Browsing by Author "Laine, Matti"
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Item Abnormal wiring of the structural connectome in adults with ADHD(MIT Press, 2023) Tolonen, Tuija; Roine, Timo; Alho, Kimmo; Leppämäki, Sami; Tani, Pekka; Koski, Anniina; Laine, Matti; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Helsinki; Terveystalo Healthcare; Helsinki University Central Hospital; Åbo Akademi UniversityCurrent knowledge of white matter changes in large-scale brain networks in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is scarce. We collected diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data in 40 adults with ADHD and 36 neurotypical controls and used constrained spherical deconvolution–based tractography to reconstruct whole-brain structural connectivity networks. We used network-based statistic (NBS) and graph theoretical analysis to investigate differences in these networks between the ADHD and control groups, as well as associations between structural connectivity and ADHD symptoms assessed with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale or performance in the Conners Continuous Performance Test 2 (CPT-2). NBS revealed decreased connectivity in the ADHD group compared to the neurotypical controls in widespread unilateral networks, which included subcortical and corticocortical structures and encompassed dorsal and ventral attention networks and visual and somatomotor systems. Furthermore, hypoconnectivity in a predominantly left-frontal network was associated with higher amount of commission errors in CPT-2. Graph theoretical analysis did not reveal topological differences between the groups or associations between topological properties and ADHD symptoms or task performance. Our results suggest that abnormal structural wiring of the brain in adult ADHD is manifested as widespread intrahemispheric hypoconnectivity in networks previously associated with ADHD in functional neuroimaging studies.Item ADHD desynchronizes brain activity during watching a distracted multi-talker conversation(ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE, 2020-08-01) Salmitaival, Juha; Metwaly, Mostafa; Tohka, Jussi; Alho, Kimmo; Leppämäki, Sami; Tani, Pekka; Koski, Anniina; Vanderwal, Tamara; Laine, Matti; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Eastern Finland; University of Helsinki; University of British Columbia; Åbo Akademi UniversityIndividuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties navigating dynamic everyday situations that contain multiple sensory inputs that need to either be attended to or ignored. As conventional experimental tasks lack this type of everyday complexity, we administered a film-based multi-talker condition with auditory distractors in the background. ADHD-related aberrant brain responses to this naturalistic stimulus were identified using intersubject correlations (ISCs) in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected from 51 adults with ADHD and 29 healthy controls. A novel permutation-based approach introducing studentized statistics and subject-wise voxel-level null-distributions revealed that several areas in cerebral attention networks and sensory cortices were desynchronized in participants with ADHD (n = 20) relative to healthy controls (n = 20). Specifically, desynchronization of the posterior parietal cortex occurred when irrelevant speech or music was presented in the background, but not when irrelevant white noise was presented, or when there were no distractors. We also show regionally distinct ISC signatures for inattention and impulsivity. Finally, post-scan recall of the film contents was associated with stronger ISCs in the default-mode network for the ADHD and in the dorsal attention network for healthy controls. The present study shows that ISCs can further our understanding of how a complex environment influences brain states in ADHD.Item Adult brain plasticity eliceted by anomia treatment(2003) Cornelissen, Katri; Laine, Matti; Tarkiainen, Antti; Järvensivu, Tiina; Martin, Nadine; Salmelin, Riitta; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical EngineeringWe describe a study where a specific treatment method for word-finding difficulty (so-called contextual priming technique, which combines massive repetition priming with semantic priming) was applied with three chronic left hemisphere-damaged aphasics. Both before and after treatment, which focused on naming of a series of pictures, naming-related brain activity was measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Due to its excellent temporal resolution and good spatial resolution, we were able to track treatment-induced changes in cortical activity. All three subjects showed improved naming of the trained items. In all subjects, a single source area, located in the left inferior parietal lobe, close to the lesioned area, displayed statistically significant training-induced changes. This effect was of long latency as it started 300–600 msec after picture presentation. The change in activation was specific to training, as it could not be accounted for by variation of cortical dynamics associated with increased proportion of correct answers. Our interpretation is that the training effect reflects more effective phonological encoding and storage of the trained items through the engagement of a left hemispheric word-learning system. This is in line with recent functional imaging studies, which have linked left inferior parietal lobe activity to the phonological storage component of the verbal working memory, as well as with theoretical arguments stating that the primary role of the phonological loop is to acquire new words. Finally, the MEG results showed no evidence of increased right hemisphere participation following training, supporting the view that restoration of language-related networks in the damaged left hemisphere is crucial for anomia recovery.Item Adult Brain Plasticity Elicited by Anomia Treatment(MIT Press, 2003) Cornelissen, Katri; Laine, Matti; Tarkiainen, Antti; Järvensivu, Tiina; Martin, Nadine; Salmelin, Riitta; Neurotieteen ja lääketieteellisen tekniikan laitos; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of ScienceWe describe a study where a specific treatment method for word-finding difficulty (so-called contextual priming technique, which combines massive repetition priming with semantic priming) was applied with three chronic left hemisphere-damaged aphasics. Both before and after treatment, which focused on naming of a series of pictures, naming-related brain activity was measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Due to its excellent temporal resolution and good spatial resolution, we were able to track treatment-induced changes in cortical activity. All three subjects showed improved naming of the trained items. In all subjects, a single source area, located in the left inferior parietal lobe, close to the lesioned area, displayed statistically significant training-induced changes. This effect was of long latency as it started 300–600 msec after picture presentation. The change in activation was specific to training, as it could not be accounted for by variation of cortical dynamics associated with increased proportion of correct answers. Our interpretation is that the training effect reflects more effective phonological encoding and storage of the trained items through the engagement of a left hemispheric word-learning system. This is in line with recent functional imaging studies, which have linked left inferior parietal lobe activity to the phonological storage component of the verbal working memory, as well as with theoretical arguments stating that the primary role of the phonological loop is to acquire new words. Finally, the MEG results showed no evidence of increased right hemisphere participation following training, supporting the view that restoration of language-related networks in the damaged left hemisphere is crucial for anomia recovery.Item Assessing goal-directed behavior in virtual reality with the neuropsychological task EPELI : children prefer head-mounted display but flat screen provides a viable performance measure for remote testing(Frontiers Media, 2023) Seesjärvi, Erik; Laine, Matti; Kasteenpohja, Kaisla; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Helsinki; Åbo Akademi UniversityBackground and objective: EPELI (Executive Performance of Everyday LIving) is a Virtual Reality (VR) task that was developed to study goal-directed behavior in everyday life contexts in children. In this study, we had 72 typically developing 9- to 13-year-old children to play EPELI with an immersive version implemented with a head-mounted display (HMD) and a non-immersive version employing a flat screen display (FSD) in a counterbalanced order to see if the two versions yield similar results. The children’s everyday executive functions were assessed with the parent-rated Behavior Rating Inventory for Executive Functions (BRIEF) questionnaire. To assess the applicability of EPELI for online testing, half of the flat screen display version gameplays were conducted remotely and the rest in the laboratory. Results: All EPELI performance measures were correlated across the versions. The children’s performance was mostly similar in the two versions, but small effects reflecting higher performance in FSD-EPELI were found in the measures of Total score, Task efficacy, and Time-based prospective memory score. The children engaged in more active time monitoring in FSD-EPELI. While the children evaluated the feeling of presence and usability of both versions favorably, most children preferred HMD-EPELI, and evaluated its environment to be more involving and realistic. Both versions showed only negligible problems with the interface quality. No differences in task performance or subjective evaluations were found between the home-based and laboratory-based assessments of FSD-EPELI. In both EPELI versions, the efficacy measures were correlated with BRIEF on the first assessment, but not on the second. This raises questions about the stability of the associations reported between executive function tasks and questionnaires. Conclusions: Both the HMD and FSD versions of EPELI are viable tools for the naturalistic assessment of goal-directed behavior in children. While the HMD version provides a more immersive user experience and naturalistic movement tracking, the FSD version can maximize scalability, reachability, and cost efficacy, as it can be used with common hardware and remotely. Taken together, the findings highlight similarities between the HMD and FSD versions of a cognitively complex VR task, but also underline the specific advantages of these common presentation modes.Item Assessment of goal-directed behavior and prospective memory in adult ADHD with an online 3D videogame simulating everyday tasks(Nature Publishing Group, 2023-12) Jylkkä, Jussi; Ritakallio, Liisa; Merzon, Liya; Kangas, Suvi; Kliegel, Matthias; Zuber, Sascha; Hering, Alexandra; Laine, Matti; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Åbo Akademi University; University of Helsinki; University of Geneva; Tilburg UniversityThe diagnosis of ADHD is based on real-life attentional-executive deficits, but they are harder to detect in adults than in children and objective quantitative measures reflecting these everyday problems are lacking. We developed an online version of EPELI 3D videogame for naturalistic and scalable assessment of goal-directed action and prospective memory in adult ADHD. In EPELI, participants perform instructed everyday chores in a virtual apartment from memory. Our pre-registered hypothesis predicted weaker EPELI performances in adult ADHD compared to controls. The sample comprised 112 adults with ADHD and 255 neurotypical controls comparable in age (mean 31, SD = 8 years), gender distribution (71% females) and educational level. Using web-browser, the participants performed EPELI and other cognitive tasks, including Conner’s Continuous Performance Test (CPT). They also filled out questionnaires probing everyday executive performance and kept a 5-day diary of everyday prospective memory errors. Self-reported strategy use in the EPELI game was also examined. The ADHD participants’ self-ratings indicated clearly more everyday executive problems than in the controls. Differences in the EPELI game were mostly seen in the ADHD participants’ higher rates of task-irrelevant actions. Gender differences and a group × gender interaction was found in the number of correctly performed tasks, indicating poorer performance particularly in ADHD males. Discriminant validity of EPELI was similar to CPT. Strategy use strongly predicted EPELI performance in both groups. The results demonstrate the feasibility of EPELI for online assessment and highlight the role of impulsivity as a distinctive everyday life problem in adult ADHD.Item Assessment of goal-directed behavior with the 3D videogame EPELI: Psychometric features in a web-based adult sample(Public Library of Science, 2023) Jylkkä, Jussi; Ritakallio, Liisa; Merzon, Liya; Kangas, Suvi; Kliegel, Matthias; Zuber, Sascha; Hering, Alexandra; Salmi, Juha; Laine, Matti; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Åbo Akademi University; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of GenevaEPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving) is a recently developed gaming tool for objective assessment of goal-directed behavior and prospective memory (PM) in everyday contexts. This pre-registered study examined psychometric features of a new EPELI adult online version, modified from the original child version and further developed for self-administered web-based testing at home. A sample of 255 healthy adults completed EPELI where their task was to perform household chores instructed by a virtual character. The participants also filled out PM-related questionnaires and a diary and performed two conventional PM tasks and an intelligence test. We expected that the more "life-like" EPELI task would show stronger associations with conventional PM questionnaires and diary-based everyday PM reports than traditional PM tasks would do. This hypothesis did not receive support. Although EPELI was rated as more similar to everyday tasks, performance in it was not associated with the questionnaires and the diary. However, there were associations between time-monitoring behavior in EPELI and the traditional PM tasks. Taken together, online adult-EPELI was found to be a reliable method with high ecological face validity, but its convergent validity requires further research.Item Attention to audiovisual speech shapes neural processing through feedback-feedforward loops between different nodes of the speech network(Public Library of Science, 2024-03) Wikman, Patrik; Salmela, Viljami; Sjöblom, Eetu; Leminen, Miika; Laine, Matti; Alho, Kimmo; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Helsinki; Åbo Akademi UniversitySelective attention-related top-down modulation plays a significant role in separating relevant speech from irrelevant background speech when vocal attributes separating concurrent speakers are small and continuously evolving. Electrophysiological studies have shown that such top-down modulation enhances neural tracking of attended speech. Yet, the specific cortical regions involved remain unclear due to the limited spatial resolution of most electrophysiological techniques. To overcome such limitations, we collected both electroencephalography (EEG) (high temporal resolution) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (high spatial resolution), while human participants selectively attended to speakers in audiovisual scenes containing overlapping cocktail party speech. To utilise the advantages of the respective techniques, we analysed neural tracking of speech using the EEG data and performed representational dissimilarity-based EEG-fMRI fusion. We observed that attention enhanced neural tracking and modulated EEG correlates throughout the latencies studied. Further, attention-related enhancement of neural tracking fluctuated in predictable temporal profiles. We discuss how such temporal dynamics could arise from a combination of interactions between attention and prediction as well as plastic properties of the auditory cortex. EEG-fMRI fusion revealed attention-related iterative feedforward-feedback loops between hierarchically organised nodes of the ventral auditory object related processing stream. Our findings support models where attention facilitates dynamic neural changes in the auditory cortex, ultimately aiding discrimination of relevant sounds from irrelevant ones while conserving neural resources.Item Auditory and Cognitive Deficits Associated with Acquired Amusia after Stroke: A Magnetoencephalography and Neuropsychological Follow-Up Study(2010) Särkämö, Teppo; Tervaniemi, Mari; Soinila, Seppo; Autti, Taina; Silvennoinen, Heli M.; Laine, Matti; Hietanen, Marja; Pihko, Elina; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical EngineeringAcquired amusia is a common disorder after damage to the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory. However, its neurocognitive mechanisms, especially the relative contribution of perceptual and cognitive factors, are still unclear. We studied cognitive and auditory processing in the amusic brain by performing neuropsychological testing as well as magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements of frequency and duration discrimination using magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) recordings. Fifty-three patients with a left (n = 24) or right (n = 29) hemisphere MCA stroke (MRI verified) were investigated 1 week, 3 months, and 6 months after the stroke. Amusia was evaluated using the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). We found that amusia caused by right hemisphere damage (RHD), especially to temporal and frontal areas, was more severe than amusia caused by left hemisphere damage (LHD). Furthermore, the severity of amusia was found to correlate with weaker frequency MMNm responses only in amusic RHD patients.Additionally, within the RHD subgroup, the amusic patients who had damage to the auditory cortex (AC) showed worse recovery on the MBEA as well as weaker MMNm responses throughout the 6-month follow-up than the non-amusic patients or the amusic patients without AC damage. Furthermore, the amusic patients both with and without AC damage performed worse than the non-amusic patients on tests of working memory, attention, and cognitive flexibility. These findings suggest domain-general cognitive deficits to be the primary mechanism underlying amusia without AC damage whereas amusia with AC damage is associated with both auditory and cognitive deficits.Item Brain Activation During Reading in Deep Dyslexia: An MEG Study(MIT Press, 2000) Laine, Matti; Salmelin, Riitta; Helenius, Päivi; Marttila, Reijo; Neurotieteen ja lääketieteellisen tekniikan laitos; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of ScienceMagnetoencephalographic (MEG) changes in cortical activity were studied in a chronic Finnish-speaking deep dyslexic patient during single-word and sentence reading. It has been hypothesized that in deep dyslexia, written word recognition and its lexical-semantic analysis are subserved by the intact right hemisphere. However, in our patient, as well as in most nonimpaired readers, lexical-semantic processing as measured by sentence-final semantic-incongruency detection was related to the left superior-temporal cortex activation. Activations around this same cortical area could be identified in single-word reading as well. Another factor relevant to deep dyslexic reading, the morphological complexity of the presented words, was also studied. The effect of morphology was observed only during the preparation for oral output. By performing repeated recordings 1 year apart, we were able to document significant variability in both the spontaneous activity and the evoked responses in the lesioned left hemisphere even though at the behavioural level, the patient's performance was stable. The observed variability emphasizes the importance of estimating consistency of brain activity both within and between measurements in brain-damaged individuals.Item Breaking down the cocktail party: Attentional modulation of cerebral audiovisual speech processing(ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE, 2021-01-01) Wikman, Patrik; Sahari, Elisa; Salmela, Viljami; Leminen, Alina; Leminen, Miika; Laine, Matti; Alho, Kimmo; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Helsinki; Åbo Akademi UniversityRecent studies utilizing electrophysiological speech envelope reconstruction have sparked renewed interest in the cocktail party effect by showing that auditory neurons entrain to selectively attended speech. Yet, the neural networks of attention to speech in naturalistic audiovisual settings with multiple sound sources remain poorly understood. We collected functional brain imaging data while participants viewed audiovisual video clips of lifelike dialogues with concurrent distracting speech in the background. Dialogues were presented in a full-factorial design, comprising task (listen to the dialogues vs. ignore them), audiovisual quality and semantic predictability. We used univariate analyses in combination with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to study modulations of brain activity related to attentive processing of audiovisual speech. We found attentive speech processing to cause distinct spatiotemporal modulation profiles in distributed cortical areas including sensory and frontal-control networks. Semantic coherence modulated attention-related activation patterns in the earliest stages of auditory cortical processing, suggesting that the auditory cortex is involved in high-level speech processing. Our results corroborate views that emphasize the dynamic nature of attention, with task-specificity and context as cornerstones of the underlying neuro-cognitive mechanisms.Item Disentangling the Role of Working Memory in Parkinson’s Disease(Frontiers Research Foundation, 2020-09-25) Salmi, Juha; Ritakallio, Liisa; Fellman, Daniel; Ellfolk, Ulla; Rinne, Juha O.; Laine, Matti; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Åbo Akademi University; Turku University HospitalWorking memory (WM) represents a core cognitive function with a major striatal contribution, and thus WM deficits, commonly observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD), could also relate to many other problems in PD patients. Our online study aimed to determine the subdomains of WM that are particularly affected in PD and to clarify the links between WM and everyday cognitive deficits, other executive functions, psychiatric and PD symptoms, as well as early cognitive impairment. Fifty-two mild-to-moderate PD patients and 54 healthy controls performed seven WM tasks tapping selective updating, continuous monitoring, or maintenance of currently active information. Self-ratings of everyday cognition, depression, and apathy symptoms, as well as screenings of global cognitive impairment, were also collected. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Of the three WM domains, only selective updating was directly predictive of PD group membership. More widespread WM deficits were observed only in relation to global cognitive impairment in PD patients. Self-rated everyday cognition or psychiatric symptoms were not linked to WM performance but correlated with each other. Our findings suggest that WM has a rather limited role in the clinical manifestation of PD. Nevertheless, due to its elementary link to striatal function, the updating component of WM could be a candidate for a cognitive marker of PD also in patients who are otherwise cognitively well-preserved.Item EPELI: a novel virtual reality task for the assessment of goal-directed behavior in real-life contexts(Springer, 2023-09) Seesjärvi, Erik; Puhakka, Jasmin; Aronen, Eeva T.; Hering, Alexandra; Zuber, Sascha; Merzon, Liya; Kliegel, Matthias; Laine, Matti; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Helsinki; Tilburg University; University of Victoria; University of Geneva; Åbo Akademi UniversityA recently developed virtual reality task, EPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving), quantifies goal-directed behavior in naturalistic conditions. Participants navigate a virtual apartment, performing household chores given by a virtual character. EPELI aims to tap attention, executive function, and prospective memory. To ensure its applicability to further research and clinical work and to study its relationship to relevant background factors, we examined several key properties of EPELI in 77 typically developing 9–13-year-old children. These included EPELI’s internal consistency, age and gender differences, sensitivity to gaming experience, head-mounted display (HMD) type, and verbal recall ability, as well as its relationships with parent-rated everyday executive problems. Of the eight EPELI measures, the following six showed acceptable internal consistency: task and navigation efficacy, number of correctly performed tasks and overall actions, time monitoring, and controller movement. Some measures were associated with age, gender, or verbal encoding ability. Moreover, EPELI performance was associated with parent-rated everyday executive problems. There were no significant associations of gaming background, task familiarity, or HMD type with the EPELI measures. These results attest to the reliability and ecological validity of this new virtual reality tool for the assessment of attention, executive functions, and prospective memory in children.Item Producing Speech with a Newly Learned Morphosyntax and Vocabulary: An Magnetoencephalography Study(MIT Press, 2014) Hultén, Annika; Karvonen, Leena; Laine, Matti; Salmelin, Riitta; Neurotieteen ja lääketieteellisen tekniikan laitos; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of ScienceTen participants learned a miniature language (Anigram), which they later employed to verbally describe a pictured event. Using magnetoencephalography, the cortical dynamics of sentence production in Anigram was compared with that in the native tongue from the preparation phase up to the production of the final word. At the preparation phase, a cartoon image with two animals prompted the participants to plan either the corresponding simple sentence (e.g., “the bear hits the lion”) or a grammar-free list of the two nouns (“the bear, the lion”). For the newly learned language, this stage induced stronger left angular and adjacent inferior parietal activations than for the native language, likely reflecting a higher load on lexical retrieval and STM storage. The preparation phase was followed by a cloze task where the participants were prompted to produce the last word of the sentence or word sequence. Production of the sentence-final word required retrieval of rule-based inflectional morphology and was accompanied by increased activation of the left middle superior temporal cortex that did not differ between the two languages. Activation of the right temporal cortex during the cloze task suggested that this area plays a role in integrating word meanings into the sentence frame. The present results indicate that, after just a few days of exposure, the newly learned language harnesses the neural resources for multiword production much the same way as the native tongue and that the left and right temporal cortices seem to have functionally different roles in this processing.Item The Pursuit of Effective Working Memory Training: a Pre-registered Randomised Controlled Trial with a Novel Varied Training Protocol(SPRINGER, 2022) Ritakallio, Liisa; Fellman, Daniel; Jylkka, Jussi; Waris, Otto; Lonnroth, Nelly; Nervander, Reidar; Salmi, Juha; Laine, Matti; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical EngineeringWorking memory (WM) training, typically entailing repetitive practice with one or two tasks, has mostly yielded only limited task-specific transfer effects. We developed and tested a new WM training approach where the task paradigm, stimulus type, and predictability of the stimulus sequence were constantly altered during the 4-week training period. We expected that this varied training protocol would generate more extensive transfer by facilitating the use of more general strategies that could be applied to a range of WM tasks. Pre-post transfer effects following varied training (VT group, n = 60) were compared against traditional training (TT group, training a single adaptive WM task, n = 63), and active controls (AC, n = 65). As expected, TT evidenced strong task-specific near transfer as compared to AC. In turn, VT exhibited task-specific near transfer only on one of the measures, and only as compared to the TT group. Critically, no evidence for task-general near transfer or far transfer effects was observed. In sum, the present form of VT failed to demonstrate broader transfer. Nevertheless, as VT has met with success in other cognitive domains, future studies should probe if and how it would be possible to design WM training protocols that promote structural learning where common features of specific tasks would be identified and utilised when selecting strategies for novel memory tasks.Item Quantifying ADHD Symptoms in Open-Ended Everyday Life Contexts With a New Virtual Reality Task(SAGE Publications Inc., 2022-09) Seesjarvi, Erik; Puhakka, Jasmin; Aronen, Eeva T.; Lipsanen, Jari; Mannerkoski, Minna; Hering, Alexandra; Zuber, Sascha; Kliegel, Matthias; Laine, Matti; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Helsinki University Central Hospital; University of Helsinki; Tilburg University; Swiss National Center of Competences in Research; Turku PET CentreObjective: To quantify goal-directed behavior and ADHD symptoms in naturalistic conditions, we developed a virtual reality task, EPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving), and tested its predictive, discriminant and concurrent validity. Method: We collected EPELI data, conventional neuropsychological task data, and parent-ratings of executive problems and symptoms in 38 ADHD children and 38 typically developing controls. Results: EPELI showed predictive validity as the ADHD group exhibited higher percentage of irrelevant actions reflecting lower attentional-executive efficacy and more controller movements and total game actions, both indicative of hyperactivity-impulsivity. Further, the five combined EPELI measures showed excellent discriminant validity (area under curve 88 %), while the correlations of the EPELI efficacy measure with parent-rated executive problems (r = .57) and ADHD symptoms (r = .55) pointed to its concurrent validity. Conclusion: We provide a proof-of-concept validation for a new virtual reality tool for ecologically valid assessment of ADHD symptoms.Item Self-reported strategy use in working memory tasks(Nature Publishing Group, 2024-12) Ritakallio, Liisa; Fellman, Daniel; Salmi, Juha; Jylkkä, Jussi; Laine, Matti; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Åbo Akademi UniversityMnemonic strategies can facilitate working memory performance, but our knowledge on strategy use as a function of task characteristics remains limited. We examined self-reported strategy use in several working memory tasks with pretest data from two large-scale online training experiments. A three-level measure of strategy sophistication (no strategy, maintenance, manipulation) was coded based on participants’ open-ended strategy reports. A considerable portion of participants reported some memory strategy, and strategy sophistication was associated with objective task performance. We found a consistent effect of stimulus type: verbal stimuli (letters or digits) elicited higher strategy sophistication than nonverbal ones (colours or spatial positions). In contrast, the association between task paradigm and strategy sophistication was less consistent in the two experiments. The present results highlight the importance of self-generated strategies in understanding individual differences in working memory performance and the role of stimulus characteristics as one of the task-related determinants of strategy use.Item Spontaneous memory strategies in a videogame simulating everyday memory tasks(Psychology Press, 2024-03) Laine, Matti; Jylkkä, Jussi; Ritakallio, Liisa; Eräste, Tilda; Kangas, Suvi; Hering, Alexandra; Zuber, Sascha; Kliegel, Matthias; Fellman, Daniel; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Åbo Akademi University; University of Helsinki; Tilburg University; University of GenevaPeople can use different internal strategies to manage their daily tasks, but systematic research on these strategies and their significance for actual performance is still quite sparse. Here we examined self-reported internal strategy use with a 10-block version of the videogame EPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving) in a group of 202 neurotypical adults of 18–50 years of age. In the game, participants perform lists of everyday tasks from memory while navigating in a virtual apartment. Open-ended strategy reports were collected after each EPELI task block, and for comparison also after an EPELI Instruction Recall task and a Word List Learning task assessing episodic memory. On average, 45% of the participants reported using some strategy in EPELI, the most common types being grouping (e.g., performing the tasks room by room), utilising a familiar action schema, and condensing information (e.g., memorising only keywords). Our pre-registered hypothesis on the beneficial effect of self-initiated strategy use gained support, as strategy users showed better performance on EPELI as compared with no strategy users. One of the strategies, grouping, was identified as a clearly effective strategy type. Block-by-block transitions suggested gradual stabilisation of strategy use over the 10 EPELI blocks. The proneness to use strategies showed a weak but reliable association between EPELI and Word List Learning. Overall, the present results highlight the importance of internal strategy use for understanding individual differences in memory performance, as well as the potential benefit for internal strategy employment when faced with everyday memory tasks.Item Strategy use and its evolvement in word list learning : a replication study(Royal Society Publishing, 2024-02-14) Laine, Matti; Fellman, Daniel; Eräste, Tilda; Ritakallio, Liisa; Salmi, Juha; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Åbo Akademi UniversitySpontaneous strategy employment is important for memory performance, but systematic research on strategy use and within-task evolvement is limited. This online study aimed to replicate three main findings by Waris and colleagues in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2021): in word-list learning, spontaneous strategy use (1) predicts better task performance, (2) stabilizes along the task, and (3) increases during the first two task blocks. We administered a shortened version of their original real-word list-learning task to 209 neurotypical adults. Their first finding was partly replicated: manipulation strategies (grouping, visualization, association, narrative, other strategy) but not maintenance strategies (rehearsal/repetition, selective focus) were associated with superior word recall. The second finding on the decrease in strategy changers over task blocks was replicated. The third finding turned out to be misguided: neither our nor the original study showed task-initial increase in strategy use in the real-word learning condition. Our results confirm the important role of spontaneous strategies in understanding memory performance and the existence of task-initial dynamics in strategy employment. They support the general conclusions by Waris and colleagues: task demands can trigger strategy use even in a familiar task like learning a list of common words, and evolution of strategy use during a memory task reflects cognitive skill learning.Item Working memory training restores aberrant brain activity in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(Wiley, 2020-12-01) Salmi, Juha; Soveri, Anna; Salmela, Viljami; Alho, Kimmo; Leppämäki, Sami; Tani, Pekka; Koski, Anniina; Jaeggi, Susanne M.; Laine, Matti; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; University of Turku; University of Helsinki; University of California, Irvine; Åbo Akademi UniversityThe development of treatments for attention impairments is hampered by limited knowledge about the malleability of underlying neural functions. We conducted the first randomized controlled trial to determine the modulations of brain activity associated with working memory (WM) training in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At baseline, we assessed the aberrant functional brain activity in the n-back WM task by comparing 44 adults with ADHD with 18 healthy controls using fMRI. Participants with ADHD were then randomized to train on an adaptive dual n-back task or an active control task. We tested whether WM training elicits redistribution of brain activity as observed in healthy controls, and whether it might further restore aberrant activity related to ADHD. As expected, activity in areas of the default-mode (DMN), salience (SN), sensory-motor (SMN), frontoparietal (FPN), and subcortical (SCN) networks was decreased in participants with ADHD at pretest as compared with healthy controls, especially when the cognitive load was high. WM training modulated widespread FPN and SN areas, restoring some of the aberrant activity. Training effects were mainly observed as decreased brain activity during the trained task and increased activity during the untrained task, suggesting different neural mechanisms for trained and transfer tasks.