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Psychiatry Research Dec 2023Twenty years ago, cognitive impairments were recognized as an unmet treatment need in schizophrenia. Basic science discoveries in neuroplasticity had led to cognitive...
Twenty years ago, cognitive impairments were recognized as an unmet treatment need in schizophrenia. Basic science discoveries in neuroplasticity had led to cognitive training approaches for dyslexia. We wondered whether a similar approach could target working memory deficits in schizophrenia by harnessing plasticity in the auditory cortex. Our per protocol experimental therapeutics studies tested the hypothesis that sharpening auditory cortical representations would result in better verbal learning and memory. We also later studied the effects of intensive training of basic social cognitive operations. Our training protocols were deliberately focused, effortful and intensive, since participants were often up against decades of cortical dysplasticity. In studies in different stages of illness, we demonstrated that neuroscience-informed cognitive training was associated with: (1) proximal psychophysical as well as distal cognitive improvements; (2) increases in serum BDNF levels; (3) negative effects of serum anticholinergic burden; (4) electrophysiologic responses and brain activation patterns consistent with restorative neuroplastic changes in cortex; (5) positive cortical and thalamic volumetric changes suggestive of neuroprotection; (6) better 6-month clinical functioning in those with a positive initial response. Taken together, this work indicates how much the field of psychiatry could benefit from a deep understanding of the basic science of cortical neuroplasticity processes and of how they can be deliberately and efficiently harnessed for therapeutic purposes.
Topics: Humans; Schizophrenia; Memory, Short-Term; Cognitive Dysfunction; Memory Disorders; Neuronal Plasticity
PubMed: 38000206
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115607 -
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2024Intramodal and cross-modal perceptual grouping based on the spatial proximity and temporal closeness between multiple sensory stimuli, as an operational principle has... (Review)
Review
Intramodal and cross-modal perceptual grouping based on the spatial proximity and temporal closeness between multiple sensory stimuli, as an operational principle has built a coherent and meaningful representation of the multisensory event/object. To implement and investigate the cross-modal perceptual grouping, researchers have employed excellent paradigms of spatial/temporal ventriloquism and cross-modal dynamic capture and have revealed the conditional constraints as well as the functional facilitations among various correspondence of sensory properties, with featured behavioral evidence, computational framework as well as brain oscillation patterns. Typically, synesthetic correspondence as a special type of cross-modal correspondence can shape the efficiency and effect-size of cross-modal interaction. For example, factors such as pitch/loudness in the auditory dimension with size/brightness in the visual dimension could modulate the strength of the cross-modal temporal capture. The empirical behavioral findings, as well as psychophysical and neurophysiological evidence to address the cross-modal perceptual grouping and synesthetic correspondence, were summarized in this review. Finally, the potential applications (such as artificial synesthesia device) and how synesthetic correspondence interface with semantics (sensory linguistics), as well as the promising research questions in this field have been discussed.
Topics: Humans; Synesthesia; Brain; Research Personnel; Semantics
PubMed: 38270856
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-7611-9_7 -
Nature Communications Nov 2023Introspective agents can recognize the extent to which their internal perceptual experiences deviate from the actual states of the external world. This ability, also...
Introspective agents can recognize the extent to which their internal perceptual experiences deviate from the actual states of the external world. This ability, also known as insight, is critically required for reality testing and is impaired in psychosis, yet little is known about its cognitive underpinnings. We develop a Bayesian modeling framework and a psychophysics paradigm to quantitatively characterize this type of insight while people experience a motion after-effect illusion. People can incorporate knowledge about the illusion into their decisions when judging the actual direction of a motion stimulus, compensating for the illusion (and often overcompensating). Furthermore, confidence, reaction-time, and pupil-dilation data all show signatures consistent with inferential adjustments in the Bayesian insight model. Our results suggest that people can question the veracity of what they see by making insightful inferences that incorporate introspective knowledge about internal distortions.
Topics: Humans; Perceptual Distortion; Illusions; Bayes Theorem; Psychophysics; Psychotic Disorders; Motion Perception
PubMed: 38030601
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42813-2 -
Pain Management Nursing : Official... Aug 2023For over 100 years, psychophysics ..÷ the scientific study between physical stimuli and sensation ... has been successfully employed in numerous scientific and...
For over 100 years, psychophysics ..÷ the scientific study between physical stimuli and sensation ... has been successfully employed in numerous scientific and healthcare disciplines, as an objective measure of sensory phenomena. This manuscript provides an overview of fundamental psychophysical concepts, emphasizing pain and research application..÷defining common terms, methods, and procedures.Psychophysics can provide systematic and objective measures of sensory perception that can be used by nursing scientists to explore complex, subjective phenomena..÷such as pain perception. While there needs to be improved standardization of terms and techniques, psychophysical approaches are diverse and may be tailored to address or augment current research paradigms. The interdisciplinary nature of psychophysics..÷like nursing..÷provides a unique lens for understanding how our perceptions are influenced by measurable sensations. While the quest to understand human perception is far from complete, nursing science has an opportunity to contribute to pain research by using the techniques and methods available through psychophysical procedures.
Topics: Humans; Pain; Sensation; Pain Perception; Psychophysics; Pain Measurement
PubMed: 36948969
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmn.2023.02.006 -
Frontiers in Endocrinology 2023With the global epidemic and prevention of the COVID-19, long COVID-19 sequelae and its comprehensive prevention have attracted widespread attention. Long COVID-19... (Review)
Review
With the global epidemic and prevention of the COVID-19, long COVID-19 sequelae and its comprehensive prevention have attracted widespread attention. Long COVID-19 sequelae refer to that three months after acute COVID-19, the test of SARS-CoV-2 is negative, but some symptoms still exist, such as cough, prolonged dyspnea and fatigue, shortness of breath, palpitations and insomnia. Its pathological mechanism is related to direct viral damage, immunopathological response, endocrine and metabolism disorders. Although there are more effective methods for treating COVID-19, the treatment options available for patients with long COVID-19 remain quite limited. Psychophysical therapies, such as exercise, oxygen therapy, photobiomodulation, and meditation, have been attempted as treatment modalities for long COVID-19, which have the potential to promote recovery through immune regulation, antioxidant effects, and neuroendocrine regulation. Neuroendocrine regulation plays a significant role in repairing damage after viral infection, regulating immune homeostasis, and improving metabolic activity in patients with long COVID-19. This review uses oxytocin as an example to examine the neuroendocrine mechanisms involved in the psychophysical therapies of long COVID-19 syndrome and proposes a psychophysical strategy for the treatment of long COVID-19.
Topics: Humans; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Neurosecretory Systems; Disease Progression
PubMed: 37842301
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1120475 -
Annual Review of Vision Science Sep 2023I entered science at a particularly lucky time. By the mid-1960s, women were being encouraged to pursue serious scientific careers. During the 60-year span of my career,... (Review)
Review
I entered science at a particularly lucky time. By the mid-1960s, women were being encouraged to pursue serious scientific careers. During the 60-year span of my career, women have become equal partners with men in scientific research, particularly in the biological sciences. There also has been abundant funding for research, which allowed me to succeed in a "soft-money" position at Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, a place that was especially supportive for a woman scientist with children. In this article, I describe the findings that I think represent the most interesting and enduring scientific work from my career.
Topics: Female; Humans; Research Personnel; Gender Equity; Career Choice
PubMed: 36930944
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-vision-111022-123844 -
Biological Reviews of the Cambridge... Apr 2024Foraging is risk sensitive if choices depend on the variability of returns from the options as well as their mean return. Risk-sensitive foraging is important in... (Review)
Review
Foraging is risk sensitive if choices depend on the variability of returns from the options as well as their mean return. Risk-sensitive foraging is important in behavioural ecology, psychology and neurophysiology. It has been explained both in terms of mechanisms and in terms of evolutionary advantage. We provide a critical review, evaluating both mechanistic and evolutionary accounts. Some derivations of risk sensitivity from mechanistic models based on psychophysics are not convincing because they depend on an inappropriate use of Jensen's inequality. Attempts have been made to link risk sensitivity to the ecology of a species, but again these are not convincing. The field of risk-sensitive foraging has provided a focus for theoretical and empirical work and has yielded important insights, but we lack a simple and empirically defendable general account of it in either mechanistic or evolutionary terms. However, empirical analysis of choice sequences under theoretically motivated experimental designs and environmental settings appears a promising avenue for mapping the scope and relative merits of existing theories. Simply put, the devil is in the sequence.
Topics: Choice Behavior; Biological Evolution
PubMed: 37987237
DOI: 10.1111/brv.13031 -
Journal of Intelligence Aug 2023After considering the pervasiveness of same/different relationships in Psychology and the experimental evidence of their perceptual foundation in Psychophysics and...
After considering the pervasiveness of same/different relationships in Psychology and the experimental evidence of their perceptual foundation in Psychophysics and Infant and Comparative Psychology, this paper develops its main argument. Similarity and diversity do not complete the panorama since opposition constitutes a third relationship which is distinct from the other two. There is evidence of this in the previous literature investigating the perceptual basis of opposition and in the results of the two new studies presented in this paper. In these studies, the participants were asked to indicate to what extent pairs of simple bi-dimensional figures appeared to be similar, different or opposite to each other. A rating task was used in Study 1 and a pair comparison task was used in Study 2. Three main results consistently emerged: Firstly, opposition is distinct from similarity and difference which, conversely, are in a strictly inverse relationship. Secondly, opposition is specifically linked to something which points in an allocentrically opposite direction. Thirdly, alterations to the shape of an object are usually associated with the perception of diversity rather than opposition. The implications of a shift from a dyadic (same/different) to a triadic (similar/different/opposite) paradigm are discussed in the final section.
PubMed: 37754901
DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11090172 -
Journal of Investigational Allergology... Dec 2023Impairment of smell is more commonly related to chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) than without, especially when asthma and/or NSAID-exacerbated... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Impairment of smell is more commonly related to chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) than without, especially when asthma and/or NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease and type 2 inflammation are also present. Therapeutic options include intranasal and systemic corticosteroids, surgery, and, more recently, biological therapy. We summarize current knowledge on the effect of biologics on olfaction in patients with CRSwNP.
METHODS
We performed a systematic search of the PubMed and Cochrane databases from January 2001 to June 2022. The inclusion criteria were as follows: adult patients with CRS treated with dupilumab, omalizumab, mepolizumab, benralizumab, or reslizumab; and studies published in English reporting outcomes for sense of smell based on psychophysical and/or subjective tools. We excluded reports that did not assess CRSwNP, loss of smell evaluated with a method other than those accepted in the inclusion criteria, review articles, and expert opinions. No funding was received.
RESULTS
Dupilumab has demonstrated rapid and sustained long-term improvement in smell in clinical trials and in real life. Omalizumab improves smell at 24 weeks. This improvement is maintained in the long-term, although it is not clinically relevant. Mepolizumab and benralizumab improved smell in the long term based on a subjective scale. No studies examining the improvement in smell in patients with CRSwNP treated with reslizumab were found. Indirect comparisons by meta-analysis consistently conclude that dupilumab is the most effective biologic for improving impaired sense of smell.
CONCLUSION
Dupilumab seems to be more efficacious for improving the sense of smell than omalizumab, mepolizumab, and benralizumab.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Nasal Polyps; Omalizumab; Smell; Rhinosinusitis; Chronic Disease; Sinusitis; Rhinitis; Quality of Life
PubMed: 37669083
DOI: 10.18176/jiaci.0939 -
La Clinica Terapeutica 2023Work-related stress represents a major health problem within most work environments and its rates of incidence are increasing as time goes by. Work-related stress is... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Work-related stress represents a major health problem within most work environments and its rates of incidence are increasing as time goes by. Work-related stress is both detrimental for workers' psychophysical health and costly to societies. Besides the direct medical costs that represent only a fraction of the total cost, data is either lacking or unreliable to properly estimate the economic impact of occupational stress.
METHODS
This paper reviews international studies and organisational reports in order to highlight occupational stress economic impact on an international level.
RESULTS
The study shows that work-related stress imposes an undeniable financial burden on worldwide societies. Findings show estimations that vary from € 54 million up to € 280 billion depending on the country. Results suggest that productivity loss due to absenteeism and presenteeism has a greater economic impact compared to the medical expenses.
DISCUSSION
Generally speaking, the costs of work-related stress, also according to Europe, impact both on employers and welfare sy-stems, and from the point of view of prevention we should work hard to improve stress-management strategies.
CONCLUSIONS
The discussion around this matter should be emphasized in order to properly address occupational stress and make implications for job redesign under the perspective that promoting and protecting workers' mental well-being will benefit the individual and allow cost containment benefitting the collective as well.
Topics: Humans; Europe; Working Conditions; Absenteeism; Occupational Stress
PubMed: 37674456
DOI: 10.7417/CT.2023.2464