Search results for " Prefrontal Cortex"

Neurobiological foundations of multisensory processing integration in people with autism spectrum disorders: The role of the medial prefrontal cortex

2014

This review aims to relate the sensory processing problems in people with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), especially Multisensory interaction (MSI), to the role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) by exploring neuroanatomical findings; brain connectivity and Default Network (DN); global or locally directed attention; and temporal multisensory binding. The mPFC is part of the brain’s DN, which is deactivated when attention is focused on a particular task and activated on rest when spontaneous cognition emerges. In those with ASD, it is hypoactive and the higher the social impairment the greater the atypical activity. With an immature DN, cross-modal integration is impaired, resulting in …

The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in implicit procedural learning.

1996

We studied the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in procedural learning. Normal subjects completed several blocks of a serial reaction time task using only one hand without or with concurrent non-invasive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. To disrupt their function transiently, stimulation was applied at low intensity over the supplementary motor area or over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex contralateral or ipsilateral to the hand used for the test. Stimulation to the contralateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex markedly impaired procedural implicit learning, as documented by the lack of significant change in response times during the task. Stimulation over the other …

A failure of high level verbal response selection in progressive dynamic aphasia.

2005

Different theoretical interpretations have been offered in order to account for a specific language impairment termed dynamic aphasia. We report a patient (CH) who presented with a dynamic aphasia in the context of nonfluent progressive aphasia. CH had the hallmark of reduced spontaneous speech in the context of preserved naming, reading, and single word repetition and comprehension. Articulatory and grammatical difficulties were also present. CH had a very severe verbal generation impairment despite being able to describe pictorial scenes and action sequences well. In the experimental investigations CH was severely impaired in word, phrase, and sentence generation tasks when many competing…

Modulation of higher-order olfaction components on executive functions in humans

2015

The prefrontal (PFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) appear to be associated with both executive functions and olfaction. However, there is little data relating olfactory processing and executive functions in humans. The present study aimed at exploring the role of olfaction on executive functioning, making a distinction between primary and more cognitive aspects of olfaction. Three executive tasks of similar difficulty were used. One was used to assess hot executive functions (Iowa Gambling Task-IGT), and two as a measure of cold executive functioning (Stroop Colour and Word Test-SCWT and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-WCST). Sixty two healthy participants were included: 31 with normosmia and …

Excitability regulation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during sustained instructed fear responses: a TMS-EEG study

2018

AbstractBackgroundThreat detection is essential for protecting individuals from precarious situations. Early studies suggested a network of amygdala, limbic regions and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) involved in fear processing. Excitability regulation in the dmPFC might be crucial for physiological fear processing, while an abnormal excitability pattern could lead to mental illness. Non-invasive paradigms to measure excitability regulation during fear processing in humans are missing.MethodsWe adapted an experimental approach of excitability characterization using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the dmPFC during an instructed …

Comparison of anterior cingulate vs. insular cortex as targets for real-time fMRI regulation during pain stimulation

2014

© 2014 Emmert Breimhorst Bauermann Birklein Van De Ville and Haller. Real time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt fMRI) neurofeedback allows learning voluntary control over specific brain areas by means of operant conditioning and has been shown to decrease pain perception. To further increase the effect of rt fMRI neurofeedback on pain we directly compared two different target regions of the pain network notably the anterior insular cortex (AIC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Participants for this prospective study were randomly assigned to two age matched groups of 14 participants each (7 females per group) for AIC and ACC feedback. First a functional localizer using bloc…

2021

Background: Normal aging is associated with working memory decline. A decrease in working memory performance is associated with age-related changes in functional activation patterns in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Cognitive training can improve cognitive performance in healthy older adults. We implemented a cognitive training study to assess determinants of generalization of training gains to untrained tasks, a key indicator for the effectiveness of cognitive training. We aimed to investigate the association of resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of DLPFC with working memory performance improvement and cognitive gains after the training.Method: A sample of 60 healthy o…

Reduction of drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction in people with self-reported dysregulated eating behaviors after intermittent theta burst st…

2023

AimThis study aimed to explore the effect of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) of the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in people with self-reported dysregulated eating behaviors but without a diagnosis of eating disorders (EDs).MethodsParticipants were randomly divided into two equivalent groups according to the side (right or left) of the hemisphere to be stimulated and they were tested before and after a single iTBS session. Outcome measurements were scores on self-report questionnaires assessing psychological dimensions related to eating behaviors (EDI-3), anxiety (STAI-Y), and tonic electrodermal activity.ResultsThe iTBS interfered with both psychological …

Deconstructing and reconstructing resilience: a dynamic network approach

2019

Resilience is still often viewed as a unitary personality construct that, as a kind of anti-nosological entity, protects individuals against stress-related mental problems. However, increasing evidence indicates that the maintenance of mental health in the face of adversity results from complex and dynamic processes of adaptation to stressors that involve the activation of several separable protective factors. Such resilience factors can reside at biological, psychological and social levels and may include stable predispositions (such as genotype or personality traits) and malleable properties, skills, capacities or external circumstances (such as gene expression patterns, emotion regulatio…

Less Effort, Better Results: How Does Music Act on Prefrontal Cortex in Older Adults during Verbal Encoding? An fNIRS Study

2014

Several neuroimaging studies of cognitive aging revealed deficits in episodic memory abilities as a result of prefrontal cortex (PFC) limitations. Improving episodic memory performance despite PFC deficits is thus a critical issue in aging research. Listening to music stimulates cognitive performance in several non-purely musical activities (e.g., language and memory). Thus, music could represent a rich and helpful source during verbal encoding and therefore help subsequent retrieval. Furthermore, such benefit could be reflected in less demand of PFC, which is known to be crucial for encoding processes. This study aimed to investigate whether music may improve episodic memory in older adult…