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The phenotype of triple X syndrome comprises a variety of physical, psychiatric, and cognitive features. Recent evidence suggests that patients are prone to severe language impairments. However, it remains unclear whether verbal impairments are pervasive at all levels of language, or whether one domain is relatively more spared than others. Here we document the language profile of one patient with triple X, using standardized language tests and reports. Results concur in showing that impairments are noticeable both in expressive and receptive language skills, and in vocabulary as well as in structural components of language. Although receptive ability in some tests appears relatively spared, even here A's performance is clearly below average. This single case study further underscores that language and communication at all levels can be severely compromised in patients with triple X. Practitioners should be aware of the limited language abilities that possibly exist in patients with triple X.

Funder: H2020 European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663, Funder: Research Foundation Flanders, Funder: Universiteit Gent; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004385, Funder: Marguerite-Marie Delacroix, Funder: Autistica; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011706, Funder: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004472; Grant(s): NHS14-1802:1, Funder: K.F. Hein Fonds, Funder: Scott Family Junior Research Fellowship, Autism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals’ mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7–9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years.

Contains fulltext : 216125.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Atypical visual segmentation, affecting object perception, might contribute to face processing problems in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current study investigated impairments in visual segmentation of faces in ASD. Thirty participants (ASD: 16; Control: 14) viewed texture-defined faces, houses, and homogeneous images, while electroencephalographic and behavioral responses were recorded. The ASD group showed slower face-segmentation related brain activity and longer segmentation reaction times than the control group, but no difference in house-segmentation related activity or behavioral performance. Furthermore, individual differences in face-segmentation but not house-segmentation correlated with score on the Autism Quotient. Segmentation is thus selectively impaired for faces in ASD, and relates to the degree of ASD traits. Face segmentation relates to recurrent connectivity from the fusiform face area (FFA) to the visual cortex. These findings thus suggest that atypical connectivity from the FFA might contribute to delayed face processing in ASD. 8 p.

Contains fulltext : 220227.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show atypical processing of facial expressions. Research with autistic toddlers suggests that abnormalities in processing of spatial frequencies (SFs) contribute to such differences. The current event-related-potential (ERP) study investigated differences between 10-month-old infants with high- and low-likelihood for ASD in SF processing and in discrimination of fearful and neutral faces, filtered to contain specific SF. Results indicate no group differences in general processing of higher (HSF, detailed) and lower-SF (LSF, global) information. However, unlike low-likelihood infants, high-likelihood infants do not discriminate between facial expressions when either the LSF or HSF information is available. Combined with previous findings in toddlers, the current results indicate a developmental delay in efficient processing of facial expressions in ASD. 12 p.

Social competence refers to the ability to engage in meaningful interactions with others. It is a crucial skill potentially malleable to interventions. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to select which children, which periods in a child's life, and which underlying skills form optimal targets for interventions. Development of social competence is complex to characterize because (a) it is by nature context- dependent; (b) it is subserved by multiple relevant processes that develop at different times in a child's life; and (c) over the years multiple, possibly conflicting, ways have been coined to index a child's social competence. The current paper elaborates upon a theoretical model of social competence developed by Rose-Krasnor (Rose- Krasnor, 1997; Rose-Krasnor and Denham, 2009), and it makes concrete how underlying skills and the variety of contexts of social interaction are both relevant dimensions of social competence that might change over development. It then illustrates how the cohorts and work packages in the Consortium on Individual Development each provide empirical contributions necessary for testing this model on the development of social competence.

This paper compared three different procedures common in infant speech perception research: a headturn preference procedure (HPP) and a central-fixation (CF) procedure with either automated eye-tracking (CF-ET) or manual coding (CF-M). In theory, such procedures all measure the same underlying speech perception and learning mechanisms and the choice between them should ideally be irrelevant in unveiling infant preference. However, the ManyBabies study (ManyBabies Consortium, 2019), a cross-laboratory collaboration on infants' preference for child-directed speech, revealed that choice of procedure can modulate effect sizes. Here we examined whether procedure also modulates preference in paradigms that add a learning phase prior to test: a speech segmentation paradigm. Such paradigms are particularly important for studying the learning mechanisms infants can employ for language acquisition. We carried out the same familiarization-then-test experiment with the three different procedures (32 unique infants per procedure). Procedures were compared on various factors, such as overall effect, average looking time and drop-out rate. The key observations are that the HPP yielded a larger familiarity preference, but also reported larger drop-out rates. This raises questions about the generalizability of results. We argue that more collaborative research into different procedures in infant preference experiments is required in order to interpret the variation in infant preferences more accurately.

Highlights • We report longitudinal ERP data of 80 infants in a face-discrimination task. • P1, N290, Nc are all sensitive to faces in five-month-olds. • P1, N290, Nc show equal face-categorization in infants tested longitudinally. • N290 shows less variation in face-categorization trajectories than P1 or Nc. • Visual ERPs increase in amplitude over infancy, but this is not face-specific., From infancy onwards, EEG is widely used to measure face-categorization, i.e. differential brain activity to faces versus non-face stimuli. Four ERP components likely signal infants’ face-sensitivity but reflect different underlying mechanisms: the P1, N290, P400, Nc. We test whether these components reveal similar developmental patterns from early to late infancy, using a longitudinal dataset of 80 infants tested at 5 and 10 months. The P1, N290, and the Nc show face-categorization already in 5-months-olds, a pattern which did not change over time. Development is visible as increased amplitudes in all components, but similar for face and non-face stimuli. By using Markov models, we illustrate that there are differences in the distribution of individual trajectories of face-categorization components from 5 to 10 months. Whereas individual trajectories appear more varied for the Nc and the P1, the N290 reveals a more consistent pattern: a larger proportion of 5-month-olds shows the dominant group response; a larger proportion of 10-month-olds remains in this group, and larger proportions of the alternative trajectories from 5- to 10-month-olds move towards the dominant group. This is vital information when one wants to examine individual differences in infant ERPs related to face-categorization.

Contains fulltext : 218961pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Contains fulltext : 218961pos.pdf (Author’s version postprint ) (Open Access) Cues that predict the future location of emotional stimuli may evoke an anticipatory form of automatic attentional bias. The reliability of this bias towards threat is uncertain: experimental design may need to be optimized or individual differences may simply be relatively noisy in the general population. The current study therefore aimed to determine the split-half reliability of the bias, in a design with fewer factors and more trials than in previous work. A sample of 63 participants was used for analysis, who performed the cued Visual Probe Task online, which aims to measure an anticipatory attentional bias. The overall bias towards threat was tested and split-half reliability was calculated over even and odd blocks. Results showed a significant bias towards threat and a reliability of around 0.7. The results support systematic individual differences in anticipatory attentional bias and demonstrate that RT-based bias scores, with online data collection, can be reliable. 6 p.

Contains fulltext : 222233.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Previous studies suggest that cues predicting the outcome of attentional shifts provide a measure of anticipatory alcohol-related attentional bias that is correlated with risky drinking and has high reliability. However, this is complicated by potential contributions of visual features of cues to reliability, unrelated to their predictive value. Further, little is known of the sensitivity of the bias to variations in cue-outcome mapping manipulations, limiting our theoretical and methodological knowledge: Does the bias robustly follow varying cue-outcome mappings, or are there automatic cue-related associative processes involved? The current studies aimed to address these issues. Participants performed variations of the cued Visual Probe Task (cVPT) in which cues were non-predictive; in which there were multiple cue pairs, used simultaneously and serially; and in which the cue-outcome mapping was reversed. The major findings were, first, that previously found reliability cannot be attributed to aspects of the cues not related to outcome-prediction; second, that reliability of the bias does not survive deviations from a simple, consistent cue-outcome mapping; third, that all predictive versions of the task showed a bias towards alcohol; fourth, that the bias did not simply follow awareness of the cue-outcome mapping; and finally, that only in the case of simultaneous multiple cue pairs, an association with risky drinking was replicated. The results provide support for the reliability of the anticipatory attentional bias for alcohol, suggest that relatively persistent associative processes underlie the bias in the alcohol context, and provide a foundation for future work using the cVPT. 6 p.

Eye tracking is a popular research tool in developmental cognitive neuroscience for studying the development of perceptual and cognitive processes. However, eye tracking in the context of development is also challenging. In this paper, we ask how knowledge on eye-tracking data quality can be used to improve eye-tracking recordings and analyses in longitudinal research so that valid conclusions about child development may be drawn. We answer this question by adopting the data-quality perspective and surveying the eye-tracking setup, training protocols, and data analysis of the YOUth study (investigating neurocognitive development of 6000 children). We first show how our eye-tracking setup has been optimized for recording high-quality eye-tracking data. Second, we show that eye-tracking data quality can be operator-dependent even after a thorough training protocol. Finally, we report distributions of eye-tracking data quality measures for four age groups (5 months, 10 months, 3 years, and 9 years), based on 1531 recordings. We end with advice for (prospective) developmental eye-tracking researchers and generalizations to other methodologies. Keywords: Eye tracking, Data quality, Development, Data analysis, Longitudinal

Most modern video eye trackers deliver binocular data. Many researchers take the average of the left and right eye signals (the version signal) to decrease the variable error (precision) up to a factor of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$\sqrt {2}$\end{document}2. What happens to the systematic error (accuracy) if the left and right eye signals are averaged? To determine the systematic error, we conducted a calibration validation in two experiments (n= 79 and n = 64). The systematic error was computed for the left eye, right eye, and version signals separately. In respectively 29.5 and 25.8% of the participants, the systematic error of a single eye signal was lower than that of the version signal at the cost of a higher variable error. If a small variable error is desirable, and the difference between the left and the right eye is not the topic of study, one should average position data from the left and the right eye (in other words, use the version signal). If a small systematic error is desirable, one should use the signal (from left eye, right eye or version) that delivers the best accuracy. In the latter case, this may cause worse precision than that of the version signal.

Gaze allocation to human faces has recently been shown to be greatly dependent on the social context. However, what has not been considered explicitly here, is how gaze allocation may be supportive of the specific task that individuals carry out. In the present study, we combined these two insights. We investigated (1) how gaze allocation to facial features in face-to-face communication is dependent on the task-structure and (2) how gaze allocation to facial features is dependent on the gaze behavior of an interacting partner. To this end, participants and a confederate were asked to converse, while their eye movements were monitored using a state-of-the-art dual eye-tracking system. This system is unique in that participants can look each other directly in the eyes. We report that gaze allocation depends on the sub-task being carried out (speaking vs. listening). Moreover, we show that a confederate's gaze shift away from the participants affects their gaze allocation more than a gaze shift towards them. In a second experiment, we show that this gaze-guidance effect is not primarily stimulus-driven. We assert that gaze guidance elicited by the confederate looking away is related to the participants' sub-task of monitoring the confederate for when they can begin speaking. This study exemplifies the importance of both task structure and social context for gaze allocation during face-to-face communication.

Highlights • This article describes the rationale, design, and procedures of the YOUth cohort. • YOUth is set up to investigate what drives the development of social competence and self-regulation in children. • YOUth specifically investigates the role of neurocognitive development in child development. • YOUth has a flexible longitudinal design with repeated measurements throughout childhood, starting prenatally., Behavioral development in children shows large inter-individual variation, and is driven by the interplay between biological, psychological, and environmental processes. However, there is still little insight into how these processes interact. The YOUth cohort specifically focuses on two core characteristics of behavioral development: social competence and self-regulation. Social competence refers to the ability to engage in meaningful interactions with others, whereas self-regulation is the ability to control one’s emotions, behavior, and impulses, to balance between reactivity and control of the reaction, and to adjust to the prevailing environment. YOUth is an accelerated population-based longitudinal cohort study with repeated measurements, centering on two groups: YOUth Baby & Child and YOUth Child & Adolescent. YOUth Baby & Child aims to include 3,000 pregnant women, their partners and children, wheras YOUth Child & Adolescent aims to include 2,000 children aged between 8 and 10 years old and their parents. All participants will be followed for at least 6 years, and potentially longer. In this paper we describe in detail the design of this study, the population included, the determinants, intermediate neurocognitive measures and outcomes included in the study. Furthermore, we describe in detail the procedures of inclusion, informed consent, and study participation.

Contains fulltext : 226061.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and modulate emotions, behaviour, and cognition in order to adapt to changing circumstances. Developing adequate self-regulation is associated with better social coping and higher educational achievement later in life; poor self-regulation has been linked to a variety of detrimental developmental outcomes. Here, we focus on the development of neurocognitive processes essential for self-regulation. We outline a conceptual framework emphasizing that this is inherently an integrated, dynamic process involving interactions between brain maturation, child characteristics (genetic makeup, temperament, and pre- and perinatal factors) and environmental factors (family characteristics, parents and siblings, peers, and broader societal influences including media development). We introduce the Consortium of Individual Development (CID), which combines a series of integrated large-scale, multi-modal, longitudinal studies to take essential steps towards the ultimate goal of understanding and supporting this process. 9 p.

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a sensory phenomenon commonly characterized by pleasant tingling sensations arising from the back of the head and accompanied by feelings of relaxation and calmness. Although research has found ASMR to have a distinct physiological pattern with increased skin conductance levels and reduced heart rate, the specific tingles felt in ASMR have not received much investigation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the physiology and characteristics of ASMR further by examining whether experiencing ASMR is visible from the pupil of the eye. A total of 91 participants were recruited and assigned to three different groups based on their experience of ASMR (ASMR vs. non-ASMR vs. unsure). Participants were instructed to watch a control video and an ASMR video and to report any tingling sensations by pressing down a button on the keyboard. Pupil diameter was measured over the duration of both videos using a tower-mounted eye tracker. Data was analyzed on a general level, averaging pupil diameter over each video, as well as on a more specific level, comparing pupil diameter during reported episodes of tingling sensations to pupil diameter outside of those episodes. On the general level, results revealed no significant differences between the groups. On the specific level, however, the tingling sensations experienced in ASMR were found to cause statistically significant increases in pupil diameter, demonstrating that they have a physiological basis. The results of the study further reinforce the credibility of ASMR and suggest that the tingles felt in ASMR are at the very core of the experience itself.

Functional Electroencephalography (EEG) networks in infants have been proposed as useful biomarkers for developmental brain disorders. However, the reliability of these networks and their characteristics has not been established. We evaluated the reliability of these networks and their characteristics in 10-month-old infants. Data were obtained during two EEG sessions 1 week apart and was subsequently analyzed at delta (0.5-3 Hz), theta (3-6 Hz), alpha1 (6-9 Hz), alpha2 (9-12 Hz), beta (12-25 Hz), and low gamma (25-45 Hz) frequency bands. Connectivity matrices were created by calculating the phase lag index between all channel pairs at given frequency bands. To determine the reliability of these connectivity matrices, intra-class correlations were calculated of global connectivity, local connectivity, and several graph characteristics. Comparing both sessions, global connectivity, as well as global graph characteristics (characteristic path length and average clustering coefficient) are highly reliable across multiple frequency bands; the alpha1 and theta band having the highest reliability in general. In contrast, local connectivity characteristics were less reliable across all frequency bands. We conclude that global connectivity measures are highly reliable over sessions. Local connectivity measures show lower reliability over sessions. This research therefore underlines the possibility of these global network characteristics to be used both as biomarkers of neurodevelopmental disorders, but also as important factors explaining development of typical behavior. [Abstract copyright: © 2019 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.]

Given the importance of self-regulation for a broad range of developmental outcomes, identifying reliable precursors of self-regulation early in development is important for early prevention of developmental problems. The aim of this study was to examine whether three visual attention measures (fixation duration, variation in fixation duration, and disengagement) in infancy (9.10–11.43 months of age) predicted effortful control and compliance in toddlerhood (26.71–31.80 months). The sample consisted of 74 children (50% boys). In infancy, two eye-tracking tasks were conducted: a visual search task to assess fixation duration and variation in fixation duration (n = 58) and the gap–overlap task to assess disengagement (n = 49). In toddlerhood, children’s effortful control (n = 65) and compliance (n = 65) were assessed by parent reports and observed during a delay of gratification task and a cleanup session together with the parents, respectively. Using full information maximum likelihood to account for missing data, multiple regression analyses revealed that, when all three measures of visual attention were taken into account, longer fixations and less variation in fixation duration in infancy predicted better effortful control. Disengagement did not predict effortful control. Compliance in toddlerhood was not predicted by any of the visual attention measures. These findings may indicate that visual attentional measures in infancy predict relatively independent forms of self-regulation in toddlerhood. Future studies are necessary to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie the association between (variation in) fixation duration in infancy and effortful control in toddlerhood.

Reliable measures are required to draw meaningful conclusions regarding developmental changes in longitudinal studies. Little is known, however, about the test-retest reliability of face-sensitive event related potentials (ERPs), a frequently used neural measure in infants. The aim of the current study is to investigate the test-retest reliability of ERPs typically evoked by faces in 9-10 month-old infants. The infants (N=31) were presented with neutral, fearful and happy faces that contained only the lower or higher spatial frequency information. They were tested twice within two weeks. The present results show that the test-retest reliability of the face-sensitive ERP components is moderate (P400 and Nc) to substantial (N290). However, there is low test-retest reliability for the effects of the specific experimental manipulations (i.e. emotion and spatial frequency) on the face-sensitive ERPs. To conclude, in infants the face-sensitive ERP components (i.e. N290, P400 and Nc) show adequate test-retest reliability, but not the effects of emotion and spatial frequency on these ERP components. We propose that further research focuses on investigating elements that might increase the test-retest reliability, as adequate test-retest reliability is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions on individual developmental trajectories of the face-sensitive ERPs in infants.

A binocular eye tracker needs to be accurate to enable the determination of vergence, distance to the binocular fixation point and fixation disparity. These measures are useful in e.g. the research fields of visual perception, binocular control in reading and attention in 3D. Are binocular pupil-based video eye trackers accurate enough to produce meaningful binocular measures? Recent research revealed potentially large idiosyncratic systematic errors due to pupil-size changes. With a top of the line eye tracker (SR Research EyeLink 1000 plus), we investigated whether the pupil-size artefact in the separate eyes may cause the eye tracker to report apparent vergence when the eyeballs do not rotate. Participants were asked to fixate a target at a distance of 77 cm for 160 s. We evoked pupil-size changes by varying the light intensity. With increasing pupil size, horizontal vergence reported by the eye tracker decreased in most subjects, up to two degrees. However, this was not due to a rotation of the eyeballs, as identified from the absence of systematic movement in the corneal reflection (CR) signals. From this, we conclude that binocular pupil-CR or pupil-only video eye trackers using the dark pupil technique are not accurate enough to be used to determine vergence, distance to the binocular fixation point and fixation disparity.

BACKGROUND: Efavirenz is well known for its clinical cognitive side-effects. Even asymptomatic patients who switch for other reasons than neurocognitive complaints have reported a subjective improvement in cognitive functioning after discontinuing Efavirenz. The aim of this study was to assess the effect on cognition of switching Atripla (TDF/FTC/EFV) to Eviplera (TDF/FTC/RPV), hypothesizing an improvement when discontinuing Efavirenz. SETTING: a randomized controlled design with a highly comparable comparator drug was used to minimize bias and to differentiate drug- versus learning effects. An extensive sensitive neuropsychological assessment (NPA) was used to detect subtle changes. METHODS: virologically suppressed, cognitively asymptomatic male HIV-infected patients on Atripla were included and randomized (2:1) to switch to Eviplera (switch group) or continue on Atripla (control group) for 12 weeks. At baseline and week 12, patients underwent an extensive NPA. RESULTS: 14 control and 34 switch subjects completed the study. There were no differences at baseline. Group-analysis demonstrated a significantly better improvement for the switch group on the domains attention (p=0.041) and speed of information processing (p=0.014). Normative comparison analyses showed that 5 out of the 34 patients who switched (15%) improved on NPA-score as compared to the control group. Interestingly, subjective improvement after discontinuing Efavirenz made 74% of the switch group chose for a regime without Efavirenz after study completion. CONCLUSION: switching from Atripla to Eviplera resulted in objective cognitive improvement on group level in cognitively asymptomatic patients. Discrepancies in objective and subjective cognitive complaints make it challenging to identify patients that would benefit from discontinuing Efavirenz.

Acute stress is known to affect the way we process rewards. For example, during, or directly after stress, activity within key brain areas of the reward circuitry is reduced when a reward is presented. Generally, the effects of stress on the brain are time-dependent, changing neural and cognitive processing in the aftermath of stress to aid recovery. Such a dynamic response to stress is important for resilience on the longer term. However, relatively little is known about reward processing during the recovery phase of stress and whether this is changed in individuals at increased risk for stress-related psychopathology.Healthy male individuals (N = 40) and unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients (N = 40) were randomized to either an acute stress task (Trier Social Stress Test) or a no-stress task. Neural responses during reward anticipation and reward feedback (monetary gain or no gain) were examined 50 min later using an fMRI monetary incentive delay task. The ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) were used as predefined hypothesis-driven regions of interest.Neural responses following stress differed between controls and siblings during reward feedback (group-stress interaction OFC p = 0.003, ventral striatum p = 0.031), showing increased ventral striatum and OFC responses following stress in healthy controls only. Exploratory analyses revealed that this effect was most pronounced during hit trials (compared to when a reward was omitted), and independent of monetary value. Stress did not affect subsequent reward processing in siblings of schizophrenia patients. We found no significant differences between controls and siblings in ventral striatum and OFC responses during reward anticipation following stress.This study shows that ventral striatum and OFC responses to positive task feedback are increased in the aftermath of stress in healthy male controls, regardless of monetary value. This indicates a dynamic shift from previously reported reduced responses in the striatum and OFC to reward feedback directly after stress to increased responses to both reward and non-reward feedback during the recovery phase of stress. These increased neural responses following stress were absent in siblings of schizophrenia patients. Together, these findings indicate that stress recovery is affected in this at-risk group, particularly in responses to positive feedback following stress.

Proactive inhibition – the anticipation of having to stop a response – relies on objective information contained in cue‐related contingencies in the environment, as well as on the subjective interpretation derived from these cues. To date, most studies of brain areas underlying proactive inhibition have exclusively considered the objective predictive value of environmental cues, by varying the probability of stop‐signals. However, by only taking into account the effect of different cues on brain activation, the subjective component of how cues affect behavior is ignored. We used a modified stop‐signal response task that includes a measurement for subjective expectation, to investigate the effect of this subjective interpretation. After presenting a cue indicating the probability that a stop‐signal will occur, subjects were asked whether they expected a stop‐signal to occur. Furthermore, response time was used to retrospectively model brain activation related to stop‐expectation. We found more activation during the cue period for 50% stop‐signal probability, when contrasting with 0%, in the mid and inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobe and putamen. When contrasting expected vs. unexpected trials, we found modest effects in the mid frontal gyrus, parietal, and occipital areas. With our third contrast, we modeled brain activation during the cue with trial‐by‐trial variances in response times. This yielded activation in the putamen, inferior parietal lobe, and mid frontal gyrus. Our study is the first to use the behavioral effects of proactive inhibition to identify the underlying brain regions, by employing an unbiased task‐design that temporally separates cue and response.

Neurotoxicity associated with the antiretroviral efavirenz (EFV) has been documented in HIV-infected adults, but there are no data on the impact of EFV on brain function in adolescents. We investigated potential alterations in fronto-striatal function associated with EFV use in adolescents. A total of 86 adolescents underwent a Stop Signal Anticipation Task (SSAT) during functional MRI (fMRI), 39 HIV+ adolescents receiving EFV, 27 HIV+ adolescents on antiretroviral therapy without EFV (matched on age, gender, education, CD4 cell count and HIV viral load) and 20 HIV- matched controls (matched on age and gender). The task required participants to give timed GO responses with occasional STOP signals at fixed probabilities. Reactive inhibition was modelled as a correct STOP response and proactive inhibition was modelled after response slowing as the STOP probability increases. A priori mask-based regions associated with reactive and proactive inhibition were entered into two respective multivariate ANOVAs. The EFV treatment group showed significantly blunted proactive inhibitory behavioural responses compared to HIV+ adolescents not receiving EFV. There was no difference in reactive inhibition between treatment groups. We also demonstrated a significant effect of EFV treatment on BOLD signal in proactive inhibition regions. There was no difference in regions involved in reactive inhibition. We found no differences between adolescents not receiving EFV and HIV- controls, showing that functional and behavioural differences were unique to the EFV group. Here, we demonstrate for the first time a potential adverse impact of EFV on higher cortical function in young HIV+ adolescents.

Emotional facial expressions are important visual communication signals that indicate a sender’s intent and emotional state to an observer. As such, it is not surprising that reactions to different expressions are thought to be automatic and independent of awareness. What is surprising, is that studies show inconsistent results concerning such automatic reactions, particularly when using different face stimuli. We argue that automatic reactions to facial expressions can be better explained, and better understood, in terms of quantitative descriptions of their low-level image features rather than in terms of the emotional content (e.g. angry) of the expressions. Here, we focused on overall spatial frequency (SF) and localized Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) features. We used machine learning classification to reveal the SF and HOG features that are sufficient for classification of the initial eye movement towards one out of two simultaneously presented faces. Interestingly, the identified features serve as better predictors than the emotional content of the expressions. We therefore propose that our modelling approach can further specify which visual features drive these and other behavioural effects related to emotional expressions, which can help solve the inconsistencies found in this line of research.

Inhibitory control, like most cognitive processes, is subject to an age-related decline. The effect of age on neurofunctional inhibition processing remains uncertain, with age-related increases as well as decreases in activation being reported. This is possibly because reactive (i.e., outright stopping) and proactive inhibition (i.e., anticipation of stopping) have not been evaluated separately. Here, we investigate the effects of aging on reactive as well as proactive inhibition, using functional MRI in 73 healthy subjects aged 30–70 years.We found reactive inhibition to slow down with advancing age, which was paralleled by increased activation in the motor cortex. Behaviorally, older adults did not exercise increased proactive inhibition strategies compared to younger adults. However, the pattern of activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) showed a clear age-effect on proactive inhibition: rather than flexibly engaging the rIFG in response to varying stop-signal probabilities, older subjects showed an overall hyperactivation. Whole-brain analyses revealed similar hyperactivations in various other frontal and parietal brain regions. These results are in line with the neural compensation hypothesis of aging: processing becomes less flexible and efficient with advancing age, which is compensated for by overall enhanced activation. Moreover, by disentangling reactive and proactive inhibition, we can show for the first time that the age-related increase in activation during inhibition that is reported generally by prior studies may be the result of compensation for reduced neural flexibility related to proactive control strategies.

Adults perceive emotional expressions categorically, with discrimination being faster and more accurate between expressions from different emotion categories (i.e. blends with two different predominant emotions) than between two stimuli from the same category (i.e. blends with the same predominant emotion). The current study sought to test whether facial expressions of happiness and fear are perceived categorically by pre-verbal infants, using a new stimulus set that was shown to yield categorical perception in adult observers (Experiments 1 and 2). These stimuli were then used with 7-month-old infants (N = 34) using a habituation and visual preference paradigm (Experiment 3). Infants were first habituated to an expression of one emotion, then presented with the same expression paired with a novel expression either from the same emotion category or from a different emotion category. After habituation to fear, infants displayed a novelty preference for pairs of between-category expressions, but not within-category ones, showing categorical perception. However, infants showed no novelty preference when they were habituated to happiness. Our findings provide evidence for categorical perception of emotional expressions in pre-verbal infants, while the asymmetrical effect challenges the notion of a bias towards negative information in this age group.

Background Parkinson's disease is a growing concern as the longevity of the world's population steadily increases. Both ageing and Parkinson's disease have an impact on dopamine neurotransmission. It is therefore important to investigate their relative impact on the fronto-striatal reward system. There has been little investigation of reward processing in terms of anticipation and reward outcome in Parkinson's disease. Abnormal responses during reward processing have previously been demonstrated in whole-brain analysis of Parkinson's patients with mild lateralized disease, but the exact impact in regions specific to reward processing is still unknown. Objective Here we aim to investigate the impact of Parkinson's disease on the orbitofrontal ventral striatal reward system in patients with moderate to severe clinical symptoms. Methods We utilized a monetary incentive delay (MID) task in 17 Parkinson's patients who were compared to two control groups stratified by age. The MID paradigm reliably activates the ventral striatum during reward anticipation and the orbitofrontal cortex during reward outcome processing. Results Relative to the two control groups, Parkinson's disease patients had abnormal task related activity during both reward anticipation in the ventral striatum and reward outcome in the orbitofrontal cortex. There were no effects of ageing. Conclusion These findings demonstrate abnormalities in anticipatory as well as reward outcome processing while treated primarily with levodopa. The orbitofrontal dysfunction during reward outcome processing may have specificity in Parkinson's disease, as it has been shown to be relatively unaffected by normal ageing.

RATIONALE: The dopaminergic system has been implicated in visuospatial attention and inhibition, but the exact role has yet to be elucidated. Scarce literature suggests that attenuation of dopaminergic neurotransmission negatively affects attentional focusing and inhibition. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that evaluated the effect of dopaminergic antagonism on stopping performance. METHODS: Dopaminergic neurotransmission was attenuated in 28 healthy male participants by using 2 mg haloperidol. A repeated-measures placebo-controlled crossover design was implemented, and performance indices of attention and inhibition were assessed in the visual spatial cueing task (VSC) and stop signal task (SST). Additionally, the effect of haloperidol on motoric parameters was assessed. It was expected that haloperidol as contrasted to placebo would result in a reduction of the "validity effect," the benefit of valid cueing as opposed to invalid cueing of a target in terms of reaction time. Furthermore, an increase in stop signal reaction time (SSRT) in the SST was expected. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Results partially confirmed the hypothesis. Haloperidol negatively affected inhibitory motor control in the SST as indexed by SSRT, but there were no indications that haloperidol affected bias or disengagement in the VSC task as indicated by a lack of an effect on RTs. Pertaining to secondary parameters, motor activity increased significantly under haloperidol. Haloperidol negatively affected reaction time variability and errors in both tasks, as well as omissions in the SST, indicating a decreased sustained attention, an increase in premature responses, and an increase in lapses of attention, respectively.

Social interaction starts with perception of the world around you. This study investigated two fundamental issues regarding the development of discrimination of higher spatial frequencies, which are important building blocks of perception. Firstly, it mapped the typical developmental trajectory of higher spatial frequency discrimination. Secondly, it developed and validated a novel design that could be applied to improve atypically developed vision. Specifically, this study examined the effect of age and reward on task performance, practice effects, and motivation (i.e., number of trials completed) in a higher spatial frequency (reference frequency: 6 cycles per degree) discrimination task. We measured discrimination thresholds in children aged between 7 to 12 years and adults (N = 135). Reward was manipulated by presenting either positive reinforcement or punishment. Results showed a decrease in discrimination thresholds with age, thus revealing that higher spatial frequency discrimination continues to develop after 12 years of age. This development continues longer than previously shown for discrimination of lower spatial frequencies. Moreover, thresholds decreased during the run, indicating that discrimination abilities improved. Reward did not affect performance or improvement. However, in an additional group of 5-6 year-olds (N = 28) punishments resulted in the completion of fewer trials compared to reinforcements. In both reward conditions children aged 5-6 years completed only a fourth or half of the run (64 to 128 out of 254 trials) and were not motivated to continue. The design thus needs further adaptation before it can be applied to this age group. Children aged 7-12 years and adults completed the run, suggesting that the design is successful and motivating for children aged 7-12 years. This study thus presents developmental differences in higher spatial frequency discrimination thresholds. Furthermore, it presents a design that can be used in future developmental studies that require multiple stimulus presentations such as visual perceptual learning.

To identify the broader autism phenotype (BAP), the Family History Interview subject and informant versions and an observational tool (Impression of Interviewee), were developed. This study investigated whether the instruments differentiated between parents of children with autism, and parents of children with Down syndrome (DS). The BAP scores of parents of 28 multiplex autism families were compared with parents from, 32 DS families. The BAP measures provided good group differentiation but when considered together, the subject interview did not improve group differentiation. The differentiation was better for fathers than mothers. The measures do carry an important degree of validity; whether they can differentiate the BAP from other social disorders should be tested.

While cortical thinning has been associated with HIV infection, it is unclear whether this reflects a direct effect of the virus, whether it is related to disruption of subcortical function or whether it is better explained by epiphenomena, such as drug abuse or comorbid medical conditions. The present study investigated the relationship between cortical thickness and subcortical function in HIV+ patients. Specifically, we examined the relationship between prefrontal cortical thickness and striatal function. Twenty-three largely treatment naïve, non-substance abusing HIV+ participants and 19 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and educational status were included. Cortical morphometry was performed using FreeSurfer software analysis. Striatal function was measured during an fMRI stop-signal anticipation task known to engage the striatum. Any cortical regions showing significant thinning were entered as dependent variables into a single linear regression model which included subcortical function, age, CD4 count, and a measure of global cognitive performance as independent predictors. The only cortical region that was significantly reduced after correction for multiple comparisons was the right superior frontal gyrus. Striatal activity was found to independently predict superior frontal gyral cortical thickness. While cortical thinning in HIV infection is likely multifactorial, viral induced subcortical dysfunction appears to play a role.

Threatening stimuli are thought to induce impulsive responses, but Emotional Go/Nogo task\ud results are not in line with this. We extend previous research by testing effects of task-relevance\ud of emotional stimuli and virtual proximity. Four studies were performed to test this in healthy\ud college students. When emotional stimuli were task-relevant, threat both increased commission\ud errors and decreased RT, but this was not found when emotional stimuli were task-irrelevant.\ud This was found in both between-subject and within-subject designs. These effects were found\ud using a task version with equal go and nogo rates, but not with 90%-10% go-nogo rates.\ud Proximity was found to increase threat-induced speeding, with task-relevant stimuli only,\ud although effects on accuracy were less clear. Threat stimuli can thus induce impulsive\ud responding, but effects depend on features of the task design. The results may be of use in\ud understanding theoretically unexpected results involving threat and impulsivity and designing\ud future studies.

Facial expressions provide crucial information for an infant's social and cognitive development. Expressions are discriminated based on specific basic-level information, such as global and local information represented in spatial frequencies. Research in adults suggests that different neural pathways are involved in emotion discrimination, each activated by specific spatial frequency ranges. However, in infants the involvement of spatial frequencies in emotion discrimination is unknown. In the current study we investigated the effect of manipulating spatial frequency information in the face on emotion discrimination. Infants aged 9-10 months (N = 61) viewed happy, fearful, and neutral faces. The faces contained either lower (related to global information) or higher spatial frequencies (related to local information). Brain activity in response to the faces was measured with electroencephalography. Interest was in the effect of emotion and spatial frequency on the amplitude of the N290, P400, and Nc components. Amplitudes of the N290 and P400 components differed between happy versus fearful or neutral faces, although only in the higher, and not the lower, spatial frequency condition. Amplitude of the Nc components differed between happy versus fearful or neutral faces regardless of spatial frequency condition. These results reveal the importance of higher spatial frequencies for emotion discrimination in infants (particularly at the N290 and P400 components). We related these findings to current models on the neural basis of facial-emotion processing.

Researchers have increasingly focused on how the potential for social interaction modulates basic processes of visual attention and gaze behavior. In this study, we investigated why people may experience social interaction and what factors contributed to their subjective experience. We furthermore investigated whether implying social interaction modulated gaze behavior to people’s faces, specifically the eyes. To imply the potential for interaction, participants received either one of two instructions: 1) they would be presented with a person via a ‘live’ video-feed, or 2) they would be presented with a pre-recorded video clip of a person. Prior to the presentation, a confederate walked into a separate room to suggest to participants that (s)he was being positioned behind a webcam. In fact, all participants were presented with a pre-recorded clip. During the presentation, we measured participants’ gaze behavior with an eye tracker, and after the presentation, participants were asked whether they believed that the confederate was ‘live’ or not, and, why they thought so. Participants varied greatly in their judgements about whether the confederate was ‘live’ or not. Analyses of gaze behavior revealed that a large subset of participants who received the live-instruction gazed less at the eyes of confederates compared with participants who received the pre-recorded-instruction. However, for both the live-instruction group and the pre-recorded instruction group, another subset of participants gazed predominantly at the eyes. The current findings may contribute to the development of experimental designs aimed to capture the interactive aspects of social cognition and visual attention.

Alcohol and cannabis use are subject to change during the adolescent period. Social, contextual and developmental factors influence the patterns of use of these substances. Longitudinal trajectory studies can shed light on the normative development of the use of these substances as well as on problematic patterns of use. It is important that underlying determinants of problematic and relatively normal use are identified so treatment efforts can be aligned towards these determinants. Results are therefore discussed with a focus on informing the development of effective intervention strategies. In this study, data of large longitudinal national representative study are presented including +/-2,230 adolescents who were followed from 11-22 years (study is ongoing). Trajectories of alcohol and cannabis use covering the whole adolescent period (14-22 years) are evaluated in relation to important cognitive determinants such as behavioral control and reward sensitivity. Latent transition analyses revealed that pubertal development as well as reward sensitivity are important predictors of the increase in both substances. Relatively stronger increase in behavioral control skills predicted decrease in the use of alcohol use, not in cannabis use, and only in a small group of adolescents (

Two questions were posed in the present study: (1) Do infants search for discrepant items in the absence of instructions? We outline where previous research has been inconclusive in answering this question. (2) In what manner do infants search, and what are the fixation and saccade characteristics in saccadic search? A thorough characterization of saccadic search in infancy is of great importance as a reference for future eye-movement studies in infancy. We presented 10- month-old infants with 24 visual search displays in two separate sessions within two weeks. We report that infant saccadic search performance at 10 months is above what may be expected by our model of chance, and is dependent on the specific target. Infant fixation and saccade characteristics show similarities to adult fixation and saccade characteristics in saccadic search. All findings were highly consistent across two separate sessions on the group level. An examination of the reliability of saccadic search revealed that test-retest reliability for oculomotor characteristics was high, particularly for fixation duration. We suggest that future research into saccadic search in infancy adopt the presented model of chance as a baseline against which to compare search performance. Researchers investigating both the typical and atypical development of visual search may benefit from the presented results.

In their first year, infants’ perceptual abilities zoom in on only those speech sound contrasts that are relevant for their language. Infants’ lexicons do not yet contain sufficient minimal pairs to explain this phonetic categorization process. Therefore, researchers suggested a bottom-up learning mechanism: infants create categories aligned with the frequency dis- tributions of sounds in their input. Recent evidence shows that this bottom-up mechanism may be complemented by the semantic context in which speech sounds occur, such as simultaneously present objects. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether discrimi- nation of a non-native vowel contrast improves when sounds from the contrast were paired consistently or randomly with two distinct visually presented objects, while the distribution of speech tokens suggested a single broad category. This was assessed in two ways: compu- tationally, namely in a neural network simulation, and experimentally, namely in a group of 8-month-old infants. The neural network, trained with a large set of sound–meaning pairs, revealed that two categories emerge only if sounds are consistently paired with objects. A group of 49 real 8-month-old infants did not immediately show sensitivity to the pair- ing condition; a later test at 18 months with some of the same infants, however, showed that this sensitivity at 8 months interacted with their vocabulary size at 18 months. This interaction can be explained by the idea that infants with larger future vocabularies are more positively influenced by consistent training (and/or more negatively influenced by inconsistent training) than infants with smaller future vocabularies. This suggests that con- sistent pairing with distinct visual objects can help infants to discriminate speech sounds even when the auditory information does not signal a distinction. Together our results give computational as well as experimental support for the idea that semantic context plays a role in disambiguating phonetic auditory input.

Anger and aggression are common mental health problems after military deployment. Anger and aggression have been associated with abnormalities in subcortical and cortical levels of the brain and their connectivity. Here, we tested brain activation during the processing of emotional stimuli in military veterans with and without anger and aggression problems. Thirty military veterans with anger and aggression problems and 29 veterans without a psychiatric diagnosis (all males) participated in this study. During an fMRI scan 32 negative, 32 positive and 32 neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System were presented in intermixed order. The Aggression group showed heightened activity in brain areas including the supplementary motor area, the cingulum and the parietal cortex, in response to stimuli, regardless of category. Furthermore, the Aggression group showed stronger connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the amygdala during the viewing of negative stimuli, and weaker connectivity between dACC and medial prefrontal cortex during the viewing of positive stimuli. Veterans with anger and aggression problems showed enhanced brain response to all stimuli during the task, irrespective of valence and they rated the pictures more likely as negative. We take this to indicate enhanced preparation for action and attention to the presentation of stimuli that could prove to be threatening. Further, group differences in functional connectivity involving the dACC reveal abnormal processing of stimuli with negative and positive valence. In sum, the results point towards a bias towards an enhanced sensitivity to perceived or potential threat in aggression. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.]

Social interaction starts with perception of other persons. One of the first steps in perception is processing of basic information such as spatial frequencies (SF), which represent details and global information. However, although behavioural perception of SF is well investigated, the developmental trajectory of the temporal characteristics of SF processing is not yet well understood. The speed of processing of this basic visual information is crucial, as it determines the speed and possibly accuracy of subsequent visual and social processes. The current study investigated developmental changes in the temporal characteristics of selective processing of high SF (HSF; details) versus low SF (LSF; global). To this end, brain activity was measured using EEG in 108 children aged 3-15 years, while HSF or LSF grating stimuli were presented. Interest was in the temporal characteristics of brain activity related to LSF and HSF processing, specifically at early (N80) or later (P1 or N2) peaks in brain activity. Analyses revealed that from 7-8 years onwards HSF but not LSF stimuli evoked an N80 peak. In younger children, aged 3-8 years, the visual manipulation mainly affected the visual N2 peak. Selective processing of HSF versus LSF thus occurs at a rather late time-point (N2 peak) in young children. Although behavioural research previously showed that 3-6 year-olds can perceive detailed information, the current results point out that selective processing of HSF versus LSF is still delayed in these children. The delayed processing in younger children could impede the use of LSF and HSF for emotional face processing. Thus, the current study is a starting point for understanding changes in basic visual processing which underlie social development.

The cholinergic system is implicated in visuospatial attention and inhibition, however the exact role is still unclear. Two key mechanisms in visuospatial attention are bias and disengagement. Bias refers to neuronal signals that enhance the sensitivity of the sensory cortex, disengagement is the decoupling of attention. Previous studies suggest that nicotine affects disengagement and (related) inhibition. However the exact relation is still unknown. Furthermore, nicotine-abstinence in 'healthy' smokers may resemble some anomalies of visuospatial attention and inhibition as seen in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Smokers and non-smokers (32 male students) performed in a visuospatial cueing (VSC) task, to assess bias and disengagement, and in a stop-signal task (SST) to assess inhibition. It was expected that nicotine abstinent smokers compared to non-smokers, would show poor disengagement (indicated by an enhanced validity effect) and poor inhibitory control (indicated by an enhanced stop-signal reaction time (SSRT)). It was expected that nicotine would positively affect disengagement and inhibition: hypothesis 1 stated that this effect would be larger in smokers as opposed to non-smokers, in terms of smoking-related deficient inhibitory control. Hypothesis 2 stated the exact opposite, in terms of drug-tolerance. Results indicated no baseline differences. Nicotine enhanced inhibition more in non-smokers relative to smokers. Integrating the results, nicotine-abstinent smokers do not seem to resemble ADHD patients, and do not seem to smoke in order to self-medicate a pre-existing deficit pertaining to mechanisms of visuospatial attention and inhibition. Nicotine may affect inhibition more in non-smokers relative to smokers, consistent with a drug-tolerance account.

What are the decision criteria for choosing an eyetracker? Often the choice is based on specifications by the manufacturer of the validity (accuracy) and reliability (precision) of measurements that can be achieved using a particular eyetracker. These specifications are mostly achieved under optimal conditions-for example, by using an artificial eye or trained participants fixed in a chinrest. Research, however, does not always take place in optimal conditions: For instance, when investigating eye movements in infants, school children, and patient groups with disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, it is practically impossible to restrict movement. We modeled movements often seen in infant research in two behaviors: (1) looking away from and back to the screen, to investigate eyetracker recovery, and (2) head orientations, to investigate eyetracker performance with nonoptimal orientations of the eyes. We investigated how eight eyetracking setups by three manufacturers (SMI, Tobii, and LC Technologies) coped with these modeled behaviors in adults. We report that the tested SMI eyetrackers dropped in sampling frequency when the eyes were not visible to the eyetracker, whereas the other systems did not, and discuss the potential consequences thereof. Furthermore, we report that the tested eyetrackers varied in their rates of data loss and systematic offsets during shifted head orientations. We conclude that (prospective) eye-movement researchers who cannot restrict movement or nonoptimal head orientations in their participants might benefit from testing their eyetracker in nonoptimal conditions. Additionally, researchers should be aware of the data loss and inaccuracies that might result from nonoptimal head orientations.

The role of the cholinergic system in inhibition remains to be elucidated. Nicotine is a potent tool to augment this system, but most studies investigated its effects solely on behavior. Reference to brain activity is important to specifically identify inhibition-related mechanisms. In the current study the objective was to elucidate the role of the cholinergic system in inhibition. 16 healthy non-smokers performed in a stop task while EEG was recorded. A pre- versus post-treatment, within subjects, placebo controlled, single-blind design was used. It was hypothesized that nicotine would decrease stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) and increase the amplitude of inhibition-related event related potentials, the stop N2 and stop P3. Behavioral measures show nicotine shortened SSRT, but only when pretreatment values were not taken into account. On EEG measures, an enhanced stop P3 under nicotine was found, but only in a subsample sensitive to nicotine based on diastolic blood pressure. The results are indicative of enhanced inhibitory activity possibly reflecting enhanced activation in the superior frontal gyrus.

Contains fulltext : 124201.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Background: Impairments in facial mimicry are considered a proxy for deficits in affective empathy and have been demonstrated in 10 year old children and in adolescents with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD). However, it is not known whether these impairments are already present at an earlier age. Emotional deficits have also been shown in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Aims: To examine facial mimicry in younger, 6-7 year old children with DBD and with ADHD. Methods: Electromyographic (EMG) activity in response to emotional facial expressions was recorded in 47 children with DBD, 18 children with ADHD and 35 healthy developing children. Results: All groups displayed significant facial mimicry to the emotional expressions of other children. No group differences between children with DBD, children with ADHD and healthy developing children were found. In addition, no differences in facial mimicry were found between the clinical group (i.e., all children with a diagnosis) and the typically developing group in an analysis with ADHD symptoms as a covariate, and no differences were found between the clinical children and the typically developing children with DBD symptoms as a covariate. Conclusion: Facial mimicry in children with DBD and ADHD throughout the first primary school years was unimpaired, in line with studies on empathy using other paradigms. 7 p.

An important component of creativity is divergent thinking, which involves the ability to generate novel and useful problem solutions. In this study, we tested the relation between resting-state functional connectivity of brain areas activated during a divergent thinking task (i.e., supramarginal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus) and the effect of practice in 32 adolescents aged 15-16. Over a period of two weeks, an experimental group (n = 16) conducted an 8-session Alternative Uses Task (AUT) training and an active control group (n = 16) conducted an 8-session rule switching training. Resting-state functional connectivity was measured before (pre-test) and after (post-test) training. Across groups at pre-test, stronger connectivity between the middle temporal gyrus and bilateral postcentral gyrus was associated with better divergent thinking performance. The AUT-training, however, did not significantly change functional connectivity. Post hoc analyses showed that change in divergent thinking performance over time was predicted by connectivity between left supramarginal gyrus and right occipital cortex. These results provide evidence for a relation between divergent thinking and resting-state functional connectivity in a task-positive network, taking an important step towards understanding creative cognition and functional brain connectivity.

The cholinergic system has been implicated in visuospatial attention but the exact role remains unclear. In visuospatial attention, bias refers to neuronal signals that modulate the sensitivity of sensory cortex, while disengagement refers to the decoupling of attention making reorienting possible. In the current study we investigated the effect of facilitating cholinergic neurotransmission by nicotine (Nicorette Freshmint 2 mg, polacrilex chewing gum) on behavioral and electrophysiological indices of bias and disengagement. Sixteen non-smoking participants performed in a Visual Spatial Cueing (VSC) task while EEG was recorded. A randomized, single-blind, crossover design was implemented. Based on the scarce literature, it was expected that nicotine would specifically augment disengagement related processing, especially manifest as an increase of the modulation of the Late Positive Deflection (LPD) by validity of cueing. No effect was expected on bias related components (cue-locked: EDAN, LDAP; target-locked: P1 and N1 modulations). Results show weak indications for a reduction of the reaction time validity effect by nicotine, but only for half of the sample in which the validity effect on the pretest was largest. Nicotine reduced the result of bias as indexed by a reduced P1 modulation by validity, especially in subjects with strong peripheral responses to nicotine. Nicotine did not affect ERP manifestations of the directing of bias (EDAN, LDAP) or disengagement (LPD).

The way we perceive the present visual environment is influenced by past visual experiences. Here we investigated the neural basis of such experience dependency. We repeatedly presented human observers with an ambiguous visual stimulus (structure-from-motion) that can give rise to two distinct perceptual interpretations. Past visual experience is known to influence the perception of such stimuli. We recorded fast dynamics of neural activity shortly after stimulus onset using event-related electroencephalography. The number of previous occurrences of a certain percept modulated early posterior brain activity starting as early as 50 ms after stimulus onset. This modulation developed across hundreds of percept repetitions, reflecting several minutes of accumulating perceptual experience. Importantly, there was no such modulation when the mere number of previous stimulus presentations was considered regardless of how they were perceived. This indicates that the effect depended on previous perception rather than previous visual input. The short latency and posterior scalp location of the effect suggest that perceptual history modified bottom-up stimulus processing in early visual cortex. We propose that bottom-up neural responses to a given visual presentation are shaped, in part, by feedback modulation that occurred during previous presentations, thus allowing these responses to be biased in light of previous perceptual decisions.

Objective: Risk taking, such as heavy alcohol use, is commonplace among adolescents. Nevertheless, prolonged alcohol use at this age can lead to severe health problems. The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate a serious game training (‘‘The Fling’’), aimed at increasing behavioral control in adolescents and thereby helping them to improve control over their alcohol use. The game training was compared to a game placebo and a nongame training version in a randomized controlled trial. Materials and Methods: A sample of 185 adolescents (mean age 14.9 years) in secondary education participated in the study. They performed four sessions of training, as well as a set of questionnaires and cognitive assessment tasks before and after the training. The basis for the training was the stop-signal paradigm, aimed at increasing behavioral control. Results: The game variants were shown to motivate adolescents beyond the level of the nongame version. Behavioral control improved significantly over time, but this effect was also present in the game placebo, suggesting that the game activities alone may have had a beneficial effect on our measures of behavioral control. As baseline drinking levels were low, no significant training effects on drinking behavior were found. Conclusions: Although the current results are not yet conclusive as to whether ‘‘The Fling’’ is effective as a cognitive training, they do warrant further research in this direction. This study also shows that serious games may be uniquely suitable to bridge the gap between an evidence-based training paradigm and an attractive, motivating training environment.

Building on the recent findings that the experience of self-agency over actions and corresponding outcomes can also rely on cognitive inferential processes, rather than motor prediction processes, this study aims to investigate the brain areas involved in agency inference processing in a setting where action and outcome are independent. Twenty-three right-handed subjects were scanned using functional MRI while performing an agency inference task, in which action outcomes matched or mismatched goals. The experience of self-agency was associated with increased activation in the inferior parietal lobule as well as the bilateral (medial) superior frontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex. These findings provide new and exciting insights in the processing of inferential self-agency, providing a first look at the neural correlates of self-agency processing independent of motor-prediction processes.

Highlights • The Eurosibs consortium is a nine-site European neurocognitive study of infants with an older sibling with ASD. • Data quality assessments show that that neurocognitive measures hold promise for cross-site consistency in diverse populations. • We present robust data analysis pipelines and highlight challenges and opportunities for future multisite research efforts., Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social communication skills and flexible behaviour. Developing new treatment approaches for ASD requires early identification of the factors that influence later behavioural outcomes. One fruitful research paradigm has been the prospective study of infants with a first degree relative with ASD, who have around a 20% likelihood of developing ASD themselves. Early findings have identified a range of candidate neurocognitive markers for later ASD such as delayed attention shifting or neural responses to faces, but given the early stage of the field most sample sizes are small and replication attempts remain rare. The Eurosibs consortium is a European multisite neurocognitive study of infants with an older sibling with ASD conducted across nine sites in five European countries. In this manuscript, we describe the selection and standardization of our common neurocognitive testing protocol. We report data quality assessments across sites, showing that neurocognitive measures hold great promise for cross-site consistency in diverse populations. We discuss our approach to ensuring robust data analysis pipelines and boosting future reproducibility. Finally, we summarise challenges and opportunities for future multi-site research efforts.

Alcohol and cannabis use are subject to change during the adolescent period. Social, contextual and developmental factors influence the patterns of use of these substances. Longitudinal trajectory studies can shed light on the normative development of the use of these substances as well as on problematic patterns of use. It is important that underlying determinants of problematic and relatively normal use are identified so treatment efforts can be aligned towards these determinants. Results are therefore discussed with a focus on informing the development of effective intervention strategies. In this study, data of large longitudinal national representative study are presented including +/-2,230 adolescents who were followed from 11-22 years (study is ongoing). Trajectories of alcohol and cannabis use covering the whole adolescent period (14-22 years) are evaluated in relation to important cognitive determinants such as behavioral control and reward sensitivity. Latent transition analyses revealed that pubertal development as well as reward sensitivity are important predictors of the increase in both substances. Relatively stronger increase in behavioral control skills predicted decrease in the use of alcohol use, not in cannabis use, and only in a small group of adolescents (