Elena Antonova

Bio: Elena Antonova is an academic researcher from King's College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Mindfulness & Psychosis. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 34 publications receiving 1535 citations. Previous affiliations of Elena Antonova include University of Hertfordshire & Brunel University London.

Age-related neural activity during allocentric spatial memory

Abstract: Age-related decline in allocentric (viewer-independent) spatial memory is seen across species. We employed a virtual reality analogue of the Morris Water Maze to study the effect of healthy ageing on neural activity during allocentric spatial memory using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Voxel-based morphometry was used to ascertain hippocampal volumetric integrity. A widespread neural network comprising frontal, parietal, occipital, thalamic, and cerebellar regions was activated in young and older adults, but only young adults significantly activated bilateral hippocampus and left parahippocampus, as well as right frontal pole and dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during encoding and right DLPC during retrieval. Hippocampal grey matter volume was unchanged in older adults; however, prefrontal and parahippocampal functional attenuation was accompanied by volumetric reduction. We conclude that the decline in allocentric spatial memory with age is associated with attenuated hippocampal function,...

A fMRI investigation of startle gating deficits in schizophrenia patients treated with typical or atypical antipsychotics.

Abstract: A key feature of schizophrenia is the inability to screen out irrelevant sensory input Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response, a cross-species measure of sensorimotor gating, provides a valuable opportunity to study this feature PPI is reliably impaired in schizophrenia Animal models of disrupted PPI have proved valuable for the evaluation of antipsychotic substances The cortico-striato-pallido-thalamic circuitry is primarily responsible for modulation of PPI in animals We examined PPI and its brain correlates, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in men with schizophrenia treated with typical or atypical antipsychotics Thirty men with schizophrenia on stable doses of typical antipsychotics (n=10), risperidone (n=10) or olanzapine (n=10; 9 with usable fMRI data) and 12 healthy men underwent psychophysiological testing and fMRI during a tactile PPI paradigm The results showed reduced PPI of the eye-blink startle response in patients compared with healthy controls Within the patient group, those on typical antipsychotics showed significantly impaired PPI but risperidone- or olanzapine-treated patients showed a milder (non-significant) deficit Increased activity in the striatum, thalamus, insula, hippocampal, temporal, inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions occurred in association with PPI in controls Patients treated with risperidone or olanzapine, but not with typical antipsychotics, showed significant activation in PPI-relevant regions Our findings provide preliminary evidence that atypical antipsychotics positively influence PPI and partially restore associated brain functions in schizophrenia Imaging data buttress the validity of PPI as a useful animal model of schizophrenia

A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness-Authors' Response-Acting out our sensory experience

Abstract: Many current neurophysiological, psychophysical, and psychological approaches to vision rest on the idea that when we see, the brain produces an internal representation of the world. The activation of this internal representation is assumed to give rise to the experience of seeing. The problem with this kind of approach is that it leaves unexplained how the existence of such a detailed internal representation might produce visual consciousness. An alternative proposal is made here. We propose that seeing is a way of acting. It is a particular way of exploring the environment. Activity in internal representations does not generate the experience of seeing. The outside world serves as its own, external, representation. The experience of seeing occurs when the organism masters what we call the governing laws of sensorimotor contingency. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a natural and principled way of accounting for visual consciousness, and for the differences in the perceived quality of sensory experience in the different sensory modalities. Several lines of empirical evidence are brought forward in support of the theory, in particular: evidence from experiments in sensorimotor adaptation, visual \"filling in,\" visual stability despite eye movements, change blindness, sensory substitution, and color perception.

A rating scale for drug-induced akathisia

Abstract: A rating scale for drug-induced akathisia has been derived that incorporates diagnostic criteria for pseudoakathisia, and mild, moderate, and severe akathisia. It comprises items for rating the observable, restless movements which characterise the condition, the subjective awareness of restlessness, and any distress associated with the akathisia. In addition, there is an item for rating global severity. A standard examination procedure is recommended. The inter-rater reliability for the scale items (Cohen's kappa) ranged from 0.738 to 0.955. Akathisia was found in eight of 42 schizophrenic in-patients, and nine had pseudoakathisia, where the typical sense of inner restlessness was not reported.

Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity in Psychopathology

Abstract: Neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with abnormal function of the default mode network (DMN), a distributed network of brain regions more active during rest than during performance of many attention-demanding tasks and characterized by a high degree of functional connectivity (i.e., temporal correlations between brain regions). Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have revealed that the DMN in the healthy brain is associated with stimulus-independent thought and self-reflection and that greater suppression of the DMN is associated with better performance on attention-demanding tasks. In schizophrenia and depression, the DMN is often found to be hyperactivated and hyperconnected. In schizophrenia this may relate to overly intensive self-reference and impairments in attention and working memory. In depression, DMN hyperactivity may be related to negative rumination. These findings are considered in terms of what is known about psychological functions supported by the DMN, and alteration of the DMN in other neuropsychiatric disorders.

Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.

Abstract: Michel Foucault takes the reader on a serendipitous journey in tracing the history of madness from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Utilizing original documents, the author recreates the mood, the place, and the proper perspective in the history of madness. Madness or folly is viewed as part of the human condition and to be examined and illuminated through one of its many facets. At the end of the Middle Ages madness was seen either as a tragic or comic phenomenon. The Renaissance, with Erasmus' Praise of Folly , demonstrated how imagination and its derivatives were to thinkers of that day. The French Revolution introduced the so-called medical approach. Madness is a ubiquitous phenomenon that has common roots not only in medicine but in poetry and tragedy. Shakespeare brilliantly describes psychological phenomena with even greater clarity than Tuke or Wills. The author weaves a fascinating history showing the changing pattern of