Medical Neurobiology Commons^™

Online Decoding Of Rat Self-Paced Locomotion Speed From Eeg Using Recurrent Neural Networks, Alejandro De Miguel, Nelson Totah, Uri Maoz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective. Accurate and reliable neural decoding of locomotion holds promise for advancing clinical applications such as rehabilitation and prosthetic control, as well as for understanding neural correlates of action. Recent studies have demonstrated successful decoding of locomotion kinematics across species in motorized treadmill settings. However, efforts to decode locomotion speed directly and continuously in more natural contexts—where pace is self-selected rather than externally imposed—are scarce, and those that exist generally achieve only modest accuracy and require intracranial implants. Here, we aim to decode self-paced locomotion speed non-invasively and continuously using cortex-wide electroencephalography (EEG) recordings from rats. Approach. We introduce an …

Sex-Specific Effects Of Early-Life Unpredictability On Hippocampal And Amygdala Responses To Novelty In Adolescents, Elysia Poggi Davis, Bianca T. Leonard, Robert J. Jirsaraie, David B. Keator, Steven L. Small, Curt A. Sandman, Victoria B. Risbrough, Hal S. Stern, Laura M. Glynn, Michael A. Yassa, Tallie Z. Baram, Jerod M. Rasmussen

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Unpredictable childhood experiences are an understudied form of early-life adversity that impact neurodevelopment. The neurobiological processes by which exposure to early-life unpredictability impact development and vulnerability to psychopathology remain poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated the sex-specific consequences of early-life unpredictability on the limbic network, focusing on the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Methods

Participants included 150 youths (54% female). Early-life unpredictability was assessed using the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC). Participants engaged in 1 or more task–functional magnetic resonance imaging scans between the ages of 8 and 17 (223 total observations) measuring blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) …

What Is The Intention To Move And When Does It Occur?, Antonio I. Triggiani, Gabriel Kreiman, Cara Lewis, Uri Maoz, Alfred Mele, Liad Mudrik, Adina L. Roskies, Aaron Schurger, Mark Hallett

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In 1983 Benjamin Libet and colleagues published a paper apparently challenging the view that the conscious intention to move precedes the brain’s preparation for movement. The experiment initiated debates about the nature of intention, the neurophysiology of movement, and philosophical and legal understanding of free will and moral responsibility. Here we review the concept of “conscious intention” and attempts to measure its timing. Scalp electroencephalographic activity prior to movement, the Bereitschaftspotential, clearly begins prior to the reported onset of conscious intent. However, the interpretation of this finding remains controversial. Numerous studies show that the Libet method for determining intent, W …

Dimensionality Reduction For Classification Of Object Weight From Electromyography, Elnaz Lashgari, Uri Maoz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Electromyography (EMG) is a simple, non-invasive, and cost-effective technology for measuring muscle activity. However, multi-muscle EMG is also a noisy, complex, and high-dimensional signal. It has nevertheless been widely used in a host of human-machine-interface applications (electrical wheelchairs, virtual computer mice, prosthesis, robotic fingers, etc.) and, in particular, to measure the reach-and-grasp motions of the human hand. Here, we developed an automated pipeline to predict object weight in a reach-grasp-lift task from an open dataset, relying only on EMG data. In doing so, we shifted the focus from manual feature-engineering to automated feature-extraction by using pre-processed EMG signals and thus …

Prenatal Maternal Mood Entropy Is Associated With Child Neurodevelopment, Mariann A. Howland, Curt A. Sandman, Elysia Poggi Davis, Hal S. Stern, Michael Phelan, Tallie Z. Baram, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Emerging evidence indicates that the predictability of signals early in life may influence the developing brain. This study examines links between a novel indicator of maternal mood dysregulation, mood entropy, and child neurodevelopmental outcomes. Associations between prenatal maternal mood entropy and child neurodevelopment were assessed in 2 longitudinal cohorts. Maternal mood was measured several times over pregnancy beginning as early as 15 weeks’ gestation. Shannon’s mood entropy was applied to distributions of mothers’ responses on mood questionnaires. Child cognitive and language development were evaluated at 2 and 6–9 years of age. Higher prenatal maternal mood entropy was associated with lower …

Aberrant Maturation Of The Uncinate Fasciculus Follows Exposure To Unpredictable Patterns Of Maternal Signals, Steven J. Granger, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman, Steven L. Small, Andre Obenaus, David B. Keator, Tallie Z. Baram, Hal S. Stern, Michael A. Yassa, Elyssia Poggi Davis

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Across species, unpredictable patterns of maternal behavior are emerging as novel predictors of aberrant cognitive and emotional outcomes later in life. In animal models, exposure to unpredictable patterns of maternal behavior alters brain circuit maturation and cognitive and emotional outcomes. However, whether exposure to such signals in humans alters the development of brain pathways is unknown. In mother–child dyads, we tested the hypothesis that exposure to more unpredictable maternal signals in infancy is associated with aberrant maturation of corticolimbic pathways. We focused on the uncinate fasciculus, the primary fiber bundle connecting the amygdala to the orbitofrontal cortex and a key …

Does It Matter Whether You Or Your Brain Did It? An Empirical Investigation Of The Influence Of The Double Subject Fallacy On Moral Responsibility Judgments, Uri Maoz, Kellienne R. Sita, Jeroen J. A. Van Boxtel, Liad Mudrik

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Despite progress in cognitive neuroscience, we are still far from understanding the relations between the brain and the conscious self. We previously suggested that some neuroscientific texts that attempt to clarify these relations may in fact make them more difficult to understand. Such texts—ranging from popular science to high-impact scientific publications—position the brain and the conscious self as two independent, interacting subjects, capable of possessing opposite psychological states. We termed such writing ‘Double Subject Fallacy’ (DSF). We further suggested that such DSF language, besides being conceptually confusing and reflecting dualistic intuitions, might affect people’s conceptions of moral responsibility, lessening the …

The Influence Of Unpredictable, Fragmented Parental Signals On The Developing Brain, Laura M. Glynn, Tallie Z. Baram

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Mental illnesses originate early in life, governed by environmental and genetic factors. Because parents are a dominant source of signals to the developing child, parental signals - beginning with maternal signals in utero - are primary contributors to children’s mental health. Existing literature on maternal signals has focused almost exclusively on their quality and valence (e.g. maternal depression, sensitivity). Here we identify a novel dimension of maternal signals: their patterns and especially their predictability/unpredictability, as an important determinant of children’s neurodevelopment. We find that unpredictable maternal mood and behavior presage risk for child and adolescent psychopathology. In experimental models, fragmented/unpredictable …

Treating Adhd With Suggestion: Neurofeedback And Placebo Therapeutics, Robert T. Thibault, Samuel Vassière, Jay A. Olson, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: We propose that clinicians can use suggestion to help treat conditions such as ADHD. Methods: We use EEG neurofeedback as a case study, alongside evidence from a recent pilot experiment utilizing a sham MRI scanner to highlight the therapeutic potential of suggestion-based treatments. Results: The medical literature demonstrates that many practitioners already prescribe treatments that hardly outperform placebo comparators. Moreover, the sham MRI experiment showed that, even with full disclosure of the procedure, suggestion alone can reduce the symptomatology of ADHD. Conclusion: Non-deceptive suggestion-based treatments, especially those drawing on accessories from neuroscience, may offer a safe complement and potential …

Network Specialization During Adolescence: Hippocampal Effective Connectivity In Boys And Girls, Jeffrey D. Riley, E. Elinor Chen, Jessica Winsell, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn, Tallie Z. Baram, Curt A. Sandman, Steven L. Small, Ana Solodkin

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Adolescence is a complex period of concurrent mental and physical development that facilitates adult functioning at multiple levels. Despite the growing number of neuroimaging studies of cognitive development in adolescence focusing on regional activation patterns, there remains a paucity of information about the functional interactions across these participating regions that are critical for cognitive functioning, including memory. The current study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine how interactions among brain regions critical for memory change over the course of adolescence. We obtained functional MRI in 77 individuals aged 8–16 years old, divided into younger (ages 8–10) and older (ages …

Cortical Thinning And Neuropsychiatric Outcomes In Children Exposed To Prenatal Adversity: A Role For Placental Crh?, Curt A. Sandman, Megan M. Curran, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn, Kevin Head, Tallie Z. Baram

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Exposure to early life adversity may disrupt the development and maturation of neurons and brain circuits, which, in turn, underlie neurodevelopment and mental illnesses. During fetal life, maternal adversity is conveyed to the developing brain via several molecular signals, including the stress hormone corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH). Employing a large well characterized prospective cohort, we find that fetal exposure to placental-origin CRH levels predicts structural and functional brain outcomes in children. Specifically, elevated placental CRH levels portend thinning of selective cortical regions of exposed individuals, with commensurate cognitive and emotional deficits. Notably, the relations of placental-origin CRH to cortical thinning …

The Climate Of Neurofeedback: Scientific Rigour And The Perils Of Ideology, Robert T. Thibault, Michael Lifshitz, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Over the last six decades, an in-group with ideological and financial stakes has been conducting sub-par research to develop an ostensibly effective clinical intervention: EEG-neurofeedback. More recently, however, a string of independent studies featuring increased scientific rigour and tighter experimental controls has challenged the foundation on which EEG-neurofeedback stands. Earlier this year, Brain published one of the most robust EEG-neurofeedback experiments to date (Schabus et al., 2017), which sparked a flurry of correspondence concerning the therapeutic value of neurofeedback (Fovet et al., 2017; Schabus, 2017); notably, a parallel discussion continues in Lancet Psychiatry …

Source Localization Of Brain States Associated With Canonical Neuroimaging Postures, Michael Lifshitz, Robert T. Thibault, Raquel R. Roth, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Cognitive neuroscientists rarely consider the influence that body position exerts on brain activity; yet, postural variation holds important implications for the acquisition and interpretation of neuroimaging data. Whereas participants in most behavioral and EEG experiments sit upright, many prominent brain imaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) require participants to lie supine. Here we demonstrate that physical comportment profoundly alters baseline brain activity as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG)—an imaging modality that permits multipostural acquisition. We collected resting-state MEG data from 12 healthy participants in three postures (lying supine, reclining at 45°, and sitting upright). Source-modeling analysis revealed a broadly distributed influence of posture …

Neurofeedback Or Neuroplacebo?, Robert T. Thibault, Michael Lifshitz, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This scientific commentary refers to ‘Better than sham? A double-blind placebo-controlled neurofeedback study in primary insomnia’, by Schabus et al.. (doi:10.1093/brain/awx011).

Patterns Of Fetal Heart Rate Response At ∼30 Weeks Gestation Predict Size At Birth, C. Sandman, C. J. Cordova, E. P. Davis, Laura M. Glynn, C. Buss

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

There is evidence that fetal exposure to maternal stress is associated with adverse birth outcomes. Less is known about the association between fetal responses to a stressor and indicators of fetal maturity and developmental outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns in response to a startling stimulus at ∼30 weeks of gestation were associated with gestational age at birth and birth weight. FHR was measured in 156 maternal–fetal dyads following a vibroacoustic stimulus. All pregnancies were singleton intrauterine pregnancies in English-speaking women who were primarily married, middle class, White and at …