Robust movement direction decoders from local field potentials using spatio-temporal qualitative patterns

A major drawback of using Local Field Potentials (LFP) for Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is their inherent instability and non-stationarity. Specifically, even when a well-trained subject performs the same task over a period of time, the neural data observed are unstable. To overcome this problem in decoding movement direction, this paper proposes the use of qualitative information in the form of spatial patterns of inter-channel ranking of multi-channel LFP recordings. The quality of the decoding was further refined by concentrating on the statistical distributions of the top powered channels. Decoding of movement direction was performed using Support Vector Machines (SVM) to construct decoders, instead of the traditional spatial patterns. Our algorithm provides a decoding power of up to 74% on average over a period of two weeks, compared with the state-of-the-art methods in the literature that yield only 33%. Furthermore, it provides 62.5% direction decoding in novel motor environments, compared with...
Authors: Tadipatri VA, Tewfik AH, Ashe J, Pellizzer G2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society - 2012-08-28

Canonical correlation analysis of Synchronous Neural InteractionsSynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's dementia

In previous work (Georgopoulos et al 2007 J. Neural Eng. 4 349-55) we reported on the use of magnetoencephalographic (Magnetoencephalography Magnetoencephalography (MEG)A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain.) Synchronous Neural InteractionsSynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. as a functional biomarker in Alzheimer's dementia (AD) diagnosis. Here we report on the application of canonical correlation analysis to investigate the relations between SNISynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. and cognitive neuropsychological (NP) domains in AD patients. First, we performed individual correlations between each SNISynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. and each NP, which provided an initial link between SNISynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. and specific cognitive tests. Next, we performed factor analysis on each set, followed by a canonical correlation analysis between the derived SNISynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. and NP factors. This last analysis optimally associated the entire MEGMagnetoencephalography (MEG)A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain. signal with cognitive function. The results revealed that SNISynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. as a whole were mostly associated with memory and language, and, slightly less, executive function, processing speed and visuospatial abilities, thus differentiating functions subserved by the frontoparietal and the temporal cortices. These findings provide...

Religious distress and coping with stressful life events: a longitudinal study.

Objective(s)Hypothesis: Religious strain would mediate the relationship between stress symptoms at baseline and stress symptoms 1 year later.MethodSeventy-nine people with a history of stressful life events (55 women, 23 men, one unknown gender, average age 58 years) from community churches reported stressful life events, spiritual adjustment, and posttraumatic stress symptoms at initial assessment and 1-year follow-up.ResultsReligious strain mediated the relationship between baseline and follow-up posttraumatic stress symptoms.ConclusionsBecause religious distress contributed to prediction of stress symptoms over time, it appears that religious distress is related to adjustment to stressful life events.
Authors: Harris JI, Erbes CR, Engdahl B, Ogden H, Olson RHA, Winskowski AM, Campion K, Mataas SJournal of Clinical Psychology - 2012-07-19

The War Against Post-traumatic Stress DisorderPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern.

From the article:
How one machine and two Minnesota researchers are forever changing the stigma surrounding Post-Traumatic Stress DisorderApostolos Georgopoulos looks like a brain scientist. Animated, friendly, and crowned with a mane of flyaway gray hair, he shakes my hand and ushers me into his office. He immediately offers to make me coffee, then, in the next breath, insists I sit in the throne situated next to the window-a gift he received for being a Regents professor of neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. "Isn't it something?" he says enthusiastically. "I don't even know how they got it in here!" ...
Minnesota Monthly - 2012-06-21

How Complex are neural interactions?

A fundamental goal of systems neuroscience is to understand how the collective dynamics of neurons encode sensory information and guide behavior. To answer this important question one needs to uncover the network of underlying neuronal interactions. Whereas advances in technology during the last several decades made it possible to record neural activity simultaneously from a large number of network elements, these techniques do not provide information about the physical connectivity between the elements being recorded. Thus, neuroscientists are challenged to solve the inverse problem: inferring interactions between network elements from the recorded signals that arise from the network connectivity structure. Here, we review studies that address the problem of reconstructing network interactions from high-dimensional datasets generated by modern techniques, and focus on the emerging theoretical models capable of capturing the dominant network interactions of any order. These models are beginning to shed light on the structure and complexity of neuronal interactions.

An Exploratory Examination of Risk-Taking Behavior and Post-traumatic Stress DisorderPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. Symptom Severity in a Veteran Sample

The present study conducted an exploratory examination of the relationship between self-reported symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress DisorderPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. and an expanded definition of risk-taking behaviors among 395 veterans at a large Midwestern Veterans Affairs Medical Center. PTSDPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. symptoms were associated with elevated rates of substance use, thrill seeking, aggression, risky sexual practices, and firearm possession. Results indicated that suicidal ideation and aggressive driving behavior were among the most frequently reported. The present findings hold significant public health implications and highlight the need to attend to risk-taking behaviors in treatment planning.
Authors: Strom TQ, Leskela J, James L, Thuras PD, Voller E, Weigel R, Yutsis M, Khaylis A, Lindbery J, Holz KBMilitary Medicine - 2012-04-01

Executive Control Over Cognition: Stronger and Earlier Rule-Based Modulation of Spatial Category Signals in Prefrontal Cortex Relative to Parietal Cortex

Human cognition is characterized by flexibility, the ability to select not only which action but which cognitive process to engage to best achieve the current behavioral objective. The ability to tailor information processing in the brain to rules, goals, or context is typically referred to as executive control, and although there is consensus that prefrontal cortex is importantly involved, at present we have an incomplete understanding of how computational flexibility is implemented at the level of prefrontal neurons and networks. To better understand the neural mechanisms of computational flexibility, we simultaneously recorded the electrical activity of groups of single neurons within prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex of monkeys performing a task that required executive control of spatial cognitive processing. In this task, monkeys applied different spatial categorization rules to reassign the same set of visual stimuli to alternative categories on a trial-by-trial basis. We found that single neurons were activated to...

The Minnesota Women Healthy Aging Project

The Minnesota Women Healthy Aging Project is an effort to understand how the brain changes with age and why some brains are more resilient than others. Using a unique methodology, researchers are evaluating the brain status of a number of women by taking multiple, multimodal measurements and relating those measures to cognitive abilities, language skills, and genetic information. The goal is to create a comprehensive databank that will provide information by which to characterize brain status, assess changes over time, and associate them with genomic makeup, cognitive function, and language ability. The project was initiated in 2010 and is being conducted through the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. This article describes the project, which is the first of its kind, and its progress thus far

Types of Workplace Social Support in the Prediction of Job Satisfaction

Research on social support and job satisfaction has yielded mixed results, partly because studies have rarely examined different types of workplace social support, such as collegial support, task support, coaching, and career mentoring. This study identified the relative contributions of different types of social support to job satisfaction and explored the relationship between social support and job tenure. Overall, social support accounted for approximately 17% of the variance in job satisfaction and 9% of the variance in job tenure. Career mentoring and task support were the types of social support most predictive of job satisfaction. Coaching and task support were the types of social support most predictive of job tenure.

Neuropsychological Testing and Structural Magnetic Resonance ImagingStructural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI)Performed to assess gray-matter volume. The data are acquired using a Philips 3T Achieva XL magnet with a SENSE 8 channel head coil. Approximately 500,000 voxels per brain are analyzed. In the first analysis, the volume of about 100 separate brain regions is calculated using FreeSurfer software (www.surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard. edu). This provides a coarse-grain, volumetric analysis of areas of the brain. In the second analysis, called voxel-based morphometry, the density of each voxel is assessed for a fine-grain analysis of each area.5 Typically, gray-matter volume decreases with age but at rates that are different for different people, for different areas of the brain, and for men and women. In that sense, one can talk about "gray-matter age" versus chronological age. A person may be 68 years old but have the gray-matter volume of a 50-year-old. Defining brain age based on measurements (as contrasted with chronological age) is a pervasive theme in this project. as Diagnostic Biomarkers Early in the Course of Schizophrenia and Related Psychoses

Making an accurate diagnosis of schizophrenia and related psychoses early in the course of the disease is important for initiating treatment and counseling patients and families. In this study, we developed classification models for early disease diagnosis using structural MRI (Structural Magnetic Resonance ImagingStructural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI)Performed to assess gray-matter volume. The data are acquired using a Philips 3T Achieva XL magnet with a SENSE 8 channel head coil. Approximately 500,000 voxels per brain are analyzed. In the first analysis, the volume of about 100 separate brain regions is calculated using FreeSurfer software (www.surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard. edu). This provides a coarse-grain, volumetric analysis of areas of the brain. In the second analysis, called voxel-based morphometry, the density of each voxel is assessed for a fine-grain analysis of each area.5 Typically, gray-matter volume decreases with age but at rates that are different for different people, for different areas of the brain, and for men and women. In that sense, one can talk about "gray-matter age" versus chronological age. A person may be 68 years old but have the gray-matter volume of a 50-year-old. Defining brain age based on measurements (as contrasted with chronological age) is a pervasive theme in this project.) and neuropsychological (NP) testing. We used sMRIStructural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI)Performed to assess gray-matter volume. The data are acquired using a Philips 3T Achieva XL magnet with a SENSE 8 channel head coil. Approximately 500,000 voxels per brain are analyzed. In the first analysis, the volume of about 100 separate brain regions is calculated using FreeSurfer software (www.surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard. edu). This provides a coarse-grain, volumetric analysis of areas of the brain. In the second analysis, called voxel-based morphometry, the density of each voxel is assessed for a fine-grain analysis of each area.5 Typically, gray-matter volume decreases with age but at rates that are different for different people, for different areas of the brain, and for men and women. In that sense, one can talk about "gray-matter age" versus chronological age. A person may be 68 years old but have the gray-matter volume of a 50-year-old. Defining brain age based on measurements (as contrasted with chronological age) is a pervasive theme in this project. measurements and NP test results from 28 patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and 47 healthy subjects, drawn from the larger sample of the Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium. We developed diagnostic models based on Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) following two approaches; namely, (a) stepwise (STP) LDA on the original measurements, and (b) LDA on variables created through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and selected using the Humphrey-Ilgen parallel analysis. Error estimation of the modeling algorithms was evaluated by leave-one-out external cross-validation. These analyses were performed on sMRIStructural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI)Performed to assess gray-matter volume. The data are acquired using a Philips 3T Achieva XL magnet with a SENSE 8 channel head coil. Approximately 500,000 voxels per brain are analyzed. In the first analysis, the volume of about 100 separate brain regions is calculated using FreeSurfer software (www.surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard. edu). This provides a coarse-grain, volumetric analysis of areas of the brain. In the second analysis, called voxel-based morphometry, the density of each voxel is assessed for a fine-grain analysis of each area.5 Typically, gray-matter volume decreases with age but at rates that are different for different people, for different areas of the brain, and for men and women. In that sense, one can talk about "gray-matter age" versus chronological age. A person may be 68 years old but have the gray-matter volume of a 50-year-old. Defining brain age based on measurements (as contrasted with chronological age) is a pervasive theme in this project. and NP variables separately and in combination. The following classification accuracy was obtained for different variables and modeling algorithms....

Top-down spatial categorization signal from prefrontal to posterior parietal cortex in the primate

In the present study we characterized the strength and time course of category-selective responses in prefrontal cortex and area 7a of the posterior parietal cortex during a match-to-sample spatial categorization task. A monkey was trained to categorize whether the height of a horizontal sample bar, presented in rectangular frame at one of three vertical locations, was "high" or "low," depending on whether its position was above or below the frame's midline. After the display of this sample bar, and after a delay, choice bars were sequentially flashed in two locations: at the top and at the bottom of the frame ("choice" epoch). If the monkey timed its response to the display of the choice bar that matched the sample bar, he was rewarded. We found that cells in prefrontal cortex discriminated category early after the initial sample bar was shown, and continued to differentiate "up" from "down" trials throughout the delay...

Disrupted functional connectivity for controlled visual processing as a basis for impaired spatial working memory in schizophrenia

Although regional brain abnormalities underlying spatial working memory (SWM) deficits in schizophrenia have been identified, little is known about which brain circuits are functionally disrupted in the SWM network in schizophrenia. We investigated SWM-related interregional functional connectivity in schizophrenia using Functional Magnetic Resonance ImagingFunctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)A functional neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases.[citation needed] The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not require people to undergo shots, surgery, or to ingest substances, or be exposed to ionising radiation, etc. data collected during a memory task that required analysis of spatial information in object structure. Twelve schizophrenia patients and 11 normal control subjects participated. Patients had SWM performance deficits and deficient neural activation in various brain areas, especially in the high SWM load condition. Examination of the covariation of regional brain activations elicited by the SWM task revealed evidence of functional disconnection between prefrontal and posterior visual association areas in schizophrenia. Under low SMW load, we found reduced functional associations between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and inferior temporal cortex (ITC) in the right hemisphere in patients. Under high SWM load, we found evidence for further functional...

True associations between resting Functional Magnetic Resonance ImagingFunctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)A functional neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases.[citation needed] The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not require people to undergo shots, surgery, or to ingest substances, or be exposed to ionising radiation, etc. time series based on innovations

We calculated voxel-by-voxel pairwise crosscorrelations between prewhitened resting-state BOLD fMRIFunctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)A functional neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases.[citation needed] The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not require people to undergo shots, surgery, or to ingest substances, or be exposed to ionising radiation, etc. time series recorded from 60 cortical areas (30 per hemisphere) in 18 human subjects (nine women and nine men). Altogether, more than a billion-and-a-quarter pairs of BOLD time series were analyzed. For each pair, a crosscorrelogram was computed by calculating 21 crosscorrelations, namely at zero lag ± 10 lags of 2 s duration each. For each crosscorrelogram, in turn, the crosscorrelation with the highest absolute value was found and its sign, value, and lag were retained for further analysis. In addition, the crosscorrelations at zero lag (irrespective of the location of the peak) were also analyzed as a special case. Based on known varying density of anatomical connectivity, we distinguished four general brain groups for which we derived summary statistics of crosscorrelations between voxels within an area (group I), between voxels of paired homotopic areas across the two hemispheres (group II),...

Movement direction decoding of local field potentials using time-evolving spatial patterns

A main disadvantage of using intra-cortical recordings for Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is their inherent non-stationarity and instability. Thus developing direction decoders for Local Field Potentials (LFP) that are robust over time becomes a difficult task. In this paper, we show the superior performance of qualitative information over the absolute power of the recorded signals by introducing a novel method, that uses time-evolving spatial patterns. This method over-performs the baseline method by 30% on an average over a two week testing period and provides a bit-rate of 0.98 per trial. Further, these spatial-patterns provide robustness against learning when new field-forces are introduced.

The effectiveness of a trauma focused spiritually integrated intervention for veterans exposed to trauma

Building Spiritual Strength (BSS) is an 8-session, spiritually integrated group intervention designed to address religious strain and enhance religious meaning making for military trauma survivors. It is based upon empirical research on the relationship between spirituality and adjustment to trauma. To assess the intervention's effectiveness, veterans with histories of trauma who volunteered for the study were randomly assigned to a BSS group (n = 26) or a wait-list control group (n = 28). BSS participants showed statistically significant reductions in PTSDPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. symptoms based on self-report measures as compared with those in a wait-list control condition. Further research on spiritually integrated interventions for trauma survivors is warranted.
Authors: Harris JI, Erbes CR, Engdahl B, Thuras P, Murray-Swank N, Grace D, Ogden H, Olson RHA, Winskowski AM, Bacon R, Malec C, Campion K, Le TJournal of Clinical Psychology - 2011-02-03

Differential brain activity states during the perception and nonperception of illusory motion as revealed by magnetoencephalography

We studied visual perception using an annular random-dot motion stimulus called the racetrack. We recorded neural activity using magnetoencephalography while subjects viewed variants of this stimulus that contained no inherent motion or various degrees of embedded motion. Subjects reported seeing rotary motion during viewing of all stimuli. We found that, in the absence of any motion signals, patterns of brain activity differed between states of motion perception and nonperception. Furthermore, when subjects perceived motion, activity states within the brain did not differ across stimuli of different amounts of embedded motion. In contrast, we found that during periods of nonperception brain-activity states varied with the amount of motion signal embedded in the stimulus. Taken together, these results suggest that during perception the brain may lock into a stable state in which lower-level signals are suppressed.

High Accuracy Decoding of Movement Target Direction in Non-Human Primates Based on Common Spatial Patterns of Local Field Potentials

BackgroundThe current development of brain-machine interface technology is limited, among other factors, by concerns about the long-term stability of single- and multi-unit neural signals. In addition, the understanding of the relation between potentially more stable neural signals, such as local field potentials, and motor behavior is still in its early stages.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe tested the hypothesis that spatial correlation patterns of neural data can be used to decode movement target direction. In particular, we examined local field potentials (LFP), which are thought to be more stable over time than single unit activity (SUA). Using LFP recordings from chronically implanted electrodes in the dorsal premotor and primary motor cortex of non-human primates trained to make arm movements in different directions, we made the following observations: (i) it is possible to decode movement target direction with high fidelity from the spatial correlation patterns of neural activity in both primary motor (M1) and dorsal premotor...

U of M working to help veterans with Post-traumatic Stress DisorderPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern.

U of M researcher Brian Engdahl talks about new research that could help diagnose and treat PTSDPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern., which often affects veterans.
Authors: Engdahl BUniversity of Minnesota / Facebook - 2010-11-20

Coping Functions of Prayer and Posttraumatic Growth

Research on prayer and posttraumatic growth (PTG) indicates that those who pray report more PTG. Research is beginning to identify which types of prayer may be operating in this relationship. We sought to identify specific prayer functions related to PTG while considering differences due to the types of trauma experienced. Participants were trauma survivors from diverse, Midwestern Christian churches (N = 327). Participants completed questionnaires assessing trauma history, prayer coping functions, and PTG. Multiple linear regression analyses found that praying for calm and focus was independently related to higher levels of PTG. When considering all variables in the model, the relationship between prayer for calm and focus and PTG was not significant for those whose most significant trauma was interpersonal in nature, but significant for those with noninterpersonal trauma.
Authors: Harris JI, Erbes CR, Engdahl B, Tedeschi RG, Olson RHA, Winskowski AM, McMahill JInternational Journal for the Psychology of Religion - 2010-11-05

Post-traumatic Stress DisorderPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern.: a right temporal lobe syndrome?

In a recent paper (Georgopoulos et al 2010 J. Neural Eng. 7 016011) we reported on the power of the MEGMagnetoencephalography (MEG)A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain.-based SNISynchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG. test to differentiate PTSDPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. subjects from healthy control subjects and to classify them with a high degree of accuracy. Here we show that the main differences in cortical communication circuitry between these two groups lie in the miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas. This lateralized temporal-posterior pattern of miscommunication was very similar but was attenuated in patients with PTSDPost-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)A complex psychiatric syndrome that develops in response to trauma exposure. Individuals with PTSD experience intrusive recollections or reexperiencing of the traumatic event, avoidance of trauma reminders, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. In addition, PTSD is associated with high rates of concomitant physical and mental health problems, increased health care use, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. Almost 7% of the general population and up to 30% of veterans meet lifetime criteria for PTSD. Indeed, PTSD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, representing a significant and costly public health concern. in remission. These findings are consistent with observations (Penfield 1958 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 44 51-66, Penfield and Perot 1963 Brain 86 595-696, Gloor 1990 Brain 113 1673-94, Banceaud et al 1994 Brain 117 71-90, Fried 1997 J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 9 420-8) that electrical stimulation of the temporal cortex in awake human subjects,...
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