Journal of Neurodevelopmental Cognition
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Winter and Spring 2021

In this paper, we develop a novel approach for bidirectional brain-machine interface (BMI). First, we propose a neural network model for the sensory cortex (S1) connected to the neural network model of the motor cortex (M1) considering the topographic mapping between S1 and M1. We use the 4-box model in S1 and 4-box in M1 so that each box contains 500 neurons. Individual boxes are composed of two neural populations: inhibitory interneurons and pyramidal neurons. Next, we develop a new BMI algorithm based on neural firing. The main concept of this BMI algorithm is to close the loop between two components: the sensory interface and the motor interface. The sensory interface encodes some of the state parameters of the external device into an electrical stimulus delivered to the S1 model. The motor interface takes neural recordings from the M1 model and decodes them into a force applied to the object. We present the simulation results for the online BMI which means that there is a real-time information exchange between the S1-M1 network model and the external device.

Theoretical models of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have suggested that inhibitory control (IC) is a primary deficit in children with ADHD. Inhibition is considered a multidimensional construct with various aspects. Multiple domains of IC are attentional inhibition(AI), response inhibition(RI), and motor inhibition(MI). Although the literature supports that inhibitory deficiencies are the fundamental problem underlying ADHD, it seems that children with ADHD may have deficits with certain domains of inhibition but not with other domains. The purpose of the present study is a comparison of multiple domains of IC in children with and without ADHD. A sample of 80 children ages 6- 12 (46 boys) with ADHD (n=40) and without ADHD (n=40) symptoms participated in the study. Stroop Task (ST), Go/No-Go Task (GNGT), and Circle Tracing Task (CTT) respectively for evaluation of AI, RI and MI were performed by the participants. It was observed that children with ADHD showed worse performance in GNGT and CTT while the performance of children with and without ADHD symptoms did not differ in ST. Children with ADHD symptoms comparing typically developing (TD) children exhibited deficits with certain forms of inhibition. they had impaired performance on prepotent response inhibition and stopping ongoing response, however, no deficit was found in interference control.

Belief is an attitude toward a proposition. Current studies suggest that single-belief formation is an active process. The key step in the belief formation process is information-seeking. Multiple sites of the brain play an important role in motivating individuals to seek information such as cortico-basal ganglia neural networks, neural systems for reward prediction errors, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Based on previous studies, the information is processed by single neurons in higher areas of the brain. It can be assumed that some features of belief are encoded as information in memory. We hypothesize there can be a relationship between former beliefs and the formation of new beliefs.