Science posts

See science posts on page 2 below.

    • 2010
    • Stephen M. Fleming et al.
    • Relating Introspective Accuracy to Individual Differences in Brain Structure
    • The ability to introspect about self-performance is key to human subjective experience, but the neuroanatomical basis of this ability is unknown. Such accurate introspection requires discriminating correct decisions from incorrect ones, a capacity that varies substantially across individuals. We dissociated variation in introspective ability from objective performance in a simple perceptual-decision task, allowing us to determine whether this interindividual variability was associated with a distinct neural basis. We show that introspective ability is correlated with gray matter volume in the anterior prefrontal cortex, a region that shows marked evolutionary development in humans. Moreover, interindividual variation in introspective ability is also correlated with white-matter microstructure connected with this area of the prefrontal cortex. Our findings point to a focal neuroanatomical substrate for introspective ability, a substrate distinct from that supporting primary perception.
    • 2008
    • J W Buckholtz et al.
    • Genetic variation in MAOA modulates ventromedial prefrontal circuitry mediating individual differences in human personality
    • Little is known about neural mechanisms underlying human personality and temperament, despite their considerable importance as highly heritable risk mediators for somatic and psychiatric disorders. To identify these circuits, we used a combined genetic and imaging approach focused on Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA), encoding a key enzyme for monoamine metabolism previously associated with temperament and antisocial behavior. Male carriers of a low-expressing genetic variant exhibited dysregulated amygdala activation and increased functional coupling with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Stronger coupling predicted increased harm avoidance and decreased reward dependence scores, suggesting that this circuitry mediates a part of the association of MAOA with these traits. We utilized path analysis to parse the effective connectivity within this system, and provide evidence that vmPFC regulates amygdala indirectly by influencing rostral cingulate cortex function. Our data implicate a n..
    • 2011
    • Smallwood J
    • Stimulus independence, social cognition and consciousness.
    • Abstract A consensus emerging from neuroscience is that certain brain regions show activity correlated with stimulus independent (e.g. private) conscious thought and yet are also implicated in public social processes. The fact that systems supporting social processing also exhibit activity with no obvious perceptual referent, can be seen as support for the framework suggested by Graziano and Kerber (this volume) once it is recognized that the property of stimulus independence is also an important feature of consciousness. Understanding the social basis behind private stimulus independent thought, therefore, may provide an important assessment of the validity of the Graziano and Kerber hypothesis.
    • 2015
    • V. Menon
    • Salience Network
    • The salience network (SN) is a large-scale paralimbic–limbic network anchored in the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex with prominent subcortical nodes in affect and reward processing systems. The SN plays a crucial role in identifying the most biologically and cognitively relevant events for adaptively guiding attention and behavior and constitutes a key interface for cognitive, homeostatic, motivational, and affective systems.
    • 2016
    • Paul M. Macey et al.
    • Sex Differences in Insular Cortex Gyri Responses to the Valsalva Maneuver
    • Sex differences in autonomic regulation may underlie cardiovascular disease variations between females and males. One key autonomic brain region is the insular cortex, which typically consists of five main gyri in each hemisphere, and shows a topographical organization of autonomic function across those gyri. The present study aims to identify possible sex differences in organization of autonomic function in the insula. We studied brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to a series of four 18-s Valsalva maneuvers in 22 healthy females (age ± SD: 50.0 ± 7.9 years) and 36 healthy males (45.3 ± 9.2 years). Comparisons of heart rate (HR) and fMRI signals were performed with repeated measures ANOVA (threshold P < 0.05 for all findings). All subjects achieved the target 30 mmHg expiratory pressure for all challenges. Typical HR responses were elicited by the maneuver, including HR increases from ~4 s into the strain period (Phase..
    • 2015
    • Darya L. Zabelina et al.
    • Creativity and sensory gating indexed by the P50: Selective versus leaky sensory gating in divergent thinkers and creative achievers
    • Creativity has previously been linked with atypical attention, but it is not clear what aspects of attention, or what types of creativity are associated. Here we investigated specific neural markers of a very early form of attention, namely sensory gating, indexed by the P50 ERP, and how it relates to two measures of creativity: divergent thinking and real-world creative achievement. Data from 84 participants revealed that divergent thinking (assessed with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking) was associated with selective sensory gating, whereas real-world creative achievement was associated with “leaky” sensory gating, both in zero-order correlations and when controlling for academic test scores in a regression. Thus both creativity measures related to sensory gating, but in opposite directions. Additionally, divergent thinking and real-world creative achievement did not interact in predicting P50 sensory gating, suggesting that these two creativity measures o..
    • 2016
    • Matthew Pelowski et al.
    • Understand after like, viewer's delight? A fNIRS study of order-effect in combined hedonic and cognitive appraisal of art
    • We investigate neural and behavioral aspects of the interrelation between ‘liking’ and ‘understanding’ when both appraisals are made within one judgment task. Our goal was to explore questions regarding how these appraisals combine, and specifically whether there is an order-effect when both are employed in sequence. To this end, we tested a hypothesis derived from new models in neuroaesthetics, and concerning processing of art, which suggest that perception may involve a natural sequence from first processing for hedonic quality (i.e., liking) followed by processing for understanding. Thus, due to the initial liking assessment's capacity to prime deepened cognitive involvement, a Liking-Understanding order may show key differences in final assessments or brain activation when compared to an Understanding-Liking sequence. Thirty-two participants evaluated a range of paintings, balanced for visual appeal and understandability, in a two-part task in which half e..
    • 2009
    • Simona Gardini et al.
    • Individual differences in personality traits reflect structural variance in specific brain regions
    • Personality dimensions such as novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD) and persistence (PER) are said to be heritable, stable across time and dependent on genetic and neurobiological factors. Recently a better understanding of the relationship between personality traits and brain structures/systems has become possible due to advances in neuroimaging techniques. This Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) study investigated if individual differences in these personality traits reflected structural variance in specific brain regions. A large sample of eighty five young adult participants completed the Three-dimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and had their brain imaged with MRI. A voxel-based correlation analysis was carried out between individuals’ personality trait scores and grey matter volume values extracted from 3D brain scans. NS correlated positively with grey matter volume in frontal and posterior cingulate regions. HA showed a negative co..
    • 2010
    • Joseph Henrich et al.
    • Most people are not WEIRD
    • To understand human psychology, behavioural scientists must stop doing most of their experiments on Westerners, argue Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine and Ara Norenzayan.
    • 2012
    • Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli et al.
    • Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity in Psychopathology
    • Neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with abnormal function of the default mode network (DMN), a distributed network of brain regions more active during rest than during performance of many attention-demanding tasks and characterized by a high degree of functional connectivity (i.e., temporal correlations between brain regions). Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have revealed that the DMN in the healthy brain is associated with stimulus-independent thought and self-reflection and that greater suppression of the DMN is associated with better performance on attention-demanding tasks. In schizophrenia and depression, the DMN is often found to be hyperactivated and hyperconnected. In schizophrenia this may relate to overly intensive self-reference and impairments in attention and working memory. In depression, DMN hyperactivity may be related to negative rumination. These findings are considered in terms of what is known about psychological functions supported by the DMN..

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