Distinct neural representations of different linguistic components following sign language learning.

Learning a new language is a process everyone undergoes at least once. However, studying the neural mechanisms behind first-time language learning is a challenging task. Here we aim to explore the functional alterations following learning Israeli Sign Language, a visuo-spatial rather than an auditory-based language.

Neural Rewiring of Resilience: The Effects of Combat Deployment on Functional Network Architecture.

Background: Although combat-deployed soldiers are at high risk for developing trauma-related psychopathology, most will remain resilient for the duration and aftermath of their deployment tour. The neural basis of this type of resilience is largely unknown, and few longitudinal studies exist on neural adaptation to combat in resilient individuals for whom a pre-exposure measurement was collected. Here, we delineate changes in the architecture of functional brain networks from pre- to postcombat in psychopathology-free, resilient participants.

The effects of intelligence on exposure to combat and posttraumatic stress disorder across multiple deployments.

Introduction: Past work relates intelligence quotient (IQ) to risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among soldiers. We gathered data over multiple deployments to assess how IQ relates to the rate of symptom development both directly and through increasing the risk for traumatic combat exposure.

Methods: Male infantry soldiers from a maneuver brigade (N = 582) were followed over the 3-year period of their mandatory military service.

Neural activation changes following attention bias modification treatment or a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor for social anxiety disorder.

Background: Delineation of changes in neural function associated with novel and established treatments for social anxiety disorder (SAD) can advance treatment development. We examined such changes following selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and attention bias modification (ABM) variant - gaze-contingent music reward therapy (GC-MRT), a first-line and an emerging treatments for SAD.

Methods: Eighty-one patients with SAD were allocated to 12-week treatments of either SSRI or GC-MRT, or waitlist (s = 22, 29, and 30, respectively).

Distinct Neural Plasticity Enhancing Visual Perception.

The developed human brain shows remarkable plasticity following perceptual learning, resulting in improved visual sensitivity. However, such improvements commonly require extensive stimuli exposure. Here we show that efficiently enhancing visual perception with minimal stimuli exposure recruits distinct neural mechanisms relative to standard repetition-based learning.

Pre-acquired Functional Connectivity Predicts Choice Inconsistency.

Economic choice theories usually assume that humans maximize utility in their choices. However, studies have shown that humans make inconsistent choices, leading to suboptimal behavior, even without context-dependent manipulations. Previous studies showed that activation in value and motor networks are associated with inconsistent choices at the moment of choice.

Neuroanatomy in virtual reality: Development and pedagogical evaluation of photogrammetry-based 3D brain models.

Anatomy studies are an essential part of medical training. The study of neuroanatomy in particular presents students with a unique challenge of three-dimensional spatial understanding. Virtual Reality (VR) has been suggested to address this challenge, yet the majority of previous reports have implemented computer-generated or imaging-based models rather than models of real brain specimens.

Generalizing prediction of task-evoked brain activity across datasets and populations.

Predictions of task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from task-free resting-state (rs) fMRI have gained popularity over the past decade. This method holds a great promise for studying individual variability in brain function without the need to perform highly demanding tasks. However, in order to be broadly used, prediction models must prove to generalize beyond the dataset they were trained on.

The Prediction of Brain Activity from Connectivity: Advances and Applications.

The human brain is composed of multiple, discrete, functionally specialized regions that are interconnected to form large-scale distributed networks. Using advanced brain-imaging methods and machine-learning analytical approaches, recent studies have demonstrated that regional brain activity during the performance of various cognitive tasks can be accurately predicted from patterns of task-independent brain connectivity. In this review article, we first present evidence for the predictability of brain activity from structural connectivity (i.

Similar functional networks predict performance in both perceptual and value-based decision tasks.

There are numerous commonalities between perceptual and preferential decision processes. For instance, previous studies have shown that both of these decision types are influenced by context. Also, the same computational models can explain both.

Act natural: Functional connectivity from naturalistic stimuli fMRI outperforms resting-state in predicting brain activity.

The search for an 'ideal' approach to investigate the functional connections in the human brain is an ongoing challenge for the neuroscience community. While resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been widely used to study individual functional connectivity patterns, recent work has highlighted the benefits of collecting functional connectivity data while participants are exposed to naturalistic stimuli, such as watching a movie or listening to a story. For example, functional connectivity data collected during movie-watching were shown to predict cognitive and emotional scores more accurately than resting-state-derived functional connectivity.

Predicting individual traits from unperformed tasks.

Relating individual differences in cognitive traits to brain functional organization is a long-lasting challenge for the neuroscience community. Individual intelligence scores were previously predicted from whole-brain connectivity patterns, extracted from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquired at rest. Recently, it was shown that task-induced brain activation maps outperform these resting-state connectivity patterns in predicting individual intelligence, suggesting that a cognitively demanding environment improves prediction of cognitive abilities.

Neuromodulation of Visual Cortex Reduces the Intensity of Intrusive Memories.

Aversive events can be reexperienced as involuntary and spontaneous mental images of the event. Given that the vividness of retrieved mental images is coupled with elevated visual activation, we tested whether neuromodulation of the visual cortex would reduce the frequency and negative emotional intensity of intrusive memories. Intrusive memories of a viewed trauma film and their accompanied emotional intensity were recorded throughout 5 days.

Brain volumetric changes in the general population following the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak introduced unprecedented health-risks, as well as pressure on the economy, society, and psychological well-being due to the response to the outbreak. In a preregistered study, we hypothesized that the intense experience of the outbreak potentially induced stress-related brain modifications in the healthy population, not infected with the virus. We examined volumetric changes in 50 participants who underwent MRI scans before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in Israel.

Predicting individual variability in task-evoked brain activity in schizophrenia.

What goes wrong in a schizophrenia patient's brain that makes it so different from a healthy brain? In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the abnormal brain activity in schizophrenia is tightly related to alterations in brain connectivity. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we demonstrated that both resting-state functional connectivity and brain activity during the well-validated N-back task differed significantly between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Nevertheless, using a machine-learning approach we were able to use resting-state functional connectivity measures extracted from healthy controls to accurately predict individual variability in the task-evoked brain activation in the schizophrenia patients.

Tissue Probability Based Registration of Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Background: Current registration methods for diffusion-MRI (dMRI) data mostly focus on white matter (WM) areas. Recently, dMRI has been employed for the characterization of gray matter (GM) microstructure, emphasizing the need for registration methods that consider all tissue types.

Purpose: To develop a dMRI registration method based on GM, WM, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tissue probability maps (TPMs).

Widespread cortical dyslamination in epilepsy patients with malformations of cortical development.

Purpose: Recent research in epilepsy patients confirms our understanding of epilepsy as a network disorder with widespread cortical compromise. Here, we aimed to investigate the neocortical laminar architecture in patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) and periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) using clinically feasible 3 T MRI.

Methods: Eighteen epilepsy patients (FCD and PNH groups; n = 9 each) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 9) underwent T1 relaxation 3 T MRI, from which component probability T1 maps were utilized to extract sub-voxel composition of 6 T1 cortical layers.

Traumatic Brain Injury Severity in a Network Perspective: A Diffusion MRI Based Connectome Study.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often characterized by alterations in brain connectivity. We explored connectivity alterations from a network perspective, using graph theory, and examined whether injury severity affected structural connectivity and modulated the association between brain connectivity and cognitive deficits post-TBI. We performed diffusion imaging network analysis on chronic TBI patients, with different injury severities and healthy subjects.

Alterations in Network Connectivity after Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice.

Victims of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) usually do not display clear morphological brain defects, but frequently have long-lasting cognitive deficits, emotional difficulties, and behavioral disturbances. In the present study we used diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) combined with graph theory measurements to investigate the effects of mTBI on brain network connectivity. We employed a non-invasive closed-head weight-drop mouse model to produce mTBI.

Short-term plasticity following motor sequence learning revealed by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging.

Current noninvasive methods to detect structural plasticity in humans are mainly used to study long-term changes. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was recently proposed as a novel approach to reveal gray matter changes following spatial navigation learning and object-location memory tasks. In the present work, we used diffusion MRI to investigate the short-term neuroplasticity that accompanies motor sequence learning.

Brain structure changes induced by attention bias modification training.

Attention bias modification (ABM) therapy aims to reduce anxiety by changing threat-related attention patterns using computerized training tasks. We examined changes in brain microstructure following ABM training. Thirty-two participants were randomly assigned to one of two training conditions: active ABM training shifting attention away from threat or attention control training involving no attention modification.

Selective atrophy of the connected deepest cortical layers following small subcortical infarct.

Objective: To explore whether in patients with chronic small subcortical infarct the cortical layers of the connected cortex are differentially affected and whether these differences correlate with clinical symptomatology.

Methods: Twenty patients with a history of chronic small subcortical infarct affecting the corticospinal tracts and 15 healthy controls were included. Connected primary motor cortex was identified with tractography starting from infarct.

The Diffusion Tensor Imaging Properties of the Normal Testicles at 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Rationale And Objectives: The testicles are structured in a well-defined microtubular network formation, which is expected to be reflected in high anisotropic diffusivity. However, preliminary studies reported on low values of fractional-anisotropy (FA) in the normal testicles. Our aim was to design and apply a diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) protocol in order to elucidate the diffusivity properties of the testicles and their determining factors.

Sex beyond the genitalia: The human brain mosaic.

Whereas a categorical difference in the genitals has always been acknowledged, the question of how far these categories extend into human biology is still not resolved. Documented sex/gender differences in the brain are often taken as support of a sexually dimorphic view of human brains ("female brain" or "male brain"). However, such a distinction would be possible only if sex/gender differences in brain features were highly dimorphic (i.