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Humans can effortlessly extract the affective meaning of touch delivered to another person`s skin as well as their own. Interpersonal touch communication conveys discrete emotion and intention. For example, we can easily imagine experiencing a warm feeling when observing a person being hugged. Previous findings about simple touch observation suggested that this phenomenon could be linked to somatosensory resonance and the theory of mind (ToM). Yet, concerning more complex interpersonal affective touch, our understanding of how such mechanisms work is still limited. Thus, in the current study we generated a novel socio-affective touch database of 39 stimulus videos, covering both pleasant (e.g., hugging a person) and unpleasant (e.g. slapping a person) touch scenarios, and investigated how the human brain processes different types of interpersonal affective touch during passive observation. First, 21 participants evaluated pleasantness and arousal of each touch video. Subsequently, the same participants watched the same videos in the scanner. Importantly, we also provided the participants with both positive and negative touch stimulation in the scanner to capture actual touch sensitive cortices which we used as parts of regions of interest (ROI) along with social brain regions. Using correlational multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) methods, neural spaces of affective touch were obtained in ROIs, followed by multiple regression analysis between the group neural matrix in each ROI and affective ratings. The results suggest that both actual touch sensitive cortices and social brain regions represent valence information after controlling the effects of arousal and other visual factors. Our findings highlight the involvement of social understanding and a mirror somatosensory system during observation of other`s affective touch interactions in the absence of actual touch. ispartof: International Association for the Study of Affective Touch location:Liverpool, UK date:1 Sep - 3 Sep 2017 status: published

Having the means to share research data openly is essential to modern science. For human research, a key aspect in this endeavor is obtaining consent from participants, not just to take part in a study, which is a basic ethical principle, but also to share their data with the scientific community. To ensure that the participants' privacy is respected, national and/or supranational regulations and laws are in place. It is, however, not always clear to researchers what the implications of those are, nor how to comply with them. The Open Brain Consent (https://open-brain-consent.readthedocs.io) is an international initiative that aims to provide researchers in the brain imaging community with information about data sharing options and tools. We present here a short history of this project and its latest developments, and share pointers to consent forms, including a template consent form that is compliant with the EU general data protection regulation. We also share pointers to an associated data user agreement that is not only useful in the EU context, but also for any researchers dealing with personal (clinical) data elsewhere.

Central neural circuits orchestrate the homeostatic repertoire to maintain body temperature during environmental temperature challenges and to alter body temperature during the inflammatory response. This review summarizes the research leading to a model representing our current understanding of the neural pathways through which cutaneous thermal receptors alter thermoregulatory effectors: the cutaneous circulation for control of heat loss, and brown adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and the heart for thermogenesis. The activation of these effectors is regulated by parallel but distinct, effector-specific core efferent pathways within the central nervous system (CNS) that share a common peripheral thermal sensory input. The thermal afferent circuit from cutaneous thermal receptors includes neurons in the spinal dorsal horn projecting to lateral parabrachial nucleus neurons that project to the medial aspect of the preoptic area. Within the preoptic area, warm-sensitive, inhibitory output neurons control heat production by reducing the discharge of thermogenesis-promoting neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus. The rostral ventromedial medulla, including the raphe pallidus, receives projections form the dorsomedial hypothalamus and contains spinally projecting premotor neurons that provide the excitatory drive to spinal circuits controlling the activity of thermogenic effectors. A distinct population of warm-sensitive preoptic neurons controls heat loss through an inhibitory input to raphe pallidus sympathetic premotor neurons controlling cutaneous vasoconstriction. The model proposed for central thermoregulatory control provides a platform for further understanding of the functional organization of central thermoregulation.

Rede uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van hoogleraar Neurophysiology aan de Faculteit der Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Informatica van de Radboud Universiteit, 07 december 2023 Contains fulltext : 302187.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Inaugural lecture 24 p.

Human physiology changes in predictable ways in anticipation of and after exposure to emotional visual stimuli. In a series of experiments reported by Radin (1997), it was found that even when stimuli were adequately randomized, so that the upcoming stimuli could not be inferred, that anticipatory responses (as measured by changes in skin conductance) before exposure to emotional pictures were significantly larger than before exposure to calm pictures. In three subsequent expreriments, the first and third close replications and the second a conceptual replication of Radin s studies, Bierman confirmed this so called "presentiment" or pre-feeling effect. Bierman sub-sequently decided to see whether these anomalies observed in physiological baseline measurements could also be found in data from studies published previously in the main stream literature. Two datasets were found and reanalyzed. The first dataset as from a study on the speed with which fear arises in animal phobic participants vs. controls by the German group of Hamm. The second study was concerned with the difference in anticipatory responses prior to choosing cards from risky vs. non-risky decks of cards in a gambling task by the US group of Damasio. The combined result showed a significant anomalous difference similar to the effects found in the original studies by Radin and Bierman. A new development in presentiment research is the measurement of brain images rather than skin conductance preceding the presentation of randomized neutral and emotional stimuli. Preliminary results suggest that the anomaly can be located in the brain. This would allow for more detailed inspection of differences between different types of emotional stimuli like violent and erotic.

Using advanced neuroimaging to communicate with individuals in a vegetative state, medical science is developing a richer understanding of 'disorders of consciousness'. Join Adrian Owen, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Neuroscience and Imaging at Western, as he shares pioneering insights into our deepening knowledge of some of the most challenging questions about how the brain functions and the very nature of consciousness.

Martin G. Myers Jr., MD, PhD, received the American Diabetes Association's prestigious 2010 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award at the Association's 70th Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida, on 28 June 2010. The Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award recognizes outstanding scientific achievement in the field of diabetes, taking into consideration independence of thought and originality. Currently the Marilyn H. Vincent Professor of Diabetes Research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Associate Professor in internal medicine and in molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Myers began his impressive track record in diabetes research as a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Morris White at the Joslin Diabetes Center/Harvard Medical School. There, Dr. Myers deciphered many of the insulin signaling pathways engaged by insulin receptor substrate proteins. Following his graduation from the Harvard MD-PhD Program in 1997, Dr. Myers was promoted to instructor in medicine at the Joslin Diabetes Center/Harvard Medical School. He began his independent work by building a molecular framework for understanding the mechanisms of leptin signaling, including how individual phosphorylation sites on the leptin receptor recruit distinct signaling molecules. He was promoted to assistant professor at Harvard in 1999. In 2004, Dr. Myers moved to the University of Michigan, where he built upon the molecular framework of leptin signaling to probe the regulation of metabolism by individual leptin signals. Dr. Myers' laboratory revealed the specificity of leptin signals in metabolic control, including the role for leptin-STAT3 signaling in the regulation of energy balance and glucose homeostasis. His group also defined roles for leptin receptor feedback inhibition and hypothalamic mTor signaling in metabolism. Dr. Myers' laboratory has recently developed novel molecular approaches to elucidate the leptin-regulated brain circuits that contribute to metabolic control, enabling the discovery of novel brain systems and their functions. In 1998, Dr. Myers received the American Diabetes Association's Career Development Award for his scientific abilities. Dr. Myers' current support includes the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases MERIT Award.

Contains fulltext : 139156.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Inaugurele rede, 26 september 2013 22 p.