Prior research suggests that event-related potentials (ERP) obtained during active and passive auditory paradigms, which have demonstrated abnormal neurocognitive function in schizophrenia, may provide helpful tools in predicting transition to psychosis. In addition to ERP measures, reduced modulations of EEG alpha, reflecting top-down control required to inhibit irrelevant information, have re...

Behavioral reactivity to novel stimuli in the first half-year of life has been identified as a key aspect of early temperament and a significant precursor of approach and withdrawal tendencies to novelty in later infancy and early childhood. The current study examines the neural signatures of reactivity to novel auditory stimuli in 9-month-old infants in relation to prior temperamental reactivi...

An important function of the brain's orienting response is to enable the evaluation of novel, environmental events in order to prepare for potential behavioral action. Here, we assessed the event-related hemodynamic (erfMRI) correlates of this phenomenon using unexpected (i.e., novel) environmental sounds presented within the context of an auditory novelty oddball paradigm. In ERP investigation...

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we examined the effects of subanaesthetic doses of ketamine (an NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist) and thiopental (a GABA-A receptor agonist) on the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of deviant stimulus processing in 24 healthy adults. Participants completed three separate pharmacological challenge sessions (ketamine, thiopental, saline) i...

Abstract Potential step voltammetry (PSV) was introduced in earlier works as an advantageous alternative to traditional methods for measuring corrosion rate reinforced concrete. The present study aims improve PSV maximize its applicability monitoring, that is, beyond the narrowly-defined steel–concrete systems which initially validated. It therefore identified necessary address most suitable pu...

Existing quality controlmethods for railway ballast are arduous and expensive since they are based onmanual material inspections. Thus, test intervals are typically fairly wide. As a consequence, short-term andmid-term fluctuations of ballast quality may not be detected. This results in increased costs for maintenance work such as tamping. To make test intervals shorter and even allow for conti...