Publications by authors named "M S Willett"
The legalization of recreational cannabis use has expanded the availability of this psychoactive substance in the United States. Research has shown that chronic cannabis use is associated with altered working memory function, however, the brain areas and neural dynamics underlying these affects remain poorly understood. In this study, we leveraged magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate neurophysiological activity in 45 participants (22 heavy cannabis users) during a numerical WM task, whereby participants were asked to either maintain or manipulate (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiofilms are a highly complex community of microorganisms embedded in a protective extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Successful biofilm control requires a variety of approaches to better understand the structure-function relationship of the EPS matrix. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a versatile tool which can measure spatial structure, diffusion, and flow velocities in three dimensions and in situ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Research highlights age-related declines in cognitive control focused primarily on frontoparietal networks, but less is known about how this affects motor responses amid distractions.
- A study involving 72 participants (ages 28-63) used magnetoencephalography to examine the connectivity between attention and motor networks during interference tasks.
- Results showed age-related changes in brain connectivity, with increased beta and gamma activity linking motor and visual regions, suggesting that older adults may struggle more with competing tasks, indicating a decline in adaptive brain function.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic spinal pain negatively impacts both physical and mental health, and the relationship between psychological factors and pain modulation mechanisms is not well understood.* -
- A systematic review analyzed studies on the relationship between conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and psychological factors in chronic spinal pain, identifying seven eligible studies with moderate quality.* -
- Results suggest there is very low evidence that depression, anxiety, and fear avoidance do not significantly affect CPM responder status, while higher pain catastrophizing correlates with CPM non-responder status.*
Background: Chronic hypertension is known to be a major contributor to cognitive decline, with executive function and working memory being among the domains most commonly affected. Despite the growing literature on such dysfunction in patients with hypertension, the underlying neural processes are poorly understood.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we examine these neural processes by having participants with controlled hypertension, uncontrolled hypertension, and healthy controls perform a verbal working memory task during magnetoencephalography.