Participants were required to detect spot stimuli briefly presented to the upper, central, or lower visual fields. The stimuli were presented either on a green or a red background. Results showed that reaction time (RT) was shorter for the lower visual field (LVF) compared to the upper visual field (UVF). Furthermore, this LVF advantage was…

We adapted the "Bubbles" procedure [Vis. Res. 41 (2001) 2261] to examine the effective use of information during the first 282ms of face identification. Ten participants each viewed a total of 5100 faces sub-sampled in space-time. We obtained a clear pattern of effective use of information: the eye on the left side of the image became diagnostic…

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have developed a new dye that could offer noninvasive early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, a discovery that could aid in monitoring the progression of the disease and in studying the efficacy of new treatments to stop it. The work is published in Angewandte Chemie. Today, doctors can only…

X-linked Kallmann's (XKS) subjects, who display mirror movements, have abnormal corticospinal tracts which innervate motoneurons of the left and right distal muscles of the upper limb. The size of the abnormal ipsilateral projection is variable. We have used coherence and cumulant analysis between EEG and first dorsal interosseous muscle (1DI) EMG…

For 25 years now, there has been a serious attempt to get at the fundamental cause(s) of dyslexia in our laboratory. A great deal of research has been carried out on the psychological and brain underpinnings of the linguistic dysfunctions seen in dyslexia, but attempts to get at its cause have been limited. Initially, observations were made on the…

Nerve conduction velocity (NCV) and efficiency of synaptic transmission are two possible biological mechanisms that may underpin intelligence. Direct assessments of NCV, without synaptic transmission, show few substantial or reliable correlations with cognitive abilities ["Intelligence" 16 (1992) 273]. We therefore assessed the latencies…

The repetitive, stereotyped and obsessive behaviours, which are core diagnostic features of autism, are thought to be underpinned by executive dysfunction. This study examined executive impairment in individuals with autism and Asperger's disorder using a verbal equivalent of an established pseudo-random number generating task. Different patterns…

Psychologists and neuroscientists have had a long-standing interest in the P3, a prominent component of the event-related brain potential. This review aims to integrate knowledge regarding the neural basis of the P3 and to elucidate its functional role in information processing. The authors review evidence suggesting that the P3 reflects phasic…

Hypoxia (H) and hypoxia-ischemia (HI) are major causes of foetal brain damage with long-lasting behavioral implications. The effect of hypoxia has been widely studied in human and a variety of animal models. In the present review, we summarize the latest studies testing the behavioral outcomes following prenatal hypoxia/hypoxia-ischemia in rodent…

The forebrain cholinergic neurons are localized in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM), the major source of cholinergic innervation to the neocortex and to the amygdala, and in the medium septum-banda diagonalis complex, which provides cholinergic inputs to the hippocampus (Mesulam et al. 1983; Woolf et al. 1984; Nicoll 1985). Basic and…

Tobacco use is a major health problem that is estimated to cause 4 million deaths a year worldwide. Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco. It acts as an agonist to activate and desensitize nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). A component of nicotine's addictive power is attributable to actions on the mesolimbic dopaminergic…

We proposed that mitral cell [beta]1-adrenoceptor activation mediates rat pup odor preference learning. Here we evaluate [beta]1-, [beta]2-, [alpha]1-, and [alpha]2-adrenoceptor agonists in such learning. The [beta]1-adrenoceptor agonist, dobutamine, and the [alpha]1-adrenoceptor agonist, phenylephrine, induced learning, and both exhibited an…

In area CA1 of hippocampal slices which are allowed to recover from slicing "in interface" and where recordings are carried out in interface, a single 1-sec train of 100-Hz stimulation triggers a short-lasting long-term potentiation (S-LTP), which lasts 1-2 h, whereas multiple 1-sec trains induce a long-lasting LTP (L-LTP), which lasts several…

It has been shown that long-term potentiation (LTP) develops in the connection between the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and between the hippocampus (HPC) and the mPFC following fear extinction, and correlates with extinction retention. However, recent lesion studies have shown that combined lesions of the MD…

We previously reported that five repeated pulses of 5-HT lead to down-regulation of the TM-apCAM isoform at the surface of "Aplysia" sensory neurons (SNs). We here examined whether apCAM down-regulation is required for 5-HT-induced long-term facilitation. We also analyzed the role of the cytoplasmic and extracellular domains by overexpressing…