Arno Villringer

Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences | CBS

Everyday life requires an adaptive balance between distraction-resistant maintenance of information and the flexibility to update this information when needed. These opposing mechanisms are proposed to be balanced through a working memory gating mechanism. Prior research indicates that obesity may elevate the risk of working memory deficits, yet th...

Background: Prebiotic dietary fiber and related metabolites have been suggested to attenuate low-grade systemic and central inflammation through improving gut-brain axis signaling. We here aimed to test whether habitual or short-term high-dose fiber intake is linked to inflammatory markers in blood and to indicators of central hypothalamic inflamma...

Evoked responses and ongoing oscillations represent two major electrophysiological phenomena in the human brain yet the link between them remains rather obscure. Here we show how these two types of brain activity can be mechanistically linked within the framework of the baseline-shift mechanism for the generation of evoked responses. We do so for t...

Ovarian hormones have substantial effects on the brain, and early menopause has been associated with increased risk of accelerated brain aging and dementia later in life. However, the impact of ovarian hormone fluctuations on brain structure earlier in life is less understood. Here we show that ovarian hormone fluctuations shape structural brain pl...

Developmental dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmental disorder specific to arithmetic learning even with normal intelligence and age-appropriate education. Difficulties often persist from childhood through adulthood lowering the individual’s quality of life. However, the neural correlates of developmental dyscalculia are poorly understood. This study a...

Objective Animal studies suggest that prebiotic, plant-derived nutrients could improve homoeostatic and hedonic brain functions through improvements in microbiome–gut–brain communication. However, little is known if these results are applicable to humans. Therefore, we tested the effects of high-dosed prebiotic fibre on reward-related food decision...

Serving as a channel for communication with locked-in patients or control of prostheses, sensorimotor brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) decode imaginary movements from the recorded activity of the user's brain. However, many individuals remain unable to control the BCI, and the underlying mechanisms are not clear yet. The user's BCI performance was...

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is thought of as a disorder of cognitive control but evidence regarding its neurocognitive mechanisms is inconclusive. A key limitation in prior research is the lack of clear separation between effects of BED and obesity. Moreover, research has largely disregarded self-report evidence that neurocognitive deficits may eme...

Background So far, previous research suggests positive effects of mental demands at the workplace. However, it may depend on how stressfull these demands are perceived on an individual level. Objective The aim was to build on previous research by investigating how mental demands are related to stress, overload, and work discontent and whether this...

During the past decade, cognitive neuroscience has been calling for population diversity to address the challenge of validity and generalizability, ushering in a new era of population neuroscience. The developing Chinese Color Nest Project (devCCNP, 2013–2022), the first ten-year stage of the lifespan CCNP (2013–2032), is a two-stages project focus...

The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on neurobiological mechanisms underlying executive function in the human brain remains elusive. This study aims at examining the effect of anodal and cathodal tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in comparison with sham stimulation on resting-state connectivity as wel...

Bodily rhythms such as respiration are increasingly acknowledged to modulate neural oscillations underlying human action, perception, and cognition. Conversely, the link between respiration and aperiodic brain activity – a non-oscillatory reflection of excitation-inhibition (E:I) balance – has remained unstudied. Aiming to disentangle potential res...

Humans generate complex hierarchies across a variety of domains, including language and music, and this capacity is often associated with activity in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Non-human animals have also been shown to represent simple hierarchies in spatial navigation, and human neuroimaging work has implicated the hippocampus in the encoding o...

Artificially created human faces play an increasingly important role in our digital world. However, the so-called uncanny valley effect may cause people to perceive highly, yet not perfectly human-like faces as eerie, bringing challenges to the interaction with virtual agents. At the same time, the neurocognitive underpinnings of the uncanny valley...

Children with developmental dyscalculia showed reduced volume and surface area in bilateral frontoparietal cortices but no significant cortical thickness changes when compared to typically developing peers

Memory processes have long been known to determine food choices (Rozin & Zellner, 1985) but recognition memory of food and its cognitive, homeostatic and neuroanatomical predictors are still largely understudied. 60 healthy, overweight, non-restrictive eating adults (20 females) took part in a food wanting and subsequent food recognition and lure d...

Resting-state (rs) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to detect low-frequency fluctuations in the blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal across brain regions. Correlations between temporal BOLD signal fluctuations are commonly used to infer functional connectivity. However, because BOLD is based on the dilution of deoxyhemoglo...

Background Ghrelin and leptin are both peptide hormones and act as opposing players in the regulation of hunger, satiety and energy expenditure. Leptin reduces appetite and feelings of hunger and is secreted mainly by adipocytes, while ghrelin increases appetite and food intake and reduces metabolic rate. Both hormones have been implicated in addic...

Despite the substantial progress in motor rehabilitation, patient involvement and motivation remain major challenges. They are typically addressed with communicational and environmental strategies, as well as with improved goal-setting procedures. Here we suggest a new research direction and framework involving Neuroeconomics principles to investig...

Virtual reality (VR) offers a powerful tool for investigating cognitive processes, as it allows researchers to gauge behaviors and mental states in complex, yet highly controlled, scenarios. The use of VR head-mounted displays in combination with physiological measures such as EEG presents new challenges and raises the question whether established...

Evoked responses and ongoing oscillations represent two major electrophysiological phenomena in the human brain yet the link between them remains rather obscure. Here we show how these two types of brain activity can be mechanistically linked within the framework of the baseline-shift mechanism for the generation of evoked responses. We do so for t...

Evoked responses and ongoing oscillations represent two major electrophysiological phenomena in the human brain yet the link between them remains rather obscure. Here we show how these two types of brain activity can be mechanistically linked within the framework of the baseline-shift mechanism for the generation of evoked responses. We do so for t...

Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone synthesized in times of stress and hunger and alterations of the ghrelin system following acute stressors could be repeatedly shown in humans. However, little data exists on long-term effects of trauma on the ghrelin system. We aimed to investigate the influence of childhood trauma on total ghrelin serum lev...

Humans generate complex hierarchies across a variety of domains, including language and music, and this capacity is often associated with activity in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Non-human animals have also been shown to represent simple hierarchies in spatial navigation, and human neuroimaging work has implicated the hippocampus in the encoding o...

Humans generate complex hierarchies across a variety of domains, including language and music, and this capacity is often associated with activity in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Non-human animals have also been shown to represent simple hierarchies in spatial navigation, and human neuroimaging work has implicated the hippocampus in the encoding o...

Background: Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited. Methods: In this preregistered analysis, we tested the impact of social isolation on central features of brain and cognitive ageing using a longitudinal populat...

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited.

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited.

Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited.

Background Social isolation (SI) is considered a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia, is associated with unhealthy lifestyle. We investigated independent and combined associations of SI and lifestyle with cognitive functioning (CF) in a midlife to early‐late life population without dementia. This informs developing more target...

Context Research in lipodystrophy (LD) and its treatment with metreleptin has not only helped LD patients, but has opened new directions in investigating leptin’s role in metabolism and the regulation of eating behavior. Previously, in a study with LD patients undergoing metreleptin treatment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we fo...

Objective: Animal studies suggest that prebiotic, plant-derived nutrients could improve homeostatic and hedonic brain functions through improvements in microbiome-gut-brain communication. However, little is known if these results are applicable to humans. Therefore, we tested the effects of high-dosed prebiotic fiber on reward-related food decision...

This study introduces a 3-week group program designed for patients with neurocognitive post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). The program represents a combination of evidence-based components of neurorehabilitation and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Following a detailed assessment, we develop a personalized bio-psycho-social model that integrates perce...

Many movements in daily life are embedded in motion sequences that involve more than one limb, demanding the motor system to monitor and control different body parts in quick succession. During such movements, systematic changes in the environment or the body might require motor adaptation of specific segments. However, previous motor adaptation re...

Background This study examined whether C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of low-grade systemic inflammation, mediates the association between vascular risk factor (VRF) burden and depressive symptoms. Methods We drew on the prospective design of the UK Biobank to include participants with longitudinal data on VRF burden, CRP, and depressive sympt...

Instantaneous and peak frequency changes in neural oscillations have been linked to many perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes. Yet, the majority of such studies have been performed in sensor space and only occasionally in source space. Furthermore, both terms have been used interchangeably in the literature, although they do not reflect the s...

Even subtle forms of hemispatial neglect after stroke negatively affect the performance of daily life tasks, increases the risk of injury, and are associated with poor rehabilitation outcomes. Conventional paper-and-pencil tests, however, often underestimate the symptoms. We aimed to identify relevant neglect-specific measures and clinical decision...

Context Behaviorally, the most pronounced effects of leptin substitution in leptin deficiency are the hunger-decreasing and postprandial satiety-prolonging effects of the adipokine. Previously, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we and others showed that eating behavior-controlling effects are at least in part conveyed by the reward...

Objective: Previous studies have shown that socioeconomically deprived groups exhibit higher lesion load of the white matter (WM) in aging. The aim of this study was to (i) investigate to what extent education and income may contribute to differences in white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and (ii) identify risk profiles related to a higher preval...

Multiple sites within Germany operate human MRI systems with magnetic fields either at 7 Tesla or 9.4 Tesla. In 2013, these sites formed a network to facilitate and harmonize the research being conducted at the different sites and make this technology available to a larger community of researchers and clinicians not only within Germany, but also wo...

Multiple studies have reported a link between mental health and high blood pressure with mixed or even contradictory findings. Here, we resolve those contradictions and further dissect the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship between mental health, systolic blood pressure, and hypertension using extensive psychological, medical and neuroim...

Background: Cumulative burden from vascular risk factors (VRFs) has been associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in mid- and later life. It has been hypothesised that this association arises because VRFs disconnect fronto-subcortical white matter tracts involved in mood regulation, which puts older adults at higher risk of develop...

Structural brain damage associated with heart failure is well described, however, little is known about associated changes in various specific brain functions that bear immediate clinical relevance. A satisfactory pathophysiological link between heart failure and decline in cognitive function is still missing. In the present study, we aim to detect...

Introduction: Resilience describes good adaptation to adversity and is a significant factor for well-being in old age. Initial studies indicate a high relevance of social resources. So far, only few studies have investigated resilience patterns in the elderly population. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate sociodemographic and social...

Precisely charting the maturation of core neurocognitive functions such as reinforcement learning (RL) and flexible adaptation to changing action-outcome contingencies is key for developmental neuroscience and adjacent fields like developmental psychiatry. However, research in this area is both sparse and conflicted, especially regarding potentiall...

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between olfactory sulcus (OS) depth and olfactory function considering age and gender and to provide normative data on OS depth in a population with normal olfactory function. Materials and methods: OS depth was obtained using T1 magnetic resonance imaging scans. Participants (me...

BOLD delay is an emerging, noninvasive method for assessing cerebral perfusion that does not require the use of intravenous contrast agents and is thus particularly suited for longitudinal monitoring. In this study, we assess the reproducibility of BOLD delay using data from 136 subjects with normal cerebral perfusion scanned on two separate occasi...

Evoked responses and oscillations represent two major electrophysiological phenomena in the human brain yet the link between them remains rather obscure. Here we show how most frequently studied EEG signals: the P300-evoked response and alpha oscillations (8–12 Hz) can be linked with the baseline-shift mechanism. This mechanism states that oscillat...

Aging increases the risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Cardiovascular diseases might accelerate this process. Our study aimed at investigating the impact of heart failure on brain connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging at resting state. Here we show brain connectivity alterations related to heart failure and cognitive performanc...

Virtual reality (VR) offers a powerful tool for investigating cognitive processes, as it allows researchers to gauge behaviors and mental states in complex, yet highly controlled, scenarios. The use of VR head-mounted displays in combination with physiological measures such as EEG presents new challenges and raises the question whether established...

Background: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) disrupts the lives of millions of people each month. The timing of symptoms suggests that hormonal fluctuations play a role in the pathogenesis. Here, we tested whether a heightened sensitivity of the serotonin system to menstrual cycle phase underlies PMDD, assessing the relationship of serotonin...

INTRODUCTION Dementia syndromes can be difficult to diagnose. We aimed at building a classifier for multiple dementia syndromes using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). METHODS Atlas-based volumetry was performed on T1-weighted MRI data of 426 patients and 51 controls from the multi-centric German Research Consortium of Frontotemporal Lobar Degener...

Adopting plant-based diets high in fiber may reduce global warming and obesity prevalence. Physiological and psychological determinants of plant-based food intake remain unclear. As fiber has been linked with improved gut-brain signaling, we hypothesized that a single plant-based (vegetarian and vegan) compared to an animal-based (animal flesh) mea...

In a system as complex as the human brain, one cannot conceive of meaningful events involving a change in a single observable (physiological) parameter. Therefore, achieving the ultimate aim of a complete understanding of brain events and brain activity in general will require the integration of a variety of observations related to these events. Mu...

Combining both EEG and fMRI is still a challenging task. A large number of studies on the feasibility of EEG-fMRI for the visual system have been performed because it is an accessible and well-described system. In this chapter we will discuss studies around signal quality, the different types of EEG-fMRI experiments in the visual system (EEG-inform...

In this chapter, we focus on the artefacts that arise in the EEG during the fMRI acquisition process. Functional MRI using echo planar imaging (EPI) sequences involves the application of rapidly varying magnetic field gradients for spatial encoding of the MR signal and radiofrequency (RF) pulses for spin excitation (see Chap. 3). Early in the imple...

Background: The retina is part of the central nervous system. Layers of the retina can be investigated non-invasively by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Previously, associations of retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFLT) with cognitive function were established in population-based studies. Clinical relevance constitutes the improvement of e...

While there are studies connecting everyday physical activity (PA) to mental health, they mostly use self-report measures for PA which are biased in multiple ways. Nevertheless, a realistic assessment of everyday PA is important for the development and implementation of low-threshold public health interventions. Therefore, we want to analyze the re...

The spinal cord is of fundamental importance for somatosensory processing and plays a significant role in various pathologies, such as chronic pain. However, knowledge on spinal cord processing in humans is limited due to the vast technical challenges involved in its investigation via non-invasive recording approaches. Here, we aim to address these...

Performing endovascular medical interventions safely and efficiently requires a diverse set of skills that need to be practised in dedicated training sessions. Here, we used multimodal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to determine the structural and functional plasticity and core skills associated with skill acquisition. A training group learned to...

While many structural and biochemical changes in the brain have previously been associated with older age, findings concerning functional properties of neuronal networks, as reflected in their electrophysiological signatures, remain rather controversial. These discrepancies might arise due to several reasons, including diverse factors determining g...

Many movements in daily life are embedded in motion sequences that involve more than one limb, demanding the motor system to monitor and control different body parts in quick succession. During such movements, systematic changes in the environment or the body might require motor adaptation of specific segments. However, previous motor adaptation re...

Background: The effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are variable and the factors contributing to this variability are not sufficiently understood. In particular, aging has been discussed as an influencing factor. Age-related changes in transcallosal structural connectivity (TCC) between the primary motor cortices have been imp...

Hypertension (HTN) has been associated with a greater risk of affective disorders. Paradoxically, several studies have shown the opposite effect in which high blood pressure relates to less depressive symptoms and greater well-being. Here we dissolve this paradox and clarify the relationship between mental health, blood pressure and the development...

People with vascular risk factors (VRFs) are at higher risk for depressive symptoms. Given recent findings implicating low-grade systemic inflammation in both vascular and mental health, this study examined the extent to which the VRF–depressive symptom association might be mediated by low-grade systemic inflammation. To this end, we analysed longi...

Cumulative burden from vascular risk factors (VRFs) has been associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms in mid- and later life, but the mechanisms underlying this link are still unclear. One hypothesis is that VRFs disconnect fronto-subcortical white matter tracts that underlie mood and emotion regulation, which in turn puts older adu...

Social cognition includes understanding the mental states (thoughts, feelings, intentions, desires, and beliefs) of others – so-called ‘theory of mind’ or ‘mindreading’. Recent studies have shown an impact of age and sex. Here, we applied the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test (RMET) that measures the ability to identify mental states from the eye...

The experience of anxiety is central to the development of chronic pain. Music listening has been previously shown to exert analgesic effects. Here we tested if an active engagement in music making is more beneficial than music listening in terms of anxiety and pain levels during physical activity that is often avoided in patients with chronic pain...