Tomasz Wolak

Instytut Fizjologii i Patologii Słuchu · Bioimaging Research Center

Previous studies indicate changes in neurotransmission along the auditory pathway in subjective tinnitus. Most authors, however, investigated brain regions including the primary auditory cortex, whose physiology can be affected by concurrent hearing deficits. In the present MR spectroscopy study we assumed increased levels of glutamate and glutamin...

Introduction: The main aim of our study was to compare diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters in patients with myotonic dystrophy types 1 and 2 (DM1 and DM2). Clinical rationale for the study: To ascertain whether DTI could be used to assess the integrity of white matter tracts in the brain and identify any abnormalities or disruptions in con...

From birth, we perceive speech by hearing and seeing people talk. In adults cortical representations of visual speech are processed in the putative temporal visual speech area (TVSA), but it remains unknown how these representations develop. We measured infants’ cortical responses to silent visual syllables and non-communicative mouth movements usi...

The ability to identify and resolve conflicts between standard, well trained behaviors, and behaviors required by the current context is an essential feature of cognitive control. To date, no consensus has been reached on the brain mechanisms involved in exerting such control: while some studies identified diverse patterns of activity across differ...

In adults, the integration of audiovisual speech elicits specific higher (super-additive) or lower (sub-additive) cortical responses when compared to the responses to unisensory stimuli. Although there is evidence that the fronto-temporal net- work is active during perception of audiovisual speech in infancy, the development of fronto-temporal resp...

Previous studies have suggested that parents may support the development of theory of mind (ToM) in their child by talking about mental states (mental state talk; MST). However, MST has not been sufficiently explored in deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs). This study investigated ToM and availability of parental MST in deaf children with CIs...

The widespread ubiquity of hate speech affects people's attitudes and behavior. Exposure to hate speech can lead to prejudice, dehumanization, and lack of empathy towards members of outgroups. However, the impact of exposure to hate speech on empathy and propensity to attribute mental states to others has never been directly tested empirically. In...

Subjective tinnitus is a prevalent, though heterogeneous, condition whose pathophysiological mechanisms are still under investigation. Based on animal models, changes in neurotransmission along the auditory pathway have been suggested as co-occurring with tinnitus. It has not, however, been studied whether such effects can also be found in other si...

Mentalizing is the key socio-cognitive ability. Its heterogeneous structure may result from a variety of forms of mental state inference, which may be based on lower-level processing of cues encoded in the observable behavior of others, or rather involve higher-level computations aimed at understanding another person's perspective. Here we aimed to...

The study aimed to determine the relationship between the millisecond timing, measured by visual temporal order threshold (TOT), i.e. a minimum gap between two successive stimuli necessary to judge a before-after relation, and resting-state fMRI functional connectivity (rsFC). We assume that the TOT reflects a relatively stable feature of local int...

Background: Aphasia is often accompanied by impairment of non-language cognitive functions. Assessment of cognitive capacity in people with aphasia (PWA) with standard neuropsychological methods may be problematic due to their language difficulties. Numerous experimental studies indicate that P300 may be considered as an index of cognitive capacit...

We documented the use of surrogate source models to separate the artifact-related signals from brain signals with minimal distortion of the brain activity of interest. The artifact topographies used for surrogate separation were created automatically using principal components analysis (PCA-S) or by manual selection of artifact components utilizing...

Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks, imposed by the COVID19-pandemics, makes it even harder. We developed a multi-sensory setup, including a sensory substitution device (SSD) that can deliver speech simultaneously through audition and as vibrations on the fingertips. The vibrations correspond to low frequenci...

Cel pracy Cel: ocena aktywacji fMRI w trakcie wykonywania zadań semantycznych u adolescentów z ASD. Metoda Materiał: 44 praworęcznych nastolatków płci męskiej w wieku 12-19 lat (śr. 14,3 ± 2,0) - 31 z zaburzeniami ze spektrum autyzmu, którzy spełniali kryteria DSM-IV-TR dla zespołu Aspergera oraz 13 prawidłowo rozwijających się nastolatków dobrany...

Aim. The aim of this article is to evaluate changes in the grey matter volume using the VBM method in a group of adolescents with ASD who met the criteria for Asperger syndrome. Material and methods. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was performed in 37 male adolescents, aged 12 to 19 (M = 14.3 ± 2.0), with autism spectrum disorder who met the DSM–IV–T...

Understanding speech in background noise is challenging. Wearing face-masks during COVID19-pandemics made it even harder. We developed a multi-sensory setup, including a sensory substitution device (SSD) that can deliver speech simultaneously through audition and as vibrations on fingertips. After a short training session, participants significantl...

Przegląd wybranych technik obrazowania biomedycznego - zasada działania Techniki rentgenowskie RTG/CT Pozytonowa Tomografia Emisyjna PET Ultrasonografia USG Rezonans Magnetyczny MRI

An interdisciplinary description of the cognitive and emotional functioning of HIV-infected individuals treated according to the latest world standards. The authors summarize the results of many years of pioneering research in Poland on the impact of aging on the course of HIV infection, characterizing the neuropsychological functioning of HIV+ sub...

An interdisciplinary description of the cognitive and emotional functioning of HIV-infected individuals treated according to the latest world standards. The authors summarize the results of many years of pioneering research in Poland on the impact of aging on the course of HIV infection, characterizing the neuropsychological functioning of HIV+ sub...

Aphasia is an acquired impairment of language functions resulting from a brain lesion. It is usually accompanied by deficits in non-linguistic cognitive processes. This study aimed to investigate in patients with aphasia the complex interrelationships between selected cognitive functions: auditory speech comprehension, working memory (WM), and temp...

In this review we describe several methods that can be used to study auditory processing in the cerebral cortex, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and positron emission tomography (PET). We explain the principles of each...

Cel Celem pracy jest określenie wzorców spoczynkowej bioelektrycznej aktywności mózgu u pacjentów z przewlekłymi obustronnymi szumami usznymi. Materiał i metody U 6 pacjentów z szumami usznymi i 7 osób bez szumów usznych, dopasowanych do grupy klinicznej pod względem płci i wieku, zarejestrowano spoczynkową aktywność bioelektryczną mózgu w stanie...

Cel Celem pracy było opracowanie procedury badawczej do określania dominacji półkulowej dla funkcji mowy z zastosowaniem metody funkcjonalnego rezonansu magnetycznego. Materiał i metody W badaniu wzięły udział 4 zdrowe osoby dorosłe różniące się współczynnikiem lateralizacji: 1 osoba praworęczna oraz 3 osoby leworęczne. Podczas badania techniką fM...

The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and related areas are activated when a target stimulus appears at unexpected locations in Posner's spatial-cueing paradigm, and also when deviant stimuli are presented within a series of standard events in oddball paradigms. This type of activation corresponds to the ventral attention network (VAN), for regions de...

Theoretical background of Statistical Parametric Maps with GLM in fMRI post processing, morphometry and fMRI use cases in post-stroke therapy. Written in Polish.

Older HIV+ participants and participants with very low CD4 nadir demonstrated decline in learning and working memory Non-Cognitive Predictors of Student Success: A Predictive Validity Comparison Between Domestic and International Students AIMS • To explore memory patterns in a group of Polish HIV+ men receiving cART. • Examine associations between...

The aim of this study was to further elucidate the relationship between the olfactory system and psychosocial functioning. Previous studies have shown that olfactory sensitivity is related to traits such as extraversion, agreeableness, and emotionality. In this study, the model of agency and communion as well as additional measures of social activi...

The theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to others and is extremely important for social functioning. It has been widely examined in both behavioral and neuroimaging research, usually with the use of the many versions of the false-belief (FB) task. However, there is still not enough evidence from studies on the neurodevelo...

Purpose: The management of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) constitutes a challenge for clinicians. Case report: We present the case of a 66-year-old man who developed coma with subsequent DOC after a severe traumatic brain injury. Behavioural assessment constitutes the gold standard in the evaluation of patients with DOC. In the c...

Objectives: To examine the contributing role of combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) schemes on brain and cognitive function in HIV-infected (HIV+) individuals. Materials: Data from 108 individuals included 54 HIV+/cART+ individuals aged 24-75 years (M=41, SD=12), infected with HIV for 1-21 years (M=6, SD=5) and receiving cART for 1-8 years...

Background Sensory deprivation, such as hearing loss, has been demonstrated to change the intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) of the brain, as measured with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Patients with sloping sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) are a unique population among the hearing impaired, as they have all be...

Background: Hearing loss is becoming a real social and health problem. Its prevalence in the elderly is an epidemic. The risk of developing hearing loss is also growing among younger people. If left untreated, hearing loss can perpetuate development of neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia. Despite recent advancements in hearing aid (HA)...

The study addressed the efficacy of 12 weeks of yoga training in treating 25 patients with chronic tinnitus. Ten of the patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after training. A control group comprised 13 people reporting chronic tinnitus. All participants were assessed with the Tinnitus Functional Index. After the 12-week yo...

Objective: Findings on the influence of age and HIV on brain and cognition remain equivocal, particularly in aviremic subjects without other age or HIV-related comorbidities. We aimed to (a) examine the effect of HIV status and age on structural brain measurements and cognition, and (b) apply the machine learning technique to identify brain morphom...

It is yet unclear if people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+) on stable, combined antiretroviral therapies (cARTs) decline with age at the same or greater rate than healthy people. In this study, we examined independent and interactive effects of HIV, age, and HIV-related clinical parameters on neuropsychological functioning and bra...

Dźwięki, które nas otaczają odbieramy poprzez układ słuchowy. Powszechnie mówi się, że słyszy nasze ucho, jednak w rzeczywistości „słyszy” nasz mózg. Oczywiście bez ucha i całej drogi słuchowej nie usłyszymy żadnego dźwięku, ale to nasz mózg rozpoznaje rodzaj dźwięku i odpowiednio na niego reaguje. Kora słuchowa znajduje się w górnym zakręcie płata...

The article contains the results of a pilot study using a new neuropedagogy based on fNIRS (detailed description in the article). Results of children with ADHD, ASD and opposition-rebellious disorders as well as healthy children were presented. The result indicates the possible diagnostic potential of the new procedure.

Alpha rhythm, described by Hans Berger, is mainly recorded from the occipital cortex (OCC) of relaxed subjects with their eyes closed. Early studies indicated the thalamo‑cortical circuit as the origin of alpha rhythm. Recent works suggest an additional relationship between alpha rhythm and the Default Mode Network (DMN). We simultaneously recorded...

The objective of the study was to examine additive and synergistic effects of age and HIV infection on resting state (RS) intra- and inter-network functional connectivity (FC) of the brain. We also aimed to assess relationships with neurocognition and determine clinical-, treatment-, and health-related factors moderating intrinsic brain activity in...

Background Despite rapid developments in fMRI, there is still ongoing debate on the optimal paradigm for evaluating the level of auditory cortex activation. Material and Methods A number of modern neuroimaging methods can be used to assess brain responses to acoustic stimulation, but new paradigms are still needed. Here the sparse fMRI approach is...

This study examined the effects of age and HIV infection on the resting state (RS) functional connectivity (FC) of the brain and cognitive functioning. The objective was to evaluate the moderating role of age and HIV on the relationship between RS-FC and cognition. To examine RS-FC we implemented the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Regiona...

W artykule przedstawiono przegląd aktualnego stanu wiedzy na temat roli układu nerwowego w procesie powstawania głosu fizjologicznego z uwzględnieniem doniesień literaturowych z ostatnich 5 lat. Współcześnie uznawana teoria tworzenia głosu zakłada, że do jego powstania konieczne jest współdziałanie układów mięśniowo-szkieletowego, oddechowego i ner...

Although the tonotopic organisation of the human primary auditory cortex (PAC) has already been studied, the question how its responses are affected in sensorineural hearing loss remains open. Twenty six patients (aged 38.1 ± 9.1 years; 12 men) with symmetrical sloping sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and 32 age- and gender-matched controls (NH) p...

The present study was designed to examine the underlying brain mechanisms of positive and negative emotional verbal fluency. Three verbal fluency tasks (one non-emotional phonemic task, two emotional tasks: Joy and Fear) were used in this study. The results were analyzed for 35 healthy, Polish-speaking, right-handed adults aged 20–35. Functional ma...

Experimental studies have reported a close association between temporal information processing (TIP) and language comprehension. Brain-injured subjects with aphasia show disturbed TIP which was evidenced in elevated temporal order threshold (TOT) as compared to control subjects. The present study is aimed at improving auditory speech comprehension...

The aims of our study were: (1) to examine changes in the whole-brain functional network under increased cognitive demands of working memory during an n-back task, and their relationship with behavioral outcomes; and (2) to provide a comprehensive description of local changes that may be involved in the formation of the global workspace, using hub...

Background Hearing loss and ovarian dysfunction are key features of Perrault syndrome (PRLTS) but the clinical and pathophysiological features of hearing impairment in PRLTS individuals have not been addressed. Mutations in one of five different genes HSD17B4, HARS2, LARS2, CLPP or TWNK (previous symbol C10orf2) cause the autosomal recessive disord...

Background The goal of the fMRI experiment was to explore the involvement of central auditory structures in pathomechanisms of a behaviorally manifested auditory temporary threshold shift in humans. Material/Methods The material included 18 healthy volunteers with normal hearing. Subjects in the exposure group were presented with 15 min of binaura...

Neuroplastic changes induced by sensory learning have been recognized within the cortices of specific modalities as well as within higher ordered multimodal areas. The interplay between these areas is not fully understood, particularly in the case of somatosensory learning. Here we examined functional and structural changes induced by short-term ta...

Braille training—overall fMRI results. Statistical parametric maps of the Braille vs. movement (A) and Braille vs. rectangles (B) contrasts, separately for before and after the Braille training. Results are presented on a glass-brain in MNI space (view from the top, back, and left of the brain), p < 0.05, FWE.

Phonological processing is a fundamental ability which underlies language comprehension. Functional neuroanatomy of phonology constitutes a matter of ongoing debate. In the present study, subjects performed visual (rhyme detection) and auditory (identification of spoken words starting with a given consonant) tasks that were contrasted with matched...

Conflict of Interest Statement ES and AS are the creators of the software package Dr. Neuronowski®, realized as part of a project at the Nencki Institute with funding from the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland. The rights to the software lie with the Nencki Institute that has an agreement with Harpo Ltd., the company commercia...

Recent demographic prognoses show tendencies toward a significant increase in the number of elderly people, especially in developed countries. This makes geriatric therapy, rehabilitation, and care difficult, especially with maintaining as long as possible the highest quality of life and independence in activities of daily living. Lack of specializ...

A number of evidence revealed a link between temporal information processing (TIP) and language. Both literature data and results of our studies indicated an overlapping of deficient TIP and disordered language, pointing to the existence of an association between these two functions. On this background the new approach is to apply such knowledge in...

Background The aim of the present work is to investigate the relationship between spontaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) brain activity at 8–13 Hz frequency (Berger’s rhythm) and thalamus activation. The leading theory of how Berger’s rhythm is generated suggests a thalamo–occipital circuit, but there is still much uncertainty as to the role of...

Introduction: Simultaneous EEG-fMRI registration is rapidly evolving and has received substantial attention. This technique provides precise information in both spatial and temporal domain. The biological basis of the EEG and fMRI signal is different which, on the one hand makes results interpretation more difficult but, on the other hand, gives m...

Background In recent years, there has been a growing interest in Central Auditory Processing Disorder (C)APD. However, the neural correlates of (C)APD are poorly understood. Previous neuroimaging experiments have shown changes in the intrinsic activity of the brain in various cognitive deficits and brain disorders. The present study investigated th...

Background The neural underpinnings of auditory information processing have often been investigated using the odd-ball paradigm, in which infrequent sounds (deviants) are presented within a regular train of frequent stimuli (standards). Traditionally, this paradigm has been applied using either high temporal resolution (EEG) or high spatial resolut...

Recent demographic prognoses show tendencies toward a significant increase in the number of elderly people, especially in developed countries. This makes geriatric therapy, rehabilitation, and care difficult, especially with maintaining as long as possible the highest quality of life and independence in activities of daily living. Lack of specializ...

Several functional neuroimaging studies in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have suggested that changes in the frontoparietal-striatal networks are associated with deficits in executive functioning. However, executive functions (EF) are multifaceted and include three dissociable components: working memory, response inhibition, and task-switch...