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Objective: This article aimed to assess the relationship between musical training and age-related changes in binaural, temporal, and spatial processing abilities. Design: A standard group comparison study was conducted involving both musicians and nonmusicians. The effect of musical training was assessed using a battery of psychoacoustical tests (interaural time and level difference thresholds: ITD & ILD, binaural gap detection threshold, and virtual auditory space identification test) and subjective ratings (Spatial-Hearing subsection of Speech, Spatial, and Quality of Hearing scale in Kannada). Study sample: A total of 60 participants, between 41 and 70 years, were divided into three groups of 20 each, based on their age (41–50, 51–60, and 61–70 years). Each of these three groups was subdivided into two, one comprising 10 musicians (vocalists practicing South-Indian classical music) and the other comprising 10 nonmusicians. Results: Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that musicians performed significantly better ( p < .001) than nonmusicians in all the tests. Analyses of variance showed that whereas age had no effect ( p > .05) on performance in any of the tests in musicians, age affected the performance of nonmusicians significantly in terms of ITD ( p = .02) and ILD ( p = .01) thresholds. Conclusion: Musical training appears to have the potential to slow down age-related decline in binaural, temporal, and spatial processing.

People can support abstract reasoning by using mental models with spatial simulations. Such models are employed when people represent elements in terms of ordered dimensions (e.g. who is oldest, Tom, Dick, or Harry). We test and find that the process of forming and using such mental models can influence the liking of its elements (e.g. Tom, Dick, or Harry). The presumed internal structure of such models (linear-transitive array of elements), generates variations in processing ease (fluency) when using the model in working memory (see the Symbolic Distance Effect, SDE). Specifically, processing of pairs where elements have larger distances along the order should be easier compared to pairs with smaller distances. Elements from easier pairs should be liked more than elements from difficult pairs (fluency being hedonically positive). Experiment 1 shows that unfamiliar ideographs are liked more when at wider distances and therefore easier to process. Experiment 2 replicates this effect with non-words. Experiment 3 rules out a non-spatial explanation of the effect while Experiments 4 offers a high-powered replication. Experiment 5 shows that the spatial effect spontaneously emerges after learning, even without a task that explicitly focuses on fluency. Experiment 6 employed a shorter array, but yielded no significant results.

Visuo-spatial reasoning tests, such as Raven's matrices, Cattell's culture-fair test, or various subtests of the Wechsler scales, are frequently used to estimate intelligence scores in the context of inter-racial comparisons. This has led to several high-profile works claiming that certain ethnic groups have lower intelligence than others, presumably due to genetic inferiority. This logic is predicated on the assumption that such visuo-spatial tests, because they are non-verbal, must be culture-fair: that their solution process does not significantly draw on factors that vary from one culture to the next. This assumption of culture-fairness is dubious at best and has been questioned by many authors. In this article, I review the substantial body of psychological and ethnographic literature which has demonstrated that the perception, manipulation and conceptualization of visuo-spatial information differs significantly across cultures, in a way that is relevant to intelligence tests. I then outline a model of how these inter-cultural differences can affect seven major steps of the solution process for Raven's matrices, with a brief discussion of other visuo-spatial reasoning tests. Overall, a number of cultural assumptions appear to be deeply ingrained in all visuo-spatial reasoning tests, to the extent that it disqualifies the view of such tests as intrinsically culture-fair and makes it impossible to draw clear-cut conclusions from average score differences between ethnic groups.

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) may be a suitable, simple, and cost-effective brain imaging technique for detecting divergent neuronal patterns at an early stage of neurodegeneration. In course of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD), a deficit in visual-spatial processing, located in the parietal cortex, is a reliable risk factor. Earlier, we established the application of the clock-hand-angle-discrimination task (ADT) during fNIRS to identify neuronal correlates of the visual-spatial processing in a healthy elderly sample. In this analysis, we aimed to measure and find out differences in the hemodynamic response in MCI participants compared to matched healthy controls. As expected, MCI participants showed more errors over all conditions of pointer length and a higher reaction time in the long and middle pointer length condition. Moreover, results revealed a significant reduction of cortical activation in MCI patients. There was a generally increased activity in both the right as compared to the left hemisphere and the superior parietal brain region as compared to the inferior parietal brain region in both groups. In summary, fNIRS can be implemented in the measurement of visual-spatial processing in MCI patients and healthy elderly based on ADT. MCI participants had difficulties to cope with the ADT. Since neuronal hypoactivity occurs with concomitant behavioral deficits, an additional analysis was performed on a subgroup of MCI patients who performed as well as the control group in behavior. This subgroup analysis also showed a hypoactivation of the parietal cortex, without evidence of a compensatory activation. Therefore, we assume that MCI patients are characterized by a deficit in the parietal cortex. Overall, these findings confirm our hypothesis that hemodynamic deficits in visual-spatial processing, localized in the parietal cortex, are reliable and early diagnostic markers for cognitive decline in risk groups for the development of AD.

Contains fulltext : 278678.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The sense of touch is not restricted to the body but can also extend to external objects. When we use a handheld tool to contact an object, we feel the touch on the tool and not in the hand holding the tool. The ability to perceive touch on a tool actually extends along its entire surface, allowing the user to accurately localize where it is touched similarly as they would on their body. Although the neural mechanisms underlying the ability to localize touch on the body have been largely investigated, those allowing to localize touch on a tool are still unknown. We aimed to fill this gap by recording the electroencephalography signal of participants while they localized tactile stimuli on a handheld rod. We focused on oscillatory activity in the alpha (7-14 Hz) and beta (15-30 Hz) ranges, as they have been previously linked to distinct spatial codes used to localize touch on the body. Beta activity reflects the mapping of touch in skin-based coordinates, whereas alpha activity reflects the mapping of touch in external space. We found that alpha activity was solely modulated by the location of tactile stimuli applied on a handheld rod. Source reconstruction suggested that this alpha power modulation was localized in a network of fronto-parietal regions previously implicated in higher-order tactile and spatial processing. These findings are the first to implicate alpha oscillations in tool-extended sensing and suggest an important role for processing touch in external space when localizing touch on a tool. 12 p.

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine better- ear listening effect on spatial separation with the N1–P2 complex. Methods Twenty individuals with normal hearing participated in this study. The speech stimulus /ba/ was presented in front of the participant (0°). Continuous Speech Noise (5 dB signal-to-noise ratio) was presented either in front of the participant (0°), left-side (-90°), or right-side (+90°). N1- P2 complex has been recorded in quiet and three noisy conditions. Results There was a remarkable effect of noise direction on N1, P2 latencies. When the noise was separated from the stimulus, N1 and P2 latency increased in terms of when noise was co-located with the stimulus. There was no statistically significant difference in N1-P2 amplitudes between the stimulus-only and co-located condition. N1-P2 amplitude was increased when the noise came from the sides, according to the stimulus-only and co-located conditions. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that the latency shifts on N1-P2 complex explain cortical mechanisms of spatial separation in better-ear listening.

Could learning that uses cognitive control to judiciously use relevant information while ignoring distractions generally improve brain function, beyond forming explicit memories? According to a neuroplasticity hypothesis for how some cognitive behavioural therapies are effective, cognitive control training (CCT) changes neural circuit information processing1–3. Here we investigated whether CCT persistently alters hippocampal neural circuit function. We show that mice learned and remembered a conditioned place avoidance during CCT that required ignoring irrelevant locations of shock. CCT facilitated learning new tasks in novel environments for several weeks, relative to unconditioned controls and control mice that avoided the same place during reduced distraction. CCT rapidly changes entorhinal cortex-to-dentate gyrus synaptic circuit function, resulting in an excitatory–inhibitory subcircuit change that persists for months. CCT increases inhibition that attenuates the dentate response to medial entorhinal cortical input, and through disinhibition, potentiates the response to strong inputs, pointing to overall signal-to-noise enhancement. These neurobiological findings support the neuroplasticity hypothesis that, as well as storing item–event associations, CCT persistently optimizes neural circuit information processing. Studies in mice show that cognitive control training rapidly improves brain circuit function and enhances subsequent learning, which both persist for months.

La ville de Tindouf est caractérisée par la fréquence des zones inondables qui affectent dangereusement de nombreux quartiers à forte densité de population. Ces sites affectés par d’importantes crues lors d’orages et affichent une grande vulnérabilité pour une population de 75 000 habitants, mais aussi pas moins de 15 000 constructions menacées de ruines : par l’ampleur des dommages spectaculaires aux constructions. La ville de Tindouf offre toutes les conditions de potentiel élevé de dégradation de l’habitat en Algérie. Les inondations ont pour origine des événements météorologiques et/ou hydrologiques de nature stochastique, sont très difficiles à prévoir quant à leur période de retour et à leur intensité. Une démarche méthodologique sur les anciennes agglomérations regroupant les quartiers [Remadine – Moussani - Guessabi] permettant ainsi de délimiter les zones vulnérables et de proposer des aménagements urbains pour leurs protections. Les résultats obtenus montrent la distribution spatiale de la vulnérabilité des quartiers historiques et proposent une approche de conservation pour le développement durable. The city of Tindouf is characterized by the frequency of flood zones which dangerously affect many densely populated neighbourhoods. These sites affected by major floods during thunderstorms and display great vulnerability for a population of 75,000 inhabitants, but also no less than 15,000 constructions threatened with ruins: by the extent of the spectacular damage to constructions. The city of Tindouf offers all the conditions of high potential for habitat degradation in Algeria. Floods originate from meteorological and/or hydrological events of a stochastic nature are very difficult to predict as to their return period and their intensity. A methodological approach on the old agglomerations grouping the districts [Remadine - Moussani - Guessabi] thus making it possible to delimit the vulnerable zones and to propose urban developments for their protections. The results obtained show the spatial distribution of the vulnerability of historic districts and propose a conservation approach for sustainable development.

Vision and touch both support spatial information processing. These sensory systems also exhibit highly specific interactions in spatial perception, which may reflect multisensory representations that are learned through visuo-tactile (VT) experiences. Recently, Wani and colleagues reported that task-irrelevant visual cues bias tactile perception, in a brightness-dependent manner, on a task requiring participants to detect unimanual and bimanual cues. Importantly, tactile performance remained spatially biased after VT exposure, even when no visual cues were presented. These effects on bimanual touch conceivably reflect cross-modal learning, but the neural substrates that are changed by VT experience are unclear. We previously described a neural network capable of simulating VT spatial interactions. Here, we exploited this model to test different hypotheses regarding potential network-level changes that may underlie the VT learning effects. Simulation results indicated that VT learning effects are inconsistent with plasticity restricted to unisensory visual and tactile hand representations. Similarly, VT learning effects were also inconsistent with changes restricted to the strength of inter-hemispheric inhibitory interactions. Instead, we found that both the hand representations and the inter-hemispheric inhibitory interactions need to be plastic to fully recapitulate VT learning effects. Our results imply that crossmodal learning of bimanual spatial perception involves multiple changes distributed over a VT processing cortical network.

Even though vision is considered the best suited sensory modality to acquire spatial information, blind individuals can form spatial representations to navigate and orient themselves efficiently in space. Consequently, many studies support theamodality hypothesisof spatial representations since sensory modalities other than vision contribute to the formation of spatial representations, independently of visual experience and imagery. However, given the high variability in abilities and deficits observed in blind populations, a clear consensus about the neural representations of space has yet to be established. To this end, we performed a meta-analysis of the literature on the neural correlates of spatial processing and navigation via sensory modalities other than vision, like touch and audition, in individuals with early and late onset blindness. An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis of the neuroimaging literature revealed that early blind individuals and sighted controls activate the same neural networks in the processing of non-visual spatial information and navigation, including the posterior parietal cortex, frontal eye fields, insula, and the hippocampal complex. Furthermore, blind individuals also recruit primary and associative occipital areas involved in visuo-spatial processing via cross-modal plasticity mechanisms. The scarcity of studies involving late blind individuals did not allow us to establish a clear consensus about the neural substrates of spatial representations in this specific population. In conclusion, the results of our analysis on neuroimaging studies involving early blind individuals support theamodality hypothesisof spatial representations.

We investigated whether interindividual attentional vulnerability moderates performance on domain-specific cognitive tasks during sleep restriction (SR) and subsequent recovery sleep. Fifteen healthy men (M ± SD, 22.3 ± 2.8 years) were exposed to three nights of baseline, five nights of 5-h time in bed SR, and two nights of recovery sleep. Participants completed tasks assessing working memory, visuospatial processing, and processing speed approximately every two hours during wake. Analyses examined performance across SR and recovery (linear predictor day or quadratic predictor day2) moderated by attentional vulnerability per participant (difference between mean psychomotor vigilance task lapses after the fifth SR night versus the last baseline night). For significant interactions between day/day2 and vulnerability, we investigated the effect of day/day2 at 1 SD below (less vulnerable level) and above (more vulnerable level) the mean of attentional vulnerability (N = 15 in all analyses). Working memory accuracy and speed on the Fractal 2-Back and visuospatial processing speed and efficiency on the Line Orientation Task improved across the entire study at the less vulnerable level (mean − 1SD) but not the more vulnerable level (mean + 1SD). Therefore, vulnerability to attentional lapses after SR is a marker of susceptibility to working memory and visuospatial processing impairment during SR and subsequent recovery.

Our experience of the world seems to unfold seamlessly in a unitary 3D space. For this to be possible, the brain has to merge many disparate cognitive representations and sensory inputs. How does it do so? I discuss work on two key combination problems: coordinating multiple frames of reference (e.g. egocentric and allocentric), and coordinating multiple sensory signals (e.g. visual and proprioceptive). I focus on two populations whose spatial processing we can observe at a crucial stage of being configured and optimised: children, whose spatial abilities are still developing significantly, and naïve adults learning new spatial skills, such as sensing distance using auditory cues. The work uses a model-based approach to compare participants’ behaviour with the predictions of alternative information processing models. This lets us see when and how—during development, and with experience—the perceptual-cognitive computations underpinning our experiences in space change. I discuss progress on understanding the limits of effective spatial computation for perception and action, and how lessons from the developing spatial cognitive system can inform approaches to augmenting human abilities with new sensory signals provided by technology.

Type 2 diabetes is a robust predictor of cognitive impairment. Impairment in allocentric processing may help identify those at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease dementia. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of participants with and without diabetes on a task of allocentric spatial processing. This was a cross-sectional secondary data analysis study using baseline data from the European Prevention of Alzheimer's Dementia Longitudinal Cohort Study (EPAD LCS). Participants were aged 50 years and above and were free of dementia at baseline. Participants with no missing data on the variables of interest were included in this study. Our exposure variable was diabetes reported in the medical history. Our primary outcome was the Four Mountains Test (4MT), a novel task of allocentric processing. Covariates included demographics (age, sex, family history of dementia and years of education), APOEε4 carrier status, cognitive status (Clinical Dementia Rating scale), cerebrospinal fluid phosphorylated tau and amyloid-beta 1-42. Of 1324 participants (mean age = 65.95 (±7.45)), 90 had diabetes. Participants with diabetes scored 8.32 (±2.32) on the 4MT compared with 9.24 (±2.60) for participants without diabetes. In a univariate model, diabetes was significantly associated with worse 4MT total scores (β = -.92, p = .001), remaining significant in a fully adjusted model (β = -.64, p = .01). Cerebrospinal fluid phosphorylated tau was significantly higher in participants with diabetes compared with those without. Novel cognitive tests, such as the 4MT, may be appropriate to identify early cognitive changes in this high-risk group. Identifying those at greatest risk for future neurodegeneration is key to prevention efforts.

Legal systems often rule that people own objects in their territory. We propose that an early-developing ability to make territory-based inferences of ownership helps children address informational demands presented by ownership. Across 6 experiments (N = 504), we show that these inferences develop between ages 3 and 5 and stem from two aspects of the psychology of ownership. First, we find that a basic ability to infer that people own objects in their territory is already present at age 3 (Experiment 1). Children even make these inferences when the territory owner unintentionally acquired the objects and was unaware of them (Experiments 2 and 3). Second, we find that between ages 3 and 5, children come to consider past events in these judgments. They move from solely considering the current location of an object in territory-based inferences, to also considering and possibly inferring where it originated (Experiments 4 to 6). Together, these findings suggest that territory-based inferences of ownership are unlikely to be constructions of the law. Instead, they may reflect basic intuitions about ownership that operate from early in development.

Full dataset and supplementary analyses for Lopiccolo and Chang (2021, "Cultural factors weaken but do not reverse left-to-right spatial biases in numerosity processing: Data from Arabic and English monoliterates and Arabic-English biliterates", PLoS ONE). The dataset is provided in Excel format (.xlsx) and tab-delimited text format (.txt): Sheet 1 of the Excel file provides the raw (trial-by-trial) reaction time data; Sheet 2, the reaction time difference data; Sheet 3, the demographic data for all participants; and Sheet 4, a key explaining each column of the data spreadsheets in sheets 1-3. Supplementary analyses of error rates, along with a summary table of raw response times, are provided in the PDF file.

Test materials for Lopiccolo and Chang (2021, "Cultural factors weaken but do not reverse left-to-right spatial biases in numerosity processing: Data from Arabic and English monoliterates and Arabic-English biliterates", PLoS ONE), which are shareable publicly according to the study's IRB protocol: (1) language background & handedness questionnaire in Arabic, (2) language background & handedness questionnaire in English, and (3) MATLAB script for generating numerosity image files (from Gebuis & Reynvoet, 2011).

As mentioned in the project preregistration, we would like to explore whether spatial processing during a seemingly automatic multisensory integration phenomenon like the sound-induced flash illusion, can be modulated by attentional load. In Experiment 1, it will be used a dual-task that combines a primary audiovisual integration task with stimuli eliciting the sound-induced-flash illusion presented on the left or on the right side of the screen and a concurrent secondary working memory task to manipulate levels of attentional load in younger adults. Specifically, in the encoding phase of the working memory task, participants will have to memorize short or long sequences (low/high load) of consonants or spatial positions (verbal/spatial load). Thereafter, in the audiovisual integration task, they will be presented simultaneously with one or two lateralized flashes and binaural sounds and will have to report the number of perceived flashes. Usually, accuracy in reporting the number of perceived flashes is higher when the number of flashes and sounds is congruent (1F1S and 2F2S trials), while it drops when it is incongruent, as sounds influence flashes perception in an illusory way (1F2S and 2F1S trials); specifically, 1F2S trials can lead to split the visual percept and to report two flashes (i.e., fission illusion), while 2F1S trials can induce to merge the visual percepts and to report one flash (i.e., fusion illusion) (Andersen et al., 2004; Shams et al., 2000, 2002). Finally, in the test phase of the working memory task, participants will have to report the sequences of previously encoded stimuli. This procedure allows to vary load offline, indeed the working memory stimuli used to manipulate load will be presented before audiovisual integration stimuli. A peculiarity of the experiment is that participants recruitment and data collection will take place entirely via web.

The superior colliculus, or tectum in the case of non-mammalian vertebrates, is a part of the brain that registers events in the surrounding space, often through vision and hearing, but also through electrosensation, infrared detection, and other sensory modalities in diverse vertebrate lineages. This information is used to form maps of the surrounding space and the positions of different salient stimuli in relation to the individual. The sensory maps are arranged in layers with visual input in the uppermost layer, other senses in deeper positions, and a spatially aligned motor map in the deepest layer. Here, we will review the organization and intrinsic function of the tectum/superior colliculus and the information that is processed within tectal circuits. We will also discuss tectal/superior colliculus outputs that are conveyed directly to downstream motor circuits or via the thalamus to cortical areas to control various aspects of behavior. The tectum/superior colliculus is evolutionarily conserved among all vertebrates, but tailored to the sensory specialties of each lineage, and its roles have shifted with the emergence of the cerebral cortex in mammals. We will illustrate both the conserved and divergent properties of the tectum/superior colliculus through vertebrate evolution by comparing tectal processing in lampreys belonging to the oldest group of extant vertebrates, larval zebrafish, rodents, and other vertebrates including primates.

Many attention theories assume that selection is guided by a preattentive, spatial representation of the scene that combines bottom-up stimulus information with top-down influences (task goals and prior experience) to code for potentially relevant locations (priority map). At which level(s) of priority computation top-down influences modulate bottom-up stimulus signals is an open question. In a visual-search task, here we induced experience-driven spatial suppression (statistical learning) by presenting 1 of 2 salient distractors more frequently in one display region than the other. When a distractor standing out in the same dimension as the target was spatially biased in Experiment 1, processing of both the target and another, spatially unbiased distractor standing out in a different dimension was likewise hampered in the suppressed region. This indicates that constraining spatial suppression to a specific distractor feature is not possible, and participants instead resort to purely space-based (distractor-feature-independent) suppression at a supradimensional, overall-priority map. In line with a common locus of suppression, a novel computational model of distraction in visual search captures all 3 location effects with a single spatial-weighting parameter. In contrast, when the different-dimension distractor was spatially biased in Experiment 2, processing of other objects in the suppressed region was unaffected, indicating suppression constrained to a subordinate, dimension-specific level of priority computation. In sum, we demonstrate experience-driven top-down modulations of saliency signals at the overall-priority and dimension-specific levels that do not reach down to the specific distractor features. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

ObjectiveTo determine the association between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and cognitive impairment 15 years after pregnancy, we measured cognitive performance in 115 women with a history of HDP and in 481 women with a previous normotensive pregnancy.MethodsThis was a nested cohort study embedded in a population-based prospective cohort from early pregnancy onwards. Cognitive function was assessed with cognitive tests 15 years after the index pregnancy (median 14.7 years, 90% range [13.9–16.1]). Cognitive performance was measured in different cognitive domains: executive function, processing speed, verbal memory, motor function, and visuospatial ability. A global cognition factor (g-factor) was derived from principal component analysis.ResultsOf the women with HDP, 80 (69.6%) had gestational hypertension (GH) and 35 (30.4%) had preeclampsia. Women with HDP had a lower g-factor than women with a previous normotensive pregnancy (mean −0.22, 90% range [−2.06−1.29]). HDP was negatively associated with the 15-word learning test: immediate recall (−0.25, 95% CI [−0.44 to −0.06]) and delayed recall (−0.30, 95% CI [−0.50 to −0.10]). Women with GH perform significantly worse on their 15-word learning test than women with a previous normotensive pregnancy.ConclusionA history of HDP is independently associated with poorer working memory and verbal learning 15 years after pregnancy. This association is mainly driven by women with GH. Clinicians and women who experienced HDP should be aware of this risk.

Objectives: Hamstring injuries in athletes can lead to significant time away from competition as a result of persistent posterior thigh pain. These cases are often difficult to treat as the state of the tissues alone cannot explain symptoms. In non-athletic populations with persistent pain, disruptions to tactile, proprioceptive, and spatial cortical representations exist, which has led to promising brain-based treatments.Here, we explored whether athletes with persistent posterior thigh pain also display impairments in these cortical representations.Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: Fourteen male professional athletes with persistent posterior thigh pain (‘Patients’) and 14pain-free age, sport, body mass index and level-matched controls (‘Controls’) participated. The tactile cortical representation was assessed using two-point discrimination (TPD) threshold and accuracy of tactile localisation; the proprioceptive cortical representation was assessed using a left/right judgement task; spatial processing was assessed using an auditory detection task. Results: TPD thresholds were similar for Patients and Controls (p = 0.70). Patients were less accurate at localising tactile stimuli delivered to their affected leg, slower to make left/right judgements when the lower limb image corresponded to the side of their affected leg, and less accurate at detecting auditory stimuli delivered near their affected leg, when compared to their healthy leg or to the leg of Controls(p < 0.01 for all). Conclusions: Leg-specific tactile, proprioceptive, and spatial processing deficits exist in athletes with persistent posterior thigh pain. That these processing deficits exist despite rehabilitation and normal tissue healing time suggests they may play a role in the persistence of posterior thigh pain. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Healthy individuals display systematic inaccuracies when allocating attention to perceptual space. Under many conditions, optimized spatial attention processing of the right hemisphere’s frontoparietal attention network directs more attention to the left side of perceptual space than the right. This is the pseudoneglect effect. We present evidence reshaping our fundamental understanding of this neural mechanism. We describe a previously unrecognized, but reliable, attention bias to the right side of perceptual space that is associated with semantic object processing. Using an object bisection task, we revealed a significant rightward bias distinct from the leftward bias elicited by the traditional line bisection task. In Experiment 2, object-like shapes that were not easily recognizable exhibited an attention bias between that of horizontal lines and objects. Our results support our proposal that the rightward attention bias is a product of semantic processing and its lateralization in the left hemisphere. In Experiment 3, our novel object-based adaptation of the landmark task further supported this proposition and revealed temporal dynamics of the effect. This research provides novel and crucial insight into the systems supporting intricate and complex attention allocation and provides impetus for a shift toward studying attention in ways that increasingly reflect our complex environments., Public Significance Statement This study describes a previously unrecognized but reliable spatial attention bias that is associated with the processing of the semantic meaning of objects. This counters the spatial attention bias well-known as the pseudoneglect effect. Our findings implicate a crucial role for the understudied left frontoparietal cortex in distributing attention, and open new, exciting areas for research. This work also reveals a mechanism that potentially enables our attention to be directed equally to different areas of space in daily life.

Our visual system is able to separate spatially intermixed objects into different categorical groups (e.g., berries and leaves) using the shape of feature distribution: Determining whether all objects belong to one or several categories depends on whether the distribution has one or several peaks. Despite the apparent ease of rapid categorization, it is a very computationally demanding task, given severely limited “bottlenecks” of attention and working memory capable of processing only a few objects at a time. Here, we tested whether this rapid categorical parsing is automatic or requires attention. We used the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) ERP component known as a marker of automatic sensory discrimination. 20 volunteers (16 female, mean age—22.7) participated in our study. Loading participants’ attention with a central task, we observed a substantial vMMN response to unattended background changes of categories defined by certain length-orientation conjunctions. Importantly, this occurred in conditions where the distributions of these features had several peaks and, hence, supported categorical separation. These results suggest that spatially intermixed objects are parsed into distinct categories automatically and give new insight into how the visual system can bypass the severe processing restrictions and form rich perceptual experience.

A dual task was designed to involve a tracking mission with various tracking speeds and a spatial compatibility task with various signal-key mappings and presentation modalities. This dual task was used to investigate the effects of workload and resource competition in distinct parts of the dual-task process. The results demonstrated that increasing the tracking speed adversely affected the tracking performance but led to positive arousal to the secondary discrete response task. Visual spatial signals gave the shortest reaction time due to the optimal time-sharing of the visual resources in the focal and ambient channels. Compared with visual spatial signals, spatial signals of auditory and tactile modalities did not lead to an improved performance because of their cross-modality nature. These findings provided practical design guidelines for dual tasks in which the operators need to complete a continuous monitoring task visually and elicit timely and accurate responses to spatial information.

A major goal of many translational neuroimaging studies is the identification of biomarkers of disease. However, a prerequisite for any such biomarker is robust reliability, which for magnetoencephalography (MEG) and many other imaging modalities has not been established. In this study, we examined the reliability of visual (Experiment 1) and somatosensory gating (Experiment 2) responses in 19 healthy adults who repeated these experiments for three visits spaced 18 months apart. Visual oscillatory and somatosensory oscillatory and evoked responses were imaged, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were computed to examine the long-term reliability of these responses. In Experiment 1, ICCs showed good reliability for visual theta and alpha responses in occipital cortices, but poor reliability for gamma responses. In Experiment 2, the time series of somatosensory gamma and evoked responses in the contralateral somatosensory cortex showed good reliability. Finally, analyses of spontaneous baseline activity indicated excellent reliability for occipital alpha, moderate reliability for occipital theta, and poor reliability for visual/somatosensory gamma activity. Overall, MEG responses to visual and somatosensory stimuli show a high degree of reliability across 3 years and therefore may be stable indicators of sensory processing long term and thereby of potential interest as biomarkers of disease.

SIGNIFICANCE This study suggests that Chinese newspaper characters are more legible than English newspaper letters. Characters in Chinese newspapers have higher acuity reserve than English newspapers. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate visual demand and acuity reserve for Chinese newspapers in comparison with published data on U.S. newspapers. METHODS The test distances for visual acuity in Chinese clinical studies were reviewed systematically. Characters from different sections of newspapers printed in simplified Chinese were evaluated. The character height, frequency, and visual demand and acuity reserve of each newspaper section were determined for Chinese characters of the six different levels of complexity. RESULTS More than 70% of Chinese clinical studies measure near visual acuity at either 33 or 40 cm. The height of Chinese characters ranged from 1.95 to 3.28 mm across different sections of five newspapers compared with 1.0 to 2.0 mm for English letters. The frequency of Chinese characters from least to most complex ranged from 7 to 34% across 12 sections of one Chinese newspaper. The angular threshold across the six complexity levels of Chinese characters ranged from 4.62 to 5.93 arcmin (0.54 to 0.69 mm at 40-cm reading distance) with a weighted angular threshold of 5.18 arcmin compared with 3.37 arcmin (0.39 mm) for the English letters. For Chinese newspapers, at 40-cm reading distance, the acuity reserve for the smallest and largest median size was 3.55 and 4.61, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Chinese characters are larger than English characters in all newspaper sections newspapers by a factor of 1.60 to 2.34. Given that Chinese characters need to be 1.54 times larger than English letters to provide the same acuity reserve, on average, Chinese newspapers are more legible than U.S. English newspapers.

Humans have the subjective impression of a rich perceptual experience, but this perception is riddled with errors that might be produced by top-down expectancies or failures in feature integration. The role of attention in feature integration is still unclear. Some studies support the importance of attention in feature integration, whereas others suggest that feature integration does not require attention. Understanding attention as a heterogeneous system, in this study, we explored the role of divided (as opposed to focused—Experiment 1) attention, and endogenous–exogenous spatial orienting (Experiments 2 and 3) in feature integration. We also explored the role of feature expectancy, by presenting stimulus features that were completely unexpected to the participants. Results demonstrated that both endogenous and exogenous orienting improved feature integration whereas divided attention did not. Moreover, a strong and consistent feature expectancy effect was observed, demonstrating perceptual completion when an unexpected perceptual feature was presented in the scene. These results support the feature confirmation account, which proposes that attention is important for top-down matching of stable representations.

The auditory thalamus is the central nexus of bottom-up connections from the inferior colliculus and top-down connections from auditory cortical areas. While considerable efforts have been made to investigate feedforward processing of sounds in the auditory thalamus (medial geniculate body, MGB) of non-human primates, little is known about the role of corticofugal feedback in the MGB of awake non-human primates. Therefore, we developed a small, repositionable cooling probe to manipulate corticofugal feedback and studied neural responses in both auditory cortex and thalamus to sounds under conditions of normal and reduced cortical temperature. Cooling-induced increases in the width of extracellularly recorded spikes in auditory cortex were observed over the distance of several hundred micrometers away from the cooling probe. Cortical neurons displayed reduction in both spontaneous and stimulus driven firing rates with decreased cortical temperatures. In thalamus, cortical cooling led to increased spontaneous firing and either increased or decreased stimulus driven activity. Furthermore, response tuning to modulation frequencies of temporally modulated sounds and spatial tuning to sound source location could be altered (increased or decreased) by cortical cooling. Specifically, best modulation frequencies of individual MGB neurons could shift either toward higher or lower frequencies based on the vector strength or the firing rate. The tuning of MGB neurons for spatial location could both sharpen or widen. Elevation preference could shift toward higher or lower elevations and azimuth tuning could move toward ipsilateral or contralateral locations. Such bidirectional changes were observed in many parameters which suggests that the auditory thalamus acts as a filter that could be adjusted according to behaviorally driven signals from auditory cortex. Future work will have to delineate the circuit elements responsible for the observed effects.

To explore whether patients with unilateral idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (uISSNHL) have normal speech in noise (SIN) perception under different masking conditions after complete recovery of pure tone audiometry. Eight completely recovered uISSNHL patients were enrolled in ISSNHL group, while 8 normal-hearing adults matched with age, gender, and education experience were selected as the control group. Each group was tested SIN under four masking conditions, including noise and speech maskings with and without spatial separation cues. For both ISSNHL and control groups a two-way ANOVA showed a statistically significant effect of masking type (p = 0.007 vs p = 0.012). A significant effect of perceived spatial separation (p

Objectives Latinos are 1.5 times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s dementia as non-Latino Whites. This health disparity may arise from multiple influences with culturally relevant factors receiving increasing attention. Models of acculturation stress the importance of considering acculturation-related factors within the context of socioenvironmental factors to better capture the Latino experience in the United States. Methods We measured 10 acculturation and contextually-related variables in 199 Latinos (age 69.7 years) without dementia participating in Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center studies. We tested the relationship between these variables via Principal Component Analysis (PCA), then investigated how resulting components associated with level of and longitudinal change in global and domain-specific cognition using separate linear mixed-effects models adjusted for relevant confounders and their interactions with time. Results The PCA revealed a 3-factor unrotated solution (variance explained ~70%). Factor 1, representing acculturation-related aspects of nativity, language- and social-based acculturation, was positively associated with level, but not change, in global cognition, semantic memory, and perceptual speed. Factor 2, representing contextually-related socioenvironmental experiences of discrimination, social isolation, and social networks, was negatively associated with level of global cognition, episodic and working memory, and faster longitudinal decline in visuospatial ability. Factor 3 (familism only) did not associate with level or change in any cognitive outcome. Discussion Acculturation- and contextually-related factors differentiated from each other and differentially contributed to cognition and cognitive decline in older Latinos. Providers should query acculturation and lived experiences when evaluating cognition in older Latinos.

Contains fulltext : 219554.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Individuals with sequence-space synesthesia (SSS) perceive sequences like months, days and numbers in certain spatial arrangements. Several cognitive benefits have been associated with SSS, such as enhanced mental rotation, more vivid visual imagery and an advantage in spatial processing. The current study aimed to further investigate these cognitive benefits, focusing on spatial navigation skills, to explore if their enhanced sensitivity to spatial relations is reflected in enhanced navigational performance. Synesthetes were distinguished from controls by means of a questionnaire, a consistency test and drawings. A virtual Morris Water Maze (MWM) task with two allocentric and two egocentric navigation conditions was used to assess spatial navigation abilities. For the allocentric tasks, participants had to use object cues to find a hidden platform and for the egocentric tasks, they had to use their own position as a reference. Results showed that synesthetes performed significantly better compared to controls on the allocentric and egocentric tasks that reflected real life situations more accurately. However, this significant result was only found for the time taken to find the platform and not for the length of the path that was taken. In exploratory analyses, no significant relations were found between task performance and the specific features of the manifestation of each individual's synesthesia. Our hypothesis that synesthetes with the ability to mentally rotate their spatial arrangements would perform better on the allocentric task was not confirmed. Results add to the growing body of literature concerning the cognitive benefits of SSS and are consistent with the possibility that enhanced spatial navigation skills emerge from generally enhanced visuospatial abilities in SSS. 15 p.

BackgroundA mutation in C9orf72 constitute a cross-link between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and fronto-temporal dementia (FTD). At clinical manifestation, both patient groups may present with either cognitive impairment of predominantly behaviour or language (in FTD) or motor dysfunctions (in ALS).MethodsIn total, 36 non-symptomatic mutation carriers from ALS or FTD families were examined, including 21 subjects with C9orf72 and 15 with SOD1 mutations. Data were compared with 91 age-matched, education-matched and gender-matched healthy subjects (56 were first-degree relatives from ALS or FTD families, 35 with no known family history of ALS/FTD). MRI scanning for diffusion tensor imaging was performed to map fractional anisotropy (FA). Subjects performed an extensive neuropsychological assessment to address verbal fluency, language, executive, memory and visuospatial function. Measurements were repeated after 12 months.ResultsC9orf72 expansion carriers performed significantly worse in verbal fluency and non-verbal memory and presented with distinct alterations in structural white matter integrity indicated by lower FA values in inferior and orbitofrontal cortical areas compared with carriers of SOD1 mutations or healthy subjects. Loss of structural integrity was associated with decreased verbal fluency performance. White matter alterations and cognitive performance showed no changes over 12 months in all subjects.DiscussionReduced verbal fluency performance seems to be a distinct clinical feature of C9orf72 carriers before symptomatic disease onset without evidence for change over time in our cohort. The results support the emerging hypothesis of a general disorder in development in addition to neurodegeneration in C9orf72 carriers.

The hydrogeological environment of the Saharan North East region of Tindouf is of utmost interest, particularly in agriculture. In fact, exploitation and exploration processes must be analysed to ensure sufficient water production. This study demonstrates the value of spatial processing and exploitation of geoelectric and geological data in the study area and facilitates interpretation. The results of the electrical survey and the spatial analysis of the data allowed us to design a complete model that met the needs of hydrogeology. The applied methodology consists in breaking down our subject into three (3) classes of entities: geomatics, geophysics and hydrogeology. Synthetic mapping based on continuity is the result of studying two sites (Hassi Naga and Hassi Khebi) for geological analysis. Knowing that the electrical resistivity is between 0 and 3000 Ohm-meter, we were able to construct thematic maps showing the spatial distribution of the facies and the probable positions of the boreholes. The study provided with a geo-spatial model highlighting the impact of measurements in hydrogeology of the area considered that was called SIHE (Information System for Environmental Hydrogeology).

Much of what we know about object recognition arises from the study of isolated objects. In the real world, however, we commonly encounter groups of contextually-associated objects (e.g., teacup, saucer), often in stereotypical spatial configurations (e.g., teacup above saucer). Here we used EEG to test whether identity-based associations between objects (e.g., teacup-saucer vs. teacup-stapler) are encoded jointly with their typical relative positioning (e.g., teacup above saucer vs. below saucer). Observers viewed a 2.5Hz image stream of contextually-associated object pairs intermixed with non-associated pairs as every fourth image. The differential response to non-associated pairs (measurable at 0.625Hz in 28/37 participants), served as an index of contextual integration, reflecting the association of object identities in each pair. Over right occipitotemporal sites, this signal was larger for typically-positioned object streams, indicating that spatial configuration facilitated the extraction of the objects’ contextual association. This high-level influence of spatial configuration on object identity integration arose ∼320ms post stimulus onset, with lower-level perceptual grouping (shared with inverted displays) present at ∼130ms. These results demonstrate that contextual and spatial associations between objects interactively influence object processing. We interpret these findings as reflecting the high-level perceptual grouping of objects that frequently co-occur in highly stereotyped relative positions.

Objectives Visuospatial neglect (VSN) is a common cognitive disorder after stroke. The primary aim of this systematic review was to provide an overview of the impact of VSN in 3 aspects: (1) activities of daily living (ADL), (2) participation, and (3) caregiver burden. The second aim was to investigate the differences in studies focusing on populations with mean age Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Emcare, PsychINFO, Academic Search Premier and CENTRAL were searched systematically. Quality was assessed with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results Of the 115 included studies, 104 provided outcomes on ADL, 15 on participation (4 studies with mean age ≥ 65), and 2 on caregiver burden (1 study with mean age ≥ 65). Quality assessment yielded scores ranging from 0 to 100%. VSN had a negative impact on ADL (i.e., independence during ADL and performance in self-care, household tasks, reading, writing, walking, wheelchair navigation) and participation (i.e., driving, community mobility, orientation, work). The impact of VSN on fulfilling social roles was unclear. VSN had a negative effect on caregiver burden. We found no clear age-related differences. Conclusions and implications VSN has a negative impact not only on patients’ independence but particularly on the performance of ADL. Despite the far fewer studies of VSN as compared with ADL, VSN also seems to hamper participation and increase caregiver burden, but further research is needed. Because of the large impact, VSN should be systematically and carefully assessed during rehabilitation. A considerable number of different instruments were used to diagnose VSN. Diagnosing VSN at more than one level [function (i.e., pen-and-paper test), activities, and participation] is strongly recommended. Consensus is needed on how to assess VSN and its negative impact for research and rehabilitation practice. Systematic review Registration No. PROSPERPO Registration No. CRD42018087483.

The present study investigated how response mode determines the specificity of control responsible for the congruency sequence effect (CSE), especially when conflict arises from spatial dimensions. Horizontal and vertical Simon tasks were presented in turn, while response mode (Experiment 1) or task-relevant stimulus dimension (Experiment 2) was manipulated. All responses were made by aimed movements to make the relative salience of the horizontal and vertical dimensions equivalent regardless of response mode. The confound-minimized CSEs were significant only when the two tasks shared the same response mode, which did not vary as a function of task-relevant stimulus dimension. This result suggests that response mode determines the scope of control, as it reconfigures the representations of the task-irrelevant spatial dimensions (i.e., the horizontal and vertical dimensions), which is corroborated by distributional analyses. This response mode-specific control was also consistently found for the horizontal and vertical arrow versions of flanker-compatibility tasks in Experiment 3, in which conflict does not directly arise from the response dimension. Furthermore, the current findings revealed that the CSEs were more evident in movement times than in initiation times, which provides new insight on how control inhibits the response activated by a task-irrelevant stimulus dimension, especially at a motor level.

Recent studies showed that some adults with dyslexia have difficulty processing sequentially arranged information. In a companion study, this deficit manifested as low accuracy during a word pair comparison task involving same/different decisions when two words differed in their letter sequences. This sequential deficit was associated with left/right spatial letter confusion. In the present study, we found the same underlying difficulty with sequential and spatial letter processing during word spelling. Participants were the same 22 adults with dyslexia and 20 age- and gender-matched controls as in the companion study. In the spelling task, sequential error rates were higher in the dyslexia group, compared to the controls. Measures of accuracy of serial letter order during the spelling task and the word comparison task were correlated. Only three participants, each with dyslexia, produced left/right letter reversals during spelling. These were the same participants who produced left/right errors when naming single letters. They also had profound difficulty with sequential and left/right letter processing in the spelling and word comparison tasks, and they had the most severe spelling impairment. We conclude that this pervasive, persistent difficulty with sequential and spatial reversals contributes to a severe dyslexia subtype. In the dyslexia group as a whole, additional and separate sources of errors were underspecified word representations in long-term memory and homophone errors that likely represent language-based deficits in word knowledge. In the participants, these three factors (sequential/spatial letter confusion, underspecified word form representation, language-based deficits) occurred either as single factors or in combination with each other.

The default network (DN) is a brain network with correlated activities spanning frontal, parietal, and temporal cortical lobes. The DN activates for high-level cognition tasks and deactivates when subjects are actively engaged in perceptual tasks. Despite numerous observations, the role of DN deactivation remains unclear. Using computational neuroimaging applied to a large dataset of the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and to two individual subjects scanned over many repeated runs, we demonstrate that the DN selectively deactivates as a function of the position of a visual stimulus. That is, we show that spatial vision is encoded within the DN by means of deactivation relative to baseline. Our results suggest that the DN functions as a set of high-level visual regions, opening up the possibility of using vision-science tools to understand its putative function in cognition and perception.

Path integration plays a vital role in navigation: it enables the continuous tracking of one's position in space by integrating self-motion cues. Path integration abilities vary widely across individuals, and tend to deteriorate in old age. The specific causes of path integration errors, however, remain poorly characterized. Here, we combine tests of path integration performance in participants of different ages with an analysis based on the Langevin equation for diffusive dynamics, which allows us to decompose errors into distinct causes that can corrupt path integration computations. We show that, across age groups, the dominant error source is unbiased noise that accumulates with travel distance not elapsed time, suggesting that the noise originates in the velocity input rather than within the integrator. Age-related declines are primarily traced to a growth in this noise. These findings shed light on the contributors to path integration error and the mechanisms underlying age-related navigational deficits., Path integration abilities, important for spatial navigation, vary widely across individuals and deteriorate in old age. This work shows that path integration errors in general, as well as age-related path integration deficits, are mainly caused by accumulating noise in people’s velocity estimation.

OBJECTIVE To detail the characteristic traits of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) and maternal risk factors in a southeastern U.S. County. METHODS Independent samples were drawn from 2 different cohorts of first-grade students. All consented children (49.8%) were measured for height, weight, and head circumference, and those ≤ 25th centile entered the study along with a random sample drawn from all enrolled students. Study children were examined for physical growth, dysmorphology, and neurobehavior, and their mothers were interviewed. RESULTS Total dysmorphology scores discriminated well the physical traits of children across the FASD continuum: fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) = 15.8, partial FAS (PFAS) = 10.8, alcohol-related neurobehavioral disorder (ARND) = 5.2, and typically developing controls = 4.4. Additionally, a neurobehavioral battery distinguished children with each FASD diagnosis from controls. Behavioral problems qualified more children for FASD diagnoses than cognitive traits. Significant proximal maternal risk variables were as follows: reports of prepregnancy drinking, drinking in any trimester, and comorbid use of other drugs in lifetime and during pregnancy, especially alcohol and marijuana (14.9% among mothers of children with FASD vs. 0.4% for controls). Distal maternal risks included reports of other health problems (e.g., depression), living unmarried with a partner during pregnancy, and a lower level of spirituality. Controlling for other drug use during pregnancy, having a child diagnosed with a FASD was 17.5 times greater for women who reported usual consumption of 3 drinks per drinking day prior to pregnancy than for nondrinking mothers (p

This study recruited kindergarteners and first graders to investigate gender and grade differences in semantic and spatial processing of number magnitude. Results based on the Bayesian statistics showed that (1) there was extreme evidence in favour of grade differences in both semantic processing and spatial processing; (2) there were no gender differences in semantic processing; and (3) boys developed earlier than girls in spatial processing of numbers, especially for the more difficult task. These results are discussed in terms of gender differences in cognitive mechanisms underlying semantic and spatial processing of number magnitude.

The endocannabinoid system modulates many brain functions, including episodic memories, which contain memories of time and places. Most studies have focused on the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in spatial memory; however, its role in temporal memory is not well understood. Few studies have tested whether the unilateral endocannabinoid system is sufficient to modulate memory retrieval. Here, we tested whether type 1 cannabinoid receptors in the right hippocampal cornu ammonis area 1 region are enough to modulate the retrieval of episodic memories, specifically their spatial and temporal components. Because rats have innate preferences for displaced or old familiar objects, we changed the locations of "old familiar" and "recent familiar" objects in an open field and measured the rats' exploration times to evaluate spatial and temporal memory. To address the influence of the type 1 cannabinoid receptors on the retrieval of episodic-like memories, two doses of arachidonylcyclopropylamide, a selective type 1 cannabinoid receptor agonist, were infused into the cornu ammonis area 1 of rats ten minutes before the discrimination trials. We observed that rats injected with a low dose of arachidonylcyclopropylamide spent less time investigating displaced objects, suggesting spatial memory impairment, whereas those receiving a high dose explored old familiar objects less frequently, suggesting temporal memory impairment. This indicates that unilateral activation of type 1 cannabinoid receptors in the cornu ammonis area 1 impairs the spatial and temporal aspects of episodic memories. This research mimics the influence of marijuana intoxication effects in humans, such as spatial and temporal disintegration.

The capacity-limited human brain is constantly confronted with a huge amount of sensory information. Selective attention is needed for biasing neural processing towards relevant information and consequently allows meaningful interaction with the environment. Activity in the alpha-band has been proposed to be related to top-down modulation of neural inhibition and could thus represent a viable candidate to control the priority of stimulus processing. It is, however, unknown whether modulations in the alpha-band directly relate to changes in the sensory gain control of the early visual cortex. Here, we used a spatial cueing paradigm while simultaneously measuring ongoing alpha-band oscillations and steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) as a marker of continuous early sensory processing in the human visual cortex. Thereby, the effects of spatial attention for both of these signals and their potential interactions were assessed. As expected, spatial attention modulated both alpha-band and SSVEP responses. However, their modulations were independent of each other and the corresponding activity profiles differed across task demands. Thus, our results challenge the view that modulations of alpha-band activity represent a mechanism that directly alters or controls sensory gain. The potential role of alpha-band oscillations beyond sensory processing will be discussed in light of the present results.

Nonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD) is characterized by deficits in visual-spatial, but not verbal, reasoning. Nevertheless, the functioning of the neural circuits supporting spatial processing have yet to be assessed in children with NVLD. We compared the resting state functional connectivity of a spatial brain network among children with NVLD, children with reading disorder (RD), and typically developing (TD) children. Seventy-five participants (7–15 years old) were included in the study (20 TD, 24 NVLD, and 31 RD). Group differences in global efficiency and functional connectivity among 12 regions comprising a previously defined spatial network were evaluated. Associations with behavior were explored. Global efficiency of the spatial network associated positively with spatial ability and inversely with socioemotional problems. Within the spatial network, associations between left posterior cingulate (PCC) and right retrosplenial cortical activity were reduced in children with NVLD relative to those without spatial deficits (RD and TD). Connectivity between left PCC and right posterior cerebellum (Crus I and II) was reduced in both groups of children with learning disabilities (NVLD and RD) relative to TD children. Functional connectivity of the spatial network was atypically associated with cognitive and socioemotional performance in children with NVLD. Identifying a neurobiological substrate for NVLD provides evidence that it is a discrete clinical entity and suggests targets for treatment.

Introduction: Persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have profound impairment in wayfinding, potentially related to a deficit in visual attention and selection of relevant environmental information. This study sought to determine differences in visual attention to salient visual cues and nonsalient cues (building features) in older adults with and without AD during active wayfinding in a large-scale, virtual reality spatial task. Methods: Fifteen subjects (7 with AD and 8 controls without AD) were asked to find their way repeatedly during 10 trials in a virtual simulation of a senior retirement community. Subjects wore eye tracking glasses to capture visual fixations while wayfinding. The least square means (LSMs) and their standard errors (SEs) for percentage of fixations and duration of fixations on salient and nonsalient cues were estimated from the linear mixed effects models and compared by group (AD or control) and cue type. Results: The group by cue type interaction was significant for both percentage of fixations (F(1, 13) = 6.79, p = 0.02) and duration of fixations (F(1, 13) = 4.87, p = 0.04). The AD group had significantly lower percentages of fixations on salient cues, LSM = 57.91 (SE = 2.44), compared to controls, LSM = 66.40 (SE = 2.19); p = 0.03. Persons with AD had a higher percentage of fixations on building features, LSM = 31.65 (SE = 2.18), than controls, LSM = 24.54 (SE = 1.95); p = 0.02. Shorter durations of fixations on salient cues were experienced by the AD group, LSM = 38.89 (SE = 1.69), than the control group, LSM = 44.69 (SE = 1.55); p = 0.02. Discussion/Conclusion: Individuals with AD may have difficulty selecting relevant information for wayfinding as compared to normally aging individuals and attend more frequently than controls to irrelevant information. This may help explain the wayfinding difficulties seen in AD.

The Mini-Mental Examination for Children (MMC) is a widely used tool for assessing global cognitive deficits, however,is still unknown whether MMC is sensitive for investigating cognitive profiles associated with learning difficulties (LD). Objective: Here we investigate the feasibility of using the MMC for screening school-aged children with learning difficulties in spelling and math. Methods: The MMC and other neurophysiological tests were administered to a sample of 168 children, aged 7 to 12 years. The sample was subdivided into a Control group and LD group (Math Difficulties, Spelling Difficulties, Math and Spelling Difficulties). Diagnostic accuracy was assessed with ROC analysis. Convergent and divergent validity was assessed using correlation analysis. Results: Performance on the MMC was associated with nonverbal intelligence, age and school achievement. The LD group had significantly lower performance on the MMC than the Control group. Performance on the MMC discriminated LD children with a global accuracy of around 0.80. Associations between the MMC and the other neuropsychological variables were higher for finger gnosis (r=0.40) and generally higher for early elementary school grades. The MMC proved satisfactory for identifying LD children with good accuracy. Nonverbal intelligence, and perceptual/motor abilities play an important role in MMC performance. Conclusion: The MMC could be a useful instrument for screening children with LD. RESUMO Mini-exame mental para crianças (MMC) é uma ferramenta amplamente utilizada para avaliar déficits cognitivos globais, no entanto, ainda é desconhecido se a MMC é sensível para investigar perfis cognitivos associados a dificuldades de aprendizagem. Objetivo: Aqui nós investigamos a viabilidade de usar MMC para triagem de crianças em idade escolar com dificuldades de aprendizagem em ortografia e matemática. Métodos: MMC e outros testes neuropsicológicos foram administrados em uma amostra de 168 crianças de 7 a 12 anos de idade. A amostra foi subdividida em um Grupo Controle e um grupo LD (dificuldade na matemática, na escrita, ou na escrita e na matemática). A acurácia diagnóstica foi analisada através de uma análise de curva ROC. A validade convergente e divergente foi investigada através de análises de correlações. Resultados: A performance no MMC foi associada com a inteligência não verbal, idade e desempenho escolar. O grupo LD apresentou desempenho significativamente inferior ao Grupo Controle no MMC. A performance no MMC pôde identificar crianças LD com uma acurácia global em torno de 0.80. As associações entre MMC e outras variáveis neuropsicológicas foram maiores para gnosias digitais (r=0.40) e em geral, mais altas nas séries iniciais. O MMC se mostrou satisfatório para identificar crianças LD com uma boa acurácia. A inteligência não verbal, habilidades perceptivas/motoras tem um importante papel na performance no MMC. Conclusão: O MMC pode ser um instrumento útil para o rastreamento de crianças com LD.

This study aimed to draw a cross-task comparison on visuospatial processing in autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability. Participants with autism spectrum disorder were matched with typically developing individuals on general intelligence and perceptual reasoning index. The two groups were subsequently compared on visuospatial processing speed, visuo-perceptual, visuo-constructive, and visuospatial working memory tasks. Our results revealed similar performances between autism spectrum disorder and typically developing individuals on measures of visuospatial processing speed and visuospatial working memory. The autism spectrum disorder group showed slower reaction times than the typically developing group in the visuo-perceptual task, when stimuli were characterized by a minimum level of perceptual cohesiveness, revealing weaker spatial integration abilities. Concerning the visuo-constructive domain, no differences between the autism spectrum disorder and the typically developing group emerged for the unsegmented condition, revealing that our participants with autism spectrum disorder were similar to the typically developing group in the local analysis of the stimuli. The discussion takes into account the role of individual differences on visuospatial intelligence, task requirements, and cognitive domains to clarify the visuospatial processing skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Reading causes widespread changes in the brain, but its effect on visual word representations is unknown. Learning to read may facilitate visual processing by forming specialized detectors for longer strings or by making word responses more predictable from single letters—that is, by increasing compositionality. We provided evidence for the latter hypothesis using experiments that compared nonoverlapping groups of readers of two Indian languages (Telugu and Malayalam). Readers showed increased single-letter discrimination and decreased letter interactions for bigrams during visual search. Importantly, these interactions predicted subjects’ overall reading fluency. In a separate brain-imaging experiment, we observed increased compositionality in readers, whereby responses to bigrams were more predictable from single letters. This effect was specific to the anterior lateral occipital region, where activations best matched behavior. Thus, learning to read facilitates visual processing by increasing the compositionality of visual word representations.

Humans have associations between numbers and physical space on both horizontal and vertical dimensions, called Spatial-Numerical Associations (SNAs). Several studies have considered the hypothesis of there being a dominant orientation by examining on which dimension people are more accurate and efficient at responding during various directional SNA tasks. However, these studies have difficulty differentiating between a person’s efficiency at accessing mental representations of numbers in space, and the efficiency at which they exercise motor control functions, particularly bilateral ones, when manifesting a response during an explicit directional SNA task. In this study we use a conflict test employing combined explicit magnitude and spatial directional processing in which pairs of numbers are placed along the diagonal axes and response accuracy/efficiency are considered across the horizontal and vertical dimensions simultaneously. Participants indicated which number in each pair was largest using a joystick that only required unilateral input. The experiment was run in English using Arabic numerals. Results showed that directional SNAs have a vertical rather than horizontal dominance. A moderating factor was also found during post-hoc analysis, where response efficiency, but not accuracy, is conditional on a person’s native language being oriented the same as the language of the experiment, left to right. The dominance of the vertical orientation suggests adopting more vertical display formats for numbers may provide situational advantages, particularly for explicit magnitude comparisons, with some domains like flight controls and the stock market already using these in some cases.