Biology subjects

Cespon, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Cespon, J..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

A single session of mild intensity physical exercise modulates brain oscillations in healthy young adults: a pilot study.

An acute session of moderate or vigorous physical exercise (PE) induces a cascade of neurophysiological processes such as release of growth factors, which relate to increased electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. Studies using animal models of Alzheimers disease (AD) showed that these mechanisms are disrupted even at asymptomatic stages of the disease. Specifically, increased neural activity within Theta band observed in healthy mice was not evidenced in mice models of AD, suggesting that EEG could be a suitable non-invasive tool to detect preclinical AD. The present study aims investigating the possible neurophysiological effects after a session of mild intensity PE, which is feasible to carry out in most population, during an EEG recording. Thus, sixteen young humans cycled at a low intensity in a stationary bike to study PE effects on the EEG frequency bands. EEG was acquired before and after PE (immediately after performing the PE, or 20-25 minutes later). Results showed that PE increased Alpha activity in frontal and central electrodes for at least 25 minutes, which aligns with previous studies in humans. Trends to increased Theta activity were observed within the left hemisphere immediately after PE, but not 25 minutes after finishing PE. Studies using larger samples should assess whether mild intensity PE increases Alpha and Theta and induces effects of different duration in both frequency bands, suggesting sensitivity of EEG to detect diverse neurophysiological effects induced by PE. Another pending issue is whether increased Alpha after PE in humans is functionally equivalent to increased Theta observed in mice.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Electrophysiological correlates of cognitive reserve in healthy older adults at different cognitive states

High cognitive reserve (CR) is associated with a set of lifestyle factors such as high education level and occupational attainment. Studies suggest that CR is linked to enhanced executive control functions. Nevertheless, it is unclear what are the functional neural activity patterns linked to high CR and to what extent they are steady across different cognitive states. The aim of the present study was to investigate electrophysiological differences between low CR (LCR) and high CR (HCR) at rest and during the performance of two cognitive control tasks with different difficulty level. Thus, 67 older adults performed an experimental session consisting of two spatial stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) tasks (i.e., the Simon task, and the more demanding spatial Stroop task), and a resting state during an electroencephalogram (EEG) recording. Cognitive control was better in HCR than LCR group, as revealed by higher accuracy in HCR compared to LCR group in incongruent conditions of the tasks. Moreover, event-related brain potentials (ERP) showed earlier latencies (P300) in HCR than LCR and time/frequency analysis showed higher alpha activity in HCR than LCR during the performance of the tasks, while no differences were observed at rest within any of the analyzed frequency bands. Higher P300 frontalization was observed in LCR than HCR in the more difficult task but it was not related to frontalization within a specific frequency band. Overall, results showed that electrophysiological differences between high and low CR depend on the cognitive state, with greater CR-related differences emerging at increased task demands.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Cognitive reserve counteracts typical neural activity changes related to ageing

Studies have shown that older adults with high Cognitive Reserve (HCR) exhibit better executive functioning than their low CR (LCR) counterparts. However, the neural processes linked to those differences are unclear. This study investigates (1) the neural processes underlying enhanced executive functions in older adults with HCR and (2) how executive control differences are modulated by task difficulty. We recruited 74 participants, who performed two executive control tasks with different difficulty levels while recording the electroencephalogram. The accuracy on both tasks requiring inhibition of irrelevant information was better in the HCR than the LCR group. Also, in the more demanding task, event-related potentials (ERP) latencies related to inhibition and working memory update were faster in HCR than LCR. Moreover, the HCR, but not the LCR, showed larger P300 amplitude in parietal than frontal regions and in the left than right hemisphere, suggesting a posterior to anterior shift of activity and loss of inter-hemispheric asymmetries in LCR participants. These results suggest that high CR counteracts neural activity changes related to ageing. Thus, high levels of CR can be related to maintenance of neural activity patterns typically observed in young adults rather than to deployment of neural compensatory mechanisms.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Cognitive control activity is enhanced by single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation over prefrontal and premotor areas

Cognitive control, which includes a set of processes to implement goal directed actions and flexible behaviour, is related to a set of brain areas comprising prefrontal, premotor, and parietal cortex. However, the functional relationships between these areas and the neural correlates underlying the specific cognitive processes linked to cognitive control (e.g., inhibition and working memory update) are still unclear. In the present study, participants performed a spatial cognitive control task (i.e., a Simon task) during a transcranial magnetic stimulation electroencephalogram (TMS-EEG) co-registration. In different blocks of the task, single pulse TMS was applied over the left prefrontal, premotor, and parietal regions (a sham TMS condition was also included) at 180ms after the stimulus onset. Behavioural differences between the four TMS conditions were not observed. Accordingly, activity to inhibit the response toward the attended location was not modulated by TMS, as indexed by the contralateral central negativity (N2cc), even if TMS over parietal regions accelerated the visuospatial processing, as evidenced by faster contralateral posterior negativity (N2pc). Importantly, we observed larger P300 amplitude when delivering TMS over prefrontal and premotor cortex compared to the sham condition. These results suggest that TMS applied over the left prefrontal and premotor regions could enhances working memory processes linked to switch-and-update of the stimulus-response binding and align with the existence of prefrontal-premotor connections.

neuroscience↗