Nadja Tschentscher

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich | LMU · Department of Psychology

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by the inability to acquire typical reading and writing skills. Dyslexia has been frequently linked to cerebral cortex alterations; however recent evidence also points towards sensory thalamus dysfunctions: dyslexics showed reduced responses in the left auditory thalamus (medial geniculate body, MGB) during s...

Emotion dysregulation has long been considered a key symptom in multiple psychiatric disorders. Difficulties in emotion regulation have been associated with neural dysregulation in fronto-limbic circuits. Real-time fMRI-based neurofeedback (rt-fMRI-NFB) has become increasingly popular as a potential treatment for emotional dysregulation in psychiat...

Introduction Cognitive behaviour therapy with exposure and response prevention is efficient in treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, it would be helpful for many patients to complement the therapeutic treatment with acceptance strategies to further increase the therapeutic benefit. The aim of the present study wa...

Cognitive impairment in patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders has been discussed as a strong predictor for multiple disease outcome variables, such as response to psychotherapy, stable relationships, employment, and longevity. However, the consistency and severity of cognitive deficits across multiple domains in individuals with...

Introduction: Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) (ICD-11) and anxiety disorders (ANX) share behavioural symptoms like anxiety, avoidance, social withdrawal, hyperarousal, or palpitation as well as neurological symptoms like vertigo, stance and gait disorders. Furthermore, previous studies have shown a bidirectional link between vestib...

Introduction: Individual real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI NF) might be a promising adjuvant in treating depressive symptoms. Further studies showed functional variations and connectivity-related changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the insular cortex. Objectives: The aim of this pilot stu...

EEG neurofeedback (EEG-NFB) is a promising tool for the treatment of depressive disorders. However, many methods for the presentation of neurobiological reactions are available and it is widely unknown which of these feedback options are preferrable. Moreover, the influence of motivation on NFB training success is insufficiently studied. This study...

Previous research suggests a broad range of deficits in major depressive disorder. Our goal was to update the current assumptions and investigate the extent of cognitive impairment in depression in the acute and remitted state. A systematic review of the existing literature between 2009 and 2019 assessing the risk of bias within the included studie...

Identifying treatment options for patients with alcohol dependence is challenging. This study investigates the application of real-time functional MRI (rtfMRI) neurofeedback (NF) to foster resistance towards craving-related neural activation in alcohol dependence. We report a double-blind, placebo-controlled rtfMRI study with three NF sessions usin...

Human fluid intelligence is closely linked to the sequential solving of complex problems. It has been associated with a distributed cognitive control or multiple-demand (MD) network, comprising regions of lateral frontal, insular, dorsomedial frontal, and parietal cortex. Previous neuroimaging research suggests that the MD network may orchestrate t...

Recognizing speech in background noise is a strenuous daily activity, yet most humans can master it. An explanation of how the human brain deals with such sensory uncertainty during speech recognition is to-date missing. Previous work has shown that recognition of speech without background noise involves modulation of the auditory thalamus (medial...

Comprehending speech in noise is a difficult daily activity, yet humans master it with the help of a complex neuronal decoding system spread over the cortical hierarchy. Sensory thalami are central sensory pathway stations on this hierarchical ladder. Recent studies have shown that the left ventral auditory thalamus (ventral medial geniculate body:...

Rhythmical brain activity around 5 Hz can be observed in the prefrontal cortex under conditions requiring high levels of cognitive control. However, its temporal dynamics are still elusive. A recent research paper (Cooper et al. Neuroimage 2019;189:130–140) provides evidence that the temporal evolution of this frontal-midline theta activity reflect...

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by the inability to acquire typical reading and writing skills. Dyslexia has been frequently linked to cerebral cortex alterations; however, recent evidence also points toward sensory thalamus dysfunctions: dyslexics showed reduced responses in the left auditory thalamus (medial geniculate body, MGB) during s...

This article discusses how the formation of abstract concepts in the brain is related to the basic mechanisms of perception and motor action. It also provides an overview of the neuroscientific techniques currently used to investigate these processes.

Fluid intelligence has been associated with a distributed cognitive control or multiple-demand (MD) network, comprising regions of lateral frontal, insular, dorsomedial frontal, and parietal cortex. Human fluid intelligence is also intimately linked to task complexity, and the process of solving complex problems in a sequence of simpler, more focus...

Fluid intelligence has been associated with a distributed cognitive control or multiple-demand (MD) network, comprising regions of lateral frontal, insular, dorsomedial frontal, and parietal cortex. Human fluid intelligence is also intimately linked to task complexity, and the process of solving complex problems in a sequence of simpler, more focus...

problem-solving relies on a sequence of cognitive steps involving phases of task encoding, the structuring of solution steps, and their execution. On the neural level, metabolic neuroimaging studies have associated a frontal-parietal network with various aspects of executive control during numerical and nonnumerical problem-solving. We used EEG–MEG...

Arithmetic problem-solving can be conceptualized as a multistage process ranging from task encoding over rule and strategy selection to step-wise task execution. Previous fMRI research suggested a frontal–parietal network involved in the execution of complex numerical and nonnumerical tasks, but evidence is lacking on the particular contributions o...

Mental arithmetic is a powerful paradigm to study problem solving using neuroimaging methods. However, the evaluation of task complexity varies significantly across neuroimaging studies. Most studies have parameterized task complexity by objective features such as the number size. Only a few studies used subjective rating procedures. In fMRI, we pr...

A number of previous studies have interpreted differences in brain activation between arithmetic operation types (e.g. addition and multiplication) as evidence in favor of distinct cortical representations, processes or neural systems. It is still not clear how differences in general task complexity contribute to these neural differences. Here, we...

Semantic knowledge is based on the way we perceive and interact with the world. However, the jury is still out on the question: To what degree are neuronal systems that subserve acquisition of semantic knowledge, such as sensory-motor networks, involved in its representation and processing? We will begin with a critical evaluation of the main behav...

Finger counting questionnaire.

The embodied cognition framework suggests that neural systems for perception and action are engaged during higher cognitive processes. In an event-related fMRI study, we tested this claim for the abstract domain of numerical symbol processing: is the human cortical motor system part of the representation of numbers, and is organization of numerical...

We studied how two different hand posture cues affect joint attention in normal observers. Visual targets appeared over lateralized objects, with different delays after centrally presented hand postures. Attention was cued by either hand direction or the congruency between hand aperture and object size. Participants pressed a button when they detec...