Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Statistical-Sequential Learning: what do Event-Related Potentials Tell Us?

Statistical-sequential learning (SL) is the ability to process patterns of environmental stimuli, such as spoken language, music, or one’s motor actions, that unfold in time. The underlying neurocognitive mechanisms of SL and the associated cognitive representations are still not well understood as reflected by the heterogeneity of the reviewed cognitive models. The purpose of this review is: (1) to provide a general overview of the primary models and theories of SL, (2) to describe the empirical research – with a focus on the event- related potential (ERP) literature – in support of these models while also highlighting the current limitations of this research, and (3) to present a set of new lines of ERP research to overcome these limitations. The review is articulated around three descriptive dimensions in relation to SL: the level of abstractness of the representations learned through SL, the effect of the level of attention and consciousness on SL, and the developmental trajectory of SL across the life-span. We conclude with a new tentative model that takes into account these three dimensions and also point to several promising new lines of SL research

A Systematic Assessment of Prevalence, Incidence and Regional Distribution of Multiple Sclerosis in Bavaria From 2006 to 2015

Introduction: Worldwide, incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) have increased over the last decades. We present a systematic epidemiological study with recent prevalence and incidence rates of MS in Bavaria. Methods: Incidence and prevalence of MS stratified by gender, age groups and region were analyzed by data records from 2006 to 2015 of more than 10 million people insured by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Official statistics of the German Federal Ministry of Health provided the size of the general population. Future prevalence was estimated with a predictive model. Results: From 2006 to 2015 prevalence of MS in Bavaria increased from 171 per 100,000 to 277 per 100,000, while incidence rates remained relatively stable (range 16-18 per 100,000 inhabitants with a female to male ratio between 2.4:1 and 2:1). Incidence and prevalence were higher in urban than urbanized and rural areas. The prevalence is expected to increase to 374 per 100,000 in 2040 with the highest prevalence rates between 50 and 65 years. Conclusion: The prevalence of MS in Bavaria is among the highest worldwide and will further rise over the next two decades. This demonstrates a need to strengthen healthcare provision systems due to the increasing numbers of particularly older patients with MS in the future

Response to comment on "preserved feedforward but impaired top-down processes in the vegetative state".

King et al. raise some technical issues about our recent study showing impaired top-down processes in the vegetative state. We welcome the opportunity to provide more details about our methods and results and to resolve their concerns. We substantiate our interpretation of the results and provide a point-by-point response to the issues raised.Peer reviewe

Synthesis, structure, and spectral behavior of donor acceptor substituted biphenyls

Reaction of the activated halonitrobenzenes 2a-f with the bis- and tris(dialkylamino)benzenes 1a-e affords, via a direct nucleophilic substitution, the highly substituted biphenyls 3a-o; the lesser substituted biphenyls 5 and 6 were prepared by an Ullmann reaction. All these biphenyls are deeply colored; the dark red color can be assigned to an intramolecular charge transfer. A crystal structure determination was carried out for 2,4,6-tripyrrolidino-2',4',6'-trinitrobiphenyl (3a): space group C2/c, a = 16.071 (2) A, b = 14.545 (1) A, c = 20.177 (2) A, {3 = 91.361 (9)°, Z = 8 (temperature ≈ 120 K). The dihedral angle between the two arene rings was found to be only 52.5°, despite the four bulky substituents in the o,o'-positions. With this far-from-orthogonal torsional angle about the biphenyl linkage, the strong intramolecular charge transfer from the π system of the donor into the π system of the acceptor arene becomes easily understandable. A PPP calculation with the torsional angles taken from the X-ray structure analysis satisfactorily reproduces the experimental absorption spectrum of 3a. The shift of the long-wavelength absorption between the individual biphenyls 3a-o, 5, and 6 likewise is accounted for satisfactorily by the calculation; it depends primarily on the intrinsic donor strength of the different NR2 moieties (pyrrolidino > dimethylamino > piperidino > morpholino). The IH NMR spectra (in dilute solution) likewise mirror this gradation in Nr2 donor capacity; they also show that steric hindrance at the biphenyl linkage is mainly the result of interaction between the o-dialkylamino groups and the C6 skeleton of the acceptor arene. This is borne out by the crystal structure analysis

Empathy matters: ERP evidence for inter-individual differences in social language processing

When an adult claims he cannot sleep without his teddy bear, people tend to react surprised. Language interpretation is, thus, influenced by social context, such as who the speaker is. The present study reveals inter-individual differences in brain reactivity to social aspects of language. Whereas women showed brain reactivity when stereotype-based inferences about a speaker conflicted with the content of the message, men did not. This sex difference in social information processing can be explained by a specific cognitive trait, one’s ability to empathize. Individuals who empathize to a greater degree revealed larger N400 effects (as well as a larger increase in γ-band power) to socially relevant information. These results indicate that individuals with high-empathizing skills are able to rapidly integrate information about the speaker with the content of the message, as they make use of voice-based inferences about the speaker to process language in a top-down manner. Alternatively, individuals with lower empathizing skills did not use information about social stereotypes in implicit sentence comprehension, but rather took a more bottom-up approach to the processing of these social pragmatic sentences