Neurociência cognitiva e desenvolvimento humano

Animal researches on the toxicity of general anesthetics, mainly include laboratory studies from the rodent and non-human primate species. Basic studies have confirmed that general anesthetics can cause widely apoptosis in vulnerable regions of brain, changes on neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, development of glial cells, and a series of histopathological changes. However, it is still uncertain of the relationship between the histopathological changes and cognitive changes, as well as learning and memory. And basic studies have also confirmed that the outcome of cognition and learning memory disfunction is related to the species of anesthetics, the exposure period, the exposure frequency and other factors. To make a review of recent animal researches on the neurotoxicity of the general anesthetic in fields of histopathology and long-term behavior in the developing period, to further explore the neurotoxic effect of general anesthetics on the development of brain in the development of the brain through animal experiments, and provide a theoretical basis for clinical research. Key words: Anesthetics, general; Developing period; Neurotoxicity; Basic research

The HNK-1 carbohydrate, which is recognized by anti-HNK-1 antibody, is well known to be expressed predominantly in the nervous system. The characteristic structural feature of the HNK-1 carbohydrate is 3-sulfo-glucuronyl residues attached to lactosamine structures (Gal beta1-4GlcNAc) on glycoproteins and glycolipids. The biosynthesis of the HNK-1 carbohydrate is regulated mainly by two glucuronyltransferases (GlcAT-P and GlcAT-S) and a sulfotransferase. In this study, we found that GlcAT-S mRNA was expressed at higher levels in the kidney than in the brain, but that both GlcAT-P and HNK-1 sulfotransferase mRNAs, which were expressed at high levels in the brain, were not detected in the kidney. These results suggested that the HNK-1 carbohydrate without sulfate (non-sulfated HNK-1 carbohydrate) is expressed in the kidney. We substantiated this hypothesis using two different monoclonal antibodies: one (anti-HNK-1 antibody) requires sulfate on glucuronyl residues for its binding, and the other (antibody M6749) does not. Western blot analyses of mouse kidney revealed that two major bands (80 and 140 kDa) were detected with antibody M6749, but not with anti-HNK-1 antibody. The 80- and 140-kDa band materials were identified as meprin alpha and CD13/aminopeptidase N, respectively. We also confirmed the presence of the non-sulfated HNK-1 carbohydrate on N-linked oligosaccharides by multistage tandem mass spectrometry. Immunofluorescence staining with antibody M6749 revealed that the non-sulfated HNK-1 carbohydrate was expressed predominantly on the apical membranes of the proximal tubules in the cortex and was also detected in the thin ascending limb in the inner medulla. This is the first study indicating the presence of the non-sulfated HNK-1 carbohydrate being synthesized by GlcAT-S in the kidney. The results presented here constitute novel knowledge concerning the function of the HNK-1 carbohydrate.

One of the major debates in classical Indian philosophy concerned whether consciousness is present or absent in dreamless sleep. The philosophical schools of Advaita Vedānta and Yoga maintained that consciousness is present in dreamless sleep, whereas the Nyāya school maintained that it is absent. Consideration of this debate, especially the reasoning used by Advaita Vedānta to rebut the Nyāya view, calls into question the standard neuroscientific way of operationally defining consciousness as “that which disappears in dreamless sleep and reappears when we wake up or dream.” The Indian debate also offers new resources for contemporary philosophy of mind. At the same time, findings from cognitive neuroscience have important implications for Indian debates about cognition during sleep, as well as for Indian and Western philosophical discussions of the self and its relationship to the body. Finally, considerations about sleep drawn from the Indian materials suggest that we need a more refined taxonomy of sleep states than that which sleep science currently employs, and that contemplative methods of mind training are relevant for advancing the neurophenomenology of sleep and consciousness.

Introduction: Rapid development of carbon-fiber technology, 3D printing, neuroscience and biomedical engineering have made possible the creation of more functional, lifelike, strong, durable and consciously controlled prostheses. Whilst impressive, all these developments do not make the prostheses a part of the body but rather an additional tool. However, recent breakthroughs show a promise of giving somatosensation to the limb prostheses. Materials and Methods: The information for this scientific overview was gathered using the search platform of PubMed and using the keywords: limb, prostheses, sensation, cortex, neuroprostheses. The articles used in this review are all written after the year 2013 and have been published in peer-reviewed journals with impact factor. Results: Research in the fields of neuroscience and biomedical engineering has led to the development of prostheses which have somatosensation. All prostheses developed this far are currently on the animal testing stage of clinical research. Acquiring somatosensation is accomplished by using appropriate receptors in the prostheses to gather the needed information which is sent to a neural interface (consisting of microelectrons) implanted in the somatosensory cortex. Using the interface, intracortical microstimulations (ICMS) stimulate the various mapped out areas of the somatosensory cortex and provide the sensation of touch, pressure, etc. Conclusion: Despite the innovative nature of these prostheses they are still not ready to be used by human patients. This is due to the numerous risks that accompany the implantation process and the actual function of the prostheses and the brain interface. These problems, however, may soon be overcome due to the rapid development of neuroscience and biomechanical engineering.

Adequate maternal nutrient intake of vitamin B12 is critical to fetal brain development and subsequent neurodevelopmental outcomes. We conducted a scoping review to map the current state of knowledge from human epidemiological studies on the associations between maternal vitamin B12 during pregnancy and children's brain, cognitive, language, and motor development to identify gaps in the literature and suggest directions for future research. PubMed and OVID MEDLINE were searched. Search terms were vitamin B12, prenatal or maternal, neurodevelopment or cognitive development or brain. Animal studies were excluded. In total, 148 publications were identified, of which 19 met our inclusion criteria: (1) maternal vitamin B12 assessed via a measure of status, dietary intake, supplementation, or deficiency; and (2) an outcome related to brain development or cognitive, language, or motor development in children less than 18 years of age was assessed. This scoping review suggests that evidence supporting a relationship between maternal vitamin B12 during pregnancy and children's neurodevelopmental outcomes is inconclusive. Further longitudinal research is needed to clarify the effects of maternal vitamin B12 supplementation, status, and intake on children's brain development and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Chemical processes at the interfaces often differ kinetically and mechanistically from the bulk counterparts, partly due to the concentration inhomogeneity of different chemicals at the interfaces. The fractionation of chemicals at the interfaces not only determines their interfacial concentrations, but also affects the physicochemical properties of the interfaces. In this thesis, three sets of chemicals/interfaces with important environmental implications are studied: (1) anion fractionation at the gas–liquid microdroplet interfaces, (2) fractionation of perfluoroalkyl surfactants and matrix components at the bubble–water interface in ultrasonically irradiated solutions, and (3) ion fractionation across the ice–water interface during the freeze–thaw cycle of electrolyte solutions. The relative anion affinity for the air–water interface, as measured by Electrospray Mass Spectrometry (ES–MS), is exponentially correlated with ionic radius. The affinities respond differently to different additives, suggesting that specific anion effects are due to different energy levels of physical interactions. Relative anion affinities at the air–methanol interfaces are almost identical to those at the air–water interface, suggesting that surface structure is not the primary driving force for interfacial anion fractionation. Perfluoroalkyl carboxylates and sulfonates can be transferred from the ocean to marine aerosols due to their high affinity for the air–water interface, but transfer to gas phase is unlikely as they remain deprotonated in aqueous phase because of their low pKa. Organic matrix components may reduce the sonochemical kinetics of Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) by competitive adsorption onto the bubble–water interface or by lowering the interfacial temperatures. Inorganic anions, but not cations, may significantly enhance or reduce the sonochemical kinetics of PFOS and PFOA. The specific anion effects following the Hofmeister series are likely related to anions’ partitioning to and interaction with the bubble–water interface. Time–resolved confocal fluorescence microscopy of freezing electrolyte solutions reveals that the thickness of interstitial liquid films depends non–monotonically on electrolyte concentration. It also confirms that selective incorporation of cations (anions) into the ice lattice decreases (increases) the pH of the interstitial liquid films. Since the magnitude of pH change during freezing is smaller than during the subsequent thawing process, it is likely to be limited by the seepage of proton or hydroxide slowly produced via water dissociation.

An overview of electrified interfaces structure and electronic properties of metal surfaces physics of surfaces ab-inito molecular dynamics - selected applications to disordered systems and surfaces the problem of Schottky barrier the semiconductor/electrolyte interface stark effect on adsorbates at electrified interfaces thermodynamics of adsorption electrode potentials and energy scales phenomenological approach to metal/electrolyte interfaces the application of scanning tunnelling microscopy to electrochemistry singly crystal electrodes modelling of metal-water electrified interfaces molecular models of organic adsorption from water at charged interfaces the interface between a metal and a solution in the absence of specific adsorption adsorption at the metal/solution interface electron-transfer reactions at metal-solution interfaces - an introduction to some contemporary issues the solid-electrolyte interface as exemplified by hydrous oxides - surface chemistry and surface reactivity discrete charges on biological membranes structural rearrangements in lipid bilayer membranes evaluation of the surface potential at the membrane-solution interface of photosynthetic bacterial systems electrical currents of the light driven pump bacteriorhodopsin the role of asp 85 and asp 96 on proton translocation the electrochemical relaxation at thylakoid membranes evaluation of the electric field in a protein by dynamic measurements of proton transfer.

Effects of self energy of the ions on the double layer structure and properties at the dielectric interface

Vitreo-retinal surgery encompasses the surgical procedures performed on the vitreous humor and the retina. A procedure typically consists of the removal of the vitreous humor, the peeling of a membrane and/or the repair of a retinal detachment. Operations are performed with needle shaped instruments which enter the eye through surgeon made scleral openings. An instrument is moved by hand in four degrees of freedom (three rotations and one translation) through this opening. Two rotations (? and ? ) are for a lateral instrument tip movement. The other two DoFs (z and ?) are the translation and rotation along the instrument axis. Actuation of for example a forceps can be considered as a fifth DoF. Characteristically, the manipulation of delicate, micrometer range thick intraocular tissue is required. Today, eye surgery is performed with a maximum of two instruments simultaneously. The surgeon relies on visual feedback only, since instrument forces are below the human detection limit. A microscope provides the visual feedback. It forces the surgeon to work in a static and non ergonomic body posture. Although the surgeon’s proficiency improves throughout his career, hand tremor may become a problem around his mid-fifties. Robotically assisted surgery with a master-slave system enhances dexterity. The slave with instrument manipulators is placed over the eye. The surgeon controls the instrument manipulators via haptic interfaces at the master. The master and slave are connected by electronic hardware and control software. Implementation of tremor filtering in the control software and downscaling of the hand motion allow prolongation of the surgeon’s career. Furthermore, it becomes possible to do tasks like intraocular cannulation which can not be done by manually performed surgery. This thesis focusses on the master console. Eye surgery procedures are observed in the operating room of different hospitals to gain insight in the requirements for the master. The master console as designed has an adjustable frame, a 3D display and two haptic interfaces with a coarse adjustment arm each. The console is mounted at the head of the operating table and is combined with the slave. It is compact, easy to place and allows the surgeon to have a direct view on and a physical contact with the patient. Furthermore, it fits in today’s manual surgery arrangement. Each haptic interface has the same five degrees of freedom as the instrument inside the eye. Through these interfaces, the surgeon can feel the augmented instrument forces. Downscaling of the hand motion results in a more accurate instrument movement compared to manually performed surgery. Together with the visual feedback, it is like the surgeon grasps the instrument near the tip inside the eye. The similarity between hand motion and motion of the instrument tip as seen on the display results in an intuitive manipulation. Pre-adjustment of the interface is done via the coarse adjustment arm. Mode switching enables to control three or more instruments manipulators with only two interfaces. Two one degree of freedom master-slave systems with force feedback are built to derive the requirements for the haptic interface. Hardware in the loop testing provides valuable insights and shows the possibility of force feedback without the use of force sensors. Two five DoF haptic interfaces are realized for bimanual operation. Each DoF has a position encoder and a force feedback motor. A correct representation of the upscaled instrument forces is only possible if the disturbance forces are low. Actuators are therefore mounted to the fixed world or in the neighborhood of the pivoting point for a low contribution to the inertia. The use of direct drive for ' and and low geared, backdriveable transmissions for the other three DoFs gives a minimum of friction. Disturbance forces are further minimized by a proper cable layout and actuator-amplifier combinations without torque ripple. The similarity in DoFs between vitreo-retinal eye surgery and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) enables the system to be used for MIS as well. Experiments in combination with a slave robot for laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgery show that an instrument can be manipulated in a comfortable and intuitive way. User experience of surgeons and others is utilized to improve the haptic interface further. A parallel instead of a serial actuation concept for the ' and DoFs reduces the inertia, eliminates the flexible cable connection between frame and motor and allows that the heat of the motor is transferred directly to the frame. A newly designed z-?? module combines the actuation and suspension of the hand held part of the interface and has a three times larger z range than in the first design of the haptic interface.

knowledge base that the individual is endowed with, and which can grow by the influence of culture. This component does not show decline until very old age. The ‘mechanics’ component is the means to gain knowledge, while ‘pragmatics’ component is the abstract knowledge gained, or that is being 'crystallized'. Evidence for this two-component model comes from multiple sources (see Baltes et al., 2006; p. 598600.), including longitudinal studies (e.g. Seattle Longitudinal Study) indicating that cognitive abilities related with the ‘mechanic’ component (i.e. reasoning, memory, perceptual speed, spatial orientation) follow a nearly linear decline throughout adulthood, while cognitive abilities related with the ‘pragmatics’ component (i.e. verbal ability, numeric ability) does not show decline until very old age (see Figure 1). Figure 1 Cross-sectional data from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (image from Hedden & Gabrieli, 2004) Causes of Age-Related Changes in Cognition In this section different approaches to explain age-related changes in cognition will be outlined, along with empirical findings. The first of these is the 'general slowing' hypothesis, which mainly explains age-related changes in intellectual fluid abilities as a 9 function of a general slowing of processes (T. Salthouse, 1996). According to this theory, the slowing down of executing processes leads to impaired cognitive performance in most cognitive tasks. While the general slowing hypothesis is still an integral theory for explaining age-related decline in many areas, it is not adequate to explain age-differences in conditions with high cognitive control demands (Mayr & Kliegl, 1993; Verhaeghen, Steitz, Sliwinski, & Cerella, 2003). Age-related changes in intellectual abilities can also be explained as a function of changes in inhibitory processes. An early study (Kramer, Humphrey, Larish, & Logan, 1994) for instance, found little evidence for age-related deficits in inhibitory processes, however older adults had more difficulty than younger adults to abort an action (in a stop signal paradigm where participants are asked to respond to a visual stimuli unless they hear an auditory signal), and it also proved more difficult for older adults to learn new rules in a categorization task. Also, comparing younger and older adults, inhibition related processes were found to be delayed in the elderly as evidenced by delayed inhibition-related ERPs (event related potentials, recorded with electroencephalogram) (Falkenstein, Hoormann, & Hohnsbein, 2002). It is also possible to attribute age-related differences in intellectual abilities to changes in working-memory performance. Recent studies have demonstrated that older adults show deficits in suppressing task-irrelevant information during working-memory performance whereas their ability to enhance task-relevant information is intact (Gazzaley, Cooney, Rissman, & D’Esposito, 2005). Furthermore, it has been shown that an interruption during task maintenance distracts both younger and older adults, however while younger adults quickly disengage from the task-irrelevant disruptor and reestablish task-relevant functional networks, older adults are impaired in dynamic shifting between competing representations (Clapp, Rubens, Sabharwal, & Gazzaley, 2011). Similar 10 findings came also from a study employing an inhibition of return paradigm (Wascher, Falkenstein, & Wild-Wall, 2011) and another study using a dual task paradigm (Hahn, Wild-Wall, & Falkenstein, 2011) suggesting that older adults process irrelevant information similarly as relevant information, and this leads to impairments in workingmemory performance. We can also approach to explain age-related differences in intellectual abilities in terms of biological changes in the nervous system. Some decades ago large scale general neuron loss was suggested to be the main reason for age-related cognitive decline (Ball, 1977; Coleman & Flood, 1987). However, recently it became evident that general neuron loss in most areas does not contribute significantly to age-related cognitive decline (Burke & Barnes, 2006) but rather there are specific areas such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in which neuron loss is related to cognitive decline. A study, for example, with aged monkeys have found an approximately 30 percent reduction of neurons compared to younger animals in the dorsolateral PFC area 8A, and this reduction correlated with impaired performance in a working-memory task, but at the same time other areas related to working-memory (such as area 46) were well preserved (Smith, Rapp, McKay, Roberts, & Tuszynski, 2004). Less age-related change has been reported for many electrophysiological properties of neurons in the hippocampus and the PFC, such as resting membrane potential, membrane time constant, threshold to elicit an action potential, and rise time and duration of an action potential (Burke & Barnes, 2006). However, reduced synapse number in older animals might be related with cognitive decline. It has been found in rats, that synapse number per neuron diminishes during aging in the dentate gyrus, which is a hippocampal sub-region that is important in spatial memory (Geinisman, Toledo-Morrell, & Morrell, 1986).

Objective To investigate the relationship between the sleep-wake patterns states of healthy full term infants at one-month old and cognitive development outcomes at 6-month-old in the natural home environment, and the influence of sleep-wake patterns on cognitive development of newborns. Methods A total of 39 full term newborns delivered at Women and Children Hospital of Qingdao from October 2009 to December 2013 were collected into this study. The sleep-wake patterns of 39 healthy full term infants were recorded continuously throughout three days, starting immediately at one-month-old. The sleep-wake data were recoded by using the activity monitors attached to the infant's ankles. The cognition developmental outcomes were assessed at 6-month-old with the mental development index (MDI) and psychomotor development index (PDI) by Bayley of Infant Development(BSID). The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Investigation in Human Being of Women and Children Hospital of Qingdao. Informed consent was obtained from the parents of each participating child. Results ①The mean MDI of boys and girls were 109.8±8.2, 107.9±10.7, respectively. The mean PDI of boys and girls were 106.9±12.9, 103.4±14.9, respectively. No significant differences were found in MDI or PDI between boys and girls (t=1.331, 1.109; P>0.05). Meanwhile, there was no statistical significance in social demographics indices between boys and girls (P>0.05). ②After gender and social demographics indices were controlled, there was negative correlation between wake-up time and PDI(r=-0.329, P 0.05). Furthermore, no correlation between all of the sleep parameters and MDI were found (P>0.05). Conclusions Sleep-wake patterns in neonatal period are related to the development of cognition. More attention should be paid to promoting newborns' healthy sleep and cognitive development in clinical practice. Key words: Sleep; Arousal; Infant, newborn; Cognition

With increasing computer capabilities, numerical modeling of two-phase flows has developed significantly over the last few years. Although there are two main categories, namely 'one' fluid and 'two' fluid methods, the 'one' fluid methods are more commonly used for tracking or capturing the interface between two fluids. Level set (LS), volume-of-fluid (VOF), front tracking, marker-and-cell (MAC) and lattice Boltzmann (LB) methods are all 'one' fluid methods. It is clear that there is no perfect method; each method has advantages and disadvantages which make it more appropriate for one kind of problem than for others. For instance, a LS method will accurately compute the curvature and the normal to the interface, but tends to loss mass which is physically incorrect. On the other hand, a VOF method will conserve mass up to machine precision, but the computation of the curvature and normal to the interface is not as accurate. In order to minimize the disadvantages of these methods, several authors have used two or more methods together to model two-phase flows. This is the case for the CLSVOF (Couple Level Set Volume Of Fluid) method, where LS and VOF are coupled together in order to better capture the interface. In CLSVOF, the level set function is used to compute the interface curvature and normal to the interface, while the volume of fluid function is used to capture the interface. For two-phase flows in microchannels, surface tension forces play an important role in determining the dynamics of bubbles whereas gravitational forces are generally negligible. Also it is very important to consider the interaction between the boundaries and the fluids by prescribing or computing the correct contact angle between them. The commercial CFD code FLUENT allows the use of static constant angles, or the use of User Defined Functions (UDF) to compute the dynamic contact angles. It is inappropriate to use a static contact angle to model cases involving moving contact lines. For such cases a dynamic contact angle scheme should be implemented. In this study, FLUENT was used to model adiabatic and diabatic, time dependent two-phase flows. Since FLUENT already contains a VOF method, a LS method was implemented and coupled with VOF into FLUENT via UDFs. Furthermore, since the LS function, used to compute the surface tension force, ceases to be a signed distance to the interface even after one time step, a re-initialization equation was solved after each time step. This involved using a fifth order WENO (Weighted Essentially Non Oscillatory) scheme to discretize the space derivatives (otherwise oscillations of the interface occurred), and a first order Euler method for the time integration. In another part of the study, a 3D dynamic contact angle model based on volume fraction, interface reconstruction, and experimentally available advancing and receding static contact angles was also developed and implemented into FLUENT via UDFs. Several validations for the developed CLSVOF method and dynamic contact angle model are presented in this thesis, these includes a static bubble, a bubble rising in a stagnant liquid for Morton numbers ranging from 102 to 10-11, droplet deformation due to a vortex flow field, droplets spreading over a wall under the gravity effect and droplets sliding over a wall due to gravity. These validations demonstrated the high accuracy and the stability of our methods for modeling these phenomena. A heat and mass transfer model was also implemented into the commercial CFD code FLUENT for simulating of boiling (and condensation) heat transfer. Several simulations were presented with water and R134a as working fluids. The influence of the contact angle and the wall superheat was also studied.

High-order adaptive mesh refinement offers the potential for accurate and efficient resolution of problems in fluid dynamics and other fields where a wide range of length scales is present. A critical requirement for the interface closures used with these methods is stability in the context of hyperbolic systems of partial differential equations. In this study, a class of energy-stable high-order finite-difference interface closures is presented for grids with step resolution changes in one dimension. Asymptotic stability in time for these schemes is achieved by imposing a summation-by-parts condition on the interface closure, which is thus also nondissipative. Interface closures compatible with interior fourth- and sixth-order explicit, and fourth-order implicit centered schemes are presented. Validation tests include linear and nonlinear problems in one and in two dimensions with tensor-product grid refinement. A second class of stable high-order interface closures is presented for two-dimensional cell-centered grids with patch-refinement and step-changes in resolution. For these grids, coarse and fine nodes are not aligned at the mesh interfaces, resulting in hanging nodes. Stability is achieved by again imposing a summation-by-parts condition, resulting in nondissipative closures, at the cost of accuracy at corner interfaces. Interface stencils for an explicit fourth-order finite-difference scheme are presented for each geometry. Validation tests confirm the stability and accuracy of these closures for linear and nonlinear problems. The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is investigated using a novel first-order perturbation of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations about a shock-resolved base flow. The computational domain is efficiently resolved using the one-dimensional fourth-order interface scheme. Results are compared to analytic models of the instability, showing agreement with predicted asymptotic growth rates in the inviscid range, while significant discrepancies are noted in the transient growth phase. Viscous effects are found to be poorly predicted by existing models.

Interfacial delamination in polymer coated metal sheet : a numerical-experimental study

Event Abstract Back to Event Spatial Attention Influences Plasticity Induction in the Motor Cortex Marc Kamke1*, Alexander Ryan2, Martin Sale1, Megan Campbell1, Stephan Riek3, Timothy Carroll3 and Jason Mattingley4 1 The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Australia 2 The University of Queensland, The School of Psychology, Australia 3 The University of Queensland, School of Human Movement Studies, Australia 4 The University of Queensland , Queensland Brain Institute and School of Psychology, Australia It is widely accepted that alterations in the strength of communication between neurons, or 'Hebbian' (synaptic) plasticity, plays a major role in the capacity of the adult brain to adapt. Such plasticity is critical for responding to changes in sensory input, learning new skills and behaviours, and recovering from injury to the nervous system. Numerous physiological influences on synaptic plasticity have now been identified, but little is known about how plasticity is affected by cognitive processes. Here, we investigated the influence of visual spatial attention on plasticity induced by external stimulation of the motor cortex. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and a paired associative stimulation (PAS) procedure were used to alter functional responses in the thumb area of the primary motor cortex. In different experiments PAS was used to induce either an increase or a decrease in cortical excitability, as indexed by the amplitude of motor-evoked potentials. These PAS-induced effects reflect, respectively, long-term potentiation (LTP)-like and long-term depression (LTD)-like synaptic plasticity. During the induction of plasticity, participants focused their attention on one of two visual stimulus streams located adjacent to each hand. When participants attended to visual stimuli located near the left thumb, which was targeted by the plasticity procedure, LTP-like increases in excitability were enhanced relative to when they attended instead to stimuli located near the right thumb. In contrast, LTD-like decreases in excitability were reduced when attention was directed toward the visual stimuli located near the left, relative to the right, thumb. These findings suggest that voluntary attention can exert an important influence on the functional organisation of the human cortex by both enhancing LTP-like plasticity and suppressing LTD-like effects. Keywords: Attention, Motor Cortex, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, plasticity, spatial attention, Paired associative stimulation Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Attention Citation: Kamke M, Ryan A, Sale M, Campbell M, Riek S, Carroll T and Mattingley J (2015). Spatial Attention Influences Plasticity Induction in the Motor Cortex. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00258 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Dr. Marc Kamke, The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, Australia, m.kamke@uq.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Marc Kamke Alexander Ryan Martin Sale Megan Campbell Stephan Riek Timothy Carroll Jason Mattingley Google Marc Kamke Alexander Ryan Martin Sale Megan Campbell Stephan Riek Timothy Carroll Jason Mattingley Google Scholar Marc Kamke Alexander Ryan Martin Sale Megan Campbell Stephan Riek Timothy Carroll Jason Mattingley PubMed Marc Kamke Alexander Ryan Martin Sale Megan Campbell Stephan Riek Timothy Carroll Jason Mattingley Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.