A dysfunction in the excitatory–inhibitory (E/I) coordination in neuronal assembly has been proposed as a possible neurobiological mechanism of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the potential impact of this mechanism in cognitive performance is not fully explored. Since the main consequence of E/I dysfunction is an impairment in oscillatory activity and its underlying cognitive computations, we assessed the electroencephalographic activity of ASD and typically developing (TD) subjects during a working-memory task. We found that ASD subjects committed more errors than TD subjects. Moreover, TD subjects demonstrated a parametric modulation in the power of alpha and theta band while ASD subjects did not demonstrate significant modulations. The preceding leads to significant differences between the groups in both the alpha power placed on the occipital cortex and the theta power placed on the left premotor and the right prefrontal cortex. The impaired theta modulation correlated with autistic symptoms. The results indicated that ASD may present an alteration in the recruitment of the oscillatory activity during working-memory, and this alteration could be related to the physiopathology of the disorder.

Attention and working memory (WM) are core components of executive functions, and they can be enhanced by training. One activity that has shown to improve executive functions is musical training, but the brain networks underlying these improvements are not well known. We aimed to identify, using functional MRI (fMRI), these networks in children who regularly learn and play a musical instrument. Girls and boys aged 10–13 with and without musical training completed an attention and WM task while their brain activity was measured with fMRI. Participants were presented with a pair of bimodal stimuli (auditory and visual) and were asked to pay attention only to the auditory, only to the visual, or to both at the same time. The stimuli were afterward tested with a memory task in order to confirm attention allocation. Both groups had higher accuracy on items that they were instructed to attend, but musicians had an overall better performance on both memory tasks across attention conditions. In line with this, musicians showed higher activation than controls in cognitive control regions such as the fronto-parietal control network during all encoding phases. In addition, facilitated encoding of auditory stimuli in musicians was positively correlated with years of training and higher activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus, structures that support the phonological loop. Taken together, our results elucidate the neural dynamics that underlie improved bimodal attention and WM of musically trained children and contribute new knowledge to this model of brain plasticity.

Humans must often estimate reward values in the presence of ambiguous information to determine the best course of action. The degree of ambiguity during decision-making has been related to levels of activity in the parietal cortex, however, its specific computations and causal role remain unknown. We tested the hypothesis that the parietal cortex is causally related in the computation of ambiguous probabilities during decision-making, studied via fMRI and concurrent TMS-EEG recordings. We found that the parietal cortex computes the degree of ambiguity assigned to subjective probability estimates. Disruption of these parietal signals selectively increased the assignment of unknown probabilities to choice outcomes, and these effects were accompanied by a modulation of frontal theta oscillations related to prediction error signals emerging from ambiguous choices. These results contribute to evidence supporting a fundamental causal role for the parietal cortex in the computations of ambiguous information during risky decisions and learning in humans.

Humans often face the challenge of making decisions between ambiguous options. The level of ambiguity in decision-making has been linked to activity in the parietal cortex, but its exact computational role remains elusive. To test the hypothesis that the parietal cortex plays a causal role in computing ambiguous probabilities, we conducted consecutive fMRI and TMS-EEG studies. We found that participants assigned unknown probabilities to objective probabilities, elevating the uncertainty of their decisions. Parietal cortex activity correlated with both the objective degree of ambiguity and a process that underestimates the uncertainty during decision-making. Conversely, the midcingulate cortex encodes prediction errors and increases its connectivity with the parietal cortex during outcome processing. Disruption of the parietal activity increased the uncertainty evaluation of the options, decreasing cingulate cortex oscillations during outcome evaluation. These results provide evidence for a causal role of the parietal cortex in computing uncertainty during ambiguous decisions made by humans.

Background: Self-regulation is a complex capacity that favors the modification of behavior in accordance with environmental demands. Objective: This article aims to review the scientific literature that conceptualizes self-regulation, analyze its potential latent dimensions, identify the instruments used to measure this construct and the empirical findings associated with its neurobiological correlates. Methods: A systematic review of the scientific literature published between 2015 and 2020. We include 29 empirical studies on children and adolescents self-regulatory capacity after combining the words self-regulation with cognition, brain and neurosciences. Results: Most of the articles included are from North America. A PICOS analysis was performed to increase understanding of self-regulatory capacity. Two dimensions of self-regulation are identified, contributing to a more global conceptualization of the concept of self-regulation; A cognitive dimension associated with executive functions, effortful control and inhibitory control, among others, and a dimension associated with personality, including traits such as irritability, impulsivity, openness and hyperactivity. Next, the instruments used to measure self-regulation are described, followed by a report of the important neurobiological findings, specifically, activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Conclusion: Self-regulatory capacity is associated with a complex functioning that favors adaptive behavior and has neurobiological correlates.