Probing the causal involvement of dlPFC in directed forgetting using rTMS—A replication study

The forgetting of previously remembered information has, for a long time, been explained by purely passive processes. This viewpoint has been challenged by the finding that humans show worse memory for specific items that they have been instructed to forget. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has, through imaging, lesion and brain stimulation studies, been implied in controlling such active forgetting processes. In this study, we attempted to solidify evidence for such a causal role of the dlPFC in directed forgetting by replicating an existing rTMS study (Hanslmayr S, 2012) in a preregistered within-participant design. We stimulated participants at the dlPFC (BA9) or vertex using 45s of 1Hz rTMS after instructions to forget previously remembered words in a list-method directed forgetting paradigm and tested for effects on the amount of forgotten information. Contrary to the study we were attempting to replicate, no significant increase in forgetting under dlPFC stimulation was found in our participants. However, when combining our results with the study we were attempting to replicate, dlPFC stimulation led to significantly increased directed forgetting in both studies combined. We further explored if the rTMS parameters used here and in earlier work (Hanslmayr S, 2012) influenced inhibitory processing at their time of delivery or in a more persistent manner. Unaltered incongruency and negative priming effects in a Stroop task conducted directly after stimulation suggests that our rTMS stimulation did not continue to influence inhibitory processing after the time of stimulation. As the combined evidence for increased directed forgetting due to rTMS dlPFC stimulation is still quite weak, additional replications are necessary to show that directed forgetting is indeed causally driven by an active prefrontal process

Understanding eco-industrial development processes through multiple change perspectives

Eco-industrial parks are receiving increasing attention in light of the sustainability discourse. Although the formation and development of eco-industrial parks have been investigated, these processes are difficult to grasp. In order to better understand and govern the trajectory of these processes, this chapter attempts to reveal some of their complexity. It addresses the formation of industrial parks from a change perspective, with a focus on the interplay between actors and context. We use two lenses to build a combination of change perspectives: transition management theories, and the episodic and continuous change concepts of organisational theory. Both of these lenses distinguish between change that is planned, abrupt and discontinuous, and change that is emergent, incremental and continuous. The main lesson of the paper is that actors’ perspectives of change and development affect possible governance strategies. Planned change assumes that actors are unable to adapt their underlying structures to the new demands for sustainable development and thus require interventions from the outside. In the case of continuous change, actors are seen as self-organising. This process calls more for facilitation and removal of possible stumbling blocks. In order to choose a good governance strategy applied to the circumstances, these perspectives need to be combined

Human midcingulate cortex encodes distributed representations of task progress

The function of midcingulate cortex (MCC) remains elusive despite decades of investigation and debate. Complicating matters, individual MCC neurons respond to highly diverse task-related events, and MCC activation is reported in most human neuroimaging studies employing a wide variety of task manipulations. Here we investigate this issue by applying a model-based cognitive neuroscience approach involving neural network simulations, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and representational similarity analysis. We demonstrate that human MCC encodes distributed, dynamically evolving representations of extended, goal-directed action sequences. These representations are uniquely sensitive to the stage and identity of each sequence, indicating that MCC sustains contextual information necessary for discriminating between task states. These results suggest that standard univariate approaches for analyzing MCC function overlook the major portion of task-related information encoded by this brain area and point to promising new avenues for investigation

Double Dissociation of Format-Dependent and Number-Specific Neurons in Human Parietal Cortex

Based on neuroimaging methods, it is a commonly held view that numerical representation in the human parietal lobes is format independent. We used a transcranial magnetic stimulation adaptation paradigm to examine the existence of functionally segregated overlapping populations of neurons for different numerical formats and to reveal how numerical information is encoded and represented. Based on 2 experiments, we found that right parietal lobe stimulation showed a dissociation between digits and verbal numbers, whereas the left parietal lobe showed a double dissociation between the different numerical formats. Further analysis and modeling also excluded pre- or postrepresentational components as the source of the current effects. These results demonstrate that both parietal lobes are equipped with format-dependent neurons that encode quantity

Spatial Intuition in Elementary Arithmetic: A Neurocomputational Account

Elementary arithmetic (e.g., addition, subtraction) in humans has been shown to exhibit spatial properties. Its exact nature has remained elusive, however. To address this issue, we combine two earlier models for parietal cortex: A model we recently proposed on number-space interactions and a modeling framework of parietal cortex that implements radial basis functions for performing spatial transformations. Together, they provide us with a framework in which elementary arithmetic is based on evolutionarily more basic spatial transformations, thus providing the first implemented instance of Dehaene and Cohen's recycling hypothesis

Tracking the Impact of Excisional Cervical Treatment on the Cervix using Biospectroscopy

Local excisional treatment for cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) is linked to significant adverse sequelae including preterm birth, with cone depth and radicality of treatment correlating to the frequency and severity of adverse events. Attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy can detect underlying cervical disease more accurately than conventional cytology. The chemical profile of cells pre- and post-treatment may differ as a result of altered biochemical processes due to excision, or treatment of the disease. Since pre-treatment cervical length varies amongst women, the percentage of cervix excised may correlate more accurately to risk than absolute dimensions. We show that treatment for CIN significantly alters the biochemistry of the cervix, compared with women who have not had treatment; this is due to the removal of cervical tissue rather than the removal of the disease. However, the spectra do not seem to correlate to the cone depth or proportion of cervical length excised. Future research should aim to explore the impact of treatment in a larger cohort

Implicit response-irrelevant number information triggers the SNARC effect : Evidence using a neural overlap paradigm

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The rationale of opportunistic bilateral salpingectomies (OBS) during benign gynaecological and obstetric surgery : a consensus text of the Flemish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (VVOG)

Ovarian cancer (OC), is a disease difficult to diagnose in an early stage implicating a poor prognosis. The 5-year overall survival in Belgium has not changed in the last 18 years and remains 44 %. There is no effective screening method (secondary prevention) to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. Primary prevention of ovarian cancer came in the picture through the paradigm shift that the fallopian tube is often the origin of ovarian cancer and not the ovary itself. Opportunistic bilateral salpingectomy (OBS) during benign gynaecological and obstetric surgery might have the potential to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by as much as 65 %. Bilateral risk-reducing salpingectomy during a benign procedure is feasible, safe, appears to have no impact on the ovarian function and seems to be cost effective. The key question is whether we should wait for a RCT or implement OBS directly in our daily practice. Guidelines regarding OBS within our societies are therefore urgently needed. Our recommendation is to inform all women without a child wish, undergoing a benign gynaecological or obstetrical surgical procedure about the pro’s and the con’s of OBS and advise a bilateral salpingectomy. Furthermore, there is an urgent need for a prospective registry of OBS. The present article is the consensus text of the Flemish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (VVOG) regarding OBS