Resting frontal alpha asymmetry was measured with an electroencephalogram in 28 volunteers to predict the evaluation of emotions in music. Sixteen music excerpts either expressing happiness, sadness, anger or fear were rated by the participants with regard to conveyed mood, pleasantness and arousal. In addition, various variables of music background were collected. The experiment started with the assessment of current mood, followed by the evaluation of the music excerpts, and finished with the assessment of the participants’ approach and withdrawal behaviour. The results showed that each music excerpt was specic for the intended mood except for music of the category anger which obtained also high ratings for fear. These music excerpts were also the only ones for which a difference in ratings between relatively more left-active and right-active participants could be observed. Partly against expectations, left-dominant volunteers perceived music excerpts of the category anger to express more fear and anger than right-active participants. Results are interpreted within the behavioural inhibitionand approach model of anterior brain asymmetry.

FAS is a speech disorder characterized by changes to the normal speech patterns of the native language. This speech impairment is usually due to stroke or brain injury. Segmental, suprasegmental and prosodic features are altered. FAS speakers’ speech is perceived as foreign rather than disordered. It may be because the speech remains highly accurate and the impairments are generally within the permissible boundaries of the phonological and phonetic variants of the language. In terms of perceptual impression, FAS patients’ speech is placed between speakers with a really foreign accent and the native speaker. Some researchers propose that the impression of foreignness in FAS speakers’ accent may be caused by the listeners misinterpretation of speech markers. Lesions leading to FAS are still not completely understood; some hypothesize that the lesion is small or even down to the size of a single gyrus. New evidence suggests that FAS may be a disorder of the articulate velocity and position maps. The syndrome can be life changing to those affected. Patients report that they are no longer able to recognize themselves speaking a new accent. A whole new persona is born when the accent emerges. This paper presents a review of the syndrome’s features, including its neuropsychological/neuroanatomic aspects, its relationship with AoS and dysarthria, and the syndrome’s psychological implications.

Anosognosia for hemiplegia (AHP) is relatively common among patients who suffer from a stroke. It is characterized as a denial of bodily paralysis and the complexity of studying it is evident. Anosognosia is a neuropsychological deficit of self-awareness and most frequently associated with both cortical and subcortical lesions distributed within the right hemisphere, resulting in a left hemiplegia. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of AHP by presenting theoretical, clinical, and neural aspects. Different diagnostic procedures have attempted to clinically evaluate patients with AHP. The timing of assessment and the characteristic differences between these procedures are crucial factors to consider. Various theories regarding the underlying mechanisms of AHP are also discussed in this review, suggesting the cause of AHP from different perspectives. In order to confirm or disconfirm these theories, several studies are presented concerning the neural aspects, such as the frequency, related disorders, and anatomical correlates of AHP.

The aim of this review is to provide a unified perspective of unilateral spatial neglect (USN). USN is a neurological disorder frequently observed following damage or diseases to the brain. It is particularly associated with strokes to specific anatomical structures within the right hemisphere. Patients with USN fail to respond to or orient towards stimuli located in the hemispace contralateral to the lesion. They also show peculiar behavioral manifestations. There are several distinct subtypes of USN which can affect sensory or motor modalities, spatial representations, the range of space, or pure imagery. This disorder can appear in any sensory modality but the majority of studies have investigated the visual aspect of USN in these subtypes. Theoretical proposals are supported by empirical evidence deriving from neuroimaging which distinguish between these subtypes of USN. Thus, the heterogeneity of the disorder is evident and clinical assessment methods face great difficulties while prevalence rates vary. The neural pathways of spatial attention distinguish between the ventral and dorsal visual streams, both with distinct functional roles and anatomical bases. Prism adaptation (PA) is a common rehabilitation technique among many others and has shown positive effects on USN while having some limitations. A general discussion and concluding remarks are presented in the final section followed by future research suggestions.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a well-known and much debated neurological disorder. The core symptoms consist of a lacking ability to maintain focus, hyperactivity and a motoric restlessness. It is a neurological disorder, with its causes under much debate, although this essay identifies some important brain areas and transmitter systems. The aim of this essay is to give an overview of the available treatments for children with ADHD in the form of the two largest groups of treatments; pharmacological treatments and psychosocial treatments. The conclusion found is that pharmacological treatments are more effective at reducing the core symptoms of ADHD, while psychosocial treatments are more effective at improving the development of social functioning, suggesting a combination to be the superior choice.

I denna uppsats studeras hur en 15-årig pojke med dyskinetisk Cerebral Pares och dysartri använder ett kommunikationshjälpmedel med förformulerade fraser i samband med tre besök i butik. Bakgrunden till studien utgörs av ett interventionsprojekt vars syfte var att låta pojken öva på användandet av sitt hjälpmedel samt använda det i olika servicesituationer, dvs. att handla, gå på café eller motsvarande. Pojkens kommunikationshjälpmedel är en pratapparat i form av en bärbar dator med mjukvaran The Grid installerad vilken bland annat innehåller en ordprediktionsfunktion, en funktion att formulera fraser i förväg, samt en talsyntes. Uppsatsens material består av interventionsprojektets inledande och avslutande inspelningar i butik. I uppsatsen analyseras vilka typer av kommunikativa uppgifter deltagarna visar att de behärskar respektive behärskar mindre bra i dessa situationer, samt hur pratapparaten används och vilken konsekvens det får för interaktionen. Conversation Analysis (CA) används som analysmetod och analysen sker på basis av videofilmer och transkriberade utdrag ur dessa. Förslag ges på vilka konsekvenser studien kan få för klinisk implementering av en pratapparat som alternativ och kompletterande kommunikation (AKK).

Despite its great complexity, a great deal is known about the organization and information-processing properties of the visual system. However, the neural correlates of visual awareness are not yet understood. By studying patients with blindsight, the primary visual cortex (V1) has attracted a lot of attention recently. Although this brain area appears to be important for visual awareness, its exact role is still a matter of debate. Interactive models propose a direct role for V1 in generating visual awareness through recurrent processing. Hierarchal models instead propose that awareness is generated in later visual areas and that the role of V1 is limited to transmitting the necessary information to these areas. Interactive and hierarchical models make different predictions and the aim of this thesis is to review the evidence from lesions, perceptual suppression, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), along with data from internally generated visual awareness in dreams, hallucinations and imagery, this in order to see whether current evidence favor one type of model over the other. A review of the evidence suggests that feedback projections to V1 appear to be important in most cases for visual awareness to arise but it can arise even when V1 is absent.

Empathy is a multidimensional phenomenon that consists of both emotional and cognitive components. This paper gives an overview of behavioural and neuroscientific sex differences in empathy, as well as potential explanations to those results. Research indicates existence of sex differences in both emotional and cognitive empathy, although inconsistent findings suggest both female superiority as well as male superiority. Gender roles, social desirability, as well deficiencies in measurement and imprecise conceptualizations of empathy is argued as contributors to found sex differences. With a restricted amount of research on sex differences in empathy, inconsistent findings as well as a great proportion of critique towards both the research field of empathy as well as towards focus on sex differences; the authors argue that presented sex differences in empathy must be interpreted with a great caution. Keywords: empathy, sex, gender difference, behaviour, neuroscience

After traumatic injuries to the brachial plexus there is a risk that one or more of the spinal roots are torn from the spinal cord, known as avulsion injury. This often leads to paralysis and chronic pain, notoriously difficult to treat with current pharmacotherapy. Surgical treatment may improve motor function but sensory recovery is usually poor as sensory axons fail to establish functional connections inside the spinal cord. The aims of this thesis were to develop a model for dorsal root avulsion in rodents in order to investigate the potentials of stem cell therapy for enhancing sensory regeneration after spinal root avulsion. Two different types of stem cells, embryonic and neural crest stem cells, have been transplanted to the avulsion model and analysed using immunohistochemical methods. The results indicate that stem cells survive after transplantation to the avulsed dorsal root and associate with regenerating axons. Furthermore, the different stem cells display different phenotypes after transplantation where embryonic stem cells give rise to neurons located outside the spinal cord that could serve as projection neurons whereas the neural crest stem cells form elongated tubes outlining the avulsed dorsal root and are associated with regenerating neuronal fibers. We have also discovered that the neural crest stem cells migrate into the damaged spinal cord as single cells. The neural crest stem cells also display a diversity in generating both neuronal and glial cells that may have different beneficial effects in neural repair following dorsal root avulsion. To improve the survival of stem cell transplants, the potentials of co-transplanting embryonic stem cells together with nanoparticle delivered growth factor mimetics has been investigated. The results indicate that nanoparticle delivered growth factors improve both transplant survival and maturation in comparison to untreated controls and may be a promising strategy in stem cell transplantation.

Personality neuroscience offers a new theory of the biological basis of personality traits. It involves the use of neuroscientific methodologies to study individual differences in behavior, motivation, emotion, and cognition. Personality psychology has contributed much in identifying the important dimensions of personality, but relatively little to understanding the biological sources of those dimensions. In recent years, personality psychology has become the foundation for the study of personality disorders, and by extension, neuroscience. First, I provide a theoretical foundation for the neuroscience of normal and abnormal personality traits. Second, I conduct two empirical studies on deviant personality traits captured by the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and relate them to universal human values. Study I shows that darker personalities endorse values that are self-enhancing, and that justify self-serving behavior. Study II investigates the relationship between the aforementioned constructs and empathy based on the idea that empathy is an important moderating factor of dark traits. In the discussion, suggestions for future studies in neuroscience are presented, as well as some limitations relating to the constructs.