Authors:

Goodyear, V.A., James, C., ORBEN, A., Quennerstedt, M., Schwartz, G., pALLAN, m.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9119

Abstract:

Supporting the healthy development of children requires us to move beyond an exclusive focus on banning access to technology to a rights-respecting approach underpinned by age-appropriate design and education, argue Goodyear and colleagues.

URL:

Authors:

Nagrodzki, J., Passamonti, L., Schweizer, SS., STRETTON, J., Knights, E., Wolpe, N., HENSON, R.

Reference:

Year of publication:

In Press

CBU number:

9118

Abstract:

Depressed individuals show significant biases in the processing of emotional stimuli, focussing attention on negative face expressions (termed ‘attentional negativity bias’). Some of these biases persist in previously depressed individuals, but their mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, in a population-based study in which participants (n=134, 68 females; 21-92 years) were recruited as part of the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience in 2010-2014, we explored: 1) the cognitive process underlying attentional negativity bias; 2) whether this process is associated with self-reported history of depression; 3) the neural corelates of this process. Participants completed an implicit emotion processing task, while functional MRI was acquired. Drift-diffusion modelling was used to calculate each participant’s tendency for sustained task-irrelevant attention on negative (angry) compared to neutral faces. In the cohort, 14% of participants reported a history of depression. Drift-diffusion modelling showed reduced drift rate for angry compared to neutral faces. The magnitude of this reduction was associated with self-reported depression history. Across the whole group, drift rate for angry faces was associated with increased brain activity when processing angry vs. neutral faces in areas of bilateral insula/inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral parietal cortex. Our results suggest that attentional negativity bias is explained by slower task-relevant drift rate for negative (angry) stimuli. This slower drift rate is associated with difference in brain activity when processing these stimuli, possibly reflecting increased emotional engagement. Such altered processing may persist even after a depressive episode, but this finding should be validated in clinical samples.

Data available, click to request

Authors:

SMAIL, A., AL-JAWAHARI, R., BAKER, K.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9117

Abstract:

Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) complexes represent two major components of the epigenetic machinery. This study aimed to delineate phenotypic similarities and differences across developmental conditions arising from rare variants in PcG and TrxG genes, using data-driven approaches. 462 patients with a PcG or TrxG-associated condition were identified in the DECIPHER dataset. We analysed Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) data to identify phenotypes enriched in this group, in comparison to other monogenic conditions within DECIPHER. We then assessed phenotypic relationships between single gene diagnoses within the PcG and TrxG group, by applying semantic similarity analysis and hierarchical clustering. Finally, we analysed patient-level phenotypic heterogeneity in this group, irrespective of specific genetic diagnosis, by applying the same clustering approach. Collectively, PcG/TrxG diagnoses were associated with increased reporting of HPO terms relating to integument, growth, head & neck, limb and digestive abnormalities. Gene group analysis identified three multi-gene clusters differentiated by microcephaly, limb/digit dysmorphologies, growth abnormalities and atypical behavioural phenotypes. Patient-level analysis identified two large clusters differentiated by neurodevelopmental abnormalities and facial dysmorphologies respectively, as well as smaller clusters associated with more specific phenotypes including behavioural characteristics, eye abnormalities, growth abnormalities and skull dysmorphologies. Importantly, patient-level phenotypic clusters did not align with genetic diagnoses. Data-driven approaches can highlight pathway-level and gene-level phenotypic convergences, and individual-level phenotypic heterogeneities. Future studies are needed to understand the multi-level mechanisms contributing to both convergence and variability within this population, and to extend data collection and analyses to later-emerging health characteristics.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

HUGHES, L.E., Adams, N.E., ROUSE, M.A., NAESSENS, M., Shaw, A., Murley, A.G., Cope, T.E., Holland, N., Nesbitt, D., Street, D., Whiteside, D.J., ROWE, J.B.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2024

CBU number:

9116

Abstract:

NTRODUCTION: We examined how abnormal prefrontal neurophysiology and changes in GABAergic neurotransmission contribute to behavioural impairments in disorders associated with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). METHODS: We recorded magnetoencephalography during an adaptive visuomotor task from 11 people with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia, 11 people with progressive supranuclear palsy and 20 age-matched controls. We used tiagabine, a GABA re-uptake inhibitor, as a pharmacological probe to assess the role of GABA during motor-related beta power changes. RESULTS: Task impairments were associated with diminished movement-related beta power. Tiagabine facilitated partial recovery of behavioural impairments and neurophysiology, moderated by executive function, such that the greatest improvements were seen in those with higher cognitive scores. Right prefrontal cortex was revealed as a key site of drug interaction. DISCUSSION: Behavioural and neurophysiological deficits can be mitigated by enhancement of GABAergic neurotransmission. Clinical trials are warranted to test for enduring clinical benefits from this restorative-psychopharmacology strategy.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

LU, R., DERMODY. N., DUNCAN, J., WOOLGAR, A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2024

CBU number:

9115

Abstract:

Domain-general cognitive systems are essential for adaptive human behaviour, supporting various cognitive tasks through flexible neural mechanisms. While fMRI studies link frontoparietal network activation to increasing demands across various tasks, the electrophysiological mechanisms underlying this domain-general response to demand remain unclear. Here, we used MEG/EEG, and separated the aperiodic and oscillatory components of the signals to examine their roles in domain-general cognition across three cognitive tasks using multivariate analysis. We found that both aperiodic (broadband power, slope, and intercept) and oscillatory (theta, alpha, and beta power) components coded task demand and content across all subtasks. Aperiodic broadband power in particular strongly coded task demand, in a manner that generalised across all subtasks. Source estimation suggested that increasing cognitive demand decreased aperiodic broadband power across the brain, with the strongest modulations overlapping with the frontoparietal network. In contrast, oscillatory activity showed more localised patterns of modulation, primarily in frontal or occipital regions. These results provide insights into the electrophysiological underpinnings of human domain-general cognition, highlighting the critical role of aperiodic broadband power.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

DUNCAN, J.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2024

CBU number:

9114

Abstract:

As an organizing framework for questions of mind and brain, I discuss how the brain builds and uses mental models. Mental models provide a complex, structured description of some situation in the world. The role of perception is to build such a model for the current environment; knowledge provides many of the building blocks; in episodic memory, a previous model is reinstated; in cognitive control, the model dictates a choice of action. A model, I suggest, is a compositional, whole brain state, combining information from multiple specialised brain systems into a structured description of entities in the model and their roles and relationships. The default mode network may play an organizational role as parts of a model are combined into a broader whole. The model combines an active attentional foreground with a more extensive, latent background. Foreground is based on active neural firing, orchestrated by the brain’s multiple demand network. Background may also include low-intensity neural activity, but with a substantial contribution from both faster and slower aspects of synaptic change. Interplay between foreground and background underlies core aspects of cognition, including cognitive control, problem solving, abstraction, and learning. Together, these proposals suggest how integrated, whole-brain functions build mental models, providing a unifying framework for the diverse concerns of cognitive neuroscience.

URL:

Authors:

Atkinson-Clement, C., Kaiser, M., LAMBON RALPH, ,M.A., Jung, J.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2024

CBU number:

9113

Abstract:

Peer Reviewed Letter

URL:

Authors:

HAUK, O., Marchive, M., Volfart, A., Schiltz, C., Rossion, B., LAMBON RALPH, M., Lochy, A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9112

Abstract:

Fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) allows the objective measurement of brain responses of human word discrimination (i.e., reproducible word-category-selective responses) with a high signal-to-noise ratio. This approach has been successfully employed over the last decade in a number of scalp electroencephalography (EEG) studies. Three important advances for research on word-selective brain responses were achieved in the present study: (1) we extend previous evidence of robust word-category-selective responses to the English language, (2) report results for combined EEG and MEG signals, and (3) source estimation results. English words were presented periodically (2 Hz) among different types of letter strings (10Hz; consonant strings, non-words, pseudowords) whilst recording simultaneous EEG and MEG in 25 participants who performed a simple non-linguistic color detection task. Data were analyzed in sensor and in source space. With only 4 minutes of stimulation we observed a robust word discrimination response in each condition, even when words were embedded in sequences of word-like pseudowords. This response was larger in nonwords and largest in consonant strings. We observed left-lateralized responses in all conditions in the majority of our participants. Cluster-based permutation tests revealed that these responses were left-lateralized in sensor as well as in source space, with peaks in left posterior regions. Our results demonstrate that the FPVS approach can elicit robust English word-discrimination responses in EEG and MEG within only a few minutes of recording time. Together with source estimation, this can provide novel insights into the neural basis of visual word recognition in healthy and clinical populations.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

MARSH, L.C., APSVALKA, D., Kikuchi, H., Abe, N., Kawaguchi, J., Kopelman, M.D., ANDERSON, M.C.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9111

Abstract:

Background: The mechanisms underlying generalised forms of dissociative (‘psychogenic’) amnesia are poorly understood. One theory suggests that memory retrieval is inhibited via prefrontal control. Findings from cognitive neuroscience offer a candidate mechanism for this proposed retrieval inhibition. By applying predictions based on these experimental findings, we examined the putative role of retrieval suppression in dissociative amnesia. Methods: We analysed fMRI data from two previously reported cases of dissociative amnesia. Patients had been shown reminders from forgotten and remembered time periods (colleagues and school friends). We examined the neuroanatomical overlap between regions engaged in the unrecognised compared to the recognised condition, and the regions engaged during retrieval suppression in laboratory-based tasks. Effective connectivity analyses were performed to test the hypothesised modulatory relationship between the right anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (raDLPFC) and the hippocampus. Both patients were scanned again following treatment, and analyses were repeated. Results: We observed substantial functional alignment between the inhibitory regions engaged during laboratory-based retrieval suppression tasks, and those engaged when patients failed to recognise their current colleagues. This included significant activation in the raDLPFC and rVLPFC, and a corresponding deactivation across autobiographical memory regions (hippocampus, medial PFC). Dynamic Causal Modelling confirmed the hypothesised modulatory relationship between the raDLPFC and the hippocampus. This pattern was no longer evident following memory recovery in the first patient, but persisted in the second patient who remained amnesic. Conclusions: Findings are consistent with an inhibitory mechanism driving down activity across core memory regions to prevent the recognition of personally-relevant stimuli.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

CLODE, D., DOWDALL, L., DA SILVA, M.E., SELEN, K., Cowie, D., DOMINIJANNI, G., MAKIN, T.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2024

CBU number:

9110

Abstract:

The advancement of motor augmentation and the broader domain of human-machine interaction rely on a seamless integration with users' physical and cognitive capabilities. These considerations may markedly fluctuate among individuals on the basis of their age, form, and abilities. There is a need to develop a standard for considering these diversity needs and preferences to guide technological development, and large-scale testing can provide us with evidence for such considerations. Public engagement events provide an important opportunity to build a bidirectional discourse with potential users for the codevelopment of inclusive and accessible technologies. We exhibited the Third Thumb, a hand augmentation device, at a public engagement event and tested participants from the general public, who are often not involved in such early technological development of wearable robotic technology. We focused on wearability (fit and control), ability to successfully operate the device, and ability levels across diversity factors relevant for physical technologies (gender, handedness, and age). Our inclusive design was successful in 99.3% of our diverse sample of 596 individuals tested (age range from 3 to 96 years). Ninety-eight percent of participants were further able to successfully manipulate objects using the extra thumb during the first minute of use, with no significant influences of gender, handedness, or affinity for hobbies involving the hands. Performance was generally poorer among younger children (aged ≤11 years). Although older and younger adults performed the task comparably, we identified age costs with the older adults. Our findings offer tangible demonstration of the initial usability of the Third Thumb for a broad demographic.

URL: