A new template to study callosal growth shows specific growth in anterior and posterior regions of the corpus callosum in early childhood.

Most of the studies conducted on the development of the corpus callosum (CC) have been limited to a relatively simple assessment of callosal area, providing an estimation of the size of the CC in two dimensions rather than its actual measurement. The goal of this study was to revisit callosal development in childhood and adolescence by using a three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging template of the CC that considers the horizontal width of the CC and compares this with the two-dimensional (2D) callosal area. We mapped callosal growth in a large sample of youths followed longitudinally (N = 370 at T1; N = 304 at T2; and N = 246 at T3). Both techniques were based on a five-section subdivision of the CC. The results obtained with the 3D method revealed that the rate of CC growth over a 4-year period in the rostrum, the genu, the anterior body and the splenium was significantly higher in the youngest age group (< 7 years) than in older groups, indicating an intense period of development in early childhood for the anterior and posterior parts of the CC. Similar results were obtained when 2D callosal area was used for the anterior and posterior parts of the CC. However, divergent results were found in the mid-body and the caudal body of the CC. As shown by differences between 2D estimations and actual 3D measurements of callosal growth, our study highlights the importance of considering the horizontal width in measuring developmental changes in the CC.

Learning to drive with neurological conditions: profile of users of an adapted driver training program and cognitive factors associated with success.

PURPOSE: To describe the sociodemographic and cognitive profile of participants enrolled in an adapted driving program for individuals with neurological conditions, to explore the association between cognitive functioning and driving program outcome, and to describe driving habits after program completion. METHODS: This study combined retrospective chart review and cross-sectional data collection. RESULTS: The sample included 71 participants with neurological disorders (aged 15-56 years, M = 22.2 ± 8.6; 39% women). Driving program was either successful (47%), failed (7%), discontinued (34%), or ongoing (13%). Among 35 participants with complete neuropsychological and driving program outcome data, those who successfully completed the program showed better attention functioning, and better performance relative to global functioning for attention, executive functions, and working memory, compared to those who discontinued/failed the program. Among 21 participants who completed a telephone questionnaire on average 3.7 years after program enrollment, 67% obtained their driver's license and drove regularly. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the program. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that approximately half of the persons enrolled in a driver training program designed for learners with neurological conditions, obtain a driver's license; and that attention, and to a lesser extent executive functioning and working memory, are related to driving program success.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONIn individual with neurological conditions, learning how to drive can be challenging.An adapted driver training program, involving collaboration between driving instructors and healthcare professionals, simplification of theoretical learning, and increasing driving practice opportunities, can be effective, both in terms of licensing success and client satisfaction.Conducting a pre-driving program neuropsychological assessment, with identification of cognitive strengths and weaknesses, can provide valuable information for clinicians and driving instructors for optimizing training and predicting outcome.Better performance in attention, and better relative to global cognitive functioning in attention, executive functions, and working memory, are related to higher success rate of an adapted driving program.

Visual encoding of social cues predicts sociomoral reasoning.

As the first step of social information processing, visual encoding underlies the interpretation of social cues. Faces, in particular, convey a large amount of affective information, which can be subsequently used in the planning and production of adaptive social behaviors. Sociomoral reasoning is a specific social skill that is associated with engagement in appropriate social behaviors when faced with dilemmas. Previous studies using eye tracking suggest that visual encoding may play an important role in decision-making when individuals are faced with extreme moral dilemmas, but it is not known if this is generalizable to everyday situations. The main objective of this study was to assess the contribution of visual encoding to everyday sociomoral reasoning using eye tracking and ecological visual dilemmas. Participants completed the SocioMoral Reasoning Aptitude Level (SoMoral) task while their eye movements and pupil dilation were recorded. While visual encoding was not a predictor of sociomoral decision-making, sociomoral maturity was predicted by fixation count. Thus, in an ecological context, visual encoding of social cues appears to be associated with sociomoral maturity: the production of a justification is associated with volitional encoding strategies. Implications with regards to the dual-process theory of sociomoral reasoning and social information processing are discussed.

Visual Encoding of Social Cues Contributes to Moral Reasoning in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study.

Eye-tracking studies suggest that visual encoding is important for social processes such as socio-moral reasoning. Alterations to the visual encoding of faces, for example, have been linked to the social phenotype of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and are associated with social and communication impairments. Yet, people with ASD often perform similarly to neurotypical participants on measures of moral reasoning, supporting the hypothesis of differential mechanisms of moral reasoning in ASD. The objective of this study was to document visual encoding and moral reasoning in ASD and neurotypical individuals using a visual, ecological, sociomoral reasoning paradigm paired with eye-tracking. Two groups (ASD, Control) matched for age and IQ completed the SoMoral task, a set of picture situations describing everyday moral dilemmas, while their eye movements and pupil dilation were recorded. Moral understanding, decision-making, and justification were recorded. Participants with ASD presented a longer time to first fixation on faces. They also understood fewer dilemmas and produced fewer socially adaptive responses. Despite a similar average level of moral maturity, the justifications produced by participants with ASD were not distributed in the same way as the neurotypical participants. Visual encoding was a significant predictor of moral decision-making and moral justification for both groups. The results are discussed in the context of alternative mechanisms of moral reasoning in ASD.

Deep 6-DOF Tracking.

We present a temporal 6-DOF tracking method which leverages deep learning to achieve state-of-the-art performance on challenging datasets of real world capture. Our method is both more accurate and more robust to occlusions than the existing best performing approaches while maintaining real-time performance. To assess its efficacy, we evaluate our approach on several challenging RGBD sequences of real objects in a variety of conditions. Notably, we systematically evaluate robustness to occlusions through a series of sequences where the object to be tracked is increasingly occluded. Finally, our approach is purely data-driven and does not require any hand-designed features: robust tracking is automatically learned from data.