15 results on '"Taschereau-Dumouchel V"'
Search Results
2. Modulating observer's pain by manipulating the diagnosticity of face stimuli for the recognition of the expression of pain
- Author
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Roy, C., primary, Taschereau-Dumouchel, V., additional, Fiset, D., additional, Rainville, P., additional, and Gosselin, F., additional
- Published
- 2010
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3. A double-blind trial of decoded neurofeedback intervention for specific phobias.
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Cushing CA, Lau H, Kawato M, Craske MG, and Taschereau-Dumouchel V
- Abstract
Aim: A new closed-loop functional magnetic resonance imaging method called multivoxel neuroreinforcement has the potential to alleviate the subjective aversiveness of exposure-based interventions by directly inducing phobic representations in the brain, outside of conscious awareness. The current study seeks to test this method as an intervention for specific phobia., Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, controlled single-university trial, individuals diagnosed with at least two (one target, one control) animal subtype-specific phobias were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive one, three, or five sessions of multivoxel neuroreinforcement in which they were rewarded for implicit activation of a target animal representation. Amygdala response to phobic stimuli was assessed by study staff blind to target and control animal assignments. Pretreatment to posttreatment differences were analyzed with a two-way repeated-measures anova., Results: A total of 23 participants (69.6% female) were randomized to receive one (n = 8), three (n = 7), or five (n = 7) sessions of multivoxel neuroreinforcement. Eighteen (n = 6 each group) participants were analyzed for our primary outcome. After neuroreinforcement, we observed an interaction indicating a significant decrease in amygdala response for the target phobia but not the control phobia. No adverse events or dropouts were reported as a result of the intervention., Conclusion: Results suggest that multivoxel neuroreinforcement can specifically reduce threat signatures in specific phobia. Consequently, this intervention may complement conventional psychotherapy approaches with a nondistressing experience for patients seeking treatment. This trial sets the stage for a larger randomized clinical trial to replicate these results and examine the effects on real-life exposure., Clinical Trial Registration: The now-closed trial was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with ID NCT03655262., (© 2024 The Author(s). Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.)
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- 2024
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4. Metacognition as a window into subjective affective experience.
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Cushing CA, Lau H, Hofmann SG, LeDoux JE, and Taschereau-Dumouchel V
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- Humans, Affect physiology, Consciousness physiology, Animals, Emotions physiology, Metacognition physiology
- Abstract
When patients seek professional help for mental disorders, they often do so because of troubling subjective affective experiences. While these subjective states are at the center of the patient's symptomatology, scientific tools for studying them and their cognitive antecedents are limited. Here, we explore the use of concepts and analytic tools from the science of consciousness, a field of research that has faced similar challenges in having to develop robust empirical methods for addressing a phenomenon that has been considered difficult to pin down experimentally. One important strand is the operationalization of some relevant processes in terms of metacognition and confidence ratings, which can be rigorously studied in both humans and animals. By assessing subjective experience with similar approaches, we hope to develop new scientific approaches for studying affective processes and promoting psychological resilience in the face of debilitating emotional experiences., (© 2024 The Author(s). Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.)
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- 2024
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5. A generative adversarial model of intrusive imagery in the human brain.
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Cushing CA, Dawes AJ, Hofmann SG, Lau H, LeDoux JE, and Taschereau-Dumouchel V
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The mechanisms underlying the subjective experiences of mental disorders remain poorly understood. This is partly due to long-standing over-emphasis on behavioral and physiological symptoms and a de-emphasis of the patient's subjective experiences when searching for treatments. Here, we provide a new perspective on the subjective experience of mental disorders based on findings in neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, we propose the subjective experience that occurs in visual imagination depends on mechanisms similar to generative adversarial networks that have recently been developed in AI. The basic idea is that a generator network fabricates a prediction of the world, and a discriminator network determines whether it is likely real or not. Given that similar adversarial interactions occur in the two major visual pathways of perception in people, we explored whether we could leverage this AI-inspired approach to better understand the intrusive imagery experiences of patients suffering from mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder. In our model, a nonconscious visual pathway generates predictions of the environment that influence the parallel but interacting conscious pathway. We propose that in some patients, an imbalance in these adversarial interactions leads to an overrepresentation of disturbing content relative to current reality, and results in debilitating flashbacks. By situating the subjective experience of intrusive visual imagery in the adversarial interaction of these visual pathways, we propose testable hypotheses on novel mechanisms and clinical applications for controlling and possibly preventing symptoms resulting from intrusive imagery., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of National Academy of Sciences.)
- Published
- 2023
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6. Conducting decoded neurofeedback studies.
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Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Cortese A, Lau H, and Kawato M
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- Humans, Machine Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurofeedback
- Abstract
Closed-loop neurofeedback has sparked great interest since its inception in the late 1960s. However, the field has historically faced various methodological challenges. Decoded fMRI neurofeedback may provide solutions to some of these problems. Notably, thanks to the recent advancements of machine learning approaches, it is now possible to target unconscious occurrences of specific multivoxel representations. In this tools of the trade paper, we discuss how to implement these interventions in rigorous double-blind placebo-controlled experiments. We aim to provide a step-by-step guide to address some of the most common methodological and analytical considerations. We also discuss tools that can be used to facilitate the implementation of new experiments. We hope that this will encourage more researchers to try out this powerful new intervention method., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.)
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- 2021
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7. The DecNef collection, fMRI data from closed-loop decoded neurofeedback experiments.
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Cortese A, Tanaka SC, Amano K, Koizumi A, Lau H, Sasaki Y, Shibata K, Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Watanabe T, and Kawato M
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- Adult, Datasets as Topic, Female, Humans, Male, Young Adult, Brain diagnostic imaging, Machine Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurofeedback
- Abstract
Decoded neurofeedback (DecNef) is a form of closed-loop functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) combined with machine learning approaches, which holds some promises for clinical applications. Yet, currently only a few research groups have had the opportunity to run such experiments; furthermore, there is no existing public dataset for scientists to analyse and investigate some of the factors enabling the manipulation of brain dynamics. We release here the data from published DecNef studies, consisting of 5 separate fMRI datasets, each with multiple sessions recorded per participant. For each participant the data consists of a session that was used in the main experiment to train the machine learning decoder, and several (from 3 to 10) closed-loop fMRI neural reinforcement sessions. The large dataset, currently comprising more than 60 participants, will be useful to the fMRI community at large and to researchers trying to understand the mechanisms underlying non-invasive modulation of brain dynamics. Finally, the data collection size will increase over time as data from newly run DecNef studies will be added.
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- 2021
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8. Current Status of Neurofeedback for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review and the Possibility of Decoded Neurofeedback.
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Chiba T, Kanazawa T, Koizumi A, Ide K, Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Boku S, Hishimoto A, Shirakawa M, Sora I, Lau H, Yoneda H, and Kawato M
- Abstract
Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a neuropsychiatric affective disorder that can develop after traumatic life-events. Exposure-based therapy is currently one of the most effective treatments for PTSD. However, exposure to traumatic stimuli is so aversive that a significant number of patients drop-out of therapy during the course of treatment. Among various attempts to develop novel therapies that bypass such aversiveness, neurofeedback appears promising. With neurofeedback, patients can unconsciously self-regulate brain activity via real-time monitoring and feedback of the EEG or fMRI signals. With conventional neurofeedback methods, however, it is difficult to induce neural representation related to specific trauma because the feedback is based on the neural signals averaged within specific brain areas. To overcome this difficulty, novel neurofeedback approaches such as Decoded Neurofeedback (DecNef) might prove helpful. Instead of the average BOLD signals, DecNef allows patients to implicitly regulate multivariate voxel patterns of the BOLD signals related with feared stimuli. As such, DecNef effects are postulated to derive either from exposure or counter-conditioning, or some combination of both. Although the exact mechanism is not yet fully understood. DecNef has been successfully applied to reduce fear responses induced either by fear-conditioned or phobic stimuli among non-clinical participants. Methods: Follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic review was conducted to compare DecNef effect with those of conventional EEG/fMRI-based neurofeedback on PTSD amelioration. To elucidate the possible mechanisms of DecNef on fear reduction, we mathematically modeled the effects of exposure-based and counter conditioning separately and applied it to the data obtained from past DecNef studies. Finally, we conducted DecNef on four PTSD patients. Here, we review recent advances in application of neurofeedback to PTSD treatments, including the DecNef. This review is intended to be informative for neuroscientists in general as well as practitioners planning to use neurofeedback as a therapeutic strategy for PTSD. Results: Our mathematical model suggested that exposure is the key component for DecNef effects in the past studies. Following DecNef a significant reduction of PTSD severity was observed. This effect was comparable to those reported for conventional neurofeedback approach. Conclusions: Although a much larger number of participants will be needed in future, DecNef could be a promising therapy that bypasses the unpleasantness of conscious exposure associated with conventional therapies for fear related disorders, including PTSD.
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- 2019
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9. Towards an unconscious neural reinforcement intervention for common fears.
- Author
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Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Cortese A, Chiba T, Knotts JD, Kawato M, and Lau H
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- Adult, Animals, Brain Mapping, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Photic Stimulation, Young Adult, Brain physiology, Fear physiology, Phobic Disorders physiopathology, Reinforcement, Psychology, Unconsciousness
- Abstract
Can "hardwired" physiological fear responses (e.g., for spiders and snakes) be reprogramed unconsciously in the human brain? Currently, exposure therapy is among the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders, but this intervention is subjectively aversive to patients, causing many to drop out of treatment prematurely. Here we introduce a method to bypass the subjective unpleasantness in conscious exposure, by directly pairing monetary reward with unconscious occurrences of decoded representations of naturally feared animals in the brain. To decode physiological fear representations without triggering excessively aversive reactions, we capitalize on recent advancements in functional magnetic resonance imaging decoding techniques, and use a method called hyperalignment to infer the relevant representations of feared animals for a designated participant based on data from other "surrogate" participants. In this way, the procedure completely bypasses the need for a conscious encounter with feared animals. We demonstrate that our method can lead to reliable reductions in physiological fear responses, as measured by skin conductance as well as amygdala hemodynamic activity. Not only do these results raise the intriguing possibility that naturally occurring fear responses can be "reprogrammed" outside of conscious awareness, importantly, they also create the rare opportunity to rigorously test a psychological intervention of this nature in a double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion. This may pave the way for a new approach combining the appealing rationale and proven efficacy of conventional psychotherapy with the rigor and leverage of clinical neuroscience., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement: M.K. is the inventor of patents related to the DecNef method used in this study, and the original assignee of the patents is Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, with which the authors are affiliated., (Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)
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- 2018
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10. Measuring away an attentional confound?
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Morales J, Mouradi Y, Sergent C, Block N, Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Rosenthal D, Grimaldi P, and Lau H
- Abstract
A recent fMRI study by Webb et al. (Cortical networks involved in visual awareness independent of visual attention, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113 :13923-28) proposes a new method for finding the neural correlates of awareness by matching attention across awareness conditions. The experimental design, however, seems at odds with known features of attention. We highlight logical and methodological points that are critical when trying to disentangle attention and awareness.
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- 2017
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11. BDNF Val 66 Met Polymorphism Influences Visuomotor Associative Learning and the Sensitivity to Action Observation.
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Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Hétu S, Michon PE, Vachon-Presseau E, Massicotte E, De Beaumont L, Fecteau S, Poirier J, Mercier C, Chagnon YC, and Jackson PL
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- Adult, Alleles, Evoked Potentials, Female, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Homozygote, Humans, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Young Adult, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor genetics, Mirror Neurons physiology
- Abstract
Motor representations in the human mirror neuron system are tuned to respond to specific observed actions. This ability is widely believed to be influenced by genetic factors, but no study has reported a genetic variant affecting this system so far. One possibility is that genetic variants might interact with visuomotor associative learning to configure the system to respond to novel observed actions. In this perspective, we conducted a candidate gene study on the Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism, a genetic variant linked to motor learning in regions of the mirror neuron system, and tested the effect of this polymorphism on motor facilitation and visuomotor associative learning. In a single-pulse TMS study carried on 16 Met (Val/Met and Met/Met) and 16 Val/Val participants selected from a large pool of healthy volunteers, Met participants showed significantly less muscle-specific corticospinal sensitivity during action observation, as well as reduced visuomotor associative learning, compared to Val homozygotes. These results are the first evidence of a genetic variant tuning sensitivity to action observation and bring to light the importance of considering the intricate relation between genetics and associative learning in order to further understand the origin and function of the human mirror neuron system.
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- 2016
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12. Behavioral and TMS Markers of Action Observation Might Reflect Distinct Neuronal Processes.
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Hétu S, Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Meziane HB, Jackson PL, and Mercier C
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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have shown that observing an action induces muscle-specific changes in corticospinal excitability. From a signal detection theory standpoint, this pattern can be related to sensitivity, which here would measure the capacity to distinguish between two action observation conditions. In parallel to these TMS studies, action observation has also been linked to behavioral effects such as motor priming and interference. It has been hypothesized that behavioral markers of action observation could be related to TMS markers and thus represent a potentially cost-effective mean of assessing the functioning of the action-perception system. However, very few studies have looked at possible relationships between these two measures. The aim of this study was to investigate if individual differences in sensitivity to action observation could be related to the behavioral motor priming and interference effects produced by action observation. To this end, 14 healthy participants observed index and little finger movements during a TMS task and a stimulus-response compatibility task. Index muscle displayed sensitivity to action observation, and action observation resulted in significant motor priming+interference, while no significant effect was observed for the little finger in both task. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the sensitivity measured in TMS was not related to the behavioral changes measured in the stimulus-response compatibility task. Contrary to a widespread assumption, the current results indicate that individual differences in physiological and behavioral markers of action observation may be unrelated. This could have important impacts on the potential use of behavioral markers in place of more costly physiological markers of action observation in clinical settings.
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- 2016
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13. BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism Is Associated with Self-Reported Empathy.
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Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Hétu S, Bagramian A, Labrecque A, Racine M, Chagnon YC, and Jackson PL
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- Adult, Female, Genotype, Humans, Male, Self Report, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor genetics, Empathy genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide genetics
- Abstract
Empathy is an important driver of human social behaviors and presents genetic roots that have been studied in neuroimaging using the intermediate phenotype approach. Notably, the Val66Met polymorphism of the Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene has been identified as a potential target in neuroimaging studies based on its influence on emotion perception and social cognition, but its impact on self-reported empathy has never been documented. Using a neurogenetic approach, we investigated the association between the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and self-reported empathy (Davis' Interpersonal Reactivity Index; IRI) in a sample of 110 young adults. Our results indicate that the BDNF genotype is significantly associated with the linear combination of the four facets of the IRI, one of the most widely used self-reported empathy questionnaire. Crucially, the effect of BDNF Val66Met goes beyond the variance explained by two polymorphisms of the oxytocin transporter gene previously associated with empathy and its neural underpinnings (OXTR rs53576 and rs2254298). These results represent the first evidence suggesting a link between the BDNF gene and self-reported empathy and warrant further studies of this polymorphism due to its potential clinical significance.
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- 2016
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14. A refined examination of the facial cues contributing to vicarious effects on self-pain and spinal responses.
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Roy C, Fiset D, Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Gosselin F, and Rainville P
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- Adult, Arousal physiology, Cues, Electric Stimulation, Emotions physiology, Female, Humans, Male, Pain physiopathology, Pain Measurement, Reflex physiology, Empathy physiology, Facial Expression, Pain psychology, Pain Perception physiology, Spinal Cord physiopathology
- Abstract
Unlabelled: Vicarious pain has been shown to enhance observers' nociceptive reactivity and pain perception. We exposed healthy participants to specific parts of facial pain expressions in order to investigate which components are required to induce this modulation. We created 2 classes of stimuli: one containing the most useful information for identification of pain expressions (diagnostic) and one containing the least useful information (antidiagnostic). Twenty-eight normal volunteers received electrical stimulation of the sural nerve immediately after they viewed these stimuli. Subjective ratings (intensity and unpleasantness) as well as the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) evoked by the shock were recorded. Results show that diagnostic stimuli lead to higher subjective ratings of shock pain than the antidiagnostic stimuli, but the stimuli classes had no significant impact on the NFR. A control experiment showed that our facial stimuli were given very low valence and arousal ratings compared to stimuli previously used to demonstrate the effect of emotional pictures on pain. Thus, the results are unlikely to be explained by emotions felt by the observer and suggest a vicarious facilitation of supraspinal pain processing induced by key features underlying pain expressions recognition. Results provide further support to the perception-action model of empathy., Perspective: This study demonstrates that visual features that are efficiently used for the recognition of pain expressions are sufficient to induce a vicarious facilitation of self-pain. Supraspinal pain responses were modulated by the informativeness of the areas of the pain expressions that participants viewed prior to the painful stimulations., (Copyright © 2013 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2013
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15. Interattribute Distances do not Represent the Identity of Real World Faces.
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Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Rossion B, Schyns PG, and Gosselin F
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According to an influential view, based on studies of development and of the face inversion effect, human face recognition relies mainly on the treatment of the distances among internal facial features. However, there is surprisingly little evidence supporting this claim. Here, we first use a sample of 515 face photographs to estimate the face recognition information available in interattribute distances. We demonstrate that previous studies of interattribute distances generated faces that exaggerated by 376% this information compared to real-world faces. When human observers are required to recognize faces solely on the basis of real-world interattribute distances, they perform poorly across a broad range of viewing distances (equivalent to 2 to more than 16 m in the real-world). In contrast, recognition is almost perfect when observers recognize faces on the basis of real-world information other than interattribute distances such as attribute shapes and skin properties. We conclude that facial cues other than interattribute distances such as attribute shapes and skin properties are the dominant information of face recognition mechanisms.
- Published
- 2010
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