'Without A Key': A Classroom Case Study.

This case study uses a narrative focused on locked-in syndrome to engage upper-level undergraduate students with functional neuroanatomy, clinical neuroscience, and brain computer interface technology. Students 'diagnose' the etiology of a composite patient's symptoms using behavioral, neurological, neuroimaging, and electrophysiological test results. Students work both in small groups and as a class to develop analytical and communication skills by exploring the underpinnings, symptoms, and outcomes of locked-in syndrome and how behavioral and brain computer interface techniques could be used to improve quality of life in patients.

Snack Cake 'Dissection': A Flipped Classroom Exercise to Engage Undergraduates With Basic Neuroanatomy.

This report describes a brief classroom activity for introducing basic neuroanatomical terminology and concepts to undergraduates in a survey-level course. Prior to completing the activity, students watched a short online lecture discussing the relevant material. During class, students worked in groups to 'dissect' snack cakes using the information they learned in the video and then reported and shared their 'results' using anatomical terminology.

Event-related potential correlates of processing alcohol-related pictures in young adult binge drinkers.

Background: Alcohol-dependent individuals exhibit dissociable event-related potential (ERP) responses to alcohol-related cues. Fewer studies have examined if similar effects can be found in non-dependent young adults who binge drink.

Objectives: To delineate the neurocognitive correlates of inhibiting behavioral responses to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage cues in social drinkers with differing numbers of binge episodes and instances of intoxication.

Neurocognitive, psychological and behavioral correlates of binge drinking and use of alcohol with caffeinated beverages in college-aged adults.

Background: We examined event-related potential (ERP), behavioral and psychological correlates of binge drinking and the use of alcohol mixed with caffeinated beverages (AmCBs) in college-aged (18-26 years) adults.

Objective: Our objective was to delineate the neurocognitive correlates of different patterns of risky alcohol use in this population.

Methods: We collected ERP data while an initial sample of 60 participants completed visual oddball and go/no-go tasks.

Neurocognitive correlates of processing food-related stimuli in a Go/No-go paradigm.

We examined the neurocognitive correlates of processing food-related stimuli in healthy young adults. Event-related potential (ERP) data were collected while 48 participants completed a computerized Go/No-go task consisting of food and nonfood images. Separately, we assessed participants' self-reported levels of external, restrained, and emotional eating behaviors as well as trait impulsivity, behavioral activation/inhibition, and performance on the Stroop Color-Word Test.

Da vinci coding? Using renaissance artists' depictions of the brain to engage student interest in neuroanatomy.

This report describes a pair of brief, interactive classroom exercises utilizing Renaissance artists' depictions of the brain to help increase student interest in learning basic neuroanatomy. Undergraduate students provided anonymous quantitative evaluations of both exercises. The feedback data suggest that students found both exercises engaging.

Differential brain response to alcohol cue distractors across stages of alcohol dependence.

Altered attention to alcohol-related cues is implicated in the craving and relapse cycle characteristic of alcohol dependence (ALC). Prior cue reactivity studies typically invoke explicit attention to alcohol cues, so the neural response underlying incidental cue exposure remains unclear. Here, we embed infrequent, task-irrelevant alcohol and non-alcohol cues in an attention-demanding task, enabling evaluation of brain responses to distracting alcohol cues.

Neurophysiological Distinction between Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder.

Schizoaffective disorder (SA) is distinguished from schizophrenia (SZ) based on the presence of prominent mood symptoms over the illness course. Despite this clinical distinction, SA and SZ patients are often combined in research studies, in part because data supporting a distinct pathophysiological boundary between the disorders are lacking. Indeed, few studies have addressed whether neurobiological abnormalities associated with SZ, such as the widely replicated reduction and delay of the P300 event-related potential (ERP), are also present in SA.

Modulation of the cortical processing of novel and target stimuli by drugs affecting glutamate and GABA neurotransmission.

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we examined the effects of subanaesthetic doses of ketamine (an NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist) and thiopental (a GABA-A receptor agonist) on the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of deviant stimulus processing in 24 healthy adults. Participants completed three separate pharmacological challenge sessions (ketamine, thiopental, saline) in a counterbalanced order. EEG data were recorded both before and during each challenge while participants performed a visual 'oddball' task consisting of infrequent 'target' and 'novel' stimuli intermixed with frequent 'standard' stimuli.

Event-related potential correlates of extradimensional and intradimensional set-shifts in a modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in healthy adult participants during the performance of a modified version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test that was designed to isolate the effects of extradimensional (ED) and intradimensional (ID) set-shifts. ERP averages were created for ED- and ID-Shift trials, as well as for the 5th trial in each block (Maintain-Rule). Differences in sensory and longer latency ERP components were found between the ED- and ID conditions, and between the two shift conditions and the Maintain-Rule trials.

Time course of processes underlying picture and word evaluation: an event-related potential approach.

A substantial body of research suggests that the cognitive mechanisms for picture and word processes are functionally and anatomically distinct. In spite of significant advancements in the understanding of pictures and words, the electrophysiological activities mediating these processes are not well known. To address this issue, we examined event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to pictures and their printed names in a modified dual-target oddball task.

Event-related potentials as an index of similarity between words and pictures.

This report examines the ERP correlates of processing nontarget stimuli that are conceptually, but not perceptually, similar to a target. In two studies, the P300 component was examined in healthy adults during a multistimulus oddball paradigm. The stimuli were pictures of five objects and their five corresponding names.

Age differences in factor analysis of EEG.

This study examined age differences in the factor structure of EEG using a 128-electrode system. Running EEG records were obtained from healthy younger and healthy older adults before, during, and after they performed a 13-minute Continuous Performance Task. Factor analyses were conducted on each five-second segment of EEG data by treating the voltages obtained at each electrode site as variables and each measurement epoch as a case.

Different activation dynamics in multiple neural systems during simulated driving.

Driving is a complex behavior that recruits multiple cognitive elements. We report on an imaging study of simulated driving that reveals multiple neural systems, each of which have different activation dynamics. The neural correlates of driving behavior are identified with fMRI and their modulation with speed is investigated.