Browsing by Subject "kognitio"

Epilepsy surgery is an effective treatment in drug-resistant epilepsy and in addition to seizure reduction, surgery also seems to improve employment among epilepsy patients. While seizures and many psychosocial factors predict the employment outcome after epilepsy surgery, not all changes in employment observed over time can be attributed to these factors. This study investigated whether the level of cognitive functions or changes in cognitive functions predicted employment two years after the surgery. Furthermore, the study investigated whether changes in epileptic seizures, employment and cognitive functions could be observed after the surgery in comparison to pre-surgery level. For this registry study, data of 46 epilepsy surgery patients was acquired from medical reports and neuropsychological test records of HUS Neurocenter Neuropsychology unit. Predictors of postoperative employment were analyzed with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. In this study 83% of the patients were seizure-free two years after the surgery. Employment status improved statistically significantly and 13 % of the patients not working preoperatively were employed or studying after the surgery. No change or only small changes were observed in cognitive functions after the surgery when compared to preoperative level. None of the changes in cognitive functions predicted employment after the surgery, but of the postoperative cognitive functions verbal reasoning (Similarities) and verbal fluency were significant predictors of postoperative employment, even though only verbal reasoning remained statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Seizure frequency was not associated with employment two years after the surgery. Of psychosocial factors employment pre-surgery and the number of antiepileptic drugs used were the strongest predictors of employment after the surgery. This study supports the earlier observations that good seizure outcome is not alone sufficient to explain the employment outcome after the surgery, but other predictors are likely to have an influence on employment as well. However, cognitive functions do not appear to have a significant effect on postoperative employment two years after the surgery, instead postoperative employment is best explained by preoperative employment and the number of antiepileptic drugs used.

Stereotyyppi tarkoittaa kirjapainoissa painolevyä, jonka avulla voidaan tehdä suuri määrä vedoksia. Yhdysvaltalainen journalisti, kirjailija ja mediakriitikko Walter Lippmann lanseerasi kirjassaan Public Opinion (1922) stereotyypin käsitteen tarkoittamaan ”päissämme olevia kuvia”, jotka eivät perustu omakohtaiseen kokemukseen tai tieteelliseen tutkimukseen, vaan ne tulevat päihimme sosiaalisesti, ympäröivän kulttuurin tuotteina ja perustuvat ensi sijassa tunteisiin. Stereotyypit ovat eräänlaista ”yleistä tietoa”. Sosiaalitieteet tuntevat nämä ”kuvat päissä” ennakkoluuloina, jotka paitsi ovat vahvoja, mielissämme tiukasti pysyviä, myös säätelevät aivoissamme kognitiivisia prosesseja kuten havainnointia, ajattelua ja muistia. Ennakkoluulomme siis vaikuttavat jo siihen, miten valitsemme tietoa: näemme, mitä haluamme nähdä. Ennakkoluulot välittyvät pääasiassa kielen kautta, ja on jopa esitetty, ettei niitä voi olla olemassa ilman kieltä. Kielessä ennakkoluulot edustuvat kielellisinä stereotyyppeinä. Erotuksena esim. kliseistä strereotyypit ovat nimenomaan ihmisiä tai ihmisryhmiä koskevia kaavamaisia ja usein tunnepitoisia yleistyksiä. Stereotyypit voivat olla myönteisesti tai kielteisesti arvottavia tai hyvinkin neutraaleja. Stereotyyppejä voidaan käyttää moneen eri tarkoitukseen; esim. ”suomalaiset matkustavat mielellään lämpimiin maihin” voi olla tilastollisia tutkimustuloksia elävöittävä uutisotsikko, kun taas toisessa ääripäässä stereotyyppejä voidaan jopa luoda viholliskuvien rakentamiseksi. Stereotyypit ovat tärkeitä kulttuurienvälisessä kommunikaatiossa, ja esim. kouluopetuksessa, etenkin vieraiden kielten, ne ovat oiva tapa kuvata vaikka Saksan ja Suomen välisiä kulttuurieroja elävällä ja kiinnostavalla tavalla. Stereotyypit vain pitää aktiivisesti tunnistaa ja tiedostaa stereotyypeiksi. Näin niiden tulee olla opetuksen nimenomaista sisältöä, ei vain vältettäviä asioita. Tässä työssä luodaan läpileikkausta siihen, millaisia kansallisia stereotyyppejä eri vuosikymmenten suomalaisten saksan kielen oppikirjojen sivuilta voidaan löytää. Vanhimmat kirjat ovat 1920-luvulta, jolloin oppimateriaali aiheineen sekä opetus- ja oppimismenetelmät olivat hyvin toisenlaista kuin nyt. Kansallisia stereotyyppejä on läpi käytyjen saksanoppikirjojen sivuilla pääsääntöisesti vähän: runsaankin maankuvauksen (Landeskunde) keskellä on ilmeisen selvästi vältetty maan ihmisten kuvaamista kokonaisuutena. Poikkeus ovat tietyt opppikirjat erityisesti 1990-luvun alun paikkeilta, jolloin kansallisten stereotyyppien jopa äkillinen mutta ilmeisesti ohimenevä yleistyminen näyttää liittyvän kulttuurienvälisen lähestymistavan (interkulturelle Ansätze) painottumiseen laajemminkin.

Semantics is a study of meaning in language and basis for language comprehension. How these phenomena are processed in the brain is still unclear especially in naturalistic context. In this study, naturalistic language comprehension, and how semantic processing in a narrative context is reflected in brain activity were investigated. Subjects were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while listening to a narrative. The semantic content of the narrative was modelled computationally with word2vec and compared to voxel-wise blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) brain signal time courses using ridge regression. This approach provides a novel way to extract more detailed information from the brain data based on semantic content of the stimulus. Inter-subject correlation (ISC) of voxel-wise BOLD signals alone showed both hemispheres taking part in language comprehension. Areas involved in this task overlapped with networks of mentalisation, memory and attention suggesting comprehension requiring other modalities of cognition for its function. Ridge regression suggested cerebellum, superior, middle and medial frontal, inferior and medial parietal and visual cortices bilaterally and temporal cortex on right hemisphere having a role in semantic processing of the narrative. As similar results have been found in previous research on semantics, word2vec appears to model semantics sufficiently and is an applicable tool in brain research. This study suggests contextual language recruiting brain areas in both hemispheres and semantic processing showing as distributed activity on the cortex. This activity is likely dependent on the content of language, but further studies are required to distinguish how strongly brain activity is affected by different semantic contents.

Goals. Gambling is a universal problem, which is particularly pronounced in Finland. The problems are not limited to pathological gambling, but gambling also harms a substantial group of non-pathological gamblers, referred to as problem gamblers in research literature. The purpose of the review was to explore differences between pathological and non-pathological gamblers in three different domains: cognition, neurophysiology and personality. The goal was to create a broad picture of psychological factors differentiating pathological gamblers from others in order to improve the understanding of risk factors associated with the development of non-pathological gambling towards pathology. To achieve this, problem gamblers were included in the comparison regarding the studies which had that separate group. Methods. Research articles were searched from Google Scholar and PubMed database with the tags non-pathological gambling and pathological gambling. The inclusion criteria were comparison of pathological gamblers to non-pathological ones and that the research topic fell under one of the three domains of the review. Results and conclusions. Regarding cognition, non-pathological and pathological gamblers seem to differ on several cognitive distortions and problem gambler resemble pathological gamblers more than they do non-problem gamblers. Emotional processing might also be weaker in pathological gamblers. In the domain of neurophysiology, the functioning of many different brain areas in gambling situations may differentiate pathological gamblers from others. Additionally, dampened HPA-axel responses appear to be associated with gambling pathology. Personality-wise pathological gamblers are particularly more impulsive, but also more neurotic than others. The personality of problem gamblers resembles that of non-problem gambler than pathological gamblers. Going forward, more studies including a separate group of problem gamblers are needed because they could provide valuable information on the development gambling pathology. Societally, it is important to recognize gambling as broader problem than just pathological gambling.

The embodied nature of music cognition is a growing topic in the field of music cognition. The aim of this study is to understand the paradigm of embodied music cognition. It’s a selective review on the paradigm’s ontological assumptions, some key point of views and relevant empirical evidence supporting the main claims within the field. Hopefully, this paper gives the reader a good introduction into the theoretical and empirical work within the field of embodied music cognition. It’s suited for all scholars and students working in nearby fields. Google Scholar was used in the literature search and “embodied music cognition” was used as a keyword. The main sources were review articles by the most important scholars in the field and the associated empirical literature. Embodied approach to music cognition emphasizes the coupling of action and perception. The role of the human body is seen to be a mediator between the environment and the brain. There is empirical support for various effects of the motor system to music perception and vice versa. A special focus is also given to the multilayered interaction between all the elements from which the “musical mind” emerges, namely, the mind, the body, music and social context. This interactionist view of cognition utilizes insights from dynamical systems theory. Lastly, a novel framework is reviewed that integrates the embodied approach with a more classical predictive coding paradigm under the concept of joint agency. The framework claims music to be, metaphorically, an embodied language. The field of embodied music cognition is quickly growing and the future is assumed to be interdisciplinary since the nature of music cognition is highly complex.

Psychosis is a condition in which a person's sense of reality is weakened and he/she has considerable difficulty in distinguishing what is true and what is not. Psychosis includes a number of different symptoms. The most typical symptoms are various hallucinations and delusions, fragmentation of thought and speech and abnormal behavior. For example, schizophrenia, psychotic depression, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder and various personality disorders may include psychotic episodes. In schizophrenia there are significant difficulties in all domains of cognition. Difficulties can be observed in childhood. Children who develop schizophrenia in later years experience difficulties which have been observed as early as age 3. In first grade, their grades are about one standard deviation lower than those of their peers. The cognitive level prior to illness has not been associated with the timing of the illness, so the deficits in cognition can not be explained by pre-symptoms. As psychotic illness progresses, the level of cognitive function remains stable. This hypothesis is supported by most of the research. However, the results are in some respects contradictory. According to some research, cognitive functioning weakens steadily as the illness progresses. Some results have found that cognitive functioning improves as the disease progresses. Similarly, there are contradictory results as to the relationship between psychotic symptoms (positive and negative) and cognitive functioning. Support is most prevalent in the hypothesis that there is no connection between the level of difficulty of psychotic symptoms and cognitive deficits. In psychotic patients, the level of cognitive impairment has a greater effect on overall functional capacity than the symptoms of psychosis. The difficulty of cognitive disorders predicted lower real world functioning more than the difficulty of positive or negative symptoms. In addition to the clinical symptoms of psychosis, it is important to always evaluate cognitive functioning and aim to rehabilitate cognition.

Faculty: Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences Degree programme: Master’s Programme in Neuroscience Study track: Neuroscience Author: Emma-Helka Erkkilä Title: The brain physiology of stress and the effects of burnout on executive functions Level: Master’s thesis Month and year: 08/2022 Number of pages: 35 Keywords: executive functions, emotion, cognition, stress, burnout Supervisor or supervisors: Docent Kaisa Hartikainen and Lic.Med. Mia Pihlaja Where deposited: Helsinki University Library Additional information: Abstract: BACKGROUND- Burnout as a result of prolonged and excessive stress may impair higher order cognitive functions of the brain such as executive functions and their efficiency. This Master's thesis examines the effects of chronic stress on the brain, more specifically the effects of burnout on executive functions. The aim of this study was to specifically research the effects of burnout on executive and emotional functions and their interaction. The research was conducted at the Behavioral Neurology Research Unit, Tampere University Hospital as part of Sustainable Brain Health project funded by the European Social Fund. MATERIAL AND METHODS- 54 voluntary examinees of whom 51 were analyzed. The examinees were divided into two groups based on BBI-15 survey (27 suffering from burnout and 24 control subjects without burnout). The examinees performed a computer-based Executive reaction time (RT) test, during which a 64-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. In additions all examinees received alternating transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) and placebo stimulation. From the Executive RT test, we obtained objective measures reflecting the efficiency of executive functions (RT and total errors) and specific executive functions such as working memory, inhibition and attention. Additionally, the emotional stimulus included in the test enabled the assessment of the emotional functions and the interaction between emotional and executive functions. The EEG and tVNS results were not in the scope of this master’s thesis, and they will be reported later on. RESULTS- The results of this thesis are preliminary. Distinct positive correlation was observed between burnout assessment based on the BBI-15 survey and the results of the BRIEF-A self-report which measures the subjective experience of challenges in executive functions in daily life. There was no statistically significant (p<0.05) difference between the groups in RTs or errors made in the Executive function RT test. Instead, the groups differed on how the threatening emotional stimulus affected the accuracy of responses. Subjects suffering from burnout made less errors with a threatening emotional stimulus compared to a neutral stimulus and vice versa the control subjects made more errors with the threatening emotional stimulus compared to neutral. This difference was statistically significant (p=0,025). DISCUSSION- Challenges experienced in everyday executive functions were linked with burnout. However, RTs and errors in the Executive reaction time test did not correlate with the severity of the burnout nor were the self-evaluated problems in executive functions depicted in the test performance. Instead, the subjects suffering from burnout differed from the control group in how the threatening stimulus affected the accuracy of responses in the test. It is possible that the subjects suffering from burnout benefit from the increase in arousal caused by the threatening emotional stimulus which was shown as improved accuracy of responses when there was a threatening stimulus, whereas the control group's accuracy of responses was disrupted by the threatening stimulus. We speculate that if the control group’s baseline level of arousal was optimal then the threatening emotional stimulus may have increased arousal to suboptimal level causing decrease in performance. Subjectively experienced challenges in executive functions and objective changes in the interaction between emotions and the executive functions were observed in the study. In conclusion, burnout causes changes in executive functions.

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on soveltaa kahta kognitiivista rituaaliteoriaa Vanhan testamentin tekstin Numeri 5:11–31 tutkimukseen – arvioiden samalla kyseisten teorioiden suhdetta ja antia muinaisten tekstien tutkimukselle. Tämä tavoite nousee osittain kognitiivisten näkökulmien lisääntyvästä käytöstä raamatuntutkimuksessa. Hyödynnän R. N. McCauleyn ja E. T. Lawsonin rituaalien kompetenssiteoriaa sekä P. Boyerin ja P. Liénardin teoriaa mielen varojärjestelmistä peilaamalla niitä tekstiin Num. 5:11–31, kyseistä tekstiä koskevaan aiempaan tutkimukseen, muinaista Lähi-itää koskevaan aineistoon sekä kognitiotieteistä, psykologiasta ja kognitiivisesta uskonnontutkimuksesta nouseviin laajempiin näkökulmiin. Tekstissä Num. 5:11–31 kuvataan aviorikoksesta epäillylle vaimolle suoritettavaa monivaiheista rituaalia, jossa uhrataan Jahvelle, vannotaan vala sekä juotetaan naiselle rituaalivettä, jonka on määrä vaikuttaa hänen sukupuolielimiin ja hedelmällisyyteen jollain tavoin. Tekstiin liittyy lukuisia teksti- ja lähdekriittisiä kysymyksiä. Nämä ovat johtaneet osan tutkijoista esittämään, että tekstissä Num. 5:11–31 kuvattaisiin useampaa rituaalia tai että siinä olisi yhdistelty erillisiä rituaalikuvauksia. Tekstissä Num. 5:11–31 voidaan myös havaita monia yhtäläisyyksiä muualla Vanhan testamentissa ja muinaisen Lähi-idän teksteissä kuvattuihin rituaaleihin sekä avioliittoa, aviorikosta ja naisia koskeviin kuvauksiin. Tuon työssäni esille, miten ruumiillisten prosessien, tunteiden ja näihin pohjaavan ajattelun voidaan katsoa vaikuttaneen oleellisesti tekstissä Num. 5:11–31 esiintyviin teemoihin ja käsityksiin. Numerin 5:11–31 ja sen taustalle monesti oletetun rituaalin suhdetta on syytä problematisoida, sillä rituaaliteorioiden ja kognitiivisten lähestymisten valossa vaikuttaa todennäköiseltä, että rituaalit eivät ainoastaan vaikuta teksteihin, vaan tekstit vaikuttavat myös rituaaleihin ja nämä prosessit ovat keskenään monimutkaisessa vuorovaikutuksessa. Rituaalikäyttäytymisen yhteydessä esiintyvä ajattelu ei myöskään aina vastaa teologisesti oikeaoppiseksi miellettyjä tai ylöskirjattuja käsityksiä. Tuon esille, miten tekstillä Num. 5:11–31 on mahdollisesti pyritty vaikuttamaan sekä rituaalikäytänteisiin että Jahveen ja tämän tunteisiin. Arvioin kriittisesti käyttämiäni kognitiivisia rituaaliteorioita ja kognitiivisia lähestymisiä raamatuntutkimukseen tuoden esille, miten ne voisivat hyötyä mm. automaattisten ja kontrolloitujen ajatteluprosessien välisten erojen tarkemmasta huomioinnista, muinaisten ja modernien ihmisten aivojen kasvu- ja kehitysympäristöjen erojen perehtyneestä pohdinnasta sekä tekstien ja lukutaidon kognitiivisten ja kulttuurillisten vaikutusten selkeämmästä esiintuonnista.

Objective: Survivors of critical illness often experience a prolonged cognitive impairment, but the etiology remains unclear. According to previous research poor cerebral oxygenation might contribute to cognitive impairment after critical illness. However, this has not been examined before. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between cerebral oxygenation during critical illness and cognition after critical illness. Also, the age of the patient was examined as a risk factor. Methods: The subjects were eight (8) circulatory shock patients between the ages of 25 to 74. 50 % of the patients were men and 50 % women. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to measure cerebral oxygenation during critical care and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment -test to measure cognition at the time of transfer to a regular ward. Linear regression was used to analyze the relationship between cerebral oxygenation and cognition. Both independent relationship and relationship when the effect of age and gender was controlled was examined. Results and Conclusions: Cerebral oxygenation during critical illness was associated with cognition after critical illness so that when the cerebral oxygenation levels were lower, the cognition was more likely to be impaired. With this sample the association was not statistically significant and there was no association when the effect of age and gender was controlled. The elderly patients had both lower cerebral oxygenation levels and more impaired cognition after critical illness. More research is needed with a bigger sample size and with the effect of age controlled.

Objectives. Numerous prior studies have indicated a relationship between depression and cognitive performance, but the direction of this relationship has yielded partly conflicting results. Clarifying the nature and direction of this relationship is imperative because a clearer understanding may help to target preventive measures more effectively and improve diagnostic accuracy. This prospective, bidirectional sibling study examines how cognitive ability in adolescence is related to depressive symptoms in middle age and how depressive symptoms are related to cognitive performance in late middle age. This study seeks to provide further information about the nature of the relationship between these phenomena in a non-clinical context as well as at the level of individual depressive symptoms instead of diagnosed depression. The heterogeneous symptomatology of depression has been argued to complicate the evaluation of its associations with other phenomena. Methods. The data for this study was collected as part of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, in which comprehensive information about the participants was gathered for 56 years. To assess the relationship between adolescent cognitive ability and depressive symptoms in middle age, the results of 2367 sibling pairs (N = 4734) were examined. To evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms in middle age and cognitive performance in late middle age, the results of 543 sibling pairs (N = 1086) were analysed. The uniqueness of the design and the comprehensiveness of the data allowed for controlling the effects of multiple variables that could potentially explain the relationship between these phenomena. Depressive symptoms in middle age were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Similar questions were grouped into four symptom categories, which represented the following individual depressive symptoms: depressed mood, somatic disturbances, relationship problems, and low positive mood. Cognitive performance in adolescence was measured using the Henmon-Nelson Test of Mental Ability intelligence test and in late middle age administering a cognitive test consisting of six tasks. Relationships were first examined using linear mixed models, and the analyses were repeated in sibling analyses using fixed-effects regression. Results and conclusions. Lower cognitive ability in adolescence was found to be associated with higher scores for each individual depressive symptom in middle age. However, no relationship was found between depressive symptoms in middle age and cognitive performance in late middle age for any depressive symptom. Individual symptoms were thus similarly related to the cognitive phenomena studied, but differences were observed in the strengths of these relationships. These varying strengths emphasize the importance of research at the symptom level. Lower cognitive performance seems to predict depressiveness, and this finding could aid in enhancing diagnostic precision and treatments.