NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109221
Manon Spigarelli , Hugo Massé-Alarie , Pascale Tremblay , Maximiliano A. Wilson
{"title":"The effects of intermittent theta burst stimulation on video action naming in healthy young adults","authors":"Manon Spigarelli , Hugo Massé-Alarie , Pascale Tremblay , Maximiliano A. Wilson","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109221","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109221"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144659717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-07-14DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109219
Marco C.H. Lai , Ellie Abrams , Sherine Bou Dargham , Jacqui Fallon , Ebony Goldman , Miriam Hauptman , Alicia Parrish , Sarah F. Phillips , Alejandra Reinoso , Liina Pylkkänen
{"title":"Changes in auditory evoked responses at different levels of linguistic processing in adults and school-age children: An MEG study","authors":"Marco C.H. Lai , Ellie Abrams , Sherine Bou Dargham , Jacqui Fallon , Ebony Goldman , Miriam Hauptman , Alicia Parrish , Sarah F. Phillips , Alejandra Reinoso , Liina Pylkkänen","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109219","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109219","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While the development of speech processing begins early in life, adult-level language proficiency takes a significant amount of time to emerge. How children comprehend speech with their immature auditory systems and how they gradually achieve adult-like language proficiency remains poorly understood. The present study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine developmental changes during auditory processing of language in school-age children and adults at multiple levels of representation. Twenty-one children (ages 7–15 years) and twenty-five adults (ages 18–40 years) listened to repeated sounds (e.g., “<em>mmm mmm</em>”), one-word sounds (e.g., “<em>mmm glass</em>”), and adjective-noun phrases (e.g., “<em>green glass</em>”) and afterwards selected a matching picture at the end of each trial. Our results show that at the basic sound level, both children and adults exhibited adaptation to repeated sounds. At the word level, children's N100m responses to lexicality in the left hemisphere correlated with their age, suggesting an enhancement in the efficiency of phonological processing with increasing age. Finally, at the phrase level, children showed increased N400m responses to words in phrasal contexts than to those without a context in the right temporal lobe. This suggests greater involvement of right hemisphere in children during phrase-level speech comprehension.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109219"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144649920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-07-12DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109218
Emiko J. Muraki , Penny M. Pexman
{"title":"Simulation in the ‘Blind’ mind: Examining unconscious mental imagery in aphantasia","authors":"Emiko J. Muraki , Penny M. Pexman","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109218","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109218","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aphantasia is the absence of conscious mental imagery, but it is unclear to what extent aphantasia also implicates unconscious mental imagery. Embodied theories of concept knowledge propose that word meaning involves simulation of sensory and motor experiences; thus, examining simulation can refine our understanding of imagery deficits in aphantasia and clarify whether simulation shares mechanisms with conscious and/or unconscious mental imagery. In the present study we examined whether individuals with aphantasia show sensorimotor simulation effects during language processing. We recruited 104 aphantasics and 104 age-, gender-, and education-matched controls who completed two semantic processing tasks, a parity judgement task, and a series of mental imagery questionnaires. We observed simulation effects (i.e., faster responses to words associated with more sensorimotor experience) with both aphantasia and control participants. Our results suggest that simulation during semantic processing can occur in the absence of conscious mental imagery. The findings show that unconscious mental imagery, by way of simulation, may be preserved in aphantasia. The findings also limit the extent to which conscious mental imagery and sensorimotor simulation are likely to share underlying mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109218"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144637672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-07-07DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109217
D. Samuel Schwarzkopf
{"title":"In defence of empirical reductionism – Rejecting the hidden dualism of irreducible brain complexity","authors":"D. Samuel Schwarzkopf","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109217","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109217","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109217"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144579898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-07-02DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109213
Sena Er , Hüseyin O. Elmas , Ayse P. Saygin , Burcu A. Urgen
{"title":"The interplay of prior information and motion cues in resolving visual ambiguity in agent perception","authors":"Sena Er , Hüseyin O. Elmas , Ayse P. Saygin , Burcu A. Urgen","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109213","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109213","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agent perception is essential for social interaction, allowing individuals to interpret and respond to the actions of others within dynamic environments. In this study, we examined whether and if so how prior information and motion information influence the temporal dynamics of perceiving agents. We presented short videos and images of three agents (a human, a robot, and an android) performing various actions while recording EEG. Using temporal representational similarity analysis (RSA) on EEG recordings, we analyzed the representation of agent identities under varying conditions: Still versus Moving stimuli and Prior versus Naive contexts. Our findings revealed that prior information and motion information interact to produce distinct temporal patterns of neural representation of agent identity. In the Naive condition (when no prior knowledge is available), agent processing was prolonged during still presentations compared to moving ones. These results demonstrate how the interplay between prior information and motion information shapes the temporal dynamics of agent perception.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109213"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144564948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-06-30DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109215
Violeta Pina , Víctor M. Campello , James R. Booth , Javier Fenollar-Cortés
{"title":"Radiomics neurobiomarkers for distinguishing mathematical-related areas in children with elevated ADHD symptoms","authors":"Violeta Pina , Víctor M. Campello , James R. Booth , Javier Fenollar-Cortés","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109215","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109215","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children with ADHD symptoms are at higher risk of experiencing mathematical difficulties. Individuals with ADHD often exhibit lower mathematical accuracy and rely on more basic strategies, even without comorbid learning disorders. In this study, we aim to identify whether this higher risk is associated with general (e.g. executive function) or specific (e.g. calculation) mathematical abilities by analyzing brain areas in structural imaging with radiomics. We used a public brain imaging dataset of mathematical development in children to define two subgroups: one with ADHD symptoms and a control group, matched for age mean and variance. Then, we explore the differences in brain regions related to mathematical performance between these groups using radiomics features in structural imaging. Our results confirm a lower mathematical performance in the group with ADHD symptoms in the behavioral analysis. Structurally, we found differences between the groups in key brain regions associated with attention and memory, including the inferior and middle frontal cortex bilaterally, the right posterior cingulate cortex, and the left hippocampus. Features related to shape demonstrated the highest predictive power. We hypothesize that children with ADHD symptoms might have difficulties with 'number attention' and propose future studies in this area.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109215"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-06-20DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109214
Albert E. Kim , Valerie J. Langlois , Tal Ness , Madeleine Wade , Jared M. Novick
{"title":"Resolving conflicting interpretations: Theta band oscillations and the role of cognitive control","authors":"Albert E. Kim , Valerie J. Langlois , Tal Ness , Madeleine Wade , Jared M. Novick","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While processing language, readers and listeners frequently encounter conflicting cues and must select the most plausible interpretation from incompatible alternatives. We tested the hypothesis that cognitive control aids in resolving representational conflicts by biasing processing toward the correct interpretation when multiple analyses of linguistic input are possible. Participants read temporarily ambiguous sentences alongside semantically and syntactically anomalous sentences. Ambiguous sentences, such as “While Anna dressed the baby spit up on the bed,” require resolving conflicts between competing interpretations, whereas semantic and syntactic anomalies, though they increase processing demands, do not involve such conflicts. Building on evidence from non-linguistic tasks, we used EEG to assess whether neural oscillations in the theta band (4–8 Hz) serve as a real-time index of cognitive control in resolving conflicting interpretations of linguistic input. Our findings revealed increased theta-band activity over right frontal electrodes during the processing of ambiguous sentences, indicating cognitive control engagement. Additionally, a neural decoding analysis showed that theta-band activity reliably distinguished between correctly and incorrectly understood ambiguous sentences, suggesting that theta activity not only reflects cognitive control engagement but also guides comprehenders toward the correct interpretation. In contrast, ERP analyses showed the expected P600 effects for syntactic anomalies and N400 effects for semantic anomalies, confirming the processing complexity associated with these sentences; however, theta power did not increase for these items. The results support the hypothesis that theta-band oscillations specifically reflect cognitive control processes involved in resolving representational conflicts in language comprehension, helping to prevent interpretation errors and providing insights into the temporal dynamics of cognitive control during sentence processing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109214"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144369020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-06-19DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109212
Keenan W. Batts , Susan L. Whitney , Bryan C. Heiderscheit , Colin R. Grove
{"title":"Gait disorientation as a proxy for impaired spatial navigation: Associations between the Gait Disorientation Test and vestibular-mediated functions","authors":"Keenan W. Batts , Susan L. Whitney , Bryan C. Heiderscheit , Colin R. Grove","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109212","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109212","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Dizziness and imbalance from vestibular dysfunction may lead to gait disorientation and impaired construction of mental maps needed for spatial navigation. The Gait Disorientation Test (GDT), consisting of two components, walking eyes open (WEO) and walking eyes closed (WEC), can identify gait disorientation. We aimed to examine associations between the GDT and measures that reflect aspects of spatial navigation.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>40 adults (20 with vestibular hypofunction, 20 controls) recruited from the community completed the GDT, Sensory Organization Test (SOT), Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale, Dizziness Handicap Inventory, dynamic visual acuity testing, and the 5-Times-Sit-to-Stand Test. The composite score (COMP) and sensory analysis scores for somatosensory (SOM), vision (VIS), vestibular (VEST), and vision preference (PREF) were calculated for the SOT.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The GDT was associated with the COMP (p < 0.001), VIS (p < 0.001), VEST (p = 0.001), and PREF (p = 0.021) but not the SOM (p = 0.223) scores. WEO was associated with VIS (−0.35 [-0.59, −0.04], p = 0.028), VEST (−0.32 [-0.57, −0.01], p = 0.046), and the COMP score (−0.44 [-0.66, −0.14], p = 0.005). WEC was associated with VIS (−0.73 [-0.85, −0.55], p < 0.001), VEST (−0.52 [-0.71, −0.24], p = 0.001), PREF (−0.37 [-0.61, −0.07], p = 0.018), and the COMP score (−0.75 [-0.86, −0.57], p < 0.001).</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Greater gait disorientation on the GDT is moderately to strongly associated with balance in challenging sensory conditions. Stronger associations with WEC likely reflect the importance of the vestibular system for spatial navigation. Performance on the GDT might be viewed as a proxy for spatial navigation ability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109212"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144340291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuropsychologiaPub Date : 2025-06-19DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109209
Sam Fisher-Hicks , Victoria Lovett , Rodger Ll Wood , Mark Blagrove
{"title":"The association of brain injury severity with dream cessation and nightmares","authors":"Sam Fisher-Hicks , Victoria Lovett , Rodger Ll Wood , Mark Blagrove","doi":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109209","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109209","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mesial frontal and temporoparietal brain areas differ in activity between high and low dream recallers, and lesion studies have found cessation of dreaming in patients with damage to these areas. This study extends these findings by assessing the relationship of dream cessation, and dream and nightmare frequencies, to severity of injury in patients at a head trauma clinic. 52 participants (M = 36, F = 16; mean age = 39.69, SD = 13.72) completed a questionnaire assessing frequency of dreams, nightmares and night terrors, tests for depression and anxiety, and a neuropsychological examination and test battery. 34.6 % of patients reported that they do not dream, which is comparable to Solms' (1997) finding of 34.9 % in his brain injury sample. This contrasts with the rate of not reporting dreams in the general population of 6.1–7.1 %. Dream cessation participants had significantly greater severity of brain injury as measured by the Glasgow Coma Scale and post traumatic amnesia, but cessation was not related to neuropsychological scores. Compared to the general population there was a higher prevalence of weekly nightmares (13.5 %) and also of reporting never having nightmares (48.1 %), the former predicted by anxiety, the latter by brain injury severity. The data cannot distinguish between whether brain injury is halting the production of dreams or causes failure to encode and recall dreams on waking. Future studies using within-sleep behavioral or imaging methods may distinguish between these possibilities. Future studies should also determine if recovery of dream experience is predictive of more global recovery from brain injury.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19279,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychologia","volume":"217 ","pages":"Article 109209"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144340292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}