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Guerreiro MJS, Puschmann S, Eck J, Rienäcker F, Van Gerven PWM, Thiel CM. The effect of hearing loss on age-related differences in neural distinctiveness. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 2023:1-19. [PMID: 37306610 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2023.2223904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Age differences in cognitive performance have been shown to be overestimated if age-related hearing loss is not taken into account. Here, we investigated the role of age-related hearing loss on age differences in functional brain organization by assessing its impact on previously reported age differences in neural differentiation. To this end, we analyzed the data of 36 younger adults, 21 older adults with clinically normal hearing, and 21 older adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss who had taken part in a functional localizer task comprising visual (i.e., faces, scenes) and auditory stimuli (i.e., voices, music) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Evidence for reduced neural distinctiveness in the auditory cortex was observed only in older adults with hearing loss relative to younger adults, whereas evidence for reduced neural distinctiveness in the visual cortex was observed both in older adults with normal hearing and in older adults with hearing loss relative to younger adults. These results indicate that age-related dedifferentiation in the auditory cortex is exacerbated by age-related hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all", Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Sebastian Puschmann
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Judith Eck
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Franziska Rienäcker
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Pascal W M Van Gerven
- Department of Educational Development & Research, School of Health Professions Education (SHE), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Christiane M Thiel
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all", Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
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Hölig C, Guerreiro MJS, Lingareddy S, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. Sight restoration in congenitally blind humans does not restore visual brain structure. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:2152-2161. [PMID: 35580850 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
It is unknown whether impaired brain structure after congenital blindness is reversible if sight is restored later in life. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging, visual cortical surface area and cortical thickness were assessed in a large group of 21 sight-recovery individuals who had been born blind and who months or years later gained sight through cataract removal surgery. As control groups, we included 27 normally sighted individuals, 10 individuals with permanent congenital blindness, and 11 sight-recovery individuals with a late onset of cataracts. Congenital cataract-reversal individuals had a lower visual cortical surface area and a higher visual cortical thickness than normally sighted controls. These results corresponded to those of congenitally permanently blind individuals suggesting that impaired brain structure did not recover. Crucially, structural brain alterations in congenital-cataract reversal individuals were associated with a lower post-surgery visual acuity. No significant changes in visual cortex structure were observed in sight-recovery individuals with late onset cataracts. The results demonstrate that impaired structural brain development due to visual deprivation from birth is not fully reversible and limits functional recovery. Additionally, they highlight the crucial importance of prevention measures in the context of other types of aberrant childhood environments including low socioeconomic status and adversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cordula Hölig
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.,Biological Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
| | | | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, Child Sight Institute, LV Prasad Eye Institute, 50034 Hyderabad, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
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Guerreiro MJS, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. Top-down modulation of visual cortical processing after transient congenital blindness. Neuropsychologia 2022; 174:108338. [PMID: 35931134 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Abstract
Early visual experience has been shown to be critical for the development of visual and multisensory functions; however, its impact on functional brain organization remains largely unexplored. Here, we therefore investigated the effect of early visual deprivation on top-down attentional modulation of visual cortical processing within the occipito-temporal cortex. Furthermore, we explored whether early visual deprivation may affect the extent to which typically visual, motion-selective area hMT responds to moving visual stimuli. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared cortical responses in area hMT and in the fusiform face area (FFA) to moving face stimuli - which were either task relevant or task irrelevant - relative to stationary face stimuli between cataract-reversal participants and normally sighted controls. Although both groups exhibited significantly stronger visual cortical responses in area hMT to moving stimuli than during the stationary baseline, the magnitude of this effect was significantly lower in the cataract-reversal group. In contrast, both groups exhibited significantly enhanced visual cortical responses in area hMT and in the FFA when moving face stimuli were task relevant compared to when they were task irrelevant, with no significant differences between groups in the magnitude of these effects. These results indicate that top-down attentional modulation of visual cortical processing in area hMT and FFA does not depend on early visual experience. Furthermore, the present results suggest that the functional specialization of area hMT for visual motion processing may be partially disrupted by early visual deprivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, D-20146, Hamburg, Germany; Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstr. 114-118, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany.
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V. Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Strabismus and Neuro-Ophthalmology, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad, 500034, Telengana, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, D-20146, Hamburg, Germany
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Rączy K, Hölig C, Guerreiro MJS, Lingareddy S, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. Typical resting state activity of the brain requires visual input during an early sensitive period. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac146. [PMID: 35836836 PMCID: PMC9275761 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Revised: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensory deprivation, following a total loss of one sensory modality e.g. vision, has been demonstrated to result in compensatory plasticity. It is yet not known to which extent neural changes, e.g. higher resting-state activity in visual areas (cross-modal plasticity) as a consequence of blindness, reverse, when sight is restored. Here, we used functional MRI to acquire blood oxygen level-dependent resting-state activity during an eyes open and an eyes closed state in congenital cataract-reversal individuals, developmental cataract-reversal individuals, congenitally permanently blind individuals and sighted controls. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuation of the blood oxygen level-dependent signal—a neural marker of spontaneous brain activity during rest—was analyzed. In accordance with previous reports, in normally sighted controls we observed an increase in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation during rest with the eyes open compared with rest with eyes closed in visual association areas and in parietal cortex but a decrease in auditory and sensorimotor regions. In congenital cataract-reversal individuals, we found an increase of the amplitude of slow blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations in visual cortex during rest with eyes open compared with rest with eyes closed too but this increase was larger in amplitude than in normally sighted controls. In contrast, congenital cataract-reversal individuals lagged a similar increase in parietal regions and did not show the typical decrease of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation in auditory cortex. Congenitally blind individuals displayed an overall higher amplitude in slow blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations in visual cortex compared with sighted individuals and compared with congenital cataract-reversal individuals in the eyes closed condition. Higher amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation in visual cortex of congenital cataract-reversal individuals than in normally sighted controls during eyes open might indicate an altered excitatory–inhibitory balance of visual neural circuits. By contrast, the lower parietal increase and the missing downregulation in auditory regions suggest a reduced influence of the visual system on multisensory and the other sensory systems after restoring sight in congenitally blind individuals. These results demonstrate a crucial dependence of visual and multisensory neural system functioning on visual experience during a sensitive phase in human brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Rączy
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Cordula Hölig
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maria J. S. Guerreiro
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, Carl Von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg , 26111, Oldenburg, Germany
| | | | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, LV Prasad Eye Institute Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, , 500034 Hyderabad, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- University of Hamburg Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, , 20146 Hamburg, Germany
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Guerreiro MJS, Linke M, Lingareddy S, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. The effect of congenital blindness on resting-state functional connectivity revisited. Sci Rep 2021; 11:12433. [PMID: 34127748 PMCID: PMC8203782 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91976-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Lower resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between 'visual' and non-'visual' neural circuits has been reported as a hallmark of congenital blindness. In sighted individuals, RSFC between visual and non-visual brain regions has been shown to increase during rest with eyes closed relative to rest with eyes open. To determine the role of visual experience on the modulation of RSFC by resting state condition-as well as to evaluate the effect of resting state condition on group differences in RSFC-, we compared RSFC between visual and somatosensory/auditory regions in congenitally blind individuals (n = 9) and sighted participants (n = 9) during eyes open and eyes closed conditions. In the sighted group, we replicated the increase of RSFC between visual and non-visual areas during rest with eyes closed relative to rest with eyes open. This was not the case in the congenitally blind group, resulting in a lower RSFC between 'visual' and non-'visual' circuits relative to sighted controls only in the eyes closed condition. These results indicate that visual experience is necessary for the modulation of RSFC by resting state condition and highlight the importance of considering whether sighted controls should be tested with eyes open or closed in studies of functional brain reorganization as a consequence of blindness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
- Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, Carl Von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany.
| | - Madita Linke
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Sunitha Lingareddy
- Department of Radiology, Lucid Medical Diagnostics, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telengana, 500082, India
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V. Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Strabismus, and Neuro-Ophthalmology, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Kallam Anji Reddy Campus, Hyderabad, Telengana, 500034, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
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Pant R, Guerreiro MJS, Ley P, Bottari D, Shareef I, Kekunnaya R, Röder B. The size-weight illusion is unimpaired in individuals with a history of congenital visual deprivation. Sci Rep 2021; 11:6693. [PMID: 33758328 PMCID: PMC7988063 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86227-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual deprivation in childhood can lead to lifelong impairments in multisensory processing. Here, the Size-Weight Illusion (SWI) was used to test whether visuo-haptic integration recovers after early visual deprivation. Normally sighted individuals perceive larger objects to be lighter than smaller objects of the same weight. In Experiment 1, individuals treated for dense bilateral congenital cataracts (who had no patterned visual experience at birth), individuals treated for developmental cataracts (who had patterned visual experience at birth, but were visually impaired), congenitally blind individuals and normally sighted individuals had to rate the weight of manually explored cubes that differed in size (Small, Medium, Large) across two possible weights (350 g, 700 g). In Experiment 2, individuals treated for dense bilateral congenital cataracts were compared to sighted individuals in a similar task using a string set-up, which removed haptic size cues. In both experiments, indistinguishable SWI effects were observed across all groups. These results provide evidence that early aberrant vision does not interfere with the development of the SWI, and suggest a recovery of the integration of size and weight cues provided by the visual and haptic modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rashi Pant
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Pia Ley
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Davide Bottari
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.,Molecular Mind Lab, IMT School for Advanced Studies, 55100, Lucca, Italy
| | - Idris Shareef
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500034, India
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500034, India
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
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Röder B, Kekunnaya R, Guerreiro MJS. Neural mechanisms of visual sensitive periods in humans. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 120:86-99. [PMID: 33242562 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.10.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Sensitive periods in brain development are phases of enhanced susceptibility to experience. Here we discuss research from human and non-human neuroscience studies which have demonstrated a) differences in the way infants vs. adults learn; b) how the brain adapts to atypical conditions, in particular a congenital vs. a late onset blindness (sensitive periods for atypical brain development); and c) the extent to which neural systems are capable of acquiring a typical brain organization after sight restoration following a congenital vs. late phase of pattern vision deprivation (sensitive periods for typical brain development). By integrating these three lines of research, we propose neural mechanisms characteristic of sensitive periods vs. adult neuroplasticity and learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
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Rienäcker F, Van Gerven PWM, Jacobs HIL, Eck J, Van Heugten CM, Guerreiro MJS. The Neural Correlates of Visual and Auditory Cross-Modal Selective Attention in Aging. Front Aging Neurosci 2020; 12:498978. [PMID: 33304265 PMCID: PMC7693624 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.498978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Age-related deficits in selective attention have been demonstrated to depend on the sensory modality through which targets and distractors are presented. Some of these investigations suggest a specific impairment of cross-modal auditory selective attention. For the first time, this study is taking on a whole brain approach while including a passive perception baseline, to investigate the neural underpinnings of selective attention across age groups, and taking the sensory modality of relevant and irrelevant (i.e., distracting) stimuli into account. Sixteen younger (mean age = 23.3 years) and 14 older (mean age = 65.3 years), healthy participants performed a series of delayed match-to-sample tasks, in which participants had to selectively attend to visual stimuli, selectively attend to auditory stimuli, or passively view and hear both types of stimuli, while undergoing 3T fMRI. The imaging analyses showed that areas recruited by cross-modal visual and auditory selective attention in both age groups included parts of the dorsal attention and frontoparietal control networks (i.e., intraparietal sulcus, insula, fusiform gyrus, anterior cingulate, and inferior frontal cortex). Most importantly, activation throughout the brain did not differ across age groups, suggesting intact brain function during cross-modal selective attention in older adults. Moreover, stronger brain activation during cross-modal visual vs. cross-modal auditory selective attention was found in both age groups, which is consistent with earlier accounts of visual dominance. In conclusion, these results do not support the hypothesized age-related deficit of cross-modal auditory selective attention. Instead, they suggest that the underlying neural correlates of cross-modal selective attention are similar in younger and older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Rienäcker
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Pascal W M Van Gerven
- Department of Educational Development and Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School of Health Professions Education (SHE), Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Heidi I L Jacobs
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.,Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Judith Eck
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Caroline M Van Heugten
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
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Abstract
The notion that selective attention is compromised in older adults as a result of impaired inhibitory control is well established. Yet it is primarily based on empirical findings covering the visual modality. Auditory and especially, cross-modal selective attention are remarkably underexposed in the literature on aging. In the past 5 years, we have attempted to fill these voids by investigating performance of younger and older adults on equivalent tasks covering all four combinations of visual or auditory target, and visual or auditory distractor information. In doing so, we have demonstrated that older adults are especially impaired in auditory selective attention with visual distraction. This pattern of results was not mirrored by the results from our psychophysiological studies, however, in which both enhancement of target processing and suppression of distractor processing appeared to be age equivalent. We currently conclude that: (1) age-related differences of selective attention are modality dependent; (2) age-related differences of selective attention are limited; and (3) it remains an open question whether modality-specific age differences in selective attention are due to impaired distractor inhibition, impaired target enhancement, or both. These conclusions put the longstanding inhibitory deficit hypothesis of aging in a new perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pascal W M Van Gerven
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Maastricht University Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany
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Guerreiro MJS, Erfort MV, Henssler J, Putzar L, Röder B. Increased visual cortical thickness in sight-recovery individuals. Hum Brain Mapp 2015; 36:5265-74. [PMID: 26417668 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Revised: 08/28/2015] [Accepted: 09/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals who are born blind due to dense bilateral cataracts and who later regain vision due to cataract surgery provide a unique model to evaluate the effect of early sensory experience in humans. In recent years, several studies have started to assess the functional consequences of early visual deprivation in these individuals, revealing a number of behavioral impairments in visual and multisensory functions. In contrast, the extent to which a transient period of congenital visual deprivation impacts brain structure has not yet been investigated. The present study investigated this by assessing cortical thickness of occipital areas in a group of six cataract-reversal individuals and a group of six age-matched normally sighted controls. This analysis revealed higher cortical thickness in cataract-reversal individuals in the left calcarine sulcus, in the superior occipital gyrus and in the transverse occipital sulcus bilaterally. In addition, occipital cortical thickness correlated negatively with behavioral performance in an audio-visual task for which visual input was critical, and positively with behavioral performance in auditory tasks. Together, these results underscore the critical role of early sensory experience in shaping brain structure and suggest that increased occipital cortical thickness, while potentially compensatory for auditory sensory processing, might be maladaptive for visual recovery in cases of sight restoration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany
| | - Maria V Erfort
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Carl Von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, D-26111, Germany
| | - Jonathan Henssler
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany.,Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medicine, St Hedwig-Krankenhaus, Berlin, D-10115, Germany
| | - Lisa Putzar
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany
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Guerreiro MJS, Putzar L, Röder B. The effect of early visual deprivation on the neural bases of multisensory processing. Brain 2015; 138:1499-504. [PMID: 25808371 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awv076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2014] [Accepted: 01/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental vision is deemed to be necessary for the maturation of multisensory cortical circuits. Thus far, this has only been investigated in animal studies, which have shown that congenital visual deprivation markedly reduces the capability of neurons to integrate cross-modal inputs. The present study investigated the effect of transient congenital visual deprivation on the neural mechanisms of multisensory processing in humans. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare responses of visual and auditory cortical areas to visual, auditory and audio-visual stimulation in cataract-reversal patients and normally sighted controls. The results showed that cataract-reversal patients, unlike normally sighted controls, did not exhibit multisensory integration in auditory areas. Furthermore, cataract-reversal patients, but not normally sighted controls, exhibited lower visual cortical processing within visual cortex during audio-visual stimulation than during visual stimulation. These results indicate that congenital visual deprivation affects the capability of cortical areas to integrate cross-modal inputs in humans, possibly because visual processing is suppressed during cross-modal stimulation. Arguably, the lack of vision in the first months after birth may result in a reorganization of visual cortex, including the suppression of noisy visual input from the deprived retina in order to reduce interference during auditory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Lisa Putzar
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
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Guerreiro MJS, Anguera JA, Mishra J, Van Gerven PWM, Gazzaley A. Age-equivalent top-down modulation during cross-modal selective attention. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:2827-39. [PMID: 25010198 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Selective attention involves top-down modulation of sensory cortical areas, such that responses to relevant information are enhanced whereas responses to irrelevant information are suppressed. Suppression of irrelevant information, unlike enhancement of relevant information, has been shown to be deficient in aging. Although these attentional mechanisms have been well characterized within the visual modality, little is known about these mechanisms when attention is selectively allocated across sensory modalities. The present EEG study addressed this issue by testing younger and older participants in three different tasks: Participants attended to the visual modality and ignored the auditory modality, attended to the auditory modality and ignored the visual modality, or passively perceived information presented through either modality. We found overall modulation of visual and auditory processing during cross-modal selective attention in both age groups. Top-down modulation of visual processing was observed as a trend toward enhancement of visual information in the setting of auditory distraction, but no significant suppression of visual distraction when auditory information was relevant. Top-down modulation of auditory processing, on the other hand, was observed as suppression of auditory distraction when visual stimuli were relevant, but no significant enhancement of auditory information in the setting of visual distraction. In addition, greater visual enhancement was associated with better recognition of relevant visual information, and greater auditory distractor suppression was associated with a better ability to ignore auditory distraction. There were no age differences in these effects, suggesting that when relevant and irrelevant information are presented through different sensory modalities, selective attention remains intact in older age.
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Guerreiro MJS, Murphy DR, Van Gerven PWM. Making sense of age-related distractibility: the critical role of sensory modality. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2013; 142:184-94. [PMID: 23337081 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2012] [Revised: 10/26/2012] [Accepted: 11/14/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Older adults are known to have reduced inhibitory control and therefore to be more distractible than young adults. Recently, we have proposed that sensory modality plays a crucial role in age-related distractibility. In this study, we examined age differences in vulnerability to unimodal and cross-modal visual and auditory distraction. A group of 24 younger (mean age=21.7 years) and 22 older adults (mean age=65.4 years) performed visual and auditory n-back tasks while ignoring visual and auditory distraction. Whereas reaction time data indicated that both young and older adults are particularly affected by unimodal distraction, accuracy data revealed that older adults, but not younger adults, are vulnerable to cross-modal visual distraction. These results support the notion that age-related distractibility is modality dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
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Guerreiro MJS, Adam JJ, Van Gerven PWM. Automatic selective attention as a function of sensory modality in aging. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2011; 67:194-202. [PMID: 21798856 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbr090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES It was recently hypothesized that age-related differences in selective attention depend on sensory modality (Guerreiro, M. J. S., Murphy, D. R., & Van Gerven, P. W. M. (2010). The role of sensory modality in age-related distraction: A critical review and a renewed view. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 975-1022. doi:10.1037/a0020731). So far, this hypothesis has not been tested in automatic selective attention. The current study addressed this issue by investigating age-related differences in automatic spatial cueing effects (i.e., facilitation and inhibition of return [IOR]) across sensory modalities. METHODS Thirty younger (mean age = 22.4 years) and 25 older adults (mean age = 68.8 years) performed 4 left-right target localization tasks, involving all combinations of visual and auditory cues and targets. We used stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 100, 500, 1,000, and 1,500 ms between cue and target. RESULTS The results showed facilitation (shorter reaction times with valid relative to invalid cues at shorter SOAs) in the unimodal auditory and in both cross-modal tasks but not in the unimodal visual task. In contrast, there was IOR (longer reaction times with valid relative to invalid cues at longer SOAs) in both unimodal tasks but not in either of the cross-modal tasks. Most important, these spatial cueing effects were independent of age. DISCUSSION The results suggest that the modality hypothesis of age-related differences in selective attention does not extend into the realm of automatic selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
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Guerreiro MJS, Murphy DR, Van Gerven PWM. The role of sensory modality in age-related distraction: a critical review and a renewed view. Psychol Bull 2011; 136:975-1022. [PMID: 21038938 DOI: 10.1037/a0020731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Selective attention requires the ability to focus on relevant information and to ignore irrelevant information. The ability to inhibit irrelevant information has been proposed to be the main source of age-related cognitive change (e.g., Hasher & Zacks, 1988). Although age-related distraction by irrelevant information has been extensively demonstrated in the visual modality, studies involving auditory and cross-modal paradigms have revealed a mixed pattern of results. A comparative evaluation of these paradigms according to sensory modality suggests a twofold trend: Age-related distraction is more likely (a) in unimodal than in cross-modal paradigms and (b) when irrelevant information is presented in the visual modality, rather than in the auditory modality. This distinct pattern of age-related changes in selective attention may be linked to the reliance of the visual and auditory modalities on different filtering mechanisms. Distractors presented through the auditory modality can be filtered at both central and peripheral neurocognitive levels. In contrast, distractors presented through the visual modality are primarily suppressed at more central levels of processing, which may be more vulnerable to aging. We propose the hypothesis that age-related distractibility is modality dependent, a notion that might need to be incorporated in current theories of cognitive aging. Ultimately, this might lead to a more accurate account for the mixed pattern of impaired and preserved selective attention found in advancing age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, Maastricht 6200 MD, the Netherlands.
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Guerreiro MJS, Van Gerven PWM. Now you see it, now you don't: Evidence for age-dependent and age-independent cross-modal distraction. Psychol Aging 2011; 26:415-26. [DOI: 10.1037/a0021507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Harsay HA, Buitenweg JIV, Wijnen JG, Guerreiro MJS, Ridderinkhof KR. Remedial effects of motivational incentive on declining cognitive control in healthy aging and Parkinson's disease. Front Aging Neurosci 2010; 2:144. [PMID: 21060805 PMCID: PMC2972690 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2010.00144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2010] [Accepted: 09/22/2010] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The prospect of reward may provide a motivational incentive for optimizing goal-directed behavior. Animal work demonstrates that reward-processing networks and oculomotor-control networks in the brain are connected through the dorsal striatum, and that reward anticipation can improve oculomotor control via this nexus. Due perhaps to deterioration in dopaminergic striatal circuitry, goal-directed oculomotor control is subject to decline in healthy seniors, and even more in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Here we examine whether healthy seniors and PD patients are able to utilize reward prospects to improve their impaired antisaccade performance. Results confirmed that oculomotor control declined in PD patients compared to healthy seniors, and in healthy seniors compared to young adults. However, the motivational incentive of reward expectation resulted in benefits in antisaccade performance in all groups alike. These findings speak against structural and non-modifiable decline in cognitive control functions, and emphasize the remedial potential of motivational incentive mechanisms in healthy as well as pathological aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helga A Harsay
- Department of Psychology, Amsterdam Center for the Study of Adaptive Control in Brain and Behavior (Acacia), University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands
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