Rapid cerebral hemodynamic modulation during set shifting: Evidence of time-locked associations with cognitive control in females

Set shifting provokes specific alterations of cerebral hemodynamics in basal cerebral arteries. However, no gender differences have been reported. In the following functional transcranial Doppler study, we introduced cerebral hemodynamic modulation to the aspects of set shifting during Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Twenty-one subjects underwent the WCST during insonation of the middle cerebral arteries. We examined gender effects on task performance and cerebral hemodynamic modulation. Further, we investigated the linkage between performance and cerebral hemodynamic modulation. In females, maximum positive modulation was restricted to the behaviorally relevant time point of set shifting, and there were time-locked associations between mental slowing during set shifting and rapid cerebral hemodynamic modulation exclusively in females. This study provides evidence of gender-related cerebral hemodynamic modulation during set shifting, and we detected time-locked brain–behavior relationship during cognitive control in females.     

fNIRS在自闭症脑功能研究中的应用与展望

社会交往能力是人类生存的基本技能。社交能力的缺失会导致严重的行为障碍和精神疾病,如自闭症。由于自闭症儿童的特殊性,绝大多数的自闭症脑成像研究多集中在年龄较大的高功能自闭症儿童在静息态或简单的任务态下的脑激活模式或功能连接状态。自闭症的核心症状—社会交往障碍和语言交流障碍却较少有研究触及。近年来,近红外光学脑功能成像技术的发展为我们在真实的交流和互动中研究自闭症儿童的神经病理机制提供了新的工具和机遇。     

How to build a brain: from function to implementation

To have a fully integrated understanding of neurobiological systems, we must address two fundamental questions: 1. What do brains do (what is their function)? and 2. How do brains do whatever it is that they do (how is that function implemented)? I begin by arguing that these questions are necessarily inter-related. Thus, addressing one without consideration of an answer to the other, as is often done, is a mistake. I then describe what I take to be the best available approach to addressing both questions. Specifically, to address 2, I adopt the Neural Engineering Framework (NEF) of Eliasmith &; Anderson [Neural engineering: Computation representation and dynamics in neurobiological systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003] which identifies implementational principles for neural models. To address 1, I suggest that adopting statistical modeling methods for perception and action will be functionally sufficient for capturing biological behavior. I show how these two answers will be mutually constraining, since the process of model selection for the statistical method in this approach can be informed by known anatomical and physiological properties of the brain, captured by the NEF. Similarly, the application of the NEF must be informed by functional hypotheses, captured by the statistical modeling approach.     

A Cross-Linguistic Speech Error Investigation of Functional Complexity

This work is a systematic, cross-linguistic examination of speech errors in English, Hindi, Japanese, Spanish and Turkish. It first describes a methodology for the generation of parallel corpora of error data, then uses these data to examine three general hypotheses about the relationship between language structure and the speech production system. All of the following hypotheses were supported by the data. Languages are equally complex. No overall differences were found in the numbers of errors made by speakers of the five languages in the study. Languages are processed in similar ways. English-based generalizations about language production were tested to see to what extent they would hold true across languages. It was found that, to a large degree, languages follow similar patterns. However, the relative numbers of phonological anticipations and perseverations in other languages did not follow the English pattern. Languages differ in that speech errors tend to cluster around loci of complexity within each language. Languages such as Turkish and Spanish, which have more inflectional morphology, exhibit more errors involving inflected forms, while languages such as Japanese, with rich systems of closed-class forms, tend to have more errors involving closed-class items.     

What's the point? Towards a methodology for assessing the function of psychiatric inpatient aggression

There are few examples in the literature of the application of functional analysis to psychiatric inpatient aggression. Structural assessment approaches have dominated. This paper introduces a system for classifying the functions of aggression in psychiatric inpatients that was applied to 502 aggressive behaviours exhibited by patients in a secure forensic psychiatric hospital. At least one function was identified for the majority of aggressive incidents; the most common functions pertaining to patients' responses to the restrictions and demands of the inpatient setting, to express anger or to punish others perceived as provocative, and to maintain status. There was little evidence suggesting that aggression was used to obtain tangible rewards, to reduce social isolation, or to simply observe the suffering of others. Differences in the function of aggressive behaviour were found across victim types. Results of this study have implications for the prediction and prevention of inpatient aggression and for the treatment of aggressive inpatients.     

Psychopathology of Adolescent Social Phobia

Sixty-three adolescents with social phobia and 43 with no psychiatric disorders were compared across a number of clinical variables. In addition to clinically impairing social fear, adolescents with social phobia had significantly higher levels of loneliness, dysphoria, general emotional over-responsiveness and more internalizing behaviors than normal controls and 57.1% of socially phobic adolescents had a second, concurrent diagnosis, 75% of which were other anxiety disorders. In addition, adolescents with social phobia were significantly less socially skilled. Though similar in some respects to childhood social phobia, adolescent social phobia has a unique clinical presentation. The importance of developmental differences on the development of age-appropriate interventions is discussed.     

Role of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Drug Discovery

In this review, we survey the state of the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as it relates to drug discovery and drug development. We highlight the advantages and limitations of fMRI for this purpose and suggest ways to improve the use of fMRI for developing new therapeutics, with emphasis on treatments for anxiety disorders. Fundamentally, pharmacological studies with standard psychiatric treatments using standardized behavioral probes during fMRI will need to be carried out to determine characteristic brain signatures that could be used to predict whether novel compounds are likely to have specific therapeutic effects.     

Pre-Surgical Language Mapping with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Patients with lesions in or near eloquent cortex typically undergo one of several invasive techniques to prevent loss of function following surgery. One of the most promising potential clinical applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is to map these functions as part of the pre-surgical work-up to identify patients at-risk, guide the surgical entry, or tailor the surgical procedure to prevent deficits. While motor and sensory mapping are relatively straightforward, language mapping is far more complex. The language system is variable in location across individuals and in many cases may reorganize partially or completely to the contralateral hemisphere. In addition, multiple regions of the brain contribute to language functioning including essential regions that must not be removed in surgery, and contributory regions that may result in transient or insignificant impairments post-surgery. Despite these challenges, an increasing number of studies have supported the use of fMRI for pre-surgical language mapping in a variety of disorders. This article reviews the literature from three disorders for which patients benefit from preoperative language mapping: epilepsy, brain tumors, and arteriovenous malformations. Each disorder presents unique challenges to language mapping. Specific case studies are presented highlighting the both the potential benefits of preclinical fMRI for language mapping as well as the potential risks and pitfalls.     

Language evolution as a Darwinian process: computational studies

This paper presents computational experiments that illustrate how one can precisely conceptualize language evolution as a Darwinian process. We show that there is potentially a wide diversity of replicating units and replication mechanisms involved in language evolution. Computational experiments allow us to study systemic properties coming out of populations of linguistic replicators: linguistic replicators can adapt to specific external environments; they evolve under the pressure of the cognitive constraints of their hosts, as well as under the functional pressure of communication for which they are used; one can observe neutral drift; coalitions of replicators may appear, forming higher level groups which can themselves become subject to competition and selection.

组织中的申述

组织中的申述指发生在组织环境中的解释。在理论上,研究者采用印象管理和归因、互动公正以及公平理论三种视角探讨申述对缓和组织困境的作用。在方法上,研究者除了使用关键事件调查和实验室实验法之外,发展了“置于情境的实验”方法。在研究成果上,发现申述除了具有积极作用之外,有时也具有反作用和副作用。文章还讨论了申述的应用价值