When a pure tone (PT) at 10 kHz and a 10 kHz amplitude-modulated (AM) sound were used as S+ and S-, the cortical responses to S using AM were significantly depressed but those to S- using PT were not. The cortical responses to S+ showed no significant change. Upward frequency-modulated sounds from 5 kHz to 40 kHz (FM up arrow) and downward GDC-0449 frequency-modulated sounds from 40 kHz to 5 kHz (FM down arrow) were also used as S+ and S. Cortical responses to S- using FM up arrow and FM down arrow were

significantly depressed after learning, while those to S+ were unchanged. No significant change of cortical responses to S using FMs was observed in the left auditory cortex after learning. The learning-induced depression of S using FMs was FGFR inhibitor most clearly observed in the medial part of the tonotopic band to 40 kHz in the right primary auditory cortex, which might be involved in processing FM sounds. (C) 2010 Elsevier

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“This work examined whether semantically relevant schemas could facilitate learning in the transverse patterning (TP) task, which requires participants to learn the value of each stimulus in relation to the stimulus with which it is paired (e.g., A wins over B, B wins over C, C wins over A). Younger and older adults received the standard TP in isolation (alone condition), with additional sessions (practice condition), EPZ-6438 mouse or with 2 TP sessions, which used familiar stimuli

with known relations (e.g., rock-paper-scissors, semantic condition). Accuracy improved when training was provided within the context of a previously known relational framework, beyond the benefits obtained with extended practice with the task. When levels of education and vocabulary scores were considered as covariates, age-related deficits in accuracy were observed in the alone and practice conditions but were eliminated in the semantic condition. Extended practice and appealing to prior knowledge improved explicit awareness for the stimulus contingencies for each age-group. Thus, age-related deficits in learning relations among items may be remediated using existing relational information within semantic memory as an analog for new learning.”
“This study was conducted to whether the administration of mexiletine, a Na(+) channel blocker, impacts the recovery from demyelination. Under anesthesia, 0.1% ethidium bromide was injected into the dorsal funiculus (T3), followed by a mexiletine or saline treatment Motor evoked potential (MEP) recordings and luxol fast blue stainings were performed at one, seven, 14, and 21 days post-operatively. Conduction was delayed during demyelination, but the mexiletine-injected group demonstrated shortened latencies and reductions in the demyelination area when compared to the control. These results suggest that systemic mexiletine plays a positive role in protecting neural tissues from demyelination.