European Journal of Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"The FOG-COA Protocol: Validation of Freezing of Gait Clinical Outcomes Assessments in Parkinson's Disease","authors":"Erika E. Howe,&nbsp;Pieter Ginis,&nbsp;Kaylena A. Ehgoetz Martens,&nbsp;Moran Gilat,&nbsp;Martina Mancini,&nbsp;J. Lucas Mckay,&nbsp;Jorik Nonnekes,&nbsp;Jennifer Mammen,&nbsp;Jamie L. Adams,&nbsp;David Cella,&nbsp;Alice Nieuwboer,&nbsp;Fay Horak,&nbsp;Simon J. G. Lewis,&nbsp;Jeffrey M. Hausdorff","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70701","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70701","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The development and evaluation of novel treatment options for freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease have been limited by an ambiguous definition and lack of standardized clinical outcome assessments (COAs) that 1) reliably assess FOG severity, 2) are responsive to change, and 3) capture patient-relevant impact. To address these gaps, working groups from the International Consortium on FOG (ICFOG) developed a clinician-rated outcome—the Giladi Protocol for assessing FOG severity (GP-FOG), and a patient-reported outcome—the FOG Quality of Life questionnaire (FOG-QOL). The FOG-COA project will evaluate the conceptual framework and psychometric properties of these COAs to determine their fit-for-purpose in clinical trials. A total of 105 freezers and 35 non-freezers from seven international centers will complete the GP-FOG in the dopaminergic OFF and ON states during two separate visits (7–14 days apart). FOG annotations from video recordings will be used to assess criterion validity. OFF and ON GP-FOG scores from two trained raters at Visit 1, as well as within-rater scores across visits, will examine reliability. Responsiveness will be evaluated by comparing effect sizes between OFF and ON GP-FOG scores. Patient meaningfulness will be assessed through the association between patient-perceived FOG severity and GP-FOG scores. Participants will complete the FOG-QOL at each visit to assess test–retest reliability and validity against the NFOGQ and PDQ-8. A subset of freezers will undergo cognitive interviews to identify relevant daily life FOG impacts and evaluate FOG-QOL meaningfulness. Collectively, this work will advance standardized, sensitive, and meaningful FOG-COAs, supporting regulatory-grade endpoints and the development of a multi-dimensional outcome framework.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejn.70701","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149206100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rhythms in Decoding Do Not Signal Pulsing Information","authors":"Freek van Ede","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70725","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70725","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Emerging studies report that information decoded from brain activity may pulse at specific frequencies. As such inferences take root, I clarify that trial-level decoding time courses inherit background brain rhythms even when information content is stable. This cautions against conflating rhythms in decoding with rhythms in information content.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejn.70725","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149177341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimized Cardiorespiratory State at Tone Onset Enhances Sensory Responses but Not Associative Learning in Healthy Adults","authors":"Praghajieeth Raajhen Santhana Gopalan,&nbsp;Miriam S. Nokia","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70722","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Previous studies suggest that when a tone-conditioned stimulus (CS) predicting an airpuff towards the eye is presented at diastole during expiration, both sensory responses to the CS and trace eyeblink conditioning (TEBC) are enhanced. However, not all participants learn and individual variation in the body–brain relationship remains overlooked. We studied whether timing the CS based on an individually optimized bodily state enhances sensory responses and TEBC. We assumed so, as sensory response magnitude reflects attention and stimulus salience: A salient CS should facilitate TEBC. Forty-one young adults and 19 older adults completed a passive auditory task while electrocardiogram, respiration and electroencephalogram were recorded. The cardiorespiratory state associated with the largest N1–P2 response was identified individually. Optimal states varied across participants and did not differ between age groups. Participants underwent TEBC at their optimal state (Personalized) or at diastole during expiration (Control). As expected, the CS evoked a larger N1–P2 response in the Personalized than the Control group. However, conditioned responding, peak performance, and learning rate, or the proportion of good learners did not differ between groups. Older adults learned more slowly, made fewer conditioned responses, and were less aware of the tone-airpuff association than young adults. These findings tentatively suggest that enhancing early sensory processing of the CS may not improve TEBC, although the low reliability of the individually determined optimal state limits this conclusion. Future studies should examine whether timing external stimuli to specific bodily states effectively influences behaviour in tasks that rely on rapid sensory processing.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejn.70722","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149177267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"lickcalc: Easy Analysis of Lick Microstructure in Experiments of Rodent Ingestive Behaviour","authors":"K. Linnea Volcko,&nbsp;James E. McCutcheon","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70708","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ejn.70708","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Lick microstructure is a term used in behavioural neuroscience to describe the information that can be obtained from a detailed examination of rodent drinking behaviour. Rather than simply recording total intake (volume consumed), lick microstructure examines how licks are grouped and the spacing of these groups of licks. This type of analysis can provide important insights into why an animal is drinking, for example, whether it is influenced by taste or affected by the consequences of consumption (e.g., feeling ‘full’). Here, we present a software package, <i>lickcalc</i>, that allows detailed microstructural analysis of licking patterns. The software is browser based and is hosted at https://lickcalc.uit.no, or the repository can be downloaded and installed locally. Lick timestamps can be loaded from a variety of formats, and different analysis and plotting options allow quality control of data and the determination of critical parameters for microstructural analysis, including the number and size of lick bursts. Data can be divided into epochs for detailed examination of changes across the session. Batch processing and custom configurations are supported. In this manuscript, we demonstrate the use of the functions exposed by <i>lickcalc</i> by analysing data comparing lick patterns between mice on a protein-restricted and a control (non-restricted) diet. We show that lickcalc allows quality control of the data and the uncovering of subtle differences in lick behaviour that are not apparent when just considering the total number of licks. This software makes microstructural analysis accessible to any researcher who wishes to employ it while providing sophisticated analyses with high scientific value.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149180138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mismatch Responses to Prosodic Changes in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Longitudinal Approach","authors":"Liis Themas,&nbsp;Gesa Schaadt,&nbsp;Pärtel Lippus,&nbsp;Marika Padrik,&nbsp;Liis Kask,&nbsp;Ulvi Vaher,&nbsp;Mairi Männamaa,&nbsp;Kairi Kreegipuu","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70710","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ejn.70710","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Developmental language disorder is characterized by difficulties in auditory processing and prosody discrimination. Estonian word prosody features a unique three-way quantity distinction, characterized by changes in syllable duration and pitch contour, which differentiate word meaning and grammatical cases. In this study, we examined the Mismatch Responses longitudinally in 23 children with developmental language disorder and 25 age and biological sex matched typically developing peers (age at first measurement 4;6–6;5 years; age at second measurement 5;6–7;5 years). A multifeature paradigm was used in which all stimuli were meaningful words; two deviants differed from the standard, one in syllable duration and the other in both syllable duration and pitch contour. We also tested the discrimination of these prosodic features with behavioral tasks at both measurements. For duration discrimination, an early positive mismatch response diminished from first to second measurement, while a subsequent negative mismatch response increased. Significant longitudinal changes were observed in the typically developing group but not in children with developmental language disorder, while direct comparisons of maturational trajectories did not reveal significant group differences. For the duration and pitch contrast, in both groups and at both assessments, no mismatch response was detected. Additionally, no association was observed at the individual level between maturational changes in mismatch responses and behavioral discrimination at either measurement. These findings provide insights into the maturation of prosodic change detection processes and contribute to a better understanding of developmental language disorder and its manifestations.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13659036/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149165097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"State of the “Art” in Freezing of Gait: Drawing on Perspectives of Individuals With Parkinson's Disease","authors":"Monika Pötter-Nerger,&nbsp;Blanca T. M. Spee,&nbsp;Molly Zeitzschel,&nbsp;Neele Siems,&nbsp;Alessandro Gulberti,&nbsp;Erika Howe,&nbsp;Kaylena A. Ehgoetz Martens,&nbsp;Moran Gilat,&nbsp;Alice Nieuwboer,&nbsp;Bastiaan R. Bloem","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70714","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ejn.70714","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Freezing of gait (FoG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is increasingly recognized as a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing motor, cognitive, and emotional domains. The impact of FoG is enormous, but can be difficult to articulate. Traditional clinical assessments typically fail to capture its subjective and affective impact. This qualitative study explored drawings from individuals with PD to better understand the lived experience of FoG. Specifically, we collected artworks created by individuals who experience FoG. We studied the personal perceptions and emotions associated with FoG drawings in two ways: by asking participants to narratively explain their artwork and a qualitative curation by an international panel of experts of neurology, neuroscience, neurorehabilitation, neuroaesthetics, art, and empirical aesthetics. Five overarching themes emerged: (1) “Captured feet,” depicting sensations of being glued, tethered, or rooted to the ground; (2) “Chaos,” reflecting disrupted motor control during environmental or cognitive overload; (3) “Emotional explosion,” expressing fear, anger, helplessness, and loss of control; (4) “Freezing and falls,” highlighting instability and existential threat; and (5) “Released from freeze,” portraying therapeutic relief, restored movement, and joy. These visual narratives reveal that FoG is more than just a motor block. Rather, it is an embodied experience of immobilization, emotional escalation, and vulnerability, contrasted by profound relief when mobility returns. Artistic expression offers unique insights beyond structured assessments, fostering empathetic clinician–patient communication, and supporting a more holistic, person-centered approach to PD care.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13659020/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149164727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Motor Learning in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis","authors":"Rihua Liu,&nbsp;Tian Yue,&nbsp;Carmelo Mario Vicario,&nbsp;Xiaoqin Luo,&nbsp;Feng Guo,&nbsp;Fengxue Qi","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70716","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ejn.70716","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance motor learning, but findings vary across tasks and stimulation protocols. This systematic review and meta-analysis quantified its effects on motor adaptation and motor skill learning in healthy adults and examined potential moderators. PubMed, the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase were searched from inception to 17 August 2026. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024596088). Randomized controlled and crossover studies comparing cerebellar tDCS with sham stimulation and reporting practice-dependent or time-dependent changes in motor performance were eligible. Twenty studies comprising 739 participant observations were included. The random-effects model showed that anodal cerebellar tDCS significantly improved motor learning (SMD = −0.52, 95% CI −0.90 to −0.14, <i>p</i> = 0.007; <i>I</i>² = 83%), with negative values favouring tDCS. Although meta-regression identified no significant moderators, exploratory subgroup analyses yielded significant SMDs for online stimulation (−0.66), 2 mA (−0.44), 25 min (−0.93), a 25-cm² electrode montage (−0.99), motor skill learning (−0.49) and outcome assessments at &lt; 24 (−0.52) and ≥ 24 h (−1.11). Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis and trim-and-fill analysis did not materially change the pooled result, although Egger's regression test indicated small-study effects. These findings indicate that anodal cerebellar tDCS can facilitate motor learning and support further investigation of stimulation protocols, longer term retention and clinical applications. Nevertheless, the magnitude and generalisability of the effect require confirmation in larger, adequately powered trials.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149165665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Freezing of Gait: A Therapeutic Perspective","authors":"Peter A. LeWitt","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70711","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ejn.70711","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Despite improved definition of the problem and better understanding of its phenomenology, freezing of gait (FoG) remains a therapeutic enigma for clinicians and neuroscientists alike. Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) or other neurological disorders experiencing FoG are similarly frustrated, despite the benefits that levodopa and other medications provide for control of PD's primary motor features. For those burdened by episodes of FoG, current therapeutic options are quite limited. Some patients achieve improvements from pharmacotherapy—for example, by adjunctive use of an oral dopaminergic agonist or by subcutaneous infusion of apomorphine. If needed, deep brain stimulation sometimes offers symptomatic improvements. Certain interventions devised by physical therapists (or discovered by patients themselves) can improve FoG. However, successful pharmacotherapy for FoG has lagged behind, though the future holds some promising leads for therapies acting on dopaminergic, adenosinergic, noradrenergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic circuitry.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149167073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"B Lymphocytes in Acute Ischemic Stroke: From Immune Tolerance to Neuroprotection and Autoimmunity","authors":"Moncef Zouali","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70707","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Whereas the pathobiology of stroke is traditionally thought to be mediated mainly by innate immune cells, the recent discovery that immune tolerance to brain-specific antigens takes place in the meninges suggests that the CNS makes use of unique pathways to respond to brain-derived antigens. By virtue of their adaptive and innate-like functions, B lymphocytes can play multiple roles in stroke. Following acute ischemic stroke, B cells home to the site of injury and produce cytokines that can either promote or exacerbate inflammation. They also secrete autoantibodies against neuronal and/or vascular components, potentially aggravating the damage and contributing to long-term neurological deficits. Clinical studies indicate that stroke patients can develop B-cell responses that potentially contribute to dementia. In animal models, age-associated B cells were found to worsen inflammation and contribute to autoimmunity. Through the production of antibodies and cytokines, B cells play a role in affecting the permeability of the blood–brain barrier, thereby compromising its integrity. In addition to contributing to adverse outcomes by enhancing inflammation and producing harmful autoantibodies, B cells have been demonstrated to exhibit protective effects, helping to resolve inflammation and promoting tissue repair. In mice, the absence of B cells results in delayed recovery, suggesting that B-cell migration to different regions of the brain imparts reduction of poststroke cognitive impairment. Gaining further insight into the multiple roles of B cells in stroke could lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies and biomarker development.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149146351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) for Improving Phonological Processing in Developmental Dyslexia: An Exploratory Study","authors":"Xuanci Zheng,&nbsp;João Araújo,&nbsp;Quentin Busson,&nbsp;Usha Goswami","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70709","DOIUrl":"10.1111/ejn.70709","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have immense potential regarding the provision of therapies for disorders of development, but to date have typically been created for non-linguistic disorders such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Here, we present a BCI designed to improve linguistic phonological processing during natural speech listening, aimed at participants with developmental dyslexia. Phonological ‘deficits’ are considered a core feature of dyslexia across languages and are present from infancy in those later diagnosed with dyslexia. Here, a non-invasive EEG–BCI relying on auditory inputs and visual feedback was developed to optimise brain patterns related to phonological development in infants and children. The BCI focused on neural patterns identified using Temporal Sampling theory, which has found the theta/delta ratio during natural speech listening to be a key neural associate of impaired phonology. As a first step, the BCI was tested with adults. Adults with and without dyslexia played the BCI for 16 sessions and received pre- and post-testing regarding phonological awareness and single word and non-word reading skills. Learning was assessed both online, as in most BCI studies, and offline, enabling removal of a greater number of potential EEG artefacts. Significant associations between offline BCI scores (a measure of BCI learning) and improvements in non-word reading were found for all participants who learned the BCI, both dyslexic and control. BCI learning also showed significant associations with improvements in real word reading and amplitude rise time discrimination. The data are interpreted with respect to Temporal Sampling theory.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"64 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejn.70709","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}