Effects of acute and long-term mindfulness on neural activity and the conflict resolution component of attention
This study recruited 20 experienced meditators and 20 novices and assigned them to a mindfulness or a control condition. They completed a Stroop Task to measure cognitive conflict resolution before and after the intervention, with brain activity monitored via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Novices showed an age-related decline in conflict resolution ability, while experienced meditators didn’t. Initially, both groups showed similar Stroop performance, but experienced meditators had greater brain activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Post-intervention, novices in the breath count t...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 21, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Effects of speech rate modifications on phonatory acoustic outcomes in Parkinson ’s disease
Speech rate reduction is a global speech therapy approach for speech deficits in Parkinson’s disease (PD) that has the potential to result in changes across multiple speech subsystems. While the overall goal of rate reduction is usually improvements in speech intelligibility, not all people with PD benefit from this approach. Speech rate is often targeted as a means of improving articulatory precision, though less is known about rate-induced changes in other speech subsystems that could help or hinder communication. The purpose of this study was to quantify phonatory changes associated with speech rate modification acros...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 21, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Editorial: Coma and disorders of consciousness: an overview
(Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 20, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
AFM signal model for dysarthric speech classification using speech biomarkers
Neurological disorders include various conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, and nervous system which results in reduced performance in different organs and muscles throughout the human body. Dysarthia is a neurological disorder that significantly impairs an individual's ability to effectively communicate through speech. Individuals with dysarthria are characterized by muscle weakness that results in slow, slurred, and less intelligible speech production. An efficient identification of speech disorders at the beginning stages helps doctors suggest proper medications. The classification of dysarthric speech assumes a...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 20, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Potentially modifiable risk and protective factors affecting mental and emotional wellness in pregnancy
ConclusionThese findings highlight the importance of assessing substance use, including periconceptional alcohol exposure, and mental health in pregnant persons as closely related risk factors which cannot be addressed in isolation. Our findings also emphasize a strong protective effect of socio-cultural factors on maternal mental and emotional wellbeing—a strong precursor to maternal-infant bonding and infant neurodevelopment. (Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 20, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Children with bilateral cerebral palsy use their hip joint to complete a step-up task
Performance in stair-climbing is largely associated with disruptions to mobility and community participation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). It is important to understand the nature of motor impairments responsible for making stairs a challenge in children with bilateral CP to clarify underlying causes of impaired mobility. In pediatric clinical populations, sensitive measurements of movement quality can be captured during the initial step of stair ascent. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify the lower limb joint moments of children with bilateral CP during the stance phases of a step-up task. Participants...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 20, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Spatial tactile localization depends on sensorimotor binding: preliminary evidence from virtual reality
This study demonstrated the possibility of inducing spatial biases in the processing of bodily information by modulating the sensory-motor interaction between stimuli in virtual environments (while keeping constant the actual position of the body in space). (Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 20, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Editorial: Multisensory speech in perception and production
(Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 19, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Measuring cognitive flexibility: A brief review of neuropsychological, self-report, and neuroscientific approaches
Cognitive flexibility involves dynamic processes that allow adaptation of our thinking and behavior in response to changing contextual demands. Despite a large consensus about its beneficial effects, cognitive flexibility is still poorly understood. In this mini review, we examined the main conceptualizations and approaches for assessing cognitive flexibility: (1) neuropsychological tasks, (2) self-report questionnaires, and (3) neuroscientific approaches. The reviewed evidence shows that the definition and assessment of cognitive flexibility are not unified within the field and suggests that a more consensual and consiste...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 19, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
DiMANI: diffusion MRI for anatomical nuclei imaging —Application for the direct visualization of thalamic subnuclei
The thalamus is a centrally located and heterogeneous brain structure that plays a critical role in various sensory, motor, and cognitive processes. However, visualizing the individual subnuclei of the thalamus using conventional MRI techniques is challenging. This difficulty has posed obstacles in targeting specific subnuclei for clinical interventions such as deep brain stimulation (DBS). In this paper, we present DiMANI, a novel method for directly visualizing the thalamic subnuclei using diffusion MRI (dMRI). The DiMANI contrast is computed by averaging, voxelwise, diffusion-weighted volumes enabling the direct distinc...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 19, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
No effects of the theta-frequency transcranial electrical stimulation for recall, attention control, and relation integration in working memory
DiscussionThe results suggest that canonical measures of WM capacity are strongly stable in time and hardly affected by theta-frequency tACS. Either the tACS effects observed in the n-back and change detection tasks do not generalize onto other WM tasks, or the tACS method has limited effectiveness with regard to WM, and might require further methodological advancements. (Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 19, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Motor imagery therapy improved upper limb motor function in stroke patients with hemiplegia by increasing functional connectivity of sensorimotor and cognitive networks
ConclusionsMIT can improve upper limb motor function and daily activities of stroke patients, and the improvement effect of conventional rehabilitation therapy (CRT) combined with MIT is significantly higher than that of CRT alone. CRT may improve the upper limb motor function of stroke patients with hemiplegia mainly through the functional reorganization between SMN, while MIT may mainly increase the interaction between SMN and other brain networks. (Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 19, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Unleashing the potential of fNIRS with machine learning: classification of fine anatomical movements to empower future brain-computer interface
In this study, we explore the potential of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals in conjunction with modern machine-learning techniques to classify specific anatomical movements to increase the number of control commands for a possible fNIRS-based brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. The study focuses on novel individual finger-tapping, a well-known task in fNIRS and fMRI studies, but limited to left/right or few fingers. Twenty-four right-handed participants performed the individual finger-tapping task. Data were recorded by using sixteen sources and detectors placed over the motor cortex acc...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 16, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Ethical considerations for integrating multimodal computer perception and neurotechnology
DiscussionOur findings suggest that the integration of neurotechnologies with existing computer perception technologies raises novel concerns around dignity-related and other harms (e.g., stigma, discrimination) that stem from data security threats and the growing potential for reidentification of sensitive data. Further, our findings suggest that patients’ awareness and preoccupation with feeling monitored via computer sensors ranges from hypo- to hyper-awareness, with either extreme accompanied by ethical concerns (consent vs. anxiety and preoccupation). These results highlight the need for systematic research into how...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 16, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Analyzing and computing humans by means of the brain using Brain-Computer Interfaces - understanding the user – previous evidence, self-relevance and the user’s self-concept as potential superordinate human factors of relevance
Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) are well-known instances of how technology can convert a user’s brain activity taken from non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) into computer commands for the purpose of computer-assisted communication and interaction. However, not all users are attaining the accuracy required to use a BCI consistently, despite advancements in technology. Accordingly, previous research suggests that human factors could be responsible for the variance in BCI performance among users. Therefore, the user’s internal mental states and traits including motivation, affect or cognition, personality traits...
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - February 16, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
