Biology subjects

Vance, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Vance, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Neural and Behavioral Changes in Older Adults from Auditory-Cognitive Training

Speech perception in noisy environments is a common challenge among older adults, even for those with clinically normal hearing. Cognitive decline may be one of the contributing factors, and, as such, auditory-cognitive training may enhance speech perception in these conditions. This study aims to determine if auditory-cognitive training can improve speech-in-noise listening in normal-hearing, older adults using neural and behavioral measures, supplemented with comparisons across younger and older adults. Neural responses were obtained using magnetoencephalography (MEG) while participants listened to long, narrative passages (60 s) under four noise conditions. Neural measures employed reverse correlation using encoding and decoding models, via the temporal response function (TRF) framework, to predict neural responses and reconstruct stimulus features, respectively, with the boosting algorithm to enforce sparsity. Behavioral measures, such as working memory (reading span; RSPAN), speech perception in noise (SPIN), and nonlinguistic auditory stream segregation (stochastic figure-ground; SFG) showed improvement post-training, along with neural and subjective ratings for listening effort. Additionally, auditory-cognitive training may enhance the neural contrast between the selectively attended and unattended stimulus reconstructions, and pre-training SFG performance may predict the extent of this neuroplasticity change. These results provide promising, additional insight into the effects of auditory-cognitive training, both perceptually and neurally.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Testing of putative antiseizure drugs in a preclinical Dravet syndrome zebrafish model

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a severe genetic epilepsy primarily caused by de novo mutations in a voltage-activated sodium channel gene (SCN1A). Patients face life-threatening seizures that are largely resistant to available anti-seizure medications (ASM). Preclinical DS animal models are a valuable tool to identify candidate ASMs for these patients. Among these, scn1lab mutant zebrafish exhibiting spontaneous seizure-like activity are particularly amenable to large-scale drug screening. Prior screening in a scn1lab mutant zebrafish line generated using N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) identified valproate, stiripentol, and fenfluramine e.g., Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs with clinical application in the DS population. Successful phenotypic screening in scn1lab mutant zebrafish consists of two stages: (i) a locomotion-based assay measuring high-velocity convulsive swim behavior and (ii) an electrophysiology-based assay, using in vivo local field potential (LFP) recordings, to quantify electrographic seizure-like events. Using this strategy more than 3000 drug candidates have been screened in scn1lab zebrafish mutants. Here, we curated a list of nine additional anti-seizure drug candidates recently identified in preclinical models: 1-EBIO, AA43279, chlorzoxazone, donepezil, lisuride, mifepristone, pargyline, soticlestat and vorinostat. First-stage locomotion-based assays in scn1lab mutant zebrafish identified only 1-EBIO, chlorzoxazone and lisuride. However, second-stage LFP recording assays did not show significant suppression of spontaneous electrographic seizure activity for any of the nine anti-seizure drug candidates. Surprisingly, soticlestat induced frank electrographic seizure-like discharges in wild-type control zebrafish. Taken together, our results failed to replicate clear anti-seizure efficacy for these drug candidates highlighting a necessity for strict scientific standards in preclinical identification of ASMs.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Multivariate Pattern Analysis (MVPA) Reveals Distinct Neural Profiles of Frontoparietal Networks in Boys with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Boys with Persistent Depressive Disorder

Working memory deficits are common in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression, two common neurodevelopmental disorders with overlapping cognitive profiles but distinct clinical presentation. Multivariate techniques have previously been utilized to understand working memory processes in functional brain networks in healthy adults, but have not yet been applied to investigate how working memory processes within the same networks differ within typical and atypical developing populations. We used multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to identify whether brain networks discriminated between spatial vs. verbal working memory processes in ADHD and Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD). 36 male clinical participants and 19 typically developing (TD) boys participated in a fMRI scan while completing a verbal and a spatial working memory task. Within a priori functional brain networks (frontoparietal, default mode, salience) the TD group demonstrated differential response patterns to verbal and spatial working memory. The PDD group showed weaker differentiation than TD, with lower classification accuracies observed in primarily the left frontoparietal network. The neural profiles of the ADHD and PDD differed specifically in the SN where the ADHD groups neural profile suggests significantly less specificity in neural representations of spatial and verbal working memory. We highlight within-group classification as an innovative tool for understanding the neural mechanisms of how cognitive processes may deviate in clinical disorders, an important intermediary step towards improving translational psychiatry.

neuroscience↗