Toward a cognitive neuroscience of technology

IntroductionRolandic epilepsy (RE) is a childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal (rolandic) spikes, that is increasingly associated with language impairment. In this study, we tested for a white matter (connectivity) correlate, employing diffusion weighted MRI and language testing.MethodsTwenty-three children with RE and 23 matched controls (age: 8–14 years) underwent structural (T1-weighted) and diffusion-weighted MRI (b = 1200 s/mm2, 66 gradient directions) at 3T, as well as neuropsychological language testing. Combining tractography and a cortical segmentation derived from the T1-scan, the rolandic tract were reconstructed (pre- and postcentral gyri), and tract fractional anisotropy (FA) values were compared between patients and controls. Aberrant tracts were tested for correlations with language performance.ResultsSeveral reductions of tract FA were found in patients compared to controls, mostly in the left hemisphere; the most significant effects involved the left inferior frontal (p = 0.005) and supramarginal (p = 0.004) gyrus. In the patient group, lower tract FA values were correlated with lower language performance, among others for the connection between the left postcentral and inferior frontal gyrus (p = 0.043, R = 0.43).ConclusionIn RE, structural connectivity is reduced for several connections involving the rolandic regions, from which the epileptiform activity originates. Most of these aberrant tracts involve the left (typically language mediating) hemisphere, notably the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area) and the supramarginal gyrus (Wernicke’s area). For the former, reduced language performance for lower tract FA was found in the patients. These findings provide a first microstructural white matter correlate for language impairment in RE.

When discussing “mentalization,” we refer to a very special ability that only humans and few species of great apes possess: the ability to think about themselves and to represent in their mind their own mental state, attitudes, and beliefs and those of others. In this review, a summary of the main cortical areas involved in mentalization is presented. A thorough literature search using PubMed MEDLINE database was performed. The search terms “cognition,” “metacognition,” “mentalization,” “direct electrical stimulation,” “theory of mind,” and their synonyms were combined with “prefrontal cortex,” “temporo-parietal junction,” “parietal cortex,” “inferior frontal gyrus,” “cingulate gyrus,” and the names of other cortical areas to extract relevant published papers. Non-English publications were excluded. Data were extracted and analyzed in a qualitative manner. It is the authors' belief that knowledge of the neural substrate of metacognition is essential not only for the “neuroscientist” but also for the “practical neuroscientist” (i.e., the neurosurgeon), in order to better understand the pathophysiology of mentalizing dysfunctions in brain pathologies, especially those in which integrity of cortical areas or white matter connectivity is compromised. Furthermore, in the context of neuro-oncological surgery, understanding the anatomical structures involved in the theory of mind can help the neurosurgeon obtain a wider and safer resection. Though beyond of the scope of this paper, an important but unresolved issue concerns the long-range white matter connections that unify these cortical areas and that may be themselves involved in neural information processing.

During the 1990s, the digital divide figured prominently in the discourses of academics, corporate leaders, educators, and policymakers worldwide. In the U.S., we witnessed a massive infusion of computers and Internet access in homes, schools, libraries, and other neighborhood institutions. This has significantly increased citizens’ physical access to information and communication technology (ICT) artifacts and has enhanced citizens’ opportunities for acquiring and strengthening technical skills. However, does increased physical access and technical skills signal closure of the digital divide? In this chapter, I address this question by describing the preconstructed ways in which the digital divide is conceptualized by academics and policymakers, and inferring what these conceptualizations suggest about the existential significance of the digital divide as experienced by historically underserved groups in the U.S.

BACKGROUND The digital divide has evolved from a simple binary concept of connectivity into a three-level framework encompassing access, usage, and outcomes. In the context of aging populations, this divide may significantly impact cognitive health, yet empirical validation of this framework remains limited. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to document the cascade of influences from digital access to internet use and then to cognitive outcomes and examine how sociodemographic factors affect each element of this pathway over time. METHODS A longitudinal analysis was conducted using nationally representative data from middle-aged and older adults in China. Parallel Process Latent Growth Curve Modeling (PP-LGCM) was employed to validate the three-level digital divide construct and track its impact on cognitive trajectories. RESULTS The β coefficients of potential influence showed that digital access more strongly influenced internet use (β=0.53) than internet use affected cognition (β=0.19) at baseline. However, this pattern shifted over time, with the impact of usage growth on cognitive trajectories (β=0.31) becoming more pronounced than access growth on usage development (β=0.25). Age had a stronger negative effect on the growth of digital usage (β=-0.41) than on initial access and cognition, while education was positively associated with baseline digital engagement and showed strong benefits for initial cognition (β=0.48). Rural residence was associated with lower initial digital access (β=-0.30) and continued to impede the development of digital usage despite positive growth in access. CONCLUSIONS To address cognitive health disparities in aging populations, interventions must target both immediate and sustained digital engagement following the digital divide pathway over time, with a particular focus on improving digital access and use among older, less educated, and rural populations.

Functional connectivity is scaffolded by the structural connections of the brain. Disruptions of either structural or functional connectivity can lead to deficits in cognitive functions and increase the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To date, very little research has examined the association between structural and functional connectivity in typical development, while no studies have attempted to understand the development of structure-function coupling in children with ADHD. 175 individuals (84 typically developing children and 91 children with ADHD) participated in a longitudinal neuroimaging study with up to three waves. In total, we collected 278 observations between the ages 9 and 14 (139 each in typically developing controls and ADHD). Regional measures of structure-function coupling were calculated at each timepoint using Spearman’s rank correlation and mixed effect models were used to determine group differences and longitudinal changes in coupling over time. In typically developing children, we observed increases in structure-function coupling strength across multiple higher-order cognitive and sensory regions. Overall, weaker coupling was observed in children with ADHD, mainly in the prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior parietal cortex. Further, children with ADHD showed an increased rate of coupling strength predominantly in the inferior frontal gyrus, superior parietal cortex, precuneus, mid-cingulate, and visual cortex, compared to no corresponding change over time in typically developing controls. This study provides evidence of the joint maturation of structural and functional brain connections in typical development across late childhood to mid-adolescence, particularly in regions that support cognitive maturation. Findings also suggest that children with ADHD exhibit different patterns of structure-function coupling, suggesting atypical patterns of coordinated white matter and functional connectivity development predominantly in the regions overlapping with the default mode network, salience network, and dorsal attention network during late childhood to mid-adolescence.

Two psychological mechanisms seem to be associated with the obsessive-compulsive cycle: (1) an emotional mechanism characterized by intense emotional arousal associated with intrusive thoughts of impending danger; (2) a cognitive mechanism exemplified by difficulties with inhibitory control. Several studies found more extensive cognitive deficits in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) beyond problems of inhibitory control and emotional regulation, namely: visual-spatial processing and memory. Thus, there is now extensive research showing that alterations of these psychological mechanisms in OCD (i.e., inhibitory control, emotional regulation, working memory, and visual spatial processing) are associated with morphological gray matter alterations in widespread brain regions. More recently, researchers have started looking at white matter abnormalities in OCD. In this article we review the research looking at white matter morphometric and structural connectivity alterations in OCD. Altogether, while some contradictory findings are still present, there is now evidence for widespread white matter morphometric and connectivity abnormalities affecting major white matter tracts (superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, cingulum bundle, semioval center, internal capsule, different regions of the corpus callosum, thalamic radiation, uncinate fasciculus and optic radiation) as well as white matter in regions adjacent to gray matter structures (superior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal medial frontal cortex; inferior frontal gyrus, caudate, insulate cortex, parietal cortex, supramarginal and lingual gyri, and thalamus). These white matter alterations may help explaining the diversity of OCD psychological impairments in inhibitory control, emotional regulation, memory and visual spatial processing.

The effect of sex and handedness on white matter anisotropy: a diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging study

The concept of “path-dependence” has been largely adopted in management and organization theory to indicate how “history matters” in explaining strategic or operational persistence. In contrast, the notion of” path-creation” has been advocated to emphasize the role of human agency and deliberate choice and action. The paper aims at understanding the emergence of both phenomena at very micro-level through examining how the co-evolutionary trajectories (e.g. the path constitution) of organizational routines and its embedded technology artifacts shape a path-dependent or path-breaking dynamic. In addressing the socio-material nature of organizational routines, a critical realistic perspective is explicitly embraced since it is well-suited to explore the technological artifact in both its material and social dimensions. In addition, a morphogenetic approach is adopted to trace the temporal unfolding dynamics that embedded technology and routines. Coherently with critical realism, technology is treated as a dy...

The functional dissociation of human extrastriate cortical processing streams for the perception of face identity and location was investigated in healthy men by measuring visual task-related changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with positron emission tomography (PET) and H2(15)O. Separate scans were obtained while subjects performed face matching, location matching, or sensorimotor control tasks. The matching tasks used identical stimuli for some scans and stimuli of equivalent visual complexity for others. Face matching was associated with selective rCBF increases in the fusiform gyrus in occipital and occipitotemporal cortex bilaterally and in a right prefrontal area in the inferior frontal gyrus. Location matching was associated with selective rCBF increases in dorsal occipital, superior parietal, and intraparietal sulcus cortex bilaterally and in dorsal right premotor cortex. Decreases in rCBF, relative to the sensorimotor control task, were observed for both matching tasks in auditory, auditory association, somatosensory, and midcingulate cortex. These results suggest that, within a sensory modality, selective attention is associated with increased activity in those cortical areas that process the attended information but is not associated with decreased activity in areas that process unattended visual information. Selective attention to one sensory modality, on the other hand, is associated with decreased activity in cortical areas dedicated to processing input from other sensory modalities. Direct comparison of our results with those from other PET-rCBF studies of extrastriate cortex demonstrates agreement in the localization of cortical areas mediating face and location perception and dissociations between these areas and those mediating the perception of color and motion.

I agree with the view expressed in the target article that the early structural organization of the mammalian neocortex (the primordial neocortical organization) is different from its final one and resembles the more primitive organization of reptilian cortex. During the early development of the neocortex, a distinctly mammalian multilayered pyramidal-cell plate is introduced within a more primitive reptilian-like cortex, establishing simultaneously layer I (marginal zone) above it and layer VII (subplate zone) below it. This multilayered pyramidal-cell plate represents a recent mammalian innovation in the evolution of the cerebral cortex of vertebrates. Hence, the term neocortex is preferable to isocortex.

New functional dissociations between prefrontal and parietal cortex during task switching: A combined fMRI and TMS study

Children with learning and special educational needs and disabilities (LSEND) require coordinated multidisciplinary services to achieve early identification, timely intervention, and sustainable continuity of care. Although one-stop, co-located multidisciplinary models seek to reduce fragmentation and caregiver burden, evidence from low- and middle-income countries indicates that co-location alone is insufficient unless referral pathways, internal coordination, and follow-up mechanisms are functional. This qualitative descriptive study examined barriers to accessing multidisciplinary team (MDT) services at the One Stop Centre of Livingstone University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Southern Province, Zambia. Eighteen purposively selected participants were interviewed individually, including 2 nurses, 2 special-education teachers, 2 police officers, 2 caregivers, 2 physiotherapists, 2 psychologists, an occupational therapist, 2 paediatricians, 2 social workers, a psychiatrist, and 2 learners with special educational needs were interviewed with parents present. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed manually using inductive thematic analysis with two independent coders, consensus meetings, peer debriefing, and member checking. Findings are presented mapped to an operationalized continuum of care entry, internal navigation, intervention capacity, follow-up/referral-out, and post-visit continuity and illustrate how barriers at each stage undermine access and sustained engagement. Key constraints included ineffective referral and low awareness at entry; poor internal coordination and information flow; shortages of trained specialists and equipment limiting intervention capacity; weak follow-up and outbound referral systems; and transport costs, stigma, and caregiver psychological burden that undermine post-visit continuity. The paper concludes with pragmatic, evidence-grounded recommendations to strengthen processes and supports at LUTH so the One Stop Centre can fulfil its potential as an accessible MDT hub for LSEND in Livingstone and Zambia at large.

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article EditorialFull AccessNeural Networks in SchizophreniaJohn G. Csernansky M.D.Will J. Cronenwett M.D.John G. Csernansky M.D.Search for more papers by this authorWill J. Cronenwett M.D.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Aug 2008https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08050700AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail As methods for high-resolution MRI continue to develop, our understanding of changes in brain structure in patients with psychiatric disorders improves. In patients with schizophrenia, decreases in the gray matter volume of a variety of cortical and subcortical brain regions have been repeatedly observed (1) . Two articles in this issue of the Journal add to this literature and go further by strengthening the hypothesis that schizophrenia involves abnormalities in specific cortical-subcortical networks. Ellison-Wright et al. (2) present a meta-analysis of MRI studies that reveals different patterns of structural changes in first-episode and chronic schizophrenia. Adapting a technique developed to combine data from functional MRI studies (3) , the authors evaluated group differences in specific brain regions in reference to a three-dimensional coordinate system. The result of this adaptation, called anatomical likelihood estimation, adds to a growing literature on probabilistic approaches to neuroanatomical computation (4) . In patients with first-episode schizophrenia, Ellison-Wright et al. found evidence for decreased gray matter volume in the hippocampus, the caudate nucleus, the thalamus (mediodorsal nucleus), the insula, the anterior cingulate gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the cerebellum. Subcortical changes were similar in patients with chronic schizophrenia, but cortical changes were even more extensive. As Ellison-Wright et al. note, this pattern of abnormality implicates a neural circuit originating with limbic input to the striatum, then the thalamus, and finally to the prefrontal and cingulate cortex ( Figure 1 ). Abnormalities of thalamocortical circuitry have previously been implicated in schizophrenia, particularly in reference to the pathophysiological concept of cognitive dysmetria (5) . Figure 1. Gray Matter Deficits and Thalamocorticostriatal Circuit Dysfunction in Schizophrenia aa The diagram on the left illustrates the circuit pathways. On the right is a diagrammatic representation of thalamocorticostriatal circuits superimposed on regions of gray matter showing signal decrease in both first-episode schizophrenia (yellow) and chronic schizophrenia (red). The thalamus (blue triangle) sends thalamocortical projections to the cortex (blue arrow). Cortical regions project (green arrow) to the caudate (pink circle) and then back to the thalamus (orange arrow). Components of these circuits show anatomical changes in schizophrenia, with the caudate head showing gray matter deficits in first-episode schizophrenia and more widespread cortical changes in chronic schizophrenia. The thalamus shows gray matter deficits in both first-episode and chronic schizophrenia. Also in this issue, Friedman et al. (6) report on their use of diffusion tensor imaging to examine the pattern of white matter changes in patients with first-episode and chronic schizophrenia. Using fractional anisotropy (FA) to assess the integrity of white matter connections (7) , they found evidence in first-episode patients for decreased connectivity only in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (at the trend level), while chronic patients showed a broader pattern of white matter disturbances ( Figure 2 ). Figure 2. Regions of Fractional Anisotropy (FA) Reductions in Schizophrenia aa Relative to healthy comparison subjects, patients with first-episode schizophrenia showed trend-level FA reductions in the left and right inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Patients with chronic schizophrenia showed significant FA reductions in the right forceps minor and the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus. ILF=inferior longitudinal fasciculus; GCC=genu of corpus callosum; SCC=splenium of corpus callosum. The results of Friedman’s study, to date the largest to directly examine FA in first-episode and chronic schizophrenia patients, suggest a number of intriguing interpretations. As they note, one explanation may be that pathological white matter abnormalities may be present but too subtle to detect with current imaging methods in first-episode schizophrenia. Alternatively, white matter changes may develop as the disease process of schizophrenia progresses.Taken together, the results of these two studies provide strong support for the hypothesis that schizophrenia involves abnormalities in networks of brain regions. They further suggest that such abnormalities may be progressive in at least some patients. If the “progression” hypothesis is confirmed in future studies, we must redouble our efforts at early and effective intervention for this potentially disabling disorder.Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Csernansky, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 446 E. Ontario, Suite 7-200, Chicago, IL 60611; [email protected] (e-mail). Editorial accepted for publication May 2008 (doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08050700).Dr. Csernansky has consulted for Eli Lilly, Sanofi-Aventis, and HoustonPharma. Dr. Freedman has reviewed this editorial and found no evidence of influence from these relationships. Dr. Cronenwett reports no competing interests.

Neural dissociation in processing noise and accent in spoken language comprehension

To identify theoretical gaps, this study analyses the literature on the adoption of digital payments in emerging markets. Using a focused bibliometric mapping approach, we analyzed 30 high-quality Scopus-indexed articles (2018-2025) selected through a rigorous PRISMA 2020 protocol with quality scoring (threshold ≥60/100). This purposive selection enables in-depth mapping of the intersection between digital payment adoption, bounded rationality, and economic barriers, a specific gap that has not been systematically examined previously. The results show that publications increased by 34.59% per year, with international collaboration accounting for 43.33% of the growth. Research was dominated by contributions from India (23%), South Africa (17%), and Saudi Arabia (13%). The thematic structure was organized into three clusters: fintech and financial inclusion, UTAUT2 and mobile payments, and consumer behavior factors. Key findings suggest that research continues to rely on conventional technology adoption models, with limited integration of bounded rationality perspectives and structural economic barriers. Longitudinal studies and temporal dynamics are still scarce. This study recommends a research agenda that integrates behavioural economics with the economic realities of emerging markets to support more effective digital financial inclusion policies.