Journal: Neural Plasticity

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Publisher

Hindawi

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ISSN

2090-5904
1687-5443

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2014 - 20189
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Publications 1 - 9 of 9
  • Boosting Action Observation and Motor Imagery to Promote Plasticity and Learning
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Bisio, Ambra; Bassolino, Michela; Pozzo, Thierry; et al. (2018)
    Neural Plasticity
  • Mixed-Effects Modeling of Neurofeedback Self-Regulation Performance: Moderators for Learning in Children with ADHD
    Item type: Journal Article
    Zuberer, Agnieszka; Minder, Franziska; Brandeis, Daniel; et al. (2018)
    Neural Plasticity
    Introduction. Neurofeedback (NF) has gained increasing popularity as a training method for children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, it is unclear to what extent children learn to regulate their brain activity and in what way NF learning may be affected by subject- and treatment-related factors. Methods. In total, 48 subjects with ADHD (age 8.5–16.5 years; 16 subjects on methylphenidate (MPH)) underwent 15 double training sessions of NF in either a clinical or a school setting. Four mixed-effects models were employed to analyze learning: training within-sessions, across-sessions, with continuous feedback, and with transfer in which performance feedback is delayed. Results. Age and MPH affected the NF performance in all models. Cross-session learning in the feedback condition was mainly moderated by age and MPH, whereas NF learning in the transfer condition was mainly boosted by MPH. Apart from IQ and task types, other subject-related or treatment-related effects were unrelated to NF learning. Conclusion. This first study analyzing moderators of NF learning in ADHD with a mixed-effects modeling approach shows that NF performance is moderated differentially by effects of age and MPH depending on the training task and time window. Future studies may benefit from using this approach to analyze NF learning and NF specificity. The trial name Neurofeedback and Computerized Cognitive Training in Different Settings for Children and Adolescents With ADHD is registered with NCT02358941.
  • Dance Training Shapes Action Perception and Its Neural Implementation within the Young and Older Adult Brain
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kirsch, Louise P.; Diersch, Nadine; Sumanapala, Dilini K.; et al. (2018)
    Neural Plasticity
    How we perceive others in action is shaped by our prior experience. Many factors influence brain responses when observing others in action, including training in a particular physical skill, such as sport or dance, and also general development and aging processes. Here, we investigate how learning a complex motor skill shapes neural and behavioural responses among a dance-naïve sample of 20 young and 19 older adults. Across four days, participants physically rehearsed one set of dance sequences, observed a second set, and a third set remained untrained. Functional MRI was obtained prior to and immediately following training. Participants’ behavioural performance on motor and visual tasks improved across the training period, with younger adults showing steeper performance gains than older adults. At the brain level, both age groups demonstrated decreased sensorimotor cortical engagement after physical training, with younger adults showing more pronounced decreases in inferior parietal activity compared to older adults. Neural decoding results demonstrate that among both age groups, visual and motor regions contain experience-specific representations of new motor learning. By combining behavioural measures of performance with univariate and multivariate measures of brain activity, we can start to build a more complete picture of age-related changes in experience-dependent plasticity.
  • State-of-the-Art Techniques to Causally Link Neural Plasticity to Functional Recovery in Experimental Stroke Research
    Item type: Review Article
    Wahl, Anna-Sophia (2018)
    Neural Plasticity
    Current experimental stroke research faces the same challenge as neuroscience: to transform correlative findings in causative ones. Research of recent years has shown the tremendous potential of the central nervous system to react to noxious stimuli such as a stroke: Increased plastic changes leading to reorganization in form of neuronal rewiring, neurogenesis, and synaptogenesis, accompanied by transcriptional and translational turnover in the affected cells, have been described both clinically and in experimental stroke research. However, only minor attempts have been made to connect distinct plastic remodeling processes as causative features for specific behavioral phenotypes. Here, we review current state-of the art techniques for the examination of cortical reorganization and for the manipulation of neuronal circuits as well as techniques which combine anatomical changes with molecular profiling. We provide the principles of the techniques together with studies in experimental stroke research which have already applied the described methodology. The tools discussed are useful to close the loop from our understanding of stroke pathology to the behavioral outcome and may allow discovering new targets for therapeutic approaches. The here presented methods open up new possibilities to assess the efficiency of rehabilitative strategies by understanding their external influence for intrinsic repair mechanisms on a neurobiological basis.
  • Gene-Environment Interactions in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Pietropaolo, Susanna; Crusio, Wim E.; Feldon, Joram (2017)
    Neural Plasticity
  • Corticospinal Tract Wiring and Brain Lesion Characteristics in Unilateral Cerebral Pals Determinants of Upper Limb Motor and Sensory Function
    Item type: Journal Article
    Simon-Martinez, Cristina; Jaspers, Ellen; Mailleux, Lisa; et al. (2018)
    Neural Plasticity
    Brain lesion characteristics (timing, location, and extent) and the type of corticospinal tract (CST) wiring have been proposed as determinants of upper limb (UL) motor function in unilateral cerebral palsy (uCP), yet an investigation of the relative combined impact of these factors on both motor and sensory functions is still lacking. Here, we first investigated whether structural brain lesion characteristics could predict the underlying CST wiring and we explored the role of CST wiring and brain lesion characteristics to predict UL motor and sensory functions in uCP. Fifty-two participants with uCP (mean age (SD): 11 y and 3 m (3 y and 10 m)) underwent a single-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation session to determine CST wiring between the motor cortex and the more affected hand ( contralateral, ipsilateral, and bilateral) and an MRI to determine lesion timing ( periventricular (PV) lesion, corticosubcortical (CSC) lesion), location, and extent. Lesion location and extent were evaluated with a semiquantitative scale. A standardized protocol included UL motor (grip strength, unimanual capacity, and bimanual performance) and sensory measures. A combination of lesion locations (damage to the PLIC and frontal lobe) significantly contributed to differentiate between the CST wiring groups, reclassifying the participants in their original group with 57% of accuracy. Motor and sensory functions were influenced by each of the investigated neurological factors. However, multiple regression analyses showed that motor function was predicted by the CST wiring (more preserved in individuals with contralateral CST ()), lesion extent, and damage to the basal ganglia and thalamus. Sensory function was predicted by the combination of a large and later lesion and an ipsilateral or bilateral CST wiring, which led to increased sensory deficits (). These novel insights contribute to a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of UL function and may be useful to delineate individualized treatment strategies.
  • Anodal tDCS over Primary Motor Cortex Provides No Advantage to Learning Motor Sequences via Observation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Apšvalka, Dace; Ramsey, Richard; Cross, Emily S. (2018)
    Neural Plasticity
    When learning a new motor skill, we benefit from watching others. It has been suggested that observation of others’ actions can build a motor representation in the observer, and as such, physical and observational learning might share a similar neural basis. If physical and observational learning share a similar neural basis, then motor cortex stimulation during observational practice should similarly enhance learning by observation as it does through physical practice. Here, we used transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) to address whether anodal stimulation to M1 during observational training facilitates skill acquisition. Participants learned keypress sequences across four consecutive days of observational practice while receiving active or sham stimulation over M1. The results demonstrated that active stimulation provided no advantage to skill learning over sham stimulation. Further, Bayesian analyses revealed evidence in favour of the null hypothesis across our dependent measures. Our findings therefore provide no support for the hypothesis that excitatory M1 stimulation can enhance observational learning in a similar manner to physical learning. More generally, the results add to a growing literature that suggests that the effects of tDCS tend to be small, inconsistent, and hard to replicate. Future tDCS research should consider these factors when designing experimental procedures.
  • Developmental Changes in Sleep Oscillations during Early Childhood
    Item type: Journal Article
    Olbrich, Eckehard; Rusterholz, Thomas; LeBourgeois, Monique K.; et al. (2017)
    Neural Plasticity
    Although quantitative analysis of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) has uncovered important aspects of brain activity during sleep in adolescents and adults, similar findings from preschool-age children remain scarce. This study utilized our time-frequency method to examine sleep oscillations as characteristic features of human sleep EEG. Data were collected from a longitudinal sample of young children (; 3 males) at ages 2, 3, and 5 years. Following sleep stage scoring, we detected and characterized oscillatory events across age and examined how their features corresponded to spectral changes in the sleep EEG. Results indicated a developmental decrease in the incidence of delta and theta oscillations. Spindle oscillations, however, were almost absent at 2 years but pronounced at 5 years. All oscillatory event changes were stronger during light sleep than slow-wave sleep. Large interindividual differences in sleep oscillations and their characteristics (e.g., “ultrafast” spindle-like oscillations, theta oscillation incidence/frequency) also existed. Changes in delta and spindle oscillations across early childhood may indicate early maturation of the thalamocortical system. Our analytic approach holds promise for revealing novel types of sleep oscillatory events that are specific to periods of rapid normal development across the lifespan and during other times of aberrant changes in neurobehavioral function.
  • Animal Models of Subjective Tinnitus
    Item type: Review Article
    von der Behrens, Wolfger (2014)
    Neural Plasticity
    Tinnitus is one of the major audiological diseases, affecting a significant portion of the ageing society. Despite its huge personal and presumed economic impact there are only limited therapeutic options available. The reason for this deficiency lies in the very nature of the disease as it is deeply connected to elementary plasticity of auditory processing in the central nervous system. Understanding these mechanisms is essential for developing a therapy that reverses the plastic changes underlying the pathogenesis of tinnitus. This requires experiments that address individual neurons and small networks, something usually not feasible in human patients. However, in animals such invasive experiments on the level of single neurons with high spatial and temporal resolution are possible. Therefore, animal models are a very critical element in the combined efforts for engineering new therapies. This review provides an overview over the most important features of animal models of tinnitus: which laboratory species are suitable, how to induce tinnitus, and how to characterize the perceived tinnitus by behavioral means. In particular, these aspects of tinnitus animal models are discussed in the light of transferability to the human patients.
Publications 1 - 9 of 9