Short-term Information Processing Research Articles

Predicting the effectiveness of binaural beats on working memory.

Working memory is vital for short-term information processing. Binaural beats can enhance working memory by improving attention and memory consolidation through neural synchronization. However, individual differences in cognitive and neuronal functioning affect effectiveness of binaural beats, necessitating personalized approaches. This study aimed to develop a machine learning model to predict binaural beats's effectiveness on working memory using electroencephalography. Sixty healthy participants underwent a 5-min electroencephalography recording, an initial working memory evaluation, 15 min of binaural beats stimulation, and a subsequent working memory evaluation using digit span tests of increasing difficulty. Recall accuracy and response times were measured. Differential scores from pre-evaluation and post-evaluation labeled participants as active or inactive to binaural beats stimulation. electroencephalography data, recorded using 14 electrodes, provided brain activity estimates across theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands, resulting in 56 features (14 channels × 4 bands) for the machine learning model. Several classifiers were tested to identify the most effective model. The weighted K-nearest neighbors model achieved the highest accuracy (90.0%) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (92.24%). Frontal and parietal electroencephalography channels in theta and alpha bands were crucial for classification. This study's findings offer significant clinical insights, enabling informed interventions and preventing resource inefficiency.

Synaptic plasticity, neural circuits, and the emerging role of altered short-term information processing in schizophrenia.

Synaptic plasticity alters the strength of information flow between presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons and thus modifies the likelihood that action potentials in a presynaptic neuron will lead to an action potential in a postsynaptic neuron. As such, synaptic plasticity and pathological changes in synaptic plasticity impact the synaptic computation which controls the information flow through the neural microcircuits responsible for the complex information processing necessary to drive adaptive behaviors. As current theories of neuropsychiatric disease suggest that distinct dysfunctions in neural circuit performance may critically underlie the unique symptoms of these diseases, pathological alterations in synaptic plasticity mechanisms may be fundamental to the disease process. Here we consider mechanisms of both short-term and long-term plasticity of synaptic transmission and their possible roles in information processing by neural microcircuits in both health and disease. As paradigms of neuropsychiatric diseases with strongly implicated risk genes, we discuss the findings in schizophrenia and autism and consider the alterations in synaptic plasticity and network function observed in both human studies and genetic mouse models of these diseases. Together these studies have begun to point toward a likely dominant role of short-term synaptic plasticity alterations in schizophrenia while dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may be due to a combination of both short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity alterations.

PRECLINICAL STUDY: Acute and chronic cannabinoid treatment differentially affects recognition memory and social behavior in pubertal and adult rats

Although cannabis belongs to the most widely used drugs among adolescents, little is known about its acute and lasting neurobehavioral effects during critical developmental periods. In the present study we investigated acute and long-term behavioral effects of the cannabinoid agonist WIN 55,212-2 (WIN) in pubertal and adult rats. Chronic WIN (1.2 mg/kg)/vehicle treatment was extended over 25 days throughout puberty, from postnatal day (pd) 40 to pd 65, or for a similar time period in adult rats (> pd 80). All animals were tested at three time points for object/social recognition memory, social interaction and spontaneous social behavior. First, acute cannabinoid effects were investigated directly after the first injection. Additionally, behavioral performance was retested 24 hours and 15 days after cessation of WIN treatment. Chronic pubertal WIN treatment induced persistent object/social recognition deficits, indicating a general impairment in short-term information processing. Lasting disturbances in social behavior, social play and self-grooming were also found. Furthermore, behavioral deficits seen after acute WIN administration were more pronounced in pubertal than in adult rats. These results confirm our recent findings that chronic pubertal cannabinoid treatment leads to lasting behavioral alterations in adulthood, and they show that acute cannabinoid administration induces more severe behavioral deficits in pubertal rats than in mature animals. We therefore conclude that an immature brain is more susceptible to the acute and chronic effects of exogenous cannabinoids than an adult organism, which might be explained by an overactive endocannabinoid system and concomittant maturational disturbances in further neurotransmitter systems during pubertal development.

The effect of chronic peripubertal cannabinoid treatment on deficient object recognition memory in rats after neonatal mPFC lesion

We here report on behavioral effects of neonatal medial prefrontal cortex (mpfc) lesions in rats, followed by chronic peripubertal treatment with the cannabinoid full agonist WIN 55,212-2 (WIN). Rat pups received excitotoxic lesions of the mpfc on postnatal day (pd) 7. Chronic WIN (1.2 mg/kg) treatment was extended throughout the rats' puberty (pd 40–65). All animals were tested as juveniles and adults for short-term memory functioning using the spontaneous object recognition test, and for locomotor activity in an open field. Lesioned rats showed impairments in recognition memory when tested prepubertally. Postpubertal testing of lesioned animals revealed a persisting recognition memory impairment that was intensified by pubertal WIN treatment. Chronic WIN treatment during puberty also affected recognition memory in sham-lesioned rats and controls. No effects on locomotor activity of either neonatal lesion or pubertal cannabinoid treatment were found. This study shows that behavioral deviations induced by neonatal mPFC lesions can be exacerbated by pubertal chronic cannabinoid treatment, leading to long-lasting impairments of mnemonic short-term information processing.

The cannabinoid agonist WIN 55,212-2 reduces sensorimotor gating and recognition memory in rats.

Cannabinoids can disrupt short-term memory in humans and animals and induce learning deficits and other cognitive impairments. In the present study we examined the role of a full cannabinoid agonist in short-term memory, sensorimotor gating, and the acquisition and expression of an operant learning paradigm in rats. We tested the effects of the synthetic cannabinoid WIN 55,212-2 (0.6 and 1.2 mg/kg) on short-term memory in social and object recognition tests, on prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle, as well as on lever pressing for palatable food. Injections of 0.6 and 1.2 mg/kg WIN 55,212-2 impaired recognition memory and PPI in a dose-dependent manner, but had no effect on lever-pressing acquisition or expression, or on food preference. The PPI deficit was reversed by the administration of 0.1 mg/kg haloperidol. These data suggest that the synthetic cannabinoid WIN 55,212-2 does not lead to a general impairment of learning in an appetitive instrumental task, but significantly affects short-term memory and sensorimotor integration. The impairment in recognition and PPI might be due to deficits in attention-based short-term information processing.

Encoding Techniques for Complex Information Structures in Connectionist Systems

Two general information encoding techniques called relative position encoding and pattern similarity association are presented. They are claimed to be a convenient basis for the connectionist implementation of complex, short term information processing of the sort needed in common sense reasoning, semantic/pragmatic interpretation of natural language utterances, and other types of high level cognitive processing. The relationships of the techniques to other connectionist information-structuring methods, and also to methods used in computers, are discussed in detail. The rich inter-relationships of these other connectionist and computer methods are also clarified. The particular, simple forms are discussed that the relative position encoding and pattern similarity association techniques take in the author's own connectionist system, called Conposit, in order to clarify some issues and to provide evidence that the techniques are indeed useful in practice.

Effects of Retention Interval on Pupillary Responses during a Simple Discrimination

Responses from 6 subjects show that pupillary changes observed during short-term information processing with retention intervals of 0, 5, and 10 sec. delay occur during recognition memory for tones as well as recall of 7-digit numbers.