Biomedical subjects

Nuria Paul

Publications and source records attributed to Nuria Paul.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Could activity in anterior frontal regions predict performance on declarative memory tests?

Few studies have tested the correlation between traditional declarative memory scores and functional brain imaging measures of memory. We examined the predictable capabilities of magnetoencephalography-derived measures, scanned during a high-load encoding-memory task, in the immediate (LM-1) and delayed (LM-2) recall from the Wechsler memory scale. The number of activity sources on the left frontal pole (between 300 and 600 ms) predicted scores in LM-1 and LM-2. Collapsing the activity in the left frontal pole and the orbitofrontal cortex increased the goodness of the solution for the LM-2 scores. The fact that rostral-frontal measures achieved significant values highlights the importance of executive processes, such as the implementation of memory strategies and top-down control mechanisms, in the performance of high-load memory tasks.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Functional neuroimaging studies of cognitive recovery after acquired brain damage in adults.

The first two decades of cognitive neuroimaging research have provided a constant increase of the knowledge about the neural organization of cognitive processes. Many cognitive functions (e.g.working memory) can now be associated with particular neural structures, and ongoing research promises to clarify this picture further, providing a new mapping between cognitive and neural function. The main goal of this paper is to outline conceptual issues that are particularly important in the context of imaging changes in neural function through recovery process. This review focuses primarily on studies made in stroke and traumatic brain injury patients, but most of the issues raised here are also relevant to studies using other acquired brain damages. Finally, we summarize a set of methodological issues related to functional neuroimaging that are relevant for the study of neural plasticity and recovery after rehabilitation.

Brain↗

PubMed2003

Modulation of brain magnetic activity by different verbal learning strategies.

In this study we examined spatiotemporal profiles of brain activity in the context of tasks designed to engage different verbal learning strategies (serial order, phonological, and semantic). The profile of activation associated with the serial-order strategy, which resulted in poor recall performance, featured early activation of the inferior frontal, sensorimotor, and insular region in the left hemisphere, between 200 and 400 ms after stimulus onset. Subsequently, activation was more prominent in dorsolateral prefrontal cortices bilaterally. In contrast, activation profiles associated with the phonological strategy featured predominantly activation of the superior temporal gyrus in the left hemisphere between 500 and 600 ms. Predominant activation of the left middle temporal gyrus, between 500 and 700 ms, was the key feature of the activation profile observed when the semantic elaboration strategy was utilized. These results suggest that different brain circuits are engaged to support learning of new verbal information as a function of the level and type of initial processing applied to the stimuli.

Adult↗