Task Conditions Research Articles

Shorter and inflexible intrinsic neural timescales of the self in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is hypothesized to involve a disturbance in the temporal dynamics of self-processing, specifically within the interoceptive, exteroceptive, and cognitive layers of the self. This study aimed to investigate the intrinsic neural timescales (INTs) within these self-processing layers among people with schizophrenia. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to investigate INTs, as measured by the autocorrelation window, among people with schizophrenia and healthy controls during both resting-state and task (memory encoding and retrieval) conditions. We obtained data from the UCLA Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics data set and preprocessed using fMRIPrep. We included 45 people with schizophrenia and 65 healthy controls. Compared with controls, participants with schizophrenia exhibited significantly shorter INTs across all 3 self-processing layers during rest (p < 0.05). In addition, those with schizophrenia showed less INT shortening during task states, leading to reduced rest-task differences in INT across all self-processing layers (p < 0.05). We observed similar patterns of shortened INTs in primary sensory and motor regions. We included people with schizophrenia taking medication, which may influence INTs; our study was also limited by the relatively slow temporal resolution of the fMRI data and the higher variability of the autocorrelation function in the schizophrenia group, compared with the control group. Our findings suggest that schizophrenia is characterized by a global temporal disturbance of the self, manifesting as shorter and inflexible INTs across self-processing and sensorimotor regions. These results support the hypothesis that schizophrenia involves a fundamental disruption in the temporal integration of neural signals, contributing to the core self-disturbance observed in the disorder.

Task-modulated neural responses in scene-selective regions of the human brain.

The study of scene perception is crucial to the understanding of how one interprets and interacts with their environment, and how the environment impacts various cognitive functions. The literature so far has mainly focused on the impact of low-level and categorical properties of scenes and how they are represented in the scene-selective regions in the brain, PPA, RSC, and OPA. However, higher-level scene perception and the impact of behavioral goals is a developing research area. Moreover, the selection of the stimuli has not been systematic and mainly focused on outdoor environments. In this fMRI experiment, we adopted multiple behavioral tasks, selected real-life indoor stimuli with a systematic categorization approach, and used various multivariate analysis techniques to explain the neural modulation of scene perception in the scene-selective regions of the human brain. Participants (N=21) performed categorization and approach-avoidance tasks during fMRI scans while they were viewing scenes from built environment categories based on different affordances ((i)access and (ii)circulation elements, (iii)restrooms and (iv)eating/seating areas). ROI-based classification analysis revealed that the OPA was significantly successful in decoding scene category regardless of the task, and that the task condition affected category decoding performances of all the scene-selective regions. Model-based representational similarity analysis (RSA) revealed that the activity patterns in scene-selective regions are best explained by task. These results contribute to the literature by extending the task and stimulus content of scene perception research, and uncovering the impact of behavioral goals on the scene-selective regions of the brain.

Dual-task-related gait patterns as possible marker of precocious and subclinical cognitive alterations in Parkinson disease

Subtle gait and cognitive dysfunction are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), even before most evident clinical manifestations. Such alterations can be assumed as hypothetical phenotypical and prognostic/progression markers. To compare spatiotemporal gait parameters in PD patients with three cognitive status: cognitively intact (PD-noCI), with subjective cognitive impairment (PD-SCI) and with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) in order to detect subclinical gait differences. One hundred PD patients were consecutively enrolled and divided in three groups based on both the first item od MDS-UPDRS part I and an extensive neuropsychological evaluation: 41 PD-noCI, 15 PD-SCI and 44 PD-MCI. They were evaluated with gait analysis acquired in three different conditions (normal gait, motor and cognitive dual task). Spatiotemporal variables were extracted. A univariate statistical analysis (parametric ANOVA test or non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test, as appropriate) with post-hoc analysis was carried out in order to evaluate the significant differences among the groups. In normal gait task, the three groups showed several differences, all due to the comparison between PD-MCI and PD-noCI, as disclosed by post-hoc analysis. In dual task conditions, mostly in the cognitive dual task, the three groups showed increased gait alterations that, at post-hoc analysis, mirrored the magnitude of cognitive dysfunction (PD-noCI < PD-SCI < PD-MCI). Peculiar prodromal gait patterns—especially those highlighted by cognitive dual task—could be considered possible markers to objectify self-reported symptoms-based construct, like SCI, and to early intercept subjects with different clinical evolutions and prognoses, even representing an innovative clustering/phenotyping tool for PD subtypes.

Event-related theta synchronization over sensorimotor areas differs between younger and older adults and is related to bimanual motor control.

When engaged in dynamic or continuous movements, action initiation involves modifying an ongoing motor program rather than initiating it from rest. Event-related theta synchronization over sensorimotor areas is a neurophysiological marker for modifying motor programs. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine how task complexity and age affect event-related synchronization (ERS) in the theta band during a dynamic bimanual, visuomotor pinch force task. Older (mean age = 68) and younger (mean age = 26) participants performed symmetric (SYM) and asymmetric (ASYM) bimanual pinch force adjustments. Trials began with a visually cued contraction from a baseline force to a novel target force (P1). Force had to be maintained at the target until a visually cued return to the familiar baseline (P2). Older adults reacted slower across task conditions, and their accuracy decreased more when shifting from the SYM to the ASYM condition. Older adults also displayed lower theta ERS across conditions. Additionally, older adults were not able to modulate theta expression based on whether a force change was initiated to a novel target or back to baseline. Younger adults showed significantly stronger theta ERS after P1-cues compared to P2-cues, while the theta response to P1 and P2 cues was not different in older adults. Older adults also showed stronger lateralization, displaying higher theta ERS over the dominant motor cortex. Finally, event-related theta synchronization appeared to be behaviorally relevant across groups and correlated with task performance. Together, the results show that theta ERS over sensorimotor areas is a strong, age-sensitive marker of dynamic pinch force adjustments showing an age-related reduction in specificity with reduced context-dependent modulations and more imbalanced bimanual activation.

Essential characteristics of the formation of readiness of future officers to use combat knives in extreme conditions of service and combat activity

The article examines the essential characteristics of the formation of future officers' readiness to use "Bladed weapons" in extreme conditions of service and combat activity. The relevance of the study is due to the growing requirements for professional training of military personnel, capable of effectively acting in complex and dangerous situations. Research methods: abstraction, analysis and synthesis, hypothetical-deductive method, induction and deduction, historical method, classification and systematization, comparative (comparative) method, logical method, modeling, forecasting, generalization and concretization, formalization. In addition, during the theoretical study, personal experience in organizing the system of special physical training of military personnel. The research identified key components of readiness to use edged weapons, including psychophysical preparedness, tactical literacy, legal awareness, and moral and ethical stability. Existing approaches to the formation of these competencies in the military education system are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the integration of theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which provides future officers with the opportunity to adequately assess the situation, make informed and balanced decisions, and act in accordance with legislative norms. The results of the study can be used to improve the educational and training process of future officers in special physical training (tactical and tactical-special training), in particular for the development of specialized training programs aimed at preparing for the performance of assigned tasks in extreme conditions of service and combat activity. Prospects for further research include determining the criteria, levels (components) of forming the readiness of future officers to use "Bladed weapons" in extreme conditions of service and combat activity.

Results of the Experimental verification of Organizational and Pedagogical conditions for the formation of readiness of Future Physical Training and Sports Instructors for Professional activity

The article examines the problem of forming military-applied skills of hand-to-hand combat (measures of physical impact, force) in future physical training and sports instructors in the vocational education system. Organizational and pedagogical conditions aimed at improving the educational process of training military personnel of the National Guard of Ukraine have been developed and theoretically substantiated. A training model has been proposed that integrates modern pedagogical technologies adapted to the extreme conditions of service and combat activities. Research methods: observation, questionnaires and surveys, testing, pedagogical experiment, timing, expert evaluation, psychodiagnostics methods, modeling, statistical analysis (calculation of averages, correlations and other statistical indicators). In the process of research and analytical work, an approbation of experimental organizational and pedagogical conditions was carried out, which involves the development of special training situations, the use of simulation modeling methods, as well as the formation of psychophysical readiness to perform assigned tasks in extreme conditions of service and combat activity. The results of the study indicate an increase in the effectiveness of training for representatives of the studied category, which is confirmed by an increase in the level of mastery of the techniques and tactics of service-applied hand-to-hand combat, stress resistance, coordination abilities, and the ability to act in difficult conditions. The results obtained confirm the feasibility of introducing experimental organizational and pedagogical conditions into the system of professional education of future physical training and sports instructors. Prospects for further research in the chosen direction of scientific exploration include the development of an experimental program for organizing independent work of future physical training and sports instructors in the vocational education system.

Organization and condust of physical education and special physical training of service members in the armed forces of Spain at the present stage

This article is dedicated to the organization and conduct of physical education and special physical training of service members in the Armed Forces of Spain at the present stage, as well as the possibilities of adapting this experience for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The article analyzes the main methodologies and approaches used in Spain, compares the physical training systems in both countries, and provides recommendations for implementing effective elements of the Spanish system in Ukrainian military practice. The implementation of these methodologies can contribute to improving the level of physical training of Ukrainian service members and enhancing their combat readiness. The organization of physical education and special physical training of service members in the Armed Forces of Spain at the present stage is based on high requirements for the physical readiness of personnel, which is a necessary condition for the effective execution of combat tasks and ensuring national security. Service members undergo specialized physical training that includes various training programs developed considering the requirements of military service and the soldiers' physical capabilities. The primary focus is on developing endurance, strength, speed, coordination, and flexibility, which are essential for performing physically demanding tasks in combat conditions. The Spanish military education system actively uses modern methods and technical means to monitor and assess the physical condition of service members, allowing for an individual approach to each soldier and ensuring the most effective training depending on their needs.

Peculiarities of the use of crossfit in the physical training of cadets of Ukrainian higher educational institutions

Military personnel in combat operations constantly perform tasks in extreme conditions and with great danger to their lives. The main goal in the professional training of specialists of all military specialties is their readiness for combat operations, which will give the opportunity to save the lives of servicemen as much as possible. The most effective acquisition of professional skills by military personnel takes place during their training in higher military educational institutions. It is always necessary to improve the physical training of military personnel of various components of the defense of Ukraine by searching for new and effective directions of its organization, especially for cadets. Scientists believe that one of the effective and popular types of training that combines different types of loads and supports the level of functional condition of military personnel is crossfit, which has gained popularity all over the world, especially among young people. The article analyzes the peculiarities of conducting physical training for cadets of VVNIZ of various components of the defense of Ukraine using crossfit means and methods. The relevance of crossfit as a new training system in which the main physical qualities are developed: strength, agility, endurance, speed, coordination has been proven. In order to improve the professional training of cadets, the need to add it to the physical training program was studied. Analyzing the above, one can see the need to improve the physical fitness of specialists of all military specialties for military-professional activities using crossfit exercises and methods.

The Effects of Gymnastics Programs with Different Cognitive Loads on Working Memory and Prefrontal Cortex Oxygenation: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the effects of gymnastics programs with high versus low cognitive load on children's visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation. Eighty-one healthy children aged 7 to 10 from Taipei City were randomly assigned to high cognitive load (HG), low cognitive load (LG), and control (SC) groups. The HG and LG groups underwent an 8-week gymnastics program with different levels of cognitive load, while the SC group participated in a static course. Pre- and post-intervention assessments included VSWM tests and simultaneous monitoring of PFC oxyhemoglobin (HbO) concentration. The results showed time-related improvements in response accuracy and d-prime (d') from the pretest to posttest for both the HG and LG groups but not for the SC group. Additionally, the HG group demonstrated higher response accuracy and d' compared to the SC group at the posttest. Although VSWM-related HbO concentration was higher during task conditions requiring higher WM load compared to low WM load, no intervention effect was found. Further correlation analysis controlling for intervention-related fitness changes revealed positive associations between time-related changes in VSWM performance (response accuracy and d') and HbO concentration across all participants, with a similar correlation between response accuracy and HbO remaining specifically in the HG group but not other groups. These findings suggest that a 8-week gymnastics program can enhance VSWM performance and such cognitive benefits may be maximized by incorporating higher cognitive loads into the intervention. Despite the positive correlations between time-related changes in PFC oxygenation and VSWM performance, the gymnastics programs did not alter task-related PFC oxygenation, suggesting that intervention-induced VSWM improvement may not be solely dependent on changes in task-related PFC oxygenation.

Interdependence patterns of multi-frequency oscillations predict visuomotor behavior

Abstract We show that sensorimotor behavior can be reliably predicted from single-trial EEG oscillations fluctuating in a coordinated manner across brain regions, frequency bands and movement time epochs. We define high-dimensional oscillatory portraits to capture the interdependence between basic oscillatory elements, quantifying oscillations occurring in single-trials at specific frequencies, locations and time epochs. We find that the general structure of the element-interdependence networks (effective connectivity) remains stable across task conditions, reflecting an intrinsic coordination architecture and responds to changes in task constraints by subtle but consistently distinct topological reorganizations. Trial categories are reliably and significantly better separated using oscillatory portraits, than from the information contained in individual oscillatory elements, suggesting an inter-element coordination-based encoding. Furthermore, single-trial oscillatory portrait fluctuations are predictive of fine trial-to-trial variations in movement kinematics. Remarkably, movement accuracy appears to be reflected in the capacity of the oscillatory coordination architecture to flexibly update as an effect of movement-error integration.

PREmbed: Balancing Conditional Generative Models with Embedding Pretraining and Regularization

Recent advancements in conditional generative models, e.g., Conditional Variational AutoEncoder (CVAE) and Conditional Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model (CDDPM), which utilize class-specific embeddings for generating images in specific classes, have demonstrated exceptional capabilities in producing high-quality images on balanced datasets. However, their performance decreases with imbalanced real-world data, affecting the fidelity and diversity of the generated images. This paper discusses the reasons and solutions for the imbalance issue in CVAE and CDDPM. By selectively reweighting the gradients of the embedding layer and main network, we identify the embedding layer’s bias as a critical bottleneck in these models. Motivated by this, we propose Embedding Pretraining and Regularization (PREmbed), a training methodology for addressing biased learning in the embedding layer of these models. PREmbed consists of two key components: (i) Masked Autoencoder pretraining on the original imbalanced dataset to obtain a robust initial embedding, and (ii) an embedding regularization loss to preserve class-level distances during the training phase to improve imbalanced embedding learning. Implementing PREmbed leads to the enhanced convergence of a robust embedding layer. Our experiments on imbalanced CIFAR-10 and CUB-200 datasets demonstrate that PREmbed enhances the performance of CVAE and CDDPM; it outperforms the baseline CVAE by 22.3% (FID 18.63) and the CDDPM by 30.3% (FID 12.70) in imbalanced CIFAR-10; 33.7% (FID 24.08) and 26.5% (FID 13.90) in CUB-200; and 16.4% (FID 49.41) and 15.2% (FID 33.05) in ImageNet-LT (which is where it achieves the state-of-the-art performance in imbalanced conditional image generation task).

Зарубежные и отечественные исследования психологических особенностей экстремальных условий службы

The current reality dictates the conditions for prioritization. Military conflicts in the world increase the level of tension in society. In such an environment, increased responsibility is assigned to employees who perform official tasks in extreme conditions. Now many people understand that the methodology of military affairs has changed dramatically, an employee may not be a participant in the actual fighting, but the expectation itself can harm human health. The problem is that extreme conditions in every person's life are already becoming an element of life activity. However, not everyone has the skills to recognize personality changes due to the development of negative situations. Purpose: to analyze the experience of various studies, the results of which contribute to the definition and identification of psychological characteristics that manifest themselves in extreme conditions. Compare studies from different years in this field. Methods: the study of scientific publications. Conclusions: after analyzing studies from different countries, it can be concluded that despite ethnic, linguistic, and value differences, extreme conditions have an identical negative effect on a person. However, a number of authors say that the more prepared an employee is (able to recognize emotions, use various techniques, have a sufficient level of neuropsychiatric stability, etc.), the less they are exposed to extreme conditions.

The Impact of Acute Aerobic Exercise on General and Food-Related Inhibitory Function Among Young Adults with Obesity: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study.

Backgrounds and Objectives: Obesity presents a significant global public health challenge and is associated with declines in both general and food-related inhibitory control, crucial for maintaining a healthy weight and preventing obesity progression. An increasing body of research suggests that acute aerobic exercise may improve inhibitory function. However, the effects and underlying mechanisms of acute aerobic exercise on both general and food-related inhibition in obese adults remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the potential impacts and underlying neuroelectronic mechanisms of a single session of aerobic exercise at varying intensities on general and food-related inhibitory functions among young adult males with obesity. Design: A within-subject design comprising three sessions (control, low-intensity exercise, moderate-intensity exercise) × three picture types (high-calorie food, low-calorie food, neutral picture) was employed. Methods: Eighteen young adult males with obesity [body mass index (BMI): 34.60 ± 4.21 kg/m2, aged 24.50 ± 5.13 years (Mean ± SD)] were recruited. They participated in three intervention sessions: acute aerobic exercise at low [40-50% maximal Heart Rate (HRmax)], moderate (65-70% HRmax), and a control session (sitting rest), separated by five-day intervals in a counterbalanced order. Following each session, participants performed a food-related Go/No-go task, and EEG recordings (N2 and P3 components) were conducted within 15 min. Results: Moderate-intensity exercise elicited larger N2 amplitudes compared to the control session across different picture types and task conditions. However, there was no significant effect on behavioral indicators or P3 amplitude across sessions. Additionally, food stimuli (both high- and low-calorie) resulted in lower No-go accuracy and smaller N2 amplitudes compared to neutral stimuli. Conclusions: Acute moderate-intensity exercise might influence general and food-related inhibitory function in obese individuals at the neuroelectric stage, potentially by enhancing attentional resources for managing cognitive control and conflict detection. Moreover, reduced N2 amplitudes and No-go accuracy in response to food stimuli compared to non-food stimuli indicate a diminished ability to allocate attentional and neural resources to manage food-related conflicts. However, due to the relatively small sample size, caution is advised when generalizing these findings to the broader population. The pilot test indicated that obese participants had difficulty sustaining high-intensity exercise at 80-90% of their maximum heart rate for a continuous or 20 min period, highlighting potential challenges in exercise adherence at high intensities within this population. Future research is needed to utilize interdisciplinary approaches and multimodal technologies to clarify how exercise influences food-related cognition, appetite regulation, and brain mechanisms in obesity, aiming to better contribute to the prevention and treatment of obesity.

Tennis expert-novice difference in motion-in-depth perception is associated with early inhibition of invalid attention

Perception of motion-in-depth is essential to guide and modify the hitting action in interceptive-dominated sports (e.g., tennis). The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of tennis expertise on motion-in-depth perception at different cognition processes by two event-related potential (ERP) studies. Specifically, the study explored differences in behavior and electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics between tennis experts and novices under two different task conditions. Seventeen skilled tennis players (average professional experience: 10.76 ± 2.56 years) and 17 age-matched novices participated in two experiments. Cortical activity (P1, N1, P2, and the later component) and task performance (reaction time, accuracy rate, and error value) were recorded when participants completed a direction-identifying task (Experiment 1) and a prediction-motion task (Experiment 2) while perceiving motion-in-depth. Results demonstrated that P1 latency in the expert group was significantly shorter than the novice group in experiment 1; and in experiment 2, the expert group showed shorter P1 latency than the novice group under the TTC1 (actual time-to-collision is 400 ms) condition. The results indicate that the effect of tennis expertise on motion-in-depth perception was primarily manifested as early visual attentional investment in the features of objects. Experts have the rapid inbibition of invalid attention.

Multiple constraint network classification reveals functional brain networks distinguishing 0-back and 2-back task.

Working memory is associated with general intelligence and is crucial for performing complex cognitive tasks. Neuroimaging investigations have recognized that working memory is supported by a distribution of activity in regions across the entire brain. Identification of these regions has come primarily from general linear model analyses of statistical parametric maps to reveal brain regions whose activation is linearly related to working memory task conditions. This approach can fail to detect nonlinear task differences or differences reflected in distributed patterns of activity. In this study, we take advantage of the increased sensitivity of multivariate pattern analysis in a multiple-constraint deep learning classifier to analyze patterns of whole-brain blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity in children performing two different conditions of the emotional n-back task. Regional (supervoxel) whole-brain activation patterns from functional imaging runs of 20 children were used to train a set of neural network classifiers to identify task category (0-back vs. 2-back) and activation co-occurrence probability, which encoded functional connectivity. These simultaneous constraints promote the discovery of coherent networks that contribute towards task performance in each memory load condition. Permutation analyses discovered the global activation patterns and interregional coactivations that distinguish memory load. Examination of model weights identified the brain regions most predictive of memory load and the functional networks integrating these regions. Community detection analyses identified functional networks integrating task-predictive regions and found distinct patterns of network activation for each task type. Comparisons to functional network literature suggest more focused attentional network activation during the 2-back task. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Dual-Task Interference in the Assessment of Listening Effort Before and After Cochlear Implantation in Adults: A Longitudinal Study.

This study aimed to assess the magnitude and direction of dual-task interference in a listening effort dual-task paradigm in individuals with severe-to-profound hearing loss before and in the short- and long-term after cochlear implantation. The study sample consisted of 26 adult candidates for cochlear implantation with severe-to-profound hearing loss. The dual-task paradigm consisted of a primary speech understanding task, conducted in a quiet condition, and a favorable and unfavorable noise condition on the one hand and a secondary visual memory task on the other hand. The dual-task effect for both tasks and the derived patterns of dual-task interference were determined. Participants were evaluated at four test moments: before cochlear implantation and at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after implantation. Across all listening conditions, a shift was observed from patterns of dual-task interference with worse and stable scores for the primary speech understanding task in the dual-task condition compared to the baseline condition before implantation, toward patterns in which stable or better scores were obtained, respectively, for the primary task in the dual-task condition after implantation. This indicates that more attention could be allocated to the primary speech understanding task during the dual-task condition after implantation, implying a decreased listening effort. A decreased listening effort was found after cochlear implantation. This study provides additional insights into the evolution of dual-task interference after cochlear implantation. It highlights the importance of interpreting both the primary and secondary tasks using a dual-task paradigm in the assessment of listening effort.

Neural evidence of functional compensation for fluid intelligence in healthy ageing.

Functional compensation is a common notion in the neuroscience of healthy ageing, whereby older adults are proposed to recruit additional brain activity to compensate for reduced cognitive function. However, whether this additional brain activity in older participants actually helps their cognitive performance remains debated. We examined brain activity and cognitive performance in a human lifespan sample (N = 223) while they performed a problem-solving task (based on Cattell's test of fluid intelligence) during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Whole-brain univariate analysis revealed that activity in bilateral cuneal cortex for hard vs. easy problems increased both with age and with performance, even when adjusting for an estimate of age-related differences in cerebrovascular reactivity. Multivariate Bayesian decoding further demonstrated that age increased the likelihood that activation patterns in this cuneal region provided non-redundant information about the two task conditions, beyond that of the multiple demand network generally activated in this task. This constitutes some of the strongest evidence yet for functional compensation in healthy ageing, at least in this brain region during visual problem-solving.

End‐to‐End Crystal Structure Prediction from Powder X‐Ray Diffraction

AbstractPowder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD) is a prevalent technique in materials characterization. While the analysis of PXRD often requires extensive human manual intervention, and most automated method only achieved at coarse‐grained level. The more difficult and important task of fine‐grained crystal structure prediction from PXRD remains unaddressed. This study introduces XtalNet, the first equivariant deep generative model for end‐to‐end crystal structure prediction from PXRD. Unlike previous crystal structure prediction methods that rely solely on composition, XtalNet leverages PXRD as an additional condition, eliminating ambiguity and enabling the generation of complex organic structures with up to 400 atoms in the unit cell. XtalNet comprises two modules: a Contrastive PXRD‐Crystal Pretraining (CPCP) module that aligns PXRD space with crystal structure space, and a Conditional Crystal Structure Generation (CCSG) module that generates candidate crystal structures conditioned on PXRD patterns. Evaluation on two MOF datasets (hMOF‐100 and hMOF‐400) demonstrates XtalNet's effectiveness. XtalNet achieves a top‐10 Match Rate of 90.2% and 79% for hMOF‐100 and hMOF‐400 in conditional crystal structure prediction task, respectively. XtalNet enables the direct prediction of crystal structures from experimental measurements, eliminating the need for manual intervention and external databases. This opens up new possibilities for automated crystal structure determination and the accelerated discovery of novel materials.

Changes in Brain Functional Connectivity Underlying the Space-Number Association.

Whether small number magnitudes are inherently represented as lying to the left of larger ones, the space-number association (SNA), is an important issue in mathematical cognition. In this fMRI study, we used a go/no-go implicit association task to investigate the brain activity and functional connectivity underlying the SNA. Arabic digits lower or higher than 5 and left- or right-pointing arrows were alternated as central targets. In a single-code task condition, participants responded to a specific number magnitude and to all arrows or to a specific arrow direction and to all number magnitudes. In a joint-code (JC) condition, responses were provided after congruent, for example, "go when a number is lower than 5 or an arrow points left," or incongruent, for example, "go when a number is lower than 5 or an arrow points right," SNAs. The SNA was only found in the JC condition, where responses were faster with congruent instructions. Analyses of fMRI functional connectivity showed that the SNA was matched with enhanced excitatory inputs from ACC, the left TPJ, and the left inferior frontal gyrus to the left and right intraparietal sulcus (IPS). Incongruent JC trials were associated with enhanced excitatory modulation from ACC to the left and right IPS. These results show that the SNA is associated with enhanced activation of top-down brain control and changes in the functional interaction between the left and right IPS. We conclude that the SNA does not depend on an inherent and bottom-up spatial coding of number magnitudes.

Basal ganglia components have distinct computational roles in decision-making dynamics under conflict and uncertainty.

The basal ganglia (BG) play a key role in decision-making, preventing impulsive actions in some contexts while facilitating fast adaptations in others. The specific contributions of different BG structures to this nuanced behavior remain unclear, particularly under varying situations of noisy and conflicting information that necessitate ongoing adjustments in the balance between speed and accuracy. Theoretical accounts suggest that dynamic regulation of the amount of evidence required to commit to a decision (a dynamic "decision boundary") may be necessary to meet these competing demands. Through the application of novel computational modeling tools in tandem with direct neural recordings from human BG areas, we find that neural dynamics in the theta band manifest as variations in a collapsing decision boundary as a function of conflict and uncertainty. We collected intracranial recordings from patients diagnosed with either Parkinson's disease (PD) (n = 14) or dystonia (n = 3) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN), globus pallidus internus (GPi), and globus pallidus externus (GPe) during their performance of a novel perceptual discrimination task in which we independently manipulated uncertainty and conflict. To formally characterize whether these task and neural components influenced decision dynamics, we leveraged modified diffusion decision models (DDMs). Behavioral choices and response time distributions were best characterized by a modified DDM in which the decision boundary collapsed over time, but where the onset and shape of this collapse varied with conflict. Moreover, theta dynamics in BG structures modulated the onset and shape of this collapse but differentially across task conditions. In STN, theta activity was related to a prolonged decision boundary (indexed by slower collapse and therefore more deliberate choices) during high conflict situations. Conversely, rapid declines in GPe theta during low conflict conditions were related to rapidly collapsing boundaries and expedited choices, with additional complementary decision bound adjustments during high uncertainty situations. Finally, GPi theta effects were uniform across conditions, with increases in theta associated with a prolongation of decision bound collapses. Together, these findings provide a nuanced understanding of how our brain thwarts impulsive actions while nonetheless enabling behavioral adaptation amidst noisy and conflicting information.