Retinotopically specific effects of attention on human early visual cortex activity.

Attention helps us to select what is relevant from the enormous amounts of information taken up by our senses. However, it remains unclear just how early in sensory processing attentional selection can occur. Here, we investigated this question in healthy volunteers by assessing the effect of attentional load on the earliest component (C1) of the visual evoked potential (VEP).

Anatomic and functional asymmetries interactively shape human early visual cortex responses.

Early visual processing is surprisingly flexible even in the adult brain. This flexibility involves both long-term structural plasticity and online adaptations conveyed by top-down feedback. Although this view is supported by rich evidence from both human behavioral studies and invasive electrophysiology in nonhuman models, it has proven difficult to close the gap between species.

Diagnostic value of digital clock drawing test in comparison with CERAD neuropsychological battery total score for discrimination of patients in the early course of Alzheimer's disease from healthy individuals.

The early detection of cognitive impairment or dementia is in the focus of current research as the amount of cognitively impaired individuals will rise intensely in the next decades due to aging population worldwide. Currently available diagnostic tools to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia are time-consuming, invasive or expensive and not suitable for wide application as required by the high number of people at risk. Thus, a fast, simple and sensitive test is urgently needed to enable an accurate detection of people with cognitive dysfunction and dementia in the earlier stages to initiate specific diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

Early retinotopic responses to violations of emotion-location associations may depend on conscious awareness.

Reports of modulations of early visual processing suggest that retinotopic visual cortex may actively predict upcoming stimuli. We tested this idea by showing healthy human participants images of human faces at fixation, with different emotional expressions predicting stimuli in either the upper or the lower visual field. On infrequent test trials, emotional faces were followed by combined stimulation of upper and lower visual fields, thus violating previously established associations.

Neurofeedback of Slow Cortical Potentials in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Multicenter Randomized Trial Controlling for Unspecific Effects.

Neurofeedback (NF) in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been investigated in a series of studies over the last years. Previous studies did not unanimously support NF as a treatment in ADHD. Most studies did not control for unspecific treatment effects and did not demonstrate that self-regulation took place.