Search results for "ta3112"
showing 10 items of 94 documents
Phoneme processing skills are reflected in children's MMN responses.
2017
Phonological awareness (PA), the core contributor in phoneme processing abilities, has a link to later reading skills in children. However, the associations between PA and neural auditory discrimination are not clear. We used event-related potential (ERP) methodology and neuropsychological testing to monitor the neurocognitive basis of phonological awareness in typically developing children. We measured 5–6-year-old children's (N=70) phoneme processing, word completion and perceptual reasoning skills and compared their test results to their brain responses to phonemic changes, separately for each test. We found that children performing better in Phoneme processing test showed larger mismatc…
Long-Term Response to Cholinesterase Inhibitor Treatment Is Related to Functional MRI Response in Alzheimer's Disease.
2015
<b><i>Background:</i></b> Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI) enhances cholinergic activity and alleviates clinical symptoms. However, there is variation in the clinical response as well as system level changes revealed by functional MRI (fMRI) studies. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We investigated 18 newly diagnosed mild AD patients with fMRI using a face recognition task after a single oral dose of rivastigmine, a single dose of placebo and 1-month treatment with rivastigmine. The clinical follow-up took place at 6 and 12 months. <b><i>Results:</i></b> MMSE score difference between bas…
Electrophysiological Correlates of Change Detection during Delayed Matching Task: A Comparison of Different References
2017
Detecting the changed information between memory representation and incoming sensory inputs is a fundamental cognitive ability. By offering the promise of excellent temporal resolution, event-related potential (ERP) technique has served as a primary tool for studying this process with reference of the linked mastoid (LM). However, given that LM may distort the ERP signals, it is still undetermined whether LM is the best reference choice. The goal of the current study was to systematically compare LM, reference electrode standardization technique (REST) and average reference (AR) for assessing the ERP correlates of change detection during a delayed matching task. Colored shapes were adopted …
Auditory Profiles of Classical, Jazz, and Rock Musicians: Genre-Specific Sensitivity to Musical Sound Features
2016
When compared with individuals without explicit training in music, adult musicians have facilitated neural functions in several modalities. They also display structural changes in various brain areas, these changes corresponding to the intensity and duration of their musical training. Previous studies have focused on investigating musicians with training in Western classical music. However, musicians involved in different musical genres may display highly differentiated auditory profiles according to the demands set by their genre, i.e., varying importance of different musical sound features. This hypothesis was tested in a novel melody paradigm including deviants in tuning, timbre, rhythm,…
Adaptive independent vector analysis for multi-subject complex-valued fMRI data.
2017
Abstract Background Complex-valued fMRI data can provide additional insights beyond magnitude-only data. However, independent vector analysis (IVA), which has exhibited great potential for group analysis of magnitude-only fMRI data, has rarely been applied to complex-valued fMRI data. The main challenges in this application include the extremely noisy nature and large variability of the source component vector (SCV) distribution. New method To address these challenges, we propose an adaptive fixed-point IVA algorithm for analyzing multiple-subject complex-valued fMRI data. We exploited a multivariate generalized Gaussian distribution (MGGD)- based nonlinear function to match varying SCV dis…
Early auditory processing in musicians and dancers during a contemporary dance piece
2016
AbstractThe neural responses to simple tones and short sound sequences have been studied extensively. However, in reality the sounds surrounding us are spectrally and temporally complex, dynamic and overlapping. Thus, research using natural sounds is crucial in understanding the operation of the brain in its natural environment. Music is an excellent example of natural stimulation which, in addition to sensory responses, elicits vast cognitive and emotional processes in the brain. Here we show that the preattentive P50 response evoked by rapid increases in timbral brightness during continuous music is enhanced in dancers when compared to musicians and laymen. In dance, fast changes in brigh…
More Than Meets the Eye: Toward a Post-Materialist Model of Consciousness.
2015
Commonly accepted models of human consciousness have substantial shortcomings, in the sense that they cannot account for the entire scope of human experiences. The goal of this article is to describe a model with higher explanatory power, by integrating ideas from psychology and quantum mechanics. In the first part, the need for a paradigm change will be justified by presenting three types of phenomena that challenge the materialistic view of consciousness. The second part is about proposing an alternative view of reality and mind–matter manifestation that is able to accommodate these phenomena. Finally, the ideas from the previous parts will be combined with the psychological concepts deve…
Foreign language pronunciation skills and musical aptitude A study of Finnish adults with higher education
2010
Abstract The main aim of this study was to examine second language production and discrimination skills in the light of musical aptitude. Our study was conducted in university settings in south-western Finland. English was used as a model for the second language due to its popularity among young adults. There were three types of tests used in this study: a pronunciation test, a phonemic listening discrimination task, and the Seashore test as an index of the musical aptitude. All the participants performed equally well in the phonemic listening discrimination task. However, the participants with higher musical aptitude were able to pronounce English better than the participants with less mus…
ICA of full complex-valued fMRI data using phase information of spatial maps.
2015
Background ICA of complex-valued fMRI data is challenging because of the ambiguous and noisy nature of the phase. A typical solution is to remove noisy regions from fMRI data prior to ICA. However, it may be more optimal to carry out ICA of full complex-valued fMRI data, since any filtering or voxel-based processing may disrupt information that can be useful to ICA. New method We enable ICA of the full complex-valued fMRI data by utilizing phase information of estimated spatial maps (SMs). The SM phases are first adjusted to properly represent spatial phase changes of all voxels based on estimated time courses (TCs), and then these are used to segment the voxels into BOLD-related and unwant…
Coupling of Action-Perception Brain Networks during Musical Pulse Processing: Evidence from Region-of-Interest-Based Independent Component Analysis
2017
Our sense of rhythm relies on orchestrated activity of several cerebral and cerebellar structures. Although functional connectivity studies have advanced our understanding of rhythm perception, this phenomenon has not been sufficiently studied as a function of musical training and beyond the General Linear Model (GLM) approach. Here, we studied pulse clarity processing during naturalistic music listening using a data-driven approach (independent component analysis; ICA). Participants’ (18 musicians and 18 controls) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses were acquired while listening to music. A targeted region of interest (ROI) related to pulse clarity processing was defined…