• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.427-428
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• 2018

Based on the piling reports of disruptions in the thalamus of patients with schizophrenia, the alteration in the thalamo-cortical system has been regarded as the core pathophysiology. As the thalamus is composed of distinctive nuclei with different cytoarchitecture and cortical connections, nuclei specific investigations have been actively conducted in post-mortem studies. In addition, the importance of early changes has been highlighted, which in turn has led to investigations of the thalamo-cortical system using non-invasive neuroimaging methods. From this perspective, the early structural changes in the thalamo-cortical system, such as the thalamo-cortical connection and nuclei specific microstructural changes (which are coherent with findings from post-mortem methods) will be briefly discussed. The main findings, which are the reduced thalamo-prefrontal connection and reduced microstructural complexity in the higher-order nuclei detected in first-episode psychosis patients, suggest the occurrence of early alterations within and between the communication hub of the brain and cortex. These findings suggest not only directions for further studies for unveiling the thalamo-cortical system related pathophysiology, but also the possibility of using the reduced microstructural complexity in the higher order nucleus as a biomarker for schizophrenia.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2003

This study is an experimental study about the relationship between EEG and personality dimensions. Subjects were 70 healthy undergraduate students (32 males, 38 females) The Korean version of Eysencks Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) were used. EEGs were recorded in two different conditions (eyes open and eyes closed). To obtain more tellable data, EEG recordings of subjects were replicated 6 weeks later. The analytical methods used in the present study rendered two coincident tendencies: Theta with neuroticism relationship in eyes closed condition, and alpha-delta with psychoticism relationship in eyes closed condition. These results generally support the theory of Robinson (2001) that delta, theta, and alpha waves are associated with activity of brainstem, limbic system, and thalamo-cortical arousal system, and that thalamo-cortical alpha system has inhibitory effects on brainstem delta system.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2010

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a chronic motor and vocal tic disorder of childhood onset. Abnornmalities in basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits may play an important role in the pathophysiology underlying the involuntary tics. It is often complicated by comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Transcranial magnetic stimulation(TMS) is a neurophysiologic technique with research ap-plication. As there is good evidence that this technique can modify cortical activity, repetitive TMS is also used for treatment to change the cortical excitability and therefore affect underlying interconnected cortical-sub-cortical loop. We reviewed the neurophysiologic parameters and the clinical applicability of TMS and rTMS.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.15-28
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• 1997

Longterm memory is encoded in the neuronal connectivities of the brain. The most successful models of human memory in their operations are models of distributed and self-organized associative memory, which are founded in the principle of simulaneous convergence in network formation. Memory is not perceived as the qualities inherent in physical objects or events, but as a set of relations previously established in a neural net by simultaneousy occuring experiences. When it is easy to find correlations with existing neural networks through analysis of network structures, memory is automatically encoded in cerebral cortex. However, in the emergence of informations which are complicated to classify and correlated with existing networks, and conflictual with other networks, those informations are sent to the subcortex including hippocampus. Memory is stored in the form of templates distributed across several different cortical regions. The hippocampus provides detailed maps for the conjoint binding and calling up of widely distributed informations. Knowledge about the distribution of correlated networks can transform the existing networks into new one. Then, hippocampus consolidats new formed network. Amygdala may enable the emotions to influence the information processing and memory as well as providing the visceral informations to them. Cortico-striatal-pallido-thalamo-cortical loop also play an important role in memory function with analysis of language and concept. In case of difficulty in processing in spite of parallel process of informations, frontal lobe organizes theses complicated informations of network analysis through temporal processing. With understanding of brain mechanism of memory and information processing, the brain mechanism of mental phenomena including psychopathology can be better explained in terms of neurobiology and meuropsychology.