Torralva T, Laffaye T, Báez S, Gleichgerrcht E, Bruno D, Chade A, Ibañez A, Manes F, Gershanik O, Roca M. Verbal fluency as a rapid screening test for cognitive impairment in early Parkinson’s disease. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. Jun 12:appineuropsych14060139. 2015.

Verbal fluency as a rapid screening test for cognitive impairment in early Parkinson’s disease. Autores Torralva T, Laffaye T, Báez S, Gleichgerrcht E, Bruno D, Chade A, Ibañez A, Manes F, Gershanik O, Roca M. Año 2015 Journal J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. Volumen June 12:appineuropsych14060139 Abstract  El test de fluencia fonológica es un test breve … Leer más

Los misterios del cerebro en Infobae: ¿para qué dormimos?

16/06. Infobae. Link nota completa: goo.gl/SHUdPR Durante el descanso ocurren procesos fundamentales para el organismo. Está asociado con funciones inmunológicas, endócrinas y de la memoria. El prestigioso neurocientífico argentino Facundo Manes explica la importancia del sueño para la buena salud en #CerebrosenRed

Lichtensztejn M., Macchi P, Lischinsky A. Music Therapy and Disorders of Consciousness: Providing Clinical Data for Differential Diagnosis between Vegetative State and Minimally Conscious State from Music-Centered Music Therapy and Neuroscience Perspectives. Music Therapy Perspectives 2014

Music Therapy and Disorders of Consciousness: Providing Clinical Data for Differential Diagnosis between Vegetative State and Minimally Conscious State from Music-Centered Music Therapy and Neuroscience Perspectives. Autores Lichtensztejn M., Macchi P, Lischinsky A. Año 2014 Journal  Lichtensztejn M., Macchi P, Lischinsky A. Volumen Abstract   Otra información    

Lanfranco R, Adolfi F, Ibanez A. Hypnotic suggestion: A test for the voluntary action problem. Cognitive Neuroscience 2014

To study voluntary action a dissociation must be established between the somatic event (e.g., motor action) and what the agent voluntarily does (e.g., handing a tool to a friend). We propose that cognitive neuroscience studies of hypnotic suggestion can accomplish this dissociation between action and will (more specifically, between action and intention, or action and volition). Thus, hypnotic suggestion may afford an empirical testing ground to study voluntary action, distinguishing voluntariness from action.

Escobar J, Huepe D, Decety J, Sedeño L, Messow MC, Báez S, Rivera-Rei A, Canales-Johnson AF, Morales JP, Johannes Schroeder, Manes F, Lopez V, Ibanez A.  Brain signatures of moral sensitivity in adolescents with early social deprivation. Scientific Reports 2014

The present study examined neural responses associated with moral sensitivity in adolescents with a background of early social deprivation. Using high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG), brain activity was measured during an intentional inference task, which assesses rapid moral decision-making regarding intentional or unintentional harm to people and objects. We compared the responses to this task in a socially deprived group (DG) with that of a control group (CG). The event-related potentials (ERPs) results showed atypical early and late frontal cortical markers associated with attribution of intentionality during moral decision-making in DG (especially regarding intentional harm to people). The source space of the hdEEG showed reduced activity for DG compared with CG in the right prefrontal cortex, bilaterally in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and right insula. Moreover, the reduced response in vmPFC for DG was predicted by higher rates of externalizing problems. These findings demonstrate the importance of the social environment in early moral development, supporting a prefrontal maturation model of social deprivation.

Falquez R, Couto JB, Ibanez A, Freitag MT, Berger M, Arens E, Lang S, Barnow S.  Detaching from the negative by reappraisal: the role of right superior frontal gyrus (BA9/32). Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 2014

The ability to reappraise the emotional impact of events is related to long-term mental health. Self-focused reappraisal (REAPPself), i.e., reducing the personal relevance of the negative events, has been previously associated with neural activity in regions near right medial prefrontal cortex, but rarely investigated among brain-damaged individuals. Thus, we aimed to examine the REAPPself ability of brain-damaged patients and healthy controls considering structural atrophies and gray matter intensities, respectively. Twenty patients with well-defined cortex lesions due to an acquired circumscribed tumor or cyst and 23 healthy controls performed a REAPPself task, in which they had to either observe negative stimuli or decrease emotional responding by REAPPself. Next, they rated the impact of negative arousal and valence. REAPPself ability scores were calculated by subtracting the negative picture ratings after applying REAPPself from the ratings of the observing condition. The scores of the patients were included in a voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) analysis to identify deficit related areas (ROI). Then, a ROI group-wise comparison was performed. Additionally, a whole-brain voxel-based-morphometry (VBM) analysis was run, in which healthy participant’s REAPPself ability scores were correlated with gray matter intensities. Results showed that (1) regions in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), comprising the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9) and the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA32), were associated with patient’s impaired down-regulation of arousal, (2) a lesion in the depicted ROI occasioned significant REAPPself impairments, (3) REAPPself ability of controls was linked with increased gray matter intensities in the ROI regions. Our findings show for the first time that the neural integrity and the structural volume of right SFG regions (BA9/32) might be indispensable for REAPPself. Implications for neurofeedback research are discussed.