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Biomedical subjects

F Collette

Publications and source records attributed to F Collette.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Effects of incidental and intentional feature binding on recognition: a behavioural and PET activation study.

Using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), we investigated cerebral regions associated with the episodic recognition of words alone and words bound to contextual colours. Two modes of colour encoding were tested: incidental and intentional word-to-colour binding. Word-only recognition was associated with brain activation in a lexico-semantic left middle temporal region and in the cerebellum following an incidental colour encoding, and with brain activation in the left posterior middle frontal gyrus, right anterior cingulate and right inferior frontal gyrus following an intentional encoding. Recognition of bound features was associated with activation in left prefrontal and superior parietal regions following an incidental colour encoding, and with preferential right prefrontal cortex activation following an intentional colour encoding. Our results are in line with the hypothesis of a parietal involvement in context processing, and prefrontal areas in monitoring retrieval processes. Our results also support the hypothesis of a 'cortical asymmetry for reflective activity' (CARA).

Adult↗

The functional anatomy of inhibition processes investigated with the Hayling task.

The cortical areas involved in inhibition processes were examined with positron emission tomography (PET). The tasks administered to subjects were an adaptation of the Hayling test. In the first condition (response initiation), subjects had to complete sentences with a word clearly suggested by the context, whereas in the second condition (response inhibition), subjects had to produce a word that made no sense in the context of the sentence. Results indicated that the response initiation processes were associated to increases of activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45/47), whereas response inhibition processes led to increases in a network of left prefrontal areas, including the middle (BA 9 and BA 10) and inferior (BA 45) frontal areas.

Adult↗

Voxel-based analysis of confounding effects of age and dementia severity on cerebral metabolism in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by early hippocampal lesions, but neuropathological and functional imaging studies have also demonstrated involvement of associative cortices in patients suffering from this illness. New image-processing technologies have led to demonstration of predominant posteromedial cortical metabolic impairment in the disease. Confounding effects of both age and dementia severity on brain metabolism were assessed using categorical and correlational analyses performed with Statistical Parametric Mapping. Posterior cingulate and precuneus metabolism, assessed by positron emission tomography, was significantly correlated with age in a population of 46 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease. Metabolism in posterior cingulate and precuneus was higher in elderly than in younger patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, even when dementia severity was taken as a confounding covariate. The data suggest that the sensitivity of positron emission tomography for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is reduced in elderly cases, where less severe pathology is sufficient to induce clinical symptoms of dementia. Conversely, higher posteromedial metabolic impairment in early onset cases may reflect greater density of regional cerebral lesions or major decrease of functional afferences in a richly connected multimodal associative area. Posterior cingulate metabolism was also correlated to dementia severity, even when age was taken as a confounding covariate, whereas metabolism in the hippocampal formation was not shown to correlate with global cognitive deficit. Functional correlation was maintained between posterior cingulate and middle frontal cortex in demented patients as in elderly controls. The key role of posteromedial cortex in cognitive dysfunction assessed in Alzheimer's disease is probably related to its highly integrated position within attentional, visuospatial and memory neuronal networks.

Age Factors↗

Executive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease.

Executive functioning was examined in 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 20 normal elderly subjects. The results showed that AD patients present lower performance compared to control subjects in all executive tasks, confirming that some executive deficits may be present in the first stages of the disease. A factorial analysis suggested that these deficits can be related to two domains of the executive functions: the inhibition abilities and the capacity to co-ordinate simultaneously storage and processing of information. Moreover, the performance on these factors is correlated to different anterior and posterior cortical areas.

Aged↗

Phonological loop and central executive functioning in Alzheimer's disease.

The phonological loop and central executive functioning were examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in normal elderly subjects. AD patients showed abnormal functioning of the phonological loop and decreased performance on tasks assessing the central executive. However, when AD patients were separated into two groups on the basis of their span level, both groups showed deficits of the central executive but only patients with the lower span level presented a dysfunction of the phonological loop as well as impaired performance in tasks of phonological discrimination, articulation rate and speed of processing. These results are interpreted in terms of progression of the disease, with high-span level patients being less severely demented and displaying deficits only in higher-level cognitive functions (such as manipulation of information stored in working memory) whereas patients with a low span level have impairments encompassing a series of more basic processes.

Aged↗

Regional brain activity during tasks devoted to the central executive of working memory.

Most previous PET studies investigating the central executive (CE) component of working memory found activation in the prefrontal cortex. However, the tasks used did not always permit to distinguish precisely the functions of the CE from the storage function of the slave systems. The aim of the present study was to isolate brain areas that subserve manipulation of information by the CE when the influence of storage function was removed. A PET activation study was performed with four cognitive tasks, crossing conditions of temporary storage and manipulation of information. The manipulation of information induced an activation in the right (BA 10/46) and left (BA 9/6) middle frontal gyrus and in the left parietal area (BA7). The interaction between the storage and manipulation conditions did not reveal any significant changes in activation. These results are in agreement with the hypothesis that CE functions are distributed between anterior and posterior brain areas, but could also reflect a simultaneous involvement of controlled (frontal) and automatic (parietal) attentional systems. In the other hand, the absence of interaction between the storage and manipulation conditions demonstrates that the CE is not necessarily related to the presence of a memory load.

Adult↗

Functional anatomy of verbal and visuospatial span tasks in Alzheimer's disease.

The aim of the study was to emphasize cerebral regions which subserve the performance of short-term memory tasks in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We correlated scores obtained on span tasks with cerebral metabolism measured at rest with positron emission tomography. Scores obtained on the digit span task correlated with glucose metabolism in a brain area centered on the premotor cortex and extending to the adjacent motor and parietal gyri. There exists some evidence suggesting that this area may subserve the sequential organization of material stored in short-term memory. In a secondary analysis, we also observed significant interregional correlations between left-sided brain areas which are part of the neural network subserving verbal working memory processes in healthy controls. These data suggest that individual performance on verbal span tasks in AD patients may essentially depend on the preservation of their ordination processing capacity. The absence of correlation with prefrontal regions suggests that AD patients might not spontaneously engage central executive resources to reach their maximal span score. For simultaneous visuospatial span task, the performance of patients correlated with posterior brain regions, and not with prefrontal cortices.

Aged↗

Regional brain activity during working memory tasks.

The first aim of our PET study was to replicate previous findings concerning the brain areas activated by a verbal working memory task. The second aim was to specify the neural basis of the central executive, using a task of working memory updating. Our data confirm that the lower left supramarginal gyrus and premotor area are the key regions subserving short-term verbal memory processes. They also suggest that the updating memory task is related to middorsolateral prefrontal activation, most probably responsible for the updating function of the central executive. An unexpected, predominantly right activation occurred in the inferior parietal region during the verbal memory updating task, which we related to a visuospatial strategy used to maintain the information in short-term memory. A third purpose was to explore the brain regions activated by a nonverbal, visual memory task, and our results confirm the importance of the superior occipital gyrus in the visual short-term memory.

Adult↗

Contribution of lexico-semantic processes to verbal short-term memory tasks: a PET activation study.

Recent studies have demonstrated the intervention of long-term memory processes in verbal STM tasks and several cognitive models have been proposed to explain these effects. A PET study was performed in order to determine whether supplementary cerebral areas are involved when subjects have to execute short-term memory tasks for items having representations in long-term memory (in comparison to items without such representations: words vs non-words). Results indicate that verbal STM for words specifically involves the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21) and temporo-parietal junction (BA 39). These areas can be associated with lexical and semantic processes. These results are in agreement with cognitive models that postulate the simultaneous influence of lexical and semantic long-term representations on verbal STM processes and/or a lexico-semantic buffer.

Adolescent↗

The neural correlates of updating information in verbal working memory.

The aim of the present study was to re-examine cerebral areas subserving the updating function of the central executive with a running span task requiring subjects to watch strings of consonants of unknown length and then to recall serially a specific number of recent items. In order to dissociate more precisely the updating process from the storage function, a four-item instead of a six-item memory load was used, contrary to our previous study (Salmon et al., 1996). In addition, a serial recall procedure was preferred to a recognition procedure in order to suppress the use of visuospatial strategies. The most significant increase of rCBF occurred in the left frontopolar cortex (Brodmann's area 10), spreading to the left middle frontal (Brodmann's area 46). Results suggest that frontopolar activation underlies an updating process in working memory.

Adult↗

Impairment of neocortical metabolism predicts progression in Alzheimer's disease.

Progression rates of Alzheimer's disease (AD) vary considerably, and they are particularly difficult to predict in patients with mild cognitive impairment. We performed a prospective multicenter cohort study in 186 patients with possible or probable AD, mostly with presenile onset. In a cross-sectional analysis at entry, impairment of glucose metabolism in temporoparietal or frontal association areas measured with positron emission tomography was significantly associated with dementia severity, clinical classification as possible versus probable AD, presence of multiple cognitive deficits and history of progression. A prospective longitudinal analysis showed a significant association between initial metabolic impairment and subsequent clinical deterioration. In patients with mild cognitive deficits at entry, the risk of deterioration was up to 4.7 times higher if the metabolism was severely impaired than with mild or absent metabolic impairment. Copyrightz1999S.KargerAG, Basel

Aged↗

[Working memory: a neuropsychologic and cerebral imagery approach].

The working memory model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch has frequently been used in cognitive psychology and neuropsychological studies. This model consists of several interacting components, responsible for the storage and processing of the information stored in working memory. Many neuropsychological and functional imagery data are consistent with that formulation of working memory. Moreover, many cognitive tasks have been specifically designed to explore particular aspects of working memory functioning. Taken as a whole, these data confirm that the working memory model remains a useful theoretical framework to explore memory functioning both in normal subjects and in pathological conditions.

Animals↗