Under pressure: Response urgency modulates striatal and insula activity during decision-making under risk

When deciding whether to bet in situations that involve potential monetary loss or gain (mixed gambles), a subjective sense of pressure can influence the evaluation of the expected utility associated with each choice option. Here, we explored how gambling decisions, their psychophysiological and neural counterparts are modulated by an induced sense of urgency to respond. Urgency influenced decision times and evoked heart rate responses, interacting with the expected value of each gamble. Using functional MRI, we observed that this interaction was associated with changes in the activity of the striatum, a critical region for both reward and choice selection, and within the insula, a region implicated as the substrate of affective feelings arising from interoceptive signals which influence motivational behavior. Our findings bridge current psychophysiological and neurobiological models of value representation and action-programming, identifying the striatum and insular cortex as the key substrates of decision-making under risk and urgency

Treatment of Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is a condition in which involuntary loss of urine is a social and hygienic problem and is objectively demonstrable, affecting around 13 million adult Americans. In the past, many people suffering from incontinence never sought help. They may have been too embarrassed to speak out, and instead, ultimately restricted their lifestyle in order to accommodate their incontinence or they were unaware that there is help available in their community. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) established guidelines for the treatment of urinary incontinence in 1992 with an update in 1996. These guidelines state that, except in special circumstances, non-surgical treatment be attempted for the treatment of urinary incontinence before proceeding with surgery. Physical therapists possess the necessary combined knowledge and skills in kinesiology, electrotherapy, and exercise science to conservatively treat problems associated with urinary incontinence. The purpose of this independent study is to outline an interdisciplinary approach for medical providers in the set up and treatment of a conservative urinary incontinence program. To accomplish this, the anatomy, physiology, and normal bladder function necessary for continence will be discussed. The pathology and types of urinary incontinence will also be reviewed. This will be followed by a description of the different treatment options, their costs, and effectiveness

Comprehensive Clinical Approach to Fecal Incontinence

Fecal incontinence is a disturbing condition, which reduces the quality of life of patients. Prevalence of this apprehensive problem is usually underestimated. However, it is more common in female, elderly, and institutionalized subjects. Factors that may be associated are urinary incontinence, diabetes mellitus, depression, diarrhea, history of anorectal surgery, anorectal trauma, pelvic organ surgery, and pelvic irradiation. To improve this condition, physicians should have insight into the individual’s pathophysiology through the process of careful history taking, severity, and quality of life assessment, thorough physical examination and comprehensive anatomic and neurophysiologic evaluation. These tests include imaging, anorectal manometry, and neural conduction tests. Finally, by these gathered information, individualized treatment for the patient is designed. Patient’s education and judicious follow-up are also parts of the plan

A Cognitive Science Based Machine Learning Architecture

In an attempt to illustrate the application of cognitive science principles to hard AI problems in machine learning we propose the LIDA technology, a cognitive science based architecture capable of more human-like learning. A LIDA based software agent or cognitive robot will be capable of three fundamental, continuously active, humanlike learning mechanisms:\ud 1) perceptual learning, the learning of new objects, categories, relations, etc.,\ud 2) episodic learning of events, the what, where, and when,\ud 3) procedural learning, the learning of new actions and action sequences with which to accomplish new tasks. The paper argues for the use of modular components, each specializing in implementing individual facets of human and animal cognition, as a viable approach towards achieving general intelligence

How can a multimodal approach to primate communication help us understand the evolution of communication?

Scientists studying the communication of non-human animals are often aiming to better understand the evolution of human communication, including human language. Some scientists take a phylogenetic perspective, where the goal is to trace the evolutionary history of communicative traits, while others take a functional perspective, where the goal is to understand the selection pressures underpinning specific traits. Both perspectives are necessary to fully understand the evolution of communication, but it is important to understand how the two perspectives differ and what they can and cannot tell us. Here, we suggest that integrating phylogenetic and functional questions can be fruitful in better understanding the evolution of communication. We also suggest that adopting a multimodal approach to communication might help to integrate phylogenetic and functional questions, and provide an interesting avenue for research into language evolution

Cerebellar atrophy in Parkinson's disease and its implication for network connectivity.

Pathophysiological and atrophic changes in the cerebellum are documented in Parkinson's disease. Without compensatory activity, such abnormalities could potentially have more widespread effects on both motor and non-motor symptoms. We examined how atrophic change in the cerebellum impacts functional connectivity patterns within the cerebellum and between cerebellar-cortical networks in 42 patients with Parkinson's disease and 29 control subjects. Voxel-based morphometry confirmed grey matter loss across the motor and cognitive cerebellar territories in the patient cohort. The extent of cerebellar atrophy correlated with decreased resting-state connectivity between the cerebellum and large-scale cortical networks, including the sensorimotor, dorsal attention and default networks, but with increased connectivity between the cerebellum and frontoparietal networks. The severity of patients' motor impairment was predicted by a combination of cerebellar atrophy and decreased cerebellar-sensorimotor connectivity. These findings demonstrate that cerebellar atrophy is related to both increases and decreases in cerebellar-cortical connectivity in Parkinson's disease, identifying potential cerebellar driven functional changes associated with sensorimotor deficits. A post hoc analysis exploring the effect of atrophy in the subthalamic nucleus, a cerebellar input source, confirmed that a significant negative relationship between grey matter volume and intrinsic cerebellar connectivity seen in controls was absent in the patients. This suggests that the modulatory relationship of the subthalamic nucleus on intracerebellar connectivity is lost in Parkinson's disease, which may contribute to pathological activation within the cerebellum. The results confirm significant changes in cerebellar network activity in Parkinson's disease and reveal that such changes occur in association with atrophy of the cerebellum