The future, before, and after: Bayesian and multivariate analyses reveal shared and unique neural mechanisms of imagining and remembering the same unique event.

Research shows that the brain regions that subserve our ability to remember the past are also involved in imagining the future. Given this similarity in brain activity, it remains unclear how brain activity distinguishes imagination from memory. In the current work, we scanned participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after they performed a highly unique and elaborate activity wherein they went skydiving for the first time in their lives.

Glycemic control contributes to the neuroprotective effects of Mediterranean and green-Mediterranean diets on brain age: the DIRECT PLUS brain-magnetic resonance imaging randomized controlled trial.

Background: We recently reported that Mediterranean (MED) and green-MED diets significantly attenuated age-related brain atrophy by ∼50% within 18 mo.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the contribution of specific diet-induced parameters to brain-volume deviation from chronologic age.

Methods: A post hoc analysis of the 18-mo DIRECT PLUS trial, where participants were randomly assigned to the following groups: 1) healthy dietary guidelines, 2) MED diet, or 3) green-MED diet, high in polyphenols, and low in red meat.

Psychophysical Evaluation of Visual vs. Computer-Aided Detection of Brain Lesions on Magnetic Resonance Images.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosis is usually performed by analyzing contrast-weighted images, where pathology is detected once it reached a certain visual threshold. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) has been proposed as a way for achieving higher sensitivity to early pathology.

Purpose: To compare conventional (i.

Consciousness as the Temporal Propagation of Information.

Our ability to understand the mind and its relation to the body is highly dependent on the way we define consciousness and the lens through which we study it. We argue that looking at conscious experience from an information-theory perspective can help obtain a unified and parsimonious account of the mind. Today's dominant models consider consciousness to be a specialized function of the brain characterized by a discrete neural event.

Balance recovery stepping responses during walking were not affected by a concurrent cognitive task among older adults.

Background: Most of older adults' falls are related to inefficient balance recovery after an unexpected loss of balance, i.e., postural perturbation.

The effect of a high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet (Green-MED) combined with physical activity on age-related brain atrophy: the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial Polyphenols Unprocessed Study (DIRECT PLUS).

Background: The effect of diet on age-related brain atrophy is largely unproven.

Objectives: We aimed to explore the effect of a Mediterranean diet (MED) higher in polyphenols and lower in red/processed meat (Green-MED diet) on age-related brain atrophy.

Methods: This 18-mo clinical trial longitudinally measured brain structure volumes by MRI using hippocampal occupancy score (HOC) and lateral ventricle volume (LVV) expansion score as neurodegeneration markers.

Numerical cognition: Unitary or diversified system(s)?

Many researchers, including Clarke and Beck, describe the human numerical system as unitary. We offer an alternative view - the coexistence of several systems; namely, multiple systems (general magnitude, parallel individuation, and symbolic) existing in parallel, ready to be activated depending on the task/need. Based on this alternative view, we present an account for the representation of rational numbers.

Expanding the discussion: Revision of the fundamental assumptions framing the study of the neural correlates of consciousness.

The way one asks a question is shaped by a-priori assumptions and constrains the range of possible answers. We identify and test the assumptions underlying contemporary debates, models, and methodology in the study of the neural correlates of consciousness, which was framed by Crick and Koch's seminal paper (1990). These premises create a sequential and passive conception of conscious perception: it is considered the product of resolved information processing by unconscious mechanisms, produced by a singular event in time and place representing the moment of entry.

Shaping the way from the unknown to the known: The role of convex hull shape in numerical comparisons.

Various studies have shown that numerical processing is modulated by non-numerical physical properties. One such physical property is the convex hull - the smallest convex polygon surrounding all items in an array. The convex hull is usually discussed only in terms of its area.

PVP-coated Gd-grafted nanodiamonds as a novel and potentially safer contrast agent for in vivo MRI.

Purpose: Testing the potential use of saline suspension of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-coated gadolinium(Gd)-grafted detonation nanodiamonds (DND) as a novel contrast agent in MRI.

Methods: Stable saline suspensions of highly purified de-agglomerated Gd-grafted DND particles coated by a PVP protective shell were prepared. T and T proton relaxivities of the suspensions with varying gadolinium concentration were measured at 8 Tesla.

Examining Different Motor Learning Paradigms for Improving Balance Recovery Abilities Among Older Adults, Random vs. Block Training-Study Protocol of a Randomized Non-inferiority Controlled Trial.

: Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. Studies showed that older adults can reduce the risk of falls after participation in an unexpected perturbation-based balance training (PBBT), a relatively novel approach that challenged reactive balance control. This study aims to investigate the effect of the practice schedule (i.

Putting the world in mind: The case of mental representation of quantity.

A reoccurring question in cognitive science concerns the way the world is represented. Cognitive scientists quantify the contribution of a physical attribute to a sensation and try to characterize the underlying mechanism. In numerical cognition, the contribution of physical properties to quantity perception in comparison tasks was widely demonstrated albeit leaving the underlying mechanism unclear.

The many faces of music: Attending to music and delight in the same music are governed by different rules of processing.

Music generates manifold experiences in humans, some perceptual and some hedonic. Are these qualia governed by the same principles in processing? In particular, do the loudness and timbre of melodies combine to produce perception and likeability by the same rules of integration? In Experiment 1, we tested selective attention to loudness and timbre by applying Garner's speeded classification paradigm and found both to be perceptually integral dimensions. In Experiment 2, we tested liking for the same music by applying Norman Anderson's functional measurement model and found loudness and timbre to combine by an adding-type rule.

Conscious Perception: Time for an Update?

Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying conscious perception has become a central endeavor in cognitive neuroscience. In theories of conscious perception, a stimulus gaining conscious access is usually considered as a discrete neuronal event to be characterized in time or space, sometimes referred to as a conscious "episode." Surprisingly, the alternative hypothesis according to which conscious perception is a dynamic process has rarely been considered.

Holistic processing of numerical arrays.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 45(6) of (see record 2019-25779-001). In experiment 1, in the congruency effect analysis 3 partial Eta squares are missing (page 1017). In addition, in experiment 1 in the analysis of the average diameter group, two more statistics were incomplete (page 1017-1018).

Number and Continuous Magnitude Processing Depends on Task Goals and Numerosity Ratio.

A large body of evidence shows that when comparing non-symbolic numerosities, performance is influenced by irrelevant continuous magnitudes, such as total surface area, density, etc. In the current work, we ask whether the weights given to numerosity and continuous magnitudes are modulated by top-down and bottom-up factors. With that aim in mind, we asked adult participants to compare two groups of dots.

Toward an integrative approach to numerical cognition.

In response to the commentaries, we have refined our suggested model and discussed ways in which the model could be further expanded. In this context, we have elaborated on the role of specific continuous magnitudes. We have also found it important to devote a section to evidence considered the "smoking gun" of the approximate number system theory, including cross-modal studies, animal studies, and so forth.

Brain-heart interactions reveal consciousness in noncommunicating patients.

Objective: We here aimed at characterizing heart-brain interactions in patients with disorders of consciousness. We tested how this information impacts data-driven classification between unresponsive and minimally conscious patients.

Methods: A cohort of 127 patients in vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (VS/UWS; n = 70) and minimally conscious state (MCS; n = 57) were presented with the local-global auditory oddball paradigm, which distinguishes 2 levels of processing: short-term deviation of local auditory regularities and global long-term rule violations.

Right visual-field advantage in the attentional blink: Asymmetry in attentional gating across time and space.

When two targets are presented in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), recognition of the second target (T2) is usually reduced when presented 150-500 ms after the first target, demonstrating an attentional blink (AB). Previous studies have shown a left visual-field (LVF) advantage in T2 recognition, when T2 was embedded in one of two streams, demanding top-down attention for its recognition. Here, we explored the impact of bottom-up saliency on spatial asymmetry in the AB.

Cognitive dissonance resolution depends on episodic memory.

The notion that past choices affect preferences is one of the most influential concepts of social psychology since its first report in the 50 s, and its theorization within the cognitive dissonance framework. In the free-choice paradigm (FCP) after choosing between two similarly rated items, subjects reevaluate chosen items as more attractive and rejected items as less attractive. However the relations prevailing between episodic memory and choice-induced preference change (CIPC) remain highly debated: is this phenomenon dependent or independent from memory of past choices? We solve this theoretical debate by demonstrating that CIPC occurs exclusively for items which were correctly remembered as chosen or rejected during the choice stage.

One tamed at a time: A new approach for controlling continuous magnitudes in numerical comparison tasks.

Non-symbolic stimuli (i.e., dot arrays) are commonly used to study numerical cognition.

Mirror Neurons and Mirror-Touch Synesthesia.

Since mirror neurons were introduced to the neuroscientific community more than 20 years ago, they have become an elegant and intuitive account for different cognitive mechanisms (e.g., empathy, goal understanding) and conditions (e.

Acute Stress and Perceptual Load Consume the Same Attentional Resources: A Behavioral-ERP Study.

Stress and perceptual load affect selective attention in a paradoxical manner. They can facilitate selectivity or disrupt it. This EEG study was designed to examine the reciprocal relations between stress, load and attention.

Numerosity processing is context driven even in the subitizing range: An fMRI study.

Numerical judgments are involved in almost every aspect of our daily life. They are carried out so efficiently that they are often considered to be automatic and innate. However, numerosity of non-symbolic stimuli is highly correlated with its continuous properties (e.