Error blindness and motivational significance: Shifts in networks centering on anterior insula co-vary with error awareness and pupil dilation

This investigation aims to further our understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying the awareness of one's erroneous actions. While all errors are registered as such in the rostral cingulate zone, errors enter awareness only when the anterior insula cortex is activated. Aware but not unaware errors elicit autonomic nervous system reactivity. Our aim is to investigate the hypothesis that activation in the insula during error awareness is related to autonomic arousal and to inter-regional interactions with other areas of the brain. To examine the role of the anterior insula in error awareness, we assessed its functional connectivity to other brain regions along with autonomic nervous system reactivity in young healthy participants who underwent simultaneous pupil-diameter and functional magnetic resonance imaging measurements while performing a complex and error-prone task. Error blindness was associated with failures to engage sufficient autonomic reactivity. During aware errors increased pupil-diameter along with increased task-related activation within, and increased connectivity between anterior insula and task-related networks suggested an increased capacity for action-control information transfer. Increased pupil-diameter during aware errors was furthermore associated with decreased activation of the default-mode network along with decreased insular connectivity with regions of the default mode system, possibly reflecting decreased task-irrelevant information processing. This shifting mechanism may be relevant to a better understanding of how the brain and the autonomic nervous system interact to enable efficient adaptive behavior during cognitive challenge

Measuring Media Multitasking. Development of a Short Measure of Media Multitasking for Adolescents

Multivariate analysis of psychological dat

All-Resolutions Inference for brain imaging

Development and application of statistical models for medical scientific researc

Bayesian Inference for Correlations in the Presence of Measurement Error and Estimation Uncertainty

Whenever parameter estimates are uncertain or observations are contaminated by measurement error, the Pearson correlation coefficient can severely underestimate the true strength of an association. Various approaches exist for inferring the correlation in the presence of estimation uncertainty and measurement error, but none are routinely applied in psychological research. Here we focus on a Bayesian hierarchical model proposed by Behseta, Berdyyeva, Olson, and Kass (2009) that allows researchers to infer the underlying correlation between error-contaminated observations. We show that this approach may be also applied to obtain the underlying correlation between uncertain parameter estimates as well as the correlation between uncertain parameter estimates and noisy observations. We illustrate the Bayesian modeling of correlations with two empirical data sets; in each data set, we first infer the posterior distribution of the underlying correlation and then compute Bayes factors to quantify the evidence that the data provide for the presence of an association.Multivariate analysis of psychological dat

Learning curves of theta/beta neurofeedback in children with ADHD

Neurofeedback is widely applied as non-pharmacological intervention aimed at reducing symptoms of ADHD, even though efficacy has not been unequivocally established. Neuronal changes during the neurofeedback intervention that resemble learning can provide crucial evidence for the feasibility and specificity of this intervention. A total of 38 children (aged between 7 and 13 years) with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of ADHD, completed on average 29 sessions of theta (4–8 Hz)/beta (13–20 Hz) neurofeedback training. Dependent variables included training-related measures as well as theta and beta power during baseline and training runs for each session. Learning effects were analyzed both within and between sessions. To further specify findings, individual learning curves were explored and correlated with behavioral changes in ADHD symptoms. Over the course of the training, there was a linear increase in participants’ mean training level, highest obtained training level and the number of earned credits (range b = 0.059, −0.750, p b = 0.004, 95% CI = [0.0013–0.0067], p = 0.005) and over the course of the intervention (b = 0.0052, 95% CI = [0.0039–0.0065], p https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01363544.Multivariate analysis of psychological dat

Impaired Visual Integration in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury: An Observational Study

Background Axonal injury after traumatic brain injury (TBI) may cause impaired sensory integration. We aim to determine the effects of childhood TBI on visual integration in relation to general neurocognitive functioning. Methods We compared children aged 6-13 diagnosed with TBI (n = 103; M = 1.7 years post-injury) to children with traumatic control (TC) injury (n = 44). Three TBI severity groups were distinguished: mild TBI without risk factors for complicated TBI (mildRF- TBI, n = 22), mild TBI with ≥ 1 risk factor (mildRF+ TBI, n = 46) or moderate/severe TBI (n = 35). An experimental paradigm measured speed and accuracy of goal-directed behavior depending on: (1) visual identification; (2) visual localization; or (3) both, measuring visual integration. Group-differences on reaction time (RT) or accuracy were tracked down to task strategy, visual processing efficiency and extra-decisional processes (e.g. response execution) using diffusion model analysis. General neurocognitive functioning was measured by a Wechsler Intelligence Scale short form. Results The TBI group had poorer accuracy of visual identification and visual integration than the TC group (Ps ≤ .03; ds ≤ -0.40). Analyses differentiating TBI severity revealed that visual identification accuracy was impaired in the moderate/severe TBI group (P = .05, d = -0.50) and that visual integration accuracy was impaired in the mildRF+ TBI gro