Application of pharmacological fMRI to developmental psychiatric disorders

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of neural activity induced by pharmacological stimulation (phMRI) is a promising technique for revealing pathophysiology and etiology of developmental psychiatric disorders. Recent investigations of the dopaminergic system have made possible the use of phMRI as a non‐invasive assay for neurotransmitter function. This paper explores applications of phMRI for identification of neurophysiological trait‐dependent and clinical state‐dependent mechanisms that can define biologically valid diagnostic criteria for developmental psychiatric disorders. Further, applications of phMRI for investigations of neurochemical changes induced by long‐term drug exposure, alternative therapies and normal brain maturation are discussed. The paper ends by highlighting methodological challenges posed by experimental control of pharmacological stimulation that is essential for valid interpretation of phMRI results.     

fMRI of developmental stuttering: a pilot study

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the feasibility of fMRI in the study of developmental stuttering. Speech contrasts (loud versus silent reading) and language contrasts (reading of semantically meaningful text versus nonsense words) of six developmental stutterers and six nonstutterers were compared using a commercial 1 Tesla MR-Scanner (Siemens Expert). Results indicate that mapping cortical function in persons who stutter is indeed feasible, even with a 1TMR-system. Compared to normals the stutterers seemed to employ different and particularly less differentiated auditory and motor feedback strategies in speech. They apparently rely on auditory processing and on cerebellar contribution as much during silent reading as during reading aloud. Moreover, they showed a greater involvement of the right hemisphere in language processing, activating not only the typical language areas on the left but also and with equal magnitude the right side homologues of these areas. In spite of the promising results, at present several practical problems such as possible movement artifacts and possible masking through scanner noise still hamper a more straightforward use of fMRI in the study of developmental stuttering.     

A developmental investigation of ERP auditory rhyming effects

In a simple auditory rhyming paradigm requiring a button–press response (rhyme/nonrhyme) to the second word (target) of each spoken stimulus pair, both the early (P50, N120, P200, N240) and late (CNV, N400, P300) components of the ERP waveform evidenced considerable change from middle childhood to adulthood. In addition, behavioral accuracy and reaction time improved with increasing age. In contrast, the size, distribution and latency of each of several rhyming effects (including the posterior N400 rhyming effect, a left hemisphere anterior rhyming effect, and early rhyming effects on P50 latency, N120 latency and P200 amplitude) remained constant from age 7 to adulthood. These results indicate that the neurocognitive networks involved in processing auditory rhyme information, as indexed by the present task, are well established and have an adult–like organization at least by the age of 7.     

A critical review of ERP and fMRI evidence on L2 syntactic processing

The current review focuses on recent event-related brain potential (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in L2 syntactic processing data. To this end, critical factors influencing both the dynamics of neural mechanisms (ERPs) and critical functional brain correlates (fMRI) are discussed. These entail the critical period hypothesis, levels of proficiency, cross-linguistic syntactic similarities and dissimilarities as well as brain bases that may or may not be shared during syntactic processing in a first (L1) and a second (L2) language. The data to date reveal that (i) the critical period hypothesis plays less of a significant role than initially discussed, (ii) L2 proficiency is a driving factor influencing peak and extent of activation in brain correlates and in neurophysiological mechanisms as a function of learning, and (iii) language transfer effects (i.e., positive transfer effects when L1 and L2 are structurally similar or negative transfer effects when L1 and L2 are structurally dissimilar) primarily from the L1 to the L2 and potentially vice versa need to be critically considered in future research.     

Applications of gene targeting technology to mental retardation and developmental disability research

The human and mouse genome projects elucidated the sequence and position map of innumerous genes expressed in the central nervous system (CNS), advancing our ability to manipulate these sequences and create models to investigate regulation of gene expression and function. In this article, we reviewed gene targeting methodologies with emphasis on applications to CNS development and neurodevelopmental disorders.     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging: basic principles of and application to developmental science

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has quickly become the preferred technique for imaging normal brain activity, especially in the typically developing child. This technique takes advantage of specific magnetic properties and physiological processes to generate images of brain activity. These images can be interpreted as a function of group or individual based differences to explore developmental patterns and/or cognitive abilities. In this paper we present an overview of the basic principles of fMRI and a discussion of what is currently known about the physiological bases of the resulting signal. We also report findings from developmental fMRI studies that examine the development of cognitive and neural systems underlying attention and memory. Behavioral performance and age‐related neural changes are examined independently in an attempt to disentangle developmental differences from individual variability in performance.     

Clara and William Stern's conception of a developmental science

Clara and William Stern were two pioneers of developmental psychology who are now almost forgotten, although their works have miraculously survived war and exile. The Sterns' theoretical conception of development and their extensive empirical work were inspired by the new discipline of child psychology which had been established in the nineteenth century. In this contribution we present the Sterns' academic work in developmental psychology with the aim of setting a counterbalance to the present mainstream in this discipline. We wish to show that it is certainly worthwhile to take a look back into history, and that “old” does not necessarily mean “obsolete”.     

空间及言语工作记忆任务的情绪效应：来自ERP/ fMRI的证据

情绪与工作记忆的关系问题是情绪和认知研究领域中的子课题。根据加工效能理论, 负性情绪, 特别是焦虑对认知的影响通常被看作是通过影响工作记忆来完成的。因此, 探讨负性情绪是如何作用于工作记忆, 将有助于完善和发展情绪与认知的理论, 为心境障碍疾病的诊断、治疗及干预提供依据, 既具有学术价值又具有一定的临床意义。本论文在前人研究的基础上, 采用事件相关电位(ERP)和功能磁共振技术(fMRI), 系统地考察了情绪和工作记忆三个子成分(语音环路、视空间模板及中央执行器)间的关系。本论文抓住了当前的热点问题, 从情绪和认知的关系入手, 将脑成像、电生理和行为方面的研究有机结合, 将时间动态研究与空间定位研究相结合, 为情绪和工作记忆相互作用的神经机制提供独到的证据, 验证且发展了情绪和认知关系的奠基理论—— 加工效能理论。     

Look-normal: the colonized child of developmental science

This article provides an analysis of the techniques, methods, materials, and discourses of child study observation to illuminate its role in the sociohistorical colonization of childhood. Through analysis of key texts it explains how early 20th-century child study provided for the transcendence of historical, racial, and social contexts for understanding human development. The colonizing project of child study promoted the advancement of Eurocentric culture through a generic "White" development. What a child is and can be, and the meaning of childhood has been disembodied through observation, record keeping, and analytical processes in which time and space are abstracted from behavior, and development symbolized as a universal ideal.     

Applications of neural networks in training science

Training science views itself as an integrated and applied science, developing practical measures founded on scientific method. Therefore, it demands consideration of a wide spectrum of approaches and methods. Especially in the field of competitive sports, research questions are usually located in complex environments, so that mainly field studies are drawn upon to obtain broad external validity. Here, the interrelations between different variables or variable sets are mostly of a nonlinear character. In these cases, methods like neural networks, e.g., the pattern recognizing methods of Self-Organizing Kohonen Feature Maps or similar instruments to identify interactions might be successfully applied to analyze data. Following on from a classification of data analysis methods in training-science research, the aim of the contribution is to give examples of varied sports in which network approaches can be effectually used in training science. First, two examples are given in which neural networks are employed for pattern recognition. While one investigation deals with the detection of sporting talent in swimming, the other is located in game sports research, identifying tactical patterns in team handball. The third and last example shows how an artificial neural network can be used to predict competitive performance in swimming.     

Machine learning in suicide science: Applications and ethics

For decades, our ability to predict suicide has remained at near‐chance levels. Machine learning has recently emerged as a promising tool for advancing suicide science, particularly in the domain of suicide prediction. The present review provides an introduction to machine learning and its potential application to open questions in suicide research. Although only a few studies have implemented machine learning for suicide prediction, results to date indicate considerable improvement in accuracy and positive predictive value. Potential barriers to algorithm integration into clinical practice are discussed, as well as attendant ethical issues. Overall, machine learning approaches hold promise for accurate, scalable, and effective suicide risk detection; however, many critical questions and issues remain unexplored.     

The contribution of novel brain imaging techniques to understanding the neurobiology of mental retardation and developmental disabilities

Studying the biological mechanisms underlying mental retardation and developmental disabilities (MR/DD) is a very complex task. This is due to the wide heterogeneity of etiologies and pathways that lead to MR/DD. Breakthroughs in genetics and molecular biology and the development of sophisticated brain imaging techniques during the last decades have facilitated the emergence of a field called Behavioral Neurogenetics. Behavioral Neurogenetics focuses on studying genetic diseases with known etiologies that are manifested by unique cognitive and behavioral phenotypes. In this review, we describe the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, including structural MRI, functional MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and how they are implemented in the study of Williams (WS), velocardiofacial (VCFS), and fragile X (FXS) syndromes. From WS we learn that dorsal stream abnormalities can be associated with visuospatial deficits; VCFS is a model for exploring the molecular and brain pathways that lead to psychiatric disorders for which subjects with MR/DD are at increased risk; and finally, findings from multimodal imaging techniques show that aberrant frontal-striatal connections are implicated in the executive function and attentional deficits of subjects with FXS. By deciphering the molecular pathways and brain structure and function associated with cognitive deficits, we will gain a better understanding of the pathophysiology of MR/DD, which will eventually make possible more specific treatments for this population.     

Numerical and non-numerical ordinality processing in children with and without developmental dyscalculia: Evidence from fMRI

Ordinality is – beyond numerical magnitude (i.e., quantity) – an important characteristic of the number system. There is converging empirical evidence that (intra)parietal brain regions mediate number magnitude processing. Furthermore, recent findings suggest that the human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) supports magnitude and ordinality in a domain-general way. However, the latter findings are derived from adult studies and with respect to children (i.e., developing brain systems) both the neural correlates of ordinality processing and the precise role of the IPS (domain-general vs. domain-specific) in ordinality processing are thus far unknown. The present study aims at filling this gap by employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate numerical and non-numerical ordinality knowledge in children with and without developmental dyscalculia. In children (without DD) processing of numerical and non-numerical ordinality alike is supported by (intra)parietal cortex, thus extending the notion of a domain-general (intra)parietal cortex to developing brain systems. Moreover, activation extents in response to numerical ordinality processing differ significantly between children with and without dyscalculia in inferior parietal regions (supramarginal gyrus and IPS).     

Using fMRI to investigate

Using fMRI, we investigated the functional organization of prefrontal cortex (PFC) as participants briefly thought of a single just-experienced item (i.e., refreshed an active representation). The results of six studies, and a meta-analysis including previous studies, identified regions in left dorsolateral, anterior, and ventrolateral PFC associated in varying degrees with refreshing different types of information (visual and auditory words, drawings, patterns, people, places, or locations). In addition, activity increased in anterior cingulate with selection demands and in orbitofrontal cortex when a nonselected item was emotionally salient, consistent with a role for these areas in cognitive control (e.g., overcoming “mental rubbernecking”). We also found evidence that presenting emotional information disrupted an anterior component of the refresh circuit. We suggest that refreshing accounts for some neural activity observed in more complex tasks, such as working memory, long-term memory, and problem solving, and that its disruption (e.g., from aging or emotion) could have a broad impact.     

Do women with fragile X syndrome have problems in switching attention: preliminary findings from ERP and fMRI

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that represents the most common known cause of developmental delay. Recent neuropsychological findings indicate that females with FXS present with a specific pattern of cognitive deficits and that these difficulties primarily involve skills requiring executive control. The present study is the first to examine the extent to which neural activity of females with FXS can be observed on a task that specifically taps two core deficits, namely switching and response inhibition. Brain activity was measured using both event-related electrical potentials (ERPs) and event-related functional MRI (fMRI) neuroimaging in separate studies using the same cognitive paradigm. Compared to controls, females with FXS were significantly slower and made more errors on trials that required an immediate response (Go) to stimulus onset but were comparable on trials that required a delayed response (Wait) to stimulus onset. At the brain level, several areas showed significantly greater activation for females with FXS compared with controls, including the cingulate cortex and left and right ventral prefrontal areas. In contrast, no areas were found to show significantly greater activation for controls compared with females with FXS.