Article
Psychology, Clinical
Franziska Maier, Andrea Greuel, Marius Hoock, Rajbir Kaur, Masoud Tahmasian, Frank Schwartz, Ilona Csoti, Frank Jessen, Alexander Drzezga, Thilo van Eimeren, Lars Timmermann, Carsten Eggers
Summary: This study investigated impaired self-awareness of cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) and its associations with clinical-behavioral and neuroimaging markers. The results showed that PD patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) had significantly higher impaired self-awareness than healthy controls and PD patients without MCI. Neuroimaging analysis revealed that glucose metabolism in the cingulate cortex was negatively correlated with impaired self-awareness. In PD-MCI patients, impaired self-awareness was associated with decreased metabolism in the right temporal lobe, insula, and midcingulate cortex. These findings suggest that impaired self-awareness of cognitive deficits in PD may be related to disruptions in the cognitive network and metabolic changes in specific brain regions.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Solofo Razafimahatratra, Thomas Guieysse, Francois-Xavier Lejeune, Marion Houot, Takfarinas Medani, Gerard Dreyfus, Andre Klarsfeld, Nicolas Villain, Filipa Raposo Pereira, Valentina La Corte, Nathalie George, Dimitrios Pantazis, Katia Andrade
Summary: Unawareness of memory deficits is common in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, possibly due to synaptic failure in the error-monitoring system. A study found that AD patients showed reduced error awareness and overestimated their cognitive abilities at the time of diagnosis, suggesting a critical role of synaptic dysfunction in the error-monitoring system in the unawareness of deficits in AD.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Steven C. Cramer, Lode G. Richards, Julie Bernhardt, Pamela Duncan
Summary: Cognition is a fundamental aspect of human existence and brain function. Stroke often leads to cognitive deficits, which can significantly impact poststroke functional recovery. Recent advancements in understanding cognitive functions in healthy individuals hold promise for improving our understanding and treatment of poststroke cognitive impairments. This article provides five reviews on commonly observed cognitive syndromes after stroke, including neglect, aphasia, apraxia, loss of executive function, and memory disorders. These reviews discuss key questions and gaps in knowledge, emphasizing the need for improved measurement tools, insights into the pathophysiology of symptom onset and recovery mechanisms, and validated biomarkers. Overall, these state-of-the-art summaries facilitate progress towards better understanding and management of poststroke cognitive impairments.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Claudia C. Schmidt, Elisabeth I. S. Achilles, Gereon R. Fink, Peter H. Weiss
Summary: Apraxia is a multi-componential syndrome characterized by deficits in higher motor functions, primarily caused by left hemisphere lesions. This study analyzed different profiles of apraxia and related motor-cognitive processes following LH stroke, revealing specific lesion patterns associated with various components. The results suggest that apraxia represents impaired motor-cognitive processes that partially dissociate from language processes and are associated with distinct lesion patterns following LH stroke.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Mitchell W. Isaacs, Laurel J. Buxbaum, Aaron L. Wong
Summary: Imitating observed actions is an efficient method for learning novel movements. This study investigated the role of proprioception in imitation and found that representing movement goals proprioceptively is crucial for successful imitation. Patients with apraxia, a neurological disorder commonly seen after left hemisphere stroke, showed deficits in representing and accessing proprioceptive goals, which contributed to their imitation impairments.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Claudia C. Schmidt, Elisabeth I. S. Achilles, Katharina Bolte, Nina N. Kleineberg, Monika K. Richter, Natalie Schloss, Gereon R. Fink, Peter H. Weiss
Summary: The study investigated the association between subcortical gray matter lesions and apraxic deficits in LH stroke patients, finding that lesions in the caudate nucleus were significantly related to apraxic deficits, while lesions in the globus pallidus were associated with a lower likelihood of apraxia. Other subcortical structures did not show significant differences in lesion load between apraxic and nonapraxic patients.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shiqi Wang, Kankan Wang, Tingping Yang, Yiming Li, Di Fan
Summary: This paper proposes an improved 3D-ResNet sign language recognition algorithm with enhanced hand features, aiming to improve the accuracy of sign language recognition. The algorithm detects the hand regions using the improved EfficientDet network and enhances the detection ability with dual channel and spatial attention modules. Additionally, an improved residual module is used to extract sign language features. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves higher recognition accuracy compared to other algorithms.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Review
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Federica Cacciamani, Marion Houot, Geoffroy Gagliardi, Bruno Dubois, Sietske Sikkes, Gonzalo Sanchez-Benavides, Elena Denicolo, Jose Luis Molinuevo, Patrizia Vannini, Stephane Epelbaum
Summary: The study found that there was no significant difference in awareness of cognitive decline (ACD) between preclinical AD patients and MCI patients, but ACD was significantly poorer in patients with amnestic MCI and mild AD, with the worst ACD observed in individuals with mild AD. This suggests that ACD may decrease as the disease progresses.
FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sungyang Jo, Jungsu S. Oh, E-Nae Cheong, Hyung Ji Kim, Sunju Lee, Minyoung Oh, Jae Seung Kim, Sun Ju Chung, Chong S. Lee, Miseon Kwon, Dongwha Kang, Jae-Hong Lee
Summary: This study used FDG-PET to reveal distinct glucose hypometabolism patterns in ideomotor and imitation apraxia subtypes in CBS patients. Patients with both ideomotor and imitation apraxia were more likely to exhibit the typical features of CBS and progressive supranuclear palsy compared to those with only one type of apraxia. These findings contribute to our understanding of the brain networks underlying apraxia in relation to the clinical features of CBS.
PARKINSONISM & RELATED DISORDERS
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Daniela Valerio, Isabel Santana, Diana Aguiar de Sousa, Guilherme Schu, Gabriela Leal, Isabel Pavao Martins, Jorge Almeida
Summary: The study demonstrates a double dissociation between tool-gesture knowledge and tool-gesture production in patients with brain lesions, suggesting that different brain areas are responsible for these different functions. By comparing lesion locations in different patients, researchers can gain insights into the neural mechanisms underlying action and object recognition and use.
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Manuela Tondelli, Francesca Benuzzi, Daniela Ballotta, Maria Angela Molinari, Annalisa Chiari, Giovanna Zamboni
Summary: Recent studies on anosognosia in dementia have suggested the presence of implicit self-awareness that regulates responses, even in patients without explicit awareness. A preserved response of the posterior cingulate cortex to dementia-related stimuli may indicate preserved implicit self-awareness.
FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Xun Wang, Ke Sun, Ting Zhao, Wei Wang, Qing Gu
Summary: In this paper, a Dynamic Speed Warping (DSW) algorithm is proposed for one-shot learning of device-free acoustic gesture signals performed by different users. The design of DSW is based on the observation that gesture type is determined by the trajectory of hand components rather than the movement speed. By dynamically scaling the speed distribution and tracking the movement distance along the trajectory, DSW can effectively match gesture signals from different domains with a ten-fold difference in speeds. Experimental results show that DSW can achieve a recognition accuracy of 97% for gestures performed by unknown users while only using one training sample of each gesture type from four training users.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MOBILE COMPUTING
(2023)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Katheryn L. Boada, Richard Boada, Bruce F. Pennington, Robin L. Peterson
Summary: The study examines the relationship between speech error types and literacy skills. It finds that phonological errors predict phonological awareness and literacy skills, even when controlling for language ability. Surprisingly, sequencing deficits show the strongest correlation with phonological awareness and literacy skills.
JOURNAL OF SPEECH LANGUAGE AND HEARING RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Amandine Mayelle, Capucine Hazebrouck, Mohamad El Haj, Daniel C. Mograbi, Pascal Antoine
Summary: The study identified five different awareness profiles in AD patients, with four of them proving to be quite stable. Interindividual variability in awareness was observed through numerous different trajectories.
FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Haley C. Dresang, Aaron L. Wong, Laurel J. Buxbaum
Summary: This study examined the shared cognitive and neural mechanisms in the domains of action and language, and found that semantic information plays a positive role in both domains, but labeling does not provide additional benefits for gesture imitation.
Article
Neurosciences
Gabriele Fusco, Martina Fusaro, Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Summary: The study revealed that theta oscillations over midfrontal-occipital areas modulated bodily specific, stimulus content-driven aspects of cognitive control.
SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Manuel Mello, Martina Fusaro, Gaetano Tieri, Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Summary: Research shows that wearing an opposite-sex avatar can enhance individuals' perceptions of pleasantness and erogeneity for same-sex touch, particularly for men. This body swap illusion may have important implications on people's attitudes and implicit reactivity to touch-mediated interactions.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Alessandro Monti, Giuseppina Porciello, Maria Serena Panasiti, Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Summary: Humans have the unique ability to think about themselves and form a clear concept of who they are in their mind. Recent evidence suggests that the birth, maintenance, and loss of the abstract concept of 'self' is closely tied to interoception, the sense of internal physiological signals. Interoception influences various aspects of the self-concept, contributing to its stability over time and constraining its susceptibility to external influences.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH-PSYCHOLOGISCHE FORSCHUNG
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Michele Scandola, Giorgia Pietroni, Gabriella Landuzzi, Enrico Polati, Vittorio Schweiger, Valentina Moro
Summary: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition characterized by widespread pain and associated symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disturbances, and physical exhaustion. This study found that FM patients experience both bodily illusions and impaired motor imagery, which are not correlated with pain or functional deficits.
FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Elias Paolo Casula, Gaetano Tieri, Lorenzo Rocchi, Rachele Pezzetta, Michele Maiella, Enea Francesco Pavone, Salvatore Maria Aglioti, Giacomo Koch
Summary: Immersive virtual reality can lead to a strong feeling of embodiment over artificial body parts, but the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon are not yet fully understood. By tracking real-time brain dynamics, researchers found that observing virtual body parts is associated with a rapid decrease in cortical activity in the hand region of the primary motor cortex, as well as rapid changes in activity within a fronto-parietal circuit. These findings suggest that changes in bodily representations are supported by dynamic interactions within a highly plastic network.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Maddalena Beccherle, Stefania Facchetti, Francesca Villani, Marzia Zanini, Michele Scandola
Summary: This study investigated the effects of visual and tactile stimuli on the representation of peripersonal space (PPS) and examined whether the reaction times (RTs) for tactile-only stimuli are influenced by time-dependency effects. The results show that visual and tactile components do not necessarily have to target the same body part, and the RTs for tactile-only stimuli vary depending on the delay of stimulus administration.
EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Valentina Moro, Valentina Pacella, Michele Scandola, Sahba Besharati, Elena Rossato, Paul M. Jenkinson, Akaterini Fotopoulou
Summary: Neuropsychological disturbances in the sense of limb ownership are associated with both cortical lesions and disconnections of specific functional networks. The sense of body ownership involves the convergence of bottom-up, multisensory integration, and top-down monitoring of sensory salience based on contextual demands.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emmanuele Tidoni, Henning Holle, Michele Scandola, Igor Schindler, Loron Hill, Emily S. Cross
Summary: This study compared people's ability to understand the behavior of humans, humanoid robots, and non-human objects through a series of experiments. The results showed that people were faster at inferring the mental content of human agents compared to robotic agents. Additionally, the human-like appearance of non-human agents may engage mentalizing processes.
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Maria Pyasik, Michele Scandola, Valentina Moro
Summary: Action monitoring plays a crucial role in executing actions and understanding the actions of others. This systematic review examines the neurophysiological correlates of action monitoring in patients with brain lesions. The findings reveal distinct patterns of impaired neurophysiological activity in monitoring one's own actions versus others' actions in this patient population. EEG recordings of this dissociation in the same patients could potentially serve as a useful index for motor recovery and rehabilitation protocols.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Gianna Cocchini, Michele Scandola, Valeria Gobbetto, Maria Cristina Cioffi, Angela Bartolo, James Moore, Valentina Moro
Summary: Anosognosic patients not only lack awareness for their hemiplegia, but also show distorted sense of agency for actions performed by the unimpaired limb. The study found a correlation between motor impairment and sense of agency for both the plegic and healthy limbs. These findings support the hypothesis that the right hemisphere is responsible for monitoring awareness for motor actions in the entire body, while also suggesting that the observed distortion may be linked to a compensatory motor phenomenon.
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Alessandra Monni, Michele Scandola, Sebastien Helie, L. Francesca Scalas
Summary: This research aimed to investigate the assessment of cognitive flexibility by developing a novel Reversal learning task (RLT) paradigm and analyzing its convergent validity with other questionnaires and tests. The study found that the three conditions of RLT assessed flexibility differently and that RLT and Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) detected different facets of cognitive flexibility. Additionally, the impact of stress on RLT and WCST was found to be moderated by gender, with stressed women showing increased perseverative errors in the punishment condition and reduced punishment sensitivity in the reward condition.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH-PSYCHOLOGISCHE FORSCHUNG
(2023)
Article
Biology
Lennie Dupont, Valerio Santangelo, Ruben T. Azevedo, Maria Serena Panasiti, Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Summary: Using fMRI data from participants playing a card game involving deceptive or truthful decisions, researchers found that dishonest decisions were associated with increased activity in a cortico-subcortical circuit including the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula (AI), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, and right caudate. Deceptive immoral decisions under reputation risk enhanced activity and functional connectivity between the bilateral ACC and left AI, suggesting the need for heightened emotional processing and cognitive control. Manipulative individuals showed differential involvement of the ACC depending on whether the decision involved self-gain lies or other-gain truths, pointing to the role of cognitive control in going against one's own moral code.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Maddalena Beccherle, Valeria Gobbetto, Sara Bertagnoli, Cristina Bulgarelli, Elena Rossato, Valentina Moro
Article
Neurosciences
Alisha Vabba, Maria Serena Panasiti, Marina Scattolin, Marco Spitaleri, Giuseppina Porciello, Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Summary: Research on thermal awareness is limited, although thermal body signals provide crucial information about the state of an organism and changes in body temperature may indicate affective states. This study developed a task to measure awareness of changes in peripheral body temperature and compared it to a classical heartbeat counting task. The results showed that different interceptive channels contribute separately to awareness of bodily states, and thermal interoceptive accuracy was associated with self-reported awareness of body temperature changes and the ability to regulate distress by focusing on body sensations.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2023)