scholarly journals Neural Correlates of human cognitive abilities during sleep

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Fang ◽  
Laura B. Ray ◽  
Adrian M. Owen ◽  
Stuart M. Fogel
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Verbal Abilities ◽  
Reasoning Abilities ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Function Of Sleep

ABSTRACTInter-individual differences in sleep spindles are highly correlated with “Reasoning” abilities (problem solving skills; i.e., the ability to employ logic, identify complex patterns), but not Short Term Memory or Verbal abilities. Simultaneous electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) have revealed brain activations time-locked to spindles (e.g., thalamic, paralimbic, and motor cortical areas)–yet the functional significance of inter-individual differences in spindle-related brain activation remains to be investigated. Using EEG-fMRI during sleep, we identified, for the first time, the neural activation patterns time-locked to spindles that are correlated with cognitive abilities. Similar to previous studies, activations time-locked to spindles were observed in thalamocortical circuitry and basal ganglia regions. Importantly, spindle-related activation in a subset of these regions were specifically related to inter-individual differences in Reasoning, but not STM or Verbal abilities. These results may help elucidate the physiological mechanisms which support the function of sleep for the capacity for reasoning.

scholarly journals Making Cognitive Latent Variables Manifest: Distinct Neural Networks for Fluid Reasoning and Processing Speed

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1249-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Habeck ◽  
Jason Steffener ◽  
Daniel Barulli ◽  
Yunglin Gazes ◽  
Qolamreza Razlighi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Fluid Reasoning

Cognitive psychologists posit several specific cognitive abilities that are measured with sets of cognitive tasks. Tasks that purportedly tap a specific underlying cognitive ability are strongly correlated with one another, whereas performances on tasks that tap different cognitive abilities are less strongly correlated. For these reasons, latent variables are often considered optimal for describing individual differences in cognitive abilities. Although latent variables cannot be directly observed, all cognitive tasks representing a specific latent ability should have a common neural underpinning. Here, we show that cognitive tasks representing one ability (i.e., either perceptual speed or fluid reasoning) had a neural activation pattern distinct from that of tasks in the other ability. One hundred six participants between the ages of 20 and 77 years were imaged in an fMRI scanner while performing six cognitive tasks, three representing each cognitive ability. Consistent with prior research, behavioral performance on these six tasks clustered into the two abilities based on their patterns of individual differences and tasks postulated to represent one ability showed higher similarity across individuals than tasks postulated to represent a different ability. This finding was extended in the current report to the spatial resemblance of the task-related activation patterns: The topographic similarity of the mean activation maps for tasks postulated to reflect the same reference ability was higher than for tasks postulated to reflect a different reference ability. Furthermore, for any task pairing, behavioral and topographic similarities of underlying activation patterns are strongly linked. These findings suggest that differences in the strengths of correlations between various cognitive tasks may be because of the degree of overlap in the neural structures that are active when the tasks are being performed. Thus, the latent variable postulated to account for correlations at a behavioral level may reflect topographic similarities in the neural activation across different brain regions.

scholarly journals Frontoparietal pattern similarity analyses of cognitive control in monozygotic twins

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongxiang Tang ◽  
Joset A. Etzel ◽  
Alexander Kizhner ◽  
Todd S. Braver
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Control Function ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Pattern Similarity

AbstractThe ability to flexibly adapt thoughts and actions in a goal-directed manner appears to rely on cognitive control mechanisms that are strongly impacted by individual differences. A powerful research strategy for investigating the nature of individual variation is to study monozygotic (identical) twins. Clear evidence of twin similarity effects have been observed in prior behavioral and neuroimaging studies, yet within the domain of cognitive control, the specificity and neural underpinnings of this similarity remains elusive. Here, we utilize a multi-task, within-subjects event-related neuroimaging design (with fMRI) to investigate twin effects through multivariate pattern similarity analyses. We focus on a set of fronto-parietal brain parcels exhibiting consistently increased activation associated with cognitive control demands across four task domains: selective attention, context processing, multi-tasking, and working memory. In these parcels, healthy young adult male and female monozygotic twin pairs had similar activation patterns, reliably in all tasks, a finding not observed in unrelated pairs. Twin activation pattern similarity effects were clearest under high control demands, were not present in a set of task-unrelated parcels, and were primarily observed during the within-trial timepoints in which the control demands peaked. Together, these results indicate that twin similarity in the neural representation of cognitive control may be domain-general but also functionally and temporally specific in relation to the level of control demand. The findings suggest a genetic and/or environmental basis for individual variation in cognitive control function, and highlight the potential of twin-based neuroimaging designs for exploring heritability questions within this domain.Significance StatementCognitive control is indispensable to human adaptability. A critical goal for basic and translational research is to discover the brain basis of the individual differences that clearly characterize this domain. Neuroimaging studies of twins enable exploration of this issue, by identifying similarity and variation in task-evoked neural activity, and testing whether such effects are domain general, but also functionally specific to cognitive control demands. Here, we provide the first evidence of twin similarity in neural activation patterns within fronto-parietal regions, which is present in multiple cognitive control tasks, and selective to peak periods of control demand. These results confirm the domain-generality of neural representations of cognitive control, and support the genetic and/or environmental basis of this source of individual variation.

Spectral Pattern Similarity Analysis: Tutorial and Application in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verena R. Sommer ◽  
Luzie Mount ◽  
Sarah Weigelt ◽  
Markus Werkle-Bergner ◽  
Myriam C. Sander
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Similarity Analysis ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Spectral Pattern ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Spectral Frequency ◽  
The Stability

The human brain encodes information in neural activation patterns. While standard approaches to analyzing neural data focus on brain (de-)activation (e.g., regarding the location, timing, or magnitude of neural responses), multivariate neural pattern similarity analyses target the informational content represented by neural activity. In adults, a number of representational properties have been identified that are linked to cognitive performance, in particular the stability, distinctiveness, and specificity of neural patterns. However, although growing cognitive abilities across childhood suggest advancements in representational quality, developmental studies still rarely utilize information-based pattern similarity approaches, especially in electroencephalography (EEG) research. Here, we provide a comprehensive methodological introduction and step-by-step tutorial for pattern similarity analysis of spectral (frequency-resolved) EEG data including a publicly available pipeline and sample dataset with data from children and adults. We discuss computation of single-subject pattern similarities and their statistical comparison at the within-person to the between-group level as well as the illustration and interpretation of the results. This tutorial targets both novice and more experienced EEG researchers and aims to facilitate the usage of spectral pattern similarity analyses, making these methodologies more readily accessible for (developmental) cognitive neuroscientists.

scholarly journals Shared Numerosity Representations Across Formats and Tasks Revealed with 7 Tesla fMRI: Decoding, Generalization, and Individual Differences in Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric D Wilkey ◽  
Benjamin N Conrad ◽  
Darren J Yeo ◽  
Gavin R Price
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
7 Tesla ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Math Skills ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes

Abstract Debate continues on whether encoding of symbolic number is grounded in nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes. Nevertheless, fluency of perceiving both number formats, and translating between them, predicts math skills across the life span. Therefore, this study asked if numbers share cortical activation patterns across formats and tasks, and whether neural response to number predicts math-related behaviors. We analyzed patterns of neural activation using 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 39 healthy adults. Discrimination was successful between numerosities 2, 4, 6, and 8 dots and generalized to activation patterns of the same numerosities represented as Arabic digits in the bilateral parietal lobes and left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) (and vice versa). This indicates that numerosity-specific neural resources are shared between formats. Generalization was also successful across tasks where participants either identified or compared numerosities in bilateral parietal lobes and IFG. Individual differences in decoding did not relate to performance on a number comparison task completed outside of the scanner, but generalization between formats and across tasks negatively related to math achievement in the parietal lobes. Together, these findings suggest that individual differences in representational specificity within format and task contexts relate to mathematical expertise.

Individual differences in multiple cues guiding flexible resource allocation in visual short-term memory.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Lockhart ◽  
Blaire Dube ◽  
Kevin John MacDonald ◽  
Naseem Al-Aidroos ◽  
Stephen Emrich
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Short Term Memory ◽  
Presentation Time ◽  
Flexible Resource ◽  
Priority Levels ◽  
Level Analysis

Although recent evidence suggests that visual short-term memory (VSTM) is a continuous resource, little is known about how flexibly this resource can be allocated. Previous studies using probabilistic cues to indicate two different levels of probe probability have found that response precision can be predicted according to a continuous allocation of resources that depends on attentional priority. The current study used a continuous report procedure and attentional prioritization via simultaneous probabilistic spatial cues to address whether participants can use up to three levels of attentional priority to allocate VSTM resources. Three experiments were performed with differing priority levels, different cues, and cue presentation time. Although group level analysis demonstrated flexible allocation, there was limited evidence that participants were using three priority levels. An individual differences approach revealed that a minority of participants were using three levels of attentional priority, demonstrating that, while possible, it is not the predominant pattern of behavior.

Individual Differences in Reward‐Based Learning Predict Fluid Reasoning Abilities

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Stocco ◽  
Chantel S. Prat ◽  
Lauren K. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Reasoning Abilities ◽  
Fluid Reasoning
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document