. Yet, a thorough neurolinguistic assessment is time-consuming and laborious and takes valuable resources from other tasks. To empower clinicians, healthcare providers, and researchers, we have developed Open Brain AI (OBAI). The aim of this computational platform is twofold. First, it aims to provide advanced AI tools to facilitate spoken and written language analysis, automate the analysis process, and reduce the workload associated with time-consuming tasks. The platform currently incorporates multilingual tools for English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. The tools involve models for (i) audio transcription, (ii) automatic translation, (iii) grammar error correction, (iv) transcription to the International Phonetic Alphabet, (v) readability scoring, (vi) phonology, morphology, syntax, semantic measures (e.g., counts and proportions), and lexical measures. Second, it aims to support clinicians in conducting their research and automating everyday tasks with “OBAI Companion,” an AI language assistant that facilitates language processing, such as structuring, summarizing, and editing texts. OBAI also provides tools for automating spelling and phonology scoring. This paper reviews OBAI’s underlying architectures and applications and shows how OBAI can help professionals focus on higher-value activities, such as therapeutic interventions.
{"title":"Open Brain AI and language assessment","authors":"Charalambos Themistocleous","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1421435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1421435","url":null,"abstract":"Neurolinguistic assessments play a vital role in neurological examinations, revealing a wide range of language and communication impairments associated with developmental disorders and acquired neurological conditions. Yet, a thorough neurolinguistic assessment is time-consuming and laborious and takes valuable resources from other tasks. To empower clinicians, healthcare providers, and researchers, we have developed Open Brain AI (OBAI). The aim of this computational platform is twofold. First, it aims to provide advanced AI tools to facilitate spoken and written language analysis, automate the analysis process, and reduce the workload associated with time-consuming tasks. The platform currently incorporates multilingual tools for English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. The tools involve models for (i) audio transcription, (ii) automatic translation, (iii) grammar error correction, (iv) transcription to the International Phonetic Alphabet, (v) readability scoring, (vi) phonology, morphology, syntax, semantic measures (e.g., counts and proportions), and lexical measures. Second, it aims to support clinicians in conducting their research and automating everyday tasks with “OBAI Companion,” an AI language assistant that facilitates language processing, such as structuring, summarizing, and editing texts. OBAI also provides tools for automating spelling and phonology scoring. This paper reviews OBAI’s underlying architectures and applications and shows how OBAI can help professionals focus on higher-value activities, such as therapeutic interventions.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141931416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-05DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1448584
Arnau Dillen, Mohsen Omidi, María Alejandra Díaz, Fakhreddine Ghaffari, Bart Roelands, Bram Vanderborght, Olivier Romain, Kevin De Pauw
Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) enable users to control devices through their brain activity. Motor imagery (MI), the neural activity resulting from an individual imagining performing a movement, is a common control paradigm. This study introduces a user-centric evaluation protocol for assessing the performance and user experience of an MI-based BCI control system utilizing augmented reality. Augmented reality is employed to enhance user interaction by displaying environment-aware actions, and guiding users on the necessary imagined movements for specific device commands. One of the major gaps in existing research is the lack of comprehensive evaluation methodologies, particularly in real-world conditions. To address this gap, our protocol combines quantitative and qualitative assessments across three phases. In the initial phase, the BCI prototype's technical robustness is validated. Subsequently, the second phase involves a performance assessment of the control system. The third phase introduces a comparative analysis between the prototype and an alternative approach, incorporating detailed user experience evaluations through questionnaires and comparisons with non-BCI control methods. Participants engage in various tasks, such as object sorting, picking and placing, and playing a board game using the BCI control system. The evaluation procedure is designed for versatility, intending applicability beyond the specific use case presented. Its adaptability enables easy customization to meet the specific user requirements of the investigated BCI control application. This user-centric evaluation protocol offers a comprehensive framework for iterative improvements to the BCI prototype, ensuring technical validation, performance assessment, and user experience evaluation in a systematic and user-focused manner.
{"title":"Evaluating the real-world usability of BCI control systems with augmented reality: a user study protocol","authors":"Arnau Dillen, Mohsen Omidi, María Alejandra Díaz, Fakhreddine Ghaffari, Bart Roelands, Bram Vanderborght, Olivier Romain, Kevin De Pauw","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1448584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1448584","url":null,"abstract":"Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) enable users to control devices through their brain activity. Motor imagery (MI), the neural activity resulting from an individual imagining performing a movement, is a common control paradigm. This study introduces a user-centric evaluation protocol for assessing the performance and user experience of an MI-based BCI control system utilizing augmented reality. Augmented reality is employed to enhance user interaction by displaying environment-aware actions, and guiding users on the necessary imagined movements for specific device commands. One of the major gaps in existing research is the lack of comprehensive evaluation methodologies, particularly in real-world conditions. To address this gap, our protocol combines quantitative and qualitative assessments across three phases. In the initial phase, the BCI prototype's technical robustness is validated. Subsequently, the second phase involves a performance assessment of the control system. The third phase introduces a comparative analysis between the prototype and an alternative approach, incorporating detailed user experience evaluations through questionnaires and comparisons with non-BCI control methods. Participants engage in various tasks, such as object sorting, picking and placing, and playing a board game using the BCI control system. The evaluation procedure is designed for versatility, intending applicability beyond the specific use case presented. Its adaptability enables easy customization to meet the specific user requirements of the investigated BCI control application. This user-centric evaluation protocol offers a comprehensive framework for iterative improvements to the BCI prototype, ensuring technical validation, performance assessment, and user experience evaluation in a systematic and user-focused manner.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141931475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-31eCollection Date: 2024-01-01DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1466104
Kate Wilmut, Catherine Purcell, Emily J Meachon
{"title":"Editorial: Current perspectives on Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), volume II.","authors":"Kate Wilmut, Catherine Purcell, Emily J Meachon","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1466104","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1466104","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11322475/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141982085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-29DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1407557
Gabriela Dzięgiel-Fivet, Katarzyna Jednoróg
Several previous studies reported reduced leftward lateralization in blind participants’ samples compared to the sighted population. The origins of this difference remain unknown. Here, we tested whether functional lateralization is connected with the structural characteristics of white matter tracts [corpus callosum (CC), uncinate fasciculus (UF), and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF)], as suggested by previous studies conducted in the typical sighted population. Twenty-three blind and 21 sighted adult participants were tested during fMRI with a semantic decision paradigm presented both auditorily and in the modality appropriate for reading (tactually for the blind and visually for the sighted). Lateralization indices (LI) were calculated based on the activations. The fractional anisotropy (FA) measure was extracted from the white matter tracts of interest. Correlation analyses testing the relationship between FA and LI were conducted. The reduced leftward lateralization of both speech processing and reading-related activations was replicated. Nevertheless, the relationship between the structural integrity of the CC and LI and between the asymmetry of the intrahemispheric tracts and LI was not confirmed, possibly due to the lack of power. The sources of the reduced lateralization of the language network in the sensory-deprived population remain unknown. Further studies should account for environmental variables (e.g., the frequency of contact with written language) and the complexity of the factors that may influence the functional lateralization of the human brain.
之前有几项研究报告称，与视力正常的人群相比，盲人参与者的样本左侧化程度降低。造成这种差异的原因尚不清楚。在此，我们测试了功能侧化是否与以往在典型健视人群中进行的研究中提出的白质束（胼胝体（CC）、钩状束（UF）和上纵束（SLF））的结构特征有关。研究人员对 23 名盲人和 21 名视力正常的成年参与者进行了 fMRI 测试，测试采用听觉和适合阅读的模式（盲人采用触觉，视力正常者采用视觉）进行语义判断范式。根据激活情况计算侧化指数（LI）。从感兴趣的白质束中提取分数各向异性（FA）测量值。通过相关分析检验了 FA 和 LI 之间的关系。结果表明，语言处理和阅读相关激活的左侧化程度均有所降低。然而，CC结构的完整性与LI之间的关系，以及半球内束的不对称性与LI之间的关系并没有得到证实，这可能是由于功率不足造成的。感官缺失人群语言网络侧化程度降低的原因尚不清楚。进一步的研究应考虑环境变量（如接触书面语言的频率）以及可能影响人脑功能侧化的复杂因素。
{"title":"Frontiers | Reduced lateralization of the language network in the blind and its relationship with white matter tract neuroanatomy","authors":"Gabriela Dzięgiel-Fivet, Katarzyna Jednoróg","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1407557","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1407557","url":null,"abstract":"Several previous studies reported reduced leftward lateralization in blind participants’ samples compared to the sighted population. The origins of this difference remain unknown. Here, we tested whether functional lateralization is connected with the structural characteristics of white matter tracts [corpus callosum (CC), uncinate fasciculus (UF), and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF)], as suggested by previous studies conducted in the typical sighted population. Twenty-three blind and 21 sighted adult participants were tested during fMRI with a semantic decision paradigm presented both auditorily and in the modality appropriate for reading (tactually for the blind and visually for the sighted). Lateralization indices (LI) were calculated based on the activations. The fractional anisotropy (FA) measure was extracted from the white matter tracts of interest. Correlation analyses testing the relationship between FA and LI were conducted. The reduced leftward lateralization of both speech processing and reading-related activations was replicated. Nevertheless, the relationship between the structural integrity of the CC and LI and between the asymmetry of the intrahemispheric tracts and LI was not confirmed, possibly due to the lack of power. The sources of the reduced lateralization of the language network in the sensory-deprived population remain unknown. Further studies should account for environmental variables (e.g., the frequency of contact with written language) and the complexity of the factors that may influence the functional lateralization of the human brain.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141931412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-29DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1400005
Tone Stokkereit Mattsson, Ann Helen Nilsen, Siri Wennberg
IntroductionThe Norwegian Directorate of Health approved the Norwegian Hearing Register for Children in 2022. The main objective of the register is to improve the quality of treatment for children with permanent hearing loss, by measures, follow-ups and monitoring the quality and results of the health care system.MethodsInclusion criteria are children who do not pass universal newborn hearing screening and/or children with permanent hearing loss <18 years of age. Hearing loss is defined as pure-tone audiometry threshold of (PTA4) > 20 dB in at least one ear. Data are registered at the Ear, Nose and Throat departments at inclusion and at follow-ups at the age of 3, 6, 10, and 15 years. The register collects information about the child within a holistic perspective. The key elements of the register are (a) data concerning newborn hearing screening; (b) data concerning hearing, medical information, hearing amplification and intervention (c) patient reported outcome measures registered by caregivers using three questionnaires; Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Parents’ Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children.ResultsThe register has established four quality indicators regarding newborn hearing screening and early intervention (a) the rate of false positive neonatal screens; (b) testing for congenital cytomegalovirus within 3 weeks of age for children who do not pass newborn hearing screening; (c) audiological evaluation to confirm the hearing status no later than 3 months of age and (d) initiated intervention within 3 months after confirmation of hearing status.DiscussionThe register will include the total population of hearing impaired children over long time periods. Thus, the register enables each hospital to monitor their quality indicator scores continuously and compare them with national levels in real time. This facilitates and accelerates identification of improvement areas in the hospitals and will be an important contributor for quality improvement in NHS, diagnostics and hearing intervention for children in Norway. In addition, data from the register will be a unique source for research, and study designs with a long follow-up time can be applied.
{"title":"Establishment of the Norwegian hearing register for children","authors":"Tone Stokkereit Mattsson, Ann Helen Nilsen, Siri Wennberg","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1400005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1400005","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionThe Norwegian Directorate of Health approved the Norwegian Hearing Register for Children in 2022. The main objective of the register is to improve the quality of treatment for children with permanent hearing loss, by measures, follow-ups and monitoring the quality and results of the health care system.MethodsInclusion criteria are children who do not pass universal newborn hearing screening and/or children with permanent hearing loss &lt;18 years of age. Hearing loss is defined as pure-tone audiometry threshold of (PTA4) &gt; 20 dB in at least one ear. Data are registered at the Ear, Nose and Throat departments at inclusion and at follow-ups at the age of 3, 6, 10, and 15 years. The register collects information about the child within a holistic perspective. The key elements of the register are (a) data concerning newborn hearing screening; (b) data concerning hearing, medical information, hearing amplification and intervention (c) patient reported outcome measures registered by caregivers using three questionnaires; Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Parents’ Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children.ResultsThe register has established four quality indicators regarding newborn hearing screening and early intervention (a) the rate of false positive neonatal screens; (b) testing for congenital cytomegalovirus within 3 weeks of age for children who do not pass newborn hearing screening; (c) audiological evaluation to confirm the hearing status no later than 3 months of age and (d) initiated intervention within 3 months after confirmation of hearing status.DiscussionThe register will include the total population of hearing impaired children over long time periods. Thus, the register enables each hospital to monitor their quality indicator scores continuously and compare them with national levels in real time. This facilitates and accelerates identification of improvement areas in the hospitals and will be an important contributor for quality improvement in NHS, diagnostics and hearing intervention for children in Norway. In addition, data from the register will be a unique source for research, and study designs with a long follow-up time can be applied.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141867471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-29DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1422581
Simon Schedler, Klaus Gramann, Mathew W. Hill, Thomas Muehlbauer
BackgroundDue to technological advancements and the development of consumer-oriented head mounted displays (HMDs), virtual reality (VR) is used in studies on balance performance and balance trainability more and more frequently. Yet, it may be assumed that balance performance is affected by the physical characteristics of the HMD (e.g., weight) as well as by the virtual visual environment. Moreover, it has been shown that balance is age-dependent with children and adolescents showing worse performances compared to young adults, which may also affect their balance performance in virtual environments.ObjectivesThe present systematic scoping review aims to provide an overview on the current evidence regarding balance performance of healthy, young individuals (6–30 years) in real and matched virtual environments.MethodsA systematic literature search in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus (from their inception date to February 2024) resulted in 9,554 studies potentially eligible for inclusion. Eligibility criteria were: (i) investigation of healthy, young individuals (6–30 years), (ii) balance assessment in the real and a matched virtual environment, (iii) use of a fully immersive HMD, (iv) reporting of at least one balance parameter. A total of 10 studies met the predefined inclusion criteria and were thus included in this review. All studies were conducted with healthy, young adults (19–30 years).ResultsFive studies assessed static balance, four studies quantified dynamic balance, and one study measured static as well as dynamic balance performance. In healthy young adults, static balance performance was similar with and without VR during simple standing tasks (e.g., two-legged stance), but worse in VR during more challenging tasks (e.g., one-legged stance). Concerning dynamic balance, four out of five studies reported worse performance in VR, while one study did not find differences between visual environments. Most importantly, none of the studies investigating healthy children (6–12 years) and/or adolescents (13–18 years) met the predefined inclusion criteria.ConclusionIn healthy young adults, balance performance seems to be affected by VR only during challenging static (e.g., one-legged stance) as well as during dynamic balance tasks. The underlying causes remain unclear, but factors such as perceived presence in VR, a shift in sensory organization and/or perceptual distortion may play a role. Of particular importance is the finding that there is a void in the literature on the influence of VR on balance performance of healthy children and adolescents.
{"title":"Balance performance of healthy young individuals in real versus matched virtual environments: a systematic scoping review","authors":"Simon Schedler, Klaus Gramann, Mathew W. Hill, Thomas Muehlbauer","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1422581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1422581","url":null,"abstract":"BackgroundDue to technological advancements and the development of consumer-oriented head mounted displays (HMDs), virtual reality (VR) is used in studies on balance performance and balance trainability more and more frequently. Yet, it may be assumed that balance performance is affected by the physical characteristics of the HMD (e.g., weight) as well as by the virtual visual environment. Moreover, it has been shown that balance is age-dependent with children and adolescents showing worse performances compared to young adults, which may also affect their balance performance in virtual environments.ObjectivesThe present systematic scoping review aims to provide an overview on the current evidence regarding balance performance of healthy, young individuals (6–30 years) in real and matched virtual environments.MethodsA systematic literature search in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus (from their inception date to February 2024) resulted in 9,554 studies potentially eligible for inclusion. Eligibility criteria were: (i) investigation of healthy, young individuals (6–30 years), (ii) balance assessment in the real and a matched virtual environment, (iii) use of a fully immersive HMD, (iv) reporting of at least one balance parameter. A total of 10 studies met the predefined inclusion criteria and were thus included in this review. All studies were conducted with healthy, young adults (19–30 years).ResultsFive studies assessed static balance, four studies quantified dynamic balance, and one study measured static as well as dynamic balance performance. In healthy young adults, static balance performance was similar with and without VR during simple standing tasks (e.g., two-legged stance), but worse in VR during more challenging tasks (e.g., one-legged stance). Concerning dynamic balance, four out of five studies reported worse performance in VR, while one study did not find differences between visual environments. Most importantly, none of the studies investigating healthy children (6–12 years) and/or adolescents (13–18 years) met the predefined inclusion criteria.ConclusionIn healthy young adults, balance performance seems to be affected by VR only during challenging static (e.g., one-legged stance) as well as during dynamic balance tasks. The underlying causes remain unclear, but factors such as perceived presence in VR, a shift in sensory organization and/or perceptual distortion may play a role. Of particular importance is the finding that there is a void in the literature on the influence of VR on balance performance of healthy children and adolescents.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141867470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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