Cognitive and hormonal regulation of appetite for food presented in the olfactory and visual modalities

International audienceThe ability to regulate appetite is essential to avoid food over-consumption. The desire for a particular food can be triggered by its odor before it is even seen. Using fMRI, we identify the neural systems modulated by cognitive regulation when experiencing appetizing food stimuli presented in both olfactory and visual modalities, while being hungry. Regulatory instruction modulated bids for food items and inhalation patterns. Distinct brain regions were observed for up and down appetite-regulation, respectively the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and dorsolateral PFC. Food valuation engaged the ventromedial PFC and bilateral striatum. Furthermore, we identified a neurobiological marker for successful appetite upregulation. Individuals with higher blood levels of ghrelin were better at exercising up-regulation, and engaged the dmPFC more. These findings characterize the neural circuitry regulating food consumption within the healthy population and highlight how cognitive regulation modulates olfactomotor measures of olfaction.<br /

Engaging with an embodied conversational agent in a computerized cognitive training: an acceptability study with the elderly

International audienceNeurodegenerative diseases have become increasingly prevalent, particularly among the elderly population, with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) affecting millions of individuals in France. The incidence of neurodegenerative disorders has been increasing over the last decades due to the aging population and the lack of curative treatments.One critical consequence of this growing issue is the substantial demand for speech therapy services, as cognitive impairments are common symptoms of these conditions. However, the availability of trained speech therapists fails to meet the rising needs, leading to lengthy waiting times for appointments. This situation causes a severe public health problem, as the lack of timely interventions can exacerbate the patients' condition, impacting their quality of life.In this context, the integration of agents as virtual speech therapy assistants emerges as a potential solution to alleviate the strain on the existing healthcare system and provide timely support to elderly individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. Virtual agents can be designed to deliver personalized and interactive therapy sessions tailored to the specific needs of each patient. By leveraging artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies, these embodied conversational agents (ECA) can engage in conversations with patients, guide them through exercises, and monitor their progress over time, in the comfort of their own homes at their preferred schedule. However, while ECA-assisted therapy shows promise, its effectiveness and acceptance among the elderly population need further investigation. To address this crucial aspect, an acceptability study is being conducted to assess the feasibility and user satisfaction with autonomous avatar-assisted therapy, in comparison to a previous study, conducted by the same team, with human-directed avatar-assisted therapy in the context of elderly individuals.The current study aims to evaluate the willingness of elderly patients to incorporate the avatar-assisted therapy into their daily care routine and explore factors influencing their acceptance or reluctance towards the technology. By gathering feedback, from participants through questionnaires and from observers through qualitative data, we sought to understand their perceptions regarding the utility, usability, and overall experience with the avatar-assisted therapy. The insights gained from this study will be instrumental in refining the design of the technology, tailoring it to better suit the preferences and capabilities of elderly patients, and informing decision-making for its potential integration as a complementary solution in neurodegenerative disorder care programs. Ultimately, this research aims to explore how avatar-assisted therapy may address speech therapy shortages and enhance the well-being and autonomy of elderly individuals with neurodegenerative conditions

Engaging with an embodied conversational agent in a computerized cognitive training: an acceptability study with the elderly

International audienceNeurodegenerative diseases have become increasingly prevalent, particularly among the elderly population, with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) affecting millions of individuals in France. The incidence of neurodegenerativedisorders has been increasing over the last decades due to the aging population and the lack of curative treatments. One critical consequence of this growing issue is the substantial demand for speech therapy services, as cognitive impairments are common symptoms of these conditions.However, the availability of trained speech therapists fails to meet the rising needs, leading to lengthy waiting times for appointments. This situation causes a severe public healthproblem, as the lack of timely interventions can exacerbate the patients' condition, impacting their quality of life. In this context, the integration of agents as virtual speech therapy assistants emerges as a potential solution to alleviate the strain on the existing healthcare system and provide timelysupport to elderly individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. Virtual agents can be designed to deliver personalized and interactive therapy sessions tailored to the specific needs of each patient. By leveraging artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies, these embodied conversational agents (ECA) can engage in conversations with patients, guide them through exercises, and monitor their progress over time, in the comfort of their own homes at their preferred schedule. However, while ECAassisted therapy shows promise, its effectiveness and acceptance among the elderly population need further investigation. To address this crucial aspect, an acceptability study is being conducted to assess the feasibility and user satisfaction with autonomous avatar-assisted therapy, in comparison to a previous study, conducted by the same team, with human-directed avatar-assisted therapy in the context of elderly individuals. The current study aims to evaluate the willingness of elderly patients to incorporate the avatar-assisted therapy into their daily care routine and explore factors influencing their acceptance or reluctance towards the technology. By gathering feedback, from participants through questionnaires and fromobservers through qualitative data, we sought to understand their perceptions regarding the utility, usability, and overall experience with the avatar-assisted therapy. The insights gained from this study will be instrumental in refining the design of the technology, tailoring it to better suit thepreferences and capabilities of elderly patients, and informing decision-making for its potential integration as a complementary solution in neurodegenerative disorder care programs. Ultimately, this research aims to explore how avatar-assisted therapy may address speech therapy shortagesand enhance the well-being and autonomy of elderly individuals with neurodegenerative conditions

The challenge of controlling an auditory BCI in the case of severe motor disability

International audienceAbstract Background The locked-in syndrome (LIS), due to a lesion in the pons, impedes communication. This situation can also be met after some severe brain injury or in advanced Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In the most severe condition, the persons cannot communicate at all because of a complete oculomotor paralysis (Complete LIS or CLIS). This even prevents the detection of consciousness. Some studies suggest that auditory brain–computer interface (BCI) could restore a communication through a « yes–no» code. Methods We developed an auditory EEG-based interface which makes use of voluntary modulations of attention, to restore a yes–no communication code in non-responding persons. This binary BCI uses repeated speech sounds (alternating “yes” on the right ear and “no” on the left ear) corresponding to either frequent (short) or rare (long) stimuli. Users are instructed to pay attention to the relevant stimuli only. We tested this BCI with 18 healthy subjects, and 7 people with severe motor disability (3 “classical” persons with locked-in syndrome and 4 persons with ALS). Results We report online BCI performance and offline event-related potential analysis. On average in healthy subjects, online BCI accuracy reached 86% based on 50 questions. Only one out of 18 subjects could not perform above chance level. Ten subjects had an accuracy above 90%. However, most patients could not produce online performance above chance level, except for two people with ALS who obtained 100% accuracy. We report individual event-related potentials and their modulation by attention. In addition to the classical P3b, we observed a signature of sustained attention on responses to frequent sounds, but in healthy subjects and patients with good BCI control only. Conclusions Auditory BCI can be very well controlled by healthy subjects, but it is not a guarantee that it can be readily used by the target population of persons in LIS or CLIS. A conclusion that is supported by a few previous findings in BCI and should now trigger research to assess the reasons of such a gap in order to propose new and efficient solutions. Clinical trial registrations : No. NCT02567201 (2015) and NCT03233282 (2013)

Marqueurs de l'attention lors d'une tâche en interface cerveau-machine auditive chez des patients en locked-in syndrome et des sujets contrôles

International audienc

Marqueurs de l'attention lors d'une tâche en interface cerveau-machine auditive chez des patients en locked-in syndrome et des sujets contrôles

International audienc

Marqueurs de l'attention lors d'une tâche en interface cerveau-machine auditive chez des patients en locked-in syndrome et des sujets contrôles

International audienc

Association mapping fo quantitative responses to Turnip Mosaic Virus (TuMV) infection trait loci in Arabidopsis thaliana through evaluation of biomass, viral accumulation, and metabolic profiles

Association mapping fo quantitative responses to [i]Turnip Mosaic Virus[/i] (TuMV) infection trait loci in [i]Arabidopsis thaliana[/i]Arabidopsis thaliana[/i through evaluation of biomass, viral accumulation, and metabolic profiles. GDR Génétique Quantitative dans les Populations Naturelle