Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation decreased effortful frontal activity for shifting in patients with major depressive disorder.

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit several clinical symptoms including difficulties in flexible thinking. Flexible thinking mainly relies on a cognitive ability called shifting; however, the mechanisms underlying shifting in patients with MDD have not yet been clarified. Therefore, we conducted a preliminary intervention study to clarify the association between depression and shifting ability.

Laterality of prefrontal hemodynamic response measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy before and after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: A potential biomarker of clinical outcome.

The factors associated with the clinical outcomes of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) remain largely unexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether rTMS can change the functional laterality of the prefrontal hemodynamic response and whether baseline functional laterality can predict the clinical outcomes of rTMS using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We included 19 patients with MDD who were treated with high-frequency rTMS.

Executive dysfunction in medication-naïve children with ADHD: A multi-modal fNIRS and EEG study.

Objective: Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit deficits in executive function. Since there are no clear biomarkers for the disorder, this study aimed to investigate the neurophysiological biomarkers for deficits in executive function in children with ADHD using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography.

Methods: Twenty patients diagnosed with ADHD and 19 typically developing children (TDC; 8-11 years old) were included.

Reduced Nogo-P3 in adults with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Nogo-N2 is associated with the premotor cognitive process that precedes motor response (e.g., conflict monitoring), whereas Nogo-P3 is related to the inhibition of the actual motor response.

Discrepancy between musical ability and language skills in children with Williams syndrome.

Background: Children with Williams syndrome (WS) show a marked interest in music, a characteristic often explored in clinical settings. However, the actual musical abilities of patients with WS remain debatable due to some of the relevant data being derived from experimental tasks that require a verbal response, despite the known language impairments in WS. The present study aimed to examine musical ability in children with WS using a newly invented pitch discrimination task with minimal involvement of language and clarify its relationship with language skill.