Neurosciences Commons^™

Fitness And Action Monitoring: Evidence For Improved Cognitive Flexibility In Young Adults, Jason R. Themanson, Matthew B. Pontifex, Charles H. Hillman

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

To improve behavior, one must detect errors and initiate subsequent corrective adaptations. This action monitoring process has been widely studied, but little is known about how one may improve this aspect of cognition. To examine the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and action monitoring, we recorded the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related brain potential believed to index action monitoring, as well as post-error behavioral indices of action monitoring from healthy young adults (18–25 years) who varied in cardiorespiratory fitness. These measures were collected during the execution of flanker tasks emphasizing response accuracy or speed to better assess the specificity of any …

Investigating Bimanual Coordination In Dominant And Non-Dominant Virtual Hands, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

A bias in attention towards the dominant hand has been cited as a possible factor in the lateralisation of human bimanual coordination (Peters, 1981). A mirror was placed between the hands of 18 dextral participants performing rhythmic anti-phase movements. This set-up gave the appearance of a reflected virtual hand (moving in time with the un-occluded hand), in the same spatial location as the occluded left or right hand. This asymmetrical conflict between vision and action examined whether the left hand would show higher levels of error when replaced by a virtual right hand than the converse condition. Higher levels of …

Self-Efficacy Effects On Neuroelectric And Behavioral Indices Of Action Monitoring In Older Adults, Jason R. Themanson, Charles H. Hillman, Edward Mcauley, Sarah M. Buck, Shawna E. Doerksen, Katherine S. Morris, Matthew B. Pontifex

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

The relationships between self-efficacy (SE), i.e., beliefs in personal capabilities, and behavioral and neuroelectric (i.e., ERN, Pe) indices of action monitoring were investigated in 40 older adults (13 male) during the completion of a flanker paradigm performed under task conditions emphasizing either accuracy or speed. SE relative to task performance during both conditions was assessed prior to each cognitive task. Results indicated that high-SE older adults exhibited larger ERN and Pe amplitudes compared to low-SE older adults under the accuracy instruction condition. Additionally, a moderating effect of SE on the relationship between ERN and post-error response accuracy was revealed in …

Bimanual Coupling In Left And Right Space: Which Hand Is Yoked To Which?, Gavin Buckingham, Gordon Binsted, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

• Reaching across the body into contralateral space with one hand incurs a substantial cost on various measures of performance, compared to ipsilateral reaches of a similar amplitude (Carey, Hargreaves, & Goodale, 1996).

• When reaching with both hands, unimanual asymmetries disappear.

-The hands take off and land concurrently (Kelso, Southard, & Goodman, 1979).

• To test if this ‘yoking’ is driven by the left or the right hand, participants performed reaches of different amplitudes.

• These reaches were made to the left or right side of space.

-Further increasing the unimanual (baseline) asymmetries that get wiped out by the …

Input Vs. Output Level Coupling Demonstrates Asymmetrical Attentional Biases, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

The current study examined the performance of each limb as it reached across the body (the hard task), while yoked to it’s ipsilateral reaching counterpart (the easy task).

Asymmetries In Attention Toward The Dominant Hand: Input Or Output?, Gavin Buckingham, Julie Main, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

Peters (1981) suggested that an asymmetrical bias in attention (toward the right hand of right handers) could account for many manual asymmetries in bimanual task performance. Support for this notion comes from Honda (1982), who demonstrated preferential monitoring of the dominant hand during a bimanual reaching task, while Buckingham and Carey (2007) observed shorter refractory periods (dwell time in a bimanual discontinuous double-step reaching task) for the right hand.

Recent evidence may indicate an intentional (i.e. selection related behaviour – motor attention) bias toward the dominant hand (Bestelmeyer & Carey, 2004). The current study tests the hypothesis that the right …

Attentional Vs. Intentional Biases In Hand Movements; Hand-Specific Coupling & Bimanual Reaching, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

Most of the population is dextral, showing a clear preference for performing the vast majority of tasks with their right hand. Peters (1981) suggested that an asymmetrical bias in attention (toward the right hand in right handers) could account for many manual asymmetries in bimanual task performance, with the left hand unable to perform the attentionally demanding portion of the task. Likewise, Honda (1982) demonstrated preferential monitoring of the dominant hand during a bimanual reaching task. Recent evidence has also shown an intentional (i.e. output related motor attention) bias toward the dominant hand (Bestelmeyer & Carey, 2004), another possible factor …

Single Unit And Population Responses During Inhibitory Gating Of Striatal Activity In Freely Moving Rats, Howard C. Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Abstract—The striatum is thought to be an essential region for integrating diverse information in the brain. Rapid inhibitory gating (IG) of sensory input is most likely an early factor necessary for appropriate integration to be completed. Gating is currently evaluated in clinical settings and is dramatically altered in a variety of psychiatric illnesses. Basic neuroscience research using animals has revealed specific neural sites involved in IG including the hippocampus, thalamus, brainstem, amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex. The present study investigated local IG in the basal ganglia structure of the striatum using chronic recording microwires. We obtained both single unit activations …

Visual Adaptation To Masculine And Feminine Faces Influences Generalized Preferences And Perceptions Of Trustworthiness, Gavin Buckingham, Lisa Debruine, Anthony Little, Lisa Welling, Claire Conway, Bernard Tiddeman, Benedict Jones

Gavin Buckingham

Although previous studies of individual differences in preferences for masculinity in male faces have typically emphasized the importance of factors such as changes in levels of sex hormones during the menstrual cycle, other research has demonstrated that recent visual experience with faces also influences preferences for sexual dimorphism in faces. Adaptation to either masculine or feminine faces increases preferences for novel faces that are similar to those that were recently seen. Here, we replicate this effect and demonstrate that adaptation to masculine or feminine faces also influences the extent to which masculine faces are perceived as trustworthy. These adaptation effects …

Age And Physical Activity Influences On Action Monitoring During Task Switching, Jason R. Themanson, Charles H. Hillman, John J. Curtin

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

Behavioral and neuroelectric indices of action monitoring were compared for 53 high and low physically active older (60–71 years) and younger (18–21 years) adults during a task-switching paradigm in which they performed a task repeatedly or switched between two different tasks. The error-related negativity (ERN) of a response-locked event-related brain potential (ERP) and behavioral measures of response speed and accuracy were measured during the heterogeneous condition (switching randomly between two tasks) of the switch task. Results indicated that older adults exhibited a greater relative slowing in RT during heterogeneous blocks and smaller ERN amplitude compared to younger adults. Additionally, physical …

Reflections On… Phase Shifting Under Different Visual Conditions, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey, Arash Sahraie

Gavin Buckingham

When two limbs are moved out of time (i.e. opposing muscle activation at each limb) in rhythmic oscillatory movements, there is a tendency at high frequencies for the movements to synchronise in the temporal domain, resulting in bilateral homologous muscle activation known as a ‘phase shift’ (Kelso, 1984). In an effort to determine the degree with which perception influences this phase shifting behaviour (Mechsner et al., 2001), a mirror can be placed between the hands of participants, parallel to their mid-saggital plane such that the reflected hand appeared in the place of the occluded hand. This paradigm can be used …

Visual Adaptation To Masculine And Feminine Faces Influences Generalized Preferences And Perceptions Of Trustworthiness, Gavin Buckingham, L. Debruine, A. Little, L. Welling, C. Conway, B. Tiddeman, B. Jones

Gavin Buckingham

We compared the effects of adaptation to faces varying in sexual dimorphism of shape on perceptions of the trustworthiness and attractiveness of masculine faces.

Auditory Inhibitory Gating In Medial Prefrontal Cortex: Single Unit And Local Field Potential Analysis, Howard C. Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Medial prefrontal cortex is a crucial region involved in inhibitory processes. Damage to the medial prefrontal cortex can lead to loss of normal inhibitory control over motor, sensory, emotional and cognitive functions. The goal of the present study was to examine the basic properties of inhibitory gating in this brain region in rats. Inhibitory gating has recently been proposed as a neurophysiological assay for sensory filters in higher brain regions that potentially enable or disable information throughput. This perspective has important clinical relevance due to the findings that gating is dramatically impaired in individuals with emotional and cognitive impairments (i.e. …

Cardiorespiratory Fitness And Acute Aerobic Exercise Effects On Neuroelectric And Behavioral Measures Of Action Monitoring, Jason R. Themanson, Charles H. Hillman

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

Cardiorespiratory fitness and acute aerobic exercise effects on cognitive function were assessed for 28 higher- and lower-fit adults during a flanker task by comparing behavioral and neuroelectric indices of action monitoring. The error-related negativity, error positivity, and N2 components, as well as behavioral measures of response speed, accuracy, and post-error slowing were measured following a 30-minute acute bout of treadmill exercise or following 30-minutes of rest. A graded maximal exercise test was used to measure cardiorespiratory fitness by assessing maximal oxygen uptake. Results indicated that higher-fit adults exhibited reduced error-related negativity amplitude, increased error positivity amplitude, and increased post-error response …

Relative Reward Processing In Primate Striatum, Howard C. Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Rewards are often not only valued according to their physical characteristics but also relative to other available rewards. The striatum (caudate nucleus, putamen, ventral striatum including nucleus accumbens) is involved in the organization of movement and the processing of reward information. We studied the activity of single striatal neurons in macaques that were presented with different combinations of two rewards. We found in nearly half of the investigated neurons that the processing for one reward shifted, relative to the other rewards that were available in a given trial block. The relative reward processing concerned all forms of striatal activity related …

Screening For Parkinson's Disease With Response Time Batteries: A Pilot Study, Andrew Johnson, Philip Vernon, Quincy Almeida, Linda Grantier, Rene Singarayer, Mandar Jog

Andrew M. Johnson

Background: Although significant response time deficits (both reaction time and movement time) have been identified in numerous studies of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), few attempts have been made to evaluate the use of these measures in screening for PD. Methods: Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to identify cutoff scores for a unit-weighted composite of two choice response tasks in a sample of 40 patients and 40 healthy participants. These scores were then cross-validated in an independent sample of 20 patients and 20 healthy participants. Results: The unit-weighted movement time composite demonstrated high sensitivity (90%) and specificity (90%) in …

Epilepsy, Michael Rogawski

Michael A. Rogawski

No abstract provided.

Solving Ill-Posed Problems With Artificial Neural Networks, Arun D. Kulkarni

Arun Kulkarni