A specific brain structural basis for individual differences in reality monitoring.

Much recent interest has centered on understanding the relationship between brain structure variability and individual differences in cognition, but there has been little progress in identifying specific neuroanatomical bases of such individual differences. One cognitive ability that exhibits considerable variability in the healthy population is reality monitoring; the cognitive processes used to introspectively judge whether a memory came from an internal or external source (e.g., whether an event was imagined or actually occurred). Neuroimaging research has implicated the medial anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) in reality monitoring, and here we sought to determine whether morphological variability in a specific anteromedial PFC brain structure, the paracingulate sulcus (PCS), might underlie performance. Fifty-three healthy volunteers were selected on the basis of MRI scans and classified into four groups according to presence or absence of the PCS in their left or right hemisphere. The group with absence of the PCS in both hemispheres showed significantly reduced reality monitoring performance and ability to introspect metacognitively about their performance when compared with other participants. Consistent with the prediction that sulcal absence might mean greater volume in the surrounding frontal gyri, voxel-based morphometry revealed a significant negative correlation between anterior PFC gray matter and reality monitoring performance. The findings provide evidence that individual differences in introspective abilities like reality monitoring may be associated with specific structural variability in the PFC

Episodic Memory Deficits in Obesity

Obesity has become an international health crisis. There is accumulating evidence that excess bodyweight is associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and with a number of cognitive deficits. In particular, research suggests that obesity is associated with hippocampal and frontal lobe dysfunction, which would be predicted to impact memory. However, evidence for such memory impairment is currently limited. We hypothesised that higher body mass index (BMI) would be associated with reduced performance on a test of episodic memory that assesses not only content, but also context and feature integration. A total of 50 participants aged 18-35 years, with BMIs ranging from 18 to 51, were tested on a novel what-where-when style episodic memory test: the "Treasure-Hunt Task". This test requires recollection of object, location, and temporal order information within the same paradigm, as well as testing the ability to integrate these features into a single event recollection. Higher BMI was associated with significantly lower performance on the what-where-when (WWW) memory task and all individual elements: object identification, location memory, and temporal order memory. After controlling for age, sex, and years in education, the effect of BMI on the individual what, where, and when tasks remained, while the WWW dropped below significance. This finding of episodic memory deficits in obesity is of concern given the emerging evidence for a role for episodic cognition in appetite regulation.This study was funded by an MRC Centenary Early Career Award. LGC was funded by the Sarah Woodhead Research Fellowship at Girton College Cambridge. JSS was funded by a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, and NSC was funded by an Experimental Psychology Society Mid Career Award

fMRI Evidence for Separable and Lateralized Prefrontal Memory Monitoring Processes

Source memory research suggests that attempting to remember specific contextual aspects surrounding prior stimulus encounters results in greater left prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity than simple item-based old/new recognition judgments. Here, we tested a complementary hypothesis that predicts increases in the right PFC with tasks requiring close monitoring of item familiarity. More specifically, we compared a judgment of frequency (JOF) task to an item memory task, in which the former required estimating the number of previous picture encounters and the latter required discriminating old from new exemplars of previously seen items. In comparison to standard old/new recognition, both source memory and the JOF task examined here require more precise mnemonic judgments. However, in contrast to source memory, cognitive models suggest the JOF task relies heavily upon item familiarity, not specific contextual recollections. Event-related fMRI demonstrated greater recruitment of right, not left, dorso-lateral and frontopolar PFC regions during the JOF compared to item memory task. These data suggest a role for right PFC in the close monitoring of the familiarity of objects, which becomes critical when contextual recollection is ineffective in satisfying a memory demand.Psycholog

Optical Tunable-Based Transmitter for Multiple Radio Frequency Bands

An optical tunable transmitter is used to transmit multiple radio frequency bands on a single beam. More specifically, a tunable laser is configured to generate a plurality of optical wavelengths, and an optical tunable transmitter is configured to modulate each of the plurality of optical wavelengths with a corresponding radio frequency band. The optical tunable transmitter is also configured to encode each of the plurality of modulated optical wavelengths onto a single laser beam for transmission of a plurality of radio frequency bands using the single laser beam

Identifying age-invariant and age-limited mechanisms for enhanced memory performance: Insights from self-referential processing in younger and older adults.

Self-referential processing has been identified as a possible tool for supporting effective encoding processes in the elderly population. However, the importance of self-reference per se, relative to the increase in meaningful elaboration normally associated with self-reference instructions, remains unclear. The present study sought to explore this issue further by examining self-referential encoding strategies that inherently involve more extensive stimulus elaboration: episodic autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval and semantic AM retrieval. These were compared with an analogous task involving retrieval of general semantic knowledge, as well as traditional binary self-referential and semantic encoding judgments. We found that both AM retrieval and general semantic retrieval at encoding resulted in substantial enhancements to recall and recognition memory of concrete nouns relative to binary encoding judgments across both age groups. Furthermore, older adults exhibited larger benefits from this additional elaboration than did younger adults, leading to elimination of age-related deficits in recognition memory. However, younger adults showed an additional boost to subsequent memory following episodic, relative to semantic, AM retrieval during free recall that was not exhibited by older adults. This may be because of greater demands on frontally mediated control processes and cognitive resources associated with the use of this strategy. Taken together, the results suggest that the mnemonic benefits associated with self-referential processing vary substantially depending on the specific nature of the encoding strategy, and suggest that, under certain conditions, semantic processing and self-referential processing are equally effective in mitigating age-related deficits in memory performance.This research was supported by the BBSRC [grant number BB/L02263X/1]. A.N.T. is supported by a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust scholarship, R.N.H. by the UK Medical Research Council programme grant MC-A060-5PR10, and J.S.S. by a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar award.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Psychological Association via http://dx.doi.org/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a003911

Ka-Band Waveguide Two-Way Hybrid Combiner for MMIC Amplifiers

The design, simulation, and characterization of a novel Ka-band (32.05 0.25 GHz) rectangular waveguide two-way branch-line hybrid unequal power combiner (with port impedances matched to that of a standard WR-28 waveguide) has been created to combine input signals, which are in phase and with an amplitude ratio of two. The measured return loss and isolation of the branch-line hybrid are better than 22 and 27 dB, respectively. The measured combining efficiency is 92.9 percent at the center frequency of 32.05 GHz. This circuit is efficacious in combining the unequal output power from two Ka-band GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers (PAs) with high efficiency. The component parts include the branch-line hybrid-based power combiner and the MMIC-based PAs. A two-way branch-line hybrid is a four-port device with all ports matched; power entering port 1 is divided in phase, and into the ratio 2:1 between ports 3 and 4. No power is coupled to port 2. MMICs are a type of integrated circuit fabricated on GaAs that operates at microwave frequencies, and performs the function of signal amplification. The power combiner is designed to operate over the frequency band of 31.8 to 32.3 GHz, which is NASA's deep space frequency band. The power combiner would have an output return loss better than 20 dB. Isolation between the output port and the isolated port is greater than 25 dB. Isolation between the two input ports is greater than 25 dB. The combining efficiency would be greater than 90 percent when the ratio of the two input power levels is two. The power combiner is machined from aluminum with E-plane split-block arrangement, and has excellent reliability. The flexibility of this design allows the combiner to be customized for combining the power from MMIC PAs with an arbitrary power output ratio. In addition, it allows combining a low-power GaAs MMIC with a high-power GaN MMIC. The arbitrary port impedance allows matching the output impedance of the MMIC PA directly to the waveguide impedance without transitioning first into a transmission line with characteristic impedance of 50 ohms. Thus, by eliminating the losses associated with a transition, the overall SSPA efficiency is enhanced. For reducing the cost and weight when required in very large quantities, such as in the beam-forming networks of phased-array antenna systems, the combiner can be manufactured using metal-plated plastic. Two hybrid unequal power combiners can be cascaded to realize a non-binary combiner (for e.g., a three-way) and can be synergistically optimized for low VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio), low insertion loss, high isolation, and wide bandwidth using commercial off-the-shelf electromagnetic software design tools

Ka-Band Waveguide Hybrid Divider with Unequal and Arbitrary Power Output Ratio

One or more embodiments of the present invention describe an apparatus and method to combine unequal powers. The apparatus includes a first input port, a second input port, and a combiner. The first input port is operably connected to a first power amplifier and is configured to receive a first power from the first power amplifier. The second input port is operably connected to a second power amplifier and is configured to receive a second power from the second power amplifier. The combiner is configured to simultaneously receive the first power from the first input port and the second power from the second input port. The combiner is also configured to combine the first power and second power to produce a maximized power. The first power and second power are unequal

High Efficiency Ka-Band Solid State Power Amplifier Waveguide Power Combiner

A novel Ka-band high efficiency asymmetric waveguide four-port combiner for coherent combining of two Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) having unequal outputs has been successfully designed, fabricated and characterized over the NASA deep space frequency band from 31.8 to 32.3 GHz. The measured combiner efficiency is greater than 90 percent, the return loss greater than 18 dB and input port isolation greater than 22 dB. The manufactured combiner was designed for an input power ratio of 2:1 but can be custom designed for any arbitrary power ratio. Applications considered are NASA s space communications systems needing 6 to 10 W of radio frequency (RF) power. This Technical Memorandum (TM) is an expanded version of the article recently published in Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Electronics Letters

Ka-Band Waveguide 2-Way Hybrid Combiner for MMIC Amplifiers with Unequal and Arbitrary Power Output Ratio

One or more embodiments of the present invention describe an apparatus and method to combine unequal powers. The apparatus includes a first input port, a second input port, and a combiner. The first input port is operably connected to a first power amplifier and is configured to receive a first power from the first power amplifier. The second input port is operably connected to a second power amplifier and is configured to receive a second power from the second power amplifier. The combiner is configured to simultaneously receive the first power from the first input port and the second power from the second input port. The combiner is also configured to combine the first power and second power to produce a maximized power. The first power and second power are unequal

The effects of hippocampal lesions on MRI measures of structural and functional connectivity.

Focal lesions can affect connectivity between distal brain regions (connectional diaschisis) and impact the graph-theoretic properties of major brain networks (connectomic diaschisis). Given its unique anatomy and diverse range of functions, the hippocampus has been claimed to be a critical "hub" in brain networks. We investigated the effects of hippocampal lesions on structural and functional connectivity in six patients with amnesia, using a range of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analyses. Neuropsychological assessment revealed marked episodic memory impairment and generally intact performance across other cognitive domains. The hippocampus was the only brain structure exhibiting reduced grey-matter volume that was consistent across patients, and the fornix was the only major white-matter tract to show altered structural connectivity according to both diffusion metrics. Nonetheless, functional MRI revealed both increases and decreases in functional connectivity. Analysis at the level of regions within the default-mode network revealed reduced functional connectivity, including between nonhippocampal regions (connectional diaschisis). Analysis at the level of functional networks revealed reduced connectivity between thalamic and precuneus networks, but increased connectivity between the default-mode network and frontal executive network. The overall functional connectome showed evidence of increased functional segregation in patients (connectomic diaschisis). Together, these results point to dynamic reorganization following hippocampal lesions, with both decreased and increased functional connectivity involving limbic-diencephalic structures and larger-scale networks. © 2016 The Authors Hippocampus Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Medical Research Council (Grant ID: MC-A060-5PR10); Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Grant ID: BB/L02263X/1); Netherlands Organization for Scientific ResearchThis is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.2262