Chinese written word forms are visually complex and structurally distinct from picture stimuli (line drawings of objects), yet the neural processing differences between these two stimulus categories are not well understood when phonological and semantic factors are controlled. We recorded stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) from 27 adults with epilepsy during oral reading and picture naming. Stimuli included 36 words and corresponding object pictures, matched in phonology and semantics but differing in visual form. Compared with matched pictures, written words elicited relative low-frequency suppression in the hippocampus and middle occipital gyrus, and stronger high-frequency activation across parietal, frontal, temporal, and occipital cortices. Subregional analyses and Granger causality analyses further revealed spatial specificity and directed information flow among regions showing preferential responses to written words. These findings suggest that Chinese written word form processing involves distinct neural dynamics from general visual object recognition, characterized by frequency-specific, distributed cortical responses, advancing understanding of Chinese reading.

Healthy aging is accompanied by widespread changes in cortical structure and function, particularly within networks supporting multisensory integration and cognitive control. However, it remains unclear whether age-related neural alterations can be reliably decoded from individual brain activity patterns, especially under different cognitive states. This study examined whether age-related neural alterations can be decoded from time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals during resting and complex audiovisual processing. fNIRS data were collected from cognitively normal younger and older adults across temporal, frontal, and parietal cortices. Nine time-domain features of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) were extracted and analyzed using supervised machine learning (SVM). Decoding accuracy was low at rest (peak = 0.651 with kurtosis alone) and remained poor across different classifiers. In contrast, during the audiovisual dual-task, a combination of five features-variance, peak, time-to-peak, slope, and skewness-achieved high classification accuracy (0.810), revealing robust age-related neural signatures. Spatial analysis showed that discriminative optodes were bilaterally distributed but functionally asymmetric: left temporoparietal regions were primarily involved in auditory processing and multisensory integration, whereas right frontoparietal regions supported attentional control and top-down regulation. These findings demonstrate that age-related neural dynamics are best captured under high cognitive load, highlighting time-domain fNIRS features as sensitive markers of cortical reorganization and potential indicators of healthy brain aging.

The left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) supports diverse cognitive functions through the finely differentiated yet coordinated interactions of its subregions, including the supramarginal gyrus (SMG), angular gyrus (AG), and lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus (lbIPS). However, how these subregions dynamically represent and exchange information during cognitive processing remains unclear. Language processing, integrating visual form, phonology, and semantics provide an ideal model for investigating the IPL's functional capabilities and dynamics. To overcome the limitations of traditional neuroimaging techniques that lack the spatiotemporal resolution to capture these fast-evolving processes and univariate analyses unable to detect fine-grained representational structure in neural signals, we employed stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) in 13 epilepsy patients (eight males and five females) performing an oral word reading task. Combining SEEG with representational similarity analysis (RSA), a multivariate approach linking neural activity patterns to cognitive models, we mapped spatiotemporal language information dynamics across IPL subregions. Results revealed dynamic functional differentiation within the left IPL: the SMG and AG exhibited sequential language representations, with the SMG showing early semantics, followed by phonology and later visual form and semantics; the AG showed early semantics followed by visual form; in contrast, the lbIPS was engaged only in visual form representation. Connectivity analyses revealed the dynamic coordination among IPL subregions throughout the task. These findings demonstrate that the left IPL operates as a dynamic network, where functional specialization and interregional information exchange collectively support complex cognitive processes.

Testosterone play an important role in schizophrenia, particularly for impulsive aggressive behaviors. However, there is still unclear how the neurobiological basis and correlates of these risk factors in schizophrenia patients. The schizophrenia patients who visited psychiatric emergency departments (PED) with an acute stage and received an evaluation of aggression and psychotic symptoms by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) were included. Blood samples were collected for plasma testosterone measurement. The network analysis and network comparison test were conducted to construct and evaluate whether network characteristics differed by gender. The prevalence of level Ⅱ aggression was 41.4%, level Ⅲ aggression was 33.3%, and level Ⅳ aggression was 8.8% in the SCZ patients visited in PED, respectively. The total score of PANSS, the average level of testosterone, and the proportion of males in the aggressive group were higher than those in the non-aggressive group, respectively. Network analysis identified “Guilt feelings”, “Poor impulse control” and “Difficulty in abstract thinking” as the most influential symptoms. “Poor impulse control” appeared to be the bridge symptom linking psychotic symptoms to aggressive behavior. Concurrently, “Poor impulse control” stand as critical bridge symptoms between psychotic symptoms to aggressive behaviors. Moreover, “Blunted affect” exhibited the strongest positive correlation with testosterone levels among SCZ patients in the acute stage. The findings highlight the complex interplay between testosterone and psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia patients, emphasizing the importance of targeting influential symptoms in psychiatric emergency care. The identification of central and bridge symptoms suggests potential pathways for individual interventions for SCZ patients.

ObjectivesNeurocognitive dysfunction is a critical aspect of bipolar disorder (BD) and affected by multiple factors, which may serve as potential points for prevention and clinical intervention. This study aimed to compare the neurocognitive profiles of BD patients across different phases with those of healthy controls (HCs) via the Brief Cognitive Assessment Tool for Schizophrenia (B-CATS) and explore the relationship between neurocognitive impairment and mood symptom severity, advancing the applicability of the B-CATS for BD patients.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 238 BD patients, of whom 80, 78, and 80 were in the depressive, manic/hypomanic, and euthymic phases, respectively, and 80 HCs. The participants’ neurocognitive profiles were evaluated using the B-CATS, which includes 3 tests: the Animal Fluency Test (AFT), the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and the Trail Making Test (TMT). In addition, the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) were used to assess depression symptoms, anxiety, mania, and the degree of disability.ResultsAmong the four groups, the depressive group showed the most severe neurocognitive impairment, followed by the manic group, and the euthymic group was inferior to that of the healthy control group (p < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that in the depression group, depressive symptoms were inversely associated with AFT (r = -0.427, p < 0.001), DSST (r = -0.242, p = 0.030), and total scores (r = -0.248, p = 0.026). In the manic group, manic symptoms were inversely associated with B-CATS scores (r = -0.407, p < 0.001), and patients with current medication use had lower B-CATS total scores and TMT scores (r = -0.310, p = 0.006; r = -0.292, p = 0.010, respectively). Multiple regression analysis showed that B-CATS total score was closely related to SDS- Social life (p = 0.030) in depression, YMRS score (p < 0.001) and drugs (p < 0.001) in manic.ConclusionsNeurocognitive impairment in BD patients are present throughout the entire illness course, with the most severe deficits occurring during the depressive phase. B-CATS is a quick and simple tool for assessing neurocognitive function for BD patients.

Early identification of individuals with clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis relies heavily on subjective assessments, necessitating the exploration of objective markers to enhance diagnostic accuracy. This study aimed to evaluate the temporal integration window (TIW) of sensory processing in individuals with CHR, first-episode schizophrenia (FES), and healthy controls (HC) to assess its utility as an objective neuropsychological marker for identifying CHR individuals. Ninety participants (30 CHR, 30 FES, 30 HC) completed temporal order judgment of visual and auditory(TOJV and TOJA) and simultaneity judgment of the flash-beep (SJF) tasks. Unisensory (visual and auditory) thresholds and TIW were measured and compared across groups. Cognitive function was assessed using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). The associations between cognition with unisensory thresholds and TIW were analyzed. The TIW was significantly prolonged in both the CHR (336.95 ± 108.30 ms) and FES (413.15 ± 121.27 ms) groups compared to the HC group (229.95 ± 54.53 ms) (P < 0.05). Visual and auditory thresholds and TIW were negatively correlated with information processing speed and attention (both P < 0.05). Notably, TIW effectively discriminates across three groups. Compared to HC, each 50 ms increase in TIW was associated with a 2.3-fold increased risk of CHR (95

Testing is more beneficial for memory retention than restudying the same content. However, the effect of the initial encoding method on the testing effect remains unclear. In this study, a classical testing effect paradigm was employed, along with event-related potentials (ERP), to investigate the electrophysiological processes underlying the effect of enactment encoding on the testing effect. Participants were randomly assigned to the Self-Performed Test (SPT) or Verbalized Test (VT) groups. Both groups underwent three stages: an initial encoding phase, an initial test phase (comprising a source memory task and a restudy task), and a final test phase. During the initial encoding phase, the SPT group encoded action phrases through enactment, while the VT group encoded information through reading. During the initial test phase, the SPT group exhibited superior recognition performance in item memory compared with the VT group. Both groups exhibited significant parietal old/new effects in the source memory task, with only the SPT group displaying parietal positivity during the restudy task. During the final test phase, the behavioral testing effect was exclusively observed in the VT group. Furthermore, the VT group displayed a more pronounced parietal positivity in the test condition compared to the restudy condition, while the parietal positivity between the two conditions was comparable in the SPT group. In summary, the absence of a final behavioral testing effect in the SPT group may be attributed to both enactment and testing primarily enhancing memory performance through recollection-based retrieval, as indicated by the parietal positivity. Consequently, the initial enactment encoding method leaves limited scope for further improvements through subsequent testing. These findings suggest that initial enactment encoding, and subsequent testing may be redundant in improving episodic memory performance.

Abstract Background Recurrent observations have indicated the presence of deficits in mismatch negativity (MMN) among schizophrenia. There is evidence suggesting a correlation between increased dopaminergic activity and reduced MMN amplitude, but there is no consensus on whether antipsychotic medications can improve MMN deficit in schizophrenia. Methods We conducted clinical assessments, cognitive function tests, and EEG data collection and analysis on 31 drug-naïve patients with schizophrenia. Comprehensive evaluation tools such as PANSS and MCCB. MMN amplitude was analyzed by event-related potential (ERP) approaches, evoked theta power was analyzed by event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) approaches. Results Our findings indicate that antipsychotic treatment significantly improved clinical symptoms, as evidenced by reductions in PANSS positive, negative, general symptoms, and total scores (all p < 0.001). Cognitive function improvements were observed in language learning, working memory, and overall MCCB scores (p < 0.05), although other cognitive domains showed no significant changes. However, no significant improvements were noted in MMN amplitude and evoke theta power after four weeks of antipsychotic treatment (p > 0.05). Conclusion These results suggest that while antipsychotic medications effectively alleviate clinical symptoms, their impact on MMN amplitude and evoke theta power deficit is limited in the short term. Moreover, the amelioration of cognitive impairment in individuals with schizophrenia is not readily discernible, and it cannot be discounted that the enhancement observed in language acquisition and working memory may be attributed to a learning effect. These findings underscore the complexity of the neurobiological mechanisms involved and highlight the need for further research to optimize individualized treatment strategies for schizophrenia. Trial Registration ChiCTR2000038961, October 10, 2020.

Depressive disorder has been known to be associated with high variability in resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, this phenomenon is often ignored in stimulus-related brain activities. This study proposed a new method to explore the EEG variability evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS, TMS-EEG) in depressive disorder (DE) patients. The TMS-EEG data were collected from 34 DE patients and 36 healthy controls (HC). The maximum eigenvalue of the real binary correlation matrix, calculated between different trials using cross-correlation and surrogate methods, was extracted to assess trial-by-trial variability (TTV) of TMS-EEG. The new method was found to more sensitive and reliable than the standard deviation method. DE patients exhibited significantly smaller TTV in Gamma band and greater TTV in Delta band than HC. Furthermore, the HAMD-17 scores were negatively correlated with TTV values in Gamma band. This study represented the first investigation into the TTV in TMS-EEG data and revealed abnormal values in DE patients. Those findings enhance our understanding of TMS-EEG technology and provide valuable insights for studying the characteristics of DE.

Testosterone has complex effects on psychological traits and behavior; it is associated with social dominance and competition and is a potential human sex pheromone. This study aimed to investigate the associations between testosterone levels, aggressive behavior, and manic symptoms using a network analysis among bipolar disorder (BD) patients in psychiatric emergency departments (PED). Data from January 2021 and March 2022 BD patients in PED were analyzed. Manic symptoms were assessed using the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Aggression was assessed with subscale of the PANSS scale (PANSS-AG). The undirected network structures of testosterone levels, aggressive behavior, and manic symptoms were estimated, and centrality and bridge centrality indices were examined. Network stability was examined using the case-dropping procedure. The Network Comparison Test (NCT) was conducted to evaluate whether network characteristics differed by gender. We recruited a total of 898 BD patients, with the mean YMRS score as 13.30 ± 9.58. The prevalence of level II aggression was 35.6% (95%CI = 32.5%–38.7%), level III aggression was 29.5% (95%CI = 26.3%–32.6%), and level VI aggression was 7.0% (95%CI = 5.4%–8.8%). The male participants had a mean testosterone level of 391.71 (Standard Deviation (SD):223.39) compared to 36.90 (SD:30.50) for female participants in the whole sample. Through network analysis, “Increased motor activity-energy” emerged as the central symptom, with the highest centrality expected influence, followed by “Emotional Instability” and “Disruptive/aggression behavior”. Notably, “Emotional Instability” appeared to be the bridge symptom linking manic symptoms to aggressive behavior. Within the flow network model, “Speech rate and amount” exhibited the strongest positive correlation with testosterone levels, followed closely by “Disruptive/aggression behavior”. The constructed network model demonstrated robust stability, with gender showing no significant impact on the structure. In this study, “Increased motor activity-energy” stood out as the most influential symptom, and “Speech rate and amount” acted as the main bridge symptom linking testosterone levels, aggressive behavior, and manic symptoms. Targeting the central and bridge symptoms may improve the outcomes of aggression interventions implemented among BD patients in psychiatric emergency care.

The testing effect refers to that retrieval practice enhances memory retention more than restudying does. A few previous studies have demonstrated that initial tests could improve memory by increasing recollection, and the depth of encoding could influence the degree of recollection and familiarity involved in retrieval process. The present study aimed to investigate whether the testing effect would be affected by the processing levels. Behavioral results revealed a significant testing effect in the shallow-processing condition, but not in the deep processing. Then, an event-related potential (ERP) experiment was conducted, showing that FN400 that represents familiarity occurred in the testing and restudying conditions with both processing levels, whereas the parietal old/new effect that indicates recollection only did not exist in the restudying with shallow-processing level. These findings revealed that the testing effect would be affected by the processing levels, and the underlying mechanism may be that tests could promote memory by enhancing recollection, which was involved in the deep rather than shallow-processing level during retrieval process. The practical meaning of the present study is that we can use tests to improve memory in a better and more efficient way.

OBJECTIVE:Negative schizophrenia (NSZ) and depressive disorder (DE) have many clinical similarities (e.g., lack of energy, social withdrawal). The purpose of this study was to explore microstate (MS) and scale-free dynamics of microstate sequence (SFML) in NSZ patients, DE patients and healthy controls (HC). METHODS:The subjects included 30 NSZ patients, 32 DE patients and 34 age-matched healthy controls. A resting-state electroencephalogram (rsEEG) was recorded under two conditions: (1) resting state with eyes opened (EO) and (2) resting state with eyes closed (EC). First, rsEEG signals were filtered into 1-45 Hz. Then, MS analysis was performed using the Microstate EEGLAB toolbox. Finally, the SFML feature of the sequence, which was transformed from the MS label sequence, was extracted by the Hurst exponent (HE). RESULTS:The rsEEG data of all subjects were clustered into six topographies. We could conclude that DE and NSZ patients show similar abnormalities in EO state. However, in the EC state, MS A, and B values were unique to NSZ patients, while DE patients had different values for MS C D and F. We also found a large correlation between these features and clinical information. In SFML, the Hurst exponent of the EO state might be more useful in assessing the characteristics of NSZ, while that of EC state can be used to understand these disorders with different random walk classifications. SIGNIFICANCE:The methods are associated with the ability to dynamically change of brain and information processing system. The MS and SFML of the EO state can be used to reflect the similar abnormalities of NSZ and DE patients. We recommend the EC state as the appropriate state to study the difference between the disorders. By combing the two states and these method, we can learn and study more similarities and differences between NSZ and DE.

Visual word recognition, at a minimum, involves the processing of word form and lexical information. Opinions diverge on the spatiotemporal distribution of and interaction between the two types of information. Feedforward theory argues that they are processed sequentially, whereas interactive theory advocates that lexical information is processed fast and modulates early word form processing. To distinguish between the two theories, we applied stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) to 33 human adults with epilepsy (25 males and eight females) during visual lexical decisions. The stimuli included real words (RWs), pseudowords (PWs) with legal radical positions, nonwords (NWs) with illegal radical positions, and stroked-changed words (SWs) in Chinese. Word form and lexical processing were measured by the word form effect (PW versus NW) and lexical effect (RW versus PW), respectively. Gamma-band (60 ∼ 140 Hz) SEEG activity was treated as an electrophysiological measure. A word form effect was found in eight left brain regions (i.e., the inferior parietal lobe, insula, fusiform, inferior temporal, middle temporal, middle occipital, precentral and postcentral gyri) from 50 ms poststimulus onset, whereas a lexical effect was observed in five left brain regions (i.e., the calcarine, middle temporal, superior temporal, precentral, and postcentral gyri) from 100 ms poststimulus onset. The two effects overlapped in the precentral (300 ∼ 500 ms) and postcentral (100 ∼ 200 ms and 250 ∼ 600 ms) gyri. Moreover, high-level regions provide early feedback to word form regions. These results demonstrate that lexical processing occurs early and modulates word form recognition, providing vital supportive evidence for interactive theory.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A pivotal unresolved dispute in the field of word processing is whether word form recognition is obligatorily modulated by high-level lexical top-down information. To address this issue, we applied intracranial SEEG to 33 adults with epilepsy to precisely delineate the spatiotemporal dynamics between processing word form and lexical information during visual word recognition. We observed that lexical processing occurred from 100 ms poststimulus presentation and even spatiotemporally overlapped with word form processing. Moreover, the high-order regions provided feedback to the word form regions in the early stage of word recognition. These results revealed the crucial role of high-level lexical information in word form recognition, deepening our understanding of the functional coupling among brain regions in word processing networks.

The testing effect refers to the fact that testing enhances delayed memory more than restudying does. Previous studies revealed that the testing effect can be influenced by the delay period, the type of testing, and other factors. However, a few studies have focused on how the testing effect interacts with the properties of words, such as the concreteness effect. In an event-related potential study, we investigated how concreteness affects the testing effect. The behavioral results showed that concrete words benefited more from retrieval practice than the abstract words. The event-related potential amplitude of concrete words was significantly different between retrieval practice and restudying. Source analyses showed that only concrete words elicited activity in superior parietal lobule after being retrieved. We suggest that this difference is owing to the additional imaging during the encoding and retrieving of concrete words.

Retrieval practice effect refers to better long-term retention enhanced by active retrieval compared to re-studying, which has been widely demonstrated. However, controversies remain as to whether the underlying mechanism of this effect could be attributed to semantic elaboration. We investigated whether retrieval practice and elaboration were equivalent by observing the underlying cognitive processes of the two conditions using corresponding event-related potentials measures of associative memory and item memory. Behavioral results showed that retrieval practice induced better associate memory performance than elaborative study. For event-related potential results, an early old/recombined effect (FN400) related to familiarity and a late old/recombined effect (late positive component) related to recollection emerged in the retrieval practice condition, while both were absent in the elaborative study condition. An early recombined/new effect (FN400) appeared in the elaborative study condition, which did not occur in the retrieval practice condition. It could be inferred that retrieval practice promoted the recollection of episodic contexts for later associative memory, while elaborative study strengthened the familiarity of individual item. These findings suggest that retrieval practice and elaboration are two distinctive processes.

Background: Due to its impairment in patients with schizophrenia, mismatch negativity (MMN) generation has been identified as a potential biomarker for identifying primary impairments in auditory sensory processing. This study aimed to investigate the dysfunctional differences in different MMN deviants and evoked theta power in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and chronic schizophrenia (CS).Methods: We measured frequency and duration MMN from 40 FES, 40 CS, and 40 healthy controls (HC). Evoked theta power was analyzed by event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) approaches.Results: Deficits in duration MMN were observed in both FES (p = 0.048, Bonferroni-adjusted) and CS (p < 0.001, Bonferroni-adjusted). However, deficits in frequency MMN were restricted to the CS (p < 0.001, Bonferroni-adjusted). Evoked theta power deficits were observed in both patient groups when compared with the HC (p FES = 0.001, p CS < 0.001, Bonferroni-adjusted), yet no significant differences were found between FES and CS. Frequency MMN was correlated with the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery (MCCB) combined score (r = -0.327, p < 0.05) and MCCB verbal learning (r = -0.328, p < 0.05) in FES. Evoked theta power was correlated with MCCB working memory in both FES (r = 0.347, p < 0.05) and CS (r = 0.408, p < 0.01).Conclusion: These findings suggest that duration MMN and evoked theta power deficits may be more sensitive for detection of schizophrenia during its early stages. Moreover, frequency MMN and theta power could potentially linked to poor cognitive functioning in schizophrenic patients. The findings mentioned above indicated that the neural mechanisms of the three indexes may vary between people.

Retrieval practice enhances memory retention more than re-studying. The underlying mechanisms of this retrieval practice effect have remained widely unclear. According to the elaborative retrieval hypothesis, activation of elaborative information occurs to a larger extent during testing than re-studying. In contrast, the episodic context account has suggested that recollecting prior episodic information (especially the temporal context) contributes to memory retention. To adjudicate the distinction between these two accounts, the present study used the classical retrieval practice effect paradigm to compare retrieval practice and elaborative study. In an initial behavioral experiment, retrieval practice produced greater retention than elaboration and re-studying in a one-week delayed test. In a subsequent event-related potential (ERP) experiment, retrieval practice resulted in reliably superior accuracy in the delayed test compared to elaborative study. In the ERPs, a frontally distributed subsequent memory effect (SME), starting at 300ms, occurred in the elaborative study condition, but not in the retrieval practice condition. A parietal SME emerged in the retrieval practice condition from 500 to 700ms, but was absent in the elaborative study condition. After 700ms, a late SME was present in the retrieval practice condition, but not in the elaborative study condition. Moreover, SMEs lasted longer in retrieval practice than in elaboration. The frontal SME in the elaborative study condition might be related to semantic processing or working memory-based elaboration, whereas the parietal and widespread SME in the retrieval practice condition might be associated with episodic recollection processes. These findings contradict the elaborative retrieval theory, and suggest that contextual recollection rather than activation of semantic information contributes to the retrieval practice effect, supporting the episodic context account.

Retrieval inhibition hypothesis of directed forgetting effects assumed TBF (to-be-forgotten) items were not retrieved intentionally, while selective rehearsal hypothesis assumed the memory representation of retrieved TBF (to-be-forgotten) items was weaker than TBR (to-be-remembered) items. Previous studies indicated that directed forgetting effects of item-cueing method resulted from selective rehearsal at encoding, but the mechanism of retrieval inhibition that affected directed forgetting of TBF (to-be-forgotten) items was not clear. Strategic retrieval is a control process allowing the selective retrieval of target information, which includes retrieval orientation and strategic recollection. Retrieval orientation via the comparison of tasks refers to the specific form of processing resulted by retrieval efforts. Strategic recollection is the type of strategies to recollect studied items for the retrieval success of targets. Using a "directed forgetting" paradigm combined with a memory exclusion task, our investigation of strategic retrieval in directed forgetting assisted to explore how retrieval inhibition played a role on directed forgetting effects. When TBF items were targeted, retrieval orientation showed more positive ERPs to new items, indicating that TBF items demanded more retrieval efforts. The results of strategic recollection indicated that: (a) when TBR items were retrieval targets, late parietal old/new effects were only evoked by TBR items but not TBF items, indicating the retrieval inhibition of TBF items; (b) when TBF items were retrieval targets, the late parietal old/new effect were evoked by both TBR items and TBF items, indicating that strategic retrieval could overcome retrieval inhibition of TBF items. These findings suggested the modulation of strategic retrieval on retrieval inhibition of directed forgetting, supporting that directed forgetting effects were not only caused by selective rehearsal, but also retrieval inhibition.