A Macaque Connectome For Large-Scale Network Simulations In Thevirtualbrain, Kelly Shen, Gleb Bezgin, Michael Schirner, Petra Ritter, Stefan Everling, Anthony R. Mcintosh

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019, The Author(s). Models of large-scale brain networks that are informed by the underlying anatomical connectivity contribute to our understanding of the mapping between the structure of the brain and its dynamical function. Connectome-based modelling is a promising approach to a more comprehensive understanding of brain function across spatial and temporal scales, but it must be constrained by multi-scale empirical data from animal models. Here we describe the construction of a macaque (Macaca mulatta and Macaca fascicularis) connectome for whole-cortex simulations in TheVirtualBrain, an open-source simulation platform. We take advantage of available axonal tract-tracing datasets and enhance the existing …

Predator-Induced Fear Causes Ptsd-Like Changes In The Brains And Behaviour Of Wild Animals, Liana Y. Zanette, Emma C. Hobbs, Lauren E. Witterick, Scott A. Macdougall-Shackleton, Michael Clinchy

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019, The Author(s). Predator-induced fear is both, one of the most common stressors employed in animal model studies of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a major focus of research in ecology. There has been a growing discourse between these disciplines but no direct empirical linkage. We endeavoured to provide this empirical linkage by conducting experiments drawing upon the strengths of both disciplines. Exposure to a natural cue of predator danger (predator vocalizations), had enduring effects of at least 7 days duration involving both, a heightened sensitivity to predator danger (indicative of an enduring memory of fear), and elevated neuronal …

Consciousness-Specific Dynamic Interactions Of Brain Integration And Functional Diversity, Andrea I. Luppi, Michael M. Craig, Ioannis Pappas, Paola Finoia, Guy B. Williams, Judith Allanson, John D. Pickard, Adrian M. Owen, Lorina Naci, David K. Menon, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Prominent theories of consciousness emphasise different aspects of neurobiology, such as the integration and diversity of information processing within the brain. Here, we combine graph theory and dynamic functional connectivity to compare resting-state functional MRI data from awake volunteers, propofol-anaesthetised volunteers, and patients with disorders of consciousness, in order to identify consciousness-specific patterns of brain function. We demonstrate that cortical networks are especially affected by loss of consciousness during temporal states of high integration, exhibiting reduced functional diversity and compromised informational capacity, whereas thalamo-cortical functional disconnections emerge during states of higher segregation. Spatially, posterior regions of the brain’s default mode …

Altered Motor, Anxiety-Related And Attentional Task Performance At Baseline Associate With Multiple Gene Copies Of The Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter And Related Protein Overexpression In Chat::Cre+ Rats, Craig P. Mantanona, Johan Alsiö, Joanna L. Elson, Beth M. Fisher, Jeffrey W. Dalley, Timothy Bussey, Ilse S. Pienaar

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019, The Author(s). Transgenic rodents expressing Cre recombinase cell specifically are used for exploring mechanisms regulating behavior, including those mediated by cholinergic signaling. However, it was recently reported that transgenic mice overexpressing a bacterial artificial chromosome containing choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) gene, for synthesizing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, present with multiple vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) gene copies, resulting in altered cholinergic tone and accompanying behavioral abnormalities. Since ChAT::Cre+ rats, used increasingly for understanding the biological basis of CNS disorders, utilize the mouse ChAT promotor to control Cre recombinase expression, we assessed for similar genotypical and phenotypical differences in such rats compared …

Are Specific Learning Disorders Truly Specific, And Are They Disorders?, Lien Peters, Daniel Ansari

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019 The Authors Specific learning disorders, such as dyslexia and dyscalculia, are frequently studied to inform our understanding of cognitive development, genetic mechanisms and brain function. In this Opinion Paper, we discuss limitations of this research approach, including the use of arbitrary criteria to select groups of children, heterogeneity within groups and overlap between domains of learning. By drawing on evidence from cognitive science, neuroscience and genetics, we propose an alternative, dimensional framework. We argue that we need to overcome the problems associated with a categorical approach by taking into account interacting factors at multiple levels of analysis that …

Functional Localization Of The Frontal Eye Fields In The Common Marmoset Using Microstimulation, Janahan Selvanayagam, Kevin D. Johnston, David J. Schaeffer, Lauren K. Hayrynen, Stefan Everling

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Copyright © 2019 the authors. The frontal eye field (FEF) is a critical region for the deployment of overt and covert spatial attention. Although investigations in the macaque continue to provide insight into the neural underpinnings of the FEF, due to its location within a sulcus, the macaque FEF is virtually inaccessible to electrophysiological techniques such as high-density and laminar recordings. With a largely lissencephalic cortex, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a promising alternative primate model for studying FEF microcircuitry. Putative homologies have been established with the macaque FEF on the basis of cytoarchitecture and connectivity; however, physiological investigation …

Preventing Adolescent Dating Violence: An Outcomes Protocol For Evaluating A Gender-Transformative Healthy Relationships Promotion Program, Deinera Exner-Cortens, Alysia Wright, Debb Hurlock, Roseline Carter, Pam Krause, Claire Crooks

Journal Articles

Adolescent dating violence (ADV) is a pressing public health problem in North America. Strategies to prevent perpetration are needed, and a substantial body of research demonstrates the importance of applying a gender lens to target root causes of adolescent dating violence as part of effective prevention. To date, however, there has been limited research on how to specifically engage boys in adolescent dating violence prevention. In this short communication, we describe the protocol for a longitudinal, quasi-experimental outcome evaluation of a program called WiseGuyz. WiseGuyz is a community-facilitated, gender-transformative healthy relationships program for mid-adolescent male-identified youth that aims to reduce …

Sign And Speech Share Partially Overlapping Conceptual Representations, Samuel Evans, Cathy J. Price, Jörn Diedrichsen, Eva Gutierrez-Sigut, Mairéad Macsweeney

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019 The Author(s) Conceptual knowledge is fundamental to human cognition. Yet, the extent to which it is influenced by language is unclear. Studies of semantic processing show that similar neural patterns are evoked by the same concepts presented in different modalities (e.g., spoken words and pictures or text) [1–3]. This suggests that conceptual representations are “modality independent.” However, an alternative possibility is that the similarity reflects retrieval of common spoken language representations. Indeed, in hearing spoken language users, text and spoken language are co-dependent [4, 5], and pictures are encoded via visual and verbal routes [6]. A parallel approach …

Variational Representational Similarity Analysis, Karl J. Friston, Jörn Diedrichsen, Emma Holmes, Peter Zeidman

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019 The Authors This technical note describes a variational or Bayesian implementation of representational similarity analysis (RSA) and pattern component modelling (PCM). It considers RSA and PCM as Bayesian model comparison procedures that assess the evidence for stimulus or condition-specific patterns of responses distributed over voxels or channels. On this view, one can use standard variational inference procedures to quantify the contributions of particular patterns to the data, by evaluating second-order parameters or hyperparameters. Crucially, this allows one to use parametric empirical Bayes (PEB) to infer which patterns are consistent among subjects. At the between-subject level, one can then …

A Sound-Sensitive Source Of Alpha Oscillations In Human Non-Primary Auditory Cortex, Alexander J. Billig, Björn Herrmann, Ariane E. Rhone, Phillip E. Gander, Kirill V. Nourski, Beau F. Snoad, Christopher K. Kovach, Hiroto Kawasaki, Matthew A. Howard, Ingrid S. Johnsrude

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Copyright © 2019 Billig, Herrmann et al. The functional organization of human auditory cortex can be probed by characterizing responses to various classes of sound at different anatomical locations. Along with histological studies this approach has revealed a primary field in posteromedial Heschl's gyrus (HG) with pronounced induced high-frequency (70-150 Hz) activity and short-latency responses that phase-lock to rapid transient sounds. Low-frequency neural oscillations are also relevant to stimulus processing and information flow, however, their distribution within auditory cortex has not been established. Alpha activity (7-14 Hz) in particular has been associated with processes that may differentially engage earlier versus …

Death Of The Clinic: Trans-Informing The Clinical Gaze To Counter Epistemic Violence, Diana E. Kuhl

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This case study research (Patton, 2002, 2014; Flyvberg, 2006) has grown out of an awareness of deep resistance from the psy disciplines to trans-informed epistemologies as a source of legitimate knowledge (Tosh, 2015, 2016; Winters, 2008). It focuses on examining how the closure of The Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) for Children and Youth at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, signaled a paradigm shift from the ‘treatment model’ to the ‘affirmative model’ with respect to clinical approaches for supporting trans and gender diverse children and youth. As such the case study involved tracing the …

An Accurate Registration Of The Bigbrain Dataset With The Mni Pd25 And Icbm152 Atlases., Yiming Xiao, Jonathan C Lau, Taylor Anderson, Jordan Dekraker, D Louis Collins, Terry Peters, Ali R Khan

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Brain atlases that encompass detailed anatomical or physiological features are instrumental in the research and surgical planning of various neurological conditions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has played important roles in neuro-image analysis while histological data remain crucial as a gold standard to guide and validate such analyses. With cellular-scale resolution, the BigBrain atlas offers 3D histology of a complete human brain, and is highly valuable to the research and clinical community. To bridge the insights at macro- and micro-levels, accurate mapping of BigBrain and established MRI brain atlases is necessary, but the existing registration is unsatisfactory. The described dataset includes …

In Search Of Psychiatric Kinds: Natural Kinds And Natural Classification In Psychiatry, Nicholas Slothouber

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In recent years both philosophers and scientists have asked whether or not our current kinds of mental disorder—e.g., schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder—are natural kinds; and, moreover, whether or not the search for natural kinds of mental disorder is a realistic desideratum for psychiatry. In this dissertation I clarify the sense in which a kind can be said to be “natural” or “real” and argue that, despite a few notable exceptions, kinds of mental disorder cannot be considered natural kinds. Furthermore, I contend that psychopathological phenomena do not cluster together into kinds in the way that paradigmatic natural kinds (e.g., chemical …

Development And Application Of A Teen-Informed Tool For Measuring The Power Of Food-Related Advertisements In Canadian Environments, Drew Bowman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Food environments are influential in shaping dietary behaviours of adolescents. Exposure to food and beverage marketing is known to impact food knowledge, behaviours, and health outcomes, yet food environment research largely overlooks advertisements. Given that marketers tend to advertise less healthy foods to teens and teens predominantly purchase low-nutrient foods, it is crucial to study the information environment in the context of secondary school environments. This thesis uses a sequential mixed-methods approach, including environmental audits and teen consultations, to develop and apply a teen-informed tool to measure the power of advertisements surrounding secondary schools. Results indicate that exposure to and …

A Framework For Evaluating Correspondence Between Brain Images Using Anatomical Fiducials., Jonathan C Lau, Andrew G Parrent, John Demarco, Geetika Gupta, Jason Kai, Olivia W Stanley, Tristan Kuehn, Patrick J Park, Kayla Ferko, Ali R Khan, Terry M Peters

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Accurate spatial correspondence between template and subject images is a crucial step in neuroimaging studies and clinical applications like stereotactic neurosurgery. In the absence of a robust quantitative approach, we sought to propose and validate a set of point landmarks, anatomical fiducials (AFIDs), that could be quickly, accurately, and reliably placed on magnetic resonance images of the human brain. Using several publicly available brain templates and individual participant datasets, novice users could be trained to place a set of 32 AFIDs with millimetric accuracy. Furthermore, the utility of the AFIDs protocol is demonstrated for evaluating subject-to-template and template-to-template registration. Specifically, …

Thirty-Five Years Of Computerized Cognitive Assessment Of Aging — Where Are We Now?, Avital Sternin, Alistair Burns, Adrian M. Owen

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Over the past 35 years, the proliferation of technology and the advent of the internet have resulted in many reliable and easy to administer batteries for assessing cognitive function. These approaches have great potential for affecting how the health care system monitors and screens for cognitive changes in the aging population. Here, we review these new technologies with a specific emphasis on what they offer over and above traditional ‘paper-and-pencil’ approaches to assessing cognitive function. Key advantages include fully automated administration and scoring, the interpretation of individual scores within the context of thousands of normative data points, the inclusion of …

Stimulus-Locked Responses On Human Upper Limb Muscles And Corrective Reaches Are Preferentially Evoked By Low Spatial Frequencies, Rebecca A. Kozak, Philipp Kreyenmeier, Chao Gu, Kevin Johnston, Brian D. Corneil

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019 Kozak et al. In situations requiring immediate action, humans can generate visually-guided responses at remarkably short latencies. Here, to better understand the visual attributes that best evoke such rapid responses, we recorded upper limb muscle activity while participants performed visually-guided reaches towards Gabor patches composed of differing spatial frequencies (SFs). We studied reaches initiated from a stable posture (experiment 1, a static condition), or during on-line reach corrections to an abruptly displaced target (experiment 2, a dynamic condition). In both experiments, we detail the latency and prevalence of stimulus-locked responses (SLRs), which are brief bursts of EMG activity …

Binding During Sequence Learning Does Not Alter Cortical Representations Of Individual Actions, Patrick Beukema, Jörn Diedrichsen, Timothy D. Verstynen

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Copyright © 2019 the authors. As a sequence of movements is learned, serially ordered actions get bound together into sets to reduce computational complexity during planning and execution. Here, we investigated how actions become naturally bound over the course of learning and how this learning affects cortical representations of individual actions. Across 5 weeks of practice, neurologically healthy human subjects learned either a complex 32-item sequence of finger movements (trained group, n = 9; 3 female) or randomly ordered actions (control group, n = 9; 3 female). Over the course of practice, responses during sequence production in the trained group …

Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Age-related cognitive decline greatly impacts quality of life for older adults. Previous research has indicated that meditation may act as a neuroprotective factor to prevent age-related cognitive decline. This thesis sought to replicate previous findings and investigate if a four-week meditation intervention would improve sustained attention. Participants 60 years and older (n=27, 17 female) were recruited and assigned to a focused-attention (FA) meditation or relaxation group which met for four weeks, three times a week. Resting-state EEG was used to collect individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was also …

Timely Access To Maternal, Neonatal And Child Healthcare For Rural Communities In Rwanda: The Role Of Community Health Workers, Jean Bosco Bigirimana

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

Introduction: In Rwanda, although there has been some progress in health care delivery as expressed in the reduction in maternal and child mortality, rates are still high and geographically variable. Improving equitable access to quality healthcare services for maternal, neonatal and child healthcare (MNCH), community-based maternal, neonatal and child healthcare (CBMNCH) depends upon using “community health workers” (CHWs). Yet CHWs program faces difficulties that upset delivery of the quality of the comprehensive package of services. Unfortunately, little is known about CHWs` performance and job satisfaction in the provision of CBMNCH.

Goal: The study aimed to provide insight into …

Using The Health Action Process Approach (Hapa) To Understand And Change Sedentary Behaviour In Office Workers: Effects On Motivation, Behaviour, And Health Outcomes, Andrew Scott Rollo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sedentary behaviour (SB) is positively associated with all-cause mortality, as well as numerous chronic diseases, including fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, and metabolic syndrome. Interventions targeting reductions in sedentary time among office workers who are an at-risk population for high levels of SB are needed. The main objective of this dissertation was to contribute to the body of knowledge surrounding theory-based behavioural interventions targeting SB among office working adults. First, a systematic review of the literature (study 1, chapter 2) was conducted that highlighted important cognitive and motivational factors associated with SB, which …

Biofeedback Use In Sport, Kendra Nelson Ferguson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effects of biofeedback training on sport performance. This dissertation was divided into three studies. Study 1 qualitatively explored athletes’ perspectives of biofeedback post-intervention. Five varsity athletes were provided with a five-session biofeedback intervention training respiration rate, heart rate variability, and skin conductance. Following the intervention, an interview was conducted. Athletes perceived biofeedback to enhance self-regulation skills both in sport and academics, contributing to perceptions of superior performance.

To further examine perspectives of biofeedback training, Study 2 qualitatively explored mental performance consultants’ use of biofeedback and their perceptions of the tool. …

Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud

2019 Cohort

Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.

Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud

Head and Heart Posters 2019

Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.

Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud

Learning with your Head & Heart

Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Of Infantile Hydrocephalus: An Fmri Case Study, Ikhlas Ahmed Hashi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ventricle dilatation caused by infantile hydrocephalus may result in extensive damage of the posterior cortex (parietal and occipital lobes). We hypothesize that pathological changes in the development of the posterior cortex can be linked to non-verbal learning disabilities in children with previous infantile hydrocephalus. This case study will investigate the neurodevelopmental outcomes of 3 treated hydrocephalus patients, when compared to a group of healthy control children (n = 12). Within the hydrocephalus group, patients displayed differences in non-verbal test performance as well as parietal brain activation during an fMRI number comparison task. We associated these differences with clinical variables such …

Optimizing Gait Outcomes In Parkinson's Disease With Auditory Cues: The Effects Of Synchronization, Groove, And Beat Perception Ability, Emily A. Ready

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation explores a common, rehabilitative strategy for mitigating gait impairments in Parkinson’s disease (PD) called Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS). The effects of this intervention on gait in PD are well documented but highly variable, which poses difficulty for appropriate therapeutic application. Part of this variability may be related to individual musical abilities, such as beat perception accuracy, as most RAS interventions involve synchronizing with a beat. However, music is complex and variable. Therefore, factors inherent in the music itself may play a role in these differences, such as how much the music makes you want to move (groove), or …

Resedent Study- Reducing Sedentary Behaviour May Slow Cognitive Decline In Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study, Kirsten B. Dillon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Physical activity (PA) has been shown to slow down dementia. Unfortunately, older adults spend most of their day in sedentary behaviours (SB). Breaking up prolonged bouts of sitting with intermittent bouts of light intensity PA may reduce glycemic variability in the brain; potentially mitigating cognitive decline. This study investigated how interrupting SB with 10 min bouts of light intensity PA 3x a day would affect mild to moderate cognitive impairment progression (primary outcome) in older adults residing in an assisted living facility. Participants (n=25) were assigned in clusters into a two arm 10-week single site pilot randomized controlled trial. Secondary …

Health Policy And Social Change: Women’S Advocacy Groups And Narrative Mobilization, Jill Moffatt

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of this study is to systematically investigate the mobilization of co-created (storyteller and story-gatherer) narratives for policy and social change. A case study format investigated the mobilization of narratives by a women’s health organization in London, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews resulted in transcripts from key actors. These transcripts were thematically coded and analyzed. All interview participants emphasized that from their perspective the organization did influence health policy or social change through their narrative use. Specific policy change examples were provided by participants, and social change was subjectively recognized as realized through the creation of awareness and affirmed through audience …

Cortical Beta Oscillations Are Associated With Motor Performance Following Visuomotor Learning, Svenja Espenhahn, Bernadette C.M. Van Wijk, Holly E. Rossiter, Archy O. De Berker, Nell D. Redman, Jane Rondina, Joern Diedrichsen, Nick S. Ward

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019 The Authors People vary in their capacity to learn and retain new motor skills. Although the relationship between neuronal oscillations in the beta frequency range (15–30 Hz) and motor behaviour is well established, the electrophysiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in motor learning are incompletely understood. Here, we investigated the degree to which measures of resting and movement-related beta power from sensorimotor cortex account for inter-individual differences in motor learning behaviour in the young and elderly. Twenty young (18–30 years) and twenty elderly (62–77 years) healthy adults were trained on a novel wrist flexion/extension tracking task and subsequently retested …