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Vol 75, No 1 (2025)
ОБЗОРЫ И ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЕ СТАТЬИ
Reaction time indicators for assessing cognitive functions
Abstract
Cognitive abilities in neurodegenerative diseases begin to alter much earlier than the main clinical pathomorphological core of the disease develops, while patients for many years do not demonstrate pronounced clinical manifestations amid active functioning compensatory mechanisms. Subsequently, the leading symptom complex formed against the background of decompensation becomes practically insensitive to modern drug treatment. In this regard, the search for early manifestations of cognitive and neurological changes that could serve as reliable markers of the development of the neurodegenerative process, is a relevant task of diagnosing these diseases. Currently, in practical work, psychiatrists and neurologists mostly use blank cognitive tests for screening diagnostics of cognitive disorders based on questionnaires with scaled results, sensitivity of which is high for the stages of advanced disease, but is not enough for the stages of prodrome cognitive impairment. Therefore, the creation of a tool for objective screening of early stages of cognitive impairments, combining efficiency and ease of use, is an important and modern direction of neuroscience. Suggested review aims to analyze and summarize available data on the change in reaction speed at the onset of neurological diseases. The need for modernization of neuropsychological diagnostics with the help of possible integration of sensorimotor tests with computer technology is revealed. It should improve the reliability and accessibility of the screening assessment. It is shown that, apart from simple reaction (SRT), such reaction indicators as reaction time variability (RTV), choice reaction time (RTT) and the dynamic of reaction time are the objective and independent markers of efficiency of information processing by the nervous system.
3-14
Brain mechanisms of jazz improvisation
Abstract
Musical improvisation, especially in jazz, is a unique form of creative process that requires active interaction between different brain networks. Unlike the performance of pre-learned musical parts, improvisation is characterized by the reduced functional connectivity between the central executive network (ECN) and the default mode network (DMN), allowing bottom-up processes to guide creative behavior. This phenomenon, known as hypofrontality, contributes to reduced cognitive control and facilitates spontaneous idea generation. The aim of this review is to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying musical improvisation. Findings have shown that cognitive control is reduced during improvisation, allowing musicians to generate new musical ideas with minimal interference from executive functions. At the same time, performing pre-learned music requires higher levels of cognitive appraisal and control, which is associated with higher functional connectivity of the ECN and DMN. Of particular interest was the finding that the same neural networks are activated during imaginative improvisation as during real performance, which emphasizes the importance of self-referential processes in creativity. The findings support the hypothesis that improvisation activates unique neural mechanisms that facilitate spontaneous creativity and the free flow of ideas.
15-23
ФИЗИОЛОГИЯ ВЫСШЕЙ НЕРВНОЙ (КОГНИТИВНОЙ) ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
Variability of the boundaries of semantic priming: the role of informativeness of primes
Abstract
The study was aimed to identify which account, inhibition or episodic retrieval, is more relevant for newly learned semantic pairs. At the learning stage, 34 participants were presented with nonwords matched with images of unknown fruits as semantic referents. At the testing stage, we used a semantic priming paradigm with a color identification task, where in 50% of cases, images of fruits were targets and their names (pseudowords) were primes, and in the other 50%, vice versa, the names were used as targets and the images as primes. The congruence of the primes (whether the images and their learned names matched each other) was also varied. In parallel, oculomotor activity was recorded. We found positive priming for image primes in the congruent condition and negative priming for word primes regardless of their congruence. The results did not allow us to make a choice in favor of one of the accounts, however, by revealing the expansion of the negative priming effect boundaries, they did demonstrate the ability of the cognitive system to flexibly switch between more general and more specific levels of processing depending on the characteristics of the stimuli.
24-30
Neural correlates of solving arithmetic problems in adults
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted during the mental calculation of tasks involving basic arithmetic operations at three difficulty levels. During the solving of arithmetic problems involving subtraction, multiplication, and division at the easy level, brain activity was observed in the left inferior parietal lobule and left angular gyrus, which may reflect the memory retrieval from long-term memory. Additionally, activity was detected in the left inferior frontal gyrus during division, indicating using the procedural strategy. As the task difficulty increased, brain activity in the left inferior parietal lobule and left angular gyrus became bilateral and more intense, with additional involvement of structures such as the superior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, inferior middle and temporal gyri, as well as the cerebellum, indicating the need for increased neural resources to solve more difficult tasks. Bilateral activity was identified in the insular cortex during the solving of three-digit division tasks, which is associated with various affective and cognitive processes. Many areas underlie mathematical performance in adults which highlight the different systems involved in solving arithmetic problems of varying complexity. Despite similarities in brain activation patterns, behavioral results showed statistically significant differences between arithmetic operations. The results of the study add to existing knowledge on neuromaping of math cognition.
31-53
Influence of math anxiety on the performance of arithmetic operations at unconscious level
Abstract
Math anxiety (MA) is associated with concern and fear about mathematical tasks. The aim of the study was to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of conscious and unconscious processes during the performance of mathematical operations depending on the level of mathematical anxiety. Participants were presented with addition problems followed by correct and incorrect answers. Participants with low level of MA demonstrated significantly more positive amplitude of event-related potentials when presented with the correct answer compared to the incorrect one in the interval from 200–300 ms after the solution presentation onset (N400/P300 wave), both in the conscious (unmasked presentation) and unconscious perception blocks (masked presentation). In the group of participants with high level of MA, such a difference was observed only in the conscious perception condition. Additionally, participants with high level of MA showed a significant difference between correct and incorrect answers in the interval from 450–650 ms during unconscious perception of problems, indicating the presence of an arithmetic effect in the late positive component (LPC) wave. Thus, the obtained results may indicate the predominant use of procedural strategies when solving simple problems by participants with a high level of MA. Participants with a low level of MA demonstrate correlates of automatic retrieval of the answer directly from long-term memory even with unconscious perception of stimuli.
54-67
Peculiarities of EEG activity parameters during implicit learning of artificial grammar rules
Abstract
We studied changes in the bioelectrical activity of the brain during implicit learning. The study showed that implicit learning is associated with an increase in amplitude in the α1-, α2- and θ-frequency ranges, mainly in the frontotemporal areas of the cortex. In the higher frequency β range, there is also an increase in amplitude, most significantly in the parieto-occipital and partially frontal areas of the cortex. The observed changes suggest that implicit learning is based on the interaction of two relatively independent neural networks in the brain. The frontotemporal cortex and α1- and θ-frequency oscillatory systems are responsible for processing information and identifying relevant sequences. Whereas the parieto-occipital regions and the oscillatory systems of β2- and α3-rhythms are likely to provide processes for anticipating and preparing a response to relevant sequences and ignoring irrelevant ones.
68-77
Functional organization of working memory during delayed coping of verbal and visuo-spatial sequences in children aged 10–12 years. Analysis of ERPS in response to imperative signals
Abstract
The functional organization of working memory (WM) was studied through the analysis of the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the imperative auditory signal during delayed motor reproduction of visuo-spatial (broken lines) and verbal (letter) sequences in children aged 10–12 years (n = 28, 14 girls). We analyzed how the sequence domain (verbal or visuo-spatial), the imperative signal delay (500 ms or 3000 ms) and the mode of sequences presentation (static or dynamic) influenced on the ERP parameters. The magnitude and topography of the ERP positive components (P200 and P300) were found to depend specifically on the domain, the mode of sequences presentation and the time of their retention in WM. In both domains, ERP amplitude increased with the delay of the imperative signal demonstrated additional activation of the anterior and posterior associative cortical areas. Thus, the findings of the present study, along with previous results from adult participants (Kurgansky et al., 2022), indicate the transformation of the neuronal basis of representations of sequentially organized information during its storage in the WM. The age specificity of the functional organization of the WM in children aged 10–12 years expressed in the predominant involvement of the cortical areas of the left hemisphere during retention of both visuo-spatial and verbal sequential information.
78-96
Plastic changes in auditory perception during a course of comprehensive music and singing education by D. E. Ogorodnov: study of event-related potentials
Abstract
The plastic changes in auditory perception during classes using the complex music and singing education method by D.E. Ogorodnov were studied. A group of 65 children, in addition to the school music program, additionally studied using the Ogorodnov’s method five times a week, and the control group of 29 people took music lessons according to the regular school program. The subjects aged 7–10 years performed the auditory attention test in the ODDBALL paradigm twice with an interval of 4 weeks. To analyze the obtained event-related potentials (ERPs), the blind source separation method was used, based on the approximate joint diagonalization of the covariance matrices calculated for the group ERPs. Decomposition of the group ERPs into hidden components made it possible to isolate the component that reveals the specific effect of training. As our studies have shown, children from the control group show adaptation to auditory stimulation carried out twice during a month. This adaptation was manifested in a significant decrease in the amplitude of the temporal component of the ERP during the repeated examination. In the group of children who studied using the Ogorodnov’s method, such adaptation was not found.
97-106
ФИЗИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ МЕХАНИЗМЫ ПОВЕДЕНИЯ ЖИВОТНЫХ: ВОСПРИЯТИЕ ВНЕШНИХ СТИМУЛОВ, ДВИГАТЕЛЬНАЯ АКТИВНОСТЬ, ОБУЧЕНИЕ И ПАМЯТЬ
Learning-dependent BDNF levels in the rat medial prefrontal cortex: approach vs. withdrawal
Abstract
This article presents a comparison of changes in molecular markers of systemogenesis related to behavioral motivation: approach versus avoidance, differing in their stress levels. We conducted an immunohistochemical study of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the medial prefrontal cortex of adult Long-Evans rats. Two groups were trained in a bar-pressing task: 1) to activate a food dispenser and obtain food (approach); 2) to terminate a shock and avoid pain (avoidance). The avoidance group showed significantly fewer BDNF-immunopositive cells in the prelimbic and infralimbic prefrontal cortex compared to the approach group. Furthermore, BDNF levels correlated with individual differences in anxiety and exploratory activity. We conclude that the medial prefrontal cortex is involved in both approach and avoidance behaviors, but to a significantly lesser extent in avoidance. The potential role of stress-induced neuroinflammation in these differences is discussed.
107-116
Investigation of the possible involvement of the deprivational potentiation mechanisms in memory consolidation during sleep
Abstract
We examine the hypothesis of the possible role of deprivational potentiation in memory consolidation during rest/sleep after one day learning in Morris water maze. We used pharmacologic, genetic and neurophysiologic factors which prevent deprivational potentiation. Seven days after learning we tested memory. Our experiments do not confirm the hypothesis that deprivational potentiation is involved in memory consolidation. Also, we found that Pannexin1 knockout mice can learn both egocentric and allocentric spatial tasks in Morris water maze.
117-128