Check out some of the papers that were recently published by DMCBH members:
Daniela Palombo: Collaborative imagination synchronizes representations of the future and fosters social connection in the present
Journal: Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
From envisioning a future together on a first date to forming lifelong friendships, imagining a shared future seems fundamental to relationships. These studies introduced a framework for exploring collaborative imagination—the process of cocreating shared representations of possible events. Through two preregistered studies (N = 244), the research showed that collaborative imagination enhances social connection in new pairs, more so than when imagining a future alone or merely sharing experiences.
Journal: Scientific Reports
White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are markers of a type of vascular cognitive impairment associated with impaired postural balance. Physical reserve, a recently introduced concept, reflects an individual’s ability to maintain physical function despite existing brain pathology. This cross-sectional study investigated whether physical reserve and associated brain networks moderated the relationship between WMH and balance under two conditions: standing on foam versus a hard floor. The findings revealed that physical reserve significantly moderated this relationship, with individuals possessing high physical reserve maintaining stability regardless of WMH load. The results imply that the impact of WMH on postural stability may be influenced by compensatory neural network reorganization within the frontoparietal and default mode networks.
Annie Ciernia, Paul Pavlidis: Development of a High-Throughput Pipeline to Characterize Microglia Morphological States at a Single-Cell Resolution
Journal: eNeuro
Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, exhibit various morphological states that reflect their functions. Traditionally, they are described as having a ramified shape under normal conditions and an ameboid form during inflammation. However, they can also display a range of other morphologies, such as rod-like, hypertrophic, and more, depending on brain region, developmental stage, and pathology. These different morphologies have been found across brain regions, developmental timepoints and pathological contexts. Using dimensionality reduction and clustering, researchers considered multiple morphology measures in a mouse dataset. Their semi-automated approach using ImageJ characterized 27 features of microglial cells in a brain region-specific matter. The researchers have compiled their morphology analysis pipeline into a fully open-source ImageJ macro and R package that the neuroscience community can expand upon.
Helen Tremlett: Meta-analysis identifies common gut microbiota associated with multiple sclerosis
Journal: Genome Medicine
Previous research has identified differences in gut microbiomes between patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and healthy individuals. To further investigate, researchers conducted a meta-analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing data from seven diverse studies, including a total of 524 participants. After reprocessing and merging the data, they used statistical tests to identify differences in microbial composition and diversity between the groups. The analysis revealed that microbiome structures varied significantly across studies. Specifically, MS patients showed a lower relative abundance of Prevotella and Faecalibacterium, a higher abundance of Actinomyces, and a disrupted negative correlation between Bacteroides and Prevotella. These findings highlight consistent gut microbiota differences associated with MS across diverse populations and methodologies.
Fidel Vila-Rodriguez: Neurocognitive effects of 3 mA prefrontal electrical stimulation in schizophrenia: A randomized sham-controlled tDCS-fMRI study protocol
Journal: PLoS One
Schizophrenia is characterized by cognitive deficits, including difficulties with reasoning, decision-making, and working memory, which are linked to dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex. While transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which delivers a low electric current to the scalp, shows promise for cognitive enhancement, the effects of intensified 3mA protocols on brain physiology remain unclear. This study will be a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial involving 48 participants with schizophrenia and cognitive impairments. Participants will receive either a single session of stimulation or a sham treatment. The stimulation will target the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during a working memory task to evaluate changes in brain activation and working memory performance. The results of the proposed study could contribute to the development of new treatments for schizophrenia.
Lawrence Ward: Attentional selection and communication through coherence: Scope and limitations
Journal: PLoS Computational Biology
Synchronous neural oscillations are closely linked to various perceptual, cognitive, and behavioural processes. This study explored the “communication through coherence” (CTC) hypothesis, which suggests that synchronous neural oscillations facilitate information transmission between brain areas. Specifically, it investigated a proposed mechanism for selective attention involving alpha oscillations (around 10 Hz) from the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, which organizes gamma oscillations (around 40 Hz) in cortical areas to enhance phase coherence and communication. The process is believed to be guided by control signals from higher-level cortical areas to the thalamic reticular nucleus. Through computational modelling, the study found that while the CTC mechanism can explain certain aspects of attentional selection, its limitations suggest that an alternative mechanism, where oscillatory coherence results from communication between brain areas rather than causing it, might also be at play.
Ipek Oruc: Atypical daily visual exposure to faces in adults with autism spectrum disorder
Journal: Current Biology
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have difficulty with face processing compared to neurotypicals, including identity and facial expression recognition. This may be due to reduced visual experiences with faces. This study presented the first empirical report on the day-to-day visual experience of the faces of adults with ASD. The results, based on over 360 hours of first-person perspective footage of daily exposure to faces, show significant differences between the visual experiences of those with ASD and controls. Specifically, the duration of exposure to familiar faces was lower in ASD, and faces were viewed from farther distances and from viewpoints that were biased toward side profiles. The results provide strong evidence that individuals with ASD may not be getting the experience needed for the typical development of expert face processes.
Shannon Kolind, Anthony Traboulsee: Pooled analysis of multiple sclerosis findings on multisite 7 Tesla MRI: Protocol and initial observations
Journal: Human Brain Mapping
While 7T MRI research has been integral to our understanding of multiple sclerosis, most data has come from small, single-center studies with varying methods. Members of the North American Imaging in MS Cooperative collaborated to develop a collaborative multicenter survey of 7T MRI in MS to assess applicability. This manuscript described the methods developed to pool a large, retrospective dataset acquired in MS studies at five institutions. This group has contributed 528 7T MRI scans from 350 MS patients to date, with plans to expand the dataset. The researchers described initial observations and outlined methodologies for future analysis projects, aiming to provide a resource for other investigators aiming to combine datasets for MS.
Wilfred Jefferies: Mind over matter: the microbial mindscapes of psychedelics and the gut-brain axis
Journal: Pharmacological Research
In recent years, psychedelics have become more popular as promising therapeutics for many psychiatric disorders. Currently, researchers hypothesize that the partial agonism of psychedelics at the serotonin 2A receptor may lead to enhanced neuroplasticity and changes in brain connectivity, facilitating positive mindset shifts. However, these hypotheses neglect the gut microbiota, which can potentially mediate the positive effects of psychedelics on behaviour. This review presented existing evidence that the gut microbiome may be responsive to psychedelics and discussed different alternative mechanistic models addressing the contributions of the microbiome. Clarifying the role of the gut microbiome has the potential to inform personalized psychedelic therapies and improve our understanding of underlying mechanisms.
