Biology subjects

Schutter, D. J. L. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Schutter, D. J. L. G..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Electrophysiological correlates of (mis)judging social information

Social information can be used to optimize decision making. However, the simultaneous presentation of multiple sources of advice can lead to a distinction bias in judging the validity of the information. While involvement of event-related potential (ERP) components in social information processing has been studied, how they are modulated by (mis)judging advisors information validity remains unknown. In two experiments participants performed a decision making task with highly accurate or inaccurate cues. Each experiment consisted of a initial, learning and test phase. During the learning phase three advice cues were simultaneously presented and the validity of them had to be assessed. The effect of different cue constellations on ERPs was investigated. In the subsequent test phase, the willingness to follow or oppose an advice cue was tested. Results demonstrated the distinction bias with participants over or underestimating the accuracy of the most uncertain cues. The P2 amplitude was significantly increased during cue presentation when advisors were in disagreement as compared to when all were in agreement, regardless of cue validity. Further, a larger P3 amplitude during outcome presentation was found when advisors were in disagreement and increased with more informative cues. As such, most uncertain cues were related to the smallest P3 amplitude. Findings suggest that misjudgment of social information is related to P3 amplitude subserving evaluation information and learning. This study provides novel insights into the role of P2 and P3 components during judgement of social information validity.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Individual differences in the effects of salience and reward on impulse control and action selection

Impulse control and adequate decision making are vital functions when it comes to detection and adherence to societal rules, especially in critical circumstances such as the Covid pandemic. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that increasing the salience of environmental cues would be most effective in improving impulse control, as assessed in a stop-signal task, in subjects with low environmental susceptibility as indexed by low pre-stimulus EEG alpha power. In addition, we anticipated that an external-reward intervention improves performance during a Go/No go task, especially in individuals with low task-induced motivation as indexed by low theta/ beta power ratios. High salience of stop signals enhanced stopping performance but there was no difference in responsivity to the salience intervention between participants with high and low EEG alpha power. Individuals with low theta/ beta power ratios responded more accurately when rewards were at stake. Together these results suggest that increasing the salience of external cues may help impulse control in general, whereas the effectiveness of external-reward interventions is higher in individuals with low task-induced motivation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Corticospinal correlates of hand preference for reaching during whole-body motion

Behavioral studies have shown that humans account for inertial acceleration in their decisions of hand choice when reaching during body motion. Physiologically, it is unclear at what stage of movement preparation information about body motion is integrated in the process of hand selection. Here, we addressed this question by applying transcranial magnetic stimulation over motor cortex (M1) of human participants who performed a preferential reach task while they were sinusoidally translated on a linear motion platform. If M1 only represents a read-out of the final hand choice, we expect the body motion not to affect the MEP amplitude. If body motion biases the hand selection process prior to target onset, we expect corticospinal excitability to modulate with the phase of the motion, with larger MEP amplitudes for phases that show a bias to using the right hand. Behavioral results replicate our earlier findings of a sinusoidal modulation of hand choice bias with motion phase. MEP amplitudes also show a sinusoidal modulation with motion phase, suggesting that body motion influences corticospinal excitability which may ultimately reflect changes of hand preference. The modulation being present prior to target onset suggests that competition between hands is represented throughout the corticospinal tract. Its phase relationship with the motion profile suggests that other processes after target onset take up time until the hand selection process has been completely resolved, and the reach is initiated. We conclude that the corticospinal correlates of hand preference are modulated by body motion.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Transient perturbation of the left temporal cortex evokes plasticity-related reconfiguration of the lexical network

Language impairment is common after left-hemisphere damage. However, the involvement of perilesional and homologous contralateral regions in compensating for left-sided lesions remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine acute organizational changes in brain activity related to conceptual and lexical retrieval in unimpaired language production following transient disruption of the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG). In a randomized singleblind within-subject experiment, we recorded the electroencephalogram from sixteen healthy participants during a context-driven picture-naming task. Prior to the task, the left MTG was perturbed with real neuronavigated continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) or sham stimulation. During the task, participants read lead-in sentences that created a constraining (e.g. "The farmer milks the") or non-constraining context (e.g. "The farmer buys the"). The last word was shown as a picture that participants had to name (e.g. "cow"). Replicating behavioral studies, participants were overall faster in naming pictures following a constraining relative to a non-constraining context, but this effect did not differ between real and sham cTBS. Real cTBS, however, increased overall error rates compared to sham cTBS. In line with previous studies, we observed a decrease in alpha-beta (8-24 Hz) oscillatory power for constraining relative to non-constraining contexts over left temporal-parietal cortex after participants received sham cTBS. However, following real cTBS, this decrease extended towards left prefrontal regions associated with both domain-general and domain-specific control mechanisms. Our findings provide evidence that immediately after the disruption of the left MTG, the lexical-semantic network is able to quickly reconfigure, also recruiting domain-general regions.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

The Role of Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Language Processing

In addition to the role of left frontotemporal areas in language processing, there is increasing evidence that language comprehension and production require control and working memory resources involving the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the left DLPFC in both language comprehension and production. In a double-blind, sham-controlled crossover experiment, thirty-two participants received cathodal or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left DLPFC while performing a language comprehension and a language production task. Results showed that cathodal tDCS increases reaction times in the language comprehension task, but decreases naming latencies in the language production task. However, additional analyses revealed that the polarity of tDCS effects was highly correlated across tasks, implying differential individual susceptibility to the effect of tDCS within participants. Overall, our findings demonstrate that left DLPFC is part of the complex cortical network associated with language processing.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Putting Focus on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Language Production Studies

ObjectivePrevious language production studies targeting the inferior frontal and superior temporal gyrus using anodal tDCS have provided mixed results. Part of this heterogeneity may be explained by limited target region focality of conventionally used electrode montages. We examined the focality of conventionally and alternative electrode montages.\n\nMethodsElectrical field distributions of anodal tDCS targeting IFG and pSTG were simulated in conventional setups (anodal electrode over IFG/pSTG, reference electrode over right supraorbital region) and an alternative electrode montage in four different brains.\n\nResultsConventional montages showed maximum field strengths outside of the target regions. Results from alternative electrode montages showed that focality of tDCS could be improved by adjustments in electrode size and placement.\n\nConclusionsHeterogeneity of findings of language production studies deploying conventional tDCS montages may in part be explained by diffuse electrical field distributions. Alternative montages may improve focality and provide more unequivocal results.\n\nSignificanceReliability of tDCS in language production research, both in basic and applied fields, can be improved by adopting different electrode montages which target the region of interest in a more direct way.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation to Investigate Language Production in Healthy Speakers: A Review and Meta-Analysis

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) has become a common method to study the interrelations between the brain and language functioning. This meta-analysis examined the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the study of language production in healthy volunteers. Forty-five effect sizes from 30 studies which investigated the effects of NIBS on picture naming or verbal fluency in healthy participants were meta-analysed. Further sub-analyses investigated potential influences of stimulation type, control, target site, task, online vs. offline application, and current density of the target electrode. Random effects modelling showed a small, but reliable effect of NIBS on language production. Subsequent analyses indicated larger weighted mean effect sizes for TMS as compared to tDCS studies. No statistical differences for the other sub-analyses were observed. We conclude that NIBS is a useful method for neuroscientific studies on language production in healthy volunteers.

neuroscience↗