Vol 73, No 2 (2023)

Autism is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that is defined by difficulties in social interaction and abnormal preoccupation in repetitive and stereotypic activities. Deficit of basic executive functions, such as cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, working memory may strongly contribute to these symptoms. Prefrontal and cingulate cortices play a crucial role in the executive functions. These brain structures are regulated by neuromodulatory systems of the brain: cholinergic, noradrenergic, serotonergic, and dopaminergic. During the early brain development these neuromodulators act as neurotrophic factors, and they regulate excitation-inhibition balance in the brain. Pathogenesis of autism is hypothesized to be linked to impairment in metabolism of one or more of these neuromodulators. The aim of this review is to consider the functional role of these neuromodulators and the significance of their imbalance in mature and developing brain, as an important factor in the development of autistic symptoms in children and adults.

From a very early age children are capable on prosocial acts: giving objects, comforting and sharing with other people. This review considers modern research on the patterns and neurophysiological mechanisms of helping behavior (HB) formation in early childhood, including the results of the authors’ own work. Methods for HB researching in infants and young children are presented. The factors of development and neurophysiological mechanisms of instrumental, empathic and altruistic HB, and the role of empathy in these kinds of behaviors are analyzed. We also described data about involvement of various brain structures (for example, the mirror system as extended part of sensorimotor and emotional neural networks) in implementation of HB. The importance of research into the mechanisms of prosocial behavior for the full-fledged upbringing and education of children in the conditions of modern society is emphasized.

Anxiety has a significant impact on the effectiveness of cognitive activity, which may be due to the peculiarities of the organization of voluntary and involuntary attention in individuals with different anxiety. Aim: to examine functional cortical connections in subjects with different levels of trait anxiety in a state of relative rest and when performing an attention test with usage of the coherent analysis of the teta1-band EEG (4–6 Hz). Coherence of teta1-band of EEG was analyzed in subjects (43 people, men aged 19–21 years) with low, medium and high level of trait anxiety (TA, according to C.D. Spielberger) in three experimental situations: the state of relative rest with closed eyes, the initial state before performing the test (with eyes opened) and during the test (red-black tables of F.D. Gorbov). Subjects with high TA in the state of relative rest with their eyes closed had a lower right-hemisphere coherence of the teta1-band EEG in the system of interrelations with focus in the temporal lead. In the initial state, with eyes opened and during test performing, individuals with high TA showed high level of interhemispheric coherence of the teta1-band of EEG. The highest lability of the structure of coherent relationships in the teta1-range of the EEG was observed in subjects with medium TA, who demonstrated an increase mainly in the interhemispheric coherence of most areas of the cortex during the test compared to the initial state. Individuals with high TA were characterized by relative inertia of the structure of coherent relationships in the teta1-range of the EEG at the stages of examination. The results of the study indicate that trait anxiety is one of the factors modulating the organization of neurocognitive networks both in a state of relative rest and during attention testing.

The study of brain activity in the processing of self-referential information, as compared to the processing of information related to other people, is based on the application of mass-univariate analysis, based on the assumption that activity in one region is independent of activity in other regions. Recently, there has been a growing interest in neuroimaging to investigate spatially distributed information using multivariate approaches such as multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA). In this paper, we used MVPA to analyze fMRI data recorded during self-evaluation and evaluation of other people of varying proximity. In all pairwise classifications tested, the number of correct identifications was significantly higher than the level of random matches. Predictively significant structures were widely distributed over different brain regions and included areas of the visual, lateral prefrontal, and many other cortical areas in addition to the cortical midline structures that contributed the most. In the self-other classification, ventral areas of the medial prefrontal and cingulate cortex were the most informative for the self condition, whereas parietal and occipital medial areas were the most informative for the other condition. The combination of brain structures, which included the anterior cingulate cortex and both amygdalae, revealed by principal component analysis, correlated positively with the psychometric scale of sensitivity to reward, and negatively with neuroticism scales. Overall, the results show the fruitfulness of using machine learning methods to analyze data from such kinds of experiments.

The level of research ability in four species of lower monkeys was studied: green monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops), Javanese macaques (Macaca fascicularis), rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas). The assessment was made according to such indicators as the level of research activity, the dynamics of research activity, the diversity of research activities. The results found indicate a higher level of the studied parameters in Javan macaques and hamadryas baboons in comparison with rhesus macaques and green monkeys.