Planning and directing thought and behavior require the working memory (WM) functions of prefrontal cortex. WM is compromised by stress, which activates phosphatidylinositol (PI)-mediated IP[subscript 3]-PKC intracellular signaling. PKC overactivation impairs WM operations and in vitro studies indicate that IP[subscript 3] receptor (IP[subscript…

We find the reply by Kahana, Sederberg, and Howard helpful in clarifying the temporal-context model (TCM) function, in particular with regard to the elimination of the recency effect by a difficult distractor under parameters that still enable long-term contiguity effects to emerge. We agree with Kahana et al. that what matters most to the…

We studied the roles of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in learning and relearning to inhibit context conditioned fear (freezing) in extinction. In Experiment 1, pre-extinction BLA infusion of the NMDA receptor (NMDAr) antagonist, ifenprodil, impaired the development and retention of inhibition but…

In this study hemispheric asymmetries for categorizing objects at the basic versus subordinate level of abstraction were investigated. As predictions derived from different theoretical approaches are contradictory and experimental evidence is inconclusive in this regard, we conducted two categorization experiments, where we contrasted two…

There is increasing evidence relating psychometric measures of general intelligence and reasoning to regional brain structure and function assessed with a variety of neuroimaging techniques. Cognitive dimensions independent of general intelligence can also be identified psychometrically and studied for any neuroanatomical correlates. Here we…

Normal observers demonstrate a bias to process the left sides of faces during perceptual judgments about identity or emotion. This effect suggests a right cerebral hemisphere processing bias. To test the role of the right hemisphere and the involvement of configural processing underlying this effect, young and older control observers and patients…

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and its downstream targets, including Akt (also known as protein kinase B, PKB), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), the 70-kDa ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6k), and the eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E)-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1), may play important roles in long-term synaptic plasticity and memory in many…

Recent studies have shown that nitric oxide (NO) signaling plays a crucial role in memory consolidation of Pavlovian fear conditioning and in synaptic plasticity in the lateral amygdala (LA). In the present experiments, we examined the role of the cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), a downstream effector of NO, in fear memory consolidation and…

The article describes the use of structural neuroimaging to understand the psychopathology of childhood-onset schizophrenia. Results showed an increase in lateral volumes, reduced total and regional volumes of gray matter in the cortex and increased basal ganglia volumes as in adult-onset schizophrenia in comparison with healthy subjects.

Disturbances in the temporal lobes and alterations in cortical folding in adult on-set schizophrenia are studied using magnetic resonance T1 images of 51 patients. The study showed that patients with early on-set schizophrenia had lower global sulcal indices in both hemispheres and the left collateral sulcus has a lower sulcal index irrespective…

Previous evidence supports differential event-related brain potential (ERP) responses for emotional prosodic processing and integrative emotional prosodic/semantic processing. While latter process elicits a negativity similar to the well-known N400 component, transitions in emotional prosodic processing elicit a positivity. To further substantiate…

The role of the right hemisphere for language processing and successful therapeutic interventions in aphasic patients is a matter of debate. This study explored brain activation in right-hemispheric areas and left-hemispheric perilesional areas in response to language tasks in chronic non-fluent aphasic patients before and after constraint-induced…

Conversion disorder is characterized by neurological signs and symptoms related to an underlying psychological issue. Amygdala activity to affective stimuli is well characterized in healthy volunteers with greater amygdala activity to both negative and positive stimuli relative to neutral stimuli, and greater activity to negative relative to…

The neuropsychological features of the primary progressive aphasia (PPA) syndromes continue to be defined. Here we describe a detailed neuropsychological case study of a patient with a mutation in the progranulin ("GRN") gene who presented with progressive word-finding difficulty. Key neuropsychological features in this case included gravely…

The contribution of the three core components of working memory (WM) to the development of mathematical skills in young children is poorly understood. The relation between specific WM components and Numerical Operations, which emphasize computation and fact retrieval, and Mathematical Reasoning, which emphasizes verbal problem solving abilities in…