-
Mashup Score: 1
Cognitive models of reading assume that speech production occurs after visual and phonological processing of written words. This traditional view is at odds with more recent magnetoencephalography studies showing that the left posterior inferior frontal cortex (pIFC) classically associated with spoken production responds to print at 100-150 ms after word-onset, almost simultaneously with posterior brain regions for visual and phonological processing. Yet the theoretical significance of this fast neural response remains open to date. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate how the left pIFC contributes to the early stage of reading. In Experiment 1, 23 adult participants (14 females) performed three different tasks about written words (oral reading, semantic judgment and perceptual judgment) while single-pulse TMS was delivered to the left pIFC, fusiform gyrus or supramarginal gyrus at different time points (50 to 200 ms after word-onset). A robust double dissocia
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet
-
Mashup Score: 6
Naturalistic observations show that animals pre-empt danger by moving to locations that increase their success in avoiding future threats. To test this in humans, we created a spatial margin of safety (MOS) decision task that quantifies pre-emptive avoidance by measuring the distance subjects place themselves to safety when facing different threats whose attack locations vary in predictability. Behavioral results show that human participants place themselves closer to safe locations when facing threats that attack in spatial locations with more outliers. Using both univariate and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) on fMRI data collected during a 2 h session on participants of both sexes, we demonstrate a dissociable role for the vmPFC in MOS-related decision-making. MVPA results revealed that the posterior vmPFC encoded for more unpredictable threats with univariate analyses showing a functional coupling with the amygdala and hippocampus. Conversely, the anterior vmPFC was more activ
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
#JNeurosci: Using human fMRI, Qi et al. reveal that when pre-empting danger, the anterior vmPFC is active when deciding to move toward safety, while the posterior region is engaged during decisions involving uncertain danger signals. @Caltech https://t.co/ZpgJEVQU84 https://t.co/e32Yvzitr9
-
-
Mashup Score: 0This Week in The Journal - 1 day(s) ago
Eye Movements Contribute to Foveal Crowding Ashley Michelle Clark, Aaron Huynh, and Martina Poletti (see article e0594242024) When there are many objects in our surrounding environment, the crowding of visual stimuli can hinder our ability to recognize and discriminate between objects. Researchers have long investigated the neural underpinnings of this. However, most previous work has focused on how visual crowding affects peripheral vision, not foveal vision, and the influence of fixational eye movements on foveal crowding has never been examined. …
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
This Week in The Journal #JNeurosci | Eye Movements Contribute to Foveal Crowding; Inhibiting the Spread of Tau Pathology with mTau8 https://t.co/ORxXgwYeJl
-
-
Mashup Score: 17
The neocortex and striatum are topographically organized for sensory and motor functions. While sensory and motor areas are lateralized for touch and motor control, respectively, frontal areas are involved in decision-making, where lateralization of function may be less important. This study contrasted the topographic precision of cell-type–specific ipsilateral and contralateral cortical projections while varying the injection site location in transgenic mice of both sexes. While sensory cortical areas had strongly topographic outputs to the ipsilateral cortex and striatum, they were weaker and not as topographically precise to contralateral targets. The motor cortex had somewhat stronger projections but still relatively weak contralateral topography. In contrast, frontal cortical areas had high degrees of topographic similarity for both ipsilateral and contralateral projections to the cortex and striatum. Corticothalamic organization is mainly ipsilateral, with weaker, more medial con
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
#JNeurosci: @andrewpapale1, @hooks_mac, et al. mapped out connections between neurons in mice that form the cellular basis of coordinated movement planning across the two hemispheres of the frontal cortex. @PittMed https://t.co/4Iuokc8NTD https://t.co/Roh7c35oze
-
-
Mashup Score: 4Distinct Neural Plasticity Enhancing Visual Perception - 3 day(s) ago
The developed human brain shows remarkable plasticity following perceptual learning, resulting in improved visual sensitivity. However, such improvements commonly require extensive stimuli exposure. Here we show that efficiently enhancing visual perception with minimal stimuli exposure recruits distinct neural mechanisms relative to standard repetition-based learning. Participants ( n = 20, 12 women, 8 men) encoded a visual discrimination task, followed by brief memory reactivations of only five trials each performed on separate days, demonstrating improvements comparable with standard repetition-based learning ( n = 20, 12 women, 8 men). Reactivation-induced learning engaged increased bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS) activity relative to repetition-based learning. Complementary evidence for differential learning processes was further provided by temporal–parietal resting functional connectivity changes, which correlated with behavioral improvements. The results suggest that effi
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
#JNeurosci | Kondat et al. uncovered a unique pathway in the brain that is strengthened by memory reactivation to enhance visual skill learning. @TelAvivUni https://t.co/dpEYH30m8Y https://t.co/lcsXXkBsjs
-
-
Mashup Score: 5Lesions to different regions of frontal cortex have dissociable effects on voluntary persistence. - 3 day(s) ago
Deciding how long to keep waiting for uncertain future rewards is a complex problem. Previous research has shown that choosing to stop waiting results from an evaluative process that weighs the subjective value of the awaited reward against the opportunity cost of waiting. Activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) tracks the dynamics of this evaluation, while activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and anterior insula (AI) ramps up before a decision to quit is made. Here, we provide causal evidence of the necessity of these brain regions for successful performance in a willingness-to-wait task. 28 participants (20 female and 8 male) with lesions to different regions of the frontal lobe were tested on their ability to adaptively calibrate how long they waited for monetary rewards. We found that participants with lesions to the vmPFC waited less overall, while participants with lesions to the dmPFC and anterior insula were specifically impaired at calibrating the
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
New in #JNeurosci: van Geen and colleagues uncover the distinct, causal roles of human prefrontal cortex subregions in waiting longer for monetary rewards. @Penn https://t.co/Sk8MoKaLWg https://t.co/57smCvRQIl
-
-
Mashup Score: 4Computational and neural evidence for altered fast and slow learning from losses in problem gambling - 10 day(s) ago
Learning occurs across multiple timescales, with fast learning crucial for adapting to sudden environmental changes, and slow learning beneficial for extracting robust knowledge from multiple events. Here we asked if miscalibrated fast vs slow learning can lead to maladaptive decision-making in individuals with problem gambling. We recruited participants with problem gambling (PG; N=20; 9 female and 11 male) and a recreational gambling control group without any symptoms associated with problem gambling (N=20; 10 female and 10 male) from the community in Los Angeles, CA. Participants performed a decision-making task involving reward-learning and loss-avoidance while being scanned with fMRI. Using computational model fitting, we found that individuals in the PG group showed evidence for an excessive dependence on slow timescales and a reduced reliance on fast timescales during learning. fMRI data implicated the putamen, an area associated with habit, and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC)
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
New in #JNeurosci from @kyo_iigaya et al: Those who experience gambling issues have altered brain activity following gambling losses that worsens their ability to learn and change their behavior. @Columbia https://t.co/4lBqYye1dt https://t.co/y7KKQkcb7B
-
-
Mashup Score: 0This Week in The Journal - 15 day(s) ago
Investigating Mechanoreceptors in Rodent Skin Laura Medlock, Dhekra Al-Basha, Adel Halawa, Christopher Dedek, Stephanie Ratte, and Steven Prescott (see article e1252242024) Scientists have advanced our understanding of somatosensory coding by investigating the whisker system in rodents. But somatosensory coding in humans and nonhuman primates has been explored mostly in nonhairy (glabrous) skin, which likely operates differently than whiskers. Whether somatosensory coding in rodent skin bears similarity to that of nonhuman primates is a critical knowledge gap that …
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
This Week in The Journal #JNeurosci | Investigating Mechanoreceptors in Rodent Skin; A Taste Neuron Subpopulation for Aversive Tastes https://t.co/UVWLf1JWy8
-
-
Mashup Score: 2
Anxiety elicits various physiological responses, including changes in respiratory rate and neuronal activity within specific brain regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Previous research suggests that the olfactory bulb (OB) modulates the mPFC through respiration-coupled neuronal oscillations (RCOs), which have been linked to fear-related freezing behavior. Nevertheless, the impact of breathing on frontal brain networks during other negative emotional responses, such as anxiety-related states characterized by higher breathing rates, remains unclear. To address this, we subjected rats to the elevated plus maze (EPM) paradigm while simultaneously recording respiration and local field potentials in the OB and mPFC. Our findings demonstrate distinct respiratory patterns during EPM exploration: slower breathing frequencies prevailed in the closed arms, whereas faster frequencies were observed in the open arms, independent of locomotor activity, indicating that anxiety-like st
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
New in #JNeurosci from Luiza et al: Quick, distinct respiratory patterns in anxious rats trigger neural activity in frontal brain regions that impact emotional processing. @ufrnbr https://t.co/5Y7t5bULjh https://t.co/zIB0DtAHHh
-
-
Mashup Score: 10This Week in The Journal - 22 day(s) ago
How Astrocytes Promote Hippocampal Inhibitory Circuit Development Samantha Sutley-Koury, Christopher Taitano-Johnson, Anna Kulinich, Nadia Farooq, Victoria Wagner et al. (see article e0154242024) Epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders are characterized by hyperactive neurons. A known mechanism for neuronal hyperactivity is impaired inhibitory synapse development, which reduces the inhibition of excitatory neurons to drive their hyperactivity. Sutley-Koury et al. explored a mechanism underlying the development of inhibitory synapses in the mouse hippocampus that may be impaired in epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders. The authors previously discovered that astrocytic …
Source: www.jneurosci.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet-
This Week in The Journal #JNeurosci | How Astrocytes Promote Hippocampal Inhibitory Circuit Development; Subcortical Involvement in High-Order Processing of Movements https://t.co/nzRh7IZKDC
-
#JNeurosci | New research from Uno, Takano, and Nakamura suggests that the left posterior inferior frontal cortex may rapidly activate during oral reading to support word pronunciation. https://t.co/uM7uPw5j5v https://t.co/CkGnfkYDww