• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.44-47
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• 2006

Background: The present study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the neural substrates for modified version of Treisman's visual search task. Methods: Two volunteers who gave informed consent participated MEG experiment. One was 27- year old male and another was 24-year-old female. All were right handed. Experiment were performed using a 306-channel biomagnetometer (Neuromag LTD). There were three task conditions in this experiment. The first was searching an open circle among seven closed circles (open condition). The second was searching a closed circle among seven uni-directionally open circles (closed condition). And the third was searching a closed circle among seven eight-directionally open circles (random (closed) condition). In one run, participants performed one task condition so there were three runs in one session of experiment. During one session, 128 trials were performed during every three runs. One participant underwent one session of experiment. The participant pressed button when they found targets. Magnetic source localization images were generated using software programs that allowed for interactive identification of a common set of fiduciary points in the MRI and MEG coordinate frames. Results: In each participant we can found activations of anterior cingulate, primary visual and association cortices, posterior parietal cortex and brain areas in the vicinity of thalamus. Conclusions: we could find activations corresponding to anterior and posterior visual attention systems.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.23-35
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• 2021

Fear conditioning and extinction, which are adaptive processes to learn and avoid potential threats, have essential roles in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders. Experimental fear conditioning and extinction have been used to identify the mechanism of fear and anxiety in humans. However, the brain-based mechanisms of fear conditioning and extinction are yet to be established. In the current review, we summarized the results of neuroimaging studies that examined the brain changes-functional activity and structures-regarding fear conditioning or extinction in healthy individuals. The functional activity of the amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus changed dynamically with both fear conditioning and extinction. This review may provide an up-to-date summary that may broaden our understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms of anxiety disorder. In addition, the brain regions that are involved in the fear conditioning and extinction may be considered as potential treatment targets in the future studies.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.101-125
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• 2005

We applied functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques to examine whether general intelligence (g) could be assessed using a neurobiological signal of the brain. Participants were students in a national science academy and several local high schools. They were administered diverse intelligence (RAPM and WAIS) and creativity tests (TTCT-figural and TTCT-verbal). Forty of them were scanned using fMRI while performing complex and simple g tasks. In brain regions of greater blood flow in complex compared with simple g tasks, the gifted group with an exceptional g level was not significantly different from the average group with an ordinary g level: both of them activated the lateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, posterior parietal cortices. However, the activation levels of the gifted group were greater than those of the average group, particularly in the posterior parietal cortex. Correlation analysis showed that the activity of the posterior parietal cortex has the highest correlation ($(r=0.73{\sim}0.74)$) with individual g levels and other regions also have moderate correlation ($(r=0.53{\sim}0.66)$). On the other hand, two-sample t test showed a striking contrast in intelligence tests scores between the gifted and the average group, whereas it did not show in creativity tests scores. These results suggest that it is within the bounds of possibility that a neurobiological signal of the brain is used in the assessment of the gifted and also suggest that creativity has to be given a great deal of weight on the assessment of the gifted.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.51-64
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• 2003

Objective : This study investigated the alteration of neural activity and effect of Yanggyuksanhwa-tang (Lianggesanhuo-tang) on cerebral ischemia of rats. Methods : Considering age-related impact on cerebral ischemia, aged rats (18 months old) were used for this study. Ischemic damage was induced by the transient occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries (BCAO) with hypotension. Yanggyuksanhwa-tang (Lianggesanhuo-tang) was administered twice a day orally. Then alterations of neural activities in the brain of aged BCAO rats were measured by the [$^{14}C$]2-deoxyglucose autoradiography method. Results : The BCAO in aged rats led to significant decrease of neural activity in the whole brain. Treatment with Yanggyuksanhwa-tang (Lianggesanhuo-tang) significantly attenuated the decrease of neural activity in the whole brain following BCAO ischemia. Treatment significantly attenuated the decrease of neural activity in the CA1, CA2, CA3, dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, activated barrel, barrel cortex, somatosensory cortex, cingulate cortex, caudate putamen, and medial septal nucleus following BCAO in aged rats. Treatment with Yanggyuksanhwa-tang (Lianggesanhuo-tang) also significantly attenuated the decrease of neural activity in the anteroventral thalamic nucleus, ventral anterior thalamic nucleus, arcuate nucleus, posterior hypothalamic area, medial mammillary nucleus, lateral periaqueductal gray, dorsal raphe nucleus, interpeduncular nucleus, median raphe nucleus, and medial pontine nucleus. Conclusion : It can be suggested that Yanggyuksanhwa-tang (Lianggesanhuo-tang) has a neuroprotecuve effect on cerebral ischemia through the control of glucose metabolic rate and cerebral blood flow.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.57-74
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• 2008

This study aimed to investigate the preferential brain activations involed in the set size during random number generation (RNG). The BNG condition gave more increased activations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and superior temporal gyrus (STG) than the simple counting condition, which was a control rendition. When the activations were compared by the small set size condition versus the large set size condition, broad areas covering tempore-occipital network, ACC, and postcentral gyrus were more highly activated in the small set size condition than in the large set size condition, while responses of areas including medial frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and lingual gyrus were more increased in the large set size condition than in the small set size condition. The capacity hypothesis of working memory fails to explain the results. On the contrary, strategy selection hypothesis seems to explain the current observations properly.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.103-111
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• 2002

Neurocognitive research focusing on cognitive deficits in Depression has resulted in several important but yet potentially contradictory findings. Much literature documents the presence of significant neurocognitive impairments in depressive patients. Studies have shown that dysthymic disorder patients demonstrate a diffuse pattern of cognitive impairment which is frequently indistinguishable from that of focal braindamaged patients. Some reports have suggested that there is a focal pattern of deficit, such as anterior cingulate dysfunction, frontal lobe impairment, or dysfunction of the temporal-limbic cortex. The aim of this study is to evaluate the neurocognitive functions in dysthymic disorder patients, and to compare the functions with those of major depressive disorder patients. The subjects are 17 dysthymic disorder patients. And their neurocognitive functions are compared with those of 23 major depressive episode patients. Patients with a history of neurologic disease, alcohol dependence, substance abuse and mental retardation are excluded. They are assessed with a part of Vienna Test System which is computerized neurocognitive function tests and can evaluate attention, eductive ability, reproductive ability, visuoperceptual analysis, vigilance, visual immediate memory, the speed of information-processing, judgement, and fine motor coordinations. There are no other specific difference between two groups, except the result of cognitrone test. This study provides information about the neurocognitive functions and some difference between major depressive disorder patients and carefully diagnosed dysthymic disorder patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for the Gifted Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.137-138
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• 2003

Understanding how and why people differ is a fundamental, if distant, goal of research efforts to bridge psychological and biological levels of analysis. General fluid intelligence (gF) is a major dimension of individual differences and refers to reasoning and novel problemsolving ability. A conceptual integration of evidence from cognitive (behavioral) and anatomical studies suggeststhat gF should covary with both task performance and neural activity in specific brain systems when specific cognitive demands are present, with the neural activity mediating the relation between gF and performance. Direct investigation of this possibility will be a critical step toward a mechanistic model of human intelligence. In turn, a mechanistic model might suggest ways to enhance gF through targeted behavioral or neurobiological intervent ions, We formed two different groups as subjects based on their scholarly attainments. Each group consists of 20 volunteers(aged 16-17 years, right-handed males) from the National Gifted School and a local high school respectively. To test whether individual differences in general intelligence are mediated at a neural level, we first assessed intellectual characteristics in 40 subjects using standard intelligence tests (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) administered outside of the MR scanner. We then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRl) to measure task-related brain activity as participants performed three different kinds of computerized reasoning tasks that were intended to activate the relevant neural systems. To examine the difference of neural activity according to discrepancy in general intelligence, we compared the brain activity of both extreme groups (each, n=10) of the participants based on the standard intelligence test scores. In contrast to the common expectation, there was no significant difference of brain region involved in high-g tasks between both groups. Random effect analysis exhibited that lateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal cortex are associated with gF. Despite very different task contents in the three high-g-low-g contrasts, recruitment of multiple regions is markedly similar in each case, However, on the task with high 9F correlations, the Prodigy group, (intelligence rank: >99%) showed higher task-related neural activity in several brain regions. These results suggest that the relationship between gF and brain activity should be stronger under high-g conditions than low-g conditions.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.77-88
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• 2004

Acupuncture has been shown to have therapeutic effects on many mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in human and animal studies. Maternal separation (MS) is a risk factor in the development of mood-related disorders such as depression. This study investigated the effects of acupuncture during MS by evaluating locomotion as behavioral markers of depression and by observing changes in c-Fos expression in the limbic system (hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex) to elucidate the mechanism of the therapeutic effect. The employed acupoint, Shinmun (HT7), has been clinically used to treat mental disorders. MS for 7 days beginning on postnatal day 14 induced a significant decrease in locomotion, while acupuncture treatment at acupoint HT7 resulted in a significant increase in locomotion. c-Fos immunoreactive cells in area dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus were increased in the MS group, but significantly decreased in the acupuncture group. These findings suggest that acupuncture has an effect on the depression-like disorder caused by MS, possibly by modulating c-Fos expression in DC of the hippocampus.

• Psychiatry investigation
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.1174-1180
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• 2018

Objective Structural changes of brain areas have been reported in depressive disorder and suicidal behavior (SB), in which TPH1 also has been known as a promising candidate gene. We investigated gray matter volume (GMV) differences, TPH1 rs1800532 and rs1799913 polymorphisms previously found to be associated with depressive disorder and SB, and the relationship between the two markers. Methods Thirteen depressive disorder patients with suicidal attempts (SA) and twenty healthy controls were included. We examined GMV differences using a voxel-based morphometry and regions of interest analysis. Direct sequencing was used for genotyping. Results The patients showed significant GMV reduction in left cerebral region including middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex; in right middle temporal gyrus; in left cerebellar tonsil; and in right cerebral region including precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus (corrected p<0.005). The right precentral and postcentral gyri GMV values of AA and CA genotypes patients were significantly decreased compared to those of CC genotype subjects (corrected p=0.040). Conclusion These findings show the possibility that both GMV reductions and TPH1 rs1800532/rs1799913 A allele may be involved in the pathogenesis of depressive disorder patients with SA.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.159-169
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze research trends and find whether Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) of refugees could affect structural or functional changes of brains of those under MRI, focusing on volumes, functional connectivities, and metabolites. Methods: A literature search was done using PubMed, Embase, RISS, and KMBase to identify studies that matched our research purpose. A total of eight studies were identified using Prisma flow diagram by two reviewers independently. Results: Eight studies were identified. Three studies were on North Korean defectors as subjects. The number of studies that observed structural changes, functional changes, and metabolite changes in brains was 2, 5, and 2, respectively. Although each study observed various parts of the brain, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was observed commonly in three studies. The PTSD group showed reduction of ACC volume and N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) metabolite in ACC compared to the non- PTSD group. When exposed to negative stimuli, the PTSD group showed higher neural activity than the non-PTSD group, but not vice versa. Conclusion: ACC showed significant difference in volume, neural activity, and NAA metabolite between the PTSD and the non-PTSD group, resulting in significant differences in structural changes, functional changes, metabolite changes, respectively. This study showed the need for conducting more research using various biomarkers to clarify the relationship between PTSD of refugees and their brain changes.