Neural processes underlying statistical learning for speech segmentation in dogs

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Dysregulated daily rhythmicity of neuronal resting-state networks in MCI patients

In young healthy participants, the degree of daily rhythmicity largely varies across different neuronal resting-state networks (RSNs), while it is to date unknown whether this temporal pattern of activity is conserved in healthy and pathological aging. Twelve healthy elderly (mean age?=?65.1?±?5.7 years) and 12 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI; mean age?=?69.6?±?6.2 years) underwent four resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans at fixed 2.5?h intervals throughout a day. Time courses of a RSN were extracted by a connectivity strength and a spatial extent approach performed individually for each participant. Highly rhythmic RSNs included a sensorimotor, a cerebellar and a visual network in healthy elderly; the least rhythmic RSNs in this group included a network associated with executive control and an orbitofrontal network. The degree of daily rhythmicity in aMCI patients was reduced and dysregulated. For healthy elderly, the findings are in accordance with results reported for young healthy participants suggesting a comparable distribution of daily rhythmicity across RSNs during healthy aging. In contrast, the reduction and dysregulation of daily rhythmicity observed in aMCI patients is presumably indicative of underlying neurodegenerative processes in this group.     

Ultra-Slow Single-Vessel BOLD and CBV-Based fMRI Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Their Correlation with Neuronal Intracellular Calcium Signals

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Concept of functional imaging of memory decline in Alzheimer’s disease

Functional imaging methods such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) have contributed inestimably to the understanding of physiological cognitive processes in the brain in the recent decades. These techniques for the first time allowed the in vivo assessment of different features of brain function in the living human subject. It was therefore obvious to apply these methods to evaluate pathomechanisms of cognitive dysfunction in disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as well. One of the most dominant symptoms of AD is the impairment of memory. In this context, the term “memory” represents a simplification and summarizes a set of complex cognitive functions associated with encoding and retrieval of different types of information. A number of imaging studies assessed the functional changes of neuronal activity in the brain at rest and also during performance of cognitive work, with regard to specific characteristics of memory decline in AD. In the current article, basic principles of common functional imaging procedures will be explained and it will be discussed how they can be reasonably applied for the assessment of memory decline in AD. Furthermore, it will be illustrated how these imaging procedures have been employed to improve early and specific diagnosis of the disease, to understand specific pathomechanisms of memory dysfunction and associated compensatory mechanisms, and to draw reverse conclusions on physiological function of memory.     

基于功能磁共振（fMRI）低频振幅算法的逻辑计算任务的脑活动研究

利用功能磁共振成像（functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging,fMRI）进行脑功能研究是目前的一个热点。现以逻辑计算为认知任务,利用fMRI进行数据采集。采用低频振荡振幅（amplitude of low frequency fluctuation,ALFF）算法分别对14例正常人的计算和无任务静息状态的功能磁共振数据进行处理,并做对比分析。观察振幅增强或减弱情况,发现计算任务下相关激活脑区存在低频振荡,逻辑认知的负载也导致了默认（default mode）网络改变;同时针对相关的改变做出了初步探索。