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1.
Cereb Cortex ; 34(7)2024 Jul 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38984703

ABSTRACT

The propensity to experience meaningful patterns in random arrangements and unrelated events shows considerable interindividual differences. Reduced inhibitory control (over sensory processes) and decreased working memory capacities are associated with this trait, which implies that the activation of frontal as well as posterior brain regions may be altered during rest and working memory tasks. In addition, people experiencing more meaningful coincidences showed reduced gray matter of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which is linked to the inhibition of irrelevant information in working memory and the control and integration of multisensory information. To study deviations in the functional connectivity of the IFG with posterior associative areas, the present study investigated the fMRI resting state in a large sample of n = 101 participants. We applied seed-to-voxel analysis and found that people who perceive more meaningful coincidences showed negative functional connectivity of the left IFG (i.e. pars triangularis) with areas of the left posterior associative cortex (e.g. superior parietal cortex). A data-driven multivoxel pattern analysis further indicated that functional connectivity of a cluster located in the right cerebellum with a cluster including parts of the left middle frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and the left IFG (pars opercularis) was associated with meaningful coincidences. These findings add evidence to the neurocognitive foundations of the propensity to experience meaningful coincidences, which strengthens the idea that deviations of working memory functions and inhibition of sensory and motor information explain why people experience more meaning in meaningless noise.


Subject(s)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Young Adult , Brain/physiology , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Brain Mapping , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Rest/physiology , Neural Pathways/physiology , Neural Pathways/diagnostic imaging
2.
Transl Psychiatry ; 14(1): 279, 2024 Jul 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38977683

ABSTRACT

Working memory deficits are linked to irregularities in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in schizophrenia, effective intervention strategies are lacking. We evaluated the differential efficacy and underlying neuromechanisms of targeting transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) at the DLPFC and the PPC with concurrent cognitive performance for working memory in schizophrenia. In a randomized and double-blind clinical trial, sixty clinically stable schizophrenic patients with below-average working memory were randomly assigned to active DLPFC, active PPC, and sham tDCS groups. Two sessions of tDCS during N-back task were delivered daily for five days. The primary outcome was changes in spatial span test scores from baseline to week 1. The secondary outcomes included changes in scores of color delay-estimation task, other cognitive tasks, and mismatch negativity (biomarker of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor functioning). Compared with the active DLPFC group, the active PPC group demonstrated significantly greater improvement in spatial span test scores (p = 0.008, d = 0.94) and an augmentation in color delay-estimation task capacity at week 1; the latter sustained to week 2. Compared with the sham tDCS group, the active PPC group did not show a significant improvement in spatial span test scores at week 1 and 2; however, significant enhancement was observed in their color delay-estimation task capacity at week 2. Additionally, mismatch negativity amplitude was enhanced, and changes in theta band measures were positively correlated with working memory improvement in the active PPC group, while no such correlations were observed in the active DLPFC group or the sham tDCS group. Our results suggest that tDCS targeting the PPC relative to the DLPFC during concurrent cognitive performance may improve working memory in schizophrenia, meriting further investigation. The improvement in working memory appears to be linked to enhanced N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor functioning.


Subject(s)
Memory, Short-Term , Parietal Lobe , Prefrontal Cortex , Schizophrenia , Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation , Humans , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation/methods , Schizophrenia/therapy , Schizophrenia/physiopathology , Male , Female , Adult , Double-Blind Method , Parietal Lobe/physiopathology , Prefrontal Cortex/physiopathology , Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex/physiology , Middle Aged , Treatment Outcome , Cognition/physiology , Young Adult , Neuropsychological Tests
3.
Elife ; 132024 Jul 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38980147

ABSTRACT

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have documented cerebellar activity across a wide array of tasks. However, the functional contribution of the cerebellum within these task domains remains unclear because cerebellar activity is often studied in isolation. This is problematic, as cerebellar fMRI activity may simply reflect the transmission of neocortical activity through fixed connections. Here, we present a new approach that addresses this problem. Rather than focus on task-dependent activity changes in the cerebellum alone, we ask if neocortical inputs to the cerebellum are gated in a task-dependent manner. We hypothesize that input is upregulated when the cerebellum functionally contributes to a task. We first validated this approach using a finger movement task, where the integrity of the cerebellum has been shown to be essential for the coordination of rapid alternating movements but not for force generation. While both neocortical and cerebellar activity increased with increasing speed and force, the speed-related changes in the cerebellum were larger than predicted by an optimized cortico-cerebellar connectivity model. We then applied the same approach in a cognitive domain, assessing how the cerebellum supports working memory. Enhanced gating was associated with the encoding of items in working memory, but not with the manipulation or retrieval of the items. Focusing on task-dependent gating of neocortical inputs to the cerebellum offers a promising approach for using fMRI to understand the specific contributions of the cerebellum to cognitive function.


Subject(s)
Cerebellum , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Cerebellum/physiology , Cerebellum/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Male , Adult , Female , Young Adult , Neocortex/physiology , Neocortex/diagnostic imaging , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Fingers/physiology
4.
J Rehabil Med ; 56: jrm33001, 2024 Jul 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38956964

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on working memory in stroke-induced mild cognitive impairment (MCI). DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind controlled study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty MCI patients from the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (December 2021 to February 2023), aged 34-79, 2-12 months post-stroke, were divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG), each with 10 participants. The EG underwent standard rehabilitation plus 40 minutes of aerobic exercise, while the CG received only standard therapy, 5 times weekly for 2 weeks. Working memory was tested using the n-back task, and overall cognitive function was measured with the MOCA and MMSE Scales before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The EG showed higher 3-back correctness (71.80 ± 14.53 vs 56.50 ± 13.66), MOCA scores (27.30 ± 1.57 vs 24.00 ± 3.13), and improved visuospatial/executive (4.60 ± 0.52 vs 3.30 ± 1.06) and delayed recall (4.30 ± 0.82 vs 3.00 ± 1.56) on the MOCA scale compared with the CG. CONCLUSION: Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise may enhance working memory, visuospatial/executive, and delayed recall functions in stroke-induced MCI patients.


Subject(s)
Cognitive Dysfunction , Exercise , Stroke Rehabilitation , Stroke , Humans , Cognitive Dysfunction/rehabilitation , Cognitive Dysfunction/etiology , Cognitive Dysfunction/physiopathology , Middle Aged , Male , Female , Pilot Projects , Aged , Stroke Rehabilitation/methods , Double-Blind Method , Exercise/physiology , Stroke/complications , Stroke/physiopathology , Exercise Therapy/methods , Cognition/physiology , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Adult
5.
Hum Brain Mapp ; 45(10): e26774, 2024 Jul 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38949599

ABSTRACT

Testosterone levels sharply rise during the transition from childhood to adolescence and these changes are known to be associated with changes in human brain structure. During this same developmental window, there are also robust changes in the neural oscillatory dynamics serving verbal working memory processing. Surprisingly, whereas many studies have investigated the effects of chronological age on the neural oscillations supporting verbal working memory, none have probed the impact of endogenous testosterone levels during this developmental period. Using a sample of 89 youth aged 6-14 years-old, we collected salivary testosterone samples and recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task. Significant oscillatory responses were identified and imaged using a beamforming approach and the resulting maps were subjected to whole-brain ANCOVAs examining the effects of testosterone and sex, controlling for age, during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance. Our primary results indicated robust testosterone-related effects in theta (4-7 Hz) and alpha (8-14 Hz) oscillatory activity, controlling for age. During encoding, females exhibited weaker theta oscillations than males in right cerebellar cortices and stronger alpha oscillations in left temporal cortices. During maintenance, youth with greater testosterone exhibited weaker alpha oscillations in right parahippocampal and cerebellar cortices, as well as regions across the left-lateralized language network. These results extend the existing literature on the development of verbal working memory processing by showing region and sex-specific effects of testosterone, and are the first results to link endogenous testosterone levels to the neural oscillatory activity serving verbal working memory, above and beyond the effects of chronological age.


Subject(s)
Magnetoencephalography , Memory, Short-Term , Testosterone , Humans , Male , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Female , Adolescent , Child , Brain/physiology , Saliva/chemistry , Saliva/metabolism , Brain Mapping , Sex Characteristics
6.
Orphanet J Rare Dis ; 19(1): 250, 2024 Jul 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38961462

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have produced conflicting results concerning the extent of magnitude representation deficit and its relationship with arithmetic achievement in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More specifically, it remains unclear whether deficits are restricted to visuospatial content or are more general and whether they could explain arithmetical impairment. METHODS: Fifteen 5- to 12-year-old children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and 23 age-matched healthy controls performed a non-symbolic magnitude comparison task. Depending on the trial, participants had to compare stimuli with high or low visuospatial load (visuospatial stimuli or temporal sequence of visual stimuli). The participants also completed a battery of arithmetic skills (ZAREKI-R) and a battery of global cognitive functioning (WISC-V or WPPSI-IV), from which working memory and visuospatial indices were derived. RESULTS: Children with 22q11.2DS responded as fast as healthy controls did but received fewer correct responses, irrespective of visuospatial load. In addition, their performance in the non-symbolic magnitude comparison task did not correlate with the ZAREKI total score, while the working memory index did. CONCLUSION: Children with 22q11.2DS might suffer from a global magnitude representation deficit rather than a specific deficit due to visuospatial load. However, this deficit alone does not seem to be related to arithmetic achievement. Working memory might be a better concern of interest in favoring arithmetic skills in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials, NCT04373226 . Registered 16 September 2020.


Subject(s)
DiGeorge Syndrome , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Cognition/physiology , DiGeorge Syndrome/physiopathology , Mathematics , Memory, Short-Term/physiology
7.
Addict Biol ; 29(7)2024 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38963015

ABSTRACT

The addictive use of nicotine contained in tobacco is associated with stressor-like emotional and cognitive effects such as anxiety and working memory impairment, and the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms such as histone acetylation has recently been reported. Although the precise nature of behavioural plasticity remains unclear, both anxiogenic- and working memory impairment-like effects were observed in the present experimental model of mice treated with repeated subcutaneous nicotine and/or immobilization stress, and these effects were commonly attenuated by the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors that induce histone acetylation. Such HDAC inhibitor-induced resilience was mimicked by ligands for the endocannabinoid (ECB) system, a neurotransmitter system that is closely associated with nicotine-induced addiction-related behaviours: the anxiogenic-like effects were mitigated by the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) agonist arachidonylcyclopropylamide (ACPA), whereas the working memory impairment-like effects were mitigated by the CB1 antagonist SR 141716A. Moreover, the effects of the HDAC inhibitors were also mimicked by ligands for the endovanilloid (transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 [TRPV1]) system, a system that shares common characteristics with the ECB system: the anxiogenic-like effects were mitigated by the TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine, whereas the working memory impairment-like effects were mitigated by the TRPV1 agonist olvanil. Notably, the HDAC inhibitor-induced anxiolytic-like effects were attenuated by SR 141716A, which were further counteracted by capsazepine, whereas the working memory improvement-like effects were attenuated by capsazepine, which were further counteracted by SR 141716A. These results suggest the contribution of interrelated control of the ECB/TRPV1 systems and epigenetic processes such as histone acetylation to novel therapeutic approaches.


Subject(s)
Anxiety , Endocannabinoids , Epigenesis, Genetic , Memory, Short-Term , Nicotine , Stress, Psychological , TRPV Cation Channels , Animals , TRPV Cation Channels/drug effects , Nicotine/pharmacology , Mice , Memory, Short-Term/drug effects , Endocannabinoids/metabolism , Male , Epigenesis, Genetic/drug effects , Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors/pharmacology , Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1/drug effects , Memory Disorders/chemically induced , Capsaicin/pharmacology , Capsaicin/analogs & derivatives , Disease Models, Animal , Rimonabant/pharmacology , Nicotinic Agonists/pharmacology , Piperidines/pharmacology
8.
PLoS One ; 19(7): e0304406, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38968241

ABSTRACT

Acute stress has been well-established to impair working memory. However, less is known about how writing about an unresolved stressor may influence working memory or working memory processes. We addressed these issues in the present study (N = 282) by randomly assigning participants to write about an unresolved stressful experience (stressful writing condition or the events of the previous day). We then both measured performance on a change detection task and used computational modeling to estimate the processes underlying performance: attention, capacity, and guessing bias. We found that, relative to the control condition, writing about a stressful experience impaired change detection task performance and significantly impaired task attention. These results show that the effects of writing about an unresolved stressor may mimic the effects of acute stress on working memory, rather than conforming to expectations from mood-as-information theory.


Subject(s)
Memory, Short-Term , Stress, Psychological , Writing , Humans , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Male , Female , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Young Adult , Attention/physiology , Adult , Adolescent
9.
Nat Commun ; 15(1): 5544, 2024 Jul 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38956015

ABSTRACT

Goal-directed tasks involve acquiring an internal model, known as a predictive map, of relevant stimuli and associated outcomes to guide behavior. Here, we identified neural signatures of a predictive map of task behavior in perirhinal cortex (Prh). Mice learned to perform a tactile working memory task by classifying sequential whisker stimuli over multiple training stages. Chronic two-photon calcium imaging, population analysis, and computational modeling revealed that Prh encodes stimulus features as sensory prediction errors. Prh forms stable stimulus-outcome associations that can progressively be decoded earlier in the trial as training advances and that generalize as animals learn new contingencies. Stimulus-outcome associations are linked to prospective network activity encoding possible expected outcomes. This link is mediated by cholinergic signaling to guide task performance, demonstrated by acetylcholine imaging and systemic pharmacological perturbation. We propose that Prh combines error-driven and map-like properties to acquire a predictive map of learned task behavior.


Subject(s)
Memory, Short-Term , Perirhinal Cortex , Animals , Mice , Perirhinal Cortex/physiology , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Male , Learning/physiology , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Vibrissae/physiology , Acetylcholine/metabolism , Behavior, Animal/physiology , Female
10.
Cogn Res Princ Implic ; 9(1): 45, 2024 Jul 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38985366

ABSTRACT

Massive studies have explored biological motion (BM) crowds processing for their remarkable social significance, primarily focused on uniformly distributed ones. However, real-world BM crowds often exhibit hierarchical structures rather than uniform arrangements. How such structured BM crowds are processed remains a subject of inquiry. This study investigates the representation of structured BM crowds in working memory (WM), recognizing the pivotal role WM plays in our social interactions involving BM. We propose the group-based ensemble hypothesis and test it through a member identification task. Participants were required to discern whether a presented BM belonged to a prior memory display of eight BM, each with distinct walking directions. Drawing on prominent Gestalt principles as organizational cues, we constructed structured groups within BM crowds by applying proximity and similarity cues in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. In Experiment 3, we deliberately weakened the visibility of stimuli structures by increasing the similarity between subsets, probing the robustness of results. Consistently, our findings indicate that BM aligned with the mean direction of the subsets was more likely to be recognized as part of the memory stimuli. This suggests that WM inherently organizes structured BM crowds into separate ensembles based on organizational cues. In essence, our results illuminate the simultaneous operation of grouping and ensemble encoding mechanisms for BM crowds within WM.


Subject(s)
Memory, Short-Term , Motion Perception , Humans , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Adult , Young Adult , Female , Male , Motion Perception/physiology , Cues , Gestalt Theory , Group Processes
11.
Sci Rep ; 14(1): 15111, 2024 07 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38956186

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have shown a growing interest in the so-called "aperiodic" component of the EEG power spectrum, which describes the overall trend of the whole spectrum with a linear or exponential function. In the field of brain aging, this aperiodic component is associated both with age-related changes and performance on cognitive tasks. This study aims to elucidate the potential role of education in moderating the relationship between resting-state EEG features (including aperiodic component) and cognitive performance in aging. N = 179 healthy participants of the "Leipzig Study for Mind-Body-Emotion Interactions" (LEMON) dataset were divided into three groups based on age and education. Older adults exhibited lower exponent, offset (i.e. measures of aperiodic component), and Individual Alpha Peak Frequency (IAPF) as compared to younger adults. Moreover, visual attention and working memory were differently associated with the aperiodic component depending on education: in older adults with high education, higher exponent predicted slower processing speed and less working memory capacity, while an opposite trend was found in those with low education. While further investigation is needed, this study shows the potential modulatory role of education in the relationship between the aperiodic component of the EEG power spectrum and aging cognition.


Subject(s)
Aging , Cognition , Electroencephalography , Humans , Cognition/physiology , Male , Female , Aged , Aging/physiology , Adult , Middle Aged , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Young Adult , Brain/physiology , Educational Status , Attention/physiology , Aged, 80 and over
12.
Cereb Cortex ; 34(7)2024 Jul 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38960703

ABSTRACT

Schizophrenia, as a chronic and persistent disorder, exhibits working memory deficits across various stages of the disorder, yet the neural mechanisms underlying these deficits remain elusive with inconsistent neuroimaging findings. We aimed to compare the brain functional changes of working memory in patients at different stages: clinical high risk, first-episode psychosis, and long-term schizophrenia, using meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Following a systematic literature search, 56 whole-brain task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (15 for clinical high risk, 16 for first-episode psychosis, and 25 for long-term schizophrenia) were included. The separate and pooled neurofunctional mechanisms among clinical high risk, first-episode psychosis, and long-term schizophrenia were generated by Seed-based d Mapping toolbox. The clinical high risk and first-episode psychosis groups exhibited overlapping hypoactivation in the right inferior parietal lobule, right middle frontal gyrus, and left superior parietal lobule, indicating key lesion sites in the early phase of schizophrenia. Individuals with first-episode psychosis showed lower activation in left inferior parietal lobule than those with long-term schizophrenia, reflecting a possible recovery process or more neural inefficiency. We concluded that SCZ represent as a continuum in the early stage of illness progression, while the neural bases are inversely changed with the development of illness course to long-term course.


Subject(s)
Brain , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Memory, Short-Term , Schizophrenia , Humans , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Schizophrenia/physiopathology , Schizophrenia/diagnostic imaging , Brain/physiopathology , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Disease Progression , Memory Disorders/physiopathology , Memory Disorders/etiology , Memory Disorders/diagnostic imaging , Schizophrenic Psychology , Brain Mapping
13.
J Sch Psychol ; 104: 101313, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38871407

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the impact of manipulating reading strategies (i.e., reading the questions first [QF] or reading the passage first [PF]) during a reading comprehension test where we explored how reading strategy was related to student characteristics (i.e., reading achievement and working memory capacity). Participants' eye movements were monitored as they read 12 passages and answered multiple-choice questions. We examined differences in (a) response accuracy, (b) average total time on words in the text, (c) total task reading time, and (d) time reading text relevant to questions as a function of PF and QF strategies. Analyses were conducted to examine whether findings varied as a function of student characteristics (i.e., reading achievement and working memory capacity) and grade level (Grades 3, 5, and 8). Several interesting findings emerged from our study, including a limited effect of reading strategy use on response accuracy, with only eighth graders demonstrating better accuracy in the QF condition, and several demonstrations of PF leading to more efficient test-taking processes, including (a) longer average total reading times on words in the passage in the PF condition that could be associated with creating a better mental model of the text, (b) often being associated with less total-task time, and (c) being associated with more successful search strategies. Implications for providing teachers and students with strategies are discussed.


Subject(s)
Comprehension , Eye Movements , Memory, Short-Term , Reading , Students , Humans , Eye Movements/physiology , Female , Male , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Comprehension/physiology , Adolescent , Students/psychology , Child , Eye-Tracking Technology , Academic Success
14.
J Neurosci Res ; 102(6): e25363, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38895850

ABSTRACT

This work attempted to clarify the interaction of cognition and pain sensitization during a paradigm of Temporal Summation of Second Pain (TSSP). We analyzed pain ratings and electroencephalographic (EEG) activity obtained from 21 healthy participants during the presentation of four experimental conditions that differed in the manipulation of attention to painful stimuli or working memory load (Attention to hand & TSSP; 0-back & TSSP (low cognitive load); 2-back & TSSP (high cognitive load); 2-back (without pain)). We found that the TSSP was reduced when the attention was diverted and the cognitive load increased, and this reduction was accompanied by higher midfrontal theta activity and lower posterior alpha and central beta activity. Although it is well established that TSSP is a phenomenon that occurs at the spinal level, here we show that it is also affected by supraspinal attentional mechanisms. Delivery of painful repeated stimuli did not affect the performance of the 2-back task but was associated with smaller amplitudes of attentional event-related potentials (ERPs) after standard stimuli (not the target). The study of brain activity during TSSP allowed to clarify the role of top-down attentional modulation in pain sensitization processes. Results contribute to a better understanding of cognitive dysfunction in pain conditions and reinforce the use of therapeutic strategies based on distracting attention away from pain.


Subject(s)
Attention , Cognition , Electroencephalography , Pain , Humans , Male , Female , Electroencephalography/methods , Adult , Young Adult , Pain/physiopathology , Pain/psychology , Cognition/physiology , Attention/physiology , Pain Measurement/methods , Evoked Potentials/physiology , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Brain/physiopathology , Pain Threshold/physiology
15.
Prog Brain Res ; 286: 211-234, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38876576

ABSTRACT

Working memory (WM) plays an important role in daily life and is known to correlated with aerobic fitness. However, whether the relationship between aerobic fitness and WM is dependent on the stimulus modality or is associated with one or multiple subprocesses involved in WM remains unknown. Accordingly, this study utilized event-related potentials (ERPs) to comprehensively examine the encoding, preparation, and retrieval processes during verbal and spatial WM performance. Eighty-eight young adults aged 18-30years were recruited to participate in two laboratory visits on separate days. On day 1, aerobic fitness was assessed by maximum oxygen consumption (V˙O2max) during a treadmill-based graded exercise test. On day 2, participants completed verbal and spatial WM tasks while P2, contingent negative voltage (CNV), and P3 components of ERP were recorded during the encoding, preparatory, and retrieval stages of WM, respectively. Results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that V˙O2max was positively correlated with response accuracy during the high-demanding condition of spatial WM after controlling for age, sex, and self-reported physical activity. Additionally, a higher level of V˙O2max was associated with larger terminal CNV amplitude at the Cz electrode during the high-demanding condition of spatial WM. These findings suggest that aerobic fitness may have selective beneficial associations with the motor preparatory process and subsequent task performance requiring a greater amount of spatial information but not the encoding and retrieval stages nor the verbal modality of WM.


Subject(s)
Electroencephalography , Evoked Potentials , Memory, Short-Term , Spatial Memory , Humans , Male , Female , Young Adult , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Adult , Evoked Potentials/physiology , Adolescent , Spatial Memory/physiology , Oxygen Consumption/physiology , Exercise/physiology , Physical Fitness/physiology , Exercise Test
16.
Prog Brain Res ; 286: 67-87, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38876579

ABSTRACT

Regular physical activity can potentially prevent cognitive decline. While most studies focused on the general decline of the elderly and child and adolescent population, aging is a gradual process and cognitive decline can commence in middle age. Other than the middle-aged working population, gender-specific nuances are another overlooked area regarding the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance. Therefore, this study examines the associations and benefits of maintaining regular physical activity habits with cognitive function and body composition in middle-aged female office workers. The results show that middle-aged females exhibited age-related declines in working memory, while no significant age-related changes are observed in reaction time and executive function. However, the regular exercise group demonstrates the ability to maintain their cognitive performance across age, unlike the sedentary group, who experiences declines in reaction time and executive function with age. Our findings highlight the significant impact of age on specific cognitive functions in middle-aged females and the positive influence of regular exercise on cognitive performance. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the potential of "the Brain Gym" App for efficient cognitive function assessment. The findings underscore the importance of regular exercise for cognitive well-being in middle-aged females and provide valuable insights into the relationship between body composition and cognitive function.


Subject(s)
Body Composition , Cognition , Executive Function , Exercise , Humans , Female , Exercise/physiology , Body Composition/physiology , Cognition/physiology , Middle Aged , Executive Function/physiology , Adult , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Reaction Time/physiology , Aging/physiology
17.
Prog Brain Res ; 286: 89-105, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38876580

ABSTRACT

This study examined the association between grip strength and emotional working memory in middle-aged adults. Seventy-six males aged 40-60years (mean=48.5years, SD=5.4) participated in this cross-sectional study. They completed a muscular fitness assessment using a maximum grip strength test and emotional n-back tasks under two emotion conditions (fearful and neutral facial pictures) and two working memory loads (1-back and 2-back tasks). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that greater muscular fitness was associated with superior working memory performance in the fearful condition in both the 1-back and 2-back tasks, after controlling for confounders. Greater muscular fitness was also associated with superior working memory performance in the neutral condition when the working memory load was high (2-back task) but not low (1-back task). These findings suggest a positive association between muscular fitness and emotional working memory and highlight the importance of maintaining muscular fitness for physical and cognitive-emotional well-being in middle-aged adults.


Subject(s)
Emotions , Hand Strength , Memory, Short-Term , Humans , Male , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Emotions/physiology , Hand Strength/physiology , Adult , Middle Aged , Cross-Sectional Studies
18.
Hum Brain Mapp ; 45(9): e26757, 2024 Jun 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38888027

ABSTRACT

Is language distinct from other cognition during development? Does neural machinery for language emerge from general-purpose neural mechanisms, becoming tuned for language after years of experience and maturation? Answering these questions will shed light on the origins of domain-specificity in the brain. We address these questions using precision fMRI, scanning young children (35 months to 9 years of age) on an auditory language localizer, spatial working memory localizer (engaging the domain-general multiple demand [MD] network), and a resting-state scan. We create subject-specific functional regions of interest for each network and examine their selectivity, specificity, and functional connectivity. We find young children show domain-specific, left-lateralized language activation, and that the language network is not responsive to domain-general cognitive load. Additionally, the cortically adjacent MD network is selective to cognitive load, but not to language. These networks show higher within versus between-network functional connectivity. This connectivity is stable across ages (examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally), whereas language responses increase with age and across time within subject, reflecting a domain-specific developmental change. Overall, we provide evidence for a double dissociation of the language and MD network throughout development, in both their function and connectivity. These findings suggest that domain-specificity, even for uniquely human cognition like language, develops early and distinctly from mechanisms that presumably support other human cognition.


Subject(s)
Brain , Cognition , Language , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Humans , Child , Male , Female , Child, Preschool , Cognition/physiology , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Brain/physiology , Brain/growth & development , Brain Mapping , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Child Development/physiology , Nerve Net/diagnostic imaging , Nerve Net/physiology , Nerve Net/growth & development , Neural Pathways/physiology , Neural Pathways/diagnostic imaging , Neural Pathways/growth & development , Longitudinal Studies , Language Development
19.
Cells ; 13(11)2024 Jun 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38891102

ABSTRACT

Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have suggested compensatory brain overactivation in cognitively healthy (CH) older adults with pathological beta-amyloid(Aß42)/tau ratios during working memory and interference processing. However, the association between glutamatergic metabolites and brain activation proxied by EEG signals has not been thoroughly investigated. We aim to determine the involvement of these metabolites in EEG signaling. We focused on CH older adults classified under (1) normal CSF Aß42/tau ratios (CH-NATs) and (2) pathological Aß42/tau ratios (CH-PATs). We measured plasma glutamine, glutamate, pyroglutamate, and γ-aminobutyric acid concentrations using tandem mass spectrometry and conducted a correlational analysis with alpha frequency event-related desynchronization (ERD). Under the N-back working memory paradigm, CH-NATs presented negative correlations (r = ~-0.74--0.96, p = 0.0001-0.0414) between pyroglutamate and alpha ERD but positive correlations (r = ~0.82-0.95, p = 0.0003-0.0119) between glutamine and alpha ERD. Under Stroop interference testing, CH-NATs generated negative correlations between glutamine and left temporal alpha ERD (r = -0.96, p = 0.037 and r = -0.97, p = 0.027). Our study demonstrated that glutamine and pyroglutamate levels were associated with EEG activity only in CH-NATs. These results suggest cognitively healthy adults with amyloid/tau pathology experience subtle metabolic dysfunction that may influence EEG signaling during cognitive challenge. A longitudinal follow-up study with a larger sample size is needed to validate these pilot studies.


Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease , Cognition , Glutamic Acid , Memory, Short-Term , Humans , Alzheimer Disease/blood , Alzheimer Disease/physiopathology , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Female , Male , Aged , Cognition/physiology , Glutamic Acid/blood , Glutamic Acid/metabolism , Electroencephalography , Middle Aged , Amyloid beta-Peptides/blood , Amyloid beta-Peptides/metabolism , tau Proteins/blood , tau Proteins/metabolism
20.
Sci Rep ; 14(1): 13889, 2024 06 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38880826

ABSTRACT

Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) typically exhibit difficulties in emotion regulation. It has been shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are crucially involved in these deficient processes. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of electrical stimulation over the left dlPFC and right vmPFC on emotion regulation in children with ADHD. Twenty-four children with ADHD completed the Emotional Go/No-Go and Emotional 1-Back tasks while undergoing transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in three separate sessions, each with a different electrode placement: anodal dlPFC (F3)/cathodal vmPFC (Fp2), anodal vmPFC (Fp2)/cathodal dlPFC (F3), and sham stimulation. During both real tDCS conditions, the accuracy of pre-potent inhibitory control and working memory performance improved, but not speed. This study provides evidence that the left dlPFC and the right vmPFC are involved in emotion regulation in ADHD.


Subject(s)
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity , Emotional Regulation , Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation , Humans , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/therapy , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/physiopathology , Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation/methods , Child , Male , Female , Emotional Regulation/physiology , Prefrontal Cortex/physiopathology , Memory, Short-Term/physiology , Emotions/physiology , Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex/physiology , Adolescent
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