Replication FailureOpen accessNeuroscience
Domenica Veniero, Christopher Benwell, Merle M. Ahrens et al. · 2017 · Frontiers in Psychology
Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is being investigated as an experimental and clinical interventional technique in human participants. While promising, important limitations have been identified, including weak effect sizes and high inter- and intra-individual variability of outcomes. Here, we compared two "inhibitory" tES-techniques with supposedly different mechanisms of action as to their effects on performance in a visuospatial attention task, and report on a direct replication attempt. In two experiments, 2 × 20 healthy participants underwent tES in three separate sessions testin
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Steven D. Mittelman, Katie Klier, Sharon Braun et al. · 2010 · Obesity
Ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY) stimulate hunger and satiety, respectively. The physiology of these hormones during normal meal intake remains unclear. This study was designed to compare the responses of these two hormones to meal intake…
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James F. Morley, Abigail Cohen, Laura Silveira‐Moriyama et al. · 2018 · npj Parkinson s Disease
The 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is an effective instrument to detect olfactory dusfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). It is not clear, however, whether tests of this length are necessary to detect such dysfunction. Several studies have suggested that detection of certain odors is selectively compromised in PD, and that a test comprised of these odors could be shorter and more specific for this purpose. Therefore, we attempted to identify a subset of UPSIT odors that distinguish PD from controls with similar or improved test characteristics compared to
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Hanna K. Frost, Tomas Andersson, Sebastian Johansson et al. · 2018 · Scientific Reports
Electrospinning can be used to mimic the architecture of an acellular nerve graft, combining microfibers for guidance, and pores for cellular infiltration. We made electrospun nerve guides, from polycaprolactone (PCL) or poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), with aligned fibers along the insides of the channels and random fibers around them. We bridged a 10 mm rat sciatic nerve defect with the guides, and, in selected groups, added a cell transplant derived from autologous stromal vascular fraction (SVF). For control, we compared to hollow silicone tubes; or autologous nerve grafts. PCL nerve guides had
View details →Failed Experiment ReportOpen accessNeuroscience
Michael Devitt, Nicolas Porot · 2018 · Cognitive Science
Experiments on theories of reference have mostly tested referential intuitions. We think that experiments should rather be testing linguistic usage. Substantive Aim (I): to test classical description theories of proper names against usage…
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Alexander C. Wilson, Dorothy Bishop · 2018 · PeerJ
BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that failure to establish cerebral lateralisation may be related to developmental language disorder (DLD). There has been weak support for any link with handedness, but more consistent reports of associations with functional brain lateralisation for language. The consistency of lateralisation across different functions may also be important. We aimed to replicate previous findings of an association between DLD and reduced laterality on a quantitative measure of hand preference (reaching across the midline) and on language laterality assessed using functional t
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Natalia Sánchez, Sungwoo Park, James M. Finley · 2017 · Scientific Reports
The theory that the sensorimotor system minimizes energetic cost during locomotion has long been supported by both computational models and empirical studies. However, it has yet to be determined if the behavior to which people converge when exposed to a novel perturbation during locomotion is also energetically optimal. We address this issue in the context of adaptation to walking on a split-belt treadmill, which can impose a left-right asymmetry in step lengths. In response to this asymmetry, participants gradually adjust their foot placement to adopt steps of equal length. Here, we characte
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Mahmoud G. El Baassiri, Zachariah Raouf, Sarah Badin et al. · 2024 · Journal of Neuroinflammation
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a chronic and debilitating disease, associated with a high risk of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. Despite significant advancements in improving outcomes, the lack of effective treatments underscore the urgent need for innovative therapeutic strategies. The brain-gut axis has emerged as a crucial bidirectional pathway connecting the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system through an intricate network of neuronal, hormonal, and immunological pathways. Four main pathways are primarily implicated in this crosstalk, including the systemic immune syste
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Jonna Nilsson, Alexander V. Lebedev, Martin Lövdén · 2015 · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been put forward as a non-pharmacological alternative for alleviating cognitive decline in old age. Although results have shown some promise, little is known about the optimal stimulation parameters for modulation in the cognitive domain. In this study, the effects of tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on working memory performance were investigated in thirty older adults. An N-back task assessed working memory before, during and after anodal tDCS at a current strength of 1 mA and 2 mA, in addition to sham stimulation. The st
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Adrienne L. Romer, Annchen R. Knodt, Maria L. Sison et al. · 2019 · Molecular Psychiatry
Transdiagnostic research has identified a general psychopathology factor-often called the 'p' factor-that accounts for shared variation across internalizing, externalizing, and thought disorders in diverse samples. It has been argued that the p factor may reflect dysfunctional thinking present in serious mental illness. In support of this, we previously used a theory-free, data-driven multimodal neuroimaging approach to find that higher p factor scores are associated with structural alterations within a cerebello-thalamo-cortical circuit (CTCC) and visual association cortex, both of which are
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Michael Notaras, Rachel Hill, Joseph A. Gogos et al. · 2015 · Molecular Psychiatry
The BDNF gene Val66Met single-nucleotide polymorphism is carried by ~0.55% of Sub-Saharan Africans, 19.9% of Europeans and 43.6% of Asians, but may be carried by up to 72% of some Sub-Asian population groups. 1 The switch from a guanine to…
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Kai Schreiber, Bart Krekelberg · 2013 · PLoS ONE
The goal of multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) in BOLD imaging is to determine whether patterns of activation across multiple voxels change with experimental conditions. MVPA is a powerful technique, its use is rapidly growing, but it poses serious statistical challenges. For instance, it is well-known that the slow nature of the BOLD response can lead to greatly exaggerated performance estimates. Methods are available to avoid this overestimation, and we present those here in tutorial fashion. We go on to show that, even with these methods, standard tests of significance such as Students' T
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Andrea Botticelli, Silvia Mezi, Giulia Pomati et al. · 2020 · Frontiers in Immunology
Backgrounds. Clinical trials showed that only a subset of patients benefits from immunotherapy suggesting the need to identify new predictive biomarker of resistance.. Indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) has been proposed as a mechanism of resistance to anti-PD1 treatment and serum kyn/trp ratio represent a possible marker of IDO activity. Methods. Metastatic NSCLC, RCC and HNSCC treated in second line with nivolumab were included in this prospective study. Baseline serum kynurenine and tryptophan levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography to define the kyn/trp ratio. The 2–t
View details →Replication FailureOpen accessNeuroscience
Arnold Kochari, Monique Flecken · 2018 · Language Cognition and Neuroscience
An important question in predictive language processing is the extent to which prediction effects can reliably be measured on pre-nominal material (e.g. articles before nouns). Here, we present a large sample (N = 58) close replication of a study by Otten and van Berkum (2009). They report ERP modulations in relation to the predictability of nouns in sentences, measured on gender-marked Dutch articles. We used nearly identical materials, procedures, and data analysis steps. We fail to replicate the original effect, but do observe a pattern consistent with the original data. Methodological diff
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Samuel Murray, Nathan Liang, Nicholaus P. Brosowsky et al. · 2021 · Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts
A primary aim of mind-wandering research has been to understand its influence on task performance. While this research has typically highlighted the costs of mind wandering, a handful of studies have suggested that mind wandering may be…
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Colin Quirk, Kirsten Adam, Edward K. Vogel · 2020 · eNeuro
Visual working memory is the ability to hold visual information temporarily in mind. A key feature of working memory is its starkly limited capacity, such that only a few simple items can be remembered at once. Prior work has shown that this capacity limit cannot be circumvented by providing additional encoding time, whether providing just 200 ms or up to 1300 ms, capacity is still limited to only three to four items. In contrast, Brady et al. (2016) hypothesized that real-world objects, but not simple items used in prior research, benefit from additional encoding time and are not subject to t
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James B. Adams, Daniel P. Howsmon, Uwe Krüger et al. · 2017 · PLoS ONE
INTRODUCTION: A number of previous studies examined a possible association of toxic metals and autism, and over half of those studies suggest that toxic metal levels are different in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Additionally, several studies found that those levels correlate with the severity of ASD. METHODS: In order to further investigate these points, this paper performs the most detailed statistical analysis to date of a data set in this field. First morning urine samples were collected from 67 children and adults with ASD and 50 neurotypical controls of similar age an
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Beth Lloyd, Franz Wurm, Roy de Kleijn et al. · 2023 · Brain stimulation
BackgroundTranscutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been tested as a potential treatment for pharmaco-resistant epilepsy and depression. Its clinical efficacy is thought to depend on taVNS-induced activation of the locus coeruleus and other neuromodulator systems. However, unlike for invasive VNS in rodents, there is little evidence for an effect of taVNS on noradrenergic activity.ObjectiveWe attempted to replicate recently published findings by Sharon et al. (2021), showing that short bursts of taVNS transiently increased pupil size and decreased EEG alpha power, two correl
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Priya Landa, Ann‐Marie Differ, Kaukab Rajput et al. · 2013 · BMC Medical Genetics
BACKGROUND: Pendred syndrome is a common autosomal recessive disorder causing deafness. Features include sensorineural hearing impairment, goitre, enlarged vestibular aqueducts (EVA) and occasionally Mondini dysplasia. Hearing impairment and EVA may occur in the absence of goitre or thyroid dyshormonogensis in a condition known as non-syndromic EVA. A significant number of patients with Pendred syndrome and non-syndromic EVA show only one mutation in SLC26A4. Two genes, KCNJ10, encoding an inwardly rectifying potassium channel and FOXI1, a transcriptional factor gene, are thought to play a rol
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Shaomin Peng, Geliang Gan, Caihong Qiu et al. · 2013 · Stem Cells Translational Medicine
Retinal degenerations are a major cause of impaired vision in the elderly. Degenerations originate in either photoreceptors or the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). RPE forms the outer blood-retinal barrier and functions intimately with…
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Peter E. Clayson, Ann Clawson, Michael J. Larson · 2011 · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Previous research suggests that performance-monitoring processes are related to personality traits; relationships with affective states, however, remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous findings that…
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Mürşide Değirmenci, Yılmaz Kemal Yüce, Matjaž Perc et al. · 2023 · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
In recent studies, in the field of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), researchers have focused on Motor Imagery tasks. Motor Imagery-based electroencephalogram (EEG) signals provide the interaction and communication between the paralyzed patients and the outside world for moving and controlling external devices such as wheelchair and moving cursors. However, current approaches in the Motor Imagery-BCI system design require effective feature extraction methods and classification algorithms to acquire discriminative features from EEG signals due to the non-linear and non-stationary structure of EEG
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Scott J. Young, Matteo Bertucco, Rebecca Sheehan-Stross et al. · 2012 · Journal of Child Neurology
Studies suggest that dystonia is associated with increased motor cortex excitability. Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation can temporarily reduce motor cortex excitability. To test whether stimulation of the motor cortex can…
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Jussi Palomäki, Anton Kunnari, Marianna Drosinou et al. · 2018 · Heliyon
The uncanny valley (UV) effect refers to an eerie feeling of unfamiliarity people get while observing or interacting with robots that resemble humans almost but not quite perfectly. The effect is not well understood, and it is also unclear…
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Aine Ito, Andrea E. Martin, Mante S. Nieuwland · 2017 · Language Cognition and Neuroscience
In our recent publication “How robust are prediction effects in language comprehension? Failure to replicate article-elicited N400 effects” (Ito, Martin, & Nieuwland, 2016a), we report two experiments which failed to replicate existing…
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Janet H. Hsiao, Jeehye An, Yueyuan Zheng et al. · 2021 · Cognition
Recent research has suggested the importance of part-based information in face recognition in addition to global, whole-face information. Nevertheless, face drawing experience was reported to enhance selective attention to the eyes but did…
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Jessica E. Salvatore, Alexis C. Edwards, Jeanette N. McClintick et al. · 2015 · Translational Psychiatry
Adult antisocial behavior (AAB) is moderately heritable, relatively common and has adverse consequences for individuals and society. We examined the molecular genetic basis of AAB in 1379 participants from a case-control study in which the cases met criteria for alcohol dependence. We also examined whether genes of interest were expressed in human brain. AAB was measured using a count of the number of Antisocial Personality Disorder criteria endorsed under criterion A from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV). Participants were genotyped on the Illumi
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Andreas Nolte, Nico W. Funk, Latha Mukunda et al. · 2013 · PLoS ONE
The mechanisms of insect odor transduction are still controversial. Insect odorant receptors (ORs) are 7TM receptors with inverted membrane topology. They colocalize with a conserved coreceptor (Orco) with chaperone and ion channel function. Some studies suggest that insects employ exclusively ionotropic odor transduction via OR-Orco heteromers. Other studies provide evidence for different metabotropic odor transduction cascades, which employ second messenger-gated ion channel families for odor transduction. The hawkmoth Manduca sexta is an established model organism for studies of insect olfa
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David J. Caldwell, Jeneva A. Cronin, Jing Wu et al. · 2019 · Scientific Reports
Direct cortical stimulation (DCS) of primary somatosensory cortex (S1) could help restore sensation and provide task-relevant feedback in a neuroprosthesis. However, the psychophysics of S1 DCS is poorly studied, including any comparison to cutaneous haptic stimulation. We compare the response times to DCS of human hand somatosensory cortex through electrocorticographic grids with response times to haptic stimuli delivered to the hand in four subjects. We found that subjects respond significantly slower to S1 DCS than to natural, haptic stimuli for a range of DCS train durations. Median respon
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Annika Melinder, Svein Magnussen · 2014 · Psychology Crime and Law
Expert witnesses have various tasks that frequently include issues of memory. We tested if expert witnesses outperform other practitioners on memory issues of high relevance to clinical practice. We surveyed psychiatrists and psychologists…
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