Journal Alert - NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

> Title:
> Metacognitive and online error awareness deficits after prefrontal cortex lesions
>
> Authors:
> Hoerold, D; Pender, NP; Robertson, IH
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):385-391; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Awareness of deficits after brain injury represents a significant
> clinical and theoretical challenge, but relatively little is known about
> the neuroanatomical correlates of specific types of deficit awareness.
> We examined the awareness correlates of left versus right prefrontal
> cortex lesions in comparison to left and right posterior lesions
> including two types of awareness measures-metacognitive and online error
> monitoring. Frontal lobe frontal lesion patients exhibited impaired
> metacognitive awareness and also showed deficits in monitoring errors as
> they occurred. In addition, frontal lobe lesion patients also showed
> reduced autonomic response to aware errors. Online and metacognitive
> awareness were not, however, significantly correlated, suggesting that
> distinct neuroanatomical systems may underpin these two types of
> awareness deficit. We hypothesize that while metacognitive awareness
> depends on both left and right frontal regions, accurate
> moment-to-moment processing of errors depends more on the right than on
> the left prefrontal cortex. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 392-399 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000002
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>
> Title:
> Using a startling acoustic stimulus to investigate underlying mechanisms of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease
>
> Authors:
> Carlsen, AN; Almeida, QJ; Franks, IM
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):392-399; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Delays in the initiation of a movement response and slowness during
> movement are among the hallmark motor symptoms in patients with
> Parkinson's disease (PD). These impairments may result from deficits in
> neural structures related to perception, response programming, response
> initiation, or a combination of all three. However, the relative impact
> of each process on movement control in PD is still unclear. The present
> study investigated which processes might be responsible for the observed
> slowness. Patients performed a simple reaction time (RT) task involving
> arm extension where the normal 82 dB acoustic "go" signal was
> unexpectedly replaced with a 124 dB startling acoustic stimulus (SAS) on
> selected trials. The SAS was used as a probe of motor preparatory state
> since it has been shown to act as a subcortically-mediated involuntarily
> trigger for actions that are sufficiently prepared and waiting to be
> initiated by normal cortical processes. It was expected that release of
> the voluntary response by startle would not occur in PD patients if
> bradykinetic symptoms were attributable primarily to motor programming
> deficits. In contrast, results clearly showed that when a SAS was
> presented, the prepared response was elicited at a significantly shorter
> latency. In addition, the amplitude and timing pattern of EMG output
> appeared to be improved compared to control, resulting in a faster, more
> normalized movement. These results suggest that in PD patients motor
> programming processes are relatively intact, while the dysfunctional
> basal ganglia likely assert an inhibitory effect on the thalamo-cortical
> connections responsible for the initiation of motor acts. (c) 2012
> Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 400-409 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000003
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>
> Title:
> Reversal of the face-inversion effect in N170 under unconscious visual processing
>
> Authors:
> Suzuki, M; Noguchi, Y
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):400-409; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Many studies using electroencephalography consistently reported a larger
> N170 (N1) response in the visual cortices to inverted than upright face
> images (the face inversion effect in N1, FIE-N1). Here we report this
> robust effect is diminished and even reversed when face stimuli are
> processed unconsciously. We measured visual-evoked potentials to neutral
> faces either visible or rendered invisible by an inter-ocular
> suppression. In visible condition, we observed a larger N1 to inverted
> than upright faces, which replicated the traditional FIE-N1. When those
> faces became invisible, however, neural responses to the inverted faces
> were greatly reduced compared to visible condition, whereas those to the
> invisible upright faces were relatively preserved. Consequently, N1
> amplitudes were found to be larger in upright, rather than inverted,
> faces in invisible condition, which was opposite to the traditional
> FIE-N1 (upright < inverted) in visible condition. Those results
> highlighted a special mechanism in the brain for the processing of the
> upright, but not inverted, face (e.g. fusiform face area) that retains
> vigorous responses even when the face becomes invisible. (c) 2012
> Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 410-417 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000004
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>
> Title:
> Human parietal and primary motor cortical interactions are selectively modulated during the transport and grip formation of goal-directed hand actions
>
> Authors:
> Vesia, M; Bolton, DA; Mochizuki, G; Staines, WR
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):410-417; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Posterior parietal cortex (PPC) constitutes a critical cortical node in
> the sensorimotor system in which goal-directed actions are computed.
> This information then must be transferred into commands suitable for
> hand movements to the primary motor cortex (M1). Complexity arises
> because reach-to-grasp actions not only require directing the hand
> towards the object (transport component), but also preshaping the hand
> according to the features of the object (grip component). Yet, the
> functional influence that specific PPC regions exert over ipsilateral M1
> during the planning of different hand movements remains unclear in
> humans. Here we manipulated transport and grip components of
> goal-directed hand movements and exploited paired-pulse transcranial
> magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) to probe the functional interactions
> between M1 and two different PPC regions, namely superior
> parieto-occipital cortex (SPOC) and the anterior region of the
> intraparietal sulcus (aIPS), in the left hemisphere. We show that when
> the extension of the arm is required to contact a target object, SPOC
> selectively facilitates motor evoked potentials, suggesting that SPOC-M1
> interactions are functionally specific to arm transport. In contrast, a
> different pathway, linking the aIPS and ipsilateral M1, shows enhanced
> functional connections during the sensorimotor planning of grip. These
> results support recent human neuroimaging findings arguing for
> specialized human parietal regions for the planning of arm transport and
> hand grip during goal-directed actions. Importantly, they provide new
> insight into the causal influences these different parietal regions
> exert over ipsilateral motor cortex for specific types of planned hand
> movements. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 418-424 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000005
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>
> Title:
> Hypofrontal activity during word retrieval in older adults: A near-infrared spectroscopy study
>
> Authors:
> Obayashi, S; Hara, Y
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):418-424; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> The supplementary motor area (SMA) has been regarded as a third speech
> area. The SMA is anatomically classified into two regions, pre-SMA and
> SMA proper, but the functional specialization of speech production
> between the two regions remains unknown. Although word retrieval
> difficulties were often observed in older adults, there was no report as
> to whether the SMA would be involved in the retrieval difficulties. We
> focused on the SMA as a function of word production and then used
> near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with the verbal fluency task (VFT) to
> explore the possible mechanism underlying the retrieval difficulties
> related to aging. Based on the anatomical differences within the SMA, we
> relied on region-of-interest (ROI) analysis to compare the brain
> activation patterns in the SMA during VFT between 11 healthy elder and
> 11 younger subjects in the situation where both groups show comparable
> task performance. Notably, the anterior VFT-related SMA response was
> more robust in the younger than in the elder group. Furthermore,
> anterior SMA responses in the elder group may only have a positive
> correlation with the VFT performance. The findings imply that anterior
> SMA hypoactivity in elders may cause word retrieval difficulties, while
> bilateral prefrontal cortices, having close connection with the pre-SMA,
> may contribute to the compensatory process that enables equivalent
> performance of the elder group with the younger one. (c) 2012 Elsevier
> Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 425-436 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000006
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>
> Title:
> Reading aloud: A psychophysiological investigation in children
>
> Authors:
> Chiarenza, GA; Olgiati, P; Trevisan, C; De Marchi, I; Casarotto, S
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):425-436; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> This study investigated the electrophysiological responses to
> single-letter reading in children (reading-related potentials) and
> explored the morphological differences between covert and overt reading
> conditions.
> Sixty-five healthy children (6-13 years) participated in this study.
> Reading-related potentials were recorded during visual stimulation with
> single Italian alphabetic letters. Stimuli were displayed for 5 ms
> either automatically at a randomly uttered time lag or upon voluntary
> self-paced button press by children. In the covert conditions, children
> had to passively look at single letters, while in the overt conditions
> children were required to read aloud the letters. Electromyographic
> activity of the forearm and lips was additionally recorded during all
> tasks.
> Superimposition of reading-related potentials with the electromyographic
> activity of forearm and lips during self-paced reading aloud allowed to
> segregate the reading-related components into four periods: preparatory,
> pre-lexical, lexical and post-lexical. Reading-related potentials of the
> preparatory period can be related to preparation/intention to read,
> those of the pre-lexical period to visual-perceptual processes, those of
> the lexical period to the external/internal reafferent activity and
> those of the post-lexical period to the feedback processes following
> task completion.
> Analysis of variance showed a significant interaction of reading-related
> components with electrode locations and task conditions in all periods.
> The systematic characterization of the neurophysiological correlates of
> the elementary association between letters and sounds is helpful to
> highlight the neurobiological and functional basis of reading in healthy
> as well as impaired readers, for possibly developing
> neurophysiologically grounded rehabilitation therapies and further
> improving the explanatory models of dyslexia. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All
> rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 437-447 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000007
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>
> Title:
> The contents of predictions in sentence comprehension: Activation of the shape of objects before they are referred to
>
> Authors:
> Rommers, J; Meyer, AS; Praamstra, P; Huettig, F
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):437-447; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> When comprehending concrete words, listeners and readers can activate
> specific visual information such as the shape of the words' referents.
> In two experiments we examined whether such information can be activated
> in an anticipatory fashion. In Experiment 1, listeners' eye movements
> were tracked while they were listening to sentences that were predictive
> of a specific critical word (e.g., "moon" in "In 1969 Neil Armstrong was
> the first man to set foot on the moon"). 500 ms before the acoustic
> onset of the critical word, participants were shown four-object displays
> featuring three unrelated distractor objects and a critical object,
> which was either the target object (e.g., moon), an object with a
> similar shape (e.g., tomato), or an unrelated control object (e.g.,
> rice). In a time window before shape information from the spoken target
> word could be retrieved, participants already tended to fixate both the
> target and the shape competitors more often than they fixated the
> control objects, indicating that they had anticipatorily activated the
> shape of the upcoming word's referent. This was confirmed in Experiment
> 2, which was an ERP experiment without picture displays. Participants
> listened to the same lead-in sentences as in Experiment 1. The
> sentence-final words corresponded to the predictable target, the shape
> competitor, or the unrelated control object (yielding, for instance, "In
> 1969 Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the
> moon/tomato/rice"). N400 amplitude in response to the final words was
> significantly attenuated in the shape-related compared to the unrelated
> condition. Taken together, these results suggest that listeners can
> activate perceptual attributes of objects before they are referred to in
> an utterance. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 448-456 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000008
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>
> Title:
> An fMRI study of episodic encoding across the lifespan: Changes in subsequent memory effects are evident by middle-age
>
> Authors:
> Park, H; Kennedy, KM; Rodrigue, KM; Hebrank, A; Park, DC
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):448-456; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Although it is well-documented that there are age differences between
> young and older adults in neural activity associated with successful
> memory formation (positive subsequent memory effects), little is known
> about how this activation differs across the lifespan, as few studies
> have included middle-aged adults. The present study investigated the
> effect of age on neural activity during episodic encoding using a
> cross-sectional lifespan sample (20-79 years old, N = 192) from the
> Dallas Lifespan Brain Study. We report four major findings. First, in a
> contrast of remembered vs. forgotten items, a decrease in neural
> activity occurred with age in bilateral occipito-temporo-parietal
> regions. Second, when we contrasted forgotten with remembered items
> (negative subsequent memory), the primary difference was found between
> middle and older ages. Third, there was evidence for age equivalence in
> hippocampal regions, congruent with previous studies. Finally,
> low-memory-performers showed negative subsequent memory differences by
> middle age, whereas high memory performers did not demonstrate these
> differences until older age. Taken together, these findings delineate
> the importance of a lifespan approach to understanding neurocognitive
> aging and, in particular, the importance of a middle-age sample in
> revealing different trajectories. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
> reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 457-463 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000009
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>
> Title:
> Neuroanatomical correlates of biological motion detection
>
> Authors:
> Gilaie-Dotan, S; Kanai, R; Bahrami, B; Rees, G; Saygin, AP
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):457-463; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Biological motion detection is both commonplace and important, but there
> is great inter-individual variability in this ability, the neural basis
> of which is currently unknown. Here we examined whether the behavioral
> variability in biological motion detection is reflected in brain
> anatomy. Perceptual thresholds for detection of biological motion and
> control conditions (non-biological object motion detection and motion
> coherence) were determined in a group of healthy human adults (n = 31)
> together with structural magnetic resonance images of the brain. Voxel
> based morphometry analyzes revealed that gray matter volumes of left
> posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and left ventral premotor
> cortex (vPMC) significantly predicted individual differences in
> biological motion detection, but showed no significant relationship with
> performance on the control tasks. Our study reveals a neural basis
> associated with the inter-individual variability in biological motion
> detection, reliably linking the neuroanatomical structure of left pSTS
> and vPMC with biological motion detection performance. (c) 2012 Elsevier
> Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 464-471 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000010
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>
> Title:
> Transitive inference reasoning is impaired by focal lesions in parietal cortex rather than rostrolateral prefrontal cortex
>
> Authors:
> Waechter, RL; Goel, V; Raymont, V; Kruger, F; Grafman, J
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):464-471; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Transitive inference reasoning involves the examination and comparison
> of a given number of relational pairs in order to understand overall
> group hierarchy (e.g., A > B, B > C, C > D; therefore is A > D?). A
> number of imaging studies have demonstrated the role of the parietal
> cortex for resolving transitive inferences. Some studies also identify
> the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex as being critical for "relational
> integration" processes supporting transitive reasoning. To clarify this
> issue, we carried out a transitive inference study involving
> neurological patients with focal lesions to the rostrolateral prefrontal
> (n = 5) or parietal cortices (n = 7), as well as normal controls (n =
> 6). The patients and controls were statistically matched on age,
> education, pre-injury IQ general memory, working memory, and
> performance/full IQ, though the rostrolateral patients did score
> significantly higher than the normal controls on verbal IQ. Results
> indicate that patients with focal lesions to the parietal cortex were
> impaired in the task relative to both the patients with focal lesions to
> rostrolateral prefrontal cortex and the control group, and there was no
> difference in task performance between the rostrolateral prefrontal and
> the control groups. This result continued to hold after controlling for
> verbal IQ as a covariate. These findings point to a critical role for
> the parietal cortex, rather than the rostrolateral prefrontal, in
> transitive inference. Since the groups performed similarly on a working
> memory task, working memory cannot fully account for the result,
> suggesting a specific role of parietal cortex in transitive inference.
> (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 472-481 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000011
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>
> Title:
> Probing the neurocognitive trajectories of children's reading skills
>
> Authors:
> Talcott, JB; Witton, C; Stein, JF
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):472-481; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Emerging evidence of the high variability in the cognitive skills and
> deficits associated with reading achievement and dysfunction promotes
> both a more dimensional view of the risk factors involved, and the
> importance of discriminating between trajectories of impairment. Here we
> examined reading and component orthographic and phonological skills
> alongside measures of cognitive ability and auditory and visual sensory
> processing in a large group of primary school children between the ages
> of 7 and 12 years. We identified clusters of children with pseudoword or
> exception word reading scores at the 10th percentile or below relative
> to their age group, and a group with poor skills on both tasks. Compared
> to age-matched and reading-level controls, groups of children with more
> impaired exception word reading were best described by a trajectory of
> developmental delay, whereas readers with more impaired pseudoword
> reading or combined deficits corresponded more with a pattern of
> atypical development. Sensory processing deficits clustered within both
> of the groups with putative atypical development: auditory
> discrimination deficits with poor phonological awareness skills;
> impairments of visual motion processing in readers with broader and more
> severe patterns of reading and cognitive impairments. Sensory deficits
> have been variably associated with developmental impairments of literacy
> and language; these results suggest that such deficits are also likely
> to cluster in children with particular patterns of reading difficulty.
> (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 482-487 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000012
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>
> Title:
> Conscious processing during retrieval can occur in early and late visual regions
>
> Authors:
> Thakral, PP; Slotnick, SD; Schacter, DL
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):482-487; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Previous evidence has suggested a functional-anatomic dissociation
> between conscious and nonconscious processing during retrieval where
> early visual regions BA17/18 are associated with nonconscious processing
> and late visual regions BA19/37 are associated with conscious
> processing. However, evidence for this dissociation has only been
> observed using a limited number of experimental paradigms. In the
> present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we tested
> the hypothesis that conscious processing during retrieval can occur in
> BA17/18 using memorial paradigms that recruited processing in these
> early visual regions. During the encoding phase of Experiment 1,
> abstract shapes with colored and oriented internal lines were presented
> to the left and right of fixation. During the retrieval phase, old
> shapes and new shapes were presented at fixation and participants
> classified each item as "old-left", "old-right", or "new". The contrast
> of spatial memory-hits > spatial memory-misses (with accurate item
> memory) produced activity in BA17/18. During the encoding phase of
> Experiment 2, abstract shapes with colored and oriented internal lines
> were presented at fixation. During the retrieval phase, old shapes,
> changed shapes (with the same outline but different colored and oriented
> internal lines), and new shapes were presented at fixation and
> participants made an old-new classification during runs with a specific
> retrieval orientation or a non-specific retrieval orientation.
> Critically, the contrast of old-hits > old-misses during specific
> retrieval orientation produced activity in BA17/18. The results of the
> present experiments support the hypothesis that conscious processing
> during retrieval can occur in BA17/18. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights
> reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 488-492 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000013
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>
> Title:
> The motor cortex is causally related to predictive eye movements during action observation
>
> Authors:
> Elsner, C; D'Ausilio, A; Gredeback, G; Falck-Ytter, T; Fadiga, L
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):488-492; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> We examined the hypothesis that predictive gaze during observation of
> other people's actions depends on the activation of corresponding action
> plans in the observer. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation and
> eye-tracking technology we found that stimulation of the motor hand
> area, but not of the leg area, slowed gaze predictive behavior (compared
> to no TMS). This result shows that predictive eye movements to others'
> action goals depend on a somatotopical recruitment of the observer's
> motor system. The study provides direct support for the view that a
> direct matching process implemented in the mirror-neuron system plays a
> functional role for real-time goal prediction. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
> All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 493-499 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000014
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>
> Title:
> Response inhibition triggered by the briefly viewed image of a hand: Behavioural and electrophysiological evidence
>
> Authors:
> Vainio, L; Alen, H; Hiltunen, S; Lehikoinen, K; Lindback, H;
> Patrikainen, A; Paavilainen, P
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):493-499; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Previous research has shown that subliminally presented arrows produce
> negative priming effect in which responses are performed slower when
> primes and targets are calling for the same response than different
> response. This phenomenon has been attributed to self-inhibitory
> mechanisms of response processes. Similar negative priming was recently
> observed when participants responded to the direction of the target
> arrow and the prime was a briefly displayed image of a left or right
> hand. Responses were made slower when the left-right identity of the
> viewed hand was compatible with the responding hand. This was suggested
> to demonstrate that the proposed motor self-inhibition is a general and
> basic functional principle in manual control processes. However, the
> behavioural evidence observed in that study was not capable of showing
> whether the negative priming associated with a briefly displayed hand
> could reflect other inhibitory processes than the motor self-inhibition.
> The present study uses an electrophysiological indicator of automatic
> response priming, the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), to
> investigate whether the negative priming triggered by the identity of
> the viewed hand does indeed reflect motor self-inhibition processes. The
> LRP revealed a pattern of motor activation that was in line with the
> motor self-inhibition hypothesis. Thus, the finding supports the view
> that the self-inhibition mechanisms are not restricted to arrow stimuli
> that are presented subliminally. Rather, they are general sensorimotor
> mechanisms that operate in planning and control of manual actions. (c)
> 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 500-505 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000015
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>
> Title:
> Interaction between musical emotion and facial expression as measured by event-related potentials
>
> Authors:
> Kamiyama, KS; Abla, D; Iwanaga, K; Okanoya, K
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):500-505; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> We examined the integrative process between emotional facial expressions
> and musical excerpts by using an affective priming paradigm. Happy or
> sad musical stimuli were presented after happy or sad facial images
> during electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. We asked participants to
> judge the affective congruency of the presented face-music pairs. The
> congruency of emotionally congruent pairs was judged more rapidly than
> that of incongruent pairs. In addition, the EEG data showed that
> incongruent musical targets elicited a larger N400 component than
> congruent pairs. Furthermore, these effects occurred in nonmusicians as
> well as musicians. In sum, emotional integrative processing of
> face-music pairs was facilitated in congruent music targets and
> inhibited in incongruent music targets; this process was not
> significantly modulated by individual musical experience. This is the
> first study on musical stimuli primed by facial expressions to
> demonstrate that the N400 component reflects the affective priming
> effect. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 506-519 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000016
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Context and hand posture modulate the neural dynamics of tool-object perception
>
> Authors:
> Natraj, N; Poole, V; Mizelle, JC; Flumini, A; Borghi, AM; Wheaton, LA
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):506-519; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Prior research has linked visual perception of tools with plausible
> motor strategies. Thus, observing a tool activates the putative
> action-stream, including the left posterior parietal cortex. Observing a
> hand functionally grasping a tool involves the inferior frontal cortex.
> However, tool-use movements are performed in a contextual and grasp
> specific manner, rather than relative isolation. Our prior behavioral
> data has demonstrated that the context of tool-use (by pairing the tool
> with different objects) and varying hand grasp postures of the tool can
> interact to modulate subjects' reaction times while evaluating
> tool-object content. Specifically, perceptual judgment was delayed in
> the evaluation of functional tool-object pairings (Correct context) when
> the tool was non-functionally (Manipulative) grasped. Here, we
> hypothesized that this behavioral interference seen with the
> Manipulative posture would be due to increased and extended left
> parietofrontal activity possibly underlying motor simulations when
> resolving action conflict due to this particular grasp at time scales
> relevant to the behavioral data. Further, we hypothesized that this
> neural effect will be restricted to the Correct tool-object context
> wherein action affordances are at a maximum.
> 64-channel electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from 16
> right-handed subjects while viewing images depicting three classes of
> tool-object contexts: functionally Correct (e.g. coffee pot-coffee mug),
> functionally Incorrect (e.g. coffee pot-marker) and Spatial (coffee
> pot-milk). The Spatial context pairs a tool and object that would not
> functionally match, but may commonly appear in the same scene. These
> three contexts were modified by hand interaction: No Hand, Static Hand
> near the tool, Functional Hand posture and Manipulative Hand posture.
> The Manipulative posture is convenient for relocating a tool but does
> not afford a functional engagement of the tool on the target object.
> Subjects were instructed to visually assess whether the pictures
> displayed correct tool-object associations. EEG data was analyzed in
> time-voltage and time-frequency domains. Overall, Static Hand,
> Functional and Manipulative postures cause early activation (100-400 ms
> post image onset) of parietofrontal areas, to varying intensity in each
> context, when compared to the No Hand control condition. However, when
> context is Correct, only the Manipulative Posture significantly induces
> extended neural responses, predominantly over right parietal and right
> frontal areas [400-600 ms post image onset]. Significant power increase
> was observed in the theta band [4-8 Hz] over the right frontal area,
> [0-500 ms]. In addition, when context is Spatial, Manipulative posture
> alone significantly induces extended neural responses, over bilateral
> parietofrontal and left motor areas [400-600 ms]. Significant power
> decrease occurred primarily in beta bands [12-16, 20-25 Hz] over the
> aforementioned brain areas [400-600 ms].
> Here, we demonstrate that the neural processing of tool-object
> perception is sensitive to several factors. While both Functional and
> Manipulative postures in Correct context engage predominantly an early
> left parietofrontal circuit, the Manipulative posture alone extends the
> neural response and transitions to a late right parietofrontal network.
> This suggests engagement of a right neural system to evaluate action
> affordances when hand posture does not support action (Manipulative).
> Additionally, when tool-use context is ambiguous (Spatial context),
> there is increased bilateral parietofrontal activation and, extended
> neural response for the Manipulative posture. These results point to the
> existence of other networks evaluating tool-object associations when
> motoric affordances are not readily apparent and underlie corresponding
> delayed perceptual judgment in our prior behavioral data wherein
> Manipulative postures had exclusively interfered in judging tool-object
> content. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 520-537 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000017
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Foreign accent syndrome: A multimodal evaluation in the search of neuroscience-driven treatments
>
> Authors:
> Moreno-Torres, I; Berthier, ML; Cid, MD; Green, C; Gutierrez, A;
> Garcia-Casares, N; Walsh, SF; Nabrozidis, A; Sidorova, J; Davila, G;
> Carnero-Pardo, C
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):520-537; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare condition which is placed in the
> mildest end of the spectrum of speech disorders. The impairment, not
> severe enough to elicit phonological errors, is associated with various
> alterations in the fine execution of speech sounds which cause the
> impression of foreignness. There is a growing interest in the study of
> linguistic and paralinguistic components, psychosocial aftermaths, and
> neural basis of FAS, but there are not yet neuroscience-driven
> treatments for this condition. A multimodal evaluation was conducted in
> a single patient with the aim of searching for clues which may assist to
> design neuroscience-driven therapies. The patient was a middle-aged
> bilingual woman who had chronic FAS. She had segmental deficits,
> abnormal production of linguistic and emotional prosody, impaired verbal
> communication, and reduced motivation and social engagement. Magnetic
> resonance imaging showed bilateral small lesions mainly affecting the
> left deep frontal operculum and dorsal anterior insula. Diffusion tensor
> tractography suggested disrupted left deep frontal operculum-anterior
> insula connectivity. Metabolic activity measured with positron emission
> tomography was primarily decreased in key components of networks
> implicated in planning and execution of speech production, cognitive
> control and emotional communication (Brodmann's areas 4/6/9/10/13/25/47,
> basal ganglia, and anterior cerebellar vermis). Compensatory increases
> of metabolic activity were found in cortical areas (left anterior
> cingulate gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus and right prefrontal
> cortex) associated with feedback and focal attention processes critical
> for monitoring and adjustment of verbal utterances. Moreover, bilateral
> structural and functional abnormalities probably interrupted the
> trajectory of the lateral and medial cholinergic pathways causing
> region-specific hypoactivity. The results from this study provide
> targets for further investigation and some clues to design therapeutic
> interventions. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 538-549 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000018
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Musical expertise affects neural bases of letter recognition
>
> Authors:
> Proverbio, AM; Manfredi, M; Zani, A; Adorni, R
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):538-549; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> It is known that early music learning (playing of an instrument)
> modifies functional brain structure (both white and gray matter) and
> connectivity, especially callosal transfer, motor control/coordination
> and auditory processing. We compared visual processing of notes and
> words in 15 professional musicians and 15 controls by recording their
> synchronized bioelectrical activity (ERPs) in response to words and
> notes. We found that musical training in childhood (from age similar to
> 8 years) modifies neural mechanisms of word reading, whatever the
> genetic predisposition, which was unknown. While letter processing was
> strongly left-lateralized in controls, the fusiform (BA37) and inferior
> occipital gyri (BA18) were activated in both hemispheres in musicians
> for both word and music processing. The evidence that the neural
> mechanism of letter processing differed in musicians and controls (being
> absolutely bilateral in musicians) suggests that musical expertise
> modifies the neural mechanisms of letter reading. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
> All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 550-556 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000019
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Access to lexical meaning in pitch-flattened Chinese sentences: An fMRI study
>
> Authors:
> Xu, GQ; Zhang, LJ; Shu, H; Wang, XY; Li, P
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):550-556; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Chinese is a tonal language in which variation in pitch is used to
> distinguish word meanings. Thus, in order to understand a word,
> listeners have to extract the pitch patterns in addition to its
> phonemes. Can the correct word meaning still be accessed in sentence
> contexts if pitch patterns of words are altered? If so, how is this
> accomplished? The present study attempts to address such questions with
> event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Native
> speakers of Mandarin Chinese listened to normal and pitch-flattened
> (monotone) speech inside the scanner. The behavioral results indicated
> that they rated monotone sentences as intelligible as normal sentences,
> and performed equally well in a dictation test on the two types of
> sentences. The fMRI results showed that both types of sentences elicited
> similar activation in the left insular, middle and inferior temporal
> gyri, but the monotone sentences elicited greater activation in the left
> planum temporale (PT) compared with normal sentences. These results
> demonstrate that lexical meaning can still be accessed in
> pitch-flattened Chinese sentences, and that this process is realized by
> automatic recovery of the phonological representations of lexical tones
> from the altered tonal patterns. Our findings suggest that the details
> of spoken pitch patterns are not essential for adequate lexical-semantic
> processing during sentence comprehension even in tonal languages like
> Mandarin Chinese, given that listeners can automatically use additional
> neural and cognitive resources to recover distorted tonal patterns in
> sentences. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
> ========================================================================
>
>
> *Pages: 557-571 (Article)
> *View Full Record: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Alerting&SrcApp=Alerting&DestApp=CCC&DestLinkType=FullRecord;KeyUT=CCC:000316158000020
> *Order Full Text [ ]
>
> Title:
> Strategic retrieval and retrieval orientation in reality monitoring studied by event-related potentials (ERPs)
>
> Authors:
> Rosburg, T; Johansson, M; Mecklinger, A
>
> Source:
> *NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA*, 51 (3):557-571; FEB 2013
>
> Abstract:
> Reality monitoring requires the differentiation between perceived and
> imagined events or between our own actions and the actions of others.
> The role of control processes in reality monitoring is yet not fully
> understood. In the current event-related potential (ERP) study, we
> investigated such control processes in the form of retrieval orientation
> and strategic retrieval of nontarget information. At study, complete or
> incomplete object words were presented in sentences. Participants had to
> identify the words as the subject of the sentence (perceive condition)
> or had to complete them upon presentation of a word fragment
> (self-generate condition). The participants' memory accuracy was better
> for generated items than for perceived items, as tested in a subsequent
> memory exclusion task. Comparison of ERPs to new items between the two
> test conditions (i.e. assessing retrieval orientation) showed more
> positive ERPs when generated object names were targeted. Retrieval
> orientation also modulated the early midfrontal old/new effect: Items of
> the self-generate condition elicited this effect irrespective of their
> target/nontarget status, while in response to the less well remembered
> items of the perceive condition it was only found when these items were
> defined as targets. Target retrieval (as reflected in the left-parietal
> old/new effect) occurred in both test conditions, but nontarget
> retrieval was observed only for generated items (when perceived items
> were targeted). Current findings indicate that retrieval orientation can
> modulate familiarity-related processes. The selective occurrence of
> nontarget retrieval for generated items corroborates the concept that
> the ease with which nontarget information can be accessed promotes
> nontarget retrieval. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
>
>