Authors:

MURPHY, F.C., DERMODY, N., WATSON, P., Scott, S.K., CALDER, A.J., PEERS, P.V., MANLY, T.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9166

Abstract:

Frontal lobe lesions have been associated with executive impairments and changes in emotional/social function. Empirical studies using emotion recognition tasks in people with frontal lesions have indeed reported impairments that are predominantly associated with medial lesions. However, work has also identified a fronto-parietal 'multiple demand' (MD) network that is engaged in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. Previous studies have shown that fluid intelligence (IQ) scores, treated as a marker of MD function, completely account for deficits in some, but not all, tests of putatively separate executive functions. Here, a group of 39 participants with frontal lesions showed significant impairments (relative to age, sex and premorbid IQ-matched controls) on a measure of fluid IQ and 4 emotion recognition tasks. They also had higher levels of depression symptoms. Depression symptoms did not account for emotion task impairment. Fluid IQ completely accounted for the impairments in one 'emotion task' of inferring the emotion likely to be experienced in each of a series of vignettes. However, whilst fluid IQ was correlated with the other emotion measures (tests of categorising emotional expression from faces, eyes, and non-verbal vocalisations), significant variance was left unexplained. The significant intercorrelations between these residual scores was suggestive of a common 'non-fluid IQ' factor that may have an association with left lateral frontal lesions. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of identifying common general cognitive influences on tests of ostensibly specific functions in clinical assessments and research studies.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

Zhou, A.X., Rajimehr, R., Firoozi, A.,, DUNCAN, J, MITCHELL, D.J.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9165

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

Thwaites, A., Zhang, C., WOOLGAR, A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9164

Abstract:

Cortical processing in the human brain is highly complex, and researchers have long faced challenges in describing and sharing formal accounts in an intuitive yet rigorous manner. Traditional mathematical representations, while precise, often obscure the underlying concepts, whereas narrative descriptions lack the necessary detail. Information Processing Pathway Maps (IPPMs) bridge this gap by providing a clear and flexible way to represent neural processing that maintains mathematical accuracy. These maps can be generated directly from neuroimaging data such as electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG), making them a scalable tool for mapping brain processes. They are also theory-agnostic, making them applicable across various mathematical frameworks of neuronal processing. Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have significantly improved the efficiency of IPPM creation and expanded their coverage. This paper presents an introductory overview of the IPPM framework, its interpretability, methods for generation, breadth of coverage, and potential applications in both research and clinical settings. We conclude with a discussion on their limitations and suggest promising avenues for future research.

URL:

Authors:

DUNCAN, J.D.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9163

Abstract:

Why are we so often in conflict—arguing with ourselves and with others, uncertain over who we are what we need from our lives? In The Animal and the Thinker, the world-leading, pioneering neuroscientist John Duncan explains that each of us is not just one person – we are two. On one side are our animal instincts, built on the sophisticated needs of human life through evolution. This animal side delivers the sense that our lives have meaning, but struggles to navigate the complexity of the modern world. On the other side is our rational brain. It generates an infinite world of new ideas, but is often helpless in the face of life’s bigger questions. Dovetailing these two competing sides of ourselves, Duncan draws on a lifetime’s work to attack puzzles that have concerned thinkers, writers and philosophers through human history. Right and wrong. Freedom and responsibility. Women and men. Democracy and justice. Ambition and fulfilment. Understanding how these two sides of ourselves interact offers revealing and often surprising answers to some of the great questions of our lives. In this book, Duncan challenges the traditional idea of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He argues that the animal side of our nature should be understood and embraced, not overcome or suppressed. In the context of modern culture wars and political upheaval, The Animal and the Thinker shows the strengths and limits of each side of ourselves. Discover a new, enriching perspective on our needs, our struggles, and our essential humanity.

Authors:

Hickman, L.J., Cook, J.L.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9162

Abstract:

Older autistic adult literature is sparse, and little is known about the aging autistic population. However, recent evidence suggests an increased prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) diagnosis in the autistic population. It may initially be assumed that autistic individuals are genetically more likely to develop PD, but extant genetic studies do not provide strong evidence for a link between the two conditions. An underappreciated body of evidence may shed light upon why autistic individuals score highly on PD diagnostic criteria: movement differences in autism have been likened to PD. Given that PD diagnosis is primarily movement-based, if it is the case that autistic movement appears parkinsonian, this may facilitate autistic individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for PD. If validated, this theory could have serious implications for the specificity of the PD diagnostic process. Here, we set out the evidence for high rates of PD diagnosis and parkinsonism in the autistic population and subsequently question why this might be the case, making reference to genetic and behavioural similarities between autism and PD.

URL:

Authors:

Zhao, S., Scholcz, A., ROUSE, MA., Klar, V.S., Ganse-Dumrath, A., Toniolo, S., Roulidakis, M.J., LAMBON RALPH, M.A., ROWE, J.B., Garrard, P., Thompson, S. Irani, S.R., Manohar, S.J., Husain, M.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9161

Abstract:

Apathy is a prevalent and persistent neuropsychiatric syndrome across many neurological disorders, significantly impacting both patients and caregivers. We systematically quantified discrepancies between self- and caregiver-reported apathy in 335 patients with a variety of diagnoses, frontotemporal dementia (behavioural variant and semantic dementia subtypes), Parkinson’s disease, Parkinson’s disease dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer’s disease dementia, mild cognitive impairment, small vessel cerebrovascular disease, subjective cognitive decline and autoimmune encephalitis. Using the Apathy-Motivation Index (AMI) and its analogous caregiver version (AMI-CG), we found that caregiver-reported apathy consistently exceeded self-reported levels across all conditions. Moreover, self-reported apathy accounted for only 14.1% of the variance in caregiver ratings. This apathy reporting discrepancy was most pronounced in conditions associated with impaired insight, such as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, and was significantly correlated with cognitive impairment. Deficits in memory and fluency explained an additional 11.2% of the variance in caregiver-reported apathy. Specifically, executive function deficits (e.g., indexed by fluency) and memory impairments may contribute to behavioural inertia or recall of it. These findings highlight the need to integrate patient and caregiver perspectives in apathy assessments, especially for conditions with prominent cognitive impairment. To improve diagnostic accuracy and deepen our understanding of apathy across neurological disorders, we highlight the need of adapted apathy assessment strategies that account for cognitive impairment particularly in individuals with insight or memory deficits. Understanding the cognitive mechanisms underpinning discordant apathy reporting in dementia might help to inform targeted clinical interventions and reduce caregiver burden.

URL:

Data for this project is held by an external institution. Please contact the authors to request a copy.

Authors:

SHALEV, I., Waller, R., Wagner, N.J., Uzefovsky, F.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9160

Abstract:

Empathy, a socioemotional capacity with emotional and cognitive components, develops from infancy onward. An imbalance between these components, termed empathic disequilibrium, is related to socioemotional difficulties in adulthood, but how empathic disequilibrium changes across development and whether these changes relate to socioemotional difficulties, remain to be discovered. This study investigated changes in empathic disequilibrium with age in children aged 3 to 12 years and its associations with socioemotional outcomes. 303 children from the general population were assessed at three timepoints, four months apart. Parent-reported measures of cognitive and emotional empathy, along with socioemotional outcomes (conduct and emotional problems, callous-unemotional traits, and prosocial behavior), were analyzed. Considering within and between participant variability in age, we characterized empathic disequilibrium development, and examined whether socioemotional outcomes at the last timepoint moderated this trajectory. Empathic disequilibrium typically shifted from emotional-empathy dominance at age 3 years to equilibrium between ages 4.7 and 6.9. Afterwards, a trend toward cognitive-empathy dominance emerged, which declined during early adolescence. Children with socioemotional difficulties at the final timepoint showed distinct developmental patterns of empathic disequilibrium. Specifically, children with high emotional problems, callous-unemotional traits, and low prosocial behavior were less likely to achieve empathic equilibrium by age 12, with those showing high conduct problems reaching equilibrium later than their peers. This study illustrates how empathic disequilibrium develops from early childhood to adolescence and its links with socioemotional outcomes. These findings suggest that tracking empathic disequilibrium could help identify children who may benefit from tailored interventions.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

ZHOU, A.X., DUNCAN, J., MITCHELL, D.J.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2005

CBU number:

9159

Abstract:

The Default Mode Network (DMN), traditionally associated with internally oriented cognition, has been increasingly implicated in processing external stimuli that signal the need to update an internal mental model, defined as neural representations that simulate and predict relationships between elements that make up events. This review synthesizes recent findings on the DMN’s role in diverse cognitive transitions, including feature changes and event boundaries during movie-watching, and externally cued task switches during complex behavioural paradigms. Studies using naturalistic stimuli reveal the functional specialization of DMN subnetworks: the medial temporal lobe (MTL) subnetwork responds to location and temporal transitions, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) subnetwork prefers social transitions, and the Core DMN exhibits generalised responses across all these transition types. Meanwhile, in task-based paradigms, the Core DMN is also activated during external task switches, compared to task repeats, both representing and dependent upon a hierarchical task structure, further underscoring DMN involvement in maintaining and updating mental models. We propose that the Core DMN binds information across DMN subnetworks into a hierarchically chunked internal model, where elements are organized into nested levels of abstraction, to provide context for evolving naturalistic experiences and a substrate to guide behaviour. This unifying framework highlights the DMN’s integral role in context-dependent cognitive transitions, dynamically integrating internal and external representations during both active and passive states.

URL:

Authors:

Chan, M.M.Y., Cho, E., LAMBON RALPH, M.A., Robinson, G.A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9158

Abstract:

Creative thought enables humans to flexibly generate, evaluate and select novel and adaptive ideas across different contexts. Decades of research indicates that it involves two key aspects: retrieval of previously acquired knowledge and manipulation of that knowledge. However, the cognitive processes underpinning these aspects remain underspecified. The broader clinical-cognitive neuroscience literature suggests these functions rely on general-purpose cognitive mechanisms supporting semantic cognition, controlled episodic memory retrieval, and executive mechanisms. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique widely used in creativity and cognitive neuroscience research to examine causal brain-behaviour relationships. To identify converging evidence toward a unifying neurocognitive account of creative thought, we reviewed and meta-analysed 145 sham-controlled tDCS studies (involving 8399 healthy participants aged 18-40), drawn from electronic databases and previous reviews, across creativity and relevant cognitive neuroscience literatures. The results revealed that, only left lateral frontal anodal tDCS promotes creativity (p < .01). In parallel, anodal tDCS over the same region also promotes improvement in many other cognitive processes, including more efficient processing of semantic knowledge (p < .05), more accurate episodic memory retrieval (p < .05), better and more efficient manipulation of buffered knowledge (all p < .001), better self-initiated response generation (i.e., energization; p < .05), and more efficient response selection amongst competing options (i.e., task-setting; p < .01). By merging these previously separate literatures, tDCS studies - although heavily biased toward frontal montages - support the notion that creative thought arises from general-purpose cognitive mechanisms including controlled retrieval and temporary storage of semantic and episodic information, as well as executive mechanisms.

URL:

Authors:

Trachtenberg, E., SHALEV, I., Hertz-Palmor, N.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9157

Abstract:

Insight Paper

URL: