The purpose of this document is to assess Electroencephalographic (EEG) signal frequency dynamics in visual stimuli related to crime deterrence from an inexpensive device. The signals were acquired from 4 participants, with an EMOTIV EPOC 14 channel EEG device, while visual stimuli (deterrence and neutral) were presented, also an eye-tracking device was used to follow the participants visual path through the images, the experimental design was developed in the Paradigm software and the signal processing in Python using MNE for the EEG data analysis. Methods: The signal pass by a preprocessing which includes filtering, denoising and ICA object rejection, then the Global Field Power (GFP) is calculated to track the temporal dynamics of frequency bands theta, alpha, beta and gamma, finally differential GFP for theta and alpha bands is calculated and maximal temporal frequency responses are represented. The process applied shows dynamic characteristics of frequency bands and allows maximal localization of its responses.
Background: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) paired with motor rehabilitation is an emerging therapeutic strategy to enhance functional recovery after neural injuries such as stroke. Training-paired VNS drives significant neuroplasticity within the motor cortex (M1), which is thought to underlie the therapeutic effects of VNS. Though the mechanisms are not fully understood, VNS-induced cortical plasticity is known to depend on intact signaling from multiple neuromodulatory nuclei that innervate M1. Cortical dopamine (DA) plays a key role in mediating M1 synaptic plasticity and is critical for motor skill acquisition, but whether cortical DA contributes to VNS efficacy has not been tested.Objective: To determine the impact of cortical DA depletion on VNS-induced cortical plasticity.Methods: Rats were trained on a skilled reaching lever press task prior to implantation of VNS electrodes and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) mediated DA depletion in M1. Rats then underwent training-paired VNS treatment, followed by cortical motor mapping and lesion validation.Results: In both intact and DA-depleted rats, VNS significantly increased the motor map representation of task-relevant proximal forelimb musculature and reduced task-irrelevant distal forelimb representations. VNS also significantly increased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH+) fiber density in intact M1, but this effect was not observed in lesioned hemispheres.Conclusion: Our results reveal that though VNS likely upregulates catecholaminergic signaling in intact motor cortices, DA itself is not required for VNS-induced plasticity to occur. As DA is known to critically support M1 plasticity during skill acquisition, our findings suggest that VNS may engage a unique set of neuromodulatory signaling pathways to promote neocortical plasticity.
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