Search results for "behavioral"
showing 10 items of 3011 documents
The role of posterior parietal cortices on prismatic adaptation effects on the representation of time intervals
2013
Previous studies provided evidence of an ascending left-to-right spatial representation of time durations by using a technique affecting high levels of spatial cognition, i.e. prismatic adaptation (PA). Indeed, PA that induced a leftward aftereffect distorted time representation toward an underestimation, while PA that induced a rightward aftereffect distorted time representation toward an overestimation. The present study advances previous findings on the effects of PA on time by investigating the neural basis subtending these effects. We focused on the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) since it is involved in the PA procedure and also in the formulation of the spatial representation of time…
Automatic processing of rare versus novel auditory stimuli reveal different mechanisms of auditory change detection
2012
Automatic detection of rare stimuli or changes in an auditory stimulation can distract ongoing task processing by attracting attention away from task relevant information. Typically, the effectiveness of auditory change detection is tested by rare and unpredictable deviations (compared with an otherwise regular auditory presentation) or by rare environmental sounds. The present study demonstrates that both types of stimuli are capable of triggering automatic orientation of attention and that rare environmental sounds are more effective than deviations in distraction of attention. This finding suggests different mechanisms underlying the detection of auditory change. Moreover, novelty as con…
Neuromuscular fatigue differs with biofeedback type when performing a submaximal contraction
2007
The aim of the study was to examine alterations in contractile and neural processes in response to an isometric fatiguing contraction performed with EMG feedback (constant-EMG task) when exerting 40% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque with the knee extensor muscles. A task with a torque feedback (constant-torque task) set at a similar intensity served as a reference task. Thirteen men (26+/-5 yr) attended two experimental sessions that were randomized across days. Endurance time was greater for the constant-EMG task compared with the constant-torque task (230+/-156 s vs. 101+/-32s, P0.01). Average EMG activity for the knee extensor muscles increased from 33.5+/-4.5% to 54.7+/-21.…
Early improvement is a predictor of treatment outcome in patients with mild major, minor or subsyndromal depression
2009
Abstract Background There is substantial evidence that early improvement (EI) under antidepressant treatment is a clinically useful predictor of later treatment outcome in patients with major depressive disorders. The aim of this study was to test whether EI can also be used as a predictor for treatment outcome in patients with mild major, minor or subsyndromal depression, i.e. patients, who are typically treated by general practitioners. Methods Analyses were carried out using data from 223 patients of a 10-weeks randomized, placebo-controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of sertraline and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in patients with mild major, minor or subsyndromal depressio…
Early intervention with cognitive behavioral therapy reduces sick leave duration in people with adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders
2018
Background: Early intervention in workers diagnosed with mental disorders is associated with a lower incidence of relapse and shorter sick leave. However, no studies have been carried out on the effect of early intervention using an evidence-based therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), on people with sick leave.Aims: The objectives of the present study are to study whether the type of intervention (early or late) will affect the total duration of the sick leave, the partial duration of the sick leave, the duration of the psychotherapy and the time until return to work after the psychotherapy ends. The sample was composed of 167 participants who were on sick leave for adjustment disord…
Lateralized effect of rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex on mood.
1996
We studied the effects of rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of different scalp positions on mood Ten normal volunteers rated themselves before and after rTMS on five analog scales labeled ``Tristeza99 (Sadness), ``Ansiedad99 (Anxiety), ``Alegria99 (Happiness), ``Cansancio99 (Tiredness), and ``Dolor/Malestar99 (Pain/Discomfort). rTMS was applied to the right lateral prefrontal, left prefrontal, or midline frontal cortex in trains of 5 seconds9 duration at 10 Hz and 110% of the subject9s motor threshold intensity. Each stimulation position received 10 trains separated by a 25-second pause. No clinically apparent mood changes were evoked by rTMS to any of the scalp positions …
Cognitive functioning and anhedonia in subjects at risk for schizophrenia
1993
This study investigated the performance of individuals with familiar loading of schizophrenia (healthy siblings of schizophrenic inpatients) on three neuropsychological tasks assumed to require frontal lobe functions: Trail Making Test (TMT), verbal fluency and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Healthy siblings of schizophrenics differed in performance from healthy controls not only on the WCST, but also on the Trail Making Test and the verbal fluency task. Furthermore, scores of physical anhedonia, assessed in a self-report rating scale (Chapman et al., 1976) were also significantly higher in the high risk group than in the control sample. However, healthy siblings of schizophrenics did …
Event-related potentials reveal rapid registration of features of infrequent changes during change blindness.
2009
Abstract Background Change blindness refers to a failure to detect changes between consecutively presented images separated by, for example, a brief blank screen. As an explanation of change blindness, it has been suggested that our representations of the environment are sparse outside focal attention and even that changed features may not be represented at all. In order to find electrophysiological evidence of neural representations of changed features during change blindness, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in adults in an oddball variant of the change blindness flicker paradigm. Methods ERPs were recorded when subjects performed a change detection task in which the modified i…
Gender-specific anthropometric markers of adiposity, metabolic syndrome and visceral adiposity index (VAI) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea
2013
Obstructive sleep apnea often coexists with visceral adiposity and metabolic syndrome. In this study, we analysed gender-related differences in anthropometrics according to sleep apnea severity and metabolic abnormalities. In addition, the visceral adiposity index, a recently introduced marker of cardiometabolic risk, was analysed. Consecutive subjects with suspected obstructive sleep apnea (n = 528, 423 males, mean age ± standard deviation: 51.3 ± 12.8 years, body mass index: 31.0 ± 6.2 kg m(-2) ) were studied by full polysomnography (apnea-hypopnea index 43.4 ± 27.6 h(-1) ). Variables of general and visceral adiposity were measured (body mass index, neck, waist and hip circumferences, wai…
Interest of targeting either cortical area Brodmann 9 or 46 in rTMS treatment for depression: a preliminary randomized study.
2013
Abstract Objective To assess the interest of specifically targeting Brodmann Areas (BA) 9 or 46 for rTMS treatment of depression. Methods Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression were randomly assigned to two treatment groups to receive either rTMS on BA 9 or on BA 46. Each patient underwent 10 sessions of 1Hz-rTMS for 2weeks. The Hamilton and Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scales (HDRS, MADRS) were used under blind conditions to assess the therapeutic response (50% improvement). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the depression rating scales scores obtained before and after the 10 rTMS sessions for each of the two groups. The therapeutic results in the two groups were…