Is the LAN effect in morphosyntactic processing an ERP artifact?

Available online 4 February 2019.The left anterior negativity (LAN) is an ERP component that has been often associated with morphosyntactic processing, but recent reports have questioned whether the LAN effect, in fact, exists. The present project examined whether the LAN effect, observed in the grand average response to local agreement violations, is the result of the overlap between two different ERP effects (N400, P600) at the level of subjects (n = 80), items (n = 120), or trials (n = 6160). By-subject, by-item, and by-trial analyses of the ERP effect between 300 and 500 ms showed a LAN for 55% of the participants, 46% of the items, and 49% of the trials. Many examples of the biphasic LAN-P600 response were observed. Mixed-linear models showed that the LAN effect size was not reduced after accounting for subject variability. The present results suggest that there are cases where the grand average LAN effect represents the brain responses of individual participants, items, and trials.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry [PSI 2014-54500- P; IJCI-2016-27702; PSI2017-82941-P]; the Basque Government [PI_2015_1_25]; and the Severo Ochoa [SEV-2015-0490]

CeLL, an agent based model for exploring the spatial influence influence of climate change on Lobesia botrana population dynamics

International audienceThe European Grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana) is one of the most noxious vineyard-pests in the European and Mediterranean area. Its larvae feed on grapevine flowers and berries, and usually cause considerable damage, also by facilitating saphrophytic infections to berries.The biology of L. botrana has been investigated since the 80s. A number of studies has tested its physiology and behaviour in experimental conditions (Hurtrel et Thiéry 1999), in field conditions (Stockel et al. 1994), and using mathematical modelling techniques. Whereas the modelling approaches that have been proposed in the literature are hetereogeneus they generally focus on the phenology and population dynamics of L. botrana, rather than analysing the role of spatial variability on its infestations and mating behaviour. For this reason we propose here an agent based model (CeLL model), where we take into consideration spatial effects on L.botrana infestation dynamics. Our aim is to gain further insight into the processes and interactions occurring at the vineyard, population and individual level.The use of agent based modelling allows us to integrate population dynamics within a spatial frame (the vineyard) where individual insects act by following development, movement and mating “rules”. In its first version, CeLL (Confusion Landscape Lobesia) focused on the identification of processes involved in pest infestations, necessary for the accurate simulation of infestation dynamics, as observed by the Groupement de Développement Agricole (GDA) of the cru Banyuls et des Albères. Here we attempt to obtain a more accurate simulation of the present situation in the same region, and make projections for the future, by the following actions:1. We refine CeLL simulations by using accurate temperature input data, obtained by spatialising the high temporal frequency data from the TERVICLIM network2. We apply climate change scenario to CeLL, to assess potential effects of climate changes on infestation dynamics and integrated pest management strategies

Reanalyzing language expectations: Native language knowledge modulates the sensitivity to intervening cues during anticipatory processing

Issue Online:21 September 2018We investigated how native language experience shapes anticipatory language processing. Two groups of bilinguals (either Spanish or Basque natives) performed a word matching task (WordMT) and a picture matching task (PictureMT). They indicated whether the stimuli they visually perceived matched with the noun they heard. Spanish noun endings were either diagnostic of the gender (transparent) or ambiguous (opaque). ERPs were time-locked to an intervening gender-marked determiner preceding the predicted noun. The determiner always gender agreed with the following noun but could also introduce a mismatching noun, so that it was not fully task diagnostic. Evoked brain activity time-locked to the determiner was considered as reflecting updating/reanalysis of the task-relevant preactivated representation. We focused on the timing of this effect by estimating the comparison between a gender-congruent and a gender-incongruent determiner. In the WordMT, both groups showed a late N400 effect. Crucially, only Basque natives displayed an earlier P200 effect for determiners preceding transparent nouns. In the PictureMT, both groups showed an early P200 effect for determiners preceding opaque nouns. The determiners of transparent nouns triggered a negative effect at similar to 430 ms in Spanish natives, but at similar to 550 ms in Basque natives. This pattern of results supports a "retracing hypothesis" according to which the neurocognitive system navigates through the intermediate (sublexical and lexical) linguistic representations available from previous processing to evaluate the need of an update in the linguistic expectation concerning a target lexical item.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (grant PSI2015‐65694‐P to N. M.), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres/Units of Excellence in R&D (grant SEV‐2015‐490

Increased Functional Connectivity in the Default Mode Network in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Maladaptive Compensatory Mechanism Associated with Poor Semantic Memory Performance

Semantic memory decline and changes of default mode network (DMN) connectivity have been reported in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Only a few studies, however, have investigated the role of changes of activity in the DMN on semantic memory in this clinical condition. The present study aimed to investigate more extensively the relationship between semantic memory impairment and DMN intrinsic connectivity in MCI. Twenty-one MCI patients and 21 healthy elderly controls matched for demographic variables took part in this study. All participants underwent a comprehensive semantic battery including tasks of category fluency, visual naming and naming from definition for objects, actions and famous people, word-association for early and late acquired words and reading. A subgroup of the original sample (16 MCI patients and 20 healthy elderly controls) was also scanned with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and DMN connectivity was estimated using a seed-based approach. Compared with healthy elderly, patients showed an extensive semantic memory decline in category fluency, visual naming, naming from definition, words-association, and reading tasks. Patients presented increased DMN connectivity between the medial prefrontal regions and the posterior cingulate and between the posterior cingulate and the parahippocampus and anterior hippocampus. MCI patients also showed a significant negative correlation of medial prefrontal gyrus connectivity with parahippocampus and posterior hippocampus and visual naming performance. Our findings suggest that increasing DMN connectivity may contribute to semantic memory deficits in MCI, specifically in visual naming. Increased DMN connectivity with posterior cingulate and medio-temporal regions seems to represent a maladaptive reorganization of brain functions in MCI, which detrimentally contributes to cognitive impairment in this clinical population

Apathy in Mild Parkinson's Disease: Neuropsychological and Neuroimaging Evidence.

BACKGROUND: Apathy is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). Few studies have investigated the cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of apathy in PD, and those which have done so have not controlled for the presence of other neuropsychiatric comorbidities. OBJECTIVE: To explore the cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of apathy in PD at a mild disease stage. METHODS: Sixty-five PD patients and 24 healthy controls participated in this study. Patients underwent extensive neuropsychological screening, neuropsychiatric assessment using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, structural MRI scanning, and neurological examination. A voxel-based multiple regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between grey matter volumes and apathy scores. RESULTS: Higher apathy scores correlated with lower grey matter volume in several brain areas including the left insula, left inferior/middle/medial frontal gyrus, right anterior cingulate, and the left superior temporal gyrus. Significant impairments were found in tests assessing executive functions, and a trend-level significant difference was observed in long term memory tests in patients with apathy, when compared with patients without apathy. CONCLUSIONS: Apathy was associated with greater levels of atrophy in the frontal and temporal cortex, and anterior cingulate, as well as overall lower level of cognitive performance, particularly in executive function and memory skills. Apathy appears to be associated with cognitive impairments in PD, therefore, treatment of this symptom might mitigate its effects on cognitive performance in this clinical population

The NeuroDante Project: Neurometric measurements of participant’s reaction to literary auditory stimuli from dante’s “divina commedia”

Neurodante. Progetto di analisi neurometrica di alcuni brani della Commedi

Structural connectivity in a single case of progressive prosopagnosia: The role of the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus

Progressive prosopagnosia (PP) is a clinical syndrome characterized by a progressive and selective inability to recognize and identify faces of familiar people. Here we report a patient (G.S.) with PP, mainly related to a prominent deficit in recognition of familiar faces, without a semantic (cross-modal) impairment. An in-depth evaluation showed that his deficit extended to other classes of objects, both living and non-living. A follow-up neuropsychological assessment did not reveal substantial changes after about 1 year. Structural MRI showed predominant right temporal lobe atrophy. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed to elucidate structural connectivity of the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), the two major tracts that project through the core fusiform region to the anterior temporal and frontal cortices, respectively. Right ILF was markedly reduced in G.S., while left ILF and IFOFs were apparently preserved. These data are in favour of a crucial role of the neural circuit subserved by right ILF in the pathogenesis of PP

Long-term potentiation-like cortical plasticity is disrupted in Alzheimer's disease patients independently from age of onset

OBJECTIVE Alzheimer's disease (AD) is considered an age-related disorder. However, it is unclear whether AD induces the same pathological and neurophysiological modifications in synaptic functions independently from age of disease onset. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation tools to investigate the mechanisms of cortical plasticity and sensory-motor integration in AD patients with a wide range of disease onset. METHODS We evaluated newly diagnosed sporadic AD (n = 54) in comparison with healthy age-matched controls (HS; n = 24). Cortical plasticity mechanisms of long-term potentiation (LTP) or of long-term depression (LTD) were assessed using respectively intermittent (iTBS) or continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) protocols. Sensory-motor integration was evaluated by means of short afferent inhibition (SAI) protocol. RESULTS AD patients show after iTBS an impairment of LTP-like cortical plasticity forming a paradoxical LTD in comparison to HS. LTD-like cortical plasticity is similar between AD and HS. LTP-like cortical plasticity is not associated with age, but AD patients presenting with more altered LTP-like cortical plasticity have more-severe cognitive decline at 18 months. SAI is impaired in AD and shows a strong association with the individual age of subjects rather than with disease age of onset. INTERPRETATION Cortical LTP disruption is a central mechanism of AD that is independent from age of onset. AD can be described primarily as a disorder of LTP-like cortical plasticity not influenced by physiological aging and associated with a more-severe cognitive decline. Ann Neurol 2016;80:202-210