• Anxiety and mood
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2006

Objective : This study was designed to examine the volumetric abnormality of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and its change after 2 years of pharmacotherapy in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. Method : Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies were conducted in 15 OCD patients and 13 normal volunteers. For 2 years, all patients took at least one serotonin reuptake inhibitor and atypical antipsychotics were used as an augmentation therapy in most patients. The follow-up MRI studies were conducted after the pharmacotherapy and OFC volumes were measured by the manual region of interest method. Results : Bilateral OFC volumes of 15 OCD patients were significantly greater than those of the normal volunteers before the treatment. After 2 years of the treatment, significant decrease was observed in bilateral OFC volumes of OCD patients to the extent that left OFC volume of OCD patients was not different from that of the normal volunteers. Conclusion : This finding suggests that OFC is directly related to the pathophysiology of obsessive compulsive disorder.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.647-667
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to develop a brain-based analysis framework for evaluating teachinglearning program in science. To develop the framework, this study categorized educational constructs of the teachinglearning programs into one of three teaching-learning factors: cognition, motive, and emotion, using previous studies on science program. Ninety-three articles on the brain functions associated with science program were analyzed to extract brain activation regions related to the three educational constructs. After delineating the brain activation regions, we designed the brain function map, "the CORE Brain Map." Based on this brain map, we developed a brain-based analysis framework for evaluating science teaching-learning program using R & D processes. This framework consists of the brain regions, the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate gyrus, the bilateral parietal cortex, the bilateral temporal cortex, the bilateral occipital cortex, the bilateral hippocampus, the bilateral amygdala, the bilateral nucleus accumbens, the bilateral striatum and the midbrain regions. These brain regions are associated with the aforementioned three educational factors; cognition, motivation, and emotion. The framework could be applied to the analysis and diagnosis of various teaching and learning programs in science.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2024

This study compared the cortical thickness of patients with mood disorders and a control group to assess structural abnormalities. A retrospective study was conducted from September 2020 to August 2022 at the Department of Psychiatry, P Hospital in Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do. The study included 44 individuals diagnosed with mood disorders and 59 healthy individuals without any pathological lesions. The 3D-T1 MPRAGE images obtained from magnetic resonance imaging examinations were utilized, and FreeSurfer software was employed to measure cortical thickness. Statistical analysis involved independent samples t-tests to measure the differences in means between the two groups, and Cohen's d test was used to compare the effect sizes of the differences. Furthermore, the correlation between the measured average cortical thickness and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores was analyzed. The research results revealed that patients with mood disorders exhibited decreased cortical thickness compared to the normal control group in both superior frontal regions, both rostral middle frontal regions, both caudal middle frontal regions, both pars opercularis, pars orbitals, pars triangularis regions, both superior temporal regions, both inferior temporal regions, both lateral orbitofrontal regions, both medial orbitofrontal regions, both fusiform regions, both posterior cingulate regions, both isthmus cingulate regions, both superior parietal regions, both inferior parietal regions, both supramarginal regions, left postcentral region, right bank of the superior temporal sulcus region, right middle temporal region, right rostral anterior cingulate region, and right insula region. Among them, regions that showed differences with effect sizes of 0.8 or higher were left fusiform (d=0.82), pars opercularis (d=0.94), superior frontal (d=0.88), right lateral orbitofrontal (d=0.85), and pars orbitalis (d=0.89). Additionally, there was a weak negative correlation between PANSS scores and average cortical thickness in both the left hemisphere (r=-0.234) and right hemisphere (r=-0.230). These findings are expected to be helpful in identifying areas of cortical thickness reduction in patients with mood disorders compared to healthy individuals and understanding the relationship between symptom severity and cortical thickness changes.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.854-862
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• 2014

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) students' intellctual defects, learning problems, and poor academic achievements seem to be due to significantly lower intelligence compared to the normal students, but rather the characteristic of inability to pay attention at a given time can be seen as the more attributing reason. In this study, a comparison between the ADHD students and the normal students will be performed using a fMRI analysis in order to differentiate the brain function between the two groups during a working memory task performance and to assess the difference in the activated regions of the brain. Clinical survey examinations and fMRI measurements were performed for a group of 26 elementary students from the Incheon area. The stimulus of fMRI was a working memory. Cartography statistically analyzed parameters and the Statistical Package of Social Sciences using single-sample t-test, two-sample t-test, were analyzed by multiple regression analysis, the statistical significance level was p<0.05 in, respectively. The disproportionate developments could be seen in the ADHD students group such as the frontal cortex, parietal cortex, thalamus, and caudate nucleus, among others. In addition, as some students felt the increase in the difficulty of working memory task performance, the orbitofrontal cortex and the hippocampus were activated, which seems to be the result of an effort for looking for an answer. More types of ADHD students needs to be secured as research subjects, and more stimulations for fMRI experiments should be considered as it would be useful in the overall evaluation of brain function.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.77-93
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to identify neural correlates underlying the detection of faux pas, a test of theory of mind (ToM), in Korean healthy adults. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared the brain activities associated with faux pas stories and the activities associated with control stories. Faux pas stories compared with the control stories produced activations bilaterally in the superior frontal gyrus (BA 9) and in the precuneus (BA 7). The left medial frontal gyrus (BA 9), the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 38), the left inferior temporal gyrus (BA 20) and the right inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), the right postcentral gyrus (BA 1), the right lingual gyrus (BA 18), the right transverse temporal gyrus (BA 41) were also activated. The orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala were not found to be involved in the detection of faux pas. This result suggests that brain activations associated with ToM are dependent on the type of mental state drawn by the task.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.129-141
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• 2007

Objectives : Empathy has been conceptualized as the ability of emotional resonance and perspective-taking. Emotional awareness has been proposed as the basis of empathy. In this study we examined the relationship between empathy and mood awareness and their neural correlates in resting-state activity in normal controls and patients with schizophrenia. Methods : Empathy and mood awareness scale scores were compared between 29 patients with schizophrenia and 21 normal controls by voxel-based t-tests and voxel-based correlation analyses of resting-state $^{18}F$-FDG PET images. Results : Empathy and mood labeling scale scores were significantly decreased in schizophrenic patients. Mood monitoring was positively correlated with empathy score in normal controls, but not in schizophrenic patients. In normal controls, empathy was positively correlated with resting-state activities in the intraparietal sulcus and mood monitoring was positively correlated with the temporal pole, frontopolar cortex, inferior temporal gyrus, entorhinal cortex and the subgenual prefrontal cortex resting activities. The orbitofrontal cortex resting activity was positively correlated with mood monitoring-related subgenual prefrontal cortex activity in the normal controls. Patients with schizophrenia showed decreased orbitofrontal resting activity and loss of its correlations with mood monitoring-related regional activities. Conclusion : This study showed that alteration in the resting-state activity in schizophrenia may reflect dysfunctional empathy and distorted characteristic of emotional awareness. However, the resting-state activity may not reflect the relationship between emotional awareness and empathy.