Get real: Orbitofrontal cortex mediates the ability to sense reality in early adolescents

Abstract

Introduction:Orbitofrontal reality filtering (ORFi) is a memory mechanism that distinguishes whether a thought is relevant to present reality or not. In adults, it is mediated by the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). This region is still not fully developed in preteenagers, but ORFi is already active from age 7. Here, we probe the neural correlates of ORFi in early adolescents, hypothesizing that OFC mediates the sense of reality in this population.Methods: Functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) were acquired in 22 early adolescents during a task composed of two runs: run 1 measuring recognition capacity; run 2 measuring ORFi; each containing two types of images (conditions): distractors (D: images seen for the first time in the current run) and targets (T: images seen for the second time in the current run). Group region of interest (ROI) analysis was performed in a flexible factorial design with two factors (run and condition) using SPM12. Results:We found significant main effects for the experimental run and condition. The bilateral OFC activation was higher during ORFi than during the first run.Additionally, the OFC was more active while processing distractors than targets. Conclusion:These results confirm, for the first time, the role of OFC in reality filtering in early adolescents.

Mindfulness-based intervention for very preterm young adolescents: An RCT

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Cerebral Insights into Olfactory Discrimination: Vanillin, Vanitrope, and Vanillyl Ethyl Ether

“…Limbic system has its contribution to the memory control. While hippocampus along with the posterior limbic system is necessary in encoding long term and episodic memories (Squire et al, 2004), posterior medial OFC along with anterior limbic system is involved in the sense whether an activated memory relates to the present task or not (Schnider, 2013), with familiarity being key to separate them (Liverani et al, 2020). Furthermore, a negative correlation was observed between contrast estimates of the right hippocampus and vanitrope familiarity ratings, indicating that the hippocampus does not evoke memories when perceiving vanitrope, indicating its unfamiliarity with vanilla.…”

The effect of mindfulness-based intervention on neurobehavioural functioning and its association with white-matter microstructural changes in preterm young adolescents

“…The BRIEF gives two standardised subscales, the Behavioural Regulation Index (BRI) and the Metacognition Index (MI) as well as a global score called the Global Executive Composite (GEC). Neurocognitive computerised tasks comprised: (i) the Flanker Visual Filtering Task, in which reaction time of the congruent condition was used to assess speed of processing (which belongs to the information processing subdomain), and the inhibition score (reaction time in incongruent conditions—reaction time in congruent conditions) was used as a measure of the subdomain of attentional control 1 ; (ii) the child-adapted version of the Reality Filtering task, in which the temporal context confusion index (TCC) was used as a reality filtering measure, which involves integration of different executive processes 29 , 30 . Neuropsychological testing included the Letter-Number Sequencing subtest from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th Edition (WISC-IV) assessing working memory, which belongs to the cognitive flexibility subdomain 1 .…”