Pub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1398034
Jacek Rogala, Joanna Dreszer, Marcin Sińczuk, Łukasz Miciuk, Ewa Piątkowska-Janko, Piotr Bogorodzki, Tomasz Wolak, Andrzej Wróbel, Marek Konarzewski
IntroductionExploring gender differences in cognitive abilities offers vital insights into human brain functioning.MethodsOur study utilized advanced techniques like magnetic resonance thermometry, standard working memory n-back tasks, and functional MRI to investigate if gender-based variations in brain temperature correlate with distinct neuronal responses and working memory capabilities.ResultsWe observed a significant decrease in average brain temperature in males during working memory tasks, a phenomenon not seen in females. Although changes in female brain temperature were significantly lower than in males, we found an inverse relationship between the absolute temperature change (ATC) and cognitive performance, alongside a correlation with blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal change induced by neural activity. This suggests that in females, ATC is a crucial determinant for the link between cognitive performance and BOLD responses, a linkage not evident in males. However, we also observed additional female specific BOLD responses aligned with comparable task performance to that of males.DiscussionOur results suggest that females compensate for their brain’s heightened temperature sensitivity by activating additional neuronal networks to support working memory. This study not only underscores the complexity of gender differences in cognitive processing but also opens new avenues for understanding how temperature fluctuations influence brain functionality.
{"title":"Local variation in brain temperature explains gender-specificity of working memory performance","authors":"Jacek Rogala, Joanna Dreszer, Marcin Sińczuk, Łukasz Miciuk, Ewa Piątkowska-Janko, Piotr Bogorodzki, Tomasz Wolak, Andrzej Wróbel, Marek Konarzewski","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1398034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1398034","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionExploring gender differences in cognitive abilities offers vital insights into human brain functioning.MethodsOur study utilized advanced techniques like magnetic resonance thermometry, standard working memory n-back tasks, and functional MRI to investigate if gender-based variations in brain temperature correlate with distinct neuronal responses and working memory capabilities.ResultsWe observed a significant decrease in average brain temperature in males during working memory tasks, a phenomenon not seen in females. Although changes in female brain temperature were significantly lower than in males, we found an inverse relationship between the absolute temperature change (ATC) and cognitive performance, alongside a correlation with blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal change induced by neural activity. This suggests that in females, ATC is a crucial determinant for the link between cognitive performance and BOLD responses, a linkage not evident in males. However, we also observed additional female specific BOLD responses aligned with comparable task performance to that of males.DiscussionOur results suggest that females compensate for their brain’s heightened temperature sensitivity by activating additional neuronal networks to support working memory. This study not only underscores the complexity of gender differences in cognitive processing but also opens new avenues for understanding how temperature fluctuations influence brain functionality.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141770814","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 : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1444450
Michelle J. Duffy, Kathryn A. Feltman, Amanda M. Kelley, Ryan Mackie
IntroductionTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation method, popular due to its low cost, ease-of-application, and portability. As such, it has gained traction in examining its potential for cognitive enhancement in a diverse range of populations, including active-duty military. However, current literature presents mixed results regarding its efficacy and limited evaluations of possible undesirable side-effects (such as degradation to cognitive processes).MethodsTo further examine its potential for enhancing cognition, a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled, within-subjects design, was used to evaluate both online active-anodal and -cathodal on several cognitive tasks administered. Potential undesirable side effects related to mood, sleepiness, and cognitive performance, were also assessed. Active tDCS was applied for 30 min, using 2 mA, to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with an extracephalic reference placed on the contralateral arm of 27 (14 males) active-duty Soldiers.ResultsWe report mixed results. Specifically, we found improvements in sustained attention (active-anodal) for males in reaction time (p = 0.024, ηp2 = 0.16) and for sensitivity index in females (p = 0.013, ηp2 = 0.18). In addition, we found faster reaction time (p = 0.034, ηp2 = 0.15) and increased accuracy (p = 0.029, ηp2 = 0.16) associated with executive function (active-anodal and -cathodal), and worsened working memory performance (active-cathodal; p = 0.008, ηp2 = 0.18). Additionally, we found increased risk-taking with active-anodal (p = 0.001, ηp2 = 0.33).DiscussiontDCS may hold promise as a method for cognitive enhancement, as evidenced by our findings related to sustained attention and executive function. However, we caution that further study is required to better understand additional parameters and limitations that may explain results, as our study only focused on anode vs. cathode stimulation. Risk-taking was examined secondary to our main interests which warrants further experimental investigation isolating potential tradeoffs that may be associated with tDCS simulation.
{"title":"Limitations associated with transcranial direct current stimulation for enhancement: considerations of performance tradeoffs in active-duty Soldiers","authors":"Michelle J. Duffy, Kathryn A. Feltman, Amanda M. Kelley, Ryan Mackie","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1444450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1444450","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation method, popular due to its low cost, ease-of-application, and portability. As such, it has gained traction in examining its potential for cognitive enhancement in a diverse range of populations, including active-duty military. However, current literature presents mixed results regarding its efficacy and limited evaluations of possible undesirable side-effects (such as degradation to cognitive processes).MethodsTo further examine its potential for enhancing cognition, a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled, within-subjects design, was used to evaluate both online active-anodal and -cathodal on several cognitive tasks administered. Potential undesirable side effects related to mood, sleepiness, and cognitive performance, were also assessed. Active tDCS was applied for 30 min, using 2 mA, to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with an extracephalic reference placed on the contralateral arm of 27 (14 males) active-duty Soldiers.ResultsWe report mixed results. Specifically, we found improvements in sustained attention (active-anodal) for males in reaction time (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.024, η<jats:italic>p</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.16) and for sensitivity index in females (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.013, η<jats:italic>p</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.18). In addition, we found faster reaction time (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.034, η<jats:italic>p</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.15) and increased accuracy (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.029, η<jats:italic>p</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.16) associated with executive function (active-anodal and -cathodal), and worsened working memory performance (active-cathodal; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.008, η<jats:italic>p</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.18). Additionally, we found increased risk-taking with active-anodal (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.001, η<jats:italic>p</jats:italic><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.33).DiscussiontDCS may hold promise as a method for cognitive enhancement, as evidenced by our findings related to sustained attention and executive function. However, we caution that further study is required to better understand additional parameters and limitations that may explain results, as our study only focused on anode vs. cathode stimulation. Risk-taking was examined secondary to our main interests which warrants further experimental investigation isolating potential tradeoffs that may be associated with tDCS simulation.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141770855","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 : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1436156
Laura F. Naysmith, Owen O’Daly, Ana Beatriz Solana, Florian Wiesinger, Simon Hill, Steven C. R. Williams, Veena Kumari
IntroductionStartle habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI) are distinct measures of different sensory information processes, yet both result in the attenuation of the startle reflex. Identifying startle habituation and PPI neural mechanisms in humans has mostly evolved from acoustic-focused rodent models. Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have used tactile startle paradigms to avoid the confounding effects of gradient-related acoustic noise on auditory paradigms and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) measures. This study aimed to examine the neurofunctional basis of acoustic startle habituation and PPI in humans with silent fMRI.MethodsUsing silent fMRI and simultaneous electromyography (EMG) to measure startle, the neural correlates of acoustic short-term startle habituation and PPI [stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) of 60 ms and 120 ms] were investigated in 42 healthy adults (28 females). To derive stronger inferences about brain-behaviour correlations at the group-level, models included EMG-assessed measures of startle habituation (regression slope) or PPI (percentage) as a covariate. A linear temporal modulator was modelled at the individual-level to characterise functional changes in neural activity during startle habituation.ResultsOver time, participants showed a decrease in startle response (habituation), accompanied by decreasing thalamic, striatal, insula, and brainstem activity. Startle habituation was associated with the linear temporal modulation of BOLD response amplitude in several regions, with thalamus, insula, and parietal lobe activity decreasing over time, and frontal lobe, dorsal striatum, and posterior cingulate activity increasing over time. The paradigm yielded a small amount of PPI (9–13%). No significant neural activity for PPI was detected.DiscussionStartle habituation was associated with the thalamus, putamen, insula, and brainstem, and with linear BOLD response modulation in thalamic, striatal, insula, parietal, frontal, and posterior cingulate regions. These findings provide insight into the mediation and functional basis of the acoustic primary startle circuit. Instead, whilst reduced compared to conventional MRI, scanner noise may have disrupted prepulse detection and processing, resulting in low PPI and impacting our ability to map its neural signatures. Our findings encourage optimisation of the MRI environment for acoustic PPI-based investigations in humans. Combining EMG and functional neuroimaging methods shows promise for mapping short-term startle habituation in healthy and clinical populations.
{"title":"Frontiers | Investigating acoustic startle habituation and prepulse inhibition with silent functional MRI and electromyography in young, healthy adults","authors":"Laura F. Naysmith, Owen O’Daly, Ana Beatriz Solana, Florian Wiesinger, Simon Hill, Steven C. R. Williams, Veena Kumari","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1436156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1436156","url":null,"abstract":"IntroductionStartle habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI) are distinct measures of different sensory information processes, yet both result in the attenuation of the startle reflex. Identifying startle habituation and PPI neural mechanisms in humans has mostly evolved from acoustic-focused rodent models. Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have used tactile startle paradigms to avoid the confounding effects of gradient-related acoustic noise on auditory paradigms and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) measures. This study aimed to examine the neurofunctional basis of acoustic startle habituation and PPI in humans with silent fMRI.MethodsUsing silent fMRI and simultaneous electromyography (EMG) to measure startle, the neural correlates of acoustic short-term startle habituation and PPI [stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) of 60 ms and 120 ms] were investigated in 42 healthy adults (28 females). To derive stronger inferences about brain-behaviour correlations at the group-level, models included EMG-assessed measures of startle habituation (regression slope) or PPI (percentage) as a covariate. A linear temporal modulator was modelled at the individual-level to characterise functional changes in neural activity during startle habituation.ResultsOver time, participants showed a decrease in startle response (habituation), accompanied by decreasing thalamic, striatal, insula, and brainstem activity. Startle habituation was associated with the linear temporal modulation of BOLD response amplitude in several regions, with thalamus, insula, and parietal lobe activity decreasing over time, and frontal lobe, dorsal striatum, and posterior cingulate activity increasing over time. The paradigm yielded a small amount of PPI (9–13%). No significant neural activity for PPI was detected.DiscussionStartle habituation was associated with the thalamus, putamen, insula, and brainstem, and with linear BOLD response modulation in thalamic, striatal, insula, parietal, frontal, and posterior cingulate regions. These findings provide insight into the mediation and functional basis of the acoustic primary startle circuit. Instead, whilst reduced compared to conventional MRI, scanner noise may have disrupted prepulse detection and processing, resulting in low PPI and impacting our ability to map its neural signatures. Our findings encourage optimisation of the MRI environment for acoustic PPI-based investigations in humans. Combining EMG and functional neuroimaging methods shows promise for mapping short-term startle habituation in healthy and clinical populations.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141931476","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 : 2024-07-25DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1401578
Laura Facci, Stefania Basilico, Manuela Sellitto, Giorgio Gelosa, Martina Gandola, Gabriella Bottini
Tactile agnosia is the inability to recognize objects via haptic exploration, in the absence of an elementary sensory deficit. Traditionally, it has been described as a disturbance in extracting information about the physical properties of objects (“apperceptive agnosia”) or in associating object representation with its semantic meaning (“associative agnosia”). However, tactile agnosia is a rare and difficult-to-diagnose condition, due to the frequent co-occurrence of sensorimotor symptoms and the lack of consensus on the terminology and assessment methods. Among tactile agnosia classifications, hyloagnosia (i.e., difficulty in quality discrimination of objects) and morphoagnosia (i.e., difficulty in shape and size recognition) have been proposed to account for the apperceptive level. However, a dissociation between the two has been reported in two cases only. Indeed, very few cases of pure tactile agnosia have been described, mostly associated with vascular damages in somatosensory areas, in pre- and postcentral gyrus, intraparietal sulcus, supramarginal gyrus, and insular cortex. An open question is whether degenerative conditions affecting the same areas could lead to similar impairments. Here, we present a single case of unilateral right-hand tactile agnosia, in the context of corticobasal syndrome (CBS), a rare neurodegenerative disease. The patient, a 55-year-old woman, initially presented with difficulties in tactile object recognition, apraxia for the right hand, and an otherwise intact cognitive profile. At the neuroimaging level, she showed a lesion outcome of a right parietal oligodendroglioma removal and a left frontoparietal atrophy. We performed an experimental evaluation of tactile agnosia, targeting every level of tactile processing, from elementary to higher order tactile recognition processes. We also tested 18 healthy participants as a matched control sample. The patient showed intact tactile sensitivity and mostly intact hylognosis functions. Conversely, she was impaired with the right hand in exploring geometrical and meaningless shapes. The patient’s clinical evolution in the following 3 years became consistent with the diagnosis of CBS and unilateral tactile apperceptive agnosia as the primary symptom onset in the absence of a cognitive decline. This is the third case described in the literature manifesting morphoagnosia with almost completely preserved hylognosis abilities and the first description of such dissociation in a case with CBS.
触觉失认症是指在没有基本感官缺陷的情况下,无法通过触觉探索识别物体。传统上,触觉失认症被描述为提取物体物理属性信息的障碍("感知性失认")或将物体表象与其语义联系起来的障碍("联想性失认")。然而,触觉失认症是一种罕见且难以诊断的疾病,这是因为触觉失认症经常同时出现感觉运动症状,而且在术语和评估方法上缺乏共识。在触觉失认症的分类中,有人提出用hyloagnosia(即难以辨别物体的质量)和morphoagnosia(即难以辨别形状和大小)来解释触觉失认症。然而,仅有两例报告称两者之间存在差异。事实上,纯触觉失认症的病例很少,大多与躯体感觉区、中央前回和中央后回、顶内沟、边际上回和岛叶皮层的血管损伤有关。一个悬而未决的问题是,影响相同区域的退行性病变是否会导致类似的损伤。在此,我们介绍一例单侧右手触觉缺失患者,她患有皮质基底综合征(CBS),这是一种罕见的神经退行性疾病。患者是一名 55 岁的女性,最初表现为触觉物体识别困难、右手失灵,但认知能力正常。在神经影像学层面,她的病变结果是右顶叶少突胶质细胞瘤切除和左额叶萎缩。我们对触觉失认症进行了实验评估,目标是触觉加工的各个层次,从初级到高阶触觉识别过程。我们还测试了 18 名健康参与者作为匹配对照样本。该患者表现出完整的触觉敏感性和大部分完整的触觉识别功能。相反,她的右手在探索几何形状和无意义形状时却出现障碍。患者在随后 3 年中的临床表现与 CBS 诊断一致,并且在没有认知能力下降的情况下,单侧触觉感受性失认症是其主要发病症状。这是文献中描述的第三例表现为形态失认症但几乎完全保留了认知能力的病例,也是第一例在 CBS 患者中描述这种分离的病例。
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Pub Date : 2024-07-25DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1434110
Yihe Jiang, Maoping Zheng
BackgroundMusic training facilitates the development of individual cognitive functions and influences brain plasticity. A comprehensive understanding of the pathways and processes through which music affects the human brain, as well as the neurobiological mechanisms underlying human brain perception of music, is necessary to fully harness the plasticity that music offers for brain development.AimsTo investigate the resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) activity of individuals with and without music training experience, and explore the microstate patterns of EEG signals.MethodIn this study, an analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates from 57 participants yielded temporal parameters(mean duration, time coverage, occurrence, and transition probability)of four classic microstate categories (Categories A, B, C, and D) for two groups: those with music training experience and those without. Statistical analysis was conducted on these parameters between groups.ResultsThe results indicate that compared to individuals without music training experience, participants with music training experience exhibit significantly longer mean durations of microstate A, which is associated with speech processing. Additionally, they show a greater time coverage of microstate B, which is associated with visual processing. Transition probabilities from microstate A to microstate B were greater in participants with music training experience compared to those without. Conversely, transition probabilities from microstate A to microstate C and from microstate C to microstate D were greater in participants without music training experience.ConclusionOur study found differences in characteristic parameters of certain microstates between individuals with and without music training experience. This suggests distinct brain activity patterns during tasks related to speech, vision, and attention regulation among individuals with varying levels of music training experience. These findings support an association between music training experience and specific neural activities. Furthermore, they endorse the hypothesis of music training experience influencing brain activity during resting states. Additionally, they imply a facilitative role of music training in tasks related to speech, vision, and attention regulation, providing initial evidence for further empirical investigation into the cognitive processes influenced by music training.
背景音乐训练促进个人认知功能的发展并影响大脑的可塑性。全面了解音乐影响人脑的途径和过程,以及人脑感知音乐的神经生物学机制,对于充分利用音乐为大脑发育提供的可塑性是十分必要的。目的研究有音乐训练经历和没有音乐训练经历的个体的静息状态脑电图(EEG)活动,并探索脑电信号的微状态模式。方法本研究对57名参与者的脑电图微状态进行了分析,得出了有音乐训练经历者和无音乐训练经历者两组人的四种经典微状态类别(A、B、C和D类)的时间参数(平均持续时间、时间覆盖率、发生率和转换概率)。结果表明,与没有音乐培训经验的人相比,有音乐培训经验的参与者表现出明显更长的微状态 A 平均持续时间,这与语音处理有关。此外,他们在与视觉处理相关的微状态 B 上表现出更大的时间覆盖范围。与没有音乐训练经历的人相比,有音乐训练经历的人从微状态 A 过渡到微状态 B 的概率更大。相反,从微态 A 到微态 C 以及从微态 C 到微态 D 的过渡概率在没有音乐训练经历的参与者中更大。这表明,在完成与语言、视觉和注意力调节相关的任务时,有不同音乐培训经历的个体会有不同的大脑活动模式。这些发现支持了音乐培训经历与特定神经活动之间的关联。此外,这些研究还支持了音乐训练经验影响静息状态下大脑活动的假设。此外,这些研究还暗示了音乐训练在与语言、视觉和注意力调节相关的任务中的促进作用,为进一步实证研究音乐训练对认知过程的影响提供了初步证据。
{"title":"EEG microstates are associated with music training experience","authors":"Yihe Jiang, Maoping Zheng","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1434110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1434110","url":null,"abstract":"BackgroundMusic training facilitates the development of individual cognitive functions and influences brain plasticity. A comprehensive understanding of the pathways and processes through which music affects the human brain, as well as the neurobiological mechanisms underlying human brain perception of music, is necessary to fully harness the plasticity that music offers for brain development.AimsTo investigate the resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) activity of individuals with and without music training experience, and explore the microstate patterns of EEG signals.MethodIn this study, an analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates from 57 participants yielded temporal parameters(mean duration, time coverage, occurrence, and transition probability)of four classic microstate categories (Categories A, B, C, and D) for two groups: those with music training experience and those without. Statistical analysis was conducted on these parameters between groups.ResultsThe results indicate that compared to individuals without music training experience, participants with music training experience exhibit significantly longer mean durations of microstate A, which is associated with speech processing. Additionally, they show a greater time coverage of microstate B, which is associated with visual processing. Transition probabilities from microstate A to microstate B were greater in participants with music training experience compared to those without. Conversely, transition probabilities from microstate A to microstate C and from microstate C to microstate D were greater in participants without music training experience.ConclusionOur study found differences in characteristic parameters of certain microstates between individuals with and without music training experience. This suggests distinct brain activity patterns during tasks related to speech, vision, and attention regulation among individuals with varying levels of music training experience. These findings support an association between music training experience and specific neural activities. Furthermore, they endorse the hypothesis of music training experience influencing brain activity during resting states. Additionally, they imply a facilitative role of music training in tasks related to speech, vision, and attention regulation, providing initial evidence for further empirical investigation into the cognitive processes influenced by music training.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141770859","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 : 2024-07-25DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1385624
Manuel Varlet, Tijl Grootswagers
Hyperscanning, which enables the recording of brain activity from multiple individuals simultaneously, has been increasingly used to investigate the neuropsychological processes underpinning social interaction. Previous hyperscanning research has primarily focused on interbrain synchrony, demonstrating an enhanced alignment of brain waves across individuals during social interaction. However, using EEG hyperscanning simulations, we here show that interbrain synchrony has low sensitivity to information alignment across people. Surprisingly, interbrain synchrony remains largely unchanged despite manipulating whether two individuals are seeing same or different things at the same time. Furthermore, we show that hyperscanning recordings do contain indices of interpersonal information alignment and that they can be captured using representational analyses. These findings highlight major limitations of current hyperscanning research and offer a promising alternative for investigating interactive minds.
{"title":"Measuring information alignment in hyperscanning research with representational analyses: moving beyond interbrain synchrony","authors":"Manuel Varlet, Tijl Grootswagers","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1385624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1385624","url":null,"abstract":"Hyperscanning, which enables the recording of brain activity from multiple individuals simultaneously, has been increasingly used to investigate the neuropsychological processes underpinning social interaction. Previous hyperscanning research has primarily focused on interbrain synchrony, demonstrating an enhanced alignment of brain waves across individuals during social interaction. However, using EEG hyperscanning simulations, we here show that interbrain synchrony has low sensitivity to information alignment across people. Surprisingly, interbrain synchrony remains largely unchanged despite manipulating whether two individuals are seeing same or different things at the same time. Furthermore, we show that hyperscanning recordings do contain indices of interpersonal information alignment and that they can be captured using representational analyses. These findings highlight major limitations of current hyperscanning research and offer a promising alternative for investigating interactive minds.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141770856","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 : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1280585
Emma Sumner, Elisabeth L. Hill
Adults with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), sometimes referred to as dyspraxia, experience difficulties in motor development and coordination, which impacts on all aspects of their daily lives. Surprisingly little is known about the mechanisms underlying the difficulties they experience in the motor domain. In childhood DCD, aspects of oculomotor control have been shown to be altered. The purpose of this study was to determine whether oculomotor differences are present in adults with and without probable DCD. Visual fixation stability, smooth pursuit, and pro-and anti-saccade performance were assessed in 21 adults (mean age 29 years) with probable DCD/dyspraxia (pDCD) and 21 typically-developing (TD) adults (mean age 21 years). Eye tracking technology revealed that oculomotor response preparation in the pro- and anti-saccade tasks was comparable across groups, as was pursuit gain in the slower of the two smooth pursuit tasks. However, adults with pDCD made significantly more saccades away from the fixation target than those without DCD and significantly more anti-saccade errors. Further, compared to TD adults, adults with pDCD demonstrated difficulties in maintaining engagement and had lower pursuit gain in the faster pursuit task. This suggests that adults with pDCD have problems with saccadic inhibition and maintaining attention on a visual target. Since this pattern of results has also been reported in children with DCD, oculomotor difficulties may be persistent for those with DCD across the lifespan. An awareness of the impact of atypical oculomotor control in activities of daily living across the lifespan would support clearer understanding of the causes and impacts of these difficulties for those with DCD.
{"title":"Oculomotor differences in adults with and without probable developmental coordination disorder","authors":"Emma Sumner, Elisabeth L. Hill","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1280585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1280585","url":null,"abstract":"Adults with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), sometimes referred to as dyspraxia, experience difficulties in motor development and coordination, which impacts on all aspects of their daily lives. Surprisingly little is known about the mechanisms underlying the difficulties they experience in the motor domain. In childhood DCD, aspects of oculomotor control have been shown to be altered. The purpose of this study was to determine whether oculomotor differences are present in adults with and without probable DCD. Visual fixation stability, smooth pursuit, and pro-and anti-saccade performance were assessed in 21 adults (mean age 29 years) with probable DCD/dyspraxia (pDCD) and 21 typically-developing (TD) adults (mean age 21 years). Eye tracking technology revealed that oculomotor response preparation in the pro- and anti-saccade tasks was comparable across groups, as was pursuit gain in the slower of the two smooth pursuit tasks. However, adults with pDCD made significantly more saccades away from the fixation target than those without DCD and significantly more anti-saccade errors. Further, compared to TD adults, adults with pDCD demonstrated difficulties in maintaining engagement and had lower pursuit gain in the faster pursuit task. This suggests that adults with pDCD have problems with saccadic inhibition and maintaining attention on a visual target. Since this pattern of results has also been reported in children with DCD, oculomotor difficulties may be persistent for those with DCD across the lifespan. An awareness of the impact of atypical oculomotor control in activities of daily living across the lifespan would support clearer understanding of the causes and impacts of these difficulties for those with DCD.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141770860","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}
Hand gestures are a natural and intuitive form of communication, and integrating this communication method into robotic systems presents significant potential to improve human-robot collaboration. Recent advances in motor neuroscience have focused on replicating human hand movements from synergies also known as movement primitives. Synergies, fundamental building blocks of movement, serve as a potential strategy adapted by the central nervous system to generate and control movements. Identifying how synergies contribute to movement can help in dexterous control of robotics, exoskeletons, prosthetics and extend its applications to rehabilitation. In this paper, 33 static hand gestures were recorded through a single RGB camera and identified in real-time through the MediaPipe framework as participants made various postures with their dominant hand. Assuming an open palm as initial posture, uniform joint angular velocities were obtained from all these gestures. By applying a dimensionality reduction method, kinematic synergies were obtained from these joint angular velocities. Kinematic synergies that explain 98% of variance of movements were utilized to reconstruct new hand gestures using convex optimization. Reconstructed hand gestures and selected kinematic synergies were translated onto a humanoid robot, Mitra, in real-time, as the participants demonstrated various hand gestures. The results showed that by using only few kinematic synergies it is possible to generate various hand gestures, with 95.7% accuracy. Furthermore, utilizing low-dimensional synergies in control of high dimensional end effectors holds promise to enable near-natural human-robot collaboration.
{"title":"Biomimetic learning of hand gestures in a humanoid robot","authors":"Parthan Olikkal, Dingyi Pei, Bharat Kashyap Karri, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Nayan M. Kakoty, Ramana Vinjamuri","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1391531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1391531","url":null,"abstract":"Hand gestures are a natural and intuitive form of communication, and integrating this communication method into robotic systems presents significant potential to improve human-robot collaboration. Recent advances in motor neuroscience have focused on replicating human hand movements from synergies also known as movement primitives. Synergies, fundamental building blocks of movement, serve as a potential strategy adapted by the central nervous system to generate and control movements. Identifying how synergies contribute to movement can help in dexterous control of robotics, exoskeletons, prosthetics and extend its applications to rehabilitation. In this paper, 33 static hand gestures were recorded through a single RGB camera and identified in real-time through the MediaPipe framework as participants made various postures with their dominant hand. Assuming an open palm as initial posture, uniform joint angular velocities were obtained from all these gestures. By applying a dimensionality reduction method, kinematic synergies were obtained from these joint angular velocities. Kinematic synergies that explain 98% of variance of movements were utilized to reconstruct new hand gestures using convex optimization. Reconstructed hand gestures and selected kinematic synergies were translated onto a humanoid robot, Mitra, in real-time, as the participants demonstrated various hand gestures. The results showed that by using only few kinematic synergies it is possible to generate various hand gestures, with 95.7% accuracy. Furthermore, utilizing low-dimensional synergies in control of high dimensional end effectors holds promise to enable near-natural human-robot collaboration.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141740328","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 : 2024-07-18DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1432441
Prerana Nandish, Shrinivasa B. M., Sujith Nath N., G. Shankar, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Himani Kashyap, Animesh Jain, Anup Anvikar, Vani H. Chalageri
Malaria morbidity has various presentations and the focus now shifts to uncommon signs and symptoms of malaria infection such as cognitive impairment to address the morbidity when the mortality declines. About 50% of children admitted to hospitals due to malaria experience neurological complications due to factors like low blood sugar, inflammation, elevated pressure, decreased oxygen levels, and excitotoxicity. Malaria during pregnancy negatively also impacts children’s cognitive, behavioral, and executive function leading to neurodevelopmental delay due to increased susceptibility which can significantly affect maternal and child health, leading to higher rates of underestimated factors like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Despite having the world’s second-largest tribal population, India’s indigenous and tribal communities and their mental health are less explored and less understood. Western psychological tools and neurocognitive assessment tools are not universally applicable, thus necessitating the development of tailored tools to investigate psychological or neurocognitive impairment. This paper has illuminated the hidden mental health consequences of malaria infection, emphasizing the prevalence, nature, and implications of psychological distress among affected individuals. The findings underscore the importance of recognizing and addressing these psychological consequences in the holistic management and prevention of malaria and its mental health consequences.
{"title":"Exploring the hidden mental health consequences of malaria beyond the fever","authors":"Prerana Nandish, Shrinivasa B. M., Sujith Nath N., G. Shankar, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Himani Kashyap, Animesh Jain, Anup Anvikar, Vani H. Chalageri","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1432441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1432441","url":null,"abstract":"Malaria morbidity has various presentations and the focus now shifts to uncommon signs and symptoms of malaria infection such as cognitive impairment to address the morbidity when the mortality declines. About 50% of children admitted to hospitals due to malaria experience neurological complications due to factors like low blood sugar, inflammation, elevated pressure, decreased oxygen levels, and excitotoxicity. Malaria during pregnancy negatively also impacts children’s cognitive, behavioral, and executive function leading to neurodevelopmental delay due to increased susceptibility which can significantly affect maternal and child health, leading to higher rates of underestimated factors like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Despite having the world’s second-largest tribal population, India’s indigenous and tribal communities and their mental health are less explored and less understood. Western psychological tools and neurocognitive assessment tools are not universally applicable, thus necessitating the development of tailored tools to investigate psychological or neurocognitive impairment. This paper has illuminated the hidden mental health consequences of malaria infection, emphasizing the prevalence, nature, and implications of psychological distress among affected individuals. The findings underscore the importance of recognizing and addressing these psychological consequences in the holistic management and prevention of malaria and its mental health consequences.","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141740329","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 : 2024-07-17DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1447973
A. Angelopoulou, Ines Chihi, Jude Hemanth
{"title":"Editorial: Methods and protocols in Brain-Computer Interfaces","authors":"A. Angelopoulou, Ines Chihi, Jude Hemanth","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2024.1447973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1447973","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141830635","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}