Executive Functions and Theory of Mind in Teachers and Non-Teachers.

Human teaching is a key behavior for the socialization of cultural knowledge. Previous studies suggest that human teaching behavior would support the development of executive and ToM skills, which in turn would refine the teaching behavior. Given this connection, it raises the question of whether subjects with professional training in teaching also have more efficient executive and ToM systems. To shed light on this issue, in the present study we compared the performance of professional teachers (N = 20, age range = 35-61 years) with a matched control group of non-teachers (N = 20, age range: 29-64 years) on tasks measuring working memory (Sternberg Task), cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), executive control (Attention Network Test), along with online ToM skills (Frith-Happé Animations Task), emotion recognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test) and first-order and second-order ToM (Yoni Task). We found that teachers were significantly more accurate on tasks involving cognitive flexibility (p = .014) and working memory (p = .040), and more efficient on tasks requiring executive control of attention (p = .046), compared to non-teachers. In ToM tasks, differences in accuracy between teachers and non-teachers were not found. But, teachers were slower to respond than non-teachers (about 2 s difference) on tasks involving emotion recognition (p = .0007) and the use of second-order affective ToM (p = .006). Collectively, our findings raise an interesting link between professional teaching and the development of cognitive skills critical for decision-making in challenging social contexts such as the classroom. Future research could explore ways to foster teachers' strengths in cognitive flexibility, working memory, and executive control of attention to enhance teaching strategies and student learning outcomes. Additionally, exploring factors behind slower response times in affective ToM tasks can guide teacher-training programs focused on interpersonal skills and improve teacher-student interactions.

Brain-to-Brain Coupling in the Gamma-Band as a Marker of Shared Intentionality.

Cooperation and competition are two ways of social interaction keys to life in society. Recent EEG-based hyperscanning studies reveal that cooperative and competitive interactions induce an increase in interbrain coupling. However, whether this interbrain coupling effect is just a reflection of inter-subject motor coordination or can also signal the type of social interaction is unknown. Here, we show that behavioral coordination and social interaction type can be distinguished according to the frequency of oscillation in which the brains are coupled. We use EEG to simultaneously measure the brain activity of pairs of subjects, while they were performing a visual cue-target task in a cooperative and competitive manner. Behavioral responses were quasi-simultaneous between subject pairs for both competitive and cooperative conditions, with faster average response times for the competitive condition. Concerning brain activity, we found increased interbrain coupling in theta band (3-7 Hz) during cooperation and competition, with stronger coupling during competitive interactions. This increase of interbrain theta coupling correlated with a decrease in reaction times of the dyads. Interestingly, we also found an increase in brain-to-brain coupling in gamma band (38-42 Hz) only during cooperative interactions. Unlike the theta coupling effect, the gamma interbrain coupling did not correlate with dyads' reaction times. Taken together, these results suggest that theta interbrain coupling could be linked to motor coordination processes common to cooperative and competitive interactions, while gamma brain-to-brain coupling emerges as an electrophysiological marker of shared intentionality during cooperative interactions.

Neuromitos y estilos de aprendizaje / Neuromyths and learning styles

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Efficiency of attentional networks in musicians and non-musicians.

Music is a complex and properly human skill. Previous studies indicate that systematic musical training induces specific structural brain changes and improves audio-motor functions. However, whether these benefits can transfer into functional improvements of attentional skills is still little known. To shed light on this issue, in the present study we explored the relationship between long-term musical training and the efficiency of the attentional system. We used the attention network test (ANT) to compare the performance of the alerting, orienting and executive attentional networks of professional pianists against a matched group of non-musician adults. We found that musicians were significantly faster to respond across the ANT task, and that the executive attentional network was more efficient in musicians than non-musicians. We found no differences in the efficiency of the alerting and orienting networks between both groups. Interestingly, we found that the efficiency of the executive system improves with the years of musical training, even when controlling for age. We also found that the three attentional networks of the non-musicians were functionally independent. However, in the case of the musicians, the efficiency of the alerting and orienting systems was associated. These findings provide evidence of a potential transfer effect from systematic musical training into inhibitory attentional control.

Mapping the neuroanatomy of functional decline in Alzheimer's disease from basic to advanced activities of daily living.

BACKGROUND: Impairments in activities of daily living (ADL) are a criterion for Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. However, ADL gradually decline in AD, impacting on advanced (a-ADL, complex interpersonal or social functioning), instrumental (IADL, maintaining life in community), and finally basic functions (BADL, activities related to physiological and self-maintenance needs). Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an increasingly important aspect of daily functioning. Yet, the links of ADL, ICT, and neuropathology of AD dementia are poorly understood. Such knowledge is critical as it can provide biomarker evidence of functional decline in AD. METHODS: ADL were evaluated with the Technology-Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (T-ADLQ) in 33 patients with AD and 30 controls. ADL were divided in BADL, IADL, and a-ADL. The three domain subscores were covaried against gray matter atrophy via voxel-based morphometry. RESULTS: Our results showed that three domain subscores of ADL correlate with several brain structures, with a varying degree of overlap between them. BADL score correlated mostly with frontal atrophy, IADL with more widespread frontal, temporal and occipital atrophy and a-ADL with occipital and temporal atrophy. Finally, ICT subscale was associated with atrophy in the precuneus. CONCLUSIONS: The association between ADL domains and neurodegeneration in AD follows a traceable neuropathological pathway which involves different neural networks. This the first evidence of ADL phenotypes in AD characterised by specific patterns of functional decline and well-defined neuropathological changes. The identification of such phenotypes can yield functional biomarkers for dementias such as AD.

Implementing EEG hyperscanning setups.

Hyperscanning refers to obtaining simultaneous neural recordings from more than one person (Montage et al., 2002 [1]), that can be used to study interactive situations. In particular, hyperscanning with Electroencephalography (EEG) is becoming increasingly popular since it allows researchers to explore the interactive brain with a high temporal resolution. Notably, there is a 40-year gap between the first instance that simultaneous measurement of EEG activity was mentioned in the literature (Duane and Behrendt, 1965 [2]), and the first actual description of an EEG hyperscanning setup being implemented (Babiloni et al., 2006 [3]). To date, specific EEG hyperscanning devices have not yet been developed and EEG hyperscanning setups are not usually described with sufficient detail to be easily reproduced. Here, we offer a step-by-step description of solutions to many of these technological challenges. Specifically, we describe and provide customized implementations of EEG hyperscanning setups using hardware and software from different companies: Brain Products, ANT, EGI, and BioSemi. •Necessary details to set up a functioning EEG hyperscanning protocol are provided.•The setups allow independent measures and measures of synchronization between the signals of two different brains.•Individual electrical Ground and Reference is obtained in all discussed systems.

Neuroanatomical Comparison of the "Word" and "Picture" Versions of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test in Alzheimer's Disease.

Episodic memory tests with cued recall, such as the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT), allow for the delineation of hippocampal and prefrontal atrophy contributions to memory performance in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Both Word and Picture versions of the test exist but show different profiles, with the Picture version usually scoring higher across different cohorts. One possible explanation for this divergent performance between the different modality versions of the test might be that they rely on different sets of neural correlates. The current study explores this by contrasting the neural correlates of the Word and Picture versions of the FCSRT with voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in AD and healthy subjects. We predicted that the Picture version would be associated with different cortical regions than the Word version, which might be more hippocampal-centric. When comparing 35 AD patients and 34 controls, AD patients exhibited impairments on both versions of the FCSRT and both groups performed higher in the Picture version. A region of interest analysis based on prior work revealed significant correlations between free recall of either version with atrophy of the temporal pole and hippocampal regions. Thus, contrary to expectations, performance on both the Word and the Picture version of the FCSRT is associated with largely overlapping networks. Free recall is associated with hippocampal volume and might be properly considered as an indicator of hippocampal structural integrity.

Pre-stimulus EEG oscillations correlate with perceptual alternation of speech forms.

Speech perception is often seen as a passive process guided by physical stimulus properties. However, ongoing brain dynamics could influence the subsequent perceptual organization of the speech, to an as yet unknown extent. To elucidate this issue, we analyzed EEG oscillatory activity before and immediately after the repetitive auditory presentation of words inducing the so-called verbal transformation effect (VTE), or spontaneous alternation of meanings due to its rapid repetition. Subjects indicated whether the meaning of the bistable word changed or not. For the Reversal more than for the Stable condition, results show a pre-stimulus local alpha desynchronization (300-50ms), followed by an early post-stimulus increase of local beta synchrony (0-80ms), and then a late increase and decrease of local alpha (200-340ms) and beta (360-440ms) synchrony respectively. Additionally, the ERPs showed that reversal positivity (RP) and reversal negativity components (RN), along with a late positivity complex (LPC) correlate with switching between verbal forms. Our results show how the ongoing dynamics brain is actively involved in the perceptual organization of the speech, destabilizing verbal perceptual states, and facilitating the perceptual regrouping of the elements composing the linguistic auditory stimulus.

Ways of making-sense: Local gamma synchronization reveals differences between semantic processing induced by music and language.

Similar to linguistic stimuli, music can also prime the meaning of a subsequent word. However, it is so far unknown what is the brain dynamics underlying the semantic priming effect induced by music, and its relation to language. To elucidate these issues, we compare the brain oscillatory response to visual words that have been semantically primed either by a musical excerpt or by an auditory sentence. We found that semantic violation between music-word pairs triggers a classical ERP N400, and induces a sustained increase of long-distance theta phase synchrony, along with a transient increase of local gamma activity. Similar results were observed after linguistic semantic violation except for gamma activity, which increased after semantic congruence between sentence-word pairs. Our findings indicate that local gamma activity is a neural marker that signals different ways of semantic processing between music and language, revealing the dynamic and self-organized nature of the semantic processing.

Oscillatory brain activity reveals linguistic prints in the quantity code.

Number representations change through education, although it is currently unclear whether and how language could impact the magnitude representation that we share with other species. The most prominent view is that language does not play any role in modulating the core numeric representation involved in the contrast of quantities. Nevertheless, possible cultural hints on the numerical magnitude representation are currently on discussion focus. In fact, the acquisition of number words provides linguistic input that the quantity system may not ignore. Bilingualism offers a window to the study of this question, especially in bilinguals where the two number wording systems imply also two different numerical systems, such as in Basque-Spanish bilinguals. The present study evidences linguistic prints in the core number representational system through the analysis of EEG oscillatory activity during a simple number comparison task. Gamma band synchronization appears when Basque-Spanish bilinguals compare pairs of Arabic numbers linked through the Basque base-20 wording system, but it does not if the pairs are related through the base-10 system. Crucially, this gamma activity, originated in a left fronto-parietal network, only appears in bilinguals who learned math in Basque and not in equivalent proficiency bilinguals who learned math in Spanish. Thus, this neural index reflected in gamma band synchrony appears to be triggered by early learning experience with the base-20 numerical associations in Basque number words.

Complex brain network properties in late L2 learners and native speakers.

Whether the neural mechanisms that underlie the processing of a second language in highly proficient late bilinguals (L2 late learners) are similar or not to those that underlie the processing of the first language (L1) is still an issue under debate. In this study, a group of late learners of Spanish whose native language is English and a group of Spanish monolinguals were compared while they read sentences, some of which contained syntactic violations. A brain complex network analysis approach was used to assess the time-varying topological properties of the functional networks extracted from the electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Late L2 learners showed a lower degree of parallel information transfer and a slower propagation between regions of the brain functional networks while processing sentences containing a gender mismatch condition as compared with a standard sentence configuration. In contrast, no such differences between these conditions were detected in the Spanish monolinguals. This indicates that when a morphosyntactic language incongruence that does not exist in the native language is presented in the second language, the neural activation pattern is configured differently in highly proficient late bilinguals than in monolinguals.

Long-distance neural synchrony correlates with processing strategies to compare fractions.

Adults use different processing strategies to work with fractions. Depending on task requirements, they may analyze the fraction components separately (componential processing strategy, CPS) or consider the fraction as a whole (holistic processing strategy, HPS). It is so far unknown what is the brain coordination dynamics underlying these types of fraction processing strategies. To elucidate this issue, we analyzed oscillatory brain activity during a fraction comparison task, presenting pairs of fractions either with or without common components. Results show that CPS induces a left frontal-parietal alpha phase desynchronization after the onset of fraction pairs, while HPS induces an increase of phase synchrony on theta and gamma bands, over frontal and central-parietal sites, respectively. Additionally, the HPS evokes more negative ERPs around 400 ms over the right frontal scalp than the CPS. This ERP activity correlates with the increase of Theta phase synchrony. Our results reveal the emergence of different functional neural networks depending on the kind of cognitive strategy used for processing fractions.

Long-range neural synchronization supports fast and efficient reading: EEG correlates of processing expected words in sentences.

Word reading is heavily influenced by the information provided by previous context. In this study, we analyzed the neurophysiological bases of sentence reading through the EEG activity elicited during reading the same word embedded in differently constraining contexts: a) a low-constraining context; b) a high-constraining semantic compositional context; c) a high-constraining collocational context in which the item was in final position of a multi-word fixed-order expression. Cloze-probability of the two high-constraining contexts was equated. Before reading the target word we observed increased EEG gamma phase synchronization for the high-constraining compositional context and increased EEG theta synchronization for the collocational context (both compared to the low-constraining condition). After reading the target word we observed increased frontal positive EEG evoked activity (~220ms) for the high-constraining compositional context but an even earlier (~120ms) effect for the high-constraining collocational condition that was distributed over the scalp. A positive correlation was found only between the increased theta synchronization and the early EEG effect for the high-constraining collocational condition. Results indicate that long-range frontal-occipital interactions in the theta band - indexing working memory operations - support early visual-orthographic analysis of an incoming stimulus (such as the expected word); gamma-phase synchronization better represents binding operations between feed-forward activation and matching feedback. These data suggest that internal linguistic knowledge stored in long-term memory - if unambiguously pre-activated - supports the low-level perceptual processes involved in reading.

Oscillatory dynamics related to the Unagreement pattern in Spanish.

Unagreement patterns consist in a person feature mismatch between subject and verb that is nonetheless grammatical in Spanish. The processing of this type of construction gives new insights into the understanding of agreement processes during language comprehension. Here, we contrasted oscillatory brain activity triggered by Unagreement in different EEG bands with those triggered by Standard Agreement and Person Mismatch sentences. In Spectral Power analysis, a similar pattern for Unagreement to that elicited by Person Mismatch was found in lower beta and alpha bands, approximately around 600ms. This suggests that fast oscillations reflect the evaluation of the feature match between two structurally related constituents (independently of its grammaticality). In an equivalent time window, the Unagreement condition behaves similarly to the Standard Agreement condition in the theta band, but different from the Person Mismatch condition that shows an enhanced spectral power. In addition, an enhanced phase synchrony in lower beta frequency around 600ms is associated to standard agreement patterns, while beta-high frequencies at 800ms characterize processing of Unagreement sentences. These results support the functional dissociation between the evaluation of the feature match between two structurally related constituents (independently of its grammaticality-in fast oscillatory bands) and integration of linguistic material in working memory (reflected by theta oscillations). Successful resolution of an agreement dependency is better reflected in phase synchronizations at beta band.