201
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Schreiber D, Fonzo G, Simmons AN, Dawes CT, Flagan T, Fowler JH, Paulus MP. Red brain, blue brain: evaluative processes differ in Democrats and Republicans. PLoS One 2013; 8:e52970. [PMID: 23418419 PMCID: PMC3572122 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2012] [Accepted: 11/26/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Liberals and conservatives exhibit different cognitive styles and converging lines of evidence suggest that biology influences differences in their political attitudes and beliefs. In particular, a recent study of young adults suggests that liberals and conservatives have significantly different brain structure, with liberals showing increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, and conservatives showing increased gray matter volume in the in the amygdala. Here, we explore differences in brain function in liberals and conservatives by matching publicly-available voter records to 82 subjects who performed a risk-taking task during functional imaging. Although the risk-taking behavior of Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservatives) did not differ, their brain activity did. Democrats showed significantly greater activity in the left insula, while Republicans showed significantly greater activity in the right amygdala. In fact, a two parameter model of partisanship based on amygdala and insula activations yields a better fitting model of partisanship than a well-established model based on parental socialization of party identification long thought to be one of the core findings of political science. These results suggest that liberals and conservatives engage different cognitive processes when they think about risk, and they support recent evidence that conservatives show greater sensitivity to threatening stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darren Schreiber
- Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
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202
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Nakahashi W. Evolution of improvement and cumulative culture. Theor Popul Biol 2013; 83:30-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2012.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2012] [Revised: 10/29/2012] [Accepted: 11/02/2012] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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203
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Freas C, Bingman K, LaDage L, Pravosudov V. Untangling Elevation-Related Differences in the Hippocampus in Food-Caching Mountain Chickadees: The Effect of a Uniform Captive Environment. BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2013; 82:199-209. [DOI: 10.1159/000355503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2013] [Accepted: 09/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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204
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Novelty Interventions to Enhance Broad Cognitive Abilities and Prevent Dementia. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2013; 207:403-34. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-63327-9.00017-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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205
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Hartley T, Harlow R. An association between human hippocampal volume and topographical memory in healthy young adults. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:338. [PMID: 23293595 PMCID: PMC3533499 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2012] [Accepted: 12/07/2012] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The association between human hippocampal structure and topographical memory was investigated in healthy adults (N = 30). Structural MR images were acquired, and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to estimate local gray matter volume throughout the brain. A complementary automated mesh-based segmentation approach was used to independently isolate and measure specified structures including the hippocampus. Topographical memory was assessed using a version of the Four Mountains Task, a short test designed to target hippocampal spatial function. Each item requires subjects to briefly study a landscape scene before recognizing the depicted place from a novel viewpoint and under altered non-spatial conditions when presented amongst similar alternative scenes. Positive correlations between topographical memory performance and hippocampal volume were observed in both VBM and segmentation-based analyses. Score on the topographical memory task was also correlated with the volume of some subcortical structures, extra-hippocampal gray matter, and total brain volume, with the most robust and extensive covariation seen in circumscribed neocortical regions in the insula and anterior temporal lobes. Taken together with earlier findings, the results suggest that global variations in brain morphology affect the volume of the hippocampus and its specific contribution to topographical memory. We speculate that behavioral variation might arise directly through the impact of resource constraints on spatial representations in the hippocampal formation and its inputs, and perhaps indirectly through an increased reliance on non-allocentric strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Hartley
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York York, UK
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206
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Abstract
Over a typical career piano tuners spend tens of thousands of hours exploring a specialized acoustic environment. Tuning requires accurate perception and adjustment of beats in two-note chords that serve as a navigational device to move between points in previously learned acoustic scenes. It is a two-stage process that depends on the following: first, selective listening to beats within frequency windows, and, second, the subsequent use of those beats to navigate through a complex soundscape. The neuroanatomical substrates underlying brain specialization for such fundamental organization of sound scenes are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that professional piano tuners are significantly better than controls matched for age and musical ability on a psychophysical task simulating active listening to beats within frequency windows that is based on amplitude modulation rate discrimination. Tuners show a categorical increase in gray matter volume in the right frontal operculum and right superior temporal lobe. Tuners also show a striking enhancement of gray matter volume in the anterior hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus, and an increase in white matter volume in the posterior hippocampus as a function of years of tuning experience. The relationship with gray matter volume is sensitive to years of tuning experience and starting age but not actual age or level of musicality. Our findings support a role for a core set of regions in the hippocampus and superior temporal cortex in skilled exploration of complex sound scenes in which precise sound "templates" are encoded and consolidated into memory over time in an experience-dependent manner.
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207
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Suo C, León I, Brodaty H, Trollor J, Wen W, Sachdev P, Valenzuela MJ. Supervisory experience at work is linked to low rate of hippocampal atrophy in late life. Neuroimage 2012; 63:1542-51. [PMID: 22902920 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2012] [Revised: 07/25/2012] [Accepted: 08/06/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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208
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Adamson MM, Bayley PJ, Scanlon BK, Farrell ME, Hernandez B, Weiner MW, Yesavage JA, Taylor JL. Pilot expertise and hippocampal size: associations with longitudinal flight simulator performance. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 83:850-7. [PMID: 22946348 DOI: 10.3357/asem.3215.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous research suggests that the size of the hippocampus can vary in response to intensive training (e.g., during the acquisition of expert knowledge). However, the role of the hippocampus in maintenance of skilled performance is not well understood. The Stanford/Veterans Affairs Aviation MRI Study offers a unique opportunity to observe the interaction of brain structure and multiple levels of expertise on longitudinal flight simulator performance. METHODS The current study examined the relationship between hippocampal volume and three levels of aviation expertise, defined by pilot proficiency ratings issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (11). At 3 annual time points, 60 pilots who varied in their level of aviation expertise (ages ranging from 45 to 69 yr) were tested. RESULTS At baseline, higher expertise was associated with better flight simulator performance, but not with hippocampal volume. Longitudinally, there was an Expertise x Hippocampal volume interaction, in the direction that a larger hippocampus was associated with better performance at higher levels of expertise. DISCUSSION These results are consistent with the notion that expertise in a cognitively demanding domain involves the interplay of acquired knowledge ('mental schemas') and basic hippocampal-dependent processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maheen M Adamson
- War Related Illness and Injury Study Center and the Sierra-Pacific MIRECC, Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
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209
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Abstract
London taxi drivers are renowned for their navigation ability, spending a number of years acquiring 'The Knowledge' of London's complex layout and having to pass stringent examinations to obtain an operating licence. In several studies, this navigation skill has been associated with increased posterior but also decreased anterior hippocampal grey matter volume. Neuropsychologically, gain and loss has also been documented in taxi drivers; while very skilled at navigation in London, they are significantly poorer than controls at learning and recalling new object-location associations. Here we tested a group of London taxi drivers and matched control participants on this object-location associations task, while also subjecting them to a battery of challenging anterograde associative memory tests involving verbal, visual and auditory material both within and across modalities. Our aim was to assess whether their difficulty in previous studies reflected a general problem with associative memory, or was restricted to the spatial domain. We replicated previous findings of poor learning and memory of object-location associations. By contrast, their performance on the other anterograde associative memory tasks was comparable with controls. This resolves an outstanding question in the memory profile of London taxi drivers following hippocampal plasticity, and underlines the close relationship between space and the hippocampus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Woollett
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Eleanor A. Maguire
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK
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210
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Affiliation(s)
- David Watts
- University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, USA
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211
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Lipina SJ, Posner MI. The impact of poverty on the development of brain networks. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:238. [PMID: 22912613 PMCID: PMC3421156 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2012] [Accepted: 07/26/2012] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the study of brain development in non-human animals is an old one, recent imaging methods have allowed non-invasive studies of the gray and white matter of the human brain over the lifespan. Classic animal studies show clearly that impoverished environments reduce cortical gray matter in relation to complex environments and cognitive and imaging studies in humans suggest which networks may be most influenced by poverty. Studies have been clear in showing the plasticity of many brain systems, but whether sensitivity to learning differs over the lifespan and for which networks is still unclear. A major task for current research is a successful integration of these methods to understand how development and learning shape the neural networks underlying achievements in literacy, numeracy, and attention. This paper seeks to foster further integration by reviewing the current state of knowledge relating brain changes to behavior and indicating possible future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastián J Lipina
- Unidad de Neurobiología Aplicada, Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas Norberto Quirno (CEMIC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas CONICET Buenos Aires, Argentina
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212
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Gilaie-Dotan S, Harel A, Bentin S, Kanai R, Rees G. Neuroanatomical correlates of visual car expertise. Neuroimage 2012; 62:147-53. [PMID: 22587898 PMCID: PMC3387385 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2011] [Revised: 05/03/2012] [Accepted: 05/06/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Expertise in non-visual domains such as musical performance is associated with differences in gray matter volume of particular regions of the human brain. Whether this is also the case for expertise in visual object recognition is unknown. Here we tested whether individual variability in the ability to recognize car models, from novice performance to high level of expertise, is associated with specific structural changes in gray matter volume. We found that inter-individual variability in expertise with cars was significantly and selectively correlated with gray matter volume in prefrontal cortex. Inter-individual differences in the recognition of airplanes, that none of the participants had expertise with, were correlated with structural variability of regions bordering the visual cortex. These results highlight the role of prefrontal regions outside the visual cortex in accessing and processing visual knowledge about objects from the domain of expertise and suggest that expertise in visual object recognition may entail structural changes in regions associated with semantic knowledge.
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213
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Elevation-related differences in memory and the hippocampus in mountain chickadees, Poecile gambeli. Anim Behav 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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214
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Freund P, Curt A, Friston K, Thompson A. Tracking changes following spinal cord injury: insights from neuroimaging. Neuroscientist 2012; 19:116-28. [PMID: 22730072 PMCID: PMC4107798 DOI: 10.1177/1073858412449192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Traumatic spinal cord injury is often disabling and recovery of function is limited. As a
consequence of damage, both spinal cord and brain undergo anatomical and functional
changes. Besides clinical measures of recovery, biomarkers that can detect early
anatomical and functional changes might be useful in determining clinical outcome—during
the course of rehabilitation and recovery—as well as furnishing a tool to evaluate novel
treatment interventions and their mechanisms of action. Recent evidence suggests an
interesting three-way relationship between neurological deficit and changes in the spinal
cord and of the brain and that, importantly, noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging
techniques, both structural and functional, provide a sensitive tool to lay out these
interactions. This review describes recent findings from multimodal imaging studies of
remote anatomical changes (i.e., beyond the lesion site), cortical reorganization, and
their relationship to clinical disability. These developments in this field may improve
our understanding of effects on the nervous system that are attributable to the injury
itself and will allow their distinction from changes that result from rehabilitation
(i.e., functional retraining) and from interventions affecting the nervous system directly
(i.e., neuroprotection or regeneration).
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Freund
- Department of Brain Repair & Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK.
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215
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Fotuhi M, Do D, Jack C. Modifiable factors that alter the size of the hippocampus with ageing. Nat Rev Neurol 2012; 8:189-202. [PMID: 22410582 DOI: 10.1038/nrneurol.2012.27] [Citation(s) in RCA: 218] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypoxic brain injury, obstructive sleep apnoea, bipolar disorder, clinical depression and head trauma. Patients with these conditions often have smaller hippocampi and experience a greater degree of cognitive decline than individuals without these comorbidities. Moreover, hippocampal atrophy is an established indicator for conversion from the normal ageing process to developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia. As such, an important aim is to ascertain which modifiable factors can have a positive effect on the size of the hippocampus throughout life. Observational studies and preliminary clinical trials have raised the possibility that physical exercise, cognitive stimulation and treatment of general medical conditions can reverse age-related atrophy in the hippocampus, or even expand its size. An emerging concept--the dynamic polygon hypothesis--suggests that treatment of modifiable risk factors can increase the volume or prevent atrophy of the hippocampus. According to this hypothesis, a multidisciplinary approach, which involves strategies to both reduce neurotoxicity and increase neurogenesis, is likely to be successful in delaying the onset of cognitive impairment with ageing. Further research on the constellation of interventions that could be most effective is needed before recommendations can be made for implementing preventive and therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Majid Fotuhi
- Neurology Institute for Brain Health and Fitness, 1205 York Road, Suite 18, Lutherville, MD 21093, USA.
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216
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Vasilyeva M, Lourenco SF. Development of spatial cognition. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2012; 3:349-362. [DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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217
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