Virginia Conde Ruiz

• Smevik, Hanne; Habli, Sarah; Saksvik, Simen Berg; Kliem, Elisabeth; Evensmoen, Hallvard Røe & Conde, Virginia [Show all 16 contributors for this article] (2023). Poorer sleep health is associated with altered brain activation during cognitive control processing in healthy adults. Cerebral Cortex. ISSN 1047-3211. 33(11), p. 7100–7119. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhad024. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study investigated how proactive and reactive cognitive control processing in the brain was associated with habitual sleep health. BOLD fMRI data were acquired from 81 healthy adults with normal sleep (41 females, age 20.96–39.58 years) during a test of cognitive control (Not-X-CPT). Sleep health was assessed in the week before MRI scanning, using both objective (actigraphy) and self-report measures. Multiple measures indicating poorer sleep health—including later/more variable sleep timing, later chronotype preference, more insomnia symptoms, and lower sleep efficiency—were associated with stronger and more widespread BOLD activations in fronto-parietal and subcortical brain regions during cognitive control processing (adjusted for age, sex, education, and fMRI task performance). Most associations were found for reactive cognitive control activation, indicating that poorer sleep health is linked to a “hyper-reactive” brain state. Analysis of time-on-task effects showed that, with longer time on task, poorer sleep health was predominantly associated with increased proactive cognitive control activation, indicating recruitment of additional neural resources over time. Finally, shorter objective sleep duration was associated with lower BOLD activation with time on task and poorer task performance. In conclusion, even in “normal sleepers,” relatively poorer sleep health is associated with altered cognitive control processing, possibly reflecting compensatory mechanisms and/or inefficient neural processing.

• Olsen, Alexander; Babikian, Talin; Bigler, Erin D.; Caeyenberghs, Karen; Conde, Virginia & Dams-O’Connor, Kristen [Show all 37 contributors for this article] (2020). Toward a global and reproducible science for brain imaging in neurotrauma: the ENIGMA adult moderate/severe traumatic brain injury working group. Brain Imaging and Behavior. ISSN 1931-7557. p. 1–29. doi: 10.1007/s11682-020-00313-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The global burden of mortality and morbidity caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI) is significant, and the heterogeneity of TBI patients and the relatively small sample sizes of most current neuroimaging studies is a major challenge for scientific advances and clinical translation. The ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Adult moderate/severe TBI (AMS-TBI) working group aims to be a driving force for new discoveries in AMS-TBI by providing researchers world-wide with an effective framework and platform for large-scale cross-border collaboration and data sharing. Based on the principles of transparency, rigor, reproducibility and collaboration, we will facilitate the development and dissemination of multiscale and big data analysis pipelines for harmonized analyses in AMS-TBI using structural and functional neuroimaging in combination with non-imaging biomarkers, genetics, as well as clinical and behavioral measures. Ultimately, we will offer investigators an unprecedented opportunity to test important hypotheses about recovery and morbidity in AMS-TBI by taking advantage of our robust methods for large-scale neuroimaging data analysis. In this consensus statement we outline the working group’s short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals.

• Andreasen, Sara H.; Andersen, Kasper W.; Conde, Virginia; Dyrby, Tim B.; Puonti, Oula & Kammersgaard, Lars P. [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2020). Two Coarse Spatial Patterns of Altered Brain Microstructure Predict Post-traumatic Amnesia in the Subacute Stage of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Frontiers in Neurology. 11, p. 1–14. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00800. Full text in Research Archive
• Conde, Virginia & Siebner, Hartwig Roman (2020). Brain Damage by Trauma. Handbook of Clinical Neurology. ISSN 0072-9752. 168, p. 39–49. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-63934-9.00005-6. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a major clinical and economic challenge for health systems worldwide, and it is considered one of the leading causes of disability in young adults. The recent development of brain-computer interface (BCI) tools to target cognitive and motor impairments has led to the exploration of these techniques as potential therapeutic tools in patients with TBI. However, little evidence has been gathered so far to support applicability and efficacy of BCIs for TBI in a clinical setting. In the present chapter, results from studies using BCI approaches in conscious patients with TBI or in animal models of TBI as well as an overview of future directions in the use of BCIs to treat cognitive symptoms in this patient population will be presented.

• Andreasen, Sara Hesby; Andersen, Kasper Winter; Conde, Virginia; Dyrby, Tim Bjørn; Puonti, Oula Tapio & Kammersgaard, Lars Peter [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2019). Limited colocalization of microbleeds and microstructural changes after severe traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma. ISSN 0897-7151. 37, p. 581–592. doi: 10.1089/neu.2019.6608. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) produces shearing forces on long-range axons and brain vessels, causing axonal and vascular injury. To examine whether microbleeds and axonal injury co-localize after TBI, we performed whole-brain susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in 14 patients during the subacute phase after severe TBI. SWI was used to determine the number and volumes of microbleeds in five brain regions: the fronto-temporal lobe, parieto-occipital lobe, mid-sagittal region (cingular cortex, parasagittal white matter and corpus callosum), deep nuclei (basal ganglia and thalamus), and brainstem. Averaged fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were measured to assess microstructural changes in the normal appearing white matter due to axonal injury in the same five regions. Regional expressions of microbleeds and microstructure was used in a partial least squares model to predict the impairment of consciousness in the subacute stage after TBI as measured with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). Only in the midsagittal region, expression of microbleeds correlated with regional changes in microstructure as revealed by DTI. Microbleeds and microstructural DTI-based metrics of deep but not superficial brain regions were able to predict individual CRS-R. Our results suggest that microbleeds are not strictly related to axonal pathology in other that the midsagittal region. While each measure alone was predictive, the combination of both metrics scaled best with individual CRS-R. Structural alterations in deep brain structures are relevant in terms of determining the severity of impaired consciousness in the acute stage after TBI.

• Conde, Virginia; Tomasevic, Leo; Akopian, Irina; Stanek, Konrad; Saturnino, Ghilherme & Thielscher, Axel [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2018). The non-transcranial TMS-evoked potential is an inherent source of ambiguity in TMS-EEG studies. NeuroImage. ISSN 1053-8119. 185, p. 300–312. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.052. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) excites populations of neurons in the stimulated cortex, and the resulting activation may spread to connected brain regions. The distributed cortical response can be recorded with electroencephalography (EEG). Since TMS also stimulates peripheral sensory and motor axons and generates a loud "click" sound, the TMS-evoked EEG potentials (TEPs) reflect not only neural activity induced by transcranial neuronal excitation but also neural activity due to somatosensory and auditory processing. In 17 healthy young individuals, we systematically assessed the contribution of multisensory peripheral stimulation to TEPs using a TMS-compatible EEG system. Real TMS was delivered with a figure-of-eight coil over the left para-median posterior parietal cortex or superior frontal gyrus with the coil being oriented perpendicularly or in parallel to the target gyrus. We also recorded the EEG responses evoked by realistic sham stimulation over the posterior parietal and superior frontal cortex, mimicking the auditory and somatosensory sensations evoked by real TMS. We applied state-of-the-art procedures to attenuate somatosensory and auditory confounds during real TMS, including the placement of a foam layer underneath the coil and auditory noise masking. Despite these precautions, the temporal and spatial features of the cortical potentials evoked by real TMS at the prefrontal and parietal site closely resembled the cortical potentials evoked by realistic sham TMS, both for early and late TEP components. Our findings stress the need to include a peripheral multisensory control stimulation in the design of TMS-EEG studies to enable a dissociation between truly transcranial and non-transcranial components of TEPs.

• Conde, Virginia; Andreasen, Sara Hesby; Petersen, Tue Hvass; Larsen, Karen Busted; Madsen, Karine & Andersen, Kasper Winther [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2017). Alterations in the brain's connectome during recovery from severe traumatic brain injury: protocol for a longitudinal prospective study. BMJ Open. 7(6). doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016286. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  INTRODUCTION: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered one of the most pervasive causes of disability in people under the age of 45. TBI often results in disorders of consciousness, and clinical assessment of the state of consciousness in these patients is challenging due to the lack of behavioural responsiveness. Functional neuroimaging offers a means to assess these patients without the need for behavioural signs, indicating that brain connectivity plays a major role in consciousness emergence and maintenance. However, little is known regarding how changes in connectivity during recovery from TBI accompany changes in the level of consciousness. Here, we aim to combine cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques to follow changes in brain connectivity in patients recovering from severe TBI. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A multimodal, longitudinal assessment of 30 patients in the subacute stage after severe TBI will be made comprising an MRI session combined with electroencephalography (EEG), a positron emission tomography session and a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) combined with EEG (TMS/EEG) session. A group of 20 healthy participants will be included for comparison. Four sessions for patients and two sessions for healthy participants will be planned. Data analysis techniques will focus on whole-brain, both data-driven and hypothesis-driven, connectivity measures that will be specific to the imaging modality. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The project has received ethical approval by the local ethics committee of the Capital Region of Denmark and by the Danish Data Protection. Results will be published as original research articles in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated in international conferences. None of the measurements will have any direct clinical impact on the patients included in the study but may benefit future patients through a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the recovery process after TBI. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT02424656; PRE-RESULTS.

• Vollmann, Henning; Ragert, Patrick; Conde, Virginia; Villringer, Arno; Classen, Joseph & Witte, Otto W [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2014). Instrument specific use-dependent plasticity shapes the anatomical properties of the corpus callosum: a comparison between musicians and non-musicians. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00245. Full text in Research Archive
• Sehm, Bernhard; Taubert, Marco; Conde, Virginia; Weise, David; Classen, Joseph & Dukart, Juergen [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2014). Structural brain plasticity in Parkinson's disease induced by balance training. Neurobiology of Aging. ISSN 0197-4580. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2013.06.021. Full text in Research Archive
• Kaminski, Elisabeth; Hoff, Maike; Sehm, Bernhard; Taubert, Marco; Conde, Virginia & Steele, Christopher J. [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2013). Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) during complex whole body motor skill learning. Neuroscience Letters. ISSN 0304-3940. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2013.07.034. Full text in Research Archive
• Carrillo, Fatima; Palomar, Francisco J; Conde, Virginia; Diaz-Corrales, Francisco J; Porcacchia, Paolo & Olmo, Miguel Fernandez del [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2013). Study of Cerebello-Thalamocortical Pathway by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease. Brain Stimulation. ISSN 1935-861X. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2012.12.004. Full text in Research Archive
• Vollmann, Henning; Conde, Virginia; Sewerin, Sebastian; Taubert, Marco; Sehm, Bernhard & Witte, Otto W [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2013). Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over supplementary motor area (SMA) but not pre-SMA promotes short-term visuomotor learning. Brain Stimulation. ISSN 1935-861X. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2012.03.018. Full text in Research Archive
• Palomar, Francisco J; Conde, Virginia; Carrillo, Fatima; Olmo, Miguel Fernandez del; Koch, Giacomo & Mir, Pablo (2013). Parieto-motor functional connectivity is impaired in Parkinson's disease. Brain Stimulation. ISSN 1935-861X. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2012.03.017. Full text in Research Archive
• Sehm, Bernhard; Hoff, Maike; Gundlach, Christopher; Taubert, Marco; Conde, Virginia & Villringer, Arno [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2013). A novel ring electrode setup for the recording of somatosensory evoked potentials during transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Journal of Neuroscience Methods. ISSN 0165-0270. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2012.10.006. Full text in Research Archive
• Conde, Virginia; Palomar, Francisco J; Lama, Maria Jose; Martinez, Raquel; Carrillo, Fatima & Pintado, Elizabeth [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2013). Abnormal GABA-mediated and cerebellar inhibition in women with the fragile X premutation. Journal of Neurophysiology. ISSN 0022-3077. 109(5), p. 1315–1322. doi: 10.1152/jn.00730.2012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The fragile X syndrome is a mutation-driven developmental disorder caused by a repetition over 200 times of the CGG trinucleotide situated in the 5′-untranslated region of the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1). The interval between 55 and 199 CGG repeats, which is over the normal range but below full mutation, is named fragile X premutation. Recent studies have focused on the asymptomatic state of fragile X premutation carriers and their potentially relevant preclinical features. However, the underlying neurological mechanisms leading to altered functions in fragile X premutation carriers are still poorly understood. In this study, we wanted to test the hypothesis that asymptomatic women who carry the fragile X premutation present GABAergic and cerebellar abnormalities compared with healthy women without the premutation. We performed noninvasive brain stimulation protocols on both asymptomatic fragile X premutation carriers and controls comprising of measures of GABAA- and GABAB-mediated intracortical inhibition, afferent inhibition, and cerebello-motor functional interactions. Premutation carriers presented an absence of cerebellar inhibition over primary motor cortex as well as a reduced GABAA-mediated intracortical and afferent inhibition compared with healthy nonpremutated controls. These alterations are most probably dependent on a dysfunctional GABAergic mechanism associated with the fragile X premutation condition as previously found in CGG-repeat animal models. Furthermore, the lack of cerebello-motor inhibition could be related to the cerebellar structural abnormalities previously found in carriers of the premutation.

• Conde, Virginia; Vollmann, Henning; Taubert, Marco; Sehm, Bernhard; Cohen, Leonardo G & Villringer, Arno [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2013). Reversed timing-dependent associative plasticity in the human brain through interhemispheric interactions. Journal of Neurophysiology. ISSN 0022-3077. 109(9), p. 2260–2271. doi: 10.1152/jn.01004.2012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) has been proposed as one of the key mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Repetitive median nerve stimulation, followed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1), defined as paired-associative stimulation (PAS), has been used as an in vivo model of STDP in humans. PAS-induced excitability changes in M1 have been repeatedly shown to be time-dependent in a STDP-like fashion, since synchronous arrival of inputs within M1 induces long-term potentiation-like effects, whereas an asynchronous arrival induces long-term depression (LTD)-like effects. Here, we show that interhemispheric inhibition of the sensorimotor network during PAS, with the peripheral stimulation over the hand ipsilateral to the motor cortex receiving TMS, results in a LTD-like effect, as opposed to the standard STDP-like effect seen for contralateral PAS. Furthermore, we could show that this reversed-associative plasticity critically depends on the timing interval between afferent and cortical stimulation. These results indicate that the outcome of associative stimulation in the human brain depends on functional network interactions (inhibition or facilitation) at a systems level and can either follow standard or reversed STDP-like mechanisms.

• Sehm, Bernhard; Schäfer, Alexander; Kipping, Judy; Margulies, Daniel; Conde, Virginia & Taubert, Marco [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2012). Dynamic modulation of intrinsic functional connectivity by transcranial direct current stimulation. Journal of Neurophysiology. ISSN 0022-3077. doi: 10.1152/jn.00606.2012. Full text in Research Archive
• Gryga, Martin; Taubert, Marco; Dukart, Juergen; Vollmann, Henning; Conde, Virginia & Sehm, Bernhard [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2012). Bidirectional gray matter changes after complex motor skill learning. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2012.00037. Full text in Research Archive
• Conde, Virginia; Altenmüller, Eckart; Villringer, Arno & Ragert, Patrick (2012). Task-irrelevant auditory feedback facilitates motor performance in musicians. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00146. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  An efficient and fast auditory–motor network is a basic resource for trained musicians due to the importance of motor anticipation of sound production in musical performance. When playing an instrument, motor performance always goes along with the production of sounds and the integration between both modalities plays an essential role in the course of musical training. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of task-irrelevant auditory feedback during motor performance in musicians using a serial reaction time task (SRTT). Our hypothesis was that musicians, due to their extensive auditory–motor practice routine during musical training, have superior performance and learning capabilities when receiving auditory feedback during SRTT relative to musicians performing the SRTT without any auditory feedback. Behaviorally, we found that auditory feedback reinforced SRTT performance of the right hand (referring to absolute response speed) while learning capabilities remained unchanged. This finding highlights a potential important role for task-irrelevant auditory feedback in motor performance in musicians, a finding that might provide further insight into auditory–motor integration independent of the trained musical context.

• Conde, Virginia; Vollmann, Henning; Sehm, Bernhard; Taubert, Marco; Villringer, Arno & Ragert, Patrick (2012). Cortical thickness in primary sensorimotor cortex influences the effectiveness of paired associative stimulation. NeuroImage. ISSN 1053-8119. 60(2), p. 864–870. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.01.052. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Non-invasive brain stimulation protocols in general and paired associative stimulation (PAS) in particular seem to alter corticospinal excitability and thereby to influence behaviour with a high degree of inter-subject variability. The cause of this variability is multidimensional and to some extent still unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that individual variations in cortical thickness can explain some of the variability of PAS-induced excitability changes. Ten minutes of a facilitatory PAS protocol (PASLTP) rapidly increased corticospinal excitability in the majority of the subjects (14/19 subjects) while others showed no such effect (5/19 subjects). A whole brain correlation analysis based on high resolution T1-weighted images revealed a significant positive relationship of PASLTP-induced excitability changes with cortical thickness of the underlying left sensorimotor cortex (SM1) only. Cortical thickness alone, among other potential influencing factors, explained about half of the PASLTP variance, indicating that subjects with a strong after-effect were those with thicker gray matter in this region. Based on these findings, we provide novel evidence that local brain structure influences the individual amount of functional plasticity induced by PASLTP. While the underlying neurophysiological and/or anatomical reasons for this effect still remain elusive at this point, we conclude that cortical thickness should be considered as an important and until now not recognized modulating factor in studies employing non-invasive brain stimulation techniques.

• Sewerin, Sebastian; Taubert, Marco; Vollmann, Henning; Conde, Virginia; Villringer, Arno & Ragert, Patrick (2011). Enhancing the effect of repetitive I-wave paired-pulse TMS (iTMS) by adjusting for the individual I-wave periodicity. BMC Neuroscience. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-12-45. Full text in Research Archive

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• Conde, Virginia & Russpatrick, Carrie Ann (2025). Academic track: Showcasing ongoing SF/F teaching/research in Norway #2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  1) "The begining of wisdom is 'I do not know'": Using Star Trek clips as prompts for discussion of scientific reasoning and research ethics with master students in Cognitive Neuroscience (Virginia Conde Ruiz), 2) The Rise of the Vulva Monster: Petrifying Pussies, Voracious Vaginas, and Othered Orifices of Screen Media (Carrie Ann Russpatrick)

• Siebner, Hartwig Roman; Conde, Virginia; Tomasevic, Leo; Thielscher, Axel & Bergmann, Til Ole (2019). Distilling the essence of TMS-evoked EEG potentials (TEPs): A call for securing mechanistic specificity and experimental rigor. Brain Stimulation. ISSN 1935-861X. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2019.03.076. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Using realistic sham stimulation, we have shown that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) produces significant off-target excitation of the peripheral nervous system, even when applying state-of-the-art procedures to attenuate peripheral co-activation [1]. The peripherally evoked potentials (PEPs) strongly resembled TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) [1]. Our study prompted a letter to the editor in the Brain Stimulation journal, signed by many researchers using TEP recordings [2].

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