Consequences of the Lockdown: Domestic Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The global pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented many unique challenges to health systems. The hidden impact of COVID-19 and its associated lockdown have been an increased prevalence of domestic violence.

Objective: To increase our understanding of the connection between COVID-19 containment measures, domestic violence, and mental health in Germany, we conducted an online self-assessment survey of 98 domestic violence victims and 276 controls.

Comparative incidence rates of mild adverse effects to transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Objectives: Past research has largely neglected to investigate mild adverse effects (MAEs) to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), including headache and nausea. Here we explored the relationship between MAEs, participant characteristics (age and gender) and protocol parameters, including mode of application, coil geometry, stimulated brain region, TMS frequency, TMS intensity, and active vs. sham stimulation.

Microcontroller based fibre-optic visual presentation system for multisensory neuroimaging.

Presenting visual stimuli in physical 3D space during fMRI experiments carries significant technical challenges. Certain types of multisensory visuotactile experiments and visuomotor tasks require presentation of visual stimuli in peripersonal space, which cannot be accommodated by ordinary projection screens or binocular goggles. However, light points produced by a group of LEDs can be transmitted through fibre-optic cables and positioned anywhere inside the MRI scanner.

Enhancement of perceptual representations by endogenous attention biases competition in response selection.

Perception and response selection are core processes in the generation of overt behavior. Selective attention is known to facilitate behavioral performance by altering perceptual processes. It remains unclear, however, whether selective attention can aid the resolution of response conflict, and if so, at what stage of processing this takes place.

Current perspectives and methods in studying neural mechanisms of multisensory interactions.

In the past decade neuroscience has witnessed major advances in the field of multisensory interactions. A large body of research has revealed several new types of cross-sensory interactions. In addition, multisensory interactions have been reported at temporal and spatial system levels previously thought of as strictly unimodal.

Dissociating networks of imitation.

The investigation of imitation, which consists of observation and later reproduction of voluntary actions, promises insights into the complex processes of human actions. Although several aspects concerning the component neural processes necessary for action execution are known, our current understanding of the neural networks underlying these remains sparse. The present study applies independent component analysis (ICA) to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquired during imitation of abstract gestures and object-related actions.

Auditory working memory load impairs visual ventral stream processing: toward a unified model of attentional load.

Attentional interference between tasks performed in parallel is known to have strong and often undesired effects. As yet, however, the mechanisms by which interference operates remain elusive. A better knowledge of these processes may facilitate our understanding of the effects of attention on human performance and the debilitating consequences that disruptions to attention can have.

Does erotic stimulus presentation design affect brain activation patterns? Event-related vs. blocked fMRI designs.

Background: Existing brain imaging studies, investigating sexual arousal via the presentation of erotic pictures or film excerpts, have mainly used blocked designs with long stimulus presentation times.

Methods: To clarify how experimental functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design affects stimulus-induced brain activity, we compared brief event-related presentation of erotic vs. neutral stimuli with blocked presentation in 10 male volunteers.