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Shin JH, Kim H, Lee SY, Yoon WT, Park SW, Park S, Yoo D, Lee JY. Impaired cognitive flexibility and disrupted cognitive cerebellum in degenerative cerebellar ataxias. Brain Commun 2024; 6:fcae064. [PMID: 38454963 PMCID: PMC10919478 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2023] [Revised: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
There is a clinically unmet need for a neuropsychological tool that reflects the pathophysiology of cognitive dysfunction in cerebellar degeneration. We investigated cognitive flexibility in degenerative cerebellar ataxia patients and aim to identify the pathophysiological correlates of cognitive dysfunction in relation to cerebellar cognitive circuits. We prospectively enrolled degenerative cerebellar ataxia patients with age-matched healthy controls who underwent 3 T 3D and resting-state functional MRI. All 56 participants were evaluated with the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia and neuropsychological tests including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail Making Test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination. From MRI scans, we analysed the correlation of whole-brain volume and cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performances. A total of 52 participants (29 ataxia patients and 23 healthy controls) were enrolled in this study. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test scores (total error percentage, perseverative error percentage, non-perseverative error percentage and categories completed), Trail Making Test A and Montreal Cognitive Assessment were significantly impaired in ataxia patients (P < 0.05) compared to age-matched healthy controls. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test error scores showed a significant correlation with the ataxia score (P < 0.05) controlling for age and sex. In volumetric analysis, the cerebellar right crus I, II, VIIb and VIII atrophy correlated with non-perseverative error percentage in the ataxia group. In functional connectivity analysis, the connectivity between crus I, II and VIIb of the cerebellum and bilateral superior parietal and superior temporal gyrus was significantly altered in ataxia patients. The functional connectivity between left crus II and VIIb of the cerebellum and dorsolateral prefrontal and superior frontal/parietal cortices showed a positive correlation with perseverative error percentage. The connectivity between left crus VIIb and pontine nucleus/middle cerebellar peduncle showed a significant negative correlation with non-perseverative error percentage in the ataxia group. The impaired cognitive flexibility represented by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was significantly impaired in degenerative cerebellar ataxia patients and correlated with disease severity. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance reflects hypoactivity of the cognitive cerebellum and disrupted cortico-cerebellar connectivity in non-demented patients with degenerative cerebellar ataxia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jung Hwan Shin
- Department of Neurology, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center and Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, South Korea
- Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, South Korea
| | - Heejung Kim
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul 07061, South Korea
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, South Korea
| | - So Yeon Lee
- Department of Neurology, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center and Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, South Korea
| | - Won Tae Yoon
- Department of Neurology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 03181, South Korea
| | - Sun-Won Park
- Department of Radiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center and Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, South Korea
- Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, South Korea
| | - Sangmin Park
- Department of Neurology, Eulji University Hospital, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon 35233, South Korea
| | - Dallah Yoo
- Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Seoul 05278, South Korea
| | - Jee-Young Lee
- Department of Neurology, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center and Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, South Korea
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Introduction into the Role of the Cerebellum in Emotion. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2022; 1378:3-12. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-99550-8_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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3
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Bruzzone SEP, Haumann NT, Kliuchko M, Vuust P, Brattico E. Applying Spike-density component analysis for high-accuracy auditory event-related potentials in children. Clin Neurophysiol 2021; 132:1887-1896. [PMID: 34157633 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Overlapping neurophysiological signals are the main obstacle preventing from using cortical auditory event-related potentials (AEPs) in clinical settings. Children AEPs are particularly affected by this problem, as their cerebral cortex is still maturing. To overcome this problem, we applied a new version of Spike-density Component Analysis (SCA), an analysis method recently developed, to isolate with high accuracy the neural components of auditory responses of 8-year-old children. METHODS Electroencephalography was used with 33 children to record AEPs to auditory stimuli varying in spectrotemporal features. Three different analysis approaches were adopted: the standard AEP analysis procedure, SCA with template-match (SCA-TM), and SCA with half-split average consistency (SCA-HSAC). RESULTS SCA-HSAC most successfully allowed the extraction of AEPs for each child, revealing that the most consistent components were P1 and N2. An immature N1 component was also detected. CONCLUSION Superior accuracy in isolating neural components at the individual level was demonstrated for SCA-HSAC over other SCA approaches even for children AEPs. SIGNIFICANCE Reliable methods of extraction of neurophysiological signals at the individual level are crucial for the application of cortical AEPs for routine diagnostic exams in clinical settings both in children and adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- S E P Bruzzone
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
| | - N T Haumann
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
| | - M Kliuchko
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - P Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - E Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Universitetsbyen 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
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Craig BT, Morrill A, Anderson B, Danckert J, Striemer CL. Cerebellar lesions disrupt spatial and temporal visual attention. Cortex 2021; 139:27-42. [PMID: 33819679 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.02.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2020] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The current study represents the first comprehensive examination of spatial, temporal and sustained attention following cerebellar damage. Results indicated that, compared to controls, cerebellar damage resulted in a larger cueing effect at the longest SOA - possibly reflecting a slowed the onset of inhibition of return (IOR) during a reflexive covert attention task, and reduced the ability to detect successive targets during an attentional blink task. However, there was little evidence to support the notion that cerebellar damage disrupted voluntary covert attention or the sustained attention to response task (SART). Lesion overlay data and supplementary voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) analyses indicated that impaired performance on the reflexive covert attention and attentional blink tasks were related to damage to Crus II of the left posterior cerebellum. In addition, subsequent analyses indicated our results are not due to either general motor impairments or to damage to the deep cerebellar nuclei. Collectively these data demonstrate, for the first time, that the same cerebellar regions may be involved in both spatial and temporal visual attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon T Craig
- Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Adam Morrill
- Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Britt Anderson
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - James Danckert
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Christopher L Striemer
- Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada; Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
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Pinheiro AP, Schwartze M, Kotz SA. Cerebellar circuitry and auditory verbal hallucinations: An integrative synthesis and perspective. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 118:485-503. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2020] [Revised: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Ricci L, Motolese F, Tombini M, Lanzone J, Rea R, Di Matteo F, Di Lazzaro V, Assenza G. Metronidazole Encephalopathy EEG Features: A Case Report with Systematic Review of the Literature. Brain Sci 2020; 10:E227. [PMID: 32290116 PMCID: PMC7226540 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10040227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Revised: 03/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Metronidazole-induced encephalopathy (MIE) is a rare and often under-recognized iatrogenic condition. The diagnosis should be considered in metronidazole-treated patients presenting with acute encephalopathy, unprovoked seizures and cerebellar signs. While typical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings strongly support the diagnosis, electroencephalography (EEG) features have been rarely reported and poorly described. We present a longitudinal EEG assessment in one patient with encephalopathy due to metronidazole toxicity who presented a peculiar EEG pattern presentation and evolution. During the acute phase of encephalopathy, the EEG showed a monomorphic, sharply contoured theta activity symmetrically represented over frontal regions with an anterior-posterior progression which evolved in parallel with clinical worsening. Together with a systematic review of the literature, we discuss whether this EEG activity may represent a distinct neurophysiological correlate of 'cerebellar encephalopathy'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Ricci
- Unit of Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (M.T.); (J.L.); (V.D.L.); (G.A.)
| | - Francesco Motolese
- Unit of Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (M.T.); (J.L.); (V.D.L.); (G.A.)
| | - Mario Tombini
- Unit of Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (M.T.); (J.L.); (V.D.L.); (G.A.)
| | - Jacopo Lanzone
- Unit of Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (M.T.); (J.L.); (V.D.L.); (G.A.)
| | - Roberta Rea
- Digestive Endoscopy Unit, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (R.R.); (F.D.M.)
| | - Francesco Di Matteo
- Digestive Endoscopy Unit, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (R.R.); (F.D.M.)
| | - Vincenzo Di Lazzaro
- Unit of Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (M.T.); (J.L.); (V.D.L.); (G.A.)
| | - Giovanni Assenza
- Unit of Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neurobiology, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, Italy; (M.T.); (J.L.); (V.D.L.); (G.A.)
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Brissenden JA, Somers DC. Cortico-cerebellar networks for visual attention and working memory. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 29:239-247. [PMID: 31202085 PMCID: PMC7256875 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Revised: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Cerebellar cortex, which is cytoarchitectonically homogenous, can be functionally differentiated by connectivity differences across the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortical dorsal attention network exhibits strong, selective connectivity with a set of cerebellar circuits, including lobule VIIb/VIIIa. Recent findings demonstrate that lobule VIIb/VIIIa exhibits functional properties characteristic of the cortical dorsal attention network: task-specific activation; working memory load-dependent responses; and the representation of visuospatial location. Moreover, functional cortico-cerebellar subnetworks exhibit topographic specialization for different aspects of visual attentional processing. Thus, cerebellar lobule VIIb/VIIIa, rather than simply supporting motor functions, appears to be an integral part of the brain's visual attentional circuitry. More generally, these findings suggest that parallel cortico-cerebellar networks may play highly specific functional roles in a broad range of cognitive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A Brissenden
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, United States
| | - David C Somers
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, United States.
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Thier P, Markanday A. Role of the Vermal Cerebellum in Visually Guided Eye Movements and Visual Motion Perception. Annu Rev Vis Sci 2019; 5:247-268. [PMID: 31299168 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-vision-091718-015000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The cerebellar cortex is a crystal-like structure consisting of an almost endless repetition of a canonical microcircuit that applies the same computational principle to different inputs. The output of this transformation is broadcasted to extracerebellar structures by way of the deep cerebellar nuclei. Visually guided eye movements are accommodated by different parts of the cerebellum. This review primarily discusses the role of the oculomotor part of the vermal cerebellum [the oculomotor vermis (OMV)] in the control of visually guided saccades and smooth-pursuit eye movements. Both types of eye movements require the mapping of retinal information onto motor vectors, a transformation that is optimized by the OMV, considering information on past performance. Unlike the role of the OMV in the guidance of eye movements, the contribution of the adjoining vermal cortex to visual motion perception is nonmotor and involves a cerebellar influence on information processing in the cerebral cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Thier
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;
| | - Akshay Markanday
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;
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Distractor Inhibition in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence of a Selective Impairment for Individuals with Co-occurring Motor Difficulties. J Autism Dev Disord 2018; 49:669-682. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3744-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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10
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Lupo M, Olivito G, Iacobacci C, Clausi S, Romano S, Masciullo M, Molinari M, Cercignani M, Bozzali M, Leggio M. The cerebellar topography of attention sub-components in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2. Cortex 2018; 108:35-49. [PMID: 30121445 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Revised: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive cerebellar syndrome and multiple-domain cognitive impairments. The cerebellum is known to contribute to distinct functional networks related to higher-level functions. The aims of the present study were to investigate the different sub-components of attention and to analyse possible correlations between attention deficits and specific cerebellar regions in SCA2 patients. To this purpose, 11 SCA2 patients underwent an exhaustive attention battery that evaluated several attention sub-components. The SCA2 group performed below the normal range in tasks assessing selective attention, divided attention, and sustained attention, obtaining negative Z-scores. These results were confirmed by non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests that showed significant differences between SCA2 and control subjects in the same sub-components of the attention battery, allowing us to speculate on cerebellar involvement when a high cognitive demand is required (i.e., multisensory integration, sequencing, prediction of events, and inhibition of inappropriate response behaviours). The voxel-based morphometry analysis showed a pattern of significantly reduced grey matter volume in specific cerebellar lobules. In particular, the SCA2 patients showed significant grey matter loss in bilateral regions of the anterior cerebellar hemisphere (IV) and in the posterior lobe (VI-IX) and posterior vermis (VI-IX). Statistical analysis found significant correlations between grey matter reductions in the VIIb/VIIIa cerebellar lobules and impairments in Sustained and Divided Attention tasks and between grey matter reduction in the vermal VI lobule and impairment in the Go/NoGo task. For the first time, the study demonstrated the involvement of specific cerebellar lobules in different sub-components of the attention domain, giving further support to the inclusion of the cerebellum within the attention network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michela Lupo
- Ataxia Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
| | - Giusy Olivito
- Ataxia Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Neuroimaging Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia Iacobacci
- Ataxia Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; PhD Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Clausi
- Ataxia Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Romano
- Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs (NESMOS), "Sapienza" University of Rome, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Marco Molinari
- Neurorehabilitation 1 and Spinal Center, Robotic Neurorehabilitation Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Mara Cercignani
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Clinical Imaging Science Center, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK
| | - Marco Bozzali
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Clinical Imaging Science Center, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK
| | - Maria Leggio
- Ataxia Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Superior Visual Search and Crowding Abilities Are Not Characteristic of All Individuals on the Autism Spectrum. J Autism Dev Disord 2018; 48:3499-3512. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3601-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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12
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Benagiano V, Rizzi A, Lorusso L, Flace P, Saccia M, Cagiano R, Ribatti D, Roncali L, Ambrosi G. The functional anatomy of the cerebrocerebellar circuit: A review and new concepts. J Comp Neurol 2017; 526:769-789. [PMID: 29238972 DOI: 10.1002/cne.24361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2017] [Revised: 11/03/2017] [Accepted: 11/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The cerebrocerebellar circuit is a feedback circuit that bidirectionally connects the neocortex and the cerebellum. According to the classic view, the cerebrocerebellar circuit is specifically involved in the functional regulation of the motor areas of the neocortex. In recent years, studies carried out in experimental animals by morphological and physiological methods, and in humans by magnetic resonance imaging, have indicated that the cerebrocerebellar circuit is also involved in the functional regulation of the nonmotor areas of the neocortex, including the prefrontal, associative, sensory and limbic areas. Moreover, a second type of cerebrocerebellar circuit, bidirectionally connecting the hypothalamus and the cerebellum, has been detected, being specifically involved in the regulation of the hypothalamic functions. This review analyzes the morphological features of the centers and pathways of the cerebrocerebellar circuits, paying particular attention to their organization in different channels, which separately connect the cerebellum with the motor areas and nonmotor areas of the neocortex, and with the hypothalamus. Actually, a considerable amount of new data have led, and are leading, to profound changes on the views on the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the cerebrocerebellar circuits, so much they may be now considered to be essential for the functional regulation of many neocortex areas, perhaps all, as well as of the hypothalamus and of the limbic system. Accordingly, clinical studies have pointed out an involvement of the cerebrocerebellar circuits in the pathophysiology of an increasing number of neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenzo Benagiano
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Anna Rizzi
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Loredana Lorusso
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Paolo Flace
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Matteo Saccia
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Raffaele Cagiano
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Domenico Ribatti
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.,National Cancer Institute 'Giovanni Paolo II', Bari, Italy
| | - Luisa Roncali
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Glauco Ambrosi
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
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Kansal K, Yang Z, Fishman AM, Sair HI, Ying SH, Jedynak BM, Prince JL, Onyike CU. Structural cerebellar correlates of cognitive and motor dysfunctions in cerebellar degeneration. Brain 2017; 140:707-720. [PMID: 28043955 DOI: 10.1093/brain/aww327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2016] [Accepted: 10/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
See King et al. (doi:10.1093/aww348) for a scientific commentary on this article.Detailed mapping of clinical dysfunctions to the cerebellar lobules in disease populations is necessary to establish the functional significance of lobules implicated in cognitive and motor functions in normal subjects. This study constitutes the first quantitative examination of the lobular correlates of a broad range of cognitive and motor phenomena in cerebellar disease. We analysed cross-sectional data from 72 cases with cerebellar disease and 36 controls without cerebellar disease. Cerebellar lobule volumes were derived from a graph-cut based segmentation algorithm. Sparse partial least squares, a variable selection approach, was used to identify lobules associated with motor function, language, executive function, memory, verbal learning, perceptual organization and visuomotor coordination. Motor dysfunctions were chiefly associated with the anterior lobe and posterior lobule HVI. Confrontation naming, noun fluency, recognition, and perceptual organization did not have cerebellar associations. Verb and phonemic fluency, working memory, cognitive flexibility, immediate and delayed recall, verbal learning, and visuomotor coordination were variably associated with HVI, Crus I, Crus II, HVII B and/or HIX. Immediate and delayed recall also showed associations with the anterior lobe. These findings provide preliminary anatomical evidence for a functional topography of the cerebellum first defined in task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of normal subjects and support the hypotheses that (i) cerebellar efferents target frontal lobe neurons involved in forming action representations and new search strategies; (ii) there is greater involvement of the cerebellum when immediate recall tasks involve more complex verbal stimuli (e.g. longer words versus digits); and (iii) it is involved in spontaneous retrieval of long-term memory. More generally, they provide an anatomical background for studies that seek the mechanisms by which cognitive and motor dysfunctions arise from cerebellar degeneration. Beyond replicating these findings, future research should employ experimental tasks to probe the integrity of specific functions in cerebellar disease, and new imaging methods to quantitatively map atrophy across the cerebellum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kalyani Kansal
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Zhen Yang
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Ann M Fishman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.,Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Haris I Sair
- Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Sarah H Ying
- Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Bruno M Jedynak
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Jerry L Prince
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Chiadi U Onyike
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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14
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Impaired Spatio-Temporal Predictive Motor Timing Associated with Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0162042. [PMID: 27571363 PMCID: PMC5003364 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2016] [Accepted: 08/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Many daily life activities demand precise integration of spatial and temporal information of sensory inputs followed by appropriate motor actions. This type of integration is carried out in part by the cerebellum, which has been postulated to play a central role in learning and timing of movements. Cerebellar damage due to atrophy or lesions may compromise forward-model processing, in which both spatial and temporal cues are used to achieve prediction for future motor states. In the present study we sought to further investigate the cerebellar contribution to predictive and reactive motor timing, as well as to learning of sequential order and temporal intervals in these tasks. We tested patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) and healthy controls for two related motor tasks; one requiring spatio-temporal prediction of dynamic visual stimuli and another one requiring reactive timing only. We found that healthy controls established spatio-temporal prediction in their responses with high temporal precision, which was absent in the cerebellar patients. SCA6 patients showed lower predictive motor timing, coinciding with a reduced number of correct responses during the ‘anticipatory’ period on the task. Moreover, on the task utilizing reactive motor timing functions, control participants showed both sequence order and temporal interval learning, whereas patients only showed sequence order learning. These results suggest that SCA6 affects predictive motor timing and temporal interval learning. Our results support and highlight cerebellar contribution to timing and argue for cerebellar engagement during spatio-temporal prediction of upcoming events.
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Belmonte M. Abnormal Attention in Autism Shown by Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/1362361300004003004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
This study examined brain electrical responses as a physiological measure of speed and specificity of attentional shifting in eight adult males with autism. Subjects were required to shift attention between rapidly flashed targets alternating between left and right visual hemifields. When targets were separated by less than 700 ms, steady- state brain electrical response in both hemispheres was augmented and background EEG decreased for rightward shifts as compared with leftward shifts. At longer separations, persons with autism showed no modulation of background EEG, and high variability in steady-state response. These results contrast with those in normal controls, where in each hemisphere separately steady-state response increased and background EEG descreased for shifts directed contralaterally to that hemisphere. Group differences were significant at p < 0.04 for the steady-state response and p < 0.0001 for the background EEG. Lack of hemispherically independent modulation in autism may reflect the operation of a non-specific mechanism of sensory gating.
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Abstract
For most ofthe 20th century, the brain science community held the view that the cerebellum was exclusively involved in motor control functions. Over the past 20 years, this has largely been replaced by the idea that the cerebellum participates in a variety of motor and nonmotor functions and, importantly, may contain neurons that display longand short-term plasticity, encoding behavioral and cognitive functions. The authors present evidence for the involvement of the cerebellum in motor and nonmotor functions and further suggest that the cerebellum’s internal neural architecture and connectivity patterns with other areas ofthe brain determine the range offunctions that the cerebellum participates in. To stress the interactive nature ofthe structure, the authors suggest that the phenomena that the cerebellum encodes may be best described generally as the psychological functions ofthe cerebellum instead ofattempting to categorize all functions as either motor or nonmotor.
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Striemer CL, Cantelmi D, Cusimano MD, Danckert JA, Schweizer TA. Deficits in reflexive covert attention following cerebellar injury. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:428. [PMID: 26300756 PMCID: PMC4523795 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2015] [Accepted: 07/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditionally the cerebellum has been known for its important role in coordinating motor output. Over the past 15 years numerous studies have indicated that the cerebellum plays a role in a variety of cognitive functions including working memory, language, perceptual functions, and emotion. In addition, recent work suggests that regions of the cerebellum involved in eye movements also play a role in controlling covert visual attention. Here we investigated whether regions of the cerebellum that are not strictly tied to the control of eye movements might also contribute to covert attention. To address this question we examined the effects of circumscribed cerebellar lesions on reflexive covert attention in a group of patients (n = 11) without any gross motor or oculomotor deficits, and compared their performance to a group of age-matched controls (n = 11). Results indicated that the traditional RT advantage for validly cued targets was significantly smaller at the shortest (50 ms) SOA for cerebellar patients compared to controls. Critically, a lesion overlap analysis indicated that this deficit in the rapid deployment of attention was linked to damage in Crus I and Crus II of the lateral cerebellum. Importantly, both cerebellar regions have connections to non-motor regions of the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices—regions important for controlling visuospatial attention. Together, these data provide converging evidence that both lateral and midline regions of the cerebellum play an important role in the control of reflexive covert visual attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher L Striemer
- Department of Psychology, MacEwan University Edmonton, AB, Canada ; Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, Canada ; Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - David Cantelmi
- Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael's Hospital Toronto, ON, Canada ; Division of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Michael D Cusimano
- Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael's Hospital Toronto, ON, Canada ; Division of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada ; Keenan Research Centre, St. Michael's Hospital Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - James A Danckert
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Tom A Schweizer
- Division of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada ; Keenan Research Centre, St. Michael's Hospital Toronto, ON, Canada
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Mannarelli D, Pauletti C, De Lucia MC, Currà A, Fattapposta F. Insights from ERPs into attention during recovery after cerebellar stroke: a case report. Neurocase 2015; 21:721-6. [PMID: 25372555 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2014.977922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The role of the cerebellum in cognitive performance and attentional processes is a focus of research in recent years. We investigated the P300 component in a patient with a left posterior cerebellar ischemic stroke during both the acute phase and over 4 weeks of follow-up. After stroke, auditory event-related potentials showed a reduction in P3 amplitude, which appears to improve instead after 4 weeks of follow-up. These event-related potential findings could suggest a specific neural pattern of disruption in selective attention during the discrimination processes of the stimulus following a posterior cerebellar lesion. A recovery is observed in the long term.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Mannarelli
- a Department of Neurology and Psychiatry , Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy
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Adamaszek M, Olbrich S, Kirkby KC, Woldag H, Willert C, Heinrich A. Event-related potentials indicating impaired emotional attention in cerebellar stroke--a case study. Neurosci Lett 2013; 548:206-11. [PMID: 23643987 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2013.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2013] [Revised: 04/03/2013] [Accepted: 04/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The cerebellum has been implicated in affective and attentional processes, but little is known about corresponding neural signatures. We investigated early and late components of event-related potentials (ERPs) to emotionally arousing pictures, with and without competing attentional tasks, in a patient with an ischemic right posterior cerebellar infarction, at two months post infarct and two year follow-up. The early posterior negativity (EPN) response to highly arousing emotional cues in the competing visual attention condition revealed that the augmentation over occipital areas, as typically seen in normals, was absent post-infarct but was restored after two years. The late positive potentials (LPP) response to highly arousing emotional cues showed augmentation over frontal areas post-infarct, and over centro-parietal regions after two years. These ERP findings suggest a specific pattern of disruption of neural function associated with emotional-behavioral disturbances following cerebellar lesions, which can revert to normal with long term recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Adamaszek
- Department of Neurology, University of Greifswald, Germany.
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Bledsoe JC, Semrud-Clikeman M, Pliszka SR. Neuroanatomical and neuropsychological correlates of the cerebellum in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder--combined type. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2011; 50:593-601. [PMID: 21621143 PMCID: PMC3104210 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2010] [Revised: 02/08/2011] [Accepted: 02/24/2011] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Studies of healthy individuals and those with cerebellar damage have implicated the cerebellum in a variety of cognitive and behavioral processes. Decreased cerebellar volume has been found in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and differentially related to behavioral outcomes. The present study investigated whether smaller cerebellar vermis volume was present in children with ADHD-combined type (ADHD-C) compared with controls and whether volume related to parent- and teacher-reported levels of ADHD symptomatology. METHOD T1-weighted magnetic resonance images and parent- and teacher-reported ADHD symptoms were acquired for 32 children diagnosed with ADHD-C and 15 typically developing controls. Participants were right-handed, had no comorbid diagnoses of learning disabilities, conduct disorder, or affective/mood disorder, and were 9 to 15 years of age. RESULTS Participants with ADHD-C showed significantly smaller volume in the posterior inferior vermis compared with controls. No statistically significant differences were observed for cerebral volume, anterior vermis volume, posterior superior volume, or total cerebellar volume. Regression analyses indicated that a significant amount of the variance in parent-reported Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Hyperactivity and Attention and Conners Restless/Impulsive ratings was explained by volume of the posterior inferior vermis. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with previous studies, children with ADHD had smaller volume in the posterior inferior vermis. New findings emerged with smaller volume of the posterior inferior vermis predicting a significant amount of the variance in parent-reported hyperactivity, attention, and restlessness/impulsivity. Thus, symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention in ADHD may be partly explained by smaller volume of the cerebellar vermis and its connections within the cerebrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse C Bledsoe
- Michigan State University, Consortium for Neurodevelopmental Study, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
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Moores E, Nicolson R, Fawcett A. Attention deficits in dyslexia: Evidence for an automatisation deficit? ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/09541440303609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Moores
- a Neurosciences Research Institute, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
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Pierce K, Conant D, Hazin R, Stoner R, Desmond J. Preference for geometric patterns early in life as a risk factor for autism. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010; 68:101-9. [PMID: 20819977 DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 235] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
CONTEXT Early identification efforts are essential for the early treatment of the symptoms of autism but can only occur if robust risk factors are found. Children with autism often engage in repetitive behaviors and anecdotally prefer to visually examine geometric repetition, such as the moving blade of a fan or the spinning of a car wheel. The extent to which a preference for looking at geometric repetition is an early risk factor for autism has yet to be examined. OBJECTIVES To determine if toddlers with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 14 to 42 months prefer to visually examine dynamic geometric images more than social images and to determine if visual fixation patterns can correctly classify a toddler as having an ASD. DESIGN Toddlers were presented with a 1-minute movie depicting moving geometric patterns on 1 side of a video monitor and children in high action, such as dancing or doing yoga, on the other. Using this preferential looking paradigm, total fixation duration and the number of saccades within each movie type were examined using eye tracking technology. SETTING University of California, San Diego Autism Center of Excellence. PARTICIPANTS One hundred ten toddlers participated in final analyses (37 with an ASD, 22 with developmental delay, and 51 typical developing toddlers). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Total fixation time within the geometric patterns or social images and the number of saccades were compared between diagnostic groups. RESULTS Overall, toddlers with an ASD as young as 14 months spent significantly more time fixating on dynamic geometric images than other diagnostic groups. If a toddler spent more than 69% of his or her time fixating on geometric patterns, then the positive predictive value for accurately classifying that toddler as having an ASD was 100%. CONCLUSION A preference for geometric patterns early in life may be a novel and easily detectable early signature of infants and toddlers at risk for autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Pierce
- Department of Neurosciences, Autism Center of Excellence, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92037, USA.
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Slowed orienting of covert visual-spatial attention in autism: Specific deficits associated with cerebellar and parietal abnormality. Dev Psychopathol 2009. [DOI: 10.1017/s0954579400007276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe most commonly reported finding from structural brain studies in autism is abnormality of the cerebellum. Autopsy and magnetic resonance imaging (MR) studies from nine independent research groups have found developmental abnormality of the cerebellar vermis or hemispheres in the majority of the more than 240 subjects with autism who were studied. We reported previously that patients with autism and those with acquired damage to the cerebellum were slow to shift attention between and within sensory modalities. In this study, we found that patients with autism who come from a group with significant cerebellar abnormality were also slow to orient attention in space.A subgroup of these patients who have additional or corollary parietal abnormality, like previously studied patients with acquired parietal damage, were also slow to detect and respond to information outside an attended location. Posner, Walker, Friedrich, and Rafal (1984) showed that patients with parietal lesions were slow to respond to contralesional information if they were attending an ipsilesional location. This study has replicated that finding in patients with autism who have developmental bilateral parietal abnormality, and found a strong correlation between the attentional deficits and the amount of neuroanatomic parietal abnormality in these patients. This is the first time in the study of autism that there is evidence for a statistically significant association of the size of a specific brain structural abnormality with a specific behavioral deficit.These findings illustrate that in autism different patterns of underlying brain pathology may result in different patterns of functional deficits. In conjunction with previous studies of patients with acquired lesions, these data have implications for the brain bases of normal attention. The cerebellum may affect the speed with which attentional resources can be activated, while the parietal cortex affects the ability to use those resources for efficient information processing at locations outside an attended focus. Deficits in the speed and efficiency with which neural activity can be modulated to facilitate processing can clearly influence cognitive function. Such deficits may contribute to the behavioral disabilities that characterize autism.
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Abstract
AbstractIn this paper we discuss the contribution of neural activity-dependent factors to shaping the brain in normal and pathologic development, and we discuss factors that determine the likelihood of recovery from the experience of abnormal neural activity during development.
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Baillieux H, Smet HJD, Paquier PF, De Deyn PP, Mariën P. Cerebellar neurocognition: Insights into the bottom of the brain. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2008; 110:763-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2008.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 200] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2008] [Revised: 04/24/2008] [Accepted: 05/13/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Reilly DS, Woollacott MH, van Donkelaar P, Saavedra S. The Interaction Between Executive Attention and Postural Control in Dual-Task Conditions: Children With Cerebral Palsy. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2008; 89:834-42. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2007.10.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2007] [Accepted: 10/04/2007] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Abstract
This study presents a new theory to explain the neural origins of human mind. This is the psychomotor theory. The author briefly analyzed the historical development of the mind-brain theories. The close relations between psychological and motor systems were subjected to a rather detailed analysis, using psychiatric and neurological examples. The feedback circuits between mind, brain, and body were shown to occur within the mind-brain-body triad, in normal states, and psycho-neural diseases. It was stated that psychiatric signs and symptoms are coupled with motor disturbances; neurological diseases are coupled with psychological disturbances; changes in cortico-spinal motor-system activity may influence mind-brain-body triad, and vice versa. Accordingly, a psychomotor theory was created to explain the psychomotor coupling in health and disease, stating that, not the mind-brain duality or unity, but the mind-brain-body triad as a functional unit may be essential in health and disease, because mind does not end in the brain, but further controls movements, in a reciprocal manner; mental and motor events share the same neural substrate, cortical, and spinal motoneurons; mental events emerging from the motoneuronal system expressed by the human language may be closely coupled with the unity of the mind-brain-body triad. So, the psychomotor theory rejects the mind-brain duality and instead advances the unity of the psychomotor system, which will have important consequences in understanding and improving the human mind, brain, and body in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uner Tan
- Department of Physics, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey.
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Keuthen NJ, Makris N, Schlerf JE, Martis B, Savage CR, McMullin K, Seidman LJ, Schmahmann JD, Kennedy DN, Hodge SM, Rauch SL. Evidence for reduced cerebellar volumes in trichotillomania. Biol Psychiatry 2007; 61:374-81. [PMID: 16945351 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2005] [Revised: 03/27/2006] [Accepted: 06/01/2006] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Limited knowledge exists regarding the neurobiology of trichotillomania (TTM). Cerebellum (CBM) volumes were explored, given its role in complex, coordinated motor sequences. METHODS Morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained for 14 female subjects with DSM-IV diagnoses of TTM and 12 age-, education-, and gender-matched normal control (NC) participants. Parcellation was performed utilizing a recently developed methodology to measure subterritory volumes of the CBM. Regions were defined based on knowledge of the structural and functional subunits of the CBM. RESULTS As predicted, significant group differences were reported for CBM raw cortical volumes (p = .008) that survived correction for total brain volume (TBV; p = .037) and head circumference (HC; p = .011). A priori and post hoc group raw volume comparisons for CBM subterritories and functional clusters revealed many significant differences. However, most differences failed to withstand correction for total CBM volumes (TCV). Smaller volumes were consistently reported for the TTM versus NC cohorts. Total Massachusetts General Hospital Hair Pulling Scale (MGHHPS) scores were significantly inversely correlated with left primary sensorimotor cluster volumes (p = .008), with smaller volumes associated with more severe TTM symptoms. CONCLUSIONS These findings implicate the CBM in the neurobiology of TTM, with reduced subterritory volumes reported for the TTM versus NC groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy J Keuthen
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
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Identification of neuroanatomical substrates of set-shifting ability: evidence from patients with focal brain lesions. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2007. [DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(07)68008-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
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De Bellis MD, Kuchibhatla M. Cerebellar volumes in pediatric maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry 2006; 60:697-703. [PMID: 16934769 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.04.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 158] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2005] [Revised: 03/15/2006] [Accepted: 04/28/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The results of previous studies suggest structural brain differences in pediatric maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) However, posterior fossa volumes were not examined, despite the consensus that the cerebellum is important in emotional and cognitive development. We investigated the relationship between structural volumes of the cerebellum hemispheres, vermis, brainstem, and clinical variables in pediatric maltreatment-related PTSD. METHODS Fifty-eight psychotropic-naïve maltreated children and adolescents with DSM-IV PTSD were compared with two groups of pediatric subjects who had no DSM-IV criteria A trauma histories: 1) 13 with pediatric generalized anxiety disorder, and 2) 98 healthy non-abused children and adolescents. Subjects underwent a comprehensive psychiatric assessment and an anatomical magnetic resonance image brain scan. RESULTS Unadjusted means of the left, right, and total cerebellum were smaller in the PTSD group. The group differences remained significant in the left cerebellum, right cerebellum, and total cerebellum in the analyses adjusted for cerebral volume, sociodemographic, and IQ variables. Cerebellar volumes positively correlated with age of onset of the trauma that lead to PTSD and negatively correlated with the duration of the trauma that lead to PTSD. Cerebellar volumes were larger in boys versus girls, but there was no group x gender interaction. There were significant positive correlations between IQ measures and volumetric variables. CONCLUSIONS The results support cerebellar volume differences in maltreated children and adolescents with PTSD. Further studies are warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael D De Bellis
- Healthy Childhood Brain Development and Developmental Traumatology Research Program, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
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Mattson S, Calarco K, Lang A. Focused and shifting attention in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. Neuropsychology 2006; 20:361-369. [PMID: 16719629 PMCID: PMC1764506 DOI: 10.1037/0894-4105.20.3.361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention deficits are a hallmark of the teratogenic effects of alcohol. However, characterization of these deficits remains inconclusive. Children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and nonexposed controls were evaluated using a paradigm consisting of three conditions: visual focus, auditory focus, and auditory-visual shift of attention. For the focus conditions, participants responded manually to visual or auditory targets. For the shift condition, participants alternated responses between visual targets and auditory targets. For the visual focus condition, alcohol-exposed children had lower accuracy and slower reaction time for all intertarget intervals (ITIs), while on the auditory focus condition, alcohol-exposed children were less accurate but displayed slower reaction time only on the longest ITI. Finally, for the shift condition, the alcohol-exposed group was accurate but had slowed reaction times. These results indicate that children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure have pervasive deficits in visual focused attention and deficits in maintaining auditory attention over time. However, no deficits were noted in the ability to disengage and reengage attention when required to shift attention between visual and auditory stimuli, although reaction times to shift were slower.
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Affiliation(s)
- S.N. Mattson
- Address for Correspondence: Sarah N. Mattson, Ph.D., 6363 Alvarado Court, Suite 209, San Diego, CA 92120 USA, Phone: 619-594-7228, FAX: 619-594-1895, e-mail:
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Simon TJ, Bish JP, Bearden CE, Ding L, Ferrante S, Nguyen V, Gee JC, McDonald-McGinn DM, Zackai EH, Emanuel BS. A multilevel analysis of cognitive dysfunction and psychopathology associated with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome in children. Dev Psychopathol 2006; 17:753-84. [PMID: 16262991 PMCID: PMC1360281 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579405050364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
We present a multilevel approach to developing potential explanations of cognitive impairments and psychopathologies common to individuals with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Results presented support our hypothesis of posterior parietal dysfunction as a central determinant of characteristic visuospatial and numerical cognitive impairments. Converging data suggest that brain development anomalies, primarily tissue reductions in the posterior brain and changes to the corpus callosum, may affect parietal connectivity. Further findings indicate that dysfunction in "frontal" attention systems may explain some executive cognition impairments observed in affected children, and that there may be links between these domains of cognitive function and some of the serious psychiatric conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia, that have elevated incidence rates in the syndrome. Linking the neural structure and the cognitive processing levels in this way enabled us to develop an elaborate structure/function mapping hypothesis for the impairments that are observed. We show also, that in the case of the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene, a fairly direct relationship between gene expression, cognitive function, and psychopathology exists in the affected population. Beyond that, we introduce the idea that variation in other genes may further explain the phenotypic variation in cognitive function and possibly the anomalies in brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tony J Simon
- University of California, Davis, Sacramento 95817, USA.
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Golla H, Thier P, Haarmeier T. Disturbed overt but normal covert shifts of attention in adult cerebellar patients. Brain 2005; 128:1525-35. [PMID: 15872017 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awh523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In an attempt to provide a common denominator for cognitive deficits observed in cerebellar patients, it has been suggested that they might be secondary to impaired control of attention, a 'dysmetria of attention', conceptually analogous to motor dysmetria. Albeit appealing and quite influential, the concept of attentional dysmetria as a consequence of cerebellar disease remains controversial. In an attempt to test this concept in a direct way, we compared the performance of patients with cerebellar disorders to that of normal controls on tasks requiring either overt or covert shifts of spatial attention. In the first experiment, visually guided saccades, i.e. overt shifts of spatial attention, were elicited. In the second experiment, covert shifts of attention were evoked by the need to discriminate the orientation of a Landolt C observed during controlled fixation and presented in the same locations as the saccade targets in the previous experiment. The allocation of attention was assessed by comparing acuity thresholds determined with and without spatial cueing. The patients exhibited dysmetric saccades as reflected by larger absolute position errors or a higher number of corrective saccades compared to controls. In contrast, the ability to shift attention covertly was unimpaired in the patients, as indicated by a robust improvement in visual acuity induced by spatial cueing which did not differ from the one observed in the controls and which was independent of the range of SOAs (stimulus onset asynchronies) tested. Finally, the individual amount of saccadic dysmetria did not correlate with the individual performance in the covert attentional paradigm. In summary, we conclude that the contributions of the cerebellum to attention are confined to overt manifestations based on goal-directed eye movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidrun Golla
- Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Klinikum Schnarrenberg, Tübingen, Germany.
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Simon TJ, Ding L, Bish JP, McDonald-McGinn DM, Zackai EH, Gee J. Volumetric, connective, and morphologic changes in the brains of children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: an integrative study. Neuroimage 2005; 25:169-80. [PMID: 15734353 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.11.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 150] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2004] [Revised: 09/18/2004] [Accepted: 11/02/2004] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is a highly prevalent genetic disorder whose manifestations include developmental disability and sometimes mental retardation. The few studies that have examined brain morphology in different samples from this population have found similar general patterns, mostly using region of interest measures. We employed voxel-based techniques to concurrently examine specific morphologic changes in multiple brain tissue measures. Results were similar to previous findings of volumetric reductions in the posterior brain. They also extended them in two ways. First, our methods provided greater specificity in the localization of changes detected. Second, the combination of our measures of gray and white matter along with cerebrospinal fluid volume and fractional anisotropy, which indicates the structure of white matter, showed a posterior displacement of and morphologic changes to the corpus callosum in affected children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tony J Simon
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3535 Market Street, Room 1425, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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Makino Y, Yokosawa K, Takeda Y, Kumada T. Visual search and memory search engage extensive overlapping cerebral cortices: an fMRI study. Neuroimage 2004; 23:525-33. [PMID: 15488401 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2003] [Revised: 05/22/2004] [Accepted: 06/11/2004] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have investigated neural correlates of visual search and memory search independently, but none of those studies examined whether cortical regions involved in these searches are overlapping or segregated by directly comparing the two types of search. In this study, we compared the cortical regions involved in visual search and memory search in the same functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment run on the same subjects, using identical stimuli and time courses of stimulus presentation. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the left frontal eye field (FEF), the right precuneus and cuneus, and the left cerebellum were activated by both visual search and memory search. We suggest that the right DLPFC is associated with the process of monitoring and manipulating multiple elements, while the left FEF is involved in cognitive planning. We also propose that the right precuneus and cuneus as well as the left cerebellum are responsible for both spatial and nonspatial shifts of attention, including attentional shifts in long-term memory, although each of these regions has a slightly different role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuichi Makino
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
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Schoch B, Gorissen B, Richter S, Ozimek A, Kaiser O, Dimitrova A, Regel JP, Wieland R, Hövel M, Gizewski E, Timmann D. Do Children With Focal Cerebellar Lesions Show Deficits in Shifting Attention? J Neurophysiol 2004; 92:1856-66. [PMID: 15115791 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00185.2004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
More recent findings suggest a possible role of the cerebellum in nonmotor functions. Disability of individuals with cerebellar damage in rapidly shifting attention is one frequently used example to support cerebellar involvement in mental skills. The original proposal was based on findings in five children with chronic surgical lesions of the cerebellum and a young adult with a degenerative disorder. The aim of the present study was to repeat Akshoomoff and Courchesne's initial findings in a larger group of children with focal cerebellar lesions. Ten children with cerebellar lesions and 10 age- and sex-matched controls were tested. Neocerebellar areas were affected in all children with cerebellar damage except one based on detailed analysis of MRI scans. Subjects had to perform a focus and a shift attention task. Two visual and two auditory stimuli were presented in a pseudorandom order. An ellipse and a high-pitched tone were presented less frequently than a circle and a low-pitched tone. Rare stimuli were presented at five different time intervals. In the focus tasks, subjects had to react to the same rare stimulus of one of the two modalities. In the shift task, subjects had to switch between the two rare stimuli. Motor deficits based on reaction times were small in cerebellar children compared with controls. The ability of target detection did not significantly differ in the children with cerebellar lesions compared with the control children in both the focus and the shift attention task. In particular, children with cerebellar damage showed no significant impairment in rapid (<2 s) shifts of attention. The present findings indicate that the cerebellum may be less critical in attention related processes than suggested previously.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Schoch
- Dept. of Neurosurgery, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, 45122 Essen, Germany
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Allen G, Müller RA, Courchesne E. Cerebellar function in autism: functional magnetic resonance image activation during a simple motor task. Biol Psychiatry 2004; 56:269-78. [PMID: 15312815 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2003] [Revised: 05/17/2004] [Accepted: 06/04/2004] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The cerebellum is one of the most consistent sites of neuroanatomic abnormality in autism, yet it is still unclear how such pathology impacts cerebellar function. In normal subjects, we previously demonstrated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) a dissociation between cerebellar regions involved in attention and those involved in a simple motor task, with motor activation localized to the anterior cerebellum ipsilateral to the moving hand. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine activation in the cerebella of autistic patients and normal control subjects performing this motor task. METHODS We studied eight autistic patients and eight matched normal subjects, using fMRI. An anatomic region-of-interest approach was used, allowing a detailed examination of cerebellar function. RESULTS Autistic individuals showed significantly increased motor activation in the ipsilateral anterior cerebellar hemisphere relative to normal subjects, in addition to atypical activation in contralateral and posterior cerebellar regions. Moreover, increased activation was correlated with the degree of cerebellar structural abnormality. CONCLUSIONS These findings strongly suggest dysfunction of the autistic cerebellum that is a reflection of cerebellar anatomic abnormality. This neurofunctional deficit might be a key contributor to the development of certain diagnostic features of autism (e.g., impaired communication and social interaction, restricted interests, and stereotyped behaviors).
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Affiliation(s)
- Greg Allen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
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Lee GP, Meador KJ, Loring DW, Allison JD, Brown WS, Paul LK, Pillai JJ, Lavin TB. Neural substrates of emotion as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Cogn Behav Neurol 2004; 17:9-17. [PMID: 15209221 DOI: 10.1097/00146965-200403000-00002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To examine the brain circuitry involved in emotional experience and determine whether the cerebral hemispheres are specialized for positive and negative emotional experience. BACKGROUND Recent research has provided a preliminary sketch of the neurologic underpinnings of emotional processing involving specialized contributions of limbic and cortical brain regions. Electrophysiologic, functional imaging, and Wada test data have suggested positive, approach-related emotions are associated with left cerebral hemisphere regions, whereas negative, withdrawal-related emotions appear to be more aligned with right hemisphere mechanisms. METHOD These emotional-neural associations were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 10 healthy controls with 20 positively and 20 negatively valenced pictures from the International Affective Picture System in a counterbalanced order. Pictures were viewed within a 1.5 Telsa scanner through computerized video goggles. RESULTS Emotional pictures resulted in significantly increased blood flow bilaterally in the mesial frontal lobe/anterior cingulate gyrus, dorsolateral frontal lobe, amygdala/anterior temporal regions, and cerebellum. Negative emotional pictures resulted in greater activation of the right hemisphere, and positive pictures caused greater activation of the left hemisphere. CONCLUSIONS Results are consistent with theories emphasizing the importance of circuitry linking subcortical structures with mesial temporal, anterior cingulate, and frontal lobe regions in emotion and with the valence model of emotion that posits lateralized cerebral specialization for positive and negative emotional experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory P Lee
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia 30912-3275, USA.
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Dimitrova A, Kolb FP, Elles HG, Maschke M, Forsting M, Diener HC, Timmann D. Cerebellar responses evoked by nociceptive leg withdrawal reflex as revealed by event-related FMRI. J Neurophysiol 2003; 90:1877-86. [PMID: 12702705 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00053.2003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to examine nociceptive leg withdrawal reflex-related areas in the human cerebellum using event-related functional brain imaging (fMRI). Knowledge about cerebellar areas involved in unconditioned limb withdrawal reflex control has some relevance in understanding data of limb withdrawal reflex conditioning studies. Sixteen healthy adult subjects participated. Nociceptive leg withdrawal reflexes were evoked by electrical stimulation of the left tibial nerve behind the medial malleolus. An event-related fMRI paradigm was applied with a total of 30 stimuli being delivered pseudorandomly during 500 consecutive MR scans. Surface electromyographic (EMG) recordings were performed from the left anterior tibial muscle. Only trials with significant reflex EMG activity were used as active events in fMRI statistical analysis. The specified contrasts compared the active event condition with rest. Leg withdrawal reflex-related areas were located within the vermis, paravermis, and lateral posterior cerebellar hemispheres bilaterally. Vermal and paravermal areas in lobules III/IV in the anterior lobe and in lobule VIII in the posterior lobe agree with the cerebellar representation of climbing and mossy fiber hindlimb afferents and voluntary leg movements. They are likely related to efferent modulation of the leg withdrawal reflex and/or sensory processing of afferent inputs from the reflex and/or the noxious stimulus. Additional activation within vermal lobule VI and hemispheral lobules VI/Crus I may be related to other pain-related processes (e.g., facial grimacing, fear, and startlelike reactions).
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Affiliation(s)
- A Dimitrova
- Department of Neurology, University of Essen, 45122 Essen, Germany
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Barrett NA, Large MM, Smith GL, Karayanidis F, Michie PT, Kavanagh DJ, Fawdry R, Henderson D, O'Sullivan BT. Human brain regions required for the dividing and switching of attention between two features of a single object. BRAIN RESEARCH. COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH 2003; 17:1-13. [PMID: 12763187 DOI: 10.1016/s0926-6410(02)00246-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
This combined PET and ERP study was designed to identify the brain regions activated in switching and divided attention between different features of a single object using matched sensory stimuli and motor response. The ERP data have previously been reported in this journal [64]. We now present the corresponding PET data. We identified partially overlapping neural networks with paradigms requiring the switching or dividing of attention between the elements of complex visual stimuli. Regions of activation were found in the prefrontal and temporal cortices and cerebellum. Each task resulted in different prefrontal cortical regions of activation lending support to the functional subspecialisation of the prefrontal and temporal cortices being based on the cognitive operations required rather than the stimuli themselves.
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Affiliation(s)
- N A Barrett
- Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Abstract
During early development, significant changes occur in the neural regions that subserve attention and related skills. Although preschoolers typically have difficulty performing continuous performance tests, it is not clear if this is primarily due to an inability to selectively respond or an inability to maintain attention. A group of 52 children between 3.5 and 5.5 years of age performed 2 vigilance-type reaction time tasks. The tasks included short duration, continuously presented visual stimuli across several short blocks. Among the children under 4.5 years of age, 46% were unable to coordinate the necessary task demands, and those who could made significantly more omission errors than the older children. Active engagement was high during the reaction time tasks for all children. These results suggest that the skills necessary for vigilance tasks, particularly speeded response initiation and response selection, are still emerging during the preschool years but can be adequately measured after 4.5 years of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natacha Akshoomoff
- Laboratory for Research on the Neuroscience of Autism, Children's Hospital San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA.
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Marien P, Engelborghs S, Fabbro F, De Deyn PP. The lateralized linguistic cerebellum: a review and a new hypothesis. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2001; 79:580-600. [PMID: 11781058 DOI: 10.1006/brln.2001.2569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 202] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
During the past 2 decades the collaboration across disciplines and the methodologic and conceptual advances of contemporary neuroscience have brought about a substantial modification of the traditional view of the cerebellum as a mere coordinator of autonomic and somatic motor functions. Growing insights in the neuroanatomy of the cerebellum and its interconnections, evidence from functional neuroimaging and neurophysiological research, and advancements in clinical and experimental neuropsychology have established the view that the cerebellum participates in a much wider range of functions than conventionally accepted. This increase of insight has brought to the fore that the cerebellum modulates cognitive functioning of at least those parts of the brain to which it is reciprocally connected. This article reviews the recently acknowledged role of the cerebellum in cognition and addresses in more detail experimental and clinical data disclosing the modulatory role of the cerebellum in various non-motor language processes such as lexical retrieval, syntax, and language dynamics. In agreement with the findings indicating a topographical organization of the cerebellar structures involved in language pathology we advance the concept of a "lateralized linguistic cerebellum." In our view crossed cerebral diaschisis processes, reflecting a functional depression of supratentorial language areas due to reduced input via cerebellocortical pathways, might represent the relevant pathomechanism for linguistic deficits associated with cerebellar pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Marien
- Department of Neurology, General Hospital Middelheim, Antwerp, Belgium.
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Barrett NA, Large MM, Smith GL, Michie PT, Karayanidis F, Kavanagh DJ, Fawdry R, Henderson D, O'Sullivan BT. Human cortical processing of colour and pattern. Hum Brain Mapp 2001. [PMID: 11410950 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.1034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study investigates human visual processing of simple two-colour patterns using a delayed match to sample paradigm with positron emission tomography (PET). This study is unique in that we specifically designed the visual stimuli to be the same for both pattern and colour recognition with all patterns being abstract shapes not easily verbally coded composed of two-colour combinations. We did this to explore those brain regions required for both colour and pattern processing and to separate those areas of activation required for one or the other. We found that both tasks activated similar occipital regions, the major difference being more extensive activation in pattern recognition. A right-sided network that involved the inferior parietal lobule, the head of the caudate nucleus, and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus was common to both paradigms. Pattern recognition also activated the left temporal pole and right lateral orbital gyrus, whereas colour recognition activated the left fusiform gyrus and several right frontal regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- N A Barrett
- Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Abstract
Abstract
The basal ganglia and cerebellum have traditionally been associated with motor performance. Recently, there has been considerable interest regarding the contributions of these subcortical structures to aspecdts of cognition. In particular, both the basal ganglia and cerebellum have been hypothesized to be involved in the control of attentional set. To dat, no neuropsychological studies have directly compared the effects of basal ganglia and cerebellar dysfunction on the same attention shifting tasks. To this end, dwe employed and alternating attention task that has been used to demonstrate putative attentional control deficits in children with cerebellar pathology, either related to autism or neurological insult. When adult patients with either Parkinson's disease or cerebellar lesions were tested on this task, a similar pattern of deficits was observed for both groups. However, when the motor demands were reduced, cerebellar patients showed a significant improvement on the alternating attention task, whereas the Parkinson patients continued to exhibit an impairment. This dissociation suggests that attentional deficits reported previously as being due to cerebellar dysfunction may be, at least in part, secondary to problem related to coordinating successive responses. In contrast, attention-shifting deficits associated with basal ganglia impairment cannot be explained by recourse to the motor demands of the task.
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Affiliation(s)
- S M Ravizza
- University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650,USA.
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Townsend J, Westerfield M, Leaver E, Makeig S, Jung T, Pierce K, Courchesne E. Event-related brain response abnormalities in autism: evidence for impaired cerebello-frontal spatial attention networks. BRAIN RESEARCH. COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH 2001; 11:127-45. [PMID: 11240116 DOI: 10.1016/s0926-6410(00)00072-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Although under some conditions the attention-related late positive event-related potential (ERP) response (LPC) is apparently normal in autism during visual processing, the LPC elicited by visuospatial processing may be compromised. Results from this study provide evidence for abnormalities in autism in two components of the LPC generated during spatial processing. The early frontal distribution of the LPC which may reflect attention orienting was delayed or missing in autistic subjects during conditions in which attention was to peripheral visual fields. The later parietal distribution of the LPC which may be associated with context updating was smaller in amplitude in autistic subjects regardless of attention location. Both abnormalities suggest disruption of function in spatial attention networks in autism. Evidence that the cerebellar abnormalities in autism may underlie these deficits comes from: (1) similar results in ERP responses and spatial attention deficits in patients with cerebellar lesions; (2) brain-behavior correlations in normally functioning individuals associating the size of the posterior cerebellar vermis and the latency of the frontal LPC; and (3) a previously reported complementary correlation between the size of the posterior vermal lobules and spatial orienting speed. Although the scalp-recorded LPC is thought to be cortically generated, it may be modulated by subcortical neural activity. The cerebellum may serve as a modulating influence by affecting the task-related antecedent attentional process. The electrophysiological abnormalities reported here index spatial attention deficits in autism that may reflect cerebellar influence on both frontal and parietal spatial attention function.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Townsend
- Department of Neurosciences 0217, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0217, USA.
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Nixon PD, Passingham RE. The cerebellum and cognition: cerebellar lesions impair sequence learning but not conditional visuomotor learning in monkeys. Neuropsychologia 2000; 38:1054-72. [PMID: 10775716 DOI: 10.1016/s0028-3932(99)00138-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Claims that the cerebellum contributes to cognitive processing in humans have arisen from both functional neuroimaging and patient studies. These claims challenge traditional theories of cerebellar function that ascribe motor functions to this structure. We trained monkeys to perform both a visuomotor conditional associative learning task and a visually guided sequence task, and studied the effects of bilateral excitotoxic lesions in the lateral cerebellar nuclei. In the first experiment three operated monkeys showed a small impairment in post-operative retention of a visuomotor associative task (A) but were then not impaired in learning a new task (B). However, the impairment on A could have been due to a problem in making the movements themselves. In a second experiment we therefore gave the three control animals a further pre-operative retest on both A and B and then tested after surgery on retention of both tasks. Though again the animals showed motor problems on task A, they reached criterion, and at this stage could clearly make both movements satisfactorily. The critical test was then retention of task B, and they were not impaired. In the final experiment (serial reaction time task) the monkeys response times on a repeating visuomotor sequence were compared with those for a pseudo-random control sequence. After bilateral nuclei lesions they were slow to execute the pre-operatively learned sequence but were still faster on this than on the control task. However, when they were then given a new repeating sequence to learn, they never performed the sequence as quickly as they had on retention of the first sequence. We conclude that the cerebellum is not essential for the learning or recall of stimulus-response associations but that it is crucially involved in the process by which motor sequences become automatic with extended practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- P D Nixon
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.
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Alias AG. Schizotypy and leadership: a contrasting model for deficit symptoms, and a possible therapeutic role for sex hormones. Med Hypotheses 2000; 54:537-52. [PMID: 10859637 DOI: 10.1054/mehy.1999.0893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Associational loosening, slow and faulty information processing, poor gating of irrelevant stimuli, poor ability to shift attention, poor working memory, passivity, ambivalence, anhedonia, and impaired motor coordination are cardinal features of schizophrenia but, unlike delusions and hallucinations, they are related more to negative/deficit symptoms. As summarized by Bass, numerous studies have correlated leadership with 'ambition, initiative and persistence' (opposite of passivity), 'speed and accuracy of thought', 'finality of decision,' or decisiveness (the opposite of ambivalence), 'mood control, optimism and sense of humor' (opposite of anhedonia), etc. Andreasen et al postulate that a disruption in the circuitry among nodes located in the prefrontal regions, the thalamic nuclei, and the cerebellum produces 'cognitive dysmetria', meaning difficulty in prioritizing, coordinating, and responding to information, and that it can account for the broad diversity of symptoms of schizophrenia. A relationship between cognitive processes and cerebellar and basal ganglia functions, and a role of neocerebellum in rapidly shifting attention, have been demonstrated. The cognitive styles, including a proficiency to quickly shift attention, of several famous leaders are used as examples of this contrasting model. Julius Caesar and Napoleon, for instance, could dictate to up to six secretaries simultaneously, using their exceptional working memories, and proficiency in quickly and effortlessly shifting attention while flawlessly gating irrelevant external and internal stimuli. It is suggested that specific brain imaging studies could illustrate this contrast. Gray et al noted positive correlations between 'dominance', an important leadership trait, and serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone (T), but not of more potent dihydrotestosterone (DHT), in over 1700 older men. Though not scientifically rigorous, the author noted positive correlations (P = 0.0162) between the self-rated ratings of voice depth (promoted by T) and of leadership, but none between those of body hair (DHT dependent) and of leadership in 47 male US National Academy of Sciences members. And 43 male US Senators had deeper voices than 36 male House members (P<0.01) who, in turn, had deeper voices than either of two groups (numbers 102 and 72) of male scientists (P<0.01). Therapeutically, before chlorpromazine, DHEA had been used in young schizophrenics with modest success in improving deficit symptoms. DHEA, or other sex hormones, or some of their natural and synthetic derivatives may prove to be valuable to treat deficit symptoms of schizophrenia in both sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- A G Alias
- Chester Mental Health Center, Illinois 62233, USA.
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