Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease and its contribution to ageing and neurodegeneration: A united approach

Item does not contain fulltextCerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a common accompaniment of ageing. Features seen on neuroimaging include recent small subcortical infarcts, lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, perivascular spaces, microbleeds, and brain atrophy. SVD can present as a stroke or cognitive decline, or can have few or no symptoms. SVD frequently coexists with neurodegenerative disease, and can exacerbate cognitive deficits, physical disabilities, and other symptoms of neurodegeneration. Terminology and definitions for imaging the features of SVD vary widely, which is also true for protocols for image acquisition and image analysis. This lack of consistency hampers progress in identifying the contribution of SVD to the pathophysiology and clinical features of common neurodegenerative diseases. We are an international working group from the Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration. We completed a structured process to develop definitions and imaging standards for markers and consequences of SVD. We aimed to achieve the following: first, to provide a common advisory about terms and definitions for features visible on MRI; second, to suggest minimum standards for image acquisition and analysis; third, to agree on standards for scientific reporting of changes related to SVD on neuroimaging; and fourth, to review emerging imaging methods for detection and quantification of preclinical manifestations of SVD. Our findings and recommendations apply to research studies, and can be used in the clinical setting to standardise image interpretation, acquisition, and reporting. This Position Paper summarises the main outcomes of this international effort to provide the STandards for ReportIng Vascular changes on nEuroimaging (STRIVE)

Cognitive Components of Vocal Communication: A Case Study

Communication among nonhuman animals is often presented as rigid and inflexible, reflecting emotional states rather than having any cognitive basis. Using the world’s smallest monkey, the pygmy marmoset (Cebuella pygmaea), with the smallest absolute brain size amongst simian primates as a case study, I review the role of cognition in the development and usage of vocalizations in pygmy marmosets and present new data on the instrumental use of babbling and of food associated vocalizations. Pygmy marmosets have several contact calls that differ in the psychoacoustic properties for sound localization as well as the distance at which they carry through the rainforest. Marmosets use these calls strategically based on distance from neighbors. Marmosets alter spectral and temporal aspects of call structure when exposed to new groups and when newly mated. They display population specific vocal dialects. Young pygmy marmosets engage in extensive babbling behavior rewarded by parents that helps the young develop adult vocal structures, but older monkeys also use babbling instrumentally in conflict situations. Specific food referential calls generally relate to food preferences, but food calls are suppressed in the presence of animate prey. Unmated animals systematically combine a long distance call with food calls as though advertising for mates. Taken together, these examples show that even small brained primates use their vocal signals flexibly and strategically in response to a variety of environmental and social conditions

Social influences on vocal development

International audienceBoth song and language require species-specific stimulation at a sensitive period in development, as well as subsequent practice (subsong and plastic song in birds and babbling in infant humans) that leads to the development of characteristic vocalizations for each species. This book illustrates how social interactions during development can shape vocal learning and extend the sensitive period beyond infancy, and how social companions can induce flexibility even into adulthood. This book shows how social companions in a wide range of species including birds and humans as well as cetaceans and nonhuman primates play important roles in the shaping of vocal production as well as the comprehension and appropriate use of vocal communication

Socially biased learning in the acquisition of a complex foraging task in juvenile cottontop tamarins, Saguinus oedipus

Our longitudinal study explored the role of socially biased learning in the acquisition of a novel foraging task that could be solved in two ways in captive juvenile cottontop tamarins. We trained parents to adopt a single solution (pole or ceiling strategy). We tested 13 different juvenile offspring-parent pairs on the task over the course of 11 weeks. Our objective was (1) to investigate the extent to which juveniles match their parent, and (2) to analyse the influence of behavioural feedback between parent and juvenile offspring on learning trajectories, behavioural acquisition and performance. Although not all juveniles matched the modelled solution, both groups of juveniles significantly spent more time at the targeted location being modelled for them. Parent and offspring correlated well in time spent at the demonstrated location. We investigated predictors of performance and success by analysing data prior to first success. Juveniles' exploration of the apparatus was important in dictating their success at the task, whereas observation of the parent had no influence. Both juvenile scrounging and adult food calling, which encouraged begging, drew the attention of the juveniles away from the task and impeded learning. High adult refusals per beg predicted task success in young. Adults monitored their offspring's performance and increased their refusals per begs upon the first success of their offspring. Cottontop tamarins also showed some behavioural scaffolding. Solving the task did not simply reflect a maturational change in juveniles, but was rather influenced by an intricate behavioural feedback between parent and offspring