Traumatic Brain Injury in School-Age Children Academic and Social Outcome

School-aged children with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) require extraordinary effort and energy from individuals in their school, home, and community. The purpose of this study was to examine the academic, behavioral, and social outcomes of a cohort of children and adolescents following TBI. A comprehensive assessment of cognitive functioning, achievement, and adaptive behavior was administered to 43 school-aged children 2 years after their TBI. Premorbid functioning for each participant was obtained from state-mandated test scores assessed prior to the TBI. The predictive utility of premorbid functioning, TBI severity, and age at injury were examined. Findings revealed that premorbid functions were significant predictors of reading and spelling achievement and adaptive functioning. Severity of injury was predictive of adaptive functioning. Implications of findings include program development, reintegration into school, and educating parents and teachers.     

空间导航的脑网络基础和调控机制

空间导航在生活中时刻发生,空间能力衰退是阿尔兹海默症的重要早期表现。早期关于空间导航神经机制的研究主要关注单个脑区的特异性功能,但这些脑区如何交互以整合不同模态的信息支持复杂导航行为尚不清楚。脑成像技术、脑网络建模方法和神经调控手段的发展,为在脑网络水平理解人类空间导航的认知神经机制提供了重要研究手段。本研究试图融合空间导航认知神经机制研究的最新进展,借助脑网络建模、大数据分析、微电流刺激等前沿研究手段,研究空间导航脑网络的关键拓扑属性特征(如模块化、核心节点等),探寻该功能特异性神经网络的重要影响因素和调控机制,并构建空间导航的脑网络理论模型。研究成果将有利于理解人类复杂导航行为的脑网络基础,为阿尔兹海默症等相关认知障碍脑疾病的筛查和诊断提供重要参考。     

婴儿的痛觉

婴儿痛觉对婴儿的生长发育有重要意义, 已经日益引发研究者的兴趣。痛觉本质上是一种不愉悦的感官和情绪体验, 是通过早年与伤害有关的经历习得的。在心理学角度, 在介绍婴儿痛觉概念、神经生理机制、评估工具的基础上, 系统梳理痛觉对婴儿生长发育的影响及其影响因素十分必要。后续研究需继续完善婴儿痛觉的测量方法, 考察疼痛反应在不同文化和不同群体间的差异。     

外侧缰核作用于抑郁的神经生理机制

本文旨在梳理国内外有关外侧缰核作用于抑郁神经生理机制的研究成果,以期为今后抑郁研究提供借鉴和参考。首先,阐明了外侧缰核的过度兴奋会加强对下游奖赏中心单胺能脑区的抑制从而诱发抑郁的内在通路。然后,进一步论述了介导外侧缰核过度兴奋的分子机制。最后,未来要重点以人类为被试,采用纵向设计,加强外侧缰核对抑郁的影响、作用机制及其性别差异的研究,同时考察遗传基因和环境在其间的调控效应等问题。     

Reducing risk of head injury in youth soccer: An extension of behavioral skills training for heading

Recently, concerns regarding sport-related concussions have increased within the research literature, the media, and popular culture. One potential source of soccer-related concussions involves the purposeful striking of the ball with one's head (i.e., heading). There is currently limited research on an effective teaching method to improve safe heading technique. In the current study, Behavior Skills Training (BST) was evaluated as a method to teach correct heading techniques to youth soccer players. BST increased the percentage of correct steps for each player based on a task analysis of heading. Based on social validity questionnaires administered to players and the coach, BST was rated as an acceptable form of training. After the final training session, experienced coaches rated each player as having improved from baseline to training.     

Explaining neurocognitive aging: is one factor enough?

As an introduction to the special issue on neurocognitive factors underlying age effects, we discuss a number of recent developments in the literature on aging. The classic distinction between generalized and process-specific cognitive changes with old age has reappeared in the distinctions between the frontal lobe hypothesis and more differentiated views of neurocognitive aging. We argue that neurological decay in the frontal cortex has important implications for cognitive control, but that the frontal lobe hypothesis does not capture the plethora of changes that characterize aging and incorrectly suggests a unitary effect.     

Cultural Diversity and Patients with Reduced Capacity: The Use of Ethics Consultation to Advocate for Mentally Handicapped Persons in Living Organ Donation

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - Living organ donation will soon become the source of the majority of organs donations for transplant. Should mentally handicapped people be allowed to donate,...     

Transcranial magnetic stimulation as a tool for cognitive studies

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a tool for the non-invasive stimulation of the human brain. It allows the activation of arbitrary sites of the superficial cortex and, combined with other brain-imaging techniques such as EEG, PET, and fMRI, it can be used to evaluate cortical excitability and connectivity. This is of major importance in, for example, the study of cognitive processes such as language, learning, memory and self-representation, which are thought to be represented in multiple brain areas. The mechanisms of action of TMS are known on a basic level, but its effect on the activation state of brain tissue is still poorly understood. Clinical applications of TMS have also been proposed and guidelines for its safe use drafted.     

从面孔模块到马赛克──视觉特异性加工的脑机制

“脑功能的模块性”是视觉乃至整个认知神经科学的研究热点。特异性的面孔加工模块被当作是认知模块假说的最好证据。但综述跨学科的正反两方面实验证据表明,视觉加工存在特异性,并没有普遍的模块式的亚单元,而是“马赛克”镶嵌式的组构。     

Understanding Biology in Religious Experience: The Biogenetic Structuralist Approach of Eugene d'Aquili and Andrew Newberg

What are the biological bases of religious experience? Are there biological constraints upon or determinants of religious narratives and practices? How does understanding the biology of religious experience inform the ongoing reconstruction of religious rituals and myths? In The Mystical Mind, Eugene d’Aquili and Andrew Newberg address these central questions and others from a distinct perspective called biogenetic structuralism. They propose a model of how brain activity gives rise to mystical experiential states, examine how neurobiological responses to rhythmic behavior form religious ritual, and point toward the development of a megatheology, or a theological system appealing to the widest scope of religious world‐views. This paper is a critical review of d’Aquili and Newberg's exciting work.