Biology subjects

Garcia, M. C.

Publications and source records attributed to Garcia, M. C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Stimulating the medial prefrontal cortex disrupts inhibitory control over memory by modulating frontal and parietal brain regions

The act of recalling memories can paradoxically lead to the forgetting of other associated memories, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). This effect is thought to be mediated by inhibitory control mechanisms in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Here we investigated whether stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) with transcranial direct current stimulation modulates inhibitory control during memory retrieval in a RIF paradigm. In a randomized study, fifty participants received either real or sham stimulation, before performing retrieval practice on target memories. After retrieval practice, a final test was administered to measure the impact of stimulation on RIF. We found that stimulation selectively increased the retrieval accuracy of non-target memories and thus decreased RIF, suggesting a disruption of inhibitory control. Meanwhile, no change arose for the retrieval accuracy of target memories. The reduction in RIF was caused by a more pronounced beta desynchronization within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (left-DLPFC), in an early time window (<500 msec) after the onset of the cue during retrieval practice. This, in turn, led to a stronger beta desynchronization within the parietal cortex in a later time window, an established marker for successful memory retrieval. Together, our results establish the causal involvement of the mPFC in actively suppressing competing memories and we demonstrate that while forgetting arises as a consequence of retrieving specific memories, these two processes are functionally independent. Finally, we demonstrate that beta desynchronization in the fronto-parietal brain regions indicates the disruption of inhibitory control.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Citizen Science Data on Urban Forageable Plants: A Case Study in Brazil

This paper presents two key data sets derived from the Pomar Urbano project. The first data set is a comprehensive catalog of edible fruit-bearing plant species, native or introduced in Brazil. The second data set, sourced from the iNaturalist platform, tracks the distribution and monitoring of these plants within urban landscapes across Brazil. The study encompasses data from all 27 Brazilian state capitals, focusing on the ten cities that contributed the most observations as of August 2023. The research emphasizes the significance of citizen science in urban biodiversity monitoring and its potential to contribute to various fields, including food and nutrition, creative industry, study of plant phenology, and machine learning applications. We expect the data sets to serve as a resource for further studies in urban foraging, food security, cultural ecosystem services, and environmental sustainability.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Drawing the experience dynamics of meditation.

Subjective experiences are hard to capture quantitatively without losing depth and nuance, and subjective report analyses are time-consuming, their interpretation contested. We describe Temporal Experience Tracing, a method that captures relevant aspects of the unified conscious experience over a continuous period of time. The continuous multidimensional description of an experience allows us to computationally reconstruct common experience states. Applied to data from 852 meditations - from novice (n=20) and an experienced (n=12) meditators practising Breathing, Loving-Kindness and Open-Monitoring meditation - we reconstructed four recurring experience states with an average duration of 6:46 min (SD = 5:50 min) and their transition dynamics. Three of the experience states assimilated the three meditation styles practiced, and a fourth experience state represented a common low-motivational, off-task state for both groups. We found that participants in both groups spent more time in the task-related experience state during Loving Kindness meditation than other meditation styles and were less likely to transition into an off-task experience state during Loving Kindness meditation than during Breathing meditation. We demonstrate that drawing the dynamics of experience enables the quantitative analysis of subjective experiences, transforming the time dimension of the stream of consciousness from narrative to measurable.

neuroscience↗