Space and time are fundamental attributes of the external world. Deciphering the brain mechanisms involved in processing the surrounding environment is one of the main challenges in neuroscience. This is particularly defiant when situations change rapidly over time because of the intertwining of spatial and temporal information. However, understanding the cognitive processes that allow coping with dynamic environments is critical, as the nervous system evolved in them due to the pressure for survival. Recent experiments have revealed a new cognitive mechanism called time compaction. According to it, a dynamic situation is represented internally by a static map of the future interactions between the perceived elements (including the subject itself). The salience of predicted interactions (e.g. collisions) over other spatiotemporal and dynamic attributes during the processing of time-changing situations has been shown in humans, rats, and bats. Motivated by this ubiquity, we study an artificial neural network to explore its minimal conditions necessary to represent a dynamic stimulus through the future interactions present in it. We show that, under general and simple conditions, the neural activity linked to the predicted interactions emerges to encode the perceived dynamic stimulus. Our results show that this encoding improves learning, memorization and decision making when dealing with stimuli with impending interactions compared to no-interaction stimuli. These findings are in agreement with theoretical and experimental results that have supported time compaction as a novel and ubiquitous cognitive process.

• Keywords
• Neural networks, dynamic environments, interactions, learning, memory, spatiotemporal cognition,
• MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Brain physiology   MeSH
• Neural Networks, Computer * MeSH
• Memory physiology   MeSH
• Decision Making physiology   MeSH
• Learning physiology   MeSH
• Time Perception physiology   MeSH
• Space Perception physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Research has shown that external focus (EF) instructions-directing attention to intended movement effects (e.g., ball's or dart's path)-are more effective for enhancing motor performance and learning than internal focus (IF) instructions, which focus on body movements (e.g., arm or foot motion). Nonetheless, the impact of visuospatial working memory capacity (WMC) in this context, especially among children, has been less investigated. This research sought to examine the effects of EF compared to IF on the skill acquisition and motor learning of a dart-throwing task among children with both high and low visuospatial WMC. Forty-eight boys aged 9-11 (Mage: 9.67 ± 0.76 years) were grouped by high or low WMC based on spatial span and memory tests, then assigned to receive either EF or IF instructions. The experiment comprised three stages: practice, retention, and two transfer tests, including throwing from a longer distance and a dual-task scenario with added cognitive load (tone counting). Results showed that EF outperformed IF at all stages. While WMC did not affect performance during practice and retention, children with low WMC performed better than those with high WMC during the longer distance test. In dual-task conditions, an EF continued to surpass an IF, whilst the WMC exerted no significant impact. The present findings suggest that an EF relative to an IF promotes more automatic movement and enhanced multitasking, while the impact of visuospatial WMC was less than expected, highlighting the benefits of EF in teaching motor skills to children, regardless of visuospatial WMC.

• Keywords
• Children, External focus, Internal focus, Motor learning, Working memory capacity,
• MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Memory, Short-Term * physiology   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Motor Skills * physiology   MeSH
• Attention * physiology   MeSH
• Psychomotor Performance * physiology   MeSH
• Learning physiology   MeSH
• Space Perception physiology   MeSH
• Visual Perception physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

The formation of memories is a complex, multi-scale phenomenon, especially when it involves integration of information from various brain systems. We have investigated the differences between a novel and consolidated association of spatial cues and amphetamine administration, using an in situ hybridisation method to track the short-term dynamics during the recall testing. We have found that remote recall group involves smaller, but more consolidated groups of neurons, which is consistent with their specialisation. By employing machine learning analysis, we have shown this pattern is especially pronounced in the VTA; furthermore, we also uncovered significant activity patterns in retrosplenial and prefrontal cortices, as well as in the DG and CA3 subfields of the hippocampus. The behavioural propensity towards the associated localisation appears to be driven by the nucleus accumbens, however, further modulated by a trio of the amygdala, VTA and hippocampus, as the trained association is confronted with test experience. Moreover, chemogenetic analysis revealed central amygdala as critical for linking appetitive emotional states with spatial contexts. These results show that memory mechanisms must be modelled considering individual differences in motivation, as well as covering dynamics of the process.

• MeSH
• Amphetamine pharmacology   MeSH
• Amygdala physiology   metabolism   MeSH
• Hippocampus physiology   metabolism   MeSH
• Memory Consolidation * physiology   drug effects   MeSH
• Rats MeSH
• Brain physiology   MeSH
• Neurons physiology   MeSH
• Nucleus Accumbens physiology   MeSH
• Reward MeSH
• Memory physiology   MeSH
• Cues MeSH
• Prefrontal Cortex physiology   MeSH
• Mental Recall * physiology   drug effects   MeSH
• Machine Learning MeSH
• Ventral Tegmental Area physiology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Rats MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Amphetamine MeSH

Methoxphenidine (MXP) is classified as a new psychoactive substance that has recently emerged on the illicit drug market. Understanding the pharmacological and behavioural profiles of newly emerging drugs is essential for a better understanding of their psychotropic effects and potential toxicity. Therefore, in this study, we investigated a broad range of effects of acute MXP administration: pharmacokinetics in the brain and serum; behaviour (open field and prepulse inhibition), systemic toxicity (lethal dose; LD 50), and histopathology changes in parenchymal organs of Wistar rats. MXP rapidly crossed the blood-brain barrier, reaching peak median concentrations in both serum and brain 30 min post-administration, followed by an elimination phase with a half-life of 2.15 h. Locomotor activity in the open field test displayed a dose-response effect at low to moderate doses (10-20 mg/kg MXP). At higher doses (40 mg/kg), locomotor activity decreased. All doses of MXP significantly disrupted prepulse inhibition and the effect was present during the onset of its action as well as 60 min after treatment. Additionally, MXP demonstrated moderate acute toxicity, with an estimated LD50 of 500 mg/kg when administered subcutaneously. In summary, MXP exhibited a profile similar to typical dissociative anesthetics, producing stimulant and anxiogenic effects at lower doses, sedative effects at higher doses, and disrupting sensorimotor gating. The accumulation of MXP in brain tissue is likely to contribute to acute intoxication in humans, potentially leading to negative experiences. Our findings highlight the potentially dangerous effects of recreational MXP use and underscore the risks of inducing serious adverse health outcomes.

• Keywords
• Methoxphenidine, Open field, Pharmacokinetics, Systemic toxicity, Wistar rats,
• MeSH
• Behavior, Animal drug effects   MeSH
• Rats MeSH
• Lethal Dose 50 MeSH
• Brain drug effects   metabolism   MeSH
• Piperidines pharmacokinetics   pharmacology   MeSH
• Motor Activity drug effects   MeSH
• Rats, Wistar * MeSH
• Prepulse Inhibition drug effects   MeSH
• Open Field Test drug effects   MeSH
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Rats MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• 1-(1-(2-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenylethyl)piperidine MeSH Browser
• Piperidines MeSH

Chemosensory learning is a lifelong process of acquiring perceptual expertise and semantic knowledge about chemical stimuli within the everyday environment. In the research context, it is usually simulated using olfactory training, which typically involves repeated exposure to a set of odors over a period of time. Following olfactory training, enhanced olfactory performance has been observed in adults, and similar evidence is beginning to emerge in children. However, the literature is scant concerning the effects of interventions that more closely resemble how chemosensory experience is acquired in daily life. Since children's chemosensory ecology appears to play a crucial role in olfactory development, we investigated whether engaging in activities that stimulate the chemical senses enhances olfactory performance and metacognition. To this end, we invited 20 children aged 9-11 years to participate in teacher-assisted after-school activities for 30-60 minutes a day for six weeks. During the odd weeks, the children appraised herbal and spice blends and used them to prepare dishes and make beauty products. During the even ones, they explored the city by smellwalking and created smellscape maps. The educational outcomes were evaluated using the Sniffin' Sticks test for odor identification and discrimination and the Children's Personal Significance of Olfaction. Bayesian analyses did not reveal any compelling evidence in support of the alternative hypothesis that children in the chemosensory education group outperform those in the comparison group at the post-test. Rates of reliable increase but also decrease in performance on the Sniffin' Sticks identification and discrimination tests were similar in both groups. We corroborated the previous findings regarding girls' and older children's greater proficiency at identifying odors and the female keener interest in the sense of smell. We offer several practical suggestions researchers may want to consider to tailor their research protocols to reflect more closely the broader context in which chemosensory learning takes place and better capture the nuanced outcomes of such interventions.

• Keywords
• Children, Cognition, Multimodal, Odor, Olfactory training, Smell, Transfer,
• MeSH
• Smell * physiology   MeSH
• Olfactory Perception * physiology   MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Metacognition physiology   MeSH
• Odorants MeSH
• Schools MeSH
• Learning * physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to study the differences at the whole-brain level between self-paced and cued movement processing in Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: High density electroencephalogram (HD-EEG) was recorded during the performance of self-paced movements (Bereitschaftspotential - BP) and visually cued movements (VMT) in PD patients (n = 38) and in a group of healthy controls (HC, n = 23). Oscillatory changes in the alpha, beta, and gamma frequencies were evaluated and correlated to the clinical scales- MDS-UPDRS and Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOGQ). RESULTS: The main difference in the alpha range was an activation in the basal ganglia area during VMT performance as compared to BP performance; this activation was present only in HC. The most important finding was observed in the high beta range: a higher activation of the right postcentral area during BP performance in PD subjects as compared to HC, correlating to the severity of FOG. Moreover, PD patients had lower gamma activation of the right frontal areas. CONCLUSION: A simplification of motor circuits and a hyperactivation of the right somatosensory cortex were observed in PD subjects. SIGNIFICANCE: Future studies should be focused on this area to confirm or disprove its role in FOG.

• Keywords
• Freezing of gait, HD-EEG, Parkinson’s disease, Self-paced movements, Somatosensory cortex,
• MeSH
• Electroencephalography * methods   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Parkinson Disease * physiopathology   MeSH
• Cues MeSH
• Movement physiology   MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Somatosensory Cortex * physiopathology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

For unfamiliar faces, deciding whether two photographs depict the same person or not can be difficult. One way to substantially improve accuracy is to defer to the 'wisdom of crowds' by aggregating responses across multiple individuals. However, there are several methods available for doing this. Here, we investigated performance in three tests of unfamiliar face matching. In all cases, we found that going with the option chosen by the majority of people provided the best approach. No benefit was found by weighting an option's popularity using average confidence, while choosing the 'surprisingly popular' option resulted in a sizeable decrease in accuracy. Therefore, rather than incorporating metacognitive judgements, we endorse a simple majority vote for this particular task.

• Keywords
• confidence, face matching, majority, metacognition, surprisingly popular, wisdom of crowds,
• MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Judgment MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Facial Recognition * physiology   MeSH
• Recognition, Psychology * physiology   MeSH
• Social Perception * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Predator recognition is essential for prey survival, allowing for appropriate antipredator strategies. Some bird species, such as the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), distinguish not only between predators and non-threatening species but also between different predator species. Earlier studies have identified general predator "key features", especially beak shape and talons, as critical for predator recognition. The question, though, still remains of whether exchanging predator key features with those of nonpredatory species or, alternatively, completely removing them, have different or equal impact on recognition. Here we tested to ascertain whether the presence of the "incorrect key features" of a harmless pigeon (Columba livia) placed on a common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) body impairs predator recognition more efficiently than the absence of any key features. We presented an unmodified kestrel dummy and two modified kestrel dummies (one with pigeon key features, the other lacking key features) to wild red-backed shrikes defending their nest. The shrikes attacked the unmodified dummy kestrel more intensively than both kestrel modifications when defending the nest. However, shrikes did not show different responses to the kestrel with pigeon key features and the featureless kestrel. Our findings show that the absence and exchange of key features have the same effect in this case. These results are discussed in the context of recognition of a specific predator species and predators as a category in general.

• Keywords
• Lanius collurio, Antipredator behaviour, Categorization, Mobbing, Predator–prey interactions, Recognition,
• MeSH
• Columbidae * physiology   MeSH
• Falconiformes * physiology   MeSH
• Predatory Behavior * MeSH
• Recognition, Psychology * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Artists and laypeople differ in their ability to create drawings. Previous research has shown that artists have improved memory performance during drawing; however, it is unclear whether they have better visual memory after the drawing is finished. In this paper, we focused on the question of differences in visual memory between art students and the general population in two studies. In Study 1, both groups studied a set of images and later drew them in a surprise visual recall test. In Study 2, the drawings from Study 1 were evaluated by a different set of raters based on their drawing quality and similarity to the original image to link drawing evaluations with memory performance for both groups. We found that both groups showed comparable visual recognition memory performance; however, the artist group showed increased recall memory performance. Moreover, they produced drawings that were both better quality and more similar to the original image. Individually, participants whose drawings were rated as better showed higher recognition accuracy. Results from Study 2 also have practical implications for the usage of drawing as a tool for measuring free recall - the majority of the drawings were recognizable, and raters showed a high level of consistency during their evaluation of the drawings. Taken together, we found that artists have better visual recall memory than laypeople.

• Keywords
• Artists, Drawings, Visual memory,
• MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Mental Recall * physiology   MeSH
• Recognition, Psychology * physiology   MeSH
• Pattern Recognition, Visual * physiology   MeSH
• Students MeSH
• Art * MeSH
• Visual Perception * physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

BACKGROUND: The hippocampal representation of space, formed by the collective activity of populations of place cells, is considered as a substrate of spatial memory. Alzheimer's disease (AD), a widespread severe neurodegenerative condition of multifactorial origin, typically exhibits spatial memory deficits among its early clinical signs before more severe cognitive impacts develop. OBJECTIVE: To investigate mechanisms of spatial memory impairment in a double transgenic rat model of AD. METHODS: In this study, we utilized 9-12-month-old double-transgenic TgF344-AD rats and age-matched controls to analyze the spatial coding properties of CA1 place cells. We characterized the spatial memory representation, assessed cells' spatial information content and direction-specific activity, and compared their population coding in familiar and novel conditions. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that TgF344-AD animals exhibited lower precision in coding, as evidenced by reduced spatial information and larger receptive zones. This impairment was evident in maps representing novel environments. While controls instantly encoded directional context during their initial exposure to a novel environment, transgenics struggled to incorporate this information into the newly developed hippocampal spatial representation. This resulted in impairment in orthogonalization of stored activity patterns, an important feature directly related to episodic memory encoding capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the results shed light on the nature of impairment at both the single-cell and population levels in the transgenic AD model. In addition to the observed spatial coding inaccuracy, the findings reveal a significantly impaired ability to adaptively modify and refine newly stored hippocampal memory patterns.

• Keywords
• Alzheimer’s disease, TgF344-AD rats, place cell directionality, place field size, spatial memory,
• MeSH
• Alzheimer Disease * physiopathology   MeSH
• Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor genetics   MeSH
• CA1 Region, Hippocampal physiopathology   MeSH
• Hippocampus physiopathology   MeSH
• Rats MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Disease Models, Animal * MeSH
• Memory Disorders etiology   physiopathology   MeSH
• Rats, Inbred F344 MeSH
• Rats, Transgenic * MeSH
• Spatial Memory physiology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Rats MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor MeSH