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[Display omitted] • Healthy human MEG resting state sensorimotor activity showed good to excellent test–retest stability across two separate sessions. • 2–3 minute recordings were sufficient to obtain stable test–retest results and automation of analysis was successful in 86% • 'Resting sensorimotor phenotype' is a stable feature of individuals' resting brain activity with potential as a clinical biomarker. Diseases affecting sensorimotor function impair physical independence. Reliable functional clinical biomarkers allowing early diagnosis or targeting treatment and rehabilitation could reduce this burden. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) non-invasively measures brain rhythms such as the somatomotor 'rolandic' rhythm which shows intermittent high-amplitude beta (14–30 Hz) 'events' that predict behavior across tasks and species and are altered by sensorimotor neurological diseases. We assessed test–retest stability, a prerequisite for biomarkers, of spontaneous sensorimotor aperiodic (1/f) signal and beta events in 50 healthy human controls across two MEG sessions using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Beta events were determined using an amplitude-thresholding approach on a narrow-band filtered amplitude envelope obtained using Morlet wavelet decomposition. Resting sensorimotor characteristics showed good to excellent test–retest stability. Aperiodic component (ICC 0.77–0.88) and beta event amplitude (ICC 0.74–0.82) were very stable, whereas beta event duration was more variable (ICC 0.55–0.7). 2–3 minute recordings were sufficient to obtain stable results. Analysis automatization was successful in 86%. Sensorimotor beta phenotype is a stable feature of an individual's resting brain activity even for short recordings easily measured in patients. Spontaneous sensorimotor beta phenotype has potential as a clinical biomarker of sensorimotor system integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Studies of marital quality and health have targeted conflict as the key mechanism. • As conflict declines over time, partner distress may grow more central. • Recent work has linked partner distress to proinflammatory reactivity. • This study was the first to compare reactivity to partner distress and conflict. • Proinflammatory gene expression rose further with partner distress than conflict. Marital quality shares ties to inflammatory conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. For decades, research has focused on marital conflict as a primary mechanism given its potential to trigger inflammatory responses. However, longitudinal evidence suggests that marital conflict declines over time, and little attention has been paid to the inflammatory aftermath of other types of marital exchanges. A spouse's emotional distress is an important but overlooked marital context, as partners are exposed to each other's upsetting emotions throughout adulthood. To directly compare reactivity in proinflammatory gene expression to these two marital stressors and to examine differences by age and marital satisfaction, 203 community adults ages 25–90 (N = 102 couples) provided blood samples and rated their negative mood before and after they 1) watched their partner relive an upsetting personal memory and, in a separate visit 1–2 weeks later, 2) discussed a conflictual topic in their relationship. Controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, alcohol use, smoking, and comorbidities, increases in proinflammatory gene expression were significantly larger after the partner's upsetting disclosure than after marital conflict (B = 0.073, SE = 0.031, p =.018). This pattern paralleled emotional reactivity to the tasks, wherein negative mood rose more in response to the partner's disclosure than to marital conflict (B = 4.305, SE = 1.468, p =.004). In sum, proinflammatory and mood reactivity to spousal distress exceeded reactivity to marital conflict, a well-established marital stressor. Findings reveal spousal distress as a novel mechanism that may link marriage to inflammation-related diseases, and even pose risks for both happy and unhappy couples across adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the time course of motion sickness symptoms enables the evaluation of provocative stimuli and the development of countermeasures for reducing symptom severity. In pursuit of this goal, we present an Observer-driven model of motion sickness for passive motions in the dark. Constructed in two stages, this model predicts motion sickness symptoms by bridging sensory conflict (i.e., differences between actual and expected sensory signals) arising from the Observer model of spatial orientation perception (stage 1) to Oman's model of motion sickness symptom dynamics (stage 2; presented in 1982 and 1990) through a proposed "Normalized Innovation Squared" statistic. The model outputs the expected temporal development of human motion sickness symptom magnitudes (mapped to the Misery Scale) at a population level, due to arbitrary, 6-degree-of-freedom, self-motion stimuli. We trained model parameters using individual subject responses collected during fore-aft translations and off-vertical axis of rotation motions. Improving on prior efforts, we only used datasets with experimental conditions congruent with the perceptual stage (i.e., adequately provided passive motions without visual cues) to inform the model. We assessed model performance by predicting an unseen validation dataset, producing a Q2 value of 0.91. Demonstrating this model's broad applicability, we formulate predictions for a host of stimuli, including translations, earth-vertical rotations, and altered gravity, and we provide our implementation for other users. Finally, to guide future research efforts, we suggest how to rigorously advance this model (e.g., incorporating visual cues, active motion, responses to motion of different frequency, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans use space to think of and communicate the flow of time. This spatial representation of time is influenced by cultural habits so that in left-to-right reading cultures, short durations and past events are mentally positioned to the left of long durations and future events. The STEARC effect (Space Temporal Association of Response Codes) shows a faster classification of short durations/past events with responses on the left side of space and of long durations/future events with responses on the right side. We have recently showed that during the classification of time durations, space is a late heuristic of time because in this case, the STEARC appears only when manual responses are slow, not when they are fast. Here, we wished to extend this observation to the semantic classification of words as referring to the 'past' or the 'future'. We hypothesised that the semantic processing of 'past' and 'future' concepts would have engaged slower decision processes than the classification of short versus long time durations. According to dual-route models of conflict tasks, if the task-dependent classification/decision process were to proceed relatively slowly, then the effects of direct activation of culturally preferred links between stimulus and response (S-R), i.e., past/left and future/right in the case of the present task, should attain higher amplitudes before the instruction-dependent correct response is selected. This would imply that, at variance with the faster classification of time durations, during the slower semantic classification of time concepts, in incongruent trials, the direct activation of culturally preferred S-R links should introduce significant reaction time (RT) costs and a corresponding STEARC at the fastest manual responses in the experiment too. The study's results confirmed this hypothesis and showed that in the classification of temporal words, the STEARC also increased as a function of the length of RTs. Taken together, the results from sensory duration and semantic classification STEARC tasks show that the occurrence, strength and time course of the STEARC varies significantly as a function of the speed and level of cognitive processing required in the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most common clinical manifestation of sepsis-related encephalopathy (SAE) is the deterioration of cognitive function. Besides, increasing evidence shows that SAE patients exhibit coordination and sensorimotor dysfunctions, suggesting that SAE affects motor function with unclear mechanism. In the present work, we explored the effects of SAE on cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) using cecal ligation and perforation (CLP), a standard model for inducing sepsis symptoms similar to those in human patients. Our results show that the sepsis can activate microglia in the cerebellum and promote the secretion of inflammatory factor TNF-α, which increases intrinsic excitability and synaptic transmission of PCs, inhibits the synaptic plasticity of PCs, and impairs motor learning of mice. These findings address how SAE changes PC functions, and thereby are of great significance to reveal pathophysiological feathers of human patients suffering from SAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Resting‐state electroencephalography (EEG) holds promise for assessing brain networks in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We investigated whether neural β‐band oscillations in the sensorimotor network could serve as an objective quantitative measure of progressive motor impairment and functional disability in ALS patients. Methods: Resting‐state EEG was recorded in 18 people with ALS and 38 age‐ and gender‐matched healthy controls. We estimated source‐localized β‐band spectral power in the sensorimotor cortex. Clinical evaluation included lower (LMN) and upper motor neuron scores, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale–Revised score, fine motor function (FMF) subscore, and progression rate. Correlations between clinical scores and β‐band power were analysed and corrected using a false discovery rate of q = 0.05. Results: β‐Band power was significantly lower in people with ALS than controls (p = 0.004), and correlated with LMN score (R = −0.65, p = 0.013), FMF subscore (R = −0.53, p = 0.036), and FMF progression rate (R = 0.52, p = 0.036). Conclusions: β‐Band spectral power in the sensorimotor cortex reflects clinically evaluated motor impairment in ALS. This technology merits further investigation as a biomarker of progressive functional disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most of DYT genotypes follow an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern with reduced penetrance; the mechanisms underlying the disease development remain unclear. The objective of the study was to investigate cortical thickness, grey matter (GM) volumes and white matter (WM) alterations in asymptomatic (DYT-A) and symptomatic dystonia (DYT-S) mutation carriers. Methods: Eight DYT-A (four DYT-TOR1A and four DYT-THAP1), 14 DYT-S (seven DYT-TOR1A, and seven DYT-THAP1), and 37 matched healthy controls underwent 3D T1-weighted and diffusion tensor (DT) MRI to study cortical thickness, cerebellar and basal ganglia GM volumes and WM microstructural changes. Results: DYT-S showed thinning of the frontal and motor cortical regions related to sensorimotor and cognitive processing, together with putaminal atrophy and subcortical microstructural WM damage of both motor and extra-motor tracts such as cerebral peduncle, corona radiata, internal and external capsule, temporal and orbitofrontal WM, and corpus callosum. DYT-A had cortical thickening of middle frontal areas and WM damage of the corona radiata. Conclusions: DYT genes phenotypic expression is associated with alterations of both motor and extra-motor WM and GM regions. Asymptomatic genetic status is characterized by a very subtle affection of the WM motor pathway, together with an increased cortical thickness of higher-order frontal regions that might interfere with phenotypic presentation and disease manifestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The walking human body is mechanically unstable. Loss of stability and falling is more likely in certain groups of people, such as older adults or people with neuromotor impairments, as well as in certain situations, such as when experiencing conflicting or distracting sensory inputs. Stability during walking is often characterized biomechanically, by measures based on body dynamics and the base of support. Neural control of upright stability, on the other hand, does not factor into commonly used stability measures. Here we analyze stability of human walking accounting for both biomechanics and neural control, using a modeling approach. We define a walking system as a combination of biomechanics, using the well known inverted pendulum model, and neural control, using a proportional-derivative controller for foot placement based on the state of the center of mass at midstance. We analyze this system formally and show that for any choice of system parameters there is always one periodic orbit. We then determine when this periodic orbit is stable, i.e. how the neural control gain values have to be chosen for stable walking. Following the formal analysis, we use this model to make predictions about neural control gains and compare these predictions with the literature and existing experimental data. The model predicts that control gains should increase with decreasing cadence. This finding appears in agreement with literature showing stronger effects of visual or vestibular manipulations at different walking speeds. Author summary: The walking human body is mechanically unstable and humans frequently lose upright stability and fall while walking. Stability of human walking is usually analyzed from a biomechanical perspective. We argue that sensorimotor control is an essential aspect of walking stability. We model a walking system as a combination of inverted pendulum biomechanics and a neural feedback controller for foot placement and analyze the properties of this hybrid dynamical system. We find that there is always a periodic orbit and derive a criterion for the asymptotic stability of this periodic orbit. This analytic criterion allows us to characterize the region in the parameter space where the walking system is stable. We use these theoretical results to analyze stability of human walking depending on different sensorimotor control gains. The model predicts that control gains should be larger for slower-paced walking, which is partially consistent with the available experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) responds to noxious and innocuous sensory inputs, and integrates them to coordinate appropriate behavioral reactions. However, the role of the projections of ACC neurons to subcortical areas and their influence on sensory processing are not fully investigated. Here, we identified that ACC neurons projecting to the contralateral claustrum (ACC→contraCLA) preferentially respond to contralateral mechanical sensory stimulation. These sensory responses were enhanced during attending behavior. Optogenetic activation of ACC→contraCLA neurons silenced pyramidal neurons in the contralateral ACC by recruiting local circuit fast-spiking interneuron activation via an excitatory relay in the CLA. This circuit activation suppressed withdrawal behavior to mechanical stimuli ipsilateral to the ACC→contraCLA neurons. Chemogenetic silencing showed that the cross-hemispheric circuit has an important role in the suppression of contralateral nociceptive behavior during sensory-driven attending behavior. Our findings identify a cross-hemispheric cortical-subcortical-cortical arc allowing the brain to give attentional priority to competing innocuous and noxious inputs. This study identified a cross-hemispheric anterior cingulate arc via the claustrum which allows the brain to allocate attentional priority to competing innocuous and noxious inputs by activating fast-spiking interneurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users of automated vehicles will engage in other activities and take their eyes off the road, making them prone to motion sickness. To resolve this, the current paper validates models predicting sickness in response to motion and visual conditions. We validate published models of vestibular and visual sensory integration that have been used for predicting motion sickness through sensory conflict. We use naturalistic driving data and laboratory motion (and vection) paradigms, such as sinusoidal translation and rotation at different frequencies, Earth-Vertical Axis Rotation, Off-Vertical Axis Rotation, Centrifugation, Somatogravic Illusion, and Pseudo-Coriolis, to evaluate different models for both motion perception and motion sickness. We investigate the effects of visual motion perception in terms of rotational velocity (visual flow) and verticality. According to our findings, the SVCI model, a 6DOF model based on the Subjective Vertical Conflict (SVC) theory, with visual rotational velocity input is effective at estimating motion sickness. However, it does not correctly replicate motion perception in paradigms such as roll-tilt perception during centrifuge, pitch perception during somatogravic illusion, and pitch perception during pseudo-Coriolis motions. On the other hand, the Multi-Sensory Observer Model (MSOM) accurately models motion perception in all considered paradigms, but does not effectively capture the frequency sensitivity of motion sickness, and the effects of vision on sickness. For both models (SVCI and MSOM), the visual perception of rotational velocity strongly affects sickness and perception. Visual verticality perception does not (yet) contribute to sickness prediction, and contributes to perception prediction only for the somatogravic illusion. In conclusion, the SVCI model with visual rotation velocity feedback is the current preferred option to design vehicle control algorithms for motion sickness reduction, while the MSOM best predicts perception. A unified model that jointly captures perception and motion sickness remains to be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental depression is a well-established risk factor for youth psychopathology; however, depression is highly heterogeneous, and different parental symptom profiles may be differentially associated with risk mechanisms and youth psychopathology outcomes. Thus, this study examined associations between parental anhedonic symptoms of depression, specifically, and (1) parenting and (2) youth outcomes using a multi-method, multi-informant approach. Participants included 595 parents (89% mothers) and youth (ages 8–16; M[SD] = 12.07[2.39]). Regression analyses indicated that parental self-reported anhedonic symptoms at baseline demonstrated relatively specific prospective associations with chronic parent–child stress assessed using contextual stress interview methods, as well as youth self-reported depressive symptoms at 18-month follow-up. Findings also indicated concurrent associations between parental anhedonic symptoms and observed parental criticism, conflict, and responsiveness in the context of a 5-min discussion task, as well as parent self-reported monitoring/supervision, although results were no longer significant after controlling for parental co-occurring non-anhedonic depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that parental anhedonic symptoms may contribute to relatively unique reductions in the quality of the parent–child relationship and may be a particularly salient risk factor for youth depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huldrich Zwingli held a highly censorious view of music in private and public worship. It has often been noted that his stance was almost the polar opposite of that of Martin Luther. A more specific disagreement between Zwingli and Luther, however, seems to have gone largely unnoticed in the vast modern literature on music and theology in sixteenth-century reformation movements, namely that of the ontology of music as sounding, sensory object vis-à-vis music as a silently imagined and grasped (ideal) entity. A number of passages from Zwingli's writings suggest a rather peculiar version of the distinction between body and spirit as regards aural perception in general, and music in particular. The present study scrutinizes what seems to be Zwingli's arguments against sound and music as sensory elements in conflict with the ideal realm of the highest order of music theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In case of an acute unilateral vestibulopathy (UVP), compensatory strategies such as restoration and adaptation will lead to a decrease in intensity of the symptoms. Although measurements of compensatory strategies are available, currently, an overview taking the different strategies into account is lacking. The objectives of this study are to explore compensatory strategies and to investigate the association between compensatory strategies and patient characteristics. Methods: Restoration was objectified by the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain on the video head impulse test, and adaptation—consisting of visual, multisensory, and behavioral substitution—was objectified by the Visual Vertigo Analog Scale (VVAS), Antwerp Vestibular Compensation Index (AVeCI), and Perez and Rey score (PR score), respectively. Adequate restoration and adaptation levels were interpreted as follows: VOR gain > 0.80, VVAS ≤ 40%, AVeCI > 0 and PR score ≤ 55. Results: Sixty-two UVP patients, 34 men and 28 women, were included with an average age of 52.1 ± 17.3 years. At 10.5 ± 1.4 weeks after onset, 41.9% of the UVP patients reached adequate restoration levels and 58.1–86.9% reached adequate adaptation levels. Furthermore, significant associations were found between (1) restoration status and UVP etiology [Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% CI: 4.167 {1.353;12.828}] and balance performance (OR: 4.400 {1.258;15.386}), (2) visual sensory substitution status and perceived handicap (OR: 8.144 {1.644;40.395}), anxiety (OR: 10.000 {1.579;63.316}) and depression (OR: 16.667 {2.726;101.896}), and (3) behavioral substitution status and balance performance (OR: 4.143 {1.341;12.798}). Conclusion: UVP patients with adequate compensatory strategies presented with better balance performance, lower perceived handicap, and lower anxiety and depression scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhen HMD users move their heads in virtual reality (VR), display lag creates differences between their virtual and physical head pose (DVP). This study examined whether objective estimates of DVP could predict experiences of cybersickness during simulations with three different types of added lag: (1) Constant lag (where the display was always delayed by 250 ms); (2) Predictable time-varying lag (where delays alternated between 0 and 250 ms every 5 s); and (3) Random time-varying lag (where delays alternated between 0 and a randomly determined value, up to 250 ms, every 1–5 s). Constant, Predictable, and Random added lag were found to generate similar levels of cybersickness—with all three conditions producing more severe sickness than the Baseline lag control. Consistent with our DVP hypothesis, the spatial magnitude and temporal dynamics of our participants’ DVP were both found to be reliable predictors of their cybersickness in all display lag conditions tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entry motion sickness (EMS) affects crewmembers upon return to Earth following extended adaptation to microgravity. Anticholinergic pharmaceuticals (e.g., Meclizine) are often taken prior to landing; however, they have operationally adverse side effects (e.g., drowsiness). There is a need to develop non-pharmaceutical countermeasures to EMS. We assessed the efficacy of a technological countermeasure providing external visual cues following splashdown, where otherwise only nauseogenic internal cabin visual references are available. Our countermeasure provided motion-congruent visual cues of an Earth-fixed scene in virtual reality, which was compared to a control condition with a head-fixed fixation point in virtual reality in a between-subject design with 15 subjects in each group. We tested the countermeasure's effectiveness at mitigating motion sickness symptoms at the end of a ground-based reentry analog: approximately 1 h of 2Gx centrifugation followed by up to 1 h of wave-like motion. Secondarily, we explored differences in vestibular-mediated balance performance between the two conditions. While Motion Sickness Questionnaire outcomes did not differ detectably between groups, we found significantly better survival rates (with dropout dictated by reporting moderate nausea consecutively over 2 min) in the visual countermeasure group than the control group (79% survival vs. 33%, t(14) = 2.50, p = 0.027). Following the reentry analogs, subjects demonstrated significantly higher sway prior to recovery (p = 0.0004), which did not differ between control and countermeasure groups. These results imply that providing motion-congruent visual cues may be an effective mean for curbing the development of moderate nausea and increasing comfort following future space missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crucially, the AHP patient's motor awareness is dominated by their intention, and the patient resists assimilating evidence that they failed to move by dismissing such evidence. The dotted elements represent additions to the classic motor control model, as suggested by patient PI. Crucially, unlike patients with AHP, our patient has full insight into the fact that there is no actual movement corresponding to her perceived intention. We present the case of patient PI, a 29-year-old lady with a background of asthma, childhood sexual abuse, depression, anxiety and obesity. [Extracted from the article]

Animals exist in a world that is replete with sensory information. Not all of this sensory information is relevant to the organism at a given time, though. Understanding how animals are able to pick out 'the signal from the noise' has been of interest to behaviour and neuroscience researchers for decades. This problem may be especially challenging when the conflicting sensory 'noise' is also a conspecific signal, given that organisms often show heightened sensitivity to conspecific cues. We challenged nurse honey bees who were performing larval caretaking behaviours with honey bee alarm pheromone, a conspecific cue that they are able to detect but show low behavioural sensitivity to compared with other honey bee workers like guards and soldiers. We found that nurse bees that originated from high-aggression colonies decreased their larval caretaking behaviours in the presence of alarm pheromone, while nurses from low-aggression colonies did not show this change. Our work highlights the importance of considering social context when examining how organisms respond in the face of a sensory-rich world. • Some honey bee nurses altered offspring care when the hive was threatened. • Nurses from highly aggressive hives decreased larval care following alarm cues. • Nurses from docile hives showed little response to alarm cues. • Honey bee behavioural specialization may be more nuanced than previously known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been shown to involve widespread changes in low‐level sensorimotor and higher‐level cognitive functions. Recent research found that a primary‐to‐transmodal gradient could capture a cortical hierarchical organization ranging from perception and action to cognition in healthy subjects, but a prominent gradient dysfunction in MDD patients. However, whether and how this cortical gradient is linked to subcortical impairments and whether it is reflected in the microscale neurotransmitter systems and cell type‐specific transcriptional signatures remain largely unknown. Data were acquired from 323 MDD patients and 328 sex‐ and age‐matched healthy controls derived from the REST‐meta‐MDD project, and the human brain neurotransmitter systems density maps and gene expression data were drawn from two publicly available datasets. We investigated alterations of the primary‐to‐transmodal gradient in MDD patients and their correlations with clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as their paralleled subcortical impairments. The correlations between MDD‐related gradient alterations and densities of the neurotransmitter systems and gene expression information were assessed, respectively. The results demonstrated that MDD patients had a compressed primary‐to‐transmodal gradient accompanied by paralleled alterations in subcortical regions including the caudate, amygdala, and thalamus. The case–control gradient differences were spatially correlated with the densities of the neurotransmitter systems including the serotonin and dopamine receptors, and meanwhile with gene expression enriched in astrocytes, excitatory and inhibitory neuronal cells. These findings mapped the paralleled subcortical impairments in cortical hierarchical organization and also helped us understand the possible molecular and cellular substrates of the co‐occurrence of high‐level cognitive impairments with low‐level sensorimotor abnormalities in MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) systems are expanding as sensorimotor readaptation tools for older adults. However, this purpose may be challenged by cybersickness occurrences possibly caused by sensory conflicts. This study aims to analyze the effects of aging and multisensory data fusion processes in the brain on cybersickness and the adaptation of postural responses when exposed to immersive VR. Methods: We repeatedly exposed 75 participants, aged 21 to 86, to immersive VR while recording the trajectory of their Center of Pressure (CoP). Participants rated their cybersickness after the first and fifth exposure. Results: The repeated exposures increased cybersickness and allowed for a decrease in postural responses from the second repetition, i.e., increased stability. We did not find any significant correlation between biological age and cybersickness scores. On the contrary, even if some postural responses are age-dependent, a significant postural adaptation occurred independently of age. The CoP trajectory length in the anteroposterior axis and mean velocity were the postural parameters the most affected by age and repetition. Conclusions: This study suggests that cybersickness and postural adaptation to immersive VR are not age-dependent and that cybersickness is unrelated to a deficit in postural adaptation or age. Age does not seem to influence the properties of multisensory data fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White matter pathologies analysis is important for segmenting multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions in MRI slices. Myelin damage affects motor function, sensory conflicts, paralysis, and vision. Extracting an optimistic number of hidden characteristic features induces high feature maps and reduces redundancy and dimensionality. A framework based on Hybrid Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (HD‐CNN) is presented to classify MS based on the acquired optimistic feature characteristic. First, Chaotic Leader‐Selective Particle Swarm Optimization uses the pixel intensity ratio of the targeted region to extract the most hidden white matter features. Second, Refined Slime Mold categorizes hidden features and ensures that the necessary features are selected effectively for a better segmentation result. An effective inbuilt Maximum Bidirectional Gradient Classifier accurately classifies MS lesions by detecting white matter spots in the target region. Finally, we will evaluate the proposed HD‐CNN framework using the industry‐standard University Medical Centre Ljubljana (UMCL) and international symposium on biomedical imaging (ISBI) 2015 datasets as benchmarks. It reaches 98.56%, 93.15%, and 98.44% accuracy for FLAIR, T1W, and T2W, respectively. Our HD‐CNN improves MS classification over other state‐of‐the‐art techniques, compared with accuracy, F‐score, Recall, Precision, Dice, and Jaccard indexes values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To form coherent multisensory perceptual representations, the brain must solve a causal inference problem: to decide if two sensory cues originated from the same event and should be combined, or if they came from different events and should be processed independently. According to current models of multisensory integration, during this process, the integrated (common cause) and segregated (different causes) internal perceptual models are entertained. In the present study, we propose that the causal inference process involves competition between these alternative perceptual models that engages the brain mechanisms of conflict processing. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two experiments, measuring reaction times (RTs) and electroencephalography, using an audiovisual ventriloquist illusion paradigm with varying degrees of intersensory disparities. Consistent with our hypotheses, incongruent trials led to slower RTs and higher fronto-medial theta power, both indicative of conflict. We also predicted that intermediate disparities would yield slower RTs and higher theta power when compared to congruent stimuli and to large disparities, owing to the steeper competition between causal models. Although this prediction was only validated in the RT study, both experiments displayed the anticipated trend. In conclusion, our findings suggest a potential involvement of the conflict mechanisms in multisensory integration of spatial information. This article is part of the theme issue 'Decision and control processes in multisensory perception'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In sensorimotor conflicts, the brain forms and updates a new sensorimotor relationship through sensorimotor integration. As humans adapt to new sensorimotor mapping, goal-directed movements become increasingly precise. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we investigated the changes in cortical activity during sensorimotor adaptation in a spatial orientation task with sensorimotor conflict. Individuals performed a reversed spatial orientation training in which the visual feedback guiding hand movements was reversed. We measured cortical activity and spatial orientation performance, including the response time, completion number, error, and accuracy. The results revealed the continuous activation in the left SMG during sensorimotor adaptation and decreased activation in the right SAC, AG and SMG after sensorimotor adaptation. These findings indicated the contribution of the left SMG to sensorimotor adaptation and the improved efficiency of cortical activity after sensorimotor adaptation, respectively. Our studies suggest the neural mechanisms related to sensorimotor adaptation to a reversed spatial orientation task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate our hand's position by combining relevant visual and proprioceptive cues. A cross-sensory spatial mismatch can be created by viewing the hand through a prism or, more recently, rotating a visual cursor that represents hand position. This is often done in the context of target-directed reaching to study motor adaptation, the systematic updating of motor commands in response to a systematic movement error. However, a visuo-proprioceptive mismatch also elicits recalibration in the relationship between the hand's seen and felt position. The principles governing visuo-proprioceptive recalibration are poorly understood, compared to motor adaptation. For example, motor adaptation occurs robustly whether the cursor is rotated quickly or slowly, although the former may involve more explicit processes. Here, we asked whether visuo-proprioceptive recalibration, in the absence of motor adaptation, works the same way. Three groups experienced a 70 mm visuo-proprioceptive mismatch about their hand at a Slow, Medium, or Fast rate (0.84, 1.67, or 3.34 mm every two trials, respectively), with no error feedback. Once attained, the 70 mm mismatch was maintained for the remaining trials. Total recalibration differed significantly across groups, with the Fast, Medium, and Slow groups recalibrating 63.7, 56.3, and 42.8 mm on average, respectively. This suggests a slower mismatch rate may be less effective at eliciting recalibration. In contrast to motor adaptation studies, no further recalibration was observed in the maintenance phase. This may be related to the distinct mechanisms thought to contribute to perceptual recalibration via cross-sensory cue conflict versus sensory prediction errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the time course of motion sickness symptoms enables the evaluation of provocative stimuli and the development of countermeasures for reducing symptom severity. In pursuit of this goal, we present an observer-driven model of motion sickness for passive motions in the dark. Constructed in two stages, this model predicts motion sickness symptoms by bridging sensory conflict (i.e., differences between actual and expected sensory signals) arising from the observer model of spatial orientation perception (stage 1) to Oman's model of motion sickness symptom dynamics (stage 2; presented in 1982 and 1990) through a proposed "Normalized innovation squared" statistic. The model outputs the expected temporal development of human motion sickness symptom magnitudes (mapped to the Misery Scale) at a population level, due to arbitrary, 6-degree-of-freedom, self-motion stimuli. We trained model parameters using individual subject responses collected during fore-aft translations and off-vertical axis of rotation motions. Improving on prior efforts, we only used datasets with experimental conditions congruent with the perceptual stage (i.e., adequately provided passive motions without visual cues) to inform the model. We assessed model performance by predicting an unseen validation dataset, producing a Q2 value of 0.86. Demonstrating this model's broad applicability, we formulate predictions for a host of stimuli, including translations, earth-vertical rotations, and altered gravity, and we provide our implementation for other users. Finally, to guide future research efforts, we suggest how to rigorously advance this model (e.g., incorporating visual cues, active motion, responses to motion of different frequency, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Prior studies on the gut microbiome in Parkinson's disease (PD) have yielded conflicting results, and few studies have focused on prodromal (premotor) PD or used shotgun metagenomic profiling to assess microbial functional potential. We conducted a nested case–control study within 2 large epidemiological cohorts to examine the role of the gut microbiome in PD. Methods: We profiled the fecal metagenomes of 420 participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow‐up Study with recent onset PD (N = 75), with features of prodromal PD (N = 101), controls with constipation (N = 113), and healthy controls (N = 131) to identify microbial taxonomic and functional features associated with PD and features suggestive of prodromal PD. Omnibus and feature‐wise analyses identified bacterial species and pathways associated with prodromal and recently onset PD. Results: We observed depletion of several strict anaerobes associated with reduced inflammation among participants with PD or features of prodromal PD. A microbiome‐based classifier had moderate accuracy (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.76 for species and 0.74 for pathways) to discriminate between recently onset PD cases and controls. These taxonomic shifts corresponded with functional shifts indicative of carbohydrate source preference. Similar, but less marked, changes were observed in participants with features of prodromal PD, in both microbial features and functions. Interpretation: PD and features of prodromal PD were associated with similar changes in the gut microbiome. These findings suggest that changes in the microbiome could represent novel biomarkers for the earliest phases of PD. ANN NEUROL 2023;94:486–501 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the alterations of whole brain functional network using the degree centrality (DC) analysis in neovascular glaucoma (NVG) and the correlation between DC values and NVG clinical indices. Materials and methods: Twenty NVG patients and twenty normal controls (NC), closely matched in age, sex, and education, were recruited for this study. All subjects underwent comprehensive ophthalmologic examinations and a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scan. The differences in DC values of brain network between NVG and NC groups were analyzed, and correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationships between DC values and clinical ophthalmological indices in NVG group. Results: Compared with NC group, significantly decreased DC values were found in the left superior occipital gyrus and left postcentral gyrus, while significantly increased DC values in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and left medial frontal gyrus in NVG group. (All P < 0.05, FDR corrected). In the NVG group, the DC value in left superior occipital gyrus showed significantly positive correlations with retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness (R = 0.484, P = 0.031) and mean deviation of visual field (MDVF) (R = 0.678, P = 0.001). Meanwhile, the DC value in the left medial frontal gyrus demonstrated significantly negative correlations with RNFL (R = − 0.544, P = 0.013) and MDVF (R = − 0.481, P = 0.032). Conclusions: NVG exhibited decreased network degree centrality in visual and sensorimotor brain regions and increased degree centrality in cognitive-emotional processing brain region. Additionally, the DC alterations might be complementary imaging biomarkers to assess disease severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Intrathecal (IT) pDNA IL-10 reverses spinally-mediated measures of neuropathic pain. • Development of TARS, a new 2-arm choice task to assess supraspinal pain processing. • Spinal and supraspinal indices of neuropathic pain developed in parallel over time. • Both indices of pain were reversed in parallel after IT pDNA-IL10 gene therapy. • Details for construction and use of the TARS operant behavior task are provided. Intrathecal delivery of interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene therapy has been reported to be effective in suppressing pain enhancement in a variety of rodent models. However, all publications that have tested this treatment have relied upon measures of static allodynia (von Frey test) and thermal hyperalgesia (Hargreaves test). As this plasmid DNA IL-10 (pDNA-IL10) therapeutic approach is now in human clinical trials for multiple pain indications, including intrathecal delivery for human neuropathic pain, it is important to consider the recent concerns raised in the pain field that such tests reflect spinal rather than supraspinal processing of, and responsivity to, noxious stimuli. Consequently, this raises the question of whether intrathecal pDNA-IL10 can reverse established neuropathic pain when assessed by a test requiring supraspinal, rather than solely spinal, mediation of the behavioral response. The present study utilizes the rat sciatic chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of neuropathic pain to compare the expression of static allodynia with that of cognitively controlled choice behavior in a two-arm maze, adapted from Hayashida et al. (2019). This modification, termed the Two-Arm Rodent Somatosensory (TARS) task, provides rats free choice to reach a desired goal box via a short "arm" of the maze with tactile probes as flooring versus a longer "arm" of the maze with a smooth surface. Here we demonstrate that static allodynia and avoidance of the nociceptive flooring in TARS develop in parallel over time, and that both behaviors also resolve in parallel following intrathecal pDNA-IL10 gene therapy. Details for the construction and use of this new maze design are also provided. Together, this study documents both: (a) the important finding that intrathecal IL-10 gene therapy does indeed resolve neuropathic pain as measured by a supraspinally-mediated behavioral task, and (b) a new, supraspinally-mediated task that allows behavioral assessments across weeks and allows the analysis of both development and resolution of neuropathic pain by therapeutic interventions. As such, the TARS operant behavior task is an improvement over other approaches such as the mechanical conflict-avoidance system which have difficulties demonstrating development and reversal of pain behavior in a within-subject design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of vestibular, visual and body cues is a fundamental process in the perception of self-motion and is commonly experienced in an upright posture. However, when the body is tilted in an off-vertical orientation these signals are no longer aligned relative to the influence of gravity. In this study, the perceived timing of visual motion was examined in the presence of sensory conflict introduced by manipulating the orientation of the body, generating a mismatch between body and vestibular cues due to gravity and creating an ambiguous vestibular signal of either head tilt or translation. In a series of temporal-order judgment tasks, participants reported the perceived onset of a visual scene simulating rotation around the yaw axis presented in virtual reality with a paired auditory tone while in an upright, supine and side-recumbent body position. The results revealed that the perceived onset of visual motion was further delayed from zero (i.e., true simultaneity between visual onset and a reference auditory tone) by approximately an additional 30 ms when viewed in a supine or side-recumbent orientation compared to an upright posture. There were also no significant differences in the timing estimates of the visual motion between all the non-upright orientations. This indicates that the perceived timing of visual motion is negatively impacted by the presence of conflict in the vestibular and body signals due to the direction of gravity and body orientation, even when the mismatch is not in the direct plane of the axis of rotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with fibromyalgia have been shown to experience more somatosensory disturbances than pain-free controls during sensorimotor conflicts (i.e., incongruence between visual and somatosensory feedback). Sensorimotor conflicts are known to disturb the integration of sensory information. This study aimed to assess the cerebral response and motor performance during a sensorimotor conflict in people with fibromyalgia. Twenty participants with fibromyalgia and twenty-three pain-free controls performed a drawing task including visual feedback that was either congruent with actual movement (and thus with somatosensory information) or incongruent with actual movement (i.e., conflict). Motor performance was measured according to tracing error, and electrocortical activity was recorded using electroencephalography. Motor performance was degraded during conflict for all participants but did not differ between groups. Time–frequency analysis showed that the conflict was associated with an increase in theta power (4–8 Hz) at conflict onset over the left posterior parietal cortex in participants with fibromyalgia but not in controls. This increase in theta suggests a stronger detection of conflict in participants with fibromyalgia, which was not accompanied by differences in motor performance in comparison to controls. This points to dissociation in individuals with fibromyalgia between an altered perception of action and a seemingly unaltered control of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human motion perception system has long been linked to motion sickness through state estimation conflict terms. However, to date, the extent to which available perception models are able to predict motion sickness, or which of the employed perceptual mechanisms are of most relevance to sickness prediction, has not been studied. In this study, the subjective vertical model, the multi-sensory observer model and the probabilistic particle filter model were all validated for their ability to predict motion perception and sickness, across a large set of motion paradigms of varying complexity from literature. It was found that even though the models provided a good match for the perception paradigms studied, they could not be made to capture the full range of motion sickness observations. The resolution of the gravito-inertial ambiguity has been identified to require further attention, as key model parameters selected to match perception data did not optimally match motion sickness data. Two additional mechanisms that may enable better future predictive models of sickness have, however, been identified. Firstly, active estimation of the magnitude of gravity appears to be instrumental for predicting motion sickness induced by vertical accelerations. Secondly, the model analysis showed that the influence of the semicircular canals on the somatogravic effect may explain the differences in the dynamics observed for motion sickness induced by vertical and horizontal plane accelerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions with parents are integral in shaping the development of children's emotional processes. Important aspects of these interactions are overall (mean level) affective experience and affective synchrony (linkages between parent and child affect across time). Respectively, mean-level affect and affective synchrony reflect aspects of the content and structure of dyadic interactions. Most research on parent–child affect during dyadic interactions has focused on infancy and early childhood; adolescence, however, is a key period for both normative emotional development and the emergence of emotional disorders. We examined affect in early to mid-adolescents (N = 55, M age = 12.27) and their parents using a video-mediated recall task of 10-min conflict-topic discussions. Using multilevel modeling, we found evidence of significant level-2 effects (mean affect) and level-1 effects (affective synchrony) for parents and their adolescents. Level-2 and level-1 associations were differentially moderated by adolescent age and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. More specifically, parent–adolescent synchrony was stronger when adolescents were older and had more internalizing problems. Further, more positive adolescent mean affect was associated with more positive parent affect (and vice versa), but only for dyads with low adolescent externalizing problems. Results underscore the importance of additional research examining parent–child affect in adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how falling hoverflies use sensory cues to trigger appropriate roll righting behavior. Before being released in a free fall, flies were placed upside-down with their legs contacting the substrate. The prior leg proprioceptive information about their initial orientation sufficed for the flies to right themselves properly. However, flies also use visual and antennal cues to recover faster and disambiguate sensory conflicts. Surprisingly, in one of the experimental conditions tested, hoverflies flew upside-down while still actively flapping their wings. In all the other conditions, flies were able to right themselves using two roll dynamics: fast (∼ 50ms) and slow (∼ 110ms) in the presence of consistent and conflicting cues, respectively. These findings suggest that a nonlinear sensory integration of the three types of sensory cues occurred. A ring attractor model was developed and discussed to account for this cue integration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of cannabis use on neurological soft signs (NSS) in patients with schizophrenia is a topic of growing interest. This narrative review aims to provide an overview of the current understanding of this relationship. The PubMed database was used to identify relevant articles, and the initial search yielded a total of 144 publications. By using automation tools, 137 records were removed, and seven remaining studies were further reviewed in full-text. Results. The findings suggest that, although the use of cannabis decreases the global expression of NSS, heavy cannabis use is associated with higher levels of NSS in sensorimotor subdomains related to complex motor tasks. Furthermore, neuroimaging studies have revealed alterations in brain regions involved in sensorimotor execution and control in individuals with heavy cannabis use. These findings support the hypothesis that cannabis, through its effects on the sensorimotor system, can impair neurological functioning and increase the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. In conclusion, this narrative review highlights the complex relationship between cannabis use, neurological soft signs and schizophrenia. Understanding the impact of cannabis on NSS in patients with schizophrenia is crucial for developing targeted interventions and for optimizing treatment outcomes. Further research, including longitudinal studies and meta-analyses, is warranted to enhance our understanding of this important area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phantom boarder (PB) is the sensation that someone uninvited is in the patient's home despite evidence to the contrary. It is mostly reported by patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies or Parkinson's disease (PD). Presence hallucination (PH) is frequent in neurodegenerative disease, shares several aspects with PB, and is the sensation that someone is nearby, behind or next to the patient (when nobody is actually there). Recent work developed a sensorimotor method to robotically induce PH (robot‐induced PH, riPH) and demonstrated that a subgroup of PD patients showed abnormal sensitivity for riPH. Objective: We investigated if PD patients with PB (PD‐PB) would (1) show elevated sensitivity for riPH that (2) is comparable to that of patients reporting PH, but not PB (PD‐PH). Methods: We studied the sensitivity of non‐demented PD patients in a sensorimotor stimulation paradigm, during which three groups of patients (PD‐PB; PD‐PH; PD patients without hallucinations, PD‐nPH) were exposed to different conditions of conflicting sensorimotor stimulation. Results: We show that PD‐PB and PD‐PH groups had a higher sensitivity to riPH (compared to PD‐nPH). PD‐PB and PD‐PH groups did not differ in riPH sensitivity. Together with interview data, these behavioral data on riPH show that PB is associated with PH, suggesting that both share some underlying brain mechanisms, although interview data also revealed phenomenological differences. Conclusions: Because PD‐PB patients did not suffer from dementia nor delusions, we argue that these shared mechanisms are of perceptual‐hallucinatory nature, involving sensorimotor signals and their integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge regarding the neural origins of distinct upper extremity impairments may guide the choice of interventions to target neural structures responsible for specific impairments. This cross‐sectional pilot study investigated whether different brain networks explain distinct aspects of hand grip performance in stroke survivors. In 22 chronic stroke survivors, hand grip performance was characterized as grip strength, reaction, relaxation times, and control of grip force magnitude and direction. In addition, their brain structural connectomes were constructed from diffusion tensor MRI. Prominent networks were identified based on a two‐step factor analysis using the number of streamlines among brain regions relevant to sensorimotor function. We used regression models to estimate the predictive value of sensorimotor network connectivity for hand grip performance measures while controlling for stroke lesion volumes. Each hand grip performance measure correlated with the connectivity of distinct brain sensorimotor networks. These results suggest that different brain networks may be responsible for different aspects of hand grip performance, which leads to varying clinical presentations of upper extremity impairment following stroke. Understanding the brain network correlates for different hand grip performances may facilitate the development of personalized rehabilitation interventions to directly target the responsible brain network for specific impairments in individual patients, thus improving outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-imposed selection can lead to adaptive changes in sensory traits. However, rapid evolution of the sensory system can interfere with other behaviours, and animals must overcome such sensory conflicts. In response to intense selection by insecticide baits that contain glucose, German cockroaches evolved glucose-aversion (GA), which confers behavioural resistance against baits. During courtship the male offers the female a nuptial gift that contains maltose, which expediates copulation. However, the female's saliva rapidly hydrolyses maltose into glucose, which causes GA females to dismount the courting male, thus reducing their mating success. Comparative analysis revealed two adaptive traits in GA males. They produce more maltotriose, which is more resilient to salivary glucosidases, and they initiate copulation faster than wild-type males, before GA females interrupt their nuptial feeding and dismount the male. Recombinant lines of the two strains showed that the two emergent traits of GA males were not genetically associated with the GA trait. Results suggest that the two courtship traits emerged in response to the altered sexual behaviour of GA females and independently of the male's GA trait. Although rapid adaptive evolution generates sexual mismatches that lower fitness, compensatory behavioural evolution can correct these sensory discrepancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-modal correspondences refer to associations between feature dimensions of stimuli across sensory modalities. Research has indicated that correspondence between audiovisual stimuli influences whether these stimuli are integrated or segregated. On the other hand, the audiovisual integration process plastically changes to compensate for continuously observed spatiotemporal conflicts between sensory modalities. If and how cross-modal correspondence modulates the "recalibration" of integration is unclear. We investigated whether cross-modal correspondence between auditory pitch and visual elevation affected audiovisual temporal recalibration. Participants judged the simultaneity of a pair of audiovisual stimuli after an adaptation phase in which alternating auditory and visual stimuli equally spaced in time were presented. In the adaptation phase, auditory pitch and visual elevation were manipulated to fix the order within each pairing of audiovisual stimuli congruent with pitch-elevation correspondence (visual leading or auditory leading). We found a shift in the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) between congruent audiovisual stimuli as a function of the adaptation conditions (Experiment 1, 2), but this shift in the PSS was not observed within incongruent pairs (Experiment 2). These results indicate that asynchronies between audiovisual signals congruent with cross-modal correspondence are selectively recalibrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neuroimaging studies have shown that the functional connectivity (FC) of corticostriatal circuits in nonmanifesting leucine‐rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) G2019S mutation carriers mirrors neural changes in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). In contrast, neural network changes in LRRK2 G2385R and R1628P mutations are unclear. We aimed to investigate the FC of corticostriatal circuits in nonmanifesting LRRK2 G2385R and R1628P mutation carriers (NMCs). Methods: Twenty‐three NMCs, 28 PD patients, and 29 nonmanifesting noncarriers (NMNCs) were recruited. LRRK2 mutation analysis was performed on all participants. Clinical evaluation included MDS‐UPDRS. Results: When compared to NMNCs, NMCs showed significantly reduced FC between the caudate nucleus and superior frontal gyrus and cerebellum, and between the nucleus accumbens and parahippocampal gyrus, amygdala, and insula. We also found increased striatum‐cortical FC in NMCs. Conclusions: Although the corticostriatal circuits have characteristic changes similar to PD, the relatively intact function of the sensorimotor striatum‐cortical loop may result in less possibility of developing parkinsonian motor symptoms for the NMCs. This study helps explain why LRRK2 G2385R and R1628P mutations are risk factors rather than pathogenic mutations for PD and suggests that various LRRK2 mutations have distinct effects on neural networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While compelling illusions of self-motion (vection) can be induced purely by visual motion, they are rarely experienced immediately. This vection onset latency is thought to represent the time required to resolve sensory conflicts between the stationary observer's visual and nonvisual information about self-motion. In this study, we investigated whether manipulations designed to increase the weightings assigned to vision (compared to the nonvisual senses) might reduce vection onset latency. We presented two different types of visual priming displays directly before our main vection-inducing displays: (1) 'random motion' priming displays — designed to pre-activate general, as opposed to self-motion-specific, visual motion processing systems; and (2) 'dynamic no-motion' priming displays — designed to stimulate vision, but not generate conscious motion perceptions. Prior exposure to both types of priming displays was found to significantly shorten vection onset latencies for the main self-motion display. These experiments show that vection onset latencies can be reduced by pre-activating the visual system with both types of priming display. Importantly, these visual priming displays did not need to be capable of inducing vection or conscious motion perception in order to produce such benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VOLUME 35 ISSUE 1 PP. 1-108 2022 Orienting Auditory Attention through Vision: the Impact of Monaural Listening I S. Turri, M. Rizvi, G. Rabini, A. Melonio, R. Gennari and F. Pavani i 1 Neural Basis of the Sound-Symbolic Crossmodal Correspondence Between Auditory Pseudowords and Visual Shapes I K. McCormick, S. Lacey, R. Stilla, L. C. Nygaard and K. Sathian i 29 Multisensory Information Facilitates the Categorization of Untrained Stimuli I J. Wu, Q. Li, Q. Fu, M. Rose and L. Jing i 79 VOLUME 35 ISSUE 2 PP. 109-220 2022 Developmental Changes in Gaze Behavior and the Effects of Auditory Emotion Word Priming in Emotional Face Categorization I M. Vesker, D. Bahn, C. Kauschke and G. Schwarzer i 109 Temporal Alignment but not Complexity of Audiovisual Stimuli Influences Crossmodal Duration Percepts I A. N. Scurry, D. M. Lemus and F. Jiang i 131 Serial Dependence of Emotion Within and Between Stimulus Sensory Modalities I E. Van der Burg, A. Toet, A.-M. Brouwer and J. B. F. Van Erp i 151 Imagine Your Crossed Hands as Uncrossed: Visual Imagery Impacts the Crossed-Hands Deficit I L. Lorentz, K. Unwalla and D. I. Shore i 173 Reducing Cybersickness in 360-Degree Virtual Reality I I. Arshad, P. De Mello, M. Ender, J. D. McEwen and E. R. Ferré i 203 VOLUME 35 ISSUE 3 PP. 221-290 2022 Crossmodal Correspondence Between Auditory Timbre and Visual Shape I D. Gurman, C. R. McCormick and R. M. Klein i 221 The Effects of Mandarin Chinese Lexical Tones in Sound-Shape and Sound-Size Correspondences I Y.-H. An Experimental Study Based on Multisensory Interaction I X. Sun, P.-H. Chen and P.-L.P. Rau i 391 Crossmodal Correspondence between Music and Ambient Color Is Mediated by Emotion I P. Hauck, C. von Castell and H. Hecht i 407 VOLUME 35 ISSUE 6 PP. 447-536 2022 Investigating the Crossmodal Influence of Odour on the Visual Perception of Facial Attractiveness and Age I Y.-C. [Extracted from the article]

I recognize Mandy beneath the makeup; I am taken aback by the intensity of the face. "And the touch of your fingers, holding pencil and brush, stroke color across your face that pleases your fingers and skin? I cannot detect the natural line of her lip beneath the thick impasto of lipliner. My next patient, eleven-year-old Mandy, should be sitting, scrolling through her cell phone. [Extracted from the article]

Integration of incoming sensory signals from multiple modalities is central in the determination of self-motion perception. With the emergence of consumer virtual reality (VR), it is becoming increasingly common to experience a mismatch in sensory feedback regarding motion when using immersive displays. In this study, we explored whether introducing various discrepancies between the vestibular and visual motion would influence the perceived timing of self-motion. Participants performed a series of temporal-order judgements between an auditory tone and a passive whole-body rotation on a motion platform accompanied by visual feedback using a virtual environment generated through a head-mounted display. Sensory conflict was induced by altering the speed and direction by which the movement of the visual scene updated relative to the observer's physical rotation. There were no differences in perceived timing of the rotation without vision, with congruent visual feedback and when the speed of the updating of the visual motion was slower. However, the perceived timing was significantly further from zero when the direction of the visual motion was incongruent with the rotation. These findings demonstrate the potential interaction between visual and vestibular signals in the temporal perception of self-motion. Additionally, we recorded cybersickness ratings and found that sickness severity was significantly greater when visual motion was present and incongruent with the physical motion. This supports previous research regarding cybersickness and the sensory conflict theory, where a mismatch between the visual and vestibular signals may lead to a greater likelihood for the occurrence of sickness symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine regional cerebral vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) ligand [18F]fluoroethoxybenzovesamicol ([18F]-FEOBV) PET binding in Parkinson' disease (PD) patients with and without vestibular sensory conflict deficits (VSCD). To examine associations between VSCD-associated cholinergic brain deficits and postural instability and gait difficulties (PIGD). PD persons (M70/F22; mean age 67.6 ± 7.4 years) completed clinical assessments for imbalance, falls, freezing of gait (FoG), modified Romberg sensory conflict testing, and underwent VAChT PET. Volumes of interest (VOI)-based analyses included detailed thalamic and cerebellar parcellations. VSCD-associated VAChT VOI selection used stepwise logistic regression analysis. Vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2) [11C]dihydrotetrabenazine (DTBZ) PET imaging was available in 54 patients. Analyses of covariance were performed to compare VSCD-associated cholinergic deficits between patients with and without PIGD motor features while accounting for confounders. PET sampling passed acceptance criteria in 73 patients. This data-driven analysis identified cholinergic deficits in five brain VOIs associating with the presence of VSCD: medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) (P < 0.0001), para-hippocampal gyrus (P = 0.0043), inferior nucleus of the pulvinar (P = 0.047), fusiform gyrus (P = 0.035) and the amygdala (P = 0.019). Composite VSCD-associated [18F]FEOBV-binding deficits in these 5 regions were significantly lower in patients with imbalance (− 8.3%, F = 6.5, P = 0.015; total model: F = 5.1, P = 0.0008), falls (− 6.9%, F = 4.9, P = 0.03; total model F = 4.7, P = 0.0015), and FoG (− 14.2%, F = 9.0, P = 0.0043; total model F = 5.8, P = 0.0003), independent of age, duration of disease, gender and nigrostriatal dopaminergic losses. Post hoc analysis using MGN VAChT binding as the single cholinergic VOI demonstrated similar significant associations with imbalance, falls and FoG. VSCD-associated cholinergic network changes localize to distinct structures involved in multi-sensory, in particular vestibular, and multimodal cognitive and motor integration brain regions. Relative clinical effects of VSCD-associated cholinergic network deficits were largest for FoG followed by postural imbalance and falls. The MGN was the most significant region identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tendency to simulate the pain of others within our own sensorimotor systems is a vital component of empathy. However, this sensorimotor resonance is modulated by a multitude of social factors including similarity in bodily appearance, e.g. skin colour. The current study investigated whether increasing self–other similarity via virtual transfer to another colour body reduced ingroup bias in sensorimotor resonance. A sample of 58 white participants was momentarily transferred to either a black or a white body using virtual reality technology. We then employed electroencephalography to examine event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the sensorimotor beta (13–23 Hz) oscillations while they viewed black, white and violet photorealistic virtual agents being touched with a noxious or soft object. While the noxious treatment of a violet agent did not increase beta ERD, amplified beta ERD in response to black agent's noxious vs soft treatment was found in perceivers transferred to a black body. Transfer to the white body dismissed the effect. Further exploratory analysis implied that the pain-related beta ERD occurred only when the agent and the participant were of the same colour. The results suggest that even short-lasting changes in bodily resemblance can modulate sensorimotor resonance to others' perceived pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reinforcement learning (RL) theory of the reward positivity (RewP) proposes that RewP indexes a reward prediction error (RPE) signal processed in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). According to this theory, RewP is an event‐related potential (ERP) that is more positive‐going for feedback stimuli that predict better‐than‐expected outcomes (positive feedback) than for feedback stimuli that predict worse‐than‐expected outcomes (negative feedback). Despite strong evidence for this hypothesis, findings have been equivocal for tasks involving painful outcomes. We hypothesized that the RewP is modulated by high‐level task goals such that outcomes that are congruent with the goals elicit positive RPEs even if their immediate consequences are negative. Accordingly, changes in high‐level task goals should modulate RewP amplitude for tasks that involve seeking pain compared to tasks that involve avoiding pain. We recorded the electroencephalogram from participants who were instructed to navigate a virtual T‐Maze to find reward‐predictive feedback in a reward condition and pain‐predictive feedback in a pain condition. We expected more positive‐going ERPs to reward feedback in the reward condition and more positive‐going ERPs to pain feedback in the pain condition. Despite behavioral results indicating that participants complied with task instructions, contrary to our predictions, we did not find a RewP to pain feedback. We suggest that pain feedback interfered with the effect of high‐level task goals on RewP amplitude, which is indicative of conflict at different levels of task hierarchy. Competing accounts of the reward positivity (RewP), an event‐related potential component elicited by feedback in reinforcement learning tasks, alternatively relate the RewP to a reward prediction error signal or to a salience prediction error signal. We looked at the effect of task instructions on the RewP in conditions involving reward feedback and pain feedback and found support for neither account. These discrepancies could be due to conflict between different levels of task hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 3xTg-AD mice show early alterations in sensorimotor activity. • Unusual behaviors (shaking/tremor) accompany early pathology in the 3xTg-AD model. • Exercise reduced unusual behaviors and enhanced Morris water maze performance. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a progressive decline in cognitive function; however, recent evidence suggests that non-cognitive sensorimotor and psychomotor symptoms accompany early stages of the disease in humans and AD models. Although exercise is emerging as an important therapeutic to combat AD progression, little is known about the effect of exercise on sensorimotor domain functions. The purpose of this study was to determine if early sensorimotor symptoms accompany deficits in Morris water maze (MWM) performance in the 3xTg-AD model, and investigate if exercise could protect against early behavioral decline. 3xTg-AD and wild-type (WT) control mice were subjected to 12 weeks of moderate intensity wheel running or remained sedentary. At 6 months of age, animals underwent a series of sensorimotor and MWM testing. 3xTg-AD mice displayed deficits in sensorimotor function (beam traversal, spontaneous activity, and adhesive removal) and MWM performance. Interestingly, 3xTg-AD animals exhibited increased freezing and unusual shaking/tremoring behaviors not displayed by WT controls. Exercise improved beam traversal, adhesive removal, and reduced the unusual motor-related behaviors in 3xTg-AD mice. Our study shows that sensorimotor symptoms coincide with deficits in MWM performance, and suggest that exercise may mitigate deficits associated with early disease in 3xTg-AD mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reexamines how the racial construction of body/place is closely related to symbolic processes in the ordering of the sensory experiences of working‐class and poor neighborhoods. Specifically, it considers the role played by soundscapes in the aforementioned relationships within Andean communities in Madrid (Spain), and Palenquera communities in Cartagena (Colombia). The analytical framework of this article aims to rework the contributions of the sensory turn in sociology, so as to connect them with key categories taken from Critical Race Studies. To fulfill the aims of this work, a sensuous ethnography was carried out, including in‐depth interviews with inhabitants of working‐class and poor neighborhoods and activists from antiracist organizations. At the same time, the analysis was carried out into the cities' local newspapers. The application of these conceptual frameworks and methodologies led to one main conclusion: sensory conflict related to sound in these cities is a fundamental manifestation of the racialization of space. The working‐class and poor neighborhoods of Cartagena and Madrid do not reproduce hegemonic urban sensory models but instead resist them on a daily basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ERPs evoked by interface errors with congruent and incongruent sensory feedback. • Comparison of ERPs and visual vs proprioceptive sensory effects. • Incongruent sensory feedback on motion error evokes Stroop effect. • Brain computer interface (BCI) aspects. • Realistic experiment environment and motion task. The manipulation of remote agents such as robotic arms in remote surgery or in BCI-wheelchair control are prone to errors. Some of these are related to user intent misclassification or other interface system errors, which lead to an incorrect movement. Here we focused on errors originating from unpredicted interface movements violating user intent and producing sensory conflicts. In addition, we examined effects of incongruent/congruent sensory stimuli induced by interface errors, focusing on haptic and visual cues in the system. The overarching goal was to identify the prototypical patterns of electroencephalogram (EEG) error signals associated with two types of interface errors rising when the visual and proprioceptive feedback are congruent or incongruent. For purposes of comparison validity, both types of errors were recorded in the same 3D virtual game environment. The comparison of congruent and incongruent interface errors revealed significant and marginally significant differences in EEG potentials with respect to profile, latencies, scalp distribution and sources. Different EEG time–frequency combinations had high power content. Incongruence between visual and proprioceptive feedback in interface errors not only elicited distinct EEG signal characteristics, but also produced a marginally significant Stroop effect. Incongruency in visuo-haptic feedback modalities cause a delayed user response. This effect is of major importance for the design of controlling interfaces and can provide designers with crucial information when aiming to control human response time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the technological advancements in Virtual Reality (VR), users are constantly combating feelings of nausea and disorientation, the so-called cybersickness. Cybersickness symptoms cause severe discomfort and hinder the immersive VR experience. Here we investigated cybersickness in 360-degree head-mounted display VR. In traditional 360-degree VR experiences, translational movement in the real world is not reflected in the virtual world, and therefore self-motion information is not corroborated by matching visual and vestibular cues, which may trigger symptoms of cybersickness. We evaluated whether a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) software designed to supplement the 360-degree VR experience with artificial six-degrees-of-freedom motion may reduce cybersickness. Explicit (simulator sickness questionnaire and Fast Motion Sickness (FMS) rating) and implicit (heart rate) measurements were used to evaluate cybersickness symptoms during and after 360-degree VR exposure. Simulator sickness scores showed a significant reduction in feelings of nausea during the AI-supplemented six-degrees-of-freedom motion VR compared to traditional 360-degree VR. However, six-degrees-of-freedom motion VR did not reduce oculomotor or disorientation measures of sickness. No changes were observed in FMS and heart rate measures. Improving the congruency between visual and vestibular cues in 360-degree VR, as provided by the AI-supplemented six-degrees-of-freedom motion system considered, is essential for a more engaging, immersive and safe VR experience, which is critical for educational, cultural and entertainment applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]