Search results for "STIMULATION"
showing 10 items of 2192 documents
Having a Drink with Tchaikovsky: The Crossmodal Influence of Background Music on the Taste of Beverages.
2018
Abstract Previous research has shown that auditory cues can influence the flavor of food and drink. For instance, wine tastes better when preferred music is played. We have investigated whether a music background can modify judgments of the specific flavor pattern of a beverage, as opposed to mere preference. This was indeed the case. We explored the nature of this crosstalk between auditory and gustatory perception, and hypothesized that the ‘flavor’ of the background music carries over to the perceived flavor (i.e., descriptive and evaluative aspects) of beverages. First, we collected ratings of the subjective flavor of different music pieces. Then we used a between-subjects design to cro…
Combined heterogeneous distribution of salt and aroma in food enhances salt perception
2015
Aroma–taste interactions and heterogeneous spatial distribution of tastants were used as strategies for taste enhancement. This study investigated the combination of these two strategies through the effect of heterogeneous salt and aroma distribution on saltiness enhancement and consumer liking for hot snacks. Four-layered cream-based products were designed with the same total amount of sodium and ham aroma but varied in their spatial distribution. Unflavoured products containing the same amount of salt and 35% more salt were used as references. A consumer panel (n = 82) rated the intensity of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami tastes as well as ham and cheese aroma intensity for each pro…
Effects of antiepileptic drugs on cortical excitability in humans: A TMS-EMG and TMS-EEG study.
2018
Brain responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) are emergent noninvasive markers of neuronal excitability and effective connectivity in humans. However, the underlying physiology of these TMS-evoked EEG potentials (TEPs) is still heavily underexplored, impeding a broad application of TEPs to study pathology in neuropsychiatric disorders. Here we tested the effects of a single oral dose of three antiepileptic drugs with specific modes of action (carbamazepine, a voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) blocker; brivaracetam, a ligand to the presynaptic vesicle protein VSA2; tiagabine, a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) reuptake inhibitor) on TEP a…
Exogenous and endogenous provocation of psoriasis. A contribution to the Koebner phenomenon.
1974
Previous literature reports as well as own investigations concerning exogenously and endogenously induced Koebner-reactions in psoriatics are presented. The time interval between irritation and the Koebner-reaction is emphasized. It is proposed, that the intensity of the psoriatic reaction is mediated by circulating DHEA-deficiency. Hypothetical models are presented which allow to explain the different developmental rates of psoriatic lesions in relation to the type of irritation, the area affected and the subsequent proliferative responses.
Time course of emotion-related responding during distraction and reappraisal
2014
Theoretical accounts of emotion regulation (ER) discriminate various cognitive strategies to voluntarily modify emotional states. Amongst these, attentional deployment (i.e. distraction) and cognitive change (i.e. reappraisal), have been shown to successfully down-regulate emotions. Neuroimaging studies found that both strategies differentially engage neural structures associated with selective attention, working memory and cognitive control. The aim of this study was to further delineate similarities and differences between the ER strategies reappraisal and distraction by investigating their temporal brain dynamics using event-related potentials (ERPs) and their patterns of facial expressi…
The time course of idiom processing.
2007
Recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies have suggested that the neural correlates of idiom processing are predominantly located in the left Brodmann's area (BA) 22 and, to some extent, in the prefrontal cortex. The present study explores the temporal dynamics of left prefrontal and temporal cortex in idiom processing by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in normal subjects. Forty-five opaque highly familiar idioms and 45 literal sentences were used. Forty-three subjects completed 5 blocks of 18 trials (9 idioms, 9 literal sentences) corresponding to 4 stimulation conditions (left prefrontal, left temporal, vertex, no-stimulation baseline). Each subjec…
Immediate transfer of synesthesia to a novel inducer.
2009
In synesthesia, a certain stimulus (e.g. grapheme) is associated automatically and consistently with a stable perceptual-like experience (e.g. color). These associations are acquired in early childhood and remain robust throughout the lifetime. Synesthetic associations can transfer to novel inducers in adulthood as one learns a second language that uses another writing system. However, it is not known how long this transfer takes. We found that grapheme-color associations can transfer to novel graphemes after only a 10-minute writing exercise. Most subjects experienced synesthetic associations immediately after learning a new Glagolitic grapheme. Using a Stroop task, we provide objective ev…
The unpleasantness of tonic pain is encoded by the insular cortex
2005
Objective: Muscle pain differs from skin pain with respect to quality, accuracy of localization, and unpleasantness. This study was conducted to identify the brain regions associated with the affective-motivational component of tonic skin and muscle pain. Methods: Forty healthy volunteers were investigated in three groups with different F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET activation scans. A verbal rating scale (VRS) was used to quantify pain intensity and unpleasantness. One group was investigated during painful infusion of an acidified phosphate buffer (pH 5.2) into either muscle or skin for 30 minutes. Muscle and skin infusions were adjusted to achieve pain intensity rating of VRS = 40. The seco…
rTMS of the prefrontal cortex in the treatment of chronic migraine: a pilot study
2004
A recent fMRI study showed that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) exerts an inhibitory control on pain pathways in humans. We investigated whether high-frequency rTMS over left DLPFC could ameliorate chronic migraine. Treatment consisted of 12 rTMS sessions, delivered in alternate days over left DLPFC. Sham rTMS was used as placebo. Eleven patients were randomly assigned to the rTMS (n=6) or to the placebo (n=5) treatment. Measures of attack frequency, headache index, number of abortive medications (outcome measures) were recorded in the month before, during and in the month after treatment. Subjects treated by rTMS showed a significant reduction of the outcome measures during and in t…
Different short-term modulation of cortical motor output to distal and proximal upper-limb muscles during painful sensory nerve stimulation
2004
The pattern of upper-limb muscle activation following painful stimulation has not been clarified in detail. We investigated the short-term inhibitory and excitatory effects of painful electrical digital stimulation on the motoneuron pools of distal and proximal upper-limb muscles. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used as test stimulus, and painful digital nerve stimulation as conditioning stimulus for motor evoked potential (MEP) recordings over the abductor digiti minimi (ADM), abductor pollicis brevis (APB), biceps brachii (BB), and deltoid muscles. Inhibition of the conditioned MEP response was most prominent in the distal muscles, whereas BB and deltoid muscles were only weak…