Based on recent reports of impairments in visual motion processing and pursuit eye movements in autism, we conducted a functional MRI study of visual motion perception to examine neurophysiology of visual system function in autism. Participants were 17 ...

Introduction. Until now, several studies have focused on the neural effects of creating music as a model to discover the relationship between creativity and the human brain, however, they only focus on pianists in previous studies (Bengtsson et al. 2007...

Predicting the recovery of independent ambulation after stroke may help guide expectations for recovery and assist in realistic goal setting. The prediction of gait recovery has been limited to predicting whole group outcomes, or multivariable regressio...

Altered macroscopic anatomical characteristics of the cerebral cortex have been identified in individuals affected by various neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the cellular developmental mechanisms that give rise to these abnormalities are not understood. Previously, advances in image reconstruction of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have made possible high-resolution in utero measurements of water diffusion anisotropy in the fetal brain. Here, diffusion anisotropy within the developing fetal cerebral cortex is longitudinally characterized in the rhesus macaque, focusing on gestation day (G85) through G135 of the 165 d term. Additionally, for subsets of animals characterized at G90 and G135, immunohistochemical staining was performed, and 3D structure tensor analyses were used to identify the cellular processes that most closely parallel changes in water diffusion anisotropy with cerebral cortical maturation. Strong correlations were found between maturation of dendritic arbors on the cellu...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has previously been used in humans to show functional separation between activation of dorsal and ventral visual areas using three dimensional structure from motion (SFM) stimuli (Naumer et al., Human Brain Mapping Abstr. 2000). We used identical stimuli to measure BOLD signals in ketamine anesthetized macaque monkeys (N=5). This imaging technique has recently been applied to monkeys anesthetized with isoflurane in a high magnetic field (4.7 T) scanner (Logothetis et al., 1999) and to awake monkeys in a standard 1.5T scanner (Vanduffel et al., Soc. Neurosci. Abst. 1998). Our fMRI study was performed at 1.5T using standard EPI sequences (Siemens Magnetom Vision, 8-16 slices, voxel size: 1.6 - 3.2 mm3, TR = 2-3 s). The head of the anesthetized monkeys was restrained in sphinx position with bolt implant and custom head holder or in supine position with cushions. Eye refraction was corrected with contact lenses. FMRI signals was analyzed using BrainVoyager 2000 incl...

The hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala, regions within the limbic system, are rich in glucocorticoid receptors and play an important role in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Research suggests that chroni...

Gustometers have made it possible to deliver liquids in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) settings for decades, and mouthpieces are a critical part of these taste delivery systems. Here, we propose an innovative 3D-printed fMRI mouthpiece inspired by children’s pacifiers, allowing human participants to swallow while lying down in an MRI scanner. We used a large sample to validate the effectiveness of our method. The results suggest that the mouthpiece can be used to deliver taste stimuli by showing significant clusters of activation in the insular and piriform cortex, which are regions that have been consistently identified in taste processing. This mouthpiece fulfills several criteria guaranteeing a gustatory stimulus of quality, making the delivery precise and reliable. Moreover, this new pacifier-shaped design is simple and cheap to manufacture, hygienic, comfortable to keep in the mouth, and flexible to use in diverse cases. We hope that this new method will promote and facilitate the study ...

Apathy presented as impaired motivation and reduced affective expression, is commonly diagnosed in patients with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Evidence suggests that in the initial pre-cognitive stage of Alzheimer’s disease the communica...

The present study examined the connectivity of an auditory-tactile multisensory area in ferret cortex, the lateral rostral suprasylvian sulcal area (LRSS) using two methods that evaluate neural connections: neuronal tract tracing and resting state funct...

INTRODUCTION The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest interhemisferic commissural pathway which connecting cortial and subcortical areas of cerebral hemispheres. The brain structures especially CC have a tendency to be affected by morphological changes i...