Memory Integration Research Articles

Resting state functional connectivity of financial capacity in mild cognitive impairment

AbstractBackgroundFinancial capacity (FC) is a complex, multi‐dimensional neurocognitive construct that is commonly impaired and disables older individuals with cognitive impairment but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Resting state functional connectivity was measured in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and impaired FC compared to cognitively normal controls (NC) in order to identify relevant network components that may help drive future interventions.MethodResting state functional MRI scans were obtained from individuals with MCI (N = 17) and age, gender, and education matched NC (N = 15). Table 1. All participants completed the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) and neuropsychological assessment. Based on previously reported imaging findings in this population, the left Angular Gyrus (lAG) was used as the seed region in functional connectivity measurements. Connectivity beta values (Fisher transformed correlation coefficients) were calculated for each connection that showed significantly altered connectivity between control and MCI cases. A Pearson’s correlation was calculated between the connectivity beta values from relevant regions and cognitive measures.ResultA total of 26 brain regions showed significant increased functional connectivity (p <0.05 uncorrected) with the lAG in NC compared to MCI. Of these regions 14 were identified as relevant to higher‐level cognitive function and carried forward in the correlation analysis (Figure 1). Pearson’s correlation showed significant negative association between the FCI and increased connectivity with the right temporal fusiform cortex (rTFC, r = ‐0.455, p = 0.009); negative correlation between Clock drawing and increased connectivity with the intraparietal sulcus (r = ‐0.38, p = 0.03); positive correlation between Trails B and increased connectivity with postcentral gyrus (r = 0.39, p = 0.03) and left central operculum (r = 0.36, p = 0.04). Table 2.ConclusionThere is a significant correlation between a well‐validated measure of FC and increased functional connectivity between the lAG and the rTFC in controls compared to MCI. This novel finding suggests that integration of visuoperception, memory, and mathematical function is critical for FC. No other significant correlation between the lAG and rTFC was found with other tests of executive function or visuospatial cognition.

ALD Heterojunction Ovonic Threshold Switches

Conformal atomic layer deposition (ALD) of chalcogenide films would enable aggressive 3D integration of nonvolatile memories; unfortunately, the fabrication of high-performance ALD OTSs remains an ...

Resting state functional connectivity associated with financial capacity in mild cognitive impairment

AbstractBackgroundFinancial capacity (FC) is a complex, multi‐dimensional neurocognitive construct that is commonly impaired and disables older individuals with cognitive impairment but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Resting state functional connectivity was measured in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and impaired FC compared to cognitively normal controls (NC) in order to identify relevant network components that may help drive future interventions.MethodResting state functional MRI scans were obtained from individuals with MCI (N=17) and age, gender, and education matched NC (N=15). Table 1. All participants completed the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) and neuropsychological assessment. Based on previously reported imaging findings in this population, the left Angular Gyrus (lAG) was used as the seed region in functional connectivity measurements. Connectivity beta values (Fisher transformed correlation coefficients) were calculated for each connection that showed significantly altered connectivity between control and MCI cases. A Pearson’s correlation was calculated between the connectivity beta values from relevant regions and cognitive measures.ResultA total of 26 brain regions showed significant increased functional connectivity (p <0.05 uncorrected) with the lAG in NC compared to MCI. Of these regions 14 were identified as relevant to higher‐level cognitive function and carried forward in the correlation analysis (Fig. 1). Pearson’s correlation showed significant negative association between the FCI and increased connectivity with the right temporal fusiform cortex (rTFC, r = ‐0.455, p = 0.009); negative correlation between Clock drawing and increased connectivity with the intraparietal sulcus (r = ‐0.38, p = 0.03); positive correlation between Trails B and increased connectivity with postcentral gyrus (r = 0.39, p = 0.03) and left central operculum (r = 0.36, p = 0.04). Table 2.ConclusionThere is a significant correlation between a well‐validated measure of FC and increased functional connectivity between the lAG and the rTFC in controls compared to MCI. This novel finding suggests that integration of visuoperception, memory, and mathematical function is critical for FC. No other significant correlation between the lAG and rTFC was found with other tests of executive function or visuospatial cognition.

Difference in default mode network subsystems in autism across childhood and adolescence.

Differences in the default mode network are among the most replicated brain-level findings in autistic individuals. Furthermore, subregions within the default mode network are associated with cognitive functions such as mentalising that are immediately relevant to cognitive theories of autism. Recent evidence suggests that the default mode network comprises partially independent subsystems that are tied to dissociable cognitive processes, specifically a medial temporal lobe subsystem involved in memory retrieval, a dorsal medial prefrontal cortex subsystem involved in social processing and a posterior cingulate cortex – anterior medial prefrontal cortex system that ties the other subsystems together. This modular organisation is thought to arise in childhood development. The current analysis investigated differences in default mode network subsystems in 193 autistic boys and young men (5–18 years) and in a group of 208 age-matched boys and young men without a diagnosis using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging from the data repository of the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange. The results indicated a developmental trend towards greater modularisation of the default mode network across childhood and adolescence in autism, mostly driven by reduced between-subnetwork connection strength. In contrast, default mode network subnetwork organisation was relatively stable in the comparison group. We suggest that these differences reflect delayed maturation of the default mode network in autism.Lay abstractNeuroimaging research has identified a network of brain regions that are more active when we daydream compared to when we are engaged in a task. This network has been named the default mode network. Furthermore, differences in the default mode network are the most consistent findings in neuroimaging research in autism. Recent studies suggest that the default mode network is composed of subnetworks that are tied to different functions, namely memory and understanding others’ minds. In this study, we investigated if default mode network differences in autism are related to specific subnetworks of the default mode network and if these differences change across childhood and adolescence. Our results suggest that the subnetworks of the default mode network are less differentiated in autism in middle childhood compared to neurotypicals. By late adolescence, the default mode network subnetwork organisation was similar in the autistic and neurotypical groups. These findings provide a foundation for future studies to investigate if this developmental pattern relates to improvements in the integration of memory and social understanding as autistic children grow up.

Grieving Parents' Meaning-Making Narration in Relation to Value Orientations: A Cross-Cultural Study.

This study investigated the association between prolonged grief (PG) severity and meaning-making narration in a cross-cultural context, and specifically aimed to illustrate the role of value orientation in shaping the grieving process. 30 Chinese and 22 Swiss parents who lost their child were asked to narrate and appraise specific memories to reflect their self-evaluation of traditional and modern values. The self-reported Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale (ref ICD-11) assessed PG severity. Compared with the Swiss sample, the Chinese sample provided more elaborated memories, which was not associated with symptom severity. Both Chinese and Swiss bereaved parents with more severe PG provided more narratives of loss-related memories, particularly in response to modern values. They also provided more appraisals of negative meanings for self-defining memories, particularly in relation to their traditional values. These findings indicate that, despite cultural differences in narration tendency, PG severity in bereaved parents was associated with the maladaptive integration of autobiographical memories across different cultures, in relation to value orientations. A clinical implication is the potential value of facilitating narrations of grieving clients that center on value orientations to mitigate the hardship of the personal loss.

Memory Reactivation during Learning Simultaneously Promotes Dentate Gyrus/CA2,3 Pattern Differentiation and CA1 Memory Integration.

Events that overlap with previous experience may trigger reactivation of existing memories. However, such reactivation may have different representational consequences within the hippocampal circuit. Computational theories of hippocampal function suggest that dentate gyrus and CA2,3 (DG/CA2,3) are biased to differentiate highly similar memories, whereas CA1 may integrate related events by representing them with overlapping neural codes. Here, we tested whether the formation of differentiated or integrated representations in hippocampal subfields depends on the strength of memory reactivation during learning. Human participants of both sexes learned associations (AB pairs, either face-shape or scene-shape), and then underwent fMRI scanning while they encoded overlapping associations (BC shape-object pairs). Both before and after learning, participants were also scanned while viewing indirectly related elements of the overlapping memories (A and C images) in isolation. We used multivariate pattern analyses to measure reactivation of initial pair memories (A items) during overlapping pair (BC) learning, as well as learning-related representational change for indirectly related memory elements in hippocampal subfields. When prior memories were strongly reactivated during overlapping pair encoding, DG/CA2,3 and subiculum representations for indirectly related images (A and C) became less similar, consistent with pattern differentiation. Simultaneously, memory reactivation during new learning promoted integration in CA1, where representations for indirectly related memory elements became more similar after learning. Furthermore, memory reactivation and subiculum representation predicted faster and more accurate inference (AC) decisions. These data show that reactivation of related memories during new learning leads to dissociable coding strategies in hippocampal subfields, in line with computational theories.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The flexibility of episodic memory allows us to remember both the details that differentiate similar events and the commonalities among them. Here, we tested how reactivation of past experience during new learning promotes formation of neural representations that might serve these two memory functions. We found that memory reactivation during learning promoted formation of differentiated representations for overlapping memories in the dentate gyrus/CA2,3 and subiculum subfields of the hippocampus, while simultaneously leading to the formation of integrated representations of related events in subfield CA1 Furthermore, memory reactivation and subiculum representation predicted success when inferring indirect relationships among events. These findings indicate that memory reactivation is an important learning signal that influences how overlapping events are represented within the hippocampal circuit.

Homogeneous 3D Vertical Integration of Parylene‐C Based Organic Flexible Resistive Memory on Standard CMOS Platform

Abstract3D integration of vertical resistive random access memory (VRRAM) with organic materials is promising for ultra‐high density flexible data storage. However, it is extremely challenging to heterogeneously fabricate an organic 3D VRRAM due to complicated issues such as chemical/thermal robustness, compatibility of organic/inorganic materials, and processes of stacking/patterning multi‐layer organic/metal films. Herein, an organic flexible 3D VRRAM based on parylene‐C is experimentally demonstrated on a standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor platform for the first time. The proposed 3D VRRAM can be homogenously fabricated based solely on parylene‐C (except the metal electrodes), significantly facilitating the 3D integration owing to chemical stability and compatibility with standard photolithography patterning. The flexible 3D organic memory arrays demonstrate great memory characteristics including retention time >105 s, endurance cycles >300, and resistance ON/OFF ratio >10. Further, a finite element analysis is established to model and investigate the scaling potential of the organic 3D VRRAM. The simulation results indicate the elevated temperature during programming could be catastrophic for ultra‐high density 3D VRRAM if the feature size approaches ≈100 nm or below, urging the containment of programming power to avoid thermal issues as well as to save energy consumption.

Development of gait assistive clothing-typed soft wearable robot for elderly adults

PurposeThe purpose of this research was to develop clothing-typed soft wearable robot embedded with textile-based actuators on ankles for elderly adults needing gait assistance.Design/methodology/approachDesign guidelines were developed and they included function (type, targeting area, routing line and anchor points), design (size/fit, fabric/material, fastener, detail, color) and actuator (shape memory alloy type, size, deformation type, integration material, integration technique and evaluation method). Fabric-based actuator, integration methods to fabrics, routing lines and anchoring points were developed based on the guidelines and evaluated. Then, three long socks types and a pants type were designed and prototyped. Routing line position displacement measurement test was conducted with the prototypes. A survey was conducted to investigate satisfaction, likeness and use intention on the design/prototype to modify the designs.FindingsImportant design factors were identified, and design guidelines for clothing-typed soft wearable robots (SWRs) were developed. People satisfied the developed SWR designs and prototypes with mean scores over 4.60.Originality/valueThe results are expected to be helpful for designers and developers of SWRs in the development process, and they will ultimately be beneficial to members of the elderly population who have gait difficulties.

The value of hypnosis in the resolution of dissociation: Clinical lessons from World War I on the integration of traumatic memories

Some World War I clinicians related the symptoms of traumatized servicemen to an underlying dissociation of their personality, consisting of two prototypical conditions: one involving functioning in daily life (inspired by Myers, whose work is also discussed in this article, and which will be labeled apparently normal part of the personality [ANP]) and one involving fixation in the traumatic experience and related attempts at defense (emotional part of the personality [EP]). These authors described two dissociative patterns. As illustrated in this article, one pattern consisted in the presentation of a dominant ANP suffering from constant or frequent intrusions from EP. The other pattern consisted in repeated complete alternations between ANP and EP. Instead of the use of purely symptom-oriented approaches, for the dissociative symptoms to be really resolved, an integration of traumatic memory in the personality, that is, between EP and ANP had to take place. These clinicians used hypnosis to access the traumatic memory and EP and to foster such integration; they agreed on the importance of the quality of the therapeutic relationship in this regard. However, they differed in opinion and practice as to the need to assists patients in their expression of traumatic emotions during this process. When the trauma was related merely to war experiences, such therapeutic processes took place within a simple phase-oriented treatment model, while in the presence of a history of previous trauma and related dissociation of the personality, this model had more complex applications. This is similar to modern treatment approaches of the sequelae—such as a complex dissociative disorder—of chronic (childhood) traumatization.

PRESENT-DAY UKRAINIAN MUSEUM NARRATIVES AS FACTORS OF DETRAUMATIZATION OF THE MEMORY OF THE XX CENTURY TOTALITARIANISMS

Summary. Museums, as a storage of memory and places of national consciousness shaping construct their exposition through narratives – a certain story about historical events. The purpose of the article is to analyze the practices of instrumentalization of historical knowledge about the World War ІІ and totalitarian repressions of the mid-twentieth century. The object of study is propaganda in museum activities in the USSR (on the example of the Memorial Complex "Ukrainian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945"), as well as experience of presenting the main aspects of overcoming the repressive and totalitarian heritage of Lviv museums (The Museum of the Liberation Struggle of Ukraine, The National Museum-Memorial of Victims of the Occupation Regimes "The Prison on Łącki Street", The Museum complex "Territory of Terror"). The research methodology is based on Jan Assmann՚s theory of individual, communicative and cultural memory. The applied historical and cultural approach allows not to involve verification of historical events and facts in museum exhibitions but analyze museum activities as a historical and cultural phenomenon, its role in creating the latest politics of memory in Ukraine. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the critical analysis of previously unexplored aspects of the activities of museums as national cultural institutions with an educational mission. It was proved that the map of the collective memory of Ukrainians about the war and repressions of the middle of the twentieth century consists of often mutually exclusive narratives. The integration of Ukrainian cultural memory with European historical interpretations is slow and inconsistent. As a result of the study, conclusions were drawn. The long period of "compulsory oblivion" as well as the aggressive anti-Ukrainian policy of the memory of the Soviet Union caused hybrid historical narratives about the repressive policies of 1939–1953 in Ukrainian history. In the first decades of Ukraine՚s independence, the Soviet ideological burden was reflected in the activities of the Memorial Complex "National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945" which peculiarities were the instrumentalization of the experience of war under the influence of current political events and timid attempts to anthropologize the war. Present-day The National Museum of History of Ukraine in the Second World War has undergone two narrative changes since its foundation in 1974 – the first, "fixing the Soviet narrative" in the mid-1990s, and the second, "Ukrainian-centric anthropologizing of the narrative" after 2015. The latest changes continue and are proof of the difficulty of changing the hitherto perceptions of war. The museums of the western part of Ukraine represented a different mnemonic narrative. The abandonment of imperial-Soviet models immediately after the proclamation of independence, the formation of the collective consciousness of Ukrainians as a counterweight to the Russian threat, consolidation around historical traumas and finding ways to overcome it was characteristic of three Lviv museums created at the beginning of the XXI century – The Museum of the Liberation Struggle of Ukraine, The National Museum-Memorial of Victims of the Occupation Regimes "The Prison on Łącki Street", The Museum complex "Territory of Terror".

Generalization and recovery of post-retrieval amnesia.

Selective amnesia for previously established memories can be induced by administering drugs that impair protein synthesis shortly after memory reactivation. Competing theoretical accounts attribute this selective post-retrieval amnesia to drug-induced engram degradation (reconsolidation blockade) or to incorporation of sensory features of the reactivation experience into the memory representation, hampering later retrieval in a drug-free state (memory integration). Here we present evidence that critically challenges both accounts. In contextual fear conditioning in rats, we find that amnesia induced by administration of midazolam (MDZ) after reexposure to the training context A generalizes readily to a similar context B. Amnesia is also observed when animals are exposed to the similar context B prior to MDZ administration and later tested for fear to context B but recovers when instead testing for fear to the original training context A or an equally similar but novel context C. Next to their theoretical implications for the nature of forgetting, our findings raise important questions about the viability of reconsolidation-based interventions for the treatment of emotional disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

EEG-based deep learning model for the automatic detection of clinical depression

Clinical depression is a neurological disorder that can be identified by analyzing the Electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, the major drawback in using EEG to accurately identify depression is the complexity and variation that exist in the EEG of a depressed individual. There are several strategies for automated depression diagnosis, but they all have flaws, which make the diagnostic task inaccurate. In this paper, a deepmodel is designed in which an integration of Convolution Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) is implemented for the detection of depression. CNN and LSTM are used to learn the local characteristics and the EEG signal sequence, respectively. In the deep learning model, filters in the convolution layer are convolved with the input signal to generate feature maps. All the extracted features are given to the LSTM for it to learn the different patterns in the signal, after which the classification is performed using fully connected layers. LSTM has memory cells to remember the essential features for a long time. It also has different functions to update the weights during training. Testing of the model was done by random splitting technique and obtained 99.07% and 98.84% accuracies for the right and left hemispheres EEG signals, respectively.

Genetic mapping of etiologic brain cell types for obesity

The underlying cell types mediating predisposition to obesity remain largely obscure. Here, we integrated recently published single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from 727 peripheral and nervous system cell types spanning 17 mouse organs with body mass index (BMI) genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from >457,000 individuals. Developing a novel strategy for integrating scRNA-seq data with GWAS data, we identified 26, exclusively neuronal, cell types from the hypothalamus, subthalamus, midbrain, hippocampus, thalamus, cortex, pons, medulla, pallidum that were significantly enriched for BMI heritability (p<1.6×10-4). Using genes harboring coding mutations associated with obesity, we replicated midbrain cell types from the anterior pretectal nucleus and periaqueductal gray (p<1.2×10-4). Together, our results suggest that brain nuclei regulating integration of sensory stimuli, learning and memory are likely to play a key role in obesity and provide testable hypotheses for mechanistic follow-up studies.

Characterisation of self-defining memories in criminals with antisocial personality disorder

ABSTRACT Early aversive events are key factors in the development of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and are known to impact the ability to produce specific autobiographical memories and to modify self-construction. The present study assessed identity construction in forensic inpatients suffering from ASPD by comparing the characteristics (specificity, integration, valence, topic and period) of self-defining memories (SDM) of persons with ASPD hospitalised in a forensic hospital to those of control participants. Offenders with ASPD had difficulty in retrieving purely specific single events and tended to recall memories comprising multiple events. In addition, they produced significantly less meaning-making from their past experiences (low integration). These characteristics of SDM could be due to a defensive process used by offenders with ASPD in which they do not integrate aversive experiences, thereby creating a vicious circle where maladjustment of their personality is maintained.

The incidence of visual-motor processes in the acquisition of orthographic representations in Spanish-speaking schoolchildren (La incidencia de los procesos perceptivo-motrices en la adquisición de las representaciones ortográficas en escolares hispanoparlante)

ABSTRACT This study analyses the relative incidence of visual-motor processes compared to other cognitive processes involved in spelling, to understand its relevance in orthography acquisition in school-aged children when contextual variables are controlled for and there has been explicit instruction. A sample of 96 students between third and sixth grade of primary education was divided into two groups according to their spelling performance (low and high performance). They were all assessed in rapid naming, vocabulary, visual and auditory working memory, visual-motor integration and intelligence. Results show that visual-motor integration and auditory working memory differentiate the low and high performance groups, being the variables that best predict spelling. The relationship between auditory working memory and visual-motor integration appears to establish when the word is being incorporated into the child’s lexicon. These results have important educational implications referred to teaching spelling through handwriting when its use is being debated against the use of digital technologies for writing acquisition.

Make or break it: boundary conditions for integrating multiple elements in episodic memory.

Event memories are characterized by the holistic retrieval of their constituent elements. Studies show that memory for individual event elements (e.g. person, object and location) are statistically related to each other, and that the same associative memory structure can be formed by learning all pairwise associations across separated encoding contexts (person–object, person–location, object–location). Counter to previous studies that have shown no differences in holistic retrieval between simultaneously and separately encoded event elements, adults did not show evidence of holistic retrieval from separately encoded event elements when using a similar paradigm adapted for children (Experiment 1). We conducted a further five online experiments to explore the conditions under which holistic retrieval emerges following separated encoding of within-event associations, testing for influences of trial length (Experiment 2), the number of events learned (Experiment 3a) and stimulus presentation format (Experiments 3b, 4a, 4b). Presentation of written words was optimal for integrating elements across encoding trials, whereas the addition of spoken words disrupted integration across separately presented associations. The use of picture stimuli also produced effect sizes smaller than those of previously published research. We discuss the ways in which memory integration processes may be disrupted by these differences in presentation format. The findings have practical implications for the utility of this paradigm across research and learning contexts.

In‐Memory Vector‐Matrix Multiplication in Monolithic Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor‐Memristor Integrated Circuits: Design Choices, Challenges, and Perspectives

The low communication bandwidth between memory and processing units in conventional von Neumann machines does not support the requirements of emerging applications that rely extensively on large sets of data. More recent computing paradigms, such as high parallelization and near‐memory computing, help alleviate the data communication bottleneck to some extent, but paradigm‐shifting concepts are required. In‐memory computing has emerged as a prime candidate to eliminate this bottleneck by colocating memory and processing. In this context, resistive switching (RS) memory devices is a key promising choice, due to their unique intrinsic device‐level properties, enabling both storing and computing with a small, massively‐parallel footprint at low power. Theoretically, this directly translates to a major boost in energy efficiency and computational throughput, but various practical challenges remain. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of several key existing challenges in implementing high‐capacity, high‐volume RS memories for accelerating the most computationally demanding computation in machine learning (ML) inference, that of vector‐matrix multiplication (VMM), is presented. The monolithic integration of RS memories with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits is presented as the core underlying technology. The key existing design choices in terms of device‐level physical implementation, circuit‐level design, and system‐level considerations is reviewed and an outlook for future directions is provided.

Investigating predictors of trauma induced data-driven processing and its impact on attention bias and free recall.

Whilst data-driven processing (DDP) during trauma has been shown to play a role in poor memory integration and is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) re-experiencing symptoms, the pre-trauma risk factors and related cognitive mechanisms are uncertain. This experimental study aimed to investigate predictors of peri-traumatic DDP, as well as its role in attention bias to threat and free recall. A virtual reality video was used to simulate an analogue trauma. Questionnaires, a free recall task, and an eye-tracking measure assessed cognitive changes after exposure. Regression analysis demonstrated that trait dissociation at pre-exposure to trauma significantly predicted DDP. Attention bias towards threat-related images was found. Results showed that DDP and poorer free recall predicted attention bias to threat images and higher levels of DDP actually predicted higher overall scores in the free recall task. This study showed that DDP is strongly linked to dissociative traits, and along with memory disintegration it may predict attention changes after exposure to a trauma.

Post-stimulatory activity in primate auditory cortex evoked by sensory stimulation during passive listening

Under certain circumstances, cortical neurons are capable of elevating their firing for long durations in the absence of a stimulus. Such activity has typically been observed and interpreted in the context of performance of a behavioural task. Here we investigated whether post-stimulatory activity is observed in auditory cortex and the medial geniculate body of the thalamus in the absence of any explicit behavioural task. We recorded spiking activity from single units in the auditory cortex (fields A1, R and RT) and auditory thalamus of awake, passively-listening marmosets. We observed post-stimulatory activity that lasted for hundreds of milliseconds following the termination of the acoustic stimulus. Post-stimulatory activity was observed following both adapting, sustained and suppressed response profiles during the stimulus. These response types were observed across all cortical fields tested, but were largely absent from the auditory thalamus. As well as being of shorter duration, thalamic post-stimulatory activity emerged following a longer latency than in cortex, indicating that post-stimulatory activity may be generated within auditory cortex during passive listening. Given that these responses were observed in the absence of an explicit behavioural task, post-stimulatory activity in sensory cortex may play a functional role in processes such as echoic memory and temporal integration that occur during passive listening.

The value of visioning: Augmenting EMDR with alpha-band alternating bilateral photic stimulation for trauma treatment in schizophrenia

The value of addressing trauma-related issues in psychosis with therapies such as ṇEMDR is being increasingly recognised. The hypothesis of this paper is that augmentation of EMDR with alternating bilateral photic stimulation (ABPS) is especially suited to those on the schizotypal spectrum. Not only does Alternating Bilateral Photic Stimulation (ABPS) at alpha frequencies (8–12 Hz) directly compensate EEG deficits of schizophrenia by photic driving, it also stimulates pseudo-hallucinatory visual imagery (visions) and a waking dream state. In contrast to the REM-sleep state, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex remains activated during the flicker-induced waking dream and its functions of reflective thought and insight are preserved. Recent EEG and neuroimaging studies are providing empirical support for the long-held conjecture that psychosis is caused by a conflation of REM-sleep / dreaming and waking states. Llewellyn's theory of de-differentiation between sleep-dreaming and waking accounts for both the creativity and psychopathology of the schizotypy spectrum. It is hypothesised that flicker-induced hypnagogic imagery reinforces the EMDR mechanism of action proposed by Stickgold, namely facilitation of memory integration during sleep, by creating greater linkage between EMDR therapy and dreaming. With ABPS-induced visioning EMDR progresses seamlessly from initial targeting of trauma and adversity to desensitisation of emotionally-charged brain-disturbing material related to identity, selfhood, and embodiment. Desensitisation of the affect allows the self-regulatory dynamics of sleep-dreaming to restore embodied selfhood by an integrative process of resynchronisation. This in turn leads to re-differentiation of waking embodiment from dream-embodiment. Evolutionary theories as to the aetiology of the schizotypy spectrum are positing a genetic origin in indigenous shamanic religions which are based on visioning ability. Patients with schizophrenia score better than normal controls on vividness of visual imagery and ability to generate, inspect, and manipulate mental images. Self-help EMDR glasses can be provided to patients for long-term regular practice of ABPS-induced visioning. It is proposed that many on the schizotypal spectrum, including some at the severe end, can improve and maintain their mental health by the regular practice of ABPS-induced visioning, and thereby transition progressively over time from negative to positive schizotypy.