1,720,982 research outputs found
Embodied cognitive flexibility and neuroplasticity following Quadrato Motor Training
Full text linkQuadrato Motor Training (QMT) is a whole-body movement contemplative practice aimed at increasing health and well-being. Previous research studying the effect of one QMT session suggested that one of its means for promoting health is by enhancing cognitive flexibility, an important dimension of creativity. Yet, little is known about the effect of a longer QMT practice on creativity, or the relative contribution of the cognitive and motor aspects of the training. Here, we continue this line of research in two inter-related studies, examining the effects of prolonged QMT. In the first, we investigated the effect of 4-weeks of daily QMT on creativity using the Alternate Uses (AUs) Task. In order to determine whether changes in creativity were driven by the cognitive or the motor aspects of the training, we used two control groups: Verbal Training (VT, identical cognitive training with verbal response) and Simple Motor Training (SMT, similar motor training with reduced choice requirements). Twenty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of the groups. Following training, cognitive flexibility significantly increased in the QMT group, which was not the case for either the SMT or VT groups. In contrast to one QMT session, ideational fluency was also significantly increased. In the second study, we conducted a pilot longitudinal structural magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (4-weeks QMT). We report gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy changes, in several regions, including the cerebellum, previously related to interoceptive accuracy. The anatomical changes were positively correlated with cognitive flexibility scores. Albeit the small sample size and preliminary nature of the findings, these results provide support for the hypothesized creativity-motor connection. The results are compared to other contemplative studies, and discussed in light of theoretical models integrating cognitive flexibility, embodiment and the motor system
Resting-state functional connectivity of anterior and posterior cerebellar lobes is altered in multiple sclerosis
No full textBackground: Damage to the cerebellar sensorimotor and cognitive domains may underlie physical and cognitive disability. Objective: To investigate resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of sensorimotor and cognitive cerebellum, and clinical correlates in multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: A total of 119 patients with MS and 42 healthy subjects underwent multimodal 3T-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Patients were evaluated using the Expanded Disability Status Scale and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite Scale. After parcellation of sensorimotor (lobules I–V + VIII) and cognitive cerebellum (lobules VI, VII, IX, X), we calculated cerebellar resting-state FC using a seed-based approach. Results: In patients with MS, the sensorimotor cerebellum showed increased FC mainly with cerebellar, thalamic, and cortical (frontal, parietal, temporal) areas and decreased FC with insular areas; the cognitive cerebellum showed increased FC mainly with thalamic and cortical (temporal-occipital) areas, and decreased FC with frontal-insular areas. Both sensorimotor and cognitive cerebellar FC negatively correlated with disability, and positively with cognitive scores. Cerebellar structural damage only partially influenced results. Conclusion: The two neocerebellar circuits showed altered FC with subcortical and cortical areas. The association between increased sensorimotor and cognitive cerebellar FC and low levels of physical and cognitive disability suggests that altered FC might modulate the effects of cerebellar structural damage on clinical condition
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
No Changes in Functional Connectivity After Dimethyl Fumarate Treatment in Multiple Sclerosis
Full text linkIntroduction: Despite the increased availability of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS), only a few studies have evaluated DMT-associated brain functional changes. Methods: We investigated whether significant resting-state functional connectivity (FC) changes occurred in RR-MS patients after 6 and 12 months of dimethyl fumarate (DMF) treatment using both a seed-based and data-driven approach. Results: Thirty patients were followed up after 6 months of therapy, and 27 of them reached a 12-month follow-up. Three patients at baseline and only one after 12 months showed gadolinium-enhancing lesions. We did not find any significant FC changes after therapy at either time point. After 12 months of DMF, we observed relatively modest brain volume loss and a significant improvement in Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test 3 s and 25-Foot Walk Test scores. Conclusion: The absence of FC changes could be due to the low degree of baseline inflammation in our patients, though we cannot exclude that more time may be required to observe such changes. No FC changes may reflect a beneficial effect of DMF therapy, as supported by conventional MRI findings and clinical improvement
Alice in Wonderland syndrome: a lesion mapping study
No full textBackground and purpose: Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) is a rare neurological disorder, characterized by an erroneous perception of the body schema or surrounding space. It may be caused by a variety of neurological disorders, but to date, there is no agreement on which brain areas are affected. The aim of this study was to identify brain areas involved in AIWS. Methods: We conducted a literature search for AIWS cases following brain lesions. Patients were classified according to their symptoms as type A (somesthetic), type B (visual), or type C (somesthetic and visual). Using a lesion mapping approach, lesions were mapped onto a standard brain template and sites of overlap were identified. Results: Of 30 lesions, maximum spatial overlap was present in six cases. Local maxima were identified in the right occipital lobe, specifically in the extrastriate visual cortices and white matter tracts, including the ventral occipital fasciculus, optic tract, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Overlap was primarily due to type B patients (the most prevalent type, n = 22), who shared an occipital site of brain damage. Type A (n = 5) and C patients (n = 3) were rarer, with lesions disparately located in the right hemisphere (thalamus, insula, frontal lobe, hippocampal/parahippocampal cortex). Conclusions: Lesion-associated AIWS in type B patients could be related to brain damage in visual pathways located preferentially, but not exclusively, in the right hemisphere. Conversely, the lesion location disparity in cases with somesthetic symptoms suggests underlying structural/functional disconnections requiring further evaluation
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Assessing brain neuroplasticity: Surface morphometric analysis of cortical changes induced by Quadrato motor training
Full text link: Morphological markers for brain plasticity are still lacking and their findings are challenged by the extreme variability of cortical brain surface. Trying to overcome the "correspondence problem," we applied a landmark-free method (the generalized procrustes surface analysis (GPSA)) for investigating the shape variation of cortical surface in a group of 40 healthy volunteers (i.e., the practice group) subjected to daily motor training known as Quadrato motor training (QMT). QMT is a sensorimotor walking meditation that aims at balancing body, cognition, and emotion. More specifically, QMT requires coordination and attention and consists of moving in one of three possible directions on corners of a 50 × 50 cm2. Brain magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of practice group (acquired at baseline, as well as after 6 and 12 weeks of QMT), were 3D reconstructed and here compared with brain MRIs of six more volunteers never practicing the QMT (naïve group). Cortical regions mostly affected by morphological variations were visualized on a 3D average color-scaled brain surface indicating from higher (red) to lower (blue) levels of variation. Cortical regions interested in most of the shape variations were as follows: (1) the supplementary motor cortex; (2) the inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercolaris) and the anterior insula; (3) the visual cortex; (4) the inferior parietal lobule (supramarginal gyrus and angular gyrus). Our results show that surface morphometric analysis (i.e., GPSA) can be applied to assess brain neuroplasticity processes, such as those stimulated by QMT
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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