Deficient Information Processing Research Articles

Multiscale criticality measures as general-purpose gauges of proper brain function

The brain is universally regarded as a system for processing information. If so, any behavioral or cognitive dysfunction should lend itself to depiction in terms of information processing deficiencies. Information is characterized by recursive, hierarchical complexity. The brain accommodates this complexity by a hierarchy of large/slow and small/fast spatiotemporal loops of activity. Thus, successful information processing hinges upon tightly regulating the spatiotemporal makeup of activity, to optimally match the underlying multiscale delay structure of such hierarchical networks. Reduced capacity for information processing will then be expressed as deviance from this requisite multiscale character of spatiotemporal activity. This deviance is captured by a general family of multiscale criticality measures (MsCr). MsCr measures reflect the behavior of conventional criticality measures (such as the branching parameter) across temporal scale. We applied MsCr to MEG and EEG data in several telling degraded information processing scenarios. Consistently with our previous modeling work, MsCr measures systematically varied with information processing capacity: MsCr fingerprints showed deviance in the four states of compromised information processing examined in this study, disorders of consciousness, mild cognitive impairment, schizophrenia and even during pre-ictal activity. MsCr measures might thus be able to serve as general gauges of information processing capacity and, therefore, as normative measures of brain health.

Effects of methylphenidate on mismatch negativity and P3a amplitude of initially psychostimulant-naïve, adult ADHD patients.

Deficient information processing in ADHD theoretically results in sensory overload and may underlie the symptoms of the disorder. Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a amplitude reflect an individual's detection and subsequent change in attention to stimulus change in their environment. Our primary aim was to explore MMN and P3a amplitude in adult ADHD patients and to examine the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on these measures. Forty initially psychostimulant-naïve, adult ADHD patients without comorbid ASD and 42 matched healthy controls (HC) were assessed with an MMN paradigm at baseline. Both groups were retested after 6 weeks, in which patients were treated with MPH. Neither significant group differences in MMN nor P3a amplitude were found at baseline. Although 6-week MPH treatment significantly reduced symptomatology and improved daily functioning of the patients, it did not significantly affect MMN amplitude; however, it did significantly reduce P3a amplitude compared to the HC. Furthermore, more severe ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with larger MMN amplitudes in the patients, both at baseline and follow-up. We found no evidence for early information processing deficits in patients with ADHD, as measured with MMN and P3a amplitude. Six-week treatment with MPH decreased P3a but not MMN amplitude, although more severe ADHD-symptoms were associated with larger MMN amplitudes in the patients. Given that P3a amplitude represents an important attentional process and that glutamate has been linked to both ADHD and MMN amplitude, future research should investigate augmenting MPH treatment of less responsive adults with ADHD with glutamatergic antagonists.

Effects of methylphenidate on sensory and sensorimotor gating of initially psychostimulant-naïve adult ADHD patients

Deficient information processing in ADHD theoretically results in sensory overload, which in turn may underlie its symptoms. If this sensory overload is caused by deficient filtering of environmental stimuli, then one would expect finding deficits in P50 gating and prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex (PPI). Previous reports on these measures in ADHD have shown inconsistent findings, which may have been caused by either medication use or comorbidity (e.g. ASD). The primary aim of this study was therefore to explore P50 suppression and PPI in adult, psychostimulant-naïve patients with ADHD without major comorbidity, and to examine the effects of 6 weeks treatment with methylphenidate (MPH) on these measures.A total of 42 initially psychostimulant-naive, adult ADHD patients without major comorbidity and 42 matched healthy controls, were assessed for their P50 gating, PPI, and habituation/sensitization abilities at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment with methylphenidate.Although six weeks of treatment with MPH significantly reduced symptomatology as well as improved daily life functioning in our patients, it neither significantly affected PPI, P50 suppression nor sensitization, but habituation unexpectedly decreased.The absence of PPI and P50 suppression deficits in our patients in the psychostimulant-naïve state indicates no gating deficits. In turn, this suggests that the difficulties to inhibit distraction of attention by irrelevant stimuli that many patients with (adult) ADHD report, have a different origin than the theoretical causes of sensory overload frequently reported in studies on patients with schizophrenia.

Visual information processing in older adults: reaction time and motor unit pool modulation.

Presently, there is no evidence that magnification of visual feedback has motor implications beyond impairments in force control during a visuomotor task. We hypothesized that magnification of visual feedback would increase visual information processing, alter the muscle activation, and exacerbate the response time in older adults. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether magnification of visual feedback during a reaction time task alters the premotor time and the motor unit pool activation of older adults. Participants responded as fast as possible to a visual stimulus while they maintained a steady ankle dorsiflexion force (15% maximum) either with low-gain or high-gain visual feedback of force. We quantified the following: 1) response time and its components (premotor and motor time), 2) force variability, and 3) motor unit pool activity of the tibialis anterior muscle. Older adults exhibited longer premotor time and greater force variability than young adults. Only in older adults, magnification of visual feedback lengthened the premotor time and exacerbated force variability. The slower premotor time in older adults with high-gain visual feedback was associated with increased force variability and an altered modulation of the motor unit pool. In conclusion, our findings provide novel evidence that magnification of visual feedback also exacerbates premotor time during a reaction time task in older adults, which is correlated with force variability and an altered modulation of motor unit pool. Thus these findings suggest that visual information processing deficiencies in older adults could result in force control and reaction time impairments. NEW & NOTEWORTHY It is unknown whether magnification of visual feedback has motor implications beyond impairments in force control for older adults. We examined whether it impairs reaction time and motor unit pool activation. The findings provide novel evidence that magnification of visual feedback exacerbates reaction time by lengthening premotor time, which implicates time for information processing in older adults, which is correlated with force variability and an altered modulation of motor unit pool.

The intertemporal choice behaviour: The role of emotions in a multi-agent decision problem

Decision Neuroscience has shown positive and negative side of emotions in intertemporal choices. Psychological evidences, indeed, point out anomalies (impulsivity modifies the discount function of each individual) and the false consensus effect which increases the degree of consensus in a multi-agent decision problem. An experiment (Engelmann and Strobel 2004) demonstrates that the relevance of the false consensus effect depends on the difficulty of the information retrieval, so the underlying mechanism is an information processing deficiency rather than egocentricity. We demonstrate that emotions can not cause anomalies in a cooperative strategic interaction because information is explicit.

Rapid Mental Fatigue Amplifies Age-Related Attentional Deficits

Deficient information processing with increasing age has been assigned to reduced efficiency in frontal executive control functions. Dopamine has been assumed to play a central role for this decline. Dopamine, however, is also essential for the maintenance of motivation for a longer period of time and is therefore a core factor for mental fatigue. Combining these two findings, we tested to what degree older adults are more prone to performance loss due to increasing time on task than younger adults. Twelve younger and twelve older participants performed an inhibition of return task for 80 min. Performance declined in the older participants but not in the young. Event-related potentials (ERPs) of the EEG, however, showed distinct changes with time on task primarily for young participants. The dissociation between behavioral and ERP results indicates that changes in ERPs of the young participants could reflect adaptations to the task rather than fatigue. This is evident from very distinct changes of the posterior N1 component in this group. The failing (or rather unspecific) adaptation to the task in older adults might have been a consequence of lacking frontal executive control functions reflected in a massive reduction of the N2 component of the ERP, relative to the young participants.

University Students With Poor Reading Comprehension

The present study aimed to examine the nature of the working memory and general cognitive ability deficits experienced by university students with a specific reading comprehension deficit. A total of 32 university students with poor reading comprehension but average word-reading skills and 60 age-matched controls with no comprehension difficulties participated in the study. The participants were assessed on three verbal working memory tasks that varied in terms of their processing demands and on the Das–Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System, which was used to operationalize intelligence. The results indicated first that the differences between poor and skilled comprehenders on working memory were amplified as the processing demands of the tasks increased. In addition, although poor comprehenders as a group had average intelligence, they experienced significant difficulties in simultaneous and successive processing. Considering that working memory and general cognitive ability are highly correlated processes, these findings suggest that the observed differences between poor and skilled comprehenders are likely a result of a deficient information processing system.

Deconstruction and reconstruction of an anomaly

We present a striking example of the deconstruction and reconstruction of an anomaly. In line with previous experiments we show in a one-shot setting that the allegedly robust false consensus effect disappears if representative information is readily available. But the effect reappears if a small cognitive effort is required to retrieve the information. Most subjects apparently ignore valuable information if it is not handed to them on a silver platter. We conclude that the relevance of the false consensus effect depends on the difficulty of retrieving the information and that the underlying mechanism is an information processing deficiency rather than egocentricity. Moreover, we discuss the potential relevance of our findings for other well-known effects like the winnerʼs curse and overconfidence.

Auditory change detection in fragile X syndrome males: A brain potential study

ObjectiveThe present study investigated involuntary change detection in a two-tone pre-attentive auditory discrimination paradigm in order to better understand the information processing mechanisms underlying attention deficits in fragile X syndrome (FXS) males. MethodsSixteen males with the FXS full mutation and 20 age-matched control participants (mean age 29years) were presented with series of auditory stimuli consisting of standard and deviant tones while watching a silent movie. ResultsBrain potentials recorded to the tones showed that N1 and P2, sensory evoked potentials, were significantly enhanced in FXS compared to age-matched control participants. In contrast to controls, the N1 to standard tones failed to show long-term habituation to stimulus repetition in FXS. Additionally, both mismatch negativity and P3a generation, reflecting automatic change detection and the involuntary switch of attention, respectively, were significantly attenuated in FXS males. ConclusionsThe current study demonstrates that auditory stimulus discrimination in the FXS brain is already compromised during the pre-attentive stages of information processing. Furthermore, the apparent pre-attentive information processing deficiencies in FXS coincide with a weakness in the involuntary engagement of attentional resources. SignificanceThe stimulus-driven information processing deficiencies in FXS might compromise information processing in several domains and, thus, present a key-deficit in FXS neurocognition.

Promoting social competence development to reduce children's social aggression

The roles of schools are more and more diverse, schools is no longer just an institution with instructive objectives, but an essential environment for socialization and acculturation. Of course, the instructive function of school is still important, but, at the same time, the school has the role to regulate the social behaviours, by educating the emotional responses and developing students’ social abilities.There are a wide range of theories who try to explain the recrudescence of aggressive behaviours in children. The underlying theory of this paper is that childhood aggression could be correlated with deficient information processing skills and social-emotional maladjustment. In many cases, disruptive behaviours are not just deviations from socials norms, but the expression of wrong behavioural models, hence a result of imitating and interiorizing undesirable behaviours through social learning.The role of the adults who represent significant, reference figures for the child (parents, teachers, specialists, etc.) have to be more then just passively observe, label the children behaviours as misconduct and apply the punishment; they have to be pro-actively involved in child's nurturing and education, promoting a supportive and formative environment, filled with opportunities of learning pro-social behaviours. There are plenty proactive programmes designed to create opportunities for harmonious development of children's personality, to enhance their pro-social behaviours repertoire.In this paper, we present the innovative process of adaptation and implementation of the program Making Choices into a Romanian school, as part of the national project CNMP 91-063/2007 Project, Social diagnosis of academic performances through Social School Success Scale (SSSS) and the design of research-validated intervention methods, project coordinated by Professor PhD. Maria Roth, from Babes-Bolyai University from Cluj Napoca, financed by Romanian Ministry of Education and Innovation.Making Choices is a curriculum containing a series of cognitive problem-solving lessons intended to broaden children's social knowledge and skills for successfully interacting with peers and adults.We conduct this research in a school in Romania, at secondary level. The conclusions will sustain the necessity to allocate resources in this type of pro-active, preventive, school-based program in order to promote social competence and to reduce both overt and social aggression of children.

Spectroscopic metabolomic abnormalities in the thalamus related to auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia

ObjectivePrevious studies have found neurochemical abnormalities in thalamic nuclei in patients with schizophrenia. These abnormalities have been associated with information processing deficiencies and symptom formation. There are no metabolic spectroscopy studies in patients with schizophrenia attending to auditory hallucinations. The aim of the present study is to explore metabolic Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) ratio differences in the thalamus between schizophrenic patients with and without auditory hallucinations and control subjects. MethodsMRS studies (MRI 1.5 T unit) were performed in 49 patients with schizophrenia (30 with auditory hallucinations and 19 without auditory hallucinations) and 37 controls. 1H MRS imaging was used to acquire 2 transverse slices (TR/TE 2700/272 ms, region of interest 110×100×23 mm). In the quantitative analysis four elements of volume (9.2×9.2×23×4 mm), added into one spectrum representative of each thalamus, were chosen in the slice passing through the main body of the thalamus. The areas of metabolites were integrated with the jMRUI program. ResultsThe patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower bilateral NAA/Cho ratios when compared with healthy subjects. There was also a lower NAA/Cho ratio in the right thalamus in patients with auditory hallucinations compared to patients without auditory hallucinations and control subjects. Significant correlations were found between metabolic ratios and BPRS, PANSS and PSYRATS scores, age of onset of auditory hallucinations, and age of subjects. ConclusionsCholine and NAA ratio abnormalities determined by thalamic spectroscopy may be related to the pathogenesis of auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia.

Optimized Mismatch Negativity reflects correlates of deficient information processing in Schizophrenia: A combined EEG/MEG study

Optimized Mismatch Negativity reflects correlates of deficient information processing in Schizophrenia: A combined EEG/MEG study

Selective breeding for deficient sensorimotor gating is accompanied by increased perseveration in rats

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response is a measure of sensorimotor gating that is deficient in some neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and Tourette’s syndrome. Experimentally induced PPI deficits in rats are regarded as endophenotype to study the biological mechanisms and therapeutic strategies of these disorders. We have recently shown that selectively breeding rats for high and low PPI levels, respectively, leads to groups with different PPI performance that remains stable from the second generation on. We here tested whether the low PPI is accompanied by other behavioral deficits. Different spatial and operant learning paradigms were used to assess rats’ learning and memory abilities as well as their behavioral flexibility. In the delayed alternation T-maze task the two groups did not differ in task acquisition and working memory. Rats with low PPI showed enhanced perseveration during switching between an egocentric and allocentric radial maze task. Enhanced perseveration was also found in an operant behavioral task, where different demands, i.e. a different number of lever presses for a pellet-reward, were assigned to and switched between two levers of a Skinner box. Rats with low PPI stayed longer at the ineffective lever before switching, thus being less able to adjust their behavior to changing reward values. Additionally, PPI low rats had a higher breakpoint value during a progressive ratio-schedule of reinforcement. Rats selectively bred for low PPI showed some cognitive deficits that are apparent in a number of psychiatric disorders with deficient information processing. Specifically in both, spatial and operant behavioral paradigms, PPI low rats are deteriorated in their ability to modulate behavior based upon new changing information. They may thus provide a non-pharmacological model that can be used to evaluate new therapeutic strategies ranging from pharmacological treatment to functional neurosurgery.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging and cognition at the very early stage of MS

Dysfunction of high controlled information processing is present in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) right at the beginning of the disease. One hypothesis is that disruption of communication inside large-scale cortical networks, occurring as a consequence of white matter damage, may constitute the anatomical substrate of cognitive impairment at the very early stage of MS. Disturbance of interregional synchronization might be the main pathogenic factor in controlled information processing deficiency in early MS. Preliminary functional MRI studies (fMRI) have provided important clues to corroborate the connectivity hypotheses. First, brain connectivity assessed by fMRI has brought new data about the influence of diffuse white matter damage on connectivity efficiency inside large-scale networks. These studies have suggested that connectivity disturbances occur inside the working memory network in patients at the very early stage of MS and appear related to the extent of structural white matter damage. Also, fMRI studies have suggested that patients may partially compensate for connectivity impairment by a greater cognitive control. Such a compensatory mechanism could limit the determinant functional impact of diffuse white matter damage on high controlled information processing.

Synaptic transmission and synchronous activity is disrupted in hippocampal slices taken from aged TAS10 mice.

Synaptic transmission was studied in hippocampal slices from aged (12-14 months of age) TAS10 mice overexpressing the human form of the amyloid precursor protein harboring the Swedish mutation. A significant deficit in the input-output relationship of glutamatergic synapses in the CA3-CA1 Schaffer collateral pathway was observed, while synaptic transmission in the medial perforant pathway of the dentate gyrus was comparatively preserved. Despite this deficit, relative levels of short- and long-term synaptic plasticity in the CA1 region were similar to those observed in wildtype slices. Specifically, paired pulse facilitation, frequency facilitation (at frequencies of 1, 5, and 10 Hz), and long-term potentiation induced by a theta burst stimulation paradigm were all normal in the CA3-CA1 synapses of TAS10 hippocampal slices. However, synchronized network activity induced by bath application of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) was compromised. Thus, the frequency of synchronous events induced by 100 microM 4-AP was significantly lower in TAS10 hippocampal slices (inter-event interval: WT, 2.4+/-0.6 s; TAS10, 6.9+/-1.7 s). To study gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic synaptic transmission NBQX (20 microM) and D-AP5 (50 microM) were added in order to isolate bicuculline-sensitive GABA-mediated synchronous network activity. The GABAergic network activity was not significantly different from wildtype in terms of frequency. This study suggests that the deficit in glutamatergic synaptic transmission observed in the TAS10 hippocampal slices, may be coupled with alterations in synchronous network activity, which in turn would lead to deficient information processing.

Deficient information processing and dysfunctional cognitions in unmedicated panic disorder patients

Deficient information processing and dysfunctional cognitions in unmedicated panic disorder patients

Depressive symptoms account for deficient information processing speed but not for impaired working memory in early phase multiple sclerosis (MS)

Depressive symptoms may influence neuropsychological functioning negatively. A substantial proportion of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients exhibit neuropsychological impairments and depressive symptomatology is more common in MS as compared to healthy controls and to other neurological diseases. The objectives of the present study were to assess information processing speed, working memory and executive functions in early phase MS and to investigate whether severity of depressive symptoms account for these aspects of cognition in MS. The patients show slowed information processing speed and impaired working memory, whereas executive functioning, as measured with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, is unaffected. Depressive symptoms account for slowed information processing speed, but not for impaired working memory.

2P-0356 The contributions of major-risk factors to the development of coronary artery disease in different sexes and ages in Koreans

The roles of schools are more and more diverse, schools is no longer just an institution with instructive objectives, but an essential environment for socialization and acculturation. Of course, the instructive function of school is still important, but, at the same time, the school has the role to regulate the social behaviours, by educating the emotional responses and developing students’ social abilities.There are a wide range of theories who try to explain the recrudescence of aggressive behaviours in children. The underlying theory of this paper is that childhood aggression could be correlated with deficient information processing skills and social-emotional maladjustment. In many cases, disruptive behaviours are not just deviations from socials norms, but the expression of wrong behavioural models, hence a result of imitating and interiorizing undesirable behaviours through social learning.The role of the adults who represent significant, reference figures for the child (parents, teachers, specialists, etc.) have to be more then just passively observe, label the children behaviours as misconduct and apply the punishment; they have to be pro-actively involved in child's nurturing and education, promoting a supportive and formative environment, filled with opportunities of learning pro-social behaviours. There are plenty proactive programmes designed to create opportunities for harmonious development of children's personality, to enhance their pro-social behaviours repertoire.In this paper, we present the innovative process of adaptation and implementation of the program Making Choices into a Romanian school, as part of the national project CNMP 91-063/2007 Project, Social diagnosis of academic performances through Social School Success Scale (SSSS) and the design of research-validated intervention methods, project coordinated by Professor PhD. Maria Roth, from Babes-Bolyai University from Cluj Napoca, financed by Romanian Ministry of Education and Innovation.Making Choices is a curriculum containing a series of cognitive problem-solving lessons intended to broaden children's social knowledge and skills for successfully interacting with peers and adults.We conduct this research in a school in Romania, at secondary level. The conclusions will sustain the necessity to allocate resources in this type of pro-active, preventive, school-based program in order to promote social competence and to reduce both overt and social aggression of children.

Do emotion and information processing deficiencies found in Caucasian psychopaths generalize to African-American psychopaths?

Research on psychopathy has yet to establish whether the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised [PCL-R; Hare, R. D. (1991). Manual for the revised psychology checklist. Vancouver, Canada: University of British Columbia] predicts the same etiologically relevant correlates in African-American offenders as it does in Caucasians. Toward this end, we examined affective and information-processing deficits which have been theorized to contribute to psychopaths’ behavior problems. We classified 94 African-American offenders as psychopathic or nonpsychopathic using the PCL-R and the Welsh Anxiety Scale [Welsh, G. S. (1956). In Welsh G. S. & Dalhstrom W. G. (Eds.), Basic readings in the MMPI in psychology and medicine (pp. 264–281). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press] and assessed their performance on a lexical decision task that had differentiated the performance of Caucasian psychopathic and nonpsychopathic groups. Consistent with past research, the results provided little support for the hypothesis that African-American psychopaths display the same performance deficits as Caucasian psychopaths.

Children With Adequate Academic Achievement Scores Referred for Evaluation of School Difficulties: Information Processing Deficiencies

Children With Adequate Academic Achievement Scores Referred for Evaluation of School Difficulties: Information Processing Deficiencies