ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2735-9155
Current Organisation
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-10-2023
DOI: 10.1111/ANS.18110
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-05-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-018-26028-W
Abstract: Previous studies looking at how Mind Wandering (MW) impacts performance in distinct Focused Attention (FA) systems, using the Attention Network Task (ANT), showed that the presence of pure MW thoughts did not impact the overall performance of ANT (alert, orienting and conflict) performance. However, it still remains unclear if the lack of interference of MW in the ANT, reported at the behavioral level, has a neurophysiological correspondence. We hypothesize that a distinct cortical processing may be required to meet attentional demands during MW. The objective of the present study was to test if, given similar levels of ANT performance, in iduals predominantly focusing on MW or FA show distinct cortical processing. Thirty-three healthy participants underwent an EEG high-density acquisition while they were performing the ANT. MW was assessed following the ANT using an adapted version of the Resting State Questionnaire (ReSQ). The following ERP’s were analyzed: pN1, pP1, P1, N1, pN, and P3. At the behavioral level, participants were slower and less accurate when responding to incongruent than to congruent targets (conflict effect), benefiting from the presentation of the double (alerting effect) and spatial (orienting effect) cues. Consistent with the behavioral data, ERP’s waves were discriminative of distinct attentional effects. However, these results remained true irrespective of the MW condition, suggesting that MW imposed no additional cortical demand in alert, orienting, and conflict attention tasks.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ANS.17032
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.NEULET.2015.03.042
Abstract: The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in the cognitive appraisal and modulation of the pain experience. In this sham-controlled study, with healthy volunteers, we used bi-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the DLPFC to assess emotional reactions elicited by pain observation. Left-cathodal/right-anodal tDCS decreased valence and arousal evaluations compared to other tDCS conditions. Compared to sham condition, both left-cathodal/right-anodal and left-anodal/right-cathodal tDCS decreased hostility, sadness and self-pain perception. These decreased sensations after both active tDCS suggest a common role for left and right DLPFC in personal distress modulation. However, the differences in arousal and valence evaluations point to distinct roles of lateralized DLPFC in cognitive empathy, probably through distinct emotion regulation mechanisms.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-03-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-02-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-38801-6
Abstract: Neuroimaging studies in social neuroscience have largely relied on functional connectivity (FC) methods to characterize the functional integration between different brain regions. However, these methods have limited utility in social-cognitive studies that aim to understand the directed information flow among brain areas that underlies complex psychological processes. In this study we combined functional and effective connectivity approaches to characterize the functional integration within the Default Mode Network (DMN) and its role in self-perceived empathy. Forty-two participants underwent a resting state fMRI scan and completed a questionnaire of dyadic empathy. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) showed that higher empathy scores were associated with an increased contribution of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to the DMN spatial mode. Dynamic causal modelling (DCM) combined with Canonical Variance Analysis (CVA) revealed that this association was mediated indirectly by the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) via the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL). More specifically, in participants with higher scores in empathy, the PCC had a greater effect on bilateral IPL and the right IPL had a greater influence on mPFC. These results highlight the importance of using analytic approaches that address directed and hierarchical connectivity within networks, when studying complex psychological phenomena, such as empathy.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-09-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ANS.18047
Abstract: Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that most commonly affects the ileum. As a result, it is associated with a high lifetime risk of one or more surgical resections. The surgical paradigm is to preserve intestinal length. This study aims to assess the length of ileum resected at the index operation and at subsequent ileocolic resections for Crohn's disease. This is a retrospective study assessing the clinical and pathological data of patients undergoing ileocolic resection for the management of Crohn's disease over the period 01/01/2002 to 31/07/2020 in two metropolitan Australian hospitals. One hundred and seventy-six patients were analysed: 130 underwent a single resection 31 underwent two resections and 15 underwent three resections. The median age at the first operation was 37.2 years (range 18-69) with 60% of patients female. The median length resected at the first surgery was 17.8 cm (IQR 12.0) for small bowel, and 5.0 cm (IQR 1.0) for large bowel. The length of ileum resected at the first surgery was significantly greater than that of the second (P = 0.0001), without significant differences between the second and third resections (P = 0.49). The time interval from diagnosis to the first surgery had no significant impact on the length of intestine resected at the index ileocolic resection. In Crohn's disease, the length of ileum removed at first resection is the greatest, with subsequent resection lengths less than the first.
No related grants have been discovered for Óscar Gonçalves.