Biomedical subjects

F Karayanidis

Publications and source records attributed to F Karayanidis.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

An exploration of varieties of visual attention: ERP findings.

A set of five tasks was designed to examine dynamic aspects of visual attention: selective attention to color, selective attention to pattern, dividing and switching attention between color and pattern, and selective attention to pattern with changing target. These varieties of visual attention were examined using the same set of stimuli under different instruction sets; thus differences between tasks cannot be attributed to differences in the perceptual features of the stimuli. ERP data are presented for each of these tasks. A within-task analysis of different stimulus types varying in similarity to the attended target feature revealed that an early frontal selection positivity (FSP) was evident in selective attention tasks, regardless of whether color was the attended feature. The scalp distribution of a later posterior selection negativity (SN) was affected by whether the attended feature was color or pattern. The SN was largely unaffected by dividing attention across color and pattern. A large widespread positivity was evident in most conditions, consisting of at least three subcomponents which were differentially affected by the attention conditions. These findings are discussed in relation to prior research and the time course of visual attention processes in the brain.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Further evidence for a deficit in switching attention in schizophrenia.

In this study, sustained, selective, divided, and switching attention, and reloading of working memory were investigated in schizophrenia by using a newly developed Visual Attention Battery (VAB). Twenty-four outpatients with schizophrenia and 24 control participants were studied using the VAB. Performance on VAB components was correlated with performance of standard tests. Patients with schizophrenia were significantly impaired on VAB tasks that required switching of attention and reloading of working memory but had normal performance on tasks involving sustained attention or attention to multiple stimulus features. Switching attention and reloading of working memory were highly correlated with Trails (B-A) score for patients. The decline in performance on the switching-attention task in patients with schizophrenia met criteria for a differential deficit in switching attention. Future research should examine the neurophysiological basis of the switching deficit and its sensitivity and specificity to schizophrenia.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Evidence of visual processing negativity with attention to orientation and color in central space.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the visual frontal processing negativity reported in our earlier paper (Karayanidis, F. and Michie, P.T. Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol., 1996, 99: 38-56) is related to selection of spatial location, or occurs regardless of the stimulus features used to define the target. Subjects were instructed to respond to infrequent target stimuli of a particular combination of orientation, color and size. All stimuli were presented at central fixation. Posteriorly, orientation selection enhanced P125 amplitude over the right hemisphere but neither orientation nor color selection had an effect on N190. Posterior selection negativities emerged for orientation, color and their conjunction. At anterior sites, widespread effects of orientation and color processing were evident. The effect of location selection on the anterior N1 seen in our previous study was not evident with orientation selection. Instead, selection of orientation, color and their conjunction resulted in P145-250 frontally. Two later anterior negativities emerged. The early negativity (vPNe) was affected independently by orientation and color selection while the late negativity (vPNl) was affected only by selection of feature conjunction. Thus, the present results show that, like its auditory counterpart, the visual processing negativity occurs with a variety of stimulus classification features and is not exclusively related to spatial selection.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Frontal processing negativity in a visual selective attention task.

The auditory processing negativity has been associated with the maintenance of an internal representation of context and has been shown to be dependent on the integrity of the prefrontal cortex. Previous visual selective attention studies have failed to show consistent evidence of a frontal processing negativity. The present study employed a multi-dimensional visual selective attention task, modelled after Hillyard and Munte (Percept. Psychophys., 1984, 36: 185-198). Subjects responded to infrequent target stimuli of a particular location, color and height combination, while ignoring all stimuli differing from the target on any of these dimensions. Consistent with previous literature, at posterior sites, location selection resulted in enhancement of P1 and N1 amplitude, followed by color selection within the attended location at around 200 ms. These effects were most pronounced contralaterally. However, unlike previous studies, a large prolonged processing negativity was evident at all frontal sites. This effect involved three components, an early frontally negative component peaking around the N1, a frontocentral negativity maximal at 300 ms and a long-lasting widespread negativity beginning after 500 ms. Processing of location preceded the onset of color and location/color conjunction processing, suggesting hierarchical stimulus feature analysis. However, at posterior temporal sites there was evidence of parallel color processing in the unattended location.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

ERP indices of auditory selective attention in aging and Parkinson's disease.

In the present study, we compared the performance of normal subjects in three age groups and of medicated Parkinson's disease patients on auditory selective attention processes. Two tone sequences were dichotically presented. Subjects responded to deviant tones in the attended location. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from nine scalp electrodes. The old group showed significant decline in hit rate, increase in N1 amplitude, and reduction in P3a, P3b, target negativity, and mismatch negativity amplitude. The amplitude and duration of late Nd increased with age, reflecting modulation of both attended and unattended standard ERPs. Although the middle group showed a similar pattern of ERP changes, the effects were generally nonsignificant. The Parkinson's disease group showed little further disruption of behavioral or ERP measures. However, Parkinson's disease affected late Nd in the direction opposite of that of aging, reflecting differential modulation of unattended standard positivity.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed1993

Event-related potentials and repetition priming in young, middle-aged and elderly normal subjects.

Although the structure of semantic memory appears to be unaffected with increasing age, there is evidence that older adults are less efficient at accessing stored memory representations. Aging also results in a decline in the ability to use contextual information effectively, suggesting a deficit in episodic memory processes. The present experiment examines the effects of age on memory retrieval of stored representations and the use of contextual information. Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded to immediate and delayed word repetition during a lexical decision task. Three groups of subjects were tested: young (mean = 27.3 years), middle (mean = 46.7 years) and old (mean = 67.4 years). Behavioral facilitation due to repetition did not significantly differ across groups. With increasing age, the ERP waveform showed a positive shift which began around 300-400 ms post-stimulus and was apparent across all stimulus types and response conditions. This positive shift may reflect an age-related decrease in cortical excitation. Although the onset of the ERP repetition effect was not affected by age, its duration for both immediate and delayed repetition was significantly prolonged. In the light of recent models of ERP word repetition effects, these results suggest that processes related to accessing stored representations in memory are unaffected by age. The extended duration of the repetition effect and the increase in the magnitude of the effect of delayed repetition with age suggest that aging affects processes related to the retrieval and use of contextual information in integrating a stimulus with its context.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Effects of inter-item lag on word repetition: an event-related potential study.

Prior exposure to a word can greatly facilitate performance to subsequent presentations of that word. ERP studies have shown that this facilitation is associated with an attenuation of a negative peak normally occurring around 400 ms poststimulus. Recent studies have interpreted this repetition effect as reflecting either lexical access or episodic memory mechanisms. However, there is now increasing evidence that neither of the above mechanisms alone can fully account for repetition effects. The present experiment recorded ERPs to immediate and delayed word repetition during a lexical decision task in order to investigate the time-course of ERP repetition effects. Immediate repetition was found to produce greater response facilitation than delayed repetition. The ERP waveforms of both immediate and delayed word repetition diverged from that of initial word presentation at approximately 300 ms poststimulus. The waveforms for repeated words separated around 400 ms poststimulus with immediate repetition showing a more rapid resolution of negativity and earlier late positivity than delayed repetition. It is suggested that the negativity may reflect processes involved in the overall activation contributing to word recognition, whereas the late positivity may be related to the repetition of stimulus categorization and decision processes.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Parkinson's disease: a conceptualization of neuropsychological deficits within an information-processing framework.

Parkinson's disease patients are frequently impaired in a variety of neuropsychological tasks involving memory, perceptual motor performance and cognitive flexibility. Although various theories have been forwarded to explain specific impairments, few attempts have been made to account for all the deficits within a single theoretical framework. Furthermore, the frequent occurrence of dementia, the adverse side effects of medication and the motor symptoms of the disease tend to interfere with neuropsychological performance. This has hindered the clear delineation of the neuropsychological profile of Parkinsonian patients. The present paper examines the evidence for intellectual deficits in non-demented Parkinson's disease patients. A number of problems inherent in cognitive research on Parkinson's disease are discussed. The contribution of dementia, motor symptom severity and medication in the expression of these intellectual impairments is examined. It is suggested that many of the neuropsychological deficits described in Parkinson's disease may result from a common underlying deficit in some aspect of information processing. Although it is not possible to pinpoint the precise mechanism(s) involved on the basis of the available evidence, several possibilities are suggested by cognitive and electrophysiological data.

Cognition Disorders↗

PubMed1988

Effects of piracetam on single central neurons.

Piracetam, when applied microiontophoretically and/or by hydropneumatic pump on the somatosensory cortex and hippocampus of the rat, affected neuronal activity by depressing or facilitating the spontaneous firing rate, depending on the area studied. Its effect were either additive or counteracting the actions of glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid and acetylcholine, when administered together on the same neuron, thus supporting the assumption that its action is directed towards specific membrane elements, presumably the synaptic sites.

Acetylcholine↗