Electrophysiological Responses Research Articles

Spatiotemporal Properties of Common Semantic Categories for Words and Pictures.

The timing of semantic processing during object recognition in the brain is a topic of ongoing discussion. One way of addressing this question is by applying multivariate pattern analysis to human electrophysiological responses to object images of different semantic categories. However, although multivariate pattern analysis can reveal whether neuronal activity patterns are distinct for different stimulus categories, concerns remain on whether low-level visual features also contribute to the classification results. To circumvent this issue, we applied a cross-decoding approach to magnetoencephalography data from stimuli from two different modalities: images and their corresponding written words. We employed items from three categories and presented them in a randomized order. We show that if the classifier is trained on words, pictures are classified between 150 and 430 msec after stimulus onset, and when training on pictures, words are classified between 225 and 430 msec. The topographical map, identified using a searchlight approach for cross-modal activation in both directions, showed left lateralization, confirming the involvement of linguistic representations. These results point to semantic activation of pictorial stimuli occurring at ≈150 msec, whereas for words, the semantic activation occurs at ≈230 msec.

D-Limonene Is the Active Olfactory Attractant in Orange Juice for Bactrocera dorsalis (Insecta: Diptera: Tephritidae).

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), poses a significant threat to the global fruit industry, causing damage to diverse fruits like citrus, mango, and guava. Chemical pesticides have limited effectiveness, and pesticide residues and pesticide resistance are pressing issues. Therefore, it is essential to develop environmentally friendly pest control methods to address this problem. Behavior-modifying chemicals, including male attractants and intersex protein baits, play a critical role in the control of B. dorsalis. The mature host fruit serves as both an oviposition site and food source under natural conditions, making it a potential attraction source for oriental fruit flies. Orange, Citrus sinensis, is a main host of B. dorsalis, and commercial orange juice is a common attractant for the egg laying of B. dorsalis. Although it can both attract and elicit oviposition behaviors in B. dorsalis adults, its active components are still unclear. This study utilized analytical chemistry, behavioral tests, and electrophysiology to identify the active components of commercial orange juice that attract B. dorsalis, with the aim of providing a reference for the development of behavior-modifying chemical-based techniques to control B. dorsalis. Five compounds with a high abundance were identified via a GC-MS, including D-Limonene, butanoic acid ethyl ester, β-myrcene, linalool, and α-terpineol. Behavioral and electrophysiological experiments uncovered that D-Limonene was the active substance that was the main attractant in the mixture of these five substances, evoking a strong electrophysiological response in adult B. dorsalis. D-Limonene strongly attracts adult B. dorsalis only when they are sexually mature, and the attraction is not rhythmic. Olfaction plays a leading role in the attraction of D-Limonene to adult B. dorsalis, and Orco-/- mediates the perception of D-Limonene by B. dorsalis. Overall, D-Limonene is one of the key attractant compounds for B. dorsalis in the volatile compounds of commercial orange juice, offering possible support for the development of behavior-modifying chemical-based technology to control B. dorsalis in the future.

Multi-night acoustic stimulation is associated with better sleep, amyloid dynamics, and memory in older adults with cognitive impairment.

Sleep is a potential early, modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. Impaired slow wave sleep (SWS) is pronounced in individuals with cognitive impairment (CI). Cognitive decline and impairments of SWS are bi-directionally linked in a vicious cycle. SWS can be enhanced non-invasively using phase-locked acoustic stimulation (PLAS), potentially breaking this vicious cycle. Eighteen healthy older adults (HC, agemean±sd, 68.3 ± 5.1) and 16 older adults (agemean±sd, 71.9 ± 3.9) with CI (Montreal Cognitive Assessment ≤ 25) underwent one baseline (sham-PLAS) night and three consecutive stimulation nights (real-PLAS). EEG responses and blood-plasma amyloid beta Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio were measured pre- and post-intervention, as was episodic memory. The latter was again evaluated 1week and 3months after the intervention. In both groups, PLAS induced a significant electrophysiological response in both voltage- and time-frequency analyses, and memory performance improved in association with the magnitude of this response. In the CI group, both electrophysiological and associated memory effects were delayed compared to the healthy group. After 3 intervention nights, electrophysiological response to PLAS was no longer different between CI and HC groups. Only in the CI sample, stronger electrophysiological responses were significantly associated with improving post-intervention Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios. PLAS seems to improve SWS electrophysiology, memory, and amyloid dynamics in older adults with CI. However, effects on memory require more time to unfold compared to healthy older adults. This indicates that PLAS may become a potential tool to ameliorate cognitive decline, but longer interventions are necessary to compensate for declining brain integrity. This study was pre-registered (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04277104).

Phantom perception as a Bayesian inference problem: a pilot study.

Tinnitus is the perception of a continuous sound in the absence of an external source. Although the role of the auditory system is well investigated, there is a gap in how multisensory signals are integrated to produce a single percept in tinnitus. Here, we train participants to learn a new sensory environment by associating a cue with a target signal that varies in perceptual threshold. In the test phase, we present only the cue to see whether the person perceives an illusion of the target signal. We perform two separate experiments to observe the behavioral and electrophysiological responses to the learning and test phases in 1) healthy young adults and 2) people with continuous subjective tinnitus and matched control subjects. We observed that in both parts of the study the percentage of false alarms was negatively correlated with the 75% detection threshold. Additionally, the perception of an illusion goes together with increased evoked response potential in frontal regions of the brain. Furthermore, in patients with tinnitus, we observe no significant difference in behavioral or evoked response in the auditory paradigm, whereas patients with tinnitus were more likely to report false alarms along with increased evoked activity during the learning and test phases in the visual paradigm. This emphasizes the importance of integrity of sensory pathways in multisensory integration and how this process may be disrupted in people with tinnitus. Furthermore, the present study also presents preliminary data supporting evidence that tinnitus patients may be building stronger perceptual models, which needs future studies with a larger population to provide concrete evidence on.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Tinnitus is the continuous phantom perception of a ringing in the ears. Recently, it has been suggested that tinnitus may be a maladaptive inference of the brain to auditory anomalies, whether they are detected or undetected by an audiogram. The present study presents empirical evidence for this hypothesis by inducing an illusion in a sensory domain that is damaged (auditory) and one that is intact (visual). It also presents novel information about how people with tinnitus process multisensory stimuli in the audio-visual domain.

Pain reflects the informational value of nociceptive inputs.

Pain perception and its modulation are fundamental to human learning and adaptive behavior. This study investigated the hypothesis that pain perception is tied to pain's learning function. Thirty-one participants performed a threat conditioning task where certain cues were associated with a possibility of receiving a painful electric shock. The cues that signaled potential pain or safety were regularly changed, requiring participants to continually establish new associations. Using computational models, we quantified participants' pain expectations and prediction errors throughout the task and assessed their relationship with pain perception and electrophysiological responses. Our findings suggest that subjective pain perception increases with prediction error, that is, when pain was unexpected. Prediction errors were also related to physiological nociceptive responses, including the amplitude of nociceptive flexion reflex and electroencephalography markers of cortical nociceptive processing (N1-P2-evoked potential and gamma-band power). In addition, higher pain expectations were related to increased late event-related potential responses and alpha/beta decreases in amplitude during cue presentation. These results further strengthen the idea of a crucial link between pain and learning and suggest that understanding the influence of learning mechanisms in pain modulation could help us understand when and why pain perception is modulated in health and disease.

Thermoregulatory pathway underlying the pyrogenic effects of prostaglandin E2 in the lateral parabrachial nucleus of male rats.

It has been shown that prostaglandin (PG) E2 synthesized in the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN) is involved in lipopolysaccharide-induced fever. But the neural mechanisms of how intra-LPBN PGE2 induces fever remain unclear. In this study, we investigated whether the LPBN-preoptic area (POA) pathway, the thermoafferent pathway for feed-forward thermoregulatory responses, mediates fever induced by intra-LPBN PGE2 in male rats. The core temperature (Tcore) was monitored using a temperature radiotelemetry transponder implanted in rat abdomen. We showed that microinjection of PGE2 (0.28 nmol) into the LPBN significantly enhanced the density of c-Fos-positive neurons in the median preoptic area (MnPO). The chemical lesioning of MnPO with ibotenate or selective genetic lesioning or inhibition of the LPBN-MnPO pathway significantly attenuated fever induced by intra-LPBN injection of PGE2. We demonstrated that EP3 receptor was a pivotal receptor for PGE2-induced fever, since microinjection of EP3 receptor agonist sulprostone (0.2 nmol) or EP3 receptor antagonist L-798106 (2 nmol) into the LPBN mimicked or weakened the pyrogenic action of LPBN PGE2, respectively, but this was not the case for EP4 and EP1 receptors. Whole-cell recording from acute LPBN slices revealed that the majority of MnPO-projecting neurons originating from the external lateral (el) and dorsal (d) LPBN were excited and inhibited, respectively, by PGE2 perfusion, initiating heat-gain and heat-loss mechanisms. The amplitude but not the frequency of spontaneous and miniature glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs and mEPSCs) in MnPO-projecting LPBel neurons increased after perfusion with PGE2; whereas the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) and the A-type potassium (IA) current density did not change. In MnPO-projecting LPBd neurons, neither sEPSCs nor sIPSCs responded to PGE2; however, the IA current density was significantly increased by PGE2 perfusion. These electrophysiological responses and the thermoeffector reactions to intra-LPBN PGE2 injection, including increased brown adipose tissue thermogenesis, shivering, and decreased heat dissipation, were all abolished by L-798106, and mimicked by sulprostone. These results suggest that the pyrogenic effects of intra-LPBN PGE2 are mediated by both the inhibition of the LPBd-POA pathway through the EP3 receptor-mediated activation of IA currents and the activation of the LPBel-POA pathway through the selective enhancement of glutamatergic synaptic transmission via EP3 receptors.

Brain electrical patterns associated with pleasure and emotion induced by tonal and atonal music.

Several studies in the last 40 years have used electroencephalography (EEG) to recognize patterns of brain electrical activity correlated with emotions evoked by various stimuli. For example, the frontal alpha and theta asymmetry models to distinguish musical emotions and musical pleasure, respectively. Since these studies have used mainly tonal music, in this study, we decided to incorporate both tonal (n = 8) and atonal (n = 8) musical stimuli to observe the subjective and electrophysiological responses associated with valence, arousal, pleasure, and familiarity, from 25 nonmusician Mexican adults (10 females, 15 males; M = 37.8 years old, SD = 15.1). Our results showed that atonal music was perceived as less familiar and pleasurable than tonal music, according to the average subjective ratings. Interestingly, greater right hemispheric activity (alpha suppression) was associated with atonal music listening. Additionally, there was an increase of theta power at the right frontal cortex (F4) correlated with a decrease of pleasure ratings, in line with the frontal theta asymmetry (FTA) model. Finally, according to the model of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) to distinguish musical emotions, activation (alpha suppression) of the left frontal cortex (F3) was correlated with greater valence and arousal-that is, joyful music. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of Tamarixia radiata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) to volatiles of nymphal Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae)

Abstract Huanglongbing (HLB), a devastating citrus disease caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, is efficiently vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae). Tamarixia radiata (Waterston) plays a crucial role as an ectoparasitoid, preying on D. citri nymphs. By collecting and identifying headspace volatiles from fifth instar nymphs of D. citri using a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (GC–MS), we obtained a collection of 9 volatile compounds. These compounds were subsequently chosen to investigate the electrophysiological and behavioral responses of female T. radiata. At a concentration of 10 μg/μl, 9 compounds were compared with cis-3-hexen-1-ol (control), resulting in trans-2-nonenal inducing the highest relative electroantennogram (EAG) value, followed by hexanal, heptanal, n-heptadecane, tetradecanal, n-tetradecane, n-pentadecane, 1-tetradecanol, and 1-dodecanol. The top 5 EAG responses of female T. radiata to these compounds were further investigated through EAG dose–response experiments. The results showed positive dose–responses as concentrations increased from 0.01 to 10 μg/μl. In Y-tube olfactometer bioassays, female T. radiata exhibited a preference for specific compounds. They were significantly attracted to tetradecanal at a concentration of 10 µg/µl and trans-2-nonenal at 0.01 µg/µl, while no significant attraction was observed toward hexanal, heptanal, or n-heptadecane. Our report is the first to demonstrate that volatiles produced by D. citri nymphs attract T. radiata, which suggests that this parasitoid may utilize nymph volatiles to locate its host.

ForCEPSS—A framework for cardiac electrophysiology simulations standardization

Background and Objective:Simulation of cardiac electrophysiology (CEP) is an important research tool that is increasingly being adopted in industrial and clinical applications. Typical workflows for CEP simulation consist of a sequence of processing stages starting with building an anatomical model and then calibrating its electrophysiological properties to match observable data. While the calibration stages are common and generalizable, most CEP studies re-implement these steps in complex and highly variable workflows. This lack of standardization renders the execution of computational CEP studies in an efficient, robust, and reproducible manner a significant challenge. Here, we propose ForCEPSS as an efficient and robust, yet flexible, software framework for standardizing CEP simulation studies. Methods and Results:Key processing stages of CEP simulation studies are identified and implemented in a standardized workflow that builds on openCARP11https://opencarp.org/. Plank et al. (2021) and the Python-based carputils22https://git.opencarp.org/openCARP/carputils. framework. Stages include (i) the definition and initialization of action potential phenotypes, (ii) the tissue scale calibration of conduction properties, (iii) the functional initialization to approximate a limit cycle corresponding to the dynamic reference state according to an experimental protocol, and, (iv) the execution of the CEP study where the electrophysiological response to a perturbation of the limit cycle is probed. As an exemplar application, we employ ForCEPSS to prepare a CEP study according to the Virtual Arrhythmia Risk Prediction protocol used for investigating the arrhythmogenic risk of developing infarct-related ventricular tachycardia (VT) in ischemic cardiomyopathy patients. We demonstrate that ForCEPSS enables a fully automated execution of all stages of this complex protocol. Conclusion:ForCEPSS offers a novel comprehensive, standardized, and automated CEP simulation workflow. The high degree of automation accelerates the execution of CEP simulation studies, reduces errors, improves robustness, and makes CEP studies reproducible. Verification of simulation studies within the CEP modeling community is thus possible. As such, ForCEPSS makes an important contribution towards increasing transparency, standardization, and reproducibility of in silico CEP experiments.

Potentiation of the depressant effect of alcohol by flunitrazepam in rats: an electrocorticographic, respiratory and electrocardiographic study.

Alcohol, a widely commercialized psychotropic drug, and the benzodiazepine Flunitrazepam, an anxiolytic widely prescribed for patients with anxiety and insomnia problems, are well known drugs and both act on the central nervous system. The misuse and the association of these two drugs are public health concerns in several countries and could cause momentary, long-lasting and even lethal neurophysiological problems due to the potentiation of their adverse effects in synergy. The present study observed the result of the association of these drugs on electrophysiological responses in the brain, heart, and respiratory rate in Wistar rats. 8 experimental groups were determined: control, one alcohol group (20% at a dose of 1ml/100g VO), three Flunitrazepam groups (doses 0.1; 0.2 and 0.3mg/kg) and three alcohol-Flunitrazepam groups (20% at a dose of 1ml/100g VO of alcohol, combined with 0.1; 0.2 and 0.3mg/kg of Flunitrazepam, respectively). The results showed that there was a more pronounced reduction in alpha and theta wave power in the alcohol-Flunitrazepam groups, a decrease in the power of beta oscillations and greater sedation. There was a progressive decrease in respiratory rate linked to the increase of Flunitrazepam dose in the alcohol-Flunitrazepam associated administration. It was observed alteration in heart rate and Q-T interval in high doses of Flunitrazepam. Therefore, we conclude that the association alcohol-Flunitrazepam presented deepening of depressant synergistic effects according to the increase in the dose of the benzodiazepine, and this could cause alterations in low frequency brain oscillations, breathing, and hemodynamics of the patient.

Electrophysiological properties of dorsal root ganglion neurons cultured on 3D silicon micro-pillar substrates

BackgroundSilicon-based micro-pillar substrates (MPS), as three-dimensional cell culture platforms with vertically aligned micro-patterned scaffolding structures, are known to facilitate high-quality growth and morphology of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sensory neurons, promote neurite outgrowth and enhance neurite alignment. However, the electrophysiological aspects of DRG neurons cultured on silicon MPSs have not been thoroughly investigated, which is of greatest importance to ensure that such substrates do not disrupt neuronal homeostasis and function before their widespread adoption in diverse biomedical applications. New methodWe conducted whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to explore the electrophysiological properties of DRG neurons cultured on MPS arrays, utilizing a custom-made upright patch-clamp setup. ResultsOur findings revealed that DRG neurons exhibited similar electrophysiological responses on patterned MPS samples when compared to the control planar glass surfaces. Notably, there were no significant differences observed in the action potential parameters or firing patterns of action potentials between neurons grown on either substrate. Comparison with existing methodsIn the current study we for the first time confirmed that successful electrophysiological recordings can be obtained from the cells grown on MPS. ConclusionOur results imply that, despite the potential alterations caused by the cumulative trauma of tissue harvest and cell dissociation, essential functional cell properties of DRG neurons appear to be relatively maintained on MPS surfaces. Therefore, vertically aligned silicon MPSs could be considered as a potentially effective three-dimensional system for supporting a controlled cellular environment in culture.

Electrophysiological and behavioural responses of fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda: A potential phytovolatile technology for its management

The fall armyworm (FAW), scientifically known as Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera:Noctuidae), is an invasive and polyphagous pest associated with maize (Zea mays L.). An experiment was conducted during 2020–21 at South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Oluvil, Sri Lanka and the Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka Lunuwila, Sri Lanka to investigate the olfactory perception of 22 host plant volatiles by electroantennogram (EAG) and behavioural assays for males, virgin and mated females of FAW. The findings indicated that trans-2-Hexen-1-ol, Benzaldehyde, Nonanoic acid, cis-3-Hexen-1-ol, and 4-Phenyl-2-butanone elicited elevated EAG responses in FAW antennae. Additionally, β-Citronellol and ethyl butyrate elicited amplified responses specifically in mated females and males, respectively. Dose-response study revealed that the observed responses remained statistically non-significant (P>0.05), regardless gender or physiological condition of females across the 1%, 5%, 10% and 15% dose intervals. In behavioural study, observed that 1% Benzaldehyde attracted a substantial number of moths to the treatment side for both virgin and mated females, whereas 1% β-Citronellol displayed repellent properties specifically for mated females of FAW. Therefore, these findings suggest that volatile plant compounds may serve as a theoretical basis for devising novel control strategies for FAW. This includes the potential development of attractants, repellents, and mass capture killers effective for both males and females of FAW, in addition to the currently used female sex pheromone.

Electrophysiological Characteristics of Inhibitive Control for Adults with Different Physiological or Psychological Obesity.

Individuals exhibiting high scores on the fatness subscale of the negative-physical-self scale (NPSS-F) are characterized by heightened preoccupation with body fat accompanied by negative body image perceptions, often leading to excessive dieting behaviors. This demographic constitutes a considerable segment of the populace in China, even among those who are not obese. Nonetheless, scant empirical inquiries have delved into the behavioral and neurophysiological profiles of individuals possessing a healthy body mass index (BMI) alongside elevated NPSS-F scores. This study employed an experimental paradigm integrating go/no-go and one-back tasks to assess inhibitory control and working memory capacities concerning food-related stimuli across three adult cohorts: those with normal weight and low NPSS-F scores, those with normal weight and high NPSS-F scores, and individuals classified as obese. Experimental stimuli comprised high- and low-caloric-food pictures with concurrent electroencephalogram (EEG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) recordings. Individuals characterized by high NPSS-F scores and normal weight exhibited distinctive electrophysiological responses compared to the other two cohorts, evident in event-related potential (ERP) components, theta and alpha band oscillations, and heart rate variability (HRV) patterns. In essence, the findings underscore alterations in electrophysiological reactivity among individuals possessing high NPSS-F scores and a healthy BMI in the context of food-related stimuli, underscoring the necessity for increased attention to this demographic alongside individuals affected by obesity.

Simple dynamic cell culture system reduces recording noise in microelectrode array recordings

AbstractMicroelectrode arrays (MEAs) have applications in drug discovery, toxicology, and basic research. They measure the electrophysiological response of tissue cultures to quantify changes upon exposure to biochemical stimuli. Unfortunately, manual addition of chemicals introduces significant noise in the recordings. Here, we report a simple-to-fabricate fluidic system that addresses this issue. We show that cell cultures can be successfully established in the fluidic compartment under continuous flow conditions and that the addition of chemicals introduces minimal noise in the recordings. This dynamic cell culture system represents an improvement over traditional tissue culture wells used in MEAs, facilitating electrophysiology measurements. Graphical abstract

Enhancement of the Inner Foveal Response of Young Adults with Extended-Depth-of-Focus Contact Lens for Myopia Management.

Myopia management contact lenses have been shown to successfully decrease the rate of eye elongation in children by changing the peripheral refractive profile of the retina. Despite the efforts of the scientific community, the retinal response mechanism to defocus is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the local electrophysiological response of the retina with a myopia control contact lens (CL) compared to a single-vision CL of the same material. The retinal electrical activity and peripheral refraction of 16 eyes (16 subjects, 27.5 ± 5.7 years, 13 females and 3 males) with myopia between -0.75 D and -6.00 D (astigmatism < 1.00 D) were assessed with two CLs (Filcon 5B): a single-vision (SV) CL and an extended-depth-of-focus (EDOF) CL used for myopia management. The peripheral refraction was assessed with an open-field WAM-5500 auto-refractometer/keratometer in four meridians separated by 45° at 2.50 m distance. The global-flash multifocal electroretinogram (gf-mfERG) was recorded with the Reti-port/scan21 (Roland Consult) using a stimulus of 61 hexagons. The implicit time (in milliseconds) and response density (RD, in nV/deg2) of the direct (DC) and induced (IC) components were used for comparison between lenses in physiological pupil conditions. Although the EDOF decreased both the HCVA and the LCVA (one and two lines, respectively; p < 0.003), it still allowed a good VA. The EDOF lens induced a myopic shift in most retinal areas, with a higher and statistically significant effect on the nasal retina. No differences in the implicit times of the DC and IC components were observed between SV and EDOF. Compared with the SV, the EDOF lens showed a higher RD in the IC component in the foveal region (p = 0.032). In the remaining retinal areas, the EDOF evoked lower, non-statistically significant RD in both the DC and IC components. The EDOF myopia control CL enhanced the response of the inner layers of the fovea. This might suggest that, besides other mechanisms potentially involved, the central foveal retinal activity might be involved in the mechanism of myopia control with these lenses.

Functional types of long trichoid sensilla responding to sex pheromone components in Plutella xylostella.

Sex pheromones, which consist of multiple components in specific ratios promote intraspecific sexual communications of insects. Plutella xylostella (L.) is a worldwide pest of cruciferous vegetables, the mating behavior of which is highly dependent on its olfactory system. Long trichoid sensilla on male antennae are the main olfactory sensilla that can sense sex pheromones. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, 3 sex pheromone components from sex pheromone gland secretions of P. xylostella female adults were identified as Z11-16:Ald, Z11-16:Ac, and Z11-16:OH in a ratio of 9.4 : 100 : 17 using gas chromatography - mass spectrometry and gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection. Electrophysiological responses of 581 and 385 long trichoid sensilla of male adults and female adults, respectively, to the 3 components were measured by single sensillum recording. Hierarchical clustering analysis showed that the long trichoid sensilla were of 6 different types. In the male antennae, 52.32%, 5.51%, and 1.89% of the sensilla responded to Z11-16:Ald, Z11-16:Ac, and Z11-16:OH, which are named as A type, B type, and C type sensilla, respectively; 2.93% named as D type sensilla responded to both Z11-16:Ald and Z11-16:Ac, and 0.34% named as E type sensilla were sensitive to both Z11-16:Ald and Z11-16:OH. In the female antennae, only 7.53% of long trichoid sensilla responded to the sex pheromone components, A type sensilla were 3.64%, B type and C type sensilla were both 0.52%, D type sensilla were 1.30%, and 1.56% of the sensilla responded to all 3 components, which were named as F type sensilla. The responding long trichoid sensilla were located from the base to the terminal of the male antennae and from the base to the middle of the female antennae. The pheromone mixture (Z11-16:Ald : Z11-16:Ac : Z11-16:OH=9.4 : 100 : 17) had a weakly repellent effect on female adults of P. xylostella. Our results lay the foundation for further studies on sex pheromone communications in P. xylostella.

Psychoacoustic and electroencephalographic responses to changes in amplitude modulation depth and frequency in relation to speech recognition in cochlear implantees

Temporal envelope modulations (TEMs) are one of the most important features that cochlear implant (CI) users rely on to understand speech. Electroencephalographic assessment of TEM encoding could help clinicians to predict speech recognition more objectively, even in patients unable to provide active feedback. The acoustic change complex (ACC) and the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) evoked by low-frequency amplitude-modulated pulse trains can be used to assess TEM encoding with electrical stimulation of individual CI electrodes. In this study, we focused on amplitude modulation detection (AMD) and amplitude modulation frequency discrimination (AMFD) with stimulation of a basal versus an apical electrode. In twelve adult CI users, we (a) assessed behavioral AMFD thresholds and (b) recorded cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs), AMD-ACC, AMFD-ACC, and ASSR in a combined 3-stimulus paradigm. We found that the electrophysiological responses were significantly higher for apical than for basal stimulation. Peak amplitudes of AMFD-ACC were small and (therefore) did not correlate with speech-in-noise recognition. We found significant correlations between speech-in-noise recognition and (a) behavioral AMFD thresholds and (b) AMD-ACC peak amplitudes. AMD and AMFD hold potential to develop a clinically applicable tool for assessing TEM encoding to predict speech recognition in CI users.

Bilateral Pattern Electroretinogram Abnormalities in Patients with Herpes Zoster Keratitis and Conjunctivitis.

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) results from the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV) in the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve. The inflammation caused by VZV involves multiple tissues in the eyes. Our goal is to evaluate pattern electroretinogram (PERG) changes and their relationship with corneal sub-basal nerve changes in patients with HZO. Twenty-two patients with herpes zoster keratitis or conjunctivitis and 20 healthy volunteers were recruited for this cross-sectional study. A PERG test was performed on both eyes of HZO patients and one eye of the healthy controls. In vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) was also performed on both eyes of the HZO patients to detect corneal nerve damage. Our results showed changes in the PERG parameters in both eyes of HZO patients compared to the healthy controls. Affected eyes showed delayed N95 peak time and decreased P50 and N95 amplitude compared to the unaffected eyes (p < 0.05, respectively). Both affected and unaffected eyes in HZO patients showed delayed P50 peak time and decreased N95 amplitude (p < 0.05, respectively) compared to controls. In HZO patients, no significant differences in each PERG parameter were found between eyes with and without corneal lesions or between eyes with and without increased Langham's cells in the corneal epithelial sub-basal layer. The IVCM images showed decreased total nerve length and number at the sub-basal layer of the epithelial cornea in affected eyes compared to unaffected eyes (p < 0.05). No significant correlation was found between total nerve length and PERG changes. Our results showed that VZV-affected eyes without central cornea involvement displayed reduced N95 amplitude and prolonged P50 peak time in bilateral eyes compared to the healthy controls. Larger studies are needed to further explore the effect of HZO on the electrophysiological response of the eye and the posterior segment.

Urban Landscape Perception Research Based on the ERP Method: A Case Study of Jingdezhen, China

Within the rapidly growing urban tourism industry, the development of urban landscapes plays a crucial role in shaping a city’s image and competitiveness; however, standardized and mismatched landscapes often have a negative impact, highlighting the importance of assessing urban landscape perceptions. Although existing studies have discussed this through subjective questionnaires and physiological methods, the underlying neural mechanisms have not been thoroughly explored. The research focuses on Jingdezhen, a renowned historical and cultural city in China, as its case study. Utilized the event-related potential (ERP) method to explore individuals’ perceptual consistency and neural activity toward different types of urban landscapes. We adopted a 2 (landscape type: historical, modern) X 2 (perceptual match: consistent, inconsistent) within-subject design while recording behavioral data and electrophysiological responses. The results showed that, under any condition, there were no significant differences in people’s behavioral data. Neurophysiological results indicate that consistent perceptions of modern landscapes elicited greater P200 responses, suggesting increased attention driven by visual aesthetics and emotional activation. Under conditions of perceptual inconsistency, historical landscapes elicited higher N400 amplitudes than modern landscapes, revealing cognitive conflict and effort. This study demonstrates that P200 and N400 components are effective indicators for assessing urban perception, proving the viability of the event-related potential method in urban landscape research. Additionally, the research reveals the neural mechanisms of urban environmental perception from the early stages of attention and emotional distribution to the later stages of cognitive decision-making, which involve cognitive processes from “bottom-up” to “top-down”. This study not only provides a reference for efficient design planning for those involved in urban science but also inspires the coordination between the developmental needs of historical and modern urban landscapes. Moreover, it offers a new perspective for an interdisciplinary approach to urban perception assessment.

Do incidental positive emotions induce more optimistic expectations of decision outcomes? An empirical study from the perspective of event-related potential.

Previous research has found that incidental emotions of different valences (positive/negative/neutral) influence risky decision-making. However, the mechanism of their influence on psychological expectations of decision outcomes remains unclear. We explored the effects of different incidental emotions on the behavioral, psychological, and electrophysiological responses of individuals in risky decision-making through a money gambling task using a one-way (emotion type: positive, negative, neutral emotions) between-subjects experimental design. Individuals with positive emotions had significantly greater risk-seeking rates than those with negative emotions during the decision selection phase (p<.01). In the feedback stage of decision outcomes, individuals showed stronger perceptions of uncertainty in the decision environment under gain and loss feedback compared with neutral feedback, as evidenced by a more positive P2 component (i.e., the second positive component of an event-related potential). Positive emotions produced greater than expected outcome bias than neutral emotions, as evidenced by a more negative FRN component (i.e., the feedback-related negativity component). Our results suggest that positive emotions increase individuals' psychological expectations of decision outcomes. This study provides new empirical insights to understand the influence of incidental emotions on risky decision outcome expectations.