Japanese Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Online ISSN : 1884-510X
Print ISSN : 1344-4298
ISSN-L : 1344-4298
Volume 13, Issue 3
Displaying 1-9 of 9 articles from this issue
  • Kenji Hachisuka
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 203-208
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Two studies were performed to determine the incidence of cognitive dysfunction induced by traumatic brain injury and related disorders, and neuropsychological factors associated with return to work. A web-survey revealed that the incidence of cognitive dysfunction was 2.3/100,000 population per year, and would increase by either twofold or threefold if it was corrected by the data obtained from official certificates of physical and mental disabilities. Ninety two patients with cognitive dysfunction were admitted to this department for rehabilitation, and were evaluated retrospectively by using the Wechslar Adult Intelligence Scale-III(WAIS), Wechslar Memory Scale-Revised(WMS), Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test(RBMT), Frontal Assessment Battery(FAB), and Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome(BADS). The final outcome was the general employment group for 10, the sheltered employment group for 8 and the non-employment group for 74. The relationship between the three groups in the neuropsychological evaluations other than BADS was “general employment > sheltered employment > non-employment”, but the BADS showed the relationship, “general employment and sheltered employment > non-employment”. The values of Performance IQ and Full IQ of WAIS-R, verbal, visual, general and delayed memory of WMS, and RBMT were significantly greater in the general employment group than those in the non-employment group, and the value of the delayed memory of WMS in the sheltered employment group was also greater than that in the non-employment group.
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  • Marsel Mesulam, Sandra Weintraub
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 209-217
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Primary progressive aphasia(PPA)is a clinical syndrome diagnosed in any patient in whom a language impairment(aphasia), caused by a neurodegenerative disease(progressive), constitutes the most salient aspect of the initial clinical picture(primary). The language impairment can be fluent or non-fluent and may or may not interfere with word comprehension. Memory for recent events is preserved although memory scores obtained in verbally mediated tests may be abnormal. Minor changes in personality and behavior may be present but are not the leading factors that bring the patient to medical attention or that disrupt daily living activities. This selective clinical pattern is most conspicuous in the initial stages of the disease, and reflects a relatively selective atrophy of the language network, usually located in the left hemisphere. There are different clinical variants of PPA, each with a distinctive pattern of atrophy and neuropathology.
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  • Shinichiro Maeshima, Aiko Osawa, Hiroshi Matsuda, Norio Tanahashi
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 227-232
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The cerebellum has traditionally been viewed as a structure that contributes primarily to motor coordination and control. The brainstem plays an important role in balance, coordinated movement, hearing, speech, ocular movement and swallowing. However, beginning in the mid ─ 1980s, anatomical, behavioral, and neuropsychological evidence began to suggest that the role of the infratentorial region extends beyond a purely motor domain. Especially, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies indicate that the cerebellum and brainstem contributes to cognitive functions such as attention, memory, visuospatial cognition, planning and language. Clinically, several cognitive or psychiatric disorders, for example autism and attention─ deficit hyperactivity disorder, have been reported to show neuropathological changes in the cerebellum or brainstem, mainly volume reduction. In addition, there have been some reports about cognitive dysfunction caused by infratentorial lesions after stroke. The converging evidence has prompted generation of new theories to explain the contributions of the infratentorial region to such functions. The emerging hypotheses include monitoring and feedback on inner thought, coordination and control of information processing, and internal control of timing. However, the results of studies and hypotheses about relationship between infratentorial region and cognitive function remain controversial, because, in previous studies, there ware some problems to establish the critical evidence. Further productive approach to understanding the contribution of infratentorial region to cognitive functions will be to work toward the accumulation of well ─ specified studies that address the problem from diverse points of view.
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  • Masao Aihara
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 233-240
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In current neuropsychological theory, the core symptoms in developmental disorders are considered to be caused by abnormal selection and maintenance of motor response to stimuli, due to a failure to inhibit or delay behavioral responses, which are also hypothesized to lead to secondary impairment in executive functions. Evidences of disinhibition in developmental disorders came from neuropsychological tasks, such as memory-guided saccade task, continuous performance test, and Markov decision task using neurophysiological methods(saccade eye movement, NoGo potential, and sympathetic skin response). In addition, emotional autonomic response is a critical requirement for decision making of future outcomes
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  • Munetaka Haida
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 241-247
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Near Infrared Spectroscopy(NIRS)is commonly used for functional brain studies. With this method, brain signals can be easily obtained, but the interpretation of these signals still remains unclear. The continuous wave method, which is usually used in the optical topographic instrument, cannot measure an absolute value of the tissue hemoglobin. There are many hemoglobin-containing tissues other than brain such as head skin, muscle and skull bone between source and detector by using reflectance configuration of optodes. This paper recommend to use a block design or event related design to reduce the effect of hemoglobin other than brain tissue and to use of a ratio to eliminate an effect of personal difference of path-length. This paper also provides a simple model to interpret the NIRS signal, which is based on the following assumptions : 1. The NIRS signal may reflect Hb levels only in the capillaries and not in large vessels. The following features of the brain can explain this assumption. First, the brain has a lighter color than the other tissues, indicating that the Hb concentration in brain tissue is very low and intensity level of the NIRS signal is very high. Second, a photon that hits a large vessel is too weak to be detected in the surrounding high signal environment. 2. Cerebral blood flow(CBF)can be separated into cross-sections(S : the number of capillary beds) that are multiplied by the velocity(v). This model can explain the typical signal pattern observed during task performance, where oxy-Hb levels increase and deoxy-Hb levels slightly decrease. This model also leads several features of NIRS signals. 1. An increase in total-Hb indicates an increase of S. 2. An increase in oxy-Hb indicates both increase of S and v. 3. A decrease in deoxy-Hb indicates an increase of v. These features of NIRS signals may be useful to interpret obtained experimental data. Finally, This paper presented an effect of a facial skin blood flow change during task, such as verbal fluency task, which is very important factor should be cleared in near future.
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  • Yasunari Hashimoto, Junichi Ushiba, Yutaka Tomita, Akio Kimura, Meigen ...
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 249-254
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Introduction : In the present study, we developed a brain-computer interface(BCI)system that used surface electroencephalographic(EEG)signals recorded over the sensorimotor cortex to investigate long-term effects of BCI use on brain activities in people with severe motor disability. Method : The BCI system estimated the user’s motor intention(MI)in 3 different limb movements : feet, left hand, and right hand detecting event related desynchronization(ERD)in the mu band (around 10 Hz)and event related synchronization(ERS)in beta band(around 20 Hz). To investigate the long-term effects, we followed BCI use by a chronic tetraplegic subject with muscular dystrophy for a half of a year. Result : The subject was trained to control his avatar via the BCI by strolling in the VR for 1 hour a day and then continued the same training twice a month at his home. We observed changes in ERD and ERS patterns and increases in BCI performance over long-term use of this system. At last, the subject freely strolled and communicated with others users in a virtual world using our BCI system. Discussion : Our results suggest that it is possible to develop BCI systems that allow severely paralyzed patients to communicate with others in a virtual world in the same way as a healthy person. The present study also revealed that long-term of BCI use caused plastic change of brain activities. This result suggested the possibility that BCI can be not only a substitute of a part of body but also a rehabilitation tool.
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  • Tomoko Takeuchi, Morihiro Sugishita
    2012 Volume 13 Issue 3 Pages 261-271
    Published: 2012
    Released on J-STAGE: April 12, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    It is generally accepted that the Apolipoprotein E(APOE)4 gene is associated with cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease(AD). However, contradictory results have been reported, which strongly suggest some confounding factors exist concerning the effects of APOE allele upon cognitive function. We assumed that the duration of AD is one of the main confounding factors. For example, the cognitive function of a subject with AD for half a year and that of a subject with AD for 4 years are estimated to be differently influenced by the APOE allele. In order to control this factor, the present study employed subjects that developed AD within 6 months. The results showed that in the subjects of more than or equal to 75 years old, APOE e3/e4 declined episodic memory more severe than the APOE e3/e3 at the 6 months before AD conversion(p < 0.01)p < 0.01 and at the onset of AD(p < 0.05). APOE e4 allele impaired episodic memory function in the subjects of more than or equal to 75 years old. They also revealed that in AD subjects below 75 years old, attention/executive function(Trails Making-A, Trails Making-B, and Digit Symbol Substitution), and working memory (Digit Span backward)were better in the APOE e3/e4 group than the APOE e3/e3 group(p < 0.05). Only at AD conversion, constructive praxis(ADAS construction)was better in the APOE e3/e4 group than the APOE e3/e3 group(p < 0.01). APOE e3/e4 allele may restrain AD subject below 75 years old from decline of attention/executive function, working memory (Digit Span backward)and constructional praxia.
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