Effective connectivity hierarchically links temporoparietal and frontal areas of the auditory dorsal stream with the motor cortex lip area during speech perception

A left-hemispheric cortico-cortical network involving areas of the temporoparietal junction (Tpj) and the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) is thought to support sensorimotor integration of speech perception into articulatory motor activation, but how this network links with the lip area of the primary motor cortex (M1) during speech perception is unclear. Using paired-coil focal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy subjects, we demonstrate that Tpj → M1 and pIFG → M1 effective connectivity increased when listening to speech compared to white noise. A virtual lesion induced by continuous theta-burst TMS (cTBS) of the pIFG abolished the task-dependent increase in pIFG → M1 but not Tpj → M1 effective connectivity during speech perception, whereas cTBS of Tpj abolished the task-dependent increase of both effective connectivities. We conclude that speech perception enhances effective connectivity between areas of the auditory dorsal stream and M1. Tpj is situated at a hierarchically high level, integrating speech perception into motor activation through the pIFG.     

Transient beneficial effects of excitatory theta burst stimulation in a patient with phonological agraphia after left supramarginal gyrus infarction

We report a patient showing isolated phonological agraphia after an ischemic stroke involving the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG). In this patient, we investigated the effects of focal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) given as theta burst stimulation (TBS) over the left SMG, corresponding to the Brodmann area (BA) 40. The patient and ten control subjects performed a dictational words and nonwords writing task before, and 5 and 30 min after they received excitatory intermittent TBS (iTBS) over the left BA 40, the right hemisphere homologous to BA 40, the Wernicke’s area, or the primary visual cortex.ITBS over the left SMG lead to a brief facilitation of phonological non-words writing to dictation. This case study report illustrates that rTMS is able to influence, among other language functions, the phonological loading processes during the written language production in stroke patients.     

Mind matters: A narrative review on affective state-dependency in non-invasive brain stimulation

Variability in findings related to non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) have increasingly been described as a result of differences in neurophysiological state. Additionally, there is some evidence suggesting that individual differences in psychological states may correlate with the magnitude and directionality of effects of NIBS on the neural and behavioural level. In this narrative review, it is proposed that the assessment of baseline affective states can quantify non-reductive properties which are not readily accessible to neuroscientific methods. Particularly, affective-related states are theorized to correlate with physiological, behavioural and phenomenological effects of NIBS. While further systematic research is needed, baseline psychological states are suggested to provide a complementary cost-effective source of information for understanding variability in NIBS outcomes. Implementing measures of psychological state may potentially contribute to increasing the sensitivity and specificity of results in experimental and clinical NIBS studies.     

Les effets du port du masque sanitaire sur les jeunes enfants en lieux d’accueil collectif

IntroductionMandatory for professionals working in collective care facilities with children aged 3 months to 3 years, the wearing of a mask modifies information that is crucial for verbal and non-verbal communication, which is essential for social development.ObjectiveAn exploratory survey aims to collect the perception of these professionals of the children's reactions to the wearing and removal of the mask.MethodIn mid-December 2020, 586 people recorded 895 observed reactions to the wearing of masks and 793 to their removal in a questionnaire posted on a site dedicated to early childhood professionals.ResultsThe content analysis of the discursive corpus indicates that 75% of the observations on the wearing of the mask mainly concern problems in interactional experiences and difficulties in language activities, with 25% indicating no notable reaction in the children. When the mask is removed, more than half of the observations refer to positive effects: improved relational exchanges, better involvement in activities, particularly language activities, positive emotional reactions, etc. The testimonies also evoke an ostensible attentional activity to the (re)discovery of the adult's whole face, negative emotional reactions and sometimes a non identification of the adult.ConclusionThe majority of professionals perceive difficulties in the areas of language communication and social-emotional interaction. The overall data, although not conclusive due to the inherent limitations of the method used, are consistent with the results of other studies on the effects of wearing a mask on speech and social perception.     

Why is “blindsight” blind? A new perspective on primary visual cortex,recurrent activity and visual awareness

The neuropsychological phenomenon of blindsight has been taken to suggest that the primary visual cortex (V1) plays a unique role in visual awareness, and that extrastriate activation needs to be fed back to V1 in order for the content of that activation to be consciously perceived. The aim of this review is to evaluate this theoretical framework and to revisit its key tenets. Firstly, is blindsight truly a dissociation of awareness and visual detection? Secondly, is there sufficient evidence to rule out the possibility that the loss of awareness resulting from a V1 lesion simply reflects reduced extrastriate responsiveness, rather than a unique role of V1 in conscious experience? Evaluation of these arguments and the empirical evidence leads to the conclusion that the loss of phenomenal awareness in blindsight may not be due to feedback activity in V1 being the hallmark awareness. On the basis of existing literature, an alternative explanation of blindsight is proposed. In this view, visual awareness is a “global” cognitive function as its hallmark is the availability of information to a large number of perceptual and cognitive systems; this requires inter-areal long-range synchronous oscillatory activity. For these oscillations to arise, a specific temporal profile of neuronal activity is required, which is established through recurrent feedback activity involving V1 and the extrastriate cortex. When V1 is lesioned, the loss of recurrent activity prevents inter-areal networks on the basis of oscillatory activity. However, as limited amount of input can reach extrastriate cortex and some extrastriate neuronal selectivity is preserved, computations involving comparison of neural firing rates within a cortical area remain possible. This enables “local” read-out from specific brain regions, allowing for the detection and discrimination of basic visual attributes. Thus blindsight is blind due to lack of “global” long-range synchrony, and it functions via “local” neural readout from extrastriate areas.     

Family play,reading, and other stimulation and early childhood development in five low-and-middle-income countries

This paper used longitudinal data from five studies conducted in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda to examine the links between family stimulation and early childhood development outcomes (N = 4904; M_age = 51.5; 49% girls). Results from random-effects and more conservative child-fixed effects models indicate that across these studies, family stimulation, measured by caregivers’ engagement in nine activities (e.g., reading, playing, singing), predicted increments in children's early numeracy, literacy, social-emotional, motor, and executive function skills (standardized associations ranged from 0.05 to 0.11 SD). Study-specific models showed variability in the estimates, with null associations in two out of the five studies. These findings indicate the need for additional research on culturally specific ways in which caregivers may support early development and highlight the importance of promoting family stimulation to catalyze positive developmental trajectories in global contexts.

Research Highlights

• Research on the links between family stimulation and early childhood development in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) is limited.
• We used longitudinal data from studies conducted in five LMICs to examine the links between family stimulation and early childhood development outcomes.
• Results suggest that family stimulation predicted increments in children's numeracy, literacy, social-emotional, motor, and executive function skills.
• We found variability in the observed estimates, with null associations in two out of the five studies, suggesting the need for additional research in LMICs.

     

The minimal self hypothesis

For millennia self has been conjectured to be necessary for consciousness. But scant empirical evidence has been adduced to support this hypothesis. Inconsistent explications of “self” and failure to design apt experiments have impeded progress. Advocates of phenomenological psychiatry, however, have helped explicate “self,” and employed it to explain some psychopathological symptoms. In those studies, “self” is understood in a minimalist sense, sheer “for-me-ness.” Unfortunately, explication of the “minimal self” (MS) has relied on conceptual analysis, and applications to psychopathology have been hermeneutic, allowing for many degrees of interpretive latitude. The result is that MS’s current scientific status is analogous to that of the “atom,” at the time when “atom” was just beginning to undergo transformation from a philosophical to a scientific concept. Fortunately, there is now an opportunity to promote a similar transformation for “MS.” Discovery of the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) opened the door to neuroimaging investigations of self. Taking the DMN and other forms of intrinsic activity as a starting point, an empirical foothold can be established, one that spurs experimental research and that enables extension of research into multiple phenomena. New experimental protocols that posit “MS” can help explain phenomena hitherto not thought to be related to self, thereby hastening development of a mature science of self. In particular, targeting phenomena wherein consciousness is lost and recovered, as in some cases of Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), allow for design of neuroimaging probes that enable detection of MS during non-conscious states. These probes, as well as other experimental protocols applied to NREM Sleep, General Anesthesia (GA), and the waking state, provide some evidence to suggest that not only can self and consciousness dissociate, MS might be a necessary precondition for conscious experience. Finally, these findings have implications for the science of consciousness: it has been suggested that “levels of consciousness” (LoC) is not a legitimate concept for the science of consciousness. But because we have the conceptual and methodological tools with which to refine investigations of MS, we have the means to identify a possible foundation—a bifurcation point—for consciousness, as well as the means by which to measure degrees of distance from that foundation. These neuroimaging investigations of MS position us to better assess whether LoC has a role to play in a mature science of consciousness.     

How do included and excluded students with SEBD function socially and academically after 1,5 year of special education services?

ABSTRACT

The present study tested three conflicting hypotheses as to how students with social/emotional/behavioural difficulties (SEBD), who showed similar social-emotional, behavioural and academic functioning prior to placement, function socially and academically after they have received additional support either in inclusive regular education or in exclusive special education. Thirty-six included and 15 excluded students with SEBD participated. We collected data from students and teachers with classroom surveys, individual testing sessions with students with SEBD, and from application files. Using Bayesian statistics, our results suggest that excluded students are better socially embedded in exclusive special education and that they perform better academically than comparable included students with SEBD. Special education services in exclusive settings may thus afford certain benefits to some students with SEBD, not typically found in regular education, which can be considered a first indication that there may be valid counterarguments against the ‘inclusion for all’ perspective on educational needs.     

成人注意缺陷多动障碍在内外源冲突时的表现:眼动的证据

在注意定向与维持上,注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)个体更容易受到外部刺激的干扰而导致目标任务加工进程受阻,表现出了注意定向反应的缺陷,但导致任务失败的原因是由于对突然出现的外部无关刺激的过度兴奋还是对内源性目标刺激的持续维持能力减弱,尚不清楚。研究采用反向眼跳范式、记忆导向眼跳范式和视觉导向眼跳范式,来探索成人ADHD内外源注意定向反应的情况,以及当二者发生冲突时,成人ADHD失败的可能机制。结果发现,在反向眼跳任务上,成人注意缺陷多动障碍组错误率更高,并且差异性显著。但在记忆导向眼跳任务中,成人注意缺陷多动障碍组与正常组的差异不显著。在视觉导向眼跳任务中,成人注意缺陷多动障碍组的正确眼跳潜伏期比正常组要短,且二者之间的差异显著。这说明,在内外源刺激反应的冲突导致的情境中,成人注意缺陷多动障碍的反应明显落后于正常个体,这种缺陷并非由于其维持内源性注意产生定向反应落后所导致的,而是与其外源注意定向反应过强有关。