Corby L. Dale

Bio: Corby L. Dale is an academic researcher from University of California, San Francisco. The author has contributed to research in topics: Magnetoencephalography & Working memory. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 24 publications receiving 1461 citations. Previous affiliations of Corby L. Dale include Veterans Health Administration & San Francisco VA Medical Center.

A 600 kb deletion syndrome at 16p11.2 leads to energy imbalance and neuropsychiatric disorders

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The recurrent ~600 kb 16p11.2 BP4-BP5 deletion is among the most frequent known genetic aetiologies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders. OBJECTIVE: To define the medical, neuropsychological, and behavioural phenotypes in carriers of this deletion. METHODS: We collected clinical data on 285 deletion carriers and performed detailed evaluations on 72 carriers and 68 intrafamilial non-carrier controls. RESULTS: When compared to intrafamilial controls, full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) is two standard deviations lower in carriers, and there is no difference between carriers referred for neurodevelopmental disorders and carriers identified through cascade family testing. Verbal IQ (mean 74) is lower than non-verbal IQ (mean 83) and a majority of carriers require speech therapy. Over 80% of individuals exhibit psychiatric disorders including ASD, which is present in 15% of the paediatric carriers. Increase in head circumference (HC) during infancy is similar to the HC and brain growth patterns observed in idiopathic ASD. Obesity, a major comorbidity present in 50% of the carriers by the age of 7 years, does not correlate with FSIQ or any behavioural trait. Seizures are present in 24% of carriers and occur independently of other symptoms. Malformations are infrequently found, confirming only a few of the previously reported associations. CONCLUSIONS: The 16p11.2 deletion impacts in a quantitative and independent manner FSIQ, behaviour and body mass index, possibly through direct influences on neural circuitry. Although non-specific, these features are clinically significant and reproducible. Lastly, this study demonstrates the necessity of studying large patient cohorts ascertained through multiple methods to characterise the clinical consequences of rare variants involved in common diseases.

When Top-Down Meets Bottom-Up: Auditory Training Enhances Verbal Memory in Schizophrenia

Abstract: A critical research priority for our field is to develop treatments that enhance cognitive functioning in schizophrenia and thereby attenuate the functional losses associated with the illness. In this article, we describe such a treatment method that is grounded in emerging research on the widespread sensory processing impairments of schizophrenia, as described elsewhere in this special issue. We first present the rationale for this treatment approach, which consists of cognitive training exercises that make use of principles derived from the past 2 decades of basic science research in learning-induced neuroplasticity; these exercises explicitly target not only the higher order or "top-down" processes of cognition but also the content building blocks of accurate and efficient sensory representations to simultaneously achieve "bottom-up" remediation. We then summarize our experience to date and briefly review our behavioral and serum biomarker findings from a randomized controlled trial of this method in outpatients with long-term symptoms of schizophrenia. Finally, we present promising early psychophysiological evidence that supports the hypothesis that this cognitive training method induces changes in aspects of impaired bottom-up sensory processing in schizophrenia. We conclude with the observation that neuroplasticity-based cognitive training brings patients closer to physiological patterns seen in healthy participants, suggesting that it changes the brain in an adaptive manner in schizophrenia.

Dynamic Activation of Frontal, Parietal, and Sensory Regions Underlying Anticipatory Visual Spatial Attention

Abstract: Although it is well established that multiple frontal, parietal, and occipital regions in humans are involved in anticipatory deployment of visual spatial attention, less is known about the electrophysiological signals in each region across multiple subsecond periods of attentional deployment. We used MEG measures of cortical stimulus-locked, signal-averaged (event-related field) activity during a task in which a symbolic cue directed covert attention to the relevant location on each trial. Direction-specific attention effects occurred in different cortical regions for each of multiple time periods during the delay between the cue and imperative stimulus. A sequence of activation from V1/V2 to extrastriate, parietal, and frontal regions occurred within 110 ms after cue, possibly related to extraction of cue meaning. Direction-specific activations ∼300 ms after cue in frontal eye field (FEF), lateral intraparietal area (LIP), and cuneus support early covert targeting of the cued location. This was followed by coactivation of a frontal–parietal system [superior frontal gyrus (SFG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), LIP, anterior intraparietal sulcus (IPSa)] that may coordinate the transition from targeting the cued location to sustained deployment of attention to both space and feature in the last period. The last period involved direction-specific activity in parietal regions and both dorsal and ventral sensory regions [LIP, IPSa, ventral IPS, lateral occipital region, and fusiform gyrus], which was accompanied by activation that was not direction specific in right hemisphere frontal regions (FEF, SFG, MFG). Behavioral performance corresponded with the magnitude of attention-related activity in different brain regions at each time period during deployment. The results add to the emerging electrophysiological characterization of different cortical networks that operate during anticipatory deployment of visual spatial attention.

Brainstorm: a user-friendly application for MEG/EEG analysis

Abstract: Brainstorm is a collaborative open-source application dedicated to magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) data visualization and processing, with an emphasis on cortical source estimation techniques and their integration with anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. The primary objective of the software is to connect MEG/EEG neuroscience investigators with both the best-established and cutting-edge methods through a simple and intuitive graphical user interface (GUI).

What makes us tick? Functional and neural mechanisms of interval timing

Abstract: Time is a fundamental dimension of life. It is crucial for decisions about quantity, speed of movement and rate of return, as well as for motor control in walking, speech, playing or appreciating music, and participating in sports. Traditionally, the way in which time is perceived, represented and estimated has been explained using a pacemaker-accumulator model that is not only straightforward, but also surprisingly powerful in explaining behavioural and biological data. However, recent advances have challenged this traditional view. It is now proposed that the brain represents time in a distributed manner and tells the time by detecting the coincidental activation of different neural populations.

A neural model of voluntary and automatic emotion regulation: implications for understanding the pathophysiology and neurodevelopment of bipolar disorder.

Abstract: The ability to regulate emotions is an important part of adaptive functioning in society. Advances in cognitive and affective neuroscience and biological psychiatry have facilitated examination of neural systems that may be important for emotion regulation. In this critical review we first develop a neural model of emotion regulation that includes neural systems implicated in different voluntary and automatic emotion regulatory subprocesses. We then use this model as a theoretical framework to examine functional neural abnormalities in these neural systems that may predispose to the development of a major psychiatric disorder characterized by severe emotion dysregulation, bipolar disorder.