Neuroscience
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Motor imagery based brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCIs) have excellent application prospects in motor enhancement and rehabilitation. However, MI-induced electroencephalogram features applied to MI-BCI usually vary from person to person. This study aimed to investigate whether the motor ability of the individual upper limbs was associated with these features, which helps understand the causes of inter-subject variability. ⋯ The results demonstrate that hand dexterity and fine motor coordination are significantly related to MI-induced neural activities. In addition, the method of imagining is also relevant to MI features. Therefore, this study is meaningful for understanding individual differences and the design of user-centered MI-BCI.
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Understanding the biological basis of cognitive differences between individuals is the goal in human intelligence research. The surface area of the cortex is considered to be a key determinant of human intelligence. Adolescence is a period of development characterized by physiological, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial changes, which is related to the recombination and optimization of the cerebral cortex, and cognitive ability changes significantly in children and adolescents. ⋯ No correlation was observed between regional surface areas and nonverbal intelligence, except for the occipital lobe and the right hemisphere. In the bivariate twin analyses, the differences in phenotypic correlation between regional surface areas and verbal intelligence were not due to unshared environmental effects or measurement error, but to genetic effects. In summary, the current study has broadened the previous genetic investigations of cognitive ability and cortical surface area.
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Social media has revolutionized science communication, allowing for rapid dissemination of science-related content to the public. In recent years, video platforms like TikTok and Instagram have implemented recommendation algorithms that track users' interests andsuggest personalized videos. As a result, these apps have become powerful tools for public messaging, facilitating access to audiences that are naturally curious about science. ⋯ Finally, I present survey data demonstrating that 84% of users report feeling more trustful of science & scientists after following this account. Although the generalizability of these findings is limited, the results offer insights into the factors that drive video performance on TikTok and how users engage with scientific content on social media. These findings may help science communicators more effectively reach wider audiences and promote science literacy in new and innovative ways.
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Objectively measuring animal behavior is vital to understanding the neural circuits underlying pain. Recent progress in machine vision has presented unprecedented scope in behavioral analysis. Here, we apply DeepLabCut (DLC) to dissect mouse behavior on the thermal-plate test - a commonly used paradigm to ascertain supraspinal contributions to noxious thermal sensation and pain hypersensitivity. ⋯ In this study, we design a novel assay and formulate an analytical pipeline to facilitate the dissection of plasticity mechanisms in pain circuits in the brain. Last, we record and test how activating Tacr1 expressing PBN neurons (PBNTacr1) - a population responsive to sustained noxious stimuli- affects mouse behavior on the thermal plate test. Taken together, we demonstrate that by tracking a single body part of a mouse, we can reveal the behavioral signatures of mice exposed to noxious surface temperatures, report the alterations of the same when injured, and determine if a molecularly and anatomically defined pain-responsive circuit plays a role in the reflexive hypersensitivity to thermal pain.