Effects of Ramadan on cognitive functions in young boys

Fasting during Ramadan involves abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset, potentially influencing cognitive functions essential for the intellectual development of the youth. Therefore, understanding the effects of fasting on these functions in children/adolescents provides valuable perspectives to enhance education and promote mental well-being. However, studies on children/adolescents in this context are still limited. To evaluate the impact of Ramadan fasting on cognitive functions, including information processing speed, inhibition, decision-making, and auditory attention processes among children and adolescents aged 11 to 15 years. This study was conducted with 24 healthy children/adolescents (aged 12.84 ± 0.69 years). The experimental protocol consisted of two sessions: Before-Ramadan (BR) and at the beginning of the second week of Ramadan (R2). At each session, the boys were randomly tested on simple reaction time (SRT), choice reaction time (CRT), negative priming reaction time (NPRT), and auditory discrimination (P300). The tests were administered and scored by the same person in the different sessions. The study found that Ramadan fasting did not have an effect on various reaction times or on electro-physiological data, including P300 amplitude and latency. The current study, conducted with healthy children/adolescents, indicates that Ramadan fasting had no impact on various reaction times (SRT, CRT, NPRT), suggesting the preservation of information processing speed and decision-making, even in the face of increased task complexity. This is evident, on the one hand, through the maintenance of the ability to react to unexpected events, and, on the other hand, through the mastery of resistance to automatism, thus reflecting the preservation of inhibitory function (NPRT). Regarding P300 data, the absence of changes in latencies and amplitudes suggests that Ramadan fasting did not alter either the evaluation time of auditory stimuli or auditory attention processes.

Concurrent attention to hetero-depth surfaces in 3-D visual space is governed by theta rhythm

When simultaneously confronted with multiple attentional targets, visual system employs a time-multiplexing approach in which each target alternates for prioritized access, a mechanism broadly known as rhythmic attentional sampling. For the past decade, rhythmic attentional sampling has received mounting support from converging behavioral and neural findings. However, so compelling are these findings that a critical test ground has been long overshadowed, namely the 3-D visual space where attention is complicated by extraction of the spatial layout of surfaces extending beyond 2-D planes. It remains unknown how attentional deployment to multiple targets is accomplished in the 3-D space. Here, we provided a time-resolved portrait of the behavioral and neural dynamics when participants concurrently attended to two surfaces defined by motion-depth conjunctions. To characterize the moment-to-moment attentional modulation effects, we measured perceptual sensitivity to the hetero-depth surface motions on a fine temporal scale and reconstructed their neural representations using a time-resolved multivariate inverted encoding model. We found that the perceptual sensitivity to the two surface motions rhythmically fluctuated over time at ~4 Hz, with one's enhancement closely tracked by the other's diminishment. Moreover, the behavioral pattern was coupled with an ongoing periodic alternation in strength between the two surface motion representations in the same frequency. Together, our findings provide the first converging evidence of an attentional "pendulum" that rhythmically traverses different stereoscopic depth planes and are indicative of a ubiquitous attentional time multiplexor based on theta rhythm in the 3-D visual space.

Perception of near-threshold visual stimuli is influenced by prestimulus alpha-band amplitude but not by alpha phase

Ongoing brain activity preceding visual stimulation has been suggested to shape conscious perception. According to the pulsed inhibition framework, bouts of functional inhibition arise in each alpha cycle (every ~100 ms), allowing information to be processed in a pulsatile manner. Consequently, it has been hypothesized that perceptual outcome can be influenced by the specific phase of alpha oscillations prior to the stimulus onset, although empirical findings are controversial. In this study, we aimed to shed light on the role of prestimulus alpha oscillations in visual perception. To this end, we recorded electroencephalographic activity, while participants performed three near-threshold visual detection tasks with different attentional involvement: a no-cue task, a noninformative cue task (50% validity), and an informative cue task (100% validity). Cluster-based permutation statistics were complemented with Bayesian analyses to test the effect of prestimulus oscillatory amplitude and phase on visual awareness. We additionally examined whether these effects differed in trials with low and high oscillatory amplitude, as expected from the pulsed inhibition theory. Our results show a clear effect of prestimulus alpha amplitude on conscious perception, but only when alpha fluctuated spontaneously. In contrast, we did not find any evidence that prestimulus alpha phase influenced perceptual outcome, not even when differentiating between low- and high-amplitude trials. Furthermore, Bayesian analysis provided moderate evidence in favor of the absence of phase effects. Taken together, our results challenge the central theoretical predictions of the pulsed inhibition framework, at least for the particular experimental conditions used here.

Uncomfortable staring? Gaze to other people in social situations is inhibited in both infants and adults

People attract infants' and adults' gaze when presented on a computer screen. However, in live social situations, adults inhibit their gaze at strangers to avoid sending inappropriate social signals. Such inhibition of gaze has never been directly investigated in infants. The current preregistered study measured gaze and neural responses (EEG alpha power) to a confederate in a live social situation compared to a video of this confederate. Adults looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, although their neural responses suggest that they were overall equally attentive in both situations. Infants also looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, with similar neural response patterns. The gaze difference between live social and video situations increased with age. The study shows that young infants are already sensitive to social context and show decreased gaze to strangers in social situations. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This study shows that infants and adults look more at a video of a stranger than at a stranger that is present live in a social situation. Neural responses suggest that adults are equally attentive in both live and video situations but inhibit their gaze at the stranger in live social situations. Infants show a similar pattern of shorter gaze at a stranger who is present in person than at a video of this stranger. The study shows that gaze in infants and adults may diverge from cognitive processes measured through EEG, highlighting the importance of combining behavioural and neural measures in natural interactions.

Predicting neuropsychological late effects in pediatric brain tumor survivors using the Neurological Predictor Scale and the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Rating of Treatment Intensity

OBJECTIVE

The Neurological Predictor Scale (NPS) quantifies cumulative exposure to tumor- and treatment-related neurological risks. The Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Rating of Treatment Intensity (PNORTI) measures the intensity of different treatment modalities, but research is needed to establish whether it is associated with late effects. This study evaluated the predictive validity of the NPS and PNORTI for neuropsychological outcomes in pediatric brain tumor survivors.

METHOD

A retrospective chart review was completed of pediatric brain tumor survivors (PBTS) (n = 161, Mage = 13.47, SD = 2.80) who were at least 2 years from the end of tumor-directed treatment. Attention, intellectual functioning, perceptual reasoning, processing speed, verbal reasoning, and working memory were analyzed in relation to the NPS and PNORTI.

RESULTS

NPS scores ranged from 1 to 11 (M = 5.57, SD = 2.27) and PNORTI scores ranged from 1 (n = 101; 62.7%) to 3 (n = 18; 11.2%). When controlling for age, sex, SES factors, and time since treatment, NPS scores significantly predicted intellectual functioning [F(7,149) = 12.86, p < .001, R2 = .38] and processing speed [F(7,84) = 5.28, p < .001, R2 = .31]. PNORTI scores did not significantly predict neuropsychological outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that the NPS has value in predicting IF and processing speed above-and-beyond demographic variables. The PNORTI was not associated with neuropsychological outcomes. Future research should consider establishing clinical cutoff scores for the NPS to help determine which survivors are most at risk for neuropsychological late effects and warrant additional assessment.

Neurocognitive correlates of metabolic dysregulation in individuals with mood disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Individuals with mood disorders are predisposed to metabolic dysfunction, while those with metabolic dysregulation such as diabetes and obesity experience more severe depressive symptoms. Both metabolic dysfunction and mood disorders are independently associated with cognitive deficits. Therefore, given their close association, this study aimed to explore the association between metabolic dysfunction in individuals with mood disorders in relation to cognitive outcomes. A comprehensive search comprised of these three domains was carried out; a random-effects meta-analysis pooling mean cognitive outcomes was conducted (PROSPERO ID: CRD42022295765). Sixty-three studies were included in this review; 26 were synthesized in a quantitative meta-analysis. Comorbid metabolic dysregulation was associated with significantly lower global cognition among individuals with mood disorders. These trends were significant within each mood disorder subgroup, including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and self-report depression/depressive symptoms. Type 2 diabetes was associated with the lowest cognitive performance in individuals with mood disorders, followed by peripheral insulin resistance, body mass index ⩾25 kg/m2, and metabolic syndrome. Significant reduction in scores was also observed among individual cognitive domains (in descending order) of working memory, attention, executive function, processing speed, verbal memory, and visual memory. These findings demonstrate the detrimental effects of comorbid metabolic dysfunction in individuals with mood disorders. Further research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms connecting mood disorders, metabolism, and cognition.

Alzheimer disease biomarkers are associated with decline in subjective memory, attention, and spatial navigation ability in clinically normal adults

OBJECTIVE

Subtle changes in memory, attention, and spatial navigation abilities have been associated with preclinical Alzheimer disease (AD). The current study examined whether baseline AD biomarkers are associated with self- and informant-reported decline in memory, attention, and spatial navigation.

METHOD

Clinically normal (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR®) = 0) adults aged 56-93 (N = 320) and their informants completed the memory, divided attention, and visuospatial abilities (which assesses spatial navigation) subsections of the Everyday Cognition Scale (ECog) annually for an average of 4 years. Biomarker data was collected within (±) 2 years of baseline (i.e., cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) p-tau181/Aβ42 ratio and hippocampal volume). Clinical progression was defined as CDR > 0 at time of final available ECog.

RESULTS

Self- and informant-reported memory, attention, and spatial navigation significantly declined over time (ps < .001). Baseline AD biomarkers were significantly associated with self- and informant-reported decline in cognitive ability (ps < .030), with the exception of p-tau181/Aβ42 ratio and self-reported attention (p = .364). Clinical progression did not significantly moderate the relationship between AD biomarkers and decline in self- or informant-reported cognitive ability (ps > .062). Post-hoc analyses indicated that biomarker burden was also associated with self- and informant-reported decline in total ECog (ps < .002), and again clinical progression did not significantly moderate these relationships (ps > .299).

CONCLUSIONS

AD biomarkers at baseline may indicate risk of decline in self- and informant-reported change in memory, attention, and spatial navigation ability. As such, subjectively reported decline in these domains may have clinical utility in tracking the subtle cognitive changes associated with the earliest stages of AD.

Amygdala and cortical gamma-band responses to emotional faces are modulated by attention to valence

The amygdala might support an attentional bias for emotional faces. However, whether and how selective attention toward a specific valence modulates this bias is not fully understood. Likewise, it is unclear whether amygdala and cortical signals respond to emotion and attention in a similar way. We recorded gamma-band activity (GBA, > 30 Hz) intracranially in the amygdalae of 11 patients with epilepsy and collected scalp recordings from 19 healthy participants. We presented angry, neutral, and happy faces randomly, and we denoted one valence as the target. Participants detected happy targets most quickly and accurately. In the amygdala, during attention to negative faces, low gamma-band activity (LGBA, < 90 Hz) increased for angry compared with happy faces from 160 ms. From 220 ms onward, amygdala high gamma-band activity (HGBA, > 90 Hz) was higher for angry and neutral faces than for happy ones. Monitoring neutral faces increased amygdala HGBA for emotions compared with neutral faces from 40 ms. Expressions were not differentiated in GBA while monitoring positive faces. On the scalp, only threat monitoring resulted in expression differentiation. Here, posterior LGBA was increased selectively for angry targets from 60 ms. The data show that GBA differentiation of emotional expressions is modulated by attention to valence: Top-down-controlled threat vigilance coordinates widespread GBA in favor of angry faces. Stimulus-driven emotion differentiation in amygdala GBA occurs during a neutral attentional focus. These findings align with a multi-pathway model of emotion processing and specify the role of GBA in this process.

Spillover effects of reminder nudges in complex environments

We present an experiment on the immediate and lasting effects of reminder nudges in a complex environment. In the study, 1,542 subjects face a setting where, within a brief time frame, they have to pay attention to and perform multiple actions in a computer game. The experiment investigates i) the effect of reminders on the reminded actions and their spillovers on nonreminded actions; ii) spillovers between multiple nudges when the number of reminded actions is increased; and iii) intertemporal spillovers from having been exposed to reminders on actions after reminders are withdrawn. Our findings reveal, first, that reminders have a positive effect on the overall number of actions performed. It results from the positive direct effect on the reminded actions dominating the negative spillovers on nonreminded actions. These negative effects are notable in our setting, where reminders could potentially have positive spillovers by freezing attention or by indirectly prompting actions similar to the reminded ones. Second, we observe that reminder nudges are scalable. Increasing the number of reminded actions leads subjects to take more actions overall, albeit with diminishing returns and more pronounced negative spillover effects. Third, after reminders are withdrawn, the positive effect on reminded actions diminishes, while negative spillovers on nonreminded actions persist, thus rendering reminders ineffective in increasing the overall number of actions performed.

The time course of feature-selective attention inside and outside the focus of spatial attention

Research on attentional selection of stimulus features has yielded seemingly contradictory results. On the one hand, many experiments in humans and animals have observed a "global" facilitation of attended features across the entire visual field, even when spatial attention is focused on a single location. On the other hand, several event-related potential studies in humans reported that attended features are enhanced at the attended location only. The present experiment demonstrates that these conflicting results can be explained by differences in the timing of attentional allocation inside and outside the spatial focus of attention. Participants attended to fields of either red or blue randomly moving dots on either the left or right side of fixation with the task of detecting brief coherent motion targets. Recordings of steady-state visual evoked potentials elicited by the flickering stimuli allowed concurrent measurement of the time course of feature-selective attention in visual cortex on both the attended and the unattended sides. The onset of feature-selective attentional modulation on the attended side occurred around 150 ms earlier than on the unattended side. This finding that feature-selective attention is not spatially global from the outset but extends to unattended locations after a temporal delay resolves previous contradictions between studies finding global versus hierarchical selection of features and provides insight into the fundamental relationship between feature-based and location-based (spatial) attention mechanisms.

Attention-Driven Modulation of Auditory Cortex Activity during Selective Listening in a Multispeaker Setting

Real-world listening settings often consist of multiple concurrent sound streams. To limit perceptual interference during selective listening, the auditory system segregates and filters the relevant sensory input. Previous work provided evidence that the auditory cortex is critically involved in this process and selectively gates attended input toward subsequent processing stages. We studied at which level of auditory cortex processing this filtering of attended information occurs using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a naturalistic selective listening task. Forty-five human listeners (of either sex) attended to one of two continuous speech streams, presented either concurrently or in isolation. Functional data were analyzed using an inter-subject analysis to assess stimulus-specific components of ongoing auditory cortex activity. Our results suggest that stimulus-related activity in the primary auditory cortex and the adjacent planum temporale are hardly affected by attention, whereas brain responses at higher stages of the auditory cortex processing hierarchy become progressively more selective for the attended input. Consistent with these findings, a complementary analysis of stimulus-driven functional connectivity further demonstrated that information on the to-be-ignored speech stream is shared between the primary auditory cortex and the planum temporale but largely fails to reach higher processing stages. Our findings suggest that the neural processing of ignored speech cannot be effectively suppressed at the level of early cortical processing of acoustic features but is gradually attenuated once the competing speech streams are fully segregated.

SM-GRSNet: sparse mapping-based graph representation segmentation network for honeycomb lung lesion

Objective. Honeycomb lung is a rare but severe disease characterized by honeycomb-like imaging features and distinct radiological characteristics. Therefore, this study aims to develop a deep-learning model capable of segmenting honeycomb lung lesions from Computed Tomography (CT) scans to address the efficacy issue of honeycomb lung segmentation.Methods. This study proposes a sparse mapping-based graph representation segmentation network (SM-GRSNet). SM-GRSNet integrates an attention affinity mechanism to effectively filter redundant features at a coarse-grained region level. The attention encoder generated by this mechanism specifically focuses on the lesion area. Additionally, we introduce a graph representation module based on sparse links in SM-GRSNet. Subsequently, graph representation operations are performed on the sparse graph, yielding detailed lesion segmentation results. Finally, we construct a pyramid-structured cascaded decoder in SM-GRSNet, which combines features from the sparse link-based graph representation modules and attention encoders to generate the final segmentation mask.Results. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed SM-GRSNet achieves state-of-the-art performance on a dataset comprising 7170 honeycomb lung CT images. Our model attains the highest IOU (87.62%), Dice(93.41%). Furthermore, our model also achieves the lowest HD95 (6.95) and ASD (2.47).Significance.The SM-GRSNet method proposed in this paper can be used for automatic segmentation of honeycomb lung CT images, which enhances the segmentation performance of Honeycomb lung lesions under small sample datasets. It will help doctors with early screening, accurate diagnosis, and customized treatment. This method maintains a high correlation and consistency between the automatic segmentation results and the expert manual segmentation results. Accurate automatic segmentation of the honeycomb lung lesion area is clinically important.

Love and hate do not modulate the attentional blink but improve overall performance

How may feelings of love and hate impact people's attention? We used a modified Attentional Blink (AB) task in which 300 participants were asked to categorise a name representing a person towards whom they felt either hate, love, or neutral (first target) plus identify a number word (second target), both embedded in a rapidly presented stream of other words. The lag to the second target was systematically varied. Contrary to our hypothesis, results revealed that both hated and loved names resulted in higher accuracy for the second target than neutral names, which was largely independent of lag. Also, there we observed no sustained transfer effects of love and hate onto neutral name trials. The findings differ from prior research on attentional blink and transient, non-personal, stimulus-driven emotions, suggesting that interpersonal feelings activate different attention-relevant mechanisms. Relevant to future research, we speculate that love and hate are motivators of goal-directed behaviour that facilitate subsequent information processing.

EEG complexity measures for detecting mind wandering during video-based learning

This study explores the efficacy of various EEG complexity measures in detecting mind wandering during video-based learning. Employing a modified probe-caught method, we recorded EEG data from participants engaged in viewing educational videos and subsequently focused on the discrimination between mind wandering (MW) and non-MW states. We systematically investigated various EEG complexity metrics, including metrics that reflect a system's regularity like multiscale permutation entropy (MPE), and metrics that reflect a system's dimensionality like detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). We also compare these features to traditional band power (BP) features. Data augmentation methods and feature selection were applied to optimize detection accuracy. Results show BP features excelled (mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) 0.646) in datasets without eye-movement artifacts, while MPE showed similar performance (mean AUC 0.639) without requiring removal of eye-movement artifacts. Combining all kinds of features improved decoding performance to 0.66 mean AUC. Our findings demonstrate the potential of these complexity metrics in EEG analysis for mind wandering detection, highlighting their practical implications in educational contexts.

Bidirectional brain-body interactions during natural story listening

Narratives can synchronize neural and physiological signals between individuals, but the relationship between these signals, and the underlying mechanism, is unclear. We hypothesized a top-down effect of cognition on arousal and predicted that auditory narratives will drive not only brain signals but also peripheral physiological signals. We find that auditory narratives entrained gaze variation, saccade initiation, pupil size, and heart rate. This is consistent with a top-down effect of cognition on autonomic function. We also hypothesized a bottom-up effect, whereby autonomic physiology affects arousal. Controlled breathing affected pupil size, and heart rate was entrained by controlled saccades. Additionally, fluctuations in heart rate preceded fluctuations of pupil size and brain signals. Gaze variation, pupil size, and heart rate were all associated with anterior-central brain signals. Together, these results suggest bidirectional causal effects between peripheral autonomic function and central brain circuits involved in the control of arousal.

Attentional Correlates of Colored Lights: Considerations for Cognitive Testing

Attention, an important index of cognitive function, can be affected amidst colored lights. This work investigated the effects of colored lights on the performance in attention task. Participants (N = 42) performed in one, two, and three letter cancellation task (LCT) during four lighting conditions. The order of LCT and the colored light sessions were randomized. The performance in LCT was evaluated through % accuracy, % omission, and % error. A repeated measures ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference in % accuracy in one LCT (F(2.46, 100.8) = 24.45, p < 0.001), two LCT (F(2.57, 105.4) = 20.53, p < 0.001), and three LCT (F(2.66, 109.22) = 17.96, p < 0.001) among the four colored lights. In addition, % omission revealed a statistically significant difference in one LCT (F(2.46, 100.8) = 24.43, p < 0.001), two LCT (F(2.57, 105.4) = 20.57, p < 0.001), and three LCT (F(2.66, 109.16) = 18.21, p < 0.001) among the four lights. There was no statistically significant difference in % error in one LCT (F(2.05, 84.1) = 1.23, p = 0.3), two LCT (F(2.66, 109.06) = 0.62, p = 0.971), three LCT (F(2.62, 107.53) = 0.97, p = 0.4) among the four lighting conditions. Colored lights affect attention-related cognitive processing. The attentional correlates of white and red lights are more compared to green, and blue lights. Lighting condition should be an important consideration for cognitive testing, for designing workspaces, educational settings, and other environments where attention plays a crucial role.

Infants' brain responses to social interaction predict future language growth

In face-to-face interactions with infants, human adults exhibit a species-specific communicative signal. Adults present a distinctive "social ensemble": they use infant-directed speech (parentese), respond contingently to infants' actions and vocalizations, and react positively through mutual eye-gaze and smiling. Studies suggest that this social ensemble is essential for initial language learning. Our hypothesis is that the social ensemble attracts attentional systems to speech and that sensorimotor systems prepare infants to respond vocally, both of which advance language learning. Using infant magnetoencephalography (MEG), we measure 5-month-old infants' neural responses during live verbal face-to-face (F2F) interaction with an adult (social condition) and during a control (nonsocial condition) in which the adult turns away from the infant to speak to another person. Using a longitudinal design, we tested whether infants' brain responses to these conditions at 5 months of age predicted their language growth at five future time points. Brain areas involved in attention (right hemisphere inferior frontal, right hemisphere superior temporal, and right hemisphere inferior parietal) show significantly higher theta activity in the social versus nonsocial condition. Critical to theory, we found that infants' neural activity in response to F2F interaction in attentional and sensorimotor regions significantly predicted future language development into the third year of life, more than 2 years after the initial measurements. We develop a view of early language acquisition that underscores the centrality of the social ensemble, and we offer new insight into the neurobiological components that link infants' language learning to their early brain functioning during social interaction.

HD-tDCS mitigates the executive vigilance decrement only under high cognitive demands

Maintaining vigilance is essential for many everyday tasks, but over time, our ability to sustain it inevitably decreases, potentially entailing severe consequences. High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) has proven to be useful for studying and improving vigilance. This study explores if/how cognitive load affects the mitigatory effects of HD-tDCS on the vigilance decrement. Participants (N = 120) completed a modified ANTI-Vea task (single or dual load) while receiving either sham or anodal HD-tDCS over the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC). This data was compared with data from prior studies (N = 120), where participants completed the standard ANTI-Vea task (triple load task), combined with the same HD-tDCS protocol. Against our hypotheses, both the single and dual load conditions showed a significant executive vigilance (EV) decrement, which was not affected by the application of rPPC HD-tDCS. On the contrary, the most cognitively demanding task (triple task) showed the greatest EV decrement; importantly, it was also with the triple task that a significant mitigatory effect of the HD-tDCS intervention was observed. The present study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the specific effects of HD-tDCS on the vigilance decrement considering cognitive demands. This can ultimately contribute to reconciling heterogeneous effects observed in past research and fine-tuning its future clinical application.

Motivational context and neurocomputation of stop expectation moderate early attention responses supporting proactive inhibitory control

Alterations in attention to cues signaling the need for inhibitory control play a significant role in a wide range of psychopathology. However, the degree to which motivational and attentional factors shape the neurocomputations of proactive inhibitory control remains poorly understood. The present study investigated how variation in monetary incentive valence and stake modulate the neurocomputational signatures of proactive inhibitory control. Adults (N = 46) completed a Stop-Signal Task (SST) with concurrent EEG recording under four conditions associated with stop performance feedback: low and high punishment (following unsuccessful stops) and low and high reward (following successful stops). A Bayesian learning model was used to infer individual's probabilistic expectations of the need to stop on each trial: P(stop). Linear mixed effects models were used to examine whether interactions between motivational valence, stake, and P(stop) parameters predicted P1 and N1 attention-related event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the go-onset stimulus. We found that P1 amplitudes increased at higher levels of P(stop) in punished but not rewarded conditions, although P1 amplitude differences between punished and rewarded blocks were maximal on trials when the need to inhibit was least expected. N1 amplitudes were positively related to P(stop) in the high punishment condition (low N1 amplitude), but negatively related to P(stop) in the high reward condition (high N1 amplitude). Critically, high P(stop)-related N1 amplitude to the go-stimulus predicted behavioral stop success during the high reward block, providing evidence for the role of motivationally relevant context and inhibitory control expectations in modulating the proactive allocation of attentional resources that affect inhibitory control. These findings provide novel insights into the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying proactive inhibitory control under valence-dependent motivational contexts, setting the stage for developing motivation-based interventions that boost inhibitory control.

Numerosity comparison, cognitive strategies, and general cognitive functioning in older people

Introduction

Studies have shown age-related differences in numerical cognition, for example, in the level of numerosity comparison ability. Moreover, some studies point out individual differences in the cognitive strategies employed during the performance of numerosity comparison tasks and reveal that they are related to the aging process. One probable cause of these differences is the level of cognitive functioning. The aim of our study was to determine the relationships among numerosity comparison ability, the cognitive strategies utilized in the performance of numerosity comparison tasks and the general cognitive functioning in older people.

Methods

Forty-seven elderly people participated in the study. The participants were examined using overall cognitive functioning scales and computerized numerosity comparison task.

Results

The results showed many correlations between the participants' level of cognitive functioning and the percent of correct responses (PCR) and response time (RT) during numerosity comparison, as well as with the cognitive strategies applied by the participants. Task correctness was positively related to the level of performance in the attention and executive function tasks. In contrast, the long-term memory resources index and visuospatial skills level were negatively correlated with RT regarding numerosity comparison task performance. The level of long-term memory resources was also positively associated with the frequency of use of more complex cognitive strategies. Series of regression analyses showed that both the level of general cognitive functioning and the cognitive strategies employed by participants in numerosity comparison can explain 9-21 percent of the variance in the obtained results.

Discussion

In summary, these results showed significant relationships between the level of cognitive functioning and proficiency in numerosity comparison measured in older people. Moreover, it has been shown that cognitive resources level is related to the strategies utilized by older people, which indicates the potential application for cognitive strategy examinations in the development of new diagnostic tools.

Temperament Affected Visuospatial Orienting on Discrimination Tasks

In the Posner cueing paradigm, the early attentional capture and subsequent inhibition of return (IOR) of attention to the same location, although they are microscale phenomena measured in milliseconds, seem to encapsulate the interaction between two fundamental dimensions of behavior - engaging in and sustaining activity versus withdrawing from and inhibiting activity. In the field of differential psychology, the dynamics of reciprocal relations between these behavioral dimensions have been thought to be determined by central nervous system properties that constitute an individual's temperament. Yet the research on any differential effects of temperament on visuospatial orienting is rather sparse and has produced ambiguous results. Here, we used saccadic responses to measure whether individual differences in reactivity as a temperamental trait might affect orienting of visuospatial attention on discrimination cueing tasks. Our results suggested that, in individuals with lower reactivity, attentional capture took place at a short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), producing a facilitatory cueing effect, which was not the case in those who were higher in reactivity. We explain and discuss these results with the Regulative Theory of Temperament.

Attention biases the process of risky decision-making: Evidence from eye-tracking

Attention determines what kind of option information is processed during risky choices owing to the limitation of visual attention. This paper reviews research on the relationship between higher-complexity risky decision-making and attention as illustrated by eye-tracking to explain the process of risky decision-making by the effect of attention. We demonstrate this process from three stages: the pre-phase guidance of options on attention, the process of attention being biased, and the impact of attention on final risk preference. We conclude that exogenous information can capture attention directly to salient options, thereby altering evidence accumulation. In particular, for multi-attribute risky decision-making, attentional advantages increase the weight of specific attributes, thus biasing risk preference in different directions. We highlight the significance of understanding how people use available information to weigh risks from an information-processing perspective via process data.

Social skill and social withdrawal outcomes in children following pediatric stroke

Pediatric stroke can result in long-term impairments across attention, functional communication and motor domains. The current paper utilized parent reports of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children 2nd Edition and the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure to examine children's social skills and withdrawal behavior within a pediatric stroke population. Using the Canadian Pediatric Stroke Registry at The Hospital for Sick Children, data were analyzed for 312 children with ischemic stroke. Children with ischemic stroke demonstrated elevated parent-reported social skills problems (observed = 20.51%, expected = 14.00%) and clinically elevated social withdrawal (observed = 11.21%, expected = 2.00%). Attentional problems significantly contributed to reduced social skills, F (3,164) = 30.68, p < 0.01, while attentional problems and neurological impairments accounted for increased withdrawal behavior, F (2, 164) = 7.47, p < 0.01. The presence of a motor impairment was associated with higher social withdrawal compared to individuals with no motor impairment diagnosis, t(307.73) = 2.25, p < .025, d = 0.25, 95% CI [0.42, 6.21]. The current study demonstrates that children with stroke who experience motor impairments, attentional problems, reduced functional communication skills, and neurological impairments can experience deficits in their social skills and withdrawal behavior.

How Does Postural Control in Patients with Functional Motor Disorders Adapt to Multitasking-Based Immersive Virtual Reality?

BACKGROUND

Motor symptoms in functional motor disorders (FMDs) refer to involuntary, but learned, altered movement patterns associated with aberrant self-focus, sense of agency, and belief/expectations. These conditions commonly lead to impaired posture control, raising the likelihood of falls and disability. Utilizing visual and cognitive tasks to manipulate attentional focus, virtual reality (VR) integrated with posturography is a promising tool for exploring postural control disorders.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate whether postural control can be adapted by manipulating attentional focus in a 3D immersive VR environment.

METHODS

We compared postural parameters in 17 FMDs patients and 19 age-matched healthy controls over a single session under four increasingly more complex and attention-demanding conditions: simple fixation task (1) in the real room and (2) in 3D VR room-like condition; complex fixation task in a 3D VR city-like condition (3) avoiding distractors and (4) counting them. Dual-task effect (DTE) measured the relative change in performance induced by the different attention-demanding conditions on postural parameters.

RESULTS

Patients reduced sway area and mediolateral center of pressure displacement velocity DTE compared to controls (all, P < 0.049), but only under condition 4. They also showed a significant reduction in the sway area DTE under condition 4 compared to condition 3 (P = 0.025).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides novel preliminary evidence for the value of a 3D immersive VR environment combined with different attention-demanding conditions in adapting postural control in patients with FMDs. As supported by quantitative and objective posturographic measures, our findings may inform interventions to explore FMDs pathophysiology.

Relationship between theta/beta ratio and mind wandering in schizotypy

Negative association was found between the frontal theta/beta ratio and mind wandering in participants with high schizotypal traits, while no such association was found in participants with low schizotypal traits. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanism of mind wandering in individuals with high schizotypal traits.

Uncovering the cognitive mechanisms underlying the gaze cueing effect

The gaze cueing effect is the tendency for people to respond faster to targets appearing at locations gazed at by others, compared with locations gazed away from by others. The effect is robust, widely studied, and is an influential finding within social cognition. Formal evidence accumulation models provide the dominant theoretical account of the cognitive processes underlying speeded decision-making, but they have rarely been applied to social cognition research. In this study, using a combination of individual-level and hierarchical computational modelling techniques, we applied evidence accumulation models to gaze cueing data (three data sets total, N = 171, 139,001 trials) for the first time to assess the relative capacity that an attentional orienting mechanism and information processing mechanisms have for explaining the gaze cueing effect. We found that most participants were best described by the attentional orienting mechanism, such that response times were slower at gazed away from locations because they had to reorient to the target before they could process the cue. However, we found evidence for individual differences, whereby the models suggested that some gaze cueing effects were driven by a short allocation of information processing resources to the gazed at location, allowing for a brief period where orienting and processing could occur in parallel. There was exceptionally little evidence to suggest any sustained reallocation of information processing resources neither at the group nor individual level. We discuss how this individual variability might represent credible individual differences in the cognitive mechanisms that subserve behaviourally observed gaze cueing effects.

The factor structure of "expectant mothers of concern" as perceived by midwives

AIM

To clarify the factor structure of "expectant mothers of concern" for whom midwives anticipate difficulties in future childrearing.

METHODS

The participants were 2633 midwives working at hospitals and clinics in Japan. Data were collected using a 108-item, five-point Likert scale questionnaire about the behaviors, appearance, and family relationships of the expectant mothers of concern to the nurses. Items with a mean equal to or greater than 4.0 were selected as items considered relevant to expectant mothers of concern by midwives. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and further secondary factor analysis were conducted.

RESULTS

The factor structure of the expectant mothers of concern as perceived by midwives comprised seven factors, including 23 items: "Suspected of being a victim of intimate partner violence," "Uneasy feeling about the expectant mother's marital relationship," "Perception that the expectant mother is conflicted about her pregnancy," "Uneasy feeling about the expectant mother's actions/behaviors concerning her medical checkups," "Engages in physically risky actions and behaviors," "Does not appear to be able to build relationships with children," and "Makes remarks that indicate possible bonding disorder" (goodness-of-fit index = 0.910, adjusted goodness-of-fit index = 0.879, comparative fit index = 0.939, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.070). Further, a secondary factor, "Expectant mothers who must urgently be connected to support," was extracted.

CONCLUSIONS

The elucidation of the factor structure of the expectant mothers of concern could help midwives identify expectant mothers who may face difficulties in future childrearing.

Memory deficit in patients with cerebral small vessel disease: evidence from eye tracking technology

Cerebral small vessel disease is the one of the most prevalent causes of vascular cognitive impairment. We aimed to find objective and process-based indicators related to memory function to assist in the detection of memory impairment in patients with cerebral small vessel disease. Thirty-nine cerebral small vessel disease patients and 22 healthy controls were invited to complete neurological examinations, neuropsychological assessments, and eye tracking tasks. Eye tracking indicators were recorded and analyzed in combination with imaging features. The cerebral small vessel disease patients scored lower on traditional memory task and performed worse on eye tracking memory task performance compared to the healthy controls. The cerebral small vessel disease patients exhibited longer visit duration and more visit count within areas of interest and targets and decreased percentage value of total visit duration on target images to total visit duration on areas of interest during decoding stage among all levels. Our results demonstrated the cerebral small vessel disease patients performed worse in memory scale and eye tracking memory task, potentially due to their heightened attentional allocation to nontarget images during the retrieval stage. The eye tracking memory task could provide process-based indicators to be a beneficial complement to memory assessment and new insights into mechanism of memory impairment in cerebral small vessel disease patients.

We know what attention is!

Attention is one of the most thoroughly investigated psychological phenomena, yet skepticism about attention is widespread: we do not know what it is, it is too many things, there is no such thing. The deficiencies highlighted are not about experimental work but the adequacy of the scientific theory of attention. Combining common scientific claims about attention into a single theory leads to internal inconsistency. This paper demonstrates that a specific functional conception of attention is incorporated into the tasks used in standard experimental paradigms. In accepting these paradigms as valid probes of attention, we commit to this common conception. The conception unifies work at multiple levels of analysis into a coherent scientific explanation of attention. Thus, we all know what attention is.

Influence of training and expertise on deep neural network attention and human attention during a medical image classification task

In many different domains, experts can make complex decisions after glancing very briefly at an image. However, the perceptual mechanisms underlying expert performance are still largely unknown. Recently, several machine learning algorithms have been shown to outperform human experts in specific tasks. But these algorithms often behave as black boxes and their information processing pipeline remains unknown. This lack of transparency and interpretability is highly problematic in applications involving human lives, such as health care. One way to "open the black box" is to compute an artificial attention map from the model, which highlights the pixels of the input image that contributed the most to the model decision. In this work, we directly compare human visual attention to machine visual attention when performing the same visual task. We have designed a medical diagnosis task involving the detection of lesions in small bowel endoscopic images. We collected eye movements from novices and gastroenterologist experts while they classified medical images according to their relevance for Crohn's disease diagnosis. We trained three state-of-the-art deep learning models on our carefully labeled dataset. Both humans and machine performed the same task. We extracted artificial attention with six different post hoc methods. We show that the model attention maps are significantly closer to human expert attention maps than to novices', especially for pathological images. As the model gets trained and its performance gets closer to the human experts, the similarity between model and human attention increases. Through the understanding of the similarities between the visual decision-making process of human experts and deep neural networks, we hope to inform both the training of new doctors and the architecture of new algorithms.

Eyes meet, hands greet: The art of timing in social interactions

Shaking hands is a fundamental form of social interaction. The current study used high-definition cameras during a university graduation ceremony to examine the temporal sequencing of eye contact and shaking hands. Analyses revealed that mutual gaze always preceded shaking hands. A follow up investigation manipulated gaze when shaking hands, and found that participants take significantly longer to accept a handshake when an outstretched hand precedes eye contact. These findings demonstrate that the timing between a person's gaze and their offer to shake hands is critical to how their action is interpreted.

Annual Research Review: 'There, the dance is - at the still point of the turning world' - dynamic systems perspectives on coregulation and dysregulation during early development

During development we transition from coregulation (where regulatory processes are shared between child and caregiver) to self-regulation. Most early coregulatory interactions aim to manage fluctuations in the infant's arousal and alertness; but over time, coregulatory processes become progressively elaborated to encompass other functions such as sociocommunicative development, attention and executive control. The fundamental aim of coregulation is to help maintain an optimal 'critical state' between hypo- and hyperactivity. Here, we present a dynamic framework for understanding child-caregiver coregulatory interactions in the context of psychopathology. Early coregulatory processes involve both passive entrainment, through which a child's state entrains to the caregiver's, and active contingent responsiveness, through which the caregiver changes their behaviour in response to behaviours from the child. Similar principles, of interactive but asymmetric contingency, drive joint attention and the maintenance of epistemic states as well as arousal/alertness, emotion regulation and sociocommunicative development. We describe three ways in which active child-caregiver regulation can develop atypically, in conditions such as Autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression. The most well-known of these is insufficient contingent responsiveness, leading to reduced synchrony, which has been shown across a range of modalities in different disorders, and which is the target of most current interventions. We also present evidence that excessive contingent responsiveness and excessive synchrony can develop in some circumstances. And we show that positive feedback interactions can develop, which are contingent but mutually amplificatory child-caregiver interactions that drive the child further from their critical state. We discuss implications of these findings for future intervention research, and directions for future work.

Disruptions in self-regulatory processes predict depression and sleep disturbance in bereaved young adults

Losing a loved one is both common and profoundly stressful for young adults. Little research has examined the longitudinal course of post-loss cognitive processing, depression, and sleep difficulties. Further, little is known about the context of other stressors or the role of individual regulatory resources, such as attentional regulation, that might determine whether loss-related cognitive processing reduces distress. This prospective study examined changes in depression and sleep disturbance over 9 weeks as a function of within- and between-person variation in stress exposure, loss-related cognitive processing, and attention regulation. Participants were 108 recently bereaved college students completing a lab-based assessment of attention regulation and four self-report surveys, spaced three weeks apart. Results revealed that most participants gradually reduced loss-related processing over the study period, with corresponding improvements in depression and sleep. Stress exposure was associated with increased processing, depression, and sleep disturbance. In exploratory analyses, high attentional alertness and slow re-orienting strengthened the association of within-person loss processing with sleep disturbance. Both within- and between-person variation in stress appear to engender risk for a prolonged course of bereavement. Future research should integrate objective attention measures with self-reported adjustment to stress to illuminate reciprocal links between depression, sleep, and loss-related cognitive processing.

Developing an Improved Cycle Architecture for AI-Based Generation of New Structures Aimed at Drug Discovery

Drug discovery involves a crucial step of optimizing molecules with the desired structural groups. In the domain of computer-aided drug discovery, deep learning has emerged as a prominent technique in molecular modeling. Deep generative models, based on deep learning, play a crucial role in generating novel molecules when optimizing molecules. However, many existing molecular generative models have limitations as they solely process input information in a forward way. To overcome this limitation, we propose an improved generative model called BD-CycleGAN, which incorporates BiLSTM (bidirectional long short-term memory) and Mol-CycleGAN (molecular cycle generative adversarial network) to preserve the information of molecular input. To evaluate the proposed model, we assess its performance by analyzing the structural distribution and evaluation matrices of generated molecules in the process of structural transformation. The results demonstrate that the BD-CycleGAN model achieves a higher success rate and exhibits increased diversity in molecular generation. Furthermore, we demonstrate its application in molecular docking, where it successfully increases the docking score for the generated molecules. The proposed BD-CycleGAN architecture harnesses the power of deep learning to facilitate the generation of molecules with desired structural features, thus offering promising advancements in the field of drug discovery processes.

The role of attention in the effect of facial attractiveness on time perception

Recent research has indicated that attractive faces often cause a dilation of our time perception thus affecting physical and mental health, and speculates that this could be relevant to the fact that attractive faces capture people's attention. Nevertheless, there was no direct experimental data to support this speculation. The present work was designed to illustrate how attention affects time perception of facial attractiveness. It utilized two experiments to investigate this phenomenon. In Experiment 1, perception of timing and attention bias were assessed using a temporal reproduction task and a dot-probe task. Increased attention bias was found to mediate the time dilation effect of facial attractiveness. Experiment 2 adopted dual-task paradigm, combining a temporal reproduction task and attractiveness rating task, to manipulate attention allocation. The findings suggested that allocating more attention to the task requiring timing enhanced the time dilation effect caused by the faces. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 converge to show that attention plays an essential role in the effects of facial attractiveness on time perception.

An exploration of the influence of animal and object categories on recall of item location following an incidental learning task

The current study explores the role of attention in location memory for animals and objects. Participants completed an incidental learning task where they rated animals and objects with regard to either their ease of collection to win a scavenger hunt (Experiments 1a and b) or their distance from the centre of the computer screen (Experiment 2). The images of animals and objects were pseudo-randomly positioned on the screen in both experiments. After completing the incidental learning task (and a reverse counting distractor task), participants were then given a surprise location memory recall task. In the location memory recall task, items were shown in the centre of the screen and participants used the mouse to indicate the position the item had been shown during the incidental encoding task. The results of both experiments show that location memory for objects was more accurate than for animals. While we cannot definitively identify the mechanism responsible for the difference in the location memory of objects and animals, we propose that differences in the influence of object-based attention at encoding affect location memory when tested at recall.

Concurrent Supra-Postural Auditory-Hand Coordination Task Affects Postural Control: Using Sonification to Explore Environmental Unpredictability in Factors Affecting Fall Risk

Clinical screening tests for balance and mobility often fall short of predicting fall risk. Cognitive distractors and unpredictable external stimuli, common in busy natural environments, contribute to this risk, especially in older adults. Less is known about the effects of upper sensory-motor coordination, such as coordinating one's hand with an external stimulus. We combined movement sonification and affordable inertial motion sensors to develop a task for the precise measurement and manipulation of full-body interaction with stimuli in the environment. In a double-task design, we studied how a supra-postural activity affected quiet stance. The supra-postural task consisted of rhythmic synchronization with a repetitive auditory stimulus. The stimulus was attentionally demanding because it was being modulated continuously. The participant's hand movement was sonified in real time, and their goal was to synchronize their hand movement with the stimulus. In the unpredictable condition, the tempo changed at random points in the trial. A separate sensor recorded postural fluctuations. Young healthy adults were compared to older adult (OA) participants without known risk of falling. The results supported the hypothesis that supra-postural coordination would entrain postural control. The effect was stronger in OAs, supporting the idea that diminished reserve capacities reduce the ability to isolate postural control from sensory-motor and cognitive activity.

Understanding health behaviors that modify the risk for obesity in ADHD

OBJECTIVE

Research provides support for the associated risk of inadequate sleep duration, limited physical activity, and excessive media use in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity. The present study aims to (1) examine the association between ADHD and overweight or obese status (OW/OB); (2) comprehensively examine sleep duration, physical activity, and media use as potential moderators of OW/OB; and (3) examine the moderating effects of these health behaviors cross-sectionally by comparing medicated youth with ADHD, unmedicated youth with ADHD, and youth without ADHD.

METHODS

Data were acquired from the 2018 and 2019 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative survey of caregivers conducted across the United States. The current study used data for youth 11-17 years old with a final sample size of 26,644. Hours of sleep, physical activity, and media use per day were dichotomized based on national recommendation guidelines for each health behavior (i.e., either meeting or not meeting guidelines).

RESULTS

The OW/OB prevalence rate was 7% greater among unmedicated youth with ADHD than among medicated youth with ADHD. Medicated youth with ADHD and peers without ADHD had similar OW/OB rates. Among medicated youth with ADHD, physical activity, sleep duration, and media use did not contribute to OW/OB risk after controlling for family poverty level. However, among unmedicated youth with ADHD, meeting sleep duration guidelines was linked to a lower OW/OB risk.

CONCLUSION

Overall, findings suggest that clinical providers and parents may wish to prioritize improved sleep duration in the management of OW/OB risk in youth with ADHD.

Action video games normalise the phonemic awareness in pre-readers at risk for developmental dyslexia

Action video-games (AVGs) could improve reading efficiency, enhancing not only visual attention but also phonological processing. Here we tested the AVG effects upon three consolidated language-based predictors of reading development in a sample of 79 pre-readers at-risk and 41 non-at-risk for developmental dyslexia. At-risk children were impaired in either phonemic awareness (i.e., phoneme discrimination task), phonological working memory (i.e., pseudoword repetition task) or rapid automatized naming (i.e., RAN of colours task). At-risk children were assigned to different groups by using an unequal allocation randomization: (1) AVG (n = 43), (2) Serious Non-Action Video Game (n = 11), (3) treatment-as-usual (i.e., speech therapy, n = 11), and (4) waiting list (n = 14). Pre- and post-training comparisons show that only phonemic awareness has a significantly higher improvement in the AVG group compared to the waiting list, the non-AVG, and the treatment-as-usual groups, as well as the combined active groups (n = 22). This cross-modal plastic change: (i) leads to a recovery in phonemic awareness when compared to the not-at-risk pre-readers; (ii) is present in more than 80% of AVG at-risk pre-readers, and; (iii) is maintained at a 6-months follow-up. The present findings indicate that this specific multisensory attentional training positively affects how phonemic awareness develops in pre-readers at risk for developmental dyslexia, paving the way for innovative prevention programs.

The Effect of Emotion on Time Perception in Youth Athletes with Different Alerting Efficiencies

Purpose

Time perception plays a critical role in executing movements in various competitions. However, less research has been conducted on the alerting component of attention in the processing of time perception, and that the effects of emotion on the alerting network show inconsistent effects. This study is aimed to explore the factors that may influence time perception in youth athletes and these relationships.

Methods

A total of 225 participants were recruited to assess alerting efficiency using the Attention Network Test and were divided into high and low alerting efficiency groups based on the front and back 27% of the ranked alerting scores as a dividing metric, and subsequently participants completed Time replication task under different emotionally induced conditions.

Results

Alerting efficiency had a significant effect on time perception, with the high alerting efficiency subjects having higher time estimation accuracy [F (1106) = 6.32, p = 0.013, η2p = 0.10] and being more inclined to overestimate time perception [F (1106) = 12.64, p = 0.001, η2 p = 0.11]. An interaction was found between emotion and alerting efficiency on time replication ratio [F (2106) = 3.59, p = 0.031, η2p = 0.08], and further simple effects analyses found that the low alerting efficiency subjects tended to overestimate time in the anger state relative to the happy and neutral states [F (2106) = 5.93, p < 0.01, η2p = 0.10].

Conclusion

These findings suggest that high alerting efficiency in youth athletes is associated with greater time perception response advantage; The time perception of low alerting efficiency youth athletes was more likely to be affected by emotions. This study provides a reference for the training of time perception and specialized perceptual ability of youth athletes, enriches the index system of psychological selection of youth athletes.

OA-GAN: organ-aware generative adversarial network for synthesizing contrast-enhanced medical images

Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) images are vital for clinical diagnosis of focal liver lesions (FLLs). However, the use of CE-CT images imposes a significant burden on patients due to the injection of contrast agents and extended shooting. Deep learning-based image synthesis models offer a promising solution that synthesizes CE-CT images from non-contrasted CT (NC-CT) images. Unlike natural images, medical image synthesis requires a specific focus on certain organs or localized regions to ensure accurate diagnosis. Determining how to effectively emphasize target organs poses a challenging issue in medical image synthesis. To solve this challenge, we present a novel CE-CT image synthesis model called, Organ-Aware Generative Adversarial Network (OA-GAN). The OA-GAN comprises an organ-aware (OA) network and a dual decoder-based generator. First, the OA network learns the most discriminative spatial features about the target organ (i.e. liver) by utilizing the ground truth organ mask as localization cues. Subsequently, NC-CT image and captured feature are fed into the dual decoder-based generator, which employs a local and global decoder network to simultaneously synthesize the organ and entire CECT image. Moreover, the semantic information extracted from the local decoder is transferred to the global decoder to facilitate better reconstruction of the organ in entire CE-CT image. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation on a CE-CT dataset demonstrates that the OA-GAN outperforms state-of-the-art approaches for synthesizing two types of CE-CT images such as arterial phase and portal venous phase. Additionally, subjective evaluations by expert radiologists and a deep learning-based FLLs classification also affirm that CE-CT images synthesized from the OA-GAN exhibit a remarkable resemblance to real CE-CT images.

Electrocortical correlates of attention differentiate individual capacity in associative learning

Associative learning abilities vary considerably among individuals, with attentional processes suggested to play a role in these variations. However, the relationship between attentional processes and individual differences in associative learning remains unclear, and whether these variations reflect in event-related potentials (ERPs) is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between attentional processes and associative learning by recording electrocortical activity of 38 young adults (18-32 years) during an associative learning task. Learning performance was assessed using the signal detection index d'. EEG topographic analyses and source localizations were applied to examine the neural correlates of attention and associative learning. Results revealed that better learning scores are associated with (1) topographic differences during early (126-148 ms) processing of the stimulus, coinciding with a P1 ERP component, which corresponded to a participation of the precuneus (BA 7), (2) topographic differences at 573-638 ms, overlapping with an increase of global field power at 530-600 ms, coinciding with a P3b ERP component and localized within the superior frontal gyrus (BA11) and (3) an increase of global field power at 322-507 ms, underlay by a stronger participation of the middle occipital gyrus (BA 19). These insights into the neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in associative learning suggest that better learners engage attentional processes more efficiently than weaker learners, making more resources available and displaying increased functional activity in areas involved in early attentional processes (BA7) and decision-making processes (BA11) during an associative learning task. This highlights the crucial role of attentional mechanisms in individual learning variability.

A novel role for phospholamban in the thalamic reticular nucleus

The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) is a brain region that influences vital neurobehavioral processes, including executive functioning and the generation of sleep rhythms. TRN dysfunction underlies hyperactivity, attention deficits, and sleep disturbances observed across various neurodevelopmental disorders. A specialized sarco-endoplasmic reticulum calcium (Ca2+) ATPase 2 (SERCA2)-dependent Ca2+ signaling network operates in the dendrites of TRN neurons to regulate their bursting activity. Phospholamban (PLN) is a prominent regulator of SERCA2 with an established role in myocardial Ca2+-cycling. Our findings suggest that the role of PLN extends beyond the cardiovascular system to impact brain function. Specifically, we found PLN to be expressed in TRN neurons of the adult mouse brain, and utilized global constitutive and innovative conditional genetic knockout mouse models in concert with electroencephalography (EEG)-based somnography and the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) to investigate the role of PLN in sleep and executive functioning, two complex behaviors that map onto thalamic reticular circuits. The results of the present study indicate that perturbed PLN function in the TRN results in aberrant TRN-dependent phenotypes in mice (i.e., hyperactivity, impulsivity and sleep deficits) and support a novel role for PLN as a critical regulator of SERCA2 in the TRN neurocircuitry.

Enhancing Attentional Performance in Parkinson's Disease: The Impact of Combined Deep Brain Stimulation of the Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata and the Subthalamic Nucleus

OBJECTIVE

The concomitant stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra pars reticulata is a promising approach to improve treatment of refractory axial symptoms in Parkinson`s disease. While dual stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra pars reticulata has previously shown beneficial effects on gait, the role of the substantia nigra, a crucial component of the basal ganglia circuitry, in cognitive functions such as attention an executive control remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the impact of selective substantia nigra pars reticulata stimulation on attentional performance in patients receiving standard deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus.

METHODS

Twelve patients with bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation underwent computerised assessment of attention using a simple reaction time task. Reaction times were assessed under standard stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus versus simultaneous stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra pars reticulata.

RESULTS

The results revealed a significant improvement in reaction times during the simple reaction time task when patients received dual stimulation compared to standard stimulation.

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide further evidence for the pivotal role of the substantia nigra pars reticulata in cognitive functions such as attention. Despite the limitations of the study, including a small sample size, our results suggest potential benefits of simultaneous deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra pars reticulata on attentional performance in patients with Parkinson`s disease. Further research with larger cohorts is warranted to confirm these findings and better understand the underlying mechanisms.

Coupling of saccade plans to endogenous attention during urgent choices

The neural mechanisms that willfully direct attention to specific locations in space are closely related to those for generating targeting eye movements (saccades). However, the degree to which the voluntary deployment of attention to a location is necessarily accompanied by a corresponding saccade plan remains unclear. One problem is that attention and saccades are both automatically driven by salient sensory events; another is that the underlying processes unfold within tens of milliseconds only. Here, we use an urgent task design to resolve the evolution of a visuomotor choice on a moment-by-moment basis while independently controlling the endogenous (goal-driven) and exogenous (salience-driven) contributions to performance. Human participants saw a peripheral cue and, depending on its color, either looked at it (prosaccade) or looked at a diametrically opposite, uninformative non-cue (antisaccade). By varying the luminance of the stimuli, the exogenous contributions could be cleanly dissociated from the endogenous process guiding the choice over time. According to the measured timecourses, generating a correct antisaccade requires about 30 ms more processing time than generating a correct prosaccade based on the same perceptual signal. The results indicate that saccade plans are biased toward the location where attention is endogenously deployed, but the coupling is weak and can be willfully overridden very rapidly.

Differences in attentional function between experienced mindfulness meditators and non-meditators

Introduction

Attentional enhancement has often been identified as the central cognitive mechanism underlying the benefits of mindfulness meditation. However, the extent to which this enhancement is observable in the neural processes underlying long-term meditation is unclear. This current study aimed to examine differences in attentional performance between meditators and controls (non-meditators) using a visual oddball task with concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) recordings.

Methods

Thirty-four participants were recruited, including 16 meditators and 18 healthy controls, who were non-meditators. The participants completed a visual oddball task, using visual stimuli, and EEG recording.

Results

Self-reports revealed that meditators had higher mindful attention scores than did the control group. The behavioral results showed that the meditators demonstrated faster reaction times than the non-meditators did. Neural findings indicated a higher P2 amplitude in the meditators than in the controls. The meditators demonstrated a significantly higher P3 in the target trials than in the distractor trials, which was not observed in the controls. Additionally, the time-frequency analysis demonstrated that the delta and theta powers in the meditators were significantly higher than those in the controls.

Conclusions

The study suggests the meditators exhibited greater attentional performance than the controls did, as revealed by EEG and behavioral measures. This study extends previous research on the effects of mindfulness meditation on attention and adds to our understanding of the effects of long-term mindfulness meditation.

Learning attentional templates for value-based decision-making

Attention filters sensory inputs to enhance task-relevant information. It is guided by an "attentional template" that represents the stimulus features that are currently relevant. To understand how the brain learns and uses templates, we trained monkeys to perform a visual search task that required them to repeatedly learn new attentional templates. Neural recordings found that templates were represented across the prefrontal and parietal cortex in a structured manner, such that perceptually neighboring templates had similar neural representations. When the task changed, a new attentional template was learned by incrementally shifting the template toward rewarded features. Finally, we found that attentional templates transformed stimulus features into a common value representation that allowed the same decision-making mechanisms to deploy attention, regardless of the identity of the template. Altogether, our results provide insight into the neural mechanisms by which the brain learns to control attention and how attention can be flexibly deployed across tasks.

Cortico-striatal action control inherent of opponent cognitive-motivational styles

Turning on cue or stopping at a red light requires the detection of such cues to select action sequences, or suppress action, in accordance with cue-associated action rules. Cortico-striatal projections are an essential part of the brain's attention-motor interface. Here, we used glutamate-sensing microelectrode arrays to measure glutamate transients in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) of male and female rats walking a treadmill and executing cued turns and stops. Prelimbic-DMS projections were chemogenetically inhibited to determine their behavioral necessity and the cortico-striatal origin of cue-evoked glutamate transients. Furthermore, we investigated rats exhibiting preferably goal-directed (goal trackers, GTs) versus cue-driven attention (sign trackers, STs), to determine the impact of such cognitive-motivational biases on cortico-striatal control. GTs executed more cued turns, and initiated such turns more slowly, than STs. During turns, but not missed turns or cued stops, cue-evoked glutamate concentrations were higher in GTs than in STs. In conjunction with turn cue-evoked glutamate spike levels, the presence of a single spike rendered GTs to be almost twice as likely to turn than STs. In contrast, multiple glutamate spikes predicted STs to be robustly more likely to turn than GTs. In GTs, inhibition of prelimbic-DMS projections attenuated turn rates and turn cue-evoked glutamate peaks and increased the number of spikes. These findings suggest that turn cue-evoked glutamate release dynamics in GTs are tightly controlled by cortico-striatal neuronal activity. In contrast, in STs, glutamate release from DMS glutamatergic terminals is regulated by other striatal circuitry, preferably mediating cued suppression of action and reward tracking.

Cross-Modal Interactions Between Auditory Attention and Oculomotor Control

Microsaccades are small, involuntary eye movements that occur during fixation. Their role is debated with recent hypotheses proposing a contribution to automatic scene sampling. Microsaccadic inhibition (MSI) refers to the abrupt suppression of microsaccades, typically evoked within 0.1 s after new stimulus onset. The functional significance and neural underpinnings of MSI are subjects of ongoing research. It has been suggested that MSI is a component of the brain's attentional re-orienting network which facilitates the allocation of attention to new environmental occurrences by reducing disruptions or shifts in gaze that could interfere with processing. The extent to which MSI is reflexive or influenced by top-down mechanisms remains debated. We developed a task that examines the impact of auditory top-down attention on MSI, allowing us to disentangle ocular dynamics from visual sensory processing. Participants (N = 24 and 27; both sexes) listened to two simultaneous streams of tones and were instructed to attend to one stream while detecting specific task "targets." We quantified MSI in response to occasional task-irrelevant events presented in both the attended and unattended streams (frequency steps in Experiment 1, omissions in Experiment 2). The results show that initial stages of MSI are not affected by auditory attention. However, later stages (∼0.25 s postevent onset), affecting the extent and duration of the inhibition, are enhanced for sounds in the attended stream compared to the unattended stream. These findings provide converging evidence for the reflexive nature of early MSI stages and robustly demonstrate the involvement of auditory attention in modulating the later stages.

Pathways for Naturalistic Looking Behavior in Primate II. Superior Colliculus Integrates Parallel Top-down and Bottom-up Inputs

Volitional signals for gaze control are provided by multiple parallel pathways converging on the midbrain superior colliculus (SC), whose deeper layers output to the brainstem gaze circuits. In the first of two papers (Takahashi and Veale, 2023), we described the properties of gaze behavior of several species under both laboratory and natural conditions, as well as the current understanding of the brainstem and spinal cord circuits implementing gaze control in primate. In this paper, we review the parallel pathways by which sensory and task information reach SC and how these sensory and task signals interact within SC's multilayered structure. This includes both bottom-up (world statistics) signals mediated by sensory cortex, association cortex, and subcortical structures, as well as top-down (goal and task) influences which arrive via either direct excitatory pathways from cerebral cortex, or via indirect basal ganglia relays resulting in inhibition or dis-inhibition as appropriate for alternative behaviors. Models of attention such as saliency maps serve as convenient frameworks to organize our understanding of both the separate computations of each neural pathway, as well as the interaction between the multiple parallel pathways influencing gaze. While the spatial interactions between gaze's neural pathways are relatively well understood, the temporal interactions between and within pathways will be an important area of future study, requiring both improved technical methods for measurement and improvement of our understanding of how temporal dynamics results in the observed spatiotemporal allocation of gaze.