Mastodawn

D.Nemeth Dec 25, 2023

Does sleep itself promote memory consolidation? This is not evident at all. We will only ascertain this through well-designed experiments. Our fresh new article aims to elevate sleep and memory research to a higher level.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-023-00262-0

Optimizing the methodology of human sleep and memory research - Nature Reviews Psychology

Studies of the effect of sleep on learning and memory sometimes reveal conflicting or unreliable results. In this Perspective, Nemeth and colleagues review methodological challenges and make recommendations for improving the reliability of research in this field.

Nature

D.Nemeth Nov 17, 2023

Our new article on behavioral addiction is out!
Work addiction is not yet officially recognized as an addiction disorder. However, we have taken a step in that direction by mapping cognitive functioning in individuals exhibiting "workaholic" behaviors. This could also be a significant stride toward understanding and preventing burnout.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-47515-9

The neuropsychological profile of work addiction - Scientific Reports

The objective of this study was to examine, for the first time, the neuropsychological aspects of work addiction, with a specific emphasis on the cognitive factors identified by theoretical models. While previous research has highlighted self-reported obsessiveness and impulsiveness in work addiction, this study sought to go beyond self-report measures by employing also neuropsychological reaction time tasks to assess executive functions. A total of 101 participants were categorized into two groups based on their Work Addiction Risk Test scores: a high-risk group (HWA; n = 39) and a low-risk group (LWA; n = 62) for work addiction. Executive functions were assessed using Go/No-Go, Digit Span, Counting Span, N-back, and Card Sorting Tasks. The findings revealed that the HWA group had poorer inhibitory control and achieved lower scores on the more complex working memory task involving updating (2-back). However, they exhibited unaltered cognitive flexibility and outperformed the LWA group on the 1-back task associated with maintenance and storage of information and sustained attention. Higher levels of impulsiveness and compulsiveness were observed in the HWA group, consistent with previous studies. These findings highlight the role of inhibition and working memory in work addiction, potentially contributing to challenges such as inefficient working strategies and impaired social functioning. This study offers valuable insights into the neurocognitive aspects of work addiction, deepening our understanding of this phenomenon.

Nature

D.Nemeth Aug 12, 2023

Wow! Have you ever seen a scientific poster in #Barbie    style before? It’s so cool! Adore it! Maybe I’ll use it at the #SfN #Escop or #Psychonomics conference. I can’t wait to see posters in #StarWars, #StarTrek or #Oppenheimer style. That would be amazing!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1542912149/pink-scientific-research-poster-template?etsrc=sdt&utm_campaign=Share&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_source=DSMT2&utm_term=so.smt&share_time=1691834885000

Pink Scientific Research Poster Template to Present Your - Etsy

This Templates item is sold by PosterScientist. Ships from United States. Listed on Aug 12, 2023

D.Nemeth Jul 23, 2023

Our new article on intact statistical learning (with second-order non-adjacent dependencies) in autism is now available. Here, we propose that representational learning remains intact in individuals with autism.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-38708-3

#autism #learning #cognition

Intact predictive processing in autistic adults: evidence from statistical learning - Scientific Reports

Impairment in predictive processes gained a lot of attention in recent years as an explanation for autistic symptoms. However, empirical evidence does not always underpin this framework. Thus, it is unclear what aspects of predictive processing are affected in autism spectrum disorder. In this study, we tested autistic adults on a task in which participants acquire probability-based regularities (that is, a statistical learning task). Twenty neurotypical and 22 autistic adults learned a probabilistic, temporally distributed regularity for about 40 min. Using frequentist and Bayesian methods, we found that autistic adults performed comparably to neurotypical adults, and the dynamics of learning did not differ between groups either. Thus, our study provides evidence for intact statistical learning in autistic adults. Furthermore, we discuss potential ways this result can extend the scope of the predictive processing framework, noting that atypical processing might not always mean a deficit in performance.

Nature

D.Nemeth Jul 19, 2023

The Serial Reaction Time Task is not a motor learning but a visuomotor learning task. You can find our latest article about this topic published in the European J of Neurosci here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.16092

#neuroscience #cognition

D.Nemeth May 19, 2023

In a new article, my university classmate Vera Békés
and I developed a new grieving theory based on competitive learning and memory processes. It was published in the journal Brain Research Bulletin.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923023000862?via%3Dihub

D.Nemeth May 10, 2023

Our new preprint on mind wandering, predictive processing, statistical learning, and the possible link with local sleep is now available.
https://researchsquare.com/article/rs-2874035/v1

#predictions #learning #sleep #neuroscience

Mind wandering enhances predictive processing

This study investigated the potential adaptive aspects of mind wandering (MW), a common phenomenon in which individuals shift their attention from external tasks to internal thoughts. Despite the well-documented negative effects of MW on cognitive performance and links to psychiatric condition...

D.Nemeth Apr 3, 2023

Although practitioners recognize impaired interpersonal distance regulation in autism spectrum disorder, there is little empirical evidence in scientific literature. In our new ms, we focused on this topic.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0283761

Altered interpersonal distance regulation in autism spectrum disorder

Interpersonal distance regulation is an essential element of social communication. Its impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is widely acknowledged among practitioners, but only a handful of studies reported empirical research in real-life settings, focusing mainly on children. Interpersonal distance in adults with ASD and related autonomic functions received less attention. Here, we measured interpersonal distance along with heart rate variability (HRV) in adults with ASD, and tested the modulatory effects of eye-contact and attribution. Twenty-two adults diagnosed with ASD and 21 matched neurotypical controls participated in our study from October 2019 to February 2020. Our experimental design combined the modified version of the stop distance paradigm with HRV measurement controlling for eye contact between the experimenter and the participant to measure interpersonal distance. Still, we did not detect significant modulatory effect of eye contact and attribution. Our results showed a greater preferred distance in ASD. Moreover, we found lower baseline HRV and reduced HRV reactivity in ASD; however, these autonomic measurements could not predict preferred interpersonal distance. Our study highlights the importance of interpersonal space regulation in ASD: it might be considered that people with ASD need individually variable, presumably greater interpersonal distance. In addition, regardless of the distance they may have reduced autonomic regulatory capacity in social situations. Our results could help shape future experiments with sophisticated designs to grasp the complexity and underlying factors of distance regulation in typical and atypical populations.

D.Nemeth Mar 22, 2023

Our new publication is now available.
We employed a combination of RIDE (residue iteration decomposition) and MVPA (multivariate pattern analysis) on EEG data to demonstrate that probability information can be decoded both as modality-specific and modality-independent neural representation in sequence learning.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhad079

Modality-specific and modality-independent neural representations work in concert in predictive processes during sequence learning

Abstract. Probabilistic sequence learning supports the development of skills and enables predictive processing. It remains contentious whether visuomotor sequen

OUP Academic

D.Nemeth Mar 11, 2023

Nicole Rust Mar 10, 2023

On explanations in brain research:

A thread of the same idea comes up again and again in brain research. It's the notion that identifying the biological details (such as the brain areas/circuits or neurotransmitters) associated with some brain function (like seeing or fear or memory) is not a complete explanation of how the brain gives rise to that function (even if you can demonstrate the links are causal). To paraphrase:

Mountcastle: Where is not how https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674661882
Marr: How is not what or why http://mechanism.ucsd.edu/teaching/f18/David_Marr_Vision_A_Computational_Investigation_into_the_Human_Representation_and_Processing_of_Visual_Information.chapter1.pdf
@MatteoCarandini: Links from circuits to behavior are a "bridge too far" https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3043
Krakauer et al: Describing that is not understanding how https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(16)31040-6.pdf
Poppel: Understanding brain maps does not formulate "what about" the brain gives rise to "what about" behavior https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498052/

Any other explicit references to add to this list? @Iris, @knutson_brain, Anyone?

Also, I imagine that some form of the opposite idea must also be percolating: the notion that 'algorithmic' descriptions of the type used to build AI will be insufficient to do things like treat brain dysfunction (where we arguably need to know more about the biology to, e.g., create drugs). Any explicit references of that idea? @albertcardona @schoppik, @cyrilpedia, Anyone?

#neuroscience #cognition #neuroAI #psychology #philosophy

Perceptual Neuroscience — Vernon B. Mountcastle

This monumental work by one of the world's greatest living neuroscientists does nothing short of creating a new subdiscipline in the field: perceptual neuroscience. Vernon Mountcastle has gathered information from a vast number of sources reaching back through two centuries, from phylogenetic, comparative, and neuroanatomical studies of the neocortex to rhythmicity and synchronization in neocortical networks and inquiries into the binding problem.