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(1 - 13 of 13)
- Title
- Dynamics of human sensorimotor coordination: From behavior to brain activity.
- Creator
- Chen, Yanqing, Florida Atlantic University, Ding, Mingzhou, Kelso, J. A. Scott
- Abstract/Description
-
The dynamics of human sensorimotor coordination are studied at behavioral and neural levels through temporal synchronization and syncopation tasks. In experiment 1, subjects synchronized their finger movements (in-phase) with a metronome at 2.0Hz and 1.25Hz for 1200 cycles. Fluctuations of timing errors were analyzed through correlation, power spectrum analyses and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). Results indicated that the synchronization error time series was characterized by a 1/falpha...
Show moreThe dynamics of human sensorimotor coordination are studied at behavioral and neural levels through temporal synchronization and syncopation tasks. In experiment 1, subjects synchronized their finger movements (in-phase) with a metronome at 2.0Hz and 1.25Hz for 1200 cycles. Fluctuations of timing errors were analyzed through correlation, power spectrum analyses and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). Results indicated that the synchronization error time series was characterized by a 1/falpha type of long memory process with alpha = 0.5. Previous timing models based upon motor program or simple "central clock" ideas were reviewed to show that they could not explain such long range correlations in the synchronization task. To explore the possible cognitive origins of long range correlation, experiment 2 required subjects to synchronize (on the beat) or syncopate (off the beat) to a metronome at 1Hz using different cognitive strategies. Timing fluctuations were again found to be 1/f alpha type, with alpha = 0.5 in synchronization and alpha = 0.8 in syncopation. When subjects employed a synchronization strategy to successfully syncopate, timing fluctuations shifted toward 1/f 0.5 type. This experiment indicated that the scaling exponent in timing fluctuations was related to task requirements and specific coordination strategies. Further, they suggest that the sources of such long memory originated from higher level cognitive processing in the human brain. Experiment 3 analyzed magnetoencephalography (MEG) data associated with synchronization and syncopation tasks. Brain oscillations at alpha (8--14Hz), beta (15--20Hz) and gamma (35--40Hz) frequency ranges were shown to correlate with different aspects of the coordination behavior. Specifically, through power and coherence analyses, alpha activity was linked to sensorimotor integration and "binding", beta activity was related to task requirements (synchronization or syncopation), and gamma activity was related to movement kinematics (trajectory). These results supported the idea that the 1/f alpha type of timing fluctuations originated from collective neural activities in the brain acting on multiple time scales.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2000
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12649
- Subject Headings
- Sensorimotor integration, Cognitive neuroscience
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A DISINHIBITORY MICROCIRCUIT FOR GATED CEREBELLAR LEARNING.
- Creator
- Zhang, Ke, Christie, Jason, Dawson-Scully, Ken, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Biological Sciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
- Abstract/Description
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Performance motor errors trigger animals’ adaptive learning behaviors to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the movement. The cerebellum is one of the key brain centers for encoding motor performance and motor learning. Climbing fibers relay information related to motor errors to the cerebellar cortex, evoking elevation of intracellular Ca2+ signals at Purkinje cell dendrites and inducing plasticity at coactive parallel fiber synapses, ultimately recalibrating sensorimotor associations to...
Show morePerformance motor errors trigger animals’ adaptive learning behaviors to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the movement. The cerebellum is one of the key brain centers for encoding motor performance and motor learning. Climbing fibers relay information related to motor errors to the cerebellar cortex, evoking elevation of intracellular Ca2+ signals at Purkinje cell dendrites and inducing plasticity at coactive parallel fiber synapses, ultimately recalibrating sensorimotor associations to alter behavior. Molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) inhibit Purkinje cells to modulate dendritic excitability and action potential output. How MLIs contribute to the regulation and encoding of climbing fiber-evoked adaptive movements remains poorly understood. In this dissertation, I used genetic tools to manipulate the activity of MLIs while monitoring Purkinje cell dendritic activity during a cerebellum-dependent motor learning task with different contexts to evaluate how MLIs are involved in this process. The results show that by suppressing dendritic Ca2+ signals in Purkinje cells, MLI activity coincident with climbing fiber-mediated excitation prevents the occurrence of learning when adaptation is not necessary. On the other hand, with error signals present, disinhibition onto Purkinje cells, mediated by MLI-MLI microcircuit, unlocked the ability of climbing fibers to induce plasticity and motor learning.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2020
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013526
- Subject Headings
- Cerebellum, Interneurons, Purkinje cells, Dendrites, Sensorimotor integration, Neuroplasticity
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Detecting the spatiotemporal dynamics of neural activity on the cortical surface: applying anatomically constrained beamforming to EEG.
- Creator
- Murzin, Vyacheslav., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Physics
- Abstract/Description
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The neurophysiological signals that are recorded in EEG (electroencephalography) and MEG (magnetoencephalography) originate from current flow perpendicular to the cortical surface due to the columnar organization of pyramidal cells in the cortical gray matter. These locations and directions have been used as anatomical constraints for dipolar sources in estimations of neural activity from MEG recordings. Here we extend anatomically constrained beamforming to EEG, which requires a more...
Show moreThe neurophysiological signals that are recorded in EEG (electroencephalography) and MEG (magnetoencephalography) originate from current flow perpendicular to the cortical surface due to the columnar organization of pyramidal cells in the cortical gray matter. These locations and directions have been used as anatomical constraints for dipolar sources in estimations of neural activity from MEG recordings. Here we extend anatomically constrained beamforming to EEG, which requires a more sophisticated forward model than MEG due to the blurring of the electric potential at tissue boundaries, but in contrast to MEG, EEG can account for both tangential and radial sources. Using computed tomography (CT) scans we create a realistic three-layer head model consisting of tessellated surfaces representing the tissue boundaries cerebrospinal fluid-skull, skull-scalp and scalp-air. The cortical gray matter surface, the anatomical constraint for the source dipoles, is extracted from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. EEG beamforming is implemented in a set of simulated data and compared for three different head models: single sphere, multi-shell sphere and realistic geometry multi-shell model that employs a boundary element method. Beamformer performance is also analyzed and evaluated for multiple dipoles and extended sources (patches). We show that using anatomical constraints with the beamforming algorithm greatly reduces computation time while increasing the spatial accuracy of the reconstructed sources of neural activity. Using the spatial Laplacian instead of the electric potential in combination with beamforming further improves the spatial resolution and allows for the detection of highly correlated sources.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1930497
- Subject Headings
- Sensorimotor integration, Brain mapping, Perceptual-motor processes
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) ENABLES SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION FOR PROSTHETIC HAND DEXTERITY.
- Creator
- Abd, Moaed A., Engeberg, Erik D., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
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Hand amputation is a devastating feeling for amputees, and it is lifestyle changing since it is challenging to perform the basic life activities with amputation. Hand amputation means interrupting the closed loop between sensory feedback and motor control. The absence of sensory feedback requires a significant cognitive effort from the amputee to perform basic daily activities with prosthetic hand. Loss of tactile sensations is a major roadblock preventing amputees from multitasking or using...
Show moreHand amputation is a devastating feeling for amputees, and it is lifestyle changing since it is challenging to perform the basic life activities with amputation. Hand amputation means interrupting the closed loop between sensory feedback and motor control. The absence of sensory feedback requires a significant cognitive effort from the amputee to perform basic daily activities with prosthetic hand. Loss of tactile sensations is a major roadblock preventing amputees from multitasking or using the full dexterity of their prosthetic hands. One of the most significant features lacking from commercial prosthetic hands is sensory feedback, according to amputees. Many amputees abandoned their prosthetic devices due to the lack of tactile feedback. In the field of prosthetics, restoring sensory feedback is the most challenging task due to the complexity of integration between the prosthetic and the peripheral nervous system. A prosthetic hand with sensory feedback that imitates the intact hand would improve the lives of millions of amputees worldwide by inducing the prosthetic hand to be a part of the body image and significant impact the control of the prosthetic. To restore the sensory feedback and improve the dexterity for upper limb amputee, multiple components needed to be integrated together to provide the sensory feedback. Tactile sensors are the first components that needed to be integrated into the sensorimotor loop. In this research two tactile sensors were integrated in the sensory feedback loop. The first tactile sensor is BioTac which is a commercially available sensor. The first novel contribution with BioTac is the development of an ANN classifier to detect the direction a grasped object slips in a dexterous robotic hand in real time, and the second novel aspect of this study is the use of slip direction detection for adaptive robotic grasp reflexes. The second tactile sensor is the liquid metal sensor (LMS), this sensor was developed entirely in our lab (BioRobotics lab). The novel contribution for LMS is to detect and prevent slip in real time application, and to recognize different surface features and different sliding speeds.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2022
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013875
- Subject Headings
- Artificial intelligence, Haptic devices, Tactile sensors, Sensorimotor integration, Artificial hands
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The Role of Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex in the Motor Control.
- Creator
- Asemi, Avisa, Bressler, Steven L., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
- Abstract/Description
-
We sought to better understand human motor control by investigating functional interactions between the Supplementary Motor Area (SMA), dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC), and primary motor cortex (M1) in healthy adolescent participants performing visually coordinated unimanual finger-movement and n-back working memory tasks. We discovered modulation of the SMA by the dACC by analysis of fMRI BOLD time series recorded from the three ROIs (SMA, dACC, and M1) in each participant. Two...
Show moreWe sought to better understand human motor control by investigating functional interactions between the Supplementary Motor Area (SMA), dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC), and primary motor cortex (M1) in healthy adolescent participants performing visually coordinated unimanual finger-movement and n-back working memory tasks. We discovered modulation of the SMA by the dACC by analysis of fMRI BOLD time series recorded from the three ROIs (SMA, dACC, and M1) in each participant. Two measures of functional interaction were used: undirected functional connectivity was measured using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (PMCC), and directed functional connectivity was measured from linear autoregressive (AR) models. In the first project, task-specific modulation of the SMA by the dACC was discovered while subjects performed a coordinated unimanual finger-movement task, in which the finger movement was synchronized with an exogenous visual stimulus. In the second project, modulation of the SMA by the dACC was found to be significantly greater in the finger coordination task than in an n-back working memory, in which the same finger movement signified a motor response indicating a 0-back or 2-back working memory match. We thus demonstrated in the first study that the dACC sends task-specific directed signals to the supplementary motor area, suggesting a role for the dACC in top-down motor control. Finally, the second study revealed that these signals were significantly greater in the coordinated motor task than in the n-back working memory task, suggesting that the modulation of the SMA by the dACC was associated with sustained, continuous motor production and/or motor expectation, rather than with the motor movement itself.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004478
- Subject Headings
- Brain mapping, Cerebral cortex -- Anatomy, Cognitive neuroscience, Computational neuroscience, Movement sequences, Perceptual motor learning, Sensorimotor integration
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Large-Scale Cortical Functional Connectivity Underlying Visuospatial Attention.
- Creator
- Meehan, Timothy Patrick, Bressler, Steven L., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
- Abstract/Description
-
The endogenous, or voluntary, control of visuospatial attention relies upon interactions within a frontoparietal dorsal attention network (DAN) and this network’s top-down influence on visual occipital cortex (VOC). While these interactions have been shown to occur during attention tasks, they are also known to occur to some extent at rest, but the degree to which task-related interactions reflect either modulation or reorganization of such ongoing intrinsic interactions is poorly understood....
Show moreThe endogenous, or voluntary, control of visuospatial attention relies upon interactions within a frontoparietal dorsal attention network (DAN) and this network’s top-down influence on visual occipital cortex (VOC). While these interactions have been shown to occur during attention tasks, they are also known to occur to some extent at rest, but the degree to which task-related interactions reflect either modulation or reorganization of such ongoing intrinsic interactions is poorly understood. In addition, it is known that in spatial neglect—a syndrome following unilateral brain lesions in which patients fail to attend to the contralesional side of space—symptom severity covaries with disruptions to intrinsic interhemispheric interactions between left and right homologous regions of the DAN; however, similar covariance with disruptions to intrahemispheric interactions within the DAN, and between the DAN and VOC, has not been demonstrated. These issues are addressed herein via the measurement of both undirected and directed functional connectivity (UFC, DFC) within the DAN and between the DAN and VOC. UFC and DFC were derived from correlations of, and multivariate vector autoregressive modeling of, fMRI BOLD time-series, respectively. Time-series were recorded from individuals performing an anticipatory visuospatial attention task and individuals at rest, as well as from stroke patients either with or without neglect and age-matched healthy controls. With regard to the first issue, the results show that relative to rest, top-down DAN-to-VOC influence and within-DAN coupling are elevated during task performance, but also that intrinsic connectivity patterns are largely preserved during the task. With regard to the second issue, results show that interhemispheric imbalances of intrahemispheric UFC and DFC both within the DAN and between the DAN and VOC strongly correlate with neglect severity, and may co-occur with functional decoupling of the hemispheres. This work thus demonstrates that the intrinsic functional integrity of the DAN and its relationship to VOC is crucial for the endogenous control of visuospatial attention during tasks, and that the compromise of this integrity due to stroke likely plays a role in producing spatial neglect.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004613
- Subject Headings
- Cognitive neuroscience., Sensorimotor integration., Space perception., Selectivity (Psychology), Recognition (Psychology), Brain mapping.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Learning to match faces and voices.
- Creator
- Davidson, Meredith., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
- Abstract/Description
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This study examines whether forming a single identity is crucial to learning to bind faces and voices, or if people are equally able to do so without tying this information to an identity. To test this, individuals learned paired faces and voices that were in one of three different conditions: True voice, Gender Matched, or Gender Mismatched conditions. Performance was measured in a training phase as well as a test phase, and results show that participants were able to learn more quickly and...
Show moreThis study examines whether forming a single identity is crucial to learning to bind faces and voices, or if people are equally able to do so without tying this information to an identity. To test this, individuals learned paired faces and voices that were in one of three different conditions: True voice, Gender Matched, or Gender Mismatched conditions. Performance was measured in a training phase as well as a test phase, and results show that participants were able to learn more quickly and have higher overall performance for learning in the True Voice and Gender Matched conditions. During the test phase, performance was almost at chance in the Gender Mismatched condition which may mean that learning in the training phase was simply memorization of the pairings for this condition. Results support the hypothesis that learning to bind faces and voices is a process that involves forming a supramodal identity from multisensory learning.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683140
- Subject Headings
- Sensorimotor integration, Senses and sensation, Intersensory effects, Perceptual learning, Pattern recognition systems
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Spatiotemporal beanformer analysis of neuromagnetic activity in sensorimotor cortex: rhythmic perception, production and sensorimotor coordination.
- Creator
- Ferrari, Paul., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
- Abstract/Description
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Research presented in this dissertation has the central aim of applying a novel method of source localization called beamforming to neuromagnetic recordings for characterizing dynamic spatiotemporal activity of sensorimotor brain processes in subjects during rhythmic auditory stimulation, self-paced movement, and two sensorimotor coordination (synchronization and syncopation) tasks known to differentiate on the basis of behavioral stability. Each experimental condition was performed at...
Show moreResearch presented in this dissertation has the central aim of applying a novel method of source localization called beamforming to neuromagnetic recordings for characterizing dynamic spatiotemporal activity of sensorimotor brain processes in subjects during rhythmic auditory stimulation, self-paced movement, and two sensorimotor coordination (synchronization and syncopation) tasks known to differentiate on the basis of behavioral stability. Each experimental condition was performed at different rates resulting in 26 experimental runs per subject. Event-related neural responses were recorded with a whole-head MEG system and characterized in terms of their phase-locked (evoked) and non-phase-locked (induced) activity within the brain using both whole-brain analysis and region of interest (ROI) analysis. The analysis of the auditory conditions revealed that neural activity within extraauditory areas throughout the brain, including sensorimotor cortex, is modulated by rhythmic auditory stimulation. Additionally, the temporal profile of this activity was markedly different between sensorimotor and auditory cortex, possibly revealing different physiological processes, entrained within a common network for representing isochronic auditory events. During self-paced movements cycle-by-cycle dynamics of induced neural activity was measured and consistent neuro-modulation in the form of event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) was observed at all rates investigated (0.25 - 1.75Hz). ERD and ERS modulations exhibited dynamic scaling properties on a cycle-by-cycle basis that depended on the period of movement. Activity in the beta- and mu-bands also exhibited patterns of phase locking between sensorimotor locations. Phase locking patterns exhibited abrupt decreases with increases in movement rate., During sensorimotor coordination tasks, the effect of temporal positioning of the auditory stimulus was apparent within sensorimotor cortical sites. This finding offers direct source level support for previous sensor level analysis revealing a differentiation of functional specificity for mu- and beta-band activity (Chen, Ding, Kelso, 2003; Jantzen, Fuchs, Mayville et al., 2001; Mayville, Fuchs, Ding et al., 2001), and may be reflective of specific coupling mechanisms between auditory and sensorimotor networks. The beamformer analysis applied within this dissertation successfully characterized large-scale neural networks during a variety of rhythmic perceptual, motor, and sensorimotor tasks resulting in the general message that information processes across disparate parts of the brain from different sensory, motor, and cognitive modalities appear to have the ability for widespread integration.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/228770
- Subject Headings
- Sensorimotor integration, Perceptual-motor processes, Auditory provoked response, Brain mapping
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Spatiotemporal brain dynamics of the resting state.
- Creator
- Rho, Young-Ah., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
- Abstract/Description
-
Traditionally brain function is studied through measuring physiological responses in controlled sensory, motor, and cognitive paradigms. However, even at rest, in the absence of overt goal-directed behavior, collections of cortical regions consistently show temporally coherent activity. In humans, these resting state networks have been shown to greatly overlap with functional architectures present during consciously directed activity, which motivates the interpretation of rest activity as day...
Show moreTraditionally brain function is studied through measuring physiological responses in controlled sensory, motor, and cognitive paradigms. However, even at rest, in the absence of overt goal-directed behavior, collections of cortical regions consistently show temporally coherent activity. In humans, these resting state networks have been shown to greatly overlap with functional architectures present during consciously directed activity, which motivates the interpretation of rest activity as day dreaming, free association, stream of consciousness, and inner rehearsal. In monkeys, it has been shown though that similar coherent fluctuations are present during deep anesthesia when there is no consciousness. These coherent fluctuations have also been characterized on multiple temporal scales ranging from the fast frequency regimes, 1-100 Hz, commonly observed in EEG and MEG recordings, to the ultra-slow regimes, < 0.1 Hz, observed in the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal of functi onal magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, the mechanism for their genesis and the origin of the ultra-slow frequency oscillations has not been well understood. Here, we show that comparable resting state networks emerge from a stability analysis of the network dynamics using biologically realistic primate brain connectivity, although anatomical information alone does not identify the network. We specifically demonstrate that noise and time delays via propagation along connecting fibres are essential for the emergence of the coherent fluctuations of the default network. The combination of anatomical structure and time delays creates a spacetime structure in which the neural noise enables the brain to explore various functional configurations representing its dynamic repertoire., Using a simplified network model comprised of 3 nodes governed by the dynamics of FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) oscillators, we systematically study the role of time delay and coupling strength in the Using a simplified network model comprised of 3 nodes governed by the dynamics of FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) oscillators, we systematically study the role of time delay and coupling strength in the generation o f the slow coherent fluctuations. We find that these fluctuations in the BOLD signal are significantly correlated with the level of neural synchrony implicating that transient interareal synchronizations are the mechanism causing the emergence of the ultra slow coherent fluctuations in the BOLD signal.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/367762
- Subject Headings
- Brain mapping, Sensorimotor integration, Perceptual-motor processes, Intersensory effects, Movement sequences
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Theoretical and experimental studies of multisensory integration as a coupled dynamical system.
- Creator
- Assisi, Collins G., Florida Atlantic University, Kelso, J. A. Scott, Jirsa, Viktor K.
- Abstract/Description
-
Perception and behavior are mediated by a widely distributed network of brain areas. Our main concern is, how do the components of the network interact in order to give us a variety of complex coordinated behavior? We first define the nodes of the network, termed functional units, as a strongly coupled ensemble of non-identical neurons and demonstrate that the dynamics of such an ensemble may be approximated by a low dimensional set of equations. The dynamics is studied in two different...
Show morePerception and behavior are mediated by a widely distributed network of brain areas. Our main concern is, how do the components of the network interact in order to give us a variety of complex coordinated behavior? We first define the nodes of the network, termed functional units, as a strongly coupled ensemble of non-identical neurons and demonstrate that the dynamics of such an ensemble may be approximated by a low dimensional set of equations. The dynamics is studied in two different contexts, sensorimotor coordination and multisensory integration. First, we treat movement coupled to the environment as a driven functional unit. Our central hypothesis is that this coupling must be minimally parametric. We demonstrate the experimental validity of this hypothesis and propose a theoretical model that explains the results of our experiment. A second example of the dynamics of functional units is evident in the domain of multisensory integration. We employ a novel rhythmic multisensory paradigm designed to capture the temporal features of multisensory integration parametrically. The relevant parameters of our experiment are the inter-onset interval between pairs of rhythmically presented stimuli and the frequency of presentation. We partition the two dimensional parameter space using subjects perception of the stimulus sequence. The general features of the partitioning are modality independent suggesting that these features depend on the coupling between the unisensory subsystems. We develop a model with coupled functional units and suggest a candidate coupling scheme. In subsequent chapters we probe the neural correlates of multisensory integration using fMRI and EEG. The results of our fMRI experiment demonstrate that multisensory integration is mediated by a network consisting of primary sensory areas, inferior parietal lobule, prefrontal areas and the posterior midbrain. Different percepts lead to the recruitment of different areas and their disengagement for other percepts. In analyzing the EEG data, we first develop a mathematical framework that allows us to differentiate between sources activated for both unisensory and multisensory stimulation from those sources activated only for multisensory stimulation. Using this methodology we show that the influences of multisensory processing may be seen at an early (40--60 ms) stage of sensory processing.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12167
- Subject Headings
- Intersensory effects, Perceptual-motor processes, Sensorimotor integration, Psychology, Comparative, Developmental neurobiology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Perceptions of the environment: an ethnographic study of sensory awareness and environmental activism among south Florida yoga practitioners.
- Creator
- Weisner, Meagan L., Cameron, Mary, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
-
The practice of yoga is an increasingly popularized movement within the West that incorporates the desire for physical fitness, spiritual consciousness, and environmentalism. Emanating from the New Age movement, the popularity of yoga has proliferated as a subculture that seeks to encourage mind–body wellbeing while representing an ethos that assumes environmental responsibility. This thesis examines the techniques of modern yoga and the influence that asana (posture) and meditational...
Show moreThe practice of yoga is an increasingly popularized movement within the West that incorporates the desire for physical fitness, spiritual consciousness, and environmentalism. Emanating from the New Age movement, the popularity of yoga has proliferated as a subculture that seeks to encourage mind–body wellbeing while representing an ethos that assumes environmental responsibility. This thesis examines the techniques of modern yoga and the influence that asana (posture) and meditational relaxation have on the senses and subsequently on environmental awareness and activism.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004418, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004418
- Subject Headings
- Cognition and culture, Environmental psychology, Mind and body, Movement therapy, Philosophy of mind, Self consciousness (Awareness), Senses and sensation, Sensorimotor integration, Yoga
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Investigation of human visual spatial attention with fMRI and Granger Causality analysis.
- Creator
- Tang, Wei, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
- Abstract/Description
-
Contemporary understanding of human visual spatial attention rests on the hypothesis of a top-down control sending from cortical regions carrying higher-level functions to sensory regions. Evidence has been gathered through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments. The Frontal Eye Field (FEF) and IntraParietal Sulcus (IPS) are candidates proposed to form the frontoparietal attention network for top-down control. In this work we examined the influence patterns between...
Show moreContemporary understanding of human visual spatial attention rests on the hypothesis of a top-down control sending from cortical regions carrying higher-level functions to sensory regions. Evidence has been gathered through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments. The Frontal Eye Field (FEF) and IntraParietal Sulcus (IPS) are candidates proposed to form the frontoparietal attention network for top-down control. In this work we examined the influence patterns between frontoparietal network and Visual Occipital Cortex (VOC) using a statistical measure, Granger Causality (GC), with fMRI data acquired from subjects participated in a covert attention task. We found a directional asymmetry in GC between FEF/IPS and VOC, and further identified retinotopically specific control patterns in top-down GC. This work may lead to deeper understanding of goal-directed attention, as well as the application of GC to analyzing higher-level cognitive functions in healthy functioning human brain.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334101
- Subject Headings
- Attention, Physiological aspects, Cognitive neuroscience, Brain, Magnetic resonance imaging, Sensorimotor integration, Movement sequences, Human information processing, Cognitive psychology, Visual perception, Testing
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Afferent projections to rhomboid nucleus of thalamus.
- Creator
- Owens, Michelle Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Vertes, Robert P.
- Abstract/Description
-
The midline thalamus of rats is anatomically and functionally part of the "limbic" thalamus. The midline thalamic rhomboid nucleus (RH) has not been well characterized. The rhomboid nucleus is located just dorsal to the reuniens nucleus (RE), and just ventral to the central medial nucleus (CeM) of the thalamus. Using the retrograde tracer fluorogold (FG) and anti-FG antibody, we examined afferent projections to RH in the rat. Control injections were also made in CeM and the submedial nucleus...
Show moreThe midline thalamus of rats is anatomically and functionally part of the "limbic" thalamus. The midline thalamic rhomboid nucleus (RH) has not been well characterized. The rhomboid nucleus is located just dorsal to the reuniens nucleus (RE), and just ventral to the central medial nucleus (CeM) of the thalamus. Using the retrograde tracer fluorogold (FG) and anti-FG antibody, we examined afferent projections to RH in the rat. Control injections were also made in CeM and the submedial nucleus of thalamus (SMT). The main sources of input to RH were from the anterior cingulate, agranular insular, orbital, and somatosensory cortices; the claustrum; the reticular nucleus of the thalamus; the posterior hypothalamus; and various brainstem structures. Based on patterns of the afferent projections, the role of RH in arousal, attention, and mnemonic functions is discussed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13220
- Subject Headings
- Rats as laboratory animals, Rats--Nervous system, Thalamus--Research, Rats--Embryology, Afferent pathways, Perceptual-motor processes, Sensorimotor integration
- Format
- Document (PDF)
